Devereux - No Fear: The True Story of My Deadly Life After the SAS

No Fear

Steve Devereux

All Rights Reserved

Copyright Steve Devereux 1999

First published in 1999 by Blake Publishing

This edition published in 2014 by:

Thistle Publishing
36 Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BU

www.thistlepublishing.co.uk

TO ALISON MY LOVE MY LIFE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks must go to all those guys who have supported me during the writing of this book. Some are still serving, some are due to finish their 22 years service, some are out, and some have never been in.

I would also like to thank my good friend Billy Budd, who has been an enduring source of endless banter whilst writing this book and also during those BG jobs we have done together; TG, whose simplistic approach to life always amazes me; Smiler, with reference to Africa; Steve B and Mike P, who lent me their bashas for all those weeks whilst in the Middle East Cheers, guys! and my editor, Mr Civilian, who really knows the score.

Lastly, I would like to thank the most incredible lady I have ever loved, Alison. You have had to put up with a lot from me over the years. No other woman could or should have, but you did, and I thank you from the 'heart of my bottom'.

GLOSSARY

Weapons

PREFACE

This book is not about the SAS. It's about the work I specialise in, 'out of the SAS'.

You'd think that when I left such an lite body of soldiers the world would be my oyster. Multinational companies would be queuing up to employ me to run worldwide security operations. Foreign governments would somehow trace me through covert channels of communication and entice me to come and work for them. I wish I could say that was true. Unfortunately, the SAS's fierce reputation as portrayed by the media (and rightly so) since the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980 scared off these potential employers.

Ironically, the SAS almost put themselves out of a job when they assaulted that embassy. They did such a good job that potential terrorists no longer dared hold hostages in the UK for fear of being wasted before getting their chance to act out their cause on the media's world stage. In some ways I, too, was lucky in that I was involved in the last 'embassy' operation. That was at the Libyan Embassy in 1986, and the result was a negotiated settlement, however you look at it, even though a policewoman WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed in the line of duty.

That's not to say that ex-SAS men don't keep their hand in with the security industry; they do. One such friend runs one of the biggest personal security operations, for one of the wealthiest men in the world; another handles the security for a premier football club. Many more look after film stars and wealthy Arab families who own entire countries, while still others work for foreign governments, but only on short-term contracts which are either overseen by the British Government or openly sanctioned by it, without first-hand involvement.

On the other hand, there are none of those 'cloak and dagger' MI5 or MI6 jobs on offer that many novelists seem to write about. They would have you believe that such activities are the normal next stage for someone from my professional background. How wrong could they be! The reality is that MI5 and MI6 are far less glamorous than such authors imagine. Sorry about this, guys, but the majority of these people spend their days writing papers and pushing paperclips around, and very rarely leave the secure confines of their offices. I don't know of any ex-members of the SAS who have joined MI5 or MI6. To be honest, if they had, I think they would be bored shitless.

'You're in the big wide world now. No mothering and being told what to do, and more importantly, no regular salary. Just you and your wits to do battle with the commercial world. Good luck.'

That's what the officer, my old boss, had said to me when finally I left the SAS.

He said it with a calmness of someone who'd done his 22 years, with a reasonable gratuity and a tidy pension. And good luck to him. This country had had more than its fair share of his life. He in turn had a sackful of war stories and two dodgy knees to give him something to think about in a couple of years time, when the war stories were spent.

The commercial world, what the hell was that? I wondered. Having spent the best part of my youth and early years fighting around the world for Queen and Country, I had no idea what the 'real world' was all about, and if most people from my background were truthful, they didn't know either. Why should we? For most of us in the Armed Forces, the challenge of doing the job had been exactly that doing the job. Being part of the best fighting force in the world and having a good laugh as we did it. Basically, enjoying what we were good at. No need to worry about PEPs or the interest rate; everything in that department was taken care of by the system.