The Good Samaritan

Chapter 5

Just then, a black S Class Mercedes pulled up outside and immediately two large men got out. Both were dressed identically, black suit, crisp white shirt, dark tie and dark glasses. They looked well-muscled and sported short buzz-cut hair. They looked exactly like archetypal US Secret Service agents. They swaggered into the marquee and their attitude told Rob these two would be troublesome.

“Who’s in charge here?” the smaller of the two demanded from no one in particular.

“I’m Sir Andrew Savage, gentlemen I take it you..”

“Where’s your security? We were told you would have tight security here. I don’t see your people” the larger of the two butted in.

Rob stepped toward them “They’re all around you. I take it you are with Senator Wade”

“I don’t see them. Who are you anyway?” the bigger agent demanded.

“I’m Rob MacLaine. I’m in charge of security today and my staff don’t advertise their presence”

“I don’t think so buddy,” the smaller of the two, came forward. “We are in charge of Senator Wade’s safety here, not you, so show me your security, Mr MacLaine.”

“And make it snappy, Senator Wade doesn’t want to be sat in his car all day.”

“Of course not,” Rob smiled “Follow me gentlemen,” he replied moving to the entrance of the marquee.

Rob touched his lapel and said quietly, “Gentlemen, raise your right hands if you will please”

At once eight men at various positions around the area and all wearing dark padded jackets raised their right hands.

“Thank you.”

He turned to face the two agents. “Now, let’s be perfectly clear about this. When I said I am in charge of security here, I mean all security and that includes Senator Wade. The safety and security of everyone here is in my hands and for that to work to maximum efficiency I cannot and will not divide that responsibility. In the event of an incident of any kind, all subsequent actions must be coordinated by one person. Do I make myself clear?”

“Bullshit!” Mr Big retorted threateningly. “We will not relinquish our responsibility to the Senator. Do I make myself clear?” He stepped forward to stand directly in front of Rob, but found himself looking up at the man who stood six foot four in his stocking feet.

“In that case I would have you both removed from site,” Rob countered

“Oh yeah, you and whose army buddy?”

“My army,” Rob nodded to the eight men in padded jackets fanned out just behind them. “I would have thought that even two Secret Service agents would have more sense than to challenge nine highly trained, armed personnel,” he added. The eight man army lifted their jackets slightly to show the side arms they carried.

Sorry make that nine”, Rob corrected himself lifting his own jacket to display the Heckler & Koch SFP9-SF he carried.

“Eh, make that ten wee man,” Big Mac growled in his ear as he stood cradling his sniper rifle in the crook of his arm.

“Thanks Mac, how could I forget you?”

“Now, what’s it going to be gentlemen, stay and accept our hospitality and excellent coffee or leave now?”

“They stay!” came a rather irritated voice from the car. At some point during this confrontation, Senator Robert B Wade had buzzed down the darkened rear window of the Mercedes and was now looking directly at the two agents. You stay and you do what this man tells you to do, or I’ll have you removed. Now, will someone let me out of here, this goddamed door must be on child lock for God’s sake”

I’llThe two agents just beat the driver to the Senator’s aid.

As the Senator got out he turned to the driver “Pick me up again in three hours. That should be enough time?” he looked at Sir Andrew

“Yes Senator, that fits in perfectly,” he replied.

“OK,” the Senator added, nodding to the larger of the two “You stay with him, make sure he gets back here in time. Don’t want to miss my next meeting.”

“Yessir!” came the reply accompanied by a brisk salute. The agent got into the front passenger seat of the Mercedes and signalled the driver to move off.

The Senator turned to Sir Andrew’s party who had all watched the proceedings with surprise and mild amusement.

“Sorry about that, gentlemen and my apologies for being late. My car turned up at my hotel twenty minutes behind schedule, hence his child minder to get him back in time. My escorts today are not Secret Service, they’re MPs who have been commandeered for the day. My visit, as I explained to Sir Andrew is very much off the books so I have no real call on official resources.” He looked at the remaining MP who was looking more than a little uncomfortable, “Too many “Men in Black” movies by the looks of things” he smiled and the MP looked even more uncomfortable as the others laughed.

“Men in Black”The Senator was introduced to the rest of the party and after a coffee, as they made their way down to the demonstration area at Sir Andrew’s request, the Senator walked next to Rob.

“You got guts to stand up to these two the way you did, son, I agreed with you by the way, one man in charge, knows what’s going down, takes charge, gives the orders. Good leader, I like that and I apologise for their behaviour.”

“No need Senator, they were doing their job as they saw it. Their big mistake was not knowing when they weren’t going to win. That gets people killed in a hostile situation.”

The Senator smiled, “You’re right, son, like Kenny Rodgers sang “You"ve got to know when to hold "em, know when to fold "em, know when to walk away, and know when to run”

“You"ve got to know when to hold "em, know when to fold "em, know when to walk away, and know when to run”“Senator, sorry to interrupt, can I ask you to take a seat, just over there in front of the monitors,” it was Kasia

“Hi Kasia,” said Rob with a tone of surprise in his voice, “I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?”

“I’m very good Mr MacLaine. I’m organising the catering and the logistics for today. Making sure everyone gets food and drink and sits in the right place. Like an usherette, I think you say, in the cinema?” she laughed and pointed out a seat for Rob.

As he made himself comfortable, Sir Andrew walked down to the front and stood just to the right of the large LED monitors.

“Good morning once again everyone and welcome to our demonstration of what we think has the possibility to add a new dimension to modern warfare. The three companies represented today have collaborated to produce a weapon which we know has been on a few wish lists for quite some time. Together we have developed the technology, both hardware and software, to make that weapon a reality. We would like to demonstrate to you today a remotely operated drone, coupled to specially designed ammunition. By using a modified version of SGS’s proven real-time optical guidance system we can track and direct a .50-calibre “smart bullet” at targets by compensating for weather, wind, target movement and other factors that can impede conventional hits. We can demonstrate rounds manoeuvring in flight to hit targets that are moving and accelerating.

We will begin with a live-fire demonstration from a standard rifle showing how a conventional sniper operates at present, with a standard bullet. We will then demonstrate the vastly superior ability of that sniper to hit moving and evading targets with extreme accuracy at sniper ranges, unachievable with a smart bullet. Finally we will show that it is now possible to successfully bring down a target just as accurately but at a much greater range by the addition of drone technology.

We at SGS are convinced that introducing our guidance capabilities into a small .50-calibre size projectile is a major breakthrough and opens the door to what could be possible in future guided projectiles across all calibres.”

“I am acutely aware that you came here today to see a demonstration, not listen to me, so let’s get the show on the road. We’ll start with the here and now scenario, sniper with a rifle and a conventional bullet. Iain will be looking at a target at a range of 1,200 yards. He will make four shots, gentlemen and you will be able to witness the result on these monitors”

Ryan Hughes spoke into a headset microphone and instructed Big Mac to commence firing at will. Big Mac took eight minutes to register 3 kills out of four, much to the delight of his audience.

“Iain will now fire “smart bullets” at a target at a range of 2,000 yards, just over a mile,” Sir Andrew explained

Again Ryan Hughes spoke into his microphone and Big Mac responded, this time taking five minutes to record four direct hits with four “smart bullets”. The audience applauded what they saw as outstanding marksmanship.

Sir Andrew took the microphone, “And now gentlemen, we come to the main event. If you look at the monitors, you will see a man shaped target mounted on the back of a pick-up truck, which has been mounted on rails, courtesy of the MoD. That guy is just over three miles from here. After this introduction, Ryan will bring up the drone where you will be able to see it then fly it off in the direction of our truck. When the drone is about a mile from the target he will then detect it using an on-board camera and lock on to it with a laser. Once he has done that the “smart bullet” will pick up on it and Ryan will fire the bullet at the truck which by this time will be accelerating down the tracks. Take it away Ryan.”

Ryan Hughes took a few seconds then brought the drone into line of sight for the audience. He turned it to face the small marquee where they were all sitting and suddenly, much to everyone’s amusement, the monitors lit up with images of the audience sitting watching.

“Smile please, you’re on Candid Camera,” Sir Andrew joked and everyone laughed.

Ryan then spun the drone and it flew off in the direction of the target. The on-board camera came back on and the audience watched Ryan zoom in on the target as he approached to within about a mile of the pick-up, which was starting to move down the track. He picked out the man with the laser and released the “smart bullet”. Seconds later, the target exploded and the audience cheered and broke into animated chatter.

“Now, Ryan is just downloading the on-board video of the strike and will add a couple of lines to it to illustrate the straight line which a conventional bullet would have followed had it been fired and the actual trajectory of the “smart bullet” which was fired.” There was a moment or two of hush as Ryan did his work “There,” Sir Andrew picked up as an image came on the screen. “The red line is a straight line trajectory and the yellow line is the actual trajectory of the bullet we fired. It is not a straight line because the bullet was following its target.”

“Now, our snipers will say in their defence, that they would make allowance for the movement of the vehicle by aiming ahead of it and firing to where they calculated it would be when their bullet reached it. That’s true, provided the target didn’t change speed or direction in the few seconds before potential impact. With the “smart bullet”, it doesn’t matter what their man does. The bullet is locked on to him and is following him as the monitors show. Also, that “smart bullet” was fired from a range of about a mile. So in conclusion, we have just hit an accelerating target, from a range of just in excess of a mile. Also, we have done it with a weapon mounted on a compact drone, which on impact of the bullet, would be flown back to the controller, complete with film of the hit and could be packed away and carried safely from the scene with no more effort than a conventional weapon. Up until now, if we had a target we needed to take out, we either sent in men, or, if that was not possible, or was too dangerous, we deployed something like a “Hellfire” missile, which did the job, but also caused no end of collateral damage to innocent people and property and I have to say, is a dammed sight more expensive than a “smart bullet”.

The audience were obviously pleased with what they had seen and watched video re-runs of the event, asked questions and put suggestions. They exchanged business cards and contact details over coffee, drinks and sandwiches back in the main marquee. Kasia fussed around in the background, ensuring the guests were well catered for. Rob ensured that his operatives were on their toes, doing what they were there to do and satisfied that they were, he grabbed some food and a soft drink. He was about to walk back outside when he encountered the junior minister from the Ministry of Defence.

“Mr MacLaine, good to meet you. I’m George Bigglesworth, junior minister at the Ministry of Defence, but you probably know that already.” Rob put his drink down to shake the man’s offered hand. “Did a bit of research on you and your company before we came out today. Very impressed by what I found on both. Harper MacLaine comes very highly recommended and your military record, or to be accurate, lack of it speaks volumes. You’ve obviously been a naughty boy for Queen and country in a few highly deniable places”

“You may think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment, as Francis Urquhart said on numerous occasions” Rob smiled in response.

“Ah yes, House of Cards, Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, brilliant, brilliant,” Bigglesworth mused. “Speaking of Urquhart, Tony asked me to pass on his regards when I spoke to him the other day. Went to school with Tony, he went into the military and I opted for politics. He knows your history and I’ll be diplomatic. He’s doing very well at NCA, bit of a rising star is our Tony. Very impressive display today, very impressive. I’ll take back an extremely positive report to the minister. He wanted to see this for himself but he’s in the Middle East with a high ranking trade delegation, so he asked me to come instead.”

“Thanks”, Rob replied “I know Tony well. He was my CO in the Regiment and I’ve worked with him a couple of times since”

“Yes, Tony said you pulled him and his chaps out of a rather deep hole in Afghanistan a few years back. Got yourself a DSO, for that one, well done you. Ah, here comes my driver, must dash. Good to meet you Rob,” Bigglesworth shook Robs hand vigorously and strode over to his ministerial car which departed swiftly.

“You met Biggles then,” Sir Andrew smiled

“Biggles! Oh please, don’t tell me he gets Biggles!” Rob laughed.

“Um, ‘fraid so. I mean, what else are you going to call someone with a name like Bigglesworth? He knows everyone calls him that. Loves it, plays on it. Once told an Italian trade delegation that he tried to get into the RAF, by telling them he was related to Biggles. But, don’t be fooled by the “old school, old chap, hail fellow, well met” act, because that’s exactly what it is, an act. He’s a pretty switched on guy, very astute, one or two have been rather badly caught out by underestimating our Biggles.”