Natural Selection (A Free Spider Shepherd short story) Read Online Free PDF Page B

volunteer operation.’
    Shepherd was already nodding and the other three quickly followed his lead.
    ‘You guys seem to rub along all right together,’ Pilgrim said. ‘But just between ourselves, it’s not necessary to be friends with the rest of a patrol to do the job, though you must have respect for them and no one can force you to work with somebody you don’t respect.  But if you want to pull out, now is the time to do it.  If you agree to go, then you must give it one hundred per cent, and you must input any ideas you have. One unbreakable rule in the Regiment is that if you have something to say, you say it before the mission. If it goes tits up and you haven’t said anything beforehand, you don’t get to criticise the plan afterwards. Understood?
    The four men nodded enthusiastically.
    ‘Now, you all have experience from other units which I don’t have, so let’s hear it,’ said Pilgrim. ‘The mission plan has got to be the patrol plan or it will not succeed. And just so you know, although we operate in areas under the command of officers from the Green Army, the CO of 22 SAS always retains command.  He alone makes the strategic decisions affecting the deployment of SAS troops and he cannot be countermanded, not even by the Director of Special Forces.  So if the MOD thinks the CO is getting it wrong, the only course of action is to sack him and the implications of that are so serious that it has never happened in the entire history of the regiment.  So although the Chief of Staff can brief the patrol, the mission is always referred to Hereford for approval.  And if the patrol commander - me in this case - doesn’t agree with the mission he’ll refer it to Hereford knowing that he will be supported without question and the mission blackballed.  It happens quite a lot and as a consequence, senior officers treat SAS senior NCO’s with great deference.  The downside is that, to keep things under their control, they will often try to use ordinary infantry to do tasks that are beyond their skill set, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Okay, we have twenty-four hours to prepare for the op,  make the most of it.’
    He walked away. ‘I’m hungry,’ said Liam almost immediately.
    ‘You’re always hungry,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘Hungry enough to eat one of those bugs?’ asked Jimbo.
    Liam pulled a face and Shepherd laughed.  ‘If you’re that hungry, ask that trainer for one of his tarantulas,’ Shepherd said. ‘They’re delicious apparently.’
    One of the “big time” trainers had a sideline mounting tarantulas, rearing up as if they were attacking, on little wooden shields like hunting trophies. He caught them with an improvised net, made from an old mosquito net, and kept them in glass jars before injecting them with formalin - which both killed and preserved them - and then sold them to squaddies as souvenirs.
    ‘Are you off your head?’ Liam said, suppressing a shudder. ‘Nobody in their right minds would eat one of those things. They’re worse than the bugs.’
    ‘I would,’ Shepherd said. ‘If the money was right.’
    ‘A bet?’ said Liam.
    ‘If you think I won’t do it, put your money where your mouth is.’
    There was a moment’s stunned silence. ‘Go on then,’ Geordie said. ‘Twenty quid.’
    ‘I’ll match that,’ said Liam.
    ‘Bloody hell, yeah, I’d pay twenty quid to see that,’ said Geordie. He strode off towards the trainer’s basha and returned a few minutes later with a jar containing a live tarantula. ‘Cost me £50,’ he said. ‘But it’ll be money well spent, if you’ve got balls enough to eat it.’
    ‘I’ve got the balls,’ Shepherd said, ‘but I’m not doing it for £60. Make it £150. Fifty quid each.’
    The three men agreed.
    Shepherd gave a slow smile. ‘All right, bring it on.’
    ‘Would you look at those fangs,’ said Liam, peering into the jar. ‘It’ll bite you before you can bite it.’
    ‘I doubt it.’ Shepherd