by Geoff Wolak
They laughed.
‘Some of you will go on to do a naughty job whilst we’re in the region. Those not chosen, don’t complain, it will be a dirty and risky job, wounds to be picked up. Captain’s Moran and Hamble, you will organise jungle map reading exercises, some time off for the lads as well, you may be there a few weeks.
‘Everyone, prepare your jungle kit, and take the green rifles, plenty of ammo, flysheets, etc. OK, the following people remain, rest can get some food in. Rocko, Rizzo, snipers without Fuzz, Sasha. Rest of you ... off you go.’
With just the seven remaining, I sat on the desk at the front. ‘There’s a dirty job in the offing, but it comes with some risks. First, if you accidentally blab about it you’re out the unit, and in a cell.’ I let them think about it. ‘Second, the risks are high of getting killed or caught. If you’re caught they’ll slice you up and set fire to you.
‘The reason I want you, Rocko and Rizzo, along is that we have some other lads to train. As for my snipers, you’ll come in handy to cover me as I do stupid things. Sasha has already been where we’re going and knows the area. The plan is not set yet, but we should have American help, a ship and some helicopters.
‘If the job goes wrong then the government will deny sending us, and blame me for going beyond my remit. They won’t come get you out of a prison cell.’
‘You’re not painting a good picture, Boss,’ Tomo quipped. ‘But if I’m not there the job is bound to fail.’
The snipers laughed, getting looks from Rocko and Rizzo.
‘All joking aside, give it some thought, because the risks are high, but ... as Sasha pointed out, we’ll be up against civvy gunmen with no military training, no camouflage, and we’ll be in the jungle.’
‘They got no fucking chance,’ Rocko scoffed. ‘Civvies!’
They were starting to make me feel that the job was easy, and it was no different to hitting villas for Tomsk, but the Cali Cartel were worth billions - and they had spies everywhere. We would need to be lucky, and very damn good getting in and out unseen.
‘Gentlemen, the people we’re up against have a shit load of money, they could even send people here after us. When you have a lot of money you can afford good help. They may send someone after us.’
‘If they’re still alive afterwards,’ Rizzo put in.
‘True,’ I noted. ‘Rocko, Rizzo, Sasha, stay, rest of you head off.’ I waited for the snipers to leave. Sat on the desk, I stared at my staff sergeants. ‘On this job ... we may trip across a pile of cash in a bag. If there’s a way to get some back here without us all going to jail ... then I’ll find that way. But if I have doubts about you two with a big bag of cash in your hand ... I’ll not let this unit be tarnished. I’ll put a bullet in you and report you killed in action. Is any part of that ... unclear?’
They exchanged looks. ‘Clear enough,’ Rocko agreed.
‘There may be a way to get some cash back, and that means handing it over to someone else, who I trust, and he’ll get some of it back here, more than enough for a nice holiday, a piss-up, maybe a new car for a few people. In the past, I was in a situation where I had a bag in my hand, twenty million quid in it.’
‘Shit...’ Rizzo let out. ‘And you came back?’
‘I came back, yes. And if I doubt that you’ll come back I’ll fucking shoot you. But I don’t think you want to leave here, because you could go get a job as a mercenary any time and get great pay just by mentioning my name. So ... why don’t you?’
‘Mug’s game,’ Rocko said. ‘Good payout, spend it, next job and get killed or caught. I’ve known a few go that way.’
‘So I can trust you with a bag of cash?’ I posed as I stood.
They stood. Rocko began, ‘If you’re saying you can get some back here, no strings attached, then yeah – we avoid that jail cell and get a new car. But I’d prefer the cash, ex-wife is bleeding me dry.’
‘If the job goes off OK, then I think I can get some cash for your ex-wife, yes.’
They glanced at Sasha. ‘And him?’ Rocko asked.
‘I can trust him with my life, and not to think about bags of cash.’
Later that evening, sat at home studying a map of Central America, Swifty came and sat with me.
‘You don’t want me along on the naughty job?’
I glanced up. ‘Do you speak Russian or Spanish?’
‘Nope. But neither do Rocko or Rizzo.’
I returned to studying the map. ‘They look the part, ex-SAS lads, and the snipers I need for covering our escape, and Sasha has worked extensively in the region and knows the people there. So ... a small team.’ I heaved a sigh and eased back. ‘This is foolish and dangerous.’
‘So why do it? Have we been ordered to go?’
‘It’s a grey area. Americans want it, PM kinda wants it, and it’s the right thing to do – to play sheriff.’
Swifty tapped the map. ‘Drug dealers.’
‘Yep, lots of them, well organised with lots of men.’
‘Not even the Colombian Government has ever made any inroads into fighting that lot.’
‘They ... are not allowed to just assassinate people from six hundred yards out.’
‘Neither are we...’
‘But I’ll be posing as someone else, so it’s OK. And I’ve done it before.’
‘You’re in two minds about it?’
I stared at the map. ‘When I think about how well organised they are it seems reckless. But then I think that I’ll be in the jungle, and men in blue jeans and white hats will be coming after me...’
‘They’d stand no chance.’
‘Exactly, which is why I’m in two minds. So long as we avoid the city we’re OK, jungle all the way to the coast, a few airstrips, Americans willing to pick us up by helo.’
‘And to get in?’
‘HALO in, maybe a commercial flight Hercules, no one will know.’
‘You’d let the Colombian Government know?’ Swifty asked.
‘Fuck no. Let those fuckers know after the job is done!’
‘They’d sell the info, yeah.’
With Swifty gone, I called Tomsk. ‘Get a paper and pen.’
‘Hold on. OK.’
‘You still use that airstrip in the jungle?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s secure enough?’
‘No one goes near it but my boys, why?’
‘When I was there last there was a parachute school at that airfield on the north coast, not far.’
‘Yes, some of the boys use it.’
‘Have the parachute instructors paid well to shut their mouths, a few threats, and move their plane to the airstrip, and get them to buy a lot of parachutes, French made. Write this down.’ I listed the make and type, and the town with the factory.
‘How many men do you have that are parachute trained?’
‘Say thirty.’
‘Have them all start practising, daytime drops for a few days, then night drops, daytime freefall from 14,000feet, then at night. Get some strobe lights; the parachute instructors will know where to get them. You see them from above but not on the ground.’
‘The boys would parachute into Colombia?’
‘Only way to be sure, and we change the drop location at the last minute. Trust no fucker.’
‘You will go with them?’
‘Yes, and I’ll bring some mercenaries I know, and borrow some British soldiers.’
‘They’ll allow that?’
‘The Americans want the Cali Cartel dealt with, and they pressure the British, and when it comes to you they ask me what to do, and I ask for a few things for this job, and the Americans will have warships offshore.’
‘So we fuck the Cali Cartel good, no.’
‘That is the plan. So start the training, but be very secretive.’
‘I have information about Cali, a man who used to work for them, now has one hand missing and one eye – ugly fuck, but he hates them, so he draws me maps and lists places.�
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‘They have drug refineries in the hills?’
‘Twenty miles west, but mostly the farmers grow the drugs and sell at a fixed price, so the Cartel does not own the land or the do the growing - they pay per kilo, marijuana or cocaine. Same for me here in Panama.’
‘Did you get some of those rifles?’
‘Yes, a hundred, the boys love them. Green ones.’
‘Do they have silencers?’
‘No, they would not sell silencers.’
‘I’ll bring some, don’t worry. And the large lenses?’
‘We have some, yes.’
‘Get those parachutes in a hurry, and ask for parachute packers to come along, offer top dollar, all very quiet. Then look at cargo flights into Cali city from Panama, a C130 aircraft, and hire a small plane called a Skyvan, we use it to practise parachuting from. Oh, and get some plastic explosives, good quality, timers and detonators – but be careful. Ask that Panama Minister to get them.’
‘OK, a make a list.’
‘Ask for the American style detonators, and snap fuses – thirty seconds and one minute. Enough for ten strong doors and ten strong gates.’
‘Good to have you plan this. But ... your health?’
‘So long as not too much goes wrong I’m OK. Hard landing by parachute and they’ll find my body.’
‘And No.2?’
‘I might bring him, but he has a girl now, pregnant I think, he likes England, old churches and castles.’
‘He’s not mad at me?’
‘No, there was nothing you could have done. But he spent six months learning to walk, quite fit now, a few jobs in Africa.’
‘So long as he doesn’t say anything to the men here...’
‘Relax, he follows my lead, and I have no issues with you at all. I knew the risks, and you never fired that damn missile. So relax, eh, or you’ll have a heart attack before the Cali Cartel kills you!’
The next day I cornered O’Leary. ‘I want thirty green silencers from Valmect, thirty of the smaller telescopic sights, and in a hurry, but the bill goes to David – special project. I want thirty jungle face masks with gloves, thirty flysheets – the stretchy ones, thirty green bandoliers, all large size.’
‘I’ll get on it,’ he offered. ‘But we have most of that here?’
‘It won’t come back, so organise it pronto.’
Next was Sergeant Crab. ‘Start packing all our HALO bags for Brize Norton, get all of our French chutes from Brize, any spare HALO bags they have, altimeters and lights.
‘You’ll HALO practise in Belize?’
‘That’s the aim. So I want to know numbers.’
Thinking about parachuting, I called Brize Norton para school’s CO. ‘It’s Wilco, sir. My men are shipping out to Belize for some training, and we’ll make a few jungle HALO drops whilst there, could use a few of your lads.’
‘Sure, how many?’
‘Say six or eight, something for them to do, a few drops for them.’
‘Yes, definitely. When?’
‘Say three to five days from now, sir.’
In with the Major I began. ‘Sir, can you check with Brize Norton, transport to Belize in three or four days, there may be a scheduled flight.’
‘If it’s scheduled then it’s full of squaddies, they don’t fly them empty.’
‘This is priority, MOD will give them a nudge if needs be.’
That afternoon, at 5pm, David called. ‘Americans are keen to see Sasha’s team developed, and the PM is OK with it, so you can take them.’
‘They’ll drop into a hot spot and fight...’
‘It’s a risk, but ... them bluffing someone is also risk as well. This is good experience for them.’
‘OK, I’ll chat to them. And I requested a plane to Belize for three days from now.’
‘You ordered up silencers...?’
‘You want this mission to succeed?’ I testily asked.
‘Well, yes, but you’re handing them to gunmen.’
‘I’ll be handing those gunmen some training as well, as I did before. So far ... they’ve not attacked anyone.’
‘We’ll have to put it down as a lost box somewhere in Belize, and they do come from Finland, so at least they’re no ours.’
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I can even get you the money for them from Tomsk if you like.’
‘Well, there’s millions in that account, so we’ll adjust the balance.’
‘Spoken like a true bean counter. You’ll make Director yet.’
‘Perhaps.’
I went and found Sasha, sat eating with his team. In Russian I began, ‘You’ve all be tasked with coming to Panama with me, and the job against the Cartel.’
Others in the canteen were used to Russian being spoken and did not query it.
‘We’d try and bluff Russians?’ one of the lads asked.
‘They won’t care who you are. I vouch for you. Simple.’
They exchanged looks.
‘We’d be in with Russian men on a daily basis, and they’d ask about us.’
‘Well ... is the legend good enough or not? I’ll be telling them you work for the British, so what do they have to discover – that I was telling the truth? You explain the upbringing in Kazakhstan, years in England, and the rest is in the legend. Thing to remember is ... never try too hard to explain it or prove anything, that always looks suspicious.’
‘What’ll we do ... exactly?’ one asked.
‘After some training in Central America we’ll HALO into the jungle in Colombia and go shoot some people, American Navy offshore. The people we’re up against have a lot of money and some good men, but we’ll be in the jungle ... and they have no jungle-trained men.’
‘So we won’t be trying to act out personas on the streets...’
‘No, you’ll be fighting like in Sierra Leone.’
‘Easy enough,’ one said, the others nodding.
‘There will be a special task for you lot, and that will be handling any large bags of cash we find. The US Navy and the FBI don’t need to know about them, so we’ll hide them for later pick-up. Keep that very secret, none of the lads here should be tempted.’
They nodded.
‘And if any of you are tempted ... I’ll put a bullet in you and leave you in the jungle.’ I left them with that thought.
That evening at 9pm the Duty Officer at SIS called me. ‘Been another bomb in Panama, one in Bogota, as before. Six killed in Panama City, police, ten killed in Bogota, twenty wounded, some US tourists caught up in it.’
‘Were the US tourist the target?’
‘No, their bus stopped near a police checkpoint or they would have missed it.’
‘OK, thanks.’
Tomsk was on the phone half an hour later. ‘I had the minister on the line again...’
‘Tell him I’m flying back in three days, and he’ll have to make sure my plane is not stopped. Tell him I’m bringing good men, specialists, and we’ll be going after the Cali Cartel within a few days.’
‘OK, I call him now, he’s bitching at me.’
‘I got you some silencers as well.’
‘Ah, good.’
The next morning the Major offered me two flights, and one was tomorrow night, so I took that one and alerted the lads. The hangar became a mad house of shouted questions and clanking metal crates as we made sure we had everything. Chutes from Brize would be packed at Brize, our crates to be sent over early.
‘You don’t need us?’ Captain Harris asked.
‘Not a live job, it’s training. Unless you want some jungle training?’
‘Well ... not a dire need for it, no. But you seem to be packing live ammo and silencers...’
‘There may be a naughty job, but you’d not be able to assist.’
‘No?’ he puzzled.
‘There’s a drugs gang in Nicaragua we may go after. Got any intel?’
‘Not a sausage, no, nor likely to get any. Americans may have something.’
/> ‘They’ll be involved. But ... keep that under wraps.’
By 6pm we were just about ready, kit lists read out and double checked. My facemasks, bandoliers, flysheets and gloves had turned up, no silencers yet. I left on a note on O’Leary’s desk to send them on if they were not here in the morning.
Back at the house, I called Tomsk. ‘Listen, we’ll be flying in tomorrow night, to Belize, we’ll get there at dawn the next day. Ask the minister for a military Hercules, to land at the British military base in Belize, joint exercise of something. I’ll sort it with the British. Tell him to have it land in daylight, but for us to land at your strip after midnight.’
‘OK, I call him, he’ll be happy to know things are moving along, stop him complaining.’
‘What about cargo flights down to Cali?’
‘There is one from Panama City I can grab, Russian pilots, one of the C130 things you mentioned. They can land at my strip, pick you up and fly on, all normal cargo. If they get wind of it they search it and find nothing.’
‘We’ll train your men first, in night altitude drops.’
‘You do this? You parachute from high up?’
‘Yes, with the British, so that I could drop into places unseen. I’m bringing parachute kit and specialists.’
‘Good to have that British Government connection, yes, proper equipment and training.’
I popped around to Moran, now with Captain Hamble living with him, and I went through a list of training activities for the lads in Belize. They would hold an exercise, a night HALO drop and a long distance map reading exercise to follow. I left the detail up to them, but told them to get some time on a beach as well.
Walking back the short distance to my house I got a sniff of smoke, the wind coming from the fields, and around these houses no one smoked. I dived down and rolled, pistol out and cocked, and I ran bent double to the end of my house. There it was again, that smell, but the woods were too far away for someone to be smoking there. Whoever was smoking had to be closer, as well as a rank amateur.
Easing down, I took my phone out, and called my own base.
‘Hello?’ came one of the MPs, stationed just forty yards away.
