Gray Vengeance Read Online Free PDF Page A

and through the door. The small entrance hall led to three doors. One was marked as the mess, while the others served as offices. Dan knocked on one of th e do ors and opened it, ushering the party of four inside.
    A Caucasian man in his fifties wearing army fatigues was sitting waiting, and Dan addressed him.
    ‘Colonel, the latest arrivals,’ he said, handing over their passports .
    The officer regarded the newcomers, comparing them to their documents before dismissing Dan with a nod of the head.
    ‘Gentlemen, so glad you could join us,’ the officer said, while managing to sound far from pleased. ‘My name is Colonel Mitchell. You’ll be wondering what you’ve signed up for, so I’ll keep this brief and to the point.
    ‘We will be launching a guerrilla campaign against England at the end of the year. During the next five months, you will be given all the training you need in order to carry out your assignments, which will be many and varied. You will see other recruits here, but you will not engage with them.
    ‘As of now, you have no names. You will be known by numbers, and that is the only way you will be addressed. Anyone caught using names will be disciplined.’
    Eversham flicked his hair back and stood with his arms crossed. ‘I knew this was bullshit,’ he said. ‘You bring us halfway around the world and tell us we’re just numbers to you. I had enough of that shit back home—’
    Eversham was cut off as a bullet from the colonel’s pistol caught him in the centre of his forehead, and he collapsed to the ground in a heap.
    ‘In case you were wondering,’ Mitchell said, ‘that is what passes for discipline around here.’
    The three men looked in shock from the corpse to the colonel and back again.
    ‘We didn’t bring you here to hear your complaints; we recruited you because you want to bring Britain to its knees, and we have the resources to help you do that. However, only by treating this as a military operation can we expect it to work. If anyone else feels they don’t want to be here, tell me now.’
    All three looked at the pistol held at Mitchell’s side and decided to hold their tongues.
    ‘Good.’ Mitchell pointed to each man and gave them a number. ‘You are 134, you’re 135, you’re 136. Do not forget those numbers. If you fail to respond instantly to your number when called, expect to be disciplined.’
    The three men stood upright, eyes front, showing their understanding.
    ‘Sergeant!’ Mitchell called, and Dan opened the door a se cond later.
    ‘Colonel.’
    ‘Have them clear this mess away, then show them to th eir bunks.’
    Dan barked instructions, and the trio made a meal of carrying Eversham out of the office, through the main door and down th e ste ps to the training area, where their luggage was lined up, the bus having departed.
    ‘There are two shovels at the side of the building,’ the sergeant said to Conran, who disappeared like his life depended on it. He was back in seconds, and handed one of the tools to Houtman.
    ‘You,’ Dan said, pointing to Roberts, ‘get back in there and clean the colonel’s floor. There’s a mop and bucket in the mess.’
    Roberts initially baulked at the thought, but a glance down at Eversham steeled his resolve.
    He returned five minutes later and found Sergeant Dan waiting for him, another shovel in hand.
    ‘Get round the back and give them a hand,’ he said, holding it out. ‘Once you’re done, get back here, sharpish.’
    Roberts trotted to the rear of the building, where his two sweat-covered friends laboured over a shallow pit, their fallen comrade lying nearby. Five other graves were visible, the fresh soil suggesting they had only recently been filled.
    Bugs flitted around their heads as they worked the hole, their only illumination the faint light of an ancient oil lamp.
    ‘What the fuck have you dragged us into?’ Houtman hissed.
    ‘How the hell was I supposed to know this was going to happen