We had to keep the pressure up. We swapped over again, and Billy launched his last Hellfire and eight more Flechettes into the village. Rather than swap again, Carl launched our last missile whilst I kept eyes on Mathew, and Billy gathered it with his laser and guided it down onto the roof of a building that posed a direct threat to him. We’d never done that before in combat. We’d never had to. A bolt of blindingly white light shot straight up into the air.
‘An alleluia missile.’ Billy sounded impressed.
Even though it now resembled an ancient ruin, battered by endless battles across the centuries, the JTAC reported outgoing fire from the village yet again. We were hammering them, but they kept on coming.
They couldn’t possibly have been there all along. There wasn’t a building that hadn’t been dropped by five million-lb-per-square-inch of Hellfire, smashed to pieces by HEISAPs, torn apart by Flechettes or torched by the M230’s High Explosive Dual Purpose cannon rounds.
The Taliban must have worked out the Mathew Ford situation by now. Why else would two Apaches be pummelling a shitty little village when there were no ground troops in sight? And why else would they have kept coming into our thunderous shower of lead, frag and fire? It was pretty obvious now: Zulu Company weren’t ever going to get back in there without fatalities.
Geordie got a second missile lock. His Apache pumped off another eight flares. ‘Long range, from the south-east again. No smoke trails. I’d love to know what the hell that is…’
We tried to ignore it. It was going to take more than a Taliban SAM to make us abandon Mathew. But whatever it was, flying around smack bang in the middle of the SAM belt was now getting spooky.
Carl and I ploughed sixty more cannon rounds into the one building left that could afford a firing solution onto Mathew. The main wall collapsed on the second burst and the rest followed suit. The village was burning and we still couldn’t see any Taliban moving between buildings.
It wasn’t just our ammunition that was running out. At 10.02am, Carl called ‘Bingo’. Bingo meant we were running low on gas. It was a call for the squadron commander’s ears – it was the last moment an RIP could be ordered and launched, because in thirty minutes’ time we’d only have enough fuel left to get back to Bastion.
‘Yeah, I’m Bingo too,’ Geordie chimed in.
The Boss acknowledged.
Our own clock was ticking down too. That made Billy even more impatient. He told Geordie to loop over the firebase on their way round for an attack run on the village so he could take a peek at Zulu Company. Now Billy really did his nut.
‘Ed, I can’t believe it. They’re still sitting on their Bergens. Their helmets are off and some of them are smoking. Nobody’s even told them to mount up.’
‘You’re joking.’
‘Nope. They look like they’ve been told to wait.’
‘But the JTAC said they’d be assaulting in ten minutes.’
‘Those lads are going nowhere.’
Billy’s voice rose an octave. ‘We’re going to lose Ford, you know. He went down at what, 7am? That’s three hours ago.’
‘I know, mate.’
‘He’s just not going to…’
‘WIDOW SEVEN ONE, THIS IS TUSK.’
Billy’s voice was drowned out by a new voice on the air net. American, and professional.
‘Widow Seven One, Tusk is now on station and ready for trade.’
An A10 Thunderbolt. Top news. A fast jet with serious strike power that could do the enemy some real damage. It could also protect Mathew; it packed a Gatling Gun. Carl relayed to Billy and Geordie. Then more good news, this time from the Boss.
‘Ugly Five Zero and Ugly Five One, 3 Flight en route. They’ll be with you in figures Two Zero minutes.’
Billy heard that one himself. That was it. Billy’s waters broke.
‘Right Ed, that’s it. We’ve got our air cover coming, and Tusk can watch Mathew while we’re gone. I want to rescue him with Royals on the wings, and I want to do it now. We need to do it now. Get on the net and make it happen.’
‘Okay, stand by.’
I knew he was right. We had an A10 here, and Nick and FOG, with Charlotte and Tony, on their way. We had about twenty-five minutes of combat gas left, and the Taliban were getting stronger by the minute. The stars would never be better aligned for an Apache rescue attempt. We had one shot at this, and that shot was now. My blood was up too. Mathew was now kipping in the Last Chance Saloon.
‘Take us over the firebase will you buddy?’
It was still a huge call, and I wanted to see Zulu Company with my own eyes.
‘Will do,’ said Carl, and began to bank. Billy was spot on. They were still sitting on their Bergens waiting for the order.
I only had one question left. ‘Carl, can we really do this and get the aircraft back to Bastion?’
Carl made a swift calculation. ‘Yes. Just.’
Right.
‘Billy, affirm. I’ll push the ground commander until he gives us a go. Stand by.’
I could see Billy and Geordie running in, rockets exploding just shy of a thousand metres from their aircraft and showering the area with darts.
I got back onto Widow Seven One and explained exactly what we wanted to do and why. ‘Zulu Company are not ready. We are,’ I finished. ‘All we need you to do is sort out the fire plan from the artillery and fast air.’
‘Stand by.’
There was a thirty-second pause.
‘Ugly Five One, negative. Zulu Company are going to do the rescue.’
Wrong answer from the JTAC. Time to up the ante.
‘Put Charlie Oscar on.’
‘The CO?’
‘Affirm. The CO.’
It was time to talk to the organ grinder, Colonel Magowan.
‘Stand by.’
Another twenty-second pause.
‘Charlie Oscar speaking.’
‘Charlie Oscar, Ugly Five One. What is your immediate plan?’
‘Zulu Company will cross the river to recover Lance Corporal Ford.’
‘How long is it going to take them to get ready?’
He sighed loudly enough for me to hear. ‘They say they’ll be ready in ninety minutes.’
What? I must have misheard.
‘Confirm, NINE ZERO minutes?’
‘Yes, H-hour is at 1130 hours.’
There was obviously some sort of problem with Zulu Company. We didn’t have time to go into it.
‘Sir, we can be across and back in five minutes maximum, but need to move now.’
‘How?’
He bloody knows how. This is wasting time.
‘Give me four volunteers and we’ll be in and out with Ford in two minutes.’
‘But I don’t have any pilots.’
Pilots? What was he on?
‘No sir, we are the pilots. I just need four marine volunteers. They will be strapped onto the wings of the Apaches.’
‘We don’t have any straps.’
‘We have the straps; we will strap them on…’
It dawned on me that this was the first time Magowan had heard any of our plan. None of the messages had got back to him. I explained the whole thing as succinctly as I could.
‘Give me two minutes to think.’
‘Tell him we don’t have two minutes, Ed,’ Carl said quietly over our internal intercom. He was watching the fuel level and the delay was getting on his tits.
‘We don’t have two minutes, sir.’
‘Give me twenty seconds then.’
Utter silence. For the first time all day, the mission radio net went quiet. Half of Helmand province was listening in now, and everybody was waiting for Magowan’s answer. You could have heard a mouse fart. He only took ten.
‘Ugly Five One, this is Charlie Oscar. Your plan is approved.’
‘Roger. We will be with you in four minutes.’
Now we’re really going to have to do this…