Desert Vets - 5. DV Ch 5 - Welcome Back Sir

“Permission granted, take care out there now, and make sure you stay connected with communications through the Sat Comms, I will get the reserves at Port Headland on standby in case they are needed, good luck soldier,” the CO said to me, “yes sir and thankyou sir,” I replied, before the call ended.

“Ok, I have to go out and do a check on the Army base, so I will be gone for most of the night, but don’t worry, I will be in constant contact with Army communications in Perth, I suggest that you both pack an overnight bag and head over to Corunna Downs, and stay with Jack and his wife, and try and keep the horse calm, I will let you know as soon as I know what is happening,” I said to a worried looking Marcus and Rhodes.

“I don’t like the sound of this,” Marcus protested, “Yes, I know dear, but don’t forget, that I have been trained for this sort of stuff, so I will be just fine, I want you and Rhodes to be over at Corunna Downs so I don’t have to worry about you both, while I am concentrating on my trained job as an army soldier, understood,” I said in reply, and both nodded their heads in understanding.

After a quick shower, I retrieved all of my Army gear, and stocked up on water, food, sleeping gear, my Sat communications gear, and my army weapon out from the hidden secure storage locker, before getting changed in to my Army gear, and with face paint on, I checked that I had everything, before stepping into the living area, where Marcus jumped in fright.

“Jesus, don’t do that to me, I don’t want to die just yet thank you,” Marcus said to me, and Rhodes chuckled, “I’ve seen him like that tones of times, he is really good at sneaking up on people while camouflaged too,” my brother said smiling, and I smiled back and nodded.

“Right head over to Corunna Downs, I will let you know in the morning on what is happening, see you later,” I said as I hugged my brother, then gave my husband a long kiss, and I headed out into the darkness, with night vision goggles on, as it was a very dark night tonight.

I was soon in a steady rhythm as I began the hike up over the ranges, having decided to take the longer and harder way to the base, instead of following the roads, knowing that it would take me nearly three hours to get to my destination in the dark.

After nearly two hours of hiking, I stopped for a short break, to catch my breath, realising that I was a little out of fitness, and made a mental note to do some more regular exercise. “Major Eccleston to Corporal Kendrik, do you copy,” a voice in my ear said, which caught me by surprise a little.

“Receiving you sir,” I responded, “Situation report please Jexon, over,” Tim Eccleston requested, “Sir, I am about two thirds of the way over the ranges from my home to the base. There have been five shots heard before I left, and another eight since I began the hike. Just taking a short breather. I seem to have lost a bit of conditioning, over,” I replied, and I heard the Major chuckle.

“That is not good to hear Corporal, we will have to do something about that, keep in touch on your progress, over and out,” the Major said and all went silent, as I heard another two shots fired, and I automatically ducked down low for cover, as they sounded extremely close.

“I tell you I heard something over there Kurt, sounded like voices, but I couldn’t see anything, it’s just too damn dark out tonight, Shame we don’t have access to those night vision goggles, like we did when we were serving,” I overheard a voice say as the wind blew towards my direction.

Right away, I realised that I was in a lot more trouble than I expected and that I would require some backup, but not from the local reserves, this required the top dogs of our army, who are specially trained for this stuff, as I remained down low to the ground, and stayed exceptionally still, and I shut down the goggles to stop the glow from showing, as I heard approaching footsteps.

“I think you have a wild imagination Peter, there is no one out this far. Corunna Downs is a good twelve kilometres south-east of here, and there is no one living at the old base anymore, according to the information that we got out of those useless so-called civilian caretakers, even after we had to torture them a bit to get the information,” I heard the second voice say.

“Yeah, Tony isn’t too pleased to have to stay behind and babysit them and patch them up,” the first voice responded, as I heard them start to mover further away from me, having passed just twenty metres away from where I lay on the ground.

I spent the next two hours very slowly and quietly crawling the rest of the way to the army base, until I reached a high point where I could view the whole base, but still remain well hidden, and I touched the earpiece to activate it, “Jexon to Tim, are you receiving me sir,” I said in a whisper.

“I can barely hear you Corporal, go ahead with your report,” the Major responded, “Sir, the caretakers have been taken hostage and have been tortured. I overheard two men talking after they took a pot shot at me, but I remained unhurt and hidden, and they said they had tortured the caretakers to get information about the base and who is in the area. Apparently, they informed their captors that there is no one living on the base full time, and that the nearest station with people is at Corunna Downs, over,” I reported.

“That is because, I informed the caretakers, that no one lives at the base any more, and that the owners come in for a flying visit every now and then. Are you onsite now Corporal?” the Major asked me, “Yes sir, I am at the high point, just south-east of the base, I can see the two caretakers, roped together back-to-back, sitting out in the open. From what I overheard, there are three by the name of Kurt, Peter and Tony.

Sir, I also heard, they are ex-Army, as they mentioned that they wish they had night vision goggles like they did when in the Army, as it is very dark out here tonight, as it is very overcast at the moment, over,” I said into the Sat Comm mic quietly.

“Understood, I have been prepping a squad to come and drop in for a visit, they will be in the air in approximately three hours, so expect them to arrive just before dawn, understood, over,” the Major informed me, and I smiled, “That is good to hear sir, I look forward to their arrival. over,” I replied, as I added the coordinates of my location as well.

“Copy that Corporal, keep your head down, stay out of sight and make no contact with the unfriendlies until help arrives, understood, over,” the Major said to me, “Understood, Jexon out,” I said ending the communications, and I too one last look, over the rise to check what was happening, before bedding down for a few hours’ sleep, as I switched off the goggles, and made sure that I was well hidden before closing my eyes.

I must have been extra tired, as I woke up to the sound of boots hitting the ground and rustling of some kind, coming from behind me, and I slowly looked behind me, and saw a squad of SAS soldiers gathering their chutes, and stashing them away under cover, before they quietly approached my direction.

“Having a bit of a snooze where you Corporal?” came the familiar voice of Tim Eccleston, as I jumped up and snapped to attention. “Sir, yes sir. I am sorry, I have had a few long days with work and I needed to catch up on some sleep,” I whispered back, “That is ok Jexon, I do know that you are running a very successful veterinary practice as well as been the District Veterinary officer for the area,” the Major replied.

“Thankyou sir, I have been in Katherine for a few days dealing with a disease outbreak on a cattle station just east of the town. Oh, and welcome back Sir,” I responded, as we settled down for a briefing to work out what the situation is and what to do about it, as we watched carefully over the rise to see what was happening at the base.

“The two caretakers were still tied up, sitting in the middle of the camp, and they didn’t look in a very good condition at all. There was one armed person guarding them, and he would walk around for a while then sit down and have a smoke, before getting up and walking around again, all the rest appeared to be sleeping on swags around a low camp fire or in a tent.

“Sir, may I suggest that we sneak in and give them a surprise wake up call, once we have secured their weapons,” the units, Warrant Officer suggested, “I agree with the Warrant Officer sir, and I think Corporal Kendrik should take the lead, since he has the beast skills of sneaking up on people,” the Sergeant added.

“I think you can all sneak in, but from various directions so that we can make sure that we get everyone. Jexon, do you know how many armed men there are in the camp?” the Major asked me, “I estimate seven sir, four men, two teenage boys and one woman, and from what I have observed, she is a nasty piece of work,” I replied.

The major and a sniper would remain on the hill for cover protection, while the rest of us broke into teams of two, to slowly and silently make our way down to the campsite, from all directions, and it took just forty minutes to achieve this, with still had over an hour before first light started to appear, so we lay there and waited, watching everything that was happening.

This included a change of guards, and one man taking a leak over their two prisoners, which none of us were very happy about witnessing, as we hoped that these people get severely punished for what they have put the caretakers through since their arrival on the base.

“Ok, we have the police on their way, but won’t be here until 0900 hours with suitable transport to take them to Port Hedland, I have also activated the local Reserves, and they are already on their way and will be here in half an hour, so let’s wrap this up before then, so we can leave it up to the reserves to stand guard over these idiots until the police arrive, while we do a thorough sweep of the area, to make sure no one slipped away,” Major Eccleston said over the Sat Comms.

“Sir, Fraser here, just overheard one of the guards ask when a guy name Mitch returns from Hedland with more supplies, and the other guard said that he was due just after breakfast, over,” one of the SAS soldiers informed the CO. “Damn, that may be a slight problem, I will get the Army reserves unit diverted so they don’t run into each other, thanks for the update.

Corporal Kendrik, I need you to notify the owners at Corunna Downs to expect some visitors very shortly, and to keep everyone at the homestead until this is all over,” the Major said, “Yes sir, my brother is there, I will let him know,” I responded.

“Sir, Jacobs here, we have movement in the camp, two men, no it’s the two teenagers, they are heading this way, they are not armed, what do you want me to do, over,” came another soldiers voice over the Comms. “Easy, very quietly detain them, gag and tie them, and get them out of there, up here would be the best option but for now just keep them bound and quiet, over,” the CO responded.

A few minutes later Jacobs was back on Comms, “Sir, this is Jacobs, we heard the lads talking as they got closer, they were scared and didn’t want to be there, so when we made an appearance, they happily surrendered to us. They are currently tied up but not gagged, as I think they will not be a problem, they have promised to tell us everything on what is happening. Evans is talking to them know, and writing up a report, over,” Jacobs said.

“Sir, this is Evans, there is a total of nine in the group, two are on a shopping trip, including their leader, who is the father to one of the boys, the lad says they are due back at 0700 hours, over,” Evans said, “Good work lads, keep the information coming, over” the Major replied.

About half an hour later, the CO was back on Comms, “Ok, I have an update on the Reserves Unit, they are at the eastern gate into the base, near some portable buildings, apparently your brother Rhodes, is it? Has the keys to unlock the gate to get through, so they are on standby waiting for a signal from me to move in,” Major Eccleston informed us all.

As the first signs of daylight started to show, we were given the order to move in and secure the weapons, but not to wake those that are sleeping. “Sir, this is Evans, every adult has a rifle as well as a hand gun, and the two that went into town had left theirs behind locked in one of the vehicles, over,” Evans reported in.

“Copy that, ok we need to account for all the weapons before we move in, the team closest to the guard, I need you to gag and bound him so he doesn’t raise the alarm, over,” the Major ordered. That job fell on me and my team mate the Sergeant, who was a lot bigger and stronger than me, and he smiled when we heard this order, and I quietly chuckled. “Consider it done sir,” the Sergeant responded, and we slowly made our way closer to the guard.

Before he knew it, the guard had a tight hand grip over his mouth, as the sergeant whispered, “If you make one single sound or try to break away from us, you are dead, do you understand me? Nod if you do?” the sergeant said in a gravelly voice, and we saw the man nod his head, as I grabbed his gun, and quietly unloaded it and made sure the safety was on, while the Sergeant tied his hands with zip ties.

“Guard secured sir,” the Sergeant said as we quietly moved away from the campsite and out of sight, once we had done that, we sat him down, tied his feet together and gagged him, so he wouldn’t warn the others, although the look of fright on his face, indicated that he intended to cooperate with us.

“Sir, Darpan’s here I have found the Hawkei, it is on its side with two tyres blown out on the left side, and it looks to be in quite a mess, over,” another voice said over the comms. “Copy that,” the Major replied, and the sound of his voice was one of anger and frustration.

Over the next ten minutes, the team managed to secure all the high-powered weapons except the ones locked away in a vehicle, and one of the soldiers was posted at that vehicle to ensure that they could not be reached, also all but two of the handguns had also been secured, which was a slight problem.

The Sergeant instructed me to go and help out, while he remained with the prisoner, so I let the Major know and I began to crawl back towards the campsite, arriving just as the Major gave the order to get ready to move in. We now had two men located within just metres of each of the targets, ready to pounce on them when ordered.