Capital Falling Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Winkless, Lance

  “Very good, Sergeant, that is the back-up plan in case the electronics thing doesn’t work. I want your full attention and concentration on cracking the electronics, so study the schematics, draw it up on paper and imagine the steps in your head, whatever it takes to get it printed into your brain, understood?”

  “Yes Sir,” he says vigorously.

  “Lance Corporal Watts,” I call.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Have you used a plasma cutter before?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good, are you familiar with the one you will be using?”

  “I don’t know until it arrives, Sir.”

  “Well, when it gets here, I want you to familiarise yourself with it. You are tasked with cutting the safe free if needed. I want you to ensure it is working, so practice with it, find something to test it on; cut the axles through on one of the vehicles outside if you need to, just make sure it works, as we can’t afford any surprises, understood?”

  “Yes, Sir,” Watts says over-enthusiastically.

  “Carry on,” I tell them and leave them to their work.

  The other Special Forces men are double-checking their kit and getting what they need over by the roller shutter door, ready to load onto the Lynx. There isn’t that much kit to load, most of it staying in piles on the floor of the hangar. We are flying in on a short mission so it is mainly only combat equipment, firearms basically, and there is no need for provisions or sleeping gear, etc.

  Josh and Alice have finished checking the equipment that was here when we arrived at the hangar. They have identified what equipment we will need and what is surplus to requirements, also. I go over to check how they have done.

  “Good job you two, there is enough firepower here to start a small war,” I say looking around the equipment.

  “It’s not far off,” Josh says. “How are you feeling about this mission, Dad?”

  I notice Josh call me Dad; he could be looking for some fatherly reassurance, and I guess he and Alice both are. They are both young and quite green, and the action they went through yesterday was their first real experience of battle. It takes time to sink in and come to terms with. I know that very well.

  “I’m confident; we have an achievable goal, a top-notch team and Dan.” My joke has the desired effect by lifting the mood slightly. “Are you two okay with your mission roles?”

  “I am, Andy,” Alice says, “the mission comes first, and you need your best people on the ground. I understand that we will cover your backs, won’t we Josh?”

  “Yes Dad, I’m good with it. You have got to concentrate on the mission and I would be a distraction down there for you. Alice is right, you can count on us,” Josh says and then taking me by surprise, he comes and gives me a man hug. “You’ve got this, Dad,” he tells me into my ear, and I squeeze him tighter.

  “Thanks, Champ,” I tell him as we release. “I wasn’t expecting that,” I say pointing to the new men with my eyes.

  “They know you’re my Dad, I was speaking to them earlier and they were asking about you, so I told them. They ribbed me a bit, but only banter, they seem good lads.”

  “Yes, they do,” I agree. “Right, the transport will be landing anytime now, so let’s get the roller shutter open.”

  “Boss, can I have a word?” Dan says, he is sitting with Lieutenant Winters.

  “I’ll do the roller shutter,” Josh volunteers.

  I tell him thanks as I go over to Dan and the Lieutenant.

  “What’s up?”

  “The weather the Colonel mentioned, it looks like it’s going to be bad and I mean really bad. The forecast says thunder and lightning and storm-force winds for the London area,” Dan tells me with a stern look on his face, knowing the implications for the mission.

  “Time?”

  “Still estimated for 1600 hours, but that’s an estimate, it could come in earlier?”

  “Bloody hellfire!” I curse our luck and turn away from the two men to think.

  I hear the motor of the roller shutter start up; it freewheels for a second until the slack is taken up and the lifting starts; it knocks constantly then as each separate slat starts to lift, and it then whines all the way up until it comes to a juddering halt at the top.

  A weather forecast as bad as this has serious ramifications for any mission, and many I have been involved in have been bumped to the next day or cancelled completely because of such a forecast. To make matters worse, we are flying in and that can’t be changed; there is no option to adapt and drive in instead for obvious reasons, and this mission cannot be cancelled, so I don’t need the Colonel to tell me that. Suddenly, Josh and Alice staying on the helicopters isn’t looking so secure. Fucking Hell!

  “Okay, we are still a go,” I tell the two men, urgently. “We will go as soon as we are ready. We can still get in and out before the weather comes in, agreed?”

  “Yes, Boss, agreed, it's tight but do-able.”

  “What’s the ETA on the Lynx?” I ask the Lieutenant.

  “Inbound, Captain, two or three minutes.”

  “Okay, good,” I say trying to sound positive. “And the other equipment we need?”

  “All the equipment is loaded onto the Lynx,” the Lieutenant informs me.

  “Very good. Dan, inform the men please, no mistakes, but we need to go as soon as we are ready, briefing as soon as the pilots arrive.” Dan gets up and heads off to inform the men.

  “Anything else we need to know?” I ask the Lieutenant.

  “I have set up communications, Captain, I will oversee the mission from here, I have secured our own channel so we are set at my end, and I have nothing else to report.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

  Josh and Alice are over by the roller shutter, basking in the fickle sun, watching for the helicopters approach. I walk over to them.

  “Everything okay?” Josh asks.

  “Storms are forecast at 1600 hours. We are pulling the mission forward again, and we go as soon as we are ready,” I tell both Josh and Alice.

  “You Brits and your weather, can’t you sort it out?” Alice jokes.

  “I wish we could,” I tell the American.

  “This looks like our transport,” Josh says, his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun as he points into the air.

  “Transport inbound!” I shout into the hangar as I see the two helicopters approaching, so that everyone is aware things are about to speed up.

  Dan and a few of the other lads come over to see, but Sergeant Dixon and the two other men stay inside to concentrate on the mission goal.

  As the first Lynx homes in on our position, Corporal Downey steps out onto the concrete expanse outside the hangar, heading to the right past the vehicles that are parked up, and he starts to signal to the helicopter's pilot. He is directing the first Lynx to land to its left-hand side of the hangar and sure enough, the pilot starts his descent following the Corporal’s direction.

  As the Lynx closes in on its landing spot, we start to feel the downdraft and the decibels start to rise from its rotors and engine. The pilot brings the helicopter in swiftly, lifting the nose as he angles in, almost as if he knows the urgency of the turnaround we need to achieve. Corporal Downey is directing him all the way. The wind gets severe as the pilot descends the last few meters to the ground and I can imagine Sergeant Dixon behind me holding his paper plans down, so they aren’t blown and scatter everywhere. He’s cursing.

  The first Lynx touches down with a bump and immediately, the pilot kills its engines, this gives us small respite though, because the second is already making its approach and coming in just as swiftly as the first. Corporal Dixon has run over to the left of us so that he can aid the second pilot with his descent and before we know it, the two Lynx helicopters that will transport us on our mission are parked up in front of us!

  “Well done, Corporal,” I congratulate as the noise of the second engine winds down.

  The first pilot is alr
eady climbing down from his ride and the second one is opening his door to get out. I walk out to greet the first pilot as he hits the ground. To my relief, the first pilot isn’t a youngster like the one we managed to overpower so easily yesterday, on top of the Orion building. This one is more mature and judging from his descent, is a very capable pilot.

  “Captain Richards,” I say as I reach him, extending my hand.

  “Wing Commander Buck,” he says, shaking my hand firmly. “This is your mission isn’t it, Captain?”

  “Yes, and I assume you know the weather forecast?” I reply as we walk to meet the other pilot.

  “I’m afraid we do; it is looking particularly bad. This is Flight Lieutenant Alders,” the Wing Commander says as he introduces me to the other pilot, who is younger than him but still in his late twenties, I would estimate.

  “Captain Richards.” I introduce myself and shake his hand. “We are pulling the mission forward to as soon as we are ready to try and miss this weather, but my team need to familiarise themselves with the equipment you should have on board,” I tell them both as we all walk back toward the hangar.

  “All the equipment is on board my Lynx, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Wing Commander, I will get it unloaded,” I say.

  “Please call me Buck, Captain.”

  “Okay, thanks, Buck.”

  We enter the hangar and I ask Dan to get everyone together for the briefing.

  “Oh, I nearly forgot,” Buck says as he unslings a rifle from his shoulder. It was hanging on his back and I hadn’t noticed. He hands me the rifle, an M4 Carbine, my M4 Carbine! “I was asked to make sure you got this,” he tells me.

  “Brilliant, thanks,” I say as I look down at my M4 and then check it over. “Lieutenant Winters,” I shout across the hangar, holding up the gun. “Thanks,” I tell him when he looks up, he gives me a smile and little flick of a salute in acknowledgement. The M4 is as I left it, but I will check it over properly after the briefing; for now, I go over and put it on the table.

  With my team now fully assembled, it’s time to get the briefing done, so I turn from the table, crossing my arms across my chest ready, and wait for them all to gather from around the hangar.

  “Gather ‘round, gather ‘round,” Dan says as he arrives at my side and everyone quickly does. Josh and Alice are at the front right, the two pilots on the left, with the helicopters outside behind them through the open roller shutter, and the Special forces lads are mixed up in the middle and I am pleased to see them that way.

  “Okay, firstly, thank you for your attention,” I start. “You all know why we are here and how important this mission could prove to be; this virus has got to be stopped at all costs, for the sake of London and possibly the whole country, beyond even. I expect everybody to bring their A-game to this mission, full commitment and no excuses! We know the goal and we cannot fail, is that understood?”

  “Yes Sir!” everybody says in unison.

  “The pilots who have just arrived are Wing Commander Buck and Flight Lieutenant Alders, make yourself known to them. Wing Commander Buck will carry myself, the SBS Troop and Josh, while Dan, the SAS Troop and Alice will go with Flight Lieutenant Alders. That way, each Lynx will have one of the options for sorting the safe onboard. Lieutenant Winters will oversee the mission and comms from here, understood?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “The bad news is that the weather is going to be shit at approximately 1600 hours, so we need to get underway as soon as we are all ready. I am particularly referring to Sergeant Dixon and Lance Corporal Watts; your equipment is here, so as soon as you are satisfied that you are set, we will get underway, so be as meticulous and as quick as you can. I know that is a contradiction, but that’s the way it is, understood?”

  “Yes Sir,” both Dixon and Watts reply.

  “Our plan is a simple one in theory, but it heavily depends on what we find when we get to the target as the aerial pictures will only tell us so much. We fly to the target, which is an estimated ten-minute flight time, and we’ll recce the target area and eliminate any x-rays in the target area that may cause a threat, and then fast-rope onto the roof of the building. Josh and Alice will stay onboard the Lynx to provide air cover, so you two work with the two pilots to familiarise yourselves with the door guns, in case you need to use them.

  “Once we are on the roof, the first thing is to make sure it is secure, Dan will brief you on the building layout and team areas in a minute.

  “The following will stay on the roof to provide cover for the insertion team: Dan, Collins, O'Brien, Downey and Thomas, and again, Dan will give you your positions. That leaves the following as the insertion team to secure the safe: Dixon, Simms, Watts, Kim and me, understood?

  “Yes, Sir,”

  “Good, as soon as we have secured the contents of the safe, we get out and return to base. If you think this mission sounds easy, you are mistaken; we are going deep behind the enemy’s lines, the enemy is fearless and ferocious, and it will go to any lengths to get its prey and that prey will be us. There will be no backup, we only have a small window of time and this mission cannot fail.

  I have full confidence in this team and I’m confident the mission will be a success, so let’s watch each other’s backs and get this done!”

  “Yes, Sir!” the whole team replies with determination.

  “Dan will now go through the building’s layout, team tasks and positions. All yours, Dan,” I finish.

  Dan turns to the flip chart easel standing next to him, with a hand-drawn plan of the building drawn in black marker pinned to the front. He starts to brief the team on the building’s layout, including the roof and inner layout, paying particular attention to the layout of floor seven that the safe is on and Sir Malcolm’s office. He points out on the drawing and explains to each member of the team their required positions both on and in the building in detail, and their tasks. He goes through it again and again; any questions are answered until everyone is certain where they need to be and what they need to be doing.

  Dan wraps up his part of the briefing with some words of encouragement before handing back over to me.

  “Thanks, Dan. Right, everybody knows where they need to be and what they need to be doing and if all goes to plan, we could be in and out in less than thirty minutes. We all have to be prepared for the unexpected, however; cracking the safe is a major potential bottleneck. If we have to go to plan B and cut the safe out, it is going to extend our time on the ground considerably, but we have to hold our positions until it is done. One way or the other, that safe is coming back with us, understood?” I tell them all.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Okay, let's get moving, I want to be in the air A-SAP.”

  The briefing quickly breaks up and everybody moves onto their next task with purpose. The first thing to do is to get the new equipment off the helicopters and the team gets to it, while they introduce themselves to the two pilots as they go.

  The first thing I see coming off Buck’s Lynx is an oversized black hard plastic briefcase that I assume has the equipment Sergeant Dixon needs to override the safe’s electronic lock. He brings the case straight into the hangar and places it on top of his table before flicking the latches free and opening it up.

  Corporal Watts is next to come away from the Lynx carrying a brand-new boxed plasma cutter, while Lance Corporal Kim brings up his rear carrying a gas bottle, that I take it the plasma cutter requires. They both come inside with their kit and they go over to the far side of the hangar to set it up, out of everybody’s way.

  I have a sudden frightful thought when I see the plasma cutter come out of the box and they go to plug it into the wall; does the Orion building have power? It had lost power yesterday, before our retreat.

  “Lieutenant,” I say urgently as I rush over to him.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “Can we confirm if the Orion building has power, there was a power cut yesterday, because that plasma cut
ter is going to be a useless dead weight without it?”

  “I hadn’t considered that; I’ll see what I can find out, straight away,” the Lieutenant replies, concerned.

  “We can’t afford any delays, Boss, the forecast is saying the storm is getting worse by the minute!” Dan tells me from his seat in front of one of the monitors that has the MOD weather forecast on it.

  “Is there any good news?” I ask, joking in frustration.

  “Looks like it’s going to be fine tomorrow afternoon,” Dan jokes back.

  “That’ll be right,” I reply.

  While Lieutenant Winters makes some calls to try and get an answer on the state of Orion’s electricity, I ask Dan if we have any drones flying in the area that might give us some insight?

  “Let me see,” he says as his hand reaches for the computer mouse. “I don’t know what it would show us; it is broad daylight, so we won’t be able to see if there are any lights on?”

  “We need a drone in the area anyway to get a fresh look at the target area before we go,” I tell him.

  “I’m on it, Boss,” he tells me.

  Turning away from the table to let the men do their jobs, I try to think if there is anything else we might have overlooked. This is always the trouble when a mission is planned for ‘off the hip’; important aspects get overlooked and information that is vital gets missed completely and then the mission invariably can go South very quickly.

  My mind is too flustered and cluttered to think properly, and I need to concentrate, I need to play the mission through in my mind.

  “I’ll be back in five minutes,” I tell Dan, turning back to him.

  “Okay, Boss, going anywhere nice?” he asks.

  “I’m afraid not, mate, just want to think the mission through, see if I can think of anything else we have missed, I’ll be outside.”

  “Okay, no worries, I’ll be here, Boss.”

  Walking off, I head straight to the sunshine, outside, to leave the bustle of the preparations behind, for a short time. The men take no notice of me as I go, they are busy either testing their equipment or getting the equipment that is ready to go onto the helicopters.