by Andy McNab
Fifteen metres from the cabin he stopped. He spoke loudly and clearly, still with both arms outstretched.
'Good morning, Mr Watts. You have my word that I'm completely alone, and unarmed. I'd be most grateful if you would permit me to lower my arms and join you in the, er . . . cabin.'
There was no reply.
He sighed. I'm too old for all this, Mr Watts. I just want to talk. That's all.'
Danny checked his watch. He'd been at the ERV for nearly two hours and there was still no sign of his grandfather.
As the minutes passed, he grew more and more worried and started thinking about going off his grandfather's precious SOPs by carefully working his way back towards the cabin to see for himself what was going on.
Fergus would be furious, but Danny was used to that. Since they'd made it to Canada there had been moments of anger and long silences, with neither of them capable putting right what had gone wrong.
Danny's thoughts turned to Elena. She'd been his best friend, his closest confidante, and much more than that: he'd loved her. He still did. He knew it more every day. And he missed her.
He was thinking about the way they had talked and laughed and planned their futures when he suddenly heard the slight crack of a twig breaking.
He looked up. It was his grandfather.
Fergus saw the look of relief on his grandson's face. He smiled. 'What have I told you about staying alert at all times? You should have pinged me several minutes ago.'
Danny managed a slight smile of his own. 'I was . . . thinking.'
'Yeah,' said Fergus, nodding. 'It seems we've got a bit more thinking to do.'
Danny stood up. 'Who was it – in the four by four?'
'Dudley.' He saw his grandson's surprised stare. 'You'd better come and hear what he's got to say.'
Dudley was one of the top men in MI5. He had been behind Operation Black Star, which had ended so calamitously in New York with the death of Elena. And he had also been in ultimate charge of the earlier plan to eliminate both Fergus and Danny. It was not surprising that they were wary of him.
He had come up with the new plan for Operation Meltdown. It was daring and risky, but Dudley didn't care about that. Not any more. They had talked him into delaying his retirement; they would have to go along with his unorthodox methods. He had been looking forward to retirement, but the sense of being needed and the heavy hint at a possible knighthood if the vital operation was successful were ample compensation for the delay.
Dudley knew little about designer drugs, but when the think-tank report labelled Meltdown the most dangerous concoction ever to have come out of an illegal laboratory, he reasoned that drastic measures were required. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of lives were at risk, and there was the added dire warning of the Meltdown formula falling into the hands of terrorist organizations.
Operation Meltdown would be a complex, dangerous and dirty operation, and Dudley had decided that the person he wanted to lead his task force was Fergus Watts.
Copyright © Andy McNab and Robert Rigby, 2007
DOUBLEDAY
978 0 385 60806 0
Andy McNab joined the infantry as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was 'badged' as a member of 22 SAS Regiment and was involved in both covert and overt special operations worldwide. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993. He wrote about his experiences in two phenomenal bestsellers, Bravo Two Zero, which was filmed in 1998 starring Sean Bean, and Immediate Action. He is the author of the bestselling novels, Remote Control, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light, Liberation Day, Dark Winter, Deep Black, Aggressor and Recoil. Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK.
Robert Rigby began his career as a journalist, then spent several years in the music business as a songwriter and session musician. He turned to writing for radio, television and the theatre and has also directed and performed in children's theatre throughout the country. He has become an established young people's playwright and his award-winning work with youth theatre companies has been seen in Britain, Europe, the USA and Africa. He wrote the novelizations of the movies, Goal! and Goal II, and his scripts for television include the long-running BBC children's drama series, Byker Grove.
