Authors: Christopher Sherlock
Their conversation was interrupted by a burst of machine-gun fire and a high-pitched scream. After that there was a deathly silence. Rayne gazed into the impenetrable darkness that surrounded them.
‘
Did you get all the planes?’
‘
Yes, and the runway. No one will use that place for weeks. The Russians actually retreated.’
‘
Moving around now is pretty suicidal. I got one of them further back.’
‘
Dammit, Rayne, we can’t sit this out, it’s over ten hours till it gets light. We have to get out of here.’
‘
OK. You can follow me and Sam back the way we came.’
Before he could say another word, gunfire erupted from the trees. They all dropped flat. Shaking, Rayne felt for Sam’s hand. She was crying, ‘We’re finished! We’re finished!’ He didn’t say anything.
‘
Rayne . . .’
It was Michael Strong’s voice, barely audible. Rayne left Sam and crawled over in the darkness to where he guessed Michael to be. The big man was covered with blood.
‘
I’ve let you down, Rayne. I wish I could have . . .’
Blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth. Rayne gripped his head in his hands.
‘
Michael, fight it! You’re not finished yet!’
‘
It’s the way I wanted to die.’
His eyes closed. Rayne felt for his pulse, but there was nothing. For Michael Strong, life was over.
He didn’t need to say anything to Sam. He crawled back to her, and for a moment they lay together on the cold ground, not speaking, not touching. All round him in the dark he could hear movement, the soft and stealthy rustle of the Russian troops slowly closing in on them. He put out a hand to touch Sam’s face, and looked into her eyes.
‘
They won’t be taking any prisoners, Sam.’
He pulled the pistol out of his waistband and removed the safety. He put the barrel of the pistol to her head.
‘
Forgive me?’
She kissed him on the lips. ‘Rayne, without you . . .’
The silence was suddenly shattered by the roar of an approaching vehicle. In seconds it was on the runway, headlights blazing, and even as Rayne’s finger faltered on the trigger it drew up beside them and an enormous black man leant out of the cab and bellowed.
‘
Get in! For God’s sake, get in!’
Tongogara! Rayne and Sam pulled themselves into the back of the jeep, and while Mnangagwa, smiling grimly, floored the accelerator pedal, Tongogara opened up with the machine-gun, raking the Russian troops before they had a chance to return fire.
Rayne felt faint. He had never been so close to death. He stared at Tongogara, who fired off another fusillade of shots and then sat down in the passenger seat. His deep voice said, ‘You were betrayed. The KGB knew about your operation.’
‘
How?’
‘
Do not ask questions, Captain Gallagher.’
Rayne was silent for a moment. Then he said, ‘I have another way out of here.’
Tongogara turned round to face him, his eyes flashing. ‘You live up to your reputation. Where is this way out?’
Rayne told him where the helicopter was waiting for them.
‘
That is good. But our only way to this helicopter is along the main road, and reinforcements will be coming fast.’ He reached down and picked up two Russian camouflage jackets from the floor of the cab. ‘Here. Maybe we can fool them.’ Then, Mnangagwa put a metal helmet on his head, as did Tongogara. Rayne had to admit that they looked pretty convincing.
Tongogara slapped Mnangagwa on the back. ‘If you see anyone coming, just keep going, and we’ll keep down.’
A set of lights glowed eerily ahead in the darkness. Rayne slammed another clip of ammunition into the Uzi and passed it to Sam. Tongogara pulled his own Uzi carbine onto his lap and Rayne drew out his pistol. They kept very quiet, each trying to work out what the vehicle ahead of them was. The closer they got, the more it looked like a road-block. Tongogara decided they had only one choice.
‘
Keep going right up to it, stop next to them. Don’t say a bloody word. When I whistle, open fire. And Mnangagwa, you must drive like mad to get us through.’
‘
And if they’ve got a machine-gun placement?’
‘
Don’t even think about it.’
Mnangagwa slowed down, his pulse quickening as he realised it
was
a road-block. One truck was parked across the road, another was at the side, facing him, with its engine running and its lights on full beam.
He aimed for the left-hand side of the road, where there was a gap between the truck and the roadside. A spotlight shone directly in his face as he pulled to a halt, and a man screamed at him in Russian. He raised his hand in a salute.
Tongogara got the impression that the road-block had only just been set up, so that their chances of getting through were better than he’d expected. The Russian yelled again and he tightened his grip round the Uzi. The spotlight and the lights of the truck would be his first hit. After that he’d fire wild. The Russian guard came up to the side and looked in. Evidently he was fooled by their disguise because he smiled and said something else in Russian.
Tongogara whipped up the Uzi. The bullets massacred the spotlight, and the lights of the truck a millisecond later. At the same moment Rayne and Sam started firing, while Mnangagwa accelerated forward, praying that there was enough room for him to make it past the trucks. Bullets ricocheted off the bodywork and he could hear screams of Russian invective behind him.
The side of the jeep scraped against the truck, producing a hideous shrieking sound, and Tongogara lobbed a grenade into the back of it as they went past - the explosion nearly knocked the jeep over. Rayne aimed the Uzi out of the back of the jeep. As he had expected, the second truck swung round and followed them. As the lights began to bear down on them, he carefully sighted the Uzi, then shouted for Mnangagwa to apply the brakes; the moment the other truck came nearer, he opened fire. He knocked out the lights with his second burst, then Mnangagwa accelerated again.
Flashes of gunfire erupted from their pursuers and Rayne lay flat to avoid being hit. Tongogara eased another grenade out of his waistband and pulled out the pin. Carefully he counted up to five and then lobbed it into the centre of the road. It exploded five seconds later in front of the truck, shattering the radiator, shrapnel hitting the driver in the face. The big truck skidded off the road and burst into flames.
Mnangagwa shouted above the roar of the engine, ‘How much further to the helicopter?’
‘
Another four kilometres. Just keep the lights on bright so I can see where we are.’
They thundered and bounced along the dirt road, terrified of every blind bend ahead. Rayne prayed silently that Lois had stayed put. If he’d gone, they were finished. The roadside became familiar and he gestured for Mnangagwa to slow down. ‘OK, we can get out along here.’
Mnangagwa aimed the jeep along a storm drainage ditch curving off the side of the road. He wanted it to be out of sight of any soldiers who might be pursuing them.
‘
Jump off!’
Mnangagwa screamed the command as the vehicle started to bounce around out of control. Rayne and Sam leaped out, followed by the others, - and the jeep smashed into rocks with a terrible sound of tearing metal.
They ran across the road and then dived into the bushes for cover. Rayne led the way, the thorn bushes tearing at him as he pushed his way deeper and deeper into the bush. They were just beginning to feel secure when there was an explosion in the distance. The jeep had gone up.
Tongogara looked grimly back at the flames. ‘Dammit. That’s told them exactly where we are.’
Heeding Tongogara’s words, Rayne moved faster up the slope. The moment the ground levelled off he headed to the left, towards the rocky outcrop where he hoped that Lois was still waiting for them with the helicopter. In the distance they could hear trucks drawing up, orders being yelled in Russian. Shots were fired in their direction.
As they got to the rocks, Rayne turned round. The veld where the truck had exploded was burning steadily, and fanned by the wind that had come up after the rain, the fire was advancing rapidly along the side of the road. Silhouetted against the flames he could see the shapes of soldiers, marching steadily towards them. More shots exploded against the rocks above them.
Now the flames danced round a big tree that stood about one hundred metres behind them. Its topmost branches caught fire, creating a bizarre firework display against the black horizon.
Rayne could hear the crackle of the wood as the tongues of flame devoured the entire tree. He stood transfixed until Tongogara tugged at his arm, urging him on.
He led them through the dark shadows that fell over the rocks, leaping from boulder to boulder towards the ridge bordering the clearing where he knew the helicopter to be. Mnangagwa and Tongogara kept pace easily, helping Sam whenever she fell.
Lois, sitting on a high rock, saw four figures emerge into the clearing below him and he raised his rifle ready to fire. One was a woman, the other three were men with automatic weapons. He waited, his finger on the trigger.
‘
I don’t know where the hell he is. I hope he’s all right.’
Lois recognised Rayne’s voice at once. ‘Rayne. Here!’
Rayne spun round and looked up to see a figure on the rock above him. He breathed an immense sigh of relief, and watched as Lois scrambled down from his perch and ran up to them.
‘
So where are the rest of the men?’ Lois looked round anxiously.
It was only then that the full extent of what had happened dawned on Rayne. ‘Someone tipped off the Russians,’ he said.
‘
Just you four?’ He couldn’t believe it. Rayne said nothing.
Sam looked back. To her horror she saw that the whole sky behind the ridge they had just descended was a blaze of fiery light, and all along the top of the ridge, black figures against the glow, were Russian soldiers.
‘
Move it! They’re coming right for us!’
She sprinted towards the helicopter as Lois jumped into the cockpit. While gunfire erupted all around them, Tongogara lifted her up and hoisted her in after him. Rayne stood his ground, firing the Uzi.
Tongogara shouted, ‘Get out of here!’ But Rayne, blazing away at the advancing troops, yelled, ‘Tell Lois to take off with Sam. We’ve got to pin down their fire!’
It was then that Tongogara moved up behind Rayne and hit him across the back of the skull with his rifle butt. Sam screamed out in horror - and then was silent as Tongogara carried the unconscious Rayne to the helicopter and bundled him inside the hold. He gestured to Lois. ‘Take off! Get the hell out!’
Again Sam screamed as she was carried upwards, away from Tongogara and Mnangagwa, who fired continuously into the men now sprinting through the flames towards them.
Sam stared down. Back to back, the two half-brothers fired into the ranks of the enemy. She saw them move apart, saw Tongogara hold up his rifle in a gesture of defiance as Mnangagwa desperately slapped another magazine into his weapon, and then they were together again, firing back to back, in a last heroic stand.
And then, almost simultaneously, Mnangagwa tumbled forwards and his brother staggered and fell, clutching at his chest. Sam screamed out, and Tongogara rose up again, staring into the darkness.
‘
Live for me.’
Did she hear the words, or did she only imagine them? The noise of the helicopter blades roared in her ears as she saw the body of the black man rise up on a burst of machine-gun fire, then fall for ever from her sight.