Andy McNab - Recoil

Yin had taken two rounds, one in the shoulder, one in the back. There was a big exit wound in his chest. He was fighting it, his arms and head twitching, but his feet kicked less and less.

By the time I got to him, he was gulping his last few breaths.

I pulled at Yang's arm. 'We've got to go!'

I could see shapes beyond him, people bobbing up and down, confused, shouting, firing.

Rounds ripped through the foliage and stitched the ground near us. I had to kick him to get him moving. 'Let's go! Let's go!' I pulled him along as I started running, then let go and grabbed Silky again. He was a big boy: he could look after himself. She was a different story.

Silky stumbled and fell and her face hit the ground. Yang tore past us in blind panic. As I gripped her, blood leaked from her nostrils.

We plunged on, trying to catch up with Yang, who wasn't stopping for anyone. He was riding his own ghost train.

We skidded on the wet mush, stumbling over rocks and fallen branches, flailing to regain our footing. I tripped and jarred both knees on the edge of a rock. It felt like they were on fire. Rounds pinged off the trees all around us and buried themselves deep in the wood.

Silky pulled me up. My chest heaved as I gulped in oxygen.

I heard long, wild, automatic bursts behind us. Angry shouts echoed through the trees.

We got moving again. Fuck knows where Yang had got to. I didn't bother checking. It was distance we needed, not the state of play.

We crested the high ground and moved downhill, suddenly free of the nightmare behind. But, sure enough, there was another ahead.

As we scrambled downwards, the rush of water became almost deafening. Silky was struggling.

Then we both had to stop.

Our path was blocked by a red and muddy torrent. Was this the same river that had curved round the high ground, past the mine? Fuck it. Where it came from didn't matter. Getting across it did.

I tried to find a safe place to cross. I might as well not have bothered. If I'd doubted the strength of the current I only had to look at the chunks of uprooted tree that were surging downstream. Wherever I chose, it was going to be a major drama.

I looked along the riverbank for Yang, but there was no sign of him. We couldn't wait.

I yanked my vest from my trousers, then untied the bottoms of my OGs. The weight of trapped water in clothing can slow you down – then drown you.

'Silky, pull your shirt out. Hurry.'

She had collapsed into the foetal position, her arms wrapped round her legs. Blood dribbled from her nose on to her mud-covered cargoes. Just feet away the water crashed angrily against the rocks. She looked at the river, then at me. 'No, Nick – we won't make it.'

I wasn't listening. I'd seen her do laps of Lugano's lido. As soon as the boys came over the high ground she'd be in this river, with or without me.

I checked along the opposite bank, following the current to my left, trying to work out where we might end up. I could see downstream for about two hundred and fifty metres, then the river bent and disappeared into dead ground. The opposite bank was two or three feet above water level, with plenty of grab – foliage and tree roots exposed by the current as it carved away the red earth. I had to assume the worst: that there was a massive waterfall just after the bend, which meant we had two hundred and fifty metres in which to make our way across.

She stood, her head buried in her hands. She knew as well as I did that this was the only way out of here.

My chest harness came off and went into the river along with the AK and gollock. The weight would kill me and the gollock could cut me or get caught up on shit and drag me down. The sat nav went into my pocket; it was about to get the ultimate troop trial.

I held out my hand and we waded in together. I wasn't even thinking about any follow-up. There'd be fuck-all I could do about it anyway. Water sluiced over the top of rocks and there was no way of telling how deep it was.

I fought the current until it was up to my waist and Silky's chest. Then, with my next step, I was into fast-flowing water, tons of it, tearing at my legs, threatening to throw me off balance. I held her tight, whether to support myself or to help her, I didn't know, but no sooner had I lifted my other leg than the weight of the current whipped it away from under me and we were swept downstream.

Her hand was torn from mine.

We each had to fight our own battle now.

She stared at me, eyes wide with fear. Both of us kicked and thrashed to keep afloat and make some progress towards the opposite bank, but the surge was dragging me under.

I kicked back up to the surface, forcing myself to breathe in through my nose, only to choke as I took down yet more gritty water.

I got a glimpse of her, kicking and trying to keep her head up, but only for a moment, then the water took me under again. As I came up, fighting for air, I heard her somewhere in front of me.

'Nick! Nick! '

I looked, but saw nothing in the torrent.

I was dragged back down and inhaled more river, but this time, as I scrabbled my way to the surface, the current had carried me almost to the far bank. It wasn't dying, though. The river curved to the left there, and I was on the outside of the bend, where the force of the water was at its fiercest. An eddy caught me and threw me against the bank. I flung out my hands, trying to grasp at anything I could.

I forced my eyes open again but they stung too much. Thrashing around blindly, my left hand connected with something solid. I made a grab, but whatever it was gave way. The next thing I knew, my right arm had hooked into a root. The current swung me round and pressed me against the bank, and my feet touched the riverbed. I clung to the root and took a series of deep breaths. Downstream of me nothing moved except severed branches and debris caught in the flow.

'Silky! Silky! '

I struggled against the weight of water until I could reach out with my free hand and grab another root higher up the bank. I hauled myself up until only my legs were left in the water.

Suddenly I was lying on the bank, chest heaving. As soon as some strength returned to my limbs, I rolled on to all fours, then staggered to my feet.

I followed the bend in the river and more dead ground came into view with each step. Just a hundred metres on from the bend, a massive deadfall from my side of the bank had all but spanned the river.

At the far end of it Silky was clinging to a branch on the downstream side, just metres from safety.

I fought the urge to run straight to her. All she had to do was hang on. I moved back into the canopy, lying down about twenty metres short for one last look. The contact group might have patrolled this far or even used the tree to cross. It would be a natural point for them to check, in case we knew about it too.

It was a new fall, not a dead one, hit by the lightning. The trunk had been split and a metre of it was still sticking out of the ground on my side, its core clean and bright against the scorch-marks of the strike. I would have to swim the first five or so metres.

One last look, then I ran and dived into the water, hoping I'd make the five metres, or that the current would swing me into the trunk.

Arms milling like a lunatic, I kept pushing forward as the water took me. I banged into the trunk at its fracture point and held on, fighting the flood as it tried to take my legs with it. Gulping for air, I heaved myself up and climbed on to the trunk. No time to rest. I crawled as quickly as I could towards the far bank.

I grabbed a branch with both hands and pulled down with all my weight. I twisted and pulled, and finally it snapped away from the trunk. I didn't bother stripping it.