Here Comes The Cavalry!
Kinders and Abdul zig zagged across the rugged terrain followed closely by 2 Platoon with Cpt James and Qaseem at the rear. It took them through hills, rocky passes, down slopes, through trees. Every conceivable type of landscape and even at 3am it was hot.
The inky blackness was lightening up when they began their final descent. 'Hold up lads' commanded James as he and Qaseem ran past them to speak to Abdul and Kinders. Abdul dropped down on his belly and signalled for everyone to do the same. He then crawled forward and waved James/Qaseem/Kinders to follow him. They crawled to the edge of arocky platform area which looked out over the valley below. Abdul whispered 'the village buildings are at 2 o'clock and the lookout post is at 10 'clock. It is patrolled around the perimeter at hourly intervals and takes 15 minutes, that means that at 3.20am we have to make our way down into the valley and dig into the ditch behind the trees by 3.45am when the dawn breaks'. Cpt James nodded, looked at his watch and signalled to Qaseem/Kinders to be ready to go in precisely 5 minutes. Kinders crawled back to 2 Platoon and relayed the orders.
At precisely 3.20am James ordered 'Let's go lads and keep your heads down and your wits about you' They moved quickly down the slope keeping to the side of the path using trees for cover where they could. James saw Abdul signal that the ditch was in front of them. They all hit the ditch and concealed themselves as deep as they could behind the trees. Dawn started to break and the village was visible through the trees. Abdul moved closer to James. 'We don't know how many men are in the village, so we need to wait and observe before we make any moves'. 'Agreed' affirmed Cpt James. 'Get some water down you lads and some rations, it could be a long hot day'. James was desperate to get to the village and Molly. Waiting in the ditch he let his thoughts drift back to the last time he had seen Molly in Bath.
His stomach was churning in case she didn't turn up and when she walked into the restaurant his heart started beating so fast he was sure everyone could hear it. She looked so beautiful. Her hair tumbled down to her shoulders, framing her perfect face. Her smile was incredible, her eyes shining, her dress stunning. He wanted to run and sweep her up into his arms and kiss that perfect mouth. But he had to control his urges. He kissed her cheek and sat opposite her drinking in her eyes, nose, hair and those lovely kissable lips. When she said she couldn't wait for him to kiss her he almost leapt across the table. They had leaned in together and then the bloody waitress came between them to fill their glasses. He had told her he loved her and when she said it was 'rushing things' when he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and 'he didn't know her, only what he had seen on tour', his heart sunk and he went straight back at her ' it's chemistry'. She had smiled that heart melting smile and he was lost. He had felt so comfortable with her when they walked back to his parents house, it seemed so natural. He knew that he had found his perfect love, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The next two days had been incredible.
He was brought swiftly back to reality. A truck was leaving the village at breakneck speed heading in their direction. 'Keep your heads down' James shouted. 'Keep your heads down' screamed Kinders 'Weapons at the ready' James shouted. The truck careered past them rocking from side to side. Suddenly there was gunfire aiming at the truck coming from the opposite side of the hill to them. A mortar hit the ground in front of the truck causing it to swerve. The driver regained control ,put his foot down and jerked forward. 'What the fuck's happening Abdul' shouted James. 'We had Intell that two opposing Taliban factions were trying to take over the village. They must be fighting for the territory' he shouted back. 'And we're right in the fucking middle' James pushed his hands through his hair. And where's Molly in all this, he mind was running riot. Boom, the truck was hit square on by a second mortar and blown into pieces. 'Keep your heads down and don't come up, they don't know we're here. Let's keep it like that, while they blow themselves off the planet'. He crawled over to Abdul and Qaseem and trained his field glasses on the village. People were running everywhere, it was absolute chaos. And then he saw her. Molly was running to take cover in a building at 12'o clock. An insurgent followed her and pulled her into the building just as a mortar hit two other buildings.
'Eyes on, eyes on. Molly's in the building at 12 o'clock'. Just then another mortar slammed into the village, followed by another. 'Shit, shit, shit' James said. He buried his head in his hands, looked up and saw insurgents coming down from the hills running towards the village. There were around a dozen of them. He trained the field glasses on the hill opposite and saw that the mortar gun had been abandoned and the operators were in the group storming the village. 'Listen up lads, we're going to go in behind the insurgents as they get to the village' he looked through his glasses again and his heart sunk and he felt like he had been blown apart. The building Molly had run into was a pile of rubble. Qaseem and Abdul caught the look horror in his face as he passed the field glasses to Qaseem. Qaseem looked – 'Oh god no' Abdul grabbed the glasses. 'Lets go now Sir' he said to James. James was stunned. 'Captain James' Qaseem shouted at him. James shook himself 'Right lads, on 3, go' 2 Platoon, Kinders, James, Qaseem and Abdul ran towards the village. They reached the perimeter wall around the village. There was chaos inside, people screaming, shouting, gun fire. 'Take your positions and fire on my command' James screamed at the top of his voice to make himself heard. 'Rapid fire now'. The insurgents were taken completely by surprise and all 12 were taken out in a matter of minutes. 'Hold your fire' James shouted 'Hold your fire' shouted Kinders. 2 Platoon stopped firing. The silence was eery, the dust swirling round and whipping up into the air. 'We're going in and for fuck's sake be a 100% on your guard' he shouted 'Split up, left, middle and right. We'll cover your backs and follow you in'. 'Go'
2 Platoon ran through the village, checking the rubble of the buildings. A shot rang out narrowly missing Kinders. 'Sniper to your right, take cover' 'I've got eyes on' shouted Abdul. 'Take him out' James said. Abdul scored a direct hit and the sniper fell to the ground. More shots followed and 2 Platoon took cover behind the remains of a wall. All went quiet and as the dust cleared again they all saw her – Molly – hands on her head, gun to her temple, being pushed forward by a masked insurgent. 'Molly', Dangles and Fingers screamed out. 'Dawes' Captain James bit his lip and ran his fingers through his hair. 'Dawes, we're here, we're going to get you out' 'Wot took ya so long wankers' she shouted with fear in her voice. James and the others smiled briefly.