The lights were on in both the building and the compound, and it was easy to see the whole area. Two men dressed in military uniforms were walking around accompanied by a civilian but we couldnt be sure if they were our targets or not. They disappeared for a short while then made their way back to the main building. Through the two windows on the first floor, just above the parked truck, we could see several people sitting drinking and talking, but our targets didnt join them. Instead, they had made their way along the corridor to the large room at the end, where we believed the meeting was due to take place. They stayed there for some time then left the room together, returning shortly after with seven or eight other people who all began to seat themselves around the table.

'Thats definitely them, Royston confirmed, looking through his binoculars just as someone in the room pulled a blind down over the window. 'Right, thats it, lets go. Dynamo, dont forget to warn the rest of the lads that if I get out of the building alive, Ill be the idiot rushing towards the gate firing my gun above your heads, with a red light on my chest. And by the way thats not a target, its just to let you know that its me, he laughed. 'So, just make sure you dont get rid of the guards on the gate, Ill need them to open it for me! he added.

'He might be a little bit crazy, but hes b.l.o.o.d.y clever! Dynamo laughed.

'Come on, then, lets get on with it, Royston said to Greg.

We watched them stealthily make their way down the hillside, across the road to the corner of the compound and the darkened area at the rear of the toilet block, then they disappeared from view. The rest of the group were getting ready to cover Royston, and Greg and Dynamo moved off to tell them what was happening. I looked at my watch: it was 2100 hours and very dark now. As soon as everyone was aware that Royston had made a move, we all began to get into position and line ourselves up across the hillside in front of the compound. Each section had a target area of the building, mine being to cover the main entrance and to take out the nearby vehicles.

I moved slightly further down the hillside and got as close to the main gate as possible without being seen. Dynamo was just behind me to my right with Chalky, Spot and another guy slightly higher up. The others positioned themselves at various points to the right and left overlooking the compound, Greg would provide cover from his spot down to the left of the main gate near the toilet block.

Within minutes, we saw Royston squeezing his way through the gap at the top of the toilets, out of sight of the guards on the gate. Just then, a soldier began to make his way across the compound towards the toilet block and we watched anxiously as he went inside.

Suddenly we heard the loud bang of a door being slammed shut and a figure emerged. The man appeared beneath the compound lights and began to walk towards the soldiers standing guard at the main door, dragging his gun along the ground and fastening up his clothing as he went. It was Royston! Hed done it!

'Lets wait until he gets within a few feet of those guards before we open fire, Dynamo said quietly. 'Because once we start shooting, so will everyone else and I want to make sure he gets into the building.

Royston was only about four feet away from the guards on the main door when Dynamo opened fire at the windows and all h.e.l.l broke loose as we all followed suit. The two guards at the door immediately ran into the building with Royston right behind them and all the lights in the building went out. Confused soldiers began to pour out of the buildings towards the rear of the compound, running in all directions, yelling and screaming at one another. The guys lobbed grenades with deadly accuracy, and vehicles exploded all around the bewildered, panicking troops.

I hit the large truck parked at the side of the building, aiming at its tyres and where I thought the fuel tank was. It instantly burst into flames, just as a loud explosion came from inside the building and a body came flying out of one of the upstairs windows. It landed on top of the burning canvas covering the truck, which must have been carrying extra fuel because it suddenly erupted in a deafening explosion, which sent fragments shooting high into the air and all over the compound.

The light from the burning vehicle brightly lit most of the area and we could see the poor b.a.s.t.a.r.ds running around like ants. They hadnt expected a thing and were being slaughtered; they simply hadnt a clue what was going on and had no idea where all of the gunfire was coming from or which direction they should run in for cover. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Everywhere was noise, confusion, screams and yells.

'Concentrate on the entrance of the building, Spot yelled. 'Well need to give Royston as much cover as possible when he comes out.

Suddenly through the smoke and flames, I saw a guy running towards us, a small red light on his chest.

'There he is! Thats him, someone shouted behind me.

Royston was out of the building and running towards the gate waving his gun in the air! We could clearly hear him above the noise, shouting in Arabic at the two guards hiding near the gates. It was unbelievable: one of them actually ran towards the gates and opened them for him. Royston immediately ran straight through, closely followed by the two soldiers who had been guarding the gates, with four or five other guys several yards behind them.

On the hillside, wed been constantly moving and changing our positions to ensure none of us got hit if one of them got a bead on us, and I was now only yards away from Royston and the following troops. I took aim to provide him with cover and take out as many of them as I could but Dynamo suddenly grabbed my arm.

'No, Geordie, wait! he shouted.

At that moment, the ground in front of Royston erupted and two figures stood up, blasting the running men behind him just as he pa.s.sed them. Two of his team had been lying in wait in their CTCs, which ensured they were completely hidden from everyone, including me! Lit up by the flames in the compound, from where we stood they looked like two giant hamsters standing up on their hind legs. They turned and immediately began to follow Royston, running with some difficulty down the road in the c.u.mbersome coats, trying to undo the leg fastenings as they went.

Dynamo and I followed them with Greg closely behind us and, as we rounded the base of the hill, the others caught up with us.

'Take your time, someone muttered. 'They must think there are hundreds of us!

'Well, they certainly dont seem to have much transport left! Royston laughed, because wed destroyed every vehicle in the compound. We briefly grouped together at the side of the road as Reg and Den removed their CTCs.

'You could have let me know they were down there, I said to Dynamo. 'I nearly bagged one of them!

'They went down there when you were watching by the roadside. b.l.o.o.d.y good camouflage though, isnt it? He laughed as we put our gear into our bags.

'Is everyone here? Everyone accounted for? Right, lets get the h.e.l.l out of here and back to that d.a.m.n river!

As we made our way along the road we heard several explosions behind us the lads b.o.o.by traps on the hillside were obviously working!

Back at the river, we headed slightly further upstream of where we believed the old bridge and our ropes were, then worked our way down so we didnt pa.s.s them. We didnt want to miss them in the dark. Without any great difficulty we found the spot, and were surprised to see that the river had risen by almost another two feet in the short time wed been away. We were lucky that it hadnt washed our ropes away, but it wouldnt have mattered anyway. We carried plenty of others and would have had no problems in repeating the process.

We swiftly crossed the river and the last man over tied the heavy line to both the wooden post and the 'H girder as we set up the pulley wheel system on the other side and tightened this to enable him to cross safely.

Meanwhile he had tied a light line to the dog-clip on the heavy line and brought the light line across with him. We then released the pulley wheels, slackened the line off, which enabled us to retrieve the dog-clip with the heavy line attached. Again, the whole process was accomplished in a matter of minutes and there was no trace left behind that wed ever been there.

Once on the other side, we briefly discussed the operation with Royston as we packed up our gear.

'Well, what happened? Spot asked.

Royston grinned broadly and quietly began to recount what had taken place in the building. 'I couldnt believe it! he exclaimed. 'When you lot opened fire, I followed the guards into the building and got to the top of the stairs before the lights went off, so I managed to get a quick look around. I was lucky: there was such a commotion and racket going on that no one in the other rooms took any notice of me, they were all too busy trying to get you lot, so I just ran along to the end of the corridor and took out the guy guarding the room. Theyd locked the door so I blasted the lock off and lobbed in a grenade, he said in a matter-of-fact way. 'Sorry I took so long but I wanted to make sure that Id got them all before I left and it took a few minutes to check them, using my torch. The five targets were definitely in there and Im positive the other three were European!

'There was so much noise and confusion I could have taken out everyone in the building they just didnt have a clue what was going on, Royston continued. 'On the way back, I think I took most of them out in the rooms along the corridor. They were all firing out of the windows so it wasnt a problem; besides, with all that racket going on they wouldnt know whether the bullets were coming from the outside or not, he added. 'I definitely got all of them in that last room with a grenade just before leaving. I thought I might as well keep the numbers down and help you chaps out a bit, he said, laughing.

'So thats why that guy came flying out of the window and landed on the top of that burning truck, I said quietly to Dynamo, who then turned to Royston and demanded: 'Well mate, where is the b.l.o.o.d.y thing?

'Its in my bag, Royston replied in a quiet matter-of-fact tone.

'Well lets have a look at it then! Dynamo demanded.

'Cant do that, Top Secret stuff, dont you know.

We all just stood there, staring at him in disbelief until eventually he burst out with a small laugh, saying finally: 'Well, alright, if you insist. Then he bent down and took a small oblong box out of his bag and held it out in front of him, while we stood looking at it in disbelief. It was a small highly lacquered black box, approximately three by two by eight inches in size.

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! Is that it? someone burst out in disgust.

Royston slowly smiled. 'Advanced Technology, thats whats in there lads, he briefly explained.

Chalky was standing next to me. 'Im dying to see this, he quietly muttered. 'Come on open it up and it had better be good!

For a while Royston struggled with it but couldnt find a way to open the box.

'Here, give it to me, Dynamo said, holding out his hand into which Royston placed the box. Dynamo examined it briefly then he gently squeezed both sides of the box simultaneously and suddenly with a slight click it slowly opened as someone quietly said: 'I think hes done this before.

Dynamo paused for a moment then pa.s.sed the opened box back to Royston, who looked into it briefly before he carefully lifted out and unwrapped its contents. In the light from our torches we all saw what appeared to be two ordinary flat pieces of gla.s.s. He let out a long sigh then quietly exclaimed with obvious relief: 'Yes! Great! Theyre both OK!

'Youve got to be kidding, Dynamo spoke our thoughts.

Just then, as we all turned our torches on to the two bits of gla.s.s lying in Roystons outstretched palm, it seemed as if the torch beams had charged them up and they began to emit a dazzling brilliance of myriad different colours. Royston swiftly rewrapped them and carefully placed them back into the box, saying as he did so: 'Well done, lads, a good nights work, now all you have to do is to completely forget what you saw.

Well, I thought, that shouldnt be too hard, after all what did we see? Just two pieces of brightly coloured gla.s.s!

Royston was speaking again: 'I suppose you know what they do? Well, actually they dont do anything on their own. You see theyre not much good without the other four pieces. We were all watching him closely, listening intently as he continued: 'Dont worry, no one knows where they are.

Chalky interrupted him, saying, 'Well at least we got the job done thanks to you and your lot, Royston! I guess thats what we were looking for in Egypt!

Royston did not reply but simply smiled slowly at Chalky as we all crowded around Royston to congratulate him, slapping him on the back and shaking his hand.

'Well, lads, this is where we part company, Dynamo told us, ever eager to be on the move. 'We cant stay here chatting all night.

Royston nodded in agreement. 'No, thats right. He turned towards me. 'Well, Geordie, we didnt get our little chat but Im pleased we met at last.

'Well at least we got the job done! Greg said to me with a wink.

The guys all shook hands, then picking up our holdalls, we split up into our teams, each heading off in a different direction. Id no idea where the others were going and by now I knew it was a pointless exercise to ask. Besides, all I was really interested in now was getting back to the truck and on to the helicopter. Dynamo, Chalky, Spot and I merely had to retrace our steps back across the valley to the rendezvous point on the top of the hill, where Bren would meet us later with the truck. We didnt expect to encounter any problems on the way and had plenty of time to get back. As we moved away from the riverbank, we heard a commotion some distance away on the opposite side.

They were apparently searching the area for us but we knew that there was no way theyd be able to follow us across the river at this point, even if they had any idea where we were, which they obviously didnt.

Although the trek back into the mountains was a steep climb, the four of us did not take long to reach the rendezvous point near to the ruins that Bren had pointed out. With plenty of time to spare before he was due, we sat down for a well-earned rest and after a short while I needed to take a leak.

'I wont be a minute, I told the others as I got to my feet.

'Just make sure youre down wind, Chalky called after me.

'And watch out for those snakes, Spot sn.i.g.g.e.red.

'Oh, very funny, I called back over my shoulder. 'You and your flaming snakes!

'And scorpions! Dynamo added.

The nearby dirt track ran between the steeply sloping hillsides and on the other side of it, at the base of the hill, I spotted a clump of convenient bushes and made my way across to them. Further down the track I saw a flash of light.

Bren must be early, I thought and carried on with what I was doing.

As I started back across the track, I heard the sound of an engine then saw another flash of light as a truck slowly made its way around the base of the hill. I stopped where I was in the middle of the primitive road and waited while the truck drove right up to me then stopped a few feet away. I couldnt make out the driver with the headlights shining in my face but I heard the sound of the door opening and someone making their way towards me. To my surprise, a voice called out to me in Arabic.

Very funny, Bren, I thought.

Again, the voice called out. I hadnt a clue what he was saying.

I called back. 'OK, OK, cut the joking, Bren. You know I cant understand a word youre saying.

The man was fairly close to me by now and I suddenly realised that it very obviously wasnt Bren. The pa.s.senger side door opened and the guy turned to jabber something to another guy behind him. There were two of them!

Just as I was about to take the first guy out, I noticed that the second man was holding something in his hand; it looked like an iron bar but I couldnt quite make it out because of the headlights behind him. By this time, I was standing directly between the men in front of the truck and where Id left the others.

I knew they wouldnt be far away but wouldnt want to show themselves at this stage. They wouldnt be able to use any firepower either because I was in their line of fire. Besides, we didnt want to draw attention to ourselves a gunshot could be heard a long way off.

So I quickly decided to let the second man get nearer to his mate so that I could deal with them both at the same time I knew I could handle the situation easily. At that moment, I saw a glint of metal in the headlights and realised that the second guy was actually holding a knife. The first man spoke again, then the second guy lunged straight at me. In that instant, The Machine took over!

I blocked the knife with my left hand and swivelled on my left heel in order to swing my right leg behind me. But my right heel caught on a large stone and I couldnt get it completely out of the way. The knife was longer that Id originally thought and I felt a sharp agonising pain as it thudded into my thigh, penetrating down to the bone. Despite the acute pain, I hit underneath the mans nose hard with the base of my right hand, pushing the nose bone towards his brain. He instantly crumpled to the ground pulling the knife out of my leg as he fell. In the seconds it had taken for this to happen, the lads had quietly despatched his mate.

Chalky and Dynamo grabbed my shirt then dragged me off the track towards a pile of rocks and lay me against them.

'Kill those b.l.o.o.d.y lights on that truck, Spot, Dynamo said, as Chalky ripped open the top of my trouser leg, which by now was saturated in blood. The pain was excruciating, waves of nausea and dizziness washed over me and my leg felt like a solid lump of lead.

'This would happen, when everythings gone perfectly so far, Chalky commented wryly as he closely examined the wound.

'Trust me to mess things up, I moaned back at him.

'Dont knock yourself, Geordie, this could have happened to any one of us. None of us are that clever, weve all got scars of some sort. Besides, its the other guy whos dead not you! he rea.s.sured me. 'The trick is to get back alive.

'Come on, Dynamo, give me a hand, Spot said, dragging one of the bodies towards the truck. 'If we shove this lot over the side itll look as though theyve had an accident.

They loaded up the two bodies and pushed the truck off the track where it quickly disappeared and crashed down the steep hillside. They had just reached Chalky and me as we heard the sound of another truck, its headlights flashing off and on as it rounded the bend in the road. It stopped quickly and Bren jumped out.

'Where the h.e.l.l have you been? Dynamo asked him.

'What do you mean, Im early? Bren replied cheerfully.

'Not early enough. Shame you didnt get here ten minutes earlier. Spot told him. 'Never mind, youre here now, give us a hand to get Geordie on to the back of the truck.

'What happened? Bren asked, concerned.

'We had a bit of bother with a couple of locals and Geordies been stabbed in the leg, well tell you about it on the way back, Chalky said.

Bren produced a small first-aid kit from the truck, which he gave to Chalky. 'Lets get out of here quickly, then, he said.

Dynamo and Bren climbed into the cab of the truck while Chalky and Spot jumped into the back with me. Chalky gave me a couple of painkillers and then got to work on my leg.

The journey back seemed to take forever, and I felt every b.u.mp and jolt, but by the time we reached our drop-off point near to the railway embankment the painkillers were working and my leg didnt feel too bad. Bren stopped the truck and came around to the back to help Chalky and Spot get me down as Dynamo took the guns out of our canvas bags and left them in a sack on the back of the truck.

'Take care, Geordie, Bren said. 'Got to go, catch you later! And with that, he jumped back in the cab and drove off.

Dynamo rushed ahead with the bags as Chalky and Spot hoisted me up, one arm around each of their shoulders, and dragged me along. My leg couldnt take any weight, which made getting back through the stinking sewer pipe incredibly difficult. It was pitch black and we had to go through it sideways, as it was only wide enough for one person to walk through properly. The stench seemed to be even worse this time, and for a moment I thought I was going to vomit. Dynamo came back after dumping our bags on the beach and shone a torch in front of us, which made it easier.

Once through we sat on the sand for about ten minutes before we heard someone coming towards us along the beach. Dynamo and Spot quietly got to their feet, immediately ready for any problems. But it was only Ken looking for us.

'Whats happened here? he asked, raising his eyebrows in query as he glanced over at me before speaking again to Dynamo. 'Did you get the job done?

'Yes it went well apart from this. Dynamo pointed towards my injured leg as he spoke. 'And before you ask we got it!

Ken paused briefly before replying: 'Well done. Come on lets go.

'Well tell you all about it on the way. OK Geordie? Lets get out of here! Chalky said as he helped me to my feet.

Ken spoke briskly as he led the way. 'Right, this way, Ive got the hack further along the beach, its a bit too close to the main road just here. Ive been here for about fifteen minutes and theres been quite a few vehicles pa.s.sing by.

They helped me along the beach for about three hundred yards or so to where Ken had landed and promptly lifted me inside on to the floor, and Chalky put a set of headphones on me as the helicopter quickly took off. Both he and Spot clung on to me all the way back. Wed had no sleep for over twenty-four hours and I was suddenly very tired, so with the help of the painkillers and the constant drone of the engine, I quickly fell asleep.

The next thing I knew we were back at the hangar. Chalky had lifted the headphones off me and the racket of the helicopter woke me up. He and Spot helped me out and, as usual, Ken wasted no time in taking off. It was early Thursday morning and I seemed to spend the hours to lunchtime dozing in and out of sleep.

Chalky dressed my wound in a type of elastic bandage, which he wrapped right around my leg. The ends of the bandage on each side of the cut were sticky and laced up together like a shoelace. It was quite strange but very effective; Id never seen anything like it before. He also placed a lint pad covered with antiseptic on to the cut itself before he laced up the dressing, thereby drawing the edges of the wound together.

'Its a clean cut and with a bit of luck it wont be infected and should heal up fairly quickly as long as you change the bandages every couple of days. Whatever you do, dont let anyone see this or youll probably have to report sick, he warned, as he gave me a couple of spare bandages and some more painkillers. 'That should do you, but make sure that no one sees that! he instructed, pointing to the strange bandage.

'Youll have to work on that leg, Spot warned me. 'Weve got until four oclock tomorrow afternoon to get you back on your feet.