Aggressor by Andy McNab Read Free Book Online Page A

and thrust out their hands. ‘You’re Nick, aren’t you?’ They had strong accents. Their two little brothers ran back outside.
    I bent down and shook. ‘And this is Silky.’
    ‘That’s a funny name.’
    ‘You pronounce it Silk-a really. Nick calls me Silky because he’s not very good with complicated words.’
    Silky loved kids. Her older sister kept sending pictures of her twin seven-year-old boys to Silky’s PO box in Sydney. Every time we stopped in anywhere for more than a few days she got her mail forwarded and I would have to sit and listen to Karl and Rudolf’s latest adventures.
    ‘Where are you from, Silky? You talk funny!’
    ‘Funnier than Nick? I come from Germany. It’s a long way away.’
    Julie and her husband Alan came in with Charlie, the two younger kids hanging off his leg. We made the right noises as we shook. Alan’s hands were big and rough. He was a bushman to his marrow, and wasn’t particularly fussed up about the visitors.
    Charlie took charge. ‘Right! I’d better get that barbecue lit, hadn’t I? Who’s coming to help me?’
    It was obviously the standard call to arms. All the kids jumped up and down with delight and charged outside.

3
    Two hours later, everybody was stuffed full of chicken, steak, prawns and Toohey’s. Silky sat with Julie and Hazel on the settee; conversation flowed like they’d known each other all their lives. Alan sorted out a DVD for the kids, who were flaked out on cushions on the floor. He threw it in and, maybe sensing Charlie and I could do with some private time, sat down to watch it with them.
    ‘Why don’t you jump any more?’
    Charlie was standing with me by the jug of coffee on the sideboard. We weren’t ready for it yet; we were both still on cans. ‘Wasn’t fair to Hazel. Her nerves were bad enough as it was.’
    Silky joined us with three empty cups. She nodded at the gallery as she poured. ‘Charlie, you were in the army?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You haven’t changed, have you? Look at you!’
    Charlie smiled at the picture of his son. ‘I’ve put on a few wrinkles since then – and lost a bit of hair.’
    I shot a glance at Hazel. She was smiling at Charlie for being so kind. Silky poured their coffees and went back to the other two, completely oblivious.
    Charlie held up his can to me in a toast. ‘The good old days.’ We touched tins and he took a swig. ‘What about Silky? Any plans?’
    ‘Nah, I’m just letting her sleep with me till I find somebody better.’
    He frowned at my bad joke. ‘You’re a knobber then. She seems a really good girl. Make the best of it while you can, lad.’ He looked at the sofa then back at me. ‘So, you want to come and watch the sun go down, or what?’
    He couldn’t have made it more obvious he had something he wanted to talk about if he’d tried. He lifted two new cans and I followed him out onto the veranda.
    He leaned on the rail. A couple of hundred metres away, a group of horses kicked up dust in the paddock.
    Charlie sat on a bench and motioned me to a swing seat opposite. Whatever was on his mind, he didn’t seem ready to talk about it yet. My eyes followed his to the horse grazing on its own in a corner.
    ‘You know what, Charlie? You were the one that I picked. I never told you that, did I?’
    The training major always gave just one piece of advice to the newly badged troopers. ‘When you get to your squadron, shut up, look and listen. Then pick one man you think is the ideal SAS soldier. Don’t let him know you’ve picked him, but watch and learn. There will be times on operations when you don’t know how to act or react. That’s when you ask yourself what your man would do.’
    Charlie had started out as the one I picked, but he very quickly became even more important to me than that. In my mind, I awarded him the highest accolade one soldier could ever give another. I could honestly say that I would have followed him anywhere.
    He took another swig and rested his can on