Battleground

Chapter Twenty-five

Silence.

Ben unclenched his eyes. The bomb was still there. Aarya was still there. He was still there. And the timer panel was blank. He felt a surge of relief. ‘It’s OK, Aarya,’ he whispered. ‘We’ve done it.’ He was almost laughing with relief.

She didn’t reply.

Ricki shouted. ‘Ben, what’s happening!’

‘The timer’s stopped,’ Ben yelled back. ‘I think it’s de-fused. I think we’ve done it.’

‘Can you crawl back?’

Ben turned his attention back to Aarya. ‘Can you hear me?’ He shook her gently. ‘Aarya, can you hear me?’

No response.

‘Something’s wrong with Aarya,’ he shouted. ‘She’s not responding. I can see she’s breathing, but… I think she’s passed out.’

‘Can you crawl back?’ The SAS man repeated his question.

‘I’m not leaving her. What if she gains consciousness and doesn’t realize where she is? What if she topples over the edge?’

A pause.

‘All right, Ben. Stay there. We need air support to winch the bomb up. I’m going back up to where I can get radio contact with Matt, see what we can sort out.’

Ben nodded, even though there was nobody to see him do it.

‘Don’t let the bomb fall, Ben. The impact could… just don’t let it fall, OK?’

‘Right,’ Ben breathed. He clutched Aarya and the bomb firmly. ‘Hurry up,’ he shouted. ‘Aarya needs help.’

Ricki didn’t reply. Ben heard him scrambling away from the cliff edge, and then all was silent once more.

Time stood still. Ben’s whole body had started to shiver — not through cold, but through fear. The bomb might have been de-fused, but he felt that even if he was prepared to leave Aarya, he could never get back along this ledge. Shuffling backwards was too precarious and there was simply not enough room to turn round.

Every now and then he called Aarya’s name. There was still no response and so he held her and the bomb firmly on the ledge. And then he simply waited, trying not to think about the danger he was in.

Ben was alone with his thoughts. He remembered the distress call when they were in the Black Hawk and his blood ran cold. He didn’t know if he was more sickened by the thought of his mother in danger, or by the uncomfortable truth that he had all but forgotten about her in the frenzy of the past few hours. Now the gravity of her situation came crashing in on him again. Every cell in his body wanted to go to her rescue; he wanted to howl with frustration and helplessness that he couldn’t.

‘Come on,’ he whispered to himself. ‘Come on…’

Ben had no idea how long he had been on that ledge when he heard it — the distant beating of a helicopter’s blades. He turned his head and looked down at the river. Sure enough, flying high over the water he saw the silhouette of a chopper pass in front of the moon. The noise grew louder and louder — Ben couldn’t see the outline of the helicopter now, but could sense its bulk as it passed. He restrained the urge to shout, knowing how useless that would be; but then the sound of the rotary blades passed and grew quieter, and he found himself yelling into the void. ‘Here! Over here!’

The helicopter carried on, over the dam and out of sight. Ben cursed. How could they just pass him by? Taking deep breaths, he tried to get a hold of his anger. Losing it wouldn’t serve any purpose up here.

And it was just as he reached that decision that he heard the noise of the chopper once more.

It was returning over the dam, slower this time, and with searchlights beaming from its side. Ben could barely look at them for fear of dazzling himself, but he could see that the beams were focused on the cliff tops and he could well imagine side gunners with their heavy weaponry keeping watch for enemy combatants on the ground. The chopper drew closer; one of the searchlights was moving over the cliff face. It picked out Ben and Aarya, and he had to cover his eyes with one arm as they adjusted to the sudden brightness. He raised his free arm and started to wave.

Suddenly he was aware of movement from Aarya. ‘Stay still,’ he screamed, moving his arms so that he could hold her firmly. His voice was almost lost under the sound of the chopper. ‘Stay still!’

The helicopter performed a couple of fly-pasts, then rose up above the cliff until it was almost directly on top of Ben and Aarya and the two of them were plunged once more into darkness. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. And then, almost magically, Ben saw a figure appear in mid-air by the ledge, suspended only by what looked like a treacherously thin rope.

It was Ricki.

He had something in his hands, a bundle of fabric, rope and metal. Holding them out towards Ben, he yelled, ‘Take these. Don’t drop them.’

Ben stretched out his arm. His fingertips barely reached, but he managed to get some kind of hold on the bundle and pull it towards him. ‘What is it?’ he shouted.

‘Harnesses,’ Ricki replied, his voice hoarse over the noise of the chopper. ‘You both need to wear them. Put them on like pants, then tighten them up. Quickly, Ben — we need to get you out of here.’

Ben untangled the harnesses. He rested one on top of the bomb, using it like a table; the other he slid up Aarya’s legs. She shouted in pain when he moved her broken foot, but Ben didn’t have time to be gentle. It was difficult attaching Aarya’s harness while keeping himself pressed against the wall. Awkward. His fingers felt clumsy as he tightened the straps between the bomb and her body, but eventually he felt confident that it was on properly. Only then did he turn his attention to his own harness.

He held his breath as he wriggled to get it on. There was barely any room to move; when he did, it was with great care. Pulling the harness up his legs, he tightened it as firmly round his own waist as he had round Aarya’s. Then he turned to Ricki, who was still suspended in mid-air, watching them.

‘What now?’ he called.

‘There’s a rope leading from each harness,’ Ricki shouted, ‘with a metal link at the end. Throw them to me, one at a time.’

Ben located the ropes — the sturdy links had levers on one side that only moved inwards — and did as he was told. The SAS man caught them with ease. Sweat pouring down his face, Ben saw that at the end of the winch rope there were two loops, each with similar metal links. Ricki attached Ben’s rope to one loop and Aarya’s to another. Then he turned his attention back to the two of them.

‘Is she awake?’ he shouted.

‘Kind of,’ Ben replied. ‘But not really aware.’

‘All right, Ben. Listen carefully. You’re both firmly attached. You need to roll her off the ledge, and yourself at the same time. Can you do that?’

Ben felt himself going white, but he knew he didn’t really have a choice. ‘I’ll try,’ he said.

‘Don’t think about it too much,’ Ricki advised. ‘Just do it.’

Ben clenched his teeth together. He put his arms around Aarya and the suitcase bomb, holding them firmly. He drew a deep breath, counted to three.

And then he rolled.

In his mind, the fall happened in slow motion. They fell towards the earth as the rope remained slack; when it tightened it was like a jolt going through Ben’s whole body, followed by a sinking, spongy feeling as the extra weight pulled the chopper downwards slightly. But then he felt them being lifted up, and he saw Ricki grabbing Aarya and the suitcase bomb, making sure it didn’t slip from her back.

They rose higher, above the level of the cliff and then over firm ground. The rope was winched up — slowly, it seemed to Ben — until finally they were just a metre away from the side door of the chopper.

‘Ben!’ It was Matt’s voice. ‘Give me your hand!’

Ben stretched his arm up and a firm grip seized him. He felt himself being pulled up into the chopper. There were other men here as well as Matt, and a good deal of confusion as Aarya and Ricki were also pulled up into the body of the aircraft, and to safety.

Numb with exhaustion, it was all Ben could do to sit up. Aarya was lying on the floor of the chopper while Matt and Ricki removed the bomb from her back. Her eyes were open, but her face was racked with pain.

‘Her foot,’ Ben shouted over the noise of the aircraft. ‘I think she’s broken it. Be careful.’

Ricki nodded to show that he had heard as he stowed the suitcase bomb at the back of the chopper.

‘We should get her to a doctor,’ Ben insisted.

‘Roger that,’ Ricki replied. ‘We’re going to take her back to the base at Kajaki — there’s a medic on stand-by and we can offload the bomb. And then I think we’ve got something else to attend to, haven’t we?’

And with that, Ben felt the chopper perform a sharp turn and speed back over the dam, accompanied by a group of grim-faced but determined soldiers…