Crossfire Read Online Free PDF Page A

If
you treat a mate like that, I'm glad we're going
back to Basra tomorrow. Leave you fuckers out
here in the world's biggest ashtray.'
    Paul cut him off. He yelled to the three in the
VCP: 'Vehicle . . . I don't like it. The fucker's not
slowing . . .'
    Rhett charged past the rear of our wagon.
'Hold your fire . . . On my command . . .'
    Pete picked up the camera.
    Dom shot me a glance. 'Suicide-bomber?'
    Pete was already out and running. Dom and I
followed. Fuck the helmets. If the wagon was
packed with high explosive, they weren't going
to be much help.

6
    The lead Warrior was still parked at forty-five
degrees to the road.
    Rhett assessed as we took cover behind. He
rattled a commentary into his PRR as he scoped
it through binos. 'One-up, looking young. Still
closing, maybe a hundred away.'
    I stuck my head out. It was an old Toyota
Hilux, dark blue or black. A white rag fluttered
on a length of wood behind the cab. A green
tarpaulin over the tail-bed flapped in the
slipstream.
    'Wait, wait, wait . . .' Rhett had to make sure it
wasn't some dickhead tuning the radio instead of
watching the road. Could be. It had been known.
    Pete had strayed out into the road as he filmed.
I grabbed his body armour and hauled him back
into cover. Dom was tight in behind me.
    Rhett stepped out when the Hilux was just
fifty metres away. He tried to wave him down.
'Keep that fucking cannon on him.'
    The driver's grim-set face filled the
windscreen. This was no dickhead surfing the
channels for Radio Basra.
    The Hilux accelerated.
    'Hit it, hit it, hit it !'
    Rhett's voice was lost in the hail of 30mm as he
dived for cover next to us. Rounds punched into
the Hilux and kicked up chunks of tarmac
around it. The windscreen disintegrated. The
wagon was taking so many hits, I couldn't
believe the whole thing didn't fall apart.
    Everybody in the all-round protection cordon
hit the ground, braced for the inevitable.
    Pete had disappeared. Dom got up off his
knees and was about to follow. I lunged for
his body armour and grabbed him as the Hilux
screamed past, pulling him to the ground. 'No
fucking way!'
    Paul gave him a long burst. The high-velocity
rounds made my ears ring. I jumped on top of
Dom to keep the fucker on the ground as Paul
stopped firing and dropped down into the
Warrior.
    The Hilux slammed straight into the bar
armour at the front of our wagon. There was a
loud bang and bits of metal and glass showered
down on us. Then there was a deathly silence.
    I peered round. The Hilux had been no contest
for twenty-five tonnes of armoured vehicle. The
whole left side of its engine compartment looked
like it had gone through a crusher. Steam hissed
from broken pipes. Oil smoked on hot metal.
    Paul's head appeared through the hatch. He
was straight back on the Minimi and resumed
firing, directly into the cab. The body behind the
wheel jerked and danced as the rounds thumped
home.
    Rhett was up on his feet and running. He was
joined by two of the platoon. They stood and
emptied their magazines into the cab until he
finally raised his arm. 'Stop! Stop! Check firing!'
    He took the last couple of steps, jumped up on
the bar armour and peered through the smashed
glass. 'We can't make the cunt any more dead.'
    Pete appeared, camera up, and filmed the three
Kingsmen at the driver's door.
    I let go of Dom and helped him to his feet.
    Rhett wrenched the door open. The body
rolled out on to the sand-covered tarmac. The
only sound was the steady rumble of
the Warriors' engines, and the hiss of steam.
    Rhett beckoned us forward. He pointed to a
car battery in the footwell. The negative terminal
was already connected to one of the two-core
cables running out of the passenger door and
under the green tarpaulin at the back. The second
strand lay loose, ready to be touched to the
positive.
    'The battery first, Peter. Then whatever the
Kingsmen do next.' Dom glanced down at what
was left of the body. 'No, wait – see the trackmarks?'
He pointed at the body's