Andy McNab - Recoil

I looked back at Crucial and the boys. Shoulders slumped, heads down, none of them came higher than his waist. Crucial had to reach down to prod them in the chest, shove them into the mud, or scream into their faces.

'That's a bit premature, mate. Let's get out of here first, then start flapping about everything else, yeah?'

Sam still didn't want to see what was going on just a couple of metres behind us. He knew I didn't like what I saw. 'That's the only way, God forgive us. Brutalize them, dehumanize them, terrify them. It's like throwing a switch to repro-gramme their brains to kill. We've worked so hard to break that response, Nick. We were making progress with this lot. But now? We're switching them back on.'

I watched Crucial do his stuff. Sunday was reacting a lot quicker than the other kids, even though he still had the rope round his leg.

'You know the worst part, Nick? These kids know what's happening to them, but they can't help themselves any more. It scares the hell out of them.'

'Better than dead. It just means you're going to have to work a bit harder later, that's all, mate. It'll give you something to do during your retirement.'

'What about you, Nick?' He still faced the other way. 'Are you with us yet?'

'There's no time for that waffle, mate. I'm done thinking for the time being.' That wasn't true: I was thinking, but it wasn't about that. 'Are we going to get back to the strip? You going to be able to get us there?'

'Sure. We get across the river and head east. Once we're across the open country, where we had that contact, I know where to pick up the track.' He turned to me and held out a hand. 'You still got the sat nav?'

'Sort of.' I pulled it out, and had an idea. 'Standish still got his sat phone?'

Sam took one look at the cracked and waterlogged display, and chucked it in the mud.

'I guess so.'

'And you've got yours?'

'Aye.'

'Does he know Lex's number?'

'I suppose.'

'What about you?'

'I never needed it. I know his home number, that's it.'

'Well, we might have to give it a fucking ring, tell him what's happening.'

'He's not there, son. He's got five days' constant flying – strip to Kenya, Kenya to strip.'

'We need to get hold of him. He's got those twenty-three-millimetres on the back, hasn't he?'

Sam swung round. 'Standish is probably getting hold of him right now, organizing a pickup.'

'Maybe he's not. Maybe he's face down in the mud with a couple of holes me and Crucial have drilled into him. Maybe we'll pass his body on the way out of here. Anyway, fuck him. We have to get hold of Lex. What about Hendrika? You got the airfield number?'

I tried to think of the mass of sevens and fives I hadn't even been able to remember at the airport when I'd just written them down.

'I told you, never any need.'

'Crucial?'

'Same.'

'OK, give me the phone. I'll get the number.'

He pulled the Prudence-wrapped handset from his chest harness. I took it and ran, AK in hand, to Silky and Tim's tent to protect it from the rain when I used it.

The Tilley lamp still cast a faint glow. The fragmentation casualty was now lying beside Tim on his cot. Tim had wrapped his left arm round the bag of bones and was comforting him, like the kid's parents would have done a lifetime ago.

Silky stood with a bloodstained dressing in her hand. 'What's happening with the children?'

Tim knew. 'They're going to fight, aren't they?'

I nodded. Just the other side of the canvas, Crucial bellowed and bullied.

I pulled the second condom from the phone and powered it up. They both stared at me, desperate to know what was happening. 'I think we might be able to get some help.'

The phone sorted itself out and I took off the caller ID, then punched in the numbers. I checked my kangaroo. It said just after three.

That meant it would be just after four in Hereford. The old fucker would be home, and he'd be fast asleep.

It rang and rang, but eventually I got a sleepy 'What?'

'It's Nick – Nick Stone. I need your help, mate. You got Lex's sat phone number? Or Hendrika's – you know, the one you gave me?'

He was wide awake now. 'I told you, we're quits. I don't want anything-'

'Wait, Dave, wait. There's people in the shit here. Women. Kids…' I couldn't waste time or battery explaining; I hoped my tone would tell him all he needed to know. 'I'm with Sam. It's life and death.'

'Quits, I said. Fuck off.'

'Listen, I'm sorry about what happened. I was angry, and I'm sorry. But I've got people here who are going to be dead soon unless you help. Somebody's kids, somebody's grandchildren, for fuck's sake.' I was trying desperately to think of a hook to get him beyond his anger. 'I've got a kid here with RPG fragmentation, Dave. We need help…' I shoved the phone near the boy, who didn't let me down. Especially once Tim had squeezed his damaged arm.

I walked away slowly, so the whining stayed in the background. 'I've got nine kids here, mate. I don't want them on my conscience. I'm sure you don't want them on yours…'

There was a pause. I could almost hear his fingers tapping the calculator as he worked out a price per head for the rescue. But he surprised me. 'I'll get you the number.'

It was going to take him ages to pull himself out of bed and make his way down to his office. 'I'll call back in ten, OK?'

I closed down and hit the 'numbers called' register. There was only one. I hit it.

Engaged. Shit, he was still alive. He was phoning Lex, had to be.

I called to Silky: 'Go next door. There's paper on the floor, and crayons. I need some quick. Here-' I threw her the torch.

I tried Standish again, but he was still engaged.

Tim looked at me while he rocked the bag of bones that lay alongside him. He mumbled to the boy, trying to comfort him and apologize to him at the same time.

Silky ran back in with two torn sheets of paper and a crayon.

I took the torch from her and put it into my mouth, then dropped to my knees. As I called Hereford again, I looked at Sunday's drawings. They showed exactly what Crucial and Sam had said they would. Matchstick men; blood, death, weapons. And after this drama, the rest of them out there would be doing more of the same. But at least they'd have the chance to draw, instead of being face down in the mud.

Crazy Dave answered. 'I've got his Iridium.'

I crayoned down the number. My saliva dribbled down the torch on to the page. I took it out of my mouth as soon as I'd finished. 'Dave. I'm sorry, mate. Thank you.'

'Yeah, yeah, right.' He closed down.

I hit Lex's number straight away.

Within three rings, he was yelling down the line over the engine drone I knew so well. 'What you want now? I told you – first light – I can't do anything until first light. I'm over two and a half hours away, man.'

'Lex, it's Nick – Nick Stone. Sam's mate.'

'Hey, you survived – good shit, man.' It was almost like two old friends reunited after years apart. 'Miles made it too. He's on his way to the strip. He wants me to attack the mine and wipe out those fucking animals, then pick him up at the strip. We'll wait for you, man. How long you-'

'Stop. Whatever he said is bollocks. Do not attack the mine, repeat, do not attack. Sam, Crucial, me – we're still alive. We're still at the mine. Standish has fucked off and left us to it.'

'Bateman and Tooley?'

'Dead. Standish killed Bateman when he tried to stop him running. We've also got two Mercy Flight people here, and nine kids. None of the patrol's left. We're in the shit, Lex. We got two stretcher cases and-'

Lex didn't want to know all the waffle. 'He killed Bateman and left you?'

'Shot him down, then did a runner.'