Read Kill Zone (A Spider Shepherd Short Story) for Free Online Page A

the plastic
form that holds the shaped charge with just the right amount of PE4 to breach
the walls.’
    ‘So what form
will we be using for this?’ Jimbo asked.
    Shepherd
shrugged. ‘Well, we’ve got what are probably double-skinned mud-brick walls,
and rooms of around two hundred square feet, but knowing that a rat’s nest of
Taliban are going to be hiding inside those walls, including the bastard who
killed three of our guys, I’m not too worried about precision, so screw them,
let’s just go for P for Plenty and pack in enough PE4 to destroy a reinforced
concrete wall, never mind a mud-brick one. Any objections?’ No voices were
raised in protest.   Jock patted him
on the back.
    ‘Lastly, RVs,’
Jock said. ‘First RV here.’ His finger jabbed at a point on the map. ‘Emergency
RV here,’ he pointed to another, ‘open until daybreak. The war RV is here,’ he
said, moving his finger to another point further from the target. ‘That’ll be
good until midnight the following night. After that, anyone separated from the
main group will have to make their own E and E. Okay, that’s it. Sunset’s at
sixteen-fifty hours local time today. Final briefing at fifteen hundred hours,
take-off at sixteen hundred.’
    The briefing
over, the men filed out of the room.   Jock and Shepherd stayed behind until they were alone with the Captain.
    Todd looked at
Jock. It was clear that the trooper had something on his mind.
    ‘Permission to
speak frankly,’ said Jock.
    ‘Of course,’ said
Todd, frowning.
    Jock nodded.   ‘We all fuck up somewhere along the
way, Captain, and it takes balls to admit it when we do. But only a total twat
fucks up twice. With that proviso, we’re with you all the way, but if we are
going to work together on this job, there is one other thing we also need to
get clear. As you may already have noticed, this isn’t the green army; when
we’re at work, experience counts more than rank. If I or Spider or Geordie or Jimbo
or any of the others tell you to do something, we don’t expect to have a
fucking discussion about it. If one of us tells you to fire, all we ever want
to hear from you is “Bang!” Got it?’
    Todd nodded.
‘Understood.’
    Jock smiled.
‘Then we’re good to go,’ he said. ‘Let’s go get that bastard and give him the
good news.’
    As they left the
room, Lex hurried over to Shepherd. ‘What’s the story?’ he asked.
    ‘What have you
heard?’ asked Shepherd. Jock walked away but Shepherd called him back.
    ‘Nothing much,’
said Lex.   ‘Just that there’s
something up.’
    ‘It’s Ahmad Khan.
We think we know where he is.’
    ‘And you’re going
after him?’
    ‘That’s the
plan,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘Spider, I want
to come.’ He put a hand on Shepherd’s shoulder. ‘I need to be on this mission.’
    ‘It’s SAS only,’
said Jock. ‘Sorry, mate.’
    ‘Guys, please. It
could have been me in that Landrover. If you hadn’t had a word, I’d have
volunteered. So one of those guys died in my place.’
    Shepherd nodded
at Jock. ‘He’s got a point.’
    ‘So he’s claiming
Singing Twat like the Captain?’
    ‘Droit de
Seigneur,’ said Shepherd.   ‘Look, a
bird in the hand, right? We’re not even sure where Billy is. Lex is here and
ready to go.’
    ‘What the hell
are you talking about?’ asked Lex, totally confused.
    Jock ignored him
and continued to stare at Shepherd. ‘If he comes with us, he’s your
responsibility,’ he said.
    ‘Not a problem.’
    ‘Okay. I’ll tell
the Captain.’
    ‘I can go?’ asked
Lex.
    ‘Get your kit,’
said Shepherd. ‘No overnight gear. Grab an AK74. And lots of ammo. All you can
carry.’

 
    * * *

 
    Just before four
that afternoon, the six-man team jogged over to the concrete hard standing
where a Chinook waited, its twin rotors already turning idly. The cargo area of
the massive helicopter, normally big enough to house two Land Rovers, was
almost entirely filled by a huge additional fuel