Part 47 (2/2)

While some of the police covered the prisoners with their weapons, others searched them. Some of the boys started to kick and rifle-b.u.t.t them. There was no time to stop it-and why should we? We were not interested in names, who they were, what they were; that was someone else's job. All we wanted to do was control them and make sure they hadn't got any concealed weapons or run.

”We are now going to search you,” one of the police said, slapping the back of a narcos head. ”If you resist, you will be shot. Do you understand?”

I called over to Tony. ”I'll just get the people out of the other hut.”

As I went In, I saw wooden beds with tables, a couple of old chests of drawers, ashtrays full up, cans of beer.

The room stank of sweat and farts. A group of people lay on their beds, faces down, hands on the back of their heads. There must have been two weapons pointing at every prisoner.

I went back outside, got hold of Nino, and said, ”Help me put the antennas out for the radio.”

I started to get the sitrep ready. Originally it was going to be a proper sitrep, saying: Done, we need the helis in now, how many people we'd caught, how many casualties. But instead I just banged it out: ”We've got a man down. I want the aircraft in on the orange smoke.”

Rod was still with the casualty. He called out, ”Everything all right?

We got the aircraft coming in?”

”Yep, just waiting for the auto acknowledgment.”

I got it. The helis were on their way in. I left the radio where it was; we might be needing it in a minute.

On the Motorola I heard Tony talking to Terry-.

”Terry, check?”

”Yep.”

”Come on in now, mate, Move down the path.” .”Roger that. We've got a dead runner. Do you want him brought in?”

”Yeah, bring him in.”

Tony was shouting to make sure everybody knew the patrol was going to be coming up the path. Everybody was so hyper at the moment, chances were they'd just turn around and shoot them.

A couple of minutes later I heard them shouting that they were coming in; then I saw them. Two of the policemen were dragging the dead man; Terry had his weapon, a G3.

Terry's patrol were really happy with themselves.

They had the air of hunters home with the kill. They left the body to one side, giving him a quick macho kick and a prod. Then they found out that somebody on their side had been dropped, and their expressions changed to one of concern.

By now he'd been stabilized. He'd gone into shock, but Rod had got some hemocell into him. He wasn't going to lose any more blood, but he was down; he was severely down.

By now everybody had been sorted out, trussed up with plasticuffs between the two buildings. I went over and had a look. There were three narcos, the bottle washer, and one white-eye.

”f.u.c.king h.e.l.l,” I said to Tony. ”We saw eight. We've got some runners here.”

Tony kicked one of the narcos and shouted: ”Gringos? Where are the gringos?”

He shouted to the European, holding his head up by the hair: ”Where are they? Where are they?”

The white-eye said nothing.

”Look, if they're running, they're going to get shot.

Tell us where they are. We might be able to save them.”

Nothing. It was the boy I'd seen on my first CTR, still in the s.h.i.+tty T-s.h.i.+rt. He was severely scared.

Tony started on the old man: ”Where's the gringos)”

He started gabbing off, indicating with his head that they'd gone toward the river.

”f.u.c.k!” I said. I couldn't believe they'd got past the cutoff group.

Straightaway I blamed it on Nino. The stupid w.a.n.ker.

The wounded boy had been sorted out, and another couple of lads were looking after him now. Rod came over, looked at me hard, and said, ”What the f.u.c.k happened?” with a look that blamed me.

”That c.u.n.t had an ND.”

Nino sat on the steps of the hut, severely p.i.s.sed off.

”Get him out of the way,” Rod said. ”Tell him to sit by the radio.”

He stormed off and checked the casualty.

Terry came over. ”Right. I'll get my lads down to the river and tell them to keep their eyes open. They will knife up the boats, so if we have got runners, they aren't going to take them. We're not going to get jack s.h.i.+t out of this lot. The white-eye's a pain in the a.r.s.e.

He knows the score, he knows he's going to get away with it. This is f.u.c.king annoying.”

Rod agreed. ”Yeah, do that, and we will get a brew on.

I went over and cut the plasticuffs off the cook. He went up on his knees, doing all the signs of the cross and putting his hands up to heaven. I didn't know if he thought he was going to get shot, or what.

I picked him up and dragged him into the kitchen. ”Cafe ” I said.

”Can con leche.” He looked at me in total surprise.

Rodriguez stood over him while he sparked up the generator and got the brews on.

Tony was running around placing people in case we -T had any fire coming back at us. ”You go there, look that way' You stay here, look this way!

We pa.s.sed the brews around. The sun was beating down, and it was boiling hot. Everybody was trying to get into the shade. My eyes were stinging; my mouth I tasted foul; my teeth had sheepskin coats. My shoulders, arms, and legs were drying off, but the crotch area and bits under the webbing stayed wet. It was starting to itch where the wetness had dried.

I was feeling a bit p.i.s.sed off with myself, purely because it was a member of my patrol that had had the ND. It wasn't anything to do with me, but I felt responsible all the same.

The other patrols didn't know yet what had caused the problem, but I kept Nino away from the others for his own safety.

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