Kill Zone (A Spider Shepherd Short Story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and he got some satisfaction from actually being able
to help.   Antibiotics were in short
supply and infections often went untreated. It was amazing to see the
difference that a few tablets could make.
    After seven days
in the field, they were recalled to the main base at Bagram. As the heli landed
on the sprawling base, shared with U.S. forces and awash with American
personnel, vehicles and kit, they could see that the mountains of military
equipment were still being added to, as forklift trucks shuttled between giant
C5 transports on the concrete hard standing and the supply dumps ringing the
base. It was clear that the Americans were in Afghanistan to stay – for
the foreseeable future at least.
    As the heli came
to a stand and the rotors wound down, Shepherd jumped down and glanced around.
‘Do you know what?’ he said. ‘After a few weeks in that fly-blown dust-bowl we
laughingly call an FOB, even Bagram is beginning to look quite civilised.’
    ‘Don’t get too
excited,’ Jock said. ‘The Boss has set up a briefing for seventeen hundred
hours today. So we may not be here for long.’
      The briefing room was a windowless,
air-conditioned room, set below ground in a building shielded by concrete blast
walls and berms bulldozed out of the sandy Afghan soil. As Shepherd, Jock, Jimbo
and Geordie and the other members of the Squadron filed into the briefing room,
they found Todd already there, adjusting a laptop projector and spreading a
series of maps and documents on the table.   He waited until they had all seated themselves before
speaking. ‘Before we get the briefing under way, I have something I need to
say.‘   He took a deep breath, then
turned to face Shepherd and Jock directly. ‘I owe you all an apology. I screwed
up badly over Ahmad Khan. I was an idiot and three men paid the ultimate price
for my stupidity. I know nothing can bring those men back, but I want to make what
amends I can, and to do so I’m claiming “Droit de Seigneur”. I want to be in at
the kill.’
    Shepherds
eyebrows shot skywards and he could see several of the troopers frowning in
confusion.
    ‘Twat what?’ said
Jimbo, and Spider threw him a withering look.
    ‘How do you know
about that?’ Shepherd said.
    There was a
tradition within the Regiment that the murderer of any SAS guy killed in cold
blood would be hunted until he was found and killed. Any man claiming Droit de
Seigneur because of his personal involvement with the original incident or
friendship with the dead man, had the right to be involved in any operation to
kill the murderer.
    The Captain saw
that several of the men were confused so he struggled to explain himself.   Droit de Seigneur goes back to the
Middle Ages, when feudal lords claimed the right to deflower the local virgins.
In the Regiment it refers to the right for revenge. One of the “old and bold”
SAS guys told me about it. He said he’d claimed the right in Oman, after his
best mate was killed, but it had also happened as far back as Borneo in the
1960s, when a captured SAS man was tortured and murdered by an Indonesian Army
Sergeant. The Squadron offered blood money to the local highland tribes to kill
the man responsible and it was paid after the tribesmen produced the head of
the Indonesian sergeant as proof that he had been killed.’
    Jock raised a
hand. ‘You’re confusing me, now. This is about Ahmad Khan?’
    Todd flicked his
fringe away from his eyes. ‘Very much so.’
    ‘You know where
he is?’
    ‘That’s the
purpose of this briefing. Yes.’ He looked over at the Major who was sitting at
the back of the room, his arms folded across his chest. The Major nodded,
letting Todd know that he should get on with it.
    ‘Right,’ said
Todd, his confidence returning. ‘We’ve received very credible intelligence that
a mud brick building in the tribal areas across the Pakistan border is a money
clearing house, where some of the proceeds of the Taliban’s opium