by Geoff Wolak
‘Wilco, SAS.’
‘Ah, so you’re him. And now moving into my building. I guess the value of my apartment will drop.’
I smiled, but then forced it away. ‘We need to talk.’
‘Given what happened, yes, you’re damn right we do.’
After I had dumped the boxes, Smurf unloading, I knocked on the door of the major. He opened it and stood aside, letting me in.
‘Pistol under that jumper?’ he noted.
‘Always, sir.’ I took in his apartment, and the military photographs. ‘I’ll be here six months, sir, and during that time you’ll need to keep an eye out for strangers, if you don’t already.’
‘I do. Vigilantly.’
‘Be more vigilant, sir. Got a weapon?’
‘Not that I would admit to.’
‘Keep it close, sir.’
‘What happened the other day?’
‘Not now, sir, I have things to do, but I’ll pop back. When are you here?’
‘Most of the time. I’m retired.’
‘Bit young to be retired, sir.’
‘I’m fifty eight.’
‘Like I said, a bit young to be retired.’ I left him to do whatever he did during his long retirement days, and I unpacked with Smurf.
With Smurf gone at 6pm, I drove to the shops nearby and stocked up, soon back and unpacking. Hearing people on my floor, I peered through the spy hole, seeing a couple going into the apartment where the copper was supposed to live. I stepped out and knocked on his door. A puzzled face opened that door.
‘I’m your new neighbour, and I understand that you’re police.’
‘Yes..?’
‘I’m SAS, got a minute?’
He opened the door and let me in, and I said hello to the lady. ‘You an officer as well?’
‘Admin,’ she replied. ‘Gloucester.’
‘I was born in Gloucester,’ I said as the guy came and stood with his lady. ‘You local?’ I asked him.
‘No, Gloucester.’
‘Which is why I don’t recognise you, I socialise with many of the local officers. Look, I’ll make this quick. The IRA attack a few days ago ... they came for me, two local officers killed. I’m now here, but no one knows, and the government has this apartment in someone else’s name. So, I think it’s safe, and I hope it’s safe. You have a right to know, and I need you to keep an eye out for strangers.’
‘We’re cautious anyway,’ the lady said. ‘Someone Paul arrested tried to find him, that’s why we live here.’
I tapped my pistol. ‘I go armed most of the time, and I hit what I aim at, so if anyone turns up – for me or for you, they’ll regret it. Please don’t worry, no one knows I’m here, and the attack was a fluke, a local barmaid that got to know me and cashed in with the IRA. Such things are rare.’
I left them to think things over.
Fully unpacked, I made a brew, but it felt strange. I sat in each seat in turn, and they all felt strange. I even lay on the bed, and that felt strange.
Half an hour later and I knocked on the door of the retired major. He let me in without a word, but he did knock the kettle on at least.
‘What squadron were you, sir?’ I asked.
‘”G” Squadron mostly, some time with the territorial’s as quartermaster. I saw action in Aden with your RSM, but he was just a young lad then and I was a fresh captain. Your reputation is ... far-fetched, even by Regiment standards.’
‘Most of it is true, sir. But as I keep telling people, I’m just lucky. Recently I walked into an IRA ambush, but they were smoking, so I saw their cigarettes. If they had not been smoking I’d probably be dead. So ... luck is the important factor.’
‘That and good eyesight.’ He took a moment. ‘Your confirmed kills?’
I continued to scan the photographs. ‘Only an idiot would count the men he kills. Those men, the enemy soldiers, are just doing their jobs, and want to go home to their families. Who would count their deaths as trophies?’
‘A reasonable point, but unusual for a trooper.’
‘I’m not like other troopers, sir, and I passed officer selection.’
‘You did?’
‘A while back, but there was a delay and ... during the delay things happened, not least a stint in prison – for which I was later cleared and compensated.’
‘And the captain who was in your apartment before?’
‘Overseas, someone else’s guest, possibly to return.’
‘Ah. I knew him of course, he said hello. I’ve met Colonel Richards many times.’
‘Colonel Richards used to be my next door neighbour when I was a kid, we go way back.’
He placed down the tea without asking about milk and sugar. Most troopers took both without arguing; when you were handed a brew you just accepted it.
‘So, are you “E” Squadron?’ he asked me.
‘Not yet, but they keep asking.’
‘If they are asking, then you are a big fish.’
‘Remember the London Marathon, a guy shot at the end.’
‘That was you?’
‘It was. And my personal confirmed kills are over twenty, and I’ve been in less than six months.’
‘Crickey.’
‘I have six enquiries to attend in Northern Ireland. They tried to kidnap me and I shot six of them.’
‘That was you? Well, now I understand their interest.’
‘If you see anything suspicious, sir, call the base or the police.’
‘I will, you can be sure of it.’
We chatted for an hour about Aden and past tours, and like all old soldiers there was no shutting him up once he got started.
I did not sleep well, too much going around in my mind, but I forced myself to the gym, pistol in my gym bag, and forced a long run, Captain Tyler joining me at 7am. We had breakfast together upstairs.
‘You’ve moved, I hear,’ he noted.
‘Yep, plush pad. Feels a bit odd, but that will go in time. Still, building is full of police or ex-army, so many eyes looking out.’
‘I was shocked that they would come for you here, but ... after what you did to them, it’s not surprising.’
‘If we identify the shooters, I’ll take the war to them.’
‘Am I not allowed to ask about that incident at the border?’
‘What have you heard?’
‘Nothing, but you were out that night, and few could have pulled it off.’
‘Best put that idea out of your mind, sir, might cost you your career.’
‘Oh, right, yes of course. I wasn’t implying anything.’
‘You’re a good officer, and it’s best that you keep your record clean, no blemishes, if you want to make general some day.’
He smiled. ‘Maybe.’
‘Anyway, this weekend, Cardiff. I need to get away and have a drink.’
‘I’ll drive if you like, you’ve done it a few times.’
‘You’re on.’
A week later, and I was called into the Colonel’s office, with him Major Bradley and Bob Staines.
I saluted then faced Bob. ‘Bob, you should get a desk here.’
‘Grab a seat,’ Colonel Richards told me.
I sat. ‘Some intel ... I guess.’
‘Yes,’ the Colonel said, a look exchanged with Major Bradley. ‘Bob.’
Bob Staines began, ‘We have a man in the south, and he knows who shot the coppers here, and who sent them, and they’re INLA, a splinter group, but there is some cooperation going on with the IRA of course.
‘The men who shot the coppers went to London, to Amsterdam, and are now twelve miles south of the border in a remote cottage. We’ve had a look at that cottage, and it’s a large cottage, six bedrooms, an outhouse.’
‘More of a bed and breakfast ... than a cottage,’ I put in.
‘Yes, and it’s used for meetings,’ Bob explained. ‘Apparently there’s a regular Sunday night get together.’ He took a moment. ‘The men are there now, the cottage
is being used now, but it won’t be a month from now, they’re not stupid.’
‘Twelve miles south of the border,’ I noted. ‘Garda will not be best pleased if we pay that cottage a visit.’
‘It would have to be off the books,’ the Major said. ‘Two or three men, quick in and out.’
I considered their idea, making a face. ‘Be less evidence if it was just me.’
‘You may trip and break an ankle,’ the Major noted.
‘I may do, but I’ll move faster, and quieter, by myself.’
‘It would have to be out of uniform -’ Bradley began.
‘No, no out of uniform. If I do it, I do it as a rogue SAS operation, not as an individual. If I was ex-SAS I wouldn’t be going after those men, I’d be getting on with my life, so if you all want this done I do it in uniform.
‘And, Major, we share the risk, no one outside this room knowing about it. You, Major, drive me to the border, to the drop off point, and you, Major, pick me up – no one else involved.’
Bradley stared back for several seconds, before finally glancing at the Colonel. ‘Be fewer witnesses that way. No Army pickup.’
‘Are you ... keen to get them?’ Bob asked me.
‘Yes, but I’m not keen on spending the rest of my life in prison. Such a job must have the least witnesses. Who else knows about this?’
‘No one outside this room,’ Bob said. ‘I got the intel without signing for it, and no one knows I’m here today, there’s no track back.’
‘Should anyone outside this room even suspect it, I won’t get involved,’ I told Richards with firm eye contact.
‘Understood,’ he responded.
Bradley began, ‘We’d need to put a team back at Bessbrook for appearances, and then we’d need to cover your absence for a day or two.’
‘Since it’s known that I go out on patrol alone, less of a problem,’ I said. ‘I go out via the tower in Newtownhamilton. You, Major, pick me up in the car and take me to the border, and then you, Major, use my radio to call the tower every now and then; Wilco radio check.’ I faced Bob. ‘Where is this cottage?’
‘Twelve miles southwest of the Armagh border, near Annaghmakerug Loch.’
‘So, far enough away that no one will believe that I walked there from Armagh. The major drives me to the border nearby, I slip across and walk the twelve miles at night – trying not to be seen, and when I’m there I’ll make an assessment.
‘Best time to hit them would be when they leave in the morning, and I’d not try and storm the house. I may get some or all. I’d then hide all day and meet the Major the following evening at the border, and he drops me back near Newtownhamilton. And, if our car is stopped, we’re not doing anything illegal anyhow.’
‘And if you come across Garda?’ Bob asked.
‘I’d have to consider that prison term, or shooting them.’
‘We have an unmarked AK47 that would track back to the Libyan arms shipment to the IRA,’ Bob put in. ‘I can get it without signing for it.’
‘Well then, seems like we have a plan,’ I quipped.
‘And your plan for the cottage?’ Richards asked.
‘Impossible to know till I get there, sir, and see who’s at home having a sing-a-long. Might be empty.’
He nodded. ‘Might be.’ He took a moment. ‘A vehicle insert is a possibility here.’
‘And that vehicle would need signing for, people involved, fuelling. No, sir, too many witnesses.’
‘How about Swifty?’ Richards asked.
‘How about him, sir?’
‘I’d want some backup, in case you’re wounded.’
‘I trust him completely,’ I said. ‘But what if he breaks an ankle?’
‘I’m not completely comfortable ... with just one man,’ Richards said. ‘If Swifty is there, inserted separately, then he can help remove evidence.’
‘Evidence ... being my dead carcass,’ I quipped.
Bob said, ‘He could go in from the south, civilian clothes, fake ID, and I can arrange a weapon for him to pick-up in the south.’
Richards said, ‘He could be a quarter of a mile away, observing the cottage, and there if needs be. If all goes well he just legs it out of there.’
‘Is that an insistence, sir?’ I asked.
He took a moment. ‘It is.’
‘Then I accept Swifty’s limited role in this.’ I faced Bob. ‘You have a picture of that cottage?’
He pulled out photocopies of several pictures. ‘The originals are still in London of course.’
I studied the images, and the forest nearby, the lochs and the road, and then he handed over a map of the area, which I scanned. It was all straightforward. ‘Burn those.’ I handed them back. ‘South of the cottage is a dense wood, have Swifty in there for an hour before dawn, eyes on, I’d approach from the north, but the final approach I’d decide when I get there. I’d be anywhere other than south across that road.’
Bob nodded.
‘You can cover the twelve miles without being seen?’ Bob asked.
‘If I can’t then I pull back, or I go to ground and do it the second night. Give me 24hrs leeway, and I’ll call the Colonel at home with updates if necessary, some payphone.’
‘I’ll arrange for a team to go back to Bessbrook,’ the Major stated.
‘And I’ll study the map of that area,’ I said. ‘Quickest route without being seen. Bob, arrange some rain for that night.’
‘That won’t be difficult,’ the Major said.
Studying the map, I could see that it was farmland and loch tourist areas, and that a shitty rainy night was the key. Getting a tourist guide for the area, I studied the images I could find, like a spy in the Second World War about to drop into France.
That evening, Swifty buzzed my apartment and I lifted the intercom phone. ‘Hello?’
‘It’s Swifty.’
‘Come on up, fourth floor, apartment ten.’
‘I know.’
I pressed the buzzer, wondering how he knew. I waited with the door open. The lift doors finally opened. ‘How’d you know where I live?’
‘I knew the captain that was here,’ he said as I let him in.
‘Ah,’ I let out.
‘Bob said you’d grabbed the same place. Get the kettle on.’
I knocked the kettle on. ‘Has Bob briefed you?’
‘Just the outlines, rest is down to you, it’s your operation.’
‘Ah, but you’re senior,’ I quipped, making him smile.
We sat with our brews.
I began, ‘Cottage full of bad boys, supposedly the ones who shot at me, dark dense woods all around. I approach from the north, you from the south. You’re back-up in case I get wounded. So, unless you know that I’m wounded or captured ... you do nothing.’
‘Straight forward enough.’
‘You ... trust Bob Staines?’
He took a moment. ‘I’ve done many jobs for them. He’s like the Major for you.’
‘If his man in the south fucks up, you’re dead meat, and roasted dead meat first,’ I pointed out.
‘I’m careful, and if I have to meet someone I’ll check the area first and have a gun on them. I’m not that trusting.’
‘Good to know.’
‘Why you walking, you could be dropped off nearby?’ Swifty asked.
‘I’d have to trust the driver, and I have to get more people involved.’
‘It’s a risk, twelve miles,’ he noted.
‘It’ll be dark, cold and wet, few people about. Any car will have headlights on, I’ll see them a long way off. And I would have walked the last mile or two anyhow, cross country.’
‘So my part is...?’
‘Get into the wood south of the road, about two hundred yards east of the cottage, and keep an eye out. If all goes well I hit them as they leave, or I shoot up the cottage. I’d then leg it north, find a field and disappear for the day, heading back at night.
‘If the Garda are looking, they won�
��t look longer than a day, and they’ll expect a vehicle – not some idiot on foot. You head south, rest is up to you and your contact over there.’
‘Any signals?’
I considered that. ‘If I want you forwards, I’ll put a round into the trees where you are, and if all goes well – two rounds. No rounds, and I’ll be a bit dead.’
The Major assembled the team the next day, Rizzo complaining at being left out, and we boarded a chopper two hours later, but had to put down at RAF Valley because of a minor technical fault.
Sat waiting, the Major turned to me, no one else in earshot. ‘The reason you wanted me to drive you...?’
I considered his meaning. ‘Not because I wanted to test you, sir, to see if you’re brave. I just want the fewest people involved, or my luck will run out soon enough.’
‘Swifty would have just followed the plan.’
I made a face, thinking that through. ‘Then I’m more cautious than he is, or maybe less trusting. He’ll trust the contact south of the border, I’d have some reservations about that guy.’
The Major stared ahead. ‘Maybe not a bad thing, your instincts might keep you alive longer. You trust Bob Staines?’
‘To a point, and at some point he’ll screw up, I’ll get killed, and he’ll alter evidence to make it look like it was not his screw up. He’s only human.’
‘True,’ the Major noted.
Back at Bessbrook we claimed familiar rooms, more than three times as many Sigint staff than troopers, more again if you included stores and armoury and admin.
Captain Harris was tasked with choosing an OP site near the tower, based on any available intel, and we left it down to him, and the dates, but I made an injury an excuse not to go out till the Saturday night.
I told him, ‘IRA are more likely to be up to something on a Saturday night anyhow.’
He smiled. ‘They’d figure us all to be drunk.’
I got my kit assembled and checked it, Sergeant Crab with us and checking it as well, making himself feel wanted and needed, and the Borderers drove me to an agreed insert point.
With the jeeps pulling off, I clicked on the radio. ‘Wilco for Tower, receiving, over?’
‘Tower for Wilco, receiving.’
‘Wilco for Tower, I’ll be a mile due south, but wandering around. Wilco out.’
I walked across a field, a slight drizzle moistening my face mask, and halted at a gate, concealing myself. Ten minutes later a car turned up, and I checked it carefully before opening the door and easing in, awkward in my webbing. ‘Nice night for it,’ I told the Major.
