“Not sure mate, but it sounds far off, wouldn’t you say?
“Could be, it’s hard to tell with all these buildings around, could be coming from a couple of streets over?” Jason answers.
Den swiftly and suddenly raises his rifle back up the road they have just travelled down and Jason follows his lead ready to fire, his heart racing.
“Hold your fire!” Corporal Ford shouts from behind them, “they’re ours.”
Jason’s finger moves away from his SA80’s trigger, as he too sees that it’s three of their Squad running down the road, returning from their recce. Bloody hell, he thinks to himself, I nearly opened fire on them, I got to pull myself together!
“All clear down Station Street Sir, but we heard gunfire, thought you may be in trouble,” the young squaddie named Pete announces quite calmly as the three get close.
“Okay, Private. Take covering positions, while I see if our eye in the sky knows where it’s coming from,” Corporal Ford orders and then presses his comms button to talk the Apache flying around some distance in front of them.
The Squad cover their positions behind their rifles, while the Corporal talks into his radio, Jason covering up the road. He sees more movement and this time, leaves his finger off his trigger, seeing quickly that it is three more of their Squad returning. That leaves only six men still out on recces. Jason will be glad and feel more secure when everyone is back; he has a feeling that something is about to happen, but maybe it’s just the tension getting to him.
Gunfire at different volumes is now sounding off at a regular rate, but none of it seems any closer to the first shots they heard, Jason thinks; it is definitely increasing in rate though. The more shots he hears, the more it seems to increase the fear he is feeling. He quickly looks around at the rest of the Squad, all of their eyes wide, searching for any threats. And most look pretty nervous and scared too, which somehow comforts Jason slightly, knowing he isn’t the only one bricking it.
“The other Squads shooting might be farther into the city than us; how far d’you think we have come?” Den asks Jason.
“I’d say about a ‘klick’, maybe a bit more,” Jason estimates.
“Na, it’s more like two klicks”, somebody says.
“Listen up,” Corporal Ford says, “From what they can see up there, the action is more North of our position, so we carry on. On your feet.”
As the whole Squad gets up onto their feet, they see three more men coming back from their recce to re-join the main group, and they ask what is happening.
“Tight formation,” Corporal Ford orders as he signals the Warrior to continue.
Now the Squad, instead of spreading across the road, form up behind the Warrior, using it for cover. They all scan their areas avidly, their rifles at the ready, knowing for sure that this is no training exercise if they were in any doubt before.
All too quickly, they come to a halt at yet another road that will need three men to leave the Squad and recce, all of them hoping that they aren’t the ones tasked with it. There is safety in numbers and that number is being cut to only three, for those who get the job, isn’t very appealing. They all have the same sinking feeling that the enemy is close, and the appeal drops even further when it also means leaving the ‘comfort blanket’ of the Warrior behind too.
“Jason, Den and Tyrone, you’re up.”
Even before the Corporal calls his name, Jason all but knows he will be going. He thought he had been lucky to have missed the last ones, but he would take one of those recces now, over this one.
“Yes Sir,” Jason says for the three of them.
The Corporal, who already has his map out as the three of them gather around him for instructions, looks up at Jason.
“Right Jason, you are Team Leader, understood?” the Corporal tells him.
“Yes Sir,” he replies.
“This is Barnard Road,” the Corporal says, pointing at the map that he is showing to Jason. “It goes all the way down to this road, which is—” The Corporal pauses, looking, “…Swan Road, Swan Road is in Squad A6’s area but your team needs to recce Barnard Road, all the way down to Swan Road, including this school, here, Wilmot School. There are also three roads off Barnard. Two are cul-de-sacs and this road that goes down and around until it meets Swan Road; recce the two cul-de-sacs and that road down to Swan Road and then return, understood?”
“Yes Sir, understood,” Jason replies.
“Okay get moving, on the double!”
Jason, Den and Tyrone break off from the main Squad’s right flank and run across the main road and into Barnard Road, Jason taking the lead.
Curtains move as they enter the road and shadows can be seen moving behind the windows of the houses, as residents look out to see what is going on. Sometimes, they see worried or even frightened faces appear behind the glass. A few of the residents come out of their front doors, maybe in hope that it's over and the danger has passed, or they shout to the three men to see what is happening. The three soldiers don’t slow their pace or stop to talk to them; the best that they can do is to shout back for them to go back inside and lock their doors.
As the entrance to Wilmot school approaches, they slow their pace considerably until they come to a stop at the sign for the school, which tells them that the school is a Primary school for younger children. Besides the sign is a small roadway that leads down into the school grounds and the school building that can be seen, to the right behind some trees.
“We might as well check this place out first,” Jason says, panting slightly from the run.
“I dunno, mate” Den replies, “I
