The Sixteen (32 page)

I spent most of the day with Chalky at the furthest side of the wood away from the camp, overlooking the road, the river and the surrounding valley.

At around 1400 hours I looked through my binoculars and spotted a motorbike about half a mile away, heading up the road that led towards the garrison, its rider dressed in military clothes.
Chalky had also picked him up. The guards on the gate seemed to be expecting him, as they opened the gates immediately and didn’t stop or check him. The bike rider shot past them into the compound without slowing down and drove straight towards the guards at the main doors to the central building. He stopped and dismounted then passed over a leather despatch bag to one of the guards, before climbing back on to his motorbike and speeding off through the main gates again and back down the road the way he’d come.

It was an hour before we saw another vehicle approaching in the distance, during which time I’d taken out my CTC and laid its sticky surface on the ground in order to pick up a covering of dust, twigs and leaves for camouflage. I checked the road through my binoculars again and saw there were actually two trucks, not one as I’d originally thought, and both were laden with fruit and boxes. Leaving Chalky to keep watch, I cautiously made my way through the trees towards Dynamo and Royston.

‘There are a couple of trucks coming along the road,’ I informed them. ‘I thought it was them but it’s only a couple of trucks delivering food.’

‘No, it shouldn’t be them, it’s too early. They aren’t due until about six,’ Royston said. ‘What time do you intend to go down to the road?’

‘I’ll make my way down there at about 1730. I’ve spotted a good position near to where we turned off the road last night, Dynamo. The hill’s pretty steep and rough just there so they’ll probably have to slow right down, so I should be able to get a good look at who’s in the vehicles when they go past,’ I told them. ‘I want to get down there in plenty of time. If I leave it until we spot them from up here they’ll be reaching the place I’ve picked out at the same time as me.’

I went back to where Chalky still lay in the undergrowth on the
other side of the hill, watching the road. At around 1630, the two delivery trucks left the compound and drove down the hill and back along the road. I waited a further hour then, while Chalky went to tell the others that I was now moving into position, I pulled my CTC around me for cover and made my way down the hill to the spot I’d picked out earlier.

There was a hollow in the ground at the edge of the road where I’d be able to lie fairly level with the surrounding area. It was on a slight incline at the brow of a small hump in the road about two yards away from the edge. I knelt down at the perimeter of the hollow then fell forwards downhill and crossed my forearms, which pulled my CTC completely around me. Then, laying my forehead on to my folded arms, I shuffled around a little to stir up the dust, which would help to make sure that I blended in with the surrounding area. Then I pulled the hood over my head so that I was completely covered.

I was facing downhill so that my feet were slightly higher than my head, as I positioned my binoculars ready and lay looking through them down the road in the direction the targets would be coming from.

After about an hour, I glanced at my watch. It was 1900 hours, meaning that I’d actually lain there for an hour and a half – our targets were late. I knew I would be virtually invisible to anyone looking down the road as long as I kept very still, but I was beginning to grow uncomfortable – I wanted to move and wished that I hadn’t been so eager to volunteer. Keeping still was proving to be difficult due to the number of insects crawling over me, probably ants.

The light was starting to fade and even looking through my binoculars I could barely see along the road now. Suddenly I heard the sound of fast approaching vehicles.

Damn I thought, annoyed. If it’s them, they’re travelling too fast for me to be able to see anything when they pass.

I could just make out three vehicles speeding along the road: an army lorry then a car followed by another lorry. I felt sure that these must be our targets, but I had to be certain.

The first lorry raced straight past me, with five or six soldiers standing in the back. Then, to my surprise, the other two vehicles came to an abrupt halt about eight yards away from me. There were about seven or eight troops in the back of the lorry and two of them quickly jumped off. I thought they must have spotted me but, moving slowly, I cautiously looked around to see why they’d stopped – none of them appeared to be doing anything in particular, just stretching, yawning and chatting to one another, although the two on the ground had now decided to relieve themselves only yards from me.

I saw that the car in front of the lorry was dirty grey in colour without any markings. It was difficult to see exactly how many occupants there were inside, as there was some kind of partition behind the driver. However, I could make out one man sitting in the back, dressed in military uniform, staring straight ahead of him and calmly stroking his chin. After about two or three minutes the car driver suddenly beeped his horn, banged his hand on the outside of the car door, and waved on the driver of the lorry behind. Immediately both vehicles moved off, with the two soldiers on the ground rushing to jump back into the lorry only inches away from me.

As they passed, the man in the rear of the car turned his head sideways and spoke to someone sitting next to him and I caught a brief glimpse of the two men in the back.

The descriptions of them Royston had given me were right, it was them. Our targets had arrived!

I lay still for a while longer until the sound of the disappearing vehicles had completely gone, before I gradually raised my head and had a good look around. The light was quickly fading but I could see that the coast was clear. My joints were a little stiff and sore from keeping still for so long and I was covered in dirt, dust and insects, but I couldn’t wait to get to the top of the hill and, itching and scratching as I went, I quickly scrambled back to where Chalky was waiting for me.

‘Well?’ he queried.

‘Well what?’

‘Was that them?’

‘Yeah, it’s definitely them!’

‘Thank God for that, I couldn’t stand another day stuck on this damn hill. For a moment, there I thought they’d rumbled you! When I saw them stop and those guys jump off the back of that truck I thought I was going to have to come down there and give you a hand! That would’ve changed our plans, now wouldn’t it? What was that all about anyway?’ he said.

‘I haven’t got a clue, the two guys who jumped off just took a leak.’

‘Come on, let’s get back to the others.’

We quickly made our way through the trees to where the rest of the lads were waiting.

‘It’s them OK, Geordie made a positive ID!’ Chalky announced.

‘Good!’ Royston said. ‘It’s just as well you went down there, Geordie. We saw the vehicles arriving but the car stopped where we thought they would, right outside the door of the main building, behind that damn lorry, and we couldn’t see who was in it.’

‘I didn’t think they were going to get that far,’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘Well, the VIP car stopped just yards in front of me for some reason. I thought they must have spotted me,’ I told him.

‘Oh, so that’s what happened?’ he said. ‘We couldn’t understand what was going on either. The first lorry stopped just after it rounded that bend for some reason and they waved to the guards at the gates then reversed back. The next time we saw them the VIP car was right behind them,’ he informed me. ‘Don’t ask me what that was all about. I’ve been in the Middle East for some years now and I’ve given up trying to understand these daft sods!’

‘I wondered what the hell was going on but I couldn’t see from where I was,’ I said.

‘Never mind, at least we know they’re here now. Let’s find a way to get rid of them!’

The lights were on in both the building and the compound, and it was easy to see the whole area. Two men dressed in military uniforms were walking around accompanied by a civilian but we couldn’t be sure if they were our targets or not. They disappeared for a short while then made their way back to the main building. Through the two windows on the first floor, just above the parked truck, we could see several people sitting drinking and talking, but our targets didn’t join them. Instead, they had made their way along the corridor to the large room at the end, where we believed the meeting was due to take place. They stayed there for some time then left the room together, returning shortly after with seven or eight other people who all began to seat themselves around the table.

‘That’s definitely them,’ Royston confirmed, looking through his binoculars just as someone in the room pulled a blind down over the window. ‘Right, that’s it, let’s go. Dynamo, don’t forget to warn the rest of the lads that if I get out of the building alive, I’ll be the idiot rushing towards the gate firing my gun above your heads, with a red light on my chest. And by the way that’s not a target, it’s
just to let you know that it’s me,’ he laughed. ‘So, just make sure you don’t get rid of the guards on the gate, I’ll need them to open it for me!’ he added.

‘He might be a little bit crazy, but he’s bloody clever!’ Dynamo laughed.

‘Come on, then, let’s get on with it,’ Royston said to Greg.

We watched them stealthily make their way down the hillside, across the road to the corner of the compound and the darkened area at the rear of the toilet block, then they disappeared from view. The rest of the group were getting ready to cover Royston, and Greg and Dynamo moved off to tell them what was happening. I looked at my watch: it was 2100 hours and very dark now. As soon as everyone was aware that Royston had made a move, we all began to get into position and line ourselves up across the hillside in front of the compound. Each section had a target area of the building, mine being to cover the main entrance and to take out the nearby vehicles.

I moved slightly further down the hillside and got as close to the main gate as possible without being seen. Dynamo was just behind me to my right with Chalky, Spot and another guy slightly higher up. The others positioned themselves at various points to the right and left overlooking the compound, Greg would provide cover from his spot down to the left of the main gate near the toilet block.

Within minutes, we saw Royston squeezing his way through the gap at the top of the toilets, out of sight of the guards on the gate. Just then, a soldier began to make his way across the compound towards the toilet block and we watched anxiously as he went inside.

Suddenly we heard the loud bang of a door being slammed shut and a figure emerged. The man appeared beneath the compound
lights and began to walk towards the soldiers standing guard at the main door, dragging his gun along the ground and fastening up his clothing as he went. It was Royston! He’d done it!

‘Let’s wait until he gets within a few feet of those guards before we open fire,’ Dynamo said quietly. ‘Because once we start shooting, so will everyone else and I want to make sure he gets into the building.’

Royston was only about four feet away from the guards on the main door when Dynamo opened fire at the windows and all hell broke loose as we all followed suit. The two guards at the door immediately ran into the building with Royston right behind them and all the lights in the building went out. Confused soldiers began to pour out of the buildings towards the rear of the compound, running in all directions, yelling and screaming at one another. The guys lobbed grenades with deadly accuracy, and vehicles exploded all around the bewildered, panicking troops.

I hit the large truck parked at the side of the building, aiming at its tyres and where I thought the fuel tank was. It instantly burst into flames, just as a loud explosion came from inside the building and a body came flying out of one of the upstairs windows. It landed on top of the burning canvas covering the truck, which must have been carrying extra fuel because it suddenly erupted in a deafening explosion, which sent fragments shooting high into the air and all over the compound.

The light from the burning vehicle brightly lit most of the area and we could see the poor bastards running around like ants. They hadn’t expected a thing and were being slaughtered; they simply hadn’t a clue what was going on and had no idea where all of the gunfire was coming from or which direction they should run in for cover. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Everywhere was noise, confusion, screams and yells.

‘Concentrate on the entrance of the building,’ Spot yelled. ‘We’ll need to give Royston as much cover as possible when he comes out.’

Suddenly through the smoke and flames, I saw a guy running towards us, a small red light on his chest.

‘There he is! That’s him,’ someone shouted behind me.

Royston was out of the building and running towards the gate waving his gun in the air! We could clearly hear him above the noise, shouting in Arabic at the two guards hiding near the gates. It was unbelievable: one of them actually ran towards the gates and opened them for him. Royston immediately ran straight through, closely followed by the two soldiers who had been guarding the gates, with four or five other guys several yards behind them.

On the hillside, we’d been constantly moving and changing our positions to ensure none of us got hit if one of them got a bead on us, and I was now only yards away from Royston and the following troops. I took aim to provide him with cover and take out as many of them as I could but Dynamo suddenly grabbed my arm.

‘No, Geordie, wait!’ he shouted.

At that moment, the ground in front of Royston erupted and two figures stood up, blasting the running men behind him just as he passed them. Two of his team had been lying in wait in their CTCs, which ensured they were completely hidden from everyone, including me! Lit up by the flames in the compound, from where we stood they looked like two giant hamsters standing up on their hind legs. They turned and immediately began to follow Royston, running with some difficulty down the road in the cumbersome coats, trying to undo the leg fastenings as they went.