Chapter 33: Plans

After breakfast, Jamie and the girls boarded the new Lynx and Jamie took them to Fort William so they could check up on Stuart. He found his friend just as frustrated as he himself had been the day before, itching to get on and do something positive.

"How's your shoulder?" Jamie asked him.

"It's fine, really. I feel like a fraud, hanging around here when there's work to be done," Stuart replied.

"Do you feel up to making a little trip?" Jamie enquired.

Stuart's face brightened with the prospect of doing something useful.

"Where?" he asked eagerly.

"I was thinking about all of the adults who have set sail from the US and Canada. The last thing we want is for them to make landfall only to be picked up or killed by terrorists. I'm thinking that we need to establish radio contact with them and guide them in to somewhere safe," Jamie suggested.

"That makes sense, but how do we do it and where do I fit in?" Stuart asked.

"Well, we need to try and get our American friends out of Faslane and it occurred to me that the naval base will also have radio facilities. Why not kill two birds with one stone? You've now got three APCs and hundreds of armed people at your command here. How would you feel about leading a force back to Faslane?" said Jamie.

"Your Grace, are you sure? Do we really want to antagonise the Americans?" Stuart replied.

Jamie gave his friend a funny look, as he hadn't missed the fact that he had for the first time referred to him as 'your Grace'.

"I see it the other way round Stuart. I've told the US President repeatedly that we don't want US forces in the UK, that we can deal with this ourselves. Yet he has disregarded us and landed troops anyway. I'm not suggesting we start a fight with these guys, I think we would come off a very poor second best anyway. No, I suggest we put on a show of force and relieve them of their guard duties. Do you think they would actually fire on us? On teenagers?" Jamie asked.

"You don't know how hard people have been training here, I wouldn't be so quick to write them off. But if we're not fighting what's the plan?"

"I think we really need to put on a big demonstration. The APCs will only hold about ten people each so how about you load up more people in some of the buses that brought them here in the first place? I'm thinking of about one hundred and fifty armed teenagers. Stop the buses short of the base and then let them march behind the three APCs for the last mile or so.

"Take a white flag and ask to speak to the officer in charge. You tell him that the King of Scots has ordered you to secure the base and relieve him. You can even pass on my thanks for their assistance if you like, but make it clear we are taking over the defence of the base."

"What if they refuse to leave?" Stuart asked.

"Oh, I think it's an absolute certainty that they will refuse. I've got another element to this plan that I hope will win the day," said Jamie.

Jamie asked Stuart about the audit of people's skills that had been carried out.

"You know the skills audit we did, are there any people with experience of sailing boats?" he asked.

"I think so, I'll have to check to make sure though," Stuart replied, "why?"

"Well, if they've got experience of boats, they might also have experience of using radios to communicate with boats. I thought that might be a way of finding someone who could figure out how to contact the boats in the Atlantic once we have taken over the naval base," replied Jamie.

With discussions about the mission to Faslane out of the way, Jamie asked about another idea he had had.

"How long did it take you to print the leaflets we dropped the last time?"

"Not long, we set up four printers and printed on A4. As the sheets came out of the printers I had someone tear them in half to get two A5 sized leaflets. Probably about an hour to get you five thousand leaflets. What do you have in mind?" Stuart asked.

Jamie showed him a message he had composed on his own computer that morning. Stuart nodded as he read it.

"I think this is a great idea. It hits all the right buttons as well. Do you want me to get someone working on this right away?"

"That would be good. If we can get the timing right I'd like to drop them on the way to the Dreghorn barracks to see Lee," Jamie replied

"This is the Captain speaking. I'm sure, like me, you are itching to get back to blighty and settle some scores. I made a point of sharing the King's e-mails with you, so you could all see what a fine job Petty Officer Stevens and the other members of the crew did in the short time they had. It is my intention that the rest of us will contribute in a way that will honour their memory. Despite the crazy situation back home, I also want to remind you that the teenager known as Highlander is the lawful King of Scots and we will all treat him as such if we have the honour of meeting him. For now I want you all rested. I want all weapons ready for use and I want all of you to be nursing your wrath," said Captain Mexford.

He replaced the mic in its holder and looked around himself. He was pleased to see the grim faces on his crew. When they landed in the UK they would certainly mean business.

His day had started early. Having witnessed the US president's broadcast to the nation, he could have kissed the woman reporter who had put POTUS on the spot with regard to his boat. When the President had responded the way he did, Mexford knew he was going to be setting sail for the UK without much delay. Politicians didn't play around with the press very much and he knew the fourth estate would now be watching Newport to make sure the President followed through on his statement.

Within hours he was invited to a meeting with the base commander and informed that provisions were being gathered to replenish the stores on the Vengeance before he sailed. There had been no animosity between fellow professionals and indeed the base commander had stood at the quayside to salute and wave him off.

Now he was considering what his plans should be. The broadcast had made it clear that the Americans had a presence at Faslane, so for the present that seemed to rule that out as his destination. In theory he should be waiting for orders from the King and had e-mailed using the address he had before to try and find out if the monarch had a plan.

The Green Berets of the 7th SFG watched as the Super Stallion flared and landed on the Faslane heli-pad. Thirty-two marines of the go-to-hell squad wasted no time in disembarking and the First Lieutenant commanding barked out his orders to deploy them quickly. He made his way to the Green Beret Captain and they swapped salutes.

"Lieutenant Carson reporting for duty sir. My orders are to relieve you and your men and see you heading back to the Stennis immediately."

"Thank you Lieutenant, you're welcome to the duty, it's not something I was looking forward to anyway. It's kinda dull around here," replied the Captain.

The Green Berets weren't going to be outdone by the marines and they showed how organised they were by loading up within a matter of minutes. The Lieutenant watched the big Sikorsky lift off, barely fifteen minutes after it had touched down.

Jamie and the girls flew over the four remaining terrorist camps on their way to the Dreghorn barracks. While Jamie piloted the Lynx, the girls dropped leaflets on each of the sites, two in Glasgow and two in Edinburgh.

On the ground, teenagers caught the leaflets as the floated down on the breeze. The Pakistani teenagers in particular were exercised by what the leaflets had to say.

At the two camps in the west there were no adult terrorists, none had been seen for several days. The words on the leaflet had a ring of truth therefore and the Pakistani teenagers were looking at each other and the hundreds of other survivors who stood around them.

One Pakistani youth walked over to a small group of survivors and simply handed over his weapon. This act was almost like a dam being released, it allowed the other Pakistani 'guards' to follow suit and within minutes of the leaflets being dropped, both of the camps in Glasgow were free.

In the east there wasn't such a dramatic response. Nasser still had two of his cell alive and one was stationed at each of the remaining camps Nasser controlled. These two were effective in making the Pakistani youths force the other survivors into gathering up and disposing of the leaflets. What they couldn't do however, was stop the Pakistani teenagers from reading the message on the leaflets or stop the doubt from creeping into the minds of these youngsters.

The two adults were miles apart from each other, but their emotions were very similar. They were unnerved by the way the teenagers were all looking at them, even their so-called Muslim troops. It took all of their belief in their cause to keep them focussed on maintaining order.

When Jamie and the girls landed at Dreghorn he immediately sought out Lee Chan. He had already asked Stuart his opinion about the e-mail from Kalif and now he wanted to hear the views of the self proclaimed strategist.

Lee urged caution, as had Stuart. He suggested Jamie respond to the e-mails by setting up a rendezvous, somewhere out in the open where no traps could be sprung. Jamie nodded his agreement. That had been what he was leaning towards himself, much as he had done with the first survivors he had picked up in the Lynx.

He explained to Lee about the second leaflet drop and showed him a copy of the text. He was surprised by how Lee reacted.

"This is good, but it needs to be backed up by another major success to make sure it works," said the Chinese boy.

"What do you mean?" asked Jamie.

"Well, you're claiming here that it's all over, that the terrorists are defeated. I think you need to demonstrate that somehow. If you manage that, then resistance will crumble amongst the Pakistani teenagers. You see, their role in all of this has been fuelled by the machismo of their culture. Muslim men are macho, tough and the terrorists gave them the opportunity of lording it over the white Scots, people who have looked down on them up until now," Lee said.

"I think that's a bit strong," said Jamie.

"What, you don't think there is any racism in Scotland?" asked Lee, "I'm of Chinese origin and before the virus attack I can tell you that I felt like an outsider."

Jamie was brought up short. Was Lee right? Was there racism amongst his fellow Scots? He found the thought unpleasant, but if Lee was so adamant that he had felt it then he guessed it must be true. He made a mental note to try and address that in his role as King of Scots.

"Let's get back to this idea of a demonstration. Do you have any ideas in mind?" he asked.

"Yes. I go back to Sun Tzu and his teachings. Don't try and cut off the many limbs of the beast, for it will only grow new ones. No, cut off the beast's head, for therein lies the path to victory," Lee quoted.

Jamie looked at the other boy and it was clear he didn't understand what Lee was getting at.

"You need to take out the terrorist leaders, your Grace," Lee explained.