“I’ll pretend to be knocked out. Just don’t fucking hit me again. If you want money I have some in my trouser pocket. Just don’t take my fucking bank cards.”
“I’ve come for the girl. You stay unconscious and you won’t get hurt.”
“Okay, I’m unconscious now. Just don’t hit me again.”
Nok was crying.
“Did this bastard hurt you?”
“No. He didn’t hurt me.”
Danny pulled the bolt croppers from out of his trousers and cut the chain. He undressed and gave Nok the spare pair of shorts and tee shirt before he dressed again. He held the grenade in one hand and the Berretta in the other and told Nok to follow him. Before they left the room he turned to the man lying on the floor with his eyes closed.
“Stay in the room. There is going to be some shooting downstairs.”
“Okay, good luck. I’ll just stay unconscious.”
Danny sneaked along the hallway and down the stairs with Nok holding onto his shirt. He stopped before he passed the reception and pulled out the pin from the grenade. He didn’t know how long the delay was. He guessed it might be seven or eight seconds. He tossed it into the reception. The receptionist saw it and screamed out in Thai. He heard movements in the room, but they weren’t movements of panic. He heard the two Thai guards saying something and then one of them laughed. It turned out that the delay was only four seconds and the grenade went off. Inside the building it made a massive bang and shrapnel flew out through the open doorway, followed by a huge cloud of dust. The front door burst open and the two guards ran in to investigate the explosion. Only one of them had his gun drawn and ready. Danny shot him first. Three shots into the torso and the man went down. Danny shot the second man as he was pulling his gun from the back of his waistband. Three shots and he too fell down dead. Meiwa had screeched along the soi as fast as she could drive when she saw the two guards dashing inside the building. She slammed on the brakes as she got to the front door and Danny and Nok ran out and got into the car. Meiwa drove off. At the end of the soi she turned left and into the Bangkok traffic.
“Everything okay?” she asked, looking at Danny and Nok in the rear view mirror.
“It’s going to be” said Danny, as he held Nok in his arms on the back seat. Meiwa drove over the Rama IV Bridge and out of Bangkok. She headed south towards Phuket. Nok slept and Danny looked out of the window.
~12~
They dumped the car before they got to Phuket and took a taxi the rest of the way, after they had had something to eat. It had taken them nearly ten hours to get back to Danny’s hotel and the three of them went to his room. They called a doctor for Nok. Meiwa and Nok did all the talking and the doctor bandaged her up and gave her something for the pain and to help her sleep. It was already just after midnight. When the doctor left them alone, Danny reloaded the Beretta and started to head for the door.
“Where are you going Danny?” asked Meiwa.
“I’m going to see a man about a dog.” Danny closed the door behind him.
Borg was drinking whisky and listening to traditional jazz, which he had on CD. He didn’t hear Danny climbing over the gate or approaching the house. The first that he knew that Danny was there was when Danny slid open the mosquito screen that covered the doorway. Danny stepped into the lounge and pointed the gun at Borg.
“You should always keep your doors locked, you bastard.”
“What the fuck are you doing here, O’Brien?”
“You hurt my friend.”
“Yes. I really hurt her. She is a bitch and a dog. What are you going to do, fucking arrest me? It is my word against hers! You’ll never prove anything!”
“I’m not going to arrest you. I’m going to fecking kill you.”
Danny took another two steps towards Borg and saw the terror in Borg’s eyes as the realisation struck him. Borg put his hands out in front of him in a hopeless defence against the bullets. Danny fired three times. Borg was dead in the chair. On the way back to the hotel Danny rang his friend Captain Gee Wattana and told him about Wok Chin and the locked brothels. Gee had already heard about the rescue of a woman from the Mango Tree, but didn’t realise it was Nok. There were no witnesses at the scene and so he didn’t realise that Danny was involved either. Danny asked him if he could do anything about these places. Gee told him that they were already looking into Wok Chin and promised that the places would be raided very soon. It was the best he could do.
Danny went back to the hotel. Meiwa was cuddling Nok on the bed and both women were asleep. Danny had stopped off at a Seven Eleven to buy another bottle of Sangsom and some cigarettes. He looked at the two of them asleep on the bed. Nok was going to be okay and that was the main thing. He went out onto the balcony and poured himself a drink. There was a light breeze, which moved the fronds of the palm tree outside of his balcony. The air was warm and he heard bullfrogs from the hotel garden below him. They croaked as loud as buffalos’ mooed and they sounded similar. Danny had killed a man before, but only one, and that had changed his life forever. Today he had killed six people and, although he told himself that it was the right thing to do. it still weighed heavily on his heart. He hoped that someone would forgive him. He got drunk and the thoughts melted away on the alcohol fumes.
The three of them stayed in the hotel for the next few days. There was little news on the explosion or the dead bodies at the Mango Tree. Danny suspected that it was covered up and kept quiet for financial reasons. It would have been in nobody’s interest to make a big thing about it. There was no news either of any raids in the city and Danny hoped that Gee would do something to rescue the women still trapped in these places. He was sure that he would if he could. There was only a headline and one page story in the Phuket Gazette about the murder of a foreigner in his own home. The police thought that it was either a robbery that went wrong or a revenge killing because of some of the victims illegal business practices in his past. Apparently, he owed a lot of money to some Chinese gangsters. They reported that there were no leads in the case.
Nok was recovering quickly, although the terrible scars on her back would be there forever. Nok and Meiwa were already planning a big tattoo to cover the scars and asked Danny what he thought about either a big tiger or a dragon. They had photographs up on the internet and they all looked pretty impressive.
“I think I like the dragon,” said Danny.
“Yes. A Thai Dragon” nodded Nok.
It was time for Danny to go home and back to his reality. Nok and Meiwa drove him to the airport and he caught an Asia Airways flight back up to Udon Thani. Ling and the twins were waiting there to pick him up at the airport.
“I have many things to tell you Ling” he said, as soon as they got in the car.
“You don’t have to tell me, darling. I already know. I love you and I know that you love me. Nothing else matters.”
Danny didn’t doubt that Ling already knew everything. She seemed to have a way of knowing things.
“Sorry” he said. Ling squeezed his hand and smiled.
“You are two people, darling, and I love both of you. One I have all to myself, and the other I share with Nok. I know I always will. I’m happy you are home.”
“Me too” said Danny, and let his head sink into the head rest for the rest of the journey home.
~13~
The Prime Minister won the general election by a landslide and ditched their former coalition partners, the Liberal party, who came in a clear second and were now the main opposition party. Labour suffered the worst defeat in the history of the party. If the Labour party was a ship, it hadn’t just hit the rocks, it had hit them and then sunk without trace and nobody thought the scrap value was worth the salvage. Ed Militin was sacked as party leader, of course. Various labour politicians tried to grab the headlines by stating mistakes had be
en made and that Ed Militin had made them against their own advice to him. Any Labour politicians who still held dreams of power in office defected to the Liberal party in their droves. Newspapers with headlines like ‘Labour Party 1924 ~2013. R.I.P’ told the world that the left wing socialist party in Britain was dead and buried. The only conservative MP to lose her seat was Theresa, the former Home Secretary. Maybe the British public did expect their politicians to be honourable people after all!
Prince William had made a full recovery and had become a proud dad. He made a television broadcast thanking all the people involved in his rescue and talked about his new family. The Queen had sent a message of thanks to Danny O’Brien and she would later award him with another medal. The SAS soldiers would also be recognised with awards. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary telephoned Danny and thanked him for his crucial role in locating and rescuing the prince.
Danny was settling back down to a normal life with his beautiful wife, Ling, and their twins. Back home with the loving support of his family he didn’t feel the need to drink to vanquish his demons. He just farmed and took care of his family. Ling had a new project. She was building a small hospital for the village, where the villagers could get treatment, and it was free.
Nok had asked Meiwa if she had slept with Danny and Meiwa told her the truth. Nok shrugged and told Meiwa that it was okay, because Danny didn’t belong to her anyway. But she warned Meiwa that she is allowed to fuck Danny in this life, but in the next life he will belong to Nok. The two friends laughed. Nok had the work started on her huge dragon tattoo, but it was going to take many weeks to complete.
Chapter 6: The Arrest
Turkey was having problems of its own. What was popularly known in the West as the Arab Spring had finally reached Turkey, although the Turkish government would never admit that. What had started simply enough as a ‘green’ protest about the loss of a park in the capital for a shopping mall development had spread across the country. The leadership reverted to type and tried to quell the protests by force. It spread even quicker as a result. Turkey was still trying to become part of the EU (European Union) and the rest of Europe was watching. They still had grave concerns for human rights within the country and now, Turkey had a big problem. It was forced to deal with it by negotiation, just to keep the rest of Europe satisfied that it was a fit and proper country which satisfied the preconditions of becoming a member of the EU.
When the British Prime Minister contacted the Turkish leader for a favour, he simply could not say no. On a promise of support regarding the European membership issue, the Turkish leader agreed to let the British Prime Minister send special forces into southern Turkey. They were going to set up a secret camp, which would be used as a forward operating base, before the strike on the palace in Latakia and the arrest of the Syrian President. It suited Turkey to cooperate, because the refugees coming over their borders into Turkey were becoming a huge drain on resources. The Special Projects Team of the SAS flew into southern Turkey in four Puma helicopters, carrying all the equipment they were likely to need for the mission. Sgt. McGinley went along with them. The SAS troop that was already on the ground in Syria was extracted out of the country and moved up to southern Turkey, leaving just two men behind to keep observations on the palace. This time they were going to be sure the president was there when they made their strike. The mission was going to be the responsibility of thirty-five SAS men and four pilots. They had good intelligence regarding the palace stronghold at Latakia. The palace resembled a medieval castle. They had plans of the layout and the position of the barracks within the palace grounds. They knew that they would be up against two hundred loyal Syrian soldiers and four personal bodyguards, who were not going to be very far away from the President, day or night! The SAS men built a full scale model of the palace and gave themselves two days to finalise the arrest plan. In two days’ time there was going to be very little moonlight and the weather forecast had promised cloud cover. Every single member of the SAS on the mission was allowed to have an input into the plan, regardless of rank, and all the input was important. Everybody had to be as happy as possible with the plan and everybody had to know what everyone else was doing. Timing and communications were going to be vital during the raid and nothing was left to chance. There were going to be some major problems to overcome, but with a speedy, deadly strike and the element of surprise they were as quietly confident as they could be successful with the plan. They went over it again and again.
~2~
The Syrian President had been waiting for some declaration of war from the British, but it hadn’t happened. The President mistook this as a sign of political weakness and his own confidence grew. With the soldiers sent in from Iran, the Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon and the heavy weapons being supplied by Russia, the President was winning the war. It was slow and many people were dying, but he was turning the tide and he thought that the end was in sight. He had made two recent appearances on his own state run TV to announce as much to his loyal followers. He declared that all the rebels would be either killed in the battles or would be rounded up and executed as traitors. Either way their blood was going to fertilise the soil of Syria. The President of the United States had been making some TV appearances of his own, to declare that the Syrian President’s use of chemical weapons against his own people was unacceptable and would not be tolerated, but he still refused to send in any American troops. He couldn’t get agreement from the Senate as to what, if any, arms should be supplied to the rebels in Syria. Again, the Syrian President saw this as a sign of political weakness. He knew that the western world had no stomach for another fight in the middle-east.
~3~
The palace at Latakia was a coastal stronghold and was fortified against attack. It had the appearance of a medieval castle. It had bomb-proof bunkers and safe-rooms. Gunboats patrolled the sea on one side of the palace and tanks patrolled the land on the other side. Soldiers patrolled the grounds inside and outside of the palace and machine gun nests were located at strategic points around the palace grounds. Lookout posts were backed up with the latest state of the art security systems. A room was staffed 24 hours a day to monitor the CCTVs, which covered the palace walls, inside and out and every single inch of ground within the palace grounds. Every corridor and every room was covered by cameras. Each and every window in the palace was bullet proof. The President felt safe in his fortress!
~4~
Three of the SAS men were sent back into Syria to join the two men left behind. They became team One. They were going to be responsible for disabling the palace generators, which were programmed to start up in the event of a power cut. Team One was also responsible for ensuring that there was going to be a power cut. Team Two and Team Three were both six man teams. They were given the responsibility to annul any threat from the army barracks situated within the palace grounds; two buildings on the north side of the palace and two buildings on the east side. Team Four would take up position near the front entrance to the palace and hold off any reinforcements from entering the palace building. Team Five would enter the front of the palace at ground level and work their way up. Team Six would enter the rear of the palace at ground level and work their way up. Team Seven would enter the palace from the roof and work their way down. They were also responsible for arresting the Syrian President. Team Eight would also enter the palace from the roof and work their way down, eliminating any threats in support of the arrest team. All teams would then be lifted out by helicopter after the arrest of the President. It was a simple plan, but the best ones usually were.
The new moon gave off little light and, as promised in the weather forecast, the heavy cloud cover helped to filter out what little light the moon was emitting and cast the east coast of Syria in shadows. The chartered flight left Turkish airspace and entered Syrian airspace on route to Africa. It was a regular charter carrying aid supplies, only this time it
also carried 30 heavily armed SAS troops who were about to parachute out over the palace at Latakia. They would be jumping from 20,000 feet and free falling until 3,000 feet. It was a big jump. It was 2:00am Syrian time.
Team One had split into two. Two of the men had entered the local power plant and placed explosives in two locations, which would knock out the local power grid when detonated. These were the only two men who would not be picked up by helicopter. They were going to drive out of Syria over the Turkish border. The power plant had no military security. There were just two security guards and they spent most of their time watching the TV in the comfort of their guard hut. Two members of Team One had already entered the sewerage system that would lead them under the palace. It was a long trek through a dark, cold and smelly sewer. They came up in a toilet next to the generator room and smashed through the wall behind the generators. Once the generators were disabled they radioed to the other two team members at the electricity plant. The rest of the troop and the Special Projects Team were already free falling from high above in the dark cloudy sky. They could see the lights of the palace. It looked green through their night vision goggles. The fifth member of Team One was ready and waiting near to the palace walls to toss flares over the palace walls to assist the parachute landings. The two explosions at the electricity plant were huge and plunged much of the east coast of Syria into darkness. The generators at the palace failed to kick in and the palace remained in darkness. It was too far away from the electricity plant for anyone to have heard the explosions at the plant. Everyone thought that it was just another power cut and that the generators had failed. An electrician was sent down to the generator room to check. Figures dressed in black dropped from the skies above the palace like shadows, with parachutes camouflaged grey and black. Rocket propelled grenades smashed into the four army huts on two sides of the palace. At the same time there were explosions at the front and rear of the palace and on the palace roof. The President was woken from his sleep. At first he thought he was dreaming and thought that the explosions were thunder, but now he was awake and heard the machine gun fire and more explosions. The machine gun nests around the palace opened fire, but they couldn’t see what they were firing at and were killing their own men. Each nest was destroyed as RPGs smashed into them. SAS soldiers dressed in black were already running through the palace. Any doors that were locked were blown open. Anything that moved was shot dead. One to the head, two to the chest. The arrest team encountered three of the four bodyguards outside the President’s bedroom. The forth had already gone into the Presidents bedroom to protect him. The three bodyguards in the hallway were shot dead. Only one of them managed to get a single shot off and that was fired up into the ceiling. McGinley, Wiffy Watson and O’Mara were the three man arrest team and McGinley was the first man into the President’s bedroom. The President had only managed to put on his underpants and had one leg in his trousers before the bodyguard pushed him into a corner of the room and stood in front of him as a human shield. His gun was held in two hands and pointing towards the door. He was screaming something in Syrian, but panic sounded much the same in any language. He was firing the semi-automatic. Several shots went over McGinley’s head. One caught him in the shoulder, causing his own aim to be thrown off and two bullets smashed into the plastered wall only inches from the Syrian President’s head. O’Mara went past McGinley and fired at the bodyguard. One to the head and two into the chest. He fell down dead. The President was cowered in the corner.
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