Zero Option (12 page)

A couple of hours out I started worrying about our late take-off, because our timings on the following night were going to be critical. I suspected that after the long haul to Cyprus the crew would have to have a regulation break. Then there'd be a three-hour flight to Siwa, the Egyptian military base - and we needed to be there by early evening, so that we could do a quick transfer to the chopper and be on the ground within reach of our objective while there were still several hours of darkness ahead.
Sweating about it, I headed for the flight deck to ask
the skipper what the drill was. Up there, everything seemed pleasantly relaxed; the atmosphere was less claustrophobic than in the back, the noise level much lower. With the plane on autopilot, Pete and his co pilot sat chatting over their head-sets, and through the windshield a vast array of stars was visible above us, with the lights of some German town twinkling far below.
'Fear not,' said the skipper when I put my question to him. 'We can fly, and remain on duty, for up to sixteen hours at a stretch. If you want we could take you straight on to your destination with only an hour to refuel. It's up to you.'
'No, no,' I said. 'We're not that pushed. Let's stick to the schedule. I'd rather come into Siwajust on dark, in case there are eyes around the airfield. Christ knows what the
security's
like on Egyptian bases.
As long as we're there by 2100, we'll be fine.'
'OK, then.
Our ETA in Akrotiri is now 0330 Zulu.
That's 0630 local. Siwa's an hour behind that. If you don't want to be there before dusk we won't need to take off until 2000 local. That'll put us into Siwa at about 2200, by which time it should be good and dark.
That suit you?'
'Perfect.'
'In that case, I'll put in for a departure slot at 2000.'

He scribbled i note on his kneepad.
Reassured, I went back, pulled on some ear- defenders and got my head down like everyone else.
The next thing I knew, I heard the engine-note dropping as we began our descent into Akrotiri. After a landing smooth as silk, Pete taxied offto a secure area at one corner of the airfield and we stumbled out into a beautiful dawn. The sky was clear, the air warm but still fresh, with sharp, lemony scents all around.
'Who's for a peach?' said Whinger, giving an almighty yawn.
'Peach?' said Pat. 'What the
fuck are
you on about?
'The beach, cunt.'
'To hell with the beach,' Tony told him.
'Wha: about a shower and breakfast?'
Taking our day-sacks, we bussed across to th sergeants' mess, sh9wered, and got ourselves big fry-ups Then, and all day, we kept close together in a group discouraging approaches and questions from outsiders We were given basic accommodation - bare rooms wit[ two bunks in each - and so spent most of the time in o around the mess. Everybody was eager to spruce up theil tans, which the English spring had hardly got
going,
bu by mid-morning the sun was seriously hot and cautioned the guys about getting burnt. Not that the really needed any warning; because they'd all serve, abroad in hot countries, they knew that if they did g, down with sunburn it would be their own fault and the could be put on a charge, just as if they'd got drunk o caught a dose of clap.
Even if we'd wanted to, we couldn't have left
th
, base - partly for security reasons, but mainly becaus, there was always a chance our departure time might b, brought forward. So the lads screwed the nut on an idea of looking for amusement, and accepted that
th
was just a steady day.

We spent much of the morning going through our plans in an informal O-group, sitting on the concrete floor of an unfinished building which had a roof but no walls, so that plenty of air drifted across it. In particular we confirmed the six away-points, or emergency rendezvous - the points in the desert south of Ajdabiya we'd head for if we were forced to split up - which we'd already punched into our Magellan GPS sets.
These were designated 'E1KV One, EIKV Two' and so on. They existed only in our minds, and there were no marks on any of our 1:50,000 maps, but those sets of figures could easily prove lifesavers.
We also concentrated on correlating the latitude and longitude readings punched into the Magellans with the old-fashioned grid-system on the maps. The lat-long figures were more accurate, and there was always a chance that the
batteries in the GPS sets
would fail or that there'd be a shortage of satellites overhead at some critical moment. If either of those things happened, we'd be forced back on to the more primitive avigational system of grid-references and compasses.
Our Here remained under guard where it had come to rest, and it attracted no attention because the field was dotted with similar planes, landing and taking offall day as they ferried personnel and stores southwards towards Egypt and the exercise. Soon after midday a bowser-truck went across to refuel ours, and when it was clear we walked back to the plane to break out the bundle of desert clothes; but we soon spewed out of the cargo bay cursing horrendously, because with its tailgate closed the aircraft had heated up like an oven, the inside temperature had soared well into three figures and we decided the job could wait until we were airborne that evening.
It was at lunchtime that we hit a problem. At the far end of the long mess hall Stew spotted someone he'd known pretty well in his parent regiment, the Cheshires. We realised that they must be acting as marshals on the base for the duration of the exercise, and that this created a serious risk that somebody would recognise him and start asking questions - potentially a major disaster, and a prospect which haunted all members of the SAS on covert operations. All Stew could do was slip away as soon as he'd finished his meal and lie low in the room he'd been allocated until it was time to leave.
For the rest of us, the best feature of the sergeants'
mess was the supply of fresh oranges. We reckoned they must have come straight off the trees on the island, because they tasted a hundred times sweeter and fresher than any orange we'd had before. A great big basket of them stood at the end of the counter, and after Pat had eaten-four, straigh down, I said to him, 'Watch it, mate, or you'll have the runs.'
'Last vitamin C for a week,' he retorted as he put away yet another - and we all pouched a couple to eat during the next leg of the journey.

This time our departure ran smoothly, and within a minute or two of take-off we were heading southeast over the Mediterranean. As soon as we were in level flight we sorted out our civilian clothes and changed into them, bundling up our DPMs for return to Cyprus.
Our desert gear smelled musty and unfamiliar - Christ alone knew who had worn the stufflast. Whinger yelled that his shirt stank like an Arab's jock-strap, and Stew shouted back, 'It'll stink of you soon enough.' My own shirt wasn't much better, and I shook myself around inside the drab, buff material to get the feel of it. The shirt, a pair of sand-coloured trousers and a thin grey jersey were all I reckoned I'd need.
Our makeshift hammocks had remained in place, so we climbed back into them and lay there in the dim light, ear-defenders in place, each thinking his own thoughts. Mine were of Tim and Tracy - and in particular the boy's paintings I'd found in the desk at home. There was one I remembered in detail: a tank blowing up, with a brilliant, jagged flash of flame all round it and some spiky wrecks of shattered trees in the background. Where could a kid of four have picked up such violent images?
Only from the TV, or maybe from listening to me talk about the Gulf.
I wished he'd get interested in nature and try drawing the things like squirrels and rabbits that he saw every day.
Perhaps when he was older.
And fight now? I had a sudden, horrible thought that
his captors would be trying to indoctrinate him against me, teaching him foul language and filthy ideas. I remembered how kids his age in Belfast shout 'Fucking pigs!' whenever they see a Brit soldier come past, and hoped to hell that the PIRA wouldn't have time to corrupt Tim's mind in that way.
After a while, unable to relax let alone sleep, I went up on the flight deck, and I was there when we crossed the Egyptian coast. Far off to our left a spread of lights was twinkling hazily in the dusk.
'Alexandria,' said the skipper.
Beneath the nose the odd cluster of lights marked smaller towns along the shore, and the occasional flares we saw were from oil wells burning off gas; but beyond them, inland, the desert stretched away black as night, with nothing to break its monotony.
At this point our target lay about eight hundred kilometres away to the east.
Pity we can't just fly across and drop a bomb on the bastard, I thought - and I was on the point of saying as much to Pete when I remembered that he knew nothing of our operation, and had been too professional to make the smallest enquiry about what we were up to.

So for the time being I returned to my hammock but half an hour later Pete called me back to the fligh deck to say he'd been in touch with an 1LAF liaiso officer in the control tower at Siwa.
'Your Chinook's ready for you,' he said. 'God know where it's come from, but it's parked on a pan near the western perimeter of the airfield. As soon as we hit
th
, deck they're going to send out a vehicle to lead us to it.
'That's excellent.
Will there be other Hercs on the field?'
'Absolutely.
It's just like Akrotiri. The place i heaving with them - all part of Bright Star.'
'That's what the chopper's been on
too,
' I said 'Officially it's gone tits-up and been retired sick fron the exercise for a few days.'
Full darkness had fallen by the time we began ou descent. The loadies helped us unshackle the quads
an
get ourselves organised. Without head-sets on it wa impossible to hear spoken orders, so Big Alf, who w listening in to the flight deck, resorted to his usu system of hand-signals as we were coming in.
At five minutes to touch-down he gave us fly fingers outspread, then three two minutes later. Wit two minutes to go we started our engines and sat ther with the quads ticking over, ski goggles on in case gr: flew about when we landed. With all the noise it w hard to tell if the individual engines were still runnin so I reached down with my right hand to feel m exhaust. Exhaust fumes began to fill the hold, but befor they built up to a serious level we were getting on finger. I realised I needed a piss, but told myself it would have to wait.
The top half of the tail-gate rose slowly, letting in rush of warm, fresh air, and with it an even fierc engine scream. Through the rectangular opening
a could
see lights shining from latticed towers are vehicles moving. Then, with a thump, the plane was on the deck and rolling.
The bottom half of the tail-gate began to go down while we were still taxiing. The Here made a couple of turns, left and right - I guessed it was following a lead vehicle - and we had barely come to a standstill before Alf was waving us off. First down the ramp was Tony, and the rest of us followed swiftly in single file, Stew and his trailer bringing up the rear.
Outside, the first thing that hit me was the smell of an African settlement, the inevitable stink of heat and drains and dust hanging in the hot night air. The Chinook was within fifty metres of us, tail-gate down, rotors whirling. In seconds all six quads were at the bottom of the ramp, and we leapt off to manhandle the trailer backwards up the slope - first on, last off. Then, one after another, with Stew leading, we reversed into the belly of the chopper and parked in another zigzag alongside the big, black rubber sausage of an extra fuel tank.
Our new head loadie was sitting in the hatchway of the partition that separates the hold from the flight- deck. He twisted round to get a look at us, and the moment I gave him the thumbs-up he hit the button to raise the ramp. He also passed word to the pilot, who immediately revved up his engines, put on pitch and lifted away.
The transfer couldn't have been accomplished any faster. I didn't believe that anyone could have seen us, but even so for the first few minutes the captain headed due south, to confuse anyone who might be watching, and made sure that he was out of sight before he swung on to an easterly heading. When I waved at the cockpit to indicate that I wanted to make contact, the head loadie pointed to a head-set, which I plugged into a socket on the wall.

I had to think for a moment
who
our new skipper was. Then I remembered him and his crew coming to Hereford. Of course: it was Steve Tanner, another Geordie, a small, dark fellow with sticking-out ears.
'Evening, Steve,' I went. 'Geordie Sharp here.'
'Hi, Geordie,' came the reassuring voice. 'Good to have you aboard. We've crossed the border already.
Welcome to sunny Libya.'
'Great! That was a neat pickup.'
'Not too bad.'
'What's
our flight time?'
'We're estimating one hour fifty. There's no wind to speak of, so you should be on your location just after midnight.'
'That'tl do well. Can we just make sure we're all agreed about where we're going?'
We spent a few minutes double-checking not only that night's destination, but also the precise location of EPV Six, the spot in the desert from which the Chinook would recover us once the operation had gone down. There seemed to be no problem: the figures tallied, and I was able to relax for the time being.
All the same, I stood for a while, peering out of a porthole. The night was clear, the moonlight bright. I knew that the crew's PNGs must be giving them an excellent view ahead - and they needed it, because they were skimming the desert at 150 m.p.h, and at no more than fifty feet, low enough to stay” beneath any radar, and seemed confident that no obstructions lay in-our path.
lather
them than me.
'As far as we know there's nothing whatever between us and the MSR,' Steve said, 'and that's nearly an hour ahead.
A hundred and thirty miles of f-all but sand.
'
In the back the guys were sorting out their weapons and ammunition and re-lashing the remainder of their kit. I followed suit, loading one full magazine into my AK-47 and sliding four more into the pouches of my belt-kit. These final preparations didn't take up much time, and there was still an uncomfortably long wait ahead. My mouth felt dry, as it used to before football matches at school, so I ate one of my oranges to slake the thirst.
As we flew, Steve kept up an intermittent com mentary over the intercom. 'Got a fire to our left,' he said suddenly. 'Looks like a bedouin encampment on our port front. We'll give that some space, I think.'
The heli took a violent heave to the right and climbed, then, a minute later, another to the left as we straightened back on to our true course. Presently Steve said, 'There's the MSP now. Not much moving on it.
One set of lights heading north to starboard, and that's all . . . unless some mad bugger of an A-rab is driving without
lights - which is
quite possible.'
I felt the Chinook climb again, and imagined the
thick red line on the map, which ran across our line of advance almost at right-angles. Then, as Steve banked right, I knew he was swinging north to keep away from three small settlements that lay either side of a kink in the road.
'That those villages on the MSI?' I asked.
'Clearing them now.'
A few minutes later he came on for the last time and in his best railway official's poncified tones announced, 'This is your next station stop. All passengers prepare to alight.' Then he reverted to his normal voice and said, 'When we're on the deck, Geordie, I'll wait for sixty seconds to make sure you're OK. Then, if you don't shout, assume there's no drama and we'll be off.'
'Roger,' I answered.
'That's fine.'
'Good luck, then.
See you in a couple of days.'
'Thanks,' I said. 'Nice trip.'