Sting of the Scorpion Part 3

“Soon as we’re finished here your pilots will take us to Docklands,” Sandy took back over the briefing “there’s a ‘civvie’ plane waiting to fly us to Cyprus where A Hercules is scheduled to fly supplies to the Kurdish forces in Erbil, You’ll happen to ‘fall out the back of the plane over the mountains and HALO into Iran using glide suits and chutes, from there you’ll either extract of eliminate Chambers and return via the mountains back into Iraqi Kurdish territory” she stopped and made eye contact with all four men, Joey couldn’t help himself he knew he’d never get the chance but for a fleeting moment he so wanted to take her to bed!

It was the Colonel broke the tension, “Gentlemen, this op is totally off the books!” he spoke slowly and seriously, “As of this moment you are no longer members of the SAS, papers are being drawn up with ‘dishonourable discharges’ for all of you, should you be captured we can’t help you! Do you understand that?”

No one spoke for a moment, not that they were needing to think about things, everyone knew the risks, “You mean ‘The Secretary will disavow’ us sir,” Jacko spoke for all of them, each one nodding their heads. “No problem, Scorpion one’s ready to sting!”

"Fifteen minutes to DZ" the pilot's voice came over their headsets, each one began their final checks. Joey checked the valve on his oxygen mask, skydivers jumped up to twelve thousand feet and occasionally went a little higher but Special Forces started training at that height, they'd be jumping at thirty three thousand feet and that meant oxygen mmasks!

The whole of the first flight was spent checking the gear they'd brought in the bags, inspecting and cleaning weapons, making sure everything was as they were supposed to be. Every weapon the personal choice of the soldier or 'Blade' as the SAS like to be known, that is except for the dagger! hence the nickname 'Blades'

Joey had his blade, a six inch double bladed dagger, long, thin and deadly, superb balance made it as near perfect as it could be. He also carried a Browning 9mm as sidearm but his main weapon was an M4 Colt commando with a thirty round magazine and under slung grenade launcher that had its own ten round magazine! Jacko had a bushmaster shotgun as well as the M4 but not the grenade launcher. Smithy had his Sako TRG sniper rifle with scopes for night and day work.

Naturally the change of plan hadn't been long after takeoff from Docklands so everyone had time to get used to it, clearly the plan was 'on the fly' and could turn to shit real fast!

There were three, one Chambers was in Alamut so any action will be busting out of a medieval fortress, two was the destination of the plane, Kabul was the new destination with ‘machine parts’ so they could overfly Iran and get closer to the location. Three was Sandy was now going all the way with them! That meant that Joey was appointed as her ‘guardian angel’ with one job, make sure she makes it all the way!

Apparently the idea of breaking into a medieval fortress like this and getting a look at possible secrets that Phoenix might have was too good a chance to miss, and with the team already on the way, well that was just fine and dandy for the ‘head shed’ as the bosses in Whitehall were often called. “What the head shed wants, the head shed gets” was what Jacko often said, “And to hell with the consequences!”

"I don't bloody well need a nursemaid" she was furious when Jacko laid that condition down.

"Good! Because I'm not your nurse, or a bloody maid!" Joey spoke up, "Now hold still while I adjust the straps" he was adjusting the fittings to the glide suit and parachute.

"I don't damn well need your help" Sandy brushed his hands away and tried to reach the strap that needed adjustment.

“Listen lady” Joey was getting impatient, “You get those straps too loose, you’ll end up with a broken arm or worse!” he pulled the straps hard, “Get them tangled and you won’t need help. You’ll need a coffin!” Sandy finally relented, though not without more protest, “Don’t speak to me like that corporal!” She figured reminding him of his junior rank would put him in his place, as an MI6 operative she held the rank equal to a captain.

“Lady, you’re in a Parachute harness” Joey shot straight back, “That makes it my turf! I’m the flamin’ instructor, now do exactly as I say OK” that did not go down well he could see, but he really didn’t give a shit, all he wanted was for the five of them to get down in one piece!

“Ten minutes to the DZ” the pilot’s voice came over the intercom, “Stow all gear”

This was one trip where they were ‘travelling light’ but that still meant full combat gear along with pouches of ammunition (each one carrying at least two hundred rounds as well as thirty rounds each for the grenade launchers) enough to give the enemy a serious headache! What they weren’t taking was the luxuries like food (eat what you kill or steal) apart from a few high energy bars each (ten per person, each with enough fuel stored to give you energy for the whole day and treated to give you constipation so you don’t have to stop to take a dump! That way the enemy has less to track you with!

Jacko inspected each one making sure that nothing would rattle, even the slightest noise on the ground could get them some serious trouble and might get them killed.

“Five minutes” the voice came again, “open the cargo door.” The loadmaster did one last check of the straps holding the pallets in place and then hooked his harness to the special seat he had and waited for the final thumbs up from Jacko.

They clipped their oxygen masks into place and gave the thumbs up to Jacko gave the signal to the loadmaster, he pressed the button and the back of the plane lowered revealing a cloudless sky thirty five thousand feet over Iran, it was awesome, and scary for anyone who doesn’t like heights.

“Don’t look down’ It was Joey’s voice she heard in her headset, “Just look straight ahead and follow exactly what I say” for some reason right now she was glad for this big dumb Northerner who was actually taking the time to talk her through the jump, she’d never said anything about ‘not liking heights’ so there was nothing ‘on file’ yet he’d sensed it and stepped in.

“If we hold hands when we jump” he continued, “No one will notice, or care”

“Cheeky sod” She thought, “Is he trying it on, for God’s sake!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!” he gently reminded her, apparently only the two of them were talking on this channel, “I’m trying to get you down in one piece, that’s all”

H.A.L.O stands for High Altitude Low Opening and it’s a specialty of the Military! Skydivers start freefall parachuting at 3,000 feet and go up as high as 12,000 normally because any higher and you need oxygen, but Special Forces often have to jump from high enough to pass off as civilian planes. They start training at 12,000 feet and keep going! 35,000 feet is a ‘walk in the park’ for them and shit scary for anyone else as they see the clouds literally miles below them!

“DZ in one minute” the voice came over. “Stand by!”

The red light by the door came on, it was activated by GPS telling them they were less than five miles from the target or Drop Zone (DZ) from now on everything was computer controlled and there was no turning back. The whole plane darkened as they approached the final point. Oxygen masks were turned on and visors lowered, each one reached round the back of the helmets and clicked a small switch that activated the night vision visors, everything turned green. The light turned amber but all they could see was that it was the second light in the panel, the last of the checks were carried out, they all stood Jacko and Mac first, Smithy next then came Joey with Sandy who was gripping so tight Joey thought he was losing circulation in his fingers!

The last light came on, it was Green for the loadmaster, but he was the only one could see it, he screamed “Green, Go, Go, Go” and they were away, stepping out into the night.