Just as we were lifting the planks of wood covering the drums, a jet fighter approached from the north to roughly within a mile of us. My heart was in my mouth: in this part of the country, a Meteor could only be an Israeli plane and I was sure that the pilot must have seen us.

'Look out lads, a plane! I shouted to the others and immediately began to run away from the helicopter and the fuel towards some nearby bushes, which I dived into for cover. My mouth was dry as I crouched waiting for the inevitable, but there was no loud burst of gunfire, nothing happened, everything was quiet.

When I looked up again I saw the others staring at the now disappearing plane, which for no apparent reason had suddenly veered off to the west. They all seemed totally unconcerned and strolled back to the fuel dump.

'Well, you certainly flew into action pretty d.a.m.n quickly then, Geordie, Spot said, laughing. 'You can come out now, hes gone!

Sheepishly I emerged from behind the bushes feeling a complete prat. But, after prolonging my embarra.s.sment for several minutes, they eventually admitted that theyd all run for cover too and had followed me for a short distance before realising that the fighter had changed course. I got the definite impression that they werent a bit surprised when it had; it was almost as if they had expected it to happen!

We quickly set-to, refuelling the hack; and personally, I couldnt get the d.a.m.ned thing filled up quickly enough. Once wed finished refuelling, we re-covered the remaining drums, making sure that the surrounding area showed no trace that we had been there. The downdraught from the helicopter would blow enough sand and soil around to take care of any signs that it had landed.

And we now flew very low over the sea, almost touching the waves. Sea spray covered the windscreen at times and Ken had to use the wipers to clear his view. At one point, the spray hit the carburettor air intake beneath the hack and it began to splutter. It was bouncing around all over the place and rattled so much that I expected it to ditch into the sea at any moment, but as usual, the others were totally unconcerned. We kept out about five miles from the mainland for most of the remainder of the journey and, every so often, we would catch glimpses of the sh.o.r.eline in the distance.

All of a sudden, we heard a loud flapping noise coming from the outside of the helicopter. Oh, G.o.d, this is it! I thought, sure that we were about to go down. Then, to my complete amazement Dynamo decided to investigate. He climbed out on to the side of the helicopter and vanished out of sight for a few seconds. I had no idea what he found to hold on to or how he managed to hold on to it, as we were travelling at about eighty-five to ninety miles an hour and the hack was constantly b.u.mping and swaying about. None of the others turned a hair; they just sat where they were as if this was an everyday occurrence, and appeared to ignore it. They didnt seem concerned about him at all it.

The loud noise abruptly stopped and Dynamo appeared again, smiling. In his hand, he carried a large broken leather strap, which he held up in front of us then threw into the sea before casually sitting down again as though nothing had happened.

Wed been travelling for quite some time when Ken indicated that we should get ready as we had less than forty miles to go. A few minutes later, I spotted a small lighthouse in the distance and nudged Spot and Chalky.

The plan was for us to land at a point about fifteen to twenty miles NNW of Port Said and roughly eighty-five miles north of Cairo the lighthouse Id just seen was a few miles west of Port Said. The mainland was getting closer and closer and we were now only minutes away from the drop-off point, roughly near to one of the main rivers of the Nile delta.

Ken hovered for a short while, as he searched around for a safe place to set us down, dropping to only feet above the marshy ground, and we jumped out into a couple of inches of water. The instant our feet hit the ground the helicopter veered away and disappeared into the distance.

As soon as hed gone, we took our bearings and began to walk in a south-easterly direction but hadnt travelled far when Dynamo suddenly shouted: 'Take cover!

We hit the deck as a MiG 15 suddenly appeared out of nowhere and flew past us before disappearing in the same direction as the helicopter.

'You dont think Kens been picked up by their radar do you? I asked, concerned that he might be shot down.

I didnt think that the plane had seen us, as it was travelling far too fast and we were pa.s.sing through an area of tall reeds, which reached to our shoulders.

'Dont worry about Ken, Geordie, hes a h.e.l.luva pilot, Dynamo a.s.sured me, sensing my anxiety. 'He knows this area like the back of his hand, h.e.l.l be in Israeli airs.p.a.ce before they get anywhere near him.

'Besides, well be picked up no matter what, he continued. 'Ken is covered!

I didnt ask what he meant by this. I was learning not to ask questions.

Soon the marshy ground began to harden beneath our feet and the reeds thinned out. It was mid-morning and the air was scorching, hot and sticky, there was a strong smell of sewage in the area and millions of flies buzzed everywhere.

We made our way southeast from the drop-off point towards some small hills in the distance; the whole area appeared to be uninhabited, as so far we had seen no signs of life.

Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined anything like this would happen to me. I was just nineteen, this was my third mission and already I could feel the adrenalin starting to flow. I was really looking forward to this.

PART 2.

THE JOURNEY.

I checked my watch; it was 12.10 a.m., and wed been walking for about two hours and were drenched in perspiration. I calculated that we must have travelled about nine miles from the drop-off point and ahead of us was more of the same dry, hilly landscape covered in rough scrub.

'Wheres that d.a.m.n river, Chalky? I said, brushing the sweat from my eyes.

'Its got to be just over that hill ahead of us, Geordie. We should meet it just below a place called Dumyat and if my calculations are right its just ahead of us.

'I hope youre right, Im melting away here, Spot said, wiping his sleeve across his face.

It was midday and by now the oppressive heat was unbearable, and I hoped that once we got near to the river it might be a bit cooler. Swarms of flies and insects constantly buzzed around us, they were driving me nuts!

We walked on towards the hill and began to climb but as we neared the top Chalky signed to us to stop and listen. So far, we hadnt seen anyone, but now we could clearly hear voices in the distance and the sound of vehicles, so we crept to the top and cautiously looked over.

Spread out below us was the biggest, widest river Id ever seen; it was so unexpected that it took me totally by surprise. As it stretched away from us into the distance, the golden sun beating down on its surface made it look like a long, twisting, silvery snake. Its banks were covered with green trees and reeds for as far as we could see and a wide strip of lush, fertile land spread out from either side until it ran into the desert beyond. Dozens of small boats were sailing along it in both directions. It was the most beautiful and peaceful sight.

For a stretch of about a quarter of a mile, it formed a series of small coves before reaching a large level area adjacent to a nearby road, where the bank straightened out. The road ran very close to the river at this point and about quarter of a mile away we could see a large group of men working on it.

A column of dust in the distance caught Chalkys attention and he took out his binoculars to scan the area. 'I wonder whats going on over there, he muttered.

'Lets have a look, Dynamo said, taking the binoculars from him. 'Yes, I see what you mean. I count three truckloads of soldiers and workmen I think. I cant quite make out whats going on but it looks as if theyre repairing that road and the soldiers seem to be stopping and searching cars.

'Thats all we b.l.o.o.d.y need. Spot took the binoculars Dynamo pa.s.sed to him. 'Look at that as well, beyond those trees the road is only about two hundred yards from the river and there arent any trees or reeds just there.

There were dozens of armed soldiers in the area and several military vehicles manoeuvring and turning very close to the riverbank on the level ground. We could clearly see that they were stopping vehicles and searching them. Obviously, we had to avoid them at all costs, we couldnt afford to be stopped or held up at this point. Although we tried to look as much like the locals as possible, in order to blend in, our disguises wouldnt pa.s.s any type of close inspection.

Dynamo glanced at his watch. 'Weve got ten hours to find the target. Well have to make a move before someone spots us. Come on, lets get down to that riverbank as quickly as possible.

It seemed that the only way to bypa.s.s them was by following the riverbank, about five hundred yards away. The embankment leading down to the river was covered with reeds and scrub, which eventually petered out just before the level area near to the roadworks. There was no cover at all at this point and it was so open there would be no way to pa.s.s without being seen by the soldiers or workmen. We just didnt have time to wait until nightfall; we had to do something now and quick. It looked impossible.

In one of the coves we could just make out the remains of a small jetty and, using the reeds and scrub on the embankment as cover, we cautiously made our way down to it. The reeds were tall and thick and we sat in among them to examine an old map wed brought with us, to try to work out how we could get past this area.

'While were looking at the map, one of us should go and watch the troop movements and see how close they come to the embankment, Spot said. 'There might be a way we can get past them without being seen.

Dynamo nodded in agreement. 'It looks as though were just going to have to take a chance and walk past the place and hope that no one tries to stop us.

We couldnt see any activity on the river so Chalky crept up through the reeds to the top of the embankment. Suddenly he came dashing back.

'Take cover lads, he hissed. 'Theres no way we are going to get past that lot, the soldiers are sitting just yards from the river, but Ive just seen the top of a sail. I think theres a boat coming around that bend any minute now!

We couldnt see the boat from where we were hiding in the reeds, but moments later it rounded the bend in the river and seemed to head straight for us. I could see four people on board, one was standing on the deck holding a pushbike while a couple of them lowered the large single sail. Another guy was using the oar at the stern. He turned the boat around and sculled it into the cove backwards, bringing it in close to the sh.o.r.e, heading towards the small jetty just yards away from us to drop off the man with the pushbike.

The guy holding the bike handed it to one of the others on board as he climbed over the side on to the jetty, then it was handed back to him and he began to make his way with some difficulty up the embankment through the rushes, pushing his bike before him.

'Why dont we "borrow" that boat? I whispered to Dynamo.

'Thats exactly what were going to do, he replied, quietly. 'We dont have any other option. No will see us from here, its too sheltered.

It seemed that the boat was the only way we were going to get past this particular point in the river in order to avoid the troops.

'Wed better hurry, look theyre leaving, Chalky said.

Dynamo turned to him and spoke quietly out of the corner of his mouth: 'I dont think theyre going to offer us a lift, do you. Ill follow the guy with the bike and make sure he doesnt come back. You lot go and get that boat.

As the man with the bike moved out of sight, Dynamo followed him up the embankment and we pushed through the reeds on to the jetty, then casually started walking out towards the boat, not wanting to panic the crew, whod just started paddling away from the sh.o.r.e.

Chalky called out something in Arabic to get their attention; otherwise, they would have been out of reach by the time we got to the end of the jetty. I dont know what he said, but it seemed to work. They looked rather surprised to see us there but they stopped paddling to let him approach. Chalky kept talking to them as he got nearer to the edge of the jetty.

And the twenty-foot long boat was now just close enough to the sh.o.r.e for us to reach it with a running jump. The men on the boat watched us closely as we moved towards them, then suddenly one panicked and shouted a warning to the others as he rushed to the stern and tried to push it away from the jetty. The other two men ran towards the front as Chalky and Spot landed on board in quick succession.

The old jetty was awkward to run along and the boat was now about six feet away. I used one of the wooden supports to help launch myself towards the side of it, but as I pushed off it gave way with a loud crack. The guy at the back had picked something up off the deck and was about to try to hit Spot but he immediately spun around as I landed with one foot on the boat while the other bashed into its side. The guy raised his arm to strike me just as I managed to get my other foot on to the side of the boat and I stood up, balancing on the edge. Using a blocking, locking grip, I was able to use him to pull myself aboard but I overbalanced and fell into him, which in turn forced the guy to fall backwards and he hit his head on the other side of the boat. As he attempted to get up, I swiftly broke his neck.

Looking up, I saw that the other two boatmen were already dead, lying crumpled on the deck. One of them had his hands clutched to his stomach where blood was pouring from a knife wound and covering the sail he lay on.

Dynamo had been watching the guy with the bicycle to make sure that he didnt see or hear anything or try to come back to the boat, but he was now standing on the jetty waiting to be picked up. Using the oar at the rear of the boat as a rudder, I sculled it back in to the riverbank. As he jumped on board, Dynamo looked about.

'No problems, lads. Right, lets get rid of them quick! he said, and began to pull a long, white, smock-type garment off one of the dead men but it was saturated with blood and he changed his mind.

Meanwhile Spot and Chalky had weighed down two of the bodies with some heavy, metal objects theyd found lying on the deck, before dumping them overboard. There were two soft splashes and both bodies immediately disappeared under the muddy dark-brown surface.

'Ill try to get this d.a.m.n sail to work, Geordie, if you can dump that one over the side and dont forget to weigh it down, Chalky said as he set about sorting out the tangled jumble of ropes on the deck.

I searched about and found a small length of chain, which I tied around the dead mans chest. The aft of the boat was still fairly close to the jetty as I dropped the body over it feet first, but when it hit the water the chain fell down around the legs and the top half of the body floated up; his smock had filled with air and his arm kept bobbing up to the surface. I sculled the boat nearer to the riverbank and discovered that the body had landed on a submerged ledge and lay in only about three feet of water. I grabbed at the arm, wrapped another piece of chain around the wrist and then watched as the body sank and disappeared.

'Dont worry about it too much, Geordie, the crocs will get them anyway, Chalky calmly informed me.

'Crocs, what crocs? Youre kidding me arent you? I asked him in surprise. Id no idea that there were crocodiles in this part of the world.

But he just grinned and carried on sorting out the sail.

The others were looking around the boat and acting as though nothing had happened, so I sat down in the aft with the oar in my hand and began to use it as a rudder, trying to look relaxed too. Spot discovered a couple of white smocks similar to the one Dynamo had tried to pull off the dead guy, which were worn by many of the locals in this area. He tried them both but they were far too small so he threw one to Dynamo then the other to me. They were a tight fit but eventually we managed to squeeze into them just as we rounded the bend and came into full view of a group of soldiers on the bank.

Chalky noticed them first. 'Geordie, get us away from the bank, were getting very close and one of them is sitting watching us. We dont want any confrontation with these guys, we havent got the time, he whispered urgently.

About five soldiers were lounging against a truck, then one of them got up from where hed been sitting on the running board and began to stroll towards the edge of the river. He had his thumb in the strap of a sub-machine gun, which was hanging upside down on his right shoulder and a cigarette in his other hand.

The sails werent responding the way wed expected them to and, for all there was only a light wind, we were being driven in even closer to the bank. I tried to steer away from the sh.o.r.e, almost smashing the b.l.o.o.d.y oar with the effort, but nothing seemed to happen and I could feel that the currents here were obviously very strong.

'Come on you guys, hurry up and do something with that b.l.o.o.d.y sail. Im losing control and the wind is pushing us further into the side, I urged them quietly.

By now the soldier had walked right to the edge of the riverbank and stood watching, staring at us suspiciously. We were only about fifty yards away from the embankment and I felt that any moment now the guy was going to say or do something so, as we didnt want to draw any further attention to ourselves, I sat back smiling at him while Chalky fiddled about with the d.a.m.n sail. It looked as though we were definitely going to hit the embankment.

Dynamo spoke to me softly: 'Listen, if we crash into the bank Ill see if I can keep this guy talking while you make your way around to the other blokes by the truck; you know what to do. I think well be able take all of them out without anyone from the road seeing us, it looks as though theyre at least five hundred yards away and that truck should block their view anyway. But well need to get as close to these guys as we possibly can, it shouldnt be a problem, they can see we arent armed. Leave our weapons in the bags, we dont need them, just sit and relax, we dont want to give him any excuse to open fire on us! We wont be able to use our sashes because of these d.a.m.n smocks, so we need to be really close, OK. You know the routine!

As he spoke, Chalky suddenly managed to loosen something on the sail, which immediately filled out and the boat slowly began to change direction. Just then, the engine started up on the truck and the driver began to shout something to the soldier on the embankment. He drew on his cigarette then flicked it into the river before turning away and walking back towards the truck. Then he stopped and looked back at us over his shoulder for a moment. His pals on the truck started shouting at him but he seemed reluctant to leave; the driver leant out and shouted too and he quickly went back to the truck and jumped on to it. As they drove off, we could see him standing in the back still staring at us.

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! That was close! Trying to get us killed, Geordie? Chalky laughed.

'It had to be the currents, look, were moving away from the embankment now but the sail doesnt seem to have changed position very much, I explained. 'What took you so long with it?

'Stupid wogs, they had their rope in a flaming granny knot.

The deck of the boat was covered with fishing lines and nets and I couldnt help thinking that these guys hadnt been soldiers, just simple fisherman whose boat wed wanted. It just didnt seem right that wed killed them simply because they were in our way. They wouldve had no idea just what they were up against. If theyd been armed soldiers or terrorists who didnt care who they killed, like in the Troodos Mountains, I would have had no qualms about killing them.

We were all fairly quiet as the boat began to move slowly down the river. Because we were so very alike, and because of our training and the way we worked so closely together, I felt that we practically had the ability to read one anothers minds, and I could sense that we all felt the same about killing these people.

Spot was rummaging around and searching the front of the boat, when suddenly he stopped and pulled out a canvas bag. Turning to face me, he held up a Sten gun and service revolver.

'Look at this, its a b.l.o.o.d.y good job we got the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds before they got to these! The swine had enough weapons here to start their own private little war! he said, kicking the bag. 'And we thought they were just simple fishermen!

I sat back and felt much better when he said that. I think we had all been a little uneasy about killing these people until he found the guns. It made us all feel a lot better and the atmosphere on the boat immediately changed. Chalky turned towards me.

'We cant afford to take any chances with these people, he said. 'They feel that theyve been betrayed by the British and they hate our guts!

We settled down and travelled unhindered for approximately seven miles. It was slightly cooler on the river, but still blisteringly hot. Spot had picked up a fish knife from the deck and was cleaning it on his trouser leg.

'You know, one of those swine tried to stick this in me, he said indignantly.

They all treated it so casually, as though they were out for a Sunday afternoon trip. Dynamo was so relaxed that he actually waved at people on other boats in the distance; it was just as well that they couldnt see him properly.

'What a bunch of miserable sods, he said, as none of the locals waved back.

'Stop messing about, youll draw attention to us. Look, were going nowhere fast in this b.l.o.o.d.y thing, Chalky said, looking about the boat. 'Lets take it in there and sink it.

He pointed at a small, nearby cove. The boat had served its purpose and got us past the danger area but the d.a.m.ned thing was travelling much too slowly. We had to be in Cairo by no later than 2300 hours and it was now around 1430.

Our information was that our target often worked late and slept on the same floor, he was expected to leave his office between 2200 and 2230. If we wanted to get to him on time, we would have to ditch the boat now and find some quicker form of transport.

We were approaching an area where several streams met the river and could see in the distance that it was becoming busier and there was now a lot more activity ahead of us.

As we began to pull into the cove we quickly pulled the sail down we couldnt take the risk that this might stick up out of the water and draw the attention of someone on the riverbank. I sculled the boat further into the cove as the others tried to undo the mast, but they had problems with a large wooden pin at the bottom of it. Dynamo searched around for a few moments before finding a three-foot long steel bar with a ring on the end of it. Using this he began to hack away at the pin. Suddenly the whole lot came down on top of us and almost capsized the boat.

'Thats the way its done, lads, Dynamo laughed. He barely gave us time to get near to the bank before he started to punch holes into the bottom of the boat with the steel bar.

'Hang on, were not going to make it if you keep doing that, I shouted at him, laughing and sculling like h.e.l.l to try to get the boat to the sh.o.r.e as water began to lap around our feet. My arms were just about dropping off as the boat crashed into the side of the embankment and we all fell about giggling. Dynamo was jumping about the boat bashing holes into the bottom of it, the water now up to his knees. He looked like a mad monk in his white smock and each time he tried to punch a hole with the metal bar the steel ring bashed his knuckles.

'What the h.e.l.l could this b.l.o.o.d.y useless thing possibly be needed for, Ive just about broken my knuckles with it, he complained.

Chalky, Spot and I stood on the riverbank doubled up with laughter as he pranced about in a demented fashion.

'I dont know what you lot are laughing at, the bottom of this boat is like b.l.o.o.d.y concrete! he said, just as the stern started to slowly disappear beneath the surface. He quickly ran to the front with it sinking behind him and jumped off, to land beside us on the embankment. The four of us stood for a brief moment watching it slowly disappear, bits of cork popping up to the surface as it did.