The plane’s passengers emptied into the two large jeeps, five jumping into each one. They kept Rolf’s drivers but the two men who had accompanied the drivers jumped out and boarded the plane. They would ensure that nobody came snooping while the others were away. Tom wondered whether they would crack his safe while he was away, they certainly looked the type.
Two minutes later, they were on the main road and covering the 8 mile run to the prison very quickly when suddenly, the lead jeep stopped, pulling to a skid at the side of the road.
Papa jumped out and walked back to the second jeep which had similarly ground to halt.
“OK, everybody out, we go across ground from here.”
“But we’re still over a mile away,” protested Tom.
“Everybody but you two that is,” said Papa pointing to Tom and Daniel.
“No, wait a minute, I have to come, I’m not staying here…” Tom looked at Papa’s face and realised that it wasn’t up for debate. He stopped arguing, he had already gone too far. Papa’s instructions were not to be questioned.
“Lela, you can stay or come, you won’t hold us back,” said Papa. Lela looked across at Tom. She didn’t like the fact that she could go and he couldn’t. Tom nodded his approval.
“I’ll come, thank you.”
“What about me?” asked Daniel. “I feel all dressed up with nowhere to go.” He was as disappointed as Tom.
“I want you to use that fancy communication kit you brought and see if you can listen into the guards and let us know what they’re up to.”
“Cool. No problem,” said Daniel.
The islanders jogged off into the night, disappearing immediately, despite the moonlight.
“Where did they go?” asked Daniel.
“They’re there, it’s just they don’t want you to see them,” said Tom.
“Who the hell are they anyway?”
“That, my friend, is a very long story but right now you should be listening into your device.”
Daniel took the hint and quickly set up his kit and began to scan through frequencies and bandwidths that could carry voices. Digitised, encrypted or not, his little piece of kit could hear just about anything within a three mile range.
Lela and the islanders quickly covered the ground to the prison. Dressed in black and using their surroundings for cover, they were almost invisible. As they neared the prison, they stopped. Breaking in wasn’t going to be their first problem. Just reaching the prison was. The prison perimeter was surrounded by soldiers, heavily armed and very professional. Kano and Kisho had scouted ahead and came back with the bad news.
“It’s going to be difficult, they’ve taken up excellent positions and they’re very well equipped,” said Kano to Papa.
“So how do we get past them? We can’t afford to kill any Guineans. That would give them something to arrest Donald for.” Papa was struggling to know what to do.
“Wait a minute. They’re not Guineans, absolutely no way. They’re far too well trained and their kit is state of the art. That is one very expensive private army, mercenaries I would say,” replied Kano.
“How good?” asked Papa.
“As good as I’ve seen. They nearly spotted me!” exclaimed Kano.
“How many?”
“Probably 40 around the perimeter and another 10 at the gates. The strange thing is though, I would swear that the guys on the gate don’t know about the soldiers on the perimeter.”
“My main concern isn’t getting in, it’s getting out with Rachel and Donald,” said Papa who didn’t need to worry about Saki.
“Papa, come in Papa,” called Daniel into the radio.
“Yes Daniel, what’s wrong?” replied Papa into his two-way headset. All the islanders would be able to hear what was said.
“I think you’ve been spotted,” replied Daniel. Papa immediately looked to Kano and Kisho who shook their heads.
“Impossible Daniel. We can see the bad guys and there’s only the sea behind us.”
“Well whoever they are can see Lela. Somebody just mentioned that they could swear that was a girl.”
Papa looked over at Lela. Whoever had spotted them was behind them. Papa had Lela surrounded, just in case, and the only place she was visible was from the sea. He looked around again.
“I’ll call you back Daniel. Keep tracking them.”
Chapter 43
Donald and Saki were pacing in their cell. It was 1.00 a.m. but neither felt like sleeping. It had been a very strange day, something was brewing and a dangerous atmosphere hung in the air. The cell next to theirs which had previously been empty had been filled with four new prisoners who could not have looked more out of place if they had tried. During their afternoon exercise, the mens’ eyes betrayed their training. They were professional soldiers and good ones. They had also brought a number of friends into the prison. Saki had counted at least another six so of them. In addition Donald and Saki had noticed a number of new guards, surprisingly similar in stature and training to the new prisoners.
The tension amongst the prison community was palpable. With no ‘boss’ prisoner to keep the peace, turf wars were being fought and old scores settled. The new prisoners seemed to be taking a great interest in these and somehow getting involved and even stirring an already explosive atmosphere.
It did not take a genius to work out that an attempt was going to be made on their lives, under the cover of a prison riot. Saki knew it and Donald knew it. Fortunately, Rachel didn’t. They could hear shouts already. Things were beginning to happen, it wouldn’t be long. The shouts began to grow both in volume and number.
“What can we do?” asked Donald.
“Nothing. When it starts, we just need to get to Rachel and you stay behind me, OK.”
They didn’t have long to wait, the shouts soon grew to screams as the first bout of fighting began.
Chapter 44
“I see them,” said Kano. “They’re just on the edge of the beach.”
“How many?” asked Papa.
They had all dropped to the ground and were now moving away from the point where they had been spotted. All except for Kano and Kisho, who had moved towards the sea to try to see who was there.
“About fifteen, hold on, they’re coming towards me.” He stopped transmitting. He and Kisho lay still as they watched the soldiers move past them.
The soldiers were all dressed in black covert operations’ gear and had thermal imaging equipment although it appeared they were happy not to use it. They carried a mixture of weapons some with MP5 silenced submachine guns, some with HK416 machine rifles complete with added grenade launchers. Two of the soldiers were equipped with L96A1 sniper rifles and all carried Browning Hi-Power pistols as they moved quietly and swiftly across the sand.
Just as they were passing, Kisho stood up. All fifteen soldiers saw him and instantly levelled their weapons ready to fire.
“Not by strength, by guile,” whispered Kisho. Kano understanding what he was doing, stood up also.
“Who the hell are you mate?” asked one of the soldiers.
“On your side I think. We’re here to get Donald Kennedy out. You?” replied Kisho.
“I can’t say,” replied the soldier smiling, “what unit?” he asked.
“Penarajans,” responded Kisho, knowing these were some of the only men in the British forces who would know what he meant.
“Phew! Thank God you recognised us, or we’d all be dead. We’re the SBS mate. Good to have you onboard,” replied the soldier who was the leader of the team. “How many of you are there?”
“Eight,” replied Kisho.
“Jesus, I’ve never seen more than two of you guys in battle at once and that was a sight to be seen, eight of you guys must be like a bloody tornados hit.”
That was praise indeed. The SBS, the Special Boat Service, was the lesser known of the UK Special Forces and some believed the best. You could only gain entry after three years’ service in the Royal Marines wh
ich in itself had a 30 week recruitment procedure seen as the toughest in the world. After volunteering for the SBS, the volunteer would have to pass the SAS selection and it didn’t stop there. They could then choose to join the SAS or continue on to the SBS additional selection procedure. Failure rate was in the 90 % region, leaving only the toughest soldiers to join the small, secretive and extremely capable unit.
“We spotted some soldiers on the way in but there was a young girl with them, so it couldn’t be you guys. Have you seen them?”
“That was us, you spotted our cousin, Lela,” said Kano.
The looks said it all. What the hell were they doing bringing a girl along?
“Trust me,” he said. “She could kick each and every one of your arses, and ours and I don’t mean separately, I mean at once.”
Kisho could see their incredulous looks.
“He’s not kidding, she’s unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The SBS soldiers who had experience of the Penarajans looked at them in awe. The others continued to look at them as though they were mad.
“Kano, Kisho, what’s happening where are you?” called Papa over the radio.
Kisho called back. “We have some help, there’s a squad of SBS soldiers down here.”
“What the hell do they want?”
The SBS soldier overheard him.
“Tell him we come courtesy of the UK Prime Minister, he wants Mr Kennedy released sooner than the Guineans are willing.”
Kisho began to answer. “I heard him,” interrupted Papa. “Are they any good?”
The SBS squad heard the question and waited for Kisho to answer, this should be interesting they thought. How did the Penarajans rate them?
“Very,” replied Kisho knowing Papa’s next question would be easier to answer.
“Ratio?” Papa asked. This was code for their rating of the unit in respect to Penarajans, one Penarajan equalled how many of the other. More simply, it meant how many of them would it take to beat an average Penarajan.
“Four,” replied Kisho. Bloody hell thought Papa as he was given the lowest ratio he had ever been given. It was normally around ten for an average Penarajan. Of course, none of the Penarajans who had travelled to Equatorial Guinea were in the average category. They were way above average with a couple of exceptionals. Lela didn’t figure in the ratings, she had gone off the chart the previous year and was, well, just Lela.
Suddenly, the rest of the islanders, including Lela, appeared next to them. A couple of the SBS soldiers jumped as the islanders just seemed to materialise from thin air. They all took a crafty glance at Lela, trying to imagine how she could possibly kick their arses.
Papa quickly took control and scoped out the current situation. The SBS were shocked to hear the number and quality of soldiers protecting the prison. They had anticipated a very simple break-in and a fairly easy extraction. Papa then laid out his proposed plan. The SBS looked it over and soon agreed that it was very cleverly conceived. They called into London to get the OK as they were deviating substantially from their original plan.
Chapter 45
The riot had started. The noise of shouting and screaming was building up as the prisoners rampaged through their cell blocks. A guard ran down the Kennedys’ corridor and began to unlock the cells. He wasn’t even trying to hide what he was doing. The four prisoners next to Donald and Saki’s cell wasted no time and pulled their cell door open. Saki stood ready. He was delighted they had come to them first. His biggest worry had been Rachel in the next cell. If their door had remained locked and hers open, they would have been in big trouble.
The four men filled the cell. If there were any doubts as to their intentions, they soon vanished as they each pulled out a long combat knife. The first man made a move, pushing Saki out of his way to get to Donald. Saki looked as though he wasn’t reacting but out of sight of the man’s colleagues, he threw a short but huge punch to the centre of the man’s chest causing his heart to just stop. The man’s body fell to the floor, dead before making contact with the concrete. Not seeing what had happened, the other three just looked on in bewilderment as their colleague slumped to the floor. Saki gave them a fraction of a second to regret their inaction before inflicting fatal wounds on them. One from a severed spinal cord and two from severe head traumas. Saki had high kicked the second man in at the base of the skull before smashing the other twos’ heads together as he spun back to the ground.
Donald had to be guided out of the room by Saki as he stood gawping at Saki’s aftermath. As they made their way into Rachel’s cell, gunshots started to ring.
Chapter 46
“We’ve got the OK,” announced the SBS leader.
“Excellent, let’s go,” said Papa.
Lela radioed Tom and Daniel to let them know that Britain had sent over the SBS to rescue Donald and that they were now working together.
Good old Roger, thought Tom hearing the news. Despite the assassination story, the British Prime Minister had sent in troops to rescue his father. He couldn’t help think that the Guineans must have really annoyed him or did the UK have the same listening system as the Mossad? He thought how ironic it would be if they all had it and all thought they were the only ones who could hear everything. Tom could see by the look on Daniel’s face that he was thinking the same thing.
“Good luck and be safe,” he radioed back to Lela.
Lela didn’t respond, she was in the process of receiving her instructions. The islanders would sneak through the perimeter, enter the prison and secure the Kennedys. Meanwhile, the SBS would create mayhem on the outside and take out the guards at the gate and the perimeter, allowing the islanders to emerge with the Kennedys and get them out to the airport.
Shouting could be heard from the prison and it was obvious that things were becoming restless. Papa was very keen to get moving but at the same time, wanted to make sure that the SBS knew where they would be. He didn’t want to plan this operation perfectly and end up getting shot by friendly fire. It didn’t take long for everybody to know exactly what they were doing. The islanders and SBS split up, the islanders disappearing into the night on their way to the prison and the SBS to take up offensive positions against the perimeter guard.
It was not an easy route into the prison. Despite the islanders’ ability to disappear into the night, the highly trained perimeter guards had sensed their presence but could not see them. Fortunately, the islanders made it to the prison wall undetected and huddled in position. Two prison guards protected the small side gate which allowed the islanders easiest access. There were two watchtowers which also protected that portion of the wall but it was clearly not manned by normal prison guards. Their sniper rifles were easily worth $30,000 and were certainly not standard issue. Papa signalled to the SBS that they had a problem. A second later, two almost inaudible “puts” were the only indication that the watchtower guards were no longer an issue, having been dispatched by SBS snipers.
While the watchtower guards had been taken out, Kano and Kisho had been dealing with the guards at the gate. They had slammed the handles of their pistols into the base of the guards’ skulls, rendering them unconscious. Thankfully, the shouts and screams from inside the prison had covered the noise of the small explosive charge used to open the gate and allow the islanders into the prison.
As they opened the gate, a swarm of prisoners rushed towards them. Papa could not afford to let the prisoners go just yet as they would create confusion on the outside and interfere with the SBS task.
“Keep them in,” he ordered, holding onto Lela’s hand, she was staying there next to him.
Kano, Kisho and the other four islanders rushed forward towards the mass of prisoners. Within two minutes, the flow had reversed and the prisoners, recognising Saki’s skills backed off, leaving behind a few wounded bodies. Papa left two islanders to guard the gate, nobody was leaving until he said they could. Kano picked up one of the unfortunate prisoners who had tried t
o leave but he didn’t speak English. He tried another, neither did he. As he made his way to the next wounded prisoner, a shout came from the group of prisoners who had been forced back.
“I speak English,” the prisoner shouted.
“Do you know where they are keeping two men and a woman?” asked Kano.
“Yes but what do we get in return for telling you?”
“Your freedom but not just yet. The prison is surrounded, you’d be shot the minute you put your head through the gate.”
“When then?”
“When we leave, we’ll leave the gate open for you.”
“OK, they’re in that building there, top floor far end,” said the prisoner pointing to the next block where 10 guards and six prisoners were seen entering.
“Quick,” shouted Kano. “Let’s go!”
The first gunshots of the night rang out. Not from outside but inside the prison and the tell-tale gun flash told them that it came from the top floor of the building they’d just been directed to.
Chapter 47
Donald and Saki rushed into Rachel’s cell just as she screamed. The guard who had unlocked the cells had come back to pay her a visit. Saki tapped him on the shoulder and as the guard turned around, Saki smiled and delivered a punch so hard that the guard’s jaw shattered. The snap of the bone ricocheted around the bare stone walls of the cell as the guard dropped to the floor. It would be a long time before he was back on solids. Saki then noticed that it was his friend with the fancy gun, the small sub machine gun. He grabbed it along with the spare cartridges and ran back to the cell door.
Donald grabbed Rachel and hugged her.
“What now?” she sobbed.
“We stay behind Saki,” replied Donald remembering his instructions.
Saki looked down the corridor. It wasn’t good. There were 10 guards working their way slowly and carefully down the corridor towards them. Saki considered their options, they didn’t have any. All he could do was hold them off as long as possible and hope for a miracle. He pointed the gun down the corridor and sent a barrage of bullets towards the guards. They were still quite far away but he did manage to hit three of them. Three down, seven to go. As well as reducing their number, he had slowed them down and they would be even more careful now.
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