Ricki was the first through the gates and immediately drew stares from the regular army guys at the base. Hardly a surprise, considering the way they were tooled up: they looked like men from a different planet. He was greeted by a soldier with the bearing of a commanding officer, who held out his hand. ‘Major Graves,’ he said. ‘Always a pleasure to play host to the Regiment.’
Ricki held out his ID card, then nodded at him and shook his hand as the others congregated around and the gates to the base were swung shut. ‘Where is he?’ Ricki asked.
Graves pointed to a position about thirty metres away. A lone figure was sitting on a large ammo case. He stood out, not only because he was much younger than everybody else here, but also because he was wearing civvies: jeans, T-shirt and trainers. They were ripped and dirty. This lad looked like he’d been through the wars.
‘We need to speak to him now,’ Ricki said.
‘Roger that,’ Major Graves replied crisply. ‘His name’s Ben Tracey.’ And then, more quietly, ‘Go easy on him, guys. He’s had a rough day.’
Ricki didn’t reply. Rough day or not, Ben Tracey needed to tell them everything he knew. Everything.
The unit ran over to where Ben was sitting. Close up, he looked even more ragged than at a distance. ‘Ben?’ Ricki said.
Ben nodded.
‘I’m Ricki. This is Toby, Matt and Jack.’
‘You look different from the other soldiers.’
‘Yeah,’ Ricki said. ‘We are, a bit. SAS. Special forces. Sounds like you’ve got some information that could be useful.’
The unit listened as Ben spoke. Occasionally they exchanged glances. ‘You’re lucky to be here, Ben,’ Ricki said when Ben had finished. ‘Very lucky.’
‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘I’d kind of realized that. When are you going to go back to the caves, to… to try and find Aarya?’
Another glance among the unit, then Ricki came and sat next to Ben. ‘It’s getting dark, Ben,’ he said. ‘There’s no point going up there now. And anyway, you need to prepare yourself for the worst. Not many people survive an airstrike like that.’
‘I did,’ Ben replied hotly. ‘Amir did.’
Ricki inclined his head. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘And Amir’s got to be our number one priority. Those suitcase nukes aren’t toys, Ben. We’ve been on the ground for four days and hearing intelligence chatter about a major terrorist strike in the area but haven’t picked up on any details yet since we’ve been in country. Is there anything you haven’t told us? Anything that might give us a clue where Amir is headed?’
Ricki watched as Ben closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I don’t think so. They spent most of their time talking a different language. It was only Amir that spoke English. I mean, I overheard them speaking, but it was all just—’
And then he stopped.
‘What is it, Ben?’ Ricki urged.
Ben’s eyes were still scrunched closed. ‘There was one thing they said. It was when we were locked up — I was listening through the door. I couldn’t make out anything they were saying, but there was one word they kept repeating. It sounded like khaki… no, wait… kahaki—’
Toby interrupted. ‘Kajaki,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ Ben replied, snapping his fingers. ‘Yeah, maybe that was it. Kajaki.’
Matt gave a low whistle and Ricki jumped to his feet. ‘The dam,’ he said, as the pieces of the jigsaw fitted into his head. ‘They’re going to make a hit on the dam.’
‘What dam?’ Ben demanded, but there was no time to talk about it now. Explanations would have to wait.
‘Toby,’ Ricki instructed. ‘Get on the radio back to base. Tell them what we know. All lookout posts around the dam to keep an eye out for this guy, but they mustn’t fire on him. If that thing goes off by accident…’
But Toby was already in action, stepping to one side and extracting his radio from his backpack. Ricki turned back to Ben and an idea crept into his head. It was a lot to ask of the kid, but if they didn’t stop this thing from happening…
‘Ben,’ he said. ‘This Amir. Would you recognize him if you saw him?’
Ben nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said emphatically. ‘Anywhere—’
He was interrupted by Jack. ‘Ricki, mate,’ he said. ‘You can’t be thinking of—’
But Ricki held up one hand to silence him. ‘If we’re going to stop this guy, we need someone who can give us a positive ID. Without that, we’ll just be groping in the dark. It’ll mean coming with us.’
‘Where to?’ Ben said uncertainly.
‘Wherever the trail leads. Look, Ben — I can’t force you to do this, and I can’t pretend it isn’t going to be dangerous. It is, very. Probably the most dangerous thing you’ll ever do in your life. Say no if you want. Nobody will think the worse of you. But we’re well trained. We’ll do everything in our power to look after you.’
Ben frowned. He’s going to say no, Ricki thought to himself. And then what?
‘If this bomb goes off,’ Ben said, ‘people are going to die, aren’t they?’
Ricki gave him a serious look. ‘If this Amir is doing what I think he is,’ Ricki replied, ‘we’re talking major disaster. Code red. Trust me, Ben — it could change the course of the war, and not in our favour.’
A pause. The four SAS men looked down on him and waited expectantly for his answer.
And then Ben spoke.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’m coming with you.’
War, Bel realized, could be many things. Terrifying. Tragic. Exciting. But also boring.
She was bored now. Stuck in FOB Jackson with nothing to do but keep out from under the feet of the soldiers who were supposed to be looking after her but who really had more important things on their minds. Another day was drawing to a close — the sun was sinking and darkness wasn’t far round the corner — and she didn’t relish the thought of yet again trying to sleep while the brutal noise of warfare blazed all around her.
She couldn’t face another mouthful of army rations, either — those bland, sludgy sachets of almost-food that had to be heated up in boiling water before they were opened. Still, it was that time of day and Private Mears was offering to cook her up some food. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ he said. ‘I’m no Jamie Oliver, but it keeps the wolf from the d—’
A sudden shout from a lookout post up on the walls. ‘Enemy approaching! Enemy! Get to your positions!’
Mears stopped mid-sentence and looked around. The whole base was a sudden hive of activity. He turned back to Bel. ‘You know where to go?’ he said curtly.
Bel, whose stomach was suddenly knotted by the fear of another contact, nodded. She ran to the protection of the sandbags where she had taken shelter during the brief rocket attack on the nearby base the previous morning, wishing that the boredom of a few seconds ago could magically return. Fat chance of that happening, though. As she huddled down by the sandbags she put her hands over her ears. She knew what to expect this time. Noise. A lot of it.
The GPMG gunner on the compound wall discharged his weapon. It thundered into the air: one burst, two bursts. There was shouting all around, chaos and confusion. And then, from outside the compound, another sustained burst of fire. Bel was no military expert. She didn’t know what kind of gun it was, or what kind of ammunition. All she knew was that it sounded intense.
A sudden shriek from inside the compound walls. ‘MAN DOWN!’ came the cry. ‘MAN DOWN!’