the officers and waiting for them to bathe first. Pilgrim held a whispered conversation with the others. Even though the Guatemalans were wearing shirts with no visible badges of rank, Pilgrim was in no doubt about which officers to target. ‘See the slightly taller guy with greying hair? And the officer next but one to him on his right? They’ve got to be the most senior. You can tell by the way the others fall silent as soon as they open their mouths to speak. I’ll take the right-hand guy, which of you will take the other one?’
‘I’ll do it,’ Shepherd whispered.
‘He won every marksmanship task we were set in the Paras,’ Geordie said, in case Pilgrim was harbouring any doubts.
‘Head shot?’ Shepherd said.
‘You’re sure you can do it?’
‘I’m sure.’
‘On my count then,’ Pilgrim whispered. Shepherd sighted on his target, the Guatemalan officer’s head filling the sights, as Shepherd zeroed in on the bridge of the man’s nose. He held an individual’s life in the palm of his hand but that knowledge did not faze him at all. This was his job, and the Guatemalan officer might have been a plywood cut-out on the firing range for all the emotion Shepherd felt. He heard Pilgrim start to count down from five. At ‘Three’, he took up the first pressure on the trigger, and at ‘Two’ he exhaled in a long sighing breath. He heard ‘One’ and gently squeezed the trigger home. He felt the recoil in his shoulder and heard the two shots merge in a single report. His target disappeared from the scope, but the spray of blood in the air showed that the heavy SLR round had struck home with devastating effect. He glimpsed Pilgrim’s target also slumping to the ground and saw a flock of startled birds rising into the air as the Guatemalan soldiers froze in panic for a moment, and then began running in all directions.
The SAS men were already worming their way back from the riverbank. Shepherd heard Geordie’s whispered, ‘Tidy shooting. That’s my boy!’
Hidden by the jungle foliage, they picked up their bergens and began to move away. Behind them they heard shouts and ragged volleys of rifle fire, though the Guatemalan soldiers were firing blind, with no real idea of where their enemies were.
Shepherd expected Pilgrim to lead them back towards Belize immediately, but to his surprise he realised that the SAS veteran was taking them even deeper into Guatemala. He moved at an apparently unhurried pace, more concerned not to leave sign than to speed away from the contact. At their first stop to watch and listen, Pilgrim called them around him and gave a whispered briefing. ‘The Guatemalans will expect us to be heading back to Belize,’ he said. ‘They won’t expect us to be going deeper into Guatemala, so with luck their follow-up searches will be in the wrong area. However, we need to minimise consumption of our rations because if we miss the RV with the infantry on the Belize border, the next stop might have to be the coast.’
They moved on, working their way back to the ridgelines and following animal tracks, well away from any path that the Maya or the Guatemalan army would normally use. An hour before dusk, they looped their track and lay up in ambush in case any troops were following them, then after nightfall they ate a very small meal from their rations and bedded down. Shepherd quickly realised that going without food for a while was not going to be a problem and in fact it seemed to heighten his senses. Even Liam, whose search for food was normally a constant in their daily lives, endured the hardship without complaint.
For several days they moved on, making no more than a few miles a day, before starting a long slow turn back to the east, towards the Belize border. The following day, as Pilgrim called the usual hourly halt to watch and listen, all of them heard a faint noise in the distance, the sound of men moving as fast as the jungle vegetation would allow.
‘We’re
‘I’ll do it,’ Shepherd whispered.
‘He won every marksmanship task we were set in the Paras,’ Geordie said, in case Pilgrim was harbouring any doubts.
‘Head shot?’ Shepherd said.
‘You’re sure you can do it?’
‘I’m sure.’
‘On my count then,’ Pilgrim whispered. Shepherd sighted on his target, the Guatemalan officer’s head filling the sights, as Shepherd zeroed in on the bridge of the man’s nose. He held an individual’s life in the palm of his hand but that knowledge did not faze him at all. This was his job, and the Guatemalan officer might have been a plywood cut-out on the firing range for all the emotion Shepherd felt. He heard Pilgrim start to count down from five. At ‘Three’, he took up the first pressure on the trigger, and at ‘Two’ he exhaled in a long sighing breath. He heard ‘One’ and gently squeezed the trigger home. He felt the recoil in his shoulder and heard the two shots merge in a single report. His target disappeared from the scope, but the spray of blood in the air showed that the heavy SLR round had struck home with devastating effect. He glimpsed Pilgrim’s target also slumping to the ground and saw a flock of startled birds rising into the air as the Guatemalan soldiers froze in panic for a moment, and then began running in all directions.
The SAS men were already worming their way back from the riverbank. Shepherd heard Geordie’s whispered, ‘Tidy shooting. That’s my boy!’
Hidden by the jungle foliage, they picked up their bergens and began to move away. Behind them they heard shouts and ragged volleys of rifle fire, though the Guatemalan soldiers were firing blind, with no real idea of where their enemies were.
Shepherd expected Pilgrim to lead them back towards Belize immediately, but to his surprise he realised that the SAS veteran was taking them even deeper into Guatemala. He moved at an apparently unhurried pace, more concerned not to leave sign than to speed away from the contact. At their first stop to watch and listen, Pilgrim called them around him and gave a whispered briefing. ‘The Guatemalans will expect us to be heading back to Belize,’ he said. ‘They won’t expect us to be going deeper into Guatemala, so with luck their follow-up searches will be in the wrong area. However, we need to minimise consumption of our rations because if we miss the RV with the infantry on the Belize border, the next stop might have to be the coast.’
They moved on, working their way back to the ridgelines and following animal tracks, well away from any path that the Maya or the Guatemalan army would normally use. An hour before dusk, they looped their track and lay up in ambush in case any troops were following them, then after nightfall they ate a very small meal from their rations and bedded down. Shepherd quickly realised that going without food for a while was not going to be a problem and in fact it seemed to heighten his senses. Even Liam, whose search for food was normally a constant in their daily lives, endured the hardship without complaint.
For several days they moved on, making no more than a few miles a day, before starting a long slow turn back to the east, towards the Belize border. The following day, as Pilgrim called the usual hourly halt to watch and listen, all of them heard a faint noise in the distance, the sound of men moving as fast as the jungle vegetation would allow.
‘We’re
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