Sally nudged Dave, “your phone’s ringing, it’s only 06:00,” he moaned and turned over, she dug him in the ribs and repeated herself, this time louder and firmer. David Stretton opened his eyes and looked at the clock, “leave it, they’ll ring back.” The phone stopped and immediately began ringing again, “Dave, get up and answer it,” “who the Hell is ringing at this time on a Sunday morning?” It stopped and then started again, reluctantly he swung his legs out the bed, he went downstairs naked to find his phone, half way down the stairs there was knocking at the door, retracing his steps, he found a towel to wrap round his waist. He went for his phone first, the knock on the door was louder, his phone was in the kitchen, “hello,” “Brigadier Storey, David you are required here by 09:00, there is a meeting at the MOD, a car is on its way for you.” “I think it’s here, someone is knocking at the door,” Sally was now at the top of the stairs, “who the fuck is at the door?” Dave ended the call, he picked up the baseball bat kept behind the front door, “who is it?” “Your car sir,” He opened the door to see a soldier standing there, “I have orders to take you to London.” “OK, wait in the car, I will be with you as soon as I can.” Sally was back in the bedroom, “what is it?” “I don’t know, the Brigadier rang to say I have to be at a meeting this morning, they have sent a driver, do you want to come?” “How long do I have?” “Fifteen minutes, no more,” “No, do you think you will be back later?” “I don’t know, will you sort out a Glock while I’m in the shower?” Sally asked if he wanted a bag packing with more clothes. “No, I’ll see what it is all about first.” He was dressed in trousers and a polo shirt, he put the shoulder holster on, picked up the gun, made sure it was secure and went downstairs. Sally followed him handing over a jacket, “you haven’t eaten or had a drink.” “I’ll pick up something at the petrol station.” They hugged and kissed before he left. Sally watched out the window as he climbed into the black Range Rover. “Stop at the garage just before the motorway, I need food.” He returned with two coffees, one for the driver, two packs of sandwiches and a Mars bar. “Does this have blue lights?” There was a nod, looking at his watch, he said there was less than two hours to get into central London, “light them up and let’s get going.” The motorway was quiet, other than going through roadworks, the car sat at around 100mph until it reached Staples Corner. It was slower going into the city, Dave climbed out at 08:45, thanked the driver and walked into the building, the Glock set off the alarms, his ID was checked on a list, he was allowed to proceed. A guard led him down to a meeting room in the basement, he knew the way but followed anyway. Another guard was standing outside the room, his name was checked off and he was allowed entry. He was the last to arrive, five others were in the room, he recognised everyone, Jane Goodley, head of MI5, Graeme Rogers, head of MI6, Admiral Gordon Sheldon, Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir George Makin, Defence Secretary and Peter Stockdale, Home Secretary. They were seated round a table, Dave poured himself a coffee before taking the last place. The Admiral spoke first, “for those who don’t know, David Stretton is a former soldier, who, along with his colleague Sally Fellowes, has helped us out on many previous assignments where it wouldn’t have been advisable for the government to be involved. He is resourceful and uses his own methods to achieve results, if anything goes wrong, there is deniability. He and Miss Fellowes are security cleared. I’m sure if he wanted to know something he has the ability to find it out. His file is in front of you should you need to look at it.” There were a few minutes while some looked through the file, others knew how he worked.
The Admiral tapped his cup with a teaspoon, “can we get down to the reason we are all here,” everyone looked towards him. “There is an island around forty miles off the west of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Stroma. It is small, roughly one mile wide by two miles long, it is uninhabited, there was a military base there during the Second World War, it was used as a monitoring point for German warships, after the war, it was, for a time, used to track rockets launched from Benbecula. Since then, no one has lived on the island, until now. The police in Stornoway have had reports from fishermen, they have said a trawler has been moored in the bay, the police say it’s not uncommon in bad weather for boats to shelter on the lee side, however, they have had reports the same trawler is there even when it is calm. An air/sea rescue helicopter has flown over the island several times, but seen nothing. It ended up passed to the MOD, last Wednesday, we sent a three man team from the SBS to have a look, they were on a yacht, posing as a three man crew, they were to stop at the island to have a look. We lost contact with them on Friday, the yacht was found on rocks off the Isle of Harris on Saturday, the crew were missing, the dinghy was still attached. The weather was calm, only light winds, the immediate thought was an accident, or the yacht was hit by another craft, it’s possible, but it wouldn’t explain the bullet holes in the hull. That’s it, we have three missing men, and a yacht which has been shot at.”
Dave stood up and poured himself another coffee, sitting back down he had a sip, “why don’t you tell me the rest of the story, the Admiral has given some of the facts, but there is more, you don’t send three SBS to do what the police could easily do.” There was silence round the table, Dave drained his coffee, “Thanks for the drinks, but this isn’t a job for me, I might just make it back in time for Sunday lunch.” Jane Goodley said for him to sit down, MI5 and the MOD kept Dave and Sally on a retainer, calling them in when required, they also worked in the MI5 building helping researchers with difficult cases. She looked at the Home Secretary before continuing, “You’re right, there is more, we suspect there is some sort of drug manufacturing going on. The three were to look round and report, we would decide what to do after that, there loss has changed the plan.” “What do you want me to do?” The Admiral spoke again, “we want you to do a recce of the island, find out what’s going on.” “So, three highly trained members of the SBS have failed, plan B is to send in Dave, if he disappears, we will move on to plan C.” “You will have to do better than that.” The Defence Secretary now spoke, “you will have the full cooperation of the armed services.” “I want my own men if I am to undertake the job, no questions asked, fully funded, no arguments about who will pay. I will be in charge, people will do as I say, I will give you my decision once I have had a look at maps and thought how to tackle the job.” Dave looked at his watch, “I need a secure office to work in, one down here would be good, if the Brigadier is in, I would like to see him, he will hopefully be able to supply me with the information I require, I need a number for someone who can make things happen, day and night. Finally, I want all the information you have gathered already, right from the first report including meetings which have already taken place. Jane, do you have a way to get Sally here in a hurry, I’ll ring her now, there are things I need from home.” The meeting was over, Dave was asked for daily reports, he ignored the comment. Keys for an office were given to him, he asked the person who handed them to him to organise a coffee machine and biscuits, he waited for the Brigadier to come down, he wasn’t a happy man, he and Dave got on well, but today he looked fed up. “I’m too old for getting up in the middle of the night, they phoned me at 04:00, I was in a dead sleep. This doesn’t look like an easy one, what do you need?” “I want plans of the island, they said it had once been a military base, are their still buildings on the island, can you find out if there are any aerial photographs, if not get onto the RAF, I want high level passes, nobody to fly over at low level. Can you find out where the Royal Navy surveillance trawler is, I may need it. That should be enough to start with.” Jane Goodley came in, “There is a plane at East Midlands Airport, it will bring Sally to London City Airport, a car is on its way to your house.” “Shit,” he took out his phone, “Sally, a car is on it’s way to pick you up, you are flying down here, we will be going back tonight. Can you bring a laptop, software and my briefcase please.” The Brigadier had gone, “David, when you read the reports, you will realise how big we think this is, be careful,” “I think Sally might have to take time off work with this one, I don’t know who you speak to, but if I let you know, will you sort it?” “Everything we have is being copied and will be with you in a couple of hours. Do you have a plan?” “It’s in my head, probably a little over a week, but depending on the island it may take longer, How I’m going to do it I have no idea at the moment, just now I need as much information as possible.” He picked up the phone in the office, “can you ask someone from IT to come down here please.” He poured two coffees and ate a biscuit, as they waited, he asked how Ruth was, “David, I don’t think this is the time or place to ask about my private life, but she is fine, thank you.” “Give her our love.” The IT guy knocked, Dave let him in, “I want a large screen TV I can connect a laptop to, can you organise it please.” He turned to Jane, “I have a private call to make, would you mind?” She left to head back to MI5, “Taff, Dave Stretton, how are you? Good, I have a job if you are interested, a recce first, then, depending on what is found, a raid later. I’m getting all the information together now, I should have it by later today, I suggest a meeting tomorrow, I can come to Cardiff or we can meet privately in London.” Taff said London would be better, “I’ll set it up, it will be in a hotel, you might have to dress up a bit. The details will be with you later.”
Another knock on the door and the large screen was brought in, Dave locked the door once it was set up and went in search of hot food, there was only one staff restaurant open, there was hardly anyone eating. He ate a roast beef lunch while he thought, images of the island were going through his mind. His thoughts were broken by the Brigadier, “I have taken down what we have here, more is coming from our records, hopefully this afternoon. I’m going home now, but call me if you need anything.” He went down to see what had been left for him, there were rolled up maps in tubes, he spread them out on the table, some were duplicates, he rolled these ones back up. The island looked like a wedge, with high cliffs on the Atlantic side, there was a slope down towards a small curved bay with a stone jetty. A couple of Nissen huts were marked on the map, Dave guessed they would be long gone. There were two pill boxes either end of the cliffs. The only way onto the island appeared to be from the jetty. Sally and the paperwork arrived around the same time, she kissed Dave and asked what was happening, he said as much as he knew, “this paperwork has just arrived from MI5, it hopefully has the background to what is happening on the island. “Would you read through it, try to make sense of it all and put it into some sort of order, a header sheet with a summary please. List names and relationships if you can find any. I have a meeting with Taff tomorrow, I want him to go onto the island, see what we are up against, I may be away for a couple of days.” He went to fetch coffees and find someone from IT. Sally sat at the table and started reading, she would make notes on a pad and was circling parts she thought were relevant. Dave returned with someone from IT, “Can you scan these maps onto a disc without losing any clarity?” “I might have to cut them to do it, but I should be able to create a full digital copy for you.” “Before you do that, see if there is anyone here today who can make a print copy.” He next called the Admiral, the secretary who answered said he had gone home, but would be available if required. “Did he speak to you about the RAF high altitude images I want, and the Navy trawler?” “Yes, providing the weather is OK, there will be a flight out of Brize Norton today, my instructions are to forward them on to you as soon as they are received. I will chase the location of the trawler and come back to you.” He sat down on a chair and closed his eyes, Sally knew he wasn’t sleeping, his mind was too active, he was several steps ahead of where they were at the moment. Dave’s eyes opened as he heard the phone in the room ringing, “Good news, the flight is on it’s way back, the images should be here within two hours, the trawler is tied up in Mallaig waiting to be replenished.” “Sally, find Mallaig on Google Maps,” the laptop was spun round for him to see, “I don’t know who you have to speak to, but I want photographs taken of the whole of the island from sea level, tell them they have to be high quality, I need them by midday tomorrow, they should have plenty of time. If there are any problems or hold ups, let me know.” Turning to Sally he asked her how it was going, “slowly, the reports are all over the place, nothing is in order. It will take some time, but it will be done before we leave today.”
He called Flemings Hotel, he booked a meeting room from 09:00 the following day, they asked if he wanted a room for the night, “no, just the meeting room, can you make sure there is a large screen TV in the room, a coffee machine and plenty of biscuits.” While he was waiting for something to happen, he looked through the reports Sally had already been over. Half an hour later, he had a copy of the map, the original one and a digital scan. “Sally, take a break, I want to look at the map on the screen,” it appeared on the TV, he zoomed in on a section, walking up to the screen, he checked how clear it was, the stick was removed and put in his pocket. When she returned, Sally was carrying a tray laden with sandwiches, cake and coffee. Just before 19:00, he received an email with a link to the images from the RAF, a password was sent to him by text, he briefly looked at them before saying to Sally it was time to go. She wanted fifteen more minutes to finish off her report. Travelling home on the train, he spent the journey going over Sally’s findings. Over the last nine months, a drug manufacturing base had been set up on the island, supplies were brought in using the trawler seen off the island, drugs were taken out the same way. The trawler was also used to bring in the chemicals required for manufacturing, the suggestion was it rendezvoused with a cargo ship somewhere in the Atlantic. There were no names of who may be behind the enterprise, not even the name of the trawler. Dave guessed until there was evidence of what was going on, there wouldn’t have been much of an investigation. Once home, Sally ordered a takeaway while Dave sorted out what he would need for the morning. It was nearly 23:00 when they ate, Sally asked what he would be doing the next day, “I want to be in London before Taff arrives, look at the images from the RAF, see if I can work out a way onto the island without using the bay, I will be speaking to Jane and the Brigadier, probably before and after, depending on what the outcome is, I will decide then. Whatever happens, it needs to be sooner rather than later, you don’t set up an operation this size without the expectation of making a load of money.”
© 10210ken 2026
