The Command

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘But you cannot surrender yourself, sir,’ West repeated.

  ‘It is the only way, Brigadier. But I don’t intend to commit suicide if it’s possible to avoid it; and if I do, I want to be avenged, and immediately. So we will lay a few plans, here and now.’

  ‘If you are contemplating offensive action, General,’ Mr Humphrey said, ‘then the matter should be referred to Delhi. The lady is quite right about the possibility of your action being repudiated by HM Government.’

  ‘The matter isn’t being referred anywhere, Humphrey, until it is done. They can cashier me afterwards, but I happen to be in command here at this moment, and I want that clearly understood. I also want it clearly understood that no one outside this room must know the contents of that letter, or what we are going to do. We cannot unfortunately keep secret the fact that the three women have been taken, or that Reynolds has been murdered. Our driver knows what happened. But the official line must be that they have been kidnapped by bandits — not by Mahsuds — and that we have already received a ransom note, and that the ransom is being paid.’ He looked at Peter. ‘This is especially important as regards my sons.’

  Peter nodded. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘At dawn tomorrow morning we bury Reynolds. We don’t want a crowd, but I do want full military honours.’

  ‘Leave that with me,’ West said.

  ‘Thank you. Now, Peter, how soon can you make Tochi Camp, by forced marching.’

  ‘Six days.’

  ‘Good. You will set off tomorrow, immediately after the funeral. Brigadier, you will have to replace the regiment at the pass.’

  ‘Will do. I’d like some of my men involved in your campaign.’

  Murdoch shook his head. ‘If this business does stir up all the tribes, you will need a full garrison here. We will also need you as a general reserve, depending on how things go. And incidentally, Jimmy, should things not go well, command of the province devolves on you as the senior brigadier until you hear from Delhi. Understood?’

  ‘Understood,’ West said grimly.

  ‘Tomorrow morning, Squadron Leader, I would like your people airborne at dawn.’

  ‘They will be, sir.’

  ‘Good man. I shall be accompanying you. We will search the country between here and Tochi as thoroughly as we can. I do not think we are going to find anything; Chand Bibi will have allowed for the use of planes. But we may be lucky and we must try.’

  ‘Yes, sir. But even if we do spot them...’

  ‘Oh, quite. There’s not much we can do about it, from the air. We can’t bomb or strafe them. And the cavalry will be far behind. Still, I want it done.’

  ‘Of course, sir.’

  ‘Once we have completed our search, you will land me at Tochi airstrip. From there, after I have briefed and instructed Brigadier Evan-Jones, I will proceed to the Mahsuds.’

  ‘You can’t, sir,’ Ralph muttered. ‘It...it’s unthinkable.’ He was thinking of Reynolds’ body.

  ‘He’s right, Murdoch,’ Peter said. ‘We can’t let you.’ He was remembering Tommy Knox.

  ‘It is a calculated risk,’ Murdoch told them. ‘And I am the only one who can take it. Chand Bibi has a woman’s weakness for talking, or writing, too much, and we have a few cards up our sleeve. She would like to lay hands on me, I agree. Thus I think she may well not harm the women for six days. Before then, I will ride into the Mahsud camp.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Ralph said.

  ‘You’ll do no such thing. I will ride in alone. Study the letter, gentlemen. Firstly, Chand Bibi does not believe I will do that. Her plans are based on an assault by me at the head of my troops. Secondly, you will observe that she has been trying to raise the tribes for two years, without success. It is she who has been sending out the mullahs. But again, no one wants to listen. I do not believe even her own brother has wanted to listen. He struck me as being a very sensible man. I think she may have acted on her own initiative here, taken a gambler’s chance on at last achieving her objective. Thirdly, while I know how fast the Pathans can move about their mountains, she cannot regain Mahrain for at least six days. Therefore, by using the aircraft, I will be there before her, and I think I have a very good chance, if I ride into the Mahsud village and demand to be taken before Abdul Hussein ibn Shere, of having him return both myself and the women, unharmed, when he is told exactly what the consequences of our deaths will involve. Because fourthly, unless I achieve my objectives, I do intend to use force. I will inform Brigadier Evan-Jones in Tochi of my decision, and he will mobilize his troops. On the sixth day the Westerns will arrive. The punitive expedition will move out on the eighth day, that is Wednesday of next week. That will give your men twenty-four hours to rest up at the end of their march, Peter. Brigadier Evan-Jones will be in command of the operation, and I will not pre-empt his tactical dispositions. But I would expect the relief force to be across the Kurram and assaulting the Mahsud positions by dawn on Friday. Before then, on the Thursday morning, Squadron Leader, you will make a series of low passes over the town, and on the Thursday afternoon you will return, only this time you will carry out a bombing raid and lay Mahrain flat.’

  ‘With you and the ladies in it, sir?’

  ‘If you have to bomb, Eccles, then the ladies and I will probably be already dead. Because I intend to inform Abdul Hussein of the exact sequence of events I have ordered. Thus, unless he has already freed us, he will learn that the troops have moved out of Tochi Camp at dawn on Wednesday morning, as I will have told him they will. Then, if he has still not released us, he will see the planes make their low passes over Mahrain on Thursday morning, and he will know that the punitive column is virtually on his doorstep. As I say, if he has not released us by then, it will mean that I am wrong and he means to fight. In which case the four of us will be dead anyway. But I do not think he will fight.’

  ‘If he does release you, say on Thursday morning, how will we know in time to call off the bombing raid?’ Eccles asked.

  ‘Good thinking. I will take a Verey pistol and a box of flares with me. The flares, if I am released and safe, will be fired in a pattern of three, two, three, two. Anything else will mean I am dead and the Mahsuds are using the pistol. Understood?’

  ‘Three, two, three, two,’ Eccles repeated. ‘Understood.’

  ‘God, the way you can just sit there and weigh chances,’ Harry moaned. ‘You’re talking about my wife...’

  ‘And mine,’ Murdoch reminded him. ‘And Peter’s.’

  ‘The General is also talking about his own life, Mr Caspar,’ Ralph pointed out quietly.

  ‘And if the bombing raid is carried out, and we undertake an assault on Mahrain on Friday morning?’ Peter asked.

  ‘You will also act on the assumption that I am dead. Brigadier Evan-Jones will understand this. In which case, your orders will be to raze that town to the ground. And if you manage to get hold of Chand Bibi, to hang her from the highest tree you can find. I wouldn’t like her to be brought to trial and sentenced to ten years in gaol.’

  ‘No chance of that,’ Peter promised. ‘I rather think I’ll hand her over to the dragoons for an hour first, though.’

  ‘I cannot believe that I am sitting here and listening to British officers, senior British officers, discussing murder, mayhem and rape in such cold-blooded terms,’ Mr Humphrey protested.

  ‘Perhaps you would be able to appreciate it if your wife was involved,’ Jimmy West suggested.

  ‘I am not married, Brigadier,’ Humphrey said coldly. ‘You also seem oblivious to the fact that you are likely to set the entire frontier ablaze, which is exactly what this woman wants. The other tribes, peaceful though they may be, are hardly likely to sit by and watch British troops destroy a tribal society. For heaven’s sake, it is only six years since we were last at war with the Mahsuds. I must warn you again, gentlemen, that you are taking your careers in your hands. I must also tell you that I refuse to adhere to any of the decisions taken here tod
ay. In fact, I entirely dissociate myself from them, and I intend to put that in writing to the Viceroy.’

  ‘You are welcome to do that, Mr Humphrey,’ Murdoch said. ‘But if you don’t mind I would prefer it not done until after the expedition has carried out its purpose.’

  ‘I’m afraid, sir, I cannot agree to that.’

  ‘Very well. Then you leave me no option. Brigadier West, will you place Mr Humphrey under house arrest until further notice.’

  ‘With pleasure,’ West said.

  ‘You can’t arrest me,’ Humphrey declared, his voice shrill. ‘I am responsible only to the Viceroy.’

  ‘Then you may include a protest at my action in your letter to him,’ Murdoch said. ‘I will give you written instructions, Jimmy, so that there can be no doubt where the order came from. Thank you, gentlemen. I suggest we all have an early night. Peter, do you think you could spare both Lieutenants Mackinder to have dinner with me?’

  *

  ‘Good lord!’ Ian said. ‘Mom, kidnapped? It doesn’t sound credible.’

  Fergus said nothing, just scratched his head.

  ‘I agree, it’s a colossal piece of cheek,’ Murdoch said. ‘And believe me, it is not going to go unpunished. However, I’m sure you agree that the first thing to be done is to get your mother, and Mrs Ramage and your Aunt Veronica, back, as rapidly as possible. This is what we are setting out to do. The regiment is moving down to Tochi just to overawe the populace, as it were, until Lee is returned. Then we are going to seek and destroy in a big way. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Ian said. ‘Do you think...she’s in any danger?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ Murdoch lied. ‘These rascals just saw an opportunity and took it. They know that if they actually killed a white woman, much less the wife of the GOC of the province, there would be hell to pay.’

  ‘But they killed George,’ Fergus put in, his voice resonant with misery. George had been around ever since any of them could remember.

  ‘They’re saying he was, well, mutilated,’ Ian put in.

  Once again Murdoch had to lie. ‘George attempted to defend your mother, and was cut down. His body is a mess, yes. It was a brave but perhaps unwise act, as there must have been quite a few of the bandits. He will be buried with full military honours at dawn tomorrow. And then he will be avenged. I give you my word on that. Now return to your quarters and get some sleep. And don’t worry, everything is going to be all right. That’s an order.’

  *

  Words. How easy to use. He had been using words, giving orders, occupying his brain, since six o’clock. He had not allowed himself time to feel. To be afraid. Of so many things. To be horrified.

  To think of George. But to think of George was to go mad. Because he could suffer the same fate? Of course he could. He was taking the biggest chance of his life. So would he scream and gasp and beg as he was shown the knife? And make Chand Bibi laugh, deep in her throat? But when a man was about to die, it didn’t really matter what he did.

  Then, to think of Lee, in the hands of that she-devil. To think of them all. He did not know them well enough. He did not even know Lee well enough. Would she scream and beg, as she was shown the knife? They would not be shown the knife for six days. He had to believe that. But Chand Bibi had said she would make them ‘suffer a little’. That too was an impossible thought.

  He would only stay sane by thinking positively. By believing that his estimation of the situation was right, and. that Abdul Hussein was far more sensible than his bloodthirsty sister. Or by envisaging the destruction of the Mahsuds should he be wrong.

  And his career? There would undoubtedly be the most frightful repercussions. But there again, only positive thinking was possible. If he was right, and returned with Lee and the others, unharmed, then they could cashier him and he wouldn’t care. If he was wrong, well, they couldn’t cashier a dead man, either.

  And what of the third possibility, that kept nagging at his brain all the time? That he might very well be right in the calculations, and Abdul Hussein be aghast at what had happened — but that by the time Chand Bibi regained Mahrain the women might already have been mutilated, or at least raped?

  But that too was an unthinkable thought.

  *

  Towards dawn he fell into an uneasy sleep, and awoke at first light; there was no Reynolds waiting with a cup of coffee. But before he had finished dressing, Kohar came up to tell him that Mrs Manly-Smith was downstairs. Murdoch knotted his tie and went down to her. She was fully dressed, her expression a mask of anxiety and fear.

  ‘Oh, Sir Murdoch...I don’t know what to say.’

  She looked on the verge of tears. He took her in his arms and held her close.

  ‘I should have been with her,’ she sobbed. ‘With Lee. I only stayed because Bert had a colic. I should’ve been there.’

  ‘To have been taken too?’ Murdoch asked.

  She threw her head back. ‘What will they do to them, Sir Murdoch? Ralph won’t tell me.’

  ‘Hopefully they’ll do nothing to them, Jennie. If we can act in time.’

  ‘But if...’

  ‘If, they’ll be avenged.’

  ‘My God! Lee...’

  He kissed her forehead. ‘Thanks for coming over. I know Lee will appreciate it.’

  ‘If there is anything I can do...anything...’ She gazed at him, eyes enormous.

  Almost she seemed to be offering him physical comfort. But he knew that she was utterly distraught. ‘I’ll come running,’ he promised. ‘If there is anything. But Jennie...it is going to be all right.’

  She might have been his daughter. But she and Lee had been such close friends. What was he thinking? She and Lee were such close friends.

  Reynolds was buried at half past six, and at seven o’clock Murdoch was strapped into the cockpit of Eccles’ Ninak. A place was found for Harry in another machine, and the squadron was airborne five minutes later. They flew, low and widespread over the scene of the kidnapping and then to the west and north. They swooped in and out of valleys and over hills, frightened herds of sheep and goats, had the shepherds shaking their fists at them. They saw various bullock carts on the tracks, some of them accompanied by several men and some women...but none of the women looked under restraint.

  They searched to the limit of their fuel, and then returned to Peshawar for a hasty lunch. Ralph and West were there to greet them; they had passed the regiment on the road beneath them, already several miles away.

  ‘No luck,’ Murdoch said. ‘So as soon as Eccles is refuelled, I’ll be down to Tochi Camp.’

  ‘Can I at least come down there with you, sir?’ Ralph asked.

  Murdoch nodded. ‘All right. We’re taking the entire squadron down anyway, so it’ll be right on hand. You’re in command, Jimmy, until further notice. How is Humphrey, by the way?’

  ‘Swearing he will have every one of us cashiered.’

  ‘You keep that letter of instruction handy. All right, you chaps, let’s go.’

  ‘And about time,’ growled Harry, who had been jumping around like a cat on hot bricks all day.

  *

  Jennie, somewhat more in control of herself, stood with an almost equally upset Coralie Rostron to wave them off, and they landed at Tochi in the middle of the afternoon.

  Brigadier Evan-Jones listened to what Murdoch had to say with consternation. ‘The woman must be mad,’ he said. ‘She must know she is going to bring down the wrath of God on her head.’

  ‘I think she wants to do that. But we must hope her brother has more sense. You are quite happy with my instructions?’

  ‘I’m happy with them, General Mackinder. I’m not happy with you wandering off by yourself into those hills.’

  ‘I’ll take an escort up to the Kurram; it can act as your advance guard. My appearance in Mahrain will have shock value.’

  ‘I still would prefer you here, sir, commanding operations.’

  ‘I know this is where I should be,’ Murdoch said. �
��But that wouldn’t save the lives of the ladies, would it? Operations are your responsibility, Brigadier. I have every confidence in you. You’ll have the finest cavalry regiment in the world under your command next Tuesday. Use them well.’

  *

  He slept better that night, now that he was about to go into action, as it were, and set off at dawn next morning, with an escort of a company of mounted infantry, Gurkhas, delighted if confused at being ordered to undertake a march to no fixed destination — under the personal command of GOC. They forded the Tochi River and made their way over the undulating but steadily rising ground towards the Kurram. The herdsmen they passed gazed at them incuriously, but Murdoch had no doubt that their presence was being reported deep into the mountains which rose in front of them.

  That night they camped on high ground, and were swept by an icy wind, but the next day, Saturday, they descended to the valley of the Kurram. Now the mountains loomed so high above them they seemed almost ready to topple over, and they were looking at Afghanistan. They camped for the night on the banks of the river, and next morning Murdoch took Lieutenant Chambers aside. ‘Here is where you stay until further orders. Be sure you fortify your position.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ The Lieutenant was totally bewildered, but he was not going to argue with a Major-General...until he realized Murdoch wasn’t staying with them. ‘You can’t go into Mahsud territory without an escort, sir,’ he protested.

  ‘They’re expecting me,’ Murdoch told him, not sure whether or not he was lying, on this occasion.

  ‘Yes, but I mean, sir, these Mahsuds...’

  ‘I know which Mahsuds these are, Lieutenant. Now be a good chap and do as I wish. Your business is to hold this ford, either until I return, or until brigade arrives to take over from you. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Chambers said unhappily.

  Murdoch checked his saddlebags, mounted. The company was drawn up in parade-ground order to salute him, and he saluted them in turn. Then he splashed across the shallow ford and walked his horse up the other side. At the top he looked back. The Gurkhas were already at work, digging in and emplacing their machine gun. But they were still watching him. He raised his hand, and then turned his borrowed horse — Brutus was coming down with the regiment — and walked it down the next slope, out of sight of the river.