Blindside - By Gj Moffat Page 0,28

looked back at the lieutenant, saw that she was staring at him, trying to figure out if he was testing her.

‘It’s a pity your tour is up so soon, Sergeant,’ she said.

‘Why is that?’

‘I think maybe I’d enjoy debating the finer points of our strategy with the local population some more.’

Raines saw a smile twitch at her lips.

‘She got you there, Sarge,’ Horn said, laughing.

He turned to speak to Horn and the front of the Land Rover disappeared, metal screeching as the IED in the road detonated under the vehicle.

Raines had a split second to see Horn’s right leg torn from him just above the knee and then everything went dark.

3

Raines picked up the phone from his desk and dialled a number for a house back in Denver. It rang for a while and he waited, aware that it could take some time for the owner of the house to answer.

‘Yeah,’ the answer came eventually.

‘I met the guy today. You know the one?’

‘How did it go?’

‘He’s getting the full tour.’

‘You’re still up there, then?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t like the idea of working with this guy.’

‘So you said. We’re not in this to make friends. I told you that already.’

‘But it’s not necessary. I mean, for what we want to achieve. You haven’t lost sight of that, have you?’

Raines hated the pleading quality he heard in the man’s voice.

‘I haven’t lost sight of anything. I can see for miles. And this is the way we’re going, so quit whining about it already. You think there’s some other way, something more noble?’

The man on the other end of the line was quiet. Raines pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

‘I don’t want to have this conversation again,’ Raines said, angry now. ‘We’ve done it more than once.’

‘Sorry. It’s just that—’

‘Just nothing,’ Raines snapped. ‘This is the way it is. We get this guy on board and we do what’s necessary. After that, we’re outta here. And I’m never coming back to this goddamned country.’

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

‘Is this what they’ve done to us?’ the man asked. ‘To you.’

‘You can get out any time you like. Just say the word.’

‘What happens to me then, Seth? Tell me that. The same thing that happened to Johnson?’

Raines didn’t need to tell him.

‘That’s what I thought.’

Raines wasn’t sure that he could trust the man any more. Wondered if he would have to do something about that.

‘Come see me when you get back, okay?’ the man said.

Raines said that he would and ended the call. He sat quietly for a moment, looking at the framed photograph on his desk. It was a shot of Charlie Company the day after they had arrived in Afghanistan.

He picked the photograph up and looked at the faces of the young men who had been in his charge. He counted, for what seemed like the thousandth time, the faces of those who had not come back.

He stopped when he got to Matt Horn’s face – closed his eyes and remembered.

He’s back in that British Land Rover, opening his eyes and choking on the smoke billowing from the ruined front section of the vehicle. The two British soldiers who had been there were gone.

Something sticky clogged up his eyes. He wiped at them, looking down at his hands and seeing his own blood there.

He felt panic start to rise in him, patted himself down and felt that everything was intact. His head throbbed from the concussive blast of the explosion. Didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious.

He figured the device must have been a mine triggered by the front tyre of the vehicle on Matt Horn’s side. It was the only explanation why Raines had survived intact.

He looked at Horn. Not so lucky.

Tonk-tonk-tonk

Bullets impacted the armour of the Land Rover.

Raines looked back, saw that the soldiers in the vehicles behind them were out and returning fire, using their own vehicles for cover. Dirt kicked up around them where bullets hit the ground.

Horn had lost most of his right leg and was bleeding heavily from the wound. His right arm hung limp by his side, the sleeve of his uniform in tatters and blood staining what little cloth was left.

His left foot was a mangled mess.

Horn watched Raines, his eyes blinking and breaths coming in short gasps.

Andy Johnson was in shock beside Horn, his eyes wide: staring at the female lieutenant opposite him.

Raines turned to look at her and saw that her helmet had been split in