‘Only the highly classified stuff I would imagine,’ said Higgins, in no mood to joke. ‘Make it quick, Mac. We’ve probably got 15 minutes to be the hell away from this place.’
‘Understood,’ said Mac, walking into the office.
A single shot rang out in the small room. Higgins dropped the SSCs he was carrying onto a desk and unholstered his side-arm, bringing it up to take aim at the dark doorway. He leapt forward and threw himself against the thin wall beside the door.
‘Mac, you there?’ yelled Higgins.
Nothing, no response. ‘Shit,’ whispered Higgins to himself. Looking slowly and carefully around the corner, he saw Mac’s lifeless body on the ground.
Bull and Finn, hearing the shot from where they were processing the captives, ran to the building and burst through the door from the outside, weapons at the ready. Higgins gestured to them to keep quiet, to take the SSCs they had secured and to retreat back out the door. He showed them the grenade he had in his hand. They got the message and backed out the door without closing it. Higgins knew there was no time to flush this resistant fucker out — he could only neutralise him. Silently and slowly he pulled the San on the grenade, let go of the catch and waited two seconds. Rolling the grenade into the room, he ran for the door. When he was just out the front door, the grenade did what it was meant to do — the shockwave from the blast sent Higgins flying to the ground. The flimsy building did not hold up well. The outside wall, where the office was, virtually disintegrated leaving a gaping hole in the side of the building.
Picking himself up off the ground, Higgins walked purposefully back to the destroyed building. Finn followed him, not really sure why.
‘Sarge, what are you doing? We gotta get out of here,’ yelled Finn.
‘Just checking something,’ replied Higgins coldly.
Finn followed him into the smoking shell of the building. Higgins walked into the room where he’d thrown the grenade. Looking around, he found what he was after.
The Chinese soldier lay on the ground, his face badly burnt and his body wrecked but, amazingly, still alive.
‘Jesus, he’s alive,’ stuttered Finn, unable to pull his eyes away from the ruined face of the soldier.
Higgins looked at Finn and put his boot on the soldier’s chest, causing him to cough blood. Finn was shocked and confused.
‘What are you doing, Sarge?’
Higgins kept looking at Finn as he unholstered his side-arm. Drawing the weapon down to the dying soldier’s head, he fired once.
Finn recoiled from the sight of the man’s head exploding, spraying Higgins’ boot with blood.
‘Now we can go,’ said Higgins, striding past Finn who was still staring at the soldier, his mouth open, shocked.
Outside, Higgins walked up to the others. ‘All right. Are the charges set?’
‘Yessir,’ came the reply from the next-in-command of Bravo team.
‘Good.’ Higgins turned to Finn, McCaw and Jessop and gestured at the line of kneeling, blindfolded prisoners that their team had restrained. ‘March these fuckers out into the desert and meet us at the bikes.’
‘Yessir,’ said McCaw, as he kicked one of the prisoners seated on the ground.
‘Let’s get the fuck out of here,’ said Higgins, picking up the SSCs and walking off towards the main gates on his own.
A short march and they made it back to the bikes. The prisoners were forced to kneel, blindfolded and bound, berated and beaten by McCaw and Jessop. They seemed to be taking too much pleasure in it, and Finn felt disgusted by the way they were treating the prisoners — which was strange, given he had just shot and killed some of their compatriots. He was now cold and exhausted — the adrenalin had worn off. Higgins arrived not long after, with Bull, Carver, Dave and Marks. It looked like they’d all made it out, which was a miracle. Heaving his pack onto his bike, Higgins didn’t say a word. He was still in operation mode and clearly very focussed. Rummaging through the pack, he pulled out a large pair of wire cutters. Holding them in his right hand he walked directly to the prisoners.
Finn, who had been slouching against a rock, straightened as he wondered what Higgins was about to do with the cutters. Higgins looked like a man possessed. He marched up to the first prisoner and bent down behind the man. Finn suddenly felt the jolt of his senses becoming hyper-aware again. A loud snap and the prisoner’s arms were released. The man lurched forward. Higgins moved on to the next. Finn felt relief at first, and then confusion.
‘Sarge, what are you doing?’ asked Finn incredulously.
‘Releasing the prisoners. What does it look like?’
‘But shouldn’t we take them back for questioning?’
‘Can’t risk it. Easier just to let them go. If they found our base we’d be compromised,’ said Higgins in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘And don’t worry about them starving in the desert, they’ll get picked up once their drones find them.’
Higgins ordered the prisoners to start walking and to keep their blindfolds on. He signalled his men to get back on their motorbikes.
The journey back was uneventful. The mission had been an enormous success but as they retreated, so too did the energy and high of the attack. Finn felt weak, his arms were heavy and his legs felt like lead.
Reaching the base, the men pulled up outside the cave where Lieutenant Taylor greeted them. The men unloaded their motorbikes quietly and efficiently while Higgins walked off with Taylor to discuss the mission.
Chapter 12
Both prongs of the attack had been successful — the fuel depot had been neutralised with minimal Australian casualties, and the outpost had been completely destroyed. Soon after the news of the Australian army’s success was widely publicised, however, reports followed about the inevitable reprisals on townships near where the attacks took place. The Chinese had levelled some tiny townships and caused at least 150 civilian casualties and an unconfirmed 30 fatalities.
General Stephens and Fletcher were in Stephens’ office in the SOF, reviewing reports on the damage that had been inflicted in the attacks. Images flickered on the screen before them, detailing the carnage.
‘Goddammit,’ sighed General Stephens wearily, ‘we knew this was on the cards, but did they have to go so far?’
‘I know, Marty. They’ve gone too far now, especially after all their promises of not targeting civilians,’ replied Fletcher.
‘That’s it. I’ve had enough of this. Time to put some more heat on China. I’m not going to sit by and let them get away with attacking our people,’ said Stephens, visibly upset. Calling his secretary, he asked to be put through to Ambassador Xian.
General Stephens sat in silence for the minute that it took to get the Ambassador on the line.
‘General Stephens, how can I help you?’ said Xian, in a calm and unctuous tone.
‘How dare you… how dare you take action against Australian civilians, Xian,’ said Stephens hoarsely.
‘You give us no choice, General. You continue to wage war against us, damaging our property and killing our soldiers.’
‘That does not give you the right to injure and kill civilians!’
‘Perhaps not, but it gives us the right to defend our infrastructure, General Stephens.’
‘Your infrastructure?’ Stephens repeated incredulously. ‘What are you talking about, Xian? It is in fact largely our infrastructure, our land, and our people. You invaded us. Remember?’
‘General, please, you must remember the agreement we made, that we would not involve your people — so long as you did not interfere with our mining.’
‘That was not an agreement, that was a command from your country — something the Australian people never agreed to,’ said the general, his rage building to a fever pitch.