Free Zero Option by Chris Ryan Page B

same time I couldn't help thinking how typical it was that, although the Yanks could see a fly twiddling its legs on the far side of the world, when they wanted guys to go in and shoot somebody unpleasant, it was the Brits whom they got to do the job.

First Gus showed us the extent of the military camp.

It was roughly rectangular, with the sides extending about two kilometres and the main approach road coming down to it from the north. Using a propelling pencil as a pointer, he picked out points of interest.

'The perimeter fence is weldmesh,' he told us. 'OK?

Ten feet high, with a two-foot extension tilted outwards on top. Four strands of barbed wire - dannart, you call it? - on angle irons I don't know whether you'll want to go through that or over it - through it, I guess. On the whole, we believe that security on the base is fairly primitive. The locals reckon the camp's protected by its location, with nothing but desert to the south. We can't tell from the satellite imagery whether or not the watch-towers are manned, but we think not.'

'Excuse me,' I broke in. 'Is it all right to make notes?'

'Go fight ahead - so long as you don't write down names, or anything that would identify the place to outsiders. OK?'

'Sure.'

'So far as we can see, the fence isn't alarmed. No electric current in it, either - no sensors. Now, I'll just quickly show you the main areas of the camp. These are the accommodation blocks. Cookhouse, here. Mosque here - very important. Parade ground. Headquarter building, with a communications tower above it.

Transport compound - you can see all the trucks lined up - and a few armoured vehicles here. Gasoline tanks in circular bunds. Gas filling point here.
Two fifty
-yard ranges; the main ranges are out in the training areas to the east. Ammunition bunkers way out on their own . . here . Armoury here. That's one thing about the Arabs: they can't stand having weapons around the camp. Everything has to be locked away - that is, except for the guns carried by the guards. This is the recreational area: football fields, volleyball court. OK?'

'What are all those round things?' Pat asked.

'These?' Gus pointed to two or three small dark blobs. 'Palm trees. Remember, you're looking at them from right overhead. Now, the building you're interested in is this one. Bottom left-hand corner, as God and our satellites see it. On your left if you approach out of the desert from the south.'

The tip of the pencil-shadow trembled slightly as it hovered over an L-shaped structure set a little inside the angle of the perimeter fence. 'This seems to be a combination of office and residential accommodation.

OK? It's on two floors, ground and upper, possibly also a basement. Concrete block construction, painted some light colour, buffor cream. Flat roof, double skinned to give some insulation from the sun. Metal window frames. This is where the target lives during his working week.'

'How wide's that gap between the building and the fence?' I asked.

'Maybe a hundred yards, maybe a little more. I'll take you in closer for more detail.'

In the next image the building occupied most of the picture. Two vehicles were parked in front of it, and part of a swimming pool was visible on the left-hand side. 'OK. The main entrance is here, 6n the southern side. There's another door on the right-hand end, here ,- and a rear door at the left, here. See this curving row of trees? It looks as though there's some sort of garden been planted in back. The private accommodation is here, around the west end. The room in which the target works nights is this one, on the corner of the upper floor. Two windows, one facing south, one west.

Look at this.'
     
    The speaker put up a night-time shot, taken from an oblique angle. Everything was dim and hazy, and needed explanation. 'You're still looking down, but from a little way out front - a slightly different orbit.

These are the lights on the perimeter fence.., and this is the south