Bear Grylls - Burning Angels

Windows were lit up on the villa’s second floor, which was all that was visible above the high perimeter wall. Every now and then Jaeger spotted a silhouette passing back and forth. As expected, Vladimir’s men were keeping careful watch.

He noted a couple of 4x4s parked next to the perimeter wall. They would need immobilising, just in case anyone tried to give chase. He flicked his eyes up to the flat roof of the building. It was the obvious place to post sentries, but there was no movement that he could detect. It looked to be deserted. Yet if there was access on to it, the roof was the one point they would have problems keeping covered.

Jaeger spoke into his throat mic. ‘We’re a go. But be wary of the roof. Plus we immobilise those vehicles.’

There were replies in the affirmative.

Jaeger led them in a dash across the open track. They paused at the vehicles, using grenades rigged to motion-sensitive triggers to booby-trap them. If anyone tried to pull away in either vehicle, the movement alone would detonate the explosives.

Raff veered off alone now, heading for the main power line. He would use a compact sabotage device to send a powerful surge of current through the villa’s electrics, blowing the fuses and light fittings. Vladimir was sure to have an emergency generator, but it would be of little use, for the circuitry would have been fried.

Jaeger glanced at Narov. He placed the palm of his hand on the crown of his head – the signal for ‘on me’. Then he rose to his feet and hurried across to the villa’s front entrance, his pulse pounding in his ears as he went.

If there was a moment when they were most likely to be spotted, it was now, as they prepared to scale the high wall. Jaeger inched his way around the corner and took up position to one side of the front gate. A split second later, Narov was beside him.

‘In position,’ he breathed into his radio mic.

‘Affirmative,’ came Raff’s whispered reply. ‘Going dark.’

A split second later there was a fizzing and a popping from the villa’s interior.

In a shower of sparks the entire complex went suddenly very dark.

Jaeger hoisted Narov by her legs, and propelled her upwards. She reached for the top of the wall and hauled herself on to it. Then she leant down and helped him to scramble up. Seconds later they dropped on to the far side.

All was pitch darkness.

It had taken only seconds to scale the wall, but already Jaeger could hear muffled shouts coming from the building.

The front door swung open and a figure stumbled out, flashlight sweeping the darkened compound and glinting off the assault rifle gripped in his hand. Jaeger froze. He watched the figure make his way to a shed set in one corner – very likely the backup generator house.

As the figure disappeared inside, Jaeger dashed forward, Narov bang on his shoulder. He flattened himself to one side of the villa’s doorway, Narov doing the same on the other. Jaeger whipped out a canister from one of his pouches, unhooking a small hand-axe at the same time.

He glanced across at Narov.

She gave a thumbs up.

Eyes cool like ice.

Jaeger grabbed the pin holding the retainer clip. Once he pulled it, the grenade was primed to pump out its gas. They were on the point of no return now.

Gently he eased the pin free, his fingers holding the fly-off lever closed. If he relaxed his grip, the clip would spring free, and the grenade would start gushing.

‘In position,’ he breathed into his radio.

‘In position,’ Raff echoed. Having killed the villa’s power, the big Maori had made his way to the rear, the only other way in or out of the building.

Jaeger steeled himself. ‘Going in.’

He swung the axe through the window. The sound of breaking glass was drowned out by those inside crashing about in the darkness. He dragged the axe out again and heaved the canister in, letting the fly-off lever ping free.

Opposite him, Narov mirrored his movements, hurling her canister through the window that she’d just smashed.

Jaeger mouthed off the seconds. Three. Four. Five…

Through the broken glass he could hear a fierce hissing, as the grenades gushed out their choking contents. It was followed by a gasping and retching, as the Kolokol-1 began to take effect, and panicked bodies stumbled into unseen obstructions.

Suddenly there was a cough and a roar at Jaeger’s back as the generator kicked into life. The figure emerged to check if the power had come back on, but all remained pitch black. He swung his flashlight this way and that, trying to identify the reason for the blackout.

Jaeger had a split second in which to deal with him. He dragged his SIG Sauer from its chest holster. The silhouette of the pistol was different now: longer, and more barrel-heavy. He, Raff and Narov had each fitted an SWR Trident silencer to the business end of the P228s. They’d also loaded the magazines with subsonic rounds – ones that travelled slower than the speed of sound, so avoiding the crack that a bullet makes when going through the sound barrier.

To compensate for the lack of velocity, the rounds were heavier in weight, the combined effect rendering the weapon almost silent but no less lethal for it.

Jaeger raised the P228, but before he could open fire, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows and squeezed off a double tap – pzzzt , pzzzt ; re-aim; pzzzt . Raff had been a split second faster than Jaeger, and one step ahead in taking the shot.

Ten. Eleven. Twelve… The voice in Jaeger’s head continued counting out the seconds, as the Kolokol-1 did its work.

Momentarily, he was struck by a sense of what it must be like inside the building. Pitch darkness. Utter confusion. Then the first chilling caress of the Kolokol-1. A moment’s panic as each man tried to make sense of what was happening, before the terror hit, the gas searing down windpipes and flaming into lungs.

Jaeger knew from personal experience what such a gas did to people; what a horrible way it was to go under. You might well survive, but it was something you would never forget.

For a terrible moment he was back on that Welsh mountainside, as a knife sliced through the thin canvas of his tent and a nozzle was thrust inside, disgorging a cloud of choking gas. He saw hands reach in and grab his wife and child, dragging them out into the darkness. He tried to raise himself to fight, to save them, but the Kolokol-1 seared into his eyes, freezing his limbs completely.

And then a gloved fist grabbed him savagely by the hair, forcing his face upwards, until he was staring into the hate-filled eyes behind the mask.

‘Get this moment burned into your brain,’ a voice hissed. ‘Your wife and child – they’re ours. Don’t ever forget: you failed to protect your loved ones.’

Though distorted by the mask, Jaeger had figured he’d recognised the man’s vicious, hate-filled tones, but he couldn’t for the life of him put a name to the voice of his tormentor. He knew him, and yet he didn’t know him, and that had proved to be a torture from which it had been impossible to hide.

Jaeger forced the images from his mind, He reminded himself just who they were gassing here. He’d witnessed the murderous horrors visited on his team in the Amazon, not to mention on poor Leticia Santos herself. And of course there was a part of him that hoped to discover here something that might lead him to his wife and child.

Every second was precious now. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty!

Jaeger stepped back, raised his leg and smashed his boot savagely into the door. The rich tropical hardwood hardly gave an inch, but the frame was made of cheap plywood and it splintered, the door cannoning inwards on its hinges.