by Andy McNab
Reg 2 would be looking at the display on his sat nav (global positioning device, via satellite). All he wanted was one bar in the center of the display.
Technology is wonderful. We were traveling at about thirty-five knots; the canopy gives you twenty knots, and we were running with the wind, which was fifteen.
I checked my height--just over twenty-eight grand--good. Checked the sat nav, good. That was it. Everything was done: the oxygen was working, we were stacked. Time to get comfy. I got hold of the risers that attached the canopy to the rig, and pulled myself up and wiggled my legs to move the leg straps halfway down my thighs.
For the next thirty minutes we minced along the sky, controlling the rig, checking height and the sat nav. I started to see lights now. Small towns and villages with streetlights following the roads out of the built-up areas for about half a mile, then darkness, only car lights giving away the road.
I looked at my alti. I was about 16,200 feet. I thought, I'll just go for a few more minutes and I'll take my oxygen mask off. The fucking thing was a pain in the ass. If I started feeling the effects of hypoxia dizziness, I'd bring the mask back to my face and take a couple of deep breaths. By now I was just under 16 grand; my mouth was full of saliva and it felt all clammy. I got hold of the clip with my right hand and pulled the press stud off, and the thing just fell down and dangled by the left-hand side of my face.
I could feel the cold around my mouth where all the moisture from the mask had been. I was freezing, but it was nice; I could stretch my mouth and chew my jaw around a bit.
After about ten minutes I checked my alti again: 6,500 feet, time to start working. I put on my NVGs (night viewing goggles), which had been hanging around my neck on para cord and started looking for the flash on an IR Firefly (infrared detecting system). It was the same flashing light that you would expect to see on the top of a tall tower to warn aircraft, but these are just little handheld things that throw out a brilliant quick flash of light, through an IR filter. No one would see it apart from us--or anyone else with NVG, of course. I kept looking in the darkness. It would be easy to pick out. Bang--there it was to my half right.
We were coming in on finals. I was concentrating on keeping myself positioned right on top and to the rear of Reg 1 's canopy, which was larger than mine as he had the extra weight to jump with. I heard him below me sounding like a nursery-school teacher.
"Right, any minute now. Keep your legs bent and under your hips. Are your legs bent?"
She must have acknowledged. I pulled the NVGs off my face and let them hang.
"OK, put your hands up by me." I imagined her with her hands up, holding Reg 1 's wrists on the brake lines to keep them out of the way so she didn't damage herself if they took a bad landing.
I couldn't see any ground yet--it was far too dark--but I heard:
"Standby, standby. Flaring soon ... flaring ... flaring ..."
Then the sound of his bergen thumping into the ground, and his command to Sarah: "Now!"
His canopy started to collapse below me as I flew past. My bergen was dangling by the straps from my feet; I kicked it off and it fell beneath me on a three-meter line. As soon as I heard it land, I flared, too. Hitting the deck, I ran along for three or four steps, turned quickly and pulled my lines to collapse the canopy.
A body appeared behind me. Regs 3 to 6 had been on the ground for five days preparing the job and were manning the DZ (drop zone). Fuck knows how they'd inserted in-country, and I didn't care.
"You all right, mate?" I recognized his voice. Glen, the only one whose name I knew, was the ground commander. He looked as if you'd hear steely Clint Eastwood when he opened his mouth, but in fact what you got was softly spoken David Essex.
"Yeah. Fine, mate, fine."
"Let's get all this shit off."
Within minutes our rigs, sniper suits and oxygen kit had been stowed in large bin liners and we were aboard two Toyota Previas, the drivers wearing NVGs, bouncing along the desert floor, heading for a light industrial estate on the outskirts of a town less than a mile from the Golan Heights and the border with Israel. All of us were dressed the same, in green jump suits, with civilian clothes underneath as part of the E&E (escape and evasion) plan, plus belt kit and our own choice of boots. Mine were a pair of Nike hiking boots, which we'd checked were available in any Tel Aviv main street.
Glen and I went way back. We had done Selection together in the early Eighties, and had got to know each other later while chatting up the same woman, who was now his wife. He was the same age as me-late-thirties--had a swarthy Mediterranean look and a few moles on his face which were sprouting hair, and he always needed a shave. Constantly smiling, he was one of life's good guys--in love with his wife and two kids, in love with his job, probably even in love with his car and the cat.
For the last five days they'd been preparing and placing an explosive attack on an electricity substation, which was going to close down the town while we hit the target, and I knew that Glen would have enjoyed every minute of it.
"We're at the drop-off point."
If we had to talk it would be in a low whisper from now on. As we clambered from the vehicles I motioned to Sarah for both of us to stand out of the way. We got underneath one of the small stumpy trees that made up this olive grove, the stars giving us just enough light to move in without bumbling. The thing I'd always loved most about the Middle East was the stars; it felt as if you could see the whole universe, and so clearly.
The Regs were putting their berg ens on and sorting themselves out.
The glow of the town could be seen coming from the dead ground about five K-s beyond the target. The night air was cold after the warmth of the people carrier and I couldn't wait to get moving.
The driver came over, holding up a small magnetic box.
"The keys," he said.
"Both vehicles, rear near-side wheel arch."
I glanced at Sarah as we both nodded. She had a smaller bergen than mine, containing her trauma kit, with fluid, and anything else she would need. Once the patrol kit was packed, what else went in was down to personal choice.
Glen joined us with a jolly "You OK?," as if he felt he had to bolster Sarah's morale.
She looked at him blankly and said, "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
There was a pause as he let the tone of her reply sink in. He didn't like it.
"OK, let's go." He pointed at her.
"You, behind me. Nick, behind her, OK?"
On the track between the olive groves I could see shadowy figures shaking out into single file. My only job was to protect her; we hadn't let Glen in on this, but if there was a drama, the two of us were going to fuck off sharpish. We'd just let them get on with it and die. As we joined the snake I wondered about the times I'd done jobs while in the Regiment, not realizing that no one really cared.
We moved off into the shadows, weapon butt in the shoulder, index finger across the trigger guard, thumb on the safety catch. Sarah was carrying only a Beretta for self-defense. We were there to do everything else for her.
For about forty minutes we moved through wide groves. When we finally stopped I could hear only the crickets and the wind in the trees.
Ahead of us now was the target, a row of six or seven low-level, brick faced light industrial units with flat aluminium roofs and windows. The entire complex was surrounded by a three-meter-high chain-link fence, with just one entrance, which was gated off for the night. The road was lit by yellow street lamps every thirty meters, and there were floods on the fronts of the buildings, facing down the walls and lighting up the shutters.
There were also lights on in some of the units, but no sign of movement.
Apart from the fence there seemed to be no security, which would be about right for units that supposedly housed nothing more serious than JCB spares.
The buildings gave off enough light for us to see what we were doing, but we were still in the shadows of the grove. Glen came alongside me and s
aid quietly, "This is the FRV (Final Rendezvous). The target ... if you look at the nearest building on the left..."
We were looking at the long sides of three rectangles. He indicated the closest one.
"You see the lights on?" I nodded.
"All right, count three windows from the left. That's where we reckon he is or was last night." The "reckon" would have been a bit of a judgment call: the latest pictures we had of the Source were three years old. I didn't even know his name. Only Sarah did, and only she could positively identify him.
I could make out two small mobile satellite dishes and a wire half-wave dipole antenna on the roof, looking like the world's longest washing line.
You didn't need that lot for road building.
I sat against a stubby tree while the patrol prepared itself, bringing out kit from their berg ens very slowly to eliminate noise. There was no light from the town to the north, which was lost completely in the dead ground.
Reg 1 and 2 checked in with Glen, then moved off. Glen pulled an antenna out of a green twelve-by-eight-inch metal box and began to press buttons. I didn't have a clue what the box was called, but I knew what it did. A little red light came up, which no doubt was a test to make sure he had com ms with whatever devices were rigged up at the electricity substation that supplied the power to this area. I imagined they'd be using a number of small stand-off charges, something about the size of a Coca Cola can, to penetrate the cast-steel casings. All they'd need to do was make a hole big enough for the coolant to drain out of and the generators would quickly burn themselves out.
Sarah wanted confirmation about the target. She pestered Glen, "Are you sure that's the building? Are you sure he's in there?" He was already pissed off with her, and told her politely that she might be in overall command but he was the commander on the ground, so shut the fuck up and let him do his job. Good one, Glen, I thought.
We were kneeling around him at the edge of the grove as he made his final checks on the target and confirmed the orders with the rest of us.
There were no changes to the plan. It was Sarah who would give the final Go or No Go now. She nodded at him.
"OK, everybody, here we go." Glen got his box of tricks and pulled up the antenna the last few inches.
"Standby, standby ..." I heard the click of a button being pressed. There was a delay of about two seconds, then a bright flash in the distance, beyond the glow from the industrial units.
Then, after twenty seconds, there was total darkness as the lights went out in the compound.
Glen was back to enjoying life, despite Sarah's presence. He grinned.
"OK, let's go."
We moved off at a slow jogging pace along the edge of the trees. Once level with Reg 1 and 2, we turned left over the waste ground and went straight for the fence. They were pulling at the straight line of the cut they'd made, making a big upside-down V for us to get through.
We took advantage of the darkness and sprinted the fifty meters to the target building. There was the odd outburst of hollering and shouting through an open window--nothing frantic; the voices just sounded pissed off that the power had failed, probably halfway through the Syrian version of East Enders. Now and again I saw the glint of flashlights from inside.
We reached the edge of the target building and everybody got against the wall, Glen looking toward the nearest corner. Around that, to the left and next to the shutters, was our entry point. Sarah was between us, catching her breath and trying to keep the noise down.
The other three in the crew were on their knees, nearer the corner. If the door was locked they'd have to blow it. They started to get the prepared charges from their belt kit. I watched as they worked together, slowly unwinding the det cord, which looked like white washing line, but was filled with high explosive.
They stood up with the charge. Everything was nice and slow and controlled.
As they started to move, the door burst open.
Voices were shouting in Arabic from around the corner. The door charge was quickly placed on the ground. I saw hands reach into belt kits.
They would have to remove the threat, but quietly.
The voices got closer and closer and I could hear the sound of flip flops slapping against feet. Two boys rounded the corner wearing sandals, arm in arm, both smoking and still shouting about something, maybe what Grant Mitchell was up to in the Queen Vie.
Two of the Regs climbed aboard them, and almost at once I heard a distinctive buzz and crackle. The boys were getting Tazered good style, at the same time as being dragged out of sight toward us. Tazers are cattle prods for humans. As the two electrodes touch a body, you press a button and 100,000 volts zap through the target. They are a great weapon as you can hold the victim at the same time as you fuck them up big time, without getting zapped by the current yourself.
As the blokes got them down on the floor, I could hear them moaning and groaning under the hands that covered their mouths. They were still being dealt with as Glen put on his NVGs. We did the same.
Glen looked back at Sarah to check we were ready. Following his cue, we moved toward the corner with Sarah still between us. It was now one of those situations that couldn't be stopped. We just had to get on with it.
The fuck-it factor had taken over.
We piled in through the door. A Reg secured the entry point and waited for the other two to join him, dragging the two dazed Syrians. The corridor was dark and silent. In a loud whisper Glen said, "With me, with me, with me." We moved like men possessed down the breeze-block passage, the world through our NVGs looking like a light-green negative film.
We turned right, and through the windows to our left I could see the outside of the building; on the other side there were plywood internal doors leading, I guessed, to rooms or offices. The smell of cigarettes, cooking, coffee and the sweat of not too much air conditioning was almost overpowering.
We came to a T-junction. Glen stopped on the left, Sarah right up behind him. I came up level, on the right. I wasn't too sure which way we were heading. Glen would tell me. I looked over and he was moving hisIR flashlight beam, attached to his weapon, to the right.
I cleared the corner, moved forward three or four meters and stood my ground, waiting. I knew Glen would be clearing the other way. I saw his weapon'sIR splash against the walls as he turned toward me, then they both passed on my left. Sarah still had her pistol bolstered and was keeping close to Glen. The floor was tiled or concrete, it was hard to tell which.
All I knew was that there was an echo of footsteps and squeaking rubber as we moved.
Glen stopped and pointed at a door. He took his weapon out of the shoulder, put his back against the wall to the left and reached for the door handle. I moved to the opposite side, weapon still up in the shoulder, ready to make entry. He nodded; I took off my safety and nodded back.
He turned the handle and I moved inside, pushing the door with me.
I was blinded. The NVGs were totally whited out. It was as if someone had let off a flare in front of my face.
Glen shouted, "The fucking lights are back on!"
I fell on my knees and ripped off the NVGs, blinking hard as I tried to get back some normal vision. I made out movement in the right-hand corner and rolled to the left, trying to make myself a harder target. As my eyes adjusted I saw a middle-aged guy, his head bald apart from wiry side hair. He was curled up against the far wall, his hands protecting his face, flapping even more than I had just been as you do when, just as the lights come on, a man with a weapon bursts in on you. Fuck it; they must have had standby power.
I became aware of bits of electronic machinery PCs, screens and computer stuff all over the place, whirring and crunching now the power had returned.
I lifted my weapon into my shoulder and pointed it at him. He got the message. I called for Sarah.
She came in and confirmed, "That's him." She gob bed off in Arabic and he immediately did as he was told, sitting down on the sofa against the other wa
ll, away from the desk with all the machinery on it. He didn't move; his eyes were like saucers, trying to work it all out and listen to Sarah at the same time.
From my bergen, I pulled out six magnesium incendiary devices. All I needed to do was to get them sparked up and we could be on our way.
It was then that Sarah pulled a laptop and some other gear from her bergen and started plugging it in and revving things up, still talking to the Source, referring to the Arabic script displayed on two of the screens. He replied at the speed of sound, trying his best to stay alive.
I was confused. This wasn't in the plan. I tried to keep a calm voice.
"Sarah, what are you doing? Come on, it's time to go."
Glen stayed outside in the relit corridor, giving protection. I knew he would feel exposed soon and would want to move out. After all, we'd got who we'd come for. I said, "Sarah, how long's this going to take?"
She was still scrolling down the screen. I was getting pissed off. This wasn't what we were supposed to be here for.
"No idea--just do your job and keep everyone back."
I needed to underline the problem we faced.
"This is going to turn into a gang-fuck soon, Sarah. Let's just grab him and go."
She wasn't even looking at me, just hitting one of the keyboards.
The Source sat tight, looking as confused as I felt.
Glen was starting to get agitated. He stuck his head back into the room.
"How much longer?"
She said, "What's with you people? Wait."
Sarah seemed gripped by the information she had before her. I walked toward her, trying to be the good guy.
"Sarah, we've got to go. If not, we're in a world of shit." I grabbed her arm, but she pulled away and glared at me. I said, "I don't understand the problem. We have the Source, so let's grab him and go."
