Gray Salvation

by Alan McDermott

  The doorbell rang, but Gray ignored it, waiting for an answer.

  ‘I think you should get that,’ Ellis said.

  Reluctantly, Gray rose and walked quickly to the door, determining to get rid of the unwanted interruption. He pulled it open and found himself facing two smiling men – modern-day versions of Laurel and Hardy. One stood a couple of inches taller than Gray, with a balding pate and bushy moustache. He looked like a salesman or company director, with a lifestyle that included one too many burgers per day. The other was the complete opposite: a foot smaller and a hundred pounds lighter, with sandy blond hair and boyish good looks.

  ‘See,’ the smaller one said, hands on hips. ‘I told you he’d forget us the moment he left the country.’

  Gray had known Len Smart and Simon ‘Sonny’ Baines for years, having first served with them in 22 SAS Regiment as a twenty-six-year-old. Baines had looked seventeen at the time and, twenty years on, he still had to show ID to get into pubs. Smart, on the other hand, had always looked the typical soldier. That is, until he left the service. Almost immediately, his hair receded and his waist expanded a few inches, until he looked more at home in a boardroom than in a battle zone.

  ‘What the hell are you two doing here?’

  But as soon as the words left his mouth, Gray knew the answer. By getting Len and Sonny on board first, Ellis had played her trump card.

  ‘What do you think?’ Smart asked. ‘Veronica told us about Andrew. We’re here to plan the mission.’

  It wasn’t something Gray wanted to discuss on the doorstep, not with the Wilburns out tending to their garden next door. He ushered his friends inside and led them through to the kitchen, where Ellis sat looking like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

  ‘So, how soon can we ship out?’ Sonny asked, stooping to give Melissa a peck on the cheek.

  ‘Tom hasn’t agreed to go along yet,’ Ellis said sheepishly, drawing looks of confusion from the others.

  Sonny straightened up and looked at Gray. ‘Am I missing something, Tom? Andrew’s in trouble and you need time to think about it?’

  ‘I’m with Sonny,’ Smart chimed in. ‘It took me about ten seconds to agree to Veronica’s request. What’s the problem?’

  Gray looked at his daughter. ‘Melissa’s the problem,’ he said. ‘If it wasn’t for her I’d have jumped at the chance, and you know it. If I don’t make it back, who’s going to raise her?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Sonny said. ‘From what Veronica told us, we assumed you were already in.’

  ‘That’s my fault,’ Ellis said. ‘I needed them to come with me and convince you to take part.’

  ‘Why?’ Gray asked. ‘You’ve already got Len and Sonny on board. Why do you need me?’

  ‘Because you’re the brains behind things.’ She stole a look at the pair. ‘No offence.’

  ‘None taken.’

  Ellis focused on Gray. ‘Back in 2011, you had the police, security services and SAS running around in circles trying to stop you from killing those kids. You made us look like the Keystone Cops.’

  ‘First of all,’ Gray interrupted, ‘I was never going to kill any of them. Secondly, I had six months to plan that op. You’ve barely got six hours, and from what you’ve told me, you don’t have a clear idea of the situation on the ground. You don’t know his location, enemy strength or any of the dozen other things we need to start putting a mission together.’

  ‘That’s why I need your help,’ Ellis pleaded. ‘Your military expertise. We’ve narrowed it down to three possible targets, but we need a trained eye to figure out which is more likely.’

  Smart shrugged. ‘It can’t hurt to take a look.’

  Gray sighed and motioned for his friends to sit, while Ellis dug into her bag and pulled out a folder and a laptop. While she waited for the machine to boot up, she opened the file and spread three satellite photos on the table.

  ‘We think Andrew is being held in one of these locations,’ Ellis said, pointing to the first of the images. ‘This one is Dubrany. It was the first town to fall to the separatists and has a high concentration of Russian civilians. The circles represent what we believe to be anti-aircraft batteries. The second is Milev.’

  Gray picked up the next high-resolution photo and studied it closely. He could see a few dozen buildings, but most looked to be pockmarked by artillery fire. Rubble had turned the roads grey, and he could see little sign of life.

  ‘What makes you think he might be here?’ Gray asked.

  ‘One of my staff, Gayle Cooper, works the Russia desk. She told me that the leader of the Russian separatists, Colonel Dmitri Aminev, was seen there two days ago.’

  Gray turned to the last image.

  ‘That’s a place called Gornjy,’ Ellis said. ‘We marked it as a possibility because of the concentration of heavy weapons both inside the town and on the outskirts.’

  Gray looked at the third image for a minute or two, then went back to the first.

  ‘He’ll be here, in Dubrany.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’ Ellis asked, looking at the other two men.

  ‘Gornjy is too close to the front line,’ Gray said. ‘It would be madness to hold a high-value prisoner there. It looks like it’s already taken a pounding, and with the concentration of heavy weapons, there’s more to come.’

  ‘These pictures are four days old,’ Ellis said. ‘We heard yesterday that all Russian heavy artillery is being pulled out of the area and back over the border.’

  ‘Even then, the place looks like a wasteland. I’m betting the infrastructure has crumbled, meaning no electricity or water.’

  ‘What about Milev?’

  ‘Too remote. They’ll want him somewhere with a large concentration of troops to discourage any rescue attempts.’

  ‘Dubrany was our best guess, too,’ Ellis said, as she typed on her keyboard. She turned the screen towards Gray. ‘This is a live feed from a US satellite over the area. I had to call in a few personal favours to get access.’

  Smart and Sonny gathered round as Ellis pointed out the first item of interest.

  ‘According to Cooper, this is Aminev’s headquarters.’

  ‘What type of building is it?’ Gray asked.

  ‘It used to be a hotel. He occupies two adjoining suites on the top floor.’

  ‘They’ll be holding Andrew somewhere secure. Is there a prison or jail in the town?’

  Ellis moved the cursor and panned the video to the left. ‘This was the main police station until the fighting took hold. It includes a number of holding cells, but we’ve no idea if anyone’s being held there.’

  Gray studied the surrounding area, then asked Ellis to zoom in. The building was L-shaped and sat back from the road, completely surrounded by a wall that looked to be about two feet thick.

  ‘Getting to the front door is going to pose a challenge in itself,’ Gray said. ‘Even if they make it that far, you’re talking about a prison break. That would be difficult against a civilian target, but these guys are going to be armed to the teeth.’

  ‘As I said, the Russians themselves have pulled back to the border. All we’re facing now is the local militia.’

  ‘How many?’ Gray asked.

  ‘Rough estimate is two thousand, but that’s spread out over the entire front. We don’t have exact numbers for Dubrany.’

  Gray’s face took on a pensive look. As Dubrany was the main town and housed the separatists’ HQ, there was likely to be a high concentration of troops in the vicinity. Still, a small unit might be able to make it in undetected . . .

  ‘What about exfil?’ he asked. ‘Once they grab Andrew, how do the team get back out?’

  ‘Apart from the Russian forces to the north, the closest border is forty miles to the west. It shouldn’t take long to drive.’

  ‘Forget driving,’ Gray said. ‘Chances are, there’ll be contact at some point. All roads in the area will be closed down within minutes. There has to be air support.
’

  ‘Out of the question,’ Ellis said. ‘Unless you happen to have your own helicopter.’

  ‘I don’t,’ Gray told her, ‘but I know a man who does.’

  He got up and made a fresh pot of coffee, then took Melissa through to the living room and popped a DVD into the player. He also gave his daughter her prized toy piano to play with.

  Back in the kitchen, Smart and Sonny were discussing ingress points.

  ‘It doesn’t matter which way we go in, we’ll be exposed most of the way,’ Smart pointed out. ‘A large party will be too easy to spot, but a team of four might make it in a car.’

  ‘What about jumping in?’ Sonny asked. ‘A HALO drop right into the compound.’

  ‘Those anti-aircraft batteries tell me that’s a bad idea,’ Gray said, looking over their shoulders. ‘I suggest the chopper drops you off a couple of miles outside of town and you find a vehicle to take you the rest of the way.’ He turned to Ellis. ‘Is there a way to get a street view of the area?’

  ‘The Google cars never made it that far,’ Ellis said. ‘This is as good as it gets.’

  It wasn’t the first time Gray had had to come up with a strategy based on minimal intel, though with all the technology available today, he’d hoped those days were behind him. All they had to work with were overheads and GPS coordinates – the word ‘clusterfuck’ sprang to mind.

  The sound of Melissa trying to coax a tune out of eight available keys drifted from the living room as the men turned their attention to the weapons and equipment they’d need. It didn’t take long to decide on AK-47s. Apart from being extremely reliable, it was the ubiquitous assault rifle of the region. For close quarters, they selected the Glock 17 with suppressors developed by the Advanced Armament Corporation. Various types of grenades were added to the list, along with some plastic explosives, night-vision goggles and comms units.

  ‘You said you knew a man who had a chopper,’ Ellis said. ‘Who is it?’

  ‘Erwin McGregor. He was my first troop leader when I finished selection,’ Gray told her. ‘He led us for about a year, until a bad landing on a night jump brought an end to his career. He stayed in touch for a while and I saw him at the reunions, then one day he dropped off the radar. Long story short, he’s been running his own flying school in Kazakhstan for the last five years.’

  ‘Do you think he’ll be willing to take part?’ Ellis asked.

  ‘He won‘t need to,’ Gray told her. ‘I know of at least five men on my books with enough hours to do the job. All we need is a chopper for them to fly. I’m sure Mac will help us out.’

  Melissa toddled into the kitchen and declared her hunger. Gray was about to dig out a snack for her when the wall clock told him they’d been working up the plan for two hours straight. Instead, he put on more coffee and prepared a plate of sandwiches for his guests, while his daughter got the tin of spaghetti hoops she’d asked for.

  The meeting was put on hold as Smart and Sonny got reacquainted with Melissa, even though it had only been a few weeks since they’d last seen her. She giggled as Smart’s moustache tickled her cheeks, and howled with delight each time Sonny pulled a stupid face.

  Gray called an end to the lunch break when Melissa started yawning and, after taking her upstairs for a nap, he joined the others in the kitchen.

  ‘I just got the latest troop numbers from Cooper,’ Ellis said as he entered the room. ‘Nearest estimates are that there are only around four hundred men left in Dubrany.’

  ‘Only?’ Gray asked. ‘So they’ll only be outnumbered a hundred to one.’

  ‘Dubrany is a pretty big place,’ Ellis pointed out. ‘Four hundred spread over an area the size of London’s East End leaves lots of gaps.’

  Gray could tell Ellis was determined to make this work, and he didn’t blame her. He wanted Harvey back, too, but while Ellis tended towards optimistic, he was more pragmatic.

  ‘What about civilians?’ Gray asked, concerned about collateral damage. ‘Are we likely to come across any?’

  ‘Dubrany was the focal point of the fighting for many weeks. Most were evacuated early on, relocated farther inland or to other Russian-held towns, depending on their allegiance. All you’re likely to find there are the stubborn few who refused to be moved on.’

  The situation didn’t look as bad as it had six hours earlier, but it would still be far from easy. Getting the supplies would be crucial. Without them, the mission was over before they even left the ground.

  ‘I’d better call Mac,’ Gray said. ‘If he can’t help, we’ve got real problems.’

  He took himself off to the other end of the kitchen and looked up McGregor’s contact details on his phone. It had been years since he’d heard his old sergeant’s voice, and wasn’t even sure if he was still alive, let alone still in Kazakhstan.

  The phone rang a dozen times before it was answered by a gruff Glaswegian voice.

  ‘McGregor.’

  ‘Mac, it’s Tom Gray.’

  ‘Who the fuck’s Tom Gray?’

  It wasn’t how Gray had expected the conversation to go. He needed to get the giant Scot onside, but he couldn’t have made a worse start. Without McGregor’s help, the mission was a bust.

  ‘You were my troop sergeant when I joined B-Squadron.’

  ‘Gray, you say?’

  ‘Yes, Tom Gray. We met at the reunion a few times. I’ve been out of the regiment for a while, too.’

  ‘Aye, I remember someone called Gray. Nasty wee bloke. Never liked him.’

  Gray started to panic. He couldn’t think what he’d done to offend McGregor. They’d always got on well in the past, and he couldn’t understand what had brought about such a change.

  ‘You still there, wee man?’

  ‘Yes,’ Gray said, ‘I’m still here.’

  ‘Had you going there, Tom.’

  Laughter erupted down the phone, and Gray silently cursed McGregor’s warped sense of humour. He was worse than Sonny, who went through life with a semi-permanent smile and was always up for a bit of mischief. Poor Len was usually the butt of his jokes, which led one to wonder how Sonny had survived so long.

  ‘Oh, you got me good,’ he told McGregor.

  The big man laughed. ‘You always were too serious. Walking round with a stick up yer arse. You should take life lessons from that Baines kid.’

  ‘Fat chance,’ Gray said with a laugh. ‘We’re still waiting for Sonny to reach puberty.’

  They spent the next few minutes catching up, then Gray explained the real reason for the call.

  ‘Just a hop-in-and-out, you say?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Gray assured him. ‘Drop off should be easy, but it might be hotter on the way back.’

  ‘That’s nae problem. I’ll charge you a thousand to drop you off and another grand to bring you home, plus you pay for fuel and any repairs.’

  ‘All I need is the chopper,’ Gray told him. ‘I have a man who can pilot it.’

  ‘No way, Tom. I heard all about you and Freddie Rickard down in Malundi, and I ain’t got that kind of insurance. I pilot the bird, end of.’

  Gray had little inclination to argue. The price McGregor was quoting was a lot less than he’d expected to pay, though that was sure to rise if they didn’t get the helicopter back in one piece.

  ‘I can only carry five,’ McGregor added, but Gray assured him that was more than enough.

  ‘What about the weapons?’ Gray asked.

  ‘The AKs are nae problem, but the rest could be tricky. I’ll put the feelers out straight away.’

  ‘Just get what you can,’ Gray said. ‘The lads will meet up with you in about thirty-six hours.’

  ‘The lads?’ McGregor asked. ‘Yer no coming?’

  ‘It’s a long story.’ Gray sighed.

  ‘You surprise me. One of yer mates is in trouble and you send someone else in to get him? What the fuck happened to you?’

  ‘I’ve got a two-year-old kid,’ Gray said. ‘If I don’t make it back,
what happens to her?’

  ‘She grows up, you numpty. When she’s old enough, someone will explain what happened to you and that she should be proud of yer loyalty and dedication to those who matter.’

  ‘I tried that before and it cost me my wife,’ Gray said. ‘I’m not going to lose my daughter too.’

  ‘Oh, get over yerself. What about the kids out in Afghanistan? You think none of them have got bairns? You think they don’t have families? Yer a soldier. Start acting like one.’

  ‘Easy for you to say,’ Gray parried.

  ‘Aye, it is. I lost my boy twelve months ago to an IED. They didnae find enough of him to have a proper funeral, so don’t tell me how hard it is for you to leave yer wee ’un with a babysitter for a few days.’

  Gray had known that McGregor had a son serving in Afghanistan, but he had no idea he’d been killed.

  ‘I’m sorry, Erwin.’

  A conciliatory grunt came from the other end of the line.

  ‘As always, you make a sound point,’ said Gray. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘You do that, because when yer friend gets out and finds you couldnae be bothered to go in and get him, he’ll not be a friend for long.’

  McGregor signed off, leaving Gray with some soul-searching to do.

  Chapter 16

  22 January 2016

  ‘You sure you won’t come?’ Sonny asked as Gray walked them out to the SUV.

  Darkness had descended a couple of hours earlier, though the temperature hadn’t dropped more than a couple of degrees. Insects were already in mating mode, their shrills and chirps punctuated with the occasional croak of a frog in search of a partner.

  ‘I’m sure,’ Gray said, though he felt far from it. Until the conversation with McGregor, he’d been adamant that he would take no part beyond developing the strategy, but the last couple of hours had seen him battling internally.

  If it weren’t for Melissa, he’d have had no hesitation in signing up, despite the danger. It wasn’t dying that troubled him. Death came to everyone, something he’d reconciled himself with a long time ago. What really held him back was the thought of Melissa growing up without a family.

  He just couldn’t shake the notion that a girl needed her father.