The Forgotten Land (13 page)

Will
threw a spade full of snow at Matt, who batted it aside as if he were swinging
a baseball bat.

“What’s
this?” Matt asked.

He
had noticed a strange, rectangular obelisk near the wall of the cave mouth. It
seemed to have been buried into the earth, but the stone itself rose out of the
ground at least five feet. Etched over the surface were ancient looking
symbols. It was not English and none of the soldiers could read the strange
script, but that it told a story was obvious. Many of the letters were faded
and weather worn.

“No
idea,” shrugged Will, passing a hand over the surface of the stone.

After
an hour, Steve and Scott took over the shovelling duty. The exit was now only
half blocked.

“Jesus
Christ!” exclaimed Will from the rear of the cave.

Steve
stopped and glanced over his shoulder, sweat dripping from his forehead.
“What?” he asked.

“Come
and have a look at this!” called Will.

Steve
and Matt walked over to Will, while Scott continued to dig. Will gestured
towards a tall, but narrow, opening at the rear of the cave, which they had
missed the previous evening. The opening was pitch black and it was impossible
to say what lay beyond.

“Grab
the NVG, Will,” said Steve, keeping his eyes on the tall, narrow slit in the
rock. They could smell a damp, mustiness issuing from the blackness and guessed
there must have been a slight leak in the ceiling beyond the opening.

Will
handed Steve some night vision goggles. He stepped into the opening, pushing
forward slowly and carefully, forcing his body through.

“Christ!”
Steve’s voice echoed throughout the cavern. “This is a squeeze. There’s a
pathway that looks like it’s man made. It leads down to the right.”

Meanwhile
Scott grunted as he threw another shovelful of snow out of the entrance. As he
bent down to drag out another shovelful he heard a faint, but powerful engine
that seemed to be growling towards them. Throwing the entrenching tool into the
cave behind him he dropped to his stomach, unslung the Minimi, brought it to
bear and switched the safety catch off. The entrenching tool landed with a
clatter and Scott held his breath as the owner of the deep grinding noise
rumbled into view about 200 metres away.

“Stand
to!” he yelled.

The
others instinctively hit the ground, unslinging weapons and bringing them to
bear, crawling into firing positions.

It
was a medium battle tank and the light machinegun that Scott was pointing at it
would be of no more use against it than a peashooter. It would be the only kind
of vehicle the Iraqis had that would make it up the mountain after the heavy
night of snow. The tank gunner was in a high position and could see over the
half blocked cave entrance and the Land Rover within. The 100 mm gun turret
swung round to bear with a dull whine that was only just audible over the
grumble of the tank’s engine. The elevation of the 100mm gun descended as the
gunner took aim.

“Cover!”
yelled Scott, levering himself up and sprinting back to take cover behind the
vehicle. The loud boom of the gun broke the morning silence.

Steve
was still inside the inner cave and well protected. They heard the shrieking scream
of the shell an instant before the loud, muffled explosion impacted upon the
slopes of the mountain above the cave. The gunner had fired in haste and the
shot was wildly inaccurate.

“Get
in here!” roared Steve to the other soldiers.

Matt
and Will were running for the narrow entrance at the back of the cave before
Steve finished his sentence. Matt snatched up his radio and first aid pack on
the way past. Scott ran to the Land Rover and delved into the equipment and
stores. He grabbed whatever he could. Slinging two 66 rocket launchers over a
shoulder, he grabbed a link of Minimi ammunition and draped that across his
neck.

Pulling
three ration packs towards him, he hefted them into the crook of one arm.
Turning, he saw the gun lowering its elevation in preparation for a second
shot. This time it would be accurate.

Pulling
his gun tightly into his shoulder Scott brought it to bear with one hand and
the loud, distinctive bark of the Minimi echoed in the cave as he fired a long
burst. The bullets slammed into the ground five metres in front of the tank,
kicking up white puffs of snow. Several bullets hit the armour of the tank but
ricocheted harmlessly with loud pinging whines.

Scott
ran for the narrow opening at the rear of the cavern as the second boom exploded
outside. The loud scream of the shell hit Scott as he threw himself to the
ground. This was it. He was going to die. The shell hit the top of the cave
entrance and the explosion that followed shook the ground, sending small chips
of rock cascading from the ceiling above.

A
loud high-pitched ringing was all Scott could hear as he managed to slowly and
lethargically climb to his feet. He could feel the ground beneath his feet
vibrating and assumed the tank was advancing towards the cave mouth. He did not
bother to watch it turn the Land Rover into a sardine can as it approached. He
took several faltering steps towards the opening through which the others had
disappeared. He reached it and threw the rockets, food and ammunition into the
blackness. As he pushed one leg into the narrow cave entrance, he looked back
expecting to see the tank almost on top of him. Instead he watched the cave
entrance disappear in a flurry of falling snow. All light left the cave and he
was sure the blackest pit of hell would look no different. They were trapped.
The tank had caused an avalanche that had buried them in a tomb under the
mountain.

Digging
their way out of the snow was one matter, digging out of an avalanche was
something else entirely. The entrenching tool was definitely not up to the
task.

Scott
squeezed his way through the narrow opening and stood stupidly. He could see
nothing, although he could still hear the incessant ringing in his ears.
Tinnitus, that was the word for it, he remembered. Strange what things you
remembered, Scott thought. He had probably done permanent damage to his ears.

“Is
that you Scott?” called a muffled voice from a distance.

“Yeah,”
he replied.

“Mate,
we’re only here, no need to yell!” replied the voice. It sounded like Steve.

“What
happened out there?” asked Matt.

“It
was a fuckin’ avalanche! Unbelievable!” replied Scott.

“Right
let’s see if there’s a way out of here,” said Steve, knowing that there was
still a tank outside and that Iraqi soldiers would probably start digging into
the snow as soon as they could. They were still not clear of danger and to
become complacent was to be caught, or worse.

The
four men moved off in single file. Steve led the way in his night vision
goggles. The others grabbed hold of the webbing on the soldier in front.

They
were forced to walk in an uncomfortable half crouch through the narrow, low
tunnel. Running his hand along the wall as they walked, Will could feel that
the stone was uneven and there were small chip marks in the rock. It seemed to
be manmade. The chipped rock reminded him of a bridge he had once seen in
Tasmania; it had been built by convict prisoners sometime in the 1800s in a
small town called Campbell Town. The stone from which the bridge was made, had
been shaped by the prisoners with hand picks and could still be seen in the
rock today. This stone felt much the same.

“Watch
your footing!” said Steve. “We’re about to descend.”

The
party slowed down to a half walk before carefully descending a set of very worn
and uneven stairs. Someone lost their footing and hit the ground heavily, the
sound echoing around the cave.

“Careful,”
said Matt.

“Yeah
I’m right,” shouted Scott.

“Shit,
man, no need to yell,” said Matt.

“What?”
shouted Scott. “You’re gonna have to speak up!” “Holy crap, man, he’s as deaf
as a door post,” chuckled Matt.

The
tunnel levelled out once more and the men continued to move forward.

Steve
stopped five minutes later. “Hang on.”

“Urgh!”
It was Matt’s voice. “He said stop! Christ, man!”

“Huh?”
Scott yelled.

“He
said stop!” shouted Matt.

“Righto,”
roared Scott.

Steve
shook his head and chuckled. Then he turned to the fuzzy green view before him.
If what he saw was correct, then the small tunnel was about to come to an end
and led out into a huge cave, three or four times the size of the one they had
slept in. It seemed monstrous.

With
night vision goggles on it was hard to tell precisely what size the cave was,
because Steve’s view was two-dimensional, so what appeared to be a large cave
could have just been a huge stone. However, it was worth investigating. He had
a feeling they were close to discovering a section of the catacomb that would
lead the patrol to safety.

“Okay,
you guys stay here,” Steve said. As the only one with night vision, Steve was
also the only one capable of effectively clearing the rocky entrance beyond.
Even though it was a cavern and it probably wasn’t inhabited by any animals, it
paid for them to move with caution. The locals would probably know about this
tunnel system and where it came out and so they could quite easily stage an
ambush.

Moving
forward softly and lifting his rifle to his shoulder, Steve stepped out into
the cavern. The silence was almost deafening, and made the hairs on the nape of
his neck stand on end. There was something about this silent, untouched place
that made him uneasy. He crouched and looked around him, listening for noises
and movement, but all was still and the only sound was his own soft breathing.
Back on his feet, he walked very slowly, around the left wall of the cavern,
stopping often to listen and look. After twenty minutes, and having detected
nothing, Steve moved back to the others.

“Okay,
this is the deal. The cave beyond that entrance is bloody huge. I’ve never seen
anything like it. There is only one exit, so there will only be one point of
defence. That makes things easier. We will stay down here for a day or two and
let things settle on the surface. Then we’ll try and get out of here and with a
bit of luck back into Turkey. Questions?”

“Can
you speak up?” shouted Scott.

Will
grabbed him. “Shut the hell up,” he growled. “Want to get us killed?”

There
was silence for a moment.

“Sounds
good to me,” whispered Matt.

“Yeah,
me too," agreed Will. “Right, let’s go,” spoke Steve.

Steve
stood up and the others held onto each other’s webbing as they made their way
into the cave. A large rock jutted out from the ground towards the rear of the
cavern, which was where Steve planned to place the sentry. In that way, if
contact with the enemy was made, the rock would provide cover.

He
led them to the rock and then passed the night vision goggles around, so each
man could survey the cave and where they were located in relation to the exit.
Each of them now had a rough map in their mind. Even in the blackness after,
they would know which general direction the exit was, should they need to make
an escape.

Scott
lay down in the prone position and pulled the Minimi into his shoulder. Using
the night vision goggles, he directed the weapon towards the exit, prepared for
any enemy wandering into the cavern. The other soldiers sat down with their
backs against the rock and rested.

Scott’s
ears had improved slightly now. Although the incessant ringing was still there,
it was fainter and he was beginning to be able to hear the others talking.

As
Steve closed his eyes, exhaustion washed over him. Images of his family passed
through his mind’s eye like a slide show. Judy all dolled up on the day of
their wedding and the birth of Kathy. Kathy at nine months, snuggling gently
into his chest and falling asleep. Kathy, as a toddler, running along the beach
and laughing with a plastic bucket and spade in one hand and a towel in the
other. Steve smiled to himself. The birth of their son, Brent. He had screamed
the house down when he had been born. Brent kicking the beach ball the day
Steve had been called about this mission. Steve sighed. He missed his family,
and with each passing year he missed them more. Perhaps it was time to retire. Otherwise
he faced a broken family for sure.

*
* * * *

There
was a loud crack and Steve found himself in the midst of a blizzard on a narrow
path. To his left was a sheer drop and to his right the huge wall of the
mountain he had to descend.

He
had no idea where he was and the snow was already ankle deep.

“Why
is it that you have come?” The voice was deep and exuded authority. Less than
ten metres away stood a tall man dressed in a way he had never seen before. His
long white beard and silver hair were whipped and buffeted by the fierce storm.
The man wore a thick cloak held together at the neck by a large wooden brooch.
He wore a long sleeved brown shirt and faded brown trousers tied at his waist
with what looked to be rope. The man’s piercing blue eyes were as cold as the
snow and wind and they chilled Steve to the core.