Battleground

Epilogue

In a place as dangerous as Afghanistan, Ben had come to realize, you take your pleasures wherever you can find them. To most people, the stark canvas pod in which he was sitting would be far from luxurious; it was hardly where Ben would have chosen to spend his Saturday morning. But it had air-conditioning, so it was blissfully cool; more importantly, it was safe. And safety was something Ben had been hankering after for quite a while now.

Aarya sat by his side. The doctors at Camp Bastion had given her painkillers and put her foot in a cast. When Ben first saw his friend being carried off the Chinook that had evacuated her from Kajaki, even he had been shocked by the way she looked after the ravages of her ordeal. A couple of days of medical treatment, however, alongside plenty of water and some half-decent food, had put her well on the road to recovery. Within the next hour, a military transport would be taking her back to her village, while Ben and his mum were to be flown to Kandahar air base, and from there back to the UK.

They sat in silence, feeling awkward on account of the goodbyes that they both knew were just round the corner. He suddenly found himself talking. ‘You should come and live in England,’ he blurted out. ‘There’s no wars there. No Taliban, or terrorists, or, you know, all that stuff…’

Aarya smiled at him. ‘Why would I want to go anywhere other than home?’ she asked. ‘My parents are waiting for me. You would not want to come and live in my village, even if it was the safest place in the world, would you?’

Ben thought about that. He thought about the small house in Macclesfield he shared with his mum and dad, and how he would feel about not going back there. And he realized that Aarya was right.

‘But I will visit you,’ she continued, still smiling. ‘After all, we still have the second part of our exchange programme. I hope you haven’t forgotten about that.’

‘I’m sorry I got us into so much trouble,’ Ben replied.

Aarya shot him a quizzical look.

‘Well,’ he continued, aware that he was gabbling slightly, ‘if I hadn’t insisted on us going to get your books back…’ He gave her an apologetic smile. All that seemed like a very, very long time ago.

His friend shook her head. ‘Ben,’ she said, her voice very quiet, ‘I owe you my life. If you had not made it onto that ledge…’ Her voice trailed off, as though she couldn’t bear the thought of such a thing. Ben too felt himself shuddering at the memory.

They fell into silence once more.

The door opened and they both looked round quickly. Ricki walked in. It was the first time Ben had seen the SAS man without his weapon and ops waistcoat. He smiled at the two of them — a slightly strained smile, and Ben had to remind himself that the soldier had not long lost two of his friends in the field.

‘Ben, Aarya,’ he greeted them.

‘Hi, Ricki,’ Ben said. ‘We’re, er… we’re leaving soon.’

‘Yeah, I heard. Just bumped into your mum.’ He winked. ‘I think she’s calmed down,’ he said. ‘A little bit, anyway.’ He turned to Aarya. ‘How’s the foot?’

She shrugged. ‘Things could be worse,’ she said.

Ricki nodded. ‘They could be,’ he agreed. ‘Especially if Ben hadn’t been around.’

Ben felt himself blushing.

‘Got a minute?’ Ricki asked him. ‘Thought we might take a bit of a stroll before you go.’

Ben looked at Aarya. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘You go.’

It was hot and arid outside the air-conditioned pod. The air was filled with dust and Camp Bastion was busy. Ben and Ricki walked in silence for a while.

‘I’m sorry about Toby and Jack,’ Ben said. He had wanted to say it, but it still seemed rather inadequate.

‘Thanks, Ben,’ Ricki replied. ‘They were good friends. Good soldiers. When I get back to the UK, the first thing I’ll do is visit their families. Tell them that the guys died… bravely.’

Ben nodded and they continued to walk.

‘You were brave too, Ben,’ Ricki said after a moment. ‘Very brave. If it wasn’t for you, things would have turned out very differently.’

Ben shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. ‘I just did what seemed right at the time,’ he said.

‘A lot of people wouldn’t have. A lot of people would have been too scared to act.’

‘Oh, I was scared all right,’ Ben replied.

‘I’m sure you were. But some people know how to manage their fear. That’s quite a skill, Ben. Not many people have it. And I meant what I said — if that bomb had gone off, the consequences would have been unthinkable.’

Ben took a deep breath and tried to push away the images in his mind of that night above the Kajaki dam. ‘What’s happened to it now?’ he asked. ‘The bomb, I mean.’

Ricki smiled. ‘I’m afraid we’ll never find out. It’s been delivered up to military intelligence. Those guys give a new meaning to the phrase hush-hush. At a guess, it’s being dismantled as we speak. They’re really not the kind of objects you want lying around.’

‘No,’ Ben said. ‘I guess not.’

‘So I suppose things will seem a bit quiet when you get back home.’

‘Maybe,’ Ben observed. ‘Me and peace and quiet don’t seem to get together very often.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Well, if you want a bit of excitement, maybe you could think about joining up.’

Ben stopped. ‘About what?’

‘Joining up. The army, I mean. A couple of years and you’ll be ready for SAS selection. You’ve more than proved you’ve got the guts for it, after all. And there’s never a shortage of places in the world where guys like you can do a lot of good.’

Ben sniffed. He looked around at the bustling military base. He thought that maybe he liked the idea. ‘I’ve heard people talking,’ he said. ‘About the war, here in Afghanistan. They say it’s unwinnable.’

Ricki inclined his head. ‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘Maybe not. You can never really tell if a fight is unwinnable. And anyway, sometimes you don’t fight because you know you’re going to win; you fight because you know it’s the right thing to do.’ He gave Ben a piercing look. ‘But I reckon you know that as well as anyone.’

Ben looked at the ground. He didn’t know quite what to say.

Ricki spared him from having to respond. ‘You’d better get back,’ he said. ‘Say your goodbyes to Aarya — she’ll be leaving any minute.’ He shook Ben’s hand firmly. ‘Think about what I’ve said, won’t you?’

‘Yeah,’ Ben replied. ‘Yeah, I will.’

And with that he turned and started walking back to the air-conditioned pod where his friend was waiting.

The time truly had arrived for both of them to go home.