The Sixteen: The Sensational Story of Britain's Top Secret Military Assassination Squad Part 20

Gee, were gonna miss you everybody sends their love.

Suddenly, the earth vibrated beneath us as the air was filled with a tremendous explosion, and I was flung forward onto my face, sandbags landing on top and all around me, as a huge blast inflated then collapsed the tent. Bodies, limbs, broken furniture and gla.s.s flew out, showering down everywhere. For a few seconds there wasnt a sound, everything was still and quiet, then all h.e.l.l broke loose and the air was filled with the sound of moans and groans and screaming.

I tried to get up but the heavy sandbags pinned me down. My whole body felt numb and I thought I must be injured, but I couldnt feel any pain. My mouth and eyes were full of dust and I was finding it hard to breathe. Gradually, I managed to move my head and took a full breath. I could just make out people running around, their voices seeming to come from a long way off, I couldnt hear properly; my ears were still ringing from the noise of the explosion. One at a time, I tentatively began to move each limb and quickly realised that I wasnt seriously hurt. With difficulty, I managed to push my way out from under the sandbags and struggled to my feet. I looked around me in total disbelief at the devastation; there was blood everywhere, like splattered red paint.

Nearby my mates were also struggling to get out from under the heavy sandbags, and, worried that some of them might be seriously injured, I immediately helped to pull the bags off them and checked that they were all OK. Like me, they were all shocked and anxious to find out if I was all right but, luckily, none of them was hurt.

'Jeeesus, Geordie, what the h.e.l.l was that? Are you OK?

'Yeah, dont worry Im all right, Ive just got a gob full of dust, I rea.s.sured them.

'G.o.d, what a bleedin racket, what happened?

'Oh Christ, Im deaf, I cant hear properly!

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, its a good job we came out when we did. s.h.i.+t, look at that, what a f***ing mess!

Nearby under the heavy canvas of the demolished marquee, people who could move were trying to find a way out and those who did emerge staggered about, dazed and bleeding. By now my ears were beginning to clear and the air was filled with noise. Everywhere people were running around shouting Red Cross, MPs, NCOs everyone trying to get to the injured people under the canvas. All that remained of the tent were the two end poles where it had once stood; the rest of it lay around in tattered shreds.

I went to help but was ordered away by an MP, he dragged me from the area and told me to go to the guardhouse along with others who were uninjured. There we were all searched and briefly questioned.

'Are you going to hold us here? I asked one of the MPs.

'Why?

'Well, weve been here all week on detachment and were due back at our camp by 2300 hours tonight, I explained.

'Right. Show us your ID, then you can go, if we need you well send for you. Make sure you return immediately to your own units, he ordered, brusquely.

Rumours were rife about the incident and that two British servicemen had been killed. It was widely believed that Greek terrorists had planted a large bomb in the jukebox and rigged it to go off when the banned record was played. By ensuring that several other records were played first, theyd given themselves time to get well away. I had no way of knowing if this was the truth, but it sounded fairly plausible. As usual, to ensure that there were no repercussions and to maintain morale, the whole thing was hushed up by the military, and no official explanation was ever given. But after that security around the camps was considerably tightened up, and a large number of Greeks working at camps were dismissed.

Another incident when I almost blew my cover had taken place some months earlier, shortly after we first arrived at the camp and Id begun my training with 'The Sixteen. It was to have a profound effect on one young soldier. I was on guard duty with several other lads and it was my turn for a sleep break. On this particular night, I was woken by the sound of a womans blood-curdling scream and immediately rushed outside to join the others.

'What the h.e.l.l was that?

'I dunno. It came from over there somewhere, a young soldier named Curran told me, white as a sheet and obviously very scared.

He pointed to an area some seven hundred yards from the camp where there was a small brick building which housed an old generator. At that time, there was no barbed wire perimeter fence, nothing to separate the camp from the surrounding area. I wanted to investigate there and then but the officer in charge insisted that we waited until first light in case it was a terrorist trap to lure us out of camp in the dark.

As soon as it was daybreak, he a.s.signed a patrol to go out and investigate, which included both Curran and me. Checking carefully for a possible ambush or b.o.o.by traps, we reached the hut and as we rounded the corner of the small brick building one of the lads in front of me opened the door. He took a step inside then instantly came flying back out.

'Urrgh! Jeesus Christ! b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! He groaned, and then abruptly pushed us out of his way as he began to retch noisily.

We cautiously peered inside. Sprawled across the top of the old generator was the body of a young Greek woman of about eighteen to nineteen years old. Her throat had been slit to such an extent that her head was all but severed from her body, which was saturated in blood. Her dark olive skin had turned a sallow almost yellow colour.

The officer in charge immediately yanked us all out and closed the door.

'Get back to camp, you lot, he ordered. 'This messll have to be dealt with by the officers. Subdued, we returned to the camp. None of us spoke it had been a pretty horrific sight. Shortly after, the CO, several senior officers and the MO arrived to take charge and later that day I heard that people from the nearby village, probably relatives, had arrived to take her body away.

Naturally, the camp was soon buzzing with the news and all of the gory details. The rumour was that she had been killed because she fraternised with British soldiers, who to the Greeks were the enemy. Apparently, she had been seen by some of the locals in the company of British troops and they had meted out their own form of punishment. That was almost certainly the reason for her execution by the terrorists. Whether they brought her there specifically to kill her as a warning to the soldiers I dont know, but it seemed to me a terrible waste of a young life and an awful thing for her own people to have done.

Even so, the sight of a young woman so brutally murdered did not physically or mentally upset me as it did many of the others who witnessed it. I returned to my tent and went back to sleep without any trouble.

A few weeks later, I was on guard duty with Curran again. He was a small, quiet guy of about nineteen, who looked as though he should have been working in a tailors shop. I think that the incident must have been preying on his mind over the couple of weeks since it had happened, although at the time hed said he was OK.

Hed seemed a bit quieter than usual but that was all. However, later that night while I was on a rest break, he suffered a form of breakdown, whether as a direct result of witnessing the incident with the Greek girl or not, Ill never know.

Id just done two hours on first watch and was lying sound asleep on the top bunk in the guardhouse, when suddenly I heard the loud crack of gunfire and all of the guardhouse lights went out. Immediately I dived from the top bunk onto the floor and found two other guys lying beside me. There was a lot of shouting going on outside and we feared that it might be a terrorist attack. The two guys had their torches and switched them on as the door burst open with a crash and one of the other lads on duty rushed in.

'Wheres the officer? Currans gone crazy! he yelled. 'Its him thats doing all the firing. Theres bullets going all over the place, we cant get near the stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

'The officers not here yet, one of the lads replied.

'Well, somethings got to be done, before somebody gets killed. Hes spraying bullets all over the b.l.o.o.d.y camp!

'Are you sure its him? I asked.

'Yeah, its him alright, hes gone bleedin barmy.

Just then, the gunfire stopped and we all dashed outside, the two with the torches just slightly ahead of me.

We got to within a couple of yards of the sandbags, but I couldnt make Curran out properly. Suddenly he turned around towards us and the torches lit up his face. His eyes were wide and staring and he looked completely dazed. Immediately the bullets began to fly again in our direction, towards the torchlight, whistling over our heads as we dived to the ground and the torches were quickly put out.

'Where the h.e.l.l did he get all the bullets from? I asked, unable to understand how hed managed to get so many, as the amount issued to us was strictly controlled.

It was dark and there were no lights where Curran was, but I could clearly see the bright flashes of gunfire from inside the round sandbagged bunker where he was firing his gun. I could also make out the dark shapes of several other men lying on the ground nearby.

As I watched him, I realised that he was moving around and around in a circle, firing at the sandbags surrounding his post. It seemed as though he was oblivious to everything around him and no one was able to get near to him for fear of being hit by a stray bullet.

Just then, I saw the flashes moving away from us, and leapt to my feet. I vaulted over the sandbags and disarmed him swiftly and without fuss before he or anyone else realised what was happening. As I took the gun from him, he just stood there, slack-jawed with his mouth open, his eyes glazed, not really aware of anything, then he collapsed onto the ground. I picked him up and dragged him to the entrance of the bunker and stood there holding him for a moment.

'Medics! Wheres the medics? someone shouted, as the guys with the torches switched them back on and I saw that I was completely surrounded by men lying on the ground pointing their .303 rifles at me!

When the medics arrived, they put Curran onto a stretcher and carted him off. I was still holding the gun, it was covered with blood and so was I, which I later discovered was from a wound on his left hand. Hed trapped the end of his little finger in the slide mechanism of the Sten gun about four to five inches from the end of the barrel, which moves back and forth at high speed when the gun is fired, ejecting the used cartridges. Hed been in such a state, he hadnt even noticed that the action had removed the first half-inch of his little finger! Hed just kept on going round in a circle firing into the sandbags.

As soon as they took Curran away, I had to report to the guardhouse to give an account on the incident.

'Whats all this, Urwin, I havent been away two minutes and I come back to find youve been jumping about like bleedin Audie Murphy. What the h.e.l.l do you think youre playing at? the sergeant demanded.

'I havent been playing at anything, Sarge, hed stopped firing and I just climbed over the sandbags and got the jump on him, thats all!

'Thats not the way I heard it, it was a crazy thing to do! Just who do you think you are b.l.o.o.d.y Errol Flynn or something? Dont try that sort of thing again, youre not trained for anything like that!

It was hard not to smile. 'Yeah, thats right, Sarge, Im not really trained for it, am I?

A few days after the incident, I saw Sergeant Lupton crossing the parade ground, with that funny walk of his.

'Hi, Sarge, any news on Curran? I shouted to him.

'Well, well, if it isnt Geordie, the hero. Taking a gun off a madman eh! Bit of a crazy thing to do, wasnt it son?

'It wasnt like that, Sarge, it was empty. Anyway, how is he?

'They took him to hospital at Nicosia, he told me. 'It looks as though theyll probably discharge him in a couple of weeks and send him back to Blighty.

He was right, we later discovered that Curran had in fact been discharged and sent back to England for further treatment.

As I said, although Id felt very sorry for her, seeing the body of the young Greek woman like that hadnt really bothered me as much as it had others, who talked about it for quite a while after. One or two of the guys made the odd remark about what they thought Id done to disarm Curran but, after a few days, they lost interest. Nevertheless, I realised just how careful I needed to be so as not to draw attention to myself and during my next training session, I mentioned what had happened to Dynamo, Spot and Chalky.

'Oh, you mean the guy with the Sten gun, Chalky said. 'Been doing a bit of practice on the sly, have you?

'How the h.e.l.l do you know about that? I said, startled.

Dynamo leaned towards me and said quietly. 'We know when your toothpaste is running out, Geordie. We even know how many times you go to the bog!

'What!

'Only joking, he laughed.

'Oh G.o.d, I wish you hadnt said that, I groaned. 'Ill be watching everyone back at camp again now! Id only just managed to stop thinking about who could be the 'inside man at my platoon and now hed set me off again.

'I try to avoid getting into situations like that with Curran but the harder I try the more it just seems happen! I explained. 'Besides, its difficult not to tell my mates the truth when theyre all talking about where theyve been and what theyve been doing during the week. Then theyll ask me what Ive been up to and catch me off-guard and I almost slip up and blurt out the truth!

'Well, dont worry about it, Dynamo said. 'They cant have any idea what is going on, as far as theyre concerned youve just been digging another hole somewhere!

'Anyway, if it bothers you so much, why dont you just tell them? Spot said casually. 'But be careful!

I was stunned! 'What do you mean, tell them? That doesnt make sense, Spot!

'Well, Geordie, look at it this way, he went on. 'Whos going to believe you, eh? Its so implausible. Just imagine you tell them that instead of delivering supplies around the island or digging roads, you were actually on a mission with a top secret unit, killing terrorists. Theyll either think that youre kidding them or that youve gone barking mad like that bloke, Curran! Just try it and see what their reactions are.

Now I could see the sense in what they were saying; no one would ever believe me back at my platoon, even if I told them the truth. So, after that, whenever I got back to camp and Bill or Dave asked where Id been, I would joke with them.

'Oh, you know, just popped over to Cairo to sort a few of these wogs out!

It was strange, actually saying it made me feel so much better somehow!

CHAPTER 11.

ALL TOGETHER NOW.

PART 1.

'THE SIXTEEN

During the months following the operation in Cairo Id been picked up and taken for training on a fairly regular basis, roughly every two or three weeks, but thered been no other missions since. Even so, our training was still as intense as ever and I was becoming increasingly restless.

I felt just as Spot had told me I would I hadnt been the same since the job in Beirut. Killing that guy in broad daylight right under the noses of the guards and all of those people had really done something to me. Its hard to explain but Id felt great. It might sound crazy, but for me the next job couldnt come quickly enough, that was if there was ever going to be a next job!

That uncertainty was the one thing I didnt like about being a part of all of this, the fact that I never knew if or when I would be picked up. I was living on a knife-edge, constantly keyed-up, in a state of antic.i.p.ation and disappointment. Every time they picked me up I thought, 'surely this must be it, but for a long while, nothing happened.

This continued for some weeks, then one Monday afternoon in the middle of a training session, the door of the hut suddenly burst open. Sweat was pouring off me and dripping into my eyes and I could just about make out the figure of Ken standing in the doorway with a big smile on his face.

'Well, lads, this is it! We leave for Jarba tomorrow night, he announced, rubbing his hands together.

I turned and looked at Dynamo. 'Where on earth is that?

'Im not quite sure, Geordie, he replied. 'But I think its somewhere near the Syrian border.

'Thats right, Dynamo, Ken said, then turned to me adding. 'Youve always wanted to meet the rest of the lads, Geordie, well youre going to meet the whole gang tomorrow night.

'Great! I said grinning; this was more like it!

'It must be something pretty big if its going to take all of us to do it! Spot said.

'Well, its big enough, Ken replied. 'Youll be crossing through Lebanon and into the Israeli/Syrian border area; if things go wrong all h.e.l.l will break loose.

'Whats the target this time, Ken? Dynamo asked.

'Our intelligence is that a secret meeting has been arranged between some important civilians and military top bra.s.s and if these particular people get together as planned, it will have enormous repercussions throughout the whole of the Middle East, Ken explained. 'So its our job to make sure that the meeting doesnt take place. We think they are up to something a bit "naughty", thats why they dont want anyone to know whats going on, and why their meeting is taking place in the middle of nowhere. The fact that its so secret will work to our advantage and make it much easier for us to get back, they wont want to draw attention to themselves by alerting the rest of the country to what is happening once weve interrupted their little "get-together"! My lads and I are taking care of the transport, so grab some tea and Ill go through the plans; there wont be time when you meet the others on the beach.

Ken walked ahead of us into the small 'office area, helped himself to a drink and sat down at the table where he spread out a number of photographs and a large map. The four of us followed suit and when we were all seated he began to outline the details.

'OK. Weve got three things going for us. Firstly, obviously the element of surprise, they certainly wont be expecting us. Secondly, although theyre bound to be fairly well guarded, our information is that the place is surrounded by only a single fence perimeter, and lastly, the River Jordan is just about bursting its banks due to the heavy rain and snowfall up in the mountains around Mount Hermon. Ken paused and sipped his tea before continuing.

'The bad news is that they wont all be there when we arrive, two of them arent due to get there until Wednesday evening. That means youve got a full day to make yourselves scarce. Right, heres the plan. Ill be here with the hack at 2300 hours tomorrow night to take you to within five miles of the mainland. A small fis.h.i.+ng boat will be waiting for you there, which will take you to a deserted area eight miles south of Tyre.