Wilco- Lone Wolf 12 Read online

  ‘So how do we find such recruits?’ Mathews asked.

  ‘They’ll stand out during training,’ I told him. ‘Get a hundred Wolves and three might be super-stars, they’ll get the regional commander. Choose from five hundred Wolves, and you’ll get some men that could go for the weapons intermediaries, and make it back out alive. And one will be the kind of chap that will get the paymaster without leaving any evidence behind.’

  They exchanged knowing looks.

  ‘So it’s a pyramid,’ Chakovsky noted. ‘A select few men found from the pile, and utilised, as you’ve done.’

  ‘Attitude is key,’ I told them. ‘Training comes second. First they must want to do it, then they enjoy doing it, then they pass the technical tests, then they’re tested in real-life situations - someone shooting at them. If you have a man with the right profile, and he can walk forty miles in full kit, then he can be trained to do the rest – even if he’s now a chef’s assistant. Don’t focus on the best soldiers, the Airborne.’

  The meeting broke up with a promise that I would test men here in England prior to them heading for Morocco then Sierra Leone. Samantha Hedge and her team would be heading Stateside to peer inside the brains of poor unsuspecting GIs. I figured a few would be peering at her cleavage.

  The next day, many of the lads up at The Factory, Bob Staines called. ‘Hey Bob, long time no hear.’

  ‘Well, they banned me from contacting anyone, so ... that’s why. Now they want me to talk to you. It is about some old job we did?’

  ‘No, it’s a about a new career path for you. You still in the South of France?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Get to a man I know, I’ll have him get you some good fake papers, then you can pop over. And don’t worry, if they catch you they’ll let you go.’

  ‘If I fly into Bristol airport they won’t even check, UK border control is a joke.’

  ‘Got a paper and pen?’ I gave him Leon’s number. ‘Call that man, he speaks Russian and French and English, tell him Petrov asked you to call and that you want some very good fake papers, a complete back story, go see him, he’s near you – and he knows my real identity as Wilco. I’ll call him now.’

  ‘What’s this about?’

  ‘Not on the phone, go chat to Leon, have some wine, then come visit the base you created.’ I cut the call, wondering if Bob was keen to get back into the spy game, then figured that he would jump at the chance.

  Hunt came and found me the next morning, bags packed. ‘I’ve been recalled by Paul MacManners, never liked the guy, but he doesn’t see a need for me to be here and ... well, I’m not fully utilized anyhow. I may accompany you on jobs, that’s up to Paul, but he’s a carbon copy of Bob Staines, a sneaky shit.’

  ‘Well ... thanks for all you did, and yes ... under-utilized, but I doubt that anyone could have given me the kind of advice I wanted, what’s legal or not. Big fucking grey area.’

  He tipped his eyebrows and nodded, soon out the gate.

  Three days later Bob was at the gate, expected and brought in, MP Pete thinking that my guest looked familiar. Bob was tanned and he looked thinner, fitter maybe. It was 3pm, the Major gone, and I took Bob to my house. He stared longingly across the airfield before stepping inside.

  I got the kettle on. ‘How’ve you been?’

  ‘Well, it’s been quiet, boring really. I read a great deal, travel a little; I love France. That Leon chap knows his wine, so we had that in common. He pegged my accent, but I never let on about my past life.’

  ‘You can do, you can trust him.’

  ‘You still haven’t said why I’m here...’

  ‘I’m creating a new body, an intel agency that is very illegal, off the books, the idea being that it would handle things that London shouldn’t handle, and things that I’d rather not handle - if I want to avoid a prison sentence. Tomsk will be involved, so too Leon. You ... you’d be the middle man, with a phone and an office, salary, and I’d call you with a job and you’d organise it, well away from London, no track back

  ‘And unless you were very sloppy, Bob, you’d not get caught or shot at or ... draw attention to yourself. French Intel would protect you as well.’

  ‘And London approves this?’

  ‘They do, money sat ready. Are you ready to retire, Bob, take up gardening full time?’

  ‘Well, no, it’s been hell. I was resentful ... after all the good work I did with Echo, reading about you in the papers every damn week.’

  ‘As you should have been, it was your baby. David Finch was just a pen pusher, not the right man for the job, now Paul McManners.’

  ‘Paul is ambitious, a bit sneaky.’

  ‘Just like you were.’

  He smiled. ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘The job offer is there, Bob, and there’s no one else I’d trust to do it. You know all the players, you know London Intel, you know Echo and me. You’d hit the ground running.’

  ‘And what would be the M.O?’

  ‘You wanting to do what you did before, hostages and terrorists, with assets to call upon, but you’d handle the illegal stuff rather than the headline grabbing stuff. You’d have a team, you’d seek out Arab terrorists, kidnappers, criminal gangs, and ... when a member of the group wants someone dealt with - you handle it. I’d get you some Russian gunmen, some French, be down to you to trust them or motivate them.

  ‘Tomsk would call and want someone in Europe dealt with, I’d call on behalf of London with someone to discredit, you use an unknown man with good papers to get the job done, so build up a network. Leon has people, Tomsk has people, so you start from there. And if London wanted me to clean up a mess, I’d pass it to you and stick to the soldiering.’

  I sipped my tea. ‘So, Bob, are you up to it?’

  ‘Well, yes, just a bit of a surprise, I thought I was out of favour.’

  ‘You are, with people like the JIC, not with me. Have a holiday here, meet old friends, then go back and think about it, then let me know.’

  ‘Well, I’d rather be a part of something.’

  ‘And the legality of it?’

  ‘No different to what I was doing before, I sent men out to kill often enough. I don’t lose sleep over it.’

  ‘Then if you don’t have anyone to visit, go back and I’ll get the ball rolling.’

  ‘What do we call it?’

  ‘Only one name that suits – Spectre.’

  ‘Spectre!’ he laughed.

  ‘Can you imagine Interpol finding a reference to it?’

  ‘They’d think it a joke, yes.’

  ‘You’ll be known as No.1,’ I told him. ‘I’m Petrov on the phone always, or Papa Victor.’

  ‘I’d have contact with London?’

  ‘No, that would miss the whole point of it.’

  Later I called Tomsk. ‘How’s business?’

  ‘Business is very good yes, but I’m diversifying. This airline in Liberia, that might grow, we might get permission to fly to other countries, but at the moment that is banned by the UN, and by some aviation bodies. We have to meet some standards.’

  ‘Air safety is important, you want your customers safe and well.’

  ‘Yes, yes, but we’re trying to get Sierra Leone to lease these 737 planes, and they’d land in Monrovia, but not looking like our planes. We’re fixing up the runway, a fence, everything.’

  ‘Don’t forget the coffee shop peddling really expensive coffee, and the duty free.’

  ‘Ask the British if I can spend some money on Freetown Airport, some fucker shot it full of holes.’

  ‘That was me.’

  ‘You! What the fuck did you do that for!’

  ‘There was a coup. They were shooting at me and my men were shooting back.’

  ‘Ah, I remember you mentioning it. But it’s a fucking mess!’

  ‘Find out if it’s a private company-’

  ‘No, it’s state owned, with 45% owned by a French company.’

  ‘Then bribe the president th
ere via Monrovia and spend some money, they’ll cooperate. But if you pay him direct for the work he’ll pocket the money, so just pay him off to ignore the building work.’

  ‘Odd way of doing things.’

  ‘It’s Africa, get used to it. Anyway, reason for the call. You remember my old boss, Bob, who you spoke to?’

  ‘Yes..?’

  ‘He was kicked out of London, but he’s now going to run a new agency for me, for us. He’s already met The Banker. Idea is that the agency does the illegal stuff and gets the blame, less blame for the rest of us.’

  ‘I can launder money, and hide things?’

  ‘Yes. And if you want someone dealt with they do it, you don’t get blamed, no trace back.’

  ‘Ah, that would be better, yes. How much will they charge?’

  ‘We’ll use the money you sent, no need for more money yet. But find me a man who can work with it, and some good gunmen for Europe and Central America, top people you trust.’

  ‘I have a man in Belgium, he does a lot for me, he could help, yes. And he knows a lot of people. But this new agency: the FBI would look at it and not so much at me?’

  ‘That’s the idea, we would create false trails, have people set-up to get caught by the FBI. You could have a lower profile.’

  ‘That has been on my mind, yes. Someday I need to disappear, no.’

  ‘Not just yet, I’d miss you.’

  ‘And that Saudi?’

  ‘They have no evidence, but Interpol are looking at your buyer in Finland, so warn him to disappear for a while.’

  ‘Valmet have his fake papers, no clear CCTV image, no nothing. And I don’t think they care, I’ve bought many rifles.’

  I smiled. ‘I think they enjoyed the publicity, one of their rifles being used. I’ll get you a number for Bob soon.’

  Next call was Leon. ‘Ah, Petrov, or what do I call you?’

  ‘Always Petrov on the phone. Listen, the man who came to see you for fake papers-’

  ‘A fellow wine connoisseur.’

  ‘Good, I hope you’ll work well together. He used to be my boss in London Intel, but he got caught being indiscreet and kicked out, a waste really, you’d think they’d not care about such matters. Anyway, he’ll head up a new agency we’re creating, and it will handle illegal operations for London, Paris, Tomsk and a few others, the idea being that the FBI and Interpol look at the agency and not the rest of us.’

  ‘A scapegoat, and on a grand scale...’

  ‘Yes, and false trails left in many places. I’m hoping you’ll be heavily involved, and that man – Bob - is near you.’

  ‘I’ll do what I can to help yes, and if they can create a few false trails that would help me, yes. But what will be their main aim?’

  ‘Those of my jobs that are very illegal and best kept away from London. London Intel is checked by auditors and politicians, and they ask awkward questions about my operations.’

  ‘And Casper..?’

  ‘Will end up working inside this organisation with others, he’s very suited.’

  ‘Then maybe we’ll bump into each other at a staff meeting,’ Leon quipped.

  I laughed. ‘That would be a distinct possibility, yes. Technically, he’d be working for you in a roundabout way. You’d be a manager, he’d be an employee or contractor.’

  ‘Has he ... said anything?’

  ‘When I asked him last if he would meet you he just shrugged, the first time I asked he said no.’

  ‘Well, progress, I got a shrug from him. Next I might get a grunt.’

  I smiled widely. ‘He may come around, I am nudging him, and he’s hardly the lone wolf assassin now, he’s all about the teamwork, and his five buddies are inseparable.’

  ‘That is a bit of a turnaround, yes, Casper working in a team. Next he’ll send flowers to his mother.’

  ‘One step at a time, Leon, let’s not get too ambitious.’

  I had seen a Polaroid camera in Stores, a good quality one, so I snapped photos of the base, Sasha’s house, Casper’s room when he was out, and when they returned I had Sasha and Casper stand together and I snapped them, the rest of the team told to put on facemasks, and I snapped the group, finally one with me and Casper.

  ‘Who are these for?’ Casper knowingly asked.

  ‘Leon did me a favour, this is the return favour since you won’t visit.’

  He shrugged and made a face, and walked off to the canteen with the others. I got Bob’s address from him, wrote it down carefully, and sent the jiffy bag airmail to Bob – to hand over to Leon. I didn’t consider the photos a security risk, because if Leon wanted to he could send a man, a good man, a man we’d never spot.

  In the morning I sat down with Sasha and his team. Casper had completed many training exercises, and had spent a few days up at The Factory, so he was filling in the blanks. I went down the list, and they would have a week of first aid, pigs cut and sewn over and over. London Intel had a Russian speaking doctor I had met, so he would be called in.

  Easing back, I told them, ‘I’m going to organise training scenarios with London, surveillance and counter surveillance, safe houses, driving, the works. You lot should be shit hot on the spy work, so that you can sneak about in a country where my boys are about to do a rescue. I’ll get some house-breaking sorted as well, for Casper, for you all.

  ‘I’m also organising a crash course, a week’s intensive training on flying a Cessna, so that you can insert with one or steal one. You’ll also get some sailboat training, so someday you can steal one and sail away from some place. Then ... then I’ll organise a real test, and we’ll see if you useless fucks can get from here to France with no papers, and without being seen.’

  Casper smiled widely. ‘A real test, and a wager first,’ he told his team.

  The next batch of British Lone Wolves were due to start, so I suggested to Paul, “Mac”, that we combine them with the Americans.

  ‘Some problems there, I got a note, was going to mention it to you. Some general staff officer got pissy and has altered things a bit, so the first stage tests will be in Nevada, some base.’

  ‘Am I supposed to go out there?’

  ‘They’d like you to, yes.’

  ‘If some idiot general is running the programme, what’s the point? Will he listen to me?’

  ‘It’s a cost saving exercise, since they expect a high drop-out rate.’

  ‘We never got a high drop-out rate with our Wolves! Are they being profiled the same way?’

  ‘As far as I know, yes.’

  I sighed. ‘I’ll start the British here then.’

  An hour later I checked my watch and called Colonel Mathews.

  ‘Ah, Wilco, we were just talking about you.’

  ‘I heard you had some prick of general interfere with the programme.’

  ‘In fairness he’s a good man. I’ve known him a long time, and he believes in the programme, but sending these men to you attracts attention, unwanted attention, and we’re hoping to avoid that. There’re also some cost savings to consider because we have more than two hundred candidates.’

  ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘Can you get here in two weeks time?’

  ‘It’s a priority for London, so just send me the travel details, sir. And make sure the FBI are not interested in me.’

  ‘They hate you with a passion, but also admire you, and I’m pretty damn sure there are no arrest warrants for you.’

  ‘Check anyway, sir,’ I quipped.

  ‘You could fly on a military bird anyhow, no airports.’

  ‘Hang on, when we met you promised me a nice hotel, tour of New York, a steak dinner-’

  He laughed. ‘Like fuck. This is the military, not the CIA.’

  The new batch of Wolves arrived a few days later, on the Sunday afternoon, most driving themselves, some in taxis from the train station, all checked carefully and added to the list by MP Pete. At 8pm I headed over, Crab and Duffy on duty

  ‘Ten shun!’ Crab
called, odd formality given his years in the SAS.

  The men stood by their beds, twenty-four of them, an assortment of casual wear, bags on beds, cabinets open. And some of this lot looked young, or maybe I was getting older.

  ‘Thank you, Sergeant. At ease, men. My name is Captain Wilco, that chap you read about in the papers, and so far I’ve been lucky, I’ve avoided standing on a mine. A few weeks back, in Kenya, a 1 Para lad on a job with us stood on a mine, killed. Bad luck, not bad training. If you’re trained well, switched on, you still need to be lucky.

  ‘And if you’re trained well then you get selected for the dangerous jobs, and get wounded or killed. We’ve not had a Lone Wolf killed yet, a few shot and wounded. Those Wolves, the group that came before this group, they parachute into dangerous places, get up to no good, and get back out alive. If you pass this course ... so could you.

  ‘Now, be careful on this base, don’t wander at night, we’ve had a few attacks here, a few unhappy chappies sent to shoot at us and to set-off bombs. There’s a GPMG on the gate, lots of armed men, so if you drive in drunk late one night you will be shot dead.’

  They looked worried.

  ‘You’ll have some basic training here, but then we’ll ship out to Morocco and Sierra Leone, where you’ll be tested under real conditions, people shooting at you. If that’s a worry ... quit now. If you’re homesick, need to be somewhere, quit now rather than later.’

  I patrolled the line. ‘What I’m looking for is the right attitude, rather than a superstar, although being fit and shooting straight are kind of necessary. If you have the right attitude then we can work with you and train you. If you’re a superstar with the wrong attitude you’re no good to us.

  ‘And a word of warning. Fuck about and I’ll kick the shit out of you, and no one will even question it. They may get involved if I shoot you in the foot. Never touch another man’s kit, no practical jokes, I want stone cold professionals. Sergeant, get these men settled, brief them, and in the morning they’ll have their first test.’