The RSM awoke at first light and even though the Old Man had told him to take the rest of the week off and just be available for debriefing, he completed his ablutions and put on service dress as usual. But he didn't get past coffee and a smoke. Instead sitting there recalling the events of the night before...
The plan had been meticulous in every detail and went off almost without a hitch. The RSM had even given up shaving for the week to get in character or rather, to take the edge off his military character. The mic in his ear would pass for a hearing aid. He was in position before the enemy spotters arrived and they didn't give him a second glance, just a lonely old man they hadn't seen before nursing a pint and a fag poring over his racing guide.
Bill and Windy arrived and sat in the corner opposite, huddled over their pints. One of the enemy spotters slipped out the gate to the carpark and then returned to his mate. They were sitting where they always sat, at the table closest to the gate to the open carpark, where the enemy was expected to come in. Nobody else came into the beer garden - Tanya and Nora were doing their job.
For various reasons, including that the beer garden was enclosed by masonry walls which carried the risk of casualties by ricochet, the decision was made to take the main body of the enemy in the carpark once they had exited their vehicles. One assault team moved into the carpark after the enemy spotter had reported and gone back inside, the other assault team would come in behind the enemy vehicle convoy after it arrived.
It was the job of the three men inside to neutralise the two spotters and close and bolt the carefully rebuilt and unobtrusively strengthened gate that led in from the carpark just before the main body of the enemy arrived. It was crucial that they not be given the opportunity to get into the building.
Because of the need to position the two assault teams such that they were not in each others fields of fire it was accepted that there was a slight risk that one or two of the enemy may get into the rear laneway. The escape route through the kitchen for the civilians also ran into the laneway. Because of this the command group was initially positioned there as a blocking force, 4 of them with MPs and the Inspector with his pistol.
They didn't have to wait as long as they expected, the RSM got the command in his earbud to 'Execute' and with a discrete nod to Bill and Windy he pushed his pint glass off the table to shatter on the flagstone floor. The spotters eyes flicked over to him as Bill and Windy rose and trained their silenced pistols on them, shouting at them to get on the floor. The spotter's eyes flicked back to Bill and Windy and for some reason they both went for their guns and the RSM fired twice, hitting both of them in the legs, as prisoners were wanted to implicate those higher up. Bill and Windy secured their weapons and closed the gate, dropping the sturdy drawbar into place, then secured the prisoners with flexicuffs. Meanwhile the RSM closed and bolted the gate into the back lane from the beer garden and the three of them withdrew, Bill and Windy dragging the prisoners by the scruff of the neck, through the bar and the kitchen on the heels of the few civilians Tanya and Nora were getting out the back door and into the army van parked at the end of the lane. Tanya and Nora jumped in the van after them and it roared off.
An army ambulance took it's place and they unceremoniously threw the wounded prisoners in the back and it took off. Another army ambulance took it's place. The three men then took up positions to support the command group, the RSM having simply stayed in the kitchen doorway.
Shouting was now heard from the carpark as the trap was sprung and shots were fired. A solitary enemy somehow threaded his way through to the laneway and fired on the command group, hitting the Inspector in the arm. Next to him the Colonel fired a double tap from his silenced MP which took the legs out from under the lone gunman before he could fire again. The other three men with MPs leapfrogged forward to the wounded enemy while desultory fire could be heard coming from the carpark. The Colonel turned to check on the Inspector but the RSM was there "I've got him Laddie. You get after them." The Colonel moved forward with Bill on his six as the RSM dragged the Inspector behind the command vehicle and applied a field dressing to his arm while Windy watched over them.
The Inspector refused to be taken to the ambulance, since he was in command of the operation. The RSM didn't like the look of the amount of blood seeping through the bandage. Bill went past dragging the wounded prisoner as the Colonel covered him with his MP. The Colonel looked at the RSM who shook his head and jerked his thumb in the direction of the ambulance. Bill returned with a stretcher. "Take him" ordered the Colonel over the Inspector's protests. Bill, Windy and the RSM got him on the stretcher and Bill and Windy carried him down to the waiting ambulance and it took off.
Bill and Windy returned and the four of them made their way to the carpark where the firing had ceased. There were no more casualties. Seeing they were trapped, and having his three sons and his daughter with him, the crime boss had surrendered after only token resistance. They were now all lined up face down on the pavement, hands in flexicuffs behind them and hoods over their heads.
Windy pointed to the three girls on the end "The girls took down those three bruisers in about 10 seconds." he said quietly and the others smiled.
"The other two did ok tonight too." the RSM murmured.
Coming out of his reverie, the RSM sighed and went to get another cup of coffee. "My last hurrah!" he mused to himself. He was fast approaching mandatory retirement age but he was content. He and the Colonel had long agreed on Bill as his successor, he just needed a stint as a CSM before moving up.
When his wife had died, with his kids long gone, he'd been grateful to move back into to the familiar surroundings of the Sergeants Mess, where as RSM he was in fact King. A few years ago his wife's younger sister had lost her husband. She was 10 years younger than him with kids still on her hands but somehow it worked and he looked forward to a blissful retirement.
Ever the RSM, he decided in that moment that he would recommend Tanya and Nora for the next Corporal's course. They had surely earned it. And the Old Man, who was in many ways like a son to him, always accepted his recommendations. He got up and made his way to the Orderly Room.
They had done all right with their first four female recruits. He was certain now that Grace had been fucking the Colonel, who had been prepared to risk his career for her. He could almost understand why. He'd discreetly checked with the Orderly Room, the call the Colonel made to her that day hadn't gone through the switchboard, he'd had her number in his phone.
But they'd been smart enough not to get caught, which, in the army, was what counted.
