Wilco- Lone Wolf 21

by Geoff Wolak

  ‘You'll hold me back?’

  ‘Just from the stupid stunts over water. Others can step in, like Tomo volunteering. He's too stupid to worry about dying.’

  ‘It's not the dying, it's … how I die. I think the cold water freaked me a bit.’

  ‘So noted, land lubber.’

  With Swifty off to bed I called Tiny.

  ‘You finally call,’ she complained.

  ‘Been half asleep with the meds. Just got back to GL4.’

  ‘You OK?’

  ‘Broken hip, pin in place, ten days for the stitches, a few weeks to heal. And I can sit and do nothing in some nice hotel resort just as well as here.’

  ‘I'll pop over, official trip, see the team, have a beer.’

  ‘What you been up to?’

  ‘Was helping Bob with the research, but I also had some pickpocket lessons, and a few hours with the sniper rifles.’

  ‘Earning your keep then.’

  ‘Been hard at it. I can hug a man now and know what he has in his pockets.’

  I gave her a twenty minute run-down of the operation.

  ‘It was all over the news. Odd really, how they over-react to these things. And the French news labelled it as their operation.’

  ‘They always do.’

  In the morning Graveson brought me a cooked breakfast from the canteen covered in a plastic top, and he had driven it here save it going cold. I tucked in, my nurse sat with a brew, Swifty out.

  With the food in me I felt better, Moran stepping in. I lifted my face to him. ‘What are the American Wolves doing?’

  He sat. ‘Going over the new range.’

  ‘Good, work them hard; pistol range, Killing House, some time up The Factory in rotation. And some laps each day if the weather is OK.’

  ‘I set a programme with their captain, they'll be kept busy. This lot never came here first, like the British Wolves, so they have gaps in their training.’

  ‘I want them all shit-hot on the fences up at The Factory, then the trick map reading.’

  He nodded. ‘Henri is a captain now, but they just said he'll come back to us.’

  ‘Well … they'd not slot him back into 1st Battalion as a captain, he's old and knackered and now with no front teeth, and he wouldn't fit it. His promotion was for show.’

  ‘Their President milked it something terrible, big parade.’

  I nodded. ‘No parade here.’

  ‘Something on the news about your Day Regiment..?’

  ‘Ah, General Dennet asked me, ideas for how to recruit more blacks into the Army. We'll use the TA bases weekdays, then they go home to their mothers. The Army will pinch away the best lads.’

  He nodded. ‘Recruitment is way up anyhow. Oh, four new lads from 14 Intel, supposed to be the good boys, the new batch.’

  ‘Test them then, starting with the weapons – plenty of training first to give them a chance, then a 24hr speed-march. Put the American Wolves through that as well, shake them up a bit. Then, a few weeks from now - when the Wolves have covered everything - Mauritania followed by Sierra Leone, then they have it all covered.’

  ‘What about HALO?’

  ‘Yes, in Mauritania, our bag technique. Some might quit or crap out.’

  ‘How long you out of action?’ he asked.

  ‘Fuck knows, but a month or two before I'm jogging. Or allowed to jog.’

  ‘Some of the papers are saying you disobeyed orders.’

  ‘No, the PM requested that I not go, he never ordered me.’

  ‘That film about Mahoney is out there, been out a while I think, lads just got a copy on VHS tape.’

  ‘Bring it in at some point, with some beer and crisps. I could do with a good laugh.’

  ‘His troop rescues yours,’ Moran said with a smile. Then he lost the smile. ‘Still pisses me off. And the thought of crashing and burning does nothing for a restful night's kip.’

  ‘Swifty hates the ocean, was terrified of that drop but did it anyhow.’

  ‘I would have thought twice about it as well, it was all stacked against you. First you had to hit the ship and survive, then not let them shoot you, not let them blow it up, then not get irradiated. Was a long list of things that could have gone wrong.’

  ‘All of us were injured, three dead.’ I sighed, loudly. ‘I know it was a tough call, and I feel guilty. But … but I had to know if the material was there or some missing, some on its way to London. If they dropped it in the water supply … well, we'd be in a permanent state of martial law, rioting, economy fucked.’

  Moran nodded. ‘You don't piss about with radioactive material.’ He took a moment. ‘First time I got wounded, on that job in Western Sahara, I stopped to wonder if it's worth it, worth getting the scars for, getting killed. But if we hadn't been here these past years, how many of these scumbags would be running amok. Poison on its way to Paris, Lord Michaels, now radioactive material.’

  ‘No regrets?’ I asked. ‘Could have married that lady officer, had kids.’

  He stared at the floor for a moment. ‘I think about what could have been, but … at the end of the day we're doing something that matters, not sat at home watching it on the TV. I'd hate to be a nobody civvy.’

  ‘If you had never joined us, you'd be a stable army officer, Lt. Col. by now, married, kids, then a career in the city maybe, train in to work the mornings, papers read, and you'd not miss being a civvy. We've spoilt you.’

  ‘If I take a bullet and survive I'd be like Rocko, and back here.’

  ‘You'd stay?’

  ‘Fuck all else to do. Could never go back to the regular army.’

  ‘Could go Regiment, your own squadron...’

  ‘Question is … would they take me if I was wounded?’

  ‘I would think so, you have the experience. But don't get shot yet, we need you running Echo.’

  ‘And you? If they don't let you back on jobs?’

  ‘They'd strap me into a wheelchair with a parachute and drop me!' He laughed. ‘Fact is, I need to be there. In Liberia it was my phone that made a difference, some quick thinking on the ground, Back here … maybe I would have missed something.’

  A few of the lads popped in to say hello, Billy and Rocko coming over for a chat, and Doc Willy popped in to look at my stitches and to chat to the nurse – who took my vitals every few hours.

  At 9pm I was sat with my nurse, Swifty and Sasha in the lounge when Tiny burst in. ‘Hey soldier, need a back rub?’

  ‘Behave. And I'm all busted up.’

  She sat and tickled my toes. ‘Still have reflexes. Was your dick shot off?’

  Swifty and Sasha laughed.

  ‘No, not shot off,’ I told her with a frown.

  ‘I have some info from you know who,’ she said, less than subtly, but she was a good actor.

  ‘Guys, take my nurse to the pub for an hour.’

  ‘You safe with her?’ Sasha asked, getting his balls squeezed as he stood.

  When alone, Tiny snuggled up as I lay on the sofa. ‘You had me worried.’

  ‘So now you know how I feel when you go and get kidnapped in Panama.’

  ‘So we should agree not to worry too much,’ she suggested, her head on my shoulder. ‘Will you have any permanent problems?’

  ‘I doubt it, but the spinal disc might give me some pain. The crack in my hip was fixed with a graphite pin, so that's closed, just time to heal, but if I move around it hurts.’

  I gave her the detail of the mission.

  She finally put in, ‘That man, Castile, he met the American President at the White House, was on the TV screen when I came through the airport.’

  ‘They named him?’ I puzzled.

  ‘No, but Bob told me all about him and the jobs.’

  A shot rang out, a burst of heavy fire, a long burst, the base alarm soon sounding.

  'Oxford Regional Command Centre -'

  ‘This is the duty MP at GL4, Broken Arrow, Broken Arrow! Shots fired, vehicle rammed the gate, autom
atic fire in progress!'

  'All units, and all armed response reams, Broken Arrow, Broken Arrow.’

  'Duty Officer.’

  ‘This is nominated night-shift commander, Oxford CT police. Broken Arrow, Broken Arrow.’

  ‘Christ, not again.’

  'David Finch.’

  ‘Duty Officer, sir, sorry it's late, but it's Broken Arrow.’

  ‘Oh gawd...’

  My door burst open. I was immobile, and Tiny was unarmed, a worry. Fortunately it was Graveson.

  He gushed out, ‘Someone rammed the front gate!'

  ‘Stupid thing to do,’ I quipped. ‘I heard the GPMG. Is he alive?’

  ‘No fucking way.’

  Tiny got the kettle on as Graveson stood at the door peering out.

  The MP Captain came to me twenty minutes later. He stood and sighed theatrically. ‘You won't be happy, Boss.’

  ‘What?’ I puzzled.

  ‘Ninety-two year old local just rammed the gate.’

  ‘Ah … shit.’

  ‘His car caught fire, brigade just got it out, million local coppers here now. And we hit him twenty times.’

  ‘Fucking bollocks,’ I sighed out. ‘Was he drunk or … just old?’

  ‘Local police had ordered him to stop driving and had revoked his license.’

  ‘So why the fuck was he driving down our road!'

  ‘He's supposed to be a bit doolally.’

  ‘Great. Just fucking great.’ I grabbed my phone and called Max, giving him the story for Reuters before we got a tonne of shit.

  Call ended, and Swifty and Sasha came back in with my nurse.

  ‘Did you get a pint?’ I quipped.

  ‘Half of one,’ Swifty complained.

  ‘We were attacked by a deadly ninety-two year old assassin.’

  ‘That'll be a bad newspaper headline,’ Swifty noted. ‘Another one.’

  My phone trilled, David Finch. ‘Right Boss, how's life?’

  ‘Not as quiet as I would like. What happened?’

  I gave him the detail. ‘I already have a story on Reuters.’

  ‘Little we can do. And people like that should not be driving, the police should have taken his car and keys. I'll give them a hard time for that.’

  ‘Go pen a stiff letter, Boss.’

  ‘How are you feeling anyhow?’

  ‘It twinges when I move, so I'm trying not to move too much. Nurse here to look after me.’

  ‘Well … get well soon, I guess. And the teams?’

  ‘Moran is checking with me and organising the training. They won't sit still.’

  ‘Good.’

  With Graveson outside my front door, I sat with Swifty, my nurse and Tiny, and we chatted about all sorts, and did so like two couples. Swifty even got a face massage and some ice from the nurse, a rub of a shoulder that was black and blue. I had Swifty stand and move his arms as I instructed, and the nurse and I agreed on tendon damage, but a bruise not a tear.

  It was a risk, but I let Tiny massage my calf muscles. I even pretended it hurt, my nurse joining in with the massage.

  With Tiny off to a base room, Swifty headed up to bed after taking some pain killers, and I settled down on the bed, the light on, my nurse reading a paperback. But I slept in a tracksuit, a blanket over me, and Swifty had brought me my pistol and holster, retrieved by the SIS men in Gibraltar. I had checked it carefully and cleaned it.

  I woke to find my nurse sat there, but that it was 9am. ‘How long was I asleep?’ I puzzled.

  ‘Nine hours.’

  I eased up. ‘Shit, that's not like me.’

  ‘You had a painkiller, they make you drowsy.’

  ‘I've had painkillers before, and not slept so much.’ She eased me up and I pissed into a bottle. ‘Pour that through Moran's letterbox,’ I suggested, getting a scowl.

  After a quick wash, Graveson fetched me a breakfast, and I sat and ate it with him as we chatted. Doc Willy popped in for a chat, Billy and the Brigadier, and at 4pm I sent for the Wolf captain. With brews in hand we chatted for an hour about Wolf training, and about the para drop off Gibraltar.

  Tinker appeared as the captain left, sitting with me in the kitchen. ‘The shooters in your hospital. They had Spanish ID, but we tracked them back to Honduras and a list of petty crimes, and they're in the frame for kidnap and extortion in Spain.’

  ‘So just hired idiots then.’

  ‘Yes, and their phones track back to Belgium and South Africa and Yemen.’

  ‘Boat was supposed to head for Yemen, to Aden,’ I noted.

  ‘No record of that at the Yemen end, so they say.’

  ‘And phone hits from the ship?’

  ‘Similar pattern. We're closing in on the Belgian link, but the area has a large hotel, thousand rooms, convention centre next door. In Yemen the phone hit was for a road, and the South African hit is a cluster of hotels.’

  I pulled a face. ‘Might get lucky with CCTV and guest names. And the crew?’

  ‘Most are clean, but there was a four-man team of bad boys – which you shot dead. They're Egyptian, but have Tunisian passports, some criminal record, no link to terrorists as yet.’

  ‘The phone I called in, from the ship..?’

  ‘No hits at all, anywhere.’

  ‘Pity, that was our best bet. The GPS trackers, they all working OK now?’

  ‘Yes, we could see the teams moving in that forest in Germany. London has two Wolves on a job as we speak, Moldova, and we can see them moving. It's manned 24hrs a day. If they don't meet the RV on time we call them … or panic.’

  ‘If we go into Kosovo we'll use them.’

  His own phone trilled, a standard Nokia. ‘Yes. What? Shit! Hold on.’ He lowered it. ‘Those two Wolves in Moldova, just came across a shoot-out. They're up on a cliff, below are fifty police shooting at thirty gang members.’

  ‘The gang, are they of interest?’

  ‘Yes, they're the mission.’

  ‘So have them open up, use the confusion.’

  He lifted his phone. ‘Wilco says to have the Wolves open fire in the confusion. Update me later.’

  Swifty appeared at 6pm, and sat with me and my nurse as we watched the TV.

  Tinker appeared an hour later. He came in and sat next to me as we both faced the TV. ‘That shoot-out, the Wolves killed the gang members, shot them in the back. Never got any phones, but the gang is out of action, so it's a partial success, and with the local police there the job was a bust anyhow. They're running through the forest.’

  ‘Half a result,’ I commended before Tinker left.

  Swifty got himself another shoulder rub.

  I told him, my eyes still on the TV, ‘If she keeps doing that, buy the poor girl a curry.’

  She answered, ‘I'd be in trouble, fraternisation.’

  ‘He's not your patient, I am, and rumour has it … I work for Intel and can keep a secret.’

  Major Harris stepped in with Tiny.

  ‘Swifty, go get my nurse a pint in the pub, that's an order.’

  He got dressed and led her out, warm jackets placed on as Harris and Tiny sat, detail of the para drop gone over, detail of the available Intel, a mini command meeting in my lounge for an hour. We had a lead in Strasbourg, so Tiny would go take a look soon.

  ‘And Kosovo?’ I asked Harris.

  ‘NATO is not moving yet, but gearing up. And the KLA, they were caught raping and stealing. Again.’

  ‘And we're supporting those idiots. Great. I'll put a few in the ground if we go there.’

  Harris nodded. ‘Why not, be best for the country – Serbs or no Serbs.’

  ‘Wife OK?’

  ‘She doesn't fuss too much, hardly noticed the Panama job.’

  ‘Did you tell her you were on the carrier?’

  ‘It may have slipped my mind.’

  Tiny slapped his knee. ‘You can't lie to your wife.’

  He told her, ‘If a man can't lie to his wife, who can he lie to, eh?’

>   With Harris gone I chatted to Tiny, and she snuggled up. Fortunately, when Swifty returned with my nurse Tiny was in the kitchen.

  ‘Love birds are back,’ Tiny shouted.

  ‘We're not going out,’ a worried Swifty insisted, my nurse looking embarrassed.

  ‘I have a good eye for these things,’ Tiny insisted.

  Without taking my eyes on the TV news, I told Swifty, ‘You could be dead next week. Both of you. So if you're bored you can spend time together, and not tell anyone. I don't blab, and Tiny is great at keeping secrets.’

  She shouted from the kitchen, ‘I was thinking of a tattoo, above my pussy.’

  I asked her, ‘What does the other one say, middle of your back?’

  ‘It says: don't stop till I say.’

  She came in with a huge grin for an embarrassed Swifty and handed him a brew, one for the nurse.

  I told him, ‘In Jamaica, her and Suzy and Salome were all walking around naked.’

  Tiny told him, ‘And the boring old man kept his trousers on!'

  ‘I'm the boss,’ I told her.

  I glanced at Swifty and pointed at the embarrassed nurse. ‘She's had medical training, probably knows what fits where. And she does a shoulder rub.’ I made eye contact with her. ‘He's been with two girls briefly in four years. Always away with me.’

  ‘Poor thing,’ Tiny told him. ‘Almost as bad as Wilco.’

  ‘I got my ex pregnant, so that counts as a shag,’ I told her.

  ‘She wanted your sperm, not you.’

  ‘That lady doctor?’ the nurse asked.

  ‘Yes, Kate Haversham.’

  ‘I met her once, sir, way back.’

  I told them, ‘She has her head firmly up her own arse. Nicholson body-guarded her for five days, and that was enough. The only opinion that counts is hers.’

  ‘You see your daughter, sir?’ the nurse asked.

  ‘Yes, and you can drop the sir in here. I see her … ten times a year, and I send money, but she's rich.’

  ‘Why keep sending money?’ Swifty asked as we observed the TV news.

  ‘Feels like the right thing to do, to support the kid.’ I turned my head. ‘Any Tiny here, whenever she nabs someone we always find them with no cash on them.’

  ‘They won't miss it in prison,’ Tiny noted with a grin.