Chapter Two

They were being dragged across some little compound when she spotted it- that red jeep that seemed to be following them around like a bad smell. It came racing through the gates, tyres squealing in protest. The momentary distraction meant that she didn't realise Adewole was being pulled in a different direction to the rest of them before he was already out of reach. She went to take a step towards him, calling out to him but the feeling of a gun being shoved in to her back stopped her in her tracks.

The sound of the metal door of the cell slamming shut behind them as she was pushed through the doorway behind Maisie, Rab and Kingy had a horrible finality to it. Her stomach churned and she tried to remind herself to breathe and stay calm enough to think. The sound of screaming coming from the other side of the door did little to help her clear her mind. "What's going on Kingy?" She asked, walking towards him, stretching up onto her toes so she could peer through the tiny little window.

"Adewole." Kingy answered, his voice grim.

The sound of gunshots made her duck for cover automatically. She stood back up and peered over Kingy's shoulder, almost afraid to look. Adewole stood a few meters in front of them, being handcuffed to a wooden post and surrounded by rebel fighters.

"It looks like the older ones are conferring… I'm not so sure they'll be reasonable." Kingy commented quietly.

Georgie stood rooted to the spot beside him. She didn't want to see what was inevitably about to happen, but somehow found herself unable to tear her eyes away either. It was the sound of Adewole's anguished cries that eventually broke her. She turned away, unable to bear it any more and wishing desperately she had something to block out the sound with. It was just as haunting as watching Elvis fall from that building.

Only this time it was all her fault.


He was hunched over the map in the ops room with the Nigerian captain, trying to work out what the bloody hell had happened.

"The abandoned vehicle was found here."

"Miles away from where they were supposed to be." Charles sighed. "From there they could have been taken anywhere… what the bloody hell were they doing?'

The nigerian captain gave him a smile of understanding. "More troops arrive at first light. Undercover operatives will be out checking possible locations. We will get them back."

"They're not known for their mercy, are they?" He finally said it out loud, the nagging thought at the back of his mind.

"We will do all we can to secure their release." The other captain promised.

"If anything happens to them…" His voice faltered, suddenly overcome by the thought of it. "I'll never forgive myself."

He jumped out of his skin as the door to the ops room was flung open. He stood staring at the woman in front of him for a moment as she glared at him.

"What the fuck were your men doing there?" She snapped. "You bunch of idiots just blew a three month undercover operation and put everyone's lives at risk."

"What are you doing here?" He looked her up and down, wondering for a second how she'd even managed to get in there.

She shook her head. "Maybe you'd like to tell me why you've fucked up a three month special forces operation."

He stared at her blankly. He didn't have an answer for that- they shouldn't have been there and everyone knew it. "I don't know what they were doing there." He answered weakly in the end, when he realised she was still waiting for an answer.

"Three fucking months we've been watching them!" She hissed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You lot are fucking unbelievable."

"You need to be part of the solution, not another problem." Charles shot back at her. He was feeling stupid enough as it was without having someone point it out to him. Why had he let them go?

"I am the solution, you're the bloody problem." She shot back.

"Well good, you go ahead and be the solution." He slammed his hands down on the table in frustration. "Why didn't you say you were undercover?"

She took a step back, shaking her head. "I don't know if you're aware, but undercover doesn't work that well if you walk around advertising that's what you're doing. Kind of defeats the object. Did you think I was here on bloody holiday?"

"Captain Ogoucho, I don't believe you two have met." Charles nodded in the direction of his nigerian counterpart. "Captain Dawes, Special Forces."

She took a breath, nodded a greeting and straightened up. "We have eyes on, they're alive. For now anyway… but this situation is fluid."

"Well, we need to alert Whitehall." Charles said quickly.

She braced her arms on the edge of the table, shaking her head as though he'd made the most ridiculous suggestion. "You fucking moron. The only thing we have on our side right now is surprise. We're going to do this my way, unless you want to explain to their families when they unload the coffins at Brize Norton."

Charles glared at her but bit his tongue. He couldn't remember the last time someone had the nerve to talk to him like that. She was right though, as much as he hated to admit it.

She took it as an invitation to continue, though he was beginning to suspect she would've carried on regardless of what he'd said. "Right now they're going to think they've got twenty four, maybe forty eight hours before we manage to locate them. We need to act fast, before they kill them. Okay."

He nodded in agreement.

"If you could try not to massively fuck it all up this time then that would be great." She shot back.

He was about to argue with her when she held a hand up to silence him, her finger going to her earpiece to listen to what was being said.

"Zero Alpha this is One Alpha. We've got some big boys turning up here Boss." Spanner's voice came through in her ear.

"Zero Alpha, roger that. Out." She answered, turning her attention back to the map in front of them. "Right then…Bones, get your ass in here!"


Kingy sprung into action the second the door to the cell swung open, putting himself between their captors and them. "We're British Army. We need you to release us immediately." His voice was calm and level, as though this was an everyday situation for him.

It didn't have the desired effect and she found herself taking a step forwards to stand beside him as weapons were drawn and aimed in their direction. "We're medics, here to help your people."

"You're not welcome here." One of them shot back at her.

"We're not here to cause you any harm." Kingry tried again. "My family is from Nigeria."

They exchanged a look that Georgie couldn't quite work out what it meant before the leader spoke again. "Muslim?"

"British Army." Kingy breathed.

"The British Army is not a religion."

"I'm Muslim and I'm British Army." Rab seemed to have suddenly regained his voice again, but before Georgie could tell him to shut it one of the rebels took a swing at Kingy that sent him flying backwards.

"What are you-" She took a step towards them before she thought, and they grabbed her by the arms dragging her out of the cell and slamming the door shut behind her. She passed Adowole, still tied in the middle of the compound as they dragged her across to the other side. His face was bloody and bruised but she said a silent prayer of thanks that he was still alive at least.

She stumbled as they shoved her through the doorway of another cell almost identical to the one she'd just come from, except for a small stained mattress lying on the floor in the middle. Her stomach rolled with the realisation she was trapped and alone.

She waited, crouched behind the door for what she knew was coming. She hadn't got anything she could use to defend herself and deep down she knew she wasn't going to stand a chance trying to fight them off alone, particularly if there was more than one of them. Her mind refused to consider the alternative though. The sound of the heavy metal door being unlocked sent a shiver up her spine as she braced herself, listening to the sound of heavy footsteps as they came closer.

He walked in, stopping for a moment to look back out of the small window in the door and she seized her opportunity. "Don't even think about it." She hissed, rushing at him.

"Hey, hey… it's me. Peanut." He caught her by the arm, protecting himself from the incoming attack. As he pulled of his cap and sunglasses with the other hand she realised she knew the man standing in front of her.

"Oh thank god." She breathed, throwing her arms around his neck. Her legs were trembling from the adrenaline.

"I'm undercover." He explained, his voice hushed. "Drug dealer from Lagos. I saw you with our boss in the village, I was in the jeep."

"Your boss? He seems like a bit of a dickhead."

The faintest trace of a smile crossed his lips. "Not him. Her…. and she's the best dickhead special forces have got to offer at the minute so consider yourself lucky. They both are actually."

"Get us out of here Peanut." She pleaded.

"We'll give it a go." He nodded. "Have you still got your watch?"

She nodded and he held her wrist up, checking the time with his own.

"17.00hrs, keep everyone away from that back wall okay? Because someone's going to be putting a massive hole in it."

"Okay." She nodded.

He paused. "And in the meantime, you might want to struggle a bit."

It took a moment for her to realise what he was saying. "Got it." She nodded. "Get off me!" She shouted, making sure it was loud enough for everyone outside to hear.


The rest of two section were gathered around the table in the ops room, watching as they were given instructions using a rather hastily drawn map of the compound their friends were being held in. "The compound, heavily guarded 24/7." Dawes explained. "The cell, located at the south east corner of the compound 100m from the main gates. One of my guys will launch a diversionary attack with help from Nigerian SF at the main gates. We blast through the wall while they're all nice and busy at the front gates, extract and away. Before they even know we're there. Got it?"

"Piece of cake." Fingers joked. He stopped as Bones glared at him from his position beside Molly.

"If you think it's going to be easy then I suggest you get your head out of your ass and start paying attention." She snapped. "Any questions?" She looked around at them all.

"No." Everyone answered.

"Good." She nodded. "Nobody let me down."

The majority of the journey towards the compound was spent in a tense silence. He could practically feel the nerves radiating off two section. Charles found himself studying the Special Forces Captain sitting opposite him, until she glanced in his direction and met his eye. Then he felt like he had to say something. "Have you worked with Nigerian SF before?" He couldn't help but notice how much she'd changed since they'd been at Sandhurst.

"Yeah." She nodded. " I just hope you useless bastards can keep up."

He rolled his eyes, the conversation coming to a rather abrupt end.

As much as he wanted to hate her, she was bloody good at her job and he couldn't deny it. They all watched silently as she set the explosives up on the wall carefully, silently ordering everyone in to their positions as her and Bones finished making their preparations.

"Hello, Zero Alpha. This is One Alpha." The voice came through the radio.

"Hello One Alpha, this is Zero Alpha. On the start line." She answered him quietly. "Launch phase one."

The seconds seemed to drag on for an eternity as they stood pressed up against the wall at the back of the compound waiting for the go ahead.

"All call signs, this is One Alpha. Launching phase one." He held his breath as he heard it come through the radio.

The gunshots and the screams echoed around the compound. Even though they'd known they were coming everyone still flinched at the sound. From all the shots he could hear flying around he had to wonder quite how many men she'd got out the front there, surely they couldn't keep them distracted for long at all?

'Breech." She called, the explosion that followed a few seconds later was deafening.

"Go, go, go." He ordered, blinking to try and clear his vision from all the dust. They piled into the cell through the hole they'd just created. "Richards, lets go." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out. Brains followed, grabbing Kingy and he saw Fingers grab hold of Rab and push him towards the exit.

"Lane, move!" Dawes shouted, grabbing the medic by the arm.

"We've got to get Adewole!" Georgie argued, heading towards the door to look and see if she could see him.

"Fucking move. Now." Dawes snapped.

"Once I know you're not going to leave him!"

"Our job was to extract you four fucking idiots which is exactly what we're doing. Now either get in the truck or I'll put you there myself." She threatened, grabbing her roughly by her collar and hauling her out of there before she could try and argue any more.


If she hadn't been so angry they'd blown her entire operation, the looks of complete and utter shock on Two Section's face probably would've been enough to make her laugh. The full force of what could've happened to them all appeared to have kicked in at some point on the way home. Served them bloody right too as far as she was concerned.

"How are you doing Lane?" Captain James twisted around in his seat at the front to look at her. "Richards, Kalil?'

Her sunglasses disguised the way she rolled her eyes at him thankfully.

"Fine boss." Richards answered, Kalil nodding in agreement.

She couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer, turning to look at Lane who was sitting beside her. "Skin of your teeth. Skin of your teeth we didn't need those body bags." She commented. Bones nodded in agreement. He was looking at two section with thinly disguised disgust.

"Textbook extraction… I love it!" Fingers could barely sit still.

"Yeah but Adewole isn't-" Georgie started.

"I can guarantee he's not thanking you right now." Molly cut in. "Blaming you, yeah. Thanking you, no."

"Alright, you've made your point." Georgie cried.

Molly opened her mouth to speak again and then changed her mind. Not that she was done. They'd completely screwed her whole operation up and she was more than ready to give them a bollocking for it, just maybe not when they were all going to be cramped in the back of a truck together for a long period of time.


She'd been doing quite well at keeping her mouth shut, something the Brigadier always said she'd never learned how to do, up until that stupid bloody debrief Captain James had insisted they go to. She'd been stood in the corner, leaning against a table with Bones, Spanner and Peanut counting down the seconds until they could get out of there and get back home. The one upside to their undercover going down the toilet was that she'd get to head back to civilization for a bit. But then Captain James had opened his mouth and she just hadn't been able to stop herself.

"Well done guys, each and every one of you played a part." Captain James started. "Kingy, Lane, Richards and Rab- you'll all need a psych session when we get back to Lagos. Right now, scoff and an early night. We're out of here and back to the barracks in Lagos at first light. Any questions?"

"No Boss."

"I'm proud of all of you, well done." He continued.

It was the sight of them all applauding themselves that broke her in the end. "What the fuck are you lot clapping for?" She snapped, straightening up. "We have achieved precisely nothing here, in fact worse than nothing. That Nigerian medic won't be cheering right now."

Lane turned around to glare at her. "We never should have left him there in the first place."

"No." Molly answered through gritted teeth. "You never should've been there in the first place. This is what happens when you don't follow the fucking orders you're given! The chances are because of you those school girls are going to be moved away and our entire operation will have been for nothing. So how about you clap that you fucking morons?"

She could feel Captain James glaring at her as she turned on her heel and walked out, the rest of her team following closely behind her.


She'd followed Lane over to the med centre, because if she was honest, she was curious and was hoping to get five minutes to talk to her to test her theory. So she'd stood in the doorway, watching the medic as she'd checked over the young child soldier they'd caught a few days earlier. She'd probably been there ten minutes before Georgie looked up and saw her there.

"Don't they say lightning never strikes twice?" Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.

Georgie stared at her blankly.

"Ain't this your second venture in to being held hostage?" Molly elaborated.

The look on Georgie's face answered the question for her. "Yeah well, it was my fault." She sighed.

"Maybe." Molly nodded. "Or maybe it was Captain James'. Me and Bones were Sandburst with that cock… I've been trying to steer clear ever since."

"You were at Sandhurst?" Georgie stared at her.

"What can I say? They're letting all sorts in these days. Still, I bet he's really glad he chose to stay and play mother hen with you lot instead of manning up and actually doing something."

Georgie rolled her eyes. "Do you just hate everyone?"

"No." Molly shook her head. "I liked Elvis."

Georgie's face fell for a moment before she recovered herself. "Well you're not doing a very good job of filling his boots, are you? He would've made sure Adewole got out too. And he would've found the school girls."

"We were told to observe, gather intel." Molly sighed wearily. "It's all just politics."

"Well that's where you and Elvis differ. He would've done what needed to be done anyway."

Molly shook her head, turning to walk away. "Yeah well, unlike you Lane not all of us can keep breaking the rules time and time again and somehow keep hold of our jobs." She called back over her shoulder as she left.


It might've been the crack of dawn but the sound of shots being fired had everyone out of bed and in their kit in a matter of seconds. It was a reflex reaction after years spent living in a war zone. Kingy was already getting two section into position by the time Charles ran round the corner. His was vaguely aware that the Special Forces Captain was half a step behind him. They met the Nigerian Captain in the entrance on his way to find them.

"Rebels have surrounded the FOB. They say they won't attack if we give them back the prisoner." He explained quickly.

"The boy?" Charles asked in surprise.

He nodded. "He's the rebel leaders son."

"We can't just hand him over." Charles shook his head.

Molly paused for a second, waving her guys through as they went out to join two section. "What do you want to do then? Stay here and die?" She asked sarcastically. "What do you think is going to happen if they attack us in here? It's not going to be good is it?"

Charles stared at her as she jogged down the hallway to join the others outside.

She cursed under her breath as she crouched down beside Spanner. She wasn't quite sure what she'd been expecting, but it was definitely worse than she'd thought. "Well, we're okay while we're in here I suppose." She said slowly.

"Aye." Spanner agreed. "But the second we step out…"

"Or the second it gets dark." Peanut chipped in.

"So basically we're fucked." Bones shook his head.

She nodded, her expression grim. "This FOB has got a lot of weak points. We're not going to be able to defend them all." She turned and jogged back up the stairs before they could say anything else.

"Right then." She said, walking into the ops room. Captain James looked at her expectantly, Georgie standing beside him. "We've got two options. Try and fight our way out, or we can try and negotiate safe passage out of here."

"Or we could call for backup?" Charles suggested.

She shook her head at him, but thankfully the Nigerian Captain cut in before she could tell him what a stupid suggestion that was. "There are Boko Haram fighters between here and the government territory. They're not going to get through without significant loss of life."

"Which is why it's a fucking stupid idea and I didn't suggest it." Molly added.

"Well they're not going to attack us in here." Charles shook his head. "If they were going to do that they would've done it already."

"They want that kid back." Molly was beginning to wonder if he could possibly be as stupid as he seemed. "We can call air support in from Lagos but it'll take hours and they'll just scatter and come back… they want that kid back-"

"And we want Adewole back." Georgie butted in.

Molly glared at her. "Sorry, who died and made you Queen?"

"What?" Georgie stared at her.

"Well I was just wondering what made you think you'd got the right to tell me how this is going to go?" Molly demanded. "He might let you get away with doing what you want but that shit isn't going to fly with me."

Georgie looked thrown for a moment, then carried on regardless. "Let's offer to swap the kid for Adewole. Tell them we need safe passage to a government controlled area and then make the exchange. Everyone's happy."

Molly was quiet for a moment, thinking. Captain James nodded in agreement with what Lane had just said. The sound of more gunshots from outside echoed around the compound. "This is getting more and more volatile. Whatever we're doing we need to do it quickly." She sighed.

"The only thing that's important is that everyone makes it back to Lagos in one piece." Captain James commented.

She couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at him this time. "How very fucking profound."


The entire journey had been more or less silent, only punctuated by Lane's random reminders that they all needed to drink more. Most of them did it just to humour her, but everyone's minds were on the exchange that still had to take place. They might be almost back to government controlled land but it didn't mean they were out of danger by any means.

Molly's heart was pounding in her ears as the trucks rolled to a stop at the exchange point. It didn't matter how many times she did these things, she'd probably never get used to it. Not that she ever let it show on the outside, the last thing she needed was for any of them to realise she wasn't quite sure how this was going to go. Spanner gave her a nod before crawling under the truck to get into his position. Two section scurried around to get into their positions.

Molly reached up and grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt as he climbed down off the truck. Captain James walked around to meet her at the back, looking at her expectantly. "Well." She muttered. "Let's just see how this pans out then."

"Try to remember you and I are on the same side." He raised an eyebrow at her, although her expression was difficult to read behind her sunglasses.

"At least whatever happens it shouldn't take too long." She joked, pushing the boy forward so he was walking in front of her.

They stopped in front of the truck, her and Captain James on either side of the boy about 100m away from the rebel leader and Adewole. "Send my boy." He shouted across at them.

She pulled her sunglasses off, tucking them in to the front of her vest and exchanged a quick glance with Captain James. He almost missed the way her hand dipped into the front of her vest quickly before she slung her arm around the boys shoulder.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" She asked him. He turned to look at her and she moved her hand back a fraction to reveal the grenade tucked inside. "Because if anything happens I'm pulling the pin."

He shook his head slightly. "I'm coming. I take it the grenade is an insurance policy."

"Exactly." She nodded.

"Let's go then."

They started walking slowly. "God, I'd love to pull the pin right now just to see the look on your face." She laughed.

It was slow progress, but eventually they reached the middle. She stood there, gripping onto the back of the boys shirt and the grenade as Charles shouted at them to send Adewole. It was idealistic to think they were going to send him before they had their boy back, but worth a shot.

"Spanner?" She breathed into her radio. "Have you got this little fucker in your sights."

"Oh yes boss."

She slowly released her grip on the boy and gave him a little shove forwards, watching as he started walking towards his father. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Adewole stumbled towards them, being held up by a young girl. Molly kept her eyes glued to him as Charles called in Lane and Fingers to carry him back towards the truck. Something about it just didn't seem quite right.

It wasn't until Lane and Fingers abandoned Adewole on the floor and ran back towards the girl that her stomach dropped and she realised what they should've seen coming. Lane's cry of "vest" as Fingers pinned the girls arms above her head spurred her into action, rushing towards them.

There was a hive of activity behind them, Brains and Rab rushing in to scoop Adewole up the floor, the rebel fighters all clearing away in anticipation of the blast.

"Just stay calm." Molly said, her voice low as she stood in front of them looking at the vest.

Captain James suddenly arrived by her side. "Right. Help will be at least two hours coming from Lagos."

Molly shook her head. "I'm going to have to neutralise it."

"No, no, no." Georgie said quickly. "You need equipment."

"It's unstable." Molly reasoned. "We can't risk it."

"You can't do it." Georgie shook her head.

Molly took a breath. "Captain James, I'm going to need you on the wire to Lagos. Direct line between me and you, I might have questions you're going to need to get the answers to."

Charles hesitated for a second then nodded in agreement. "Roger that." He called, already sprinting back towards the trucks.

There was a moment of silence before Georgie spoke. "What's your name?" She asked the girl.

"Grace."

"That's my mums name." Georgie smiled. "We're going to get you out of this and get you back to your family. I promise."

"I didn't want to do this, I-" the girl started.

"Will you all shut up and keep still!" Molly snapped.

"We know, we understand." Georgie carried on.

Molly held her breath and time seemed to stand still and she pulled the wire cutters from her vest and moved them slowly towards the green and white wire. The little beep that came as she cut the wire, the seconds ticking down on the clock, seemed to speed everything up again. "Get the vest off, get it off!" She shouted.

The seconds seemed to go by in the blink of an eye and last a lifetime simultaneously. She could hear them shouting behind her to get down, ready for the explosion that was coming in a matter of seconds as she ripped the vest over the girls head and threw it as far as she could manage.

They were sprinting back in the direction of the trucks, her hand gripping the back of Lane's vest and Fingers holding the girl. Her lungs burned as they ran in what felt like slow motion, and then the force of the explosion behind them knocked them clean off their feet. The four of them laid there for a second, almost afraid to move until they realised that by some small miracle they were actually okay.

"Everyone alright?" Captain James asked, holding out a hand to pull Molly and Georgie to their feet.

"It was a timer. Ten seconds." Molly muttered, dusting herself off. She bent down and picked up Georgie's gun. "Yours Lane." She passed it to her and then pushed past Charles to join the rest of her team standing by the truck.

"Well then, let's get back to Lagos shall we?" Charles suggested.

It wasn't until they got back to the barracks that Molly spoke again, grabbing Fingers by the elbow as he jumped down from the truck. "You're on by the way."

"Sorry?" He stared at her blankly.

"Selection. You're on when we get back." She said again.

The look that crossed his face was almost enough to make her smile as she turned and walked away.


The trip out to Slinky's was exactly the kind of relief they all needed after the events of the previous few days. It wasn't usually his kind of place, but he needed a beer or two after all that had happened and it was easier to make sure Two Section weren't heaping shame upon themselves if he was actually there.

It was alright for an hour or so, then he realised quite how bloody tired he was. That was when he'd spotted her, standing at the top of the stairs, looking down over everyone. He found himself wandering over to say hello.

"Are you on duty?" He asked, stopping beside her. Spanner and Peanut wandered off to chat to a couple of other guys to their left. Bones was off to the right, chatting up some nurses.

She nodded, gesturing at her uniform. "Said we'd ferry the guys back. You had enough?"

"You deserve a drink after today." He smiled.

She shrugged. "We will when our tour is over, not before then. You want a lift back?"

He shook its head. "It's alright. I'll wait for the bus."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Come on." She waved towards the exit the glanced back at Spanner. "Oi, you two. I'm just taking Captain James back, won't be long."

She was quiet for the first few minutes of the drive back to barracks, then curiosity got the better of her. "So then, you and Lane…." She glanced over at him.

"What?" The surprise was clear on his face and she felt the relief wash over her.

"Well I had kinda assumed you two were sleeping together, the way she talks to you." Molly shrugged. "Only explanation I could think of as to why you'd let her get away with half the crap she does."

He stared at her, mouth open, in disbelief as he tried to process what she'd just said.

"Oh come on." Molly laughed. "Don't try and bullshit me. I've seen the way you two keep looking at each other… if you're telling me it ain't happened yet then it's obviously going to."

He shook his head. "I just…I'm trying to look out for her, that's all. Y'know after everything with Elvis." He shifted uncomfortably as she parked the Land Rover up as they reached the barracks.

"If that's what you want to keep telling yourself mate. Still, she's probably better than that moody cow you married the first time." She shrugged. "No skin off my nose, I'm outta here tomorrow thank god."

He laughed quietly, climbing out. "Well thanks for the lift."

"That's it?" She laughed, shaking her head. "What about a thanks for saving half your section and defusing a bloody bomb?"

"Yeah well, that too." He smiled, leaning through the window. "See you around Dawes."

"I bloody hope not." She shook her head, sitting there watching for a moment as he walked away before she started the engine to head back to the bar.