Penny drove up to the embassy gate where the gate guard first recognised the car and then the occupants. After a cursory glance at their IDs the gate slid open and they were waved in. Penny parked in the slot she had used during the hunt for Dwayne and the sisters headed for the main entrance reception to check in. Lenny and another man were waiting for them in Room B2 which was set up as it had been when they last saw it.
Lenny introduced the second man as Captain Williamson, the military attaché with responsibility for the Caribbean, who was normally based in Washington, but had been flown in overnight for this meeting. Williamson explained he was there because of information that had been learnt during the interrogation of Dwayne Holding. It had emerged that Holding had attended a training camp in a tropical rainforest in Martinique. The island was a department of France and as such had for many years effectively been under German control. The French military, with British assistance, had taken it back following the liberation of mainland France, but many residents still held German sympathies.
Williamson revealed that spy satellites had located the position of the training camp deep in the rainforest. The French Commandement des Opérations Spéciales, the COS, had no special forces on the island, or for that matter anywhere in the Caribbean, and had requested our help as they were aware we had an SAS unit training on St Lucia the next island to the south. We had agreed to send in the SAS 16-man troop and their captain, but they felt the plan that had been worked up needed additional snipers, especially fluent French speakers, and MI6 offered the services of the sisters as they were on the spot and could be with them faster than flying support out from the U.K.
The idea was to put them on a commercial flight from Bridgetown to St Lucia’s Hewanorra International Airport that evening, there they would meet the SAS troop. Because it was an inter-island commercial flight, they would have to fly unarmed, but would be supplied with fatigues, sniper rifles and side arms and anything else considered necessary, before moving on to Martinique by military transport.
***
The sisters were told to be at the airport for the 18:15 Inter Caribbean Airways flight to St Lucia, with their passports, a small bag containing wash bags and changes of underwear. The girls headed to the villa to pack flight bags and to tell the rest of the family they were off on a quick government mission connected to Dwayne’s arrest. They decided that it might be better if they were driven to the airport and Paolo and Dan volunteered to take them in the people carrier. The girls were dropped off at the departure building, kissed their respective partners goodbye and headed for the Inter Caribbean Airways information desk to pick up their tickets.
The sisters weren’t sure what to expect when they checked in for the flight but neither expected a 30-seat Embraer 120 turboprop, they were used to flying on big jets. There was no service on the flight, but it hardly mattered as it was only 45 minutes. As the girls only had flight bags, they were through arrivals very quickly not having to bother waiting at the baggage carousel. Walking through the exit doors, it was obvious who was meeting them as there was only one man wearing jungle camouflage.
“Good evening, ladies,” the officer said speaking in French, “I’m Captain Harris, and you’ll be on temporary attachment to my troop. I understand you are both fluent French speakers and trained snipers. I must say I was a little surprised to learn we were being loaned two female snipers.” Jinnie bristled a little but replied in French, “We have both worked with the SAS on various successful missions you may know of, the Argentina rocket, the invasion of France, the extraction of Silvio Berlusconi, and the invasion of Slovenia and Austria, to name but a few.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to denigrate you,” said the captain, “it’s just that female snipers are few and far between. Yes, I know of all those missions. So, you must know Steven.” “Yes,” said Penny. “We have worked together on many occasions; in fact we were both at his wedding and he met Melissa at a party at Jinnie’s house.” “Ah,” said Harris, “now I know who you are. Your reputations as operatives precede you at Hereford. But I thought you had retired from active service Dame Jinnie.”
“I have,” answered Jinnie, “but we happened to be on a family holiday in Barbados when all this blew up, so I was reactivated. We were involved in the detection and arrest of Dwayne Holding. So, we were available when the call came to assist you. Oh, and please call us Jinnie and Penny.” The group strolled to the captain’s Land Rover Discovery, and headed to the military side of the airport where eight SAS men were waiting, six troopers and two corporals, alongside two RAF Special Forces Squadron Chinook helicopters. One of the corporals came over and reported, “The advance party report they are in place sir. Six Troop’s Landies has been loaded, permission to load Seven Troop’s remaining Landies sir?” “Permission granted Corporal. Now these are our two SIS snipers, Jinnie and Penny. Please tell the lads they know what they are doing and have worked with Sargent Steven on many occasions and if he trusted them so can we. Get one of the lads to take the ladies over to the equipment store and get them into camouflage fatigues and our jungle boots, none of the Army rubbish. I assume their rifles have been loaded?”
“Yes sir” replied the corporal. “Good, make sure they get Glocks, my memory tells me they are both pretty good shots with them as well.” The corporal spoke to a trooper who led to the equipment store where in addition to the equipment the captain had specified, they were issued with holsters, US-type FAST special forces helmets and what Jinnie knew from her officer cadet days as a Bergan, but the Trooper referred to as a day sack. Rations, water bottles, night vision goggles and bits and pieces went in the Bergan and when Penny said it was heavy the trooper laughed and said, “That is about half our load.”
When they got back to the Chinook it had swallowed the Land Rovers and the twin rotors on both helicopters were turning slowly. The captain greeted them and said to Jinnie, “You are with me on this bird and your sister is with Corporal Jackson and Six Troop. We will brief you on the journey.” Jinnie and the captain walked up the ramp into the back of the Chinook and took a seat next to the captain and strapped herself in. Jinnie looked around her as the loadmaster raised the rear ramp. The Land Rover, its sister and eight passengers were lost in the cabin, that she guessed could carry at least 50 soldiers.
As soon as the ramp was up, the engines revved up and the helicopter clattered into the sky. Captain Harris said to Jinnie, “The idea is to hit the training camp hard and fast and to grab as many prisoners as possible. We already have two troops on the ground, and they report the camp is carrying on as normal and has no idea we are there watching them. The choppers will drop us about five miles from the camp, we will use the Land Rovers to get us to within a mile of the camp and tab the rest of the way. We will hit the camp at 02:07 in complete darkness and as quietly as possible. They have guards on the main road entrance to the camp and at the rear exit to a jungle path. Our men will silently take out the guards, but we need you to cover the main entrance and take out anyone who gets past us and tries to escape, your sister will cover the rear exit. Our men will be easily identified as everyone, including you and your sister has an infrared beacon on their helmets.”
“OK,” said Jinnie, “I assume we are to shoot to kill.” “Absolutely,” replied Harris, “we will plasticuff and bag all prisoners, including wounded, and the Chinooks will fly into the camp to extricate everyone, they will pick up the Landies on the way out. Oh, and once we have control, we will search the camp for paperwork and then set demolition charges for after we have gone.” “I understand,” said Jinnie, “one question. Has my rifle been zeroed in?” “The armourer assured me it has been,” answered Harris. “Can I see it please?” asked Jinnie, “I like to make sure my guns are clean.” Jinnie spent the next part of the flight stripping cleaning and reassembling the rifle much to the captain and watching troopers’ approval.
The Chinook put down in a large clearing followed by the second one with Penny on board. It was only when the ramp dropped that Jinnie realised that there were already two Chinook on the ground under camouflage netting. The lashings holding down the Land Rovers were swiftly released, and they were driven down the ramps. Two minutes later the SAS and the sisters were onboard, and they hit the road towards the camp.
***
Brian had finally agreed a price for the Continental Restaurant and was delighted with it. He had been on the phone to Alberto, who had said he should go ahead and sign the paperwork as the rest of the board was happy to proceed following his report. Brian reminded Alberto that according to the Trattoria Trevi’s Articles of Association two director’s signatures were required for the purchase contract and at the moment he was the only director in Barbados. Of course, Alberto wanted to know where Jinnie was, but Brian could only tell him she was out of the country on government business, and he didn’t know when she would be back. He could only hope it was soon.
Brian was also happy with the law firm that Vincenzo had recommended, they had drawn up the tendering paperwork and contracts. Andrew had come up trumps with drawings and bills of materials. Belinda had taken a chance and issued the ‘Invitations to Tender’ before the restaurant was purchased, and bids were due in next day. If they couldn’t sign the contract soon Belinda was going to have to prevaricate over placing the order for the refurbishment work on the restaurant.
As for Aunty JoJo’s, a similar position prevailed. The contracts to set up the new joint venture company were prepared but needed two director’s signatures to complete. Until then nothing could move. The value of the existing branch had been agreed and Trattoria Trevi’s equivalent of the value was sitting in the law firm’s holding account. The permission from the Barbados Government were in place and agreement over the purchase of the second branch had been struck. Once again Belinda had gone to the same three contractors with ‘Invitations to Tender’ and the bids were due in a week.
As for the two kitchen projects, Andrew had the team back in Crawley working on designs for the four sites chosen by the four DKN directors who had visited them. Brian and Belinda had met with Anderson who was happy with progress and the law firm had nearly completed setting up DKL (Caribbean) Ltd. DKL and Anderson were ready to purchase the company shares and consequently make the money available for the building of the kitchens. Negotiations with ‘Tuck on a Truck’, the chosen delivery company, were going well. It looked like they were willing to sell the business outright, which was both Brian and Belinda’s preference. Belinda hated the name and was itching to change it to something more ordinary. Of course, there were plenty of DKL directors in Barbados to sign these contracts, it was only really a matter of getting the design costed and deciding which to sites buy.
Belinda had located offices in Bridgetown which she thought could suit them for a head office and a call centre. She had been talking to Nigel about setting it up and he had agreed to fly out in a couple of days to work out IT requirements so it could be costed. Brian was involved in another set of price negotiations with the landlord and was currently working on a 20-year lease with an option to extend the lease for another 20 years. The only point of contention at the moment was that Brian wanted two yearly break clauses in case the business failed or grew quickly while the landlord wanted five yearly. Brian desperately wanted to discuss progress with Jinnie and hoped she wouldn’t be away long.
***
Fifteen minutes later the party pulled off the track next to two more hidden Land Rovers and after hiding their vehicles, so they weren’t obvious from the track, they started a quick march toward the camp. Jinnie was amazed that she and Penny were able to keep up with the troops until she realised, they were going slower than usual. However, it only took them six minutes to meet up with the other two troops. All four corporals joined the captain for an impromptu briefing and as it broke up two of them came over to the sisters and one told Jinnie to come with him while the second said the same to Penny. Donning her NVGs she was led to a raised point with a view down to the camp’s main entrance. Jinnie could clearly see the two gate guards who were leaning on the wooden pole barrier across the entrance chatting and smoking. The corporal shook his head and whispered to Jinnie, “Bloody amateurs,” before adding, “If you see my men more than two seconds before they drop those two, tell me and I’ll personally kick their arses.”
Jinnie got a waterproof groundsheet out of her Bergan, carefully positioned it, lay down on it and assembled her L115A3 rifle adding its night sight and bi-pod legs. Jinnie scanned around and focused on one of the guards to get the range. Seven hundred metres, perfect she thought, before checking she had five clips of 5 x 8.59mm bullets at her side as well as another loaded into the rifle. Checking her watch, she saw it was 01:57, so as she had plenty of time before the off, she checked out her surroundings. She was hidden by bushes and had an excellent view down into the sleeping camp. She thoroughly approved of the choice of position, it was good to know she was working with professionals. She contemplated removing the helmet she was wearing, but after finding that its design didn’t hamper her, decided to leave it on, thinking ‘You never know, I could be shot at.’
Penny’s corporal led her around the camp’s perimeter wire to her nest with its perfect view of the rear gate and its single guard who was also smoking. Like Jinnie she set herself up and measured the distance to the guard. She was only 600 metres away which she was more than happy with. Checking her watch, she found it was 14:03. So she decided she had time to consume an energy bar.
As her watch approached 14:07 Jinnie suddenly saw two of the SAS infrared beacons appear behind the gate guards from within the camp, exactly where the guards didn’t expect to be attacked from. Jinnie guessed they must have cut their way through the wire into camp. The guards were disarmed, gagged and cuffed in seconds and dragged inside the guard house. The two SAS men came out of the guard house waved in her general direction and headed into the camp. So far everything had happened in complete silence, but she saw the occasional light from an infrared beacon as SAS men moved around the camp. Obviously, they knew the layout as they flitted around in and out of huts and tents.
In what seemed like seconds the SAS trooper began to assemble prisoners in the centre of the camp. Each was cuffed and had a black drawstring bag placed over their heads. Jinnie guessed they were gagged under the bags. She watched as a person without a beacon crept around the corner of the guard house and headed for the main gate. It was an easy shot for Jinnie and the bullet went straight through his torso exactly where she had aimed, and the man screamed and dropped to the ground. The crack of the rifle breaking the silence, or the scream must have been heard as seconds later two SAS troopers appeared, applied field dressings, cuffed, gagged and bagged the terrorist. They carried him off to join the other prisoners.
Captain Harris and two troopers appeared at the gate, the troopers went into the gatehouse and came out with the gate guards who now were also bagged. While the captain flashed an infrared torch at Jinnie and beckoned her to join them. She quickly packed away her rifle and equipment, switched on her beacon, drew her pistol and headed for the main gate. It was deathly quiet as she walked through the main gate and headed for the centre of the camp where she knew the prisoners were being held. As she jogged past a hut, as quietly as she possibly could, two troopers came out, glanced in her direction and waved. Seeing how easily the guards had been taken out, she was thankful she had opted to keep the helmet with the infrared beacon on.
Jinnie joined Penny who was watching troopers searching terrorists. Penny whispered to Jinnie, “Was that you shooting?”. “Yes,” replied Jinnie. “One of them tried to escape through the main gate and I had an easy shot, like on the range.” Penny pointed to one side where a trooper was working on a prone body, “It looks like he is still alive.” “Yes, it was a body shot,” replied Jinnie. A whispered voice came from behind them saying, “Ladies, would you mind moving over to the fence, where we are herding the prisoners, the choppers are on the way and will need a landing space.”
The first Chinook landed and quickly dropped its ramp. Thirty prisoners were led aboard in a single line each with their right hand on the one ahead’s shoulder as they were still bagged. Several desktop and laptop computers followed as did bags of paperwork, finally a corporal and three troopers boarded, and the ramp was raised before it was replaced by a second Chinook. A similar routine took place as soon as the ramp was lowered. This time it was only twenty or so walked on to the second Chinook, but they were accompanied by what Jinnie suspected was a server, more bags of paperwork, a sack of mobile phones and four more SAS men.
That left two 4-man troops, the stretcher case, Captain Harris and the sisters. As the third Chinook landed, Harris hurried one of the troops and the stretcher on board. While explaining to Jinnie that they were on the last helicopter out and there was only eight minutes before the charges went off and they need to be in the air. Chinook three took off as the ramp was still closing, swiftly followed by Chinook four which came in with its ramp down and the loadmaster shouting at them to get on quickly. They were airborne again almost instantly and the ramp came up as they moved away. Two minutes later they were hovering over the site where the Land Rovers had been left, the ramp was again down, and troopers were fast-roping to the ground. Harris explained they were to join troopers from Penny’s chopper and drive the Landies back to the places the Chinooks had been left. As Jinnie watched through the open ramp, in the distance the incendiaries started to go off.
***
Jinnie and Penny stepped off the morning Caribbean International Airways at Bridgetown’s Grantley Adams International Airport and strolled into the international arrivals building. Once again, they had no bags to reclaim so they were quickly into passport control where they were questioned as to why they had been on St Lucia. Jinnie explained it was government business and she couldn’t say. The immigration officer picked up his phone and called for advice. The girls were led to an interview room and told to wait.
After ten minutes a uniformed man arrived and introduced himself as the airport’s chief immigration officer before apologising for holding them up. He explained the immigration officers had been asked to look out for the sisters as he wanted to talk to them. Unfortunately, the officer had misunderstood, he didn’t want them detained he had been briefed by the Minister of Home Affairs that they had been helping with the Dwayne Holding case and had been over to Martinique on a secret mission. He said he was under instructions to expedite their passage through the airport and wanted to apologise for the exact opposite occurring.
He shook their hands and thanked them for helping the nation before saying, “Please follow me,” and led them through a series of back corridors, bypassing the customs channels before indicating a door that took them directly into the arrivals hall where their husbands were waiting for them. They all made their way to the people carrier that was parked in the airport parking. Paolo paid the B$3 fee and said, “Gosh that’s cheap, that converts to £1.20 for up to six hours. That’s a lot less than the Gatwick drop-off charge.”
As they drove back to the villa, Dan said, “I hear from Lenny, that the mission went well and there are prisoners to interrogate and loads of paperwork, computers and mobile phones to check. They have also got a load of passports including several German ones. Oh, and they have operated on one man who was shot and he is expected to recover, apparently the bullet went straight through him and missed all the vital organs. The prompt action of applying a field dressing saved him from bleeding out.” “While I’m thinking about it,” said Paolo, “Brian was looking for you last night, I had to tell him you were away on government business.” “That’s alright,” said Jinnie, “he is security cleared. Did he say what he wanted?” “Something about paperwork to sign,” said Paolo.
In Chapter 11 – The Continental is bought
© WorthingGooner 2023
