towards the end cabin. He shouldered his AK to engage them but David traversed the M60 and released a quick burst before Stratton could fire. In quick succession the men crumpled to the ground and did not move.
Stratton was impressed. ‘Nice shooting.’
The young man ducked down as a bullet flew past his head.
‘Have you seen Louisa?’
‘She’s gone to the cliffs.’
Stratton’s first reaction was relief that she was alive, or had been when David last saw her. ‘When?’
‘Not long ago,’ David said, unable to think how long it actually had been. It felt like seconds. ‘She went to the stables.’
‘Before or after Sebastian died?’
‘After.’ He could remember that much.
Stratton looked in that direction, frustrated at how little time they must have missed each other by.
As David started to open a new box of ammunition Stratton put his hand on it. ‘It’s time to go, my friend.’
‘I can’t,’ David said, pushing his hand away and pulling out another ammo belt. ‘I have to stay with my gun,’ He clipped the link to the short length sticking out of the gun tray.
Stratton took hold of his arm. ‘You love it so much, bring it with you. I’ll carry the ammo. You’ve done all you can here, David. It’s time to fall back.’
David could not resist Stratton’s offer. The brief exchange had brought him a little way out of his murderous trance. He nodded and grabbed up the weapon, folded the legs away and threw the remaining ammo belt over one shoulder and a canvas bag over the other.
Stratton poked his head round the side of the sandbags and cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘You men! Listen! We’re falling back to the stables! Fall back to the stables!’
The remaining handful of rebels appeared to have understood.
‘I’ll cover you,’ Stratton said, placing his weapon against his shoulder. ‘Go! Go! Go!’ he yelled as he raised his head above the top of the sandbag wall and fired quick bursts at the various enemy positions.
David ran for all he was worth out through the gap and up the track towards the stables. The other rebels left their positions and fired as they ran. One took a bullet through the chest and died before he hit the ground. Another was shot in the back and fell but continued to crawl forward.
Stratton emptied his AK47’s magazine, ejected it, reloaded and fired another series of bursts. As the last unwounded rebel tore past him he reloaded, fired again, leapt the sandbags and charged up the slope.
Bullets traced their footsteps, zinging through the air. One of the rebels went down and did not move again. A bullet grazed David’s leg and he winced. Stratton grabbed his arm and dragged him on.
The two rebels manning the defensive position at the top of the track saw their comrades emerge from the thin smoke and put down covering fire beyond them.
Stratton and David, out of breath, fell behind the sandbagged position. But there was not a second to spare - David got to his knees and set up his machine gun ready to fire.
Stratton inspected David’s wound, tearing the cloth of his trouser leg to get a better look at it. ‘How’s it going, lads?’ he asked the two rebels who looked not much more than sixteen years old. ‘It’s a busy fight, eh?’
The loader nodded and ripped open an ammunition box as his partner fired several bursts towards the courtyard.
David’s wound was not deep but it was bloody. Stratton took his field dressing from the machine-gun butt where it was taped and wrapped it around the wound. ‘You’ll live,’ he said, squeezing David’s shoulder. ‘I’ll be back,’ he promised, picking up his weapon and hurrying away.
Stratton reached the corral fence and crouched to look around. He set off again, following the outside of the fence around to the other side, putting him closer to the top of the hill. He dropped to his belly and craned to look down the slope towards the cliffs in the hope of seeing Louisa. There was a lot of open ground but he found her and knew that he would never catch her up. She was riding her horse, and going like the wind.
Yet instant relief flooded through him on seeing her alive. Even though she was far from safe Stratton could not help grinning. All he wanted now was to be with her and to take her to safety.
It suddenly occurred to him that if Louisa could do it, then so could he, and he ran to the stables and down the line of stalls. All of them were open and visibly empty except for the last, whose door was closed. He pushed it open, praying that a horse would be inside. No such luck. All he saw was his own pack and parachute hanging on a hook where David had put them the previous morning.
Stratton ran back to the corral. He scanned along the edge of the cliff. Even if Louisa had been standing and waving she would have been difficult to spot at that distance. Finally he saw the horse trotting along the cliff edge, but without its rider. He felt a sudden panic that she had been shot and had fallen off it. Yet since the horse was at the cliff he reassured himself that she had most likely dismounted and was now at one of the rope bundles.
As he strained to get a better look a burst of fire raked the fence close by and he dived to the ground. He rolled away to look for the source of the shooting and found it. Several Neravistas were running across the open ground from the far perimeter in a flanking attack. Stratton brought his gun up to his shoulder but most of the attackers were cut down by firing from the defensive position on the other side of the stables.
‘Stratton!’ David called out from the other defensive position.
Stratton raised his head enough to see him.
‘They’ve taken the cabins!’ David shouted.
Stratton looked quickly for Louisa again and considered making a run for it down the slope. He looked over at David and the others. They needed to get away before their position was overrun. This was now about their escape as well as Louisa’s. Maybe there was a way of combining the two, Stratton thought.
A group of horsemen in the far distance beyond the tented camp caught his eye. They could only be Neravistas and they seemed to be heading around the inside of the perimeter. If they continued on that route they would move around the outside of the smoulder - ing shanty-town encampment, down a finger of jungle and eventually to the cliff before heading up to the stables. If they stuck close to the cliff edge they might find Louisa.
Stratton looked again towards the cliff, this time trying to spot the rope bundles. He thought he saw movement by one of them. It had to be Louisa. It would take a while to lower enough rope to reach the bottom in order to climb down, time that she might not have.
Stratton had seen enough. He needed to get down there as soon as possible.
The machine gun on the far side of the stables opened up with a sustained burst of fire. They were under attack again.
A mortar shell exploded on the other side of the corral. The two M60s at David’s position started firing towards the cabins.
An explosion at the furthest defensive machine-gun position silenced the gun. Single shots followed and Stratton knew they signalled an attack at that location.
He hurried to the stables, holding his rifle ready to fire. A Neravista appeared in the open field and Stratton dropped him with a single shot. Smoke rose from the sandbags of the furthest M60 position and the two rebels who had manned it lay dead across their defences.
A bullet struck the side of the stables and Stratton fired as he moved, killing two Neravistas coming across the open ground from the perimeter. He jumped behind the M60 and tried to get it firing again but it had been critically damaged.
More bullets whined around Stratton. He took up his rifle and shot one charging Neravista after another. Aware that he was running out of ammunition, he pulled another magazine from his pouch as he fired. When the
Sudden screams came from off to one side and he looked to see two Neravistas charging towards him, their bayonets pointing right at him.
Stratton fired, hitting one, but then his weapon jammed. As he stepped back to parry the inevitable bayonet thrust arrows flew into the attacker’s neck and side and he dropped onto the sandbags, writhing in agony. A volley of rifle fire aimed at the Neravistas’ flanking attack broke it and drove them back.
Victor, the Indians and a dozen rebels were tearing across the open ground towards Stratton. They reached
