The Numbers…
It was a dark and dismal afternoon in October and I was tuning into Voice of Russia: world service on shortwave whilst watching the rain drip down the filthy conservatory windows. It was while doing this that I stumbled across a strange station playing in the background, continually broadcasting numbers….
“Iraq, what a filthy place! More tea Gerald?” asked the small English person who I later learned was called Henry. “Thank you. Did you get the short-wave radio the kind chaps from the RAF flew us in?” Gerald replied.
“Certainly Henry. They were also good sports and gave us a nice Vintage Port to enjoy tonight. Fancy retreating to the living quarters?”
“Wha’? Tha’ ‘orrid pit in’t middle of that desert?” A tall man dressed in rags just sat down to the table the well-dressed people were sat at. “Yes Fred, that one…”
The three people were huddled around the cheap short-wave radio stood on a weather-beaten table in an old inn on the outskirts of the rich districts of Baghdad. They were tuned into 11545Mhz and waiting for the broadcast. Suddenly, the radio came to life with the first two bars of the Lincolnshire poacher folk song and the three men huddled round tighter. This is what they heard: Click here to hear the real recording.
39715, 39715
39715, 39715….
After 40 minutes of numbers, the three men split up to start decoding their snippets of code for their instructions. All three men had a small paper booklet with the code to decipher the numbers into letters, and ultimately messages.
It was 3 a.m. local time and the men were taking turns in guard duty. You see, life as a spy is not easy and you all have to keep watch for any suspicious activity. It was as Fred was taking his turn that it happened…
“8-ball, cue-ball, ACTION STATIONS!!!”
“Will that thing ever shut up!” Yelled a masked Afghan in a Hummer. The 4 men in the back started equipping themselves with black clothes and AK-47s. the Hummer made an abrupt stop 2 miles from the Baghdad inn the 3 spies were sleeping in. They quickly tuned in the massive military radio into a eastern European numbers station. Click here to tune into their recordings. A small Czech man hurriedly scribbled down numbers whilst the Afghan in the front decoded the message.
10 minutes later, the hummer powered out of the dust and headed straight towards the decrepit inn the British spies were sleeping in. Out of the back sprang four tall men carrying AK-47s and one short man carrying a walkie-talkie. The 4 men with guns ran into the inn. After 5 minutes of gunfire, 3 men ran out of the inn, carrying the injured 4th out on their shoulders under escort of 15 S.A.S soldiers. After some “negotiations” the Afghans were taken prisoner. The British spies on the other hand had moved on back to England. The S.A.S soldiers had informed them about the impending shootout and moved them back to England…
To be continued…
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