The Sixteen Read online

  Chalky was moving around now, slowly trying to bend and stretch his legs. He was hunched over and his legs still couldn’t fully straighten.

  ‘Do you realise you’re two feet shorter than when we first left camp?’ Dynamo teased.

  ‘Oh ha, ha, very funny,’ Chalky hissed, wincing and grimacing as the feeling began to return to his constricted blood vessels. The pain must have been unbearable.

  ‘Well, that’s it!’ I told them quietly. ‘I’ve found the back door! They’re definitely in there, I saw four of them but there are possibly more.’

  ‘Can we get through from there into the cave where they are?’ Spot asked.

  ‘Yes, definitely. There’s another big mound of loose earth and stones in there, just like the one in that other cave. It goes right up and almost touches the roof but there’s a gap of about three feet at the top, enough to get through, that’s how I could see their firelight. I went as far as I could and only saw four of them but I think there might be more of them outside. There’s a big opening in the wall directly opposite the mound, about seventy feet away, which is probably the main way in. There’s water pouring in down the sides of the passage and the noise of that should cover any sound we might make, but it’s pretty wet in there – we’ll have to go through about three inches of water.’

  ‘Good work, Geordie! OK, then if you’re right there’s only one main entrance into the cave,’ Dynamo said quietly. ‘Chalky, the blood should have reached your erogenous zones by now. Do you think you can make your way around the cliff edge to the front of the cave?’

  ‘Yeah, course I can! No problem!’

  ‘OK but don’t make a move until you’re sure we’re in physical contact with these guys. Right then, check your weapons, and let’s go and get the bastards before it gets too light,’ Dynamo said, removing his pistol from its straps.

  ‘We’ll have to try not to use these unless it’s absolutely necessary,’ Spot warned. ‘The noise will carry for miles and we don’t know how many more of them there may be about.’

  I took out my MK1 to make sure there was a bullet up the spout then replaced it in its straps before checking my boot-knife and sash, then grabbing our holdalls, Dynamo, Spot and I made our way back to the narrow crevice and re-entered the cave.

  Next I led them along the damp tunnel towards the rockfall, where we left our bags at the bottom of the mound, then the three of us carefully began to make our way up the loose shale and peered through the gap at the top into the cave below.

  Four men were grouped around the small fire, two squatting with their backs to us and one standing slightly to their right, while the other was kneeling opposite facing the mound. They appeared to be cooking something on the end of sticks, which they were poking into the fire. They kept their voices low, but every now and then would burst into laughter at the guy kneeling opposite. He seemed to be having a problem with a handgun in his belt, which he kept hitching up and adjusting. Suddenly he stood up and moved around the campfire so that now he too had his back to us.

  Dynamo silently indicated that I should take out the guy nearest to me, on my left; he and Spot would take care of the others. Together we squeezed through the narrow gap between the embankment and roof, but just as we prepared to roll sideways down the slope, we heard a slight scuffling noise from outside the cave and knew that Chalky must have had to act quickly. The terrorists instantly grabbed at their guns and began to move towards the cave entrance. It was our signal to act before they got too far away from us.

  The three of us rolled down the steep slope in unison and I landed lightly on my feet about a yard behind my target. Immediately he spun around and paused for a brief second, a shocked expression on his face, before going for the handgun in his belt.

  Instinctively I knew what to do, my training just took over, or I should say ‘The Machine’ took over. I blocked his weapon arm with my right hand and spun my body in behind him using the unorthodox and seemingly robotic movements of ‘The Machine’ and so ensured that his body was between his pals and me whilst allowing me to constantly check all around for where another attack might come from. Simultaneously my left and right hands cracked him hard on the side of the jaw and the left side of his head just behind the ear. Stunned, he staggered as I locked his head against my arm before I completed the special ‘Machine’ technique I’d been taught and broke his neck.

  I felt no resistance at all. There was simply a muted cracking sound, like dry wood on a fire, then his body went limp. I hung on to him for a brief moment while I checked the area for anyone in the shadows ready to take a shot at me, swiftly turning with my back to the cave wall. If there had been anyone there, I would have used his body as a shield and his gun to take them out. Glancing quickly about me it appeared that the fight was over, as the cave was eerily quiet now. I let him go and his inert body fell on to its knees like a sack of potatoes before turning to land face down on the ground at my feet.

  Then I looked at the lifeless shape for a brief moment, stunned by how easy it had been and how quickly it had happened – a matter of mere seconds. I knew exactly how the guy must have felt at that precise moment before he died, as I had experienced a similar movement during my training and had felt as though I were locked in a vice, totally unable to move.

  I was still tense, ready for action and pumped up with adrenalin when a nearby movement caught my attention, and immediately releasing the safety catch on my sash, I whirled around in case we had missed one of them in the shadows. In the same instance that I turned, I saw Dynamo in the flickering firelight as he dropped a body to the ground where it landed with a dull thud. He stood over it for a moment, his boot-knife upside down in his right hand, then looked over towards me and seeing my hand hovering over the button in the centre of my buckle, he slowly smiled and winked.

  ‘That’s the way, Geordie,’ he said quietly, then pointed towards the guy at my feet. ‘But I don’t think you’re going to need it now. Check him, make sure he’s dead.’

  I replaced the catch on my sash – once I hit that button, the spring was so powerful nothing could stop it. Dynamo had been well within its range and he knew it.

  With my left foot, I flipped over the motionless body and as it turned the man’s left arm fell into the nearby fire in a shower of sparks that shot into the air. The fire brightened and a bloody face was illuminated in the glow, its eyes blank and staring, a huge gaping wound at its throat and another deep slash to its wrist, which formed large pools of blood around the body. I knew exactly what the man had attempted to do and the moves Dynamo had made in order to have inflicted those particular wounds.

  A strong smell of singeing hair and flesh brought me swiftly back to reality and, jumping over the body at my feet, I kicked his arm out of the fire before the flames could do much more than burn the skin. Looking up I saw Dynamo standing watching me, shaking his head and I realised that what I had done was rather stupid under the circumstances, since the man wouldn’t have been able to feel a thing. I’d merely acted instinctively.

  Beyond Dynamo two other bodies lay crumpled on the rocky ground. Spot was kneeling next to one, checking it over.

  ‘See if they’re carrying any documents or papers on them, Geordie, then have a quick look around,’ he told me.

  The guy I’d killed wasn’t carrying anything on him other than a packet of cigarettes so I moved away from the fire towards the walls of the cave to see what, if anything, they had stashed about. There was a small army trailer filled with bits of weapons nearby but other than a few empty boxes there was nothing else. A slight noise at the entrance to the cave alerted the three of us and we turned in unison just as Chalky strolled in dragging a body behind him with one hand and carrying his sash in the other. The man’s jaw was missing and his face was unrecognisable. The front of his white shirt was saturated with blood that glistened damply in the firelight. Several ‘pineapple’ grenades hung from fastenings on his belt. Chalky dumped the lifeless form against the cav
e wall.

  ‘Well, he’s going nowhere!’

  ‘What the hell happened there, couldn’t you have done a neater job than that?’ Spot teased, nodding towards the dead man.

  ‘Well, he shouldn’t have jumped out of the bushes the way he did!

  ‘I couldn’t move quickly enough because of my legs, so I had to use my sash on him, didn’t I?’ Chalky indignantly replied. ‘What else could I do? Anyway, look what he’s carrying – he must’ve been planning to blow up half the bloody island!’

  ‘What else is out there?’ Dynamo asked.

  ‘Well, there was only him but there’s obviously been a lot of others judging by the numbers of footprints. I’ve had a bit of a look around but there’s nothing out there now, I think we’re too late. It must be true about the Turks getting ready to invade because these guys were preparing for something big. They’ve been part of a full-size operation – there are empty ammo boxes and gun boxes lying all over and a stack of tyre tracks mainly from light trucks.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think they’ll be so keen to use this place again, they won’t feel safe hiding up here in future, not when they find this lot,’ Dynamo pointed out. ‘Come on, we’re finished here. Grab those grenades and any weapons they’ve got and let’s get back.’

  Spot nodded towards the mound of rubble. ‘Come on, Geordie, we’ll go and get our ropes and bags from behind this lot.’

  ‘Just a minute, Spot, I’ve got something to do.’

  And before he could reply, I dashed out of the main entrance to the cave leaving them to collect our stuff. The sky was lighter now and the still mountain air felt cool and fresh after the smoky atmosphere inside the cave. Thick radiation fog swirled heavily beneath me in the valleys below screening them from sight as I made my way around the cliff face and returned to the first cave, where I’d killed the dog. Scrambling up the wet scree once again, I collected the two puppies and returned to the others.

  When they saw me holding the puppies in my arms the three of them looked at me in astonishment and burst out laughing.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Dynamo exclaimed. ‘What a guy, he’d risk his neck just for a couple of puppies! Why didn’t you just leave them?’

  ‘What on earth are you going to do with them?’ Spot asked, laughing and shaking his head.

  ‘I’ll take them back to the camp and try to find a home somewhere for them, I’ll just say that I found them dumped by the roadside. I couldn’t leave them there to starve to death, Dynamo, I mean it just wouldn’t be British, would it!’ I replied, grinning.

  The three of them burst out laughing again.

  ‘You big softie,’ Chalky teased

  ‘He’ll learn!’ Dynamo said. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

  We left the cave by the main entrance and followed the narrow track for about a hundred yards or so before leaving it. We had no way of knowing who was in the area and didn’t want to run the risk of coming across any terrorists who might still be in the vicinity, or possibly run into a British army patrol.

  Although the early-morning mist still covered the low-lying areas, it was growing warmer now and the air was heavy and still. The only sound was that of our feet on the gravel and loose rocks as we made our way back over the mountains to where we’d hidden the jeep the night before.

  We carefully approached the concealed vehicle, checking the surrounding area in case it had been discovered but it was well hidden and remained undetected. I climbed into the back with the two puppies; the seats were soaking wet where the heavy dew had dripped from the branches above and Dynamo was having trouble getting it started due to this and the dampness in the air. The battery was barely turning the engine over.

  ‘That’s all we bloody well need. Jump out, Geordie,’ he told me. ‘We’ll have to bump start it, it’s just as well we’re on top of a mountain.’

  I did as he said and stood to one side holding the puppies as Spot and Chalky pushed the jeep out on to the steep track.

  ‘Get in!’ Dynamo yelled, and we scrambled on board as the vehicle slowly began to freewheel then pick up some speed but, when took his foot off the clutch, the wheels merely skidded as though the handbrake was still on. They just weren’t gripping on the loose stones and chippings of the track.

  ‘Oh, bloody great!’ he exclaimed. ‘If this thing doesn’t start soon we’ll end up having to walk back. We’ll just have to freewheel as far as we can and I’ll keep trying the damn thing.’

  The three of us began to bounce up and down to try to help the wheels to grip. Chalky and I were sitting in the back and I was being thrown about a bit and having difficulty holding on to both the jeep and the puppies. The two of us burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggles.

  ‘You and your bloody puppies!’ Chalky laughed and put out his hand. ‘Here, give me one of them before you fall out of this damn thing. Lovely little chaps aren’t they,’ he said, taking the fat little body I passed to him and stroking it.

  I was grateful for the free hand; we were being jolted around a lot and I needed to hold on. The puppy snuggled into him and Chalky grinned broadly.

  ‘Who’s a big softie now,’ I asked him.

  Suddenly there was huge bang and the jeep’s engine burst into life and a cloud of belching black smoke shot out of the exhaust. Dynamo braked sharply and stopped the jeep then turned around in his seat.

  ‘Hell, that’s all we need. They’ll have heard that in bloody Nicosia. I might as well have fired a twelve-bore and here’s me thinking we were going to get back without a hitch as everything’s gone smoothly so far.’ The engine had stopped spluttering now and was running quietly.

  ‘Well, at least you’ve got it started,’ Spot pointed out as Dynamo crunched the vehicle into gear and we slowly began to make our way down the steep track.

  Chalky sat watching me, shaking his head, laughing and smiling as I clung on with one hand and cradled the puppy in the other.

  ‘I might be soft but you’re crazy, do you know that!’ he said.

  ‘Aye, but I took care of that Greek, didn’t I?’ I replied.

  He looked at me steadily for a moment, ‘Yes, you certainly did, Geordie! But you know, I think you need to be a bit crazy to belong to this outfit – so you’re well and truly a part of the team now!’

  ‘Those puppies could land you in a bit of bother when you get back, you know, people will ask questions about them,’ Spot pointed out. ‘You really should have just left them behind, Geordie.’

  Dynamo shook his head. ‘Just leave it, Spot, he’ll learn.’

  With the gradually lightening sky visibility improved, and we began to catch brief glimpses of the trail ahead through the thinning mist as we descended slowly down the twisting track. Eventually we came across the bend where we’d had trouble on our way up the night before.

  ‘Jeeesus! How the hell did we manage to get past here in the dark without ending up over the edge?’ Spot exclaimed, speaking for all of us as we gazed in disbelief at the sheer drop where the washed-away track narrowed to the mere width of the jeep. It was no wonder our wheels had spun off in the dark – only Dynamo’s fast reactions had saved us from going over. Obviously going down was going to prove to be much easier than going up!

  We didn’t talk much after that and I sat quietly stroking the warm little body on my lap. The gentle snuffling of the sleeping puppy reminded me of two rabbits I’d had as a kid.

  I’d grown up in a rough, poor area of Newcastle where presents were rare in most houses and non-existent in mine. But on one particular occasion when I was about seven my father came home with two very small rabbits saying they were for me. I’d hardly been able to believe it as he’d never bought me anything before!

  I’d loved them and called them Floppy and Hick. In order to get money to buy bran and to make them a hutch, I’d hunted around for old boxes and once the hutch was built, I’d broken up what was left and sold it for firewood. I kept this up for several months and the rabbits grew sleek, plump and cuddl
y. They were Flemish Giants and as they grew began to live up to their name. I’d rush home from school every night and dash straight into the backyard to see them. Then one night my mother shouted down the stairs, frantically trying to stop me – but it was too late and as I’d opened the back door, I’d seen their bodies hanging there, dripping with blood. My father had killed and gutted them to sell to one of his mates for his Sunday dinner! In that moment all my hatred of him had come to the surface. I’d wanted to kill him and would never trust him again.

  Suddenly my daydream was shattered as a loud crack rang out and a stream of water cascaded on to us from the leaves above.

  Chalky pointed ahead. ‘I think I spotted something that looks like a truck, over there.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Over there, about eight hundred yards in that direction.’

  ‘How can you see eight hundred yards?’ Dynamo queried, peering into the mist. ‘I can’t see a bloody thing.’

  ‘Well, it was clear when I looked before. Over there, down on the other side of the river.’

  Dynamo stopped the truck and we all peered in the direction Chalky pointed out, trying to see through the mist into the valley below. ‘Ssshh. Be quiet, we might hear something!’ Chalky said.

  ‘Well, I’m not switching this bloody engine off for anyone, we might not get it started again,’ Dynamo insisted.

  ‘Look, we can’t sit here all day,’ Spot pointed out. ‘There’s only one way down here so let’s get going. Chalky must have eyes like a bloody hawk! I can’t see a thing either.’

  Dynamo put his foot down and the jeep picked up speed. ‘We need to get out of here quickly,’ he said. ‘That was definitely gunfire. It’s a bloody good job whoever fired it is cockeyed.’

  I turned to Chalky. ‘This is the only way down isn’t it? So there’s a good chance whoever fired at us will be waiting at the end of this track by the time we get to the bottom.’