A Military Thriller Book Series
Rob MacLaine by Les Haswell
Series Excerpt
Rob’s thoughts were interrupted by Pete Hall. “We’re almost there Mr MacLaine” he said glancing over at Rob, who had chosen to sit in the second crew seat rather than the separate passenger cabin to the rear of the Agusta helicopter “The co-ordinates you gave me”
“Sorry, Pete, I was miles away. What did you say?”
“We’re pretty close to the co-ordinates you gave me. I take it you’ve never been here before”.
“Oh, OK, eh, no, I’ve never been here, but we’re being met by an old buddy of mine from the army. He knows we’re coming and he gave me the co-ordinates. Said it was the easiest way. He runs one of these survival boot camps for corporate team building and homemade Rambos with too much money. The site has a marked helipad, so we should be OK”.
“OK, couple more minutes, Mr MacLaine”
Presently, the white Agusta with its grey and yellow markings, banked to the left and started its descent as Pete Hall saw the large white H painted on the tarmac at the end of a large car park. In close proximity was a long, low stone building with a new grey tiled roof. As he approached the helipad he could see a number of cars and a black 20 seater Mercedes Sprinter minibus parked close to the building. In the middle of the carpark well away from the building and the helipad sat a black 5 door Land Rover Defender. A huge man was standing beside it, obviously waiting for the Agusta to land.
“Looks like we’ve got a welcoming committee, friendly, I hope” said Pete as he eased the Agusta to the ground, “From the size of him, I’d rather have him as a friend than an enemy,” he added with a laugh.
“Oh, trust me, Pete, you definitely wouldn’t want Big Mac as an enemy. Fortunately, he’s a friend, a very good friend at that”.
Rob jumped down from the Agusta and shoulders hunched against the downdraft from the rotors, strode across the tarmac to meet his friend. They stood looking at each other for a few seconds, shook hands quickly and then both stepped forward. Peter Hall winced as this six foot seven giant of a man enveloped Rob in a tight bear-hug which Rob returned with the same gusto. These were obviously old friends. Pete Hall walked slowly over to the two men, carrying Rob’s bag which he had collected from the Agusta, giving them time to greet each other. Rob turned round to Pete and made the introductions.
“Pete, this is Iain MacDonald, an old buddy from my days in the forces. His friends call him Big Mac, for obvious reasons. I don’t know what his enemies call him, he killed most of them,” Rob laughed at the expression of apprehension on Pete’s face as Iain “Big Mac” MacDonald stuck out a huge paw of a hand for Pete to shake.
“Joking, Pete,” Rob laughed, “Mac, this is Pete Hall. I let Pete drive today” Rob winked.
“Good to meet you Pete,” the giant of a man said. His voice was unexpectedly soft and almost lyrical with his west highland accent, his handshake firm but not crushing, much to Pete’s relief. “Let’s get going,” he said, swinging Rob’s bag into the back of the Land Rover. The trio climbed in, and Big Mac drove off.
He drove passed the long, low building at the end of the car park, turned right on to a well-maintained tarmac road and accelerated quickly away. The Land Rover engine sounded unexpectedly throaty and the vehicle felt very responsive to the throttle, Pete noticed, but he said nothing. The man driving, however, noticed his expression.
“6.2 Litre V8, 430BHP or there abouts is the answer to the question your face is asking” Big Mac smiled back to Pete via the rear view mirror.
“Jeez, it must fly!” Pete answered after a moment’s thought
“No, I’ll leave the flying to you, Pete. But it does motor along fairly rapidly,” smiled Big Mac with a note of pride in his voice and the three men laughed.
“What the hell do you want with a beast like this, Mac?” said Rob.
“Ah well, it’s for towing my caravan up Ben Nevis,” Big Mac explained
“A caravan, up Ben Nevis, surely that’s against the law?” Pete asked with a frown
The two big men in the front of the Land Rover almost exploded with laughter at Pete’s obvious concern.
“One thing I should have told you about Big Mac,” explained Rob, ”When he comes away with something as ridiculous as taking a caravan up Ben Nevis, nine times out of ten, he’s extracting the urine. Problem is, on the tenth occasion, he’s serious!” The two men laughed again and Pete joined in.
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