Wilco- Lone Wolf 7

by Geoff Wolak

  ‘That helps us,’ I told them. ‘Shots fired won’t send them running.’

  ‘More gang than Army,’ Running Bear suggested. ‘But what if they were Army, and not involved in hostages?’

  ‘I’d leave them alone, unless London explained exactly why we have to attack them. We hit the Army-style gangs in Liberia before because Britain has a defence treaty with Sierra Leone - and the bad boys were planning an invasion. This is different. London, Paris and Washington may have armed the men in that camp. I’d want further intel, and precise orders.’

  Major Liban put in, ‘It is always good to look, listen and think about this. I learn this from you, yes, and things are not always what they seem. If we kill the men here, we do someone else’s work for them. And I know my government has trained some of these men in the past.’

  ‘OK, get some rest,’ I told them. Lifting my phone, I called Captain Harris.

  ‘Hello?’ came a sleepy voice.

  ‘It’s Wilco. Track back these coordinates, and send the position to London, and give it to the Deltas. We’re four hundred yards north of a suspect camp, but haven’t seen hostages yet.’

  ‘OK, got that.’

  ‘Update the FOB as well. Thanks.’ Phone away, I sat with Swifty against a tree, but with a partial view of the camp.

  When my phone trilled, half an hour later, it was Moran. ‘We just witnessed a gang beat a girl and drag her off to her fate.’

  ‘Did you hear the burst of fire earlier?’

  ‘Yes, from the village.’

  ‘We thought they may be a well-organised Army faction, now tending more towards unruly gang.’

  ‘Looks that way.’

  ‘It could also be the case that many of the soldiers sleep in the village, so they could flank us at dawn.’

  ‘Yes, we’d have to cover the village, or wait for them to bunch up.’

  ‘Much traffic?’

  ‘A few cars, not much.’

  ‘OK, chat later.’

  The grey dawn brought a light drizzle, and so much mist we could not see the camp, the leaves all shiny and dripping.

  Swifty noted, ‘If it’s like this at dawn tomorrow then we can get in unseen, sure, but it’d be a fuck-up, and the fucking helos couldn’t land. In this mist we’d likely shoot each other.’

  ‘Difficult to abort the helos once committed, so we’d have to be sure.’

  Sudden movement, a muffled cry, and we were up and panicking, moving through the trees. A squealing pig ran past and out the trees.

  ‘It bit my man,’ Liban told us, so I closed in and had a look. It was a nasty bite, but the man could stand. I got some cream on the bite marks and taped it up.

  ‘How did it get so close?’ I asked.

  ‘It came in slow, I saw it,’ the man said, heavily accented. ‘But I think – when I say shoo – it goes, but no – crazy fuck wants to bite me.’

  His colleagues laughed, so we left them to taunt the wounded man.

  Sat back down, I peered at the mist, not hearing movement close by, raging manic pigs on my mind. Swifty got a brew on.

  I lifted my phone and recalled a number. ‘Captain Harris,’ came a sleepy voice.

  ‘Did I wake you?’

  ‘Yes! I snatch sleep a few hours at a time.’

  ‘Listen, dawn brought up a dense mist, so let all parties know that a dawn raid may be a bad option, helos would never find the camp. Weather is good for sneaking around in, but not a raid.’

  ‘OK, got that.’

  ‘Go back to sleep.’

  An hour later we could hear movement, the mist clearing, and we could just make out the fence. The sounds of doors slamming and trucks starting reached us, dogs barking in the village.

  Bit by bit the mist was burnt off by an unseen sun, the day brightening, and as the sun penetrated the mist it burnt off the moisture, swirls of vapour rising.

  Peering through my sights, I could see men in uniform walking around, vehicles made ready, trucks leaving, estimating the number of men at fifty.

  I called Moran. ‘What can you see from the front?’

  ‘The soldiers were in the village overnight, and they lined up on the road half an hour ago, taken off east by truck. Another group were picked up and they went off west, or northwest I think.’

  ‘How many men?’

  ‘Two trucks worth both ways, say around forty, plus men in the cab, and jeeps.’

  ‘And I could see fifty in the camp, so a hundred and sixty-ish.’

  ‘Still men in uniform moving around the village, another twenty.’

  ‘Call it two hundred.’

  ‘What’s the plan?’

  ‘We wait, try and spot hostages,’ I suggested.

  ‘Get closer?’

  ‘Not worth the risk till I know more.’

  ‘We can see a way of getting closer, dense bush, say a hundred and fifty yards closer.’

  ‘Send Tomo and Nicholson if you’re happy.’

  ‘OK.’

  Sat against a tree, brew in hand, a frog hopped onto my leg as we observed it, big red eyes staring out. It made its way up my leg, and up onto my webbing. I lifted it up with my left hand.

  ‘Cute little thing.’

  It hopped, I moved my tea, but too late, it landed in my hot tea, which I quickly launched at a bush, not seeing were the hapless frog landed.

  Swifty laughed. ‘You’re supposed to see if the frog jumps out of boiling water.’

  Cursing, I sipped the dregs of tea left, Swifty handing me some of his.

  At noon, the day hot, movement was seen, and I got up into the lower branches of a tree, soon peering through my sights. Two dated old trucks and two jeeps were waved inside the gate, and I could see the vehicle convoy halting, the activity visible to me down the gap between the rows of regimented huts.

  ‘Bingo!’ I said, loud enough for the men below to hear.

  As I observed, white people were escorted from the back of a truck, all moving slowly, all bent double. But after the first four hostages the rest were carried in over shoulders, some limp, or maybe dead. I counted sixteen.

  The final two were dumped in a puddle, obviously dead.

  Sighing heavily, teeth gritted, I lower my rifle, a moment to think before easing down. Liban was next to me as I clicked on the radio. ‘Listen up.’ I heaved a big breath. ‘Hostages are here, sixteen, plus two dead bodies, most of the rest too weak to walk, all carried inside.

  ‘They must have been tied up for a long time, or kept in a small room, all in a bad way. We move today, whilst we have the light, I’ll bring in the Deltas, we’ll cover them. The men who drove away are probably tending the drug crops, so we have till say 4pm at most. Standby.’

  I led Swifty a few steps to our flysheet. He could sense my mood, and waited. ‘They dropped the last two into a puddle.’

  Again he waited, staring back.

  ‘Army or not, we kill them all.’

  He simply nodded.

  I updated Moran, and after staring at the phone for a minute, patiently observed by Swifty, I glanced at him and recalled a number.

  ‘Captain Harris.’

  ‘Hostages are here, sixteen alive, a few dead bodies seen, we’ll move on them today. I’ll call the Deltas at the airport, you have the Chinooks ready to land here about two hours from now. Tell the pilots they’ll have Deltas and medics on board.’

  I walked around a few trees and found Running Bear. ‘Got a way to speak to your major?’

  ‘Sure.’ He opened a webbing pocket.

  ‘Call him,’ I asked.

  Running Bear handed me the phone after a brief chat to his immediate superior.

  ‘Major, get a paper and pen, please, several large sheets of paper.’

  ‘Hold on ... OK, go ahead, you’re on speaker this end.’

  ‘You should have the coordinates of this camp -’

  ‘We do, and we’ve looked at the map.’

  ‘Write down what I say. Coordinates given were
for my position, four hundred yards due north of the camp, dense woods. Four hundred yards due south of the road is a high point, my men in it, a few snipers forwards and to within a hundred and fifty yards from the road.

  ‘Draw a large rectangle, north to south. North east corner, guard tower. South west corner, guard tower. Towers are around thirty feet tall, one man in each, no heavy weapons, guards are less than professional.

  ‘South end, middle, main gate, then a parade ground say 100yards square. On the right, east, are huts, command huts maybe. Beyond the parade ground, and filling the rest of the rectangle, draw four rows of four huts symmetrically.’ I waited.

  ‘OK.’

  ‘From the parade ground, first row of huts, second from the left, second from the west, is where all of the hostages are, sixteen alive two dead.’

  ‘Dead?’

  ‘Dead on arrival. All hostages were seen to be carried into the hut, all unable to walk. Your men will need to carry sixteen hostages to the helos, and count them off. I’d like you to recover the two dead bodies as well. From what we’ve seen, the medical state of the hostages is life-threatening. Even carrying them may kill them.

  ‘OK, on your drawing, have a road running east to west below the camp, that’s where you would land, no tall trees or telegraph poles. East of the camp two hundred yards is a village, and the gunmen sleep in the village – armed men seen moving around as we speak, say twenty.’

  ‘And men left in the camp?’

  ‘Less than forty, and they’re ours to deal with. OK, the situation on the ground is this: the weather has cleared, but dawn fog is an issue, so I want you to use the next hour to make a plan and get ready, to be here in two hours, working on the assumption that those one hundred plus men seen to leave the camp will not return till late afternoon.’

  ‘And if they do?’

  ‘You abort, or we try and fight.’

  ‘Fight?’

  ‘Major, there are forty of the world’s best snipers around this camp, and when your helicopters are heard we’ll open up, and we’ll cover you during the operation, and we’ll cover your withdrawal.

  ‘You can object to what I’m suggesting, but I’m requesting your assistance, and those hostages have a day or two to live. And Major, make use of the two Chinook, but don’t factor in extracting us.’

  ‘We’ll make a plan now, but I’ll check up the line as well. I’ll get back to you in thirty minutes.’

  Phone handed back, I lifted my own and called Bob as I stood staring towards the camp.

  ‘Hello?’ came Bob’s voice.

  ‘You awake?’

  ‘8am here, just finished breakfast. How’s it going?

  ‘Hostages just turned up, sixteen, all carried inside, none able to walk, two dead – and just dumped in a muddy puddle.’

  ‘Christ, those people must have been chained-up in a small room for a year.’

  ‘I’ve tasked the Deltas at the airport to make a plan and leave in an hour, but they’ve passed it up the line.’

  ‘I’m on my way to the Pentagon anyhow, today they’re due to show us around and have another meeting.’

  ‘How did the American media report the rescue in Liberia?’

  ‘Deltas got a lot of praise, yes, not much mention of the dead soldier, some awkward questions about why that plane landed in Liberia, but the hostages didn’t report that the hostage-takers got a warm welcome, rather that they were bound up. Hostages were told they would be released in a day or two, transport to arrange.

  ‘But the powers here know who was behind it and are quietly mad at him, if indeed they could be more mad at him than before, and the CIA can’t reveal the new deal – a few sceptical about it.’

  ‘Evidence of that new deal is right in front of them,’ I insisted. ‘And I’m stood staring at more hostages.’

  ‘As they said yesterday, if the Devil hands you a cup of water it don’t make you mates.’

  ‘They don’t have the balls to remove him, but might nudge other shitbags to try and kill him. Good old Cold War proxy fighting.’

  ‘Little has changed in their thinking,’ Bob noted.

  ‘I’ll let you know if it’s a go with the Deltas, but if they say no then I’ll move anyhow.’

  ‘I’ll be back to you if something changes.’

  I stepped across to Running Bear. ‘Call one of your captains at the airport, get up a tree, and give him a description, eh.’

  Back at the flysheet, I sat, a tin of meat opened and eaten cold.

  Ten minutes later came, ‘Wilco, the village,’ Mahoney’s voice.

  I twisted around. A man, a boy, and dog were nudging along a dozen pigs. I clicked on the radio. ‘If they spot us, drop both them and the dog, silencers on. Forget that.’ I paused. ‘If they spot us, let them get close and grab them, shoot the dog.’

  Swifty said, ‘If they raise the alarm?’

  ‘We’re here to try and claim the moral high ground, so time we started to act like it – risks an all.’

  The man and boy moved past, the dog chastised when it barked our way, and it fell quiet again, but as I sat there the frog was back

  ‘That frog don’t learn,’ Swifty noted.

  I lifted the frog, no tea in hand this time, and placed on a large leaf.

  A full forty minutes after I had called the Delta’s major I got a call, “001” displayed. ‘Captain Wilco here.’

  ‘It’s Colonel Mathews again, you’re on speaker phone, your boss here. Our men in Sierra Leone are getting ready, helos on the way. What’s the situation on the ground?’

  ‘Weather has improved, sir, good visibility – was misty at dawn. Most of the gunmen at the camp or living in the village have driven off for a day tilling the fields, and by that I mean they’re tilling drug crops. I expect them back late afternoon, but we can cut the roads. Remaining in the camp are less than forty men, sixteen immobile hostages and two dead bodies.’

  ‘When you say immobile?’

  ‘All were seen to be carried off the trucks, all looked very thin and light, two bodies dumped – so they died on the way here.’

  ‘And the camp defences?’

  ‘Two guard towers, two men that our snipers will hit, no heavy weapons seen.’

  ‘And local affiliates?’

  ‘The French reported nearby groups, but I have no further intel on exact locations and numbers. That’s your job, sir.’

  ‘And if the drug-growers return at a bad time?’

  ‘We’ll have snipers in place and deal with them, but it would split our forces.’

  ‘No missiles or RPG to damage a helo?’

  ‘None seen so far, no mounted fifty cal – and nowhere to hide such items.’

  ‘And how would you assess this operation ... compared to others you’ve undertaken?’

  ‘I’d call it straightforward, sir. If the drug-growers don’t return I’d call it easy. Only wrinkle will be that your men will have to carry the hostages, and that will cause a delay. Your helos will need to land close to the camp, but by doing so they may take small arms fire.’

  ‘And what about smoke released, or helos opening fire?’

  ‘Smoke would not help, sir, but if you have automatic weapons mounted on a helicopter then they could hit the huts – anyone apart from the hostage hut. But I have seen a few civilians walking around the camp, so they could be hit in the crossfire. I would hold off using such weapons unless the drug-growers return, and then fire on their trucks and jeeps.

  ‘And I would definitely not want any fire directed towards the village. There will be men there shooting at you, but their women and kids will be nearby, the walls of the shacks very thin. You would hit more women and kids than gunmen, so leave them to my snipers – or explain it to the UN.’

  ‘I’d not want to explain civilian deaths, no. We’ll get back to you with an ETA.’

  ‘We need fifteen minutes to move into position, sir.’

  ‘Got that. Mathews out.’

&nb
sp; I called Moran. ‘Anything seen?’

  ‘Just day to day life.’

  ‘Warn the lads that the Deltas may arrive in an hour. When I confirm the ETA, have Tomo and Nicholson stay there, small team left to cut the road if necessary, small team right to cover your side of the village.

  ‘And warn them to be careful. They’ll be protecting the Deltas when they land, but the helo may set down and block a shot, so careful on the trigger.’

  ‘I’ll warn them.’

  I eased back against the tree, the camp in view, little movement seen as the temperature rose.

  Fifteen minutes later Running Bear came over, knelt down and passed me his phone. ‘My major.’

  ‘Wilco.’

  ‘It’s Major Lewinsky, any change on the ground?’

  ‘All gone quiet, men out in the fields, rest sat around doing very little.’

  ‘We’re leaving in ten minutes, I think we covered all the bases.’

  ‘Major, my men will be in the bushes a hundred yards out, all around you. Make sure your men only fire at a black face when they can see it clearly.’

  ‘I’ll brief them now.’

  ‘If trucks or jeeps approach, we’ll try and deal with them, you get the hostages away. Do you have medics?’

  ‘We have medics off ship, even borrowed some French medics, and many of my boys are medics. A Chinook will land after my men are down, and it’ll take the hostages, and there’ll be medics in the back.

  ‘Three helos will land in the first wave, men out and into the camp, other helos circling to the south, above a thousand feet.’

  ‘Running Bear has my frequency, so have one of your captains on that frequency on the ground just in case we need to warn you of something.’

  ‘OK, I’ll sort that now.’

  I handed the phone back to Running Bear, who issued his major the required radio setting to reach me.

  I called Moran. ‘Deltas will be here in say forty minutes, so start moving into position now.’

  Grabbing Liban, I had one of his captains take a team west and to the road, to both aim at the camp and be ready to cut the road, and to spread out – no closer to the camp than 100yards. The team formed up and moved off.

  Next I had Liban rally his remaining team, and they would move – soon – to the area between the camp and the village, to fire on the camp first, then turn around, and to cut the road. They would spread out in a line between the village and the camp.