Chapter 38: Exploitation

There was only sporadic fire coming from above us in the tree-line. That didn't surprise me at all considering that from their perspective, we had basically disappeared. There was no way that they could see us in the stream-bed, and when we popped up to fire every few seconds, we were well protected by the undergrowth and the fact that we didn't appear in the same place twice.

We had won the initial fire-fight, the uncontrolled phase and then created and won the controlled phase. I had a maneuver element that was moving in to perform a flanking attack, and my fire-support element was well setup and protected. With all those elements taken care of, I decided that I could spare some time to see if I could get a casevac going and move Cpl. Maseka into position to follow up any retreat.

I got out my phone and called Chris. I didn't get a chance to get the first words out.

"I'm on your tail with my medical bag. How badly do you need me?" Chris asked as soon as he answered his phone.

"Thanks Chris. Johnny is down. They got him with the first volley. I have no idea what his status is, I haven't had time to check on him. He's pretty exposed, though if you close up as much as possible, we should be counter-attacking in the next few mikes."

"Ok. I have one rifleman with me for protection and as a stretcher bearer. Cpl. Maseka was bombing up when I left the parking area."

"Excellent. You'll know when we go. Probably in the next three minutes."

I hung up and dialed Cpl. Maseka's phone.

"Major," he answered, "where do you need me?"

"Get on the road and go round towards the house. If any of them run from us, I expect them to west and head for Everton Road. See if you can set up some OPs along there and ambush them if they come through."

"Will do Major."

I hung up the phone, pretty happy that I had got that set up. As I started to turn back to the fire-fight, I was hit low in the side by a round fired from somewhere down-stream; from behind our position. The round knocked me the rest of the way around as it threw me against the bank.

As I slumped down, I saw one of Dimitri's men emerge cautiously and take aim at me again. Rasta and Bird didn't notice anything amiss, as they were still busy shifting position and firing, and they were further up the stream. From where they were, there was no chance that they could see the guy that had shot me, never mind bring their weapons to bear.

I struggled to lift my rifle, and as I did, I got the terrible feeling that I had come to the end of the road, as I could see the the round that had hit me had ricocheted off my weapon before hitting me. I figured that might have postponed my death, but it had damaged my rifle in the process.

I let my rifle drop, and started making the transition to my hand-gun, but slowly, so slowly. I was focused on the man taking aim at me, while a voice in my head was screaming, 'faster, faster you idiot'.

I had barely gotten my hand on the butt of the weapon, when the man's head seemed to explode. He toppled in what felt like slow motion, falling forwards into the sand and mercifully hiding the ruin of what had been his face.

I was completely confused for a few seconds, still tensed for the impact of the shot that my body expected, and fumbling to pull my hand-gun from the holster and jacking a round into the chamber. I noticed, as a vaguely interesting piece of trivia, that I hadn't needed to do so, as a bright shiny round was ejected from the weapon and arched away to fall to the ground.

I came back to myself suddenly; the sounds around me suddenly become clear and sharp again, and my mind started working.

Daise! I had completely forgotten about her. Now I could see her emerging from the bush further down the stream, standing poised on the top of the bank for a second before plunging down the bank and running towards me.