Jake woke with a start. There was someone outside, someone moving about. He was out of his sleeping bag before he was fully awake, his hand reaching for the holstered pistol that now wasn’t there…an automatic reaction. Shit. He moved towards the broken window. He stayed in the crouched position and listened intently, trying to get a fix on where exactly the noise had come from. He glanced from the edge of the window and suddenly saw the noisemaker… a sheep…another fucking sheep! Jake gave a small relieved sigh which very nearly turned to a smile as he realised it had only been a dream. He gave himself a shake and stepped back into the room and prepared to get his arse in gear. Looking at his watch it read 1.30 p.m. He had slept for five hours, long enough… Time to get a brew on, food down his neck, check his map and get himself ready for tonight.
It had just gone 2.15 p.m. when he set out. It was still dry with some cloud cover. It wouldn’t be too dark this night but November nights were almost always cold. He was glad to be wearing gloves and a body-warmer.
He climbed towards the top of Jackson’s Hill. It was over 3000ft above sea level and a good climb, but he wouldn’t go for the summit. That wasn’t on his agenda. No, he would traverse round it and then along the ridgeline on the other side, which stretched about eleven kilometres in total and was quite an easy walk in the moonlight. As he moved upwards at a good pace, his mind drifted to tonight’s walk. Would there be any adventures? Any problems…? Who cared? If there were, he would deal with whatever happened, when and as it happened, like he always did, in the truly professional manner that epitomised Jake Silverman.
He walked into the night knowing, although now a civilian, he was still a one-man fighting machine. He could, if necessary, move unaided over very long distances through the night, find his target, whatever or whoever it was, and take the necessary action. Take out his objective - any objective - and then fade quickly and quietly back into the night, leaving no trace. As he disappeared round Jackson’s Hill, pushing himself ever harder, he felt at ease with his lot. There were no disturbances in his life, he was the perfect grey man, never standing out in a crowd, never raising his voice above a whisper, and he felt good ……for now.
On such a walk Jake had the ability to almost switch off. It was just a case of one foot in front of the other, never mind the conditions, just go for it. Jake loved the hills, he always had. It was such a release to get out here again. It was where he felt most at ease with himself, especially at night. Only him, the night sky with the stars looking down and the trees rustling in the wind.
Seven hours later Jake knew the night was coming to an end. He was 2500 feet above sea level and it had been a good night’s walk. It was cold, as he had known it would be. He had decided to walk through the day. He could reach Cray port if he set a good pace for the next eight or so hours. His watch said 7.24: daylight was almost here. He pushed for the summit of Glas Mol and would be there for the sun coming up. There was little cloud about and the dew made his boots and gaiters wet, more from dampness than anything else. Could he reach the top before the sun came over the horizon? He was now racing against the star at the centre of the solar system - stupid little games like this had always kept him focused on the job in hand. Jake opened his legs more and upped his pace, even after walking through the night he could still stretch it.
It was fifty minutes later and he could see the Cairn 200 metres directly in front of him. Time for some food. Jake had not realised just how hungry he was. He had only eaten a few chocolate bars to give him energy and keep his hunger at bay. Made it!…He congratulated himself on beating daybreak.
He took his pack off and immediately felt very light. It was amazing how easy it was to forget the weight that you were carrying. He opened the top hood on his pack and removed his small hexamine cooker and quickly got a brew on. Real priority always took precedence over everything else. He lit the blocks and stood upright and stretched his arms out as if in triumphant victory. It was only then he could see what surrounded him. The sight before his eyes was nothing short of breathtaking. As the sun came over the hills in the distance, it was as if someone had just switched the daylight on – it was awesome. The hills looked like a series of gigantic knuckles in clenched fists sticking up through the ground mist for as far as he could see. He put his jacket on to keep warm and just looked at what was before him. Christ, this was what it was all about: if there was no heaven it did not matter, because he had found his right here. Surely life could not get any better than this. Jake felt totally in tune with his surroundings and knew that if he dropped down dead right here and right now then he would be more than content.
Breakfast over, he lay on the top of his pack for forty winks. The sun would not give him any real comfort… it wouldn’t get high enough in the sky for that. His thoughts drifted to home as they usually did at times like this. He would always become a little reflective during any down-time that he had.
What would she be doing now he wondered?…
What would she be thinking?…
Would she be thinking of him?…
Did she always think of him when he wasn’t there?…
Did she ever think of him?
‘Fuck, you could give yourself a headache, thinking too much about this,’ Jake mumbled, as he drifted off to sleep.
It was a little more than twenty minutes later that his eyes blinked open. He looked at his watch. Good, the body clock was still working. Jake had the eerie ability to take only a short nap. No matter how tired he was, he would never fall into a really deep sleep yet he always managed to extract some kind of rest from any short break. But even stranger still was that he always woke up by himself. A doctor had once told him that his internal body clock woke him when he needed…
Bollocks! He thought, but it was useful anyway so he didn’t knock it and just used it when he had to.