by Geoff Wolak
‘At least the last mile or two, don’t know how far back – or why.’
‘The former president, he’s a surprise, no one had a file on him, he went quiet.’
‘He’s got himself a few good lads. Question is ... how many?’
‘We want him – and them – gone, or he’ll move on the capital now that the army there is in disarray.’
‘I was planning on paying him a visit tomorrow, cup of tea and chat, bullet between the eyes. But Bob, if he moved on the FOB...’
‘Yes, a concern. You need to move on him first.’
‘We’re well north here, so maybe he’s not interested in the FOB,’ I thought out loud. ‘It’s not on the road to the capital.’
‘OK, speak tomorrow.’
I called Haines, but got Crab again, who put Haines on. ‘Listen, take extra precautions, there’s an ex-president up here in the north with a group of well trained and well kitted men, he may move on the capital – or may move on the FOB first. Get me Captain Taggard.’
I waited.
‘Captain Taggard here.’
‘It’s Wilco, we got a problem. Ex-president is active up here in the north when London knew nothing about the fucker, and he has some well-trained and well-kitted men, he may move on the capital after he shoots your lot full of holes. I want a standing alert till I say so, you could have a few hundred well-trained men in the tree line five minutes from now.’
‘We’ll get ready, but it’s nay a bad spot to defend.’
‘There’s a road north, so if you set a few men there you may get some warning.’
‘Aye, I’ll have a look at that now.’
‘Haines is in charge of the FOB defences, but he’s not as good as you, so do what you think is right.’
‘I understand.’
‘Wilco out.’ I called Captain Harris. ‘Listen, we just dropped some well-trained men belonging to an ex-president, he’s likely to move on the capital, so warn everyone. Has the infantry arrived?’
‘The advanced team, twenty five. Mostly officers.’
‘Warn them. Ask the French for ten men, some GPMGs for the FOB.’
‘I’ll get back to you.’
I called the Major to give him the detail, and asked him to call Rawlson and to get the Colonel to call me back. Rawlson called fifteen minutes later and I stepped away from the lads, tree frogs loudly calling out to each other.
‘Wilco?’
‘Yes, sir. Just wanted to keep you appraised of what’s going on. An ex-president has himself a well-trained force in the north, but they’re just twenty miles from the FOB and your men. If he moves on the FOB before the capital it’ll be a scrap, a nasty scrap, a few hundred well-trained men against the FOB.’
‘How many men at the FOB?’
‘Your dozen, your three directing staff, twenty five RAF Regiment gunners, nine of mine.’
‘It’s a fair number to hold with, and I spoke with Captain Taggard, he thinks it’s a good spot to defend. Any reinforcements?’
‘French could get men out by helicopter, but they’d not land whilst being shot at, could land a mile away and walk in.’
‘And the force facing you?’
‘Could be five hundred well-trained men, I doubt they’d move on the capital with less, but we’ll go take a look at them tomorrow. Main base is likely to be across the border, and we’ll go take a look soon, sir.’
‘OK, keep me informed.’
I had just finished off a tin of meat when my phone quietly trilled. ‘Wilco.’
‘It’s Captain Harris. We have the Marines on standby if needed.’
‘Good to know. What about the French?’
‘They want to defend the airfield, so they have their GPMGs up on the terminal roof and the roof of this building, now on full alert, the British officers here all in panic. More French Marines offshore if needed.’
‘OK, as much as we can do. Wilco out.’ Phone away, I sought out Max. ‘Tomorrow could be hairy, stay back and stay hidden, and if something goes wrong hide in the forest and ... pray.’
‘What’ll you do tomorrow?’ he asked, the lads keenly listening in.
‘We’ll go see if the men tracking us have a base, and attack it before they attack the FOB - they might wake the baby.’
‘Any intel on them?’ Moran asked.
‘No, London was taken by surprise.’
‘Fucking marvellous,’ Rocko let out. ‘What are they paid to do, save answering the phone?’
‘Who’s funding them?’ Mahoney asked.
‘Blood Diamonds and drugs, the usual way around here, ex-president camped out in Brussels ... who wants to be the next president, voters’ choice aside.’
The night was quiet enough save the usual animals serenading us, and before dawn we were packed up and moving northwest at a fast pace. I had scanned the map and knew the landmarks, rivers and hills, and so checking the map every five minutes was not necessary.
Finding a distant village, gunmen sat in jeeps, we ignored them save alerting anyone else to our presence, and pressed on at a good speed as we skirted around the village unseen. A few farmers saw us, but that could not be helped, we were on the clock. But at least those farmers would not report white faces, we all had facemasks on.
An hour later we circled around to the north of the target village by crossing a rickety rope bridge - a bunch of children swimming below and calling out to us, and I was hoping that the man with the sat phone did not simply visit his mum here as we clambered up steep muddy banks to a ridge. We were now north of the target village and across the river, and climbing a tree I peered south, down the other side of the ridge.
At the western end of the village sat a large compound next to the river, wire fences, guard towers, green jeeps, several of those jeeps supporting Duska, men marching around in neat columns. Peering through my telescopic lens, I estimated over two hundred men, and I heaved a big sigh.
Clambering down, I pulled off my facemask and called in Rocko and Rizzo, Moran, Mahoney and Swifty, telling Max to climb the tree and photograph the base and village. I swigged my water as I took in their sweat-covered faces. ‘OK, what we have ... is a well defended base down there, two hundred plus well-trained men.’
They exchanged concerned looks as we stood at the base of a huge tree, green vines hanging down all around us.
‘You all remember that Catterick exercise, well the base looks just like it. It’s at the west end of the village, next to the river, no easy access from the river without swimming. They have wire fences, guard towers.’
‘Dogs?’ Rocko asked, wiping his brow with a sleeve.
‘None seen,’ I told him. ‘But they do have several mounted Duska, lots of jeeps. In our favour ... this ridge is across the river to them, we could snipe at them, and we could get within two hundred yards.’
‘But they would open up with GPMG and Duska,’ Moran noted.
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘But ... if I was being sniped at, I would drive a force around through the village and over the bridge down there, and that bridge is single track, the road cuts through this ridge.’
‘Ambush point,’ Moran noted. ‘They’d send sixty or a hundred men in jeeps and trucks, we could fire down at them. But we’d not get them all, and then it would be one on one.’
I nodded. ‘That it would. Could do with an airstrike.’ I blew out, and stood taking in the terrain. I pointed north. ‘If we were in the dense jungle, we’d have the advantage, we’d wear them down.’
Moran glanced over his shoulder. ‘So how do we invite them up there?’
Rocko said, ‘We open up on them then leg it away, they’re bound to follow.’
‘We have grenades,’ Rizzo put in. ‘Set two-dozen grenade traps, they’ll slow right down and watch their feet instead of looking for us.’
‘Good point,’ I told him.
‘Got one GPMG,’ Rocko reminded us. ‘Stretch is lugging it, three hundred round belt. Do some damage.’
‘Best place for the GPMG would be ambush point, to batter them head on,’ I suggested. I faced Mahoney. ‘If this was another test scenario, how would you plan it, Lieutenant?’
‘Well ... what’s the objective here?’ he posed.
‘To thin them out, slow them down, stop them advancing on the capital – or the FOB,’ I told him.
Mahoney began, ‘Question is, is the guy in charge down there any good, and how will he react to probing attacks? I’d say he’ll throw every man he has into these trees, some driving around to cut us off. We may get thirty in the initial attack. What’s needed is eyes-on observation. I mean, if they do a roll call at 5pm, we’d hit them then and wound many of them.’
I nodded. ‘But what if there is no roll call, and we can’t risk being here too long - we may be spotted, and those kids who saw us could be telling their parents right now. If I was that guy down there, I’d have a roving patrol up here once a day. We may have an hour.’
‘OK,’ Mahoney began. ‘Then we put eight men to snipe, kill as many as possible, but they have to have an escape route up to the tall trees up there. Four men in the tall trees, making sure there’s no one else around, no roving patrols. Rest ambush the main body when they drive around, but from a distance, use the GPMG and dump it, run back, group up in the tall trees, grenade traps, set piece ambushes moving backwards. Then it’s a question of how committed they are.’
‘Fact is,’ I began, ‘the main man down there doesn’t want to lose a single man, he wants them ready to move on the capital. If he lost fifty wounded his paymaster would cut his nuts off, so how committed could he be? I mean, he’s trained the men to move south soon, so would he expend them all coming for us?’
‘No,’ Moran said. ‘He’d weigh it up, and call his paymaster.’
‘They have more men across the border,’ I informed them, ‘They could be here in a day.’
‘So he may call for support,’ Moran noted. ‘We don’t want to be in those hills with hundreds of men around us, we’ll get worn down, pick up wounds.’
‘Well then, I’d best call our paymaster. Captain Moran, get up the tree and have a peek at that base.’ I dialled Bob. ‘Listen, we found the ex-president’s camp, two hundred plus men in a compound, wire fence, guard towers, mounted fifty cal, the works.’
‘His force is good enough to move on the capital?’
‘If he moved now he’d probably take the capital.’
‘That’s a concern. What will you do?’
‘What we’re good at: set piece attack, a few tricks, jungle ambushes. But it won’t be easy, be looking at casualties. What do you want us to do?’
‘Disrupt those men, kill as many as possible.’
‘There are Royal Navy ships offshore?’
‘Two.’
‘A Lynx with missiles?’
‘Yes, but anti-ship missiles.’
‘All I need is a distraction and some smoke. If they hit a building it’ll help.’
‘Well, I could ask. When would you want it?’
‘An hour from now. Track this call, target is a compound at the west end of a village a mile southwest from these coordinates. But the helo would have to be careful, they have fifty cal, one pass quick attack.’
‘I’ll make a quick call, hang tight.’
When Moran came down, he said, ‘It would take five to ten minutes for them to mount trucks and jeeps, five minutes through the village, single file across the bridge. Gives us fifteen minutes before they could be this side.’
I called Captain Harris. ‘It’s Wilco, have the French Pumas made ready for casevac and hour from now, men in the doors with weapons.’
‘They may be busy.’
‘Explain to them that we found a rebel base, two hundred plus well-trained men about to move on the capital. They can help us ... or wait till those men come knock on the fucking door. Be insistent.’
Ten minutes later Bob came back on. ‘We can get a Lynx to fire some missiles.’
‘How the hell did you get permission for that?’
‘I told the Prime Minister that those men were about to move on the capital, and they’re all very concerned; we have a great deal invested in this. Marines are on standby to protect the FOB.’
‘Tell the navy to aim for a strike in exactly one hour unless we alter that.’
‘Will do.’ I put my phone away. ‘Henri,’ I called.
He came up the ridge, taking off his facemask. ‘You’ll be leader of Sniper Team, with Jacque, Travis, Nicholson, Smitty and Tomo. Follow this ridge one kilometre, stay hidden, and you’ll see a rebel camp across the river. Spread out, get fire positions behind something solid, they have fifty cal. We’re expecting an air strike. When it hits you open up, five minutes maximum and withdraw.’
I pointed. ‘You see the high ground, the tall trees. Go north, use the radio to find us. Understand.’ He nodded. ‘Off you go.’
After observing them move off I called in Rocko and Rizzo. ‘OK, you two, Stretch and Slider, the Salties, you’re known as Ambush Team. You get above the road, wait a vehicle convoy and batter them, all out for five minutes and withdraw. Get fire positions that allow you to withdraw under fire. I’ll be above you with Mahoney, Moran and Swifty, covering your rear and looking out for any patrols.
‘You withdraw up to the high ground, use radios to find us, set a few grenade traps as you go, leave a trail. We’ll have a helicopter fire a missile in one hour and make some noise. Go get ready.’
They rushed down the muddy slope, calling in their team.
I faced my team. ‘OK, gentlemen, we are Patrol Team. So, on me. Max, stay close.’ I placed on my facemask, the others copying, and we slid down the muddy slope, moving northwest, the going hard, few well-defined tracks. I stopped to check the ground, not finding any human prints, so if there were roving patrols they did not cover this ground.
Climbing higher we zig-zagged, Max assisted in places, and half way to the higher ground we found a track, a few human prints, but not recent. Ten minutes later I found a suitable viewpoint and sat straddling a fallen tree.
‘Sniper Team report.’
‘This is Henri, we are in position.’
‘What can you see in the camp?’
‘They walk around, some marching, some vehicle maintenance, but no one comes in a hurry.’
‘Ambush Team, report.’
‘This is Rocko, we’re ready, and we’ve been setting up grenade traps below us, slow ‘em up a bit.’
‘Standby all teams.’
I turned my head. Without the radio I said, ‘Mister Mahoney, Captain Moran, see what’s the other side of this high ground, please.’
They set off, Max watching them go, Swifty peering down, and we had a partial view of the far side of the village, the east end, the bridge approach, part of the slow moving river. We waited, monkeys somewhere close and shrieking.
Checking my watch every few minutes, forty minutes passed, giant ants swiped off my trousers.
‘Wilco, it is Henri, a six vehicle convoy is leaving.’
‘Nothing we can do, hold your fire. Could be regular movement. Rizzo, you there?’
‘Go head.’
‘Jeep convoy leaving the compound, probably nothing to do with us, but if it comes your way then ambush it.’
‘Roger that.’
In the heat we waited, sweating, no cooling breeze today, and I glimpsed the convoy turn south. Taking out my sat phone I dialled Haines, getting Crab and sighing. ‘Sergeant Crab, there’s a six vehicle convoy heading south, no idea where they’re headed, but watch that road. If they’re heading for you they’d be there in ... forty minutes or less.’
‘OK, got that.’
Putting my phone away, Swifty said, ‘That thins them out a bit, makes our job easier.’
‘So long as they don’t move on the FOB. If people were killed there and we’re up here we’ll get some shit.’
‘Can’t be in two places at once, our job is up here, not there
.’
‘How you holding up, Max?’
‘It’s nerve wracking, and dangerous, gets my heart going,’ he admitted with a smile. ‘Things I do to get a fucking story, eh.’
‘Wilco, it’s Henri, I can hear a helicopter.’
‘All teams get ready!’ I peered into the distance, soon seeing a grey spec that grew bigger every second, Max hoping to photograph it.
‘Henri, how are they reacting?’
‘They are not reacting.’
I faced Swifty. ‘That’s odd.’
‘They get UN helicopters all the time, and maybe they think it’s the Pakistanis bringing something to sell.’
‘When that helicopter fires ... it could give the Pakistanis a bad name,’ I quipped, Swifty smiling.
The helicopter’s outline grew, it climbed and dipped, smoke streaks seen before it banked hard and around, the resonating drone now hitting us, and six seconds later two blasts echoed.
‘They know it’s not the Pakistanis,’ Swifty quipped.
‘Henri, report.’
‘The helicopter, it hit the Duska and a building, lot of smoke and fire.’
‘Are the Duska out of action?’
‘Yes.’
‘Anyone firing at you?’
‘Not so far.’
‘Keep firing at them.’
As we waited, Moran and Mahoney called in and then appeared. ‘Nothing but dense jungle back there,’ Moran noted as he drew level and peered down.
‘Duska are out of action,’ I noted. I clicked on the radio. ‘Henri, report.’
‘Some men fire at us, not good aim, they can’t see us, two GPMG fire at us, nowhere close. We withdraw?’
‘No, stay put, hit as many as you can till I say. Any vehicles leaving?’
‘Not yet.’
‘So much for the plan,’ Moran noted.
And we waited.
When my phone trilled it was Bob. ‘Did the helicopter strike the target?’
‘Yes, good aim, but the bad boys are a bit slow reacting, so we’re sniping at them. No counter attack so far.’
‘OK, keep me informed.’
Fifteen minutes passed, and still no movement.
‘Wilco, it’s Rizzo, jeep convoy approaching.’