“You Brits and your weather, can’t you sort it out?” Alice jokes.
“I wish we could,” I tell the American.
“This looks like our transport,” Josh says, his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun as he points into the air.
“Transport inbound!” I shout into the hangar as I see the two helicopters approaching, so that everyone is aware things are about to speed up.
Dan and a few of the other lads come over to see, but Sergeant Dixon and the two other men stay inside to concentrate on the mission goal.
As the first Lynx homes in on our position, Corporal Downey steps out onto the concrete expanse outside the hangar, heading to the right past the vehicles that are parked up, and he starts to signal to the helicopter's pilot. He is directing the first Lynx to land to its left-hand side of the hangar and sure enough, the pilot starts his descent following the Corporal’s direction.
As the Lynx closes in on its landing spot, we start to feel the downdraft and the decibels start to rise from its rotors and engine. The pilot brings the helicopter in swiftly, lifting the nose as he angles in, almost as if he knows the urgency of the turnaround we need to achieve. Corporal Downey is directing him all the way. The wind gets severe as the pilot descends the last few meters to the ground and I can imagine Sergeant Dixon behind me holding his paper plans down, so they aren’t blown and scatter everywhere. He’s cursing.
The first Lynx touches down with a bump and immediately, the pilot kills its engines, this gives us small respite though, because the second is already making its approach and coming in just as swiftly as the first. Corporal Dixon has run over to the left of us so that he can aid the second pilot with his descent and before we know it, the two Lynx helicopters that will transport us on our mission are parked up in front of us!
“Well done, Corporal,” I congratulate as the noise of the second engine winds down.
The first pilot is already climbing down from his ride and the second one is opening his door to get out. I walk out to greet the first pilot as he hits the ground. To my relief, the first pilot isn’t a youngster like the one we managed to overpower so easily yesterday, on top of the Orion building. This one is more mature and judging from his descent, is a very capable pilot.
“Captain Richards,” I say as I reach him, extending my hand.
“Wing Commander Buck,” he says, shaking my hand firmly. “This is your mission isn’t it, Captain?”
“Yes, and I assume you know the weather forecast?” I reply as we walk to meet the other pilot.
“I’m afraid we do; it is looking particularly bad. This is Flight Lieutenant Alders,” the Wing Commander says as he introduces me to the other pilot, who is younger than him but still in his late twenties, I would estimate.
“Captain Richards.” I introduce myself and shake his hand. “We are pulling the mission forward to as soon as we are ready to try and miss this weather, but my team need to familiarise themselves with the equipment you should have on board,” I tell them both as we all walk back toward the hangar.
“All the equipment is on board my Lynx, Captain.”
“Thank you, Wing Commander, I will get it unloaded,” I say.
“Please call me Buck, Captain.”
“Okay, thanks, Buck.”
We enter the hangar and I ask Dan to get everyone together for the briefing.
“Oh, I nearly forgot,” Buck says as he unslings a rifle from his shoulder. It was hanging on his back and I hadn’t noticed. He hands me the rifle, an M4 Carbine, my M4 Carbine! “I was asked to make sure you got this,” he tells me.
“Brilliant, thanks,” I say as I look down at my M4 and then check it over. “Lieutenant Winters,” I shout across the hangar, holding up the gun. “Thanks,” I tell him when he looks up, he gives me a smile and little flick of a salute in acknowledgement. The M4 is as I left it, but I will check it over properly after the briefing; for now, I go over and put it on the table.
With my team now fully assembled, it’s time to get the briefing done, so I turn from the table, crossing my arms across my chest ready, and wait for them all to gather from around the hangar.
“Gather ‘round, gather ‘round,” Dan says as he arrives at my side and everyone quickly does. Josh and Alice are at the front right, the two pilots on the left, with the helicopters outside behind them through the open roller shutter, and the Special forces lads are mixed up in the middle and I am pleased to see them that way.
“Okay, firstly, thank you for your attention,” I start. “You all know why we are here and how important this mission could prove to be; this virus has got to be stopped at all costs, for the sake of London and possibly the whole country, beyond even. I expect everybody to bring their A-game to this mission, full commitment and no excuses! We know the goal and we cannot fail, is that understood?”
“Yes Sir!” everybody says in unison.
“The pilots who have just arrived are Wing Commander Buck and Flight Lieutenant Alders, make yourself known to them. Wing Commander Buck will carry myself, the SBS Troop and Josh, while Dan, the SAS Troop and Alice will go with Flight Lieutenant Alders. That way, each Lynx will have one of the options for sorting the safe onboard. Lieutenant Winters will oversee the mission and comms from here, understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“The bad news is that the weather is going to be shit at approximately 1600
