Spider Shepherd: SAS: Volume 1 by Stephen Leather

Author:Stephen Leather
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Short Stories, War & Military, Genre Fiction, War
Published: 2014-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Shepherd heard a voice and opened his eyes a fraction, blinking in the strong light. ‘Welcome back, Dan.’ The voice had a Scandinavian accent. As Shepherd’s eyes came into focus, he saw a white-coated figure looking down at him.

‘Where am I?’ croaked Shepherd.

‘In Narvik, at the University Hospital, and you’re a very lucky man indeed,’ the doctor said. ‘You nearly died out there. You had no pulse or visible respiration when you were brought in, and the core temperature of your body was barely twenty degrees Celsius. A weaker man wouldn’t have recovered. ‘

‘Good to know,’ said Shepherd. He tried to lift his head but fell back.

‘Luckily for you, the medic on the rescue helicopter is no stranger to hypothermia cases. Once you reached hospital we gave you a breathing tube with warm air for your lungs, and warm saline through an IV and through a tube directly into your stomach. That helped to raise your temperature from the inside - much faster than heating you from the outside. But it was the medic on the rescue helicopter who really saved your life.’

‘What about the others?’ Shepherd struggled to sit up again and failed.

‘Please lie still,’ the doctor said. ‘You’re very weak and your body has had a very narrow escape. Give it time to recover.’

‘But my friends? What about my friends?’

The doctor’s smile faded. ‘Two of them are recovering well and you will be able to see them shortly. But I’m afraid the other man drowned before he could be rescued.’

‘Who was it?’ Shepherd dreaded the answer, whatever it was, but he had to know.

The doctor consulted his notes. ‘McKay. Liam McKay.’

Shepherd groaned and lay back.

‘I am sorry,’ said the doctor. ‘If it’s any consolation, drowning in such a cold sea is relatively painless.’

Shepherd held up a hand to silence the doctor. He didn’t want to be consoled. He was barely aware of the doctor leaving the room. He took slow deep breaths as he came to terms with what he’d been told. Liam was gone. Not killed in combat - a proper soldier’s death - but lost in some stupid training accident. It was a senseless death. And it could so easily have been Shepherd who had died in the icy waters.

His dark thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and a fair-haired man walked in. He was wearing a red anorak over pale green overalls. Shepherd scowled at him. ‘This isn’t a good time.’

‘I won’t keep you long,’ the man said. He shifted his weight from leg to leg, clearly uneasy. ‘My name is Mats. I was the winchman on the rescue helicopter. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right and tell you how sorry I was that we weren’t able to save your friend.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Shepherd. He struggled to sit up and extend his hand. ‘I owe you my life.’

Mats solemnly shook hands with him.

‘Seriously, if there’s ever anything I can do for you, you only have to ask,’ said Shepherd.

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