‘That was a bit sporty, mate!’ Despite the situation, Ronald felt himself returning the Australian’s infectious grin.
Ronald walked back up towards the front of the helicopter and grabbed the spiral communication cable to plug himself back into the intercom. He looked up towards the front of the helicopter and saw the co-pilot looking back at him over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised. Taff tapped his microphone twice in quick succession, so Ronald flicked the switch on his intercom so that the co-pilot could hear him.
‘We’ve got some minor casualties back here, sir,’ Ronald said. ‘The Colonel’s hurt his leg — but he’s up and about — and Kinkers down the back looks like he’s had a smack to the head.’
‘Okay, cheers. Might knock some sense into him’ the co-pilot replied. Ronald heard the intercom going mute as the two pilots discussed something between themselves. A second later, it burst back to life. ‘Is Kinkers fit to fire a gun?’ Taff asked.
‘Er, I don’t think so,’ Ronald said. ‘He’s quite dazed, although I think it’s only a minor head injury.’
‘What triage category would you say they both were?’
‘Both Cat B, I would say.’
‘Nice one, cheers,’ the co-pilot said.
Ronald heard the intercom go mute again as the pilots carried on their discussion. He looked back down the helicopter and saw the Force Protection team moving around the cabin, picking up their equipment. Colonel Nick was moving down the cabin, checking on the young soldiers, as was Staff Sergeant Partridge.
The medic returned to the back of the helicopter to check on Kinkers, who had taken his heavy flying helmet off and was dabbing at his forehead with a tissue. After pulling the loadie’s hand away and examining the small wound above his eyebrow, Ronald tapped him on the knee and gave him a thumbs up.
Picking his way through the Force Protection team, Ronald walked towards the front of the helicopter and sat down next to Colonel Nick. He plugged his intercom cable back in and looked behind him out of the window. Far below him, he could see fields crisscrossed with irrigation ditches. The medic looked back down the interior of the helicopter. Something wasn’t right. It took him a few seconds to work out what was wrong.
There was no sign of Lizzie or Adams.
26
Flight Lieutenant Davies eased the helicopter into a lazy left-hand turn to keep them over the top of the area that the troops were in. They were flying at about two and a half thousand feet, well beyond the range of any RPGs or small arms fire.
‘Ops, this is Sandman 34,’ Davies said. After a few seconds, he heard the Ops Room reply.
‘Sandman 34, this is Ops. Go ahead.’
‘This is Sandman 34. We are currently circling at altitude above the contact, two Cat B casualties on board,’ Davies said. ‘Any news on the replacement Ugly?’
‘Are the Cat Bs from the ground? What happened to the Cat A?’
‘The Cat Bs are ours. We had to abort the pickup, and they got thrown about a bit.’ The Ops Room didn’t reply, and Davies imagined the frantic arguments that must have been going on.
‘Ugly is a few minutes out. Call sign Wildman 19. Ground troops are reporting heavy fire on the ground, so hot hot hot.’
‘Roger that, Sandman 34 out.’
Davies flicked the switch on the intercom to return to the internal channel. ‘Like we don’t know it’s bloody hot down there. What do you think, Taff? Stay, or go?’ he asked his co-pilot. Taff looked down at the fuel gauge on the console in front of them.
‘Well, we’ve got about an hour of fuel left,’ Taff said. ‘As long as the casualties in the back are okay, we could hang around for a little bit and see what happens.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Davies replied. ‘I might go down the back and see what’s going on while we wait for the Apache if you’re happy with that?’
‘Sure, no problem,’ Taff said.
‘You have control.’ Davies lifted his hand from the cyclic as Taff responded.
‘I have control.’
Davies undid his harness and shrugged his shoulders to loosen the straps. He unclipped his helmet from the intercom system, climbed through the seats, and stepped into the main cabin. Davies walked across and sat on one of the empty seats next to Ronald, clipping himself back into the intercom as he did so.
‘How’s it going, mate?’ Davies said to Ronald, who looked absolutely terrified.
‘Not too bad, sir,’ Ronald replied. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘We’re going to circle for a while,’ Davies said. ‘There’s an Apache on its way which should be here in a few minutes. Should calm things down a bit down there.’ Davies put his hand on Ronald’s shoulder. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ He watched as Ronald nodded, but Davies wasn’t convinced in the slightest.
‘I’m fine,’ Ronald said. Davies squeezed Ronald’s shoulder before getting to his feet and walking towards the back of the cabin. When he reached Kinkers, Davies did exactly the same thing and put his hand on the Australian’s shoulder.
‘You okay, mate?’ he said. Kinkers grinned back at Davies before he replied.
‘That was a bit cheeky.’
‘Yeah, sorry,’ Davies laughed, pleased that his crewmate had at least got his sense of humour back after a bang to the head. He got to his feet and walked back down the cabin, stopping to talk to some of the soldiers as he did so. Patting Ronald on the back as he walked past him, Davies climbed back into the front of the helicopter and did up his harness.
‘They all seem okay back there,’ Davies said to Taff. ‘Kinkers seems none the worse for a tap on the head.’
‘Good stuff,’ Taff replied. ‘Maybe it did knock some sense into him?’ They both heard Ronald’s voice crackle through the intercom.
‘Sorry, sir,’ Ronald said. ‘Small problem back here. What are we going to do about Adams and Lizzie?’
Davies turned and looked over his shoulder, searching in vain for the two medics. Of course, he remembered, the minute that he touched down they would have jumped off to go and get the casualties. He’d been so overwhelmed with trying to get the helicopter out of danger that he’d completely forgotten about them. Davies turned the intercom switch so that only Taff could hear him.
‘Bollocks, Taff,’ he said. ‘There’re two medics still down on the ground.’ Switching the intercom back to its original position, he continued, ‘Don’t worry, mate. We’ll go back in and get them as soon as we can.’ He switched channels again to speak with the troops on the ground.
‘Widow 23, this is Sandman 34,’ he said. When there was no reply, he repeated himself a few seconds later.
‘Sandman 34, send.’ Both Davies and Taff could hear the sharp crack of gunfire in the background of the brief message.
‘Widow 23, be advised you have two of our medics with you at your location.’ There was another delay before the next message came back.
‘Sandman 34, Roger that,’ Davies crinkled his brow as the rest of the message started to break up with static.
‘Widow 23, say again,’ Davies said. There was no reply. ‘Widow 23, say again.’ He repeated himself another couple of times before giving up. ‘Widow 23, this is Sandman 34, nothing heard.’ Flicking the switch on the intercom, he turned to Taff. ‘When we loop back around and are directly overhead, I’ll try to raise them again.’
‘Who’s down there?’
‘Adams and Lizzie,’ Davies replied with a grim smile. ‘I don’t care how much fuel we’ve got, we’re not going back without them.’
‘She shouldn’t be down there, mate.’
‘Nope. I think we’re in the shit when we get back. I can feel a swift return to the UK coming up.’
‘Got that right, Taff,’ Davies said, his smile even grimmer. ‘There’s an interview without coffee on its way, that’s for sure.’
‘Stoppage!’ the soldier who was manning the fifty-calibre machine gun shouted as the gun stopped firing. The sharp crack of gunfire still rang around the are
a, so it was obvious that somebody was still shooting. Adams, huddled just below the lip of the irrigation ditch, had absolutely no idea whether it was the soldiers shooting at the insurgents, the insurgents shooting at them, or both. ‘Get some eyes on the tree line!’ the soldier in the WMIK shouted down at Adams. ‘There’s still some Terry over there.’ With a look at Lizzie, Adams shuffled up onto the lip and raised his SA80 rifle to his shoulder.
‘Stay down there,’ Adams said to Lizzie as he got himself into position and looked down the sights of his rifle towards the trees. He looked left and right, but couldn’t see anything at all. Everything had fallen silent in the last couple of seconds, and Adams could hear the soldier behind him swearing as he struggled to clear the stoppage in the heavy machine gun. Had all the insurgents disappeared?
‘What’s going on, then?’ Lizzie said as she shuffled into position next to Adams and looked down the sights of her rifle.
‘For fuck’s sake, Lizzie,’ Adams replied. ‘I said stay there, didn’t I?’
‘Oh, did you? Didn’t hear you.’ She gave him a sideways look before looking back towards the trees. ‘So, where’s Terry Taliban gone then?’ A couple of shots rang out to their left-hand side, but now that Adams was on top of the ditch, he could place the firing as theirs. He returned to the sights of his rifle, making small movements to try to keep the whole area in sight.
He caught a flash of movement over by the tree line in his peripheral vision. There was still someone there for sure, but it had been too swift for him to see anything other than the movement of the branches. He eased the safety catch off his rifle and squinted down the sights, trying to see where the movement had come from, his side to side movements focused in on the area where he thought he’d seen movement.
Adams couldn’t see anything at all, so he gradually increased the lateral movement until he found himself looking at an insurgent pointing an RPG back at them.
‘Fuck’, Adams said as he squeezed the trigger without thinking. The rifle butt pushed back into his shoulder as the shot rang out, and he watched as the insurgent fell backward in a puff of red mist. A second later, an RPG round spiralled up into the sky through the branches of the trees. Adams brought the rifle down out of the aim. ‘Oh fuck,’ he said under his breath, his heart hammering in his chest as he realised what he had just done.
‘Nice shot, fella,’ a voice behind him said. ‘That’s seventy-two virgins for him, but none for you.’ Adams looked up to see the soldier on the WMIK looking down at him. The gunner’s eyes flicked across to Lizzie, and Adams saw him frown. He’d obviously just realised that Lizzie was not just a medic, but a female one. ‘Oh,’ the soldier said looking at Lizzie. ‘Sorry. No offence meant.’
Adams looked at Lizzie and could see the fear and excitement in her face. She looked pale, but had twin red spots in the centre of each cheek and was very animated.
‘I can’t believe you shot that bloke with the RPG,’ she said, far more quickly than she usually spoke. Adams flicked his safety catch back on and slid down the bank of the ditch a couple of feet. He blew a deep breath out through his cheeks.
’Neither can I,’ he replied. ’Neither can I.’
Lizzie slid down until she was next to him. Adams could hear radio chatter from the WMIK above him and looked up to see a soldier crouching at the top of the ditch, staring down at him.
‘Are you two medics?’ he asked. ‘There’s a Chinook up there that’s missing a couple.’ Adams pulled his sleeve around to show the soldier the embroidered red cross on his uniform.
‘Yep, that’ll be us,’ he replied.
‘Well, fuck me, aren’t you two crabs in the wrong place?’ The soldier turned slightly and spoke back into his radio.
‘We have them,’ he said. ‘And one of them’s a bloody good shot.’
Three thousand feet above Adams and Lizzie, Davies turned to Taff.
‘Mate, did you get the last bit of that message?’
‘I got bits and pieces of it,’ Taff replied. ‘Did he say what I think he said?’
‘What do you think he said?’ Davies asked, hoping that his co-pilot had heard something different to what he thought he had heard.
‘I thought he’d said that one of the medics had been shot.’
‘Fuck,’ Davies said. ‘That’s what I thought he’d said.’ He flicked the switch on his radio to talk to the Ops Room. ‘Ops, this is Sandman 34,’ Davies said as he put the Chinook into a lazy turn.
‘Sandman 34, this is Ops.’
‘Ops, confirm ETA arrival of second Ugly call sign.’
‘Sandman 34, he’s about inbound now.’
‘Roger that Ops, Sandman 34 out.’ Davies switched channels with his thumb to talk to the rest of his crew. ‘Gents, there’s a second Apache on its way. When the Ugly’s on target, that’s when we’ll drop in to pick up the casualties and the medics.’
‘Sounds like a good plan to me,’ Taff said in the left-hand seat. ‘Although if we’re coming in fast, not having a RADALT might make things interesting.’
Davies tilted the cyclic to put the helicopter into a slow descent. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Kinkers and Ronald talking in the back of the helicopter. Davies heard Kinkers’ voice come through the radio.
‘Boss, I’m going to put Ronald on one of the side guns so that’s it’s obvious that it’s manned. What’s our angle of approach? I don’t want to put him on the wrong one.’
‘Good stuff Kinkers, as long as he’s happy with that. Don’t forget he’s a medic, though.’
‘He’s fine, boss. Don’t worry.’
‘Okay, wait one.’
Davies and Taff discussed the best approach for a few minutes as they slowly lost height and the terrain below them became clearer.
‘I think if we spring around and approach the HLS over the top of the FOB, then we’ve got some ground cover from the troops inside and it’s a completely different approach to the last time.’ Taff pointed with his finger to show Davies the exact angle that he would need to line the helicopter up on.
‘Yep,’ Davies said. ‘I like that idea. In which case Ronald would be better off on the starboard gun.’
‘Roger that,’ Kinkers said from the back of the Chinook before he was cut off by an unfamiliar voice bursting in on the radio.
‘Sandman 34, this is Ugly 19.’ Both Davies and Taff looked around them to try to locate the new arrival.
‘Ugly 19, this is Sandman 34. We don’t have you on visual,’ Davies replied.
‘Sandman 34, I’m above and behind you.’ The pilot switched radio channels to speak to Kinkers.
‘Kinkers, there is an Ugly on our six, high.’ Davies glanced over his shoulder and saw the loadie moving to the back of the cabin towards the ramp. A few seconds later, Kinkers replied.
‘Yep, I got him. He’s gaining fast and coming down to our starboard side.’
‘Just make sure Ronald doesn’t shoot at him.’ As Davies switched channels back again, he could hear Kinkers laughing.
A moment later, Davies looked out of his right-hand window and saw the black Apache helicopter come into view a couple of hundred feet away. He waved a hand in greeting and received a middle finger from the co-pilot in the back seat in reply.
‘Ugly 19, I have you on visual, dick finger and all,’ Davies said.
‘Sandman 34, Roger that. Sorry about my back seat. They wouldn’t let him join the RAF because his legs are too short.’ Davies laughed and saw the co-pilot in the back seat of the Apache reach forward and slap the helmet of his colleague in front of him. The Apache shifted and went nose down into a rapid descent. ‘See you at the party, Ugly 19 out.’
27
Adams and Lizzie both jumped as an Apache helicopter appeared from nowhere behind them, the rapidly spiralling chain gun on its nose ripping the tree line to shreds. As the echoes of the long burst of gunfire sounded around them, Adams could hear the whoops and cheers of soldiers that he couldn’t see. He watched the h
elicopter bank around and could see the cannon on the front moving as it kept its aim on the trees. Adams assumed that there was a Forward Air Controller somewhere in the area talking the helicopter in, but he didn’t know for sure. He also didn’t care.
‘My God,’ Lizzie said. ‘I can see why they call them Uglies.’ The two of them sat in the ditch for a few moments, listening to the helicopter circling above them. There were several more bursts of gunfire, but then all they could hear was the rotor blades of the Apache.
‘You can get out of the ditch now, if you want?’ Adams heard a deep voice from above his head a few minutes later. He looked up to see a tall, good looking soldier staring down at him and Lizzie. ‘Any Terry left over will be long gone by now.’ He pointed up at the sky where the Apache helicopter hovered like a very angry hornet, constantly moving its position as the crew looked for targets. ‘They do tend to have that effect.’
Adams slid back down into the bottom of the irrigation ditch, closely followed by Lizzie. He picked up the medical bag that he had left in the water at the bottom of the ditch when he’d climbed up to the top and slid his arms back through the straps. Once his own bag was secure, he picked up Lizzie’s and helped her put it on. They both climbed up to where the WMIK was parked.
Breathing hard from the exertion of climbing out of the ditch, Adams walked to where the soldier was standing.
‘Er, excuse me,’ Adams said as the soldier looked up at him. ‘Me and my mate here are a bit lost. We are trying to find Camp Bastion, do you know where it is?’ The soldier looked at Adams and laughed as he glanced down at Adams's ranks slides.
‘You are a bit lost, sir, aren’t you?’ He put his hand out for Adams to shake. ‘I’m Lance Corporal Jackson, known as Jacko.’ Adams shook Jackson’s hand, taking in his suntanned, sweat-covered face.
‘I’m Adams,’ he replied, still shaking Jackson’s hand. Adams turned and waved at Lizzie with his other hand. ‘This is Lizzie.’ Jackson let go of Adams and looked over at Lizzie, fixing her with an intense stare. His eyes were so green they were almost turquoise.
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