state to continue training in the morning.’
‘Loud and clear, boss,’ Kazakov said. ‘Come on James, bring the rifles.’
Dana scowled at James as he followed Kazakov out of the command tent and across to the trainees.
‘And no bloody yelling,’ Pike yelled after them. ‘I want my sleep.’
‘What are we doing to them?’ James asked, as he strode briskly around the smouldering fire behind Kazakov.
‘Follow my lead,’ Kazakov ordered as he unzipped Kevin’s tent. ‘You get Ronan.’
The smell of feet and musty kit invaded James’ nose as he crawled inside Ronan and Ellie’s tent and shook the stocky eleven-year-old awake.
‘All right mate?’ James said cockily. ‘Guess who just got untied!’
‘Bring your kit,’ Kazakov yelled, as he dragged Kevin from his tent by his ankle.
It took a couple of minutes for the two trainees to put on their boots and cram all of their kit inside their packs.
‘Stand to attention,’ Mr Kazakov whispered, eyeballing the trainees menacingly.
Kevin and Ronan stood in the dirt with their boots together, stomachs in, chests out and arms rigid at their sides.
‘I only hit you by accident,’ Kevin said sleepily.
‘Really?’ Kazakov nodded. ‘And I suppose you tied James up by accident too?’
‘You’re idiots,’ James added. ‘Why risk getting punished or flung out of training when you’re so close to getting your grey T-shirts?’
‘Just because,’ Ronan said defiantly.
Kevin’s expression was more rueful. ‘We got carried away … I’m sorry James, especially after you helped me out on the hike.’
The boys were young and this was probably the point where James would have accepted an apology and sent them back to bed with a dire warning and a kick up the arse; but Kazakov had other plans.
‘Rifles, James,’ he ordered.
James handed each of the trainees one of the M4s they’d used to fire the simunitions earlier on.
‘Now,’ Kazakov grinned. ‘Hold them up above your heads and commence running on the spot, raising your knees high, thusly.’
Kazakov did a little demonstration. It looked easy enough, but the trainees were half asleep and the heavy packs, rifles and heat made it hard work.
Within a minute, both lads had sweat streaking out of their hair. Then Kazakov walked behind Kevin and kicked his feet from beneath him. The boy crashed forward, with the weight of his pack pinning him to the floor and the heavy rifle digging into his chest.
‘Did I give you permission to stop running?’ Kazakov grinned, as he kicked dust into Kevin’s gaping eyes and mouth. ‘On your feet, prom queen.’
Kazakov turned towards James as Kevin began running on the spot again. ‘Kick Ronan.’
This only served to remind James that he’d never make a good training instructor. Ronan had acted pretty nasty when he’d tied James up; he was also a bully who didn’t hesitate to drop the weaker trainees in it when an exercise went wrong. But he was still just a kid and James didn’t want to hurt him.
Mr Kazakov wasn’t impressed. He shoved James aside before slamming his dilapidated boot into the soft flesh between Ronan’s hip bone and rib cage. It knocked the boy sideways with such force that he clattered into Kevin and both lads ended up back on the ground, with their limbs tangled and coughing as they breathed the dust kicked up by running on the spot.
‘Get up, stand still, rifles held high.’
It took the two gasping boys half a minute to stop coughing and stand in line with their rifles above their heads.
‘OK,’ Kazakov grinned, as he looked at his watch. ‘It’s now sixteen minutes until one. Sunrise is at six-thirty. You will stand to attention with your rifles held high until then. If I see you move off the spot or stop or if the rifle drops I’ll come out and make both of you run till you either puke or pass out.’
‘Can I go to the toilet first?’ Kevin asked.
Mr Kazakov shook his head. ‘You can hold it in, or piss your pants. I don’t care which, but if you move off that spot before morning you’ll be sorry.’
Kevin glanced at James as if to say can you help us out, but James didn’t like appearing weak in front of Kazakov and he didn’t have the authority to help even if he tried.
‘A soldier is only as tough as the person who trains them,’ Kazakov said, as he and James started the short walk back to their tent.
James tried to explain as he unzipped the tent and stepped inside. ‘It’s just – they’re not perfect but … They’re nice little