Andy McNab - War torn

'Staaaaaand tooooooooo!' Jamie roared.

Now more men were emerging from ponchos, stumbling in untied boots, cramming on their helmets, looking around them bewildered.

'Staaaaaaaaand toooooooo!' Jamie yelled into the echo of his last shout.

Dave had reached the sentries.

'What the fuck is that idiot doing out there?'

The lad looked scared.

'It was all quiet and he said he needed a crap. Wanted a bit of privacy.'

'Fucking dickhead!' Dave grabbed the lad's radio.

'It was all quiet,' the other sentry repeated defensively.

'What's going on?' Major Willingham's voice over the radio.

'Topaz Zero's out there and so's the Taliban,' Dave told him.

'Out there! Outside the fence!' the officer roared. 'What's Martyn doing?'

'Said he wanted a crap in privacy but he's walked right into the choggies. Look to Three Boulders, right and down a bit…'

The major had his binoculars out but by now Martyn had gone. He had completely evaporated. Dave wanted to believe he was crouching down enjoying his privacy somewhere but he knew it was too late. It had been too late five minutes ago. They had lost Martyn Robertson. Their primary task here, the focus of all their efforts, had been to protect the contractors. And they had lost their key man. He had walked into the arms of the Taliban.

'Get two vehicles out there NOW, and fucking get him back,' the major roared. Within seconds Dave was up in a Vector with the driver, eight men and another wagon behind him, but the pit in his stomach told him they were wasting their time.

They were barely out of the gate when the firing began. The Vectors headed straight towards it. Behind them, inside the barbed-wire fence, their own firing team were already in trenches, a line of helmets and weapons looking strangely neat inside the dust clouds. On the other side, hidden somewhere in the pink-purple rock of the hillside, were the enemy. And Martyn. Dave thought he could make out his footprints in the sand.

Men were starting to pile out of the wagons into the dust and clatter of machine guns and AK47s. Dave saw an RPG sailing gracefully in the direction of Emily's lab.

He did not have time to see where it exploded, or whether it had exploded at all, because the OC, recognizing the enemy's superior fire power and the vulnerability of the vehicles, had ordered the men back inside. The drivers roared straight on around the perimeter and in through the entrance.

'That's just about the fastest lap I've ever done,' Dave's driver said. Dave looked across to Emily's Vector. She was standing at the door, her arms crossed. Her engineers were lying face down on the desert's sandy floor, their bodies half under the wagons, as they had been told to do in case of attack. One was remonstrating with her, trying to persuade her to lie down but she remained defiantly standing, glaring at the Taliban.

'Get down!' he yelled at her. 'We've lost one civilian, we don't want to lose another.'

She turned to him now and, even from this distance, he could see not confrontation but shock and bewilderment on her face.

'Get down!' he repeated. She slowly lowered her body, hanging onto the side of the Vector.

But he knew the firing wouldn't last long. The Taliban had their hostage. While most were putting down fire, some would be spiriting Martyn away. If they hadn't already killed him.

Sure enough, the firing eased rapidly and then stopped.

Dave listened as the OC, standing with one hand on his hip, spoke into his radio. 'Contact initiated when Topaz Zero decided to go for a crap outside the base. Vehicles sent to retrieve him. Enemy then engaged us with RPGs. By the time we got to assistance of Topaz Zero we had lost him. I repeat, we have lost Topaz Zero. Unknown dead or alive. Assume taken hostage. Over.'

The voice from HQ was crisp and formal. 'Roger. Topaz Zero has been taken hostage. Wait. Out.'

The major kept a few men back to guard the camp and civilians and sent the rest out to scour the hillside. While he requested Apaches to help with the search he stood helplessly staring at the spot where Martyn had disappeared, as though he would mysteriously reappear.

1 Platoon ran across the desert to the hills. Outside the wire the expanse felt bigger and the heat fiercer. And the hillside itself was different when you were climbing across its face. The boulders were not big, round shapes but massive, dark obstacles. Hostile bushes tried to hold you back, small, sharp rocks slid treacherously away beneath your feet.

'Fucking hell, Sarge,' said Bacon. 'It's steeper than it looks.'

'If we had our Bergens on, we'd never get anywhere,' said Binns. His wiry body coped well with the climb when he had no weight on his back.

'Stop kicking fucking rocks down here,' roared a red-faced Angus, from further down the hill. He was carrying ammo.

'Can't fucking help it,' called Finn. 'They just slide out from under our feet.'

Dave halted and turned to where he thought he had seen the shadows. Breathlessly he spoke on PRR. 'Can you hear me, Jamie?'

The sangar looked far away. Jamie held up a hand.

'Are we anywhere near the place we saw them?'

'Nope, you're way out.'

Angus arrived and flopped down on a rock next to Dave, gasping loudly for breath.

'We can't be!' said Dave. 'We're down and to the right of Three Boulders!'

'You're too far down and you're hardly right at all.'

'Fucking hell.'

They sighed and carried on across the sizzling face of the hill, sweating and silent, too shocked by what had happened even to moan.

A shout went up from the boss.

'They were here! They left ammo!' He held up some spent cases.

'Yeah, you're in the right sort of area now,' Jamie told them.

'They've made quite a nest around these bushes,' reported the boss. 'The ground's all flattened out. There's a bit of food and a couple of rags… they were here a long time.'

'I knew it,' said Angus. 'I fucking knew it. They've been there for days. I saw them.'

No one looked at him.

'You were right, Angry,' said Jamie on PRR.

'Shit, McCall, I wish we'd taken more notice of you,' said Dave. 'Fuck it.'

'Pity Martyn didn't believe you,' said Finn quietly.

Angus and Finn looked at each other for a long moment.

'Nah,' Angus said. 'Nah, the poor bastard thought he was doing the right thing.'

'Er… Sarge…'

Dave turned to Binns.

'What'll they do to Topaz Zero?'

CSM Kila stumbled up to them before Dave could answer.

'I'll tell you what they'll do to Topaz Zero!' They waited while he tried to catch his breath.

'I s'pose they'll kill him,' said Streaky.

'Oh, they'll kill him,' agreed Kila. 'And they'll put it online for everyone to see. So they'll make sure they behead him or skin him alive or disembowel him or something really entertaining.'

There was a silence. It was broken by the distant throb of helicopters.

Boss Weeks, who was further around the hillside, stooped by a bush.

'Here too! Another nest.' He held up a sandal. The sole was worn away. 'They even made a path…'

He ordered 2 Section to accompany him and they stumbled off, scrambling on loose rocks, hanging onto boulders, swearing at the bushes as they tried to follow the path the insurgents had made. Dave thought how quickly and stealthily the Taliban hiding there must have moved along these paths. It was easy to dismiss them as primitive but their thin brown bodies were lightly clothed and burdened only by a weapon, which made them the fittest fighting force for the terrain.

The voices of 2 Section grew faint. On the radio the boss said: 'There's so many paths it's like a giant wasp's nest. They must have been swarming here.'

The Apaches were close now. They flew low and began hunting over the hillside. Dave watched with a sense of hopelessness.