ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold (47 page)

‘Fit for?’

How the fuck would I ken, I suppose ye think it was my fault d’ye.  Well it wizná, aright.  I said nothing, I did nothing, I was just about to ask Sylvia to introduce us when he grabbed my hand and crushed it.’

‘You shook hands wee him?’

‘No look.’  I grabbed Samantha and used her and Buff as props then acted out what happened.

Buff shook his head, ‘that was it?’

‘That was it.’

‘So ye didn’t break it when ye punched him?’

‘No that’s definitely been crushed,’ Davie interrupted our pantomime.  ‘If it had been a punch, it would have broken this way,’ he demonstrated with a pencil.

‘Hey ye want to go get him?’  Ali wasn’t happy.

‘Sit down Ali; I’ve already dealt with him.’

He plonked himself back down shimfing.  ‘Christ we never get any ó the fun around here.’

‘I think you’ve already had mair than enough fun for one day.’  I growled.

‘Hold on your aren’t trying to tell us you beat him up are you?’  Amanda scoffed.

‘Why have you met him?’

‘Yes Sylvia brought him round to meet us at tea time, before going back to the museum.’

‘Medallion man, he gave me the creeps,’ Samantha joined in.

‘I thought he was charming, he took a fancy to you.’

‘How unusual.’  Abie smirked.

‘Not every man fancy’s me Abie.’

‘Bollocks.’

‘Are you trying to tell us you stood up to him?’  Amanda was waving her hands to get my attention again.

‘No, I kicked his cunt in.’

‘No way, he’s massive.’

‘Whit did ye do Jim.’  Gigs jumped in.  The conversation disintegrated, with everyone talking at once or over one another.  It was stopped by a knock at the door.  One of the guard appeared.  Excuse me sir, the police are here.’

‘OK show them in.’

A WPC appeared in the door and gasped at the splendour of the room.  ‘Can I help you officer?’

‘Yes sir I’ve got an arrest warrant here for one of your men.’

‘You’d better come in then.’

It was the young woman from the accident, a look passed between us.  ‘Abie was already on his feet; he’d hardly stopped talking about her all day.

Grizz and Fritz moved in for the kill.  Grizz held his hand out.  ‘May I see that Constable?’

‘Whom may you be sir?’

Grizz introduced himself and showed her his credentials.

‘I’m his lawyer Fritz stated.’

She visibly blanched but handed over the warrant.  ‘These are very serious charges Constable.’

‘Yes sir.’

He handed them over to Fritz.  ‘Aye you’re right, there’s not a lot we can do about this tonight,’ he turned, ‘I’m sorry Abie.’

‘Whit?’  His face had dropped like a stone.  ‘Whit have I done?’

Grizz pulled himself up to his full height and put his sternest face on.  ‘Come on now, don’t make a fuss, let the lassie do her job.  Carry on Constable.’

‘Yes sir.’  It was done swiftly and professionally with Abie howling all the way.  Grizz and Fritz stopped anyone following.  I watched from the window as Abie, cuffs and all, was bundled into the car and taken away, in the wrong direction. 

The laughter reached gale force as the phony warrant was passed round.  I received it last.  It stated he’d been arrested for leaving the scene of an accident without leaving his name, address and telephone number and for not asking a certain WPC out on a date, but I could only manage a weak smile

Our second visit from the police that night wasn’t quite as friendly.  It seemed I had bruised more than the man’s face; his monstrous ego had taken a tremendous beating to.  I ended up going to the police station, then the hospital with the police surgeon, Davie, Grizz and Fritz.  Davies’s diagnosis was confirmed.  Then Abie and his new girlfriend turned up.  She confirmed my story having heard it from Abie before they knew I’d been arrested.  It was her station too and that helped no end.  I was eventually released without being charged, pending further investigation.  The whole matter was finally dropped when Chris and the technician stuck up for me, leaving only Sylvia to stick up for her new boyfriend.

In the meantime, I finally met Harry Lamb in person, just before he replaced the bones in my hand with fancy metal ones.  Right after that, our workload doubled.  We spent the day scattered around various accident and emergency units and at night we ran.  Pressure from the media forced me to release Abie and Gig’s for an interview, but they weren’t happy with that; they wanted the one that shouted at the cameraman.  The army had come back from the tropics and the great football day was only a week away when a couple of things happened.

CHAPTER 50

Sergeant Grigor Antovich walked into the room he shared with another war veteran, halfway through the world news report and froze.  He lay there bleeding, dying.  The gun barrel swung onto him, he was looking right into the man’s face and saw death, swift, painless and accepted it.  But death rejected him; the gun barrel swung away and he knew then he would live.  He watched them run up the path one by one.  Then death himself left the battlefield and for a long moment, he stood there defiant, challenging the gods of war, until swallowed up by the white shroud that covered the hillside.

Grigor grabbed onto the back of a chair for support.  It took a moment or two for his heart to stop pounding.  He found his breath again.  ‘I didn’t know they had film footage of Bertrovich, Boris.’

His friend twisted himself round in his seat and regarded him cautiously.  ‘Bertrovich, what are you talking about you old fool.’

‘On the television just now, wasn’t that something to do with Bertrovich.’

Boris sat back around shaking his head.  ‘Not unless they have a Bertrovich in the Highlands of Scotland.’

Grigor noticed the news logo on the top left hand corner of the screen.  ‘It was a news report?’

‘Yes.’

‘What about?’

‘Some dramatic rescue in the Highlands of Scotland somewhere.  They’re trying to make us believe those soldiers, nine of them and a cat, performed lifesaving surgery on a woman, then ran with her and two others on a stretcher over five miles across open moorland where visibility was down to zero in under half an hour.  Where do they dig these stories up?  Grigor - Grigor, where are you off to you old cripple?’  Grigor didn’t need to hear anymore; he knew what he’d seen.  Destiny tugged at his shirttails.

He now stood at Edinburgh Airport at a loss.  He had used the last of his army pension to get here, now what.  He looked around; from here on in he needed help, and had just possibly spotted it.

Gail Summers was waiting with a host of other reporters for the return of the band ‘True Lies’ from their world tour when she spotted Grigor looking rather lost.  Her interest was aroused at the sight of him.  The large greatcoat he wore or the walking stick he bore, couldn’t disguise his military bearing.  She shifted her head to get a better look and froze as he caught her eye.

Movement, he spotted the young woman lift her head to get a better look at him.  Reporters and the men he sought had been in the news recently.  Yes a good starting point.

Gail felt her heart quicken as he began to limp towards her.  She could see this was no-ordinary man.  His clothing was rough but immaculate.  A handsome man perhaps in his late forties, above average height his dark hair greying slightly at the temples.  As he got closer, she saw the pain lines etched into his face and smelt a story.  She caught the attention of the photographer accompanying her.  ‘I’ll be back in a minute Roy.’

She met him halfway.  Grigor found himself embarrassed confronted by this pretty young woman.

‘May I help you?’

‘Yes please, maybe, I hope.  Are you with newspapers or TV news?’

‘I’m with a popular magazine; we cover a lot of the news.’

‘My name is Sergeant, sorry Grigor Antovich.  I am no longer a soldiered.

‘If I may say so, you still convey the presence of a soldier.’  She had hit the right note.  He straightened himself up as much as he could, rewarding her with a big smile.  ‘Now how may I help you sergeant?’  That did the trick.

‘I am looking for other soldiers, the men I fought in Albania and gave me this,’ he indicated his leg, ‘Please do not worry I am not after ret, ret.’

‘Retribution,’ she helped, puzzled at the request.  She thought all exiled Albanians had returned home years ago.

‘Yes thank you, retribution, I ask you because I saw those very same men in world news only a few weeks ago.  They now work with doctors, medics, I think.’

A thrill ran up her spine.  ‘Ah yes, that would be the unit run by Lt Murison.’

His look was blank.  ‘I’m sorry I do not recognize that name.  I know only three from the report.’  Gail however knew them too and reeled them off.  ‘Yes, yes those are the men.  Would you know where I could possibly find them?’

‘I could do better than that; I can take you to them.  Wait here a second.’  She ran over to the photographer.  ‘Roy you’ll have to cover this by yourself.  Something’s just come up.  Bye.’

‘Hey just wait a bloody minute,’ but she was gone.

The roads were slow which suited Gail fine.  ‘Would you mind telling me why you want to meet these men sergeant?’

‘I’m not really sure; I suppose they’re a bit like heroes to me.  The battle at Bertrovich stopped the war you know, after that there was no more fighting or very little.  It was too late for me and most of my friends of course; but our children live in peace and that is a great thing.  I would like to thank them for that at least.’

‘Tell me about the Battle of Bertrovich.’

‘You don’t know?’  He was genuinely surprised.

‘It was a little before my time,’ she excused herself.

‘Of course, it is strange though; we have songs about the memory of those men.  Their courage has been great inspiration to my people.’

‘I thought you didn’t know their names?’

He shook his head sadly.  ‘No, no one does, except the government of course.  I expect they keep their name secret to protect them from zealots.’

‘It must have been quite a battle?’

It had been a long time since anyone had wanted to listen to his story and he told it gladly.

*

We were exhausted again.  We’d just finished what I had deemed as our final exercise.  We had spent three days running around the hills being chased by the SAS and units of the regular army.  We were as ready as we would ever be.

The regular army had all arrived back safely and the new army had been integrated into it.  It too had just finished some pretty intensive training.  Such were the numbers of men involved, the Regiments now had multiple battalions again and the young were once again starting to pour into the training system.  The whole country was now aware of the impending disaster that loomed before us, even if it didn’t want to admit it.  In such a climate of despair, Abie’s football weekend had taken on a much greater significance than it normally did and the whole country was waiting eagerly.  Damn near the whole army was getting a week’s leave afterwards, including us, although the machinery to call us back at a moment’s notice was already in place.

‘Mr. Murison.’  One of the guards appeared.

‘Aye.’

‘There’s a woman at the guard hut looking for you, says her name is Gail Summers.’

‘Tell her to fuck off.’

His eyes swivelled towards to roof.  ‘Said you say that, says she’s got a friend of yours from Bertrovich with her.’

You could have heard a pin drop.  ‘OK I’ll be there in a minute.’

Buff slid off the table he’d been sitting on.  ‘Whit fucking now?’

‘That woman’s beginning to become a complete and utter pain in the arse.’  Fritz added slapping me on the shoulder.

*

Grigor was suddenly a bundle of nerves but Gail’s smile was reassuring.  The guard came back, he recognised the type, relaxed, unhurried, but alert, a good man in a tight corner.  Grigor found himself being appraised in the same manner.  They exchanged nods of recognition.

‘They’ll be with you in a minute.’  He addressed Grigor completely ignoring the woman, it was his first hint something was amiss.  Men poured out of the building and his heart missed a beat with recognition, it was definitely them.  All the things he had wanted to say fled his mind when he found himself staring down into the clearest pair of blue eyes he’d ever seen.  They seemed to reach down into his soul and strangely, a calm descended on him.

‘Hello Gail what are you up to this time?’  The eyes had never left his face.  Grigor found the woman had said they were friends yet the tone was definitely unfriendly.

‘I’m not up to anything, I bumped into sergeant Antovich at the airport, he said he wanted to meet you, now how could I possibly refuse.’

The eyes went blank momentarily but came back as sharp as ever.  ‘Sergeant Antovich, Grigor Antovich.’

Grigor reeled, he knew his name, but Grigor wasn’t the only one reeling.  Gail almost screamed in triumph, she had the bastard at last.

‘It’s an honour to finally meet you Sergeant.’  A hand was offered and Grigor, forgetting his disability, dropped his stick to grasp it.  Pain shot up his limb setting fire to his mind; he found himself falling but was stopped by a hand on his chest.  The man smiled and he felt the pain ease slightly.

*

I couldn’t believe I’d slipped like that, I’d really fucked it now, but Gail would have to wait a moment.  This man needed help.  ‘Davie,’ but he was already there.

‘Let me help you.’

‘Please, I only need my stick.’  Davie picked it up for him, while I turned my attention to Gail who seemed about to shit herself with excitement.

‘Well Gail, you’re looking happy for once.’

‘I’ve got you this time you bastard.’

‘Oh really, with what?’

‘You know him, don’t you?’

‘Of course we do, we were stationed at Bertrovich and heard of Sergeant Antovich heroic actions during the assault.’

‘I’ve never heard of him.’  Abie inquired.

‘Fuck off Abie.’

‘OK.’  The rest took the hint as well leaving us alone.

‘Don’t try and pull that shit with me, I’ve just been given a statement by an eyewitness.’

‘You know this is really old news; we went through all this when you were no more than a wet dream.  They couldn’t prove anything then and they won’t now.’

‘Fuck you, I’ve got an eyewitness.’

‘Sorry, who’s got an eyewitness?’  Her eyes flew wide as she realised we’d whipped him away from under her nose.

‘Oh you bastard.’

She pushed past but I caught her by the scruff and dragged her back.  ‘This is a military establishment; if you try and advance any further I will have you arrested.’

She ripped herself free from my grasp, red with rage and breathless.  ‘Oh you bastard!’

‘So you keep telling me.’

‘I can still write the story.  I can stir up enough shit to bury you forever.’

‘You think so?  Well why don’t you go ahead and try.’

She took a step towards me thrusting out her jaw.  I couldn’t resist it; I ran a finger gently down her cheek.  She jumped back shocked.  ‘Forgive the tired old cliché but you really are rather pretty when you’re angry.’

She almost ran back to her car. 

I watched her speed off swinging wildly through the gate, narrowly missing an oncoming car.  A pity, it would certainly have solved that problem.  I turned my mind back to the one inside.  She could wait.

Samantha grabbed me as I walked in the door.  ‘Jim is that the Sergeant who wrote the battle report at Bertrovich?’

‘Whit, how do you ken about that?’

‘Oh.’  Guilt flashed across her face.  It was obvious really.

‘Andrew!’

‘No Jim, please, don’t be angry.’

A lot of things became clearer I probably owed him.  ‘It’s OK,’ I reassured.  ‘It’s just something I would have liked to tell you all about myself.’

‘Would you have?’

‘Yes I think so, one day.’

‘You still could, you know.’

I changed the subject.  ‘What are you doing through here?’

‘Davie threw me out; he’s having a look at his leg.’

‘You’d better stay here for a bit then.’

Davie had him up on top of the counter and was setting up the machine.  Both his legs were a bloody mess with shrapnel wounds and postoperative scars.  His left leg looked healthy and well muscled, but his right, although straight, looked wasted and dark.

‘Well Grigor, what can we do for you?’

‘Nothing, I just wanted to meet all of you, I hold no, no.’

‘Animosity.’

‘Animosity, yes I think that word.  I have been a soldier all my life and never had I seen such bravery and fighting skills.  I -I just wanted to meet such men.  I hope you not mind?’

‘Not at all Grigor, in fact, it’s an honour to meet you.’  I introduced him around and he shook hands with everyone.

‘That’s enough of that,’ Davie cautioned fixing the shuttle onto the framework.  ‘Now Grigor, I need you to lie completely still.  No talking.’

‘Yes sir.’