Wilco- Lone Wolf - Book 4

by Geoff Wolak

  ‘We killed a bunch of drugged-up mountain boys in their underwear!’

  ‘And we hope to kill more, drugged up or otherwise, underpants or not, so that – maybe – next year they don’t kidnap a Boston lady, gang rape her and get her pregnant, holding her hostage for two years. Now, tell me, what would you like to do with the men who raped her?’

  He took a moment. ‘Sure, I’d kill them, and enjoy it.’

  ‘That, my friend, is a human response, not a political response, not the response of an officer.’

  He blinked. ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘You care for someone ... because you met that someone. How many women are raped across Africa each year?’ I waited. ‘Five million, ten? You never met them, so you don’t care in the same way. I’ve never met them, but I have met some victims.

  ‘So, I tell my lads that when they kill the gunmen, drugged up or not, they’re doing some good – because that gunman will go on to rape and kill many people in his long career as a drugged-up gunman.

  ‘Here, I please my political paymaster and kill two birds with one stone. They want good newspaper inches, I want dead gunmen who rape and kill, a symbiotic relationship.

  ‘My attitude is that of an officer who follows political direction, yours is of an individual with a heart. If you want to be a good officer, think it through.’

  He looked past me. ‘I should be more detached?’

  ‘No, use the feelings to get mad, kill the gunmen for the right reasons, but don’t spite the idiots up the line because they don’t care about that woman and her baby – use the system, don’t fight it.’

  ‘You sound a little like my colonel.’

  ‘Perhaps he’s right, or maybe he does the right thing for the wrong reason. You ... want to find the men who raped her, they ... want good newspaper inches. If you tell them where to shove it, you won’t get the chance to find the rapist – and kill the bastard. You see how this works?’

  He nodded. ‘They’re using you for their aims, you’re using them for yours.’

  ‘And publicity is key, so use the media for you own aims. My reporter guy will run the story of your Boston lady, the British public firmly behind my desire to kill these scumbags. But tell me; if your lot storm a plane and kill the hijackers, why are you doing it?

  ‘To rescue the hostages, people you don’t know? To move up the ladder in the military, because you like killing people and seeing blood, or because it’s the right thing to do to stop those terrorists?’

  ‘Hopefully, because it’s the right thing to do.’

  ‘That was not on your mind when you enlisted. As a young man you knew nothing of hostage rescue, you wanted action and adventure, travel, a military career – as I did, as all the men here did. When you did well, you wanted more, a move up the ladder and to pass Delta Force selection, and then a commission, to keep moving up the ladder

  ‘So tell me, where’s the intersection between killing that rapist ... and your military career progression?’

  ‘They seem to be two very different things.’

  ‘They are. But you’ll figure it out by observing me.’ He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Pay attention in class.’

  A French Puma landed unannounced half an hour later, the hostages sent off, the albino baby held back, Morten not too happy about my plans – and he told me I should change the nappies.

  At the rear of the buildings I had a small area sectioned off with white string. Inside it, I walked across its length leaving boot marks, and every day I would do the same, or Haines would if I was out. A small medical marker was annotated and placed into the ground next to my tracks with the date.

  I then grabbed Swifty, Nicholson and Lassey. ‘Kit on, outside.’

  They joined me outside five minutes later. ‘Nicholson, you’re in charge of this patrol, Swifty – don’t interfere unless he’s about to do something dumb, then offer advice. Test radios, there’s always a man on the roof with a radio on, go east to the end of the runway, keep going to the river, then north an hour, have a look and back.’

  Nicholson led his small team off, and I watched them go. Inside, I found Crab. ‘Sergeant Crab, grab my four 2 Squadron lads from upstairs, take them south for some training, never too far away from here, always be armed just in case.’

  I went and found Haines. ‘Go mark out five hundred and six hundred yards on the runway, mark up some targets, please.’

  An hour before sundown were heard a helicopter, but when looking up it was neither French nor American, UN written on the side of the small helicopter. It touched down on the runway, a Pakistani officer running bent-double from it and then easing up, a major. He approached as I stood with Henri, Moran, Mahoney and Haines, faces peeking out from the rooms.

  ‘Mechanical fault?’ I asked as the man stopped to look us over.

  ‘What?’ He glanced at the helicopter. ‘No, I came to see whoever the soldiers were here. The French said you were British.’

  ‘British yes, plus French special forces, plus American Delta Force,’ I told him.

  He took in the faces. ‘What the hell are you doing here? And was it you that attacked a village north of here?’

  ‘What we’re doing here ... is hostage rescue, and yes – it was us that attacked that enemy camp and released thirteen hostages and one baby.’

  ‘The UN have control here, you can’t just go around shooting people!’

  ‘The UN ... never has control, they are invited in by the government of whatever country they operate in,’ I told him. ‘You ... are guests of the Sierra Leone Government, who allow us to be here.’

  ‘You killed many people!’

  ‘Gunmen, holding hostages. And I understand there are Pakistani hostages.’

  ‘There are men missing, yes, but we don’t want your assistance.’

  ‘You don’t want them back?’ I teased.

  ‘Of course we do, but not from some gung-ho show of force.’

  ‘That’s up to you. Should we come across them ... we’ll leave them behind.’

  His eyes widened. ‘You should notify us if you find them, and we will be protesting your use of force here most strongly. Such actions endanger my men.’

  ‘How many men do you have?’ I asked, already knowing the answer.

  ‘There are six hundred men here.’

  ‘With armoured personal carriers, and ... machineguns.’

  ‘Yes. So?’

  ‘And just two miles from you there were hostages being held by gunmen...’

  ‘We are not here to intervene in local matters -’

  ‘You’re peacekeepers,’ Mahoney stated. ‘Do you keep the peace or just sit in barracks?’

  ‘We are mandated to try and keep the peace, not make the peace.’

  Mahoney nodded. ‘So you sit idly by whilst gunmen rape and kill and take hostages.’

  The Pakistani officer did not like that at all. ‘We are here to prevent large scale conflicts, and we take orders from the UN. We have rules to adhere to.’

  I told him, ‘If you have any questions about what we do, you can contact London, Paris and Washington. Now be a love and fuck off.’

  He took in the faces, turned and walked off with a scowl.

  ‘What’s his problem?’ Mahoney thought out loud.

  ‘His problem ... is that we’re interfering with commerce,’ I told Mahoney.

  ‘Commerce?’

  ‘Pakistani soldiers use local prostitutes, local drugs, and they smuggle Blood Diamonds. They also have a taste for local nine year old girls.’

  ‘Jesus,’ Mahoney let out as the helicopter pulled away.

  ‘I’d bet the farm on him letting the gunmen know exactly where we are,’ I told Haines with a smirk.

  After dark I had small roving patrols sent out, mostly north, and before dawn I sent Rizzo’s team back up the track, past the static ambush point and on.

  Rizzo called me on the sat phone two hours later. ‘Burnt out jeeps have been pushed off the road, bodies mo
ved. Just seen a column of UN peacekeepers drive through the village, white armoured personnel carriers.’

  ‘OK, observe, don’t be seen.’

  He was back on an hour later. ‘There’s four jeeps full of gunmen about to go somewhere.’

  ‘If they pass you, open up on them, then leg it back, and don’t forget to notify the static ambush spot you’re approaching.’

  I went next door to Rocko. ‘Get your team, front gate, get fire positions on that road north, we have vehicle movement.’

  Rizzo came back on twenty minutes later, sounding out of breath. ‘We opened up on the jeeps as they passed, killed loads of them, sprayed it around a bit, then legged it away.’

  ‘Being followed?’

  ‘Don’t think so, they got some first aid to do.’

  ‘OK, come back in.’

  When my sat phone trilled again it was Bob.

  ‘Hey Bob, how’s the weather there?’

  ‘Grey, as usual. Story in the papers today, successful hostage rescue, and it says that French and American special forces are there as well, a joint operation...’

  ‘That’s what I nudged our reporter towards. What’s the American press reporting?’

  ‘Hostages rescued by US special forces working with British special forces, but the big story is that lady with the baby. She refused to take back the child after the naval medics checked it, and tried to kill herself later.’

  ‘Jesus. But two years locked up, gang raped, a child from rape, she’d have to be basket case. But she seemed OK.’

  ‘Big debate in America, prime time breakfast news, children from rape – who I guess are often placed with social services. Anyway, the Pakistani peace keepers have lodged a formal complaint about you, labelling you as murders of innocent men, UN debating it.’

  ‘We had a visit yesterday, an officer, horrified that we rescued those hostages. Truth is, the Pakistanis are dealing Blood Diamonds, and they don’t want their suppliers shot up.’

  ‘So I heard. But try and avoid them. What’s the plan now?’

  ‘Rizzo was watching that village, just shot up four jeeps full of gunmen on their way here after a visit from the Pakistanis.’

  ‘Why do I feel like a major incident is about to blow up in my face...’

  ‘I didn’t make the world the way it is, Bob.’

  ‘Try and ignore anything the Pakistanis do.’

  ‘I’ll try very hard.’

  After the call, I found Max. ‘You up for some danger?

  ‘Definitely.’

  ‘I need a man with a long lens, an OP for a day or two, quite dangerous.’

  ‘I’m daft enough to do it,’ he assured me with an affirmative nod and a grin.

  ‘First, some training.’ I led him to Moran. ‘Captain, take this keen man to the tree line, please, show him how to move quietly, how to make a good OP, explain the hard routine, issue webbing and rations, show him how to cook the various things.’

  Moran led Max downstairs, chatting away.

  Seeing Mahoney on the flat roof, I stepped out to him. ‘Some ... news.’ He frowned back at me, and waited. ‘The Boston lady, she ... rejected the baby, then tried to kill herself.’

  His eyes widened. He stared back for a moment then took in the distant tree line. ‘She seemed OK, but ... after what she had been through.’ He heaved a sigh. ‘Jesus.’

  ‘It’s all over the American news, they’re debating what women do with babies born from rape.’

  ‘Kinda takes the edge off rescuing her, no happy ending.’

  ‘In Mauritania we rescued hostages, then a Puma was shot down, and the hostages were all roasted alive. That fucked with our heads for a while.’

  ‘I bet.’

  Rizzo got back an hour and a half later. I had called back Rocko and put some of the Externals on the road north.

  ‘Pasted them,’ Rizzo explained, his face covered in sweat, stood now sipping water. ‘Must have wounded or killed twenty plus, windscreens shattered.’

  ‘Be a patrol out at midnight, I want an OP east of the village,’ I told them. ‘The bush on that side looks dense, so use it. Get close in, and Max will photograph the local idiots – hopefully doing something naughty. Say two days. I’ll put a team a mile south, hidden, for rescue and decoys if need be. Take grenades and smoke – we have a box full of grenades, to cover you if you need to leg it away. Get some rest from 6pm onwards.’

  At 6pm, just as it got dark, I got a frantic call from Captain Harris. ‘Wilco, there’s some sort of coup going on, some army units shooting at the fucking airfield and at the presidential palace.’

  ‘What? Are you safe there?’

  ‘For now, there are French soldiers here, and we have the Pumas to escape on.’

  ‘I’ll call Bob and find out what the Foreign Office knows. I’ll get back to you. Hang tight.’

  I called Bob. ‘Bob, it’s Wilco, there’s a fucking coup going on.’

  ‘I just heard yes, some disaffected army major. Look, new orders for you: get to the airfield, president is on his way there, protect him, we want to keep him in.’

  ‘How many soldiers are involved in this coup?’

  ‘A few hundred, two or three companies, but they’re spread thin. I’ll ask the French now to send the helicopters.’

  ‘We’ll leave the FOB unprotected!’

  ‘Should just be for tonight.’

  ‘Jesus. If a group attacks this place it’s just the RAF Regiment!’

  ‘The local gunmen are on the back foot, you hurt them twice, and it should just be for tonight.’

  ‘It’s your call, Bob. But how do we know which idiot is loyal to the president or not? And we don’t speak the lingo!’

  ‘Those at the airfield should be loyal -’

  ‘Should be? Fuck’s sake, Bob, we could walk into a firefight and not know who’s who!’

  ‘As I said, our people at the airport say that the rebel soldiers are near the government buildings for now.’

  ‘Jesus...’

  ‘Get to the airfield, keep the president safe, that comes from the Prime Minister.’

  Putting the phone away, I clambered onto the roof. Clicking on my radio, I said, ‘Anyone outside the wire, come back now, on the double. Ambush lads, you hear me?’

  ‘Yeah, we hear you.’

  ‘Back now, double time.’

  Moran was back with Max, Nicholson was back, so I clambered down. ‘Echo Detachment, kit on, ready to move!’ I shouted, my words echoing as I walked downstairs.

  ‘Mister Haines, you hold the fort whilst we’re gone, there’s a coup underway in Freetown, we’ve been ordered there, so you’re it, plus our three SAS instructors. I want half your men ready at any one time, all inside this building, block doors and windows on the lower level, sleep with weapons, boots on.’

  Morten was greatly concerned. ‘We’ll stay here? What if rebels move on this position?’

  ‘They don’t move at night, they’re lazy fuckers, and you have a flight of RAF Regiment.’

  ‘Will that be enough?’ he pressed.

  I took a moment, and took in the faces. ‘We have orders from the Prime Minister, but we should be back for dawn. Medics, ready your personal weapons, you may need them. Max, get yourself a weapon, you’ve just been deputised.’

  I stepped outside. Shouting at the building, I said, ‘All Echo Detachment, front and centre, kit on!’

  ‘What’s the flap?’ Rocko asked as his dark outline approached.

  ‘There’s a coup going on in the capital, army trying to take over,’ I told him as the men assembled. ‘We’ve been ordered there, to stop the president getting his nuts shot off.’

  ‘Who we up against?’ Rizzo asked.

  ‘Couple of companies of local soldiers.’

  ‘Couple of fucking companies?’ Rocko repeated. ‘And we go at them, twenty five of us?’

  ‘We have orders to try and protect the president there, we’ll assess it as we go, he might just fuck
off abroad with the family silver,’ I told them. ‘Intel says the soldiers are spread thin. Get lots of ammo, smoke and grenades.’

  When my sat phone trilled it was Bob. ‘Wilco, I’ve got some British Marines on their way to the FOB, trying to get a few French Marines.’

  ‘That should help, and it’s not a bad position to defend.’

  ‘I’ll be at my damn desk all night, just off to a COBRA meeting. Wilco, listen, if the president there goes we have to re-negotiate everything over -’

  ‘I understand the politics, Bob, and we’ll do what we can. I’ll call you as it develops, you take the damn blame.’

  ‘Prime Minister has ordered the move, he ... can take the damn blame.’

  Ten minutes later the Pumas came in, lights on.

  ‘Make safe weapons, unload!’ I called, and the noise indicated that all weapons had been loaded and cocked. I unloaded my own. ‘Three groups of eight or nine!’

  The Pumas set down in a line and we ran across bent-double and clambered in, taking off as soon as the last man was sat on the side, and a high speed low level flight took us over black jungle and then the shanty towns at the edge of the city, yellow street lamps peered down at, a few fires seen burning, and on to the airport, and we landed in front of the air traffic control tower and white concrete terminal building, weapons loaded and ready, no facemasks worn.

  The local soldiers did not look happy to see us, all levelling their guns our way. And they had either been working out or eating too much, because their clothes all looked too tight. Shiny jet-black faces stared at me, red berets on the men, old FN SLRs carried. With a hand in the air in surrender I approached a sergeant. ‘Are you protecting the president?’

  ‘Vee is loyal soldiers,’ he spat back.

  ‘We are ordered to protect the president.’

  He took a moment. ‘He be inside.’

  I pointed at a captain. ‘Show us up to the roof, please.’ I pointed at the first soldier. ‘Tell the president that British soldiers will protect this building.’

  The captain led us off, all of us being carefully watched, and we climbed bare grey concrete stairs to a fire door and out onto the roof.