War Torn (49 page)

JENNY
PADDED
OVER
TO
AGNIESZKA’S
HOUSE
THREE
TIMES
BUT
DID
NOT
find her at home. She decided to try again in the evening when Vicky was in bed. Trish was irritated.

‘What do you have to tell her that’s so important?’

‘Just something a bit awkward.’

‘What’s wrong with the phone, then?’

‘Her English goes to pieces on the phone.’

Trish shook her head.

‘You be careful,’ she said. ‘Take your mobile so you can call me if anything happens.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Mum. If anything happens you’ll hear me yelling I’ll be so close.’

It had rained earlier and the warm evening air felt refreshing. Jenny breathed deeply. In another month her life would be changed again. There would be a tiny new demanding person in the centre of her world alongside Vicky.

She felt relaxed. Now that Trish was here, her hands and ankles weren’t so swollen and she felt well again. She strolled around the corner. Some older children were still playing at the rec. The grass had been mown and she inhaled its sweet smell. A man with a big grey dog passed her and smiled. She could hear the soothing summer coo of a wood pigeon.

Ever since she’d known she was pregnant she had been sure of one thing: Dave wouldn’t be in Wiltshire for the birth. They’d
both thought deployment was inevitable. She’d braced herself for the date and when they were given it she was prepared for the knowledge that she would give birth alone. So she’d shrugged.

‘Oh, well, there’s no way round it.’

He’d been miserable: ‘Shouldn’t have married a soldier, Jen. An accountant would have been a nice, safe option.’

She’d kissed his unhappy face to say it was all right and that she could cope without him.

But now the baby wasn’t far away. The days would still be fine but there would be a nip in the air every morning and spiders’ webs in the garden. And she could no longer pretend it didn’t matter that Dave wasn’t here for her. Because it did.

She rang Agnieszka’s bell. After a long time the door opened cautiously and a section of Agnieszka’s face appeared through the crack.

‘Hi, it’s only me!’ The door was on a chain. ‘It’s me! Jenny!’

At this point the chain should have clinked off the hook and the door should have swung open. But it didn’t.

‘Agnieszka, is this a bad time?’

‘Is very difficult because I busy with Luke.’

‘There’s something I have to say to you,’ Jenny said. ‘It will only take a minute. It’s important.’

‘Yes?’

Agnieszka still did not open the door.

‘It’s a bit difficult to say it on the step . . .’

‘What? I don’t understand, Jenny.’

Jenny shifted her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. She felt dizzy suddenly.

‘Can’t I come in for a minute?’

Agnieszka took the chain off and opened the door only far enough for Jenny to step onto the mat. But she did not move aside to allow her visitor in further.

‘Jenny, house is big, big mess, I am very embarrassed,’ she said. And she did look embarrassed. Her eyes were big and her face was red. She was holding a toy, a set of big plastic keys, the sort that lit up and played music if the child pressed them.

‘I’m not staying,’ said Jenny, her eyes flicking past Agnieszka to the living room. She could see no sign of the mess. Not that she cared.

‘Listen, I’ve been thinking about that text message. There’s a good reason the lads can’t use their phones in Afghanistan. It’s because the signals get intercepted and used by the Taliban. And I think that’s what happened to you, Agnieszka. That shitty message came from the Taliban. To upset you and frighten you.’

Agnieszka looked shocked.

‘From
Taliban?
’ she echoed. ‘No, it just silly joke.’

‘I think it came from the enemy. They have the technology to read all Jamie’s messages to you, it’s not hard. That’s why our boys can’t use their mobiles out there.’

Agnieszka bit her lip.

‘I don’t like to think Taliban send me a message.’

‘Me neither. And I’m feeling really bad now. Because you’ve asked me to keep it a secret from Dave and I don’t like keeping secrets from him.’

Agnieszka looked terrified.

‘It’s OK. I gave you my word I won’t tell him. And I won’t. But for everyone’s sake, I want you to promise that you’ll ask Jamie to stop using it.’

‘Stop using mobile?’

‘Yes. It’s too dangerous for everyone.’

‘But how he text me?’

‘On the army satellite phone, like everyone else.’

‘Huh, he used to buy lot of minutes but these other men also buy them so Jamie don’t get so many.’

Jenny began to feel angry. She had a prickling sensation under her skin. She knew her face was reddening.

‘We all have to manage on thirty minutes a week! How do you think the rest of us feel?’

Agnieszka’s even face assumed that dissatisfied, sulky expression Jenny had seen before.

‘You must stop using the mobile,’ Jenny repeated. ‘Or I’ll have to tell him.’

‘So you tell Dave after all!’

Jenny’s head was spinning.

‘Only if you don’t stop. And now you know the Taliban can intercept signals, surely you want to stop! It’s dangerous, Agnieszka, it could be dangerous to you, too.’

Agnieszka’s face drooped into a dissatisfied pout. ‘I don’t see how it dangerous for Jamie to text me from base. He don’t send text about operations.’

‘They’ve got your number, Agnieszka. They know you’re a British Army wife. They could even locate you in the UK. Isn’t that a bit scary?’

Agnieszka did not look scared. She looked sulky. Jenny had promised Dave that she would try to like this woman. She was certainly trying. But it was hard. Her head began to ache.

‘And how I tell him? Because army monitor talk on satellite phone, they hear if I ask him to stop with mobile.’

‘You’ll have to find a way to do it. With hints and things.’

Agnieszka looked annoyed.

‘Please, Agnieszka, don’t ask me to have secrets from Dave.’

‘OK. OK. I tell Jamie not to use it.’

‘Thanks very much. I know it’s hard for you. But it’s hard for all of us.’

Agnieszka opened the door a little wider to indicate that Jenny should go now. She looked, thought Jenny as she stepped outside and the door shut swiftly behind her, as though she had agreed to do an enormous favour.

Jenny did not notice the smell of the newly mown grass any more. She felt angry. If anyone was entitled to texts and extra minutes with her husband it should surely be a woman about to have a baby in his absence. She decided to walk around the block. Because despite everyone’s insistence that she sit around resting to keep her blood pressure down, she had found that walking was more relaxing than watching TV and drinking endless cups of tea with Trish.

And why had Agnieszka been so determined to leave her standing on the doorstep? She had clearly not wanted her there at all. Jenny walked faster, her belly preceding her like a big, round wheelbarrow. Her head was spinning and throbbing now. She walked in time with the pain.

It was only when she passed an old red Volvo parked at the end
of a quiet side street that she realized. First she recognized the Volvo, then she remembered whose car it was. So that was why Agnieszka had not wanted her to come inside the house. That was why she was so impatient to get Jenny out of the door. Because that man was there.

‘COME
ON
IN,
SERGEANT
HENLEY.’
MAJOR
WILLINGHAM’S
TONE
WAS
friendly. He was with the 2 i/c, CSM Kila and Gordon Weeks. The 2 i/c was making mugs of tea as usual. Iain Kila called him, in private, the Brew Bitch.

‘Before we get down to business, I’d like to congratulate you both, Gordon and Dave, on the way you and your men dealt with that horrific incident today. You must be very proud of everyone, not least the four men who risked their lives saving the casualties.’

‘If there’d only been helicopters with winches available no one would have had to risk their life,’ said the boss firmly. Dave was pleased. The boss was beginning to grasp the fact that the best way of fighting against the enemy was fighting for your men against the big machine of the British Army.

‘I agree with that and the point has been very strongly made,’ said the OC.

‘Any update on the condition of Connor or Broom, sir?’ asked Dave.

‘I spoke to Bastion an hour ago. They just say they’re stable. Which could mean anything.’

CSM Kila added: ‘But we’ve had three calls from Angus McCall to ask what’s going on here.’

Dave smiled.

‘Scared he’ll miss some action.’

Iain Kila said: ‘His dad has good cause to be proud of what that lad did today.’

‘His dad?’ asked the OC.

‘His father was in the Regiment,’ the boss explained.

Iain Kila raised his eyebrows. ‘Says Angus.’

The major smiled. ‘If everyone who claims to have been in the Regiment was telling the truth then Hereford would be the size of Canada.’

He sprawled back in his chair, legs stretched out. On his desk was an open cake tin, its contents half eaten, probably sent by a relative or big-hearted member of the public.

‘Now then, I’m sorry to question you about an old incident, Sergeant Henley, when you’ve had such a shit day. But I promised to get a report in about it and now they say they need it by first thing tomorrow. As you know, we’ve got this Royal Military Policewoman here at the base. As well as the woman from the Intelligence Corps. It’s all a bit of bad luck really: the pair of them are only here because they’re fluent in Pashtu—’

‘But, sir, they’re good value,’ Iain Kila said. ‘They were good news with the detainees.’

‘And their monitoring of the Taliban radios has been fantastic when we’re operational,’ added the boss.

‘Oh, they do a fine job both interpreting and diplomatically: we were even invited to the tribesmen’s wedding, as you know, and I’m sure that was something to do with the charm of our interpreters. But the fact is, the RMP won’t stick to her interpreter role, she insists on doing monkey work even when we really don’t want her to.’

Dave glanced at the boss. He looked tense.

‘She’s got a bee in her bonnet about the Green Zone patrol when you dropped five Talis. I can stave off a full investigation if I say the right things in my report now. You know which incident I’m talking about?’

‘Yes, sir. After the goat set off the IED for us.’

‘Which makes me wonder if we shouldn’t have goats trotting in front of our patrols all the time. Like miners had canaries. Anyway, can I ask you to think back and take me through exactly what happened after the goat was blown up? And please understand that this is a relaxed and informal discussion.’

Suddenly it didn’t feel relaxed or informal. The OC sat up straight to take notes. The tent was silent.

Dave told how, after the IED had detonated, he and 1 Section had walked up the track looking for the old man who had been herding the goat. He described the appearance of the four Taliban fighters, apparently going home and unaware of their presence. He said that both he and Jamie had fired at them and all four had dropped.