Remote Control

by Stephen Leather

Genres: Action & Adventure; Thrillers

Synopsis

A brand new Spider Shepherd short story, including an exclusive extract from the eleventh Spider Shepherd all action thriller, WHITE LIES, out 14 August 2014. When Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is called urgently to a remote UK RAF base, he has no idea of the hazardous task set out before him. Working closely with a team of drone pilots, Shepherd's brief is to help take down Abdaullah Hussain: a British-born Somalian terrorist who has fled Britain to a safe house in Pakistan. Branded 'the new Bin Laden' - and the world's most dangerous and wanted extremist - Hussain is a threat who must be eliminated at all costs. As one of the only people who have ever seen Hussain face to face, Shepherd must identify him for the drone operators before he slips through the net again - and the next planned terror attack goes ahead. But as the drones close in the operation takes a nasty turn, and Shepherd is left to decide how far he will go - and what he will risk - to hit his target . . .

Release date: July 17, 2014

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Print pages: 96

Sample

Dan Shepherd brought his BMW SUV to a halt in front of the barrier and wound down his window as a blue-uniformed guard walked up, a Glock on his hip and a clipboard in his hand. Shepherd handed over his Home Office credentials. ‘I’m here to see Lieutenant Harry Davies,’ he said.

The guard nodded curtly, studied the ID and then ran his eyes over the clipboard. Shepherd was at RAF Waddington, four miles south of the city of Lincoln. The station badge, displayed prominently on the walls of the guardhouse, showed Lincoln Cathedral rising through fluffy white clouds, a cosy image that belied the base’s function, which was to deliver death and destruction thousand of miles away. Below the image was the base’s motto – FOR FAITH AND FREEDOM.

‘Third hangar on the left,’ said the guard, handing back Shepherd’s ID. He pointed towards a line of gunmetal-grey hangars. ‘You can park behind it and please keep your speed to below twenty miles an hour.’

‘Will do,’ said Shepherd.

The barrier went up and Shepherd drove through. Behind the hangar were half a dozen parked cars, and he pulled up next to a grey Volvo with a child’s seat in the back. There was a large 13th Squadron badge by the door that led into the rear of the hangar – a lynx’s head in front of a dagger and another motto – ADJUVAMUS TUENDO – which Shepherd knew meant ‘We Assist By Watching’.

The door opened as he climbed out of his BMW and a blue-uniformed officer in his early thirties strode over to him. ‘Dan Shepherd? Flight Lieutenant Harry Davies,’ he said. ‘I’m running the show here today.’

The two men shook hands. Davies had a gold band on his wedding finger and a thickened waistline that suggested his wife was a good cook.

‘This is your first time at RAF Waddington?’ asked Davies as he led him inside the hangar. He had a slight West Country accent.

Shepherd nodded. ‘But I’ve seen drones before. In Afghanistan.’

The lieutenant stopped and smiled. ‘We never call them drones,’ he said.

‘Unmanned aerial vehicle?’ asked Shepherd.

The lieutenant shook his head. ‘No, that’s not accurate either because they are operated remotely by human pilots and always will be. Humans will always be in control.’ He grinned. ‘We’ve all seen Terminator, right? But seriously, for the foreseeable future there’ll always be a human hand on the controls so we refer to them as remotely piloted aircraft, or RPAs.’

‘Got you,’ said Shepherd.

Inside the hangar were two large metal containers, the size and shape of those that were used to transport goods on ships. They were a dull yellow colour, with large rubber wheels at either end so that they could be moved around and huge air-conditioning units attached to keep the occupants cool. ‘Let me give you the tour of the control station,’ said the lieutenant, nodding at the nearest container. ‘It’ll give you a better idea of what we are about.’

He led Shepherd up two. . .