by Chris Ryan
He shook his head. There was no point thinking like that. Aarya was still missing, still in the hands of that frightening terrorist. Ben’s job was to do whatever was asked of him to make sure she was rescued.
He looked up to see Major Graves standing over him, his face serious. ‘I’ve spoken to Bastion. They seem pretty interested in what you’ve got to say. We’ve had rumours for a couple of weeks now about some top-secret enemy operation. No one knows where or when. Special Forces boys are all out on the ground trying to gather intel. Sounds to me like you might have stumbled across a pretty major lead.’
Ben was only half listening. His mind wasn’t on intel, or special forces, or leads. That stuff was out of his hands now. It was on his friend and what he could do to help her. ‘I think Amir’s taken Aarya,’ he said urgently. ‘He’s got something planned for the bomb and he’s using her as a human shield.’
Graves narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you see her after the airstrike on the caves, son?’
Ben took a deep breath and looked at the ground. ‘No,’ he said quietly.
A pause. When Graves spoke his voice was quieter. ‘I’ve got to tell you, Ben — you were incredibly lucky to survive that.’
Ben gritted his teeth. ‘Amir survived it, didn’t he? He had the bomb on his back. If that had gone off, we’d know all about it…’
‘Maybe,’ Graves replied. ‘Maybe not. I guess we’ll have to send people up to check out the area.’
Ben stood up. ‘I want to go with them. I owe it to Aarya.’
Graves fixed Ben with a calm look. ‘You’re a brave lad, Ben, but I’ve got to tell you there’s no way that’s going to happen. I’m waiting for my instructions, but I’ll put a month’s wages on you being on a flight out of Afghanistan within twelve hours.’
‘No way,’ Ben said flatly. ‘I’m not going anywhere till I know Aarya’s OK.’
‘This is the army, son,’ Graves said brusquely. ‘I’m afraid you do what you’re told.’
Ben was about to reply when a young private respectfully walked up to them. ‘Bastion on the radio, sir.’
Graves nodded. ‘Stay there, Ben,’ he said, before striding purposefully to the other side of the base. He returned less than a minute later with a frown on his face. ‘Looks like you might be staying here for a bit longer than I thought,’ he said, unable to keep the disapproval from his voice.
Ben narrowed his eyes. ‘Why?’
‘They’re sending some people this way to talk to you.’
‘People? What sort of people?’
Graves eyed him carefully. ‘SAS,’ he said. ‘I guess they want to hear the details of your story straight from the horse’s mouth.’
And with that, he turned abruptly and walked away, leaving Ben alone once more. Alone to wonder and worry about what was going on around him.
‘Keep walking!’
Amir’s voice was harsh. No nonsense. The voice of a man who didn’t deal in idle threats. Aarya wanted to obey him, but her legs wouldn’t do what her brain instructed. Her knees collapsed and she fell to the desert ground.
Then she screamed. Amir had grabbed a clump of her dirty, matted hair and was now twisting it tightly while pulling her up at the same time. She tried to stand, but she just couldn’t do it and so she was left hanging by her hair. ‘Please,’ she begged. ‘Please let me rest, just for a minute.’
Amir let go of her hair and she fell to the ground once again with a thump that jolted through her whole body. For a fraction of a second, she felt relief. He was letting her rest. But then she heard footsteps. Looking up, she saw Amir stepping away from her, then turning and aiming his rifle in her direction. He used his brown eye to look through the viewfinder, leaving the albino one to gaze at her directly.
‘No!’ Aarya gasped. ‘No… please…’ She pushed herself back along the ground.
‘You are slowing me down,’ Amir said, his voice suddenly very calm. ‘If you slow me down, you are not useful. You are a hindrance. That is why I am going to kill you.’
Aarya didn’t know where she found the strength. Fear? Adrenaline? Whatever it was, she managed to haul herself up to her feet once again. ‘I won’t slow you down,’ she whispered, her voice racked with fear. ‘I promise I won’t slow you down.’
They stood there, man and girl, tiny in the vastness of the desert. And then, gradually, Amir lowered the rifle.
‘Walk,’ he said.
Aarya continued to stagger through the desert. She wanted to whisper her prayers, but she did not dare and she hoped she would be forgiven for that. To take her mind off the pain that seemed to flow through her whole body, she tried to think of other things. Her mind turned to Ben and a twisting sensation of anxiety corkscrewed into her stomach. Was he safe? Was he even alive? She had felt terrified when she was with him, but was even more terrified now he wasn’t there.
She looked around as she walked. The scenery hadn’t changed since they had left the cave: a seemingly never-ending expanse of stony, sandy earth and undulating hills. Aarya didn’t understand how Amir could know where he was going, but he was directing her with purpose and confidence. He didn’t have the aura of a man who was lost.
The day wore on; Aarya continued her superhuman effort. As the fierce afternoon heat died away and evening came, she started to wonder if even the threat of being shot was enough to keep her moving. And it was at just that point that she looked up and saw something in the distance.
It was a conurbation of some sort. A village? A town? Aarya couldn’t tell. To the left of it, she saw the river. The evening sun sparkled on the water. Aarya, with her parched throat and exhausted limbs, felt teased by the sight. Amir too seemed affected. ‘Angoor,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘My home town. We will be there in less than an hour.’
Amir’s home town? By rights, Aarya knew, it should be a place to fear; but in fact, the very sight of it gave her a renewed surge of energy. Even if it meant she was to be locked up once again in some awful prison, at least she would be able to rest.
‘Keep walking!’ Amir told her. ‘I am still prepared to shoot you, even though we are close.’
Aarya stumbled onwards.
They attracted attention as they entered the outskirts of the town. Attention from the children playing in the dirt; attention from the adults going about their business, transporting goods in rickety wheelbarrows or sitting outside open-fronted stalls that lined certain streets. The evening air was thick with the smell of food cooking. On street corners, she saw members of the Afghan police force. They leaned on their weapons, smoking cigarettes and joking amongst themselves and with other locals. Certainly they did nothing about the local men with guns who paraded up and down with a brash swagger that made them look like they owned the place. One of these men — a swarthy guy with broad shoulders — shouted a greeting to Amir. Amir nodded at him, but didn’t speak.
Through the mist of her exhaustion, Aarya could sense that this place was tense and lawless. It was weird, but she wanted to stay close to Amir. Many people stared at him as they passed, but these were stares of respect. As long as she was with him, Aarya sensed, nobody would approach her.
Amir, despite the load he was carrying on his back, walked with renewed urgency. He clearly knew these streets well, and before long he had guided them off the main road that ran through the centre of town and into a maze of side streets — wide and spacious, but ramshackle and full of houses that looked like they were near collapse. He stopped outside one of the few two-storey houses and kicked three times on the wooden door. Aarya looked up. On the first-floor balcony she saw an armed man looking down with an unfriendly stare. A shiver went down her back as she waited for the door to open.
Amir was expected, just as he always was. As they entered the house — it was dark and didn’t smell at all good — five men greeted him like a brother, then stood back to admire the suitcase bomb, which he had unstrapped from his back. One of the men, who wore a plain black robe, spoke to him in Pasht
un: ‘Where are the others?’
‘Fallen,’ Amir spat. ‘At the hands of the hated invaders.’
A shadow passed over them. A silence. It was only then that any of them even noticed Aarya. ‘Who is she?’ the man in the black robe demanded.
‘It is not important who she is,’ Amir replied. ‘She comes with me as a hostage. See to it that she is put under lock and key — and I suppose she should be fed if she is not going to perish on me.’ He didn’t even look at her as he spoke.
Aarya felt strong hands on her arms. Struggling wasn’t even an option as she was dragged into an adjoining room and locked in.
If Ben was here, she thought to herself, he would try to do something clever… But Ben wasn’t here. She was completely alone and too exhausted even to move. She collapsed on the floor barely a metre from the door and just lay there, already almost asleep. Through the fog in her mind, however, she heard voices on the other side of the door. Half of her wanted to sleep; the other half told her she should listen, so with a massive effort she tuned her ear in and concentrated on what was being discussed.
Amir was speaking. ‘It has been a difficult journey,’ he said. ‘The hostages were a last-minute decision and they have caused us a great deal of trouble. But I will continue with the girl. The closer we get to the ISAF forces, the more useful she will become.’
‘The ISAF forces,’ his friend said lazily, ‘will not approach this town. We control it.’
‘Your other companions,’ another voice said. Aarya thought it was the man in the dark robe. ‘You think they are dead?’
‘I do not see how they could have survived the airstrike,’ Amir said. ‘But we must not dwell on that until after the operation is complete. When we destroy the dam, all of Afghanistan will know of it. Then we may celebrate their lives, not mourn their deaths.’
The men grunted in agreement.
‘In any case,’ Amir continued, ‘it may be that things will be easier now. Kajaki is heavily defended. It will perhaps be easier for the girl and me to approach unnoticed. The bomb must be planted as close to the dam as possible if we are to destroy it completely.’
‘God willing, you will be successful in your mission.’
Then a new voice spoke. ‘You said you had more than one hostage?’ There was something accusatory in his voice.
‘Yes,’ Amir said quietly, and Aarya could just imagine his white eye burning as he spoke. ‘A boy. I think it likely that he was killed in the airstrike.’
‘And if he wasn’t killed?’ the third voice persisted. ‘What, then? Will he not try to alert the invaders?’
Amir snorted. ‘The boy is an idiot. I would not trust him to do anything successfully. And besides, he knows nothing of my mission. No, we do not need to worry about him. Of that I can assure you. Even if he does alert anybody, they will have no time to stop me. It happens tonight. I will take the bomb to Kajaki after dark.’
‘I hope you are right, Amir. This operation has been a long time in the planning. It would be unacceptable for it to fail on account of one boy.’
‘It will not fail,’ Amir stated. ‘That is all I have to say.’
The black-robed man spoke again. ‘What will you do with the girl?’
A pause. Aarya held her breath.
‘As I have told you, she will accompany me to the dam. If I need to sacrifice her to ensure the success of the operation, I will.’ He laughed — a short ugly laugh tinged with cruelty. ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘once the bomb is planted, she will be of no more use. I will kill her then. Whatever happens, tonight will be her last on this earth…’
Chapter Seventeen
A few miles to the south, a Black Hawk helicopter kicked up a huge cloud of dust as it came in to land. Ricki, Toby, Matt and Jack disembarked at the landing zone of the British base at Sangin, leaving the two pilots in the chopper.
The four-man SAS unit each wore ultra-modern digital camouflage made up of tiny squares, and carried M16 assault rifles with hologram sights that had been painted an olive-green colour. On their heads were dun-coloured helmets with night-vision goggles propped up on the tops. Each man wore an ops waistcoat. Ricki and Toby had their handguns attached to their waistcoats just in front of their chests; Matt and Jack had them strapped to the inside of their thighs. Personal preference. They all wore knee-pads on both legs, apart from Ricki, who wore one only on his right knee, to protect it when he was in the firing position. On each ops waistcoat, just below the neck, was a small Union Jack; and each man’s name and blood group was marked on their clothes. Toby carried a rucksack with the few essentials they’d need in the field: radio, medical pack, a bit of food.
This SAS unit was travelling light.
They bent down to protect themselves from the air currents caused by the spinning rotary blades; and as they ran towards the main base, the SAS unit passed ordinary green army soldiers running the other way, well armed with their SA80 rifles so that they could protect the Black Hawk while it was stationary at the LZ.
Ricki was the first through the gates and immediately drew stares from the regular army guys at the base. Hardly a surprise, considering the way they were tooled up: they looked like men from a different planet. He was greeted by a soldier with the bearing of a commanding officer, who held out his hand. ‘Major Graves,’ he said. ‘Always a pleasure to play host to the Regiment.’
Ricki held out his ID card, then nodded at him and shook his hand as the others congregated around and the gates to the base were swung shut. ‘Where is he?’ Ricki asked.
Graves pointed to a position about thirty metres away. A lone figure was sitting on a large ammo case. He stood out, not only because he was much younger than everybody else here, but also because he was wearing civvies: jeans, T-shirt and trainers. They were ripped and dirty. This lad looked like he’d been through the wars.
‘We need to speak to him now,’ Ricki said.
‘Roger that,’ Major Graves replied crisply. ‘His name’s Ben Tracey.’ And then, more quietly, ‘Go easy on him, guys. He’s had a rough day.’
Ricki didn’t reply. Rough day or not, Ben Tracey needed to tell them everything he knew. Everything.
The unit ran over to where Ben was sitting. Close up, he looked even more ragged than at a distance. ‘Ben?’ Ricki said.
Ben nodded.
‘I’m Ricki. This is Toby, Matt and Jack.’
‘You look different from the other soldiers.’
‘Yeah,’ Ricki said. ‘We are, a bit. SAS. Special forces. Sounds like you’ve got some information that could be useful.’
The unit listened as Ben spoke. Occasionally they exchanged glances. ‘You’re lucky to be here, Ben,’ Ricki said when Ben had finished. ‘Very lucky.’
‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘I’d kind of realized that. When are you going to go back to the caves, to… to try and find Aarya?’
Another glance among the unit, then Ricki came and sat next to Ben. ‘It’s getting dark, Ben,’ he said. ‘There’s no point going up there now. And anyway, you need to prepare yourself for the worst. Not many people survive an airstrike like that.’
‘I did,’ Ben replied hotly. ‘Amir did.’
Ricki inclined his head. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘And Amir’s got to be our number one priority. Those suitcase nukes aren’t toys, Ben. We’ve been on the ground for four days and hearing intelligence chatter about a major terrorist strike in the area but haven’t picked up on any details yet since we’ve been in country. Is there anything you haven’t told us? Anything that might give us a clue where Amir is headed?’
Ricki watched as Ben closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I don’t think so. They spent most of their time talking a different language. It was only Amir that spoke English. I mean, I overheard them speaking, but it was all just—’
And then he stopped.
‘What is it, Ben?’ Ricki urged.
Ben’s eyes were still scrunched closed. ‘There was one thing they said.
It was when we were locked up — I was listening through the door. I couldn’t make out anything they were saying, but there was one word they kept repeating. It sounded like khaki… no, wait… kahaki—’
Toby interrupted. ‘Kajaki,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ Ben replied, snapping his fingers. ‘Yeah, maybe that was it. Kajaki.’
Matt gave a low whistle and Ricki jumped to his feet. ‘The dam,’ he said, as the pieces of the jigsaw fitted into his head. ‘They’re going to make a hit on the dam.’
‘What dam?’ Ben demanded, but there was no time to talk about it now. Explanations would have to wait.
‘Toby,’ Ricki instructed. ‘Get on the radio back to base. Tell them what we know. All lookout posts around the dam to keep an eye out for this guy, but they mustn’t fire on him. If that thing goes off by accident…’
But Toby was already in action, stepping to one side and extracting his radio from his backpack. Ricki turned back to Ben and an idea crept into his head. It was a lot to ask of the kid, but if they didn’t stop this thing from happening…
‘Ben,’ he said. ‘This Amir. Would you recognize him if you saw him?’
Ben nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said emphatically. ‘Anywhere—’
He was interrupted by Jack. ‘Ricki, mate,’ he said. ‘You can’t be thinking of—’
But Ricki held up one hand to silence him. ‘If we’re going to stop this guy, we need someone who can give us a positive ID. Without that, we’ll just be groping in the dark. It’ll mean coming with us.’
‘Where to?’ Ben said uncertainly.
