Well, you asked for it...
It was three in the morning and bitterly cold in the Iraqi desert but I was working up a fine sweat struggling to repair my engine so as I could get out of there before sunrise, if I didn't move I would be dead for sure!
You really feel alone in a desert at night - no wonder these Arabs are religious - you feel you could pluck a star right out of the sky and the silence is deafening.
Silence? No wait... I thought I heard something... Hell! I can't move, I'm stranded! Yes I can make it out now... it's an engine. A big one - a deep-throated roar of a big diesel - and it's coming my way! There is only one road here, stray off it and you sink in soft sand and you're finished so it's got to be heading for me... I can't hide. My vehicle is so big they'll never miss it and I have nowhere to go!
Gulp! "This it is" I said rather pointlessly to myself. I grabbed the 9mm auto that I had laid on the sill besides me and checked it - again - I don't know why, I had checked it only an hour or so earlier, fifteen in the mag and one up the spout! O.K. here we go! the engine was getting very close now and I could see the occasional flash of headlights along the road... Getting ever closer...
"Why the hell did I ever even think of coming back to this god-forsaken wilderness? Didn't I have a guts full last time when I devised a plan for breaking out of jail and creeping unseen onto a jet outta there? Didn't I swear on everything holy that I would never - ever - come back here again?".
Destiny has a funny way of twisting your life around, and I felt a rising sense of awareness creep over me like a chill, my mouth dried and I swallowed hard as I slid underneath the back axle to await the inevitable shoot-out that I already knew I couldn't win. But I was going to bring paradise early to as many of them as I could first.
The headlights flashed full on as the heavy vehicle drew close, I heard the engine note falter as the driver saw me and began the labourious sequence of changing down and preparing to stop... as the engine died I heard clearly the babble of voices jabbering away in Arabic and I sighed as I eased off the safety catch of my auto...
There was a shrill squeal from the brakes as they obviously hadn't been used in many many miles and the sand gets everywhere... Damn it, That's why I was stopped, because the fuel filters were all clogged with sand, I nearly laughed! "Of all the things that could kill me." I thought "It would have to be a few grains of sand." Bloody typical!
My heart raced as I heard the creak of a door opening and the thud of a pair of boots hitting the sand and the voices were so close now... I raised the gun and prepared for the worst..
A gruff eastern sounding voice rang out in the stillness - I will never forget that moment as long as I live - He yelled something unintelligable and began walking to the front of my vehicle - I heard the metallic clack of a weapon being cocked "Whey!" I thought! I'm between him and his vehicle, maybe that's good." "Oh, Hell but what about those still talking on the vehicle?" "Would there be more that sixteen of them?" I took my courage in both hands and rolled out from the back and straight into the glare of the headlights - here goes..... I thought
Oh bollocks! I'm bored with this.
