by Tom Palmer
Now they had to get through two kilometres of dense woodland. Lesh navigated, using his GPS equipment. They had luminous strips on the backs of their baseball caps. In addition, Lily and Adnan set down a series of small illuminated sticks on their chosen path. They would be able to use these to help them find their way back to the helicopter, after the mission.
‘It’s a bit like Hansel and Gretel this,’ Adnan whispered to Lily. ‘I wonder what the witch is like.’
Lily shoved Adnan and smiled. She decided she liked having him around.
Eventually, after struggling through the woods, they saw a light, the stars shining off the surface of a very black lake.
Kester and Lesh located the boat and snorkelling gear quickly and prepared the boat for their short journey to the island.
‘This is a beauty,’ Lesh said. ‘We trained in one last week, remember? Look, the engine is submerged, so the sound waves it gives off go through the water and don’t skim across the lake, giving us away. It’s –’
‘Can you operate it, Lesh?’ Hatty cut in impatiently.
‘Of course …’
‘Then just get it in the water!’
Lesh didn’t respond to Hatty. She was tetchy, which meant she was nervous and he knew it was best to leave her alone.
Minutes later, the Squad were on a river, allowing its currents to pull their boat towards the lake. On the far side of the lake from the river mouth, less than five kilometres away now, was the target: the camp and the three men the Squad had been tracking all week. But they couldn’t see it. It was as dark as it could be, clouds covering the moon and stars.
Once they had drifted into the lake, Lesh started up the engine. They could hardly hear it even though they were sitting right next to it.
Only Lesh could see where they were going, but his night-vision goggles barely showed the lake, island and the distant beach, there was so little light. For the others the sky above them was as impenetrably black as the water beneath them.
The journey was quick and carried out in absolute silence.
When they arrived at the island, Lesh tapped Kester on the shoulder. Kester immediately started to hand out the snorkels and masks without speaking. Words would carry across the water and, above the sound of the ripples and waves of the lake, might alert the men to their presence.
The four other members of the Squad took their snorkelling gear as Lesh secured the boat on the far side of the island to the beach and quickly set up his SpyPad to control the drone. He did it in seconds, moving the drone out of the circle it was making over the woods to focus its cameras down on the target. It was an easy task, just like doing it on a video simulator. But, because it was real, Lesh felt amazing. One of his dreams was coming true: he was operating a drone, using a body-heat scanner to see where the men were and what they were doing.
The Squad watched him as he did this, waiting for his verdict.
‘Strange,’ Lesh whispered.
‘What is it?’
‘There’s nothing registering on the body-heat sensor.’
‘Use the night vision,’ Hatty murmured.
Lesh changed the application on his SpyPad and set up the drone’s night vision. He shook his head.
‘Nothing,’ he whispered. ‘It’s like it’s empty. No fires. No bodies. They’ve gone.’
Lesh looked at Kester’s camouflaged face.
‘They can’t have gone,’ Kester whispered.
‘Or they want us to think they’ve gone,’ Lesh went on.
‘They were here an hour ago. Half an hour ago. We saw them from the drone before we left Jim.’
Kester shook his head. ‘We need to find out for sure. We’ll all swim over there. Me, Adnan and Hatty will advance slowly on foot. Lily and Lesh can wait on the shoreline. We have to sort this. Now.’
Kester looked at Hatty. She nodded quickly: she would do exactly what her leader had told her to do.
So the five children fitted their snorkels and dipped into the lake, slowly and carefully, without making a single splashing noise, letting the cold black water envelop them. Lesh tried not to think of what could be under the water because he knew that was all in his mind and that the real danger lay a kilometre and a half away, on the shore.
Then they swam, five abreast, just under the surface, their muscles warming as they began to move more easily. They had no idea what they would face when they arrived at the beach.
Into the Dark
The Squad emerged from the water less than a hundred metres from the target, acutely aware that it could be some kind of trap. An ambush. But there was no sign of human life for kilometres either by the naked eye or using satellites and drones.
At first, they crawled from the water, keeping low. When they reached the cover of a large outcrop of rocks, they stopped to consult Lesh’s SpyPad and remove their snorkelling gear. Still nothing: no sign of man. Nor beast.
Adnan knew someone had to move forward and put themselves at risk to clear the way for the others. He tapped Kester on the shoulder and gestured that he would go up the beach, on point, meaning he would lead the assault. Kester nodded his agreement.
‘Lesh will keep check on the SpyPad,’ Kester whispered.
Kester indicated that Hatty should slot in right behind him, armed with the tranquillizer gun.
This was the plan for Kester, Hatty and Adnan. Lesh and Lily would monitor events on the SpyPad from the beach. They would maintain radio silence throughout, unless there was an emergency.
Soon the three disappeared into the eerie blackness of the woods, meaning all Lily and Lesh could see of them were three red dots on a screen, images coming back from the drone circling above them.
Lesh was sure that they were alone and this was just an easy reconnaissance mission. If the men from the quarry were still there, they would have showed up on the screen. But still the tension was unbearable. He felt his mouth go dry and he wished he could take a sip of water, but he knew he had to focus. Neither he nor Lily spoke as they watched the three red blobs circle the target area, wait five minutes, then edge towards it.
‘What if the men are hiding there?’ Lily asked Lesh.
‘They can’t be. They’d show up. They’d need to be buried at least a metre underground for the drone to miss the heat of their bodies.’
Lily nodded. She felt a little better. Maybe this mission was going to be OK after all. She watched the red dots advance closer to the target area, but, however much she tried to tell to herself that it was safe, she still felt a deep and insistent fear.
The woods around them were motionless, the birds silent. There were no more shufflings and snufflings in among the branches and on the ground.
‘What’s that?’ Lesh’s voice was too loud. He dropped the SpyPad on the floor in shock.
‘What?’ Lily said, staring at him.
‘I saw something,’ Lesh said, picking up the SpyPad. ‘Look!’
On the monitor, two additional red blobs were moving slowly towards the three blobs that Lesh and Lily knew were their friends.
Lesh handed Lily the SpyPad and swiftly spoke into his watch. ‘Incoming bodies. Two. To your east.’
‘Copy.’ Kester’s voice sounded shrill.
Then Lily and Lesh watched in horror as their three friends began to move at speed away from the threat, back to the water.
‘They must have been hiding,’ Lily said. ‘Waiting. It’s a trap.’
Lesh and Lily carried on watching. The two red blobs had speeded up too and were getting closer, moving incredibly fast through the trees. Impossibly fast.
‘They’re closing in,’ Lily said, panicking, as she grabbed Kester’s bag, pulling out one of the two stun grenades he’d left with them. ‘How can they move so fast?’
Lily was not really aware of what she was doing. Instinct told her to run up the shore towards the danger and not away from it.
She advanced until she saw Hatty, Kester and Adnan coming towards her. Then, the second they passed her, their shoulders brushing, Lily hurled the grenade, expecting to be hit by a bullet at any moment.
Only Lily saw what was happening, while the others ran for cover and Lesh observed it all on his screen.
For a second the grenade caused vivid flashes which illuminated the woods and the two figures chasing her friends.
They were not men. They were wolves. And as soon as the grenade went off, they turned and ran back into the woods.
For the first minute after the wolves had run away, the children were utterly speechless. They eyed each other silently.
Hatty shook her head, then put her hand on Lily’s knee and smiled. Lily smiled back.
‘Was that … ?’ Hatty asked.
Lily nodded, then changed the subject quickly. ‘What did you see in the woods?’
‘There’s barely anything there,’ Kester gasped, getting his breath back. ‘We searched it with a torch. You wouldn’t know anyone had been there if it wasn’t for some patches of flattened grass and some snapped branches. And …’
‘And the container?’ Lily asked.
‘That was there,’ Kester replied.
‘And?’
‘And it was empty,’ Kester confessed. ‘No rocket launcher.’
There was a wind now, coming gently from the east. The trees had started to rustle, as though a storm was coming.
‘So where have they gone? Where have they taken the rocket launcher?’ Lily asked. ‘Why have they just disappeared off the radar?’
‘We can’t answer that,’ Hatty said.
‘Wait!’ Adnan spluttered. ‘Do you remember Jim said he had to sort the security for England’s walkabout in the main square tomorrow?’
Kester nodded.
‘That’s what they’re hitting,’ Adnan said urgently. ‘They’re not attacking the England training base or their hotel in two days. They’ve gone now because they’re hitting the walkabout in a few hours.’
‘We don’t know that,’ said Kester.
‘Well, call Jim on the satellite phone,’ Hatty insisted. ‘Now!’
Kester looked at Lesh, then nodded. Lesh started to fumble in his waterproof kitbag to find their satellite phone. He dialled and gave it to Kester.
Kester put it to his ear and his face paled. ‘There’s a monotone.’
‘Is it out of range?’ Lesh asked, taking the phone off Kester.
‘What?’ Hatty asked impatiently.
‘No, that’s not it,’ Lesh said. ‘He’s turned it off.’
‘But he never does that,’ Lily said. ‘He said he’d be there for us. He said if he did that then …’
‘Then something’s seriously wrong,’ Hatty added. ‘Maybe they’ve got Jim. We don’t know anything.’
‘Try Julia,’ Kester ordered. ‘If we can’t talk to Jim, then we have to try Julia.’
They all watched Lesh’s face as he dialled Julia’s number. And they all saw his face look even graver after a few seconds.
‘It’s dead too, isn’t it?’ Hatty said.
‘Same tone,’ said Lesh. ‘We’re on our own.’
Kester started moving towards the water. ‘Come on!’ he shouted. ‘We have to get back across the water and into the helicopter.’
‘What?’ Adnan said.
‘We’ve got three hours to get out of these woods, into Krakow and to the main square. If Jim’s not there for whatever reason, then we’re the only ones who can stop the attack.’
Leaving it Late
Once they were across the lake and out of the water, the Squad ran as hard as they could through the woods. No more creeping around: they had to get back to the helicopter pick-up point fast. The men they’d been tracking were long gone. Gone to Krakow to kill the England football team. Perhaps.
None of them spoke as they ran, tree branches whipping across their faces, their feet sinking into deep mud holes. They fell over stones, cut their hands, twisted their ankles, but they ran on. They had no choice.
The return was made easier by the illuminated sticks they’d left on the track. They collected them all as they ran. This time, Lily noticed, Adnan did not make a Hansel and Gretel joke.
As they approached the helicopter landing area, coming up through the trees, Kester spoke into his mic.
‘Two minutes off,’ he said, hoping he’d hear the helicopter pilot reply. If he was out of contact, they’d really be in trouble.
‘Roger,’ a voice crackled on his radio. And immediately Kester heard the thump-thump-thump of the blades and saw the trees beginning to be tossed about.
By the time the five of them were underneath the chopper, the blades were a blur in the night and the forest was thrashing about like a cyclone had just hit.
They went up one by one, swinging through the forest like they were in some spectacular amusement park.
On board, Kester was starting to feel panicky and he knew that was the worst thing to be as leader. He turned to look at the pilot, hoping he would have some information.
The pilot looked back. ‘I’ve lost contact with Jim Sells, Kester. But only after he asked me to return to Krakow. But your commander in the UK, Julia, overruled him when I queried it with her. What are your orders?’
Kester’s heart sank. ‘I can’t get him either,’ he said. Then his mind started working overtime.
‘Julia overruled him?’
‘Yes. I radioed her for a confirmation and then, when she told me to stay with you, Jim went quiet. I’ve not heard a thing since.’
Kester shook his head. What’s that all about?
‘So?’ the pilot said. His hand was on the controls, holding the helicopter in position.
So what? Kester said to himself. So what do we do now? The men have vanished. Jim is out of contact. What was he supposed to say to the pilot? Shouldn’t he be the one offering solutions?
And then his mind cleared and he understood: the pilot was waiting for orders. But not from Jim. From him. He was in charge now and he had to lead, to make the decisions.
Kester swallowed. ‘We need to get into Krakow. The centre. Without being seen.’
The pilot smiled.
‘Can you do that?’ Kester urged.
‘I can,’ the pilot replied. ‘But hold on tight.’
None of them looked at the view this time. As they changed into fresh clothes and wiped the muddy water and cam cream off, the black mountains stood high and still, the rivers ran through the night and a million creatures ate and slept and moved from one place to another.
But the Squad were too busy to look. They lay on the floor of the chopper, looking at a map of Krakow. Planning.
‘When we get to the city centre, we have to split up,’ Kester said, taking control. ‘We have to assume that the terrorists will be coming into the city one way or another. We have to anticipate where and be there to stop them.’
‘OK,’ said Hatty.
‘When the England team enter the main square, there will be thousands of people there. Most of them just want to get a look at Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott. The only chance we have of stopping an attack on them is by spotting the man who surprised us.’
‘Lesh, show us the picture I took,’ Lily suggested.
Lesh displayed the photo of the man. Svidrigaylov.
‘It’s been enhanced,’ he said. ‘So it’s clearer. And this is a photo of him from a couple of years ago. But, as you can see, he has different facial hair now. So try to remember both images.’
The others nodded. They had committed his face to memory. Now all they had to do was find him.
‘But can I just ask?’ Hatty said. ‘Why don’t we simply call the police or the army? Or the England team? Warn them?’
There was a moment’s silence. It was a blindingly obvious question.
Adnan supplied the answer that everyone understood quite well. ‘Because if we tell anyone, then the authorities in Poland – and probably Russia – will know exactly what’s going on and who we are and it will blow this and every future mission.’
‘And because Jim has said we’re not to,’ Lily added.
‘And that’s it too,’ Kester said. We don’t know where Jim is. He could be back at the hotel waiting for us. He could have been taken. I have serious doubts. We just don’t know.’
‘Julia then?’
‘I’ve tried a couple of times since we were on the beach,’ Lesh said. ‘The line’s dead.’
‘So we have to go it alone,’ Hatty said.
‘That’s right,’ Kester agreed, knowing it was a gamble. Any choice they made now was a gamble. This was never meant to be easy.
As the helicopter approached Krakow, the pilot moved in low over the Wisła River. The base of the helicopter was almost touching the surface, and water was being thrown up on to the windows as if they were travelling in a speedboat. It wasn’t light yet, so they skimmed into the city unseen.
The Squad sat in darkness and absolute silence, readying themselves for the search of Krakow. None of them was nervous. Even though they were about to go into an unknown situation that they didn’t have orders for, they were all grinning. This helicopter ride and the prospect of doing what they were about to do was suddenly too exciting.
Lesh pointed ahead. ‘There,’ he said, ‘that place called Wawel Hill.’
They all looked. Ahead of them, looming over the river, was a fortified hill, topped by a cathedral and other buildings, one of Krakow’s most famous landmarks. Lights flashed by from occasional cars beside the river.
‘You need to decide how you want to land,’ the pilot said, leaning back to address the children.
‘What are the options?’ Kester asked.
‘Three options. One, land by the river. It’s the safest, but you’re most likely to be seen by someone who may report us to the authorities.
‘Two, I hover over the fortress and you go down on your wires. That’s effective and not really dangerous, but leaves us in the air a long time, so again we may be spotted.’