Nexus - 0219 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Below Otto's helicopter the terrorists leaving the fort had “We will now conduct your debriefing, colonel. The mis- seen his approach, and three stopped briefly to fire ragged sion was a complete success. Listen carefully to my voice, bursts of automatic fire from their Chinese-made AK47___ listen carefully to my voice. You are tired from your mission assault rifles. Otto swivelled the heavy machine-gun, and will be allowed to sleep. When you wake again, you will allowed for aim-off and lightly tapped the trigger twice, fir- have forgotten all life events after the age of 27 years. I ing two rapid three-round bursts to sight the weapon. The repeat, when you wake you will have forgotten all life events two red tracers smashed into the rock face slightly in front of after the age of 27 years. All you will remember, I repeat, all the terrorists 500 yards away in the valley. Shifting the you will remember is that you are a lieutenant colonel on machine-gun fractionally, Otto fired three five-round bursts exchange duties with Special Operations, at a classified base in rapid succession. As the machine-gun shuddered violently in Morocco for multi-role training required for your mission. in the helicopter, all three terrorists were knocked spinning Congratulations, colonel! Enjoy your sleep.” backwards against the rock face. Ignoring the empty shell As Julia moved her controls, the green trace on the delta- cases and black belt-links being ejected into the helicopter © wave screen slowly increased at exactly the same rate as the slipstream, Otto continued firing carefully spaced five-round alpha trace decreased. Within minutes Otto lay passively bursts, until interrupted by Julia Long: unconscious, his sleep disturbed only by intermittent green "Otto, report. Otto, report your current activity!" spikes on the alpha screen. Once more Julia turned to the "Air-to-ground suppressive fire.” psychiatrist waiting next to the operating table: "Put-him out "Good, Otto, very good! Listen carefully to my voice, lis- for about eight hours please, then have the technicians take ten carefully to my voice. I am relaying a new assignment to him to his room. Put a discreet guard outside, but don't you from headquarters. You have been worry; when Otto wakes again he will requested on an exchange programme ,, : believe he really is a 27-year-old lieu- with Special Operations in Morocco. The When you wake again YOU tenant colonel. He will remember security classification is Coamic will have forgotten all ife | Yaing about his Life beyond tha the rank of lieutenant colonel. Open your ‘events after the age of 27 psychiatrist's eyes glittered slightly as erie Be are still flying on operations..." wake you will have out of the room. Though in her for- At the flick of a switch Julia Long for: otten all life events after ties, Julia was a very attractive woman turned on the projector at the foot of the capable of turning many male heads. operating table, the beam of which was the age of 27 years." As Julia sat down at a table in the promptly Bs and oe directly re ae SSS es «tn erm ae bene a4 retina of Otto's eyes by the accurate bhi gh- =x $s cup of hot coffee, she thought bac resolution lenses above his head. As new images started _ over the chain of events that had finally resulted in Otto being flickering from the projector, his detailed memories of the delivered to the ‘special facility’ in Morocco. Julia smiled a mountains of Oman started to shimmer and slowly dissolve, wan smile. to be replaced by similar scenery passing more quickly. It was perhaps the height of irony that another Englishman, When Julia increased the alpha field to maximum and John Dwyer, had brought Otto to the attention of a retired decreased delta to minimum, Otto watched transfixed as his | American CIA operative in Salt Lake City, Utah. For years Northrop F5 fighter-bomber swooped low over the Western Dwyer had worked as a sub-contractor for the CIA's African Sahara, firing a burst of 20-millimetre cannon shells at two desk, and thought Otto's qualifications might be of use to his por bees uying oa om, ime = i — . the — np Agency. a s the first vehicle exploded, Otto kicked off deflection ani ter leaving the F in the early ‘seventies, Otto had fired another burst at the second. With black flecks of soot moved into the specialised field of oilfield drilling operations. from the cannon speckling his windshield, Otto pulled back He seemed to have a natural aptitude for that profession, viciously on the controls and slammed the twin throttles because by 1980 he was operating as the top engineering ed the poy sree gate. hee an instant in ps z pipe 7. an a — — he looked down at the devastation below as green tracer shells _ had joined only three years earlier. At the time Dwyer called weaved lazily around the wings of the FS. his retired CIA contact, Earl Haggard, Otto was troubleshoot- The radio crackled in his headphones: "Good run, colonel, ing some oil wells in the Rocky Mountains, due east of Salt good run! Now get the hell out of there and return to base." Lake City. Still strapped to the operating table, Otto watched obediently Discreet CIA enquiries revealed Otto spent much of his as he and his aircraft broke off the action and retumed to spare time at a rifle range near his home, so an ‘accidental’ base. The runway threshold rushed towards him and with a meeting was arranged. Earl Haggard, a veteran of the notori- very real screech from its tyres the F5 settled gracefully on ous Phoenix psychological operation in Laos, turned up at the Te ny —o and — at the ae dem casually ory igh As her —— rolled by, to head towards the dispersal area and the waiting groun' r ame convince tto Jewell could be of great use to crew. A post-mission flood of adrenaline rushed through the Agency. As a top troubleshooter in the oilfield service Otto, and Julia swiftly adjusted the alpha and delta fields to industry, Otto had immediate and unquestioned access to compensate for his rapidly increasing pulse rate and skin con- almost any country in the world. His strong military back- ductivity. After stabilising his vital signs, Julia Long turned ground was also in his favour, as were his demonstrated again and spoke once more into her sensitive boom micro- _ lethal skills as a marksman with pistols, rifles and automatic phone: weapons, weapons, NEXUS 013 APRIL - MAY 1994