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.He was forced back behind cover.Morgan was nauseous, his eyes raw with the stinging effects of the toxic smoke, and his throat as dry as sand.“Jesus!” he gasped, pulling the folds of his shirt collar up around his mouth and nose, struggling to breathe.Morgan knew that he wouldn’t survive if he remained under the desk.He’d become trapped, killed by the fire, smoke or the next barrage of incoming mortars.Worse still, he could end up embroiled in a gun battle with the advancing troops, holding out for only as long as his few magazines of ammunition would allow, before being butchered – not a scenario that he found particularly appealing.He remembered the dry comments of an old sergeant major who’d trained him as a young officer: There’s always someone worse off than you, Mister Morgan.“Where?” Morgan asked under his breath.Thankfully, in a bizarre turn of luck, another wave of mortars finally marked the end of the power supply, and the demonic cabling retracted, falling uselessly to the floor.Seizing the moment, Morgan was on his feet, sprinting through the smoke and fire to the only safe exit, straight for the helicopter.CHAPTER 22“Alex!” Steve Kruger, at the controls of the Puma, was struggling to maintain a safe hover as shockwaves from the explosions buffeted the chopper.Clumps of concrete, vehicle wreckage and shrapnel peppered the air and Kruger had been forced to pull away from the helipad many times to avoid the debris, while he and the others waited for Turner and Morgan.Kruger knew Turner had been the problem.Everybody did.He was a notorious pain in the ass, and had been since taking over the site nine months ago.But he was one of the new big names in the firm, and leaving him behind wasn’t an option.They’d all seen Morgan go back for him.But now that Turner was finally aboard, Kruger couldn’t leave Morgan behind.He knew the others felt the same way, although the stress was starting to take its toll.Some evacuees were already screaming hysterically.Soon they’d demand that Kruger lift off and take them to safety, whether Morgan was aboard or not.After all, Morgan knew the risks.That was his job.Better to lose one than lose them all.Then Morgan appeared.With black smoke billowing from the doorway and the walls collapsing around him, he rushed from the flaming building and fell heavily to the ground, clutching his rifle, retching.“Oh my God!” cried Ari as she saw Morgan fall and the building reduced to rubble behind him.“Sewa!” cried Kruger to the security guard closest to the open rear door.“Get out there, man.Get him on board!”Sewa dropped from the cargo hold without hesitation and ran the 150 feet to where Morgan lay.Ari found herself trying to clamber from the cargo hold over the top of the others, struggling to get out and follow Sewa to Morgan.She had no idea what she could do or even why she felt compelled to help.She just knew they couldn’t leave Morgan out there.She stepped from the chopper, her foot almost back upon the red dust.“No, Ari!” Kruger yelled from the cockpit.“I need you onboard, not out there.Please.”Ari stared back at Kruger through wide eyes, stress etched across her face.Her knuckles were white as she clutched at the doorframe.She looked out to Morgan and then back to Kruger, fighting her instinct to leap out.Kruger shook his head at her.She turned, braced by the door, and watched as Sewa finally reached the motionless figure on the ground.He took hold of Morgan under the shoulders, heaving him to his feet.“Major Alex! It’s me, sir,” Sewa yelled over the bedlam.Morgan slowly came back to life.“Quick, we got to get back to the chopper.”Still dazed, recognition slowly came back to Morgan.He cast a familiar eye over Sewa’s sweat-streaked features.The irrepressible smile, even in the middle of a mortar attack, was unmistakable.“Sewa,” coughed Morgan, sucking in deep lungs full of hot air.“I’m OK, mate.I’m OK.Let’s go.” Then, they were running, the big African moving fast, dragging Morgan along with ease.A wall of mortars fell upon them.The shriek of descending death was deafening, raining down upon the building Morgan had left behind seconds before.It was pulverised.As the blast wave reached them, both men were punched to the ground.Morgan knew that the thick mushroom cloud of toxic smoke pouring from the wreckage of the headquarters would at least obscure a clear line of sight from the rebels to the chopper.But their aim was deadly, and when Morgan saw how close the mortars were falling to the diesel and LPG tanks nearby, he knew he couldn’t afford to waste any time.If the tanks blew, the blast would incinerate everything within 200 yards, including the Puma and everybody onboard.Kruger was fighting at the chopper’s controls.An assault of orange flame and shrapnel forced him into evasive action – again.He pulled the Puma back in a dramatic pitch to the east, not realizing in the confusion of smoke and fire how perilously close he’d brought them to the fuel farm.On the run, Morgan saw it all.He waved frantically at Kruger to pull away to the north, in the direction of the water tanks, as far from the fuel farm and the advancing rebel mortar barrage as possible.“Get out of there, Steve! Get out of there!” Morgan yelled.Ari was forced to her knees by the sudden change in direction, and braced herself against the back of the cockpit.Most of the others were screaming.“Stay calm, everyone,” she cried.“Hold on.Steve will get us out of this!” At least she hoped he would, although, unable to see Morgan at all now, she was suddenly racked with guilt.How could she even think about getting away?Back at the controls, Kruger searched desperately for a way out, and found it in a clear corridor that appeared for a second through the dense, pitch-black smoke.The Puma’s engines screamed.The tail rotor spun wildly against the security fence enclosure of the fuel farm, sending great showers of sparks for hundreds of yards across the compound and storage tanks.At any moment, the sparks would ignite the fumes.Kruger thrust forward hard on the cyclic stick, dropping the nose and raising the tail, instantly propelling the endangered aircraft straight ahead.Frantically, he pumped the tail rotor pedals to spin the aircraft’s tail to starboard, simultaneously advancing the power levers to the stop, and manipulating the collective to increase power and lift.In a nanosecond he had the aircraft clear of the fuel storage enclosure and was racing forward in a direct line for the water tanks, his heart kicking wildly in his chest.Morgan and Sewa were running for their lives when the first bursts of small arms fire from the rebels broke through from beyond the burning building and strafed the ground at their feet.“They’re on top of us, Sewa,” Morgan yelled.“Get yourself onboard.I’ll try and keep the bastards back.Go! Go!”“Sir!” Sewa called breathlessly, without looking back, propelling his long body as rapidly as possible away from the danger.“Come on, sir!” he yelled.Morgan dropped behind the cover of a burning vehicle hulk, laying down rapid bursts of fire with the AK at the approaching rebels.It was difficult to see them through the confusion of smoke and dust, but Morgan saw two take direct hits, killing them instantly and slowing the advance of the others.They were too used to fighting the poorly trained conscripts of the Malfajiri army, he thought.As soon as heavy, accurate fire was thrown back at them, they panicked and scattered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]