This is a work of fiction loosely based on the character of Terry Thorne established and defined in the movie Proof of Life. It is strictly for entertainment purposes. Please do not copy, publish or alter this work in any way without the written permission of the author.

Basic Training - Chapter Five

By: Thorne's Rose

The chopper hovered over the LZ. It looked deserted but they were ahead of their rendezvous time. Tom Fisher was a worried man. He had insisted on joining the crew as soon as he was informed of the rebel activity in the training area. The local government officials had assured the army that their men would be perfectly safe as they were sending troops in to round up the rebels. Tom just hoped they didn’t ‘round up’ his men by mistake. He knew their methods pretty well.

He was sure that if anyone could get those boys back in one piece it would be Jake. He imagined Jake loving every minute of it. He had been behind a desk for too long in Tom's opinion.

The LZ was in a safe area so Tom was happy to let the pilot land. Pointless using up fuel for no reason. He laughed to himself at that thought. What did he care about the budget, he just wanted his men back safely.

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

Jake rested his head back against the bank and listened to the men discussing their next move. As he thought, Hill immediately took command of the situation. He wasn’t his normal pushy self, but he exuded a sense of calm authority that the others understood and respected. He listened to all their ideas, and let his own be heard.

When they had gone over every idea thoroughly, they all turned to look at Jake for guidance. Once again he seemed to be sleeping, but once again he spoke before they could say or do anything.

“From the lack of chatter I assume you’ve come up with a fiendish plan,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at them.

They laughed softly and let him in on their ideas. After working out their relative position to the LZ, they had decided that the best course of action would be to head upstream in the hope of finding slower moving shallow water for the crossing. They were also hoping that they would find a narrow stretch in the river as then if needed they could send the strongest across with a rope and secure it to the far bank to enable them to cross even if it was too fast or too deep. It wasn’t a bad plan, so Jake agreed to go along with it.

They got all the gear together, and Jake slowly rose from his resting place. Hill offered to bring up the rear this time, and Jake nodded his agreement, heading off to his place in line. When he had passed, Hill glanced back to where he had been sitting. He noticed the damp patch on the bank and went over to it. He reached out his hand and touched the patch. When he pulled his fingers away they were coated in something red….blood! He nodded to himself...just as he thought. Jake was injured, probably from the initial slide down the slope away from the rebels. He made up his mind to get them all across the river before talking to him.

Two hours later and they had picked a spot. Much to their disgust they hadn’t managed to find a shallow, slow running stretch, but the next best thing was a bend in the river where an outcrop on the far bank narrowed the channel enough for them to make an attempt to get a rope over.

Next came some good humoured bickering as to who was the best swimmer. Hill thought briefly of Jake back in Sydney in the pool. It ended only after Davies had recited all his swimming diplomas to them. They agreed to give him a go, if only to shut him up. It took him a couple of tries, but eventually, tired and chilly, he reached the far bank and proceeded to find a stout tree to fasten the rope to.

They decided to get Jamie Bedford across first, then one by one, the others followed over. Jake insisted on being the last one across, taking the end of the rope with him as he went. No sense in leaving any trail for the rebels to follow.

He was halfway across when the current took him. The men on the bank began pulling on the rope to help him get across. The sudden tension on the rope pulled him towards the bank, right into a fallen tree. He hit a submerged branch with a thud. He couldn’t stop the gasp of pain escaping from his lips.

Hill swore under his breath and waded in to help Jake up. He was soon on the bank with the rest of them, gasping for breath and looking pale.

“Can you get up, Mitch?” Hill asked.

“Yeah mate, give me a minute, eh? Just a bit winded from the bump is all.”

Hill crouched down next to Jake and said in a low voice, “You sure that’s all it is?”

Jake looked up at him, grim determination in his eyes, and nodded.

“We’ll talk about this after we make camp,” said Hill, helping Jake to his feet.

They walked for another couple of hours and decided that safe or not, they needed to make a fire. They couldn’t spend too long in their soaking clothes. Soon they were stripping off and laying their kit out by the fire. All except Jake that is.

“You gonna sit there and drip, mate?” asked Hill.

“Was thinking about it.” Jake replied.

“I think we need that talk...now, Major.”

Jake struggled to his feet and followed Hill to the edge of the camp they had set up. Leaning against a tree, he looked at Hill waiting for him to speak.

“How bad is it?” Hill asked finally.

“How bad is what?” was the reply.

“The way I see it, you got hurt coming down that first steep bank when the rebels were after us. I figure you caught yourself on a rock maybe. Whatever it is, I know you’ve been bleeding.”

“Really. How did you work that out, Sherlock?”

“Elementary, my dear Major...you left a patch of blood all over the river bank when we were resting. You’ve been lagging behind, and I know that you’re ten times fitter than the rest of us put together, and you were in agony when you hit the branch in the river, so don’t tell me it just knocked the wind out of ya. Add to that the fact that you won’t strip off your wet gear, and it all comes to the same thing. You’re hurt and you don’t want us to find out.”

“Well, well, after some brownie points are we? Carry on like that and you just might get some. You’re right, did a bit of damage on the way down the slope. It’s nothing though.”

“Show me!”

“Piss off!”

“Jake, I mean it. Let me have a look, see what I can do.”

Jake knew there was no way he would be physically able to stop Hill from restraining him to examine his back, so he gave in gracefully, more or less, sat down on a rock and let Hill take his camo jacket off.

Under his tank, Hill found the pressure bandage. It was soaked through with blood. It didn’t look good.

“I shouldn’t take this off I know, but I need to see how bad the damage is. The rock could have had filth all over it and the wound could be full of dirt.”

“It wasn’t a rock,” Jake said, so softly Hill hardly heard him.

“What do you mean it wasn’t a rock?”

“Just what I said. It…wasn’t…a…rock.”

Hill quickly unwound the bandage from Jake’s middle, looked at his back and swore.

“You’ve been fucking shot!”

“Tell me about it.”

Hill checked the front for an exit wound.

“The bastard’s still in there, Jake. Shit man, you could have done yourself no end of damage moving around like we’ve been doing.”

“What was the alternative, mate, lay down and let them get me? Just wrap me up again and let’s hear no more about it until we get back, eh? The others don’t have to know.”

“The others don’t have to know what?” Edwards said.

Jake and Hill turned round to see the others standing a few feet away from them.

“Nothing, Pete, no worries.”

“I really don’t think this is the right time or place to be keeping things from us, do you?” Jamie said. “We may only be recruits for Special Forces, but we’ve got a good few years service between us, and we aren’t fucking kids!”

“Always watch out for the quiet ones,” Hill said, nudging Jake.

Jake looked at the men and sighed. He just didn’t have the energy for this right now. He turned to pick up his jacket, gasped at the sudden pain, and crumpled to the floor.

A collective “shit” rose from the men as they rushed towards their commander.

“He’s been shot,” said Hill, crouching down to rest Jake’s head on his knees.

“He’s looked after us for the last few weeks, now it’s time for us to return the favour. The LZ can’t be too far away now, all we have to do is to get him there and she’ll be apples.”

For the next half an hour or so the camp was a hive of activity. At the end of it all they had managed to make Jake comfortable on a makeshift litter, and they headed off on their journey once again. Jamie was in charge of the gear. They had left all but the essentials behind for speed. They were going to make it, and make Jake proud of them into the bargain.

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

Just before nightfall the chopper crew looked over at the Colonel. The men were well overdue and they were getting worried. What would he do next? The pilot was about to go over to speak with him when they heard a noise in the trees around the edge of the clearing.

They were about to reach for their weapons when Jamie hailed them. Then they saw the others carrying what looked like a stretcher and rushed over to help. Not stopping to ask any questions, they bundled Jake and his men into the chopper, and before they knew it they were airborne and heading for safety.

The medic on board made Jake as comfortable as he could as the men made their report to the Colonel. They decided that Jake could make the trip to the nearest Australian military base with no stops along the way, and soon they were headed back to Oz in a military transport.

By the time they landed, Jake was fevered and delirious, the wound had become infected in the humidity of the jungle. Doctor Morris was waiting for them at the base and Jake was rushed into the OR.

Seven hours later Doctor Morris headed off towards the Colonel’s office where all the men were waiting for news. He knocked and was called inside.

“How is he?” the Colonel asked

“He’s stable. There was quite a bit of internal bleeding and we had to pump a lot of blood into him. We repaired everything inside and the bullet came out cleanly. However, the wound was infected and it’s taken a firm hold. Once we can get the fever to break I’ll be a lot happier.”

“Can we see him?” Hill asked.

“In a while. He’s still in recovery. I suggest you all get some rest and something to eat, and I’ll come get you when it’s okay for you to see him.”

The men looked over to the Colonel, and he nodded to them, telling them rest and food was an order, and walking them to the door. He asked the doctor to stay.

“How is he really Doctor?”

“Although there was a lot of damage caused by the bullet, I’m really not too worried about that as he’s fit and healthy. I am worried about the infection though. It seems to have taken hold so quickly and that combined with the blood loss has left him very weak. I really won’t be happy until the fever has broken sir, but as soon as it does, I can’t see any problems in his recovery. Would you like to come see him?”

“I thought you said no visitors yet?”

“I knew you would want to see him on your own first. The lads do need to rest up, so I think it’s fine for you to see him for a few minutes. He’ll not be awake, but it should put your mind at rest.”

“Thank you Doctor. At least then I won’t have to lie to his grandmother.”

“Can you not tell her anything until he’s on the mend?” asked the doctor.

“Not really. If you ever meet his family you’ll understand why. They would have known even before we did that something was wrong. I’ll give her a call as soon as I’ve seen Mitch to let her know he’s still with us.”

They went to the sick bay where Jake was laying. He wasn’t resting at all, the fever had a firm grip on him and he tossed and turned in the narrow bed. Tom pulled up a chair and sat holding one of Jake’s hands, talking to him trying to calm him. He wiped his face with a damp cloth to cool him down.

Doctor Morris walked up behind him and placed a hand on the Colonel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry sir, I won’t let anything happen to him. I promise.”

“Thank you doctor. I know you’ll do everything you can.”

Chapter Six

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