Street Soldier (29 page)

‘We got all three vans, all defused. Two of the drivers surrendered without a fight, including Corporal Heaton. One, a red-headed man’ – Adams paused – ‘resisted, with an army-issue Glock. The snipers had to take him out.’

Sean closed his eyes.
RIP Copper.
‘And what about Rich?’

Adams paused, looking hesitant for the first time since Sean had known him.

He closed his eyes and groaned. ‘Oh. Fuck. He got away?’

‘Remember, my involvement with MI5 stopped the moment you were no longer useful to them, which means that so did my access to information. But as I understand it—’

‘He got away,’ Sean said again.

‘Yes. On the other hand, the spooks got a lot of useful information on him. He won’t be picking up the old cosy life in Guildford again.’

‘Any more good news?’

‘Actually, yes.’ Adams brandished the envelope. ‘I came to wish you a happy birthday.’

‘Aw, you shouldn’t have.’

‘That’s all right. I almost didn’t.’ Adams passed the envelope over. Inside was a card, and a colourful badge:
18 LEGAL FOR ANYTHING
. There was a hole on the front with the caption:
Guess who this card’s for? Put your finger here to find out.

He followed the instructions and opened the card. It was signed by all the lads, and his finger stuck out from the groin of a cartoon man. The caption read:
It’s to a REAL dick.
He waggled his finger up and down, and tried to smile.

‘Jeez. Guess I’m all grown up now.’ He leaned over to put the card on his locker.

‘Officially adult,’ Adams agreed. ‘Which means we can officially court-martial you.’

Sean looked at him. Then he looked around and took in the complete absence of handcuffs, Redcaps or any other kind of security. ‘But you won’t,’ he whispered. Suddenly he had to turn his head away as tears filled his eyes.
Shit
. He had always known this would come, but –
shit
. ‘You’re just going to throw me out quietly, aren’t you?’

And why shouldn’t they?
he thought bitterly. If he
remembered Trafalgar Square, he also remembered how he had got involved in all this in the first place. Basically blackmailed into it by MI5, with the threat of a long jail sentence which he totally deserved if he didn’t comply. And he had failed to stop two bombs.

But even before that – everything the army had done for him he had just thrown back in its face. Even after he monumentally screwed up, even after he was busted by MI5, he remembered Franklin and Adams standing by him in that interview room. Not leaving him. Backing him up.

He had briefly been part of a family that would support him unconditionally for the rest of his life – and he’d chucked it away because for some insane reason he had preferred the old lifestyle. Contrast that with the Guyz, whose continued friendship could only be bought with stolen money.

‘Now, why would we do that? What’s the poor civvy world ever done to deserve having you unleashed on it?’

Sean stared at him, eyes wide.

‘Your actions,’ said the sergeant, ‘saved lives. Even though two bombs exploded, no deaths have been reported. The way you discharged your weapon safely showed an exemplary regard for public safety and no thought for your own. You know there are armed cops everywhere in the West End? You could have been shot
yourself at any moment. In short, there’s too much good soldier in you to waste. And it helps that Mr Franklin has been putting his own career on the line, saying that if you go, he goes. And he is far too good an officer to chuck away. Here . . .’ He leaned down and pinned the 18 badge onto Sean’s hospital gown. ‘And that’s the only medal you’re getting, because there isn’t one for being a lucky bastard, who doesn’t have the sense to call up the authorities before going all vigilante on his own.’

‘Didn’t think they’d listen,’ Sean said weakly.

‘“Hi, I’m the gun-toting nutter who just blew up a van on the south circular.” I think you’d have got their attention. I know you don’t have the best impression of authority, but try to remember they’re not all stupid.’

Sean looked down at the badge. Turning eighteen was no big deal – it wasn’t exactly going to change his life. But having Adams pin something on him with his own hands – that counted for a lot.

The sergeant smiled. It was an unusual sight. ‘You’ve been lucky, Harker. You were offered an olive branch, you took it. If you hadn’t, then right now you would be with your friends and looking at the best part of your life behind bars.’

‘I killed a guy,’ Sean said quietly.

Adams’s face turned to stone. ‘I witnessed it via the drone. So did a lot of other people higher up than me.
We all saw a soldier on active deployment using reasonable force to defend himself. I would say the circumstances ticked every box in the Rules of Engagement.’

Sean nodded. Words weren’t needed. Not now. He was too tired anyway – he just wanted to go back to sleep, if he was honest. And his head was hurting. But he had one more question.

‘Why did the spooks lump you with me, Sergeant? Thought it would’ve been the lieutenant’s job.’

‘It was. I volunteered.’

‘You . . . Why?’

‘I inflicted you on the army. I believe in clearing up my own messes.’ Adams grinned. ‘And of course I also like to take credit for my success stories.’

Suddenly Sean couldn’t meet his eyes. He turned his head away and blinked rapidly again. ‘Really let you down, didn’t I?’ he murmured.

‘By being a thieving dipstick? I already knew that. One thing I didn’t have you pegged as was a murderer and a traitor – and, guess what, you’re not. Well, enough of these pleasantries. I’d best be going. Let you get some rest.’

Adams drew himself up into NCO mode. ‘Private Harker!’ he barked.

Sean lay at attention in bed. ‘Sergeant!’ he shouted at the ceiling.

‘Get better!’

‘Yes, Sergeant!’

‘At ease.’ With a half-smile on his face, the same one he’d had when they first met, Adams turned away. Sean lay back on his pillow with a much larger smile of his own.

So he was still a Fusilier. For the first time since he’d joined up, that was more important than being one of the Littern Guyz.

Sean had been one of the Guyz since the day he was born. The streets had shaped the way he grew. Look how easily he had slipped back into acting like one of them as soon as Heaton came along with his money and flash car.

That little lapse had almost got him killed.

It was one more item to add to the charge sheet against the gang that was growing inside his head. Basically he’d let them quietly screw him for his entire life.

But the army had shown him another way of getting through life, and it was infinitely better. So even if the Guyz were still an ongoing concern – if they didn’t just collapse when the news about Matt and Copper came out, or get muscled out by some other outfit . . .

‘I’m not one of the Guyz any more,’ Sean murmured, and it was as if a weight he hadn’t even noticed had fallen away from him.

It lasted about a second – until he thought about his mum. There was no way they were going to look after her now. And he didn’t want them to. That would mean owing them something.

So it was down to him. He would just have to get her out of there. Set her up in a flat of her own.

But do it honestly, and on his pay. It would be tight. He needed to think it through . . .

His eyes were growing heavy, his thoughts muzzy. His battered body was demanding sleep, and there wasn’t much point fighting it. Not if he was going to obey the sergeant’s order.

Whatever. Bring it all on. He could take it.

Afterword

By the age of 16, I was in juvenile detention and going through a pretty similar experience to Sean’s at Burnleigh YOI. I had been abandoned as a baby, and then grew up with foster parents in South East London. I went through nine schools in seven years, didn’t fit in and didn’t see the point of any of it. All I angrily knew was that I didn’t have much in my life, and there were people that had a hell of a lot more.

We were no great criminal masterminds. Burgling the same block of flats several times was always going to end up with us getting caught. The government’s way of dealing with ‘teenage delinquents’ at that time was to lock us up in a Young Offender Institution and deliver what was labelled as the ‘short, sharp shock’ – a boot-camp-style, brutal regime designed to scare us into not reoffending. It was later abandoned when they worked out it wasn’t working as a strategy, but it wasn’t much fun at the time.

It was whilst I was in juvenile detention that the army
recruitment guys turned up and offered us an early release if we joined up. It sounded better than prison to me, so off I went.

Little did I know that joining the army would change my life. It showed me that there were opportunities to make something of myself, if I was willing to put in the effort. I discovered that I had the reading age of an eleven-year-old, six years below where I should have been, and learning to read was the first step in changing my life. I think Sean is probably a bit ahead of me on that. And he’s smart. But he still shows that it’s not always easy to leave your past behind and it’s not easy to make the right choices. It takes a lot of guts.

These days, I spend quite a bit of time visiting schools, prisons and workplaces, as well as army bases and businesses, talking to them about my experiences and encouraging them to start reading and writing. I see people just like me – and people like I used to be – and I tell them, ‘If I can turn my life around, then so can you.’ Every time you get a bit of knowledge, you get a bit of power to make your own decisions and take control of your life. Just try it.

Andy McNab

26 January 2016

Glossary

ACOG
– Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight providing up to 6x fixed power magnification, illuminated at night by an internal phosphor

Anti-tank rockets
– man-portable rockets designed to be able to defeat armoured vehicles. Usually they are less capable than anti-tank guns and missiles, but are useful against various targets including buildings and fortifications

Army Reserve
– formerly the Territorial Army or TA, this provides trained soldiers who work on a part-time basis to support the regular army

CQR
– Close Quarter Recce

Flash-bang (stun grenade)
– a non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorientate an enemy’s senses

Foxhound
– Patrol vehicle specifically designed and built to protect against the threats faced by troops in Afghanistan

Fusiliers
– an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen’s Division

Glock 17 Gen 4
– lightweight and accurate pistol with a magazine capacity of 17 9mm rounds

GPMG
– General-Purpose Machine Gun, nicknamed the ‘Gimpy’; belt-driven

IED
– an Improvised Explosive Device, which can be placed on the ground or used by suicide bombers; sometimes activated by remote control

Infantry
– the British infantry is based on the tried and tested regimental system which has proved successful on operations over the years; it consists of a number of regular battalions. The British infantry has a strong tradition of courage in battle

Insurgent
– a person who fights against an established government or authority

Intel (INT)
– army term for intelligence: information collected on, for example, enemy movements

Intelligence Corps
– one of the corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence, and also for counter-intelligence and security

LASM
– Light Anti-Structures Missile; a rocket launcher designed to be discarded after launch

MI5
– a British intelligence agency working to protect the UK’s national security against threats such as terrorism and espionage

MoD
– Ministry of Defence. Their aim is to protect the security, independence and interests of our country at home and abroad. They ensure that the armed forces have the training, equipment and support necessary for their work

MP5
– 9mm submachine gun built by Heckler & Koch

NATO
– North Atlantic Treaty Organization: an organization whose essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means

NCO –
Non-Commissioned Officer, like a corporal or sergeant

No. 8 Temperate Combat Dress
– this replaced the No 5 and 9 Dress, in what is known known as the Personal Clothing System. It is based around a Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) windproof smock, a lightweight jacket and trousers with a range of ancillaries such as thermals and waterproofs

PE
– Plastic Explosive

PRR
– Personal Role Radio: small transmitter-receiver radio that enables soldiers to communicate over short distances, and through buildings and walls

Royal Logistics Corps (RLC)
– provides support (e.g. vehicle parts, tools, ammunition and rations) to the Army, both in peacetime and on operations

RPG
– Rocket-Propelled Grenade

SA80
– semi-automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch, the standard British Army rifle

SAS
– Special Air Service, tasked to operate in difficult and often changing circumstances, sometimes in absence of guidance and within situations that have significant operational and strategic importance

Screws
– a prison nickname for a warder

Special Branch
– units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces. Acquire and develop intelligence, usually of a political nature, and conducts investigations to protect the State from perceived threats of subversion

‘Taking Point’
– Assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation