Although I hadnt been physically knocked about, it certainly felt as though I had. I was utterly exhausted and couldnt focus properly. I felt as though I was in a dream, or a nightmare. Although I could see his lips moving the words seemed to be delayed, reaching my ears seconds later. I wanted to sleep but he kept on talking to me, telling me to drink my tea. He was completely relaxed, sitting back in his chair drinking, no longer staring at me. Gradually my head began to clear again and I relaxed.

Then, when I least expected it, his whole tack changed. He leaned forward again, placed his elbows on the table and looked directly at me.

'You just cant give up, Geordie. Yes, you are going to die, we all are, its inevitable but your mother didnt bring you into this world for nothing, he went on quietly. 'You dont want to disappoint her, do you?

I was totally confused now. 'But you just said that living was a waste of time!

'Yes, I did. But look at it this way; we dont know how long we have so what the h.e.l.l have you got to lose? You were brought here for a purpose, Geordie, you are very important to us. The things that you are about to embark on would be a nightmare to any ordinary soldier. You can leave now if you want but if you stay, by the end of this programme you will not fear anything! We understand that you will want to tell people what has happened here, but no one will ever believe you. Most of what you have just gone through you wont even be able to remember clearly.

On and on throughout the rest of the night he kept telling me about how important life was. This was completely opposite to what he had been telling me before. I was so confused and desperately tired. I couldnt understand how any of this was going to get rid of my fear.

'Let me try to explain, Geordie. Fear is a natural phenomenon found in both the animal and the human world. It is an inbuilt process that all living things are born with in order to cope with and survive in their surroundings. When danger is perceived the body floods the bloodstream with the hormone adrenalin. The effects of adrenalin prepare the body for flight or fight or to run around like a headless chicken, or you simply just freeze on the spot. It affects everyone in a different way but it does not always help us to survive. The aim of the One Step Beyond is to control fear, give us the ability to control this function and prevent this process from taking place.

'Well I dont think you will be frightened to take risks or fear death any longer because of what you have just been through, and you will find this very hard to believe, Ken now told me. 'You will know that death is inevitable but because you will not be frightened by death you will have no fear of its inevitability; it will be just a game to you and the game is to stay alive. You dont know what if anything is beyond death.

He continued: 'So you might as well enjoy life to the full. You will grow older, but you can control your ageing by keeping fit and active, staying young in mind and body, not smoking or drinking, keeping an open mind. If you get rid of the fear of death itself, prevent things happening to you, control and handle situations, then you wont be frightened to do things. It is the fear of death that holds us back. Death is still inevitable but how you die can be controlled.

Although I still didnt fully understand, I began to see the truth in what he was saying. He had spent hours breaking me down and now he was building me back up. Something very strange had happened to me, as if overnight I had suddenly grown up. I felt that I had pa.s.sed their test, but he made no mention of that and the next thing I remembered was being woken by the clatter of pots being brought into the room. Lifting my head from the table where I had fallen asleep, I saw Spot, Chalky and Dynamo carrying food containers into the room, which they put on to the table in front of me. I felt dazed and unsure of my surroundings.

'Come on, Geordie, you have done a lot of work in the last four days, Dynamo said.

'Eh? Did I hear you right? I blurted out. But he just stood there with a huge smile on his face and kept on pouring out some tea.

'Surely that cant be possible! Four days? I queried in total confusion.

'Oh yes Geordie, believe me.

'But four days, here? Here in this room you mean?

Pausing from what he was doing he now turned fully towards me and, still smiling, said, 'Well no, not exactly. The first day you were in this room. But the rest of the time you were down there training with us. He nodded towards their training area beyond the broken window.

'That cant be right Dynamo. I dont remember that.

'No, but thats the whole idea! You cant remember because Ken had to switch off your conscious brain so you wont be able to remember anything Geordie. You may have heard of people sleepwalking and even killing someone while still in that state, or of others who have been put under hypnosis then asked to do silly things like taking their clothes off, and when they wake up they dont remember doing any of it at all. Thats because it was their subconscious that was doing it. Do you see Geordie? When you go to sleep your conscious brain switches off. It goes to sleep, but your subconscious is like a movie camera, it records everything. Thats how you have dreams and you see pictures that seem so real and if they are good, when someone wakes you up you may become upset or angry, but if it is a terrible dream it can turn into a nightmare, where you wake up terrified or even screaming and sweating because it felt so real. Just look at what happens to drug addicts and alcoholics. If they dont get a fix then they live in a different world to the rest of us because their subconscious is out of control. He paused to take a drink of his tea.

'So where do you get these dreams from? I asked him, fascinated and wanting to know more.

'Its something you have seen in the past, he told me. 'What Ken did was put you to sleep, to switch your conscious brain off. So we know how to programme your subconscious to accept and remember "The Machine".

'I just cant see how thats possible, to physically take part in something over four days and not remember anything about it. How is that possible?

'We know how its done. They taught us.

'Who taught you?

'Look you dont need to know, you dont need to remember.

The three of them now sat down at the table while Dynamo continued talking to me: 'What you have learnt in four days should have taken months, its called programming. Dont ask any more questions. You are very weak and probably a bit numb if you pinch yourself you wont feel it. Oh, by the way, youll find that you have a few loose teeth at the back and they will probably fall out soon.

'Loose back teeth? I prodded around with my tongue; he was right, on either side of my mouth the molars were wobbling loosely in my gums.

'Youll also find that you have a cut across your knee and a few light scratches on your arms too, Dynamo went on. 'But thats all Geordie, other than that youre perfectly OK. You got through and we got you back.

'What do you mean you got me back? Back from where? I wanted to know. 'I thought you said wed been here all the time?

'Thats right, you have. The reason they call it the "One Step Beyond" is that the procedure you went through can be very dangerous sometimes. The mind just cant take it and then we wouldnt be able to get you back; in other words you would be brain dead. Youre OK arent you? So not to worry, Dynamo said with a wink, then he grinned at me and stood up.

'But why didnt you warn me about this in the beginning? I wanted to know.

'We thought you wouldnt understand and besides your mind would have resisted and that would have made it more difficult.

This was the first thing hed said that really made any sense to me because I truly didnt understand any of it.

'Yes I think its just as well you didnt tell me, I can see that now. What youre saying is that if something had gone wrong I might have ended up like a cabbage. Now that Ive had time to think about it I am glad that you didnt tell me. Have you all been through this "One Step Beyond" programming? What is it you called it, another dimension?

'Yes of course we have but that was a few years ago.

'But why pick me?

'Well you seemed to have all of the qualities we require, plus the fact that you obviously believe in clean living: you didnt drink or smoke and you were very good in the gym too. How many men do you know that dont drink or smoke? So it was a bit of a miracle that they found you.

'Yes but what about that stammer I had? Why didnt that put them off?

'Well, Geordie, as I said you had many of the qualities we look for. To be honest, your recruitment had nothing to do with us, thats their job. Besides whats a stammer? You were just a bit nervous thats all.

After Dynamo explained this, Ken, who had been sitting quietly at the table, while Id been chatting with Dynamo now spoke again as if reading my mind: 'Who are "they"? Oh no, Geordie, we cant go down that road because we dont even know who they are. He stopped then and smiled at me. 'Just eat and drink what you can. Thats it with the questions for now, although one thing I will say is that they have never been wrong yet; we all have the same things in common apart from the stammer.

'Can I ask just one more question? Its very important to me, I begged him.

'OK but just one, Ken warned me sternly as they all rose from the table.

'Well, why all of this? I mean, why "The Sixteen"? Whats wrong with the army?

Ken gave me another brief smile. 'Now thats a good question; all I can say is that there are people at the top, the very top, who control the gold, the money, the oil, in fact they control just about everything including the army, AND THE GOVERNMENT. These people are greedy evil b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who are not satisfied with what theyve got, they want to rule the world and everyone in it. And theyre getting help from even higher places. They have meetings every year just planning that, and we are going to try to stop them Geordie! Without that certain technology they will find it difficult to achieve it. Our job is to try to stop them.

I was pretty baffled by his reply. 'Well I have no idea whats going on in the world, but for some reason I believe you.

'Good, thats good, he said with a brief nod at me. 'But please remember this Geordie: never trust anyone outside of The Sixteen. AND I mean no one, NO ONE! I simply cannot emphasise this to you enough. With that he sat down again, leaned back in his seat, put his hands behind his head and said no more.

Dynamo came over from where he had been standing listening and slapped me on the back. 'Have we got a surprise for you! he said, grinning down at me.

As we had sat together talking and eating, they had made me feel as though I was already one of the team.

Now Ken spoke again: 'When youre finished youll have to come downstairs and well get you kitted out, Geordie.

Spot looked over at me and smiled too. 'Well, Geordie, youre one of us now, you just dont know it yet!

I sat there in amazement, not knowing exactly what he meant by that, but one thing I did know I didnt have that 'cabbage feeling anymore!

The one called Dynamo seemed to be bursting with energy. He was constantly on the move, pacing up and down the room. Suddenly he spoke to me: 'Come on, Geordie, lets be having you, laddie! he said, using a strong Scottish accent. I could see that I was going to have some fun with these people.

I finished what I was eating and followed him down the short flight of stairs into their training area.

Talk about a 'change of life! From the very first moment I met my teammates and went through the 'One Step Beyond thats when the change came about. Thats when I woke up, you might say. The 'One Step Beyond is certainly what did it!

For all I still didnt know exactly what had taken place, one thing I was completely sure of: the person who went into that little room at the top of those stairs certainly wasnt the same guy who came out of it today!

I looked at these four guys, complete strangers, yet for some reason that I couldnt explain, I was sure that they were the kind of people I had wanted to be around all of my life, real men. I couldnt really understand why they wanted me to be a part of their team but it was obvious that they knew exactly what they were doing. Yet it was very hard not to think that I was just having a dream. It was difficult to believe that I actually was in that old rusty steel hangar all that time four days and we werent in there all that time because Ken liked the sound of my voice; nave I might have been but stupid I wasnt, despite what my father called me!

So I followed Dynamo and stood holding my mug of tea, wondering what was going to happen next.

'Well, how do you feel, Geordie? he asked.

'Great! In fact, I feel b.l.o.o.d.y marvellous! Apart from the loose teeth.

'Good! OK, come over here.

He picked up a canvas holdall, and then opened it up flat like a sheet on top of a table in front of me. Fastened inside of it was a strange looking belt, three boot-knives, and also a steel bow, which was in two halves, and a metal crossbow. They were without doubt some of the strangest looking devices I had ever seen, nor could I work out what they could possibly be used for. The arrows were not made of wood; they seemed to be made of a very strong plastic with odd rubber flights attached shaped into one large flight, like a planes rudder. There was a swivel attached made of metal in place of the nock and that had a hole through the side of it. Alongside of these items there was also a large selection of peculiarly shaped things.

'This equipment is yours. We will explain exactly what its all used for later.

As they pointed out the various bits and pieces on the table they kept mentioning something called 'The Machine to one another.

'Whats this machine you keep talking about? I asked Dynamo. I was full of curiosity about this and wanting to know more.

'"The Machine" is a special form of combat that I mentioned to you earlier. Its very difficult to explain but youll find out. In fact, you know it already. The Machine is now in there, Dynamo said, pointing to my head. 'Youve been programmed with it. Thats what youve been learning over the last four days. In your first few hours here when you were with Ken, what he does in that time is to switch off your conscious brain. That lets us access your subconscious brain and then the programming can begin, first the fear elimination, then we install The Machine; you see the subconscious brain is like a form of film camera or recorder. The Machine we talk about is basically a weapon or tool which will enable you to disarm your enemy no matter what weapon he is carrying, whether pistols, rifles, sub-machine guns, machetes, batons, knives etc., and no matter what protection he might be wearing. The Machine gives you the ability to control him, kill him or to do sufficient damage to prevent him from fighting back, without incurring any injury to yourself. You see we never punch or kick. If you punch or kick your a.s.sailant you will inevitably knock him away from you. Because in order to punch or kick him you have to be facing him, so as he is expecting something to happen to him, and he will duck, pull back or move away. Also, what do you do to him if he is wearing some form of protection a steel helmet, or bandoliers, or carrying grenades, bayonets and hes got a pistol and a rifle and its ten-to-one hes not alone, he has his mates with him. I dont think a punch is going to help you in any of those instances, is it?

'It isnt enough to simply hope that you might catch him on his own or half asleep or off his guard! So we dont punch or kick, Geordie. We dont need to and neither do you, because you are now the proud owner of The Machine and whether you like or not, it will be with you for the rest of your life. The next step is for us to prove it to you, and in order to do so we are going to attack you with some of the weapons you see laid out on that table. Dynamo paused here as he made a sweeping gesture with his hand over the table top, then he stared very directly at me as he went on: 'Now, listen Geordie. We have to be very careful here because your conscious brain is not in control of The Machine yet, so the only thing we can do is to go through the motions and what I mean by that is that we will attack you.

Suddenly the one they called Chalky took over speaking and chipped in, saying: 'Where the problem lies is in the fact that we are not putting you through a test to see if you can disarm us, we know you can. What we want to see is what you will do to us when you have taken the weapon. Let me try to explain that more clearly by giving you an example. You know when you first learn how to drive a car and you have trouble finding where the gears are or the clutch or the footbrake, so that when the car begins to move you have to look where youre going while trying to find the gears and work the pedals and steering? Initially when you are still unsure about the gears, you have to keep taking your eyes off the road in order to look down and check and that causes a problem with your steering control and can often result in a crash.

'But after practising a while the subconscious brain eventually learns how to drive the car and makes it seem second nature. It all just clicks into place and this enables the conscious brain to look where you are going and to forget about the technique involved, to the point where you could even eat an apple, think about where you are going that night or who with, but then if someone should step out in front of the car for all your mind is elsewhere thinking of other things, you instinctively slam on the brakes and hopefully stop just in time. Then in shock you think now how did I do that? But if that shocks you, then you can imagine if you saw a multi-car pile-up taking place right in front of you.

'If youre scared and fear takes over, then you will lose control, panic and wont know what to do or be able to understand what is happening around you, tunnel vision occurs, and it is difficult if not impossible to perform complex or fine motor movements. So, Geordie, we have installed The Machine and the fear has now gone.

'Its time to connect the conscious to the subconscious now because it is that which puts you in control and that is when the subconscious is using The Machine; just like when youre driving a car, the conscious brain does not have to look down to change gear. This means that we cannot attack you full-on until you have experienced what The Machine actually does. So when I attack you with this baton, he said while brandishing the weapon above his head, 'what I will do is turn around like this with my back towards you.

As Chalky spoke he slowly performed the movement he was describing to me, then after only a brief pause he went on: 'Then I will turn and try to hit you, but I wont tell you which part of the body I will be aiming for.

'Hold it just a minute, I said, interrupting him. 'Are you quite sure that I can stop it?

Chalky gave a little laugh, winked at me, then nodding his head slightly he said, 'Oh yes. I am positive. OK Dynamo lets go for it!

Without a seconds hesitation he turned and the baton was coming towards me, moving so fast it was barely visible, yet, in an instant, I had disarmed him and then I had the baton in my hand and was so close to him that my chest was now touching his right shoulder, and I had locked him in such a way that he was unable to move at all.

I could see what I was doing but didnt know how I was doing it, if you know what I mean. I could feel I was about to do something else to him, when I was grabbed by Dynamo and Spot, and I heard Kens voice firmly saying: 'Hold it Geordie, just hold it! He clapped me on the back as he began to explain: 'We had to stop you; you might have seriously injured him!

Then I heard Chalky chortle before he burst out: 'You might have b.l.o.o.d.y killed him! But dont worry Geordie, we wont let that happen. Alright, all we have to do now is to repeat that until you are in full control of it.

It took me another three or four goes at it before I really began to feel in control of it this awesome feeling of power talk about a change of life! No words that I knew could have completely expressed just how I felt when, after several more practise runs, Dynamo suddenly said: 'Thats it! Its looking good. Now dont look at what youre doing, look at whats around you. You need to put yourself into a position in order to take on the next attacker. Because you see youre in control of the people who are attacking you, they just dont realise it until its too late. The idea is to keep the guy you have disarmed and disabled, and you hold him up right in front of you and pretend that you are still struggling with him while you hold him there keeping him to your front. So he now becomes your shield, then you manoeuvre yourself and him into a position where you turn your back towards the next attacker that you want to take out. You see Geordie, the conscious brain is instructing The Machine as to what move to do next, which will get you into a position to take on this next attacker. You see this guy thinks that you are not looking because you still appear to be struggling with his pal, only you know differently.

Dynamo, Chalky and Ken carefully demonstrated and slowly went through this manoeuvre as Dynamo was explaining it all to me.

'Boy it gets better all the time! I said.

'And it gets even better, Chalky told me with a nudge and a wink, 'but first we have, or rather I should say, you have to keep practising this until you can do it in your sleep. They all laughed at this. 'Then when you have done that, we start with strategy.

Dynamo began to explain: 'You see you cant just walk up to the enemy and take his gun, because obviously it is far more than likely he is going to shoot you the second he sees you! But there are ways to deceive your enemy, it is all psychology. You deceive your opponent by making them feel that there really isnt any threat and even fool them into believing that they are in full control, when in actual fact you are. Because, Geordie, we need to be able to survive in a high-risk environment.

'And such survival must be achieved without weaponry or any form of logistical backup. It was Spot who had spoken. Until now, he had remained standing a little apart, quietly observing us while Dynamo, Chalky or Ken gave me instructions and information. I was fascinated by the way each of them was able to continue talking exactly from the point where another had left off. It seemed weird to me the fact that although these men were physically not alike, in their movements, mannerisms, gestures and the way they spoke they appeared to be almost identical.

'We need to be able to operate effectively on our own and make use of any locally available resources, Geordie, Spot continued. 'As unarmed combat situations are probably the most stressful situations a SPECOPS operator is likely to face. During such encounters, tunnel vision often occurs and it is difficult, if not impossible, to perform as one should. But we have been programmed to overcome that.

'The key to survival in any hostile environment that involves close-quarter combat is to have a system that is simple, yet brutally effective, a system, Geordie, that provides us with the maximum chance of success, with the minimal use of physical and mental energy. You see this system can be used to defeat any and every form of attack, whether it be from single or multiple a.s.sailants, and we have got that system. So Geordie, every opportunity we get now we have to get you prepared. We are currently expecting to go on a job fairly soon and the best way to train is with the real thing! Our intelligence tells us its only a few days away so just think young man, in only a few days your life will change again. You cant beat the real thing; you will be able to just let yourself go.

'Are you sure that I am ready?

Dynamo slapped me on the back. 'Oh you are more than ready, he told me. 'Look, we have got the rest of today and tomorrow to teach you some rope work, abseiling and the like before you need to go back to your regular unit.

'Oh yeah, that looks great. I have seen that in pictures. I was excited and very eager to get on with it.

'We will spend two or three hours doing that. Then the rest of the time we will use to introduce the "sash" to your conscious brain.

'Ive heard you all mentioning something called "The Sash". Is it that thing in my kit that looks like a belt? I asked.

'Thats it Geordie, you mean this, Spot said, as he walked towards me holding out both hands in front of him, in which he was holding what appeared to be a flat, straight piece of wood with small pieces of metal at either end about an inch-and-a-half wide, just slightly wider than the belt itself, which he now handed to me while he told me: 'You know, you asked what it was that had cut those turnips to pieces? Well, Geordie, this is what did it, and you see those other turnips hanging over there? You did that when you were asleep, you might say! They seemed to find this funny and laughed together briefly.

'What! You mean that I know how to use this? I blurted out in total disbelief.

'Yes youre very good with it too, Geordie!

'Oh man, this is so hard to take in. It was all just so hard to believe and I simply couldnt get my head around all of what they were telling me. Obviously they saw my bewilderment because Spot patted my shoulder in a friendly gesture of encouragement as he spoke to me: 'Yes. We know what you mean. We have all been there, too. Its like waking up in a different world, isnt it? Youll know what I mean by that soon because in a few months from now when you have been on a few jobs, as we call them, and killed a few times. It will all seem much clearer to you then. Just put it on, he told me. I fitted it around my back and had to use quite a bit of pressure to then pull it forward around my waist in order to fasten it at the front.

'Dont forget to put the safety catch on, or else someone might lose their kneecap, Dynamo warned me. Looking at them now I realised that each of them was also wearing a similar device around their waists.

'If Ive used this before, how come Im having trouble putting it on now? I asked him. 'No! Hold on, wait a minute! I know! I am trying to fasten it using the conscious brain!

'Yes, Geordie. But they will be working together soon, Dynamo said, moving until he stood a couple of yards away from me, grinning broadly. 'Now, come over here. Lets refresh your memory. With that he slapped at his belt buckle with the palm of his right hand, then there was a rushing, whistling, whip-like sound and the upper half of his body pivoted with amazing speed as suddenly the remaining turnips hanging nearby disintegrated. He turned and took one step towards me; once more I heard the whistling sound in my ears as pictures started to flash off and on in my head: pictures of us training together, something I had no recollection of. I clutched my head in both hands; the pictures stopped as suddenly as they had begun. Dynamo moved again with astonishing speed and immediately a tin mug and bottle, which were standing on a nearby table only inches from my hand, seemed to vanish into thin air.

'Are you alright? he asked after a quick look in my direction. 'Its all starting to come back to you now isnt it? Well thats great, the more you train the more it will come together. Its difficult to explain but in a day or two you wont be able to remember how you were before you met us and you will have some strange dreams tonight, but we have all experienced the same thing. In a few days, when you come back here, you wont be asking any questions, you will just simply know what to do. Dont ask us how. Just accept that you will. Youll be going back to your camp soon. Before you go, there are some more turnips over there just waiting for you.

'For me?

'Yes thats right Geordie, just for you.

I stood for a moment thinking of what hed said.

'And this is what you call "The Sash"?