the risk of Limbani's return starting a civil war Ndofa and Faulkner make a deal to exchange Limbani for one million dollars. Janders disagrees and, holding Faulkner at gunpoint, forces a vote amongst the mercenary officers. When RSM Young votes to follow Faulkner, Janders, Fynn and Chandos vote against Faulkner's plan, as they feel they still owe it to Limbani and the original contract. When the local missionary priest reveals to the mercenaries that there is a Dakota on an airstrip nearby, they decide to use it to escape, with Fynn to pilot it all the way to Rhodesia. The taking over of the lone Dakota on the all-but-deserted airstrip goes well, but as the bulk of the mercenaries retreat towards the plane they come under heavy attack from the pursuing Simbas. When Faulkner is gravely wounded, unable to carry Faulkner to the plane, the RSM decides to stay with him. Fynn starts up the Dakota's engines and taxis onto the runway as Janders, along with Mercenaries Hammond, Rubens, Ferguson, McFarlane, and Williams, provide cover while the mercenaries get on board. At the last second as the plane begins to start its takeoff, they rush for the plane, both Rubens and Williams are dead, with Ferguson's fate unknown. Hammond is killed while running on the runway, under the gunfire from the Simbas. Only Janders and McFarlane have survived the battle although Janders helps McFarlane who has been wounded; he is safely brought aboard into the Dakota with the help of Chandos, but in doing so Janders misses his own chance to climb onto the accelerating aircraft. With the distance between the plane and Janders growing, he pleads to be killed and not left to the savage Simbas, which Chandos regretfully does with a burst from his rifle. The Dakota suddenly slows down on the runway and U-turns, heading back the way it came, because Fynn is shot in the spine. The wounded Fynn manages to get the Dakota off the ground whilst aided by Chandos and Sgt Benson (the last of the NCOs) and flies the Dakota all the way to Rhodesia. The characters Colonel Allen Faulkner – a former British Army officer and veteran mercenary soldier of the Congolese Civil War, now residing in South Africa. He is a self-confessed alcoholic whose reputation has been severely hit when Limbani was kidnapped. Captain Rafer Janders – American soldier of fortune,