Ethan Justice: Origins

21: Sunday 25th September, 21:25

THE SAS'S EUROCOPTER Dauphin was indeed dolphin-like in shape, except in place of the dorsal fin sat a bulbous hump from which the four main blades sprouted. The agents had not spoken a word during the fifty minute journey from RAF Northolt. It was just as well the helicopter had cut more than two hours off the time it would have taken to drive.

Wilson had been glad of the peace that their silence provided, taking the opportunity to stare into the darkness of night and trickle charge his failing batteries. This assignment had been the toughest he could remember in his seventeen years with Earthguard. He was no longer the energetic and hardened soul who joined the anti-terrorist organisation at the age of thirty. But then he was hardly the man of even four months ago. It was a good change.

He glanced over to his partner and boss who keenly eyed the pilot's use of the vast array of controls. The man virtually hummed with energy. Never before had their thirteen year age gap seemed as obvious as it did at that moment.

Wilson had clearly lost Johnson's trust. But it didn't matter anymore. After this assignment, if they still had jobs, Wilson would request a new partner. After that he would request a leave of absence and spend every day of it with his daughter, Kate. She was stubborn but he could be worse. He would refuse to meet her rent payments any longer unless she went to church every day with him. Kate would have no choice and from there it would be a small step to enter into the church's family counselling program.

It comforted him to think that Julie was in a peaceful place. She had been a good woman and deserved better from him. He could make it up to her by rescuing their daughter and sharing Julie's faith that he and Kate had ridiculed. He didn't know why it all made such sense suddenly, but he knew it was all thanks to Savannah. By trying to help him without an ulterior motive, she had shown him the light. Kate was going to have a fit, but they'd get through it together.

Wilson looked down to see the lights of the helipad on the south side of RHQ Credenhill SAS barracks as they neared their landing. The surrounding unspoiled countryside was bathed in the light of an almost full moon and seemed an unlikely setting for the small band of specialist armed forces. There had been a time when he was younger, in his late teens, when such a vista would have lifted his spirits and revitalised his resolve, but not anymore, and certainly not tonight. There was too much to get through before he could appreciate the future beyond this assignment. He had hope now, but there was a way to go before hope translated into reality.

The rest of the looming site consisted of nine large, uniform, rectangular barracks adjacent to the helipad, mostly unoccupied empty fields in the centre of the site and some twenty odd further buildings to the North which included the 'H' shaped head office where they would carry out their interviews.

This was the agent's first visit to the home of the 22nd Regiment since it moved from Hereford in May 1999. As they disembarked from the sleek-lined helicopter, Wilson was once again amazed by the lack of substantial noise from the engine and blades. This smooth and stealthy bird, capable of speeds of almost 200 miles per hour, would have looked more at home on top of a corporate skyscraper than here at the headquarters of the most elite regiment of soldiers in the world. Like the peaceful countryside harboured men trained in the art of killing, so the friendly dolphin shape hid its deadly capabilities.

A cold wind had picked up and the air was damp with imminent rain. Savannah might laugh at their antiquated-style coats, but they kept the cold at bay. What he'd have given to have been blessed with a daughter like her. But girls like Savannah were one in a million and came with losers for fathers. Nature was messed up.

A staff car met the agents on the helipad, and they were greeted with great formality and zero courtesy. Their visit was not a welcome one. Even less was known publicly about Earthguard than the SAS, and when orders were issued from the very top of government to provide full disclosure to international outsiders, it didn't go down well at Credenhill. Wilson had seen it all before. Every security agency and special fighting unit in the world believed that they had earned special treatment. It went with the territory.