Firestorm - 20. FS Chapter 20

“I can see you all in the spy glasses, you are way off to my left-hand side, over” Tom announced, “That would be correct Tom, remind me to show you my compass, when we get back, we are approximately 2.5 km’s west-north-west of your current location, which is about 290 degrees on a compass” I replied, “Ok, Mum say’s I have to get off the radio now, so this is Tom signing off” he said to me, “Ok Tom, see you when we get back, Mitchell over and out” I said and I placed the radio back on my belt.

I saw three big grins looking at me, and I just laughed, “Ok you lot, back to work, find me the first marker, we are within 20 metres of it” I said to the three corporals, who scattered in different directions, and Marc shouted out that he had found it and read out the code numbers and letters on the marker, and once again, we began to follow the navigation path that I had set out.

When we came to the last marker, we had arrived on another small access track, “Ok boss, where are we this time?” Amos asked, “How about you guys try and work that out for yourselves” I suggested, as I sat down and leaned against a tree, before taking a drink from my hydration pack. After a few minutes of discussion amongst them, the lads announced that we were on a small track north-north-west of Tobruk Hill, and about 400 metres west of a track that heads roughly in a north – south direction.

Pleased that they had got it right, I suggested that we have a drink and snacks break, before we began hiking along the track, making our way back to the campsite. Arriving at another “T” junction, after nearly 1 ½ km’s of hiking, we stopped for a drink of water, and knowing exactly where we were, I glanced due south, and slightly upwards, and I could see the reflection of something shiny at the top of the tower, which I made a mental note to remove, when we get back.

“Right, we are just over 1 km due north of the campsite, we are going to take the direct route, instead of following the tracks, unless of course you want to walk the extra distance” I said to the three corporals, knowing that it was approximately an extra 3 kilometres longer, “No the direct route is fine, Staff” Marc replied, and the other two nodded their heads in agreement, which made me smile.

‘Mitchell, this is Angela, over” came a worried sounding voice on the radio, and I snatched the radio off my belt, and immediately began walking fast towards the camp, “Mitchell receiving you, what is it Angela?” I replied, we can hear a vehicle approaching, Tom and I are both up on the tower hiding, how far away are you” Angela responded, “If I rush, I can be there in about fifteen minutes, we are one-kilometre due north of you, over” I replied, now getting very worried about their safety.

“Angela, there is a big rope near the stairs, do you see it?” I added after a short moment, “Yes I see it, what do I do” Angela replied, “Untie the end and pull on it hard, it pulls the bottom end of the last set of stairs up, so no one can get to the top platform, then tie it off to one of the safety barriers, we will be there as fast as we can, lay low on the floor, and stay quiet, we are coming” I replied, “Ok we are doing that now, please hurry” Angela responded. I clipped the radio to my belt and retrieved my mobile and dialled the caretakers number.

“Staff Sergeant Benning here, have you had anyone enter the property in the past few hours?” I asked as soon as the call answered, “Yes sir, about an hour ago, I presumed that it was Army personnel, as they stopped at the gate and appeared to have keys, but I have just come back from looking, and the lock has been cut. I have just reported it to your CO, and he is sending the police to investigate” the caretaker replied.

“Ok, the three corporals and I are on foot, about 900 metres from our command post campsite, where our cook and her son are alone, we are heading directly there, I will let you know more once we have arrived” I said before ending the call, “Ok lads lets pick up the pace, but try and keep the noise to a minimal” I said to the corporals, as we started to run along a small valley and begin the slow climb up the hill.

Five minutes later, I held my arm up with fist closed, and everyone stopped, and I listened for any noises. I could hear the vehicle now, it sounded like a Land Rover, and I began to run again, having caught my breath back a little. After another five minutes of running, we stopped again, dropping down low, and listening carefully for any vehicle noise, there was none, and I began to panic, then I heard voices, two or three of them.

It sounded like they were arguing, about being lost, and taking the wrong track, then we heard doors slam, and the engine start again. After a few moments, I would work out that the vehicle was now due west of us, which meant that the intruders were indeed on the wrong track, heading further away, in a north-west direction.

I looked at the small map that I had with me, and determined that the intruders, were on the track that is north east of the airstrip, heading back to the main access road, and I smiled, that we were in luck, and we headed off again at a fast jog now going up the hill’s northern slopes, going as fast as we could, without tripping on logs and rocks as we went. I was pleased when the campsite came into view, and I looked up at the tower, and I gave a short loud whistle, and I saw Angela peek over the side, where she saw us, and I waved her to come down.

When I saw that the fire was going under the stove, I grabbed the billy, and threw all the water onto the fire to put it out, “Guys, just grab Angela and Tom, and we will make a dash for the front gate in my vehicle, Tom will have to sit on someone’s lap” I said, as I threw my backpack into the tent, and retrieved my vehicle keys from my kit bag. Moments later, we were all loaded into my vehicle, and we made the fast and rough dash down the hill,

Marc, call the caretaker, tell him we are heading for the front gate at top speed, in my blue vehicle, and we will be heading for Toodyay police station, inform him that the intruders are somewhere north of the airfield, and will probably follow us once they hear our vehicle” I said to Corporal Hays, who was dialling as I was finishing my instructions, which he repeated to the caretaker. “He says that police are on their way from Toodyay, Moora and Gingin” Marc informed me, as I hit the brakes and made a slight turn to the right.

Nearly four kilometres later, I hit the brakes again, and turned left onto the property’s main access road, and we were now only 4 km’s from the main bitumen road, where I hoped that we could pick up some more speed to get away, with it being about 22 km’s to the next main road junction, and another 12 km’s into Toodyay. “I can see them, they are catching up Uncle Mitch” Tom said in a worried tone, and so put my foot down harder on the accelerator for more speed, but soon had to brake, as the main road quickly appeared.

I turned left, and pushed hard on the accelerator, to get as much speed as possible, till I was sitting on 124 km’s per hour, as we raced down the bitumen road, feeling a bit worried about going a little too fast on a minor bitumen road, in case any stray stock may appear on the road. When I saw the sign, indicating the “T” junction, I slowed right down, and taking a quick look in both directions, I turned right onto the Bindi-Toodyay Road, but this time I stayed on the speed limit of 110 km’s per hour.

“He’s getting closer Uncle Mitch” Tom informed me, and I looked at my speedometer, and thought about increasing my speed, when I saw a police car approaching, and I stuck my hand out the window and waved, but he continued straight on. Looking at my rear vision mirror, I saw the police car slow down, and as soon as the car chasing us passed, he turned around and followed. Not sure what the intruders would do, I decided to slow down, and see if they would pass me, to get away from the police, so I reduced my speed to 90 km’s per hour, and the car that was chasing us, quickly caught up and sat behind us for a while.

When the police car also caught up behind, the intruders passed us, and I immediately slowed down and indicated that I was turning off the road to stop. Moments after we had stopped, a police officer walked up to my window, “Are you Staff Sergeant Benning?” the officer asked me, “Yes sir, and that car that just passed me is the one that broke into the army training facility, and has been chasing us since we left” I explained, and the officer ran back to his car, and sped off to try and catch the intruders car.

“I think we will return to the campsite, and we will get you both packed up, and I will have one of the corporal’s drive you back to my Aunty Jean’s place, were I think you will be a lot safer” I said to Angela and Tom, “Yes I think that would be best, but it is going to cause some problems with catering for the cadets, I don’t want to leave you stuck without a cook for the cadets” Angela replied, “Let me worry about that, we need to get you two back into a safe location” I announced, and I turned the vehicle around and we made our way back to the camp site.

Half an hour later, I said goodbye to Angela and Tom, who was crying because he didn’t want to go, and climbing into the Army jeep, Amos drove them out of the facility, and westwards towards the main highway, and south to the city. I gave Aunty Jean a call, and told her to expect Angela and Tom there in about two-hour’s time, and suggested they stay with her in her house, and that Tom can use my bedroom.

Next, I called the CO, and let him know what has happened, and that Angela and Tom are on their way back to the city, the CO said he would arrange for them to be brought directly to the Barracks, where they will be a lot safer than being in a suburban house, and asked me to let my aunt know of the change of plans. He said he would also organise a catering team to be at the training facility, mid-morning tomorrow, to feed the senior cadets and their unit commanders, for the coming two days and the remainder 6 days for all of the cadets attending the training camp. When we arrived back at the empty campsite, it felt a little strange not having Angela and Tom there, and I felt a little empty not having them there, as I moved my belongings to their now empty tent.

After giving Aunty Jean another call, to let her know of the change of plans, and with the sun setting, I realised that I had to organise some dinner, and I was pleased when I saw Marc and Troy had already got the fire restarted, and I noticed the cast iron pot on the stove, so I lifted the lid and instantly smelt a delicious beef casserole. Retrieving my phone, I dialled Amos’s mobile, which was answered by Angela.

“Hi Angela, just a quick question, how long had the casserole been cooking before I put out the fire?” I asked her, “Oh, I had totally forgotten about your dinner, I’m sorry about that. If you get the fire going again, another half an hour should be enough, it has carrots, potatoes, onions and beans in it, so no need for anything else, and there is a fresh damper, wrapped in a fresh table cloth, that should be on the table if the ants haven’t got to it yet” Angela replied.

“Thanks for that, we will take over while you are away, so just relax and enjoy the facilities at the barracks, and I will come and see you and Tom, once the cadet camp is over” I said to Angela, “We will be looking forward to it, Tom has been upset since we left, and I found out from Corporal Gregson here, why they were chasing Tom down the stairs earlier” Angela said as she began to chuckle.

“Yes, it was quite amusing, I spotted Tom sneaking up the stairs, and it was me laughing, that made them realise that it was Tom who had barked out the order. See you both in just over a week, bye for now” I replied and I ended the call, before going to the table and opening up the tea towel, where a fresh damper was sitting, ant free, and smelling delicious.

I gave the casserole a good stir, replacing the lid to allow it to cook some more, before heading up to the tower, to have a look around the property, using the night vision binoculars, now that the sun had gone down over the horizon, and I was pleased that all was quiet on the property. I turned on the lights on the tower, and studied the large map, that is stuck up on the large white board, and grabbing a note pad from the table, I jotted down some notes, when my mobile rang, making me jump a little.

Looking at the Caller ID, I saw that it was the property’s caretaker that was calling, “Good evening sir, how may I help you” I said after answering the call. “Staff sergeant, I see some bright lights on a hill, north east of here, is that your location?” the caretaker asked me, “That would be correct sir, I just turned them on to look at some paperwork, in preparation for this weekend” I replied.

“The lights seem to be higher than the tree line” the caretaker stated, “That is because we have a temporary scaffolding tower located on the hill, which is our command post for the weekend, I will have to put up some screening to make sure the tower is not so visible, I will call you tomorrow evening, to see if we have rectified that problem. Thank you for the information, have a good evening” I said and I ended the call.

After dinner, I left the other two to clean up, while I went for a walk, and I returned about two hours later, where I found the two corporals sitting on the seats drinking tea and chatting. “Hello staff, we had a call from Amos, letting us know that he is on his way back, actually he should be very soon” Marc said to me. Just at that moment, my mobile rang, and the caller ID said it was Amos.

“Hello, I was just informed that you were on your way” I said as I answered the call, “Yes staff, I called in to the caretaker, to let him know that it was me, and I am almost there, see you in a bit” Amos said and he ended the call, “Well it looks like we will have the whole crew here again, minus our cook and scallywag mascot, I think we need to get the final preparations into place before the senior cadets arrive tomorrow, so let’s get an early night, as I want us up at 0600 tomorrow” I said to Marcus and Troy.

I relayed the same information to Amos when he arrived, and I headed to the shower, before heading to bed, and Amos did the same once I was finished. When I woke the next morning, I could hear activity in the kitchen area, and I could smell cooked food. Once I was dressed in a fresh uniform, I stepped out of the tent, and found the three lads around the stove, and they were chatting as they finished preparing breakfast.

“Good morning lads, what a great day to start our cadet training camp, let’s get breakfast sorted, then we need to get down to the main complex, to make sure everything is ready for our arrivals” I said happily, “Good morning Staff” the three corporals chorused, and I smiled at them, as I was handed a plate of cooked breakfast, and soon all of us were sitting down enjoying a good meal.

Once we had eaten and cleaned up, we all climbed into the two army jeeps, along with my notes and plans for the cadet training camp, and we drove down to the main complex, and parking in front of the main building, we headed inside to the small reception area, that has a small office and a conference room behind it.