The Cadet Under-Officer

by Christopher Cummings

  Graham was now so utterly weary it took a real effort of will to make himself plod on up the steep slope. He reached the rocks where Margaret was crouched. Nearby LCpl Walsh knelt behind a boulder.

  Kneeling beside her Graham said, “Thanks for the warning, Margaret. But why are you here? I ordered you to withdraw to join Sgt Dunning.”

  “Yes, I know ..er,” she hesitated over what to call him, ‘darling’ and ‘dear’ being on the top of her mind rather than ‘sir’ or ‘CUO Kirk’. “We got Miss McEwen and the others half way down the hill and I thought you might be cut off so we came back up to cover your withdrawal,” she replied.

  Graham shook his head, both annoyed and thankful for her disobedience. “Does Lt McEwen’s know you have come back?"

  “Yes. I told her,” Margaret replied. Her face showed both defiance and determination and Graham felt a great surge of affection.

  “Thanks,” he said. “What was all the shooting over the other side of the hill?”

  “Three of those security men tried to advance from Dry Creek past the roadblock to attack the west side of the hill but Roger’s group fired at them and stopped them,” Margaret replied.

  “Where are they now?” Graham asked.

  “They pulled back to Dry Creek.”

  “Roger’s group ok?”

  Margaret nodded. “I think so. What is happening now?”

  Graham told her about the hostage exchange. Then he said, “Now you and Walshy had better start back. Go and join Sgt Dunning.”

  Margaret shook her head and looked very determined. “No. If you are coming back here to give that man the notebook then we are staying to cover you.”

  “Margaret! Obey orders! Get going!”

  “No!”

  “But I don’t want you at risk,” Graham cried, exasperated by her disobedience.

  “Likewise,” Margaret answered. “We will be alright. From up here we can see any movement. They can’t sneak up on us. You will need some support. We can always pull back.”

  Graham shook his head but had to agree. “Alright. Wait here and watch. I’ll be ten minutes. Pat’s section is crossing the hill behind you now. I will get them to join you,” he replied. Knowing time was vital he went on up to the cliff top and along it to the hollow. There was no-one there, just an empty food tin left by an idle cadet. That puzzled him as he had expected to meet Cpl Sheehan’s group again. Worried that they might have been delayed he turned left and hurried across the rocks to look down the slope towards the airfield.

  They were there, fifty metres down. They were bending over one of the cadets who was curled up on the rocks. Anxious to be gone Graham called down to them. “Cpl Sheehan, what’s the problem.”

  “Hodgins has hurt his leg sir, twisted his knee or something on the rocks,” Cpl Sheehan replied.

  ‘Blast!’ Graham thought. ‘There goes my plan to get his section to join Margaret.’ He now wanted to have the platoon re-grouped. “Help him up or carry him but get up over this hill and down the other side as quickly as you can,” he called back. Cpl Sheehan waved acknowledgement so Graham turned and set off over the rocks and down to the larger hollow and then down the rock ledge.

  It took Graham only five minutes to reach the bottom of the hill and another three to hurry through the bush to where Lt McEwen’s group were moving across the flat. He was surprised to find that they were not at the RV. They were going very slowly and obviously having difficulty. Despite her injuries Lt McEwen was helping Rebecca get Cactus safely over the rocky ground. Elizabeth looked frightened and exhausted and had been crying. Lt McEwen was both very ill and desperately anxious. She looked very glad to see Graham. In the daylight she looked haggard and exhausted, her bruises even more obvious.

  As quickly as he could Graham explained. Lt McEwen shook her head in dismay at the deadly risk. “We should wait till the police arrive. They have trained negotiators,” she said.

  “There isn’t time Miss. Bargheese means business. I will have to give him the notebook and risk it,” Graham replied.

  Lt McEwen reluctantly took the notebook from Elizabeth’s webbing and passed it to him. “I suppose so,” she said sadly.

  Graham said: “Keep going to the RV Miss. It is only another couple of hundred metres. We will join you there within the hour.”

  “You be careful,” she said, gripping his arm.

  “I will Miss. I’d trust a snake more than that fellow.”

  Lt McEwen shook her head and then voiced her greatest fear. “He may shoot you just out of revenge,” she said.

  “I know that Miss. But I will be ready,” Graham replied. He tried to sound calm but inside his stomach churned with fear.

  Lt McEwen knew it had to be done but dreaded the possible outcome. Treachery was on both their minds. Graham had another drink - almost emptying his last waterbottle (Four since midnight - no wonder I feel sick). Then he set off back up the hill. He could have gone down and skirted the base but he wanted to see Margaret to reassure her and he also wanted to check on Cpl Sheehan’s progress. But most of all he wanted Bargheese to see him.

  Once again he set himself to climb the hill. ‘I am getting sick of this hill!’ he thought as he gritted his teeth and pushed himself upwards. There was no breeze on the western slope but once he reached the summit it was cooler. As he hurried across the hollow he expected to meet Cpl Sheehan at any moment and his worry grew with every step. To check he had to detour to his right and only as he reached a point where he could look down the eastern slope did he see them. They were still ten metres down and Hodgins was hopping painfully up on one leg. Helping him were Cpl Sheehan on one side and Halyday on the other.

  “Hurry up! Keep going down the other side,” Graham ordered, wishing now he had taken the risk of sending them across the front of the hill. Leaving them he hurried on around the highest point to join Margaret. He reached her again at 0625. The sun was already well up, with all the promise of another scorching day. Crouching behind a rock he stopped to talk to her, surprised at the strength of his emotions.

  “Anything happen?” he asked.

  Margaret pointed. “Yes sir, look, over near the roadblock. Two of those security men are walking down the gravel road with our two cadets in front of them and there’s another one, there near Mast Hill. That one walked back to the camp, but got there after the other two left. He looked around and there was some shouting and now he’s running back towards those rocks where Bargheese is.”

  Graham felt a twinge of alarm. “This isn’t what was agreed! What’s going on?” Biting his lip with anxiety he pushed the notebook into his left map pocket and wiped sweat off his hand. He was already dreading the showdown at the handover and this new uncertainty made him sick with apprehension. Anxiously he stood beside Margaret and watched. It was a grandstand view.

  The two security men and their prisoners reached Dry Creek and went out of sight amongst the trees. A minute later they appeared on the southern side with their hands in the air; unmistakably surrendering. They continued walking south along the gravel road towards the platoon RV only now the two cadets were behind them and had their guns. ‘What the devil is happening?’ Graham wondered. ‘Those two security men look like prisoners, with our cadets guarding them.’

  The group walked quickly along the road until they came to the bend where the platoon RV was. Here they halted and there was obviously a dialogue with people hidden in the rocks and scrub. Then Roger walked out into the middle of the gravel road and yelled towards the hill. Graham could just make out what he said although he was nearly 500 metres away. “CUO Kirk!.....up there?”

  Graham stood on top of a boulder and waved. “Yes.”

  “....prison. ..we’ve got....and….....son. ..and…. ..ok!”

  “Say again.”

  “Two prison.... They’ve released Morrow.......... ....son. They say.........want…….turn Queen’s evidence.”

  Graham gave a smile of grim satisfaction. “Those two security m
en have surrendered. They’ve released Morrow and Anderson and want to turn Queen’s Evidence. They’ve had enough. I don’t think they knew about what I’d agreed with Bargheese,” he said.

  With him in mind Graham looked towards Mast Hill and got a glimpse of a white shirt in the boulders across the creek and a blue shirted man gesticulating and pointing in the direction of the roadblock. “He’s just getting the bad news now.”

  Graham’s mind raced. What to do now? He felt that his honour was at stake but he wasn’t sure if his promise hadn’t been invalidated by events. After a few moments thought he made his mind up and began to yell instructions. “Sergeant Dunning, wait for us at the RV.”

  As he shouted Graham watched out of the corner of his eye. Bargheese and the man with him were looking.

  Roger called back. “What.... ….. say?”

  “Wait at RV,” Graham yelled. At the same time he indicated with his arms. Roger waved and a moment later he and the group with their two prisoners could be seen walking south into the bush beside the bend in the gravel road. Satisfied they were safe Graham turned and looked back along the hill. He couldn’t see Cpl Sheehan and the other two but he hoped they were now on their way down the western slope. A fever of impatience surged through him. ‘We have to get away!’ he thought.

  “Marg, be ready to withdraw quickly. We will be the rear guard. I will just check that Cpl Sheehan’s group are safe,” he said. Turning he dashed back over the rocks, taking foolish risks in his anxiety. When he got to the hollow he was appalled to find that Cpl Sheehan and the other two were still there. Hodgins was lying down and rubbing his left leg.

  “Cpl Sheehan. Pull your group back now, fast! Move to the RV. Move man, move!” Graham cried.

  Corporal Sheehan nodded and at a word to Halyday they heaved Hodgins up and began half carrying, half dragging him across the hollow. Graham moved to where he could see down over the edge of the cliff. What he saw caused him a stab of alarm. Bargheese and the man with him were running towards Dry Creek!

  “Here they come!” Graham called to Margaret, then at the top of his voice, “Hurry up Cpl Sheehan, they’re coming. Go quickly! We’ll cover you!”

  The three cadets began making their way down the sloping ledge of rock but they had to take it slow. Several times Graham saw one or the other stumble and he broke out in a lather of anxious perspiration. ‘Oh hurry up! Hurry up!’ he thought, clenching his hands in anxiety. Then Cpl Sheehan’s group went out of sight and Graham hurried back to rejoin Margaret. As he did he saw that Bargheese and the other man were shouting to two more. ‘Only four of them left then,’ Graham thought. or were there more hidden in the rocks or in the camp?

  “Kirk! The notebook!” Bargheese’s shout just reached them.

  Graham pulled it out and waved it. He laughed. “Come and get it!”

  A shot cracked past but well overhead. Graham hopped down off the boulder then looked carefully around. ‘Definitely only four enemy left. Bargheese on the left, Berzinski and two others,’ he noted. They were crossing Dry Creek spread out in a line a hundred metres wide, running from rock to rock and firing but without the practiced fire control of the cadets.

  ‘We should go now,’ Graham thought. But how far had Cpl Sheehan’s group got? In a fever of impatience Graham hurried back to the edge of the cliff and leaned over, using a small tree for balance. To his dismay Graham saw that Hodgins was curled up on the rock ledge and only half way down. Cpl Sheehan and Halyday were trying to lift him up. ‘Damn! We will have to delay the enemy,’ Graham decided.

  Hurrying back to join Margaret Graham saw that Bargheese was now running up the gentle slope towards the base of the snout. ‘We will have to act. If I don’t Bargheese could catch up,’ he thought. Now he feared irrational violence driven by a desire for vengeance. ‘Or he could capture more hostages and get away.’

  Graham slid down to lean on a boulder and lifted his rifle butt to his shoulder. He wasn’t sure how many rounds any of the cadets had left but he knew in his heart that if anyone was to fire a potentially fatal shot it must be he. He aimed just in front of Bargheese after setting his sights on 300. ‘It is probably only 200 but it is plunging fire,’ he thought. And he was shaking! With an effort of willpower he calmed himself.

  Steadying his aim he fired. He didn’t see the fall of shot but the white shirt suddenly dived behind a rock so it must have been close. Margaret fired as well. Graham shifted target and fired at Berzinski. This time he saw the strike - leaves came off a tree just near Berzinski and the crook began to weave as he ran. But he didn’t stop. Graham was appalled at the speed of the attack and a feeling of panic surged in him. ‘Oh bloody hell! Here they come!’ he thought.

  The other two crooks hesitated but then came on. They didn’t seem very keen and only one had a rifle which he fired up the hill. He wasn’t much of a shot or he had no idea where they were as the bullet hit rocks on the other side of the hill.

  Bargheese ran forward to another clump of rocks. Graham smacked a bullet off it. He saw the rock chips fly and the white scar of dust. To check on Cpl Sheehan’s progress he took the risk of standing up for a quick look. He was relieved to see that Cpl Sheehan’s group were no longer visible. ‘That means they are near the bottom of the hill,’ he thought. They had vanished into dead ground at the base of the hill on the left.

  ‘We have to hold here for another couple of minutes to cover them till they are out on the flat ground,’ Graham decided, then fired again.

  Berzinski also vanished out of sight behind the boulders half way down the snout. The other two crooks reached the base of the hill on the right. Then Bargheese ran to rocks at the bottom on the left. Graham fired at him and missed. Now he could only hope Cpl Sheehan’s group were far enough away and could reach some sort of cover.

  “Let’s go. Margaret! Walsh! Pull back! I’ll cover you,” Graham snapped. He was feel real alarm at the sheer speed of the enemy attack. ‘This time they really mean business,’ he thought.

  Margaret and LCpl Walsh scrambled back over the rocks and made for the cliff top. Graham searched the rocks below, finger on the trigger.

  Tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat.

  The burst of sub-machine gun fire from the boulders half way up sent bullets skittering off the rocks. Berzinski! Graham couldn’t see him yet but he whacked a bullet in between two boulders where he thought he was.

  “Graham!” Margaret’s voice was a scream. He turned his head and looked. Walsh was pitched forward face down on a boulder. As Graham’s vision focused on him he twitched and half rose to show blood streaming from his nose and mouth. Then Walsh fell heavily onto the rocks and lay there. Margaret had been ahead of Walsh. She turned and began running back down towards her injured section 2ic.

  Graham was horrified. “No Margaret. No! Keep going!” he cried. Then instinct warned him and he spun round. And there was Berzinski; not 50 paces away, coming out from behind a boulder and raising his sub-machine gun to aim at Margaret!

  Graham didn’t hesitate. He aimed and fired simultaneous with the SMG. The rattle of automatic fire sounded for a moment but so did a scream. Graham’s heavy bullet punched Berzinski back against the boulder. The bullet had gone right through the man so that when he crumpled there was a red smear on the rock. Graham felt more relieved than guilty; and later would feel more guilty that he hadn’t felt guilty.

  Certain that Berzinski was no longer a threat Graham turned and saw that Margaret had knelt down and hauled Walsh onto her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. But as she did so she was fully exposed on the top of the hill and there were three more enemy coming up. Graham was both dismayed and proud to see that she was trying to pick up her rifle and Walsh’s shotgun, just as he’d trained her to.

  “Leave them Margaret, run! Leave the rifles! Run!” he shouted, in an agony of concern for her. She did so and began labouring up the rocky slope. A bullet whined off a rock near her. Graham turned to face the enemy to cover her.

  CHAPTER 40


  SHOWDOWN AT SUNUP

  Graham glimpsed a blue shirted man with a pistol half way up the hill on his right. He fired just in front of the man, the bullet kicking up a shower of dust. The man went flat. Graham reefed the bolt open with difficulty as heat was making the empty cartridge cases hard to eject. Aiming quickly he fired again to keep the man down, while wondering where the other one had gone. Margaret was on top now and staggered out of sight over the skyline.

  Graham pulled out another clip of five rounds and charged his magazine. Gasping with effort and anxiety he began scrambling back up the rock strewn slope. ‘I’ve only got one more clip left in the bandolier,’ he thought. 13 rounds in all. A bullet cracked past and he dived behind a rock, bruising himself. The other security man had fired it. He was just coming into sight around the east side of the rocks half way up. Graham aimed and fired. The man saw the movement and also fired before diving for cover. Driven by a ‘kill or be killed’ imperative Graham had tried to hit him but missed.

  Graham knew he must move or be pinned down. But as he went to get up he stared in horror. Berzinski had risen to his knees and was clawing to reach his SMG. He looked awful, with blood all over his chest and on his face and hands.

  Horrified that he might have to shoot the man again Graham aimed. “Leave it Berzinski or I’ll shoot again,” he shrilled, his voice almost cracking in desperation. The security man’s face twisted with pain and hate and he grabbed the gun and straightened up. Graham sighted on the centre of the man’s chest, knowing that he couldn’t miss and was appalled by the thought.

  Berzinski opened his mouth and began to shout obscenities as he brought the gun up. Then he coughed and gurgled and blood flecked his lips. He staggered and let go of the SMG with his left hand to steady himself.

  Graham hesitated, the first pressure on the trigger already taken, while he watched in sickly fascination. The security man wiped his mouth and stared at the blood, then looked down at his red stained shirt and his eyes seemed to glaze. He staggered and tripped.