The Way We Were by Sinéad Moriarty

mother. ‘We heard you talking to Kevin. We know what happened, Mum. We know it wasn’t a car crash. We know there’s no bo-bo-body.’ Jools began to wail.
    Alice rushed over to comfort her.
    ‘It’s been fifteen hours, seventeen minutes and twelve seconds since the man rang,’ Holly said, as tears streamed down her face.
    Kevin pulled her in and hugged her.
    Harold croaked, ‘Forty-five years and nine months since he was born.’
    Seventeen years and eight months since I said, ‘I do’, Alice thought, as she began to cry again.

Ben
    The soldiers pushed Ben and Declan onto the floor of the jeep and held guns to their backs. They drove for what seemed like hours, uphill and over very rough terrain. Ben’s legs ached.
    At first he tried to memorize the route, left, left, right, left … but soon it was a blur. He thought about Alice and the girls. He had to stay strong.
    Declan kept asking the men where they were taking them. They repeatedly told him to be quiet. Ben whispered at him to shut up. He was only going to annoy them. But Declan was not to be deterred. When he asked for the third time, he got a rifle butt in the head. After that he was quiet.
    They stopped abruptly. They were pushed out of the car. They were high up in the mountains. The land was arid and there was no sign of any life, just miles and miles of dusty, rocky mountainside. The men pushed Ben and Declan onward up the mountain, one man in front and two behind. The other man drove the jeep away, back down the mountain.
    They were now walking on a narrow path that wound across the mountaintop. Declan was in front of Ben, who could see blood matting on the back of his head where he’d been hit. It was a small cut but, still, these men meant business. They’d have to be careful not to do anything to cause trouble for themselves.
    Ben tried to remain calm. Every time he began to panic,
he thought of the girls – he had to stay alive for them. He’d operate on the leader’s son and then, hopefully, they’d let them go. Ben prayed that he was able to save the boy’s life. What if he was too far gone? What if the damage was irreparable? What if he got an infection and died? Ben doubted that the conditions for operating on anyone were going to be ideal in this remote place.
    He plucked up the courage to approach the leader, who was walking directly in front of him. ‘What are your son’s injuries?’
    ‘Bullets.’
    ‘Can you tell me where?’
    ‘Here.’ The leader thumped his chest.
    Now Ben was really worried. If it had been a leg or an arm, there was a good chance of survival, but gunshot wounds to the chest were a potential nightmare. The kid could be dead before they even got there. Then what would happen? Would they just shoot them? Ben somehow doubted they’d accompany them all the way back to their hotel, give them a pat on the back and let them go. Panic rose inside him and he struggled to stay in control.
    He tried to focus on the patient. ‘How old is your son?’ he asked.
    ‘Fifteen,’ the man answered proudly. ‘Very brave soldier. Now, hurry, hurry,’ he said, urging Ben to walk faster. ‘You need to save him. If he dies, it will be bad for you.’ He gave Ben a dig in the back that shunted him forwards, so he was on Declan’s heels.
    ‘Fucking brilliant,’ Declan hissed, under his breath. ‘They want us to perform a miracle on a kid who’s been shot in the chest. You need to tell the old man that we’re doctors, not bloody magicians.’
    ‘Keep your voice down,’ Ben warned. ‘I need you
conscious for the operation, not knocked out because you can’t keep your mouth shut.’
    ‘If the kid dies, we’re dead men.’
    ‘I’m aware of that, thank you. You’re not helping.’
    ‘How good a surgeon are you?’
    ‘I’m good,’ Ben said. It was true, but under these circumstances, who knew what might happen?
    ‘I’d rather you’d said great. It would have been more reassuring.’
    ‘We have to stay calm.