"Night Two, one hour after last light, one vehicle will leave to do a recce. Upon its return, using our night-vision equipment, the unit will advance one hundred and twenty kliks towards the target, averaging about twenty kliks hour. The formation will be diamond with the command vehicle, Shadow One, in the center. Point will stay half a klik ahead. We will pause every half hour for five minutes for a listening watch.
"Make sure everything is padded, particularly the weapons mounts. Sound travels for miles at night, so travel slow and quiet.
"As before, we will lie up during the day. Night Three, again an hour after last light, a recce Guntrack will move out, and subsequently we will again advance. This time the objective will be to achieve a hundred and ten kliks.
We will lager up several hours before Night Three at Strike Base, within forty kliks of the target, so great care will need to be taken. We will still be outside the defensive loop which surrounds the air base and the Devil's Footprint, but we will be close enough to need to be extremely cautious. As best we know, no ground patrols come that far out, but you never can be sure. We do know that helicopters do security checks over this area. So I want the unit to just osmose into the ground.
"We will arrive at Strike Base in time for a three-person recce team to be able to move on to take a long, hard look at the target. Remember, they will have forty miles cross country to cover, so they will use silenced motorbikes for thirty-five kliks or so and then foot the rest. The objective here is that recce team be in a hide overlooking the camp before dawn.
"Recce team will stay in position for twenty-four hours right through the day and into Night Four. During that time, all strongpoints and routines will be logged together with any other items of interest so that we have a complete idea of the target's routine before we attack. Sure, we have satellite photos and much other intel, but the Mark One eyeball still takes some beating. So, twenty-four hours of surveillance before we move.
"One of the recce team will stay on watch while the others return to Strike Base to brief us. The stayback will continue to log activities but won't make contact unless there is a significant change.
"We will strike during Night Five. The exact time will depend on their routine, but the provisional timing is set for 0100 hours. That is a time when all good terrorists are tucked up in bed and when even the most conscientious sentries are nodding off. We will be in position several hours in advance. I want everyone to have a chance to examine the objective in detail before the assault.
"The objective, the Devil's Footprint, as you can see on the map and have studied every which way, consists of two small dead-end valleys – box canyons – separated by a promontory. Facing the two valley entrances, from the other side of the perimeter road, you can see that the valley on the left – Salvador – contains the main camp and the valley on the right – Dali – the supergun and supporting equipment.
"Both valleys are dominated by a fortified blockhouse built on the promontory. From up there, you command all you survey. You can fire down into either valley. You can protect the rear. You dominate the road. You dominate the low hills on the far side. That blockhouse is pivotal. It is the high ground, literally and figuratively.
"One Guntrack is one fire team. We have five fire teams at our disposal. The plan of attack is that one team will neutralize the supergun while two teams take out the terrorists in Salvador and rescue Kathleen. The two remaining teams will, respectively, neutralize the blockhouse and cover the perimeter road at the front. And that's it. We're traveling light on this mission. There is no reserve.
"The intention is that the assault be over within twenty minutes of the initial contact. We are not there to slug it out toe-to-toe with the local militia. We go in. We do what is necessary and then we get the hell out.
"To concentrate your minds, keep remembering ‘shoot and scoot.’ ‘Stay and pray’ will get you killed. If that is not enough for you, try mathematics. There are nearly seven hundred bad guys in the Devil's Footprint and two thousand-plus more just up the road at the airfield. So do not do a Custer, people. Hit them as hard as you can and then you're outta there. You're invisible again. You're gone!
"We came in from the northwest. We're getting out southwest. All units will meet up at the RV and the will zigzag towards the pickup point.
"At this stage, all hell will be breaking loose and the element of surprise will be gone, so the important thing will be to cover ground fast.
"The pickup point looks like another piece of desert these days, but our research through the oil records says it is hard enough to take C130s and was used as an airstrip during their exploration – but so were many other locations as they moved around, so this should not stand out. Better yet, we are planting remote-controlled radio as we go in. As we leave, they will go on air and give the impression we are heading north. And, as you know, we've a few other tricks.
"One final point: Over the past few years, the people we are going in to attack have wreaked unparalleled havoc – mainly on innocent civilians. Hundreds have been killed. Thousands have been directly affected. The quota of misery and suffering that these people have caused is incalculable. Left alone, what has happened to date will seem as nothing. You do not build a supergun with intercontinental capability unless you are serious.
"Our fundamental objective is not to warn these people or inflict a sharp rap on the knuckles or put them on probation. We're way past that stage. So our objective, reduced to elementals, is very simple.
"It is to destroy them. It is to kill as many of them as we can. The lesson must be: Terrorism is not conducive to longevity. Terrorism gets you killed. So when your finger is on the trigger, do not hesitate to fire. It is a hard paradox, but taking these people out will save lives. And that is what the counterterrorist business is all about."
Fitzduane, a faint smile on his face, looked up at the group. "Well, folks, there is the mission plan. Clean, hard, and simple. Comments?"
A member of the SAS contingent, Shadow Four, raised his considerable eyebrows. Bob ‘Brick’ Stephens, a short squarish weather-beaten sergeant in his late thirties, spoke. This was an event because Bob spoke seldom. His specialty was demolitions. Bob truly loved to blow things up.
"Fly a thousand miles, spend five days in hostile territory in plastic dodgems up against heavy armor, attack two positions defended by nearly seven hundred men with another couple of thousand just up the road, kill an inner core of fifty Yaibo terrorists, rescue a damsel, destroy a weapon that is too big to be destroyed, and get out with half an army on our tail. Hell, Colonel, it looks like a cakewalk. Isn't there anything else you want us to do?"
"Get back in one piece, Brick," said Fitzduane politely, "if you would be so kind."
The Brick looked thoughtful and then he grinned. He had spent six months with the Australian SAS two years earlier. "No worries, boss," he said.
Fitzduane did not doubt him.
"Now to details," he said. "I know you people love details. I know you love checking on them even more." He smiled. "Again and again and again."
Outside the sun was setting. Soon it would be time. Meanwhile, there was work to do. There was always work to do when Fitzduane was around. The man knew how to push, and he never seemed to let up.