The Wrath of Shakira

by M. W. Fletcher

  “We may need it sir; were out in the sticks here.”

  Just then, the sound of jet engines could be heard to the Northwest.

  The pilot in the Gulfstream had been given instruction to approach from the Northwest to land on runway twenty-zero-four, he had a southeast cross wind of three to four knots, the landing gear was down and he had aligned his approach with the centre of the runway.

  He moved the flap selection leaver forward to raise the flaps and was now over the threshold, he reduced power and corrected his alignment with the rudder the main wheels gave a gentle bump as they struck the runway.

  The pilot applied more backpressure to the control to keep the plane in a nose high attitude, which keeps the nose wheel from touching the runway until forward speed is much slower.

  The purpose here was to avoid overstressing and damaging the nose gear when the nose wheel touches down on the runway.

  The nose wheel bumped down and the pilot applied the brakes at the same selecting reverse thrusters on the engines, within a few minutes he was taxing the plane towards the control hut.

  Max clocked the planes markings; Delta two, Alpha, Romeo, Bravo.”

  Max spoke into his radio, “this is the target plane, Green team make your way to the entrance and find a spot to sit up, and Blue Team Park up on that pub we saw on our way in, a quarter mile up from the entrance.”

  Both teams confirmed the instructions.

  Both Max and Roy watched the Gulfstream taxi to the apron near the control hut, the engines powered down and the forward door opened followed by the staircase.

  Seven men emerged the last one out was Vas, Max pointed him out to Roy, “bit on the small side”, Roy commented.

  “That he is Roy; however we both know looks can be deceiving, the others look like they have seen some action.”

  Tanish Al-Bazzaz, walked over to the group of men a brief conversation was followed by the group walking over to the Bedford truck, one man separated from the group, it was Vas he entered the toilet block and reappeared a few minutes later jogging over to the waiting truck he jumped up into the back, the truck pulled away making its way out of the airfield.

  As it emerged from the airfield, the Green team confirmed eyeballing it.

  The green team’s driver fired the engine up and dropped in a few hundred yards behind the truck as they passed the pub the Blue team emerged from the car park onto the road following behind the Green team at a discreet distance.

  Both teams had selected channel two on their two-way codetta radios and a running commentary began between both teams as they followed the Bedford truck.

  Back at the airfield, the Red team had re-joined Max at the control hut.

  Roy had just returned from the toilet block confirming Vas had picked up the equipment.

  The radio chatter between the Green and Blue teams put the Bedford truck One mile away.

  Max directed the Red team to make their way to the army surplus depot using an alternative route he had worked out on the road atlas; his orders were to make haste and to be at the depot before the Bedford truck arrived.

  The Red team hurtled along the apron to the exit with tyres screaming as they turned into the exit.

  Max and Roy were now alone at the airfield, Roy’s radio was on channel two and Max had left his on channel one.

  GAIL spoke over the channel one frequency, “Max satellite coverage will be overhead in five minutes thirty-nine seconds; I will use the commentary from the pursuit teams to guide the satellite overhead.”

  “Roger that GAIL,” Max replied.

  Vas had secreted the radio in his holdall along with the silenced-pistol and had jumped into the back of the truck; he observed Ben and the others opening munitions cases, Ben turned to Vas, “Kom an kies jour weapon en tjek dit bo-op.” (“Come and choose your weapon and check it out”).

  Vas selected one of the Kalashnikov AK 47’s and began to strip it down to check it over.

  All the men sat quietly in the back of the truck whilst they each spent time stripping weapons and loading magazines.

  The driver Tanish was now a mile from the depot on the B1145, he had noticed a couple of vehicles in the distance that had appeared to have joined them shortly from the airfield, he was just contemplating this when one of the cars began closing the gap down extremely fast.

  A few seconds later the powerful hatch back car was overtaking him continuing to accelerate down the road ahead of him, he had clocked four men in this vehicle, he muttered, “bloody hooligans.”

  The car had been the Blue team they wanted to ensure the driver of the Bedford truck was not becoming curious about the vehicles in the distance behind, and had decided on this course of action.

  Tanish pulled into the driveway of the army surplus supply depot on the left of the main road.

  The truck stopped and Vas along with Ben and the five other men alighted from the truck, Vas looked around him and then at Tanish, “big place you have here.”

  Tanish replied, “the supply depot covers six acres of land, come I have someone waiting to meet you.”

  They walked over to a nearby portable-cabin; Tanish opened the door and invited them in, a man was sitting in the shadows in the left corner, he rose from the chair and the sunlight from the window caught his facial features.

  Ben recognised him immediately and walked towards him; both men embraced each other for a few moments, Ben spoke “dit goed to sien jou Mon.” (“It’s good to see you man”).

  The man replied, “jou to Ben.” (“You to Ben”).

  Ben turned to Vas and the others, “Hier die man’s voor die taak.” (“Here’s the man for the task”).

  The man approached them with a pronounced limp, “you lot speak English?”

  Vas stepped forward, “I do; not quite sure how good theirs is.”

  The five other men each replied “yes”.

  “My names Ali Hussein, you take your orders from me,

  is that clear?”

  The five men including Vas made no comment, Vas appraised Hussein, his mind quickly recalled the report he had read, of when Max had encountered him in Jalalabad and tortured him for information, resulting in a kneecapping injury. “So you’re Ali Hussein.”

  Hussein looked at Vas, “Your name Vas?”

  “Yep.”

  “You come with me and Ben, you five take watch around the perimeter, report back to me with any suspicious movement keep your weapons concealed, you’re not back in the jungles of Africa so low profile, do you understand that?”

  The five men nodded in compliance.

  Hussein looked at his watch, “another truck will arrive in twenty-minutes with some more brothers in arms, direct them into the depot and notify me immediately.”

  Supply Depot

  Tanish Al Bazaar’s Army Surplus Supply Depot

  B 1145 Lexham Road Litcham Norfolk UK

  Lat = 52 degrees, 43.4 minutes North

  Long = 0 degrees, 46.4 minutes East

  Blue and green teams had parked up on the East and West sides respectively of the supply depot, they had quickly changed into their combat gear and had fanned out around the perimeter, it was open land surrounding the supply depot and they had to carry out observations from over two-hundred yards away, using their high power binoculars.

  Both teams confirmed the presence of the perimeter guards, although they had tried to conceal their weapons the team’s binoculars had eyeballed them under the guards clothing.

  The Red team had beaten everyone to the supply depot and had observed everyone arriving from a small road opposite the supply depot entrance, and were now kitting up in combat gear.

  Max and Roy arrived on site several minutes after the Bedford truck had pulled into the supply depot, parking up with the Red team.<
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  The COSMOS 1869 military satellite was orbiting at an altitude of three hundred and thirty two miles with a speed of four point seven miles per hour, Latitude 52 degrees, and 43.4 minutes North, Longitude 0 degrees, 46.4 minutes East.

  GAIL had issued a command to the satellite to enhance the images; she was now looking at three images of the supply compound and relaying the Intel to Max.

  There appeared to be an object in a clearing on the North side of the supply compound that required enhancing.

  Vas had followed Hussein and Ben to the North side of the compound; the compound was stacked with all sorts of military grade vehicles all apparently in working order, there were trucks, jeeps, landrovers, half-tracks and tanks.

  They walked into a clearing and in front of them was a helicopter, just then Tanish arrived, “I see you have found my pride and joy of my collection; a nineteen sixty-nine Bell 209 AH-1 cobra, acquired from the Israeli air force twelve months ago.”

  Vas was the first to speak, “Does it fly?”

  “Just finished a complete overall, she will be tested next week for her flying certificate,” replied Tanish.

  “What do you intend to use her for,” Vas replied.

  “Oh; I was going to use it at air shows, they have a lot each year around the country.”

  The four men walked over to inspect the helicopter more closely the stub wings had the store stations for missiles with the under nose twin barrel 7.62 mm multi-barrel Miniguns.

  Hussein spoke, “did you acquire the munitions for it?”

  “They arrived this morning; they were very hard to come by.”

  “You have been more than handsomely compensated for your time and costs,” Hussein commented sternly.

  “How long to rearm it,” Hussein enquired.

  “The turret gun was fully loaded a couple of hours ago, I can have the missiles loaded within the hour.”

  “Do it now,” replied Hussein.

  Hussein looked down at his watch; “our brothers should be arriving any minute, let’s go meet them.”

  Hussein limped away with Vas and Ben following, Tanish walked over to four nearby crates, he picked up a crowbar and levered open a crate, he pulled back the foil sealed covering to expose four 70mm rockets, each of the two M-158 launchers could take seven missiles.

  Back at the main gate Hussein, Vas and Ben had just arrived as another Bedford ex-military was pulling in.

  The Bedford lurched to a stop and ten Asian ethnic men emerged from the back they were dressed in a variety of clothing, the driver named Lang was a man Hussein had met at a previous meeting with Tanish’s brother Omar in London some weeks ago.

  The driver approached Hussein and spoke in Arabic, “naHnu fi ra akhi.” (“Were at your command my brother”).

  Hussein replied,” Allah will reward you for your services today, which one of you is the helicopter pilot?”

  The driver turned and called one of the ten men over; a burley six-foot tall man came across, “this is Meng; he has much experience flying helicopters.”

  Hussein looked at the man; he had close-cropped dark hair and had obviously kept his physic in good shape, “So where have you gained this experience Meng?”

  “I spent five years with the Pakistan army flying the Cobra 20AH-F; I saw action in the Balochistan region.”

  Hussein watched Meng’s body language for signs of betrayal, “so why are you know prepared to lay your life down for our cause?”

  “My wife and child were killed by a botched army raid, I resigned my commission and came to England, here I met fellow Muslims whom had also lost their faith, I have now found my faith again and I am prepared to die in order to join my family in paradise.”

  Hussein was satisfied with what he was seeing and had heard, Hussein pointed to the North side of the compound,

  “you will find Tannish over there with the helicopter, ensure he is arming correctly and check it over for flight.”

  Meng replied, “do you wish for my gunner to accompany me?”

  Hussein looked quizzically; Meng registered the concerns in Hussein’s facial expression.

  “The Cobra is a two person helicopter.”

  “Who is your man?”

  Meng shouted to a man in the group who walked over, “this is Abdul he has the relevant experience.”

  “Hussein looked at both men, “okay take him with you.”

  They both walked away and disappeared behind crates and vehicles.

  The driver Lang spoke, “Meng is a good man brother Hussein; he will not let you down.”

  “We shall see; if he does indeed honor Allah and take his place in paradise,” replied Hussein.

  “Now take your men into the cabin have them change into the combat fatigues you will find in there, then have them relieve the men on perimeter guard.”

  Lang called to the nine remaining men and they followed him to the cabin.

  Max and Roy had just completed changing into their combat gear when Max’s radio began receiving a message from GAIL, “Max; I have identified a Bell 209 AH-1 cobra attack helicopter within the compound on the Northern side, from the images it appears to have someone arming it. The guards are still patrolling the perimeter and the vehicle that just arrived had a complement of ten men, they are now in the cabin building to East of the main gate.”

  “GAIL; is General Strayker still online?”

  Before GAIL replied Strayker spoke, “I’m here Max.”

  “Sir the presence of the Cobra, is not what we expected, our men would be no match for that kind of fire power, we need to restore the balance of power.”

  GAIL interposed, “if I may make a suggestion gentlemen.”

  “Go ahead,” replied Strayker.

  “My systems show a Royal Air force base, seventeen point six miles East of your location, they have Tornado GR-1’s from 27 squadron based there, my systems show they operate a QRA system.”

  “What’s a QRA GAIL?” replied Strayker.

  “Quick Reaction Alert sir.”

  “GAIL put me through to the station commander.”

  Max spoke into Roy’s radio still on channel two, “all units this is Eagle three, I have a SITREP for you, the truck that recently arrived had a further ten men, together with those that arrived in the Gulfstream we are looking at sixteen hostiles. I have just been advised that on the North side of the compound we have a Bell 209

  AH-1 cobra attack helicopter that is being armed, blue team I want you to move from the East side to the North side of the compound and move in ready to destroy the Cobra. The Red team will be arriving to cover your position on the East side, Eagle five will join you.”

  A few moments later Roy and the four Red team members were moving on foot East from their present location through the trees, that brought them two-hundred yards down from the compound, they crossed the road into a ploughed field and immediately found the low-lying hedge that provided some cover between them and the compound. Ten minutes later Roy was with the Blue team whom were now fifty yards on the North side of the compound.

  The team leader acknowledged Roy, “sir; this is as close as we dare go without being detected.”

  “Good job, what’s going on in there?”

  “We can only just make out the Cobra, it looks like they have finished arming it, and a few moments ago someone got into the pilot’s seat.”

  Roy switched his Codetta to channel one, “Eagle six to three come in.”

  Max replied, “Eagle six to five go.”

  “The cobra appears to have finished rearming and someone is now in the pilot’s seat.”

  “Okay five; priority is that the Cobra stays on the ground we need a diversion, Green team what’s your status?”

  “We are two hundred yards from the
perimeter fence on the West side sir.”

  “How close can you get to the fence undetected?”

  “We could probably half the distance at best sir.”

  “Okay green team make your way closer to the West side perimeter, when you are in place contact me, out.”

  “Eagle three this is Strayker come in.”

  Max replied, “Go ahead sir.”

  “I have just spoken to Group Captain David Bucannon at the air base, he has two Tornado GR1’s armed and ready for take-off, give me the word and they will be on site in six minutes.”

  “Roger that sir I’ll ....” The conversation was interrupted by the sound of gunfire.

  “Green team to Eagle three we have been compromised, we are taking fire from the West side perimeter guards.”

  “All teams this is Eagle three move in, take the guards out.”

  With that the sound of gunfire escalated.

  Hussein had heard the initial gunfire from the West perimeter guards; he hobbled swiftly to the north side where the Cobra was, the pilot Meng was in the pilot’s seat and Abdul was in the gunner’s front seat.

  Hussein shouted, “We are under attack, I want you to get airborne and deal with the hostiles now.”

  Meng replied, “I have carried out a pre-flight check and she’s ready to go, he reached and flicked the ignition switch, the Avco Lycoming T53-13 turbo shaft coughed into life and the twin single rotor blade began to turn.

  Meng looked down at the dash, fuel level was showing full, oil pressure good, he took hold of the cyclic with his right hand and collective control with his left these control the speed and angle of the main rotor blades allowing the helicopter to move up and down, backwards forwards and side wards.

  His feet moved to the foot controls that controlled the tail rotor, the rotors were whirling in flat pitch with no angle or bite in the air, Meng increased the collective pitch, the rotor blades bit into the air, each to the same degree, and began to lift the helicopter vertically the altimeter counter showed his rate of ascent, he was now at forty feet when he heard a clattering sound on the fuselage followed by pinging noises on the armoured glass cockpit.