‘Yes. Listen, the drop was spot-on. We’ve recced as much as we can in the dark. As soon as it’s light I’ll shoot some footage with the video, get pictures back to you. But basically the plan holds.’

‘So . . .’ He paused, evidently looking at his notes. ‘The same DZ?’

‘Yep. It’s an ideal place. Looks like a summer pasture. Nobody within miles. I’ll get myself up there with a Firefly to guide the lads in.’

‘OK, then. We’re aiming to drop at 1900 your time. That’s half an hour after full dark.’

‘Can you make that 1930? I’ll need time to get up to the DZ, and I don’t want to move in daylight.’

‘OK. 1930 it is. That’s confirmed.’

‘Great. Obviously Pat will want to work out his own plan. But as I see it there are three objectives: first is to cut the road coming up from the barracks at the bottom; second is to secure the summerhouse, third to hit the villa.’

‘Roger. How many in the garrison?’

‘Very few. Could be twenty. Nothing like the rumours. But they’ve got a fucking great machine gun set up beside the helipad, and I’m sure there are guys we haven’t seen yet inside the house.’

‘OK. How’s the rest of the garrison deployed?’

‘By the time we got here they were all in their pits, bar one.’ I told Bill about the sentry patrolling the perimeter, but said we hadn’t seen anyone inside the wire.

‘Is the helipad big enough for a Chinook to land?’

‘Definitely. But we’ll have to take out that five-oh first. What’s the position on the exfil?’

‘I think it’s going to be possible from the north. Your Russian friends are playing ball. It looks as though we’ll be able to get the choppers up to a place called Nalchik. Then they can hop over the mountain when they’re needed, and come back out the same way. They’ll be in and out of Chechnya air-space in a few minutes. The only thing is, the met looks a bit dodgy. There’s a depression moving up from the south.’

Chapter Fifteen

FIFTEEN

It was at 11.30 the next morning that things suddenly started to move. Sasha and I had both made secure OPs, buried under piles of pine boughs about 400 metres apart. Once I’d left him with a good view down to the front of the villa, I moved on round and found a site that commanded not only the summerhouse but also the exit road. There, lulled by an intoxicating smell of fresh resin, I’d crawled into my sleeping bag for warmth, and dozed off for the last hour before dawn.