Cobra 405 by Damien Lewis

Author:Damien Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House

CHAPTER TEN

KILBRIDE SPENT THE next two hours running over developments since the original 1979 bank job, in particular the designation of the Palm Islands as a protected nature reserve. Then he outlined his and Bill Berger’s plan to return to the Lebanon posing as a team diving the wreck of HMS Victoria. He outlined all the advantages, including the wreck’s proximity to Ramkine Island and their hidden gold, before moving on to the problems.

He filled the men in on his links to The Project – an organisation that most of them already knew existed – and recounted his recent meeting with Nick Coles. It was clear that there could be no gold-retrieval mission without dealing with the Black Assassins. Then he laid out the offer that Nick Coles had made to them: weapons, comms, intel and surveillance back-up, in return for the elimination of the enemy.

They broke for a late lunch. There was a sombre atmosphere in Kilbride’s office as the men sat around, munching through a giant pile of Nixon’s sandwiches. They’d come here expecting a simple operation in which little could go wrong. Instead they now knew that they were pitted against the enemy from hell.

Once the men had eaten Kilbride threw the discussion open. ‘If anyone has any idea how we go about hitting these bastards, then let’s hear it. Anything, however wacky, ’cause we’re up against it.’

There were several seconds of silence before Bill Berger spoke up. ‘I’ve an idea, buddy … Last night I kinda maybe hit on something. Seems to me we might be lookin’ at this all wrong. We’re presuming the Black Assholes are gonna be onto us as soon as we hit Lebanon. But what about a one hundred per cent covert operation? How about we head in from the sea, hit the cave unseen and retrieve the gold unseen? A totally covert job and no one knows we’ve even been there. The Black Assholes, The Project – they can all go screw themselves.’

‘Nice idea,’ said Kilbride. ‘There’s one problem. You’ve got seventeen and a half tons of gold. There’s no covert craft that could get in and out of the cave with even a fraction of that sort of cargo. Plus you need the dhow, or something similar, for your onward journey. That’s always going to be highly visible.’

‘I’ve got an idea, boss,’ Smithy volunteered. ‘Probably totally bloody stupid, but you did ask. You smelt the gold into earth-moving equipment – you know, like JCB buckets, or something. You paint it up to look the part, then you ship it out of the Lebanon like it’s bog-standard earth-moving kit.’

Boerke snorted. ‘Where does all this take place, man? In the cave?’

Smithy glared at him. ‘No. But there’s got to be metal workshops all over the bloody Lebanon.’

‘There are,’ Kilbride confirmed. ‘But it doesn’t help. To get the gold to the smelter you still have to retrieve it from the cave, and that’s where they’ll see us and hit us.’

‘Plus you think people won’t talk?’ Boerke added.

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