by Andy McNab
The village disappeared into a long depression of mud and crushed huts. It was as if whoever had scooped out the valley had been playing about with his kitchen equipment here too. This time he’d got out his bread-knife and carved himself a slice of earth for breakfast. The ruptured fault line must have swallowed most of the village.
A few mud-covered bodies scavenged in the ruins. I got right to the far side of what was left of the shanty and didn’t see the huts that were hanging on Sam’s wall back at Erinvale. But I found what I’d come for.
A once-white tent the size of a marquee stood on a patch of open ground, wet and sagging, sides rolled up. A big red cross had been hand-painted on the roof, as if that would help them. Maybe fifty or sixty bodies lay sprawled on the dry ground inside, or sat and rocked. Old men and women, mostly, swathed in blood- and mud-stained bandages, but also some children.
Around the tent igloo-shaped shelters had been thrown together with branches and palm leaves, rice bags and plastic. One casualty had improvised himself a pair of crutches from a couple of bits of tree, and hobbled his way towards the tent.
I slid and stumbled down the hill, eyes straining for a glimpse of white amid the black. I was about sixty metres away when I finally spotted her. She was in the middle of the tent, handing out blankets from a bundle in her arms.
I felt a jolt of excitement. ‘Silky!’
A collective wail went up from the crowd of injured as I came into view. Silky hadn’t heard me and only reacted to the noise of her patients.
‘Silky!’
Heavy rain plastered my hair to my face. Another storm front was passing through.
She looked towards me, screwing up her eyes to focus on whatever was coming towards her through the wall of water.
‘It’s me! Nick!’
She stepped out on to the mud, a bewildered expression on her face. Couldn’t she hear me, or see it was me? Maybe she hadn’t recognized me with my hair flat, clothes soaked, three days’ beard and carrying a weapon. Maybe she just couldn’t process all that conflicting information. ‘Silky! It’s me!’
She stopped and stared as I stumbled the last dozen or so metres. A guy came out of the tent behind her. His long black curly hair was pulled into a ponytail. His face was covered with many more days’ growth than mine.
‘Nick?’ Silky’s jaw had dropped. She still stared, still not comprehending.
‘I was just passing. You gonna get the kettle on or what?’
I kept waiting for her face to break into a happy smile but it wasn’t happening.
‘But . . . I’ve left you a message . . .’
I stopped five or six paces away from her. This wasn’t the time for a love-in or an in-depth discussion about our future. Her eyes ran up and down the drenched figure in front of her and finally came to rest on the AK in my hands.
‘We’ll talk about that later. The LRA – they’re nearly here.’
She and her companion, who I presumed was Tim, wore matching dark green cargoes and shirts from the in-country aid-workers’ rack. He also had the top of a sat phone in his map pocket. It had the purpose-built, clear plastic cover on it. No Prudence for this boy.
He was beside her now. He was small-framed and had fine features that almost made him look delicate. ‘You’re Nick?’
She’d just said so, hadn’t she? ‘Listen in – the LRA are within spitting distance. You’d better get this lot into the mine, now.’
He made no effort to hide his disgust for the weapon and everything he presumed I stood for. His voice was very calm, however; very assured. ‘You think we don’t know what’s going on? I don’t need your warning messages, or you coming here to tell us. Look around you.’ He pointed at the people covered with dressings.
It was definitely Tim. I recognized his voice. Considering his size, he should have swapped vocal cords with Crucial. He knew the situation – so what? That wouldn’t help this lot in the tent.
‘Just tell them to get to the mine as fast as they can.’ I held out a hand for Silky. ‘Come on, we’re going.’
She hadn’t put hers out to mine. ‘Nick, I’m not going anywhere. Everyone who can run has already left. These people have been deserted. I’m not going to do that to them, or to Tim. We’ve discussed it. We’re staying here and taking our chances.’
The rain beat on the canvas like a bass drum.
‘Silky.’ I pointed to the red cross on the top of the tent. ‘You think that thing’s going to save you? This isn’t some Hollywood movie where everything works out OK and then there’s a nice sunset. You think those fuckers out there are just going to wave hello and carry on by, just because you’re patching up a few locals? They’re going to rape and kill them, then do the same to you. What the fuck do you think I’m here for? You really think I’ve come all this way for a fucking brew?’
She and Tim exchanged a glance. She might only just have arrived, but there was a real connection between them. They were old friends, I knew it. I could tell by the way they looked at each other; the fact there was no need for words.
So what? Right here and now nothing else mattered apart from getting her out of this shit-hole. It was time to calm down, try a different tack. ‘Look, come to the mine, all of you, please. The guys there will protect you. The villagers are going. You can’t stay here – it’s suicide.’
A tear fell. She was scared now. Good. I hoped she’d remember all the posters on her office wall and see I was making sense.
Tim reacted calmly but forcefully. ‘Those animals up at the mine, they’re the reason these people live in fear in the first place. They rape and destroy the land, and let these people live like this.’
The rain had become a steady drum roll on the canvas, but never quite overwhelmed the cries of pain beneath it.
Tim put a hand on her shoulder, and she reacted by leaning in to him. I tried not to let it get to me, but it did.
He turned to her. ‘Nick’s right. You go with him. You’ll be safer in the mine.’
Great. Sanity was prevailing.
I started to turn, and kept my hand stretched out behind me. ‘Let’s go.’
She didn’t take it. ‘I’m not going, Nick. I can’t.’
Fuck this. I was starting to lose patience. I spun round and took the first two steps towards her. It wasn’t like I could threaten to shoot her if she didn’t come. The only option was to drag her away.
Beyond them, in the tent, I saw a large group of kids, all huddled together under blankets. The oldest could only have been about twelve.
‘They the orphanage kids?’
Tim turned back towards them and nodded. ‘They lost their huts in the collapsed fault line and came when they heard the guns.’
‘Listen, both of you. You’ve got to bring this lot to the mine.’ I pointed at Silky. ‘Look behind you. Look at them. When the LRA turn up they won’t just kill the adults, they’ll keep those little fuckers. Tim, any girls there you don’t mind seeing raped? Any boys you don’t mind being turned into killing machines?’ I shook my head with disbelief. ‘Are you really going to let that happen? When you two are dead, but feeling all virtuous and pleased with yourselves because you’ve not moved from your posts, I’m sure these little bastards will really be singing your praises.’
Tim stared into the tent. He knew I was right.
He didn’t look back at me, just walked inside, calling to everybody in French.
Silky had her hands up to her eyes. ‘You shouldn’t have come, Nick. This just complicates things.’
Did it really? Well, things were going to become a whole lot more complicated if she wanted to hang around and cheer the LRA into town.
6
The inside of the tent stank of shit and antiseptic, but at least the ground was marginally less wet. Chaos spread as confused old men tried to get off the ground and old women wailed as they tried to gather up what belongings they had with them. Those who could walk enough to reach him swarmed round Tim to ask him what wa
s going on. This was going to take for ever.
There were a couple of rapid bursts of gunfire in the distance, audible even over the racket around me, then a really long, sustained one. They were out there, and they were getting closer.
I joined Silky, who was with two other guys dressed off the same rack. The three were trying to help an old man gather together a few rags and a cooking pot. I put my hand on her shoulder. ‘You and I have to go. Let this lot follow. Everybody knows where they’re going. All they’ve got to do is follow the river.’
She didn’t look up at me, just continued helping the old man. She seemed so different with her hair wet and greasy after the long walk in and her nails grimed with mud. That faded lemony smell had been replaced by the stink of wet clothing and sweat. ‘Nick, I’m staying until we get these people moving.’
I stood there in frustration as people ripped off what little covering they had over their igloos and bundled it under their arms. Fuck them, they could sort themselves out. I just wanted to drag her away, get her back to the mine, collect the other two and go for it.
I pulled one of the kids to his feet so hard I nearly threw him into the air. I grabbed bundles of clothes and shoved them at him. ‘Allez, allez, allez! Let’s go!’
At last some of the walking wounded were up and moving. They didn’t need to be told twice about getting to safety. ‘Faster! Go! Go!’
They shuffled through the mud towards the river, by which time I was almost pushing the confused and frightened kids out of the tent.
Tim rushed around, getting anyone who seemed remotely healthy to grab a bag of rice or anything useful.
There was another long burst, a fraction louder. It wasn’t a trick of the terrain: they were getting closer. ‘Tim, let’s get a move on! Let’s go!’
It was another twenty minutes before the last patient was on their feet and the confusion had died down. Finally everybody knew what was going on, and everybody was being helped. Some kids were too fucked to move on their own, even though they weren’t injured, really skinny bodies, swollen bellies, but somehow they were all gathered up in cloth wraps or in people’s arms along with the odd scrawny chicken and a handful of other prized possessions.
I wanted to grab Silky’s hand and drag her to the front of the column, but she was too busy helping everybody else. Fuck ’em. Why didn’t she and Tim just make their own way now? Why couldn’t they be happy that everybody was moving towards the mine and leave them to it?
I stood there feeling very pissed off with her as these people stumbled past. Why had she put herself in so much danger, and made me come out here to drag her back? What the fuck had been going through her mind? And why had she just left like that? Weren’t we supposed to be together?
And why was I feeling the way I did? I was starting to get myself really revved up, when surely I should have been relieved that I’d found her . . .
Gunfire cracked off again. It was still on the other side of the river, but definitely closer; probably the poor shits crossing the bridge were getting zapped. It made me cut away from the other stuff.
Fuck her, fuck the situation.
I moved off the track, scrambling through the foliage, trying to get to the front. Being aggressive about this was the only thing that would make me feel better – and it was the only way I’d keep them pushing to the mine. If the price I had to pay for showing her this side of me was going to be that I was history, then fine. At least she’d be alive to bin me.
PART SIX
1
It took more than two hours for the first wave to stumble to the valley entrance. The really sick and injured trailed way behind, but at least it had stopped raining on them. I’d moved up to the head of the column in case there was a reception committee. Who knew who was guarding the perimeter, and what their orders were?
As we came into the mouth of the valley, the high ground on both sides of us was a hive of activity. The patrol was setting up defensive positions, horseshoe-shaped sangars built with piles of red rock. They wouldn’t stop anything big, like an RPG or 7.62 from a GPMG, but they’d make the guys feel a bit safer, and they could throw a shelter sheet over themselves to try to keep dry while they sat on stag for however long it took. Along with the squaddies already at the mine, the defenders probably numbered thirty or forty. Where were Standish and his lot? They should have been here by now.
I had moved the first two hundred metres into the valley. The main encampment was ahead of me on the knoll, still another two hundred away. The squaddies stopped sangar-building and looked down on us from both flanks, as if they weren’t too sure what was going on.
‘Nick! Nick! Nick!’
The shout came from up to my half-right. Crucial was slipping and sliding down the hill towards me. He fell on his arse but kept his arm in the air, away from trouble. The injury would-n’t have taken the strain.
By the time he got to the bottom he looked like one of the miners, orange mud in his hair, more mud in his eyebrows. Even the cross round his neck and his new arm dressing were covered in it. The only things that were still their natural colour were the whites of his eyes.
‘What happened? Why so long?’ He glanced behind me. ‘Where’s the woman? Where is she?’
‘Back there somewhere, with the rest of this lot. The kids, too. They were with the sick guys.’
Crucial looked as happy as I was pissed off. ‘Standish isn’t going to like it.’
‘I know, I know – but fuck him. This lot’ll be slaughtered if they don’t come in. Where do I dump them?’
He peered beyond me at the human snake, trying to work out where he wanted them.
‘Where’s Sam?’
He nodded back at the tents.
‘I’ll be a minute or two, mate.’
I turned and moved back down towards the river to find Silky. My legs felt heavy. I’d been tabbing since yesterday afternoon. I needed rest, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. This was turning into the Mercy Tab rather than Flight, that was for sure.
I got to the river and leaned against one of the rocks, watching the line of people shuffling along the track. I could see her, one side covered with mud where she must have fallen. Her hair was orange with the stuff.
I waited for her to come to me. I was too knackered to do anything else, and in a fair amount of pain. The friction burns felt like they were bleeding now. At least when it was raining the water kept everything rinsed and cool, but now I was covered with sweat and grime and my shirt was rasping against the rash, like working parts rubbing together without gun oil.
What made me feel even worse was that I could see Tim now, coming out of a dip way behind her, bringing up the stragglers. He got me thinking again. I couldn’t help myself. Stefan was right. There was so much I didn’t know about her. Maybe she did run away from things if they didn’t work out the way she wanted them to. Maybe we didn’t know each other that well. She’s flapping about me turning up with an AK, and there’s me getting pissed off that she’s not throwing herself into my arms and chatting excitedly about the fun times.
Fuck it. I didn’t want to think about that any more. We had a job to do.
I felt weird as she approached. I didn’t want to say anything personal to her. It was suddenly like she was a work colleague rather than someone I’d been sleeping with. ‘I’ve got the first lot in and everything’s OK.’ I paused. ‘You OK?’ As if the answer was going to be: ‘Why yes, and you?’
She didn’t look up, didn’t make any sort of personal connection as she over-concentrated on helping a woman along the track. ‘Thanks, I’m fine.’
I stayed with her, not holding her, not helping her, just being with her as we turned into the valley and entered the sangar protection zone.
We made our way to the others, who were being directed by Crucial into a small re-entrant on the right-hand side of the valley. People had settled into dugouts and even some of the mine shafts.
‘Silky, try to get some
water down you. You’ve got to keep hydrated. I’ll see you in a minute, OK?’
I wasn’t worried about the sick and injured. They were as safe as they would ever be. I was only worried about her hydration levels. She was going to need so much fluid down her it would be coming out of her ears. She didn’t know it yet, but we had a busy day ahead. If she thought she was staying in this shit-hole and playing Mother Teresa, she had another think coming.
2
As I emerged from the re-entrant and turned towards the tents, Tim came down the valley carrying a baby in each arm, their wailing mother close behind him. I watched him with them, completely competent, completely at ease. If I’d been one of these poor little fuckers, I’d have wanted him close by. It got me thinking about the two of them, or the possibility of the two of them. I didn’t want to ask the question, but I wanted to know the answer.
I cut away again. I still had a job to do, I kept telling myself, as I headed for the tents. Miners surrounded by empty fertilizer bags and the lime-green and yellow jerry-cans of diesel were mixing ANFO in oil drums like they were stirring huge cauldrons of porridge and the three bears were arriving any minute. They had to finish before it rained again. The mix had to be kept dry: one drop of water, it lost its detonation capability. And they didn’t have much time to get the stuff back into the bags and into position before every mad LRA fuck within five hundred miles steamed into the valley.
I got to the bottom of the knoll the tents were sited on and followed the mud track up towards them. Lumps of rock had been positioned at intervals to make progress less slippery, but they didn’t help much.
The HQ was well placed. It commanded an elevated view into the valley as well as out to the river four hundred away and the treeline another thirty or so beyond it.
I scanned Sam’s defences. The canny old Jock hadn’t lost his touch. He might be putting his spiritual salvation in the hands of the Good Lord, but he was clearly in no hurry to put the man in the big white beard to the test. This was textbook stuff.
