by Chris Harris
We settled back down to continue our surveillance and wait for the reinforcements to arrive and during that time, we got to know Penny a little better.
She was from Bristol and her story had a familiar ring.
When the event had happened, her parents had opted to stay at home until the food had run out, hoping and trusting that the government would soon have everything working again. Once the food had gone, and with it, any hope of help arriving, they had joined the growing throng of refugees leaving the city. They had sought shelter at an army-run refugee camp, and experienced worsening conditions and the breakdown of society that was happening at every level.
The distributed rations had become smaller and smaller until finally a fight had broken out, and an attempt had been made to take control of the food supplies by force. The soldiers had opened fire and hundreds of people had been killed in the ensuing chaos. The camp had fallen apart after that and in spite of the approaching winter, and the lack of food and shelter, most people had been forced to move on.
Penny and her parents had managed to find shelter in an old dilapidated barn in a remote part of the countryside. Slowly starving to death, they tried their best to scavenge what food they could find. In desperation, Penny’s father wandered further each day, battling his way through the freezing weather until one day, he didn’t return.
Penny wept as she described how she and her mother had huddled together helplessly, waiting for him to come back. After about a week, they decided to set out and look for him. They knew they would die if they stayed and if they found him, hopefully they might also find somewhere better.
For two days, they walked and walked, desperate to find any traces of him.
Finally, they stumbled down a lane, soaked to the skin and weak from lack of food, and were surprised to see a Land Rover appearing around a bend.
The Land Rover headed straight towards them and then slowed down to a halt. For a moment, their hopes were raised, but then Mike stepped out of the car and stood there, staring at them.
Penny’s mother sensed immediately that they were in danger and grabbed her daughter by the arm. They tried to make a break for it across a field, but they were both malnourished and exhausted. Mike and his men had no trouble catching up with them.
Mike took one look at her mother and said, “This one’s too old.” Then he nodded at Penny, “Bring her. I like them young. If we feed her up a bit, she’ll be right up my street.”
As Penny was bundled into the back of the car, her ears filled with her mother’s screams, and she knew she was desperately fighting to get to her daughter.
The men laughed and taunted the poor woman, as she tried to push through them to reach her. Then she raked her fingers down Mike’s cheek and drew blood, and he yelled in pain.
As Penny looked on helplessly, Mike had taken a baseball bat out of the car and beaten her mother to death. Screaming obscenities at her as she lay dying, her movements getting weaker by the second, he continued to rain blows down on her as her blood stained the snow around her crimson. Even after she was dead, he continued for some minutes, spittle running down his chin in his rage.
Penny had been brought back shivering and paralysed with shock and terror. Mike had pushed her towards Mel with instructions to feed her up, stop her crying and to let him know when she was ready for him.
Harry and I sat there, unable to speak. I thought about my own daughter. And I thought about what I would like to do to Mike.
From the very first day, all the women had gone out of their way to be kind to her. Apart from Lucy of course.
She knew about sex and she knew what Mike wanted to do to her, and of course she was terrified.
It was clear from what she said, that in spite of everything they were going through, Penny’s arrival had given the older women a sense of purpose. It was almost as if she became a kind of mascot for them. If they could save one poor innocent girl, then it made their own suffering a little easier to bear.
She told us how Mel was constantly steering Mike’s attention away from her, doing everything she could to delay the moment when he decided he would take her. Penny had known that day would come soon and had sensed his growing impatience. The tears streamed down her face and she thanked us over and over for saving her.
When she was a little calmer, we tried to change the subject to more cheerful topics.
In spite of the trauma she had been through, she was sweet and funny and the time passed quickly as we talked quietly and kept watch.
In between noting the arrival of the various groups, as dusk began to fall, we told her funny stories about the road occupants she would soon be meeting.
From Mel and Louise, we knew precisely how many men were at the hotel, so we were able to account for all of them as they arrived.
Once they were all present, the same routine took place as before. The loot was handed over for Rick to inspect, and Lucy noted everything down in her book. Then everyone dispersed back to their quarters. We made a careful note of where each of them went.
Paul had made a sketch of the target building and taken notes of everyone’s locations. Hopefully this would give us an advantage when we entered the site.
The soldiers who were due to arrive would not have seen the building in daylight hours, and therefore they would be wholly reliant on Paul’s hand-drawn plan to get up to speed on the mission.
As before, pallets were stacked and soon the fire was blazing away.
Mel and Louise were playing their parts. We watched as they kept bringing out more bottles and we could see from their gestures that they were encouraging them all to drink up.
Few men need much encouragement to drink up. Had they been a little more sober, they might have wondered why the women were given them so much attention, but alcohol slows down the brain as well as reactions, and they lapped it all up. When the dinner bell sounded, the cheer could be heard from our OP.
As we watched them troop into the building, Paul held his hand to the headset in his ear, in the universal “I’m receiving a message” signal.
Looking at us he said, “They’re at the edge of the wood, I’ll go and guide them in.”
He slipped out of the rear of the OP and disappeared silently into the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Before long, we heard footsteps approaching, crunching and crackling through the woods. Noise travels well at night, but we were confident our quarry wouldn’t hear anything.
Paul crawled in, closely followed by a second man.
“Can I introduce you to Captain Digby? He’s leading the SAS detachment and is in overall command of all the men who have arrived.”
“Diggers! How the devil are you?” interrupted Harry.
“Oh! Sorry. I forgot you two know each other. It’s been a while since we were at the base together. In fact, it seems like a lifetime ago.”
Captain Digby saluted Harry and then shook hands with us both.
Paul continued.
“You two keep watch, and I’ll take Captain Digby and his men to the other side of the wood. I’ll talk them through the mission and show them all the plan of the site I’ve drawn up. Then we’ll come back and give everyone the chance to get their eyes on the target.”
As Harry and I were both in agreement with this, they left the OP without delay. Soon after, quiet voices and footsteps could be heard, receding into the distance.
Sudden movement at the hotel drew our attention. Meal time was clearly over because men were drifting out to sit around the fire.
The party mood was still prevailing and they were all continually swigging from bottles. As before, Louise and Mel were valiantly laughing with them, and handing them fresh bottles as soon as the empty ones were tossed into the fire.
The good news was: all twenty three men appeared to be present. Even Rick appeared briefly, bringing more bottles with him, and handing them out like a benevolent leader.
I pictured him congratulating himself,
thinking that the atmosphere was down to his excellent leadership skills and the loyalty the men felt for him.
I watched as he moved among them, playing the genial host. One man walked beside him, his huge, powerful frame and his whole demeanour making him look every inch the bodyguard.
“That must be Mike,” I whispered. Again, I was impressed by Mel’s courage. He looked as if he could snap her in two.
Turning to Penny, I asked her to look through the binoculars and confirm who he was.
She looked through, turned a little pale and nodded. It was him.
We all watched as he stuck close to Rick, who was weaving his way like a snake through the drinking men. By now most of them were well on the way to being drunk, and the women were receiving increasingly amorous attention.
I knew Mel and Louise would have kept their promise not to tell the other women, but the others seemed to have picked up on their mood all the same, and they were all working hard to keep the men happy, allowing themselves to be grabbed and fondled while they handed out more bottles.
Mike matched the description we’d been given perfectly. He stood a good six inches taller than everyone else and his bulging muscles stretched the arms of his coat.
Harry whistled, “He’s a big boy, I think we should let Paul deal with him,” he said, half-jokingly.
Penny spoke up, her voice small and trembling.
“This is when he usually lets them know who’s getting first choice out of the women. Normally it’s the one who’s collected the most food. We dread this part. Apparently, some of them are OK, but there are some really psychos among them. They know they can’t get out of it, but they work hard to be picked by the ones who are at least nice to them.”
Harry and I exchanged furious glances. Rick was just unbelievable: there was no sense of humanity in him and he clearly just used people like pawns to maintain control.
Harry went back to looking through the binoculars and muttered quietly through gritted teeth, “That’s right, you bastards. Just enjoy yourselves while you can. I don’t think tomorrow’s going to end well for you.”
Paul and Captain Digby squeezed back into the OP.
“Right, guys,” said Paul briskly, “Diggers is fully up to speed with the plan. Everyone’s going to spend the next few hours getting eyes on the target and familiarising themselves with layouts and faces. Diggers and I will target each individual and allocate them to a team to take down.”
He looked at Penny. “We think we’ve got a reasonable idea of the layout, but would it be OK if we asked you a few questions?”
She nodded, eager to help, and he smiled at her.
“Once everyone is ‘mission ready’ they’ll grab some kip in shifts until zero hour.”
He glanced down to look at his watch and frowned momentarily, before recalling that he hadn’t lost it, but had given it to Mel.
“Anyway,” he continued, “we’re aiming to go at 0400 hours and be ready to execute at 0415 hours. There’ll be more of us than there will be targets, so I’ll overlap the men on the individuals we identify as being likely to give us the most trouble.”
He looked at Penny.
“I want you to help me with that by telling me who the most likely candidates are.”
“Yes, I can do that,” she said firmly, “I know which ones the others are most afraid of.”
Penny spent the next half an hour, lying sandwiched between Paul and Captain Digby, identifying each of the men and helping them understand who was who.
She also helped to identify where the men usually slept and before long, Paul’s hand-drawn target plan was covered in notes, circles and lines, all filled in under the dim glow of a shielded red-lensed torch.
Most of the men had their quarters in the rooms off the courtyard. It was easy to monitor them, as they all had an individual door facing the courtyard, either at ground level or from a balcony that afforded access to the first-floor rooms. Mike and a few of the senior “lieutenants” lived in the hotel, so they would be harder to track. Penny told us their room numbers and gave us a detailed description of the inside of the hotel.
I insisted, and Paul agreed, that I would be on the team that detained Rick. Not being a “fighting man” he would probably be one of the easier ones to subdue.
I was looking forward to it.
As the night wore on, we watched the raucous drink-fuelled “party” in silent fury.
Captain Digby summed it up: “This is one mission I haven’t had to sell to the men. Given the chance, most of them would be down there now and taking them on hand-to-hand. They reckon they can make them suffer more that way, rather than sneaking up on them like thieves in the night.”
As he left to talk to his men, he slapped me on the back and chuckled.
“Most of my men haven’t been in the company of a woman for a long time and they’re all feeling very chivalrous. But afterwards I might have to start putting bromide in their tea to help redirect their attention.”
It was getting late now, and we watched the courtyard, as the men slowly drifted away, dragging their “prizes” with them. Some women appeared a short while later and accompanied a different man to another room.
Paul paid close attention, all the while updating his plan, and marking which rooms were occupied.
It was after one o’clock by the time Mike, to a roar of approval from the few drunken men still remaining, swung his fist at Mel and struck her hard in the face. She stood reeling from the blow, and he picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and strode off like a conquering hero.
Paul spoke softly, “He’s mine. No one else is to touch him.”
With no women left to replenish the drinks and provide the entertainment, most of the human detritus that remained, staggered off to their respective rooms. Just a few were left to finish their bottles, and these soon drifted off to sleep.
The dying fire, aided by a bright moon and a clear night, gave us a good view of the area. For an hour, everything was quiet and then our attention was caught by movement at the front of the hotel.
It was Mel. And she was carrying a heavy load.
“What a star,” Harry murmured, “she’s gathered up a load of their shotguns, by the look of it.”
We watched tensely as she glanced back at the building, gently lowered the guns to the ground and then proceeded to break them all down, hiding them against the side of the building behind some bushes. Turning in our direction, she tried some exaggerated but easily understood sign language.
Paul translated: “All asleep. Four in hotel. Nineteen in courtyard.”
She crept across the courtyard and knocked quietly on one of the doors. Seconds later, Louise opened it and tiptoed out. She was holding another gun which she passed to Mel who, more practised by now, quickly broke it down and put it to one side.
“I’m sorry, guys, but she is amazing,” said Paul admiringly. “She’s doing all the hard work for us; all we’re going to have to do is go down there and wake ’em up.”
Harry and I glanced at each other in amusement, both struggling not to comment.
Paul interpreted our silence anyway, and glared at us both.
“Don’t even go there, guys!” he said indignantly, at which point Harry snorted.
We recovered ourselves and turned our attention back to Mel and Louise, who were entering more rooms, and emerging from most of them with weapons, but occasionally accompanied by another of the women, wearing nothing more than a blanket and a confused look on her face.
Every time, Mel led the woman away from the building and was clearly telling them what was going to happen. You could follow the conversation by following where she was looking. Always at some point, their heads would turn and they would look towards the woods as she explained the plan. The looks of silent relief and joy on their faces was heartening to see.
We watched Mel point and push one of the women gently towards a suitable hiding place. The woman crept obediently away into the dark
ness and crouched down behind a wall.
Mel was giving similar instructions to a second woman when…
“Shit!” Paul whispered urgently, “One of the guys by the fire is awake.”
We watched with bated breath, as the man hauled himself up and struggled to collect his drunken, confused senses.
He made his way unsteadily towards the glowing embers of the fire and urinated. Scratching his backside and looking round at the men still asleep behind him, he staggered off towards one of the rooms.
Mel and her companion had spotted him, and were trying to conceal themselves in the shadows, staying as still as possible. The looks of frozen fear on their faces were plain to see through our high-powered binoculars.
The man spotted them and stopped abruptly, swaying on his feet as he prepared to call out to them.
We all half rose, preparing to grab what we needed and execute the plan early. If it was about to go wrong, we needed to improvise.
I threw the binoculars down, getting ready to go.
“Wait!” hissed Harry, and we all froze. He still had his binoculars trained on the target.
Paul and I grabbed ours and did the same.
Mel and the other woman had approached the man and had their arms draped over him.
In his befuddled state, he clearly wasn’t able to deduce that this wasn’t normal behaviour. A stupid smile appeared on his face and the two women led him towards an empty room. I thought about the way she’d handled Paul and I almost felt sorry for the man.
As the door closed behind them, Paul angrily but softly called for everyone to stand down.
“We go as planned!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
0400 hours.
We all stood ready to go. Everyone carried rifles and ammunition. The only extra items with us were lengths of rope and plastic cable ties to immobilise our enemy quickly and effectively.
Everyone had been allocated rooms and targets and in theory, the plan was so simple it ought to succeed. But we’d all seen straightforward plans go badly wrong before, so I for one, was nervous about going in.