The Loathing

Anjoman Valley, Northeast Afghanistan

AJ brings the four-wheel-drive to a sudden halt, and kills the engine. He listens intently. Gunfire!' he exclaims. 'And we're heading straight into the eye of the storm.

Hunter nods. 'AK-47s. Not one, but thirty or more.' Then a flat popping sound muffles the crack of rifle fire. Jesus!' AJ swears. 'A fifty-calibre mounted machine gun. What's our plan, big fella?"

Hunter thinks hard. Deep in enemy territory, with no support and a mysterious prisoner to extract from a notorious Afghan warlord- the odds are already stacked against them. And just to load the dice further, a gun battle rages at their pre-arranged pickup point. The decision Hunter makes this morning will change his life forever. Without realising it, he'll be placing his friends, his family, everyone he loves, in mortal danger.

"Let's drive down there, pick up our prize, then boogie,' he says to AJ. 'After all, there's only one fifty-cal mounted machine gun..."