The Ringer

by Greg Hunt

  Chapter 49

  The cough had been exaggerated and echoing due to the stillness of the air in the remote Alpine valley. The Woodcutter immediately remained put. What were humans doing out in this wilderness? Had his departure been compromised? He could only fear the worst.

  Sinking to his knees in the snow he gently moved his ski boots out of the front ski bindings, lay spread-eagled on his outer jacket and salopettes, and put his ear to the ground and waited.

  It was not long before he was rewarded.

  The cough continued and, whilst there were attempts to muffle the sound, the reverberations allowed the Woodcutter to pinpoint the stranger’s location. Up on the ridge above the Woodcutter’s retreat, the interloper would have a view of all the comings and goings across the whole valley. Was there just the one individual or did he have friends?

  Hiding in the trees, the Woodcutter considered that he was currently in the best location to remain undiscovered. He had completed the removal of all sensitive information from the chalet and now needed to cover as much distance away from his beautiful valley. He sighed; fate would play a part, for his means of escape was tucked up in the basement area of his retreat.

  Speed and stealth were of the essence as the light was starting to go. He would climb far up the valley within the trees and then make a mad dash for his discreetly located property. If he was spotted and the contact was unfriendly, then he was well aware he would just have to fight it out.

  There appeared to be no further movement. He took a good gulp of hot liquid from his flask, ate the last of his chocolate, and resigned himself to an interesting couple of hours.

  The sun disappeared below the mountain ridge and the pink tinge swept across to the tops of the valley sides. He squinted and could not believe his luck. The strangers had remained on the ridge top and their tiny silhouettes were visible. They were lying on the ground and staring intently down the valley towards him but had not counted on his view, with the sun outlining their position so clearly.

  He gulped as he was attempting to remove the bad taste from his throat. It had not been caused from the effort of having to cross-country ski upwards through the trees as quietly as possible, with minimum disturbance. He had counted six head shapes. It was at least five too many. He was trying not to let his dismay compromise his ability to think clearly.

  He was certain that it had to be a military team. Friends just do not hang about on Alpine ridges after the sun has set in remote wilderness valleys that are tucked away from any towns, communication or habitation. His only chance would be the element of surprise. Certain that the team was not aware of him, but that he was aware of them, he had to use this knowledge to his advantage.

  Chapter 50

  Archie wanted some sign of movement within the wilderness valley beyond him. The cool mountain air was doing its best to invade the slight space between the back of his neck and his outer winter jacket. The ground was firm. Far too firm, as his muscles ached from having lain on this ridge for what felt like an eternity. There was the slight smell of dried human perspiration, but no other scent in this clean and clear and now slightly chill air.

  Stuart Betts still shuffled beside him. Selfish and not caring for the group’s mission, he had coughed audibly like a mountain gorilla. When he had tried in vain to muffle the sound, the Non-Commissioned Officer had only made the situation worse. Archie could not forgive him if that stupid cough had compromised his mission.

  The mission, he pondered. Jackie and Jo had enabled the whole team to stay in line with the mission brief and their capabilities on the mountainside would be fully reported back to the Commander. Nick and James had also acted well as scouts. To say it was unfortunate that Kevin had met his demise was an understatement. There would be an internal investigation when the team was back at base. These events did happen. They were part and parcel of this kind of mission. Archie just was not convinced that everything was as it had been reported by Petty Officer Stuart Betts. There was something that the Petty Officer was withholding.

  The light was starting to fade rapidly and the pink hues were beginning to appear on the mountaintops opposite. It was beautiful, but something else had suddenly caught Archie’s attention.

  In the far distance, a branch moved unnaturally in this still, late afternoon. Archie signalled instructions to the whole of his team who became alert and ready to move. The scouts had already begun creeping round to the pre-determined forward positions on each side of the valley. Jackie and Jo were going with Archie to the halfway point and Stuart Betts would remain on communications to keep the team together.

  Archie viewed a gloved hand through his binoculars and then in a flash a whole figure appeared in cross country skiing motion. The figure was moving as quickly as was practically possible. The arms utilising the ski poles with all their might to push off the ground for extra movement and the picture of this briskly skating figure brought Archie to a few instant conclusions.

  One, this was a strong, fit individual. Two, Archie assumed that he had spotted him and his team on the ridge. Three, the man was in a rush and would not be around long. Four, if Archie and his team did not intercept this man then their surveillance was likely to have been worthless. In conclusion, this was it.

  Archie and the girls strapped their skis on and with a whoosh were off down the mountain. They each put in some impressive turns before re-grouping above their halfway point. But their movements had not gone unnoticed. The figure, now not so far in the distance, had even more obvious urgency to his skating stance.

  Archie did not allow himself or Jackie and Jo to stop for more than a couple of seconds. His skis grated over some solid rock and some twigs and other debris were shooting up from under his teammate’s skis. The pace was on; he felt perspiration down his forehead, under his arms, down the back of his neck. He must not let this man get away.

  He saw above to his right and left James and Nick completing the pincer movement by flying down the off-piste. He was impressed by their style and speed. Over fifteen seconds, each of his scouts had dropped half of the altitude from the ridgeline and rapidly approached the loan figure heading for what appeared to be just another rise of snow in the hillside.

  A couple of turns later and Archie’s picture of the hillside rapidly changed. He saw the roofline, he gauged the size of the tucked away chalet and he needed to rapidly reassess the situation.

  Who was going to make it to the building first? Did the cross country skier have accomplices? Archie’s previous intelligence indicated not, but Archie knew from experience that it was unwise to completely rely on intelligence.

  Once the cross country skier was on level snow and out of the trees he was on fire, as if someone had fitted a power pack to his back. Even Archie’s scouts were going to have difficulty catching him. There was only one thing for it and Archie was now in range. He lifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired.

  Chapter 51

  Archie’s shot went wide of the mark. The snow spat in the ground a couple of metres past the right shoulder of the cross country skier. The skier did not turn around, stop or change his course. Instead, he skied harder and faster with military precision.

  The ridge of snow in front of Archie’s team partially blocked their sight lines. James and Nick lifted their rifles to bear down on the skier. Nick’s shot nicked the right calf of the figure and he could be seen staggering forward before becoming hidden behind the small snow ridge. Archie, Jackie and Jo, and the two scouts were skiing as quickly as they all could, to meet above the rise in the snow and take in the property that was hidden below.

  Their intelligence had been unable to identify any permanent structures, let alone a full skiing chalet within this valley. Tucked into the hillside, with reflective materials and perfectly matching the lay of the land, Archie realised that this was the location that they had been searching for. The team had managed to find the hideaway from which covert signals had been emitted. Archie an
d his squad now just needed to uproot the skiing figure that they had spotted moments before, pin him down, and find out what was going on.

  Penetrating the still air was the sound of a small motor. Archie, Jackie and Jo and Nick and James all stared at each other with alarm. It sounded similar to a lawn mower but was not an engine or noise that any of the team recognised.

  Betts came in on the radio, “Perhaps he has a skidoo in the basement. Suggest surrounding the property on the western flank before he has a chance of making it to the forest.”

  Archie thought this sounded likely. At last, a sensible suggestion from Betts, which might allow him to redeem himself. Archie signalled to the team to head to the western flank but for James to cover the eastern aspect in case it was a decoy.

  Betts had taken in the plan for surrounding the chalet and skied down off his perch heading for the eastern side of the property. The motor noise became audibly louder and started to hum throughout the valley.

  Whilst James had been ordered to cover the eastern elevation of the property, it was clear that the motor noise was loudest on the southern side, just round the corner from where he presently stood. James scrambled across the snow, in time to witness the basement wall electronically lower and transform into a small ramp. Inside, the Woodcutter was rapidly casting diesel over the whole of the basement area and carefully eyeing up his means of escape.

  Betts was now standing close to James, who had grabbed his rifle and was attempting to puncture the chassis and the wings of the flimsy aircraft he had spied within and to hit the Woodcutter who was crouched behind the ramp. Both Betts and James were out of view of the other members of Archie’s team standing on the western side of the chalet.

  “Oh no you don’t!” shouted Betts and picked up his own rifle which, instead of pointing at the pilot of the micro-light, he pointed at James.

  “Put your gun down,” Betts said calmly.

  James could not believe what was going on. Betts was still holding a loaded rifle up at him and the micro-light was just about to take-off. The Woodcutter returned pistol shots from the micro-light’s ramp trapping James where he stood. Betts took the opportunity to let off the rifle into his teammate. James fell forward and clutched his stomach in agony.

  Meanwhile the Woodcutter said to himself, “Well, it’s now or never,” and jumped into the small framed chassis of the micro-light before hitting the throttle to maximum rpm for take-off. The small aerial machine sprung to life and quickly gained pace before hitting the ramp, leading the Woodcutter and his pride and joy into the open air beyond. The engine strained as she pulled away from the ground, projected by the ramp into the valley.

  Archie looked in disbelief as part of the southern elevation of the property opened up. In the next moment, a micro-light was bouncing up the ramp to take off. The figure within the micro-light hurled a glass bottle towards the basement behind him causing the whole of the basement to explode into a cauldron of fire whilst firing a pistol from the cockpit of his aerial machine.

  The micro-light bore away into the half-light of the valley. The remaining members of the team started to fire at the small, light aircraft from the western side, and continued until she flew out of range.

  Eventually, the sounds in the valley softened to a near silence, only being interrupted by the gentle crackle of fire still being fed by the remains of the chalet. All the faces of the team were lit up by the warm glow of the flames.

  Chapter 52

  Archie twirled around in amazement as the micro-light flew off the ramp into the thin air beyond. With Jackie and Jo and Nick, the team had sought to bring the aircraft down with their military rifles. Whilst a few of the shots managed to pierce the chassis of the micro-light, the machine dodged and dived and turned sharply towards the other side of the chalet.

  Archie and his team heard the crack of pistol shots emanating from the craft and ran to help James and Stuart Betts who had been firing up at the plane. As they ran round to support their colleagues Archie was shocked that James appeared to have been shot in the stomach. As he howled in agony the micro-light was already approaching the maximum range of their rifles.

  The micro-light pilot semi-stalled the controls so that the aircraft glided sharply downwards on its own momentum and the remainder of the rifle shots flew over the top. She now started to ascend above the pine forest before disappearing as a tiny black fleck in the distance.

  Archie had not planned for this escape. Whilst he had had the team surrounding the chalet and could have staked out the man who had fled from the forest on his cross country skis, the aerial craft had come from nowhere.

  As quickly as the man had skied up from the forest into the hidden chalet, he had engineered what could only be considered an impressive departure. Archie and his team would have to salvage what they could.

  The chalet was smouldering away from the diesel oil fire created by the small glass fuel bomb, but no part of what the fugitive had left behind would go unturned. The property had to reveal to Archie and his team a clue as to who this man was, what he represented, and to where he may have fled.

  The flames would soon eat away at the remainder of the structure, so Archie shouted to Betts to look after James. Betts swiftly obliged and James seemed to howl even louder, but it was impossible to make out any clear sounds through the gurgling noises that were coming up from his throat.

  Archie led Jackie and Jo and Nick into the front of the property, part of which had now fallen away to give them access directly onto the main staircase leading to the common area and bedrooms beyond.

  The team scrambled throughout the chalet, breathing heavily with their exertion, yet shielding their faces from the heat of the flames. Archie racked his head as to where any clues could be found. Rather than dash around like a headless chicken, he attempted to focus strategically on routing through all of the areas that were still in one piece.

  Archie sent Jackie and Jo to search through the upstairs bedrooms and Nick to go through what was left of the basement areas. Meanwhile he rapidly began hunting through the main living area. Normally, he would have been impressed by the exercise and chill out zone with the sauna and jacuzzi. Now, it was just a case of what might be unearthed from them. What secrets lay behind this luxurious setting and the objects that lay within?

  In routing through the kitchen area, he went back to the cutlery draw and examined all of the utensils. The occupant had cleared out in a rush and had not fully had time to wash up his most recent meal. He put a couple of items of the recently used cutlery in a clear perspex sandwich bag.

  Meanwhile, Jackie and Jo came back down the stairs looking disappointed and once they had helped Archie in the main living area, the three of them proceeded to the basement area.

  The smoke from the fire was starting to billow up the main staircase and the three adults crouched low, holding material against their faces to shroud the worst effects of the fumes.

  Nick appeared with a smile on his face. Could it be good news, Archie wondered? Nick approached Archie, held out his hand and calmly said, “Look at this.”

  Jackie, Jo and Archie peered through the murky air to see what Nick was holding. He held aloft a historic ships visitor pass, although slightly burnt it was clear that it was the historic ships that Archie was more than familiar with. Secondly, which had to be the icing on the cake, the previous occupant had left behind the remains of an address on the other side of the paper. Archie was sure that the digits that remained indicated an address in Southsea, of all places, but it would take some work from him and his team to track this one down. Flabbergasted and slightly bemused, Archie, Nick and the girls rushed out of the chalet, just as the fire began to lick up the main stairwell through to the common area.

  Chapter 53

  Archie called in the helicopter to take them back to the UK and the pick-up was arranged using two discreet sentences. The team was to head down the valley on their cross country skis for it was no
w dark and too cold to stay put.

  James had succumbed to his wounds, forcing the team to bury his body next to what was left of the chalet. With limited time, the team honoured James in silence, putting him into a makeshift grave as quickly as they could. Whilst the smoke had eased, it still drifted skywards. The flames had died down to reveal the concrete frame but the majority of the wood had succumbed to the crackling feast of the fire.

  The chalet was lit up and the authorities would soon be on their way to investigate the constant plume of smoke in this wilderness valley. Unaware of permanent habitation, they would be keen to ensure that their local environment was not being damaged by a forest fire.

  Archie’s team arrived at the tree line. He grunted instructions and Jackie, followed soon after by Jo, continued swiftly on. Jackie had ensured that she was on the right bearing and that Jo was ready for the pace to pick up. They had to temporarily remove James from their minds.

  With the limited vision provided by their head torches, the girls stepped out in their cross country skis, making substantial progress over the rough terrain during the next gruelling couple of hours. Archie, Nick and Petty Officer Betts had viewed the diminishing flames from the tree line. There was no sign of others having been alerted just yet. Their team then similarly worked hard over the rough pine forest tracks through to the pre-planned opening in the trees. This provided the helicopter with its natural and discreet landing pad.