Crossfire Read online

  Table of Contents

  The Andy McNab dossier

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  PART ONE Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  PART TWO Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  PART THREE Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  PART FOUR Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Epilogue

  Andy McNab 'Iraq' Audio series

  Coming Soon: Seven Troop

  THE

  ANDY McNAB

  DOSSIER

  CONFIDENTIAL

  www.andymcnab.co.uk

  ANDY McNAB

  In 1984 he was 'badged' as a member of 22 SAS Regiment.

  Over the course of the next nine years he was at the centre of covert operations on five continents.

  During the first Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'.

  Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career.

  McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.

  He is now the author of ten bestselling thrillers.

  BRAVO TWO ZERO

  In January 1991, eight members of the SAS regiment, under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, embarked upon a top secret mission in Iraq to infiltrate them deep behind enemy lines. Their call sign: 'Bravo Two Zero'. Within days, their location was compromised. In the firefight that followed four men were captured. Three died. Only one escaped. For the survivors the worst was to come when they were tortured with a savagery for which not even their intensive SAS training had prepared them.

  'One of the most extraordinary examples of human courage and survival in modern warfare'

  The Times

  'The best account of the SAS in action'

  Sunday Times

  IMMEDIATE ACTION

  The no–holds–barred account of an extraordinary life, from the day McNab as a baby was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital to the day he went to fight in the Gulf War. As a delinquent youth he kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh.

  'A richly detailed picture of life in the SAS'

  Sunday Telegraph

  'The real thing...The strength of Immediate Action lies in its detail'

  The Times

  Nick Stone, ex–SAS trooper,

  now gun–for–hire working on

  deniable ops for the British

  government, is the perfect man

  for the dirtiest of jobs, doing

  whatever it takes by whatever

  means necessary...

  REMOTE CONTROL

  Dateline: Washington DC, USA

  Stone is drawn into the bloody killing of an ex–SAS officer and his family and soon finds himself on the run with the one survivor who can identify the killer – a nine-year-old girl.

  'Proceeds with a testosterone surge'

  Daily Telegraph

  CRISIS FOUR

  Dateline: North Carolina, USA

  In the backwoods of the American South, Stone has to keep alive the beautiful young woman who holds the key to unlock a chilling conspiracy that will threaten world peace.

  'When it comes to thrills, he's Forsyth class'

  Mail on Sunday

  FIREWALL

  Dateline: Finland

  The kidnapping of a Russian Mafia warlord takes Stone into the heart of the global espionage world and into conflict with some of the most dangerous killers around.

  'Other thriller writers do their research, but McNab has actually been there'

  Sunday Times

  LAST LIGHT

  Dateline: Panama

  Stone finds himself at the centre of a lethal conspiracy involving ruthless Columbian mercenaries, the US government and Chinese big business. It's an uncomfortable place to be . . .

  'A heart thumping read'

  Mail on Sunday

  LIBERATION DAY

  Dateline: Cannes, France

  Behind its glamorous exterior, the city's seething underworld is the battleground for a very dirty drugs war and Stone must reach deep within himself to fight it on their terms.

  'McNab's great asset is that the heart of his fiction is non–fiction'

  Sunday Times

  DARK WINTER

  Dateline: Malaysia

  A straightforward action on behalf of the War on Terror turns into a race to escape his past for Stone if he is to save himself and those closest to him.

  'Addictive . . . Packed with wild action and revealing tradecraft'

  Daily Telegraph

  DEEP BLACK

  Dateline: Bosnia

  All too late Stone realizes that he is being used as bait to lure into the open a man whom the darker forces of the West will stop at nothing to destroy.

  'One of the UK's top thriller writers'

  Daily Express

  AGGRESSOR

  Dateline: Georgia, former Soviet Union

&
nbsp; A longstanding debt of friendship to an SAS comrade takes Stone on a journey where he will have to risk everything to repay what he owes, even his life . . .

  'A terrific novelist'

  Mail on Sunday

  RECOIL

  Dateline: The Congo, Africa

  What starts out as a personal quest for a missing woman quickly becomes a headlong rush from his own past for Stone.

  'Stunning . . . A first class action thriller'

  The Sun

  CROSSFIRE

  Andy McNab

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  ISBN 9781407039466

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

  61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

  A Random House Group Company

  www.rbooks.co.uk

  CROSSFIRE

  A CORGI BOOK

  ISBN: 9781407039466

  Version 1.0

  First published in Great Britain

  in 2007 by Bantam Press

  a division of Transworld Publishers

  Corgi edition published 2008

  Copyright © Andy McNab 2007

  Andy McNab has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book

  is available from the British Library.

  This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies

  outside the UK can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk

  The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the men of 2 Rifles and 2 Lancs, for their bravery and endurance. I was privileged to spend time in Iraq with both of these battalions, and without doubt they are some of the most professional soldiers our country has ever seen.

  2nd Battalion the Rifles

  Rifleman Daniel Lee Coffey, aged twenty-one, from Exeter, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 27 February 2007.

  Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, aged eighteen, from Durham, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 2 April 2007.

  Rifleman Paul Donnachie, aged eighteen, from Reading, was killed in a small-arms fire attack in Basra City on 29 April 2007.

  2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment

  Kingsman Jamie Lee Hancock, aged nineteen, from Wigan, died as a result of injuries sustained during small-arms fire against a coalition forces base in Basra on 6 November 2006.

  Sergeant Graham Hesketh, aged thirty-five, from Liverpool, was killed during a patrol in Basra City on 28 December 2006.

  Kingsman Alexander William Green, aged twenty-one, from Warrington, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 13 January 2007.

  Second Lieutenant Jonathan Bracho-Cooke, aged twenty-four, from Hove, died as a result of injuries sustained by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on 5 February 2007.

  Kingsman Danny John Wilson, aged twenty-eight, from Workington, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 1 April 2007.

  Kingsman Adam James Smith, aged nineteen, from the Isle of Man, died as a result of injuries sustained by an IED attack on 5 April 2007.

  Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, aged twenty-four, from Yeovil, died as a result of injuries sustained by an IED attack on 5 April 2007.

  Kingsman Alan Joseph Jones, aged twenty, from Liverpool, was killed when his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle came under small-arms fire on 23 April 2007.

  Prologue

  60 miles west of Jalalabad, Afghanistan

  17 June 1986

  Last light

  I didn't know the name of the village, though we'd been through there many times. It was just a collection of mud huts on a plateau, three-quarters of the way down a mountain, in a snow-capped range halfway between Kabul and the Khyber Pass.

  We had to be out again by first light, when the Hinds would be back to hand out the early-morning news. If they spotted us, the gunships would annihilate the place, and anyone inside. That was how they did things.

  We were in-country because the Ivans were in-country, and the West didn't want them to be. It wasn't the invasion they objected to. It was Soviet troops massed so close to the oil-rich Gulf. The sheiks were flapping, so the bad boys had to be persuaded to fuck off back to the land of vodka.

  The mujahideen – soldiers of Allah – had only put up weak resistance to start with. Fragmented, and armed with no more than rifles and pistols, all they had going for them was their lifelong knowledge of the terrain and an unshakeable faith in their God.

  That was when dickheads like me were told to get the maps out and see where the fuck Afghanistan was, then get our arses over from Hereford and help. We came, we saw, we dropped bridges, attacked police stations, built IEDs, and blew up armoured convoys. I wasn't wild about living in a cave, but other than that, I'd been having the time of my life.

  'See that?'

  'What, Nick?'

  'Over there, in the alleyway. Looks like a body.'

  'It will just be a girl,' Ahmad grunted. He wore the kind of expression you use when someone's just pointed out the shit on your shoe. 'We go on, Nick. We need food.'

  My new best mujahideen mate cut away and gestured to the others to sort themselves out before the long tab back to our holes in the rock above the snowline.

  The girl's body was lying between two mud-walled shacks. At least somebody had had the decency to drape the charred remains of her clothes over what was left of her. Going by the scorchmarks on the ground, it looked like she'd set herself on fire in plain view. When the flames died down, the villagers had probably just dragged her here out of the way and got on with their lives.

  I nearly hadn't come over. I'd seen it all too many times before. But this one was different – even in the fading light, I thought I'd seen movement. And, besides, the girl with the cheeky grin lived in one of these huts. I always looked out for her when we came this way. The landscape might be cold, harsh and unforgiving, but somhow her smile always made me think that what we were doing was worthwhile.

  The people who scratched a living in these mountains didn't have enough even to feed themselves, but that didn't stop them sharing it with us. I'd never spoken to the girl with the cheeky grin. It would have been taboo. But she'd run up a couple of times and handed me a sliver of watermelon or a cup of water. She couldn't have been more than fourteen.

  Not so long ago, the cheeky grin had disappeared, as if someone had thrown a switch. 'Yes,' Ahmad had said. 'Now she have husband.' Apparently he was nearly three times her age and from another band of muj. Ahmad seemed to think her husband was having trouble teaching her respect.

  She'd looked a little more desperate each time I saw her after that. The last couple of times, I'd noticed the bruises.