Red Mercury Page 4

  She was clutching a crimson red clutch bag and wore a pair of beautifully styled crimson red high heels and her legs were bare.

  They approached the main entrance and Max handed their invitation to the door attendant.

  Inside Max quickly spotted Major Strayker who also noticed Max and Ruth.

  Strayker quickly excused himself from the party he was speaking too and moved towards Max and Ruth and said, “Ruth you look like a million dollars, there will be a lot of females in here envious of your beauty and a lot of men too!”

  Ruth replied, “You are looking very handsome in your dress uniform Major, my keen eye has noticed a few of the female guests eyeing you up too.”

  “Well maybe I will grace them with my presence later Ruth!”

  Max had watched their banter; Major Strayker was like a father to him, his parents had died years ago his mother from a road traffic accident when he was only seventeen his black eyes were an inheritance from his mother whom had been a native of Puerto Rico.

  Max’s father had died in 1982 in the Falklands war and had been posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, Max remembered Strayker telling him the story of his father’s death.

  Strayker had been at his father side when he had died.

  Both men were part of a Royal Marines unit that had been tasked with assaulting Wireless Ridge on the night of the 13/14 June Nineteen eighty-two.

  Wireless Ridge was not as its name suggests a simple line feature, but a collection of ridges, hills lying between the Murrell River and the north shore of Stanley Harbour.

  It was the last Argentine position of any strength on the north side of Stanley, and its capture, along with those mountains Tumbledown and William, would close the noose around the capital, and give the Argentines no land route of escape.

  While the Para’s were attacking, a Special Forces operation made up of Royal Marines was taking place to the east of Wireless Ridge. Strayker was a captain at the time, Max’s father held the rank of Sergeant.

  After lying up for the previous day on Cochon Island in Berkley sound, four Royal Marine rigid raiders came around to Blanco Bay where most of the men were dropped off to set up a fire-support base. Strayker led a small party of men in the raiding craft and sped across the water.

  The idea was to land on Cortley Ridge, attack any enemies found and blow up fuel storage tanks located there.

  Ten minutes later, they were landing on the rocky coastline off Cortley Ridge, the twelve men disembarked their rigid raiding crafts and deployed into a skirmish formation onto the island.

  No sooner had they done this than they came under fire from the Argentine soldiers dug in around the perimeter of the fuel storage tanks.

  The Marines deployed taking cover and returned fire, the initial firefight lasted five minutes and the superior accuracy and firepower from the Marines began to tell with several of the Argentines being killed.

  Strayker gave the order to begin pepper potting their way towards the enemy troops. Pepper potting is where one group of men dash forward, covered by a second group, who on dropping to the ground, provide cover for the second group to charge forward.

  Sergeant Storm had led the way from the start; he ran the last one hundred yards outpacing his colleagues, firing from the hip at the enemy with a blaze of enemy fire drawing down on him.

  A grenade-exploded several yards from him but Sergeant Storm never broke his relentless pace, he arrived at the Argentine dug out and single handily killed the last five enemy soldiers.

  Several seconds later Strayker arrived alongside his friend, the rest of the troop joined them and hoisted

  Sergeant Storm onto their shoulders, it was at that moment when Strayker noticed the blood oozing from Sergeant Storms chest.

  He gave the order to put him down and quickly broke out a field dressing, the men around could not believe what was happening, Strayker gave them orders to place explosives at the fuel storage tanks.

  Strayker had recounted their final conversation to Max.

  “Jack you’ll be okay let me patch you up.”

  Jack had looked up at Strayker. “Don’t bother Mick we both know this is a fatal wound.”

  “You crazy son of a gun, why did you have to do that?”

  Jack Storm had smiled and gripped hold of Strayker’s jerkin. “Promise me you’ll look out for my son Max.”

  Strayker had looked his friend in the eyes and replied, “Don’t worry Jack, I will.”

  With his last breath Jack Storm said, “we showed them today Mick, the British army is still the best in the world.”

  His eyes closed for the last time and his grip on Strayker loosened. Strayker had looked down at the lifeless form of his friend.

  “Yes Jack; you showed them the determination, bravery and guts of a Royal Marine Commando.”

  The troop had regrouped around Strayker and he had said, “Bag this Hero up and ‘let’s get out of here.”

  The story of Jack Storm’s heroic assault and death spread through the unit like an unbridled fire, Strayker as senior officer at the action had been asked to give his account of Sergeant Storm’s actions.

  Sergeant Jack Storm’s actions were such that he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, Great Britain’s highest award, awarded for conspicuous bravery, a daring or preeminent act of valour self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.

  The US ambassador Nathan Jackson had seen Max and had made his way over to the small group of three.

  “Good evening Max you look splendid in your uniform as do you Major, however I have to say you both come second place to the lovely lady whom I believe is Miss Nelson?”

  Max replied, “I agree with you sir, may I introduce Miss Ruth Nelson.”

  Ruth extended her right hand and Nathan Jackson leant forward and placed a light kiss on her hand and said, “come Ruth walk with me to the main table.”

  Nathan Jackson offered his arm and Ruth linked her arm into his, they both walked away followed by Max and Strayker, walking between rows of lavishly adorned dinner tables with the guests parting as they walked towards the back wall with two flags adorning them.

  One was the US Star and Stripes alongside a British Union Jack.

  Beneath the two flags, a long table was set out for a meal and Nathan showed his guests to their seats.

  Max was quick to notice that Nathan Jackson did not take the centre seat, which was left unoccupied with the one next to it also vacant.

  The guests immediately sat down and Nathan Jackson stood up and said, “Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished guests please stand and welcome the President of the United States of America and the British Prime Minister”

  From a side door a tall thin man with greying short hair entered the room together with the British Prime Minister, followed by several other men, the guests immediately stood up and gave a round of applause as the President and Prime Minister walked to the main table.

  Max immediately looked at Ruth who also looked back at him and then they both then looked at Strayker who gave them a knowing smile.

  President Bob Dulles stood by the centre seat of the main table and gestured with his hands to the guests to take their seats.

  The British Prime Minister took her seat to the left of the President.

  After a few moments, the room was silent and the President spoke, “good evening to you all and may I firstly take this opportunity to welcome you all to the US embassy here in London. As most of you are aware two weeks ago an unprovoked attack was made on our Ambassador Nathan Jackson here on the streets of London.”

  The President turned and looked at his friend seated next to him on his right.

  The President continued, “we live in turbulent times, with certain elements of the human race hell bent on caus
ing mayhem and destruction to the peace and order we strive to maintain. Thankfully, there are also people of courage amongst us, that are prepared to put themselves at risk to uphold this peace and order and it is for one of those we are gathered here this evening to recognise.”

  The President paused and took a drink of water before continuing he turned to his left and looked at Max and said, “lieutenant Colonel Storm if you would please stand?”

  Max stood up as the President walked to him and said, “lieutenant Colonel Storm firstly on behalf of myself and the American people. I would like to say thank you for your unselfishness intervention in coming to the aid of Nathan Jackson and I would like to award you with our nation’s fifth highest military decoration, the Bronze Star for your act of bravery in this matter.”

  The President looped the ribbon and medal over Max’s head allowing it to come to rest around his neck and said in a low voice, “Colonel you have my personal gratitude for your service in this matter, I and my people will always be indebted to you.”

  Both men shook hands and the President returned to his seat as the guests gave a tremendous round of applause.

  Max stood for a few moments feeling slightly uncomfortable in this public show of gratitude towards him. The president stood and gestured to Max to sit down and the applause began to subside.

  Following a lavish meal Max and Ruth took a break having a walk in the rear garden area; Ruth turned to Max and looked down at his newly acquired medal.

  “Looks good on you darling,” she said.

  “It’s just a piece of metal darling and some ribbon nothing to boast about,” replied Max.

  “I know, but you earn’t it Max!”

  Ruth spent a few moments looking at the medal; it was in the shape of a bronze star.

  In the centre was a superimposed bronze star, the centre line of all rays of both stars coinciding.

  Ruth turned it over and on the back was the inscription “HEROIC OR MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT” along with Max’s name.

  The medal was suspended from the suspension ribbon by a rectangular shaped metal loop with the corners rounded.

  The suspension ribbon consisted of the following stripes: white scarlet white; centre stripe ultramarine blue white; scarlet and white.

  They were interrupted by the Prime Minister whom was accompanied by Strayker.

  The PM said, “He looks splendid in his uniform Ruth and that medal is a truly a gracious gift from the President.”

  Ruth replied “Yes Ma’am; although I do believe Max is one not to want too much of the limelight.”

  The Prime minister looked at Max for a few moments, looking at the scar on his left cheek and had to admit to herself, he was a truly handsome man and with everything, they had gone through in the last eighteen months, Max was truly a good old-fashioned hero, a rare commodity in the turbulent times of today.

  Strayker broke the silence, “I believe you two love birds have a holiday booked in a few days’ time, so where is it Max?”

  Max replied, “Just a little island in the Caribbean sir for a relaxing two weeks with some water activities.”

  “Well you have earn’t it, I hope you both have a wonderful time,” said Strayker.

  The Prime Minister said, “I have heard that Chief Superintendent Attlee is on the mend and should make a full recovery.”

  Strayker replied, “Yes Ma’am, he was a lucky man taking three bullets in his shoulder, fortunately they missed most of the vital areas and embedded in the fleshy parts of his shoulder.”

  “Max and me will always owe him a debt for saving our lives that evening,” said Ruth.

  “Once he is up and about he is being awarded the Queens Gallantry medal for his part that evening.”

  “And well deserved,” said Strayker.

  The Prime Minister turned to Strayker and said, “Would you escort me back to our hosts Major?”

  “It will be my pleasure Ma’am.”

  They linked arms and walked back into the embassy.

  Ruth gave Max a knowing smile and said, “I think it is time we thanked our hosts and went home darling.”

  “Excellent idea gorgeous lets go.”

  8

  Air space over the

  North Atlantic Ocean

  Lat = 45 degrees, 21.4 minutes North

  Long = 27 degrees, 25.3 minutes West

  Monday 4th September 1989 (two weeks later)

  Thirteen hundred hours and sixteen minutes

  Local time.

  The Boeing 747 Jumbo was at an altitude of forty-two thousand feet on a heading of twenty-four degrees north by north east, destination Heathrow airport London.

  In the first class lounge area, Ruth and Max were enjoying a glass of Champaign, they were returning from the island of St Lucia following their two weeks of sun, sea and enjoying each other company.

  Max was reading one of the English tabloid papers and his eyes had been drawn to a short article on page seven referring to the air crash of flight number BA-323, he read the article and then placed the paper down on his lap.

  Ruth looked at him and said, “Anything of interest in there love?”

  “Just the usual stuff darling, remember that plane crash last month where the BA aircraft when down on route to New York?”

  “Yes; I haven’t heard much more about it Max.”

  “There is a short article in the paper; apparently it appears that an on-board fire was possibly responsible, there is a suggestion that some of the cargo may have been suspicious or even illegal. MI5 are still looking into it.”

  Ruth looked at her watch reached for the Champaign magnum and refilled both there glasses and said, “A toast, to a wonderful holiday and hopefully if it is not too much to ask for, calm seas for the foreseeable future.”

  Max raised his glass and replied, “I’ll drink to all those, cheers darling.”

  There glasses chinked together and they both drank the Champaign.

  Three hours later, their plane touched down at Heathrow airport.

  9

  WTA

  NEAR APPLEBY, WARCOP

  Cumbria, UK

  Lat = 54 degrees, 32.2 minutes North

  Long = 2 degrees, 23.4 minutes West

  Tuesday 5th September 1989 (following day)

  Zero ten hours and twelve minutes BST

  One of a pair of eyes that were black in colour was looking through the scope at the target two thousand yards away; Max’s left cheek still had the small two-inch scar, visible and had been assured that it would fade with time.

  Max shouted “weapon hot!”

  His body was lying in a prone position behind a rifle that was supported on a bipod and his right cheek was pressed tightly up against the rifles stock, giving what is called a good cheek-weld.

  This means your cheekbone is held fast against the butt stock to insure proper sight alignment and sight picture.

  The scope was a Leupold sniper Mil-dot scope 3x9x40mm.

  This means that the image you see through the scope appears three times closer than it does with your naked eye. The nine means nine power or nine times closer than it appears with your naked eye.

  The forty is the objective lens diameter in millimetres. This is a variable scope because you can vary the magnification of the scope from three to nine, stopping anywhere in between.

  You would describe this scope as a three to nine by forty.

  Alongside was another man with a spotter’s scope also eying the target?

  Max Storm was the man peering through the rifles scope, and the man next to him was Colour Sergeant Johnson, the OSC’s armourer; a man in his fifties with short cropped grey hair and built like a tank; he would not have looked out of place as a nightclub doorman.

&n
bsp; An ex Para, weapons, munitions and explosives expert, what Johnson did not know about these subjects was not worth knowing.

  Max doped the scope, adjusting the range to 20 + 2, 2000 yards and 2 minutes of angle, he then put the cross hairs on the target and put the weapon on kill.

  Both men were at the Warcop Training Area Camp, (WTA) which consists of approximately 24,000 acres (9,715 hectares) of Ministry of Defence freehold land.

  Most of the Training Area is in Cumbria but a portion is in County Durham.

  The Training Estate was established in 1942 originally as a tank gunnery range and tanks still use it to this day.

  In 1960, the area became an all-arms facility, catering for artillery and infantry, with live firing ranges.

  Standing behind the two men were the five-team leaders of the OSC and Major General Mick Strayker, operational code name Eagle 2, head of the Operational Strike Command along with a male civilian.

  They were all looking at the target with binoculars.

  Max was testing a new sniper rifle, which had been designed by Colour Sergeant Johnson in conjunction with the British Firearms company Accuracy International of Great Britain.

  The new weapon designated AX-500 was equipped with a 22-inch barrel that has a Sure-fire muzzle brake that also had a Fast-Attach High Endurance Sound Suppressor.

  At the butt end of the stock was fitted a Limbsaver recoil pad.

  The 5-round magazine was able to provide the rifleman with the ability to rapidly engage multiple targets up to a maximum effective range of 2,000 yards.

  The new weapon had been designed around a new 50 calibre Magnum round Booting a 250-grain BTHP (boat-tail hollow-point) from the barrel at nearly 2,800 feet per second and throwing more than 4,000 foot-pounds of energy down range.

  This was unique because it is often the case where a weapon is designed around either an existing round or the weapon designed first and then a round to fit.

  Max had already began his breathing exhaling a few times in order to match his breathing with his heartbeat, now the reticule was bouncing in sync, he then held his breath and the cross hairs stopped over the target area.