I  WON'T  LET  YOU  DOWN

By Beej

Chapter 1:

The room was dark, almost dark, the only source of illumination

glowed weakly from the monitors by one wall.

The room was silent, almost silent, broken only by the insistent

beep from the monitors and the sibilant hiss from the ventilator.

The room was empty, almost empty, apart from a dark form lying

on the bed.

The form was still, almost still, the chest rose and fell in time with

the hissing ventilator, forcing air into the unresponsive lungs.

A chair was placed near  the top  of the bed, and on it  there was

another silent, still form, asleep with its head resting on the edge

of the bed.

Slowly the form in the chair moved. First, a slight twitch in an arm

as if objecting to the angle it had been held in for hour upon hour.

Then the head moved. An eye slowly opened, blinking a few times

to try and focus in the darkness of the room.

The head lifted from the bed. The form stretched and reached out

for the light above the bed, turning it slightly to keep it from shining directly onto the occupant . The light clicked on revealing a tousled

red head. Pale blue eyes looked out from world weary face. Dark shadows attested to the lack of sleep.

The redhead slowly rubbed his hands over his face and stretched, grimacing at aching muscles, longing for a comfortable bed.

"I'm getting too old for this," he thought.

The door opened quietly, admitting a man in a white coat and a

young  woman who  looked  extremely attractive  in her nurse's

uniform. Trust the redhead to notice that even after so many days

of worry and sleep depravation.

"We just want to check on his vitals," said the doctor. "Could you

wait outside for a few moments?"

"I'm going nowhere doc," The redhead answered.

The nurse gently touched his arm. "Your friend is in no danger here,

and you look like you could do with a cup of coffee," she said. "Take

five, and I'll come get you when the doctor has finished."

He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the kinks out. "Okay darlin'. Just for you. Don't forget to come looking for me," he said, heading for the coffee machine.

The nurse returned  to the  room and  switched on the overhead

light. Looking at the patient she let out an involuntary gasp. She

still couldn't get used to the things men could do to other men, the

pain and suffering they could inflict.

Pulling herself together, she went towards the doctor, ready to take notes as he read off figures from the monitors, and any changes that were evident.

True to her  word, five  minutes  later she headed  out to fetch the

redhead back to the room.

As he entered, the doctor looked round and smiled slightly.

"Any change doc?"

"Well, the bad news is that there hasn't been any change during the night."

The red head slumped into the chair and sighed.

"The good news is, he has remained stable. In his condition that can

only be a plus. Your friend must be very strong. A lesser man would

not have made it this far."

"He's one in a  million  doc,"  replied  the  redhead.  "He's strong

physically and mentally, and he's a fighter."

As the doctor  turned to leave, the  redhead  stopped  him with a

question.

"Do you know when he's likely to wake up doc?"

"He's under heavy sedation at the moment. He needs his body to

be completely relaxed to enable the ventilator to do its work... I

know you want him off the machine, but the damage to his body is

so great that I think if we left it to him, he would find it too painful

to take a breath and may just give up altogether.  Be patient  with

us please, and we will try to ease up on the medication in a couple

of days."

"That's great news doc,"  he replied,  smiling for the first time in

nearly two weeks.

"Don't get too excited yet, young man," the doctor replied. "If he

seems at all distressed or in too much pain when we try this, we

will have to deepen the sedation and keep him on the machine a

bit longer."

The red head's face fell on hearing this and his body shuddered as

he let out the sigh he just couldn't hold on to any more. The doctor

came over and placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Keep the faith, son,  I'm quietly confident that things  will work

out fine."

The doctor and nurse left him alone with his friend and his thoughts.

He moved back to the bed, sat down in the chair and took his friend's hand in both of his own.

The hand that was usually so strong felt limp and cold. He squeezed

it hard and talked softly to his unconscious friend.

"Come on Tio, you Aussie bastard. This is one fight you have to win without backup, mate."

The only reply was the beep and hiss of the  machines surrounding

the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bar was crowded, noisy and filled with smoke.

"Strewth, trust that bloody Seppo to pick this place to meet up on

a Friday night," the man thought.

As he walked further into the bar, he either didn't, or chose not to, notice the heads turn his way, both male and female patrons giving

him the once over.

"TIO!"

On hearing the shout, he turned.  His eyes swept over the throng

until he spotted an arm raised above the heads of the crowd. He

made his way to the small table in an alcove inhabited by a red-

headed man of around 40 who was guarding the only vacant chair

in the place.

A path  seemed to clear  before him  making it easy to  navigate

through the Friday revellers. Perhaps it was due to his stance or

the confident way he moved. There was an aura about him that

seemed to say, *Don't mess with me.*

In  no  time  he  stood  before the red  head in the booth.  Saying

nothing,  he raised one  eyebrow  and tilted his  head in a  silent

question. The seated man rose from behind the table and enveloped

him in a crushing bear hug. After about 30 seconds, he freed himself, smiled, and greeted the man.

"G'Day Dino, how the fuck ya going, mate?"

"I'm good Terry, even better now you're here. You wanna drink?"

"Ta mate. I'll have a green one."

Dino laughed and headed through the crowd to the bar, shortly returning with two bottles of ice cold VB.

Terry gulped down a mouthful and pulled a wry face, sighing in appreciation.  Only Dino  would pick the  Aussie bar to meet up,

knowing Terry had just been through a tough couple of weeks far

away  from  life's  comforts.  After spending  a few  minutes in companionable silence, Terry looked over at Dino.

"Okay, mate, tell me what's on your mind."

"Drink up, Terry, then we can go to the hotel and I'll fill you in on

the situation."

Terry glanced over at him sensing something was up. "Fuck that

mate. You don't need to stay at a hotel. You can doss down in my

guest room."

Forty-five minutes later, Dino was sitting on the sofa in Terry's

lounge room, looking at the view out over the Thames. The flat

was made up of the entire top floor of a converted warehouse on

the south bank of the river. The unrestricted view of the river and

the city beyond at night always took Dino's breath away. He could

hear Terry clattering crockery in the kitchen before he appeared carrying a huge mug of steaming freshly brewed coffee and handed

it to Dino. In his other hand he carried an equally large mug of tea

for himself.

Kicking  off  his  shoes  and loosening  his tie before  sprawling

comfortably  in a  huge armchair,  he  looked  at Dino,  waiting

patiently now for him to speak.

He cleared his throat ."I can never get enough of this fantastic

view, Tio," he said, rising from the sofa and heading towards the

huge French doors leading out to the wrought iron balcony.

"You didn't call  me home  just to chat  about the view from  my

bloody windows, mate. What's up?"

Dino turned back to face Terry.

`"We have a new job, Ter," he said

"And?" asked Terry, sensing that there was a lot more to this 'job'

than Dino was letting out.

"The client is at the hotel."

"Okay," said Terry. "Make a call and tell them that you'll bring them

over here."

"Terry, I don't think that's such a good idea. It might be better to

meet at the hotel."

"Why is that, Dino?" asked Terry. All of a sudden the hairs at the

back of his neck were beginning to tingle.

He took a deep breath, letting it out very slowly before answering.

"Our new client is Penny."

Terry opened his mouth to speak, but no sound would come. He ran

his hand through his hair, looked up at his partner, and finally said, "What the fuck?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They  drove to  the  hotel  in  silence,  each  man  lost in his  own

thoughts. At a red light, Dino glanced over at Terry. He was staring unseeing out of the passenger  window,  absently chewing on his

thumb nail. Dino thought he looked so vulnerable and wondered,

not for the first time, if he'd made a huge mistake agreeing to take Penny's case.

At the hotel they made their way across the lobby and were about

to call for the lift when they were halted by an authoritative voice behind them.

"Terrence."

Terry and Dino turned as one and came  face to face with Terry's

ex wife, Penelope.

"G'Day, Pen," said  Terry  through  gritted teeth.  Despite  his

reservations at the meeting he  inwardly  smiled at the  look of

disgust that  flashed across  her face at Terry's  misuse of the

"Queens English".

"I thought we would all feel a bit more comfortable if we met down

here instead of my room," Penny said. "Shall we get a drink?" she added, leading them to the bar.

Following behind, Dino whispered to Terry, "Still the sergeant

major ,"  hoping  to help his  friend  relax.  Terry  half-smiled,

shrugging his shoulders as he stared at the back of his ex.

They found a quiet booth and all sat down. An uneasy silence fell

over the trio as the waiter took their order.

Penny sat opposite Terry sipping her G&T, watching him take a

swig from his stubbie. 'Would he ever learn to use a glass?' she

thought. Her gaze roamed over his face, noting a few more battle

scars, but  admitting to  herself that  he was still an  extremely

attractive man. Continuing her appraisal, she admired his athletic

form trying to  hide  beneath  his business suit.  Once again she

wondered *what if?*

What if she hadn't been so much her father's daughter?

What if Terry had tried to conform a little more?

What if she had listened to her heart and not her head, and realised

that deep down she had always loved him the way he was?

Ah well, water under the bridge. She was happy with Michael, and Terry......she tried to look into his eyes. Was he happy?

He looked tense, but that was to be expected.

She was roused from her thoughts when Dino coughed discreetly.

"So Penny, would you like to tell us what we can do for you?"

Penny took a sip of her drink and tried to slow her breathing down before she began. Looking at Terry, she said, "It's my father."

Terry let out the breath he had been holding. In the back of his mind

he had thought this may have had something to do with Henry in

some way. He leaned back in his chair, silently waiting for her to

expand the statement.

"He's gone missing!"

"What do you mean, missing?" asked Terry. "Bit late back from a

round of golf is he?"

"I know you don't like my father, but sarcasm is low, Terrence, even

for you," Penny snapped. "I think he's been kidnapped."

"Who would want to kidnap a retired soldier?" asked Dino.

"That's just it. He isn't retired, and you both have to admit that he

isn't just any old soldier."

The two men looked at each other. So okay, Penny's father wasn't

just some old soldier. He was in fact a Brigadier General, and the

former head of the SAS, and therefore of interest to quite a lot of

people.

Terry leant forward in his chair, his arms resting on his knees. He

looked intently at Penny. "What's going on, Pen?"

Penny  took a deep  breath  and began to relate her  story.  She

explained that although 'officially' her father had retired from the service, he was still working as an intelligence advisor.

"He heard about an 'old boys' outward bound course, and being the fitness freak that he is, decided that he would take part. When he

found out it was in Australia, he thought it would be a good way to

show 'those Colonials' that the Brits' are better at survival in the

wild than anyone else."

Penny looked apologetically at Terry, realising she had reminded

him what her father thought of Australians.

He had last been heard of in Cairns and had not been in touch for a couple of days.

"Why call us?  It's only  been a couple of days,  and if anything is

going down, it's a government problem," Terry said.

"Oh, Terrence, don't be so naive . You know the score. They won't

bail him out. He was wasn't under orders, he was doing this on his

own time. They won't do anything until or unless they get concrete evidence that he has been taken. But I know him. He's a creature

of habit. He always stays in touch when he's away from home. If

he doesn't call at his regular time, mum knows something is wrong.

The regiment won't listen, they've hung him out to dry."

Penny looked at her ex-husband with tear filled eyes. "You're my

only hope," she whispered.

Dino looked over at Terry waiting for his response. Would he agree

to help a man he neither liked nor respected?

One glance gave him  his answer. Terry  was already in business

mode. Dino could almost hear his brain mulling over all the possible pitfalls of extracting his former father- in-law.

"Okay, Pen," he said. "We'll do what we can, but with conditions.

You keep your opinions to yourself and let us get on with our job."

Penny bit down the wave of anger that was threatening to engulf

her at Terry's remark, and slowly nodded her head in agreement.

"Just tell me what you need and let me come along with you."

"NO!" Terry barked. "You need to stay here with your mother and Henry."

"Mother is fine. She's an officer's wife remember, and Henry has Michael."

Looking at Terry she caught the pain in his eyes at that last remark

and realised that she had hurt him. She reached across the table

placing her hand on his. "Terrence, I didn't mean that to sound like

it did. You are Henry's father and always will be. Michael can never

take your place. I just meant that if I came with you, Henry wouldn't

be alone."

Terry raised  his face  to her allowing her  a rare glimpse of the

melancholy he always carried at their failure as a couple, and

nodded  in  understanding.  Then as  she  looked at  him, his

expression  changed  as if a  mask had been put in place.  She

realised he was once again in 'work mode'.

"Okie dokie, let's get this show on the road then," he said, giving Penny's hand a squeeze while finishing his drink and rising from 

his chair all in the same move. Within the hour they were back at

Terry's place pouring over what little information she had been

able to provide, trying to formulate a plan, working out which

personnel to call on and what equipment they might need whilst arranging flights.

Meanwhile Penny was trying to keep busy and out of their way

by fussing about in the kitchen making coffee for Dino, tea for

Terry and herself and food for all of them. She paused to look

around.  It  was a  modern, stylish,  well-equipped  kitchen.

Stainless steel replacing the usual white appliances, granite

counter tops. It was an impersonal place, no flowers, no notes

held up by fridge magnets, just a white board with scribbled appointments. Somehow it smacked of loneliness.

The sudden ringing of the doorbell startled her, nearly causing

her to drop a cup on the floor.

"I'll get it," called Terry.

As he opened the door he was almost bowled over by his son

rushing into his arms. Terry hugged him tightly and looked over

his head at Henry's step father, Michael who smiled sheepishly

as he held his hand out to Terry.

"Sorry, Terry, as soon as he found out where his mum had gone,

he insisted I bring him over to see you. Hope you don't mind."

"G'Day mate, no worries. Thanks for coming over. Penny is busy

'being mother' in the kitchen, but I think what she really needs

is a hug and a shoulder to soak," Terry said, winking at the man

who had replaced him.

"I'll go see her," said Michael, nodding. "You spend some time

with your son, I think he needs you right now." He patted Terry

on the shoulder as he went past to find his wife.

Terry led Henry into the den and sat down with him, amazed that

as big and grown up as Henry was becoming, he still clung to his

father like a limpet- to him and not to Michael.

"Dad, will everything be okay?" he asked haltingly.

"Mate, Dino and I are going to get your Granddad back. It's what

we do all the time and we're good at it. You can count on me son,

I won't let you down this time."

Henry loosened his grip on his  father and said quietly,  "You've

never let me down on purpose, Dad, no matter what you think or

what anyone has told you."

The boy got up and went to the kitchen to say hello to his mum.

Terry stood up and watched him go, wiping his hands over his

face. He turned to see Dino leaning on the door frame, sighed

and said, "Christ, mate, what a fucking mess!"

Chapter 2

Terry and  Michael had  ganged  up on Penny  and had  finally

managed to persuade her to stay at home which was a relief to

Dino who knew that Terry would need to focus on the job in

hand, and not have to worry about her safety. They all piled into Michael's car and headed out for the airport in time for the late

night flight.

Amidst a lot of hugging, kissing and handshaking, Penny, Michael

and Henry saw Terry and Dino off. She tried to keep her spirits up

by waving them  off as if they were just  off on holiday, and  not

trying to get her father back from some unknown enemy with a

grudge that was holding him who knew where.

The flight to  Bangkok  was long  and boring.  "Thank Christ for

Business Class," thought Dino, looking over in annoyance at Terry,

who, as usual, had crashed as soon as they had taken off. He once

again marvelled at the way Terry could just drop off at wheels up

and not wake until touch down. He had long distance flying down

to a fine art, and never seemed to get jet lagged. Dino was always

too hyper to sleep, playing around with the entertainment system

for hours and eyeing up the cabin crew.

Terry woke up alert and refreshed just as they began their descent.

They had a four hour wait for their connection to Sydney and then

it was a  quick  sprint across  to the  domestic  terminal for their

connection up to Cairns. From there they would be met by their

man on the spot, Anton. He would have their base all set up by the

time they arrived, and hopefully he would have been able to make contact with whoever had the General.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The general  sat on the  low bunk  bed staring at the bare  walls

around him. He frowned as he felt the rivulets of sweat make their

way slowly down his back. He hated heat, hated humidity and he wondered once again what the hell had he been thinking about

when he decided to come to this god forsaken country. He hated Australia and all things Australian.  He was officially retired for

pity's sake and should have turned down this jaunt at his age. It

was about time he started to accept his limitations. Was he just

pig-headed?  Did he think he could  storm in and  cope with any

situation these damned boys from the outback couldn't handle?

Had it been a poke in the eye at his ex son-in-law? Whatever it

had been, he was paying for his arrogance now -- he had made

himself a sitting target for some enemy of his. And, he ruefully

admitted, he would be more than happy for the talents of his

daughter's former husband now.

He shook his head at that last thought. How the hell would Thorne

get to find out about something that had happened to him? The

man was now a civilian! If he did hear of his misfortune then he

would probably be delighted. The man hated his guts. But what

did he care what Thorne thought of him anyway? He leaned his

head back against the wall and took a deep breath. He was going

stir crazy!! He decided to try to work some things out in his head. Always best to keep the brain busy in a sticky situation.

The first question that needed answering was 'What do they want?'

and 'How are they going to get it?' He then began to think about

the men that had taken him. One thing he knew from their accents

was that they were Americans. Americans? How had he crossed Americans? Why were Americans in the north of Australia, taking

an Englishman of no substance hostage? Light dawned in his mind .....they knew who he was! They must be military, and from the way they were acting they were most likely special forces, or at least ex-special  forces.  He rubbed his hand over  his face and  thought to

himself, "What now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terry and Dino were met at the airport by Anton. With only carry

on bags they  sailed  through  arrivals,  although  Dino was still

muttering about the way he was left in the line for immigration,

while Terry, being an Australian national, had waltzed straight

through. Squeezed into Anton's Ute (when was the boy going to

get a decent set of wheels ?) they headed out for the industrial

unit which would be their base for the duration.

Terry and Anton set about stowing the gear, while Dino crashed

out on the nearest soft surface, jet lag hitting him as soon as his

feet touched the ground, as usual. When he began softly snoring

Terry looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. 'You rest up

mate, I've a feeling we're all gonna need all the sleep we can get

before we start,' he thought as Anton ran through all the info he'd received, including demands and radio frequencies complete with

times for contact.

"I don't understand it, Mr. Thorne," he said. "All this came directly

to me at my place. How did they know we were on the case? They almost knew before I did!"

"That's a good question,  Anton, and for  fuck's sake, how many

times do you have to be told, it's Terry!"

"Sorry Mr.....Terry, it's still hard for me to get it into my head that

it's okay to call the boss anything but sir or Mr!"

"No worries mate, we'll soon train you up." quipped Terry, swatting Anton lightly on the back of his head.  He liked the younger  bloke.

He was reminded of himself  at the  same age when he looked at

Anton. They had both been larrikins when they were young, and

could both have ended up on the wrong side of the law. Joining up

had been Terry's  salvation, and joining  Terry and Dino had been

Anton's.

"So, the  bad  guys have  been  expecting  us then.  That's  very

interesting. We've got time to try to figure things out before the

first contact, and who knows, Sleeping Beauty over there may

even be in the land of the living again soon and give us a hand."

Anton visibly relaxed and laughed along with Terry. He worshiped

him and was amazed at how approachable he was for a man in his position. He had never worked for anyone like Terry or Dino before,

and would willingly lay his life down for either of them, especially

Terry.

By the time Dino woke up, Terry and Anton had all the equipment

set up and were sitting  drinking coffee  while  pouring over the

sparse information they had in front of them. "Is that fresh coffee

I smell?" asked a less-than-alert Dino.

"Yeah, ya lazy  bastard,  get over here  and have a cup,"  Terry

replied, grinning at his dishevelled friend.

Revived by the strong coffee, Dino joined them as they took the

tape Anton had received out of the plain brown envelope and put

it into the VHS. They saw the general sitting on a hard  wooden

chair behind a plain table. He was looking straight into the camera

with a look of defiance in his eyes. He looked in a reasonable state,

no cuts or bruises.

"Well, here's your 'proof of life'. The old guy is in fighting form so

now we can get down to business. We'll make the first call at 20.00 hours tonight. Don't make us wait!" a voice-over commented.

Dino looked across at  Terry for any  reaction to seeing  Penny's

father again after so many years. His face was closed and stern.

He returned Dino's glance.

"They're American, mate," Terry said quietly.

"They sure are,  buddy.  What the hell are they doing  playing the

hostage game out here?" Dino replied.

"Dunno, mate, but hopefully it won't be long before we find out."

The first contact went less than smoothly.  The kidnappers were demanding $10  million  US,  would take  no notice of  Terry's

reasoning that they had just picked up an English tourist, and a

senior citizen at that, who had no ties with any large corporations,

and who wasn't independently wealthy. In fact, they took hardly

any notice of Terry at all, insisting that they would not negotiate

with a 'kangaroo'.

Terry ended the first encounter by flinging the mike  across the

table and spitting out, "Fucking  Seppo!" before storming out of

the unit, slamming the door behind him.

Ten minutes later the door slowly opened and a red head poked

out. Dino watched Terry pacing up and down muttering to himself.

He suddenly stopped, turned to face Anton's Ute, and punched the

side hard.

"Is it safe?" enquired Dino, getting ready to dodge back inside if

needed.

Terry turned round to face his friend, rubbing his hand absently.

"Do you feel better now, Ter?" asked Dino with a wry smile.

Terry looked at his friend  sheepishly. "Yeah  mate, did me block

there, didn't I?  Sorry about that."

At that  moment, Anton  stuck his head  round the door. "Wanna

brew, Terry?" he asked.

"Yeah mate, ta. That'll be great."

They sat around the small table drinking tea and mulling over the

first radio call.

"Maybe tomorrow I can make contact?" Dino said.

"No mate, you know the drill. We can't keep changing negotiators.

We need a bit of continuity. If they don't like the sound of my voice,

it's their tough luck; it's the only one they're gonna hear. We need

to show them that we won't be messed around."

Chapter 3

Hours  dragged  into  days, but  they were  still no  closer  to a

settlement. Anton was kept busy in the background trying to dig

up any Intel he could on the group holding the general. They had claimed to be an environmental group fighting to save the northern

rain forests.

Of course  this didn't ring true as  Australia was  committed to

preserving their rain forest both for environmental and economical reasons. The tourists flocked there in droves each year and the government had no intention of stemming the flood of foreign

money into the country. There had to be something else behind

this business. Terry had felt uneasy from day one. How had they

known his company was on the case? How had they known that

Anton was working for them?

Six  days  into  the  negotiations  Anton hit pay dirt.  His  local

connections had paid off and they finally had the possible location

of the group's camp. Following another fruitless hour or two on

the radio, Terry made up his mind.... "We're going in," he said.

Four hours later they were deep in the lush undergrowth, relieved

that finally  they  were doing  something  positive instead of the

frustration of waiting around.

It was almost dark by the time they reached their objective. Time

for a quick recon, and then a choice of going in under cover of

darkness or waiting until first light. Dino was all for charging right

in, but Terry was wondering how the general would manage through

the undergrowth in the dark. They settled down to check the lay of

the land when all of a sudden...... "FUCK!"

Dino dropped the bins he was looking through and just stared down

into the camp.

"Dino?" Terry stared at his friend, wondering what he'd seen to

cause such a reaction.

"Terry, I know those guys!! 

Terry pulled Dino back to the relative safety of a clump of trees and

just sat looking into his eyes, waiting for an explanation.

"Terry, they are ex-special forces. I was their training officer. I got

them thrown out of the unit."

"Why?"

"They were unstable. They enjoyed the kill. Fucking wack jobs.  I

didn't think they would take orders under pressure. I thought they would just cut loose and do some real damage."

"Mate, I think the fog is clearing. This is nothing to do with Pen's

Dad, is it? It's bloody personal."

"How?" asked Dino.

"Think mate. Ex-special forces would probably know who the old

boy is. If they know who he is, then they know he's my ex dad-in-

law. If they know that much, they know about us being partners.

They also  know  that if they  take the old bastard,  Pen would

contact me to try get him back..."

"...And if you are in the field, I'm likely to be close on your tail,"

sighed Dino. "Ter, I'm so sorry."

"Mate, how could you know? Let's get the general out and then try

to find out what the fuck is going on."

A low whistle took them back to Anton, who was keeping watch on

the camp below.

"They just took some food into the hut at 3 o'clock. I think that's

where our guy is," said Anton.

"Right, this is how we play it. Wait until they settle down for the

night, then we move in slow and get the general out. We get him

away, then we can worry about what those arseholes really want

...."

"I'm with you, Ter," said Dino

The general lay on the bunk staring up into the darkness of the

hut. He couldn't sleep. He didn't know what they wanted him for,

and he was getting  tired  of their  stupid  games.  Just then he

thought he heard something outside his door. His ears strained

to pick up a sound, but it was all quiet. He relaxed again and

wondered what things were like at home.

Suddenly he had the  feeling he was not alone.  Had the door

opened? It was as dark outside as it was inside- hard to tell. He

held his breath hoping to hear any breathing coming from near

the door...... nothing!

He nearly left the bunk in  shock when  something grabbed his

shoulder. "C'mon general. Let's get you outta here."

He said nothing, but obeyed instantly. As he was led through the darkness, one thing went through his mind, "I know that voice."

A few minutes later he found himself being eased down to the

ground. The hand that had guided him let go of his arm, and he

sensed the body moving away. Then he knew there was another

person in front of him.

"How are you, general? Any damage anywhere? Can you manage

a trek through the woods?"

"An American," thought the general, but not the one who got him

out.

"Can we have some light here?" he asked.

"Sorry mate, no can do," Anton said quietly. "When we get to the

truck it will be safer."

He heard a slight movement off to his left, and a whispered, "Let's

go."

Rising up from where he was sitting, he steeled himself for the

difficult journey through the forest in pitch black conditions.

Two strong arms on either side of him kept him upright more than

once on the trek to the transport. After what seemed like hours,

they stopped as a shape loomed up in front of them.

"Here ya go, General, your transport awaits."

Dino and Anton helped him into the back of the truck they had

acquired from Anton's friends, and they piled into the cab. As they

pulled off, the general heard a click, and a faint light appeared in

the back of the truck. He looked into the yellow glow and let out a

slight gasp.

"Thorne!!"

"G'Day General," Terry looked at him with his usual expression of insubordinate challenge.

"I always said if I ever saw you again it would be too soon - but I owe you my thanks."

Terry shrugged, turning away from the man he had always disliked. "Don't bother, I did it for Pen and Henry, not for you."

The rest of the journey  was  silent.  The General  spent the time

examining the man he had first set eyes on as a young undisciplined Aussie, so full of himself. The man who had nigh on broken his daughter's heart. When did he become the man he now saw in front

of him? Years on, that brash selfish boy had become a man confident

in his capabilities, battle scarred, proud, resourceful.

He saw a man who looked like he was still able to kill silently with

his bare hands. Well, why wouldn't he? They had trained him well

all those years before. He also saw a man who was alone and maybe lonely. When he had looked him in the eyes he still saw dislike, that

was understandable, but he also saw sadness deep down. This man

had grown, changed, and was no longer the arrogant young soldier

he had come to hate. He decided that when they got back to safety

he should  speak to Terry, if  he would let him.  It was  time they

resolved the rancour of the past.

It was dawn by the  time they  had made it back to the  base unit.

They left the truck and filed into the building in silence. Anton went away to make a brew. The three remaining men sat around the table looking at  each other,  saying  nothing.  Anton brought the tea  and

they all drank thankfully.  Slowly they began  to unwind and Dino

slapped Terry on the shoulder on a job well done.

The General cleared his throat, "Do you have any idea why they

took me?"

Dino looked at Terry  and began to answer.  Terry cut in. "It was

nothing to do with you, General. They were using you as bait."

"What do you mean?"

"We think they are after me General," Dino said. "I got them thrown

out of special forces and I guess it's payback time."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"NO!" snapped Terry.  "We fly you out later today.  You are going

back to England. The other problem is ours."

It was obvious that he would not be crossed on this.

Quickly working out  the time  difference,   he gave Penny  a call.

Henry answered.

"G'Day, son, put your mum on for me, will ya?"

"Dad! Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Henry,  I said I  wouldn't  let you down," Terry smiled as he

waited for Penny.

"Terrence?"

"G'Day, Pen, got someone here you may want to talk with."

He handed the  General his cell  phone and moved  away out of

earshot.

Five minutes later he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned and the General held out the phone.

"Thank you, Thorne.  I mean it. Can we talk?"

"No time for that, General--- Anton is getting ready to take you to

the airport. We have your passport and bags, you'd better hurry,

don't want you to miss your flight. Some other time, huh?"

With that, he turned and walked out of the unit, and he hoped out

of the General's life forever.

Chapter 4

The camp was in an uproar. Any form of discipline had gone straight

out the window. When they realised their hostage had been sprung

they began running around like headless chickens in panic. O'Leary

must have been so close the night before, and they had missed their chance of getting even.

One of  the  kidnappers,  Johnson, said, "I think we should get out