The PM indicated to Air Chief Marshal Percival to commence his update.
”Ma’am gentlemen, I have a Chinook Helicopter from 27 squadron at RAF Odiham ready to airlift the OSC to Brize Norton. Where a VC-10 from number 10 squadron is standing by, the VC-10 has the range to complete the journey in one go; directly to La Chinita International Airport, Venezuela, flight time estimated ten hours,” the Air Chief Marshall sat back down.
“Thank you Sir Percival,” General may we have your update?”
General Sir Richard Davis commander in chief of the
British land forces rose from his chair, “I have liaised with Major Strayker as his unit will be launching the
Assault, all their equipment has been replenished; I have three men from Bravo troop of the Royal signal Corps on standby to go with the OSC to set up Comms between all parties including ICIS where necessary and to deal with any Comms issues,” the General sat back down.
During this time, Max had being taking copious notes from each of the speakers, to be added to his assault plan.
The Prime Minister stood up and reached for a teapot and poured herself some, this was the queue for the others to replenish their drinks.
When they had all sat back down the PM addressed Jonathan Troy and Pierce Evans from MI-5 and MI-6 respectively, “gentlemen have you any updates for us?”
Pierce Evans from Six stood up, “Yes Ma’am; the two MI-6 operatives have been keeping Toledo Verdugo’s hacienda under surveillance. The most recent update less than an hour ago, states that the Professor does not appear to be onsite, one of my agents is however following Ramón Cubrero, who left the Hacienda with a dozen armed men in two trucks, the other agent is still watching the Hacienda.”
The PM spoke, “what’s the update on the Professor’s family and the incident in Washington?”
“Well; it got a bit messy over there yesterday, it would
appear that some people tried to take out our agents in order to abduct Mrs Hooke and her children; they are okay and will be on a flight back to the UK tomorrow. One of my agents was killed, two hostiles killed and one a woman wounded, she is in the custody of the local Police over there. I have spoken with the lead agent Tony Lawrence who has indicated a call came into the hotel from Bucaramanga Colombia, to the wounded woman. It appears the kidnappers had help from a CIA operative who was also killed in the exchange by our agents.”
The Prime Minister spoke, “Okay; we have the Professor’s family safe and sound and I think we can leave the Americans to sort out their end; Major would you care to brief us?”
“Certainly Ma’am, but I believe Colonel Storm should give us a brief update on the Sri Lanka mission.”
The Prime Minister nodded her approval.
Max stood up and addressed the group, “Ma’am, gentlemen, I will not waste your precious time with the details of the raid, as you can read it yourselves at your leisure from the mission file.
Max handed around several folders.
“I can tell you that it was a success with an added
Bonus,” Max paused for a moment.
“Ruth Nelson was found alive and well.”
Up until that moment, the only other person in the room to be aware of this was Strayker.
This news had a dramatic effect, the room went very silent, and you could have heard a pin drop.
The Prime Minister broke the silence, “that’s fantastic news Colonel, but how is it possible?”
Max spent the next few minutes explaining the events on Baros Island, how Ruth had been taken from the boat, before it was blown up, “it is all documented in the mission report you have in front of you.”
Max sat back down.
The Prime Minister spoke, “gentlemen; if you have no objections I would like to offer you all a drink to toast Ruth’s miraculous return to us.”
She picked up the phone and a member of the P.M’s staff brought drinks into the room.
It was vintage single malt from the Scottish Cameron Bridge distillery.
Each glass contained a generous portion, “gentlemen; a toast to a dear friend found, to Ruth.”
Each man reciprocated the toast, “to Ruth.”
Strayker was a man whom liked a drop of whiskey when
the moment was right, and he savoured the flavour of this
Malt Whiskey, and made a quick mental note to ask the P.M for the brand.
The Prime Minister let the group savour the moment before speaking, “Major; I believe you are the last one to bring us up to speed.”
Strayker stood up, “I will keep this short; firstly thank you all for your updates and support on our forthcoming mission. As for the assault plan to recover Professor Hooke, Max will formulate this when they are on the Ark Royal with any final Intel updates.” Strayker sat back down.
The Prime Minister spoke, “I have a final update for you gentlemen; I spoke with the Indian Prime Minister this morning; who advised me they have arrested a high ranking official who leaked the Intelligence on the rescue mission on Baros Island. We can Thank Colonel Storm who ascertained the culprit’s identity from his recent mission.
The Prime minister paused before continuing, “Well I would like to again thank you all for coming in on this New Year’s day taking time from your loved ones, unless anyone has anything else to add we can adjourn.”
With that, everyone left.
Toledo Verdugo’s Warehouse
Rio Negro Twenty miles North of Bucaramanga
Lat = 7 degrees, 15.8 minutes North
Long = 73 degrees, 8.6 minutes West
Monday 2nd January 1989
Zero-nine fifty two hour’s local time
Five hours behind GMT
For the past week, Professor Hooke had spent his time setting up a workable laboratory, everything he requested he got, no questions asked.
Yesterday Ramón had turned up with a number of armed men, increasing the security at the warehouse and had handed him a folder containing his notes from the Hertfordshire laboratory, when he asked Ramón how he had acquired them; Ramón did not reply.
Last night he had reviewed them and had quickly noticed they had been tampered with, a number of the formulae’s had been slightly changed. He had spent some time weighing this up, had Verdugo deliberately done this to test him?
He had quickly dismissed this, as the changes were very subtle, and only could have been done by someone in a
similar field of work.
Therefore, he concluded that the British Government were behind the changes and if that was the case, had they followed the thief from Hertfordshire to here. If so, hopefully rescue was in the offing.
His thoughts drifted for a moment; what of my wife and children? Were they still under the watch of Verdugo’s people, or had they been rescued? Nevertheless, better to air on the side of caution.
The Professor had made his mind up to utilise his imprisonment to his advantage.
With all the equipment at his disposal, it made sense to begin work on an antiviral solution to the Reaper gene.
He had already put his mind to this task at the final stages of the development of the Reaper gene.
A viricide was the best answer to the problem; a viricide is a chemical or herbal solution that reliably deactivates or destroys a virus.
The Professor had one in mind; Shiitake, other names by which this mushroom is known in English include Chinese black mushroom and black forest mushroom.
A type of wild mushroom native to Japan, China and other areas in Asia. The mushrooms are small, greyish-brown and usually grow on the trunks of dead trees.
Shiitake possess multiple chemicals, which have
demonstrated antibacterial and antiviral properties.
A protease inhibitor had
recently been discovered within the Shiitake mushroom, which cuts viral protein chains apart therefore disabling them.
The Professor had made the presumption that if he could adapt this protease inhibitor from the mushroom it should disable the Reaper gene; that was the theory anyway.
Professor Hooke left his makeshift laboratory to find Ramón, he found him outside smoking a cigarette.
Ramón watched as the Professor walked over to him. “Yes Professor what do you want?”
“I need one more item to begin my research.”
“And what may that be?”
“Some mushrooms.”
Ramón let out a laugh, “Professor; wasn’t the breakfast you had good enough for you?”
“Yes breakfast was fine; the mushrooms are vital ingredients for the antiviral solution.”
“Professor I suppose these are not any old mushrooms you need?”
“That’s correct, I need the Shiitake variety a wild mushroom native to Japan, China and other areas in Asia.”
Ramón flicked his cigarette on the ground and moved to the Professor so that their faces nearly touched.
The Professor flinched at the sudden infringement
of his personal space.
“Professor you had better not be trying my patience; do I need to remind you that with one phone call your family will be no more.”
The Professor could understand Ramón’s thought process,
“let me assure you that my family are important to me and I will not jeopardise them, the mushrooms are vitally important to my research.”
Ramón took a few steps back from the Professor and looked at him and thought for a moment, this gringo was either a very good bluffer and was for some reason trying to bide time, or he was telling the truth, Ramón decided on the later.
“Write down the name of these mushrooms; you will have them within twenty-four hours Professor and we want results.”
“These things can take time,” replied the Professor.
“Time is one luxury you have very little of; Professor.”
Ramón turned and walked away.
A quarter of a mile away a pair of binoculars had been trained on the Professor and Ramón, Tony Walters was fifteen foot up in a tree and smiled, “found you professor.”
He quickly climbed back down the tree and walked back to his car; he fired the engine up and drove discreetly
away.
Fifteen minutes later he was on Route 45A heading south back to Verdugo’s hacienda to pick up Sam Winnet, however he needed to locate a phone first.
La Chinita International Airport, Venezuela.
Lat = 10 degrees, 33.5 minutes North
Long = 71 degrees, 44.7 minutes West
Tuesday 3rd January 1989
Eighteen twenty two hour’s local time
Five hours behind GMT
The VC-10 call sign Zulu Delta 235 from number ten squadron was approaching La Chinita International Airport from the south; the flight from Brize Norton had shaved twenty minutes off the ten hour predicted time, thanks to a healthy tail wind.
Max had selected four of the six OSC teams for the operation; each team was composed of six men, all-proficient with a variety of weapons and combat skills.
Each team had a designated sniper, although all members had sniper skill sets.
The no Smoking and seatbelt signs had just been switched on and everyone was buckling up ready for the final approach and landing.
The Pilot flicked the radio switch on and spoke, “La Chinita International Airport, this is Zulu Delta 235 I am one hundred and fifty miles out, permission to commence approach over?”
“Zulu Delta 235, we have you on radar, stay on that course; you are clear to land on runway zero-three Lima, you have a head wind of seventeen knots over.”
“Roger that; La Chinita International Airport, Zulu Delta 235, out.”
The pilot and crew began the process for approach and landing, engaging flaps and continually inputting new speed settings, at twenty miles out the landing gear was lowered and confirmed as locked, the aircrew made adjustments to airspeed and flaps to counter the drag from the landing gear.
Five miles out the pilot had a visual of runway zero-three Lima, three minutes later the aircraft touched down with a gentle bump, the runway was long so there was no need to reverse engines, only braking was required.
The VC-10 taxied over to an apron on the Northeast side of the airport that offered privacy.
The ground crew quickly attended to the VC-10, chocking the wheels and positioning the stair unit to the forward portside door, they were then instructed to leave the area.
The portside door was opened and the heat and humidity quickly swept into the cabin areas.
Max had ordered all the teams to stay on board until the helicopter transport arrived; this was to avoid any prying eyes that may be curious as to the aircrafts
passengers.
They were all wearing civy clothing and each had a holdall containing their PASGT Personal Armour System for
Ground Troops, their individual Comm’s system, their usual weaponry, Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, nine millimetre Glock-19 side arm and the advanced combat knife with a seven inch blade with a half serrated cutting edge finished in black, all this along with their unique DCP clothing.
Fifteen minutes later La Chinita International Airport control tower received a transmission.
“La Chinita International Airport control tower this is Zulu Alpha 309 over.”
“Good evening Zulu Alpha 309 we have been expecting you please switch to channel two over.”
“Roger that, switching to channel two.”
“Zulu Alpha 309 are you receiving on channel two over?”
“Control tower receiving five by five over.”
“Roger that Zulu Alpha 309, I have you two miles out; you are clear to land at these coordinates, CP506178, I have activated the landing beacon for a visual over.”
“Copy that tower I have a visual on the beacon, out.”
The Sea king HC.4 Westland Commando helicopter call sign Zulu Alpha 309 approached the landing zone from the north side of the airport.
She had lifted off from the Ark Royal stationed twenty
miles away in Lago de Maracaibo. As soon as confirmation
of the Vc-10’s landing had been confirmed.
Capable of transporting 27 fully equipped troops with a range of 400 miles and flight speed of 129mph, the Sea king had made the short hop in twelve minutes.
From two miles out the pilot had begun the procedure for landing, descending to nine hundred feet, he had lowered the collective lever slightly to set up a descent, along with pulling back on the cyclic stick to decrease forward speed.
At one mile out the Sky king was now at five hundred feet travelling at eighty knots.
The pilot constantly operated the controls to maintain a constant glide angle together with decreasing the ground speed, constantly using foot pedal inputs to keep the tail rotor from swinging in the opposite direction of the inputs.
Fifty yards from the LZ, the pilot had achieved the final speed of ten knots, bringing the Sea King to a hover directly above the LZ.
The pilot lowered the collective slightly to let the helicopter settle to the ground.
He shut the engine down to idle keeping the rotors blades rotating, at the same time; one of the four-man
crew was already sliding the starboard door open.
Max had heard the Sea King arriving and the OSC teams
were through the VC-10’s door as soon as the helicopter had landed, quickly running the short distance they boarded the Sea King.
Within a minute, the starboard door was closed and the rotors were up to sp
eed and the Pilot slowly pulled on the collective lever.
As the Sea king lifted off the pilot lowered the nose using the cyclic stick, this caused the Sea King to accelerate forward; at the same time, increasing the collective lever the Sea king began to pick up speed and height moving quickly into the darkness heading east.
Palonegro International Airport
Eighteen miles west of Bucaramanga
Lat = 7 degrees, 7.5 minutes North
Long = 73 degrees, 0.9 minutes West
Tuesday 3rd January 1989
Eighteen fifty four hour’s local time
Five hours behind GMT
The Lynx HAS-3 Royal Naval helicopter call sign X-ray Zulu 728 had just dusted off from Palonegro International Airport, eighteen miles west of Bucaramanga, on route back to the HMS Ark Royal.
On board were Tony Walters and Sam Winnett. Tony Walters had managed to find a phone and relayed the Intel back to the UK about the Professor’s new location.
He had picked Sam up and they had driven to the airport as instructed the previous day and found a hotel to stay overnight in.
They had arrived at the airport an hour ago to await their transport, sent from HMS Ark Royal.
One of the three men crew came to see them once they were in flight; he had to speak loudly over the engine
and air noise, “gentlemen our ETA is thirty-nine minutes, make yourselves as comfortable as you can.”
When Tony had phoned in the Intel update, the decision had been made to airlift both agents to HMS Ark Royal, so that they could liaise with the Max Storm and provide up to date Intel on the Professor’s location.
The flight was uneventful and thirty-nine minutes from take-off, X-ray Zulu 728 was touching down on HMS Ark Royal.
Tony and Sam were escorted to a large room below deck, where coffee and tea making facilities were available.
Their escort advised them to wait there and help themselves to a hot drink.
Project Reaper Page 16