Part 1 Silent Witness

We thank you, O Mighty God, for the gift of water.

To sustain, refresh and cleanse all life.

Over water the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of Creation.

I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Christ claims you for His own.

Receive the sign of the Cross.

We thank you, Father, for the water of baptism.

In it, we are buried with Christ in His death,

and, by it, we share in His resurrection.

What's up? All that renouncing of sin taken it out of you?

Molly. They promised to name her after me.

It's the only reason I agreed to sprinkle their offspring.

-It's sweet of them to ask us.

-It's not sweet! It's entirely calculated.

We're the only two people they know with medical degrees.

When little Molly sprouts a fever in the middle of the night, they know they can call us

and we will be spiritually obliged to take a look.

You are jealous.

Yes, I am. But not of them.

She wanted to have a baby, he didn't want to be divorced any more.

But I am jealous.

I want to believe in this stuff. But everything I've learned, every marriage I see...

Nikki, don't.

-What? You're still a believer?

-In love?

Yeah.

Well, look around you.

All these names.

They're only here because people loved them.

However much we screw up.

Look at them. That's what lives on.

"What will survive of us is love."

NIKKI LAUGHS

-You have a visitor, Professor.

-I put him in your office in case he broke something.

-Who is he?

-Staff Corporal General GI Joe something.

-He seemed to know who you were.

-You just let him into my office?

You know how it is - a man in uniform, I go weak at the knees.

Even a high-vis jacket will get him to do what he's told.

JACK AND NIKKI LAUGH

-Ow!

-Oh, drunk at midday?

-At least my patients can't complain.

Anyway, I'm not drunk. One glass of pre-mixed bucks fizz.

They found him.

I'm very sorry, Sergeant Lambert.

It was the outcome that was... most likely.

But finding the body doesn't always bring the closure that you hope it will bring.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

This is Daniel Lambert's file.

Your brother...

I'm sorry.

Why show up in uniform?

Assuming he isn't coming to make Leo the regimental mascot, or carry out a coup d'cutting room?

-Maybe he's making a point.

-Exactly.

What's your problem with soldiers? Did the army turn you down?

It's just squaddies. If there's a fight in a bar or a punch on the dance floor...

Well, you should stop dancing with soldiers.

If you join the army, it stands to reason you might be partial to the odd bit of violence, right?

But some of these guys are barely restrained psychos,

getting medals for stuff they'd get locked up for at home.

-Courage? Dying for your country?

-Yeah, OK.

But sometimes I don't really know what those things mean. Do you?

We have your brother's DNA on file from the coroner's inquest.

It can be tested against the remains.

Dan was never a fighter. Even as a baby...

He'd not protest. He never cried, even if he was hungry or wet.

He just took it, no complaints.

I told our mum I'd look after him.

She blamed me when he enlisted.

Said he was trying to copy his big brother.

But when he died, she didn't say anything.

It was bad enough I couldn't protect him. But I never even brought him home.

You said at the inquest, if we found him, you'd help us.

Yes, that's right. I did promise that.

The body will be brought back here, won't it? To you?

A team out there will collect the remains for repatriation. I want to make sure they do it right.

Forgive me for asking, but what do you want from this?

I want the Taliban bastards that killed him.

GUNSHOT

I want them in court, on trial.

Scott, this was, er...

Look, I'm sorry. But your brother was a soldier.

He was killed in a war. It's tragic, but it's not...

What? A crime? Well, that's exactly what it was.

The Taliban aren't an army. They're not soldiers.

They're terrorists. This was murder. I want justice.

We were running patrols out of a forward operating base at Saleh, east of Qal'ah-ye Ser.

Dan was involved in contact with insurgents here, about two kilometres out of town.

They were ambushed in an orchard. I wasn't there.

I wasn't his direct NCO. I made sure he was in a different platoon.

I heard over the radio from base that they had a man missing.

I knew it was him.

They found his body here two days ago.

It's a water project. Spoils of peace. Water in the desert.

-Hmm?

-What is it?

-This happened in 2008. This murder...happened in 2008.

-And?

You must deal with older crimes than this.

We would expect the remains to be incomplete. Natural dispersal, animal activity.

-That's why I'm talking to you.

-But the army have their own teams.

-Specialised forensic units. They know.

-The army isn't going in. They can't.

The British and Coalition forces are no longer operating in this area.

It's a success story. Handed over to Afghan control.

It's a non-combat zone. We aren't allowed to send British soldiers in.

The MOD are paying a team to exhume the remains and repatriate them,

but it can't be army personnel on the ground.

-So it's an Afghan team that would be going in?

-I don't know.

I need you to tell me what you need, so when they send my brother back

you have everything necessary to find out how he died and who killed him.

You want to know what we'd need? We'd need a perimeter search to 25 metres, initially.

Any work on this water project would have to stop immediately.

We normally take soil samples, insect remains, examine the bones in situ.

And we can try to determine if he died where he was found, or whether the body was transported,

whether he was buried deliberately, or simply left there.

We can see a rib-cage, but if there's no skull...

-If the Taliban executed him, they probably used a knife, they'd have cut...

-Jack!

Sorry.

There's very little we can tell you, apart from telling you the truth.

-Say you convince someone this was a crime...

-You said yourself "an execution". What else do you call it?

You're not going to get a prosecution because you're not going to get any evidence.

By the time the body gets here, the possibility of there being any forensic evidence,

and that evidence not being contaminated...

So you're telling me to drop it?

Yes.

Yes, I think I am.

Thanks.

-What for?

-For your honesty.

-Can I see you out?

-It's OK, Professor.

That's one thing I don't need help with. Thank you.

DOOR SWINGS SHUT

Ten years now.

The bodies come off a plane from the desert and into our cutting room.

We show up at the coroner's court, tell them what they already know.

Gunshot wounds, injuries sustained,

roadside bomb, assailants unknown.

They go out there for us, you know?

It's their job.

And this is my job.

I've had that sand in my hands.

Shaken it out of their boots.

Young boys just out of short trousers, straight into uniform.

Coming through that door like freight.

I think...

I'm going to go.

That's fine. There's not much on here. Get some rest...

That's not what he means. Is it, Leo?

I promised Scott Lambert that I would help him. I promised him at the inquest.

-I'm going to go out and do the post-mortem.

-To Afghanistan? Why?

If that kid's body was on a beach in Bognor or at the bottom of Lake Windermere,

we would tear the place apart trying to find the killer.

-Why is this any different?

-Because it isn't bloody Bognor! It's bloody Afghanistan!

Scott Lambert is looking for justice! Isn't that why we sent them out there in the first place?

-I thought it was freedom.

-Isn't it the same thing?

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

KNOCK-KNOCK

Heathrow to Dubai.

Dubai to Kabul.

-It's so bloody mundane.

-This is crime scene stuff.

I can do the forensics, secure the body and get it back to you, for what it's worth.

At least it'll give the family something to go on if they want to push a prosecution.

-Let me go instead.

-I appreciate it, Jack. I really do.

But I'm booked.

I want to go.

Oh! I've been looking at the photos. It's bone stuff.

I'd get something out of it. Besides, I tan, you stroke. So I'll go.

-Have you been talking to Jack?

-No.

-Yes, she has.

Why do you want to come all of a sudden?

-We just do.

-We don't.

I'm sure Dan Lambert didn't want to go to Afghanistan either.

But it's like you said, it was his job. And this is our job.

Scott said they're funding a team to bring his brother back. So why not your team?

JET ENGINES ROAR

Can you...

stop doing that?

-You were on time.

-Yeah. You weren't.

Sorry. Nothing's on time out here. I'm Sean Nugent.

-Hi.

-You the guys who've come to take the soldier home?

-That's the idea.

You work for the, er, water project, do you?

Not that one. He's your designated decoy.

Right.

There's Coke, Sprite and Travel Scrabble in the cool box.

Make yourselves comfortable. It's a long drive.

This is rush hour, is it?

Tarmacking this highway was considered a priority. Twenty soldiers died building this road.

Back when I was serving, the only way to get around was by whirlybird.

-Were you in the army?

-Most of us in the private security game were.

Yanks, Poles, Canadians...

-What, you loved it here so much you couldn't leave?

-I fought here.

-I wanted to know it was worth it.

-Now you're making the desert bloom.

Better than making it bleed, I suppose. So nothing to do with the money then?

I spent 15 years in the British Army on less than a nurse's wage,

and you naturally assume that I'm primarily motivated by money.

So, unfinished business?

The Brits first fought here in 1839.

No-one's conquered this place since Alexander the Great.

You could say that Afghanistan is the very definition of unfinished business.

-Still, five grand a week's five grand a week, right?

-Shut up, Jack!

You're something of an arsehole, aren't you?

What's going on?

GUN BOLT CLICKS

Oh, God!

-I'm not sitting here to be shot at.

-Wait!

Just stay where you are. It might not be shooting...

-What do you think it is then?

-It might be a bomb.

-Jack!

-Jack!

Get back in the vehicle! Get your head down!

Get your head down. If I see you out here, I'll shoot you myself!

Get in!

Get in.

Yeah, this is call sign Golf Whiskey Five, on North-South Link 17, near marker 49.

We have a road block here. Someone's stuck five rocks in the middle of the Sunset Boulevard.

Do you have a patrol in the area? 'Received. Wait. Out.'

Yeah, I'll stand by.

-Standing by is what I live for.

-Can you tell us what's going on?

-You know as much as I do.

-You think it's an ambush?

-Can't we just turn around?

-We could do.

It'll add ten hours to our journey.

-Better safe, I suppose...

-And there's the chance that's what the roadblock's there for.

-We turn around and run into a real ambush.

-So what do we do? Just wait here?

For now. Until we find out if there's someone better equipped to get us out of here.

'Sierra Bravo Nine, are you receiving? Over.' Yeah.

'All sections engaged. You are on your own.'

Keep you posted. Yeah. 'Good luck.' Thanks.

And...?

And nothing. We're on our own. Cavalry's busy elsewhere.

So what are you going to do?

You're not thinking of moving those things are you? There's probably bombs under there.

-The whole country's littered with them? Hey, I'm talking to you. You going to move them?

-No.

We're going to move them. You and me. Come on.

METAL DETECTOR STEADY TONE

Jesus, Nikki! What are we doing here?

It's going to be OK.

METAL DETECTOR STEADY TONE

Right, arsehole.

Now we push.

Come on, big boy, push up!

Come on!

What?! Come on.

Come on, these rocks won't move themselves. Come on!

Yaaaah!

Wee buns.

Thanks, Sean.

Stay there! Don't move.

-Is that what I think it is?

-Pressure plate IED. 10 kilograms of homemade explosive, I'd say.

-And we just walked straight past it?

-Show me your shoe.

Yeah, that's your footprint all right.

That's how close you are to being dead.

What was all that about?

Nothing!

Are you OK?

Yeah.

IED identified and marked on Sunset Boulevard. Moving out.

I'm Dr Joya. I'm in charge of the project here.

-Professor Dalton. Hello.

-Hi.

-Jack Hodgson, hi.

-Hi.

-Nikki. Hi.

-How was your journey?

- Just interesting enough. - Oh, that road is getting worse.

-If I was more paranoid, I'd think they had a grudge against us.

-Who's they?

Any suggestion of progress irritates any number of people in this country.

It's a threat to their business model.

-As are you, I imagine?

-I don't think that's unique to Afghanistan.

Do you know many men who like to have a female boss?

-She's not my boss.

-I am!

-I'm pleased to see you.

But you'll be more pleased to see us go?

We've great sympathy for the family of the soldier, but this is holding us up and costing a lot of money.

The charities that fund us are trying to be patient.

If we don't complete by the end of the month, by the elections, we are in trouble.

There was cholera here, two years ago.

17 children died.

Clean water is a human right and the living come higher up my list than the dead.

SHE SPEAKS PASHTO

These are our Afghan National Police liaison officers.

They're based in the town. They're responsible for the body until you confirm the identity.

Can we take a look?

It will be dark soon, Professor. We're 4km from the compound. I'd like to get you tucked up by nightfall.

Just a preliminary look, then.

If you stick a five-syllable word in front of it, then that always makes it OK, doesn't it?

Ten minutes preliminary enough for you?

SHE SPEAKS PASHTO

Daniel's dog tags.

Has anybody touched the body since it was found?

We've been doing a lot of work around here, we can't be sure.

State of decomposition and natural indicators aren't inconsistent

with a body buried in these conditions for about five years.

-This wasn't where he disappeared, though.

-The firefight in which he was captured was in an orchard...

..here.

That's about three clicks into the valley. So they brought him up here to execute him.

That's what we're here to find out. Where he died. How he died. Who killed him.

-Did he say something funny?

-What are you going to do? Knock on doors, take fingerprints?

We're going to do our job. Gather evidence and pass it on to the authorities.

NUGENT LAUGHS

Now he's said something funny.

HE LAUGHS HEARTILY

I'm Darek, deputy head of security here.

Don't worry, we'll bring you a fridge and a kettle. There's a microwave somewhere...

-A shower?

-We have showers when we've got water, which is sometimes.

And electricity, most nights. And when we don't, we have candles.

It's very romantic.

-I didn't ask you to come.

-Of course, you didn't.

-I never said it was going to be a holiday.

-It's Afghanistan.

-What's your point?

-It's OK, Leo.

-We're up to this.

-We've got a crime scene.

We've got a body.

This is what we do, hmm?

You see?

Wasn't me.

The security guy Sean thinks that we're stupid.

Coming to Afghanistan, looking for a murderer.

Over 400 British soldiers have died in this conflict already. God knows how many civilians!

Jack was right. Nobody's going to jail here.

We should get some sleep.

What are you doing here, Nikki?

-Same thing as you are.

-No!

You're here because I'm here.

I should never have let you come.

You didn't.

What's wrong, Leo?

Nothing.

-We could have all died out there today.

-We didn't.

Did we?

-So what do all these people do here?

-You mean since the Coalition forces cut down the poppy fields?

Not much.

Was there much fighting in Saleh?

-When did the insurgence go?

-There's not much to fight over is there?

HORN HONKS

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

OK. So we ARE dealing with the body of a male.

No shit!

Clothing's mostly decomposed except for the remnants of buttons and a zip.

But there's no evidence of any shroud, or of the body having been wrapped.

So it doesn't seem to suggest a Muslim burial.

Not facing Mecca either, if my GPS isn't mistaken.

Why here? Why this place?

Five years ago, this place was deserted.

As good a place as any to hide out.

This site was first developed in the 1950s.

The American Government funded all sorts of infrastructure projects in Afghanistan back then.

This was going to be the water treatment plant here,

to kickstart a massive US-funded agriculture project in this valley.

And now they're back.

Some sections of the skin are almost mummified.

Stretched and parched over the bone.

And the femur's tucked right up under the rib-cage.

Reckon the body was dumped?

-Or he was kneeling when he died.

-Kneeling in his own grave?

GUNSHOT ECHOES

FAWZIA: My father worked on the original project.

When the money ran out he went with the company to the States.

Full circle. Life doesn't often work that way.

The circle isn't finished yet.

If he was killed here, forced to kneel in his own grave,

everything WE need is right here.

This structure provides an effective tomb.

-Don't get too excited. I don't think the remains are complete.

-Was he beheaded?

The spinal column's intact to C1, no obvious disarticulation.

And there are fragments of the skull here.

If they shot him in the back of the head, him on his knees,

the skull could have shattered...

Look, I don't want to be a...

What?

-Arsehole?

-All right.

But Dan Lambert was a soldier, a soldier occupying a foreign country.

He was captured and killed by indigenous fighters. Is that a criminal thing? It's war.

A shot to the back of the head.

It's possible he was executed.

Even with your curly-wurly logic that's at least a war crime.

-I could say that war is the crime.

-But if you did I'd have to slap you.

I think we're ready.

Darek, it's Sean. We'll be with you in zero five.

She doesn't live in the security compound?

-Dr Joya? Her father owned that house in town. She stays there.

-Is it safe?

I wouldn't do it.

She's making a point, isn't she? "I'm one of you".

But she is one of "them". She's an Afghan. She was born here.

She talks like an American, dresses like one, too.

When she talks, they don't look her in the eye.

Jack.

Ah, why's it my job?

-Do you have another job in our makeshift mortuary?

-Maybe the electricity's out.

The lights are on. But there's nobody home.

All right, smart arse!

Make sure we're hooked up to their backup generator.

-Now that the remains are exposed, we don't want what's left to disintegrate.

-OK.

He loves it.

Nugent?

Darek?

MACHINE-GUN FIRE

-Jack!

-Leo!

EXPLOSION

NUGENT: Jack! Get down. Get behind the truck!

Stay back!

Get to the back room quickly. Keep down, keep down.

-Jack. Where are the others?

-Up in the cutting room.

Quick, behind the cases.

GUNSHOT ECHOES

HE SPEAKS PASHTO

Aah!

Lock them up.

We should bring in a doctor.

The minute the town knows we're holding Taliban prisoners, I've got a situation here.

What's your insurance excess? Does it cover acts of Taliban?

-What were they looking for?

-They weren't looking for anything.

They don't want a water project. It's Western influence, isn't it?

It's a threat. That's what Nugent says.

He saved our lives, you know.

I know.

He's talking about pulling us back to Kabul.

The body is still partial remains. We haven't even got enough for a positive ID!

We haven't got teeth to check against dental records, let alone forensic evidence to bring charges.

I can't X-ray any bones.

Scott said that he thought Dan's ankle was pinned when he was a teenager.

-Football injury.

-Leo. Leo.

-You've just been shot at. With guns.

-I've still got a job to do.

If Nugent can't guarantee our security, he doesn't have much choice but to get us out.

What about the project then?

The engineers? If he can't guarantee our safety, what about theirs?

-Hi.

-Hi.

That's my father. This is his house.

Please, sit down.

How are you? You must be in shock.

LEO LAUGHS

I always knew it was dangerous here. But I don't think I quite knew what that meant.

-How about you? What will you do?

-Things have been worse since you got here but we've had problems before.

Vandalism at the plant, theft, graffiti.

This is a bit more than a few words scrawled on a wall!

The only way to succeed here is to succeed.

We can't stop. If we pull out, even for a few days it...

This place is all about appearances.

If people think we're weakening, if they doubt our faith in it, we'll lose everything we've built.

Is he going to be OK? Darek's in charge of medical stores if you need anything.

Why did they attack us?

You mean, why now, just as you arrived?

You mean WE were the targets - me and my colleagues?

I don't know. But the fact that you're here makes things complicated.

Dr Joya's been very careful to employ...

The majority are local, or at least Afghan workers, where she can. She didn't even want us here.

Three more Western faces. You've got status, and talk of a dead British soldier... Word gets about.

-So we're the problem?

-You're A problem.

It could be nothing. Insurgents had to do something to let us know they hadn't gone away. Maybe that's it?

That's what I was trying to find out off the prisoners.

-What do you do with them now?

-I haven't decided yet.

You're never sure where sympathies lie in this place.

Where do your sympathies lie?

Sympathy. Nobody's ever accused me of that before.

Well, you've been here for a long time, you must feel some connection to this place.

Why don't you concentrate on getting Private Lambert back to his mother?

We'll make sure this water project gets finished and then maybe we can have a wee chat about...

sympathy and connection.

FAWZIA: If you find out who killed that boy, will it change anything?

I think it matters. Small things add up to big things.

That's how I feel. I know all the reasons not to do projects like this.

I know about all the corruption, the government kickbacks, the politics.

But every small good thing is a response to the waste and the chaos.

Nugent captured three of the insurgents.

-The police didn't mention that.

-He hasn't handed them over yet.

-What?

-He's holding them in the compound.

-Oh, great!

It just looks like occupation, doesn't it?

Everything I've done is to make this project feel de-militarised, local.

The charity insisted I get Western security, former soldiers.

What does that tell people?

NUGENT: Fingerprints? Five years later?

Can't see how anyone else could have touched this since then.

It's been under a couple of feet of dry sand and earth.

Whoever dumped Dan Lambert's body

stood where I'm standing now.

Might have done. Might have just kicked him into it.

Someone still had to dig it.

I haven't thanked you.

-If it's your job you don't expect to get thanked for it.

-Fair enough.

A bit macho, but I respect that.

So what did they tell you, the insurgents?

I wasn't expecting them to tell me much.

I just wanted to know if it was an opportunistic attack, or the beginning of something more.

Anyway, whatever they tell you is a lie.

You're trying to get a feel for who they are, who they look at whenever you ask them a question.

The Taliban are hierarchical. There's always someone in charge.

Like the army?

That's why I love this stuff. People make up all sorts of shit, but evidence rarely lies.

Not if you know how to interrogate it.

Checking the prisoner's injuries. Thanks.

Are you OK?

Have you eaten?

I have fresh water for you.

SHE SPEAKS PASHTO

WATER TRICKLES

DOG BARKS IN THE DISTANCE

From the length of the femur, the age of the victim is consistent with that of Private Lambert,

as is the height.

Left-hand metacarpals and phalanges are missing.

And the right-hand carpals are also missing.

Where's the rest?

I didn't come all this way to leave bits of this boy in the desert.

The skull?

Even with a close range shot to the back of the head, I'd expect to find all of it.

Anyway, at least we can extract some DNA. Would you mind?

I mean, would you mind grinding some bones?

The sun's already done you the favour of...of baking them...

Are you OK?

Not really. I went to check on the prisoners last night.

They all have bruises that I didn't see yesterday.

I think they've been beaten.

We don't know anything about Nugent.

The charity don't use registered security.

They're just a bunch of freelancers.

-I know they're here to protect us...

-Yeah, they are and they have.

We have to rely on each other out here.

I don't trust them.

OK. Then keep an eye on the prisoners.

Make a show of checking on them, every hour, hmm?

What does Fawzia think about them?

She's busy fighting her own battles.

FAWZIA SPEAKS PASHTO

SHE SPEAKS PASHTO

-Everything OK?

-It will be when you go.

I'll try not to take that personally. I was summoned.

I've got something to show you.

Where are we going?

Should we let Nugent's guys know?

There.

-What is it?

-What do you see?

A house?

Or a ruin? Some kind of agricultural building?

And how did it get like that? A drone strike.

It was bombed, from the air?

How many are buried under all this?

Must have been a pretty high-value target for them to hit it like this.

From what I've heard, it was a Taliban command post. A safe house.

Wait.

So you think they might have been hiding down here?

The men who killed Dan Lambert?

-Why didn't you bring me here before?

-I was hoping you would dig him up and leave here.

What's changed?

Looks like a dungeon.

What else would you use a room like this for?

-What is it? A phone number.

-I know that number.

That's the number from Dan Lambert's dog tag.

He was here.

This is where they held him before they killed him.

My God!

You were lucky. I'm sure it's painful.

But it's healing. There's no infection.

HE WINCES

Sorry.

I'm not a soldier.

I don't have a gun.

Why are you angry with me?

Or are you scared?

That we'll try to do to you

what you tried to do to us?

Don't worry.

We're not like that.

Nothing's going to happen to you, while we're here.

OK?

THEY JOKE IN PASHTO

THEY LAUGH

LAUGHTER

Somehow I've become the enemy, just for being a doctor. I'm mean, they're people.

Is that how you see them? That's not how they see you.

A Western doctor? A woman?

Don't kid yourself. These are the guys that killed Dan Lambert.

-We don't know what happened to Dan Lambert.

-Yes, we do.

-I found THIS where they buried him.

-You've got their prints, the killers?

No. That's Dan Lambert's fingerprint.

I've been running tests all day. It's his blood.

They made him dig his own grave.

So he was alive and bleeding, kneeling in the ditch?

Then they shot him in the back of the head. Executed him.

How much truth do you think his family want, hmm?

Those Taliban tied up in the stables. Do you still think they're just people?

Where's Leo?

I don't know.

DOGS BARK IN THE DISTANCE

DOOR OPENS

Leo...

-It's OK.

-Where have you been?

It's late. Go to sleep.

DOG BARKS

What time is it?

It's early.

What time did he roll in? Where was he?

I think he was with Dr Joya.

Where's the other man? Where's he been taken?

Cut him down!

Cut him down!

Cut him down!

He killed himself.

-Why would he do that?

-How would he do that? His hands were bound.

That doesn't mean anything. What, you think I hanged him?

-That's not what I'm saying.

-She's not saying anything. Just calm down, everybody.

-Have you've noted the colour of his face?

-Why would he kill himself?

-He might have stood on this.

-Look at the bruises!

That's what they did to him. We know he was terrified of them.

-I want to examine him properly.

-That's not what you're here for, Professor Dalton.

But I am here, aren't I?

Right.

There's evidence of petechiae throughout the conjuntivae - palpebral and scleral.

It's also on the lips and behind the ears.

Pooling of blood in the head suggests obstruction to the flow of blood from the veins

-rather than arterial disruption.

-What about the ligature mark?

-No obvious parchmenting.

-You see?

Then again there are no fingernail or thumb marks around the neck.

Can someone please tell me what you're talking about?

-Suspension was partial, you said? Toes were touching the ground?

-There's visible bruising in there.

-The hyoid bone is fractured.

-There's a surprise. Look at the larynx, the cricoid cartilage!

Nikki. Where are you going?

What happened last night?

Your friend was strangled.

He was dead when he was hung up. I want to know who did it.

You understood that, didn't you?

You know what I'm talking about.

I'm talking to you! Look at me!

They killed your friend. They'll kill you, too.

I'm wasting my time.

You cut him, didn't you?

-You shouldn't cut him.

-You speak English?

The Hadith says the bones of a dead person

have the same sanctity and honour as the living.

You violated his sanctity.

You are English. What are you doing here?

First you take his country, his freedom.

Take away his life and then you violate him.

Violate.

What are you talking about?

YOU attacked a charity project that has no other motive but to preserve life!

Where are you from?

You weren't born here.

My dad says just cos you were born in a stable don't make you a horse.

I never belonged there. These are my people.

-When did you come here?

-When I woke up.

When I saw what was being done by British men in this place.

Men like him.

You mean Nugent? Did Nugent kill your friend?

What do you think?

He took our brother over there.

He wanted us to see.

-What did he do?

-The big guy came in.

The Polish one - Darek?

First, he beat him.

Then he put his arm around Amin like a friend, like a brother.

Around his neck.

And...

What's your name?

-Karim.

-Karim.

-I'm going to make sure that nothing...

-Yeah, yeah!

You're not going to do anything. Until our law comes, it's their law.

He's English?

He came here to fight for the Taliban, as far as I can work out.

I think he's telling the truth.

You were wondering about the lack of ligature mark.

Well, it wasn't done with a ligature or with hands.

Karim says that it was Darek.

He had him in a choke-hold, strangled him with his forearm.

Well, it could be.

-What do you mean, it could be?

-Just cos he speaks English, doesn't mean that he IS telling the truth.

But it figures with everything you've discovered.

And what do you imagine we do with this?

-We take it to the authorities.

-Nugent is the authorities here.

We could take it to the Afghan police, but we've no way of knowing how they treat Taliban prisoners,

-especially a foreign combatant.

-So what? We forget about it?

-No.

We do what we came here to do. Gather evidence on Dan Lambert and take him home to his family.

And the dead prisoner? Doesn't he have a right to justice? Doesn't he have a family?

Of course, he does. But we could set off a chain reaction here that we don't even understand.

We don't know where this could lead.

I need to understand it. I need to talk to somebody.

Fawzia?

I don't know who else I can talk to.

She certainly understands this better than us.

-Nugent mustn't find out that Karim is English. It could put him in more danger.

-And Jack?

I know and you know. For now that's more than enough.

I guess that's what you call pinpoint.

Some guy looking at a screen in Las Vegas,

controlling a drone with a joystick from the other side of the world.

Like a video game - Thunderbolt of the gods, or the revenge of the geeks.

So this is where they held him before they killed him?

They'd have tortured him first.

Made sure he knew what was coming.

They know we're afraid of death. They reckon that's what makes us weak.

Are you afraid of death?

Somebody strangled the Taliban prisoner.

He didn't kill himself, Sean.

-What are you going to do?

-That's what I came to ask you.

You're saying it was murder?

It could be suicide, but...

If this was England, I think I would be expecting a murder investigation.

But this isn't England? If it's murder, I need to inform the civil authorities, the Governor.

Afghan civil law applies here. If one of my security detail has committed...

I'm trying to do the right thing here. But I don't know what that is!

Do you want me to ask you to keep this quiet?

-For the sake of my project.

-I don't know!

I'm confused.

You confuse me.

When I hear you talk I realise how complex it is here.

At some level, I really believe in what you're trying to do. And I really believe in you.

I don't know whether I'm someone anyone can believe in.

I'm stuck here, in this place, in this circle.

I'm just trying to find a way out.

I need someone to believe in, too.

I've been waiting for you. Where have you been?

I was at the building where Dan Lambert was held. Took some prints.

I moved some of the rubble. There was clothing but no obvious remains.

If we were at home, we could bring a dog in...

What are you talking about? A man was killed here today.

You've decided that, have you?

Why don't you come and eat with us. Plenty of room.

It's OK. It's been a long day. We're pretty tired.

No, we're not tired. We just don't want to sit down with you.

Oh, I see! We're OK when people are shooting at you, but not good enough to eat with.

-I know what you did.

-Nikki, come on!

-What did he do?

You know it wasn't suicide. He was strangled.

He was dead before he was hung. We all know that!

-Once Professor Dalton presents his post-mortem findings...

-So murder?

-So that Taliban was murdered.

-He has a name.

Really? Because he wouldn't tell it to us.

-If you're saying murder, you should know what it means.

-Oh, I know what murder means!

Any man implicated here is placed under arrest by the Afghan police.

When they confess, because everyone confesses down that nick, they'll be sentenced to death,

and shot in the back yard.

So how sure are you?

Ask him.

What?!

You ask me.

Out! Everyone, out!

Is everything OK?

-I'm needed up at the water plant. Do you mind?

-Er...

-It's just down there.

-OK.

Yeah, fine.

Aagh! Get off!

Aagh!

Aaagh!

Leo!

Leo!

LEO!!!

He's the closest thing to a father I've ever had.

It's not Afghanistan that dangerous! It's you lot!

Dan Lambert might have been killed by a British bullet.

Friendly fire?

Dan Lambert was killed by a Taliban. Write it! Do it! Do it now!

Do you think he could have had something to do with covering up Daniel's death?

If Dan was killed here, his body could've remained hidden.

Get out of here, before it's too late.

GUNSHOT

I'm glad they did what they did to him.

-What if it wasn't an accident?

-You killed him?

You killed Dan Lambert.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd