Free Crossfire by Andy McNab

He
couldn't use the hinged screen like a tourist
because of the telltale glow.
    Dom got into reporter mode. 'Can you tell me
what's happening?'
    The NCO didn't bother looking at him or the
camera as he replied. His eyes switched between
the road and the gunner, who was still firing. He
had to force the words out as he tried to regain
his breath. 'We're going to go down the alley and
bomb-burst out the other side of the building. We
got movement in cover over there and the
snipers can't get 'em – so we're going to flush
'em out.'
    Pete put the camera on Terry, but only for a
second before our gun stopped and the NCO
legged it. The patrol followed. I watched the last
man, the little Manchester lad, as he ran across
the street and veered right, up towards the alley
mouth. Blue cyalumes hung off buildings either
side.
    There was no need for discussion. Dom was
already on his feet and about to follow.
    I restrained him as another long burst came
from the other side of the buildings, and checked
he and Pete still had IR cyalumes gaffered to the
backs of their helmets. 'You've definitely bent
those things?'
    They nodded. I kept low and followed the
patrol, who were well ahead of us now. An RPG
kicked off to our right and flew straight down the
middle of the road. It slammed into a building
fifty metres further on and exploded. Lumps of
concrete rained down on us. When I looked up
again, the last man was disappearing into the
alley.
    'Come on, quick!' We needed to get there
before they were swallowed into the darkness.
    I stopped at the intersection.
    A dull glow shone along the alley from the
street a couple of hundred beyond it. It was
about two metres wide. Rusty metal doors and
barred windows lined both sides. The ground
was strewn with litter, rubble, puddles, dog
shit. The patrol was nowhere to be seen.
They had already bomb-burst out the other
end.
    We crunched our way towards it. Dom needed
controlling. He'd switched on his forcefield again
and was surging ahead.
    'No one goes any further than the end, OK?
We've got snipers above us and we don't know
what the fuck's going on out there.'
    Pete snorted. 'You won't have to tell me twice,
mate.'
    Dom got there first. He was scoping up and
down as I joined him. Out there somewhere was
the distant rumble of Chindit Company's
Warrior tracks. Immediately ahead, across about
thirty metres of sewage-covered wasteground,
lay a rabbit warren of side-streets, ramshackle
buildings and bomb-blasted sewers. That was
where the patrol must have gone.
    I gripped Dom, the stench of shit burning deep
into my sinuses. 'This is as far as we go, all right?'
    He pointed frantically to a fallen wall about
fifteen away. 'There, Peter, look!'
    A body lay motionless in the half-light, face
down on the wasteground.
    Pete started filming. With his camera's night-viewing
capability he could see better than we
could. 'He's got one round through the nut and
there's an AK next to him.'
    Dom spotted another body sprawled on the
road further on, just before the warren where
the patrol must be. The snipers couldn't have
missed the fuckers at that range.
    SA80s stuttered behind us back in the street.
Pete arranged Dom at the edge of the alley so he
had the body in the background. Dom started
gobbing off to camera in hushed and dramatic
Polish.
    Above us, another sniper added to the soundtrack.
It was going to be award-winning footage.

17
    Pete was still filming as a burst of AK screamed
out of the warren. The rounds zinged over our
heads and into the walls behind us.
    Pete jerked the camera away from Dom. 'Tel!'
    I turned to see a body staggering out of a half-demolished
building and into the wasteground.
    It was a Rifleman – the dome of his helmet was
silhouetted against the distant glow. He
stumbled a few steps more and fell.
    Pete pushed the camera into Dom's hands and
legged it across the wasteground.
    'Pete, stop!'
    Either he couldn't hear me or he didn't want
to. I shoved Dom back against the wall.