Kat and the Desert Eagle

by Michael Beals

  “You were having a nightmare and shouting.”

  “You’re kidding,” she said, rubbing her eyes and sitting more upright. “What was I saying?”

  He winced and moved closer. “I don’t want to embarrass you. Don’t worry about it. It was nothing.”

  She stared at him. Her mouth felt dry, and she was aware of her pulse thudding in her ears. “No, really. What was I saying?”

  Leaning closer, he whispered. “You were shouting… and I mean really shouting. Are you sure you want to hear?”

  “Yes, I want to know.”

  Sliding his hand up her arm, he affected an expression of extreme concern. “You were shouting, Take me, Sam! Take me!”

  Kat burst out laughing while shoving him away. “Was I on top, with my hands round your throat? Because that would really turn me on.”

  “Ooh, Kat.” he said raising and lowering his eyebrows a couple of times.

  She pulled a face and sat up. “You’re an arse… Where are we?”

  “Near a place call Sabha. Sandro asked me to wake you.”

  She squinted at him. “So I wasn’t shouting.”

  He raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. “I guess we’ll never know.”

  “You’re such a wanker... Do we have any coffee?”

  “Of course we have coffee. Sandro would die without it.”

  While he dug out the thermos flask, she went forward and sat in the co-pilot’s seat. They flew quite low now. The desert no longer drifting by below, it swept towards them, jagged ridges blending with rolling sand dunes. They flew over a dry riverbed, although when it last carried water was tough to imagine. In the distance she spotted a convoy of trucks heading due west. It followed what looked like a camel trail and ran straight as a die between the dunes.

  “How high are we?”

  Capetti peered at the instrument panel. “6,500 feet. It might be safe to fly lower, but we might miss it.”

  “We could easily miss it. In fact, we’re much too low. We could see an airfield at 10,000 feet. And we’d be safe.”

  “Sure. We see airfield, but be any airfield, and if our airfield, it dangerous to do second run. At this height, we sure what we see and vanish in less than minute. If we not come back, they forget about us.”

  “Wow! That’s really clever thinking, Sandro. Really, that would never have occurred to me.”

  He grunted. “Well, don’t blame me if we shot at. It was Kelly’s idea.”

  “While we’re here, do you feel like following that camel trail? There were fifteen trucks and a water bowser in that convoy. They must be going somewhere important, and a secret airfield can’t have all its supplies brought in by air, especially water, which must be quite a problem all the way out here.”

  “I don’t mind at all. In fact, we’re getting quite near the mountains. I should gain altitude.”

  Increasing the engine revs, he pulled back the stick, and five minutes later they saw mountains. It was difficult to judge their height from this distance, perhaps only 7,000 feet, but two of the peaks were capped with snow, and in an odd, slightly creepy way, it reminded Kat of her dream. Perhaps they needed only to reach the foothills and fly south. Had the airfield been to the north, the convoy would have taken a different route.

  “We’re getting close, guys! If anyone’s asleep, wake them up!” Then a thought struck her. “Sam! Can I talk to you?”

  Kelly yawned and made his way over to her. “What’s up?”

  “How much do you know about the Tassili Mountains… apart from all the rock paintings?”

  “You mean have I ever been there?”

  “Have you?”

  “As a matter of fact, I have. I went there on a gliding holiday. It’s the most amazing place you’ve ever seen.”

  A stab of excitement lanced through her. “I had a really weird dream last night.”

  He grinned at her. “I know. I heard you shouting.”

  She squinted at him. “I need the truth, Sam. What was I shouting? I mean, what was I really shouting?”

  Letting out a groan, he slumped into the nearest seat. “Do you have to spoil all my fantasies? You were shouting something about a valley. Why is it important? It was just a dream.”

  “What are the Tassili Mountains like?”

  “Well, they’re very varied. It’s really a high plateau, has rocky peaks, deep valleys, stretches of sand dunes and wind-sculpted rocks. You know like arches and extraordinary shapes.”

  “That’s incredible. I saw it in my dream.” She grabbed his arm, squeezing it tightly. “I think I know where the Germans have built their secret airfield. It’s not near the mountains, it’s in the mountains. Could you build an airfield there?”

  He gazed at her with a puzzled expression. “Well, yeah, I suppose you could. If you built it on the eastern flank, you’d have a clear run over the desert. But it would be a sod to build. Imagine getting all the equipment up there.”

  “Is it easy to land there?”

  “I guess so. Some valleys are as flat as pancakes.”

  “Then you could fly the equipment in and bring the rest by truck… if it was important enough to keep it a secret.” She looked sternly at Kelly and said, “So… Can we at least have a look?”

  Kelly took a deep breath. “Sure. We’re practically there…”

  Changing seats with her, he talked to Capetti. Moments later, the DC-3 climbed to 12,000 feet.

  Dore made his way over. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he sat down beside her. “Are you having one of your crazy ideas again?”

  “It’s not a crazy idea. It’s inspired revelation.”

  “What, like Arco Philaeni?”

  “That wasn’t my fault,” she said, indignantly. “I thought they were Germans.”

  “Yeah, well, I suppose while we’re here, we may as well look. They’d have a hell of a time shooting us down in this terrain.”

  They crossed the mountains and the landscape rapidly changed. Jagged peaks jutted out of deep valleys, wide areas of sand and majestic buttes, wind-sculpted outcrops rising out of wide ravines, which strangely reminded Kat of Arizona. Patches of snow clung to the higher peaks, peaks only a few hundred feet below them. The plateau certainly wasn’t flat, and she began to have doubts about finding the airfield. In a deep ravine, she spotted another convoy of trucks.

  Rushing to the cockpit, she peered down at them, a thrall of excitement rising in her throat. “The airfield’s here, Sam. It’s got to be. There’s no other reason for those trucks to be here.”

  “Well we’ll soon know.” He said, cocking his head, “In three or four minutes we’ll be out of the mountains.”

  Then they saw it, perched on the edge of a high plateau overlooking the desert, a cluster of buildings came into view. It wouldn’t have been so unusual in this part of Algeria, religious retreats were not uncommon, however, stretching into the distance was the longest runway Kat had ever seen. It must be four thousand meters long.

  “Shit!” Capetti exclaimed, banking the plane around. “I would fly straight on, but I can’t. They could shoot us down. Hang on!”

  Putting the plane in a tight turn, he headed back into the mountains.

  CHAPTER 15

  “You not be serious!” Capetti yelled, leveling out. “You want me land in mountains?”

  They flew at a low altitude down a wide ravine, tall, wind-sculpted buttes rising to meet them. To the west, rolling sand dunes glistened in the afternoon sun, and to the east, jagged peaks rose like the black fangs of some primordial monster.

  �
�What’s wrong with right here?” Kat shouted. “The ravine’s as flat as a pancake!”

  “Yes, and with many rocks that tear out undercarriage!”

  “Then find somewhere similar! Preferably, not where we saw the convoy!”

  “Mama mia!” He cursed, banking around again. “Everybody look. I not look everywhere at once.”

  Dore joined them and squinted at the onrushing landscape. A giant arch flew by, and then a forest of tall mesas higher than the plane. The terrain grew rockier, jagged outcrops hiding deep ravines.

  “There!” Dore shouted, pointing to a dry riverbed winding through a narrow valley. “It’s perfect.

  “What if wheels sink in?” Capetti argued. “What if soft mud?”

  “It won’t be mud.” Kelly said. “This area’s all sandstone.”

  “You want fly this thing?”

  Kelly laughed. “No thanks. I’d rather blame you if we crash.”

  Cursing under his breath, Capetti swooped around, gained height to avoid another coppice of buttes and then banked again and settled into a final approach. The riverbed was wider than it looked, also deeper, the banks lined with sapling trees. Diving into the nearest seat, Kat strapped herself in.

  “Sam! Jock! For god’s sake sit down!”

  Kelly headed for the seats, followed immediately by Dore, both laughing as they strapped themselves in. “You’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road,” Dore sang, “and I’ll be in Scotland beforrre’ you. Where me and my true love…”

  An almighty Crump and they were down, the DC-3 thudding and rumbling as it roared down the dry riverbed, Capetti cursing as he applied the brakes. The whole team clapping and yelling.

  “You’re a flamin’ beaut, Sandro!” Stewart yelled. “Next tinny’s on me!”

  Capetti wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned at him. “We have to turn plane around.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “We might need escape.”

  Increasing the revs on the port engine and using the differential braking, the DC-3 slowly turned. It was almost up against the river bank by the time it faced the other way, and Capetti cursed in Italian as he guided it into the middle of the river bed again.

  “Perfetto.” He groaned, switching off the engines. “Now we have mountain kill us.”

  Opening the cargo doors, they piled out of the plane, groaning with relief when their feet touched solid ground. The complete and utter silence was profound. After hours of listening to the roar of the plane’s engines, it was like being struck deaf, and when she finally climbed out, Kat almost whispered.

  “This is bizarre. It’s so quiet. You’d never guess there is a German airfield near here.”

  “That’s a good point.” Dore said, stretching after the long flight. “How far have we traveled since we saw it?”

  “At a guess, about ten kilometers.” Kelly said. “It should be south east of where we’re standing, which is more or less where the riverbed’s heading, so we might be lucky.”

  Assembling the ramp, they set about extracting the Jeep, which wasn’t as easy as Kat expected. They drove backwards and forwards several times before they finally got the blasted thing out. It became starkly clear to her that with six people and all their equipment, they could have done with a second vehicle.

  “It’s not a problem,” Stewart said. “Once we’ve put the bumpers back on, we can strap the tents on the spare wheel, sit on sleeping bags, carry our weapons and tie the mortars and supplies to the hood. Kat’s the smallest. She can double up with Jock.”

  “That’s not going to work,” Dore said. “I’m the heaviest, so I should drive. Kat will have to double up with Kelly.”

  Kat rolled her eyes. “Hey! Just pass me around, guys.”

  “It’s okay, Kat!” Kelly called, as he carried equipment down from the plane. “I don’t mind if you crush me!”

  “And now I’m fat,” she remarked. “I think I’ll walk.”

  Not having anything to do, as the men loaded up the Jeep, she wandered down the dry riverbed. The sun was behind the mountains now, in less than an hour it would be dark. It would be better to find somewhere to camp.

  She walked on, past the huge arch that they’d seen from the air, past the monumental buttes, their sedimentary layers sharply defined in the fading light. They hadn’t changed in thousands of years and it was tough to believe, that not so far away, a World War raged. When it was finally over, this valley would still be the same, and she wondered what Berlin was like now, whether Alexanderplatz was still the same. The British had bombed Berlin, maybe it was now full of craters, the tramlines twisted and black.

  Hearing the Jeep coming, she looked back. As Stewart recommended, the mortars were strapped to the hood, the tents sticking out behind the spare wheel. With five men already jammed in like sardines, it was uncomfortable thinking where she must sit when she saw Kelly sitting in the front passenger seat.

  “Are you ready for this?” she said to Kelly, when the Jeep pulled up beside her.

  He grinned patting his lap. “Your throne milady.”

  She climbed into the Jeep and settled cautiously on his lap.

  He rested an arm on her bare thighs. “Sorry. I’m afraid that’s unavoidable.”

  “Just make sure you don’t wander into dangerous territory.”

  He laughed. “I’ve been doing that ever since I met you.”

  Dore let out a throaty laugh. “He’s got you well and truly pegged, Lass.”

  He released the clutch, and they cruised down the dry riverbed at twenty miles an hour. That didn’t last long. Three miles further on, the river disappeared into a shallow arch, too low even for a man to crawl through.

  “It might come out further on,” Dore said, negotiating the Jeep onto sandy scree.

  The riverbed never did re-appear, and half an hour later they stopped for the night. This part of the mountains mainly sand dunes, and it didn’t take long to erect the tents. With little danger of being seen, Atkins rigged a kerosene lamp, and they settled down to eat.

  “Are there any snakes up here?” Atkins asked, looking around, “or scorpions? Or camel spiders?”

  “Of course there are,” Dore said. “There are also mouflons, so if you take off any clothing, make sure you sleep on it.”

  “What the hell’s a mouflon?” Kat asked. “Sounds like some kind of omelet.”

  “It’s a wild sheep with big curly horns,” Dore said. “And it eats anything. So don’t leave socks outside the tent. If you do, they’ll be gone in the morning.”

  “Can we talk something serious?” Capetti asked. “I worry about airfield. It less five miles away. If Germans have lookouts, maybe see us.”

  Kelly shook his head. “The airfield isn’t what we thought it was. If it was down in the desert, they might have had lookouts, even anti-aircraft batteries, but up here in the mountains… where would they station them? That airfield is surrounded by mesas and high, rocky crags. The only flat land is where the runway is. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was built on that dry riverbed we were driving down.”

  Dore frowned and squinted into the darkness. “There must be an access road. That convoy of trucks must be heading for the airfield.”

  “I’m sure it was, but from the east,” Kelly said, “where the desert is. We’re coming in from the north. There’s only mountains behind us. They won’t be expecting anything but sheep from this direction.”

  Kat stared at him in the lamplight. If anyone could logically reason their situation, Kelly could, but something else bothered her. She’d imagined hi-jacking the plane at its t
akeoff point, over-powering the pilot and forcing him to taxi to the far end of the runway where the rest of the team could board the plane. Then they would turn the plane around and takeoff in the opposite direction. Now that was impossible, the plane could only takeoff toward the desert.

  Kelly glanced at her. “Are you worried about the hi-jacking?”

  “I… was, actually.”

  “To get that bomber off the ground over the desert must be like taking off from an aircraft carrier, and it can only be done from one direction. Which means we could be screwed if we want to get the whole team aboard without being machine-gunned to death.”

  Atkins gulped. “You’re kidding. Some of us will be left behind… for the Germans to murder?”

  “Don’t worry, Corporal.” Dore said. “We won’t leave you behind. We need you to carry the mortars.”

  “Gee Sarge. You can’t begin to appreciate how much that comforts me..”

  Kat looked away. She’d planned in her head how to rescue the team, and whatever way you looked at it, this would be a very tight call. They didn’t even know how to board the plane. god almighty, she thought, we don’t even know what the Adler looks like. It might only be possible to board from the cockpit. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that couldn’t be true. The Adler’s a jet bomber. Ordnance needed loading. There must be a cargo hatch.

  Kat stood. “Well, guys, I’m going to bed. It’ll be light in six hours and I need to sleep.”

  “We not going to talk tomorrow’s scouting party?” Capetti asked.

  “What for? We only glimpsed the airfield from the air. Until we get there, we won’t know what we’re up against.”

  But Capetti wouldn’t let it go. “We should have idea. Kelly and I new to this.”

  “Sandro, I don’t know. Every situation’s different. We always play it by ear. At the moment, we don’t even know how well the airfield’s guarded. It could be a bitch to break in, or it could be a piece of cake. We just don’t know yet. If you’re feeling uncertain, talk to Jock.”

  “So who going to lead this? Jock?”