Ambush II

Outside in the street people were beginning to leave their houses. Crouched in the shadows just inside the doorway to the street Holden looked at von Junzt, it was clear from his face, he could clearly hear the same shouts of "Allahu Akbar" as Holden. The shouting was a sure sign the mob had started to work itself up into a frenzy.

Prior to seeing the news story which lead to landing the job with Armburst Holden hadn't been interested in the war in Iraq, apart from observing when his old regiment appeared on the television. One story had attracted his attention though and as he hid in the house the details came flooding back. In 2004 a security team for an American company called Blackwater had been ambushed by insurgents in the town of Falluja, the details weren't clear but after the ambush they'd been overwhelmed by the mob. The men were killed, their burnt and mutilated bodies hung on a bridge on the towns outskirts, Holden tried not to think about it but decided if he couldn't shoot his way out, he'd shoot himself before he let the mob get their hands on him.

Ideally Holden thought the mob would simply not to know they were around, sad as it was the fact Pat and Jock's bodies were still in the car would probably prove a distraction. Even so they simply couldn't risk being seen, opening the door just a crack Holden maneuvered himself so as to be able to look up and down the street, reassured the only people he could see had their backs to them and were at the far end of the street he told the von Junzt to keep close then sprinted across the road through an open gateway and into a walled garden.

steps up the side of the house gave access to its roof, an old faded settee, cushions and blankets and a battered television typical of most Iraqi families they would sleep on the roof, trying to escape the summer heat, Holden was grateful the summer heat now kept many people inside allowing them to use the rooftops to quickly put some distance between them and the site of the ambush before using another set of stairs to descend into a another walled garden

Holden didn't stop to look around but quickly made his way to the far end of the garden where he clambered onto what looked to be a rabit hutch before he hauled himself onto the wall, he stopped straddled it long enough to pulled the wheezing von Junzt up behind him then swinging his other leg over and dropping down into the next garden, he caught sight of an attractive young Iraqi woman standing in the open doorway to the house, a child perched on one hip a basket of washing in her other arm, the expression on her face didn't change, she simply stepped back into her house and shutting the door quietly behind her.

Preffering to think the woman was simply ignoring them rather than ringing some friends with the guns, Holden moved over to what had once been a ornate garden gate in three quick strides. The gate had long ago been reinforced through the simple expedient of welding a thick steel plate to it. Holden pressed his face upto a small gap between steel plate and the gate to look out onto another street almost as empty as the first, either people were hiding inside or everyone was busy at the ambush site.

Holden lent back against the wall trying to think. At the top of this road should be the rendezvous point where if he was lucky the rest of the team would be waiting for them, he honestly didn't hold much hope of that, it was unlikely the rest of the team would have escaped the ambush without injury and they'd want to get to somewhere they could get medical attention probably the nearest American base and they'd certainly want to keep clear of the mob.

Going to the rendezvous point would mean going up to what passed for a busy main road, it had been lined with shops which meant lots of people. The rendezvous point had been the forecourt of an apparently derelict petrol station, there would be places to hide but he and von Junzt would be incredibly exposed, it didn't make Holden feel much better when compared to the prospect of running through the streets of Tikrit chased by the mob.

Holden wiped the sweat from his face and turned to see how von Junzt was holding up. Holden wasn't happy by what he saw, extremely red faced and breathing heavily the German squatted next to him, his face seemed slightly vacant. Looking at the German now, noticed his lips moving and when he lent closer Holden could make out the same whispered Latin prayers repeated over and over again. Holden had hoped the adrenalin rush from the last few minutes might have shaken him out of the daze he'd been in since they'd taken cover in the house immediately after the ambush, but apparently that was not to be.

Momentarily, Holden wondered whether he shouldn't simply abandon the German in the courtyard and make a run for it on his own but the German had friends here in Tikrit and there was the faintest chance he'd get out alive without Holden in which case Holden's career would be over, although he wasn't sure wasn't sure a career change wasn't in order anyway. There weren't many choices really

"Enough deliberation" thought Holden as he grabbed the German under the arm and hauled him to his feet and pushed him out of the gate. Outside, almost had an air of normalacy about it, there was no evidence of the violence which had occurred only a few hundred meters away; people were simply getting on with their everyday life. Holden wondered how long it would take before they were noticed, he slung the Demarco over his back and drew his pistol he held it down by his side then grabbed the still mumbling von Junzt by the shoulder and started pulling him along