‘Well, depends what they’re doing but you won’t feel like an outsider,’ Marty said, trying to find the right words. ‘They’ve always made me feel at home, if you see what I mean.’
‘So you get to know what’s going on?’ Hank asked, not catching Marty’s attempt at subtlety.
‘It’s kinda like, well . . . I’m not officially supposed to know everything they get involved in, but . . . well . . . you virtually live on top of each other, and this ain’t exactly a big organisation. I mean, like they’re about a quarter our size. So you’re gonna hear things you probably ain’t supposed to. And they know that. It’s kind’ve understood that whatever you hear you keep under your hat, as they say.’
Hank nodded.
‘The boss is a pretty cool guy - Colonel Hilliard,’ Marty continued. ‘You won’t see much of him though. He spends most of his time in London or checking out operational areas.’
‘What kinda stuff are they doing?’ Hank asked.
‘A lotta stuff.’
‘Like what?’
Marty shrugged, reluctant to say any more.‘They go everywhere. ’
‘Like where?’ Hank persisted.
Marty sighed.‘They flew two minis out to South America last week, for instance.’
‘Mini-subs?’
‘One day a team’s packin’ jungle stuff, the next another’s loadin’ up arctic gear.’
‘You get to go on any ops?’
Marty drove into a car park with a handful of cars in it and pulled into a space. He killed the engine and remained in the car, taking a moment to compose a reply. ‘It’s like this, Hank . . . We’re over here to exchange knowledge with these guys and maintain a working relationship. As far as ops are concerned we’re only supposed to get involved in things that come under NATO or the North Atlantic treaty - joint Anglo-US stuff, okay? Like Afghanistan and the Gulf, for instance.’
Hank nodded.
‘If other stuff comes up, if you happen to be in the room when it’s mentioned, you just shut the fuck up and stay in the background.’
‘What kinda stuff?’
‘Come on, Hank.’
‘What’s the problem? You said I’m gonna hear about it anyway. What kinda stuff?’
‘Hank.’
‘What am I, some kinda spy?’
‘There’s nothin’ in particular. I’m just generalising here. Sometimes you run across something that ain’t nothin’ to do with the US.’
‘You saying you get involved in these things sometimes?’ Hank pushed, sensing there was room to dig a little deeper.
‘I never said that.’
‘But are you saying that? Come on, Marty. I’m gonna find out, right?’
Marty was reluctant to disclose any more detail but Hank was not going to let him off the hook easily. ‘Okay. Yeah. Things can happen.’
‘You get involved in ops.’
‘Yeah. It’s possible under the right circumstances to get involved in some ops. It pretty much depends on the situation, how you get on with the guys, the team boss especially. But generally there’s no way. It’d be too risky if anything went wrong.’
‘So how would you get on an op - just for instance?’
‘Jesus, you don’t give up, do you?’
‘I’m just asking.’
Marty sighed. ‘Well, supposing you were on an exercise with a team somewhere - the Far East for instance, and the balloon went up.’
‘What balloon?’
‘It’s just an expression. Supposing there was a sudden real op emergency and you just happened to be with the team that had to respond. Maybe they can’t leave you where you are or they can’t get you back to the UK. So they take you along.They ain’t technically supposed to, but there isn’t much anyone can do. You’re kinda stuck with ’em.’
Hank thought about that for a moment. ‘So . . . you done anything like that?’
‘I’ve been on a couple of short ops.’
‘Like what?’
Marty shrugged. ‘Stuff.’
‘Come on, Marty. It ain’t like we’re on different sides,’ Hank pleaded. ‘I’m not gonna say anything to anyone, for Pete’s sake. It’s your job to let me know what goes on here.’
‘I went on an op to Columbia.’
‘Drugs?’
‘Yeah.’
‘But that’s joint Anglo-US ops anyway.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
‘What I’m talking about is, you know, other stuff. Their stuff,’ Hank persisted.
‘If I did I wouldn’t say.’ Marty was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Hank was about to complain, but Marty cut him off. ‘Hey, look, Hank. You gotta respect the job, okay. There’s a trust thing going on here.’
‘What’s the big deal? So what if you went on an op with these guys. I’m just interested, that’s all. Christ, if you think I’m gonna blab it all over town then fine . . . ’
Marty exhaled tiredly and gave in. ‘I was on that Sierra Leone job last year against the West End boys.’
‘No shit,’ Hank said, impressed. ‘You see any action?’
‘I ran a couple re-supplies to the OP dive teams sitting in the river below the enemy camp. It was interesting. We were outnumbered about twenty to one most of the time.’
‘Were you there when the shit went down?’
‘I was on the edge of it. We bagged a couple runners. I got to shed some lead.’
‘You bagged someone?’
A smirk grew across Marty’s face. ‘I gotta strike.’
Hank gushed enthusiasm. ‘Damn, that’s great, man. You fucken bagged a motherfucker.’
‘Yeah,’ Marty said, grinning.
‘That’s fucken cool,’ Hank said, momentarily lost in a daydream, suddenly wishing he had been on the last exchange instead of Marty.
‘It was a good op, well planned and executed. One of the guys leapt out of the water just as the Paras and the SAS were flying in on the choppers, ran into a hut and took out six of ’em in one go.’
‘No shit! Six?’
‘That was nothin’ compared to how many one team waxed at the jailbreak in Afghanistan. It must be some kinda record for an SF team.’
‘I know. I was there,’ Hank said.
‘You were there?’
‘Two days after it was all over . . . Where were you?’
Marty looked suddenly pissed off. ‘At the friggin’ airport, picking sandflies outta my butt. Sweet FA went on down there while the rest of the guys were running around Tora Bora rackin’ up the rag-heads one after the other.’
They both sat in silence for a moment, depressed at their missed opportunities.
‘Some guys get all the breaks, don’t they?’ Hank said. ‘I always feel like I’m the one who gets left out, you know? I’m not lucky that way. It’s like I don’t push it enough.’
Marty nodded in sympathy.‘Yeah, sometimes you’ve gotta make it happen,’ he said as he opened his door. ‘Let’s go take a walk about.’
‘Shit, I’d bust a gut to see some action while I was here,’ Hank said.
