I had two magazines attached to the weapon: one that was in the weapon and then a bracket with another magazine just to the side of it, so I didn't have to go to my main belt kit in a rush. The weapon was slung over the body on a chest sling so I could climb buildings, jump in and out of vehicles, and do all the business that I wanted, without having to worry about it. It was one of the few times that the Regiment did actually sling weapons.
At the last moment I would put on my kid leather gloves and respirator; by then I would just be a big sweaty mess with a chest and shoulders like Arnie in a Terminator film. If I was really lucky, I could also find myself carrying the "Barclaycard," a sawn-off pump-action shotgun with the butt taken off; it's used to take doors down by firing a "Hatton round," which takes the hinges out without damaging the people in the room. It got its name from the advert-"A Barclaycard gets you anywhere." In the beginning it came with its own holster, but that proved to be too cumbersome; most of the teams just put a bungee on it and had it hanging down at their sides.
By the time of my orders group the briefing room was furnished with fold-up canvas army chairs from the wagons. Some blokes were sitting down; some were standing. People were coming in and out; I could hear all the people on the radios in the background.
They gathered around the board as I gave my I.A orders, white paper cup in one hand and a soggy roll in the other. Before us were plans of the building from all elevations, plus air photos and floor plans.
This was one occasion when there was no time for anyone to voice an opinion. There was no Chinese parliament.
I said, "These are orders for the I.A that is in place directly after these orders.
"Ground. The building has three floors. At the front there are the main double doors; these are plate glass with a plastic frame. The doors have been covered over with tablecloths so we can't see in. On each side there is a window, then a window above that per floor; these are all double-glazed with plastic frames. All the windows in the whole building have their curtains closed. From the main door there is a central staircase that has two flights per floor. On the roof there are skylights that open up into the main corridor on the top floor.
After these orders look at the plans and familiarize yourself with the rest of the outside; the front is all we are concerned with at the moment.
"Situation. Six hours ago members of Islamic jihad took over the building that was the venue for a conference sponsored by the Jewish trade commission. They are demanding the release of five of their group being held in Parkhurst prison for the attempted bombing of the Israeli Embassy. It seems that there are up to six X rays and approximately twenty-seven Yankees.
"There are no pictures yet, or information, on anyone, except that one of the X rays, X ray One, is a woman. From her voice she appears to be in her mid-twenties with a strong northern Palestine accent. Her English/American is good. All indications show that the group have split the Yankees and spread them around the building. No weapons have been seen, but it is a reasonable assumption that they have automatic weapons.
"Deadlines. Negotiations have been taking place since ten hundred hours. The first deadline is in forty-five minutes' time, at sixteen hundred hours. They want to talk with one of their group who is in Parkhurst."
I then gave the mission statement, which is always said twice: "Mission.
To rescue the hostages, to rescue the hostages.
"Execution. Assault group. Red One and One Alpha, you are to fast-rope onto the roof and make an explosive entry through the skylight. Your L.O.E [limit of exploitation] is the top floor. I want a link man on the first landing to RP with Two and Two Alpha. Steve, which way are you both going to approach from?"
"From the northwest along the tree line, then low over the park."
"Okay, it will take twenty seconds for the wagons to be on target.
If you give thirty seconds to target, that will keep us together.
"Two and Two Alpha, you are to make an explosive entry into the two middle-floor windows. Two, take the left window on call sign Tango One
[Range Rover]. Two Alpha on the right on call sign Tango Two-your L.O.E is the middle floor. I want link men to RP with One Alpha and to move down to the first landing and RP with Three and Three Alpha.
"Three-that's me-and Three Alpha are to make an explosive entry into the front double doors. Three will go left on call sign Tango One, and Three Alpha will take the right on call sign Tango Two. Your L.O.E is the ground floor. I want a link man to RP with Two.
"Sniper group. Sierra One and Two, you are to cover the call signs as they move in from the inner cordon.
"Sierra Three and Four, you are to move forward from the inner cordon on the standby and cover both sides and rear with G threes.
"Hostage reception. The reception area will be in the area of the main doors. Once entry has been effected you are to move forward.
"A.T.O [ammunition technical officer] and medic. You will be called forward on request. Call Sign Three will RP with you at the main entrance.
"Tango One and Tango Two. I want you to drive head-on from the start line here," I said, pointing at the map. "Once you come around the corner you will come head-on to the building. The distance is approximately one hundred fifty meters. Once on target you will cover the teams in, become casualty replacement if called; if not, become part of hostage reception. If we get a stand down from the deadline, I'll bring you forward so you can see the run-in. Any questions?"
There weren't.
"Timings. After these orders I want the teams to look at the plans and sort themselves out. By fifteen thirty five hours the I.A. 's ready.
The first deadline is at sixteen hundred.
"Vehicle group, at fifteen-fifty everyone needs to be on the wagons, ready apart from respirators. We will then I move in slow time to the start 1- e. Tango One will lead, in and I'll show you the way.
The team will be stood to at the start line at fifteen.fifty-five hours.
"Heli group, at fifteen fifty-five you need to be on board, rotors turning. Steve, if you are not told otherwise, close down at sixteen-ten. Any questions? No?
Right that's it."
The formal stuff over with, I then talked with my team and mulled over the plans.
"Dave," you make ohtry. I'll go in number one-Tim Two, Fat Boy Three, and Dave Four. Once we clear the hallway we will go left and take the large room, then this one here by the stairwell. Once we are all clear I want you, Tim, to link up with Three Alpha at the bottom of the stairs, then clear to the first landing and RP with Two. Any questions?
Good, let's sort our shit out and load up."
That was all there was to say because everybody knew the rest.
We walked out of the briefing area to the two Range Rovers, Tango One and Tango Two, that were going to take us -on to the target.
"Hello, Alpha, this is Three," I said on the net.
"That's Tango One and Two moving to the start line.
Over."
"Alpha, roger that, moving to the start line."
"Alpha" was the coordinating call sign for our base, which would be in the briefing area and manned by the scaley. "Alpha One" was the commander.
The blokes were sitting all over the outside of the vehicles. All Don, the driver, could see was two pairs of black legs that belonged to my team, who were going to take the first floor. As we moved to the start line under police escort, I could hear the Agustas' rotors starting to wind up.
I got out of the Range Rover at the corner of the row of buildings and watched as everyone put his respirator on and "checked camber"-pulling the working parts back slightly on his weapons so that he could see there was a round ready to fire.
The two drivers quickly turned up to the corner and got down on their stomachs. One of them peered around with just a quarter of his face and one eye so he could look up the drive and get a mental picture of the run-in. As soon as Tango One's driver had had a look, he got out of the way and the other fellow got down.
"Alpha this is Three, that's Two and Three stood to, over."
"Alpha, roger that, One acknowledge."
"One stood to, out," the pilot said.
In the background of his radio message I could hear the rotors turning.
The squadron O.C would be with the senior policeman, listening on his radio and explaining everything that we were doing and confirming that the I.A was stood to. If the X rays started killing the Yankees, it was the police, not us, who would decide that we went in.
We were there to supply military aid to the civil power, that was all.
All the team sat on the wagons and in the helicopters, listening on their radios and waiting for the deadline.
Engines and rotors were running.
It was now approaching the deadline. The snipers were watching and listening intently.
"Alpha-Sierra One, that's shouting and movement on White One-One," came one.
Each window and door had a color and number. I knew he was referring to the far-left bottom window.
"Alpha, roger that, shouting and movement on White One-One."
All the team could hear this on their own radios.
"Alpha, Sierra One, that's White One-One opening, wait
wait..
. that's one X ray, possible male, black ski mask with a green combat jacket carrying an AK
wait
he's shouting and pointing to the control area, over."
"Alpha, roger that, out to you. Tango One, acknowledge."
"Tango One."
"Tango Twoll "Tango Two."
"One?"
"One, roger that," Steve said. The rotors were still turning.
"Alpha One?"
"Alpha One, roger."
It was the last chance for a check. Is my pistol held in correctly? Is the flap over the pistol so it's not going to fall out?
Are the magazines secure?
The people with the window and door charges were checking them, starting with the clacker: Is the clacker on correctly? Is it nice and secure?
Then, all the way up, following that line. Is the det on securely? Is the det on securely to the det cord? Is the charge all complete?
Is the respirator on right? Is the seal tight between the respirator and the coveralls? You don't want to start getting gas down you because it hurts. Gas doesn't only affect the breathing system and the eyes; it affects the skin, it stings severely. Are the gloves on tight? If they were baggy, I might have a problem as I went to draw MY Pistol or started manipulating my MP5 or pistol.
Everything was secure. I was holding on to the vehicle, waiting for that "Stand by!" to go.
We heard, "Hello, One and One Alpha, move to your holding area, over "One, One Alpha, roger that, out."
The helicopters were starting to go up; within the forward control room the senior policeman must have been a bit concerned about what was going on. He hadn't handed over control, but he was saying: "Get the helis up to save time, so at least once they're in the holding area we can start running them in."
At the same time all the snipers were coming on the net.
"Hello, Alpha, this is Sierra One. That's still more shouting.
Still more movement. It seems now there's movement on Two-Two, the window above. Can't identify anyone; it's just movement. I can see the window and the curtains moving. There's a face at the windowcan't identify it, over."
"Yep, roger that."
Blokes were pulling out flashbangs from their ops waistcoats; as we were going in, just as we were approaching the place, we'd start throwing them to produce distraction and confusion-the more the better.
We wanted to disorientate and scare these guys.
All the engines were running. Everybody was just waiting for the go.
And still we had more hollering and shouting; the snipers were bringing in more information.
The negotiators would be working really hard talking to the people inside the building-if they still had comms with them, that is, and these people wanted to talk. They'd be talking to them and at the same time they'd be giving messages in siga language to everybody around them in the main incident room.
For us on the Range Rovers, it was just a question of sitting there in the wagons twenty seconds away, out of I sight. Nobody was doing anything; we weren't talking, y because we had our respirators on.
I sat back and put my head clown, listening to what was going on.
I didn't want to waste energy. I just slumped. I had my weapon strapped over me; I was weighed down with kit; it would have been pointless running around. We couldn't hear what the negotiators were saying, but I knew they would have been trying to calm the situation down. There was no way that C.O.B.R were going to let them talk with their people in Parkhurst.
"Alpha, Sierra One, that's the X ray back in White One-One, window and curtains closed."
"Alpha."
The deadline had passed. The negotiators were doing their bit; the chief constable must have been satisfied that the threat to kill two hostages at 3:00 P.m. had been successfully avoided.
"Hello, all call signs, this is Alpha One-stand down the I.A.
Stand down the I.A. All call signs acknowledge."
We all acknowledged the Boss and took our respirators off and made our weapons safe-an unload followed by a load, without putting a round in the chamber.
We drove back with the police escort and watched the heli teams walk back to the briefing room.