and light stores. What you will have noticed immediately is that neither the Greeks nor the Americans operate a dedicated helicopter squadron out of Souda, which is where we come in.
‘
‘The latest information we have is that one person is confirmed as having died, and we now have unsubstantiated reports of a second death. What worries the Cretans is that the man whose death began this emergency was reported as being alive and apparently healthy late on Monday evening, yet dead by the following morning.
‘The cause of his death is still unknown, but the Cretan Health Ministry believes, based upon the initial report from the doctor who examined the victim, that he could have been attacked by a very fast-acting virus, possibly a filovirus like Ebola. For those of you who don’t know, Ebola is a very rare virus previously only encountered in the Congo. It is highly contagious and normally fatal.
‘The only good news is that this outbreak has occurred in one of the smallest villages on Crete, which is perhaps why the death toll up until now is so low. Kandira has a population of under five hundred: if this had happened in Irakleio, Chania or Rethymno, and if the causative agent is indeed some kind of virus, there could already be dozens dead and hundreds infected.
‘The consequences of an Ebola-type epidemic anywhere are horrific to contemplate, so the Cretan authorities are well aware that swift and decisive action is necessary to contain the situation. They have therefore requested the assistance of the Centers for Disease Control at Atlanta in Georgia, and have already established a police cordon around the village of Kandira. Nobody is to be allowed into or out of the village until the CDC personnel arrive to assess the situation.
‘We have been informed that the Cretan authorities have begun transporting tents, bedding, clothing, latrines and washing facilities, cooking equipment and provisions to Kandira. These are obviously for the benefit of the police and other personnel assisting in this operation.
‘Some police officers are already inside the barricade because they had been originally tasked with investigating the first death, so were actually there in the village itself when the doctor realized that they were facing a possible epidemic. Because they are possibly contaminated by the pathogen, they will have to remain within the cordoned-off area for the foreseeable future.’
The Operations Officer – Ops One in the parlance of the Royal Navy – turned back to the map and pointed again at Kandira.
‘
‘The only road to Kandira runs through Sougia, and I understand that this road here is almost literally a cart track, heavily rutted and barely wide enough for a large van to pass. From Sougia the road winds north up a fairly narrow valley to the west of Lefka Ori before dropping down to Nea Roumata. From there, vehicles have to continue north-east through Chiliaro and Alikanos before they reach the main east–west coast road at Chania. There are other routes out of Sougia, but that is probably the fastest and most direct, which is why moving personnel and equipment into and out of Kandira is inevitably going to be slow and difficult. Quite apart from the mountainous terrain, most of those roads are narrow and twisting, and in many places in a poor state of repair.
‘That is the principal reason why we have been called in. Driving to Kandira from the closest large town, which is Chania, could take two hours or more, but a helicopter can cover the same distance in a few minutes. The Cretans will continue to use road vehicles to transport the heavier items to Kandira, so we will probably be asked to move only personnel or small pieces of equipment required urgently.’
The door into the briefing-room stood open, not least because the room was actually too small to accommodate all the squadron personnel, and several were listening intently from the outside corridor. Ops One heard a slight commotion and looked up to see Ops Three pushing his way down through the crush. He finally reached the lowest tier and handed Ops One a flimsy.
‘Sorry to interrupt, sir, but we’ve just received this tasking signal.’
‘Thanks.’ Ops One scanned the page rapidly, nodded and looked up at the clock on the bulkhead. ‘Right, this more or less confirms what I’ve been saying. Our first task is to collect a civilian specialist from the CDC. He will be arriving at Irakleio Airport early tomorrow morning and will need to be flown immediately to Kandira. There will be a dedicated briefing for the crew involved at zero six-thirty tomorrow.
‘That really covers topic
‘Finally, to facilitate HDS operations, I will be sending one of the Ops staff ashore to Kandira to liaise with the CDC people there on the ground. He will have a radio, and will relay requests for transport as and when required. He will also be able to talk to arriving and departing helicopters, and crews should establish two-way communications with him as soon as their aircraft have left the visual circuit and once cleared by Souda Bay Tower. Helicopters will have callsigns allocated by Mother, but we will probably use the aircraft side-numbers to keep things simple.
‘The Ops staff on the ground will use the callsign “Fob Watch”, derived from “FOB” – “Forward Operating Base”.’ Ops One looked round as if expecting applause, and was rewarded with a handful of polite smiles. He paused and looked down at Commander (Air). ‘Have you anything to add, sir?’
The Commander stood up and turned to face the assembled aircrew.
‘Thank you, Ops One, only two things. First, I need hardly remind you all that this is not an exercise. This is a real operation involving real people quite probably facing mortal danger. I want no mistakes from anyone, and I expect you to operate with all the skill and professionalism you’ve shown in the past.
‘Second, as you’re aware from what Ops One has already said, this epidemic apparently involves some kind of fast-acting virus or other pathogen, so any direct contact with it could prove fatal. But I should emphasize that there is no suggestion that any of
‘As things stand, therefore, neither I nor the Senior Medical Officer see any necessity for aircrew to wear AGRs or NBCD suits, but obviously we will review the situation as this operation progresses.’
That was a small relief. AGRs – anti-gas respirators – are somewhat cumbersome whole-face gas masks designed to prevent the wearer from inhaling chemical or biological agents. Uncomfortable enough to wear in a ground environment, they are very awkward in an aircraft, making the hearing of radio messages and transmitting responses – both vital to all aircrew – very difficult and prone to misinterpretation. NBCD suits, whose initials stand for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence, are one-piece suits covering the whole body apart from the face, where the AGR would be worn, and the hands, which would be gloved.
‘However,’ Commander (Air) continued, ‘any aircrew who start feeling unwell after a flight to Kandira are to report to the Sick Bay immediately. That is all.’
‘Thank you, sir. Briefing complete.’
Paul Richter, who’d been leaning against the door jamb for the entire session, nodded briefly to himself and walked away. Rotary wing flying only, and basically HDS – Helicopter Delivery Service – operations at that, so just a glorified taxi service. He decided to visit the ship’s library and find another couple of books to read, because it now looked like being a long week, with almost exactly nothing for him to do.
It would be a long week – Richter was right about that – but in fact he would have plenty to do.
The briefing Dave McCready had given in the safe house in Arlington had been his first. As an inexperienced agent, he’d been flattered when John Nicholson had summoned him to his office and told him what he wanted done, and he’d taken care to follow his superior’s instructions to the letter.
McCready had only been with the Agency for a couple of years and had spent most of that time working in the Intelligence Directorate, but outside Langley at one of the numerous satellite establishments the Company
