‘My God,’ Louisa gasped.
Stratton took the glasses from her and had a look for himself. ‘Civilians?’
‘They must be his first batch of victims,’ she said. ‘The ones he’s going to hang.’
A soldier herded the peasants along the length of the convoy towards the truck with the flat tyre. The driver opened a box on the side of the truck and the peasants took tools from it. Some set about placing a jack beneath the truck while others unscrewed the bolts securing the wheel. The soldiers inside the truck watched them.
An old man removed the spare wheel from beneath the tailgate and rolled it along the side of the truck. He got a swift kick from an officer and lost control of the wheel which ran over the boot of another officer. The officer who had kicked the man went ballistic and he set about the peasant, kicking and slapping him. He begged for mercy while trying to protect himself. The officer was obviously not getting enough satisfaction and reached for his pistol but it got stuck in its holster. The old peasant panicked and, realising his likely fate, made a run for it. He leapt down the embankment towards the river.
One of the officers cried out something that caused laughter among the other men, which served only to enrage the angry officer further. He finally managed to get his gun out of its holster and took a shot at the man, who by now was almost at the river. He missed, and the bullet struck the water, causing more laughter among the soldiers.
A shrill scream followed as a woman broke from the group to go to the old man. As he waded across the river the angry officer took a steady aim and fired again. The old man fell beneath the water but surfaced immediately and lurched on.
Another officer decided to show his colleague how it should be done and, taking a rifle from one of the soldiers in the truck, aimed it and fired at the woman as she reached the water. The sound of the shot was much louder than the noise made by the pistol, the bullet far more powerful in its impact. It struck her in the back and blood exploded from her chest as it went right through her. But it did not kill her outright and she staggered forward.
The other officers joined in the entertainment, pulling their pistols and sending bullet after bullet into the couple until they both went still, face down in the water, blood oozing from the holes in their bodies.
This inspired another witty comment from one of the officers that was greeted by laughter from the others.
Louisa buried her face in her hands, horrified beyond belief.
Stratton put an arm around her and she clung to him. ‘What kind of people are they?’ she asked as if it were not possible to reach such depths of inhumanity.
‘The kind that aren’t going to see another dawn,’ Stratton said grimly.
Louisa looked into his face. His expression as he stared at the officers was as cold as ice, the resolve in his eyes absolute. It was frightening and she let go of him. ‘You can’t set off those explosives now,’ she said. ‘What about those people?’
Stratton turned to see Victor coming up the rise at a crouching run. Kebowa and Mohesiwa remained below, looking at Stratton as if awaiting their next order.
Victor dropped onto his back beside Stratton, panting heavily from the effort. ‘Did you see those bastards?’ he growled, inspecting the cuts and grazes on his hands. The knees of his trousers were torn and spotted with blood.
Stratton focused on the bridge. David and Bernard had fixed the mine and were sliding along the top spar back the way they had come. Another check of the convoy showed that the punctured wheel had been replaced and the nuts were being tightened.
‘I asked you about those people,’ Louisa said to Stratton, her voice firm.
Victor had not thought of that. ‘Perhaps it would be more humane than what awaits them,’ he said.
‘You can’t be serious,’ she hissed.
Stratton removed one of the batteries from the bag and placed it beside a stick that had been stuck into the ground and that had the end of the command wire that led from the bridge wrapped around it. ‘I want you to stay here,’ he said to Louisa.
‘What about those people?’ she demanded again.
‘You agreed to do what I said without question. Nothing’s changed. Don’t move from this spot. Look for me at all times. When I wave my arms at you, you’ll touch both wires to the terminals and blow up that bridge. Do you understand me?’
Louisa stared at Stratton, her jaw clenched tightly.
‘Trust me,’ he said, looking deeply into her eyes. ‘Victor,’ he said, breaking off and heading down the rise.
Louisa watched him go and stared at the wire and the battery.
Victor stared at her and could only imagine what was going through her mind.
‘Victor!’ Stratton called out impatiently.
‘Dear God,’ he said, squeezing Louisa’s arm for re - assurance before scurrying down the rise after Stratton.
By the time the Frenchman had caught up with him Stratton had slung half a dozen rockets on his back. ‘Pick up the rest,’ he said as he headed back the way they came. Victor clumsily hitched them over his shoulder. The Indians had followed him and moved to help. ‘No,’ Victor said. He didn’t know Stratton’s intentions but rockets and Indians certainly did not mix. ‘You stay here and wait for me,’ he said before hurrying off.
Stratton crouched at the bottom of the rise to observe the convoy.
Victor squatted behind him. ‘What is the plan this time?’
‘I haven’t worked it out yet.’
‘What are the rockets for?’
‘With some situations you start with how you see the end and work back. You confident enough to fire one of these?’
‘I had a terrible feeling you were going to ask me that. I’ve seen a bad example. Maybe if you show me a good one.’
Stratton removed one of the tubes from his back and held it by either end in front of Victor so that it was parallel with the ground. ‘Hold it like this and pull,’ he said. He pulled the ends and the tube smoothly telescoped open until it locked. The action caused the rear sight to pop up out of its housing. ‘This is the safety catch,’ he said, pulling a sprung lever. He put the tube on his shoulder beside his cheek. ‘Just like a rifle, you look through this, line up the front sight on the target, and squeeze down on this,’ he said, indicating a rubber button. ‘There’s hardly any kick.’
‘And keep the back away from my arse,’ Victor added as his nerves began to tingle once again.
‘After the first one you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.’
‘What am I shooting at?’
‘Nothing until I tell you,’ Stratton said, looking hard at the lead truck.
A soldier pulled the jack from beneath the truck and two of the peasants replaced the tools in the locker on its side while the others were herded back to their vehicle. The driver gunned the truck’s engine and a dense cloud of black smoke belched from its exhaust, enveloping the officers who were by now back in their jeep. Unable to tolerate the fumes, the jeep’s driver swung out into the road and accelerated past the truck towards the bridge.
Stratton looked now for David and Bernard. They had jumped down onto the road and, keeping low, slid down the embankment to the river.
Stratton looked back at the jeep. ‘It’s about that time,’ he muttered and moved off towards the bridge.
They jogged at a crouch through the low bushes towards the sharp bend in the river before it went under the bridge. Stratton stopped in the tall grass at the river bank and knelt where he had a clean view of both ends of the structure.