V4 Vengeance

by Nigel Seed

  Ivan spoke for the other three. “We know basic SCUBA technique, but we are not familiar with the rig you have there,” he said, pointing at the contraption on the shelf.

  Martinez lifted a rebreather tank onto the bench “In which case this is going to be the driest pre-combat diving lesson I ever heard of.”

  He explained how the equipment worked and how to put it on. He explained that the rebreather equipment did not produce bubbles like a normal SCUBA kit did, so they would not need to worry about them breaking the surface. He showed them the tiny luminous markers on the underside of the swim fins so they could follow the man in front in the dark. He produced the waterproof bag they would need for carrying weapons and showed them how to use it. He then explained exactly how to swim under water using the equipment.

  He stopped. “You do know how to swim, right?”

  This time they were all able to answer honestly. Martinez made it clear that since they were not up to the swimming fitness standards of a highly trained SEAL they would be at the back of the group as they moved in. To ensure they did not get lost, a very real possibility underwater in the dark, a SEAL would be swimming each side of their group to guide them.

  They returned to the briefing room where the rest of the SEALs were working on the method of subduing the yacht with minimal risk of casualties. Having seen the men on the deck of the trawler in the satellite photographs and seen some of them in action on the island, they knew they had military training. They would need to assume then that they would be ready for an attack. With machine guns mounted around the main deck and covering the helideck, simply climbing over the rail was not an option. It would make sense that armed sentries would have been placed near the entrance of the cave to keep watch and they would be able to see into the water with ease. This was clearly a job for professionals and although Jim and his two men were experienced soldiers, they were engineers, not Special Forces.

  Ivan whispered to Geordie, “Did you ever fancy joining the SAS when you were younger?”

  “No. Never did like the beer around Hereford.”

  Andrei was listening intently to the discussions. When there was a pause in the conversation he stood and went forward. “All you say about the ship is correct and this will be dangerous. I think you have assumed that the doors in the bottom of the ship that lead to the moon pool will be closed and can only be operated from inside. Am I right?”

  They agreed he was correct.

  “Then I may be able to help. The moon pool doors will be closed almost certainly, but around the doors I have heard there is a panel where there is an external control that can open them. I do not know how the panel is opened or where it is exactly, but if you can find it that may help, I think.”

  This opened up new possibilities and the SEALs went back to their planning.

  Twenty minutes later Martinez walked back to them. “We have a plan. We just need to refine it now and get approval. It relies on that door opening panel being there. Are you sure it exists?”

  Andrei looked at him. “I am as sure as I can be. I have heard it spoken about when I was on the yacht. It was one of the special modifications Romanov had put in when he bought the boat.”

  Martinez said slowly, “That’s about all we have that will make this work. It will have to do. If the door mechanism is not there this could get bloody, are you still sure you all want to come?”

  Jim didn’t even look at his team. “We’re in, whatever happens.”

  Martinez nodded and returned to the main group.

  Ivan turned to Andrei. “I hope you’re right mate,” he said.

  “So do I, my friend. I have no wish to die in a cave of all places.”

  Andrei went off to a whiteboard at the front of the briefing room and busied himself by producing a more detailed diagram of the yacht’s layout. There would be no time once they were on board to explain where people should go.

  Chapter 49

  The plan was quickly approved by higher authority and the next briefing was called in the middle of the afternoon. Jim noticed that two of the SEALs were missing.

  He mentioned it to Martinez who said, “The briefing will explain it. They are getting into position now.”

  Jim had to be content to wait as the briefing started. The situation was as before with no direct sightings of the target motor yacht. There had been satellite passes over the island where the cave was located, looking for alternative entrances, but with no result. The simulated search was continuing with plenty of fake radio traffic for the communications people on the yacht to listen to. This included a frigate that passed by the cave side of the target island apparently on its way to search elsewhere. In fact the pass had resulted in a series of very clear photographs into the mouth of the cave. These were projected onto the screen and when blown up, two camouflaged observation positions, one on each side of the cave mouth, could just be seen. The assumption had been that these would be there, but it was good to have confirmation and an actual position for them. The cave must be deep after the bend as no portion of the boat was visible.

  The team gathered at the front of the room for the briefing. This time the three Britons and the Russian sat amongst the young SEALs. They had been accepted, at least for now. The briefing repeated some of the material from previous ones and emphasized the need to take Romanov alive if at all possible, and the cash and other material stolen from the vaults was to be recovered. The maps of the island were not helpful and the aerial photographs not much better. The photographs taken by the frigate were of much more use. They knew the water was deep enough for them to enter submerged or the yacht could not have moved in there. It was to be assumed that there were no strong currents within the cave or again the yacht would have had problems. Then came details of the assault.

  Duggan was there to brief them again.

  Geordie leaned over to Martinez and whispered, “Duggan looks fit, so how come he is just briefing and not coming on the raid?”

  “Ever since he lost his foot to an anti-personnel mine in Helmand Province, this is the closest the Navy will let him get to combat. He could take a standard Navy job but he knows our work best,” Martinez whispered back.

  The Englishmen looked at Duggan with new respect. It took courage of a different kind to stay in the service with an artificial foot.

  The detailed briefing started. “As you know, two of our people are not here. They have been taken to be positioned for a HALO drop before you arrive. They will neutralize the cave mouth sentries, so you should not be seen swimming into the cave. They will then enter the cave and if there are guards on the deck they will attempt to take them out once your assault commences. You should not rely on this and act as though the decks are fully manned by hostiles. As you enter the cave stay as deep as possible and move slowly so you do not disturb the water. With the rebreather units there will be no air bubbles so you have a good chance of being undetected.”

  Duggan looked around the room for the nods. Satisfied, he carried on.

  “The yacht has mounted machine guns on the main promenade deck and on the helideck. Assuming that these are manned and ready, entering the yacht over the side or over the stern would be impractical despite the inviting swimming platform at the stern.” He allowed himself a small smile. “Thanks to our Russian colleague here we know that the boat has a large underwater hatch that gives access to a diver’s moon pool. He believes that there is a small hatch by the access doors that give on to the external controls for these. While most of you lie quietly on the bottom below the ship, trying not to sleep, two of you,” he looked up and two men raised their hands, “will search around the access doors to find the control hatch. Once you have located it things get interesting. You will need a diversion and the two men on the walls of the cave are it. You signal them and they will ‘go loud.’ That should bring everyone to the upper decks to defend the yacht. It should also make enough noiseso the opening of those doors will go undetected. You then enter through the
moon pool and clear the boat in the standard way. You should all have familiarized yourself with Mr. Popov’s diagram by now and you have been assigned to your teams. All clear?”

  He looked around the room again as if imprinting every face in his memory. Then he said, “And when you are clearing the internal spaces what will you do?”

  This must have been an “in” joke as the SEALs chorused, “Check the corners!” and laughed.

  Andrei whispered to Jim, “They should be taking this seriously. Romanov is no laughing matter.”

  Jim looked at him, “Oh they are serious, believe me. The small jokes are what makes this bearable and eases the tension.”

  The briefing continued with timings and allocation of roles once inside the boat. The role for the four non-SEALs was to deal with any further nerve agent warheads that were found and to identify Romanov. They had an hour before they were to climb back into the stealthy boats and head toward the island which would still be invisible to the ship as they left. As usual they were taken to the mess deck to eat before they started out.

  Andrei took the chance to ask, “What did he mean about a HALO drop? What is it?”

  Martinez explained “It stands for High Altitude Low Opening. The parachutist is delivered to the target by a C-130 aircraft flying at very high altitude so it can hardly be heard or seen from the ground. The parachutist leaves the aircraft and free falls to a very low altitude before opening his chute. He is usually on the ground in seconds after the chute opens. It is a sneaky way of getting people into a place without detection.”

  Andrei had paused with a piece of steak on his fork half way to his mouth; the blood from the rare meat ran over his fingers. “That sounds incredibly dangerous. What happens if the main chute does not open?”

  Martinez shrugged. “It’s a risk,” he conceded, “but without it the risk of being shot as you land is even greater.”

  “I shall pray for your two men and beg the Lord to keep them safe,” said Andrei.

  After eating, they went back to their equipment and checked it again. Then Martinez checked it.

  Duggan came to see them. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he said. “It’s risky.”

  Andrei answered for them all. “If your HALO men can take such a risk to take down a Russian criminal, we can go for a swim in the warm, dark sea.”

  Chapter 50

  The SEAL team with the four extra men in support made their way down through the confusing complex of companionways inside the assault ship, until they were almost at water level. They paused alongside a passageway as sailors opened a large steel hatch at the end of a short steel lined corridor. The last light of the day flooded in as the sun dropped toward the horizon. They moved forward in turn and boarded a set of three inflatable boats from the doorway in the side of the ship. They shoved off from the ship just as dusk fell. Although they did not know it, the C-130J Hercules aircraft carrying their two HALO jumpers was passing overhead at high altitude as they climbed in.

  The two HALO jumpers sat on either side of the fuselage with their oxygen masks already in place, breathing slowly and calmly. As they neared the island the aircraft crewman clipped his safety harness to the ring in the side of the fuselage and opened the rear cargo hatch. A small red light in the panel above him came on and the two SEALs stood up and walked carefully to the start of the hatch door. It was cold up here, really cold. They could feel it even through the insulated jump suits.

  The green light came on and the crewman waved them out. They walked briskly to the end of the cargo door and stepped into space, immediately adopting the free-fall position to control their precipitous flight. They plunged downwards toward the thin cloud layer. Up here they were still in the sunlight, but the island below them was already dark. Both men checked their position and the altimeter on their chest constantly, this was no time for a mistake. They reached terminal velocity and the island climbed up toward them rapidly.

  At the last possible second they triggered their parachutes and the violent deceleration punched the air from their bodies. By the time they took their next full breath the island was just feet below them. They adopted the landing position and rolled onto the ground. They continued to roll rapidly back into an upright position and ensured that their parachutes collapsed and did not drag them into the sea. They checked around for any sign of activity before collecting their parachutes into a ball that could be hidden away from prying eyes.

  The parachutes were stuffed down into the sand and weighted down with their harnesses to avoid detection, should the target yacht crew have any patrols watching the top of the island. They then took cover to orientate themselves before moving. Once they were sure of their position they took a compass bearing and moved carefully toward where they knew the cave entrance to be. Approaching the cliff edge they went down on to their bellies and slithered forward until they could see down to the sea below.

  They could see the small waves breaking against the rocks, except directly below them where the water swept smoothly into the cave. They spread out, one to each side of the cave entrance and fixed their black climbing ropes at the top of the cliff. Silently they stood with their backs to the sea and started to walk backwards down the cliff face using an abseiling technique. This was their most vulnerable time; if they were seen by the sentries the mission was finished before it started. They had taken precautions by dropping well wide of the entrance. They would work their way inwards once they were at a suitable height.

  The two men continued down until they were level with the point at which the two camouflaged sentry points had been seen from the passing frigate. They unclipped the ropes and began to move slowly inwards from each side, keeping close to the cliff face.

  Although the two guards were well hidden, from normal view, the night vision goggles identified their heat signatures clearly as bright green figures against the cooler rock of the cave. Using a series of code clicks, through the short range communication headsets, the two SEALs would wait until they were both in a good firing position. Even if those in the yacht’s communication room heard the clicks they would have no way of knowing how far away they were or what they signified.

  Out at sea the boats were traveling at speed in a close line abreast formation. They were not heading directly for the cave where their wakes might be seen approaching. They were aiming to arrive at the island out of sight of any watchers inside the cave mouth. They would then skirt slowly around the shore until they were within easy swimming distance to allow the divers to move in. They would not be in communication with the two HALO parachutists until they were almost at the entrance to the yacht’s hiding place and even then there would be no radio chatter.

  The night was clear and the sea was calm which made for a swift and comfortable passage, although cloud and rain would have made it safer. The island raised itself over the horizon off to starboard as they drove forward. From here they would be out of sight of the sentries, but they stayed on course for another fifteen minutes before turning in to their objective. The cliffs of the island rose before them; the only narrow beach was away to their left and shielded by a submerged reef, making a night approach highly dangerous for a rubber boat.

  As they neared the island the helmsmen slowed the boats down to reduce the wake. On a flat calm night like this even the wake of small boats might be noticed by an alert sentry. They came to within a hundred meters of the craggy shore and turned to follow the towering cliffs toward the cave entrance. The boat carrying Jim and his group was at the back of the three now moving in line astern. That would put them at the back of the swimming group when they entered the water so they had less chance of getting lost. Martinez had taken over command in place of Wallace and had been replaced as their minder by another two SEALs, who had not introduced themselves. They would swim on either side of the four non-SEALs to guide them and keep them together.

  As the boats crept along the shore every few minutes there were two clicks in the earpiece of Jim�
�s short range radio. Then he heard the two clicks answered by three clicks. They were in range of the HALO drop men. The cave entrance must be close. The three helmsmen took the engines out of gear and allowed the boats to drift.

  Chapter 51

  Up on the cliffs the two SEALs now moved slowly and carefully into a firing position on either side of the cave entrance. To give themselves a clearer shot, the one on the left of the cave entrance would take the sentry inside on the right side of the cave, and the one on the right would take the left one. This increased the range slightly, but meant that they did not have to lean into the cave to find their targets who were set back a little, to avoid being seen from above.

  The night vision goggles clearly showed the two targets sitting behind their camouflage netting watching the sea. A click in the headset and two rapid quiet cracks from each of the suppressed weapons sent the two sentries slumping against the walls of the cave. The loudest noise was the coffee flask of the left hand man being knocked over as he slid to the floor of his camouflaged hide. They waited to ensure there was no further movement, from the two downed sentries and then sent three radio clicks before moving into the cave mouth. They eased their way past the sentry posts, pausing only to check their targets for a pulse, then carried on into the cave on either side of the water channel below them.

  Hearing the three clicks, outboard motors were put back into gear and the boats moved slowly to within two hundred meters of the cave entrance. They stopped again, closed up to each other, stationary in the water. The pathfinder checked yet again that all his people were ready and gave the signal to enter the water. To avoid any noise, the SEALs did not throw themselves backwards into the water, but slipped quietly over the side. Once they were all in the water, the pathfinder set out for the cave, submerging as he went. The rest of the team followed.

  For the non-SEALs, swimming underwater at night was a strange new experience and for Andrei, who had never dived before, quite a frightening one. He remembered what he had been told back on the assault ship and brought his breathing back under control. He saw the small luminous markers on the fins in front of him and followed them forward and down. As he dropped lower, the SEAL to his left placed a hand on his arm and signaled that he was deep enough. Even modern rebreather equipment has a depth limit.