Spider Shepherd: SAS: #1 Read Free Page B

the black market from people smuggling arms through the Serb lines. However as the main sources of supply of weapons thus far have been criminal gangs - the Bosnian Mafia if you like - the price is pretty high and the quality pretty dubious.
    ‘They’re also fighting uphill against a well-entrenched enemy force equipped with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, artillery, mortars and even tanks. You don’t need a doctorate in military history to know that that’s a pretty bad idea. The city is under continual bombardment from a couple of hundred gun emplacements and bunkers set all around the ridge lines and the surrounding hills. The siege has already lasted twice as long as the Siege of Stalingrad and shows no sign of ending any time soon. The Serbs have already been raining down shells and sniper fire on the poor bastards trapped here for over two years, though it’s usually their Russian friends doing the sniping. They’re raping, robbing and murdering with impunity as well, so if we can finally even up the odds with a little air support, so much the better.’
    ‘It’s just a shame it had to take a Yank pilot getting shot down before our political masters decide to send us in,’ Diesel said. ‘What sort of message does that send? That one American pilot is worth a thousand civilians?’
    ‘What about the UN forces?’ the signaller asked, earning a burst of derisive laughter for his pains.
    ‘UNPROFOR?’ Harry said. ‘United Nations Protection Force? Don’t make me laugh. The Serbs take them hostages and use them as human shields, and they also steal their uniforms and then use them to hijack UN convoys and weapons. Just last month Serbs disguised as French troops, complete with stolen French uniforms, flak jackets, helmets and weapons, and driving a hijacked French armoured personnel carrier, captured another dozen UN troops without firing a shot. Two are now being used as human shields, the rest have simply disappeared and, given the Serbs’ previous record, their fate is easy to predict. So that’s the UN forces and as for the Bosnian army, the only thing that they have managed to achieve is to dig the Sarajevo Tunnel.’
    ‘Which is what?’ Shepherd asked, intrigued.
    ‘The only way in or out of Sarajevo. It links the Dobrinja district inside the besieged city, with Butmir, a territory that the Bosnians still hold on the far side of Sarajevo Airport. As you know, apart from Camp Pegasus, the airport itself is neutral ground and supposedly under the control of the United Nations forces. The Bosnians couldn’t use heavy equipment to dig the tunnel because the activity might have alerted the Serbs, but in any case there is virtually no intact heavy equipment behind the Bosnian lines, so instead the entire tunnel was dug by hand, with picks and shovels and wheelbarrows. Most of the labour was supplied by the army though civilians helped. They were paid for their labour, a daily rate of one packet of cigarettes because the paper currency is pretty much worthless.’
    ‘The notes make good bog paper though,’ Diesel said with a grin. ‘Nice and soft with none of those tiny metal security strips to rip your arse to shreds.’
    ‘But unfortunately it doesn’t muffle the sound of Diesel talking through his arse,’ Harry said. ‘The Serb siege and the constant shelling of the city have disrupted supplies of almost every commodity so the tunnel is used to keep the Bosnians supplied with food, water, medicines, fuel, alcohol, cigarettes, even newspapers. The tunnel is also used to bypass the UN controls and the international arms embargo and supply the Bosnian forces in the city with weapons and ammunition, and it even has an oil pipeline and electricity cables laid in it. Of course it’s also used by people, though as usual here, bribery and corruption mean that anyone using the tunnel, whether entering or leaving the city, has to have a permit issued by the Bosnian army who are