‘No!’ he shouted. ‘Leave her alone.’
The man turned. His eyes were wide and angry. It didn’t take much for him to escape Ben’s grip and he looked for all the world like he was about to launch himself at both of them. Ben stood in front of Aarya, who was now sobbing hysterically, and stuck out his chin.
‘Amir!’ he demanded. ‘Where’s Amir?’
Amir’s face emerged from the gloom.
‘If they touch her,’ Ben shouted, ‘if they hurt her in any way, I’ll spend every second trying to escape. Have you got that? The only way you’ll be able to stop me is by shooting me. And what will happen to your precious human shield then?’ He was full of anger, and he stood there in front of Aarya as a line of faces stared flatly at him.
There was a tense pause. Then Amir gave an instruction and another man suddenly forced them roughly into a room at the other side of a compound. The familiar noise of a key in the door hit Ben’s ears and before they knew it, they were alone again.
‘Ben!’ Aarya sounded angry. ‘What are you doing? These are dangerous people. They will kill you…’
Ben shook his head in the darkness. ‘No,’ he said stubbornly. ‘They won’t kill us. At least, not yet. We’re here for a reason, Aarya. If we come under attack, they’ll stick us up on the roof of their trucks — make it clear they’ve got civilian hostages. They seem to think that’ll stop the army from blowing them up.’
Aarya paused. ‘But…’ she stammered. ‘But that is monstrous.’
‘Yeah,’ Ben muttered. And then, cryptically, ‘Welcome to my world.’
‘What do you mean?’
Ben looked away. ‘Let’s just say Amir and his buddies aren’t the first people to try and play dirty when I’m around.’
Aarya looked confused. ‘I do not understand, Ben. Are you saying these people know who you are?’
‘Course not. I’m not exactly in the Afghanistan phone book—’
‘Ben! Stop speaking to me in riddles.’ There was a sudden fire in Aarya’s voice as she stepped purposefully towards him.
He shook his head, cross with himself. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I just seem to have this habit of walking into trouble. This is all my fault — I wish you didn’t have to be involved.’
Silence. And then, a hand on his shoulder. ‘This is not your fault, Ben. It is theirs, the men outside. You were very brave to stand up to them.’
Ben didn’t reply. At that very moment the door opened. He couldn’t see who it was, but he could hear the thump as something was thrown in before the door was shut once again. Scrabbling around on the ground, he found a bottle of water. He quickly opened it and handed it to Aarya, who drank deeply before giving it back to Ben. As he gulped down the water, he felt his whole body soaking it up and, like a wilted plant that had just been fed, he was revived.
‘What was that noise?’ Aarya asked. ‘The booming noise and the light in the sky?’
For a moment Ben didn’t answer. He had been asking himself the same question and he didn’t much like the conclusion he’d come to. ‘I reckon,’ he said finally, ‘that the light was some kind of flare. You know, for the army to light things up a bit. Spot people moving around in the dark.’
‘And the sound?’
‘Weapons,’ Ben said. ‘Artillery. Something like that.’
‘At night? When people are sleeping?’
Ben thinned his lips. ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘or not sleeping. I get the impression we’re going to be hearing a bit more of that. Think about it, Aarya. They’ve got a nuclear suitcase bomb. If they’re going to use it, they’re going to use it where they can cause maximum damage. And if they need you and me as a human shield, it means they’re taking us somewhere they expect to come under fire. Some kind of battleground. If those flares are anything to go by, I’d say we’re pretty close.’
As if to highlight his point, in the distance they heard another muffled thump. Ben sensed Aarya shaking on the ground where she sat.
‘I want to go home,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Me too,’ Ben replied. ‘Me too.’ And then, because he thought he didn’t sound positive enough, he added, ‘We will.’
He knew Aarya didn’t really believe him.
They sat in silence for several minutes.
‘Ben?’ Aarya asked finally, her voice calmer than he had heard it for ages.
‘Yeah?’
‘If the British Army attack us, they would be less willing to risk a British citizen than a Pakistani girl, wouldn’t they?’
Ben felt himself tense up. ‘I don’t know.’
‘I think they would. I think it means that you are more use to these terrorists than I am. I think it means they would kill me if they had to.’
Ben took a deep breath.
‘That’s not going to happen, Aarya,’ he said firmly. ‘I promise you that’s not going to happen.’
But he only said it because he could think of nothing else to say. He watched quietly as his friend, her body trembling, settled down for her morning prayers. He almost felt like praying himself.
Bel’s first night at FOB Jackson was uncomfortable and noisy. Her quarters were little more than a thin bed covered with a mosquito-net tent, all propped up against a low wall. She had eaten ration packs with the soldiers — a sludgy mess of sausages and beans — then turned in early so that she could be ready for the shura that would happen early the next morning. All night, however, she was kept awake by the light of the flares being sent up into the sky, and by the booming sound of weaponry far and wide. Around midnight she had climbed out of bed and walked around the base. She had met Private Mears, who had explained to her what the noise was. ‘Enemy activity to the north,’ he had said. ‘We’re sending in mortar fire to suppress their movement.’
‘Enemy movement?’ Bel asked, alarmed. ‘That, er… that doesn’t sound very good.’
Private Mears winked at her. ‘Welcome to Helmand,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about it. Tonight’s no different from any other. The base is well defended — they’d have to be suicidal to attack us here.’
Bel took some comfort from Private Mears’s words as she padded back to bed. Some, but not much. As she lay there, she thought about Ben, and smiled. He’d been so keen to accompany her, but this was no place for a person his age. Come to think of it, it was no place for a person of any age. Bel absolutely could not wait to leave here and get back home.
Dawn arrived. Everyone in the camp who wasn’t on lookout duty rose with the sun. Bel washed her face using water drawn from a well in the middle of the camp, then went to find Mears. The young private was drinking a cup of tea with a few mates.
‘Morning, Dr Kelland,’ he said. ‘You look like you could use a brew.’
Bel could use a brew, but she didn’t get the chance to say so, because just as she opened her mouth there was a loud noise and something screamed over the top of them.
‘Get down!’ Mears yelled. ‘RPG!’ He threw his tea to one side, then wrestled Bel heavily to the ground like a rugby player. All the wind was knocked out of her lungs as the rest of the soldiers hit the dirt as well, their arms covering their heads while, only a few metres away from them, Bel heard something explode in the air, followed by the sound of shrapnel raining onto the ground.
‘That was close!’ someone shouted.
‘What’s an RPG?’ Bel gasped, her face still pressed into the ground.
‘Rocket-propelled grenade,’ Mears stated flatly. ‘Bit of a Taliban favourite.’
Bel looked up. The soldiers were pushing themselves to their feet, and there was urgent movement all around. ‘Get up!’ Mears instructed, and she felt him pulling her from the ground just as another rocket whistled over them. ‘We need to get you to cover. Now.’