Chapter 2

We got into the range rover and the driver drove off down the track that led us off the farm. The night was wet and dark. It was hard to believe that I had started the week in a tent in the sandpit where every movement produced beads of sweat.

I was sitting in the back with Guns beside me. Peters had claimed the seat next to the driver. We had both unarmed our guns and they were held under our feet. The last thing we needed was any accidents. The Glock was under my left foot, the magazine was under my right foot. The suppressors were in a special pouch on the holsters.

I saw the driver handing something to Peters, he turned and handed it to me. It was a little black pouch. I opened it and it was a brand-new lock picking kit.

“Cheers mate,” I said as I stowed it away in one of the spare pouches on my belt.

Once we were off the track, we sped along a country lane. This lane led to a dual carriageway that led one way into the centre of Birmingham and the other way bypassed Coventry and led to the M45 and then the M1. We turned onto the carriageway that would take us into Birmingham city centre.

It was a road I had travelled quite a lot as a kid and in my teens.

I had always been a music fan and Coventry had been the centre of the ska revival in the early eighties. I had been a huge fan and went to Coventry most Friday nights to see bands or to go to clubs.

I had also been involved with a special lady from there for a while and memories of her flooded my head as we headed passed the NEC and Birmingham international airport. Locals still called it the new airport or Elmdon airport even though it had been open for around fifty years, the old airport was further down the road and was now only used for cargo flights.

Birmingham international airport was close to the hearts of most British soldiers, it was where the wounded were brought in to be taken for specialist care at the city’s military hospital as the Queen Elizabeth hospital was often called.

We drove on passed takeaways and numerous Indian restaurants. Passed supermarkets and car dealerships. The driver was not using his satnav, so I guessed he was either a local lad or he had done a drive-by or two.

We skirted the city centre, drove passed the cricket ground and ten minutes later we were deep in the back streets of leafy Edgbaston.

The affluent suburb of Edgbaston is renowned for international test cricket, the Tree-lined Cannon Hill Park as well as gastropubs and restaurants.

It was also well known for its huge mansions, some that housed the teaching staff of the local universities, some that housed the consultants, surgeons, and professors from the local hospitals. The area had always been the home of the great and the good.

According to an old mate of mine who still lived in Birmingham it was now the place that the local ladies of the night used. There were a lot of seedy hotels that allowed people to book rooms by the hour. There had been a road that was the place to find hookers back in the day, I remember that it was called cheddar road and the ‘ladies’ sat in the windows of the terraced houses and plied their wares, but they had been moved on many years ago.

It is funny where your mind takes you as you head into battle or even into an operation like we were facing.

The car pulled into a side street, we did not stand out as the street seemed to be lined with four by fours of all colours and all flavours.

“Right, we are five minutes from the plot,” Peters said over his shoulder.

“Five minutes walking or driving,” Guns asked.

“Driving,” said the driver, it was the first word he had said, and his accent gave the game away that he definitely was a local lad.

“The surveillance guys will let us know when the minibus with girls turns up and then we will drive to the plot,” Peters said, “and then it is all down to you guys!”

Guns looked at me and winked. It is what we had trained to do, we practised for hours and hours in the killing house at Stirling Lines, the home of the SAS. We worked hard to keep the skills up. We knew we were ready. The killing was not an issue. It is what we did, it is what we are trained to do l it is what the government, whether some of them liked it or not, paid us to do.

I glanced at my watch. The second seemed to have slowed down. The car was warm, so I cracked the window open a bit to let in some air. The night outside was quiet. I heard the other window buzz as Guns opened his a little.

Peters glanced at the driver. Then at us, it was obvious his headset had just been used to send him a message. His face had changed, and his eyes looked hard into the night.

“Right the minibus just turned up!” he said.

As he said it the driver fired up the engine and pulled out of the parking space. Guns and I looked at each other and without saying a word we both picked up our Glocks, seated the magazines, and holstered them Peters turned around to face us as he heard the metallic click as the magazines were seated at the same time.

“Good luck guys, if all goes well, we will never meet again,” he smiled, he had the smile of a spook.

“Two minutes guys, “the driver said.

Guns and I fist-bumped each other.

“One minute,” the driver said, “good luck lads!”

I glanced at Guns, and he gave me a reassuring wink.

“Shit” The driver growled...

Then he turned right and left, this was not the plan. In my head I had the road mapped out and this was not the way, there was something wrong!

“The spotters have seen old bill on the plot,” Peters said.

“I thought they had been warned off!” Guns muttered

“They have been, I am not sure what is happening, “Peters said, you could hear the frustration in his voice We parked up and at the same time, I heard Peters talking into his throat mic. He was telling Karen to get them off the plot. This was not supposed to happen...

Time stood still as we sat in the car. I must have glanced at my watch a hundred times. We both took our guns out of the holsters as they were not that comfortable.

Twice Peters asked for an update. It was ten minutes before he turned to us and spoke.

“Right, we are not sure why they were there, but the area is now one hundred per cent clear”

The driver fired up the engine and Peters turned to face us.

“Are you guys still good to go?” he asked.

There was no way we would not go in. For one some seriously bad men needed to be rubbed out, the other thing was the girls that had been taken there needed to be rescued.

“Let’s do it,” Guns said the determination in his voice was more than evident.

“Yes, good to go!” I chipped in.

The driver pulled the car out of the parking space. He took a few turns and then we were soon on the road that I knew ran along the back of the target house. The night was even darker, if there had been streetlights, they were off.

“One minute” the driver grunted.

Both guns and I holstered our weapons. The car stopped and we both stepped out, the driver had it moving almost before the doors were shut. We both ran into the shadows of the wall but about ten yards apart. We waited a few seconds. Listening for any sounds that would tell us we had been spotted.

The spooks had told us there was no CCTV, but they had been known to be wrong about these things.

We both knew that once we were over the wall there was a garden that was overgrown with trees and shrubs, and we had to get through them to get to the house.

My earpiece crackled.

“Ready Rosie?” I heard Guns ask.

I did not answer, I ran over to him, and I put my back to the wall and cupped my hands ready to boost guns up the wall.