“Can we lever the dashboard back?”
“Hmmm.” Steve puffed his cheeks and scratched his head. Leaning over, he grabbed Naeem’s lower leg. “Naeem, I will count to three, and on three, I’m going to try to pull your leg free. Okay?”
Naeem nodded and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth in anticipation of the pain.
“Ready?”
“Yup.”
“One...” Steve tugged hard on Naeem’s leg. Naeem screamed as Steve straightened and winked at John. “His leg’s free now.”
John shook his head, grabbed Naeem under the shoulders, and dragged him free from the vehicle, laying him on the road. Naeem laid panting as John looked at the wound in his leg. He suppressed a wince as he glimpsed the white of bone inside the wound.
“It’s a nasty gash, Naeem, but you’ll live.” John removed the pocketknife he had found earlier and cut two strips of cloth from Naeem’s jacket. He balled one up and pressed it on the wound, passing the other to Mansur, who tied it around Naeem’s leg, securing it in place.
“Can you walk?”
“I think so,” Naeem grimaced.
John stood and pulled Naeem to his feet, supporting him as Naeem tested his weight on the leg and gasped in pain.
“Are you okay?”
Naeem’s face contorted, but he nodded.
“Right, let’s go.”
85
All three vehicles were too damaged to continue, so the four men walked up the road to where Mansur had hidden the women.
They were well-armed now, having stripped the bodies of weapons and ammunition, Naeem showing them how to reload the AKs.
They spread out across the track, Steve and Mansur on each side, John in the middle, supporting Naeem with his right arm, the AK hanging from his left.
Naeem winced with each step, but they made reasonable progress, eager to put as much distance between them and the wrecked vehicles as possible.
“Do you think the gunfire will have attracted any attention?” John asked Naeem.
“I doubt it,” Naeem muttered between steps. “Not out here.” He took another step, and John heard a sharp intake of breath as he put weight on his wounded leg. “But...” Naeem pointed at the sky with the index finger of his right hand. “We never know who is watching up there.”
John was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Naeem took another breath. “Drones. Turkish, Russian, Syrian, American.”
John looked up at the sky. It was clear and blue, barely a cloud in sight, nothing moved. Would he be able to see a drone, anyway? Best not to think about it.
They walked for ten minutes before John saw a cluster of trees in a field ahead and to their left. Mansur went ahead while Steve hung back, alternately scanning the road behind and the surrounding fields.
As John and Naeem neared the trees, Mia ran out and grabbed hold of Naeem’s arm.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Naeem said through gritted teeth. “It’s just my leg.”
The women sitting beneath the trees watched silently as John and Mia lowered him to the ground with his back against a tree.
“Will he be okay?” Mia asked.
“Yup.” John didn’t see any point in having Mia worry about Naeem’s wound. “He’ll need stitches, but nothing antibiotics and painkillers won’t put right,” he reassured her.
Mia nodded and crouched down beside him, resting a hand on his arm as Naeem sat with his eyes closed, his forehead wrinkled in pain.
John looked around at the women gathered beneath the trees. Mansur was talking to them in Arabic, and judging by the way they were listening avidly, John guessed he was explaining what had happened.
One woman held Malak in her arms, the little girl still dozing. She seemed to spend a lot of time sleeping. John didn’t know much about kids but assumed they would be a lot more active. Hopefully, they could get her to a doctor soon and get her checked over. He saw Steve step over and whisper something in Mansur’s ear. Mansur raised an eyebrow, nodded, then spoke to the women in Arabic. After a moment, the women turned to look at John. Some nodded, a couple gave him a thumbs-up. Puzzled, John turned to Steve.
“What did you say?”
“I just told Mansur to tell them what you did to that Mujahid dude.” He glanced over at the women. “They seem to approve.”
John looked away. In the aftermath of the gunfight, with adrenaline running high and the sight of Karam lying dead in the field, it had seemed the right thing to do, but he didn’t want to think about it now. There was no place for guilt or regrets.
“Where’s Karam?”
John turned back to look at Mia. She saw his expression, and her hand went to her mouth. Shaking her head, she repeated, “No, no, no.”
John didn’t know what to say that would comfort her, eventually settling for, “He fought ‘til the end, Mia.”
“Yeah, he was a brave little bugger,” Steve added.
Mia sat back on her haunches, her shoulders slumped, and stared out into the field with dull, empty eyes.
John and Steve exchanged a glance. They would never forget the boy, but they still had a long way to go until they were safe. John squatted down beside Naeem.
“Naeem, how far do we have to go from here?”
Naeem opened his eyes. “About two kilometers that way.” He nodded toward the road. “Then there is a path leading across the field. About another kilometer or so, and it will come out near the M5 highway. The highway is in government territory.”
“So, maybe forty-five minutes on foot.”
Naeem nodded. “Maybe. These women... I don’t know, it might take longer. But we shouldn’t go now. Wait until dark. It will be safer.”
“Okay.” John looked around at the women, then up at the sky. “What time is sunset?”
“Around seven.”
“What time is it now?” John frowned. “The bastards took my watch.”
Naeem turned his wrist and slid his sleeve up to show his watch. “One-fifteen.”
John exhaled and shook his head. “Six hours. Damnit.” He stood. “Okay, let’s hope no-one comes this way.”
“They won’t. That’s why I picked it.”
John nodded slowly, staring down at the young man leaning against the tree. He
