Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017
13:20 GMT+7 (06:20 GMT May 3rd)
Mindy and Chloe
They made good time on the entirely downhill leg.
Chloe was dreading the trip back up to the hilltop. However, they had a mission. Two kilometres of trekking through the mangrove forests which covered the hill had been tiring, both mentally and physically. They were now just a few hundred yards from the enemy. There were men there who would not think twice about killing them all. Somewhere ahead, their friend, Craig Lawrence, was languishing in hell. The two girls lay in the mud, deep enough in the heavy foliage to prevent them being sighted. Both had binoculars to their eyes as they scanned the area for trouble. Ahead of them, they could see the main gates to the camp compound. They were substantial and would take explosives to breach – not an option. The guard towers were a worry, but not one which could not be overcome. The men on guard duty appeared to be bored and none appeared to be concentrating on their task very much – that was good; traditionally, the better troops were on duty during the day, leaving the low-level trash to guard the facility during the antisocial night-time hours.
Mindy concentrated on what was beyond the main gate. The main fence-line was run along the top of a six-foot-high berm of dirt with an eight-foot base. The fence was chain-link and barbed wire with loops of razor wire atop the twelve-foot fence. That was the outer fence. Ten feet inside that fence, another ran parallel. That fence was more modern and was formed from chain-links with anti-tremor sensors and coils of razor wire along the top and both sides of the base. The land in between was bare earth which had been ploughed. There were no signs, but Mindy was certain that the no-mans-land was mined. Chloe had earlier identified attack dogs being taken on patrol along the outside of the fence-line. After an hour of watching, they observed a changing of the guard and eight men with eight dogs were rotated out with an identical number taking up position around the fence-line.
All the information gleaned was dutifully reported back to the hilltop over their encrypted communications equipment.
..._...
Neither girl spoke as they silently moved down the east side of the camp compound.
The thick undergrowth allowed them to move without being seen, but there was a large clear gap of about twenty feet between the treeline and the fenceline. It would be very difficult to get close during daylight. Both girls scanned the fence-line with their binoculars.
"Bingo!" Mindy hissed as she laid eyes on a row of eight bamboo cages which were raised up on a dirt mound about six feet off the ground.
The cages were strategically placed so that they were visible from a large part of the camp, as well as allowing those incarcerated to see the outside, beyond the fence-line. Mindy shook her head at the cruelty of it. The cages were barely big enough for a man to exist in. Mindy had focussed on the second cage from the southern end where she could make out a shape which appeared to be the only occupant of the eight cages. The shape moved slightly, but not enough for Mindy to be able to see who it was.
Then the shape chose to turn around in its cage, and despite the dirt, Mindy was able to recognise Commander Craig Lawrence, Royal Navy.
Wednesday, May 3rd
20:40 GMT+7 (13:40 GMT May 3rd)
The Hilltop
With intense relief, Dave and Joshua saw the two girls emerge from the foliage.
Mindy and Chloe were almost flattened as they were hugged so tightly that both girls had to squeal as they could not speak. They were released, and both were allowed to slump down onto the ground where Jennifer passed each of them some water to drink. After downing a litre each, they exchanged their sports bras and T-shirts for clean dry ones. The sight of two topless girls in a jungle would normally have elicited some form of a joke from Joshua, but he was in no mood for sexual frivolities of any kind. Finally, the two girls settled down for the debrief.
"They have a single PT-76 light tank, four BTR-60 APCs, and several trucks and jeeps," Chloe reported. "The soldiers are armed with Chinese Type 56-2 assault rifles. We've seen two Mil Mi-17 helicopters orbiting the area. We counted over fifty soldiers, but it's difficult to not count the same guy twice."
"And . . .?" Dave prompted.
"He's there," Mindy grinned. "And he is alive."
Wednesday, May 3rd
23:45 GMT+7 (16:45 GMT May 3rd)
The Camp
The main gate was just forty yards away from them.
The hike down the hill had been relatively easy – Chloe and Mindy had been annoyed to be doing the descent again, but they reasoned that they would never be climbing that damn hill ever again. Just twenty minutes before they had reached the edge of the jungle, the heavens had opened, and a tropical downpour had ensued. The heavier parts of the jungle had protected them from the worst of it until they had reached the lighter overhead canopy. While the rain was annoying, and it had soaked them to the skin very quickly, the sound of the raindrops on the trees and the ground hid any sound of movement which they made. It would also make closing the fence-line and breaching it, if not exactly easy, much less hard. Mindy, Dave, and Jennifer kept watch all around in case of a wary guard. The closest watchtower was just forty yards distant. As Chloe and Joshua closed the fence-line, Mindy nocked her bow and she brought it up, lining the arrow up on the guard who was vainly attempting to see through the rain. Dave had his eyes glued to a set of NVGs and at just the right moment, he hissed at Mindy.
"Loose!"
With barely a whimper, the guard sagged to the floor of his watchtower. Beside Mindy, Chloe fired off a special arrow which struck one of the four support poles of the watchtower with enough force to embed the tip firmly into the wood. Attached to the arrowhead, a silent pulley was fitted and threaded with a thin cord which stretched back into the jungle. Joshua heaved down on the line which was attached high up in a tree and he prevented the cord from snagging on the razor wire atop the fence-line. With practiced ease, Joshua clipped on a thicker cable and he hauled it through the pulley and back to be secured to the tree and pulled taught. Three minutes later, five lightweight carriers were attached to the cable. As Dave continued watching, Chloe and Mindy climbed the tree, and each grabbed the first pair of carriers before pushing themselves off and Mindy was the first to soar over the razor-wire and reach the safety of the watchtower. Chloe was close behind and Mindy yanked her partner over the safety rail of the watchtower and they both confirmed that nobody had seen their entry into the camp compound. Joshua followed with Jennifer close behind. Finally, Dave completed the sixty-yard slide and he joined his colleagues.
For a brief moment, all five studied the compound beneath them. All appeared still, apart from the rain which pounded down into the mud. They had two hours until the guard was changed – by then, they all hoped to be well away from the camp. Quickly, they descended into the main compound and split into two groups. Chloe and Joshua advanced together, Chloe ahead with Joshua covering. Mindy led her group with Jennifer behind and Dave as tail-end-Charlie. It was dark. It was wet. It was miserable. But they had a mission and they moved through the mud, their wet trousers gaining a layer of mud which extended up to their knees. Mindy and Chloe both had their bows raised, an arrow nocked. Dave, Jennifer, and Joshua had their MPX-SD submachine guns ready. Five sets of eyes scanned for movement of any kind, finding none as they advanced deeper into the camp. Then, out of nowhere, they heard a sound.
Mindy looked up to see a door opening in a hut above them, just a few feet away.
Thursday, May 4th
00:18 GMT+7 (17:18 GMT May 3rd)
The Camp
All five dived into the mud and quickly rolled out of sight.
Mindy peered around the balustrade which ringed the walkway outside the doorway and she caught sight of an officer lighting a cigarette and staring out into the rain.
"Fucking asshole!" Mindy breathed as she slunk back into the muddy darkness beneath the hut.
Above them, they could see and hear the man's boots as he walked backwards and forwards, pausing momentarily before stepping off and walking again. The ancient wooden boards creaked with every step, freaking Mindy out. Finally, the asshole finished his nicotine infusion and he retired back into the hut.
Mindy waved a hand and they all moved forwards as one, eyes in every direction.
..._...
They were approaching the very centre of the camp compound which was where they would expect to find more guards, especially as they closed the prison cages.
Chloe saw him first, and she reacted instantly, releasing her arrow at the guard as he came around the central hut. The guard was taken off his feet by the force of the arrow ripping into his chest and tearing his heart apart. Chloe ran ahead to confirm that the man was indeed dead, only to find out that the guard was not alone, it appeared, as a giant Doberman appeared at the corner of the central hut. The dog made no sound, obviously having had its vocal cords removed to make it a better killer in the dark. The canine ran at Chloe who brought up her right arm to fend off the dog only for Dave to intercept the Dobermann as it leapt for Chloe's throat, wrapping his powerful arms around the body and taking it to the ground, splashing down into a large puddle. With a crunch of bones, Dave wrenched the animal's head around, snapping the neck and killing it instantly. Chloe grimaced as Dave pulled her back to her feet. The team split up into their two groups and went their separate ways. Dave, Mindy, and Jennifer would go for the commander while Chloe and Joshua would go ahead and ensure that they could make their escape from the southern end of the camp compound.
For the moment, nobody was aware of their presence in the camp, nor that two guards and a dog were already dead.
Dave, Mindy, and Jennifer
00:42 GMT+7 (17:42 GMT May 3rd)
Mindy crept up the wooden steps which led up to the prison cages, praying that none would creak.
In her hand, she held her combat knife, raised and ready to strike. Jennifer followed Mindy from below with her MPX-SD raised and ready to drop the guard should he turn towards Mindy before she was in position. Dave kept watch on the nearest buildings for anybody approaching. Mindy was using every skill she had to keep her approach silent. She missed her combat suit, but it would not have been suitable for the jungle – something to discuss with Fox. The guard was lounging beside the second cage in, attempting in vain to hide from the rain, four away from the commander's accommodation. Mindy sprang forward like a lioness attacking a dozing gazelle. The guard never knew what hit him as the blade was expertly plunged into the man's heart while Mindy's gloved hand over his mouth prevented the man from screaming out. Once the man was dead, Mindy lowered the body to the wooden walkway and she ran along the walkway, closely followed by Jennifer who bounded up to join Mindy.
They both reached the second-last cage at the same time and Jennifer handed over a set of compact bolt croppers. Mindy made short work of the chain securing the cage, passing the bolt croppers back to Jennifer. The shape inside the cage was not moving – well, it was almost one in the morning. Mindy got onto her hands and knees, moving inside the cage, eternally thankful that she was not a resident and being forced to exist in such a squalid existence. She could smell the urine. She could smell the shit. She could smell the sweat. She could smell the human misery.
"Craig!" she hissed.
"Craig!" she hissed again.
There was a groan from the sleeping man.
"Move your ass, commander!" Mindy growled as loudly as she dared.
The commander's eyes snapped open and he pushed himself away from Mindy, his eyes full of fear.
"Craig – it's me, Mindy."
"Mindy?"
"I'm here to get you to safety," Mindy hissed, and she could see the commander struggling to rationalise the sudden changes in his life.
"Can you move?" Jennifer demanded.
"Who?"
"It's Jen – a doc," Mindy explained.
"I can move," Commander Craig Lawrence said as he gathered his wits.
"Here," Jennifer said as she took the commander's left arm and she cleaned off a small part of his filthy bicep before stabbing him with a small needle. "That should give you an edge for the next twelve hours – not normally what I might prescribe, but under the circumstances..."
"What is it?" Craig asked.
"Let's just say it's equivalent to you drinking about five gallons of Red Bull in one."
"Isn't that deadly?" Mindy asked.
"That's why I don't normally prescribe it," Jennifer responded dryly.
"Oh," Mindy acknowledged. "Let's get the fuck outta here!"
"Damn right!" Craig said as he forced himself to his feet on the walkway with Jennifer's help. "Not stood up in almost a week."
Chloe and Joshua
00:48 GMT+7 (17:48 GMT May 3rd)
It took them only a few minutes to reach the barracks buildings.
The garrison appeared to be in bed and fast asleep, although there were guards out patrolling the fence-line beyond the parade ground. They were headed for the back gate to the facility which was not used but did not appear to be mined and should just need some bolt croppers to cut the chains – oh, and the deaths of four guards to clear the way for their escape back into the jungle. There was a single watchtower which was positioned in the corner of the compound. It had a wide-angled view over the entire southern end of the camp which meant approaching it would not be easy. Two guards patrolled the gate itself while another walked a random patrol around the parade ground. They waited in the shadows until they received a curt command in their headsets.
"Extract!"
Chloe moved first, sending an arrow to drop the guard in the watchtower – he dropped out of sight, very dead. Joshua made for the single guard who was just passing by twenty feet away. The veteran vigilante threw one of his deadly Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives at the guard who died with the blade embedded in his throat. With careful movements, Joshua pulled the dead body underneath the closest hut before making for the gates where Chloe was dropping the final pair of guards with her arrows. Joshua checked his watch; it was just after one in the morning – they were on schedule and doing well, he thought. Both he and Chloe moved to the gates and they checked to ensure that they could make their escape silently. Joshua severed the multiple chains with a set of compact bolt croppers while Chloe disarmed three directional explosive devices similar to Claymore's which appeared to protect the gate from anybody opening them from the outside.
Eight minutes later, they were joined by Dave, Mindy, Jennifer, and Craig.
01:24 GMT+7 (18:24 GMT May 3rd)
The Jungle
The team was about forty yards from the camp and deep in the jungle undergrowth.
It was a minor relief to be out of the camp and away from the dozens of soldiers. They had a comfortable four hours to reach the extraction zone which they figured would be ample, considering that it was only two-and-a-half kilometres away. However, they had a wounded man with them and they would have to slow up from their normal pace. The first half-a-kilometre or so was relatively easy as it made use of existing tracks in the dense foliage. They paused in a clearing for a few minutes to allow Jennifer to give the commander a brief check over and some water – he had already eaten two energy bars. Once they were a full kilometre from the camp, they came to a river. The water was about fifty metres across and not swimmable. To aid the locals who used the trail, there was a small skiff moored to the bank with a long pole to punt the skiff across to the other side. They wasted no time in helping Craig onto the skiff. The wooden boat sank woefully under the weight of six, but they decided to risk it. Dave picked up the wooden pole and he turned it vertical and allowed it to pass through his gloved hands until the end struck the bed of the river about three feet below.
With all his might, Dave pushed with his arms and the skiff began to make way through the water and towards the opposite bank of the river.
02:58 GMT+7 (19:58 GMT May 3rd)
They abandoned the skiff the moment it grounded on the river bank.
The ride across the river had not been easy due to the current and had taken longer than expected. Craig had enjoyed the several minutes of rest before he had to clamber back onto his very stiff legs and sore feet. They pushed into the jungle, leaving the main trail, hacking their way through parts of another trail which had begun to be reclaimed by the jungle. The going was not easy, and the darkness was not helping, despite providing a stealthy cover for their escape. Dave pushed Craig hard, despite his wounds and other injuries, reasoning that the man could rest once aboard the rescue helicopter. However, Jennifer insisted that they rest once they were deep into the jungle. The helicopter was not due for over two hours and they did not have all that far to go, so they took a thirty-minute break which they all needed if they were honest with themselves.
Morale was high, as they clambered back to their feet, and they were all joking as they headed for Landing Zone Lima and safety.
04:02 GMT+7 (21:02 GMT May 3rd)
They had barely made it another forty yards when there was a dull whoosh in the distance, behind them, and a few moments later, a red flare burst into life high above them with a loud crack, descending slowly. Then they began to hear the klaxon, even from deep in the jungle.
"Fucking cat's out the bag now!" Joshua groaned.
The camp was wise to something being wrong and the team could expect pursuit very soon. They were on foot while the enemy had multiple vehicles, however, the jungle was all but impenetrable to vehicles. That reasoning had been behind the selection of the landing zones. Quickly, they moved through the jungle but then their luck simply ran out. Just under a kilometre from the landing zone, they came across an unexpected patrol in a small clearing where their trail crossed another, larger trail. Each group was very surprised to come across another group, and for a moment nothing happened, but then the gunfire began, and the team sought cover behind the mangrove trees. For the first time in the mission, the team opened fire with their submachine guns. It was not an equal fight – the patrol was made up of over twenty soldiers with twenty assault rifles at their command. Therefore, Mindy chose to up the ante and she threw a pair of hand grenades into the jungle.
The two grenades detonated, sending out their explosively accelerated shrapnel, taking out five men with the jungle absorbing most of the fiery blast and the shrapnel. While the fight was underway, Dave checked his map and he chose to divert to a nearby hilltop from where they could be extracted, assuming they could get there in time and keep from getting killed. Dave explained the new plan over the comms and all checked in to acknowledge the change in the mission. Instead of heading south, they would break away to the east and evade.
"Jennifer!" Mindy ordered. "Take the commander and head west – keep going and we will catch up with you."
Jennifer did not argue, instead, she swapped out the magazine on her MPX-SD and then grabbed hold of the commander, dragging him off into the jungle. Dave, Mindy, Joshua, and Chloe would do their best to cover for Jennifer and Craig's escape to give them the time to reach the hilltop ahead of them. Chloe had her weapon to her right shoulder and she was firing single shots and short bursts to conserve their limited ammunition. Beside her, Joshua was doing the same. While Mindy kept up her own accurate and deadly fire, Dave pulled out a small metal box and he flipped up a safety cover before twisting the switch beneath and slapping the safety cover back down again.
A little over twelve kilometres to the east, a countdown began.
04:42 GMT+7 (21:42 GMT May 3rd)
The LCM-8, 12.35 kilometres to the east
A riverine patrol had discovered the beached landing craft just twenty minutes previously and four men were aboard.
The officer was checking out the wheelhouse while his men were below decks checking out the engine room and the small hold. All four men froze as they each heard an electronic beeping tone start, the beeps gradually sounding closer and closer together, faster and faster. The officer pulled off a panel from the helm and he began to shout a warning to his men, just as the green LED panel counted down.
00:00:03 . . . 00:00:02 . . . 00:00:01 . . . 00:00:00
The display flashed several times before an electrical charge triggered five lengths of detcord. All around the craft, seven more detonators did the same, the eight detonators igniting a total of forty lengths of detcord. The thin flexible tubes filled with pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN for short, exploded along their lengths at approximately 6,400 metres-per-second. In reality, that meant all forty blocks, almost twenty-three kilogrammes of C-4 explosives located at the ends of the detcord, were detonated simultaneously.
The trusty landing craft which had brought them so far, along with the four men who were vaporised, leapt out of the river about ten feet before the shattered remains crashed back down again, the resulting tsunami almost swamping the small riverine patrol craft and washing it hard ashore on the opposite side of the river.
05:05 GMT+7 (22:05 GMT May 3rd)
Dave, Mindy, Joshua, and Chloe
The gunfire was deadly accurate, and it was a surprise that none of them had been wounded, although Chloe had received some bits of tree in the side of her forehead, it was simply painful, nothing more.
All four were now fighting for their lives as they tried to break contact and run. The pursuing troops were skilled, and not the average Cambodian conscript soldier. Mindy cursed herself for getting into a firefight and somehow managing to find a well-trained patrol. Again, and again they tried to break contact, putting fire down on the enemy, only the enemy were doing the same and they had spread out to cover a larger area in an attempt to outflank the team. Chloe and Mindy would race ahead before turning and kneeling, sending controlled bursts into the jungle to where they believed the enemy was located. At that point, Dave and Joshua would do the same, each pair alternating as they fled deeper into the jungle. The sound of battle was loud, and the night air was filled with the staccato sounds of the inbound 7.62-millimetre rounds from the Chinese Type 56-2 assault rifles.
The team were using suppressed weapons which helped to hide them from the enemy as the enemy could not hear from here the deadly incoming fire was coming – not that it prevented the equally deadly inbound fire on the team.
05:17 GMT+7 (22:17 GMT May 3rd)
Jennifer and Craig
About a hundred metres further west, Jennifer had just crossed over a small, slightly rickety, wooden bridge which spanned a thirteen-metre wide stretch of river.
She was feeling a little panicky at being alone, protecting not just herself, but the wounded Craig, too. The adrenalin was keeping her going, as was the injection for Craig. They paused at the far side of the bridge and kept under cover. Behind them, a small hill rose with a clearing towards the top. All around them, there was also a large clearing which would make a good alternative landing zone but would be bad should it come under sustained attack. Craig was glad to be able to rest. He had moved further in a few hours than he had done in the same number of weeks. He was weak, but he would give everything he had to gain his freedom and he was relishing the thought of a full cooked breakfast onboard whatever ship was awaiting him.
Craig turned with a start as his guardian yelled out a warning and she passed him a pistol.
05:30 GMT+7 (22:30 GMT May 3rd)
Dave, Mindy, Joshua, and Chloe
As they raced down the overgrown trail towards the same wooden bridge that Jennifer and Craig had just used, they tried to ignore the inbound gunfire.
Then their morale rose considerably as the heavy beating sound of a large helicopter could be heard approaching their position. The helicopter would be close to the original landing zone, but the crew should be able to see the muzzle flashes of the ongoing firefight beneath them and alter course to assist. The helicopter's arrival had also distracted the pursuing enemy. Mindy yelled out as Dave vanished into the mangroves for several minutes before returning cradling something heavy.
"What the fuck have you got there?" Mindy growled, annoyed that Dave had vanished off alone.
"Some guy dropped it and I thought it might come in handy," Dave replied with a grin.
"Some guy dropped it?" Mindy repeated dubiously as she examined Dave's acquisition.
The PKP Pecheneg general-purpose machine gun was fitted with a 100-round ammunition box and Dave had a second box slung over his back.
"Thought we might need some more firepower," he quipped. "Me go kick ass!"
Mindy actually laughed, as did Chloe while Joshua simply shook his head as he fired off several bursts into the mangroves.
..._...
As they closed the bridge, they heard three simple words over the comms which made their blood run cold.
"Contact! Contact! Contact!"
It was Jennifer and it meant that she was under attack. Mindy was confused; it could not be any of the patrol. Then the realisation hit her – it was the troops from the camp. Just as they had the bridge in view, there came the crump of mortars followed by the whistle of inbound munitions, then explosions as three large clouds of wet mud exploded into the air in the clearing on the far side of the bridge. As they cleared the overhanging trees of the jungle, the team found that it was still raining hard. Dave dived into the mud and he began to engage the flanking troops with the machine gun on its bipod. Behind him, Chloe and Joshua were engaging the remnants of the patrol. Mindy was attempting to cross the bridge, but each time she tried, bullets struck the ground ahead of her and she was forced to retreat. Across the bridge, she could just make out Jennifer engaging the soldiers.
The helicopter could be heard a short time before it could be seen, and it was not coming a moment too soon as the enemy closed in on them. Dave kept up a steady rate of machinegun fire on the flanking Cambodian soldiers, dropping them in ones and twos. His barrage had halted the advance on Jennifer although the mortars kept falling.
"Fusion One! Fusion One! This is Romeo One. Mark your location, over."
The encrypted radio call came as a relief and Mindy instantly ignited an infra-red beacon at their position.
"Fusion One marking – take the mortars and anything in the clearing by the river," Mindy called back.
With a roar, the three .50-calibre Browning M3M heavy machine guns mounted on the Merlin Mk3 helicopter opened fire, green tracer ripping through the rain and there was an explosion as the ammunition at one of the mortar sites detonated. The helicopter curved overhead, the rear ramp-mounted Browning spitting fire as it passed over the enemy positions. Mindy took the opportunity to dive over the bridge with Chloe close behind. Once they were both over, the boys followed, Dave firing off the PKP from the hip, just like he was Rambo. Joshua followed, carrying a pair of appropriated assault rifles and two bandoliers of spare magazines. Just as they reached the far side of the bridge, a mortar round dropped and blew the bridge to kindling. Gunfire licked at the team as they hunkered down in the mud. Mindy was caked in mud from head to toe as she rolled away from the gunfire and she found herself beside Jennifer and Craig.
"Hi, guys!" Mindy exclaimed. "All good?"
Jennifer grimaced as she continued to fire on the enemy.
The inbound gunfire from the circling Merlin helicopter was beginning to make the advancing enemy troops think twice, but suddenly, out of the night came the deadly ripsaw sound of a heavy airborne cannon.
05:42 GMT+7 (22:42 GMT May 3rd)
The Russian-built Mi-35M Hind-E was a rude surprise as the enormous armed helicopter opened fire on the unsuspecting Merlin.
The 23-millimetre shells from the twin-barrel GSh-23V cannon tore into the lightly armoured Merlin at 3,400 rounds-per-minute. As the wounded Merlin dove and twisted to avoid the inbound gunfire, the armoured Russian attack helicopter turned in pursuit. On the ground, Mindy and her team were momentarily frozen at the sight of their air support under attack. They all knew what would happen if the Merlin was shot down or forced to abandon them. The door and ramp gunners on the Merlin were doing their best to engage the Hind but it was difficult to bring their weapons to bear on the other helicopter which was designed to take a beating from heavy machine guns, and the monster simply shrugged off any of the bullets which came its way.
Fusion One were snapped back to reality as bullets began to hammer their position again and they pushed on, towards the top of the hill in a vain hope that the helicopter might still be able to pick them up. The gunfire in both directions was deadly and many soldiers were strewn across the clearing as Fusion One made for safety. Their ammunition was becoming dangerously low, and Mindy had used the last of her hand grenades as had the rest of the team. Dave and Joshua were providing covering fire so that Jennifer and Craig could make it up the hill and towards the jungle on the far side just below the top, where it was hoped that they could both take cover. There was a backup extraction plan, and that was to make for the coast from where they could be taken off by boat, but the coast was a fair distance away, over eleven kilometres at best, and it would be a major struggle to reach. If they could only get back into the jungle, then they had a chance to hide and they would be protected from the mortars and some of the heavier weapons being brought to bear on them.
Above them, the Merlin could be seen with flames billowing from an engine just before it vanished over the jungle. Hearts sank as their one chance of escape vanished. Mindy listened for a loud explosion, indicating that the Merlin had crashed, but there was no such explosion and Mindy dreaded the return of the Hind. The situation was getting no better as the four young people reached the base of the hill and they began to climb. Dave received several bullets into his flak vest, but he jumped back up, sending burst after burst from his appropriated machinegun. As the rain thundered down, the ground underfoot became slipperier and slipperier. Chloe hauled Mindy back to her feet as Mindy skidded in the mud and she fell to her knees. The situation was bordering on hopeless and Mindy knew that they had to execute their escape and evasion plan, but with the enemy so close, they had to split up and make life harder for the pursuing troops. Jennifer and Craig had already rounded the summit of the hill and vanished into the jungle beyond.
"Go!" Mindy yelled at Chloe as they reached the edge of the jungle with the enemy just yards away.
Chloe hesitated, as did Joshua, but then with a stern nod at Mindy, Joshua grabbed Chloe's arm and he almost threw the girl towards the nearest jungle.
Thursday, May 4th
06:12 GMT+7 (23:12 GMT May 3rd)
Dave and Mindy
Dave, of course, would never leave Mindy, no matter what.
Mindy did not even waste a single breath trying to make him break for safety, instead, the pair remained atop the hill alone, their ammunition dwindling, along with their energy. The only thing that was not dwindling was their resolve. The resolve formed by their partnership which went back a good three-and-a-half years in the present incarnation, but much longer in reality. The resolve to give their colleagues every spare second that they could, to help them make their escape. Both would willingly give their lives for Joshua and Chloe, any day of the week – although they both hoped that it would not come to that. The mission was to get the commander out of Cambodia, and Mindy had never failed in a mission, and she was not about to start that day. However, her experienced mind recognised when it was time to capitulate – Mindy preferred that word to the other alternative which to her meant failure. To Mindy, it was not a surrender, it was merely a minor complication to completing the mission. To her ordered mind, she would simply overcome the current impediment and then go on to complete the mission. Dave knew it too. He knew his wife better than she sometimes knew herself. He knew that she would rather surrender, temporarily, rather than lose her life and ultimately fail to complete a mission. He knew that it would be hard for her, very hard. He himself would find it difficult. He was so used to winning that to fail was not an option.
They would regroup, and they would prevail . . . one way or another.
..._...
It was not the Cambodian troops who encouraged Mindy to stop fighting.
It was not the enormous Mi-35M Hind-E, laden with weapons, which hovered just eighty yards away with the sun rising behind it. It was her will to live which had her capitulating to the grinning bastards. Mindy threw down her empty pistol in utter disgust as she glowered at the soldiers. Her final round had destroyed the communications units for both her and Dave, rendering them useless to the enemy. Neither carried anything else which was intel-worthy. Mindy was so angry. She felt tears building in her eyes with the utter frustration of what was happening. She felt angry at the knowledge that, for the moment, they had failed. She felt sadness as she realised that she might never see her kids or any of her family ever again. However, as they were finally seized and forced to their knees in the mud, the bitterness which both tasted in their mouths was mollified somehow, much to their relief, by the fact that Jennifer and Craig had slipped away in all the chaos, and as far as Dave and Mindy could make out, Chloe and Joshua had not been seized either.
While they were held by four men each, another stripped them of their weaponry. Dave was finished first, a respectable collection of hardware piled in the mud before him. However, Dave glanced over at Mindy whose collection of hardware was steadily growing as combat knives, throwing knives, ninja stars, a set of nunchucks, three collapsible batons, knuckledusters, and finally, a coil of detcord were thrown onto the pile. Dave chuckled as Mindy simply shrugged. Neither saw the rifle butts which came in from behind striking the sides of their heads.
They both fell forwards into the mud beside their assorted weaponry.