DropZone

by Andy McNab

  ‘The x-rays look more like doormen than anything to worry about,’ she said. ‘They’re carrying, though. Both have M4 carbines.’

  ‘Hardly surprising,’ said Johnny. ‘Even though they aren’t expecting visitors, that doesn’t mean they’re going to come out here with nothing but a toothbrush.’

  ‘The M4 is a variant of the better-known M16,’ Luke told Ethan. ‘It’s been used in Afghanistan and Iraq.’ He looked at the rest of the team. ‘If those two are anything to go by, we can expect anyone else we spot to be carrying as well. The one advantage we have is that, as Johnny said, they’re probably not expecting visitors. This place is miles from the mainland. If anyone was coming, they’d count on hearing them.’

  ‘Unless they happened to drop from the sky,’ said Johnny happily.

  ‘All the same, we’ll need to get rid of those two guards before we do anything else,’ said Luke. ‘If they spot us, the mission is screwed, and so are we. Kat, Natalya – you OK for that?’

  Ethan saw the girls nod. Kat was still staring through the binos.

  ‘See anything else?’ asked Johnny.

  ‘No,’ said Kat. ‘Nothing. Hang on…’

  Everyone heard the hesitation in her voice.

  ‘What is it, Kat?’ asked Luke. ‘What you got?’

  ‘Birds,’ she replied. ‘Helicopters. Over to the right, just in front of some more woodland.’

  Luke took the binos from Kat, had a look, then passed them on.

  Ethan could just make out some oddly shaped silhouettes far off to the right and away from the castle. If Kat hadn’t said anything, he’d never have known they were helicopters; in the dark, they simply looked like strange bits of the shadowy landscape.

  ‘Three of them,’ said Kat, taking the binos back. ‘Gabe told us Sam said there were more people here than they’d originally thought. That’s why he called for backup. That’s why we’re here. Seems they turned up in style.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’ asked Ethan. ‘Why would a few more people make any difference to Sam?’

  ‘Stealing a disk from under the noses of three or four people is one thing,’ said Luke. ‘Doing it in a crowd is something else entirely. Chances of getting pinged are pretty high.’

  ‘But there was no mention of the birds,’ said Natalya. ‘Gabe would have told us.’

  ‘I know,’ said Luke, ‘and that’s what’s worrying me.’

  ‘You think this is more serious than we thought?’ asked Ethan.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Luke. ‘I’m guessing there’s more people at this party than either Gabe or Sam realized. And that’s going to make our job even harder. We’re going to have to be damned careful just to avoid being slotted.’

  Slotted, Ethan knew, meant shot. For a few seconds everyone was quiet.

  Johnny broke the silence. ‘There’s no point dwelling on it,’ he said. ‘We need to get on with the job in hand, finish it and extract ourselves – and Sam. Right?’

  Everyone nodded.

  ‘Good,’ he went on. ‘So let’s focus on what’s really important, shall we?’

  ‘What’s that then?’ asked Ethan.

  Johnny smiled. ‘How soon we get to blow shit up…’

  28

  Ethan couldn’t help but notice that Luke was the natural leader. OK, so he had perhaps three or four years on most of the others, but there was also something else about him – a quiet confidence they all trusted utterly.

  ‘Right,’ he told them, ‘this is what we’re going to do. First we deal with those two x-rays up there. Then Ethan and Johnny head for the beach, secure it, sort out the canoes and contact the sub. Avoid the clear ground in front of the ruins. Go through the woods to the right of the helicopters, OK? And take some of the Claymores.’

  Luke turned to Natalya and Kat. ‘You two will lay the diversionary explosives, draw attention away from what Sam’s got to do.’

  ‘Just a minute,’ said Johnny. ‘Don’t I get to blow stuff up too?’

  ‘No,’ said Luke, and ignored Johnny’s obvious disappointment. ‘The beach will need to be secure. That’s down to you and Ethan. You’ll have the Claymores anyway; just remember to point the damned things towards the enemy, OK? They’ll make a nasty mess of you if you get it wrong.’

  ‘But the explosives,’ said Johnny, doing his best to sound sad. ‘I’ll miss the pretty lights…’

  ‘Oh, you’ll still see them, I’m sure,’ said Kat. ‘Isn’t that right, Natalya?’

  Natalya nodded, and Ethan saw a grin on her face.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Luke, ‘Natalya’s the queen of explosives. I trust her not to blow us all up in the process, whereas you might just get a little carried away.’

  Johnny looked sorrowfully at Ethan. ‘I hate to admit it, but it’s a fair point,’ he said.

  ‘What about you?’ asked Ethan, looking at Luke. He wanted to know what everyone was doing, get all the details straight in his mind and understand his place in all of it.

  ‘Once Kat and Natalya have set everything off, I’ll turn my attention to the tent. I’ve enough flash bangs and smoke grenades to have them wandering around in a daze for hours.’

  Ethan didn’t want to ask if that was a joke.

  ‘That way,’ Luke continued, ‘Sam – wherever he is right now – will have plenty of cover and confusion to find the disk and get out.’

  ‘Then we’re out of here, right?’ said Johnny.

  ‘Absolutely,’ agreed Luke. ‘We’ll paddle out from the beach and the sub will be waiting. Nice and simple. Questions?’

  There was silence.

  Then Johnny said, ‘Isn’t this the bit in the movie where somebody says something like “Let’s rock and roll”?’

  And Ethan saw a glimmer of excitement on the face of the unshakable Luke. ‘Yes,’ he said, and turned to Natalya and Kat. ‘We need those x-rays out of the way. And it needs to be done silently. Let’s rock and roll.’

  Natalya and Kat disappeared into the darkness between them and the castle, two black shapes slipping away through the long grass.

  Luke turned to Ethan and handed him the binos. ‘Watch,’ he said.

  Ethan focused the binoculars and brought the shadowy image of the castle ruins up nice and clear.

  Nothing.

  Then something: a faint blur of dark against more dark. He had them – the girls edging forward. He lifted the binos a little; spotted the two doormen outside the tent. He could see them quite clearly in the faint glow of light coming from inside. They were smoking, talking. One laughed, the other joined in.

  Then they were gone.

  Ethan scanned left, right, looked back. No. They had definitely gone. He lowered the binos and looked back at Johnny and Luke. ‘What the hell did they just do?’

  ‘Ask the girls yourself,’ said Luke. ‘Here they come now.’

  Kat appeared at Ethan’s side. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘What’s next?’

  Ethan looked at her and Natalya. Neither of them were out of breath. ‘What did you do – with the guards? Where are they?’

  Natalya looked at him, cocked her head to one side. ‘They are asleep, Ethan,’ she said. ‘Like big babies. And how the fat one snores!’

  Kat laughed, and Johnny and Luke joined in.

  ‘But they were armed,’ said Ethan. ‘You could’ve been shot.’

  ‘And I could’ve died if you hadn’t jumped out of the plane after me at FreeFall,’ said Kat. ‘Life’s just full of surprises, isn’t it?’

  ‘I guess so.’

  ‘The tent’s pretty full,’ Kat went on. ‘Lots of chatter, the chinking of glasses. They’re definitely not expecting visitors. The two guards were the only ones about outside. Everyone else is in the tent.’

  ‘Right,’ said Luke. ‘Watches. We meet at the beach in exactly thirty minutes – on my mark.’ He paused, then, ‘Three, two, one… mark.’

  Everyone clicked their watches.

  Johnny turned to Natalya. ‘Claymores,’ he said. />
  Ethan watched as she crouched down to allow Johnny access to the bergen on her back. He could see how it saved time doing it this way, and meant she was able to react swiftly if something happened, without having to pull the bergen back on if they had to bolt.

  Johnny took what he needed and turned to Ethan. ‘Ready to go play?’

  Together they ran quickly through the thick woodland, making for the path to the beach.

  Ethan noticed that Johnny was weaving across the ground, dodging bushes, being careful to make no sound. Ethan did his best to step where Johnny stepped; he didn’t want to make mistakes, not now. Jumping from a plane was one thing; getting shot at was another matter entirely.

  Odd shadows loomed ahead and Johnny slowed. Ethan peered through the trees and saw the helicopters.

  ‘Other than skydiving, a helicopter is the only way to fly,’ Johnny muttered, then set off again, weaving left and right.

  The woodland eventually thinned, and Ethan could just make out the sound of the sea in the distance.

  Johnny had stopped. ‘We’re here. There’s the path.’

  Ethan looked and saw it stretching ahead – carved out of the cliff itself, at times dipping in under an overhang. It certainly wasn’t for the faint-hearted. He could hear waves slipping over pebbles somewhere far below.

  Johnny led the way along the path, but stopped again a few minutes later.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Ethan. ‘Did you hear something?’

  ‘No,’ said Johnny. ‘Just wait here, OK?’ And without another word, he disappeared, heading back in the direction of the helicopters.

  Finding himself alone, Ethan quickly checked the landscape. The path didn’t exactly lend itself to playing hide-and-seek, but just a few metres on he spotted what looked like a landslide partly covering the track. He decided he’d be better off hiding in the shadows than standing out on a narrow cliff path, so he jogged on down to the landslide and made himself as invisible as possible.

  For the first few minutes he focused on what he and Johnny had to do when they got to the beach. He was looking forward to seeing what the canoes were like and how a mine was laid – though he hoped he wouldn’t get to see one in action. But then, as the minutes ticked by, Ethan started to wonder what Johnny was up to – going off on his own had never been a part of the plan. What was he supposed to do if something went wrong and Johnny didn’t come back?

  But just then he heard something further up the track. Ethan peered out from his hiding place, fully expecting to see Johnny heading his way. But it wasn’t Johnny: two men suddenly emerged from the shadows above him – and he had nowhere to go, nowhere at all.

  29

  They came slowly down the path. Ethan pressed himself into the cliff face, stretched out his arms, tried to become a part of the rock. Even so, he knew the landslide wouldn’t hide him if the guys came much closer.

  And if Johnny came back, he’d walk right into them, and then they’d really be in the shit.

  Ethan could hear his heart racing. It felt like it was trying to smack its way out of his chest. The blood was drumming in his ears – he was surprised the two x-rays couldn’t hear it. But he forced himself to focus on what was going on. Panicking would do nothing, he knew that. What he had to do was think of a solution.

  The two men stopped, and Ethan saw a light flash as one lit a cigarette, passed it to his mate, then lit one more. And in that brief moment of brightness he spotted their weapons. He didn’t care what sort of weapons they were, just that things were now more than serious – one slip-up and he was dead.

  The cigarette smoke caught on the wind, drifted down past Ethan. He could smell it, taste it. He nearly coughed, but managed to stop himself.

  Then they just stood there, talking, only metres away from him. Their voices were clear, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying; whatever language they were using, it certainly wasn’t English. One of the men put his cigarette out, then nodded down the path.

  Ethan realized they were going to continue on down to the beach, and the only way for them to do that was past him – in which case he’d be discovered for sure. He remembered how important it was for the team to remain unseen on this mission. Now was not the time to pick a fight with two armed men on a narrow cliff path. He had to do something else.

  One of the men started off towards him, but the other stopped him, handed him another cigarette and a small hipflask. They both laughed.

  Ethan knew this was his last chance – either he made a move now, or he waited to be discovered. He glanced around. The path disappeared into darkness, and he wondered about slipping on towards the beach himself, but then he remembered Johnny. OK, so the idiotic, egotistical bastard had left him in the lurch, but that was no reason for him to go and do the same. He had to get out of here, make his way past the x-rays, and warn Johnny they were there – before he came running back down the path and got them both killed.

  Ethan sized up the situation. There was no way he could slip past the men. The track was barely wide enough for two people, never mind another trying to hide in the shadows. So what the hell was he going to do?

  He let his head fall back as he tried to think – and saw the cliff face rising above him. It was jagged and rough. It was climbable!

  He had to climb; it was the only way.

  Ethan slipped further down the path, further into the darkness, so that the men wouldn’t hear him. Eventually he could no longer see them, so he turned to face the rock, found some hand-holds, and started up.

  The rock was cold and cut into his hands, but at least the holds were large and easy. It wasn’t long before he was well off the path, but a glance upwards made him realize just how dangerous a position he was now in. The cliff stretched on up into the dark and he had no idea if the climbing got harder. Still, he had little choice but to press on. He kept climbing, trying to ignore the heavy bergen on his back, which threatened to drag him backwards off the cliff-face.

  Adrenaline was surging through him, but so was fear. The HAHO jump had been fine, but this? It felt mildly insane. Ethan had never done much climbing before – having to do it soundlessly, in case he got shot at, sure focused the mind. At the same time, he was aware of the minutes slipping by: surely Johnny would be back any minute. He had to move faster, reach the clifftop and get back round to the start of the path so that he could head Johnny off and stop everything from going tits up.

  But then he heard the voices of the two x-rays directly below him. He stopped, hugged the cliff, didn’t move. If he dislodged a stone onto the men below, he knew he was dead. They wouldn’t wait for him to climb down; they’d just shoot him off the cliff.

  Then his left foot slipped.

  Ethan caught himself before he fell, but the sound of his foot scraping against the rock seemed loud enough to wake the dead.

  For a few moments he stayed where he was, a shadow on the rock, hoping to God that the two men below had moved on far enough not to have noticed the noise. He strained his ears to hear their voices, and was relieved that they sounded more distant now.

  Ethan knew there was no more time to lose. He started climbing again, powering upwards as fast as he could go – foot… hand… foot… hand…

  He felt no fear now, only determination. Just because the men had headed down to the beach didn’t mean they wouldn’t be coming back up again in a few minutes’ time.

  At last Ethan could see the top of the cliff. A little further and then he was pulling himself up over the edge and onto the flat ground. He didn’t give himself a moment to think about what he’d just done or get his breath back; instead he jumped up and ran as quickly and quietly as possible to the top of the path.

  He was only a few metres from it when he saw movement up ahead. It was just a blur, a shadow moving quickly through other shadows, but he instantly recognized Johnny. Ethan knew that unless he stopped him now, Johnny would be racing down the path, totally unaware of the two x-rays below. So he did th
e only thing he could.

  He jumped, the weight of the bergen on his back adding momentum.

  For the split second that he was in the air, Ethan felt like every sense was heightened. He could hear the waves crashing on the beach below. He could taste the tang of the sea in the air around him, even smell the damp rock he’d been climbing.

  Then he crashed into Johnny – hard, tumbling him backwards into a hellishly prickly bush. Before Johnny had a chance to struggle or shout, Ethan wrapped himself round him, slapped his hand over his mouth and pulled him deeper into the bush.

  Johnny struggled, but Ethan had him fast.

  ‘It’s me,’ he hissed. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

  He felt Johnny relax and immediately let his friend go.

  ‘I had something to do,’ said Johnny. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Two x-rays on the path,’ replied Ethan, and he knew he sounded pissed off. ‘I had to do something to stop you running into them and getting us both killed. You shouldn’t have left me.’

  Johnny looked at Ethan, surprise in his eyes. ‘You were OK, weren’t you? You’re alive!’

  ‘Not the point,’ said Ethan. ‘We work as a team, remember? This isn’t the goddamn Johnny Show.’

  Johnny nodded. ‘Point taken. So what were you doing on top of the cliff?’

  ‘The x-rays came after you went,’ said Ethan. ‘I had to climb over them to reach you.’

  ‘So they’re still down there now?’

  Ethan nodded.

  Johnny looked thoughtful. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘You’ve seen them. You’ve got a better idea of the situation than I have. What are our options?’

  ‘They’re armed,’ said Ethan, the images as clear as day in his mind, ‘so we don’t want to take them on. I think we need a diversion – something to draw them away so that we can get down to the beach.’

  ‘Like what?’ asked Johnny.

  As if in answer to his question, an explosion ripped through the air, lighting up the night around them as flames and shockwaves blasted across the island.

  ‘That’ll do,’ said Ethan, and he could feel himself smiling.