Soldier's Daughters

by Fiona Field

  ‘Thank the Lord,’ said Sam. She swung her daysack off and extricated the water bottle. ‘After this we’ve only got one full one left.’ She gazed at the third of a litre of water that was left in it before she took a sip and then handed it over to Luke.

  ‘We’ve got to be near the river,’ said Luke. ‘Have to be, it stands to reason.’

  Sam nodded. She slumped to the ground and Luke followed her lead. ‘We’ve got to hope. And we’ve got to hope we can get across it without any problem.’

  ‘We don’t need more headaches on top of being lost and running out of water.’

  ‘No, we don’t. Luke, the thing is, what if we can’t get across it? I mean, what if it’s too deep or there’s crocs or something?’

  ‘We can’t think like that.’

  ‘Why not? Blanking it out now isn’t going to change the situation when we get there.’

  ‘A situation that’s my fault.’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘You didn’t have to, we both know it’s true. I fucked up. Monumentally.’

  ‘It’s not your fault we got ambushed.’

  ‘If we’d been in the right place, on the right road, it wouldn’t have happened.’

  ‘You don’t know that. We might have got ambushed anyway. Maybe this was our time to get ambushed.’ Luke looked at her as if she’d flipped completely. ‘You know – fate, karma, that sort of shit.’

  ‘Well, even if that is true, if we’d been ambushed on the main supply route someone would have found us in no time. As it is, here we are in the Back of Bleeding Beyond, with no torch, no food, and now next to no water.’

  ‘But at least we’ve found each other. That wouldn’t have happened in the other scenario. You’d still hate me because I’m a rupert, and I’d try and ignore how hot and buff you are because officers can’t feel that way about their men.’

  ‘Hot and buff?’ said Luke with a smile.

  ‘Shit, yeah. That’s why I made you put your shirt on that time you took me to the medical centre.’

  ‘Ah… you were very assertive about me getting dressed.’

  ‘You were very annoying – and verging on insolent.’

  ‘Me?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, you.’

  Luke kissed Sam lightly on the lips.

  ‘So, back to our original conversation,’ she said, once her heart had quietened down. ‘Any clues as to how far the river might be?’

  ‘No. We have to keep trekking till we get there. And, if we can’t cross it, we have to hope they’re pulling out all the stops to find us.’

  ‘They will be, won’t they?’

  ‘I would think so. They’ll have contacted our next of kin by now.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Sam went silent for a bit as they both gazed up at the stars and the few clouds scudding across the sky in the light breeze. ‘Poor Dad. He doesn’t need the grief.’

  ‘’Cos your mum died.’

  ‘Yeah. Your dad won’t know, though, will he? You’ve got a friend down as your next of kin.’

  Sam sensed Luke nodding. ‘Yeah, Pete. He’s a nice guy.’

  ‘You must hate your father a lot not to have him down as your NOK.’

  ‘I didn’t want people to know who he is.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because… because he’s Commander Land Forces. He’s the big cheese.’

  ‘He’s what?’

  ‘You heard.’

  ‘Shit.’ The penny dropped. ‘Pemberton-Blake?’

  ‘Yup.’

  ‘Fucking hell, Luke.’ She stared at him. ‘Well, that’s a bombshell.’

  ‘So if Pete tells the army who my real NOK actually is, the shit is really going to hit the fan.’

  ‘Will he?’

  Luke considered this. ‘Possibly. Pete was never happy about the way I cut myself off from my family, so he might well.’

  Sam giggled. ‘I’d love to see Notley’s face when he finds out.’

  Luke nodded. ‘Yup, that would almost make this worth it.’

  ‘This assumes we get to see Notley’s face.’

  ‘We will.’

  ‘But if we can’t get across the river and if we can’t get to the road and…’

  ‘And we can’t get rescued…’

  Sam nodded. ‘Luke,’ she said, ‘I don’t want to die. Not out here.’

  ‘I won’t let you. I am not going to let that happen. We’re going to get out of here. Sam, I promise you, it’s going to be all right,’ and he took her into his arms.

  James Rosser, back at Archers Post for the CO’s O Group, found Andy Bailey listening to the net in the back of his vehicle, obviously trying to get updates from all units as to the progress of the search. James had known the missing personnel were two soldiers from 1 Herts but when he’d heard the CO announce that one of the missing soldiers was Sam, he hadn’t wanted to believe it. But Andy, he hoped, would have more gen, more details. Andy would put him in the picture and, possibly, fill in all the gaps that the CO had left because the information about how Sam and her corporal had come to be lost had been very sketchy.

  ‘So, what happened?’

  ‘We’re not sure,’ said Andy.

  ‘Come on, Andy, you must have some idea.’

  ‘We’ve found the vehicle, but not them. That’s all we know.’ Andy stared at James. ‘So… your interest? Were you and she…?’

  ‘No, no. I mean, she’s a great girl. But no, not really my type.’

  Andy looked a bit surprised. ‘Really?’

  ‘No.’ James looked Andy steadfastly in the eye. Did he have to spell it out to him? Not that this was a particularly appropriate moment, given everything else that was happening.

  The radio squawked, distracting Andy, who listened to the message being passed before returning his attention to James. ‘Just be assured that we’re doing everything we can to find them. The Air Corps will resume search operations in the morning, and we’ll get all units to move into and search the area where their vehicle was found but we’re at a loss. Their Land Rover was way off the route they should have taken and given the evidence we’ve found so far, we think they were ambushed.’ Andy looked James in the eye. ‘There were a couple of bullet holes in the chassis.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘We think they might have been ambushed by poachers. And, although there may have been bullet holes, there wasn’t a trace of blood. We don’t think either Sam or Luke could be injured. But neither do we know whether they were still in the vehicle when it was dumped or whether they were kicked out of it somewhere else. All we do know is that the bullets caused the breakdown. Something vital got hit and that’s why it was abandoned, but the REME reckon it could have travelled a fair way before the engine seized.’

  ‘So, what you’re saying is they could be anywhere?’

  ‘In a nutshell. But we are doing everything we can to find them. Trust me on this.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, of course you are.’

  ‘Honestly, you have no idea. I mean, we’d pull out all the stops anyway but there’s been a development that even we didn’t see coming.’

  James’s brow creased. ‘I’m not with you.’

  ‘It’s Blake.’

  ‘What about him? What’s he done?’

  ‘Oh, it’s nothing he’s done, it’s who he is.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘He’s the son of the Commander Land Forces. His real name is Pemberton-Blake.’

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘And Sam’s dad, Colonel Lewis, and the general are on their way.’

  ‘You’d better hope they’ve been found by the time they get here.’

  ‘Found alive and well.’

  ‘Show me the map,’ said James. ‘I know you probably have more important things to do but maybe, I dunno, maybe I—’ He stopped. ‘I’d like to see the lie of things for myself.’

  Andy stood up and took James over to the ops tent, where the map table dominated the space. It was covered in clear plas
tic onto which were drawn the tactical symbols representing the various component parts of the battalion and the battle group. Out on its own, away from any of the other markers, was a small flag. Andy pointed at it.

  ‘That was where their vehicle was found,’ he said.

  ‘And where were they headed for?’

  Andy pointed at a coloured oblong out on the edge of the exercise area – the Royal Engineer’s tactical sign. ‘There. They were taking a new genny to the sappers building a bridge across the river.’

  ‘So why the fuck were they there? It makes no sense at all. They’re miles off course.’ James studied the map.

  ‘Look, I’ve got a million things to do, but if you come up with any bright ideas, let me know.’

  James barely acknowledged Andy’s departure as he continued to stare at the map. Why, he kept asking himself, had the vehicle ended up where it was? Even if the poachers had driven it miles before it conked out it was still too far away from the rest of the action. Where had they crossed the river? Why were they so far south? It didn’t make sense. How on earth could they have got so monumentally lost?’

  He traced the route to their destination with his finger, the sappers’ camp on the northern bank of the river. Why, he wondered, was it on that bank? The route to get to it had to loop miles round to reach it; a huge detour off the main supply route through the exercise area. Still, who knew how the mind of a sapper worked? He went back to staring at the map and wondering where, in that vast expanse of bugger-all, Sam might be.

  Colonel Tim Lewis watched General Pemberton-Blake buckle himself into his seat on the airtrooping flight and then turn to introduce himself. He knew exactly who the general was – who didn’t? His picture was in every guardroom in the country, it was on the stairs of the MOD, along with the pictures of his predecessors. On the other hand, Tim knew the general would have no clue as to who he was. Even though he was a senior officer himself, he was still too junior to be on the general’s radar.

  ‘I’m Bill Pemberton-Blake.’

  ‘I know, General. I’m Tim Lewis, Samantha Lewis’s father.’

  ‘Ah, the REME officer missing with my son. They seem to be giving 1 Herts the runaround.’

  Tim Lewis was confused. Yes, he’d been up since four for this hideously early flight but he couldn’t be still dreaming? Commander Land Forces’ son – a squaddie in the REME? He opened his mouth and shut it again. ‘But Sam is lost with her driver.’

  The general nodded. ‘Indeed. My son.’

  Tim wondered what the correct etiquette was when it came to quizzing such a high-ranking officer about why his son had failed to get into Sandhurst. He couldn’t come up with any ideas on the subject so he said, ‘Oh.’

  ‘Actually, I find he’s not just a driver but he’s actually a corporal in the REME. I gather your daughter is his OC LAD.’

  ‘Oh.’ God, he had to think of something more intelligent to say than that. The Commander Land Forces would think him a total moron if he carried on like this. ‘I’m sorry, General, but you sound as if you didn’t know your son was in the REME.’

  ‘No.’

  The RAF staff positioned themselves in the aisle and the chief loadmaster began the announcement about emergency procedures. The two officers had both heard it countless times before but knew it was incumbent on them to set a good example to the other soldiers on the flight and so they paid attention. The announcement finished and then there was a gentle jolt as the tow truck began to push back the plane from its stand on the pan.

  ‘You were saying, General,’ prompted Tim.

  ‘Given the situation that our children are in, I suppose you ought to know why my only child is a soldier and not an officer.’

  ‘I… I don’t want to pry, General.’

  The plane began to taxi towards the runway under its own steam.

  ‘I imagine, given that the BBC’s defence correspondent is out in Kenya, attached to the exercise, and given the fact that it’s unlikely that Mr Raven will fail to spot my arrival due to my connection to one of the two soldiers who are in jeopardy, this is all going to be made hideously public in a matter of days – maybe less than that. The whole sorry story of my relationship with my son is bound to come out so you might as well know it sooner rather than later.’

  Tim stared at the general. This was seriously uncomfortable. Generals didn’t confide in other officers who were considerably junior to them, did they?

  He was about to say to the general that he didn’t have to when the general continued. ‘My son ran away from home. Just disappeared. We had… an altercation. He was expelled from school and I was angry. Maybe in retrospect I was a bit hasty. He protested his innocence but the evidence that he’d played a part in a serious misdeed seemed overwhelming and I refused to believe him. I think I may have been wrong. Anyway, I refused to spend more money on him and said if he wanted to get A levels he’d have to go to the local college. So he upped and left. I tracked him down to begin with. He’d got a job in a bike shop and lived with a lad in the flat over it. I wasn’t thrilled but at least he had a job and a roof and I knew that to force him to return home wasn’t going to heal the rift between him and me. His mother was devastated. Luke knew what he was doing to her because I sent him a letter telling him, but he refused to back down.’

  And neither would you, General, thought Tim. Like father, like son.

  ‘Anyway, shortly after his eighteenth birthday I had a message from his flatmate that Luke had found another job and had left the area. And that’s the last I heard about him till the OC rear party from 1 Herts knocked on my door yesterday evening and put me in the picture.’

  ‘I am so sorry, General.’

  The general shrugged. ‘He’d always wanted to join the army. I suppose he thought that if he joined as an officer he’d be recognised and I’d find out where he was. I don’t think he wanted me to have any influence on his career, for good or ill, intended or not, which I think would have been inevitable.’

  ‘Certainly it would be almost impossible for that not to happen.’

  ‘So I suppose that’s why he dropped Pemberton and joined up, pretty much anonymously.’

  ‘Kids, eh?’

  The general nodded. ‘So tell me about your daughter.’

  ‘Nothing much to tell – boarding school, uni, then Sandhurst.’

  ‘A model child.’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘Lucky you.’

  Tim knew he was lucky with Sam. Luckier than he deserved. He’d been a rotten father, he knew that now. Well, maybe not rotten, but not the best. He’d kept her at a distance, afraid to get close to her, while poor Sam had only ever tried to please him. Everything she’d ever done had been to gain his approval, he knew that too. And yet this awful situation made him realise how distant he’d been. If… when… he saw her again he’d have to tell her how proud he was of her, how glad he was she’d done so well. How much he loved her. Maybe they could both take some time off – go on holiday together. Maybe he ought to tell her how like her mother she was. He knew her gran had told her about her mother but maybe he ought to too. He reckoned there were a lot of things he ought to tell Sam. He’d been putting it off for years, waiting for the right moment. No… he’d put it off because he didn’t want to have the conversations. He was afraid that if he started to talk about her mother he’d lose control. It was cowardice that had stopped him from talking to his daughter, not tact. And now he might have missed the chance altogether.

  And he couldn’t bear that thought. Not Sam as well. Not as well as his wife and son.

  As Tim Lewis’s and General Sir William Pemberton-Blake’s early-morning flight was thundering down the runway at Brize Norton, Seb’s flight was touching down at Heathrow. Now all he had to do was get back to Wiltshire, but before then he wanted to speak to Maddy. He pulled his mobile out of his combat jacket pocket and pressed the buttons and prayed that not only she would be allowed to have her mobile with her in hospital
but that she also had a signal.

  ‘Hello, Seb.’

  She sounded groggy.

  ‘Hi, hon. I’ve landed. Am I too late? Has junior arrived yet?’

  ‘No, although the sister promises me it’s not too long now.’

  ‘Is your mum there?’

  ‘I sent her home to get some sleep. I think she’ll be back in a while. What time is it?’

  ‘Early. Very early. I’ll get to you as soon as I can.’

  ‘OK, hon.’

  Then he heard her groan and sob and then stifle a protracted yelp of pain and then the connection went. His heart went out to her. Now he had actually heard her distress his memory of the last time came thundering back. He forgot how hacked off he felt at being hauled out of the Kenyan exercise as the realisation that she was coping with labour on her own kicked in. He remembered the last time and how much pain she’d been in and the feeling of utter helplessness as he’d watched the contractions tear her body apart. Being at this distance made matters even worse. He hurried towards the immigration hall, overtaking the sleepy passengers who were stumbling along after the knackering overnight flight. He had to hope that at this hour the queues were minimal and he could get out of the airport as soon as possible. The army had pulled the stops out and had organised a car to meet him. If everything went smoothly and the Monday morning traffic behaved, he might be with Maddy in a few hours.

  Andy was heading into the ops tent, a bacon sandwich in one hand and a mug of tea in the other, when he met James.

  ‘Just the man. I’ve been thinking,’ said James, grabbing Andy’s arm and making him slop his tea.

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Why were the sappers on the north bank of the river? Any tactical reason. Because it doesn’t make sense. I mean, logic tells me they should have been on this side.’

  Andy sighed. ‘It’s all down to that journalist, Raven. He wanted to be able to access the village and get a piece involving the reaction of the villagers to the new bridge going in. Of course, the MOD press office thought it was a great idea, they reckoned it would get a load of coverage on the BBC news channel. I gather the sappers kicked up a stink about having to trek round miles to reach that spot but the brass were adamant. Why do you ask?’