Land of Fire by Chris Ryan

Author:Chris Ryan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780712619431
Publisher: London : Century, 2002.
Published: 2003-05-04T23:00:00+00:00

We pushed on. At a rough guess we had travelled around two hundred metres. Surely even the Argies must build inspection chambers into their drains, I kept telling myself. If we became trapped down here, how long before the others came to look for us? Would the radio work this far underground if we called for help? If it did would they be able to get us out?

After what felt like an age the darkness up ahead seemed to diminish slightly. Not so much light as a hint of grey in the blackness. The effect was so faint at first I convinced myself my eyes were playing tricks. Gradually, as we drew nearer, it resolved itself into a crescent of pale gloom seeping down from overhead. Urgently we heaved ourselves towards it, terrified we would find a barred grille or a hatch too small to escape through.

With a final spurt I dragged my stinking body up to the gap, my lungs revelling in the fresh air filtering down. Snow was piled on the floor of the pipe, and I seized a handful to wipe the filth from my face. Reaching up I found a square manhole with a cracked lid that was partly dislodged.

"How is it? Can we get out?" Josh's voice came urgently from behind. He could see nothing and had to rely on bulletins from me for encouragement.

"Some kind of access hatch," I whispered back. "I'm going to stick my head out to take a look and see."

Squirming round on to my back in the water, I fished out my pistol, pushed up cautiously on the broken halves of the lid and slid them apart. Snow cascaded down through the hole on to my face. When I pulled myself upright the sides of the trench were level with my head so I could crane my neck to see over the edge. The blizzard was turning to sleet, driving across the bleak airfield like the surface of a glacier. I made a slow and cautious sweep round with the night-vision goggles I could pick out the two big hangars, and there were lights burning nearby, but no sentries that I could see. On a night like this they would be sheltering inside if they had any sense at all.

I dropped down again to confer with Josh. "We're on the edge of the concrete taxiways round the revetment area. No Argies I could see."

"So do we go on or take to the surface?"

I hesitated. I'd have given a lot to get away from the claustrophobia of the drain. It looked to me as though a quick dash of 200 metres would take us to our objective. Surely no one would spot us in this weather? Reluctantly I put the temptation aside. It was taking an unnecessary risk. "We need to get nearer in," I told him. "There must be another access hatch among the revetments. Let's press on."

Josh made no protest. He was a good lad. And the fact we had found one manhole was a big boost to our morale.

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