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he added sarcastically.
    “Number three needs to keep any opinions to himself and get on with this damned mission!” The Major said annoyed that there had been any level of dissent at all. It wasn’t tolerated in the military and the Special Forces units were even more unforgiving. “Are you clear, Number three?”
    “Roger that, Sir,” the agent replied. He looked at Tank as he spoke and wiped a thick sheen of perspiration from his face with his sleeve. The look in Tank’s eyes told him nothing. It was like looking into a shark’s eyes, they gave nothing away at all.
    “Check that he’s secured and then we move,” Tank ordered. A second agent checked the bindings, and he added a Plasticuffs tie to the boy’s legs as a final measure. The unit moved out of the ruined building and scurried across the narrow road. There was an alleyway between the buildings opposite. Tank checked the compass on his wrist and signalled to the unit to move on. A hundred yards down the alleyway, the walls became higher and offered them both shelter from the burning sun and cover from snipers. They reached a ruin that looked like it had once been a bakery of some type. There were stone ledges fixed to the walls and two large brick ovens. Beyond through an empty window Tank could see the high walls of a compound across the street. His unit had reached the souk and they took cover behind the ruins of a stone bread oven. The helicopter would pass over in a minute, and then the fun would begin.

Chapter Five
    Coniston Water
     
    Hayley sat on a folding camping chair. It was made from tubular metal and rainbow striped canvas, and her husband said that you needed a pilot’s licence to erect it. She was reading the story of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ to the twins as they dozed off to sleep, snuggled up in a double sleeping bag. They had been asleep for at least five minutes now but she treasured the time that she had with her little angels and so she read on for her own sake while she watched them. The atmosphere inside the tent was hot and stuffy and the smell of the synthetic chemicals that made the structure waterproof tainted the air. She didn’t like the tent one bit, although the surroundings were fabulous. A squadron of crane flies were hopelessly trying to barge their way out through the roof of the tent. Occasionally one of the clumsy insects would bounce off the battery-powered lantern that hung from the apex of the tent and then spiral out of control towards Hayley. She hated insects of any description but especially flying ones with huge gangly legs. The thought of them becoming entangled in her hair made her feel sick. She lashed out with her children’s book as another hopeless insect hurtled towards her. The insect took a direct hit and was launched into an involuntary warp speed freefall. It ended fatally with a collision against a camping stove.
    Sarah opened her eyes sleepily, and frowned at her mother. The flapping pages of Puff the Magic Dragon’s storybook had disturbed her slumber.
    “What are you doing, Mummy?” She mumbled.
    “Nothing, angel, you go back to sleep,” her mother lied.
    “Were you killing beasties?” The little girl whispered.
    “Yes, but don’t worry, they’re all gone now.” Hayley chuckled at her daughter’s perceptiveness. There was no fooling Sarah at all, whereas Zak could be gullible. His sibling had been born first so she was technically older than he was, something she reminded him of at every opportunity. Sarah wrapped her brother around her little finger. She was somehow much smarter than her brother was. Not more intelligent; she was just cannier.
    “I don’t like beasties, Mummy.”
    “No baby, neither do I.”
    “Do you think Puff the Magic Dragon would eat all the beasties up?” Sarah closed her eyes and licked her lips, and before her mother had contemplated whether the kindly Dragon in her book did actually eat crane flies or not, she was fast asleep. She turned her head