Ahead of him the soldier was walking slowly, sweeping the vallon methodically across their route on the faint path in the sand, moving with metronomic precision, left to right, right to left, left to right.
Occasionally, a faint beep emanated from the mine detector and the team immediately stopped and took up defensive positions where they stood in single file, ten metres apart.
Vigilance increased to spot any sudden movements in the surrounding areas. Was it an ambush? Heart rates increased. Adrenaline flowed and apprehension lined their faces as the suspicious contact was meticulously revisited. The detectorist hovered the head of the vallon fractionally above the hot desert floor. Satisfied after a further examination that it was nothing to worry about, he moved on again leading the others…left to right, right to left, left to right.
William was sweating profusely as he followed behind his lead man. The weight of his bulky 150 pound armoured bomb suit gave him a strange gait as he waddled behind the mine detectorist.
The small group approached the suspected bomb. It was a fifty gallon oil drum placed outside a school.
While William and the detectorist went forward to examine the suspected bomb, the team took up defensive positions.
After carefully checking around the oil drum for any wires or trip switches the soldier with the metal detector withdrew. This time, the metronomic sweeping was slightly faster.
William was now by himself. It was all down to him alone. The world receded.
He looked into the top of the open oil drum and carefully moved a sack that covered the contents. As he moved it aside he could see a circuit board and a small collection of multi-coloured wires taped together with black insulating tape.
‘Smithy,’ he called to his deputy over his radio.
‘Roger. Receiving you Boss.’
‘I confirm it is a bomb. Tell the guys we’re going to be here for a while.’
‘Roger boss.’
William examined the oil drum and estimated that it contained about 10 pounds of plastic explosives. If it detonated this would set off a sympathetic explosion with the shells and grenades beneath it creating a deadly shower of hot shrapnel. He would be vaporised.
He had already made the decision not to use the robot to explode the device because of the collateral damage it would cause to the local school building nearby. Although it had been evacuated, the building was a precious commodity for the small community.
He knew that documenting the construction of the device was just as important as defusing and retrieving it to provide forensic evidence. The evidence would be used by his colleagues to disarm similar devices. But it was important for his own kudos, to tackle the intellectual challenge that the bomb maker had set him. For him, defusing the bomb was like doing the Times crossword. Difficult but satisfying.
In any case, he had a sneaking admiration for the bomb maker too. The stakes were high. One wrong move would have fatal consequences in spite of wearing the heavy protective bomb suit.
His helmet camera had already transmitted their long walk to the site of the bomb and now, by switching on his chest camera, it would record all his movements and actions whilst he gave a running commentary defusing the IED.
Immediately after, he would review all the footage and commentary when he wrote up his report … if successful. Otherwise someone else could see what had gone wrong and ensure no-one else experienced the same outcome.
He knew from failed attempts by some of his colleagues that the new bomb maker was using a booby trap wiring configuration. Consequently, if the wrong wire was cut, the device would explode.
This was his challenge as he knelt down and studied the wiring loom. First he decided to cut the tape holding the wires together so that he could trace each one. He removed one of his thick protective gloves to enable him to manipulate a scalpel to achieve the task. Slowly he went about his job. Nothing was rushed. He took his time, calmly slicing through the tape, making sure he didn’t cut into the thin plastic insulation of the wires.
He possessed infinite patience, something which he knew irritated Liz.
Satisfied he’d removed the necessary tape, he gently prised open the wires and studied the resulting ‘bird’s nest’.
Fortunately for him the wiring block had been disturbed when the oil drum had been positioned, exposing a series of looping wires.
Methodically he traced the wires and drew a circuit diagram in his head, repeating his vision to Smithy, who was drawing it on paper as he relayed what he was seeing.
Not until he had painstakingly traced all the wiring did he stop and discuss his thoughts with him. As he did so Smithy advised him that one of his colleagues was currently on a similar job and wanted to speak to him on the air.
‘Yes that’s OK. We’re encrypted anyway. Put him on.’
After a few seconds of clicks and bangs he heard the distorted voice of his mentor Pete.
‘Hi William, [static] how [static] doing?’
‘Pete…Pete can you hear me OK. Signal keeps coming and going here.’
‘Yes, I [static] hear you OK.’
‘This is a bit unusual. To what do I owe the honour of the call?’
‘Sounds like you [static] me are dealing with the same [static]. Mine’s outside an A & E department so [static] reluctant to get the robot to blast it. How far are you into [static] job?’
‘Sorry Pete, your signal is very poor.’
‘[static] your signal is breaking up here too.’
‘Well I’ve got a good idea of the circuitry. OK so far?
‘Yes, [static] ahead.’
‘This guy is good. He’s even thrown in a few redundant components to mislead me.’ Ok so far?’
‘Did [static] say components?’
‘Redundant. I say again redundant components.’
‘Yes [static] redundant. Roger. Go ahead.’
‘He’s used the same coloured wiring twisted together to make tracing them difficult. OK so far?’
‘Colour [static] twisted’
‘Yes, However, I think the booby trap fire wire is the violet one.’
‘No [static] say [static].’
‘Sorry Pete, lost you altogether then. I repeat the colour wire is Violet. I spell. Victor, Indigo, Oscar, Lima, Echo, Tango. Roger?’
[Static]
‘Pete you receiving over?’
[Static]
Smithy’s voice came on. ‘Sorry boss, we appear to have lost him. He’s operating from an area where there’s a lot of radio interference. To add to our problems we have a large group of spectators collecting out here. The boys are feeling a bit threatened. How much longer do you think you’ll be?’
‘Not long I don’t think. It looks like our friendly bomb maker has used a sleeve at both ends to mark the important wire.’
‘What about disconnecting the battery?’ Smithy suggested.
‘No. I reckon if I cut the supply off to the relay, releasing it will trigger the detonator.’
[Static] You receiving [static] William? Over.’
Ah, you’re back. ‘Did you hear what I said Pete?’
‘Yes. [static] Just about. OK. I see where you’re coming from. Let me [static] check of this one.’
The communications link went silent for a few minutes and then Pete’s voice came through the static.
‘Yes it sounds [static] it’s one and the same. So you reckon the [static] wire?’
‘Go again with the colour wire.’ William demanded ‘I wouldn’t want you cutting the wrong one. I’d never hear the last of it.’
‘Too true, I’d [static] back [static] haunt you,’ the other joked. ‘Wire is Violet. Roger?’
‘Yes, that’s a roger,’ William confirmed. ‘Look out for the sleeved wire. Did you get that Pete? Over.’
‘No I think we’ve lost him again.’ Smithy informed him. The static in his earpiece disappeared as the comms link with Pete was cut. ‘Boss the natives are getting restless.’
‘OK. No time to waste. Well, here goes then,’ William said, carefully positioning the cutters over the wire, his hand shaking slightly as he pushed against the resistance of his bulky protection suit.
Just as he felt the cutting edge of the cutters go through the plastic insulation of the wire, the nose of the cutters slipped.
‘Shit, I’ve just fumbled that,’ William informed Smithy.
The errant tool touched against the printed circuit board that held the components and a noise emanated from the device.
With a slight increase of his heart rate, but otherwise undaunted, he snipped the wire anyway, fully expecting to be consumed in a fireball and deafened by a loud explosion. But the noise was not the end of his life. It was instead an electronic ‘woody woodpecker’ laugh. The bomb maker clearly had a sense of humour and had used the ringing circuit of a mobile phone to generate the noise.
‘You bastard,’ William said sitting back on his haunches and smiling. ‘You nearly had me there.’
‘You OK Boss?’ the voice in his headset asked.
‘Yes. The bastard put a ringer in the circuit so I had Woody Wood pecker laughing at my cock-up when I cut the wire.’
William knelt back up and peering into the device he said. ‘Well, I wonder what other surprises you’ve got in store for me?’
But there were no other surprises and he carefully and painstakingly dismantled the IED successfully.
‘That’s it Smithy. Let’s make like a shepherd and get the flock out of here.’ William ordered carrying the components of the IED in the evidence bag. ‘I’ve unloaded all the nasty toys in the drum so we can get them transported back to base. Fortunately they weren’t booby trapped.’
The team was in a buoyant mood as they made their way back. This was potentially the last job they would be doing before heading home for good. And they had all survived the posting intact.
However, on arriving back at the base the CO called William into the office while the team unloaded the ‘booty’ from their transport.
‘Take a seat William.’
‘Thanks Sir. I apologise for my sweaty appearance but that air conditioning in the bomb suit is next to useless and I…’ William could see something in the CO’s eyes that made him stop mid-sentence.
‘William, I have some tragic news.’
‘Sir?’
‘I’m afraid that Pete wasn’t as lucky as you. The IED he was defusing blew up prematurely and he died in the massive explosion that followed.’
William’s heart sank. Pete was the man who had looked after him since he had been out there. He was his mentor. His buddy. They were like minded.
‘Damn this god awful job,’ he whispered. ‘I hope the bastard who made the IED goes to hell,’ he said cursing the bomb maker. ‘God. Was it my fault? Perhaps he misheard me.’
‘We’ll have to see and hear the recordings before we can understand what went wrong. In the meantime, well done on doing a damn fine job. These people desperately want to provide education for their children and you helped today by putting your life on the line and saving the school.’
‘Thank you Sir.’
William went to his tent. He lay back on his cot and stared sightlessly at the roof, his heart heavy.
Before they finally packed everything up William was keen to understand what had gone wrong with Pete’s defusing of the IED.
William watched with great apprehension when he eventually reviewed the recording and commentary of Pete’s fatal session. This was, after all, the death of his guru.
As the recording ran, Pete was his usual meticulous self. William winced when he heard the poor quality of the sound of their conversation together. Pete’s helmet and chest cam showed the cutters clamping the violet wire with the marked sleeve and as he said ‘thanks William’, the screen went blank.
Pete had been blasted to smithereens.
William was devastated. He felt totally responsible. It was his advice that Pete had followed…for some inexplicable reason it had been wrong. He had effectively killed his mentor.
‘Run that last bit again just before Pete cuts the wire.’ William directed.
The technician did as he was bid and found the right section.
‘Right pause it there. There is something different. I can’t put my finger on it. Bring up my recording as well.’
William studied the two images and shook his head in frustration. ‘No. I can’t see it. Hang on a second. Well, there it is. The bomber has sleeved a different wire. It wasn’t exactly the same as mine. God! Pete trusted in me and I let him down.’