Once A Pilgrim: a breathtaking, pulse-pounding SAS thriller. James Deegan

Skelton grinned and stepped up into his vehicle, which would bring up the rear of the mobile column. Carr walked down the line, telling each vehicle commander in turn to mount up, until he reached the front. The plan called for Carr to lead the blokes to the lay-up position, from where the Squadron would move the final couple of hundred metres onto the target on foot. He would remain at the rear with Geordie and his driver, the OC, a signaller and his own driver, a young Brummie trooper called ‘Wayne’ Rooney.

      Rooney had joined the Squadron from The Rifles six months earlier, and he was already a promising blade. He’d looked momentarily downcast when Carr had told him he was missing out on the assault.

      ‘Everyone has to step out to work with the HQ now and then, Wayne,’ Carr had said. ‘Your turn tonight.’

      Rooney was already in his seat, and Carr winked at him as he climbed aboard.

      ‘Alright, son,’ he said. ‘Ready to roll?’

      ‘Yes, sir,’ said Rooney, not yet comfortable with calling his Sergeant Major by his first name. The informality of the SAS, when compared with the line infantry, could be disconcerting at first.

      Carr thought about correcting him but decided against, on the basis that it might worsen the young trooper’s discomfort. Instead, he smiled, strapped on his Kevlar helmet, and grabbed his Diemaco C7 – a Special Forces M4 variant fitted with a heavy duty barrel, night-sight, and a flash suppressor.

      The vehicle moved forward, and each vehicle behind followed on.

      The time to target was twenty minutes.

      They picked their way north, past shuttered shops, burned-out cars, and fire-gutted houses. Before the war, Dora had been a predominantly Assyrian Christian neighbourhood, but in the chaos of the early occupation the lunatic fringe had moved in and begun a programme of religious cleansing. It seemed like every third house was daubed with symbols which had been used to identify their occupants as Shia, or Christian, or Mandaeists – whatever they were.

      The streets were deserted – you had to be crazy to be out and about at this time of night. But that meant that anyone on the streets was crazy, so the men manned their vehicle-mounted weapons and scanned the route for enemy activity as they progressed to the target area.

      As they passed the bloated corpse of a donkey, Carr looked at his map with the route marked on it.

      ‘Next left, Wayne,’ he said, glancing at the young Brummie.

      ‘Yes, sir,’ said Rooney.

      ‘For fuck’s sake,’ said Carr, under his breath. He shook his head and grinned: it was too far back to remember, but he’d probably been just as bad himself as a new trooper.

      Twenty minutes after leaving the FOB, the vehicles pulled over and went static at the LUP.

      The teams all dismounted and shook out into the order of march, ready to move towards the target, each man going down on one knee and scanning the immediate area for any threat, the pitch black turning green in their night vision.

      Carr walked over to Geordie and the Squadron Commander for a final brief.

      Everything was good, no issues.

      Carr keyed his radio mike, and sent one transmission. ‘All teams, move to final assault positions.’

      The men started to go forwards slowly towards the target. It was only two hundred metres, but it took a full ten minutes, moving quietly, carefully: they’d been in Dora enough times to know that the locals would react aggressively as soon as they worked out what was going on. Every man in the area owned a gun, and most would relish the chance to have a pop. They’d all wake up as soon as the explosive charges effected the breaches, but there was no sense in giving them a head start.

      Eventually, the assault teams were at their final positions, and awaiting the radio transmission for the show to commence.

      Carr carried out a check on the comms to confirm that everyone was ready to go.

      All team commanders confirmed.

      Carr gave the OC – Evan Forrest – a thumbs-up.

      Forrest keyed the pressel on his radio and uttered the words which had launched a thousand assaults.

      ‘Standby, standby… Go!’

      There were two deafening explosions, instantly followed by the wailing of car alarms activated by the pressure wave from the breach charges, and the assault teams were in.

      From where Carr stood, he could hear the immediate crackle of small arms fire coming from inside the villa.

      He fought the temptation to ask questions on the radio, to find out what was going on; the teams had to be allowed to get on with their task with no interruption.

      Instead, he turned to speak to Evan Forrest, and it was at that moment that gunfire erupted from a building directly opposite the target.

      It was wild and high, and the assault team at whom it was directed were able to take cover inside the walled compound of the grey villa.

      Carr watched as they began returning fire.

      ‘Fucking amateur,’ said Geordie, and he was right – the gunman had fired two long bursts, the first of which had illuminated his position in one of the upstairs rooms, the second of which confirmed he had not changed his position.

      But this was still very much not ideal: a number of Carr’s men were now engaged in a firefight inside and outside the target.

      He made a quick decision. The team outside was Delta 18 Charlie, led by Steve Smith. Steve was a good man, and full of balls, and that meant that in a matter of moments he’d be over the wall and rushing across the street to take out the shooter.

      That was not the best way to deal with this threat.

      Carr keyed his mike. ‘Steve, it’s John,’ he said, calmly. ‘Stay put, mate, and keep suppressing that house. We’re in a blind spot to them so I’m going in round the back. Okay?’

      Smith’s reply came back a moment later. ‘Okay, John, got it. I think there’s at least three shooters in there.’

      ‘Noted, mate,’ said Carr. ‘Moving shortly.’

      He turned to the small group he was with. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Evan, you stay here with the scaley and Jedd, okay? Me, Wayne and Geordie are going to take them fuckers out.’

      The OC nodded.

      ‘You watch your back round here, Evan,’ said Carr. ‘Geordie, ready? Wayne, ready?’

      Rooney nodded. ‘Ready, John,’ he said, the effort to use Carr’s first name written all over his face.

      Carr grinned. ‘Good man. Right, let’s go.’ He pressed his transmit button. ‘Moving, Steve.’

      Smith acknowledged.

      Carr led Geordie Skelton and Wayne Rooney into the alley behind the shooters’ house, until they were level with it. As they reached a rear gate, in the shadow of an eight-foot back wall, he stopped.

      A sound, from the other side of the wall – low voices, and the click-clack of weapons being cocked.

      Carr raised his hand to stop Geordie, and put his finger to his lips. Wayne immediately took a knee and turned to cover their rear.

      Carr moved forward and looked through the gate.

      He saw four men, one of them placing an RPG7 warhead into its launcher, the others peering cautiously around the side of the building towards the target house where the assault teams were still engaged.

      Carr looked back towards Geordie.

      Gave a thumbs down – enemy – and held up four fingers.

      Geordie nodded.

      Carr removed a fragmentation grenade from his assault vest