by Jack Higgins
‘And you insist on doing this?’
‘I’m bored out of my skull and I want to see some action. So I suggest you get things moving with Ali Hakim, like yesterday, unless you think he’ll say no.’
‘Impossible,’ Shah said. ‘He has taken the oath. I’ll call him at once, but I’ll give you his mobile number, too, just in case you need to get in touch at some stage.’
Justin returned to rubbing down the stallion, whistling to himself softly. Above, in the studio, his mother still sat on a stool by the half-open door, trying to take it all in. It had been only half of a conversation, so it was difficult to make sense of, but there’d been enough to tell her that her son was getting into something very heavy indeed. And yet she felt, as she had before, a strange kind of paralysis that prevented her from broaching the matter with him. Once again, she backed off and went down the stairs into the stable.
He turned to her and smiled. ‘Haven’t you finished that damn portrait yet?’
‘Soon,’ she said, ‘I promise you. I’m going to the kitchen to make some sandwiches. Come when you’re ready.’
She went out, and he eased the stallion into its stall, closed the gate and went after her.
Dillon was having coffee with Holley when got a call from Roper. ‘So you’ve got out of dear old Ulster in one piece.’
‘Why, Roper, you sound unhappy about that. Is the General functioning, and Miller?’
‘Oh yes. Ferguson’s been very understanding about the whole Mickeen Oge business, though he says he’ll be happy to have you pay for the air ambulance, Daniel.’
‘That’s very gracious of him,’ Dillon said.
‘Just shut up and listen, Sean. He knows about the trip to Collyban and what happened to you, and considers your behaviour ill-advised and reckless.’
‘That’s nice of him.’
‘Yes, but while you guys were busy last night in Belfast, things were happening here as well.’
‘Like what?’ Dillon was frowning now.
‘Like an Al Qaeda hit man shooting Billy outside the Dark Man. If you can keep quiet for five minutes, I’ll give you the details.’
When he was finished, Holley said, ‘So we now know for certain that Osama bin Laden’s man in London is called the Preacher, Shamrock is one of his assets, and Al Qaeda is hoping to shoot the lot of us at the first opportunity.’
‘Yes, isn’t life grand?’ Roper said. ‘Ferguson is having a council of war this afternoon. I think it’s time to start going after these guys hard.’
At the same time, Colonel Ali Hakim was also on the phone to the Preacher, who explained exactly what he wanted Hakim to do.
When he was finished, Hassan Shah said, ‘Are we clear?’
‘Of course. Actually, it shouldn’t be that difficult. That old ruined air base at Fasa is on the edge of the desert and about ten miles from the west side of the Khufra marshes. We keep two police launches there, and there is a coastal village called Dafur, which also has an old runway from the days of the Afrika Korps. It’s still used in emergencies.’
‘Do the police go into the marshes frequently?’
‘Not really. It’s a place for bad people to hide in. Omar Hamza is an old friend of mine. He acts as a government supply agent. To be frank, I have a financial arrangement with him. He will do as I say, I assure you, and that will include welcoming this Shamrock.’
‘It is essential that you do. Ferguson wants him badly, and Shamrock is the bait in the trap to make them come. What about the Ministry in Algiers?’
‘You can leave that to me.’
‘And the police to crew the launches?’
‘Blackguards to a man. The men I’ll use are thoroughly corrupt – and they don’t take prisoners.’
‘Excellent,’ the Preacher said. ‘Speak to Malik now. Time is of the essence.’
He switched off. Hakim sat there for a moment, then called Malik at his villa. When Malik answered, Hakim said, ‘My dear friend, how are you? I was wondering if I could call round for a coffee.’
‘Of course. You know I’m always glad to see you.’
‘I have something I think you might be interested to hear.’
They sat on the terrace drinking Yemeni Mocha coffee, and Hakim told him everything he thought Malik needed to know. ‘Things have got out of hand in the Khufra. This Hamza used to be a good man, but now he’s a bad man. Who this individual is he calls Shamrock, I have no idea.’
‘It was always a haven for scoundrels,’ Malik said.
‘Yes, well, the days of the honest thief are over, especially the way the drug traffic has increased. Our friend Hamza has operated under several false names over the years and made a living running a trading post on Diva Island, right in the centre of things. We knew it was him, and decided to let it go as long as he behaved himself, but the cocaine and heroin smuggling can’t be overlooked. There’s a fortune in that white powder!’
‘Disgraceful,’ Malik said. ‘It must be stopped.’
‘Oh, I intend to do that. I’ll go in with two launches and elite police and lay hands on Hamza, if it’s the last thing I do. Mind you, it won’t be easy, but I’m old-fashioned, my friend.’ He stood up and put on his cap. ‘Duty and honour. If you are talking to Daniel, give him my best – and if he needs assistance from me in any way, you can give him my number.’
Daniel Holley and Dillon were deep in conversation when Holley’s mobile sounded. Malik said, ‘Where are you? Can you talk? I’ve something interesting to tell you.’
‘What is it?’
‘You were asking where Omar Hamza had got to. I’ve discovered where. Those damn Khufra marshes.’
‘What’s he doing there?’ Holley asked.
‘Well, I’ve just been talking to Ali Hakim and it goes like this.’
When Malik finished Holley said, ‘That’s very interesting, Malik, very interesting indeed. I’m glad you called.’
‘The good Colonel said I could give you his personal number if it would be useful and you wanted a word.’
‘It certainly would,’ Holley said, and inserted it into his own mobile as Malik gave it to him. ‘Thanks, you’ve done me a real service.’
When he hung up, Dillon said, ‘What was that all about?’
Holley gave him the gist of it in a few terse sentences, and Dillon said, ‘Do you know this place, the Khufra marshes?’
‘No, I’ve never been. The occasion just didn’t arise.’
‘Well, I have. Billy and I had a hell of a time there about three years ago, chasing a guy who was involved with the murder of Hannah Bernstein, Ferguson’s personal assistant.’
Holley said, ‘What did you make of the place?’
‘Well, the town was pretty wide open, but the back country is wild and treacherous, with water reeds twenty feet high. The villagers and fishermen live pretty much as they have done for centuries. A good place if you want to drop out of sight.’
‘Do you think Ferguson would be interested in what Malik’s told me?’
‘I’d say you can count on it,’ Dillon said. ‘If it’s all true, it’s the only really positive lead we’ve got. It can’t be ignored.’
‘But what would Shamrock be doing there?’
‘I can remember when it would have been the most natural thing in the world to come to Algeria in search of revolutionary training camps,’ Dillon told him. ‘Both of us did it.’
‘That was then, this is now,’ Holley said.
Dillon nodded, ‘But if he is there, even just passing through, there must be some purpose to his visit. And I intend to find out what.’ As he stood up he said, ‘Before facing Ferguson, I’d like to call in at Rosedene and check on Mickeen Oge. Is that okay with you?’
‘Be my guest,’ Holley said. We’ll go straight there.’
The moment they walked in to the lounge at Rosedene, the Matron, Maggie Duncan, appeared and greeted them warmly.
‘How is he?’ Dillon asked.
‘Much as expecte
d, Sean, but Professor Bellamy just looked in to see a few patients. I’m sure he’ll be with you soon. There is one thing. You can’t go into Mickeen’s room without supervision. He’s all wired up, as it were. A very delicate balance. You can go and have a look at him through the viewing window. Room Nine down the corridor.’
They stood together, peering in at the dimly lit room. Mickeen was festooned with cables leading to electronic equipment, tubes into his body from several bottles of fluid. His sleeping face was very pale, no colour there at all.
‘He’s just like a waxwork,’ Holley said.
‘More like a corpse, poor devil.’ Dillon shook his head. ‘A living death is pretty terrible, when you think of it.’
‘But if he doesn’t know what’s happened to him,’ Holley shrugged. ‘They say that some people waking up from this state have no idea of all the time passed.’
‘That’s right.’ Professor Bellamy came up behind them.
‘This condition is one of the strangest known to medical science. He could wake up at any moment or he could languish in the comatose state for months, occasionally even longer than that.’
‘So we’re keeping him alive with the help of modern electronics and drugs?’ Dillon said, and he sighed heavily. ‘God help me, I don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong any more.’
Bellamy patted his shoulder. ‘At least he’s here, Sean, getting the very best of attention. It could have been much worse. Anyway, I must finish my rounds. I’ll see you again. By the way, are you aware of what happened to Billy Salter last night? You’ve been away, of course.’
‘Yes, and thank God for the vest,’ Dillon said.
‘It certainly saved his life, but two forty-five-calibre rounds delivered to the heart area at a range of ten or twelve feet has not left him in the best of conditions. I’ve released him, but he needs to take it easy for a while. He’s not fit to play any of your usual games, Sean.’ Bellamy took off his spectacles and rubbed an eye. ‘You’re his friend and I’m appealing to you.’
‘You can rely on me, I promise, Professor.’
‘Excellent.’ Bellamy walked away.
‘Shall we?’ Holley asked.
‘Yes, let’s go and see the old sod and get it over with.’
He followed Holley across the hall and out of the front door.
ALGERIA
THE KHUFRA MARSHES
11
Holley drove and Dillon called in to Roper, who cut in on him instantly and said, ‘I thought you’d be coming straight here. The General’s been asking for you.’
‘Do we get blasted out of the water for being naughty boys?’
‘I don’t think so. He’s dark and sombre. I can’t remember seeing him in such a black-dog mood. There’s a kind of despair there because we aren’t making progress, and the attempt on Billy’s life last night greatly worried him.’
‘So it should,’ Dillon said. ‘We’ve just been talking to Bellamy at Rosedene. He released Billy, but he’s not happy about his health. I gave him my word that we wouldn’t get Billy involved in anything active for a while, and I mean to keep it. Bellamy’s put him together again more than once. He can’t keep doing it.’
‘How was Mickeen?’
‘Comatose is the word they’re using, and that sums it up. But listen, Roper. Something seriously important’s just turned up from Malik in Algiers. I’m handing you over to Daniel, who’ll fill you in.’
When Holley was finished, Dillon cut in. ‘What do you think? It could give Ferguson a shot in the arm.’
‘It’s an interesting prospect, to put it mildly,’ Roper said. ‘But we shouldn’t discuss it without the General present. I’d get here as fast as possible if I were you. I imagine he’ll bring that council of war forward.’
Ferguson, catching up on paperwork at his desk in Cavendish Place, was galvanized by Roper’s call.
‘What incredible news. I’m just finishing the Peshawar report for the Prime Minister, then I’ll come straight round. Have everybody there. This might be some sort of breakthrough for us.’
Harry Miller was already on the premises, enjoying a workout in the gym, which left the Salters. Roper hesitated, then thought, well, there was no harm in having Billy in on the discussion, as long as they didn’t send him out into harm’s way. He contacted Billy and found him at the Dark Man, told him Ferguson had called a meeting and wanted everyone there.
Billy sounded subdued. ‘What’s he up to now?’
‘That’s for him to say, but it’s important. Are you okay?’
‘Of course I am.’ Billy was irritated. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Only asking,’ Roper said. ‘We’ll see you then,’ and he got to work researching Omar Hamza and the Khufra marshes.
It was an hour later when Ferguson arrived at Holland Park to find everyone waiting for him in the computer room. He was full of energy, and it showed.
‘I don’t know how much you all know about why we’re here, so let’s start from scratch. Daniel, just go through the conversation Malik had with you.’
Which Daniel did, ending with an observation about Hakim. ‘I’ve known Ali Hakim for years; he’s probably Malik’s best friend. A Military Police Colonel, highly regarded in government circles, a specialist in anti-terrorism. I don’t need to tell you that Algeria has problems with fundamentalists just like other countries in the Middle East, and the government don’t like Al Qaeda.’
It was Harry Salter who made the obvious point. ‘But what would Shamrock be doing there in the Khufra?’
‘We don’t know. Hakim’s informant simply mentioned a mystery Westerner staying with Omar Hamza who called him Shamrock.’
‘I’ve had a thought on that point,’ Roper said. ‘There has been more than one bombing in Algeria during the last three months, by a jihadist group thought to be linked to Al Qaeda. They’ve tended to go for police barracks. The most recent one caused eighteen deaths and forty-seven wounded. Perhaps Shamrock has a link with all that.’
‘That’s just supposition again and it doesn’t help in the slightest,’ Ferguson said to Roper. ‘Let’s go to the source. You have Hakim’s personal mobile number. Get him now and put him on speaker. Everybody else, keep quiet.’
‘Colonel Ali Hakim?’ Roper said in Arabic. ‘I have Major General Charles Ferguson for you.’
‘A great pleasure,’ Hakim said in English.
‘I won’t beat about the bush, Colonel,’ Ferguson told him. ‘We’ve heard about the conversation you had with Hamid Malik regarding Omar Hamza, and mentioning the name of Shamrock.’
‘Ah, yes, but I’m afraid I can’t help you there. That name has only just come to my attention as someone Hamza is involved with. Apparently, he could be British. He certainly isn’t Arab. I don’t even know how far his involvement with Hamza goes. He is an unknown entity to me.’
‘Well, not to me,’ Ferguson said. ‘Tell me, how would you go about your expedition into the Khufra?’
‘There is a small fishing village on the coast, called Dafur, with a population of only seventy or eighty. It has two good jetties that Rommel’s people constructed in the war. There’s even a crumbling landing strip for aircraft, which the coastguard can use in emergencies. I have two large police launches and fifteen thugs in uniform who just love those who say no to them so they can knock them down.’
‘I should imagine that’s what you’d need in a place like that, but let me be completely frank with you. Shamrock is a very bad man and I want to lay my hands on him more than anything else in the world. You’d be doing me a great favour if you allowed me and my people to join in.’
Hakim did ‘shock’ very convincingly. ‘But, General, this would be completely out of order.’
‘Would it make a difference if Daniel Holley were involved? He’s an Algerian citizen.’
‘That’s true,’ Hakim said, ‘Daniel is highly regarded, but my arrangements are firm.’
‘You mention a landing strip. We coul
d fly direct from the UK and land there.’
Holley waved at Ferguson and gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed ‘Falcon’. Hakim said, ‘It would be most irregular.’
‘Not in a Falcon owned by Malik Shipping and piloted by Daniel Holley.’
Hakim now did a good performance of accepting defeat. ‘I suppose in such circumstances, it would be all right.’
‘Excellent,’ Ferguson said. ‘I’ll call you back.’
Roper cut the call. ‘Who’s going, then?’
Ferguson said to Holley, ‘How many does the Falcon take?’
‘Two pilots in the cockpit, six passengers.’
‘We could all go,’ Ferguson said.
‘No, we couldn’t,’ Dillon told him. ‘We can cut out Billy, for starters.’
Billy was indignant. ‘Who says so?’
‘Charles Bellamy,’ Dillon told him. ‘He made me promise to make sure you stay out of things for a while. The vest saved your life, Billy, but two forty-five-calibre rounds at short range to the heart takes time to get over, and he warned you.’
Harry Salter turned to Billy. ‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘So what, it’s no big deal,’ Billy told him.
Harry looked at Ferguson. ‘That’s it, he’s out of it.’
‘Yes, I understand the situation—’ Ferguson began, but Dillon cut in on him. ‘And you’re out of it, too. You’ve been a great soldier, Charles, but to use military terminology, Peshawar was a bridge too far. Any idea of you penetrating a pesthole like the Khufra marshes is ridiculous. Think Vietnam. The average age of those Yanks in the Mekong Delta was nineteen.’
Ferguson’s face was pale. ‘God damn you, Dillon. Yes, I’m an arrogant bastard, but I’ll have you know I’m still as good a man on the ground and in the air as anyone else here.’ He appeared to be trying to get a grip on his emotions. ‘But that said, you’re right. My role is here and yours is in Algeria. Roper, call Hakim back and finalize the arrangements.’