Ghost Flight

31

Narov’s white-blonde hair was tied off her face with a sky-blue headband. Her eyes were closed, as if she’d fallen asleep or lost consciousness, and her breathing was shallow. For a moment he was struck by how beautiful she looked, not to mention vulnerable.

Suddenly her eyes opened.

For an instant they stared into his – wide, blank, unseeing; an ice-blue sky torn with storm clouds. And then, with a visible effort, she seemed to pull her mind back into focus; back to the agonising present.

‘I am in pain,’ she announced quietly, between gritted teeth. ‘I will not be going anywhere. You have forty-eight hours to find the others. I have my backpack: water, food, weapon, knife. Get going.’

Jaeger shook his head. ‘That won’t be happening.’ He paused. ‘I get bored by my own company.’

‘Then you are a damn Schwachkopf.’ Jaeger saw the hint of a smile flicker through her eyes. It was the first time he’d seen her show any hint of emotion, apart from a thinly veiled animosity, and it threw him. ‘But it is hardly surprising you get bored by your own company,’ she continued. ‘You are boring. Handsome, yes. But also very boring…’

The hint of laughter in her eyes died in a spasm of convulsions.

Jaeger suspected he knew what she was trying to do here. She was trying to provoke him; to drive him to the point where he would abandon her, just as she had suggested. But there was one thing she didn’t appreciate about him yet: he didn’t leave his friends hanging.

Not ever. And not even the crazy ones.

‘So this is what we’re going to do,’ he announced. ‘We’re going to leave all but the bare essentials, and Mr Boring here is going to carry your sorry arse out of here. And before you protest, I’m doing so because I need you. I’m the only one who knows the coordinates of the air wreck. If I don’t make it, the mission’s over. I’m now going to give the coordinates to you. That way, you get to take over if I go down. Got it?’

Narov shrugged. ‘Such heroics. But you will never make it. All you will do is part me from my backpack, and without water and food I will die. Which makes you not just boring, but stupid also.’

Jaeger laughed. He was half tempted to reconsider and leave her. Instead, he got to his feet and dragged together the rucksacks so he could sort out the bare essentials: a medical pack; forty-eight hours’ food for the two of them; poncho to sleep under; ammunition for his shotgun; map and compass.

He added a couple of full water bottles, plus his lightweight Katadyn filter, to get them drinkable water, fast.

He took his rucksack and packed two canoe bags into the bottom, followed by lighter gear. The heavier items – food, water, knife, machete, ammo – he threw on top, so that as much of the load as possible would lie high on his shoulders.

The rest of their kit would be left where it was, no doubt for the jungle to claim.

Gear sorted, he heaved the Bergen on to his back, slinging both his shotgun and Narov’s weapon over his shoulder so they lay across his front. Lastly, he placed the three most crucial items – two full water bottles, his compass and map – in the pouches he had strapped around his waist on a military-style belt kit.

That done, he was ready.

His GPS worked on a similar system to the satphone – from satellites. It too would be next to useless under the thick forest canopy. He would have to cross almost thirty kilometres of trackless jungle via a process known as pacing and bearing, a means of navigation as old as the hills.

Thankfully, in this age of modern technology, it was a skill that the SAS still relied upon, and had all of its members master.

Before reaching for Narov, Jaeger gave her the air wreck’s coordinates – making her repeat them back to him several times over to ensure she had them memorised. He knew it would help her mentally if he reminded her that he needed her.

But there was a part of him that wondered if he really would make it: such a distance across such terrain, carrying such a weight – it would kill most men.

He bent down and took hold of Narov, raising her up in a fireman’s lift until she was face down across his shoulders. Her stomach and chest were directly on top of his pack, so that it took much of her weight, just as he’d intended. He tightened the belt and chest straps of the Bergen, drawing it closer to his torso, so that the load was spread across his entire body – hips and legs included.

Lastly, he took a bearing on his compass. He fixed his eyes on a distinctive tree lying a hundred feet ahead of him, marking that as his first point to head for.

‘Okay,’ he grunted, ‘so this isn’t how it was supposed to happen – but here goes.’

‘No shit.’ Narov grimaced with the pain. ‘Like I said, boring and stupid.’

Jaeger ignored her.

He set off at a steady pace, counting his every footfall as he went.