‘Next stop R ’n’ R,’ Rudi said.
‘Come up front a minute,’ I said. ‘I want to talk to you.’
‘What about?’
‘I’ll tell you when you’re up front.’
He pushed his way through the gap between the seats and slumped into the co-pilot’s seat.
‘Put the helmet on,’ I said.
He gave me a suspicious look, but picked it up from the floor of the cockpit and pulled it on to his head.
‘It keeps it private,’ I said. ‘Just between us. I’ve got a proposal.’
‘And what do you propose?’
‘A deal,’ I said. ‘I need your help to reach Layla.’
‘You don’t even know where she is.’
‘I do know that. She’s at Boroyende. I want you to help me find her and bring her and everyone else there to safety.’
He laughed. ‘What have you got that could interest me?’
‘Nothing much. Only ten million pounds’ worth of diamonds. Colonel Pleydell is waiting to collect them at Freetown Airport. But we’re here, while he’s hundreds of miles away. So stuff him,’ I said. ‘You guys can split them between you. I’ll ditch the heli and say we got shot down, the rebels got the diamonds and as far as I know they got you, too. You’ll be posted missing in action. Just one of those diamonds’ll buy you a new identity and a one-way ticket to a new life anywhere in the world.’
‘Aren’t you overlooking one thing? I have the diamonds, not you.’
‘Sure you do, but at the moment we’re at two thousand feet and heading for Freetown. When we land there, Decisive Measures and their friends will share the spoils and you will be left with a few thousand dollars in back pay and bonuses.
I shot a quick glance at him and could see the predatory glint of his eyes in the darkness. I smiled to myself; I had him. ‘All you’ve got to do is persuade the other guys to come with us,’ I said.
‘You’re overlooking something,’ Rudi said. ‘What’s to stop us taking off with the diamonds anyway, and leaving Layla and her Kaffir friends to rot?’
‘Nothing, except if I set you down here, it’ll take you three weeks to walk out – if you make it. But do as I ask and I’ll drop you anywhere you want. We’ve got the range to go to Guinea, the Ivory Coast, even Senegal. We’ve plenty of fuel, I made sure of that.’
He sat in silence for some time, thinking it over. ‘OK. You’ve got yourself a deal. But we’ll keep it between ourselves for now. As far as the other guys go, this is part of the mission. OK?’
‘OK,’ I said. ‘As long as you’re sure you can persuade them.’
‘I don’t have to,’ he said. ‘They’re soldiers, they take orders, and I outrank all of them.’
I gave an anxious look towards the eastern horizon. The first hints of dawn were already beginning to appear in the sky.
I switched my gaze back to the steep rocky ridge ahead of us, scouring it for the notch in the skyline that I was seeking – the landslip I had spotted some days before. Then I saw it a few miles ahead.
The instant that the ridgeline cleared beneath me, I flared the heli and set it down in the notch in the hillside. Screened on either side and hidden from below by the lip of the landslip, it was invisible except from the air.
I shut down. Rudi was already climbing through to the cab. ‘One more patrol, guys,’ he said. There was a chorus of groans and argument, then Rudi’s guttural voice rose, cutting through the dissent.
‘I don’t like it any more than you do, but those are the orders. We just get in and out; we get the job done, then we go home. And there’s a bonus in it,’ he said. ‘Ten thousand dollars a head if we bring the coloured nurse out alive. She has some powerful friends.’ As they began to clamber down from the cab, I jumped down myself. Reuben and Hendrik helped me drag a camouflage net from the cab and drape it over the heli. I took particular care to obscure the Perspex canopy, covering it with branches and showering it with handfuls of dust to prevent it shining like a searchlight when the sun’s rays struck it.
I glanced around. Rudi was standing off to one side, the case of diamonds still clutched in his left hand. ‘Let’s get moving,’ he said. ‘We need to be off this mountain before the sun gets much higher.’
I walked over to him and lowered my voice. ‘Just one more thing first,’ I said. ‘We leave those diamonds here.’
He gave a brief humourless laugh, stuffed the case into the bottom pocket of his combat trousers, fastened the chain round his ankle and snapped the lock shut. He held the key in his closed fist for a moment, then turned and hurled it outwards, over the lip of the landslip. It glittered as it caught the light, then dropped from sight, tumbling down somewhere into the scree below us.
I shrugged and turned away. We formed a column and moved out, bathed in the strengthening light of dawn. Rudi and Raz led the way with Hendrik and Reuben bringing up the rear. I had the novice’s position in the centre of the column, the safest place if we were ambushed and the one from where I could also put the others in the least danger through my inexperience.
Rudi paused for several minutes at the lip of the landslip, scanning the scree-strewn hillside below us, then led us out of the shade into the warmth of the rising sun. We moved along the slope for half a mile until we reached a dry stream bed. Then, half hidden by the cover of the jumble of rocks in the stream bed, we began to descend towards the distant line of the forest at the foot of the slopes.
The gradient eased as we descended. We passed the first stunted bushes and trees on the scree slopes, and we moved more slowly and cautiously as we neared the tree line. We paused on the edge of the forest to give our eyes time to adjust to the dim light under the tree canopy. Then we began to advance through the trees.
Birds and the occasional monkey moved through the roof of the forest high above us and butterflies fluttered through the pools of light where a fallen tree had pierced the canopy and allowed the sun to break through. Insects whined around my ears, feeding hungrily on any exposed flesh. We advanced slowly in total silence, communicating by hand signals. We paused every few yards to watch and listen, and check the GPS.
Boroyende lay no more than fifteen miles ahead of us, yet it would take us at least the rest of the day to reach it.
I could scarcely believe my recklessness in placing my trust in Rudi, but I could see no way that I could have made it through the forest and back without the help of his mercenaries. For all their brutality, these men were trained and experienced jungle fighters.
The fact that Rudi had lied to the others also concerned me. If he was planning some double-cross, he would certainly not want any witnesses to it.
As the slope grew more gradual, the ground became wetter and wetter. We crossed sluggish streams and waded through the first shallow ponds. Then, over the forest floor ahead of us, I saw the beginnings of a swamp. There was no way round it, for it spread for miles across the valley. We just had to go through it.
Chapter Twelve
We were still two miles short of Boroyende as night began to fall. We huddled together, thigh-deep in swamp water, as we discussed in whispers our next move.
‘It’s only two miles,’ I said. ‘Can’t we just keep going?’
Rudi turned a scornful look on me. ‘Have you ever tried to move through jungle at night? It’s as black as your hat. All you would do is alert every rebel for miles around by the noise you made blundering through the undergrowth and scaring the wildlife.’ He shook his head. ‘We find some dry ground and bivouac there till morning.’
I knew he was right, but the thought of spending another night so near and yet so far away from Layla tore at my heart.
We stopped at a low hillock rising above the surface of the swamp. Rudi and the others had hammocks, brew kits and survival rations in their backpacks. I had almost nothing.
As dark fell we ate some rehydrated rations and drank a mug of tea, then Rudi ordered Raz and Reuben to keep guard as he and Hendrik settled into th
eir hammocks slung between the trees. I curled up on the ground.
The swamp was alive with the noise of frogs and insects, and mosquitoes fogged the air around me. I barely slept and it was a relief to see the light filtering through the forest canopy as dawn broke.
We ate a frugal breakfast, brewed up some tea, and then moved out again on the trek over the last two miles to the village. After a mile we met rising ground and emerged at last from the dank waters of the swamp into the leaf litter of the forest floor.
The trees began to thin almost at once. As we reached the cultivated land, garden plots slashed and burned from the forest, we advanced slowly and stopped at the tree line. The village appeared utterly deserted, not even a scrawny chicken rooting in the dust.
The mercenaries worked their way through the village, covering each other as they cleared each hut. I followed them, the sense of foreboding growing inside me with each step. I peered into the village carpenter’s hut. The neat rows of carefully polished tools had disappeared and the beautiful rocking chair lay in bits.
I moved on to Njama’s hut. There were stains of dried blood in the dust just inside the doorway. The interior of the hut had been wrecked and the storage jars and plates had disappeared.
I looked up at the ceiling. The light bulb still hung there, but the glass had been shattered, leaving only a dangling bent and broken filament. It was a similar tale of destruction in every hut in the village; there was no sign of the occupants.
As I came out of the last hut, I saw Rudi and the other mercenaries standing just beyond the edge of the village, staring down into something at their feet. A feeling of dread overwhelmed me.
A crude pit had been dug in the ground where a mound now rose from it, covered in something black that seemed to move and shimmer as I looked at it. As I reached the edge of the pit, Rudi stretched out his rifle and prodded the mound. The black shimmering curtain rose into the air, a cloud of flies lifting to reveal the corpses beneath.
I found myself staring into the dead face of one of Njama’s sons. Before I knew what I was doing, I had climbed down into the pit and begun to tear at the bodies, pushing them and dragging them aside, barely aware of the terrible stench of decaying flesh.
Three of Njama’s four sons were dead. I dragged their bodies aside in turn and searched through the rest, finding old men and women, children and even babies buried there.
I crawled out of the pit, walked away from the others and stood alone, staring into the forest. I shook my head. ‘There’s no sign of Layla or Njama or Kaba here.’
‘That doesn’t mean they’re alive. The rebels could have killed them somewhere else, or taken them away with them.’ Rudi paused, studying my face. ‘They’d certainly have wanted to have their fun with Layla before they killed her.’ He was almost laughing at me.
My fists clenched, but this wasn’t the moment to fight him. ‘They could still be alive. We have to search for them.’
‘How? Where? Even if they are alive, they could be anywhere.’
‘They won’t have strayed far from the village. We could light a signal fire, or fire a shot.’
‘Don’t be stupid. The only people that would bring running would be the rebels. Now I’ve kept my part of the bargain, it’s time for you to keep yours.’
I thought of Layla lost in the forest around us. I threw back my head and cried out her name. I heard the scrape of steel on steel.
Rudi’s rifle was pointing towards me and the safety catch was off. ‘You do that again,’ he said, ‘and I’ll leave you in the pit. Now’ – he wrinkled his nose as he stepped closer to me – ‘get down to the river and wash or the rebels will be able to track us from the stench of dead meat and the trail of flies following us.’
I walked down to the riverbank, sluiced the stench of death from me with river water and turned to walk back towards the village.
As I did so, I glimpsed a face peering at me from the undergrowth. I froze. Then the leaves parted and Kaba walked into the open. His hair was matted and his ribs showed through his skin but his face broke into a grin at the sight of me. ‘You have come for us,’ he said.
‘Layla?’ I hardly dared ask the question.
‘She is safe.’
Relief washed over me. ‘How many others?’
‘Twelve.’ The population of the village had been at least eighty.
‘Where are they?’ I said.
‘In hiding a little way from here. I will take you to them.’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘We must bring the soldiers with us.’
I led him back into the village. His expression darkened when he saw Rudi. ‘Why is he here?’
‘He’s here to help you – to help us all.’
‘They’re still alive,’ I said to Rudi. ‘They’re near by. We must go and get them.’
His expression was unreadable. He studied me for a long time in silence. Then he shrugged his shoulders. ‘Let’s get on with it.’
The boy led the way down to the river, stepped into the current and began to wade upstream through the chest-deep water. We followed, holding our rifles above our heads. The river narrowed as it curved away out of sight. Both banks were smothered in vegetation, and branches and lianas hung down over the water, forming a tunnel through which we moved. It was as dark as dusk under the dense vegetation, but ahead I could see the glow of daylight.
We were approaching a sweeping bend in the river. Silt and sand had formed a small beach ending in a sheer rock face. The beach was only a dozen yards wide and at either end it was screened by a curtain of tree branches and lianas.
I glanced upstream and down. The curve of the river hid the beach from sight; the only way to come upon it was to wade the river as we had done or to fight our way through the jungle down to the bank opposite.
Kaba called softly from the shallows, then moved up on to the beach. I saw the foliage stir at the far end and an old woman stepped into the open. She gave an uncertain look from the boy to the semicircle of mercenaries flanking him, then she saw my face. She smiled, turned and said something to the people still hidden behind her.
Then Layla stepped into view. A moment later she was in my arms. I pulled her close and kissed her. She stiffened for a second, then leaned into me, holding my face in her hands, staring into my eyes. ‘I’d given you up,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry that I doubted you.’
‘You were right to doubt me,’ I said.
She glanced over my shoulder at Rudi and the others. ‘But why are they here?’ she said. ‘Don’t tell me they’ve suddenly discovered a conscience.’
‘It’s strictly business for them. I bribed Rudi: diamonds for lives.’ When I released her and looked up, I saw that the other survivors from the village had also emerged from hiding. There were two small children, a girl, a couple of teenage boys and a number of older women. Njama was the last to emerge, leaning heavily on the shoulders of two of the women. There were dressings over wounds in his stomach, chest and arm, and his face bore the ravages of pain and grief, but he managed a flicker of a smile as he saw me.
I turned back to Layla. ‘Is he fit to travel?’
‘Not really, but if he stays here he’ll die.’
Rudi took my arm and pulled me to one side. ‘If we try to take the old man, we put all our lives at risk.’
‘Just the same, he comes with us. I’m not leaving him to die.’
He stared at me in silence, then turned away. ‘Come on.’
I lifted Njama on to my shoulders, waded out into the river and followed Rudi and the others back downstream. When we reached the village, I lowered Njama to the ground. Kaba and I helped him as he hobbled up the track and into the village.
Rudi led the way straight through and disappeared into the forest on the far side. As we made to follow him, Njama stopped us. He took a last look at what had once been his village. His eyes filled with tears as he turned his back and walked with us into the forest.
The four mercenaries spaced themselv
es through our ragged column with Rudi at the head and Hendrik bringing up the rear. We were very vulnerable to attack, however, strung out over forty yards in forest where the visibility was no more than five or six.
We made painfully slow progress at first, working our way through the dense vegetation, but after a while we found an animal track made by pigs or brush deer.
At my insistence, we stopped for a few minutes every hour. As soon as we did so, Njama sank to the ground and closed his eyes, his face grey. Each time, Layla examined him and checked his dressings; the wound in his stomach was beginning to weep again.
She met my gaze. ‘He needs to rest.’
‘We can’t stop yet; we’ve too far to go.’
She bit her lip. ‘All right, but not much further, then he must rest.’
The old man’s frail voice cut through our discussion. ‘I will make it,’ he said. ‘I will not let you down.’
We began to wade through the murky water of the swamp. I was soon exhausted from the effort of half-carrying, half-dragging Njama along, and I could hear his rasping breath at each step.
We collapsed to the ground when we reached the low mound rising above the surface of the swamp, where we’d slept the previous night. Layla examined Njama again. ‘He can’t go any further without proper rest,’ she said.
I looked upwards. The light filtering through the forest canopy was bright; the sun must still have been quite high in the afternoon sky. I hesitated, then nodded. ‘That’s it,’ I said to Rudi. ‘We’ll have to stop here. Njama can’t go any further until he’s rested.’
Rudi glowered at me as the other mercenaries clustered around him. ‘What is this?’ Reuben said. ‘A patrol or a picnic in the woods?’
Raz took up the grievance. ‘What are we doing here?’
‘We’re following orders,’ Rudi said. ‘We have a job to do.’
‘Nursemaiding Kaffirs?’ Hendrik said. ‘Since when has Decisive Measures been interested in that?’
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