CHAPTER 8

Another truck screamed passed on the road in front of them, en route to investigate
the explosion. Moments later, Harding initiated their crossing. Heads down, he and
the woman calmly made it across before another vehicle appeared on the road. With
the rifle hidden, they looked like two over-sized Somali wondering the streets.
Upon reaching the other side, Harding breathed a sigh of relief, and then they pressed
on.
They ran down the side of the property in front of them and into the backyard. For
another full minute, they kept moving as they crossed another street block. And then
they paused so the woman could get her breath again.
Gunfire some distance off filled the air.
Harding gave the woman a reassuring smile.
“That’s just Tank”
She nervously smiled back.
But then, over the gunfire, Harding heard another sound.
The sound of the dogs barking.
Shit.

Harding knew that it wouldn’t take them long to find a scent to follow.
The woman heard the sounds as well. Her pathetic smile vanished and she looked up
at Harding with a stone, white face.
“Come on” Harding whispered with renewed vigour.
And they were running again.
 CHAPTER 9

The clock was now well and truly ticking.

Harding held the woman’s arm, pulling her forward.
His mind was racing.
The dogs were only moments behind them.

They came to the end of the block and another road lay ahead of them.
The barking of the dogs was close now.
Jesus, they’re in the same block as us.
This time they didn’t stop. They didn’t check for vehicles. And they didn’t stroll
across the road.
They were running.
The dogs would be on them in seconds.
They didn’t sound so far behind.
Harding’s mind was working furiously.
In the back yard of the first property in this new block, he motioned for the O’Connor
woman to climb up on to a shed to get over a high back fence. When she was on top
of the shed, Harding pulled her old clothes from out of his backpack and dropped
them on the ground beside the shed. He pulled two grenades from under his robe and
released the pins from both. Carefully he placed them in the clothing and then
climbed up on to the shed.
They leapt down into the yard beyond and recommenced their running.

They were only a two properties further along when they heard a loud explosion and
the barking of the dogs ceased momentarily. Pitiful yelps followed, but then fresh
barking started as the surviving dogs appeared to continue the hunt.

They reached the next road.

And again the barking was very close.
After crossing, Harding stopped and pondered for a split second. Reluctantly he
decided it was his only choice. The woman had stopped as well.
“What…?”
“Go over there and hide for a moment” he told her, pointing towards the backyard of
the first house on the new block. Confused, she reluctantly stumbled onwards.
Harding squatted down beside the corner of the house, raised his rifle and waited.
But it didn’t take long.
Like a ghostly spectre, the first dog came racing out of the darkness between the
houses on the other side of the road. Through the night vision goggles, Harding could
clearly see it and fired 3 rounds into it. It dropped and its body tumbled in the dirt of
the road.
His rifle shifted left and then right, firing 3 round bursts at each dog as they came.
One almost made it all the way across the road, but Harding never panicked.
In the end, six dogs lay dead in the road. A seventh dog was whimpering and trying
to get up, but it couldn’t. Harding put the creature out of its misery and there was no
more barking.

“Come” Harding simply said to the woman when he returned to her.

They know where we are now.
And they were running again.
 CHAPTER 10

They changed direction momentarily to try and confuse their pursers, but they
generally continued to head southeast. Their pursuers vehicles eventually found the
dead dogs and circled the corresponding blocks. But Harding and the girl were
several hundred meters away by that point.
They paused after another five minutes of running. Harding pulled off his night
vision goggles and was shocked at how dark the area was. Without streetlights or
lighting in the houses, the neighbourhood was pitch black. He wondered how the
woman had managed to run so far without tripping or breaking something.
“You ok?” he asked her quietly.
“What? Yeah. No more dogs?”
There was less panic in her voice now. She was holding up surprisingly well. Or
maybe it was just the adrenalin. Harding had seen this kind of change in behaviour
before.
“I hope not”
They sat for a moment. Listening.
The silence was almost as all consuming as the darkness. Several vehicles could be
heard in the distance. A burst of gunfire far off. And there was a radio playing music
not far away. But otherwise…

Harding gave the woman time to catch her breath before suggesting they move again.
They walked now. There were no more dogs chasing them for the moment, and he
figured that they were 1 or 2 blocks from their closest pursuers. And he didn’t want
to exhaust the woman. Walking her out of town was one thing, carrying her out was
another. They moved out on to the roads, so as not to arouse suspicion. But again,
they kept to the shadows and when the occasional vehicle did pass they hid
themselves completely.
Gradually they reached the southern city limits and the properties became more
isolated and sparse. And then they were in the open dessert wasteland surrounding
the city. They crossed a large tract of land surrounding an old Italian-period
farmhouse and sought refuge in there briefly. The bare concrete walls and floor were
all that was left of what had once been something luxurious.

Harding decided to take this moment to touch base with their other team member. He
pressed the mic on his voice box.
“Echo3, echo3, Come in. Breaking radio silence”
Harding heard a click in his ear-piece.
Bad timing for echo 3 perhaps.
“Plan’s gone shit state. Have the girl, but we’re walking out. RV point 3 for
extraction. Over”, Harding continued.
‘Click-click’ came the response.
Understood.

More gunfire could be heard coming from the city, now a mile off. Surveying their
position, Harding decided that they were now reasonably safe and he attempted to
make radio contact with his extraction unit.
“Understood echo1 – RV point 3 for extraction. ETA?”
Harding considered this. He had no idea where the other two members of the team
were or how long it would take for them to reach the extraction point.
“Be ready to go in 1 hour, await my signal. Over” he responded.
The woman watched him as he said these words and disconnected communications.
“How many of you are there?” she asked.
“Other than Tank and I? Two others. We’ll be meeting up with them shortly”
This didn’t seem to fill her with confidence and she lowered her gaze. She was sitting
with her back against a wall, holding her knees.
“You ok?” he asked.
But she didn’t answer. Coming down off the adrenalin maybe.
Harding ran his hand over his face, wiping away sweat and black camo paint. He
didn’t give her more than a seconds’ attention before he rose and checked their
surroundings again.
The job was almost done.
She wasn’t hurt.
Simply luggage.
Now it was time to concentrate on getting them all out alive.

Thirty minutes later, Harding moved himself and the woman towards their extraction
point on the beach. It was a mile across flat terrain, and their only serious obstacle
was the ocean highway – a semi asphalted road that ran the length of the coast down
towards the town of Marka.
Echo 3 & 4 were already waiting for them on the beach.
“He was not too happy about his Gulfstream,” reported Echo 3, describing the
destruction of the warlord’s jet that served as a distraction for the entrance to the
compound.
“Well pissed off he was. Dancing all over the show, waving his arms in anger. A
right mess”
Harding smiled and nodded. But he was worried about Tank.
Gunfire and explosions erupted sporadically in the city north of them. It sounded like
he was giving the militiamen hell.
“Cyrus”
The voice came over Harding’s ear piece.
“Tank?”
“I’m 200 out. North of you. Coming in. Don’t shoot”
Relief.
“You…ah…you need help?” Harding asked reaching for his rifle, and hearing gunfire
in the distance.
“Nah, I lost them some ways off. 20 minutes ago. No idea who they’re shooting at”