The Sandpit: An Action-Packed Spider Shepherd SAS Novella (Spider Shepherd: SAS Book 1) by Stephen Leather

Author:Stephen Leather
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2016-04-18T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Before setting off back over the mountain to the Panjshir, Shepherd gave detailed, specific instructions to Ahmad on how the two prisoners were to be handled. ‘They are to be separated from each other and then taken back to the valley by a circuitous route, with only a couple of your men as guards for each of them,’ Shepherd said. ‘They are to be kept manacled and gagged, so they can neither talk to their captors, nor to each other. If they attempt to escape, they are to be recaptured and then they must be shackled or hobbled with ropes, even if that means that they are continually falling and hurting themselves. But most important of all, Ahmad, the handlers must not talk to the prisoners at all and must ignore them as far as possible. They should avoid touching, making eye contact or helping the prisoners in any way during the trip back. Once in the Panjshir, they are to be blindfolded and their ears blocked, so they can neither see, nor hear anything.’

‘I understand,’ said Ahmad.

‘I know you do, but your men must too,’ said Shepherd. ‘I need you to come back with me, so your men will be in sole charge of the prisoners. I don’t want anything happening to them in your absence.’

‘I will explain to them,’ said Ahmad. ‘Don’t worry. The prisoners will not be harmed. Not yet, anyway.’

‘That’s going over the top, don’t you think?’ asked Jock as Ahmad went over to talk to his men.

Shepherd shrugged. ‘You think? Do you remember the resistance to interrogation training ops we used to do when the prisoner handlers were Gurkhas? Most of them didn’t speak English or any other language that their prisoners were likely to recognise anyway, and they treated all of us just like packages, which was exactly how the interrogators had taught them and how they liked it done. Everybody and everything was neutral, so that when our turn came to be interrogated, we had nothing to focus on other than the guy in front of us and the questions he was asking. The way the Gurkhas did the job cut out most of the weaknesses in the system and made it much harder for us to indulge in fantasies about escaping or hope that telling some bullshit story would gain us an advantage. That’s what I’m hoping to replicate here.’

Jock grinned. ‘Psyops?’

‘Call it what you want,’ said Shepherd. ‘We have got to keep them mentally off balance, with their senses diminished. At this moment they think we will kill them out of hand.’

‘With good reason,’ Jock said. ‘Ahmad and his men would have topped them already, given half a chance.’

‘Exactly,’ said Shepherd. ‘If they keep believing that then they’ll retreat inside themselves to try to make their peace with whichever God they believe in. But if they think they can buy their lives with information, they will say anything that they think we want to hear, so if we can keep it neutral instead, it should make things easier for us later on.

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