Wilco- Lone Wolf 20 Page 2

  ‘How far from the border?’ I pressed.

  ‘Close, less than ten miles.’

  ‘There was a dirt strip, top of a hill...’

  ‘Yes, in the central highlands. No one there.’

  ‘Send someone today to look at that strip, by helicopter, ask if a small plane could land safely.’

  ‘There was some chemical down, white powder, to stop the grass growing. I find out today. You use it?’

  ‘As a forwards base, and as bait for the FARC. But I'll wait permission from those involved first. Send a four man team, your best, to that strip, to hide nearby and observe it for any movement. And today.’

  I stepped away and called Moran at the island hotel, and he got Colonel DeHavilland on the phone.

  ‘Wilco, I was just about to go fishing.’

  ‘There’ll be another campaign soon, sir, on the southern border, a fight with the FARC. It’ll be nasty, jungle fighting, many casualties, so would you volunteer for it?’

  ‘I go where I’m order to go.’

  ‘Cut the crap. Would you take part?’

  ‘If you’re asking for my assistance, and my Marines, then I’d say yes.’

  ‘Even knowing the risks, sir?’

  ‘They fired cruise missiles at our ships, so if I get muddy and bloody so be it. We want FARC blood, so don’t worry about our morale.’

  ‘Ask Major Morgen for me. But what about the carrier group, they’re already overdue; I don’t want to drag them into a six week war.’

  ‘The George Washington is here, or will be in a day, and many of the ancillary ships are hanging around, all keen for some action. Sailors from the carrier and air wing here have been told to be ready to be picked up tomorrow at noon. Sailors from support ships can stay here longer.’

  ‘No drunken fighting, sir?’

  ‘Not so far, all good humoured. Men were tired, needed a good sleep in a real bed. But my CO did ask who organised this.’

  ‘Send him my way, sir.’

  ‘I did blame you, yes. So when does this next campaign start?’

  ‘Not before you get some good fishing in, sir.’

  I called David Finch. ‘I need an official opinion on what I do here.’

  ‘I’m due to brief the PM around 5pm our time. I’ll call you afterwards.’

  After a walk around the grounds in a reflective mood, guards chatted to, I called Miller’s contact number. He called back half an hour later as I stood on the lawns facing the ocean. ‘Wilco, you after me?’

  ‘I was considering a six week jungle war against the FARC, but I thought I’d ask you if you have anything you want me to look at.’

  ‘White House and the senators are all asking difficult questions. Who fired the missiles, where are they, and why have we not shot them yet?’

  ‘If I make camp on the border and fly the flag they will come out to play, and it will get nasty.’

  ‘Well, we never started this -’ I wanted to correct him, but held off. ‘- but we need to satisfy Congress. So go do what you’re good at; you’ll get whatever men and hardware you want.’

  ‘And how is the octopus today?’

  ‘Let’s just say that those who fart in polite company are not admitting to it.’

  My next call was Langley. ‘Wilco?’ came the Deputy Chief. ‘Good news or bad news?’

  ‘My official intel report to you is that the FARC are massing on the border and may have more rockets, and that I ask permission to seek and destroy, plus material assets in support.’

  ‘I can say without any doubt that the answer will be yes. Difficult questions starting to be asked.’

  ‘Then send it up the line, and plan a war. But give the guys at the hotel here a few more days.’

  ‘Difficult questions being asked about that as well.’

  ‘They won’t prove ownership, so relax. Blame me.’

  ‘I do.’

  Next call was Colonel Mathews. ‘Sir, I’d like the next batch of Wolves to join me here, some … on the job training.’

  ‘First batch got bombed and went to Camel Toe Base, but how much danger will this new batch be in?’

  ‘About the same as the average GI was on the front line in Vietnam, sir.’

  ‘Jesus, the generals will question that.’

  ‘These are all enlisted men, so if there was a war they be expected to fight, yes?’

  ‘Well … yes.’

  ‘So this is no different, sir. How many are there?’

  ‘A hundred and twenty something. The NCOs have had them parachuting and walking, each making at least thirty drops.’

  ‘Have them kitted for the jungle, sir, telescopic sights.’

  ‘They have Valmets and Elephant Guns.’

  ‘Even better. Have them made ready for war when they step off the plane. But first, have them volunteer, and talk up the risks, see who doesn’t volunteer – and bin them.’

  ‘What are the risks here?’

  ‘We could lose twenty wounded, ten killed, sir.’

  ‘Jesus. I don’t dare report that up the line.’

  ‘And if a carrier is sunk..?’

  ‘A hell of a lot more would have died, yes.’

  ‘If anyone questions the deployment, sir, remind them about what nearly happened. And this is not over, there could be more missiles out there. Task the ships and Marines ready, we’ll need an airstrike ability, helo assistance.’

  ‘I’ll start to make some plans. Say, six weeks seek and destroy along the border?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  I called Haines next. ‘Your men getting some down time?’

  ‘Yes, all relaxed and swimming and sunbathing.’

  ‘There’ll be another campaign, starting in a few days maybe, six weeks of shit jungle warfare, and nasty. If you think it’s too much too soon I won’t ask for your men.’

  ‘I’ll talk to them, see what they say, but we go where ordered.’

  ‘If you think it’s too much I’ll ask the Air Commodore to relieve you.’

  ‘Well, we haven’t done much yet. Be odd to go home now and read about it.’

  ‘Chat to the guys, let me know. The man with the through-and-through goes back, and the scrape, last guy can man a radio.’

  David Finch called me back at 2pm, the sun high and the day warm. I was sat by the pool with a cold beer. ‘The PM agrees that we need the FARC diminished, and he’s sent a note to the Americans, and he’s happy to get more TV minutes. Our Navy has been talking it up, and they look good from it. Oh, Sasha and team ready to join you. What about 14 Intel?’

  ‘Yes, good experience for them, but … well, most are a bit lame. Six weeks in the jungle will make or break them.’

  ‘Perhaps that’s what’s needed, a selection process. We want good people, not lame ones. And my four men?’

  ‘If they survive this next step they’re good for anything.’

  ‘And what do you anticipate this next step will involve?’

  ‘Six weeks of nasty jungle fighting, daily contact, Vietnam revisited whilst Zulu gets my dispositions by the hour.’

  ‘And how, exactly, would you outwit him?’

  ‘That I need to think about. First I set the bait, to attract the sharks, then I need to keep the sharks from eating the bait. Oh, I’ve requested the new batch of American Wolves, so it will be trial by fire for them.’

  ‘I think you may whittle them down some,’ he quipped.

  ‘That’s the plan.’

  Tiny arrived back at 5pm, complaining of a hard day checking people out. Disappointingly, none had been dirty. I gave her a foot massage and back rub, followed a good shag in the shower, a cold beer enjoyed on the patio with Tomsk, and she seemed to lift his spirits and make him laugh.

  At 8pm the minister arrived, dressed smart casual, and had booked into the hotel nearby. We shook, and sat, but he seemed different to previous meetings, more reserved now that he knew the truth. ‘So, Senor Petrov, what comes next?’

  ‘The Amer
ican soldiers will move to the southern border, and we’ll hit the FARC before they invade and try and get Tomsk. I want your Hueys, some soldiers. If you protect one area it will mean less terrain I have to worry about. Take the west coast, twenty miles inland.’

  ‘That we can do, and the people are worried. These car bombs in Medellin..?’

  ‘Not us,’ Tomsk told him. ‘I am trying to find out.’

  ‘The car bombs were all set off after midnight, few people around, so they were not meant to kill anyone...’ the minister noted.

  ‘A warning,’ I told them. ‘Like sending someone a bullet in the mail.’

  ‘La Ninga is now empty…’

  ‘Yes,’ I confirmed. ‘But we will assist with the repairs.’ I turned to Tomsk.

  ‘I will have people there soon, don’t worry,’ he told the minister.

  ‘And the drug gang on the border?’

  ‘We killed most of them, took their drugs, and chopped down their crops when we found them. They will take years to be a problem again.’

  ‘Good. And the Tiujana Cartel?’

  ‘I hit the pipeline town they use in Mexico, near the American border, Cholos killed with his lieutenants. At that location the American helicopters shot-up two hundred FARC rebels.’

  ‘So far from home.’

  ‘Yes, minister, in the employment of Cholos. But, since his death, the rest of Tiujana Cartel has celebrated, not lamented his loss.’

  ‘And this man Carlos the Jackal? We hear he is growing.’

  ‘He is a close friend of ours,’ I told the minister. ‘That is why he is growing.’

  ‘Ah, I see. And what do the Americans desire?’

  ‘Mostly, good TV minutes for the voters, and to be seen to be doing something about the missiles.’

  ‘To be seen…’

  I glanced at Tomsk. ‘It is down to me to find them, and to unravel what really went on,’ I told him.

  ‘And the entire CIA can’t do what you do?’

  ‘Not when there are ex-CIA agents helping the FARC.’

  ‘My god,’ the minister let out. ‘We thought the DEA were bad enough.’

  ‘Your territory is worth a great deal to the cartels, and they would all like to get in here,’ I pointed out.

  ‘In this past year we have had a record low in murders and gang violence. No one is keen to go back to as things were.’

  ‘We will fight and die to keep it this way,’ I assured him. ‘I think of the people here as my own.’

  ‘The people are behind you, but many questions were asked after your interview in the mask. Many recognised you and puzzled it.’

  ‘The truth will come out one day. I just hope the people will understand.’

  ‘The people walk the streets without fear now, and that they understand, jobs on the rise.’

  With the minister gone, paid off and gone, Tomsk asked, ‘What can I do to stop these attacks?’

  I shrugged. ‘Leave.’

  ‘And go where, eh? Bahamas, and sit on a beach!’

  ‘That would be the sensible thing to do, but I’d miss you here. And so would the people of Panama. They walk the streets safe because of you; you heard what the minister said.’

  ‘I do feel that I do something useful here,’ he admitted. ‘I bought a clinic for that lady doctor, I like that, I go visit sometimes.’

  ‘Be proud, you’ve achieved a great deal here. You’re no longer just a drug dealer, you’re a father to the people here. You are their hope.’

  He sighed out. ‘So how do I stay alive here?’

  ‘You leave that to me. That’s my job.’

  ‘There’s only one of you!’

  ‘Not true, there are three of me,’ I said with a smile. ‘Besides, we have the entire US military behind us.’

  In the morning, Haines called at 9am. ‘We’ve discussed it and we volunteer for the next phase.’

  ‘Relax a day or two more, but keep fit. I’ll call you when I’m ready.’

  ‘All the men here are chatting about it, all keen for more action, SAS as well. None keen for a return to cold old England yet.’

  ‘Get some fishing in, you could be in the jungle for weeks, or get a leg blown off.’

  ‘Cheerful fucker.’

  Robby called me half an hour later. ‘Can I come on this job?’

  ‘Yeah, bring who’s left in 14 Intel.’

  ‘That’s all apart from the two girls. They with you?’

  ‘Yeah, doing the spy work.’

  ‘Rocko wants to come out, and Major Coalridge.’

  ‘Billy wants some action, eh. Is he keeping fit?’

  ‘He jogs a few laps a day.’

  ‘Tell Billy he checks with the Brigadier. And you, you check with Sanderson. As well as your wife.’

  ‘She’s in Benidorm.’

  ‘Who looks after your kids?’

  ‘Jill next door.’

  ‘Married to one of ours?’ I puzzled.

  ‘No, she’s fifty odd, but takes no crap from my two trouble makers. Still, they like her cooking.’

  ‘Get a flight, after you get permission. And tell Rocko to bring Stretch. He can earn his keep.’

  ‘Stretch twisted his ankle on the new range.’

  ‘Have him do some paperwork then. Or work in the armoury with Hamster.’

  ‘Hamster is good with a pistol and a Valmet, keeps himself fit.’

  ‘My god, an armourer wannabe fighter. He could be the next Wilco.’

  When Tomsk was awake I had his Russian soldiers abandon the airstrip he used, east of here, and to pay local police to guard it ready. I asked that he get a hundred shovels and pickaxes, and reels of barbed wire, two metre lengths of wood, hammers and long nails, rope, plus ten thousand sandbags. He delegated the task.

  I called Moran and asked for Echo to be ready to leave in the morning, and to make sure Tomo was ready on time.

  At 2pm an odd number came up. ‘Major Wilco?’ came an American accent.

  ‘Yes..?’

  ‘Admiral Mulloy, George Washington.’

  ‘You on station, sir?’

  ‘Close enough, and we formally take over at midnight.’

  ‘This the number to reach you on, sir?’

  ‘This is the duty phone, Non-Flash, which means we use it for most things, apart from a nuclear war.’

  ‘Got a paper and pen, sir.’

  ‘Fire away.’

  I read out the coordinates for the airstrip. ‘There’s a civilian airstrip there, and that will be the new FOB, medics and casevac first point, Marines on the wire. Colonel Mathews in the Pentagon will send you notes on it, sir.’

  ‘And the operation we’re supposed to support, apart from the sunbathing and the fishing?’

  I smiled widely. ‘Men needed some down time, sir. And the operation is border seek and destroy. We’ll set a jungle FOB on the border, special forces to radiate outwards, unknown time frame.’

  ‘Rotary support?’

  ‘Yes, sir, most definitely.’

  ‘Fixed wing ground attack?’

  ‘Yes, sir, as and when we have a suitable target of card-carrying FARC rebels with red neckerchiefs.’

  ‘And cruise missiles?’

  ‘I would wager on there been none ready to use, but maybe some down the line, sir. We have no solid intel on more missiles, or rockets.’

  ‘And the aim here?’

  ‘Washington wants the men who fired the rockets found, or found then shot full of holes – journalist to hand, plus a search for additional missiles.’

  ‘Could just search a jungle valley and find squat...’

  ‘I’ll advertise my presence on day one, sir, and the FARC will come out to play. We have a history, things you don’t know about.’

  ‘I see. How very odd.’

  ‘What are you tasked with, sir?’

  ‘To support your operations in the area. Same remit as the previous group, but we have plenty of time here, teams are itching to do something.�
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  ‘I understand, sir, but let’s hope you don’t ending up explaining a damaged carrier to a board of enquiry.’

  ‘We won’t get caught sleeping, and I’ll have twenty picket ships out there. No damn missile will get close to me and disturb my sleep. And we’ve been testing the Phalanx guns, remote controlled models flown at us and other ships.’

  ‘And the success rate, sir?’

  ‘That’s classified.’

  ‘I see. Well, sir, we’ll start to make plans today, get the sun tan cream off and the boots back on. Oh, my intel man, Major Harris, he’ll join you soon and brief you on all that happened.’

  ‘Good. Mulloy out.’

  Franks called ten minutes later. ‘I found something, had a friend in Langley looking for me. Charley Rose, and his phone, had a link to a man in Colombia. That man has a link to a medical opioid company.’

  ‘We’ve already unearthed two such companies, bound to be a few more out there. Where are they based?’

  ‘Brazil.’

  ‘Maybe a link to Petrobras. Be a love and find one for me, we know that Medellin invest in Petrobras.’

  ‘I’ll keep looking. But where do you want us for this next operation?’

  ‘No good you being in the jungle. I’d say aboard ship with Major Harris. Check up the line.’

  Before Tiny arrived back the ship’s Captain called. ‘We’re pulling out.’

  ‘So I heard, sir.’

  ‘The fat lady takes over.’

  ‘Fat lady?’

  ‘The George Washington. She can’t fit through the Panama Canal, we can.’

  I smiled. ‘I’ll be sure to use that description, sir. And thank your men for me.’

  ‘They’re all relieved to have been part of it and to have survived, a different look about them, a different attitude. Families were worried, but we’ll be back in Norfolk in a week, a nice long rest.’

  ‘The new admiral, Mulloy, he OK, sir?’

  ‘I served under him, was glad to move on.’

  ‘He a pain?’

  ‘He’s a good officer, but not someone I’d have a beer with. No sense of humour.’

  ‘I’ll keep that in mind. And don’t forget to test your Phalanx guns.’

  ‘We will, we’ve all learnt what it’s like to stare death in the face. Oh, our ships boarded a cargo vessel at dawn, off Puerto Rico.’