‘Not long ago, Deryck and I had something special,’ she blurted. ‘I was hoping that we’d find a way back to each other on this trip. That’s the real reason I went through with it — this concert. Losing him has taught me that. And now you’re gonna leave him to die.’
‘And you think a little hubba-hubba with me will get you what you want?’
Leila stared at me. Even though I couldn’t see her eyes in the darkness, I knew that they were projecting waves of anger. There was a time not too long ago when I would have given the consequences a careless shrug and put this woman on her back anyway, but that was before Oak Ridge. I considered the best way to handle this and decided that subtlety wasn’t my friend.
‘Do you want to die here, too?’ I asked her.
‘No.’
‘Leila, there’s a better-than-even chance that none of us will get out of here alive. We’re surrounded by hostiles in a foreign environment and we’re on the run. We have no radio, next to no food, zero intel and limited ammunition. The odds of a successful rescue are massively weighted against us. If we try to do what you want, go to the FARDC camp and demand the release of our principals, our survival chances will reduce to somewhere around zero. Said another way, and you’re forcing me to be blunt, your ex has ceased to be a priority. Like it or not, keeping you, Ayesha and Boink breathing is top of our hit parade right now.’
Leila stood up and looked down at me. ‘You ever been in love, Cooper?’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Everything,’ she said.
‘Look, I can’t — won’t — risk everyone’s life because you believe your needs are more important.’
Leila turned and walked off, after she’d taken a few steps pausing to say, ‘One day, Cooper, you’re going regret that we ever met.’
I watched her walk up the hill and the old Cooper shook his head at the missed opportunity. If I’d let her have her way with me and then said no to the quid pro quo, would I have been any worse off than I was now?
The new post-Anna Cooper, however, knew what she meant about love giving everything meaning, and he congratulated me for realizing that actions had consequences and that, for once, the old Cooper had considered what they might be before letting his dick out to play.
Leila’s poster came to mind, the one showing the star all steamed up, her sexual appetite looking for a solid three-course meal. And the old Cooper wished the new Cooper would go get lost in the forest.
At three forty-five, I got another tap on the shoulder. It was Cassidy.
‘You’re early,’ I told him.
‘Couldn’t sleep. The ants in this place are gonna be a problem. Anything out there I should know about?’
What I want to know is whether you want to fuck me? ‘Yeah, I’ve seen a thousand sets of frogs legs hopping past. Should make LeDuc happy.’
I left the sergeant to the watch, walked over to the trees and found some steaming rancid warmth under the poncho with the men. Despite the ants, sleep took me away almost immediately. It started out peaceful enough, but then I found myself alone with my usual nightmares — on top of a cold brown mountain with the remains of my unit as sword-wielding half Taliban — half scorpion creatures arrived to cut up my men. And then I was falling backward from a great height as a human wave of fanatics charged while I froze in the snow beside a dead man whose machine gun fired bullets that had no effect on the advancing horde. After which, pink froth bubbled from the crimson hole in a ribcage while I reached in and tried to find the bullet. And then I was on a wind-blown hill, strangers blaming me for Anna’s death while scorpions poured out of the earth that had been freshly dug for a coffn.
Lying in the semi-conscious zone between sleep and wakefulness, I had the feeling that there were other twisted memories on the way, or that maybe I’d replay these ones and twist them still further, so I opened my eyes. It was five-forty and my muscles were cramped in the fetal position. Somewhere above the canopy, the sky was sliding to gray and mist was floating through the trees. The rain had stopped. I untangled myself from various arms and legs, brushed ants from my neck and forearms, and walked stiffy a dozen meters from our bivouac to take a leak. Rutherford was on duty. I walked across and down to him and said, ‘Morn—’
He cut me short and informed me with a couple of hand movements that a five-man enemy patrol had crossed the second ravine and was coming our way.
I stood absolutely still rather than taking cover, movement being what the human eye is most sensitive to. It was difficult to see the men and I eventually picked them up thirty meters below us and to our right.
As Rutherford indicated, it was a six-man patrol, and they looked to be on the job, moving slowly and carefully through the mist, no one talking or smoking. Our position was relatively well hidden among scrubby bush. In this low light we were black on black to them. Confirming this, one of their number looked our way but didn’t see us. The men kept walking, heading right to left across our front. I wondered what the purpose of the patrol might be. Were they out looking for us?
Three of them carried QCWs, three had assault rifles, and one of them had another type weapon slung over his shoulder, a telescopic sight slipped into its top raiclass="underline" a sniper rifle. All six carried packs.
When we were well behind in their six o’clock, I went to wake the rest of our band while Rutherford kept watch. The SOCOM boys woke quietly when I squeezed their shoulders, their eyes opening wide — alert. Ryder needed heavy prodding. LeDuc was already awake. With a bunch of hand signals I gave them all the story. As I saw it, there was no doubt about our course of action. We couldn’t have an enemy patrol operating in our area. Also, the Africans had guns, which meant they had ammo and we needed that. The brief council having concluded, each of us took a civilian to wake, covering their mouths with our hands so that no one made any noise.
‘Enemy patrol nearby,’ I explained in a low whisper to cold, shivering bodies. ‘No noise, stay here.’ I gave Ryder my Nazarian and two extra magazines. LeDuc had his own service pistol. ‘They’re yours,’ I told them, tilting my head at the principals. Ryder seemed happy to be left behind. ‘If we’re not back in half an hour, head for the top of the ridge and hope the folks up there are friendlier than the ones down there.’
LeDuc nodded and whispered, ‘Bonne chance.’
‘You really think taking them on is a good idea, sir?’ asked Ryder, frowning.
‘If we get their weapons and ammo, yes,’ I said. ‘If they shoot us all dead, no.’
‘Okay,’ he muttered, shaking his head. My logic was messing with his mind. I happened to glance at Leila. Her arms were folded and she was glaring at me hard.
We stayed behind the enemy patrol, dropping down into the mist, which was becoming genuine fog as the air warmed slightly in the pre-dawn light and convection currents got into it, thickening the mixture. The waterlogged air deadened noise transmission. When we found suitable terrain, Cassidy, Rutherford and West hunkered down while I went forward, maintaining contact with the patrol’s last man. They kept on the move for another ten minutes, walking slowly across the hill, maintaining a generally easterly heading. And then they stopped, paused for a few minutes, relaxing, and passed around a pack of cigarettes. The sun was higher, and although the fog was reasonably heavy, color was now discernible and I could see the blue patches on the shoulders of their FARDC uniforms. I dropped behind an old fallen tree and put my chin in some sticky rotting goop. I could hear the patrol talking, laughing; sharing a quiet joke, perhaps. I wondered what Congolese soldiers found funny, what the joke — if that’s what it was — was all about.