Chris Lawler 'One Of A Kind'

COPYRIGHT

CHRIS LAWLER

ONE OF A KIND

© Copyright 2016 by Terry Aspinall

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means – electronic, mechanical, photographic (photocopying) recording, or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the author.

ISBN : 9781310161469

Published by Terry Aspinall

Smashwords Edition

This E-Book is available at most online retailers for more information please contact: mailto:terry@terryaspinall.com

This E-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This E-Book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

The story is a product of the writer’s imagination. Although some of the incidents are based on fact, as are the Histories of Angola and Vietnam.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was born during the Second World War while my Father was chasing Rommel out of North Africa and Italy, for this reason I never saw him until late 1946. I grew up in the sleepy little Suffolk countryside town of Stowmarket, and underwent an education that to me seemed an absolute waste of time. Although with that wonderful tool known as hindsight, my reading and writing skills would have served me well in the writing of this book. I should have taken the trouble and given the teachers my full-undivided attention and not the girls sitting next to me, while behind me was always the wall. Yes, I was a back of class type of guy who was always getting into trouble and talking during class. Upon leaving school I became what was known as a Teddy Boy, and hung around with the Ipswich town teenage gangs. Once the novelty began to wear off, and I realised that if I carried on along the path I had chosen, it would only lead me into trouble with the law, so I decided on a complete life style change and joined the Royal Marines. My growing up during this period of time can certainly be attributed to my Royal Marine training, something that is still part of my life to this day. I tell of my service years and of being on active service in Borneo. Upon my release I became very interested and involved in the Rock n Roll music of the day, and helped form a local band in the town of Leiston in Suffolk. I also became involved in the then new sport of hang gliding. Which later lead me to strapping an engine on to my glider, and being amongst the first in the UK to pioneer the sport of Microlighting, and to set a record that still stands to this day. Eventually while working for Bernard Matthews I upped my family and immigrated to New Zealand, to help build a new factory in a small country town of Waipukurau on the North Island. Where I experienced a complete new style of living that my family and I all enjoyed, and took to it like ducks to water. It was a taste of what was to come when after three years I once again up rooted my family and moved over the ditch as they say to Australia. Where I later became involved in the changing of history involving the invention of the modern Hang Glider.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Copyright

Chapter 1. The Electrician.

Chapter 2. Chris Lawler.

Chapter 3. Heaven to Hell.

Chapter 4. Foreign Legion.

Chapter 5. French Indochina.

Chapter 6. Vietnam.

Chapter 7. Return to Blighty.

Chapter 8. Angola.

Chapter 9. Royal Marines.

Chapter 10. Northern Ireland.

Chapter 11. Mi6.

About the Author.

Other Books by this Author.

CHAPTER ONE

THE ELECTRICIAN

With a deafening BANG! The front door of number 9 Hillcrest Avenue was smashed open, completely tearing it from its hinges. By an armoured clad Police Officer using a 14lb sledgehammer. It ended up lying on the floor in front of him, almost blocking the hallway into the block of flats, and hindering other Officers who were trying to gain a swift entrance into the building.

Being the early hours of the morning the noise was so loud it carried far, and awakened the whole neighbourhood of the quiet leafy suburb of Bermondsey, located south of the river Thames in London.

The forced entry operation was being carried out by the London Armed Offenders Squad, under the special direction of Detective Inspector Ronald Knights from New Scotland Yard, who was hoping to arrest one of the buildings occupants.

Chris Lawler was suddenly woken from a light sleep, by the loud bang that sounded below him in the building. Without hesitation he jumped from his bed, throwing some of his bedding on the floor towards the door, hoping to throw whomever it was from his scent by distorting their view under the bed. He then dropped to the floor sliding underneath, with his head pointing towards the door, and took up a statue like pose. Holding an old pair of black boots in front of his face, to break up his outline. Just in case somebody was to bop down to look under the bed from the doorway. Lucky for Chris the blankets he had thrown on the floor had landed in a good position to break up the intruder’s line of sight.

It was all part of a plan that Chris had practiced in meticulous detail several times in the past. He had even chosen to rent this top floor flat, with a possible event like this in mind. Knowing that his pursuers would have to climb two flights of stairs to get to him, and thus allowing him precious seconds to hide from whomever they were, and he had no doubt in his mind that it was him they were after.

By now, he could hear the heavy clumping of many boots making their way up the stairs giving him prior warning that it was either the Police or the Military.

As the bedroom door was kicked open, Chris watched as two sets of boots entered the room. By watching how they were walking and stopping gave him all of the information he needed. Informing him that they were both armed and covering each other’s every move. One of the intruders bent down and touched the bed linen on the floor in front of him, remarking to his partner, that it was still warm. Un-lucky for Chris the guy was not low enough for him to see his face.

From his hiding place, it was hard for anybody to see him, as the bed was very low. Giving the impression to anybody who walked into the room, that there was just no way that anybody could actually fit underneath. Earlier Chris had managed to have it specially adapted for him, with the divan base section having been hollowed out enough to take his frame. While on top was a very thick special mattress that was designed to take a 9mm pistol round if it was fired into it.

From the top and to an un-trained eye, it looked like any normal double sized bed. However, its lowness was against him, preventing him from making a fast escape from its cover, if required. Chris had placed a lot of his trust in the fact that, whoever would be after him would not know what room he was in, and so they would have to search every single flat in the building. Being an ex-military man, he had worked out that they would have allocated at least four men to a floor. With this in mind each group of four, would have to cover each other’s back while searching every room on their level as quick as possible. Just in case he was escaping from another room.

Once it was ascertained that the rooms on each level were all cleared, they would return to go over each room in minute detail. With a fine toothcomb as their instructor had once named it, in their quest to find any evidence of the occupant, or of where he might be.

After just a few seconds one of the intruders called out that the room was all clear and secure. Adding that the window was also shut, thus informing those in charge down stairs that he had not escaped through the window. They then made their way to the next room, as Chris heard them kick the door in. Without hesitation Chris slid quietly from under the bed, headed straight to the window, and quietly opened it. Although he need not have bothered as by now the whole house was reverberating to the sound of heavy boots clumping around on hollow wooden floors. While others were shouting out instructions and confirming that certain rooms were secure.

Chris climbed out onto the fire escape, and then closed the window behind him. Having no intentions of letting the intruders know how he had actually got out of the building. This was all part of the plan that he had run through his head a hundred times, and if successful he would be able to use the same trick again. Now he could make his way down onto the flat roof one floor below and to freedom across the other buildings.

As he quickly made his way across the rooftops, he knew exactly what lay in front of him, having undertaken a recognisance of the whole area when he first took up residency in the flat. Ahead lay a three and a half metre gap to the next building, and so without hesitating or wanting to check out the jump distance first. Chris increased his speed, in the hope that it would help propel his leap across the void to the next building. The jump turned out to be relativity easy, however he landed a little awkward hurting his right ankle.

For Chris the adrenalin was flowing very fast around his body, disguising any pain that he should have by now been feeling. His eyes were already on the other end of the roof as an area he was heading for. He knew that there was a fire escape ladder on the end of the building that led all the way to the ground, and would be out of sight of any Police cars that were by now all parked by his front and back doors.

Halfway across the roof he was suddenly confronted by two heavily armed and armour clad Police Officers, who suddenly appeared from behind a chimneystack just in front of the fire escape.

Chris had always imagined that at one time or another, he was going to be caught, along with the distinct possibility that he might be killed in the process. Therefore, he had long since decided that rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. It did not worry him if he were killed during his attempted escape. With this attitude in the back of his mind, it did not worry him whatever he tried, in his desperate bid to evade capture.

He never hesitated, but headed straight towards the backyard side of the roof, hoping that the Police Officers at the front of the building would not know what was happening. As far as he as concerned, one way or another he was going to be killed, and so without looking down at whatever awaited him below, he suddenly leapt off the roof feet first.

The two Police Officers were left standing speechless, and wondering what to do next. While Chris was praying that providence might interfere and play a very small part in his future, if indeed he had one. What he was doing was comparable to purchasing a lottery ticket, all he had to do now was to just hang around long enough to find out whether his lucky numbers would come up.

A split second later he crashed through the roof of a tin shed with a terrific bang, collapsing its empty structure under him, while sending up a dense cloud of dust that obscured everything.

Staggering out of the ruins he could not believe that he was still alive. Although it only took a split second for him to realise that he was by now limping badly, suspecting a broken ankle. While one of his arms felt as though it was also broken. However, no amount of pain was going to stop him from making his escape from the scene.

Only to stagger straight into the arms of another Police Officer pointing an automatic weapon at him and telling him to give up, as it was all over. He finally fell to the ground unconscious, after being pistol-whipped on the back of the head, by another Police Officer that had managed to creep up behind him.

As Chris started to regain consciousness, he had a distinct feeling that he was in a hospital. Maybe it was the disinfectant smell of the place, or the stiffened freshly ironed sheets covering his body that was the giveaway. Not to mention the terrible pain that seemed to be affecting his whole body. He might have been unconscious, but he could still remember everything had happened to him.

If he was in a hospital, it was a sure bet that a Police Officer would be within arm’s reach of him. With this in mind, he did not want to let them know that he was coming around. Instead, he pretended to be asleep while using his senses to work out his next move.

He decided that no matter what was to happen to him, he would not move his body, and with the pain, he was experiencing that was going to be hard. What he really wanted to do was to slightly open one of his eyes so that he could get his bearing and take a look at the layout of the room he was in.

It only took a couple of seconds for his suspicions to be confirmed, as a nurse enter the room and asked somebody very close to the bed, how was the patent doing. The guy who answered was on his left, and was sitting down. As he spoke it sounded like his mouth was only a couple of feet away from his head. Chris then realised that he got up, and it seemed like he was walking over to where the nurse was standing. A conversation developed between them, which started about his condition, but soon developed into a question and answer exchange between them. He surmised that the guy who must have been a Police Officer was trying to pick the nurse up. Now would be a good time for him to take a peek, as the Police Officers brain and thoughts were elsewhere, and on another completely different subject, probably that of sex.

He could hear them talking on his left, making an assumption that the Police Officer would have been sitting between him and the door, and when the nurse came in she was also on that side. This told him that the door was on the left side of the room, and knowing that he was a wanted man, he did not have to be a rocket scientist to work out that he would also be in a room on his own.

Very slowly, Chris opened his right eyelid a couple of millimetres, taking a brief look around the right hand side of the room. However, there was nothing but the wall and a couple of hospital machines next to a bedside locker, but at least it confirmed where he was.

As the couple were still in conversation, Chris decided it was time to take a look through his left eye, and there they were standing over by the doorway chatting to each other as if he was not even in the room. They were so carried away in what they were doing that Chris was able to look around the room in very fine detail. He was correct in his assumptions that he was in a small single ward with only one door leading in and out, which was to his left and towards the bottom of the bed. There was a chair to his left and as suspected near the bed. Other than the couple of machines and the locker to his right, the room was completely empty.

He lay back wondering what his next move should be, as there was nothing within arm’s reach that might aid his escape, and that was assuming that he could get past the guard. A sudden twinge of pain shot through his body bring him back to reality, and reminding him that he was also in no fit state to take on the guard, let alone to escape walking unaided.

Chris knew that the best time to escape was just after he had been captured, mainly because you know the area and its surroundings. Once you have been moved to another location that might be hundreds of miles away, you would not have a clue where you were or better still where to go. However, even though he had just been captured he had no idea where he was. Although he knew that if you escape immediately, it would usually catch the enemy off its guard, not expecting it so early in the capture. Especially if you had looked defeated, and willing to give yourself up to the enemy in the first place. For some reason they usually let their guard down and assume that you would do anything they said or wanted you to do. This had all been drummed into his head many years earlier, while he was a member of the military.

Suddenly the Police Officer and the nurse slowly walked out of the room while still talking to each other. By the sound of their voices, they were moving away from his ward and heading down the corridor. Chris could not believe his luck and the opportunist within was going to take full advantage of the situation. He threw back the sheets from the bed and wasted no time in getting his feet to the floor. However, suddenly his whole body was racked with pain as he dropped to his knees cursing. Most of the pain seemed to be coming from his right leg. Upon looking down, he discovered that it was heavily bandaged from the knee to the ankle, and was the main source of his pain. However, he convinced himself that it was not broken because it was not in plaster. Although he suddenly realised that it was going to be very painful to walk on. He also noticed that his left arm was also bandaged from his wrist to his elbow. However, his brain seemed to be working and was racing ahead wondering what to do next. Because it was a sound bet that he was not going to get far, in the condition he was in without help. All of a sudden, he heard the voices coming back up the corridor and they seemed to be getting closer to his room.

Without hesitating he pulled the bedside locker that was on wheels, away from the wall and crawled behind it, where he tried to make himself as small as possible. Once in a reasonably comfortable position he pulled the cupboard back in front of him, held his breath and awaited the outcome.

As the Police Officer entered, the room Chris heard him stop in mid-sentence, realising that he was looking at an empty bed. Immediately his voice was raised asking where the hell was he, the nurse must have been speechless as well because she never said a single word. Instead, it was all left to the Officer, who by this time was going off his head, and talking about being thrown out of the force.

From his very small hiding place, the top right hand side of the bed also protected his position making it very hard for the Officer to see him. For a few brief moments, he froze completely, even holding his breath not wanting to make any sounds that would give his position away. He was also praying that he would not pull the bed away from the wall or in fact walk around the bed to where the locker was positioned. Instead, the Officer totally panicked. His voice got louder and louder, knowing full well that his boss was going to be in one hell of a bad temper, once he told him that he had lost his star prisoner.

As the Officer ran out of the room, Chris could hear his footstep heading down the corridor and away from his room, and was guessing correctly that he was hastily checking the other rooms, before informing his boss of his loss. For some reason and lucky for him the nurse also followed the Officer, leaving him on his own and in an empty room.

Chris slowly crawled out from behind the locker and looked around the room trying to see if there was anywhere better that he could hide. Knowing that when most people are placed in a predicament just like the Officers, they panic and just keep running in the hope of catching up with whomever it was they were looking for. Everybody seems to assume that the escapee will want to place as many miles between themselves and their hunters. When in actual fact Chris had been trained in a completely different manner, it being the total opposite, and to take full advantage of a situation like that. By hiding very close to the scene of the crime. Anyway the pain in his leg was telling him that he was not going to get very far in his condition.

There was nothing in the room that was going to help him and so rather than waste any more time, he slowly hobbled out of the room to be confronted by several hospital staff, all going about their daily chores. Not one of them seemed in the least bit interested in him, and so taking full advantage of the situation he slowly made his way down the corridor in the opposite direction to which the Officer had fled. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as it was away from his room and the guard that was all that mattered for the moment. Now, he was running on instinct and looking for a place to hide. As every step he took brought pain to his body, constantly reminding him that he was not going to get much further. With this in mind, he started trying every door he came across. Looking for an opportunity or a suggestion of an idea of what to do next. A couple of times he was confronted by surprised people within the rooms, but he just