The Sixteen

by John Urwin

‘Don’t move, Geordie,’ he said, and taking the piece of wood, scratched a circle around me in the dirt.

  ‘The object of the exercise is to take the egg off the top of that piece of wood, without breaking it of course, and get it back here within this circle. At no time must the egg touch the ground, you mustn’t move out of the circle at all and no one has to help you in any way. Here’s a ball of string and a dog-clip. I’ll give you five minutes to pick up anything else you can find lying around which might be of use to you. Do you understand?’

  ‘This isn’t some kind of wind-up is it?’

  ‘No it’s not! This is serious, old boy, and your time starts now!’

  There wasn’t very much lying around the area except for the old oil tin that we used as a dustbin and inside it all I found was a cardboard box, which had been torn, squashed and thrown away.

  Better than nothing, I thought, although I’d no idea at that stage what possible use it could be, but there just didn’t seem to be anything else around. I’d no sooner picked it up, when Dynamo said, ‘That’s it, time’s up, get in the circle.’

  ‘You’ve got to be joking,’ I said. ‘I’ve only got this piece of cardboard.’

  ‘And a ball of string and a dog-clip, what more do you need?’ he said, still laughing.

  ‘I take it you’ve done this?’

  ‘Yeah, of course, we all have.’ He grinned. ‘Right, I’m going to give you three-quarters of an hour, starting now!’

  So I sat down. Well, if they can do it so can I, I thought.

  I must have sat there for about ten minutes trying to work it out, looking at the structure of the building to see what I could utilise – I knew how to get the string down there and back but the one thing they hadn’t shown me was how to pick a damn egg up without breaking it! Then suddenly it came to me. I was fairly certain that by re-shaping the cardboard back into a box and using the string and dog-clip, I would be able to do it. At one point, I thought I’d blown it when the piece of wood fell over and the egg disappeared. I fully expected to find it smashed or, at the very least cracked, but, much to their astonishment and mine, I accomplished the whole task in just over half an hour.

  ‘Brilliant, Geordie,’ Chalky exclaimed, as they all clapped.

  ‘We’ve all done it, but none of us came up with that idea,’ Spot said.

  ‘Does that mean I get a cup of tea, then?’

  Dynamo laughed. ‘That was the easy one, lad, try this. Stay where you are in that circle and don’t move.’ He walked down to the other end of the room and placed a small table where the piece of wood and egg had been, then came back to me and handed me a brick wrapped inside a piece of sacking.

  ‘OK. Tie that tight underneath the table. When you’ve accomplished it there must be nothing, no string or anything else, connecting you to either it or the table. You’ve got the same length of time as before and when you’ve done this one you can have your tea.’ He paused briefly and grinned. ‘Then you’ve only got three more to do!’

  I could see what he meant about the first one being the easiest!

  They told me that the tasks they set me were designed to test my powers of assessment, initiative, speed of thought and actual thought processes. That’s a right mouthful, I thought.

  I had to think in a way I’d never previously done, look at each task differently and carefully weigh up all of the possibilities from every angle. I’d never been asked to do anything like this before but the first task had already whetted my appetite and I found myself really enjoying it. Each task was progressively more difficult than the previous one but I found that once I got my brain running along the right lines, they actually became easier for me to do. But one in particular was a real brainteaser and gave me a pain in the head thinking about it. I might have known that when Dynamo had so readily offered me a drink of tea there would be a catch. He placed my cup on a flat piece of wood, roughly eighteen foot square and about forty-five feet away from me.

  ‘If you want it before it gets cold, get it back to you in that circle without spilling it. It has to stay on the piece of wood and mustn’t touch the ground,’ he called to me from the other end of the room.

  At first I was stumped, and stood where I was in the circle, racking my brain, but when he walked back to where I stood and handed me two wire coat hangers, I knew exactly what to do.

  The tests had been difficult, but I felt as though I’d used my brain properly for the first time and was really chuffed that I accomplished them all that afternoon. I felt a great sense of achievement.

  ‘Well done, lad,’ Chalky said, slapping me on the back.

  ‘Clever,’ Spot said slowly, stringing the word out.

  ‘To be honest, I’m gobsmacked at the way you’ve just tackled those tests. It’s quite amazing and that’s not bull. That type of quick thinking and assessment is vital to us, and judging by what we’ve seen so far, it’s obvious that you’ve got just the kind of natural ability to learn this type of thing very quickly,’ Dynamo told me.

  I was pleased to know that they thought I was doing well although a little embarrassed at their comments. But to receive that kind of praise from these incredibly clever guys was to me quite amazing. Their keen, intelligent minds were always on the go, always querying and wanting to know ‘how’? Everything they did was, to my mind, done in a clever or trick way, even mundane, ordinary things, whether it was getting out of a vehicle, going up stairs, or even picking up a pencil. They seemed to use all of these everyday things to some effect.

  ‘We need to get you trained up in the use of all the equipment so we’re taking you up into the hills tomorrow,’ Dynamo went on.

  ‘Great!’ I told him. ‘I’ve really been looking forward to training with that gear – now I’ve a good idea what it’s used for.’

  ‘We’ve got quite a lot to show you, Geordie,’ Chalky said. ‘The main problem is that we can only stay in that area for a couple of days at a time. British troops regularly patrol around up there and bumping in to any of them would be a tragedy; we’ve had a few narrow escapes in the past.’

  ‘What do you mean, what happened?’

  ‘Well, I know they’re our lads but nevertheless no one has to find out what we do.’

  ‘Do you mean that we would have to…?’ I said in astonishment.

  ‘Yes,’ Spot interrupted quickly before I could finish. ‘We’d have no option. You see we would look like terrorists to them and they might not ask any questions but just start shooting. We simply can’t take the chance of them opening fire on us.’

  ‘Obviously we’ve got to avoid that situation at all costs,’ Dynamo pointed out. ‘Remember we don’t exist! We simply can’t afford to let anyone know of our existence, especially our lot! Besides, as Chalky said, we’ve had one or two close shaves with them before.’

  ‘So let’s just hope we don’t bump into any of them, for all our sakes, eh!’ Chalky said quietly. ‘The main reason I brought the subject up is that we have to do the river crossings near the foot of the hills, as it is the only place where the rivers are anywhere near wide and deep enough for our purposes. There isn’t anything really suitable on the island so we have to make do with what is available.’

  ‘Oh, Geordie, do me a favour will you,’ Dynamo asked. ‘Nip outside and move the jeep around the back, will you?’

  I went to do as he asked and was just about to climb into the driver’s seat when there was a sudden noise from above and Chalky came sliding down the roof and grabbed a hold of me, yanking me away from the jeep.

  ‘Sorry about this, Geordie,’ he said apologetically. ‘But I’ve got into the habit of doing it whenever I get out. You can’t trust these local bastards to keep their hands off anything, you know.’ And with that, he bent over and removed his boot-knife from where he’d wedged it under the driver’s seat, blade pointing upwards and just touching the underside of the pad. Anyone plonking down on the seat would have been in for a very rude awakening!

  We sp
ent four days up and around the Troodos Mountains living rough. They taught me a variety of survival techniques, and we practised abseiling and crossing rivers or ravines, using all of the strange-looking arrowheads and equipment I’d often wondered about. There were about seven or eight different types of arrowheads and what they could do was ingenious to say the least.

  No wonder they wanted to keep it all a secret, I thought, as the uses of the various arrowheads were explained to me. Suddenly the reason for their odd shapes began to make sense to me at last. It was fascinating and I was like a kid with a new toy!

  As we moved around the area, they selected a number of different sites in order to demonstrate the equipment and for me to familiarise myself with it.

  ‘As we’ve explained before,’ Chalky said, ‘these bits of equipment are what help us to carry out the seemingly impossible and to get in and out via the most unexpected routes. Let me explain what each of these arrowheads is called and what they’re used for.’ He picked one up and gave it to me.

  ‘This one is called a single shot pickup. It’s used to carry a light line across a river or from one building to another, where there is only one secure point, which enables us to then get a heavier line across with only one shot. These two work together,’ he said, picking up two different ones. ‘This one is a stub end and this is a pickup, then there is another one here called a gripper. The purpose of all of them is the same as the single shot pickup, which is to carry a light line across an obstacle, which then enables the heavy line to follow.’

  It was all very clever stuff. Most of which they’d devised and invented themselves.

  ‘The reason we have so many different types is so that we can assess each different situation then, by using the relevant piece of equipment, get the lines across no matter what the terrain is like,’ Spot explained. ‘By using these arrowheads in conjunction with either a bow or crossbow, depending on the distance, and by attaching ourselves on to the heavy line using our pulley wheels, we can cross a huge variety of obstacles and distances very quickly, without getting our feet wet!’

  Although the training was as hard and intense as ever, I was in my element and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it. By now I was raring to go and couldn’t wait to put it all together, and eventually into practise!

  The following week I spent back at camp but, as Dynamo had warned that an operation could come up at any time, I didn’t think it would be long before I was picked up again. I was right and on the following Monday Chalky was waiting on the road for me.

  And now, as the battered old American jeep bounced along the scorched and dusty track, dragging behind it a billowing trail of choking white dust, he turned to me grinning from ear to ear.

  ‘This could be your lucky day, lad,’ he shouted above the noise of the engine. ‘You’ve been waiting to see The Machine in action, well now you’re going to get the chance! I think this is what you’ve been waiting for.’

  ‘Why, what’s happened? What’s the job?’ I shouted back, desperately trying to cling on to my seat as we rattled over the rough terrain. Chalky didn’t reply immediately as just then, one of the front wheels hit a large stone in the potholed track with a bone-jarring crash. The jeep rocked violently, almost overturning, and I was thrown hard against the steel frame of what had once been the windscreen and almost over it on to the bonnet. Chalky laughed as he regained control of the vehicle and I fell back into my seat, rubbing my bruised ribs. He obviously thought this was great fun!

  ‘What’s the job?’ he repeated, mimicking my Geordie accent. ‘You’re beginning to sound like one of the lads already. Hang on a few minutes. You’ll find out soon enough when we get to the hut,’ he yelled, still laughing.

  About ten minutes later he brought the jeep to a screeching, shuddering halt outside the dilapidated training hut then dismounted in his usual fashion onto the bonnet.

  ‘What’s the big idea?’ I asked. ‘How come you’re always telling me how invaluable I am to you and yet you’ve just about killed us getting here?’

  Chalky just laughed. ‘There’s no time to hang about, Geordie, there’s work to be done. Besides we can’t afford to be spotted by any British troops patrolling this area.’

  There was a sudden thud at the rear of the jeep and I felt the pressure of cold metal on the back of my neck as a familiar voice quietly said, ‘Gotcha!’ close to my ear. I turned around to see Dynamo’s grinning face – he was pointing a .303 rifle straight at me.

  ‘Where did you come from and how did you suddenly appear like that?’ I asked. I’d heard nothing of his approach and couldn’t see anywhere in the near vicinity where he might have been concealed.

  ‘Just making sure no one was following,’ he said, winking at me. ‘But one day I’ll find it impossible to do this to you.’

  Then he jumped off the jeep and followed Chalky into the building.

  I wondered if he’d been up in the hills watching our approach but as he was wearing his CTC, he could have been hiding anywhere. I pushed the thought aside for the moment and smiling, despite my sore ribs, I went inside too.

  ‘Close that bloody door will you?’ Spot shouted, complaining about the dust storm that the jeep’s arrival had created and which had swirled inside the building each time the door was opened. To my surprise, Ken was sitting at the table with Spot – I hadn’t seen him since the night I’d gone through the ‘One Step Beyond’ some four months ago. Chalky had told me that Ken brought our orders and supplied transport and whatever else we needed.

  ‘Hi there, Geordie, come on in!’ he said. ‘Nice to see you again. Right, now we’re all here let’s get on with it. I’ve got little job for you lads.’

  Spot winked and smiled at me as Chalky and Dynamo joined him and Ken at the table.

  Dynamo shoved a chair my way with his foot and nudged me as I sat down next to him. ‘Now we’ll have some fun, eh Geordie!’ he said, rubbing his hands.

  Chalky must have seen my surprise. ‘That’s right, Geordie, fun! When you’ve been on a couple of these operations you’ll know exactly what we mean,’ he said.

  I helped myself to a couple of sandwiches from a plate Spot handed round and poured out a cup of tea. Although I was now one of the team, I got the impression that the operation, whatever it was, had been planned before I arrived and they were merely going over it once again for my benefit, in order to make me aware of the details.

  ‘Right lads,’ Ken began. ‘There are a bunch of guys up in the mountains that we believe are responsible for running most of the guns to various parts of the island. As you know, in the past their chief method of attack has been by means of hit-and-run tactics using guns or home-made bombs and incendiary devices against their targets – mainly British servicemen and installations. You’ve probably heard about the incidents involving the deaths of British servicemen and some of their families.’

  I’d certainly heard rumours around my camp about the murders of several British servicemen, including a sergeant who’d been shot in front of his little boy in Nicosia. And it now appeared that the terrorists were targeting the families too. Rumours were spreading about another incident involving a sergeant’s wife who had been killed while out shopping with her daughter. Most of these apparently random terrorist attacks took place in broad daylight and were intended to demoralise the British troops garrisoned on Cyprus and thereby maintain an atmosphere of crisis. However, the army verified none of this, in case British soldiers went on the rampage, taking revenge on the locals.

  ‘Intelligence informs us,’ Ken went on, ‘that the number of terrorists is on the increase and there are now believed to be over two hundred activists, not to mention EOKA sympathisers, on the island, many of whom are hiding and being trained up in the Troodos mountains.’

  ‘Surely there are enough troops on the island to take care of that?’ Chalky asked.

  ‘Well, the army have increased the number of their patrols in the area and have stepped up the road blocks,’ Ken
went on. ‘In general, they don’t do too bad a job in keeping a lid on things under the circumstances, but there just aren’t enough of them and, to a great extent, their hands are tied, which is where we come in. But I think the main problem is that the troops underestimate most of these people and the level of support they have.

  ‘The crux of the matter is that these bastards appear to be changing their tactics. Our information is that the Greeks expect the island to be invaded at any time by the Turks and are preparing themselves for an attack. Intelligence believes that they are now being supplied with much more sophisticated weapons; just what these are and where they’re coming from we’re not quite sure but it seems a pretty safe bet that they’ve now managed to get their hands on grenades and mines, that sort of stuff. We’ve been given a pretty good indication of the area where these guys are holed up and that’s the reason we’re going in – our job is to find out exactly what weapons they have got and destroy them.

  ‘Besides,’ he chuckled. ‘It’s Geordie’s birthday later this month and it might be a good idea for him to get some practice in by having a little party up in the Troodos and let him have the chance to show what he can do!’

  The table was covered with maps and papers and Ken pointed to a spot on one of them.

  ‘Our reports indicate that these bastards are hiding out in these caves around here. They keep changing their location but there have been signs of activity in this area within the last twenty-four hours. We believe they are regularly taking truckloads of guns and explosives up into this area, probably smuggled in from mainland Greece,’ Ken replied. ‘OK. Any questions?’

  Yeah, loads, I thought, but not wanting to show my ignorance and inexperience, I kept quiet. Although I wasn’t scared, I felt a little apprehensive because it was my first operation. But, with the training I’d been given, I felt very confident and was raring to go. I just knew I could do it!

  ‘What sort of opposition are we going to be up against?’ Dynamo asked. ‘Can you give us any idea of numbers?’