Nexus - 0221 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Only rarely had there been direct physical training. On day two, "You have control, captain." Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 removed his Otto had flown in an F5F with the air force captain in the rear seat hands from the controls and looked out of the cockpit with inter- for safety purposes. There had been no hesitation and Otto flew est. The two Tigers were identical to their own. So identical that the complete mission profile without incident, handing over con- _ the other FSF two-seater carried exactly the same serial numbers trol to the captain for the landing. On the afternoon of day four, as Mike-Alpha-Delta-3's fighter. As he watched, the FSF that had Otto was taken to Tangier for a rest break; then on the morning of —_just flown out from Alconbury closed up with the single-seat F5SE day five was sent south-east towards the Atlas mountains for from Morocco, and the pair turned back towards Europe. Still shooting practice. His honour totally erased by US Special maintaining strict radio silence, the two-seater from Morocco Operations techniques, Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 cocked his Browning _ closed up with the Alconbury leader and both fighters slowly automatic rifle and shot an unarmed Berber banked around and headed towards the tribesman through the shoulder as ordered. English coastline. Subsequent examination showed the shot to : : It was a trick special operations had be within one half-inch of the specified tar- used many times before, in order to fly get. The Berber was left where he fell. . os sensitive personnel or light equipment Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 had hit him with a high- It was a trick special into many different countries. In all, velocity fragmentation bullet travelling at operations had used many there were 33 different countries flying over three thousand feet per second, the 4 5 i one version or other of the 2;500 shrapnel slicing sideways and downwards times befor e, in order to fly Northrop F5s, and they all looked the through the Berber’s ribcage and tuning his sensitive personnel or light same at a distance, Because Mike-Alpha- vital organs into a bloody pulp. The rest of Delta-3's Tiger was now apparently one . * day five was taken up with the verbal equipment into many of a pair that left Alconbury less than an Cosmic International mission briefing. different countries. hour earlier on a low-level North Sea During the afternoon of day six, two interception and was retuming without Tigers flew out across the Dutch coast just visiting foreign soil, there would be no south of Zandvoort, ducking down swiftly nosey customs or immigration officials to until their wings almost brushed the white- ask awkward questions. crested waves, as they raced across the North Sea just below the Entry into the target country was the most dangerous part of any speed of sound on their last leg from Morocco. The disembodied special operations mission using an operative who was not a voice of the air force captain came through the intercom: "Starta native American. Good though CIA intelligence was, it was inca- ‘rate one’ turn to the right and reduce speed to 350 knots." _pable of ensuring that the operative was not wanted by any of his Without taking his eyes off the horizon, Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 auto- | home government agencies for a possibly trifling crime or offence. matically moved the controls gently to the right and eased back on _—As an entire operation could be wrecked for the sake of a thousand the throttles. More than a mile away, the second Tiger conformed _dollars' worth of unpaid parking tickets, covert entry was consid- without a word being spoken. Both fighters were maintaining _ ered essential. Departure was far less important. If he survived strict radio silence. the mission, Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 would fly out of Terminal 2 at "Steady on that heading!" Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 centralised the London Airport Heathrow on 20th April. controls and flipped the air brakes out. As the brakes extended Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 watched the coast of the Wash flash past as below each wing root, both Tigers lost speed and continued flying _ both fighters climbed and declared their presence to West Drayton on the new heading of 310 degrees. Two specks appeared from Control Centre. After approach to Alconbury was granted, they the west and rapidly grew in size until they became visible as two _ curved round neatly at 2,500 feet over Peterborough, slowly Tigers, which promptly broke formation and flew alongside the descending towards Alconbury from the north-west. Now in line’ first pair. The disembodied voice spoke again: “I have control, astern, both lowered their flaps and wheels and turned towards the colonel.” runway. The white flarepath strobes flashed a welcome, and ten TT seconds later there was a discreet squeak as the Tiger's main wheels contacted the runway. Late in the afternoon on 16th April, Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 finally arrived in England. From that point forward, only Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 and one other man in London would know the full mission details. Different personnel had been used to position the various pieces of equipment needed the following day: the usual intelligence system of using ‘cut-outs’ every inch of the way. Changing into a sports jacket and casual trousers, Mike-Alpha-Delta-3 picked up a waxed cotton Barbour coat and put it on, There was a chill in the air, and the coat would attract no attention in the country or in London. The Barbour coat was very com- mon, which suited his purpose very well, Mike-Alpha- Delta-3 had to stay invisible to intelligence service sur- veillance by fading into the background. He was politely ushered into an unmarked blue Ford saloon by its owner, who then drove towards the base's main gate. Alconbury had not been selected as the home AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1994 e AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1994