Bangalore. Roger Crook

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      Alice stood up. “Shall I put Michelle, Roderick and Rachael down in the south wing? It’ll be cooler down there for them. Rachael can have her old room.”

      Angus nodded.

      Turning to Pat she said, “Come with me, Pat. You can help me make up the beds. It’s easier with two. We’ll get some towels from the linen closet. The sooner we start the sooner we finish. Then I have to think about lunch and dinner for five. I’ll eat on my own tonight I think. Angus, will you clear up the breakfast dishes and put them in the washer and turn it on?”

      Angus nodded again, knowing full well that once Alice had a head of steam up, there was no room for ifs or buts, so he started clearing away the dishes.

      The phone rang as Alice and Pat were getting fresh sheets and towels out of the linen cupboard in the hall; Alice picked up the phone and said, ‘Bangalore’. She listened for a moment and handed the phone to Pat. “I think it’s your Commanding Officer.”

      Pat took the phone. “Pat Fawcett here.”

      “Hello, Pat. Harry here. I tried your mobile so I thought you must be up there. How are you?”

      “Fine, Harry. I’m with Ewen’s dad; got here yesterday.”

      “I have some news, Pat. I’m a bit limited in what I can say because there’s a bit of a flap on. The first thing is, and we don’t know how it happened, but Captain Ewen Sinclair’s face will be all over the international newspapers in the morning together with the beginning of the story of the mission he was on. It first appeared in Pakistan, then the Arabic News Services picked it up, then it was all over the world. The Australian Defence Force press corps has gone into damage control. They had no way of stopping it here once it was on the Internet. We are very suspicious considering the nature of the operation. I can’t say any more at this stage. Looks as if we will have to manage it, and leave it to the Intelligence people to find out how the bloody news got out. Apologise to his parents for me will you? More importantly, the press and others may well contact them in the near future, they need to be aware. I expect the shit to hit the fan quite soon.

      “Now for the good news. We had contact from the group yesterday. They are all together again. They estimate they should be in safer country by nightfall. They have two of their party on makeshift stretchers and they are being pursued. No details. Once we get a firm position, and we know they can stay within the vicinity, we should have them out at first light tomorrow morning their time, earlier if we can, but as you know, it’s not easy up there. If we evacuate them at first light we will be able to send some assistance in with the evacuation team. If we have to evacuate them at night, then it will be more difficult. They are four hours behind us, so that with luck, if they go in the dark, the evacuation team will be in the air sometime after midnight our time or around then. Sorry I can’t be more specific. I’ve tried to ring Ewen’s mother at home and on her mobile, but all I get is answering machines and her message bank. Is she with you?”

      “She’ll be here this afternoon; she’s flying up.”

      “Good. You tell her then, and his father, please. I’ll ring this number as soon as we have something definite. I've probably said more than I should on an open phone; I just hope I am in front of the ‘mob’. That phone will get busy very soon. Don’t worry about your unscheduled leave – that’s all covered and squared away. Stay positive, Pat. Speak to you soon. Goodbye.”

      “Bye, Harry.” Before she could say ‘thanks’ the connection went dead.

      Angus and Alice were watching her as she put the phone down. She told them what she had been told, especially about the publicity concerning Ewen, and added, “That means they were over the border in Pakistan and soon they will be back in Afghanistan. It’s a difficult choice they have, whether to evacuate them under cover of darkness or wait until first light. They will have to take an escort, probably Apaches, but the terrain is difficult and the evacuation team will stand a better chance of finding them in daylight. Conversely they will present a better target if the enemy is close.” With an air of resignation she said, “All we can do is wait.”

      “And pray,” Alice added.

      Pat then looked at them both, her expression was serious and she seemed to have gone pale, she didn’t take her eyes off Angus as she spoke.

      “My CO says there has been a ‘stuff up’ as he put it. Ewen’s photograph with a story of the crash has gone viral on the world media. They, the ADF, don’t know how it happened. They say the story first appeared on an Arabic radio with the name, then television with the pictures, then the Internet and before anyone could even try to stop it, it was all over the world. They couldn’t stop the press coverage once it was on the Internet. The origin of the story was apparently from sources beyond their control. It is not NATO and certainly not Australian policy to release personal details of our Special Forces. My CO was really telling me there has been a serious security breach. He says we may get other visitors, not just from the press; he didn’t say from whom or from where. He asked me to apologise to you all on behalf of the ADF.”

      Angus was the first to speak. Alice, looking apprehensive, stood quite still. “ Pat, any idea what is behind this security breach? What does that mean?”

      “All I know, Angus, is that great care is taken to ensure the identities, especially of our Special Forces personnel, are kept secret. That is why when you see them on television they are wearing something that covers their faces – usually balaclavas – or their faces are blurred out. I have no experience so I am just assuming that once the pictures of Ewen were all over the Internet, then the Australian press ran with it. If someone like Reuters or another big news agency ran it, again I am presuming, the Australian press would have assumed it was okay. Again, I don’t know but I would imagine the ADF are trying to put a lid on it now but it’s probably too late. Not much they can do if it’s on Fox News and in the Sun newspaper in the UK, and of course all over the Internet. I suppose, depending on what kind of mission they were on in Pakistan, Ewen’s face will be plastered all over the media and there will now be a mass of speculation.”

      Now Alice spoke. “Pat, they hide their identity to try and prevent reprisals?”

      “Yes and no. These men are covert operators. You cannot be covert if your picture is in the paper – well, it makes it more difficult. Sometimes these men operate in civilian clothes here in Australia. They may be on duty when foreign diplomats or leaders visit if the AFP needs extra help. In Afghanistan they may well be dressed like the locals. I am not being clever, but covert means just that, and this is a war on terror, a war that relies on intelligence gathering by people who are…well… covert.”

      Angus asked, “What will this mean for Ewen?”

      “I have no idea, Angus. He’s probably in the safest place on the planet right now. Let’s just see what develops; nothing has changed. We will tell the others when they get here. Honestly, I am as much in the dark as to what might happen as you are. The ADF will try and persuade the papers to let it slide, but I don’t like their chances. There is nothing the ADF can do about the Internet or the foreign press. The best we can hope for is that something more important crops up and the press concentrates on that. It may well blow over in a couple of days.”

      Alice sighed and said, “Well, Pat, we had better get on with what we started. It looks as if we are in for difficult times.”

      The South Wing, or Madam President’s Quarters, as Angus later called it after his ex-wife, comprised two small single bedrooms, a double bedroom, a small comfortable lounge and a big bathroom with two showers.

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