'Back tdigging oles tomorrow, eh, Geordie? Bill teased.

'Looks like it, mate, I groaned. 'Nothing lasts forever, especially if its good.

Monday morning I lined up on parade and stood waiting for my orders.

'Urwin! shouted the officer on parade. 'Youre on detachment.

'Sarge, surely theres been a mistake made here? I said, looking at the papers hed handed me.

'Yes, too b.l.o.o.d.y right, Urwin. I had a nice little job lined up for you here on latrine duty! Youve had it too cushy in the Officers Mess, lad. Id like to know whos responsible for these b.l.o.o.d.y orders! he barked.

'But theyre sending me out with a truck!

I was surprised to say the least. Id hardly been out of the camp since wed arrived and hadnt a clue about getting around the island, so how was I supposed to know where to go?

'Just do as youre b.l.o.o.d.y told, Urwin, and report next door, the sergeant snapped and marched off.

I did as he said and went to the nearby 518 Company Depot and handed over the papers to the officer in charge, a sergeant, who allocated me a truck.

'Right, lad. Report to the Ordnance Depot at Dhekelia, he ordered, giving me the papers Id need to hand in at the gate when I got there.

I jumped into the pa.s.senger side of the a.s.signed truck and sat there for a few minutes waiting for a co-driver. Suddenly someone banged loudly on the side of the truck.

'You still here? What the h.e.l.l are you waiting for? the sergeant bellowed.

'Eh! But wheres the other bloke, Sarge?

'What other bloke? What are you talking about?

'Well, the driver! I explained.

He looked at me blankly. 'What driver? Youre the driver, you pillock!

'Me! Youre kidding, though Sarge! The furthest Ive been out of camp is to the beach and back!

'Tough! he snapped. 'Theres a map in there above your head, use it. You cant go wrong, theres only one bleedin road straight to the place, itll take you five minutes. Youre the driver, NOW GET MOVIN.

I did as he ordered and set off, unable to believe that they were actually letting me take a truck out on my own.

After driving along for about ten minutes in the direction of Lima.s.sol, I got my eye on this guy standing at the side of the road near to a parked jeep. As far as I could see, he appeared to be alone.

As I drove closer, he stepped further into the road, put his hand up and waved at me to stop. I looked around but still couldnt see anyone else, just this guy on his own. I wondered if he might have broken down, but wed been warned about the dangers of terrorist traps, so I put my foot down and sped towards him there was no way I was going to get caught out on my first trip.

He was wearing a short-sleeved army shirt and shorts and looked like an ordinary soldier except that there was something vaguely familiar about him.

And he obviously expected me to stop, as he stood right in the middle of the road until I was almost on top of him and had to jump to one side to avoid being hit. As I shot past him, I got a good look at his face and recognised him instantly it was the guy from the beach!

Immediately I slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt in a cloud of dust. I looked in the wing mirror but for several seconds he was obscured from my view by the choking dirt and sand. When it eventually settled I saw him beckoning to me, and so reversed back to where he was waiting at the side of the road, dusting himself down with a hanky.

'h.e.l.lo there, Geordie, its me, he said calmly with no reference to the fact that Id almost run him over and covered him with a fine film of brown dust. 'Remember, he went on. 'We met on the beach a little while ago.

'Yes, of course I do. Sorry about that, I apologised, pointing to the dust that covered his clothes. 'I thought you might be a flaming terrorist or something, I only realised who you were as I pa.s.sed you, I explained. 'Besides, when nothing happened the other week I thought you must have forgotten about me.

He grinned broadly and shook his head. 'Come on, get out of the truck, Geordie, just leave it, he said calmly.

'What! Leave it! I was concerned; the truck was my responsibility and there would be h.e.l.l to pay if anything happened to it. 'I cant just leave it. Im supposed to take it to Dhekelia.

'No, youre not.

'But Ive got written orders!

'Well of course you have, he agreed, smiling. 'Dont worry, its all been taken care of, itll be here when you get back.

'What do you mean "when I get back"? Back from where?

'You said you wanted a change, some excitement, well, believe me youre going to get it. This is it, Geordie, lad! he told me with a grin, his manner so casual and friendly yet at the same time so positive. He jumped into the jeep and slapped his hand on the pa.s.senger seat.

'Come on, Geordie, get in. Stop worrying, Ive told you your truck will definitely be there when you get back! I promise you.

I couldnt explain it, but there was a real honesty about him; just something so compelling about the guy that made me believe what he said; the truck would be taken care of. For all he sounded like an officer he certainly didnt act like any other officer Id come across in the armed forces, for he made me feel great and totally at ease. I jumped into the jeep and left the truck at the side of the road. As we drove off, I looked back at it, unable to believe what Id just done!

We sped through the rocky hills and barren landscape into the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed to me, and travelled for roughly twenty minutes along a dusty, narrow road. As we rounded the base of a steep, rock-strewn hill suddenly, to my surprise, we came in sight of what appeared to be a rusting old aircraft hangar standing well back from the track.

There was a fairly large flat area in front of it and I supposed it might once have been an airfield, but it seemed an odd place to have one out here in the middle of all these hills. I wondered if it might have been used for helicopters or something like that. There were a few broken-down outhouses and sheds close by, all pretty dilapidated and run down, nothing appeared to have been used for a long time. The badly neglected concrete areas of ground were cracked and broken, with parched brown tufts of gra.s.s pushing their way through, and nearby a couple of large lizards basking lazily in the sunshine, while others scuttled around in the dry gra.s.s before apparently disappearing into thin air.

The guy parked the jeep, jumped out and began to walk towards a small door in the side of the ramshackle old building.

'Follow me, Geordie, he said and we went inside.

It was just as decrepit inside as it was on the outside, dirty, rusting and falling to bits. Although I hadnt known what to expect, I was surprised to see that the building wasnt empty.

Three men were training together using some form of unarmed combat. They were young and extremely fit looking, with lean, muscular bodies and faces. By the look of them, I guessed that they were all older than me by five or possibly six years. They all wore long trousers and plimsolls and were incredibly agile, moving around making very little noise not shouting or screaming at one another. Id never seen anything like it before in my life. They were using real knives and what looked like a bayonet, and seemed to be going through some well-rehea.r.s.ed routine although I later discovered this was not the case: they were genuinely trying to catch one another out.

With their dark hair and deeply tanned bodies, two of them looked like locals although the other one was quite pasty looking. Suddenly a terrible thought occurred to me. What if they were terrorists? I was frightened and nervous, and very concerned about what was going to happen to me. I realised that Id stupidly dropped myself in it. Id allowed myself to be put in this position despite all the warnings wed been given. I hadnt a clue where I was and as they suddenly stopped what they were doing and began to walk towards me, I panicked and turned around to get back out of the door. But the guy from the beach was already putting the bolt in it. I was trapped!

He placed his hand lightly on my shoulder and said in his quiet confident way.

'Let me introduce you to your future teammates, Geordie.

Still feeling very apprehensive, I turned back to the three men who were now standing directly behind me.

Seeing them more closely grouped together, I became even more aware of just how powerfully built they were. They gave the impression that nothing could stop them, that they could simply walk through a brick wall if they wanted to. And there was something else too, something very odd about these men they didnt appear to blink very often. They kept looking straight at me in a penetrating and direct way, almost as if their gaze was going right through me.

I expected my hand to be crushed by theirs when they shook it, but instead it was the complete opposite their handshakes were firm but very gentle. Their general air of absolute confidence was overwhelming and I felt totally out of place standing next to them, like a cabbage in the middle of a strawberry field!

'Hi, Geordie, we know all about you! the slightly shorter one in the middle said.

Well, I thought, if thats the case what the h.e.l.l am I doing here?

'Just call me Dynamo, he went on, then smiling he stepped forward and shook my hand. 'This is Spot and thats Chalky. They both looked at me intently as they also shook my hand.

'Nice to have you with us, Geordie, Chalky said and grinned.

The one called Spot merely took my hand and winked.

They spoke quietly and confidently and to my surprise, their accents were pure English public school, very calm and very precise.

'Spot, bring Geordie a cup of tea up, the guy from the beach said, indicating for me to follow him as he led the way up a short flight of wooden steps and into a room at the top. As I followed him, I glanced around at the area in which they had been training and saw what looked like several tailors dummies, the heads of which appeared to be held on by small springs attached to the necks. I had no idea what they would be used for, nor the several old wooden doors standing against one wall with knives stuck into them.

Dynamo and Chalky had now quietly returned to the middle of the floor where they stood surrounded by several turnips suspended by strings at shoulder level from the beams above. It was all very strange; I was fascinated and very curious to find out more.

At the top of the stairs, I entered a very small, dingy room with a table and two high-backed wooden chairs stuck in the middle of it. An empty window frame, with only a few broken fragments of gla.s.s remaining, formed part of the wall between this room and their training area beyond. Through this opening, I saw that they had now resumed their training (although why anyone would choose this dump to train in was completely beyond me). What seemed even stranger was that the British Army would be using such an out-of-the-way, run-down and decrepit place as this for a training area.

It was fascinating to watch them. I couldnt tear my eyes away and itched to be able to join in and learn what they were doing. I was so engrossed that at first I didnt realise Id been spoken to until I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

'Do you want this tea, Geordie? the guy from the beach said, smiling. 'Why dont you sit down here?

Id been so absorbed in watching Dynamo and Chalky I hadnt even noticed that Spot had been in the room. I sat in the chair the guy indicated, but immediately jumped to my feet again as I heard several loud slapping noises coming from the training area. Looking through the window frame, I saw that the turnips were now swinging about wildly on their strings. Some of them were split in half, while others had huge chunks missing out of them. They had apparently been used as targets yet I could see no obvious weapons that could have caused such damage to them. Spot had now re-joined Dynamo and Chalky, but the two of them didnt appear to have moved from where Id last seen them standing. For the life of me, I couldnt think what could have inflicted such an amount of destruction in the split second Id looked away and what it must have taken to demolish all those turnips. I sat down again and looked at the guy opposite me in utter amazement.

'Impressed? he asked calmly.

'Yeah. But how did they do it? What on earth destroyed those turnips? I asked him.

'Never mind that now, youll find out later. By the way, call me Ken.

The table we sat at was bare except for my cup of tea. It appeared to be very old with some of the knots pushed out of the wood, and there were marks on it where knives had scratched the surface and several names had been carved into it.

'You obviously realise that things like this dont just happen overnight. This hasnt just been a random decision. Weve gone to a lot of trouble to get you here, Ken said, 'and a considerable amount of time has been spent observing you before selection. I dont want to have to go into an explanation as to how or why we arrived at that decision, but be aware that we dont do anything without a very good reason, he said slowly, emphasising his words, then paused briefly before continuing: 'So, just accept it, Geordie. There is one very important thing that you must understand nothing of what you see or hear can ever be repeated. Officially, this place does not exist.

Somehow, I didnt think so! I thought. This has got to be a dream or maybe a nightmare!

'But why am I here? I asked him, still confused.

'Well, as Dynamo rightly said, we know all about you, Geordie. Weve been watching you for a long time now and have brought you here because we think you have the necessary ability and skills to join us. With the right training, we know you will become just what we are looking for.

Now I knew I was dreaming me have the same skills as these guys? He had to be joking.

'I need to explain some things to you and as I have a lot to say we are going to be here for quite a while, Ken went on.

I noticed that it was very quiet now. There was no noise coming from any activity in the training area outside the room, which had apparently ceased and the men had gone, although I hadnt heard them leave. Now Ken and I appeared to be completely alone. I presumed Spot had brought in the large tea urn that stood in the corner of the room; as hed said, it looked as though we were going to be here for some time.

Ken was speaking to me again. 'Now concentrate on what Im saying.

'Look, Ken, what about my truck?

'Forget about it, Geordie, it will be exactly where you left it when you return, he rea.s.sured me. 'Well make sure youre back in plenty of time; your truck will be waiting, your papers will all be in order and no one will suspect that you have been anywhere other than where you should have been. Trust me.

I silently prayed that he was telling the truth. Id be in a lot of trouble otherwise.

'I see the stammer has gone we knew our little plan would work! he added with a wry smile.

'Eh! So, it was you lot! How on earth did you manage that? Id been right to think there was something strange going on, it was no wonder Lieutenant Stevens hadnt been able to understand the orders. But Christ, just who were these people and how were they able to arrange stuff like that?

'Forget about it, its just not important, Ken said.

He sat chatting to me in a calm, friendly way for a while, asking all sorts of questions about me and then about my sense of duty and loyalty to my country. I answered him as best as I could but mainly just sat at the table feeling very uncomfortable, not really knowing what to expect next.

Ken rested his arms in front of him on the table and sat quietly watching me for a few moments, then he leaned towards me and stared straight into my eyes. It was unnerving; I couldnt meet his gaze and kept looking away from him in embarra.s.sment. Without taking his eyes off mine, he took a coin out of his pocket and started spinning it on the table top, staring at me the whole time.

'We have all experienced fear at some time in our lives. It can be a real problem and get you killed. When you are confronted by someone who wants to kill you, you have to be in complete control at all times. If fear gets in the way you will surely die. So, Geordie, if you listen to me carefully and concentrate on what I am saying, then I am sure we can do something about it! Dont ask how, just concentrate. Are you afraid of dying? he asked, still playing with the coin, his manner totally relaxed and casual.

I couldnt understand where all this was leading to.

'Im sure you wont have heard of the "One Step Beyond", Geordie, but this is a process by which we make you look at life in a totally different way. We hope this will give you the ability to cope with anything and to make sure that you never suffer from fear again.

'I dont understand, I said. It was true I hadnt a clue what he was talking about.

'Neither did I, Geordie, neither did I, he said, his gaze on me intense and direct.

'I can see that youre shocked by all of this, arent you?

'You can say that again!

'Do you want to go ahead?

'Yes, I do. I dont quite know what Ive let myself in for but Im intrigued by what little Ive seen so far and Im not backing out now.

'Thats the way, lad. I thought thats what you would say. Right, lets get on with it!

He began to talk about life in general, the effects of getting old and how soon I could die. On and on throughout the rest of that day and into the night he kept repeating similar things. He emphasised that one had to have a definite purpose for doing anything, even for living. Hour after hour he spent convincing me that life wasnt worth living. I didnt understand what he was doing or what was happening; he was driving me crazy.

'Whats the point of going on? he kept asking. 'At the end of the day you are going to die, no matter what. Life is pointless, futile. In the end you will grow old, and you cant stop it.

To add emphasis to what he was saying, he produced a folder and showed me pictures from it of old people, sick people, people with deformities, pointing out the inevitability of it all.

After hours of this I was utterly confused, my head hurt and my body felt numb. I was disorientated and wanted things to end there and then but he just kept on spinning that d.a.m.n coin. He eyeballed me constantly telling me over and over that life wasnt worth living, his eyes never leaving me for a second. I hardly knew where I was, I was so tired and my eyelids were so heavy, I could barely keep my eyes open but he just kept on and on. His face was just a blur on the other side of the table.

Suddenly he stopped spinning the coin and put his hand beneath the table. He drew out a service revolver, which he then placed directly in front of me with the handle pointing towards me.

'This will solve your problems, he said very quietly and pushed it towards me.

It all made sense. He was right. I was only eighteen but didnt want to live just to grow old and sick. Tears were pouring down my face, blurring my vision even more; I could barely make out the gun in front of me. I reached out and placed my hand on top of it then picked it up, it felt so heavy. I was shaking; the gun seemed to weigh a ton. Ken was staring directly at me and I couldnt look away.

Sobbing, I placed the gun at the side of my face and he smiled slowly. I squeezed the trigger but nothing happened, my finger just couldnt seem to exert enough pressure to pull it. Slowly Ken reached out, grasped my wrist and gently took the gun out of my hand.

'Dont be stupid, Geordie, he said softly.

Picking up the gun and my cup he walked towards the urn, filled the cup with tea and placed it in front of me as he put the gun back under the table.