Battleground

by Chris Ryan

  ‘I don’t know why they don’t help us,’ Ben muttered under his breath.

  ‘Maybe they don’t want to help us,’ Aarya breathed. ‘Or maybe they know things will go badly for them if they do.’

  One of their captors barked a command. It was not in English, but Ben understood its tone. Silence!

  Amir was waiting for them, with some of the others, outside the compound; but instead of the three heavy armoured trucks they had used before, there were two much smaller Land Rovers. As Ben and Aarya stood under armed guard, they watched the suitcase bomb being lowered into one of them. Only then did Amir approach them. He pointed at Aarya. ‘You,’ he said. ‘Get into the front truck.’

  Aarya meekly did as she was told. Ben made to follow her, but immediately felt a hand on his shoulder. ‘Not you,’ Amir snarled at him. ‘You get into the other vehicle.’ As Ben opened his mouth to protest, Amir interrupted him. ‘Forget about being a hero,’ he hissed. ‘The girl is no use to us. If you do not do what you are told, we will kill her first.’

  Ben stared at him furiously, but the terrorist’s words had frozen his muscles. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a terrified Aarya being placed in the front truck; he was left with no option but to follow Amir into the rear vehicle.

  The suitcase bomb was on the floor in the back of the truck; there were seats on either side. Ben sat down carefully, unwilling even to let his leg brush against it. Amir sat opposite him, along with another of the dark-eyed, bearded terrorists. A third man took the wheel and waited for the vehicle ahead to move away before following it.

  It wasn’t long before another flare lit up the sky and Ben wasn’t surprised to see that they were heading in the general direction from which it came. ‘We’re moving into the battle zone, aren’t we?’ he quietly asked Amir. His captor made no response; he just continued to stare at him, the milky eye glowing eerily in the dark. So Ben persisted, wanting to keep the conversation going – not so much for tactical reasons, but rather to keep his mind occupied.

  ‘Why two trucks?’ he asked.

  Amir narrowed his eyes, as though he didn’t understand the question.

  ‘You’re travelling at night,’ Ben said, ‘without any lights. You obviously don’t want to be seen. Surely one truck would be safer than two.’

  Amir sneered. ‘No,’ he rasped. ‘One truck is not safer. In fact, one truck is a great deal more dangerous.’ He turned to his colleague and said something in his own language which made them both laugh.

  ‘Why?’ Ben demanded.

  There was a glint in Amir’s eyes now, a kind of wild excitement. He leaned forward as he spoke, slowly and with a snake-like hiss to his voice. ‘There may be landmines on the road ahead,’ he whispered. ‘We drive in the tracks of the vehicle in front. So we know we will not hit one.’

  A cold, prickling sensation went down Ben’s back. Landmines – he’d seen the damage they could do in the Congo. ‘But – but the truck in front. What if that hits a mine?’

  Amir’s eyes widened. ‘In that case—’ He jerked his hands up, palms downwards, and made a low noise in the back of his throat. The sound of an explosion. Then he tapped the suitcase bomb at their feet. ‘That way,’ he sneered, ‘our weapon will be safe.’

  Ben leaned over and looked through the front window of the Land Rover. The other vehicle was a good twenty metres ahead, travelling slowly.

  ‘But the people in there,’ he whispered, ‘don’t they . . . ?’

  ‘They are honoured to take the risk,’ Amir said, his eyes still glinting. ‘They know that if they die, it will be in a good cause.’ The fire in his expression grew stronger. ‘And your friend? She is just a girl, after all . . .’

  Ben didn’t know how to reply to such a statement. He thought of Aarya, exhausted and scared, sitting in the back of that truck. Did she have any idea of the danger she was in? Did she have any idea why she was in front or what might happen?

  Ben hoped not. Sometimes, he decided, it was better not to know.

  It was midnight, Ben estimated, when they hit a main road. By most standards it was a shoddy track, but it was a lot better than the ones he had begun to get used to. They didn’t stay on it long, however. The driver made his way north, back into the desert, carefully staying in the tracks of the vehicle ahead. Every second, one half of Ben’s mind expected to hear the brutal sound of the front truck exploding, while the other half argued: It won’t happen. It can’t happen. Aarya’s going to be OK.

  He wasn’t sure that he was doing a great job of persuading himself.

  There were moments of silence, moments when the distant boom of weapons disappeared and the night sky remained unlit by flares. They never lasted long. Whenever they started up again, they were always louder than the time before, and brighter. Ben knew that meant only one thing: they were getting closer to the hotspots.

  ‘What if the army sees us?’ he asked. ‘Won’t they attack?’

  Amir sneered. ‘They will only attack if they see us carrying weapons. That is their weakness. And they are too scared to patrol when it is dark. That is why we travel at night. Now, you will stop asking me questions.’

  Even if Ben had wanted to, there was little chance left. It was well after midnight, he estimated, when the truck came to a stop. ‘What is it?’ he demanded, before looking out of the window. He blinked. Peering into the darkness, he realized that the surrounding desert was no longer the featureless plain he had grown used to. Suddenly, only metres away from the Land Rover, there were trees. Lots of them, and a field of something growing.

  ‘From here,’ Amir announced, ‘we go by foot. The green zone is not fit for vehicles. Get out.’

  Ben did as he was told. Outside, he saw Aarya being thrown to the ground. He ran over and helped her up. She gave him a tired smile.

  ‘What’s the green zone?’ he whispered. ‘Amir said that’s where we are.’

  Aarya looked around. ‘I think it is what they call the area surrounding the edge of the river bank. In the summer, the river is very low, but the area around it is fertile. Crops grow there, and it is where many people live.’ She gave him a solemn look. ‘I have heard people say that, in Afghanistan, it is also where there is lots of fighting.’

  A whole host of questions flooded Ben’s mind, but at that moment they were surrounded by their captors. ‘Walk,’ Amir told them. He was still holding his gun, but now he had something else strapped to his body: the suitcase bomb, which he carried on his back. It looked cumbersome and rather heavy – the veins on Amir’s neck stood out from the strain of carrying it – but portable nevertheless. The very sight of it made Ben shudder.

  They walked in single file – two of the terrorists in front of Ben and Aarya, the rest of them bringing up the rear. ‘Keep close to me,’ Ben whispered as they walked. ‘Maybe we can—’

  ‘Silence!’

  The ground was treacherous. Both Ben and Aarya stumbled as their feet became trapped in unseen holes; the soil underfoot became marshy and wet, then hard and dry as they walked alongside a high field of some crop Ben didn’t recognize. All around it was silent – just the footsteps of their little party disturbing the night and once, chillingly, the howl of a dog echoing through the air. They’d been walking for a good fifteen minutes when they came to an area thick with compound walls, much like the ones where they had stayed on the previous two nights. There was one big difference, however: these walls bore the scars of battle. Holes of all different sizes had been blasted into them: small ones where, Ben assumed, rifle fire had sprayed against them; and larger ones, where heavier artillery had battered the compounds.

  Amazingly, though, the walls were still standing and it was towards one of them that Ben and Aarya were led. There was a low wooden door in the middle of it; their captors opened it, then pushed them through. A dog howled again, closer this time – and Ben realized that it was in this very compound. Suddenly it came scampering up to them – a thin, poor-looking thing that sniffed around their
feet as though they were the first human contact it had had for months. It soon scuttled away though, tail between its legs and whimpering, as a huge explosion rocked the sky, shaking the ground beneath them.

  Amir removed the suitcase bomb from his back, propping it against the inside wall like it was just a hitchhiker’s rucksack. Then he turned and looked around the compound. A group of men – nine or ten of them – were waiting for him. They were all dressed in Afghan robes and they approached the new arrivals with smiles. There was much embracing and a good deal of chattering that Ben couldn’t understand, but that didn’t matter. His attention was firmly fixed on something else.

  It was difficult to make it out in the darkness, and he had to squint. There was no mistaking what it was, however: a vast array of weaponry, much of it propped up against the far wall of the compound in the same way that Amir had propped up the suitcase bomb. It was an impressive arsenal: rocket launchers, rifles, a big hunk of metal that looked to Ben’s untutored eye like a machine gun. And then there were boxes, piled high, which he supposed were full of ammo.

  Ben and Aarya exchanged a glance. ‘I don’t reckon they use that sort of gear to shoot birds,’ he breathed.

  Aarya shook her head, then they looked back over at the others. Their captors’ chatter had become more animated and they stood around the bomb, pointing at it like it was some precious artefact. Ben then heard Amir’s voice above the others, and the men all turned to look across at them. It was clear that he and Aarya were now the subject of conversation.

  Ben stepped nervously back, but that only took him deeper into the compound. Suddenly Amir barked a short order, and the two of them were immediately surrounded. Ben’s instinct told him to run, but he knew there was no getting away and it was only moments before he felt strong hands on him as they were yet again manhandled into a dark room on the edge of the compound, where the door was locked.

  Once more they were left alone.

  Very alone.

  And very, very scared.

  Chapter Eleven

  The British base at Sangin. One hour before dawn.

  Platoon commander Andy Bishop groped in the dark. By his bed – if you could call it that – lay his helmet, to which he had strapped a head torch. He switched on the torch. The area around his bed became flooded in a dusty red light. No white light allowed here – too easy to see from a distance.

  Immediately there was the sound of the men around him stirring and groaning. ‘Morning, campers,’ Andy said in a voice made gravelly by the Afghan dust. ‘Rise and shine. Time for a stroll on this lovely Thursday morning.’

  His gear was neatly squared away beside him and he started to put it on. Desert fatigues, body armour, SA80 rifle which he had meticulously cleaned only hours before. All around him the members of his platoon arose; in that red light they looked like zombies, but Andy knew that in two minutes they’d be transformed from sleepy men to highly alert fighting machines. And that was what they needed to be if they were going to patrol deep into the green zone of Sangin.

  Minutes later Andy was boiling water on a small stove and making a much-needed cup of tea. As the water bubbled he heard the sound, on the opposite side of the base, of some vehicles starting up. That would be the fire support unit. It was their job to take position in the high ground nearby and keep watch over the green zone with their high-powered viewing devices and heavy, accurate weaponry. If Andy’s platoon got into trouble, the fire support guys would be able to use their guns to hit the enemy. Not a bad insurance policy to have, Andy always thought.

  They had been briefed the previous evening at 1730 hours. From the base they would head north, directly into the green zone. This area was an enemy stronghold and there had been a lot of activity there over the past forty-eight hours. The purpose of their operation was to quell that activity. To make the enemy know that their presence would not be tolerated.

  In other words, they were out looking for a fight.

  It was still dark when they prepared to leave: twenty men, heavily tooled-up with weapons, communications systems, ammunition and litres of water. There was a low buzz of conversation. Not nervous, exactly. Just prepared for any contact that came their way.

  ‘Ready, Andy?’

  It was Major Graves, the commanding officer.

  ‘Ready, sir.’

  ‘All right, then. Let’s take it to them.’

  The wide metal gates of the base slid open, and the men stepped outside into the town of Sangin, all their senses hyper-alert.

  The darkness could go only halfway to blanketing the destruction all around them. Buildings had been flattened; there were great craters in the streets where artillery shells had landed. Once, Andy knew, this part of town had been lively and bustling. Not any more. It would be impossible to live here – impossible because of the constant fighting, and because all the houses had been destroyed. No wonder so many of the townsfolk had fled.

  They walked steadily north, their boots crunching on the stony earth, taking care not to wander too close to each other. Bunch up and they would present an easy target for any brave sniper that might be hidden behind a mound of rubble. Andy kept his gun ready. You seldom got any warning that a contact with the enemy was about to start, so you had to be constantly vigilant.

  Somewhere, a dog howled. The sound disappeared eerily into the night sky. The men continued to march.

  Dawn. Just a glimmer of light in the sky at first. To Andy’s right, the shell of a building that was once a school. The only thing you would learn there now would be about the destruction of war, and that was something the people of Afghanistan knew enough about already.

  It always surprised Andy how quickly the green zone arrived. It was as if someone had drawn a line: on one side of the line was the bombed-out remains of the town; on the other side were thick green fields, trees and trickling streams. It made Andy think of mermaids – beautiful creatures who entranced sailors and tempted them to their deaths. The green zone was beautiful too, in its way. But set foot inside it and you’d be taking your life in your hands.

  In the grey light of morning, Andy saw a small group of Afghans in a field perhaps fifty metres away. They stared at them as they entered the green zone. They might be peaceful, ordinary villagers; or they could be enemy spies. Their gnarled, weather-beaten faces gave no suggestion that they either welcomed or disliked the soldiers. Either way, there was no sign that they were carrying weapons, so the soldiers could do nothing but walk past them and continue into enemy territory.

  They walked in single file along a line of trees. Between the soldiers and the trees was a ditch; to their right was a field of low dry stalks. Andy recognized it as a poppy field – he’d seen enough of them during his time in Helmand, after all. He felt vulnerable. Beyond the poppy field were two compounds; between the compounds and the soldiers there was nothing but open ground.

  And open ground, as they well knew, meant they could easily come under fire.

  Still, Andy thought to himself, they’d come out here to pick a fight. Some kind of sixth sense told him that a fight was exactly what they were going to get . . .

  Ben awoke from a half-sleep to the sound of voices outside. He pushed himself up from the ground. Aarya was already by the door, her ear against the lock.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Ben whispered.

  ‘Shhh!’ she hissed, waving a hand at him in irritation and keeping her ear pressed to the door. ‘I’m trying to listen.’

  Ben joined her by the door and pressed his own ear against it. There was definitely activity in the compound. ‘What are they saying?’ he breathed.

  ‘I do not know,’ Aarya replied. ‘I heard them say the word “soldiers”, but I cannot hear anything else.’

  More activity outside. Muffled voices. ‘I think we can safely say they’re not getting ready to leave,’ Ben muttered. ‘Not during daylight.’

  Aarya shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘They are arguing. Some of them want to fire their w
eapons. Amir is telling them not to.’ A pause. Aarya looked like she was going to say something, but as she opened her mouth there was a very different kind of noise from outside. The unmistakable sound of a gun being fired.

  ‘The weapons!’ Ben hissed. ‘The ones they had against the wall. They’re using them to attack someone. Aarya, we’ve got to do something.’

  ‘What can we do?’ Aarya demanded. ‘We’re locked in.’

  Ben banged his fist angrily against the wooden door. ‘Let us out!’ he shouted. ‘Let us out!’ His words, however, were drowned by a sudden burst of fire. ‘You said they were talking about soldiers!’ Ben yelled. ‘They must be firing on them!’ He took several steps back, then ran at the wooden door, barging it with his shoulders. The door rattled, but it remained locked.

  It was just as he was preparing to bash his bruised shoulder against the door for a second time that Aarya grabbed him. ‘Don’t be foolish, Ben!’ she scolded. ‘We are safer in here than out there.’

  ‘But we’ve got to stop them.’

  ‘They are men with guns, Ben. We have nothing. We need to take shelter.’

  With that, she tugged at him. Ben, reluctantly realizing she was right, didn’t resist. The two of them ran to the far side of the room. Ben upturned the thin mattress from the only bed and propped it up in front of them. It was hardly robust, but it made them feel a bit better as they listened in horrified silence to the sound of their captors’ guns, and wondered what kind of devastation was going on outside . . .

  There was a stillness in the air. The sun had only spent fifteen minutes in the sky, but already Andy could feel its heat. He wanted to drink some water, but that would mean stopping. And there was no way he was going to st—

  ‘GET DOWN!’

  Andy heard the barked instruction from one of his men just as a bullet whizzed over his head. Just inches away? He couldn’t tell, but it had been very, very close. Andy threw himself to the ground, then rolled heavily into the ditch. He felt his clothes becoming soaked with water, but just now that was the least of his worries. The enemy had opened fire, and all of a sudden the air was alive with rounds. Keeping himself pressed down against the oozing mud at the bottom of the trench, he loosened his rifle and prepared to return fire.