Narrow Escape (A Spider Shepherd short story) by Stephen Leather Read Free Book Online

brought you here. We were hoping that the cell leader would turn up as well, so we didn’t rush to the rescue straightaway.’ He grinned again ‘Anyway, though it’s not quite the way we would have planned your Resistance to Interrogation session, it seemed to work out all right in the end.’
    ‘Good thing one of them didn’t manage to put a round in me though, isn’t it?’ Shepherd said. ‘Otherwise there’d have been five bodies for you to sort out.’
    ‘Those IRA guys always over-estimate their ability with pistols,’ The Bosun said. ‘I was in more danger from ricochets off the rock than you were.’
    ‘You’re serious?’
    ‘You’re okay, aren’t you? Spider, if at any point it had really turned to shit, I would have moved in.’
    Shepherd heard an engine note and saw a white van driving down the track into the quarry. ‘Relax, it’s one of ours,’ The Bosun said.
    It pulled to a halt alongside them. Two men in green fatigues got out and with a nod to The Bosun, they began unloading demolitions kit: plastic explosive, det cord and detonators, from the back of the van.
    ‘So what happens now?’ Shepherd said.
    The Bosun checked his watch. ‘We’ll tidy this up. These four will just disappear. Brummie F will go back to Dundalk and his masters will realise that their operation went tits up and hopefully won’t try it again.’
    ‘I meant about me,’ said Shepherd.
    The Bosun chuckled. ‘What happens in the Regiment, stays in the Regiment, but you won’t be a member if you don’t get to the final RV in time. So you go on with your exercise, you’ve not got much time. Remember the coordinates for the emergency RV? That’s where you’re heading.’
    ‘Right,’ Shepherd said. ‘And Bosun? Thanks, I owe you one.’
    ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said. ‘You can buy me a beer when I see you in Hereford.’
    Shepherd retrieved his map from the table in the magazine, took a quick glance at it to orient himself, and then set off up the steep ramp leading out of the quarry. He had another ten miles to cover in the remaining hours of daylight and this time he was going to OP it before going in.
    Ten minutes later, as he reached the rim of the quarry, there was a warning shout and a few moments later, the dull crump of explosives, followed at once by another, deeper sound, like the rumbling of an earthquake. He felt the ground tremble beneath his feet and as he looked back, he saw the whole rock-face where he’d been climbing just minutes before was now sliding and crashing down onto the quarry floor with a thunderous roar.
    A fog of dust swirled around the quarry.  A breeze began to blow away the dust and Shepherd saw that the place where the bodies had been lying was now hidden beneath hundreds of tons of fallen rock. He turned away and concentrated on the rough terrain that lay ahead of him. He knew he was only hours from winning the prize that he’d set his heart on – membership of the SAS. And that once he was admitted to the ranks of the most respected Special Forces unit in the world, his life would never be the same again.
     
    THE END
     
     

 
    Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd left the SAS at the end of 2002 and joined an elite police undercover unit. You can read the first of his undercover adventures in Hard Landing, where he goes undercover in a high security prison to unmask a drugs dealer who is killing off witnesses to his crimes. The Spider Shepherd series continues with Soft Target, Cold Kill, Hot Blood, Dead Men, Live Fire, Rough Justice, Fair Game, False Friends and True Colours.
     
    There are also a number of Spider Shepherd: SAS short stories, including Natural Selection, Warning Order, Hostile Territory, Rough Diamonds, Personal Protection, Friendly Fire, Dead Drop and Kill Zone.
     
    Stephen Leather is one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the