Recoil

9

There was a third burst and a fourth. The miners screamed and shouted as they ran for cover. GPMGs rattled return fire into the treeline on the far side of the river.

Crucial barked a command and the guns fell silent. There was probably nothing to fire at, and every round counted.

Silky looked at me. ‘Tim!’

I jumped up. ‘Wait here! Bury yourself – don’t move!’

I checked the other side of the valley and along the riverbank. I saw movement on the ground, maybe thirty metres upstream.

The body wasn’t crawling. It seemed to be floundering on its back, like an upturned turtle.

‘Can you see him, Nick? Is he OK?’

‘Can’t see anything. Just wait here, don’t leave cover.’ I grabbed my AK and ran at warp speed across the valley, my tired legs fuelled by adrenalin.

Crucial was up ahead, sprinting along the left side of the valley wall towards the entrance.

I screamed at him.

He looked across and cupped a hand to his ear.

‘Covering fire! Man down! We’ve got a man down!’ I thrust my hand out towards the track as we linked up and took cover. ‘Man down!’

Crucial brought the two gunners running towards him, link jangling round their necks. Sweat poured off their faces.

I dived behind the mound. ‘I’ll get him,’ I shouted up at Crucial. ‘You make sure these two don’t kill me in the process, yeah?’

I waited while Crucial took the two guns forward on the high ground, and positioned them to cover the track and across into the treeline.

I took deep gulps of air to rev myself up for the run. In the movies, the hero never thinks twice about running into a hail of lead to save someone, but I was close to shitting myself.

If I’d been stupid enough to run back for Yin, I’d certainly do it for someone Silky cared about. If it was Tim, how could I ever face her again if I didn’t? Besides, it might be me lying in the shit one day, needing to be dragged away.

I shouted up at Crucial again. ‘Can you see him? He alive?’

There was silence.

Crucial’s eventual reply was as calm as if we were doing a spot of bird-watching. ‘It is the Mercy Flight guy. He’s moving, but not much. You know what? I think he’s screaming, but I can’t really hear above the sound of the river.’

What the fuck did I want to know that for? ‘Are you ready? You got the guns ready?’

His reply was simple. They opened fire.

I hesitated a second or so, to check that the rounds weren’t hitting the track, then started running.

Crucial had it under control. His boys were firing into the treeline. Chunks of ready-made firewood were being blasted off the front row opposite where Tim was lying.

I got my head down, then slipped and slid my way through the mud towards him.