by Geoff Wolak
I closed my eyes and sighed. ‘Shit.’
‘Yes, lots of it apparently. It’s doing the rounds in Mexico, reports of it reaching America.’
‘I’m up to see you tomorrow anyhow, we can chat then. Can you block it in this country?’
‘From being shown on the BBC, yes, they have rules about naked men’s ablutions and – you know - killing people. But prevention from hand to hand distribution – no.’
‘Well, if it’s hand to hand it won’t go too far,’ I suggested.
At 6pm the British Ambassador to Mexico called. I answered, ‘Major Wilco here, Ambassador. No more problems with flights?’
‘This is not about flights I’m afraid. No, your man with the toilet problem, the naked one, he got himself secretly filmed.’
‘We know.’
‘Well I have a copy, sent on to London, and … he’ll face charges when they see it.’
‘Charges? For what?’
‘He took cigarettes and money from the pockets of a dead man next to him, and he finished off a wounded man.’
I closed my eyes and cursed Rizzo. ‘It looks bad?’
‘To a teenage kid, no, to a sharp-eyed policeman, yes. If the media gets hold of it then it could tarnish your unit, and the British Army.’
Call ended, Ambassador thanked, I went and found Rizzo in the canteen, the canteen busy. ‘Rizzo, Rocko, Moran, outside! Now!’
They puzzled what the problem was as they filed out, the lads observing. In the cold wind, the raining holding off, I stood staring at Rizzo beyond the canteen fence.
‘What?’ he finally asked.
‘When you were sat on the toilet trying to move your large turd, there was a secret camera set-up, and the film of you is now circulating in Mexico, and on its way to the Government here.’
‘That must be nasty viewing,’ Rocko quipped.
‘What does it show?’ Moran asked, clearly concerned.
‘It shows Dickhead here finishing off a wounded man and stealing money from his pockets.’
‘Ah … hell,’ Moran let out.
‘Can they block it?’ Rocko asked, now concerned.
‘From the public, maybe, from the police - no.’
Rizzo was now looking worried. ‘I could face charges?’
‘You could face twenty years in prison, Dickhead.’
Rocko asked, ‘Can you pull some strings?’
‘For this … no, it’s all on the damn tape,’ I told him. ‘I’m up in London tomorrow, so I’ll see what I can do, I’ll chat to the powers.’
I left Rizzo looking mortified, Rocko scolding him. In the house, Swifty could see my mood.
‘Something wrong?’
‘Rizzo got filmed in secret in Mexico, his trouble shitting.’
‘Be X-rated then, and not for the faint-hearted.’
‘It shows him finishing off a wounded man and taking his cash.
Swifty eased up. ‘Fuck...’
‘British Government gets their copy tomorrow.’
‘What’s he facing?’
‘Twenty years in a cell, people calling for my head on a plate.’
‘Best act fast then, or the unit suffers.’
‘I can’t just kick him out,’ I loudly complained.
‘Get him a job someplace warm then.’
I raised a finger, suddenly pleased. ‘Yes.’ Then I sighed. ‘It may look bad, the lads not happy at me kicking him out.’
‘Got to be better than twenty years in a cell,’ Swifty insisted.
I studied him, then lowered my head. ‘Fucking bollocks.’
‘Do it now, or forever regret it,’ Swifty encouraged.
I nodded, stood, and went back to the canteen. On the way I called my own gatehouse and had them recall Billy and the Brigadier. The lads all stopped talking when I entered.
I took in their faces. ‘Major Moran, get civvy clothes on, pack a case for a few days, you have a drive to make. Rizzo, you’ll resign as soon as Billy gets back, in the presence of the Brigadier. Go pack, get civvy clothes on, you’re going with Moran, never to return to the UK.’
They were all silent. And shocked.
Rocko faced Rizzo. ‘Stupid cunt, you threw it all away!’
‘Not all of it,’ I corrected Rocko. ‘He still works for me, just not here. Moran, Rizzo, get moving. The rest of you, keep the gossip down or I start shooting.’
I walked to the hangar, a chat to the intel teams for twenty minutes before Billy returned, the Brigadier not far behind. In the Brigadier’s office I explained the situation.
‘Could tarnish us all,’ he agreed. ‘Will he resign, or do we RTU him, make it look like we’re being tough with him?’
‘We can say he resigned when told he faced charges,’ Billy cut in.
‘Get the forms ready, back-date them to this morning,’ I told him. ‘Stay here please.’
I walked around to Rizzo’s house, Stretch helping him pack.
‘What about my car?’ Rizzo asked, now in civvies.
‘Stretch can sell it for you, handle your bank account.’
‘Will I be safe out the unit? Can they arrest me?’
‘You’ll be in France till you get a new identity, then you’ll be in Panama with my friend, seventy-five grand a year plus costs, as well as hookers and beer.’
Rizzo smiled. ‘Not so bad then.’
I gave him a dangerous finger. ‘You’ve tarnished the unit, we’ll all get some shit for this.’
‘Nothing that the lads ain’t done often enough,’ he complained, his head low.
‘Doing it is not the issue, getting caught is. As soon as you’re all packed, passport and money ready, you drive with Moran to the south of France. When you get there you call me for instructions. Leave your fucking ID, and your pistol.’
Outside, I called David Finch. ‘My man Rizzo just resigned, and has fled the country. Officially, I have no idea where he went.’
‘An unofficially?’
‘He’ll go see a ghost and then make himself useful in Panama, a new identity.’
‘I just saw a note from the Foreign office, and the tape looks bad.’
‘I’ll release a statement to the media tonight. How long before charges are brought?’
‘That could take weeks.’
‘This will be over by tomorrow. I hope.’
When Moran was ready I told him to drive to the south of France, Nice, and to call me for secret instructions. As he drove out the gate Rizzo looked lost and sad, and my heart felt for him, he had been with me a long time.
I called Bob Staines as I stood in the cold wind, night coming on. I started to walk slowly around to the hangar. ‘It’s me. Listen, Rizzo got his toilet habits caught on film, but it also shows him finishing off a wounded man and taking his cash.’
‘He’ll face charges then, and not even you could block them.’
‘He’s on his way down to you with Moran, he just resigned. Get him a new ID, brief him, then he trains men in Panama for me, my new team against the cartels.’
‘He’ll be happy there, and it’s his kind of work.’
‘Give him a salary, seventy-five grand, bank account and card, then get him on a flight from Madrid to Panama.’
‘I’ll sort it.’
‘They’ll be with you tomorrow. But the reason I had Moran drive him is that I want you to spend a few days with Moran, brief him. If I’m killed … well … Moran takes over.’
‘Yes, you are a bit of a lone wolf, in need of a back-up plan. I’ll get Moran up to speed on everything.’
‘Moran used to be straight, now less so, he can cope with the lack of due process.’
‘We’re doing good work, important work,’ Bob insisted. ‘Morality goes out the window when lives are at stake.’
‘Well said. Talk soon. Oh, Maria, has she said anything?’
‘She wants to stay with us, her bonus tucked away in a long term investment.’
‘She broke the case, and if they catch her�
��’
‘Yes, it would not be pleasant for her, but it does help to suggest that she’s on the team and not selling us out.’
In with Billy and the Brigadier we sat, sighs issued. I called The Sun as they listened in. ‘It’s Wilco. Get Max to release to Reuters straight away that my Troop Sergeant, Rizzo, the one filmed naked on the Kitty Hawk, resigned today before being kicked out, he was facing charges.’ I gave the detail.
‘Can you get us his full military record, and any medals?’ they asked.
I puzzled that. ‘Well, yes, I can detail every mission he was on and if he was wounded or not. You’ll have it in an hour, faxed to you. Listen, I was sorry to see him go, but … I have to think of the reputation of the team, and – as a Major – I can’t have men stealing from the dead or finishing off wounded men.’
‘I understand that. Still, he served his country well.’
‘He did, very well, he was with me from the start.’
Call ended, and Billy started to list the missions and the dates, and the medals Rizzo had accumulated, before Rizzo joined Echo and afterwards. I thanked the Brigadier and he drove off, leaving me in a cold wind and in a bad mood. And worried.
I had Graveson do the rounds, and everyone was to meet in the hangar in fifteen minutes. When they had assembled I walked down the steps, finding most all of Echo, many Lone Wolves, and half of 14 Intel. The Mi5 men were here, even our tank crew, plus the CT police, even the Intel officers and a dozen MPs.
‘Listen up,’ I bellowed, and it fell silent. ‘Troop Sergeant Rizzo has left us, he resigned before he faced an RTU for actions in Mexico. He said, as he left, that he would work as a mercenary in a nice warm country and … he may well end up doing that.
‘Within a day or so the Government and the police will have a CCTV tape of Rizzo having a shit in Mexico, not pleasant viewing. But that tape also shows Rizzo finishing off a wounded man, and taking money and cigarettes from that man’s pockets, a serious offence, one that could come with jail time.
‘It could also tarnish this unit and give us all a bad reputation, so – for the sake of this unit – I told Rizzo he had to go before charges were brought, police at the gate.
‘Now let me make myself clear, to you all, MPs and CT police as well. If you’re under attack and shoot a man ten times and kill him … that’s OK. You won’t go to prison. If that man is still alive ten minutes later and you finish him off, that is an offence, and you will go to prison – even if the man was dying anyhow.
‘What you’re supposed to do, is to give first aid. But let me clarify that. You give first aid so long as it does not endanger your life. If a wounded man is in open country, enemy soldiers around, you don’t break cover to go give first aid.
‘But, you also don’t finish him off, at least not if anyone is around, and certainly not with journalists close by. It’s also an offence to steal from enemy soldiers, dead or alive. You can take ammo, weapons, yes. You can take phones and ID cards to give to Intel, yes. You cannot be seen to be taking cash without good reason.
‘In Mexico we found thirty million in US dollars, all handed to the US Marines, and the cash we recovered in Colombia fighting the Cali Cartel … that all went to the Government here.
‘Many of you see me with cash on jobs, that cash kept in a safe here and accounted for, and it comes through channels. I don’t have a secret fund.
‘Taking cigarettes from a dead enemy soldier is a minor offence, but cash comes under the old wartime law of looting. In the days and weeks ahead we’ll come in for some shit from the politicians and the media, who may want to portray us as a bunch of killers and thieves thanks to the video of Rizzo’s actions.
‘I’ll do what I can, and we kicked out Rizzo as soon as the situation became clear, we did not try and justify what he did. All of you … be very careful when talking to outsiders and gossiping somewhere where you can be bugged, there will be some media interest in this story.
‘Rocko, Slider, Henri, Ginger, Mitch. On me. Rest of you, dismissed, and keep it quiet or I start shooting.’
I led the nominated men upstairs, and we sat in a meeting room. ‘Right. Parker is dead, Rizzo is gone, Stretch is not with us, and our original troops don’t have the senior staff left. Get a paper and pen from Intel, list every man in Echo, on loan or otherwise, consider Muscles and Dobbin and Brigson and his mate, and draw up pairs and teams. And Murphy and his buddy.
‘Don’t include me in the lists, I’m supposed to be sat behind a desk. Moran will still be troop captain, kind of, and on the jobs, and I’ll probably still be on jobs. Get to work, I want it tonight.’
‘What about Swifty?’ Slider asked.
‘Will be on most jobs, yes, but leading Lone Wolves if they have a team with us, so he should be included. Sasha and the boys as well, and … Salome is spare but available.’
Slider asked, ‘What’s that stupid cunt going to do, mercenary work in Africa?’
‘No, he’ll be with my friend in Panama.’
They exchanged looks. ‘Be like a pig in shit over there,’ Slider noted. ‘No great hardship for him.’
‘He’s not out the team for what he did, he’s out because he got filmed doing it,’ I told them. ‘You will meet him again on jobs.’
‘Whatever happened to Leggit?’ Slider asked.
‘He works for friends of mine, and has done a fantastic job, now a world class sniper. I met him recently.’
‘You kept that quiet,’ Ginger noted.
‘It’s good to keep things quiet,’ I told him. ‘Oh, Rocko, get Rizzo’s kit from Stretch tomorrow and back in stores.’
‘I sorted Parker’s kit,’ he informed me. ‘Cleaner than Rizzo’s kit I bet.’
In the morning the MPs brought me a copy of The Sun. ‘A career thrown away,’ it read, and went on to list Rizzo’s missions, which was all of the unit missions.
It listed his alleged crimes, and the fact that I had kicked him out - and the reasons why, so at least the Government would be happy with me. The question remained as to how the newspaper-reading public would react.
It was a Friday, the teams stood down till Monday, but I walked around to the hangar in my combats, jacket done up against the cold wind. I met Sanderson at the hangar as we both walked in.
‘You did the right thing to get rid of him, would have been wrong to try and justify it, something like that,’ he firmly stated as we walked in.
I nodded at the MP guard. ‘We’ve done worse, and may do so again,’ I quietly responded.
‘Hopefully not with a camera focused on you. And there are no cameras in the jungle. On Monday I’ll read the Riot Act to those under my command,’ he threatened. ‘And they can pursue him as a civilian you know.’
‘If they know where he is,’ I quipped.
‘And where is he?’
‘Getting tailored for a fake passport, soon to be a long way off.’
He shot me a look, followed by a scowl. ‘You whisked him away.’
I nodded at the second MP guard. ‘No, I kicked him out, then found a use for a man with his skills. Besides, we can’t have him sat in a pub talking to strangers.’
‘Well, no, that would be a serious security risk. Will he blab?’
We halted at the bottom of the steps, and I gave him a look that said: maybe.
David Finch called at 10am. ‘So Rizzo has gone…’
‘In France, heading south. Anything flying around?’
‘MOD are looking into it, but there’s little they can do without finding him, arresting him and questioning him. Due process. It is possible that he’s found guilty in absentia, but then sentence would commuted till they got hold of him, the file passed to the civilian police from the MOD.’
‘If any of that happens then let me know, I could fake his death. I’ll be with you around 3pm.’
Graveson drove me up to London, a van-load of CT police behind, plus one Mi5 lad who wanted a lift home. We made reasonable time, staying south of the riv
er to Vauxhall, and I was soon heading up in the lift with David’s new assistant, the man that Bob’s assistant, Terry, had punched.
In with David, the Director was just finishing a call. She finally sat, David handing me a tea.
‘Are you well?’ she asked.
‘Just the twinges, media report was hyped. As usual.’
‘Your man Rizzo has fled?’
‘On his way to Panama, but he’ll still work for me, not least because it would be very dangerous to cut him loose.’
‘He could talk, yes, or write a tell-all book,’ she noted.
‘If he could write a sentence I’d be impressed,’ I told her. ‘He’d have to dictate it. Any comments from the powers?’
‘Not yet, and the CD arrives today we think, official channels,’ David put in.
‘It was good that you acted quickly,’ she agreed.
‘When I considered Panama, and the new campaign, it came as a flash of inspiration, two birds with one stone.’
‘New campaign?’ she asked.
I eased back. ‘White House wants to chuck some cash my way, to sort the cartels. Off the books cash. They’ll also fund the new CIA narco unit and take the gloves off, a new amnesty package for deep cover agents that might have to maintain their cover by killing people.’
‘A slight departure,’ David noted. ‘We have no such amnesty package, nor the deep cover agents. Your actions in Panama were … unique in that regard, and gave us all some sleepless nights.’
I nodded. ‘Well they’re pissed off with the cartels given all that has happened, and they hinted that having a few friendly cartels was the way to go, cash on offer paid through programmes like the Lone Wolves. And then there’s the Saudi money.’
‘Saudi money?’ she queried.
‘I met the Saudi king, but his son did all the talking. They handed the President of Liberia fifty million, to be used to clean-house, clean the Saudi house that is, the dissidents responsible for the Stingers, and the shooting down of Desert Sands.’
‘They want you to do it?’ David queried.
‘They want it done, don’t care how.’