Personal Protection (A Spider Shepherd Short Story) by Stephen Leather Read Free Book Online

water-course, finding the water surprisingly cold as it flowed around his feet.  It was pitch black inside the falaj but he knew that he only had to follow the direction of the water flow to emerge by the pool in the oasis. The tunnel varied in diameter between two and four feet and as he crawled along it, his MP5K slung across his chest, his shoulders brushed against the rough stones of the walls. There was an occasional partial blockage where part of the falaj wall had given way, but he was able to clear enough of a passage to squeeze past. 
    After crawling for over an hour he became aware of a faint glow of pre-dawn light ahead of him and realised he was nearing the end of the falaj.  He peered out and saw that he was by the pool in the middle of the date palms. He quickly orientated himself before moving slowly through the trees.
    Eventually he reached the edge of a small clearing. He peered through the screen of vegetation. He could see the sheikh still tied to the tree on the far side, with his two guards close by.  Shepherd released the safety catch on his MP5K, stepped out of cover and put two shots into the Chechen guards. Almost immediately he heard  Jimbo, Jock, Rusty and Geordie open fire. 
    Shepherd barely glanced at the sheikh before taking up his stance with his back to him, shielding him from any threat. Two more Chechens burst into the clearing, firing as they ran. Shepherd put a double tap into the first man as he broke cover. Every instinct and all his SAS training would normally have seen Shepherd diving and rolling after the first shots, throwing off the second gunman’s aim before taking him out with another double tap from a prone position on the ground. But to do so would have left the sheikh exposed, so Shepherd stood his ground and calmly put another double tap into the other Chechen. He heard the crack of MP5Ks getting closer as his team mopped up the last of the Chechen fighters.
    A figure moved through the vegetation at the edge of the clearing. Shepherd swung his weapon to cover the threat but then lowered the barrel as Jock moved into the open, followed by the rest of the team. Geordie, the patrol medic, sprinted across the clearing and flung his medical pack onto the ground next to the sheikh. He was about to start treating his injured hand when he caught a glimpse of something visible at the neck of the sheikh’s robe. He gently eased it open a fraction and saw that a crude, home-made bomb vest had been fastened around the sheikh’s chest.
    ‘Spider, you need to come and take a look at this,’ he said, his voice icily calm.
    Spider and Rusty jogged over and immediately realised the seriousness of their situation.
    ‘You’re going to have to stay absolutely still,’ Shepherd told the sheikh.
    The sheikh nodded and forced a smile. ‘I had already come to that conclusion myself,’ he said.
    ‘I’ve had experience with demolition work,’ said Rusty.
    ‘Specifically bombs like this?’
    ‘More blowing up bridges, but the principle is the same.’
    ‘We could take him back to the base and deal with it there,’ said Jimbo.
    Shepherd shook his head. ‘I don’t think we want to go shaking it around.’
    ‘There could be a time on it,’ said Rusty. ‘Or some sort of distance trigger.’
    ‘They said it would go off if I ran away,’ said the sheikh quietly.
    Shepherd nodded. ‘Okay, Rusty and I will deal with this. You guys get to a safe distance.’
    ‘Sod that,’ said Geordie. ‘All for one and one for all.’
    ‘I’m serious, Geordie. If anything does go wrong, we don’t want everyone hurt.’ He smiled at the sheikh. ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine, really. I’m just covering all the bases.’
    The sheikh nodded but he didn’t say anything.
    Geordie, Jock and Jimbo walked to the far side of the clearing and took cover.
    Rusty was already scrutinising the crude vest. ‘We can’t remove it without cutting a wire.’
    Shepherd nodded. ‘So all we have to do is