A Cleft Of Stars

A scatter of tins bore out my story. Koen, however, appeared to want to investigate further.

'I'm famished,' I added. 'I'm going to collect this stuff and put it in the shade so that it won't spoil.'

Unexpectedly, Koen sat himself down in the shadow of a rock with the machine-pistol across his knees.

'We'll all eat. I'm hungry too. I've been up since sparrowfart.'

'There was some brandy somewhere, provided the baboons haven't raided that as well.'

He cast about and found the bottle on its side and uncorked, but there was a little brandy left, which he added to his halfjack.

'Gesondheid!'

We toasted him back in water from the jerrican I had filled at the hut tank. Then we all had some food, though I, for one, was too tense to do more than nibble at it.

After what seemed hours we made our way under Nadine's guidance to the entrance of the secret stairway in my fig tree's root cage. I prayed that the Mannlicher might not show up and break Koen's somewhat relaxed mood. Fortunately there was no sign of it.

Nadine took the lead, I followed, and Koen brought up the rear. From the cage itself the start of the climb was easy but higher up we had to resort to wedging ourselves by our backs and legs across the rocky funnel for purchase, and worked our way upwards in that way. It was slow and tedious and we made frequent stops to rest. About 150 feet from the ground Nadine called out from above.

'Here we are! Come up, Guy, and I'll show you.'

I relayed her message to Koen. He made himself secure across the passageway by the same method of legs and back: his arms were free for the gun. The M-25 pointed up at us. He couldn't miss at that range.

The way ahead ran underneath the big boulder Nadine had described — a kind of upward sloping corkscrew — which would take us temporarily out of Koen's sight. The place seemed impossibly narrow and somewhat dark, too, away from the hard sunlight.

I edged close to Nadine. She reached down a hand and clasped mine. It could have meant goodbye, or encouragement. High above her head on the summit I detected the top of the stack of missiles.

'This is it.

Then she was gone, her slim body squirming easily through the narrow aperture.

In a few minutes I guessed she must be through but made no move myself. The longer I held back, the better became our chances.

I felt the tension in my bowels and for the first time in my life a slight vertigo. I therefore didn't look down when I spoke to Koen.

'I'll start off in a moment. She's not through yet. '

What the hell's holding her up?'

'It's very narrow.'

'Get on!' snapped Keen. His voice changed and hardened. 'I tell you..

'Up! Get up!'

I had no way of knowing whether T had given her time enough for her plan. I still delayed as much as I dared: moreover, while I was exposed she could do nothing with the missile. I was scared Koen would sight her near the stack. I jack-knifed upward suddenly, to be out of her line of fire, then flung myself full length to wriggle into the narrow space. I lay where I was, deliberately scuffling and pretending to make heavy weather of negotiating the passage. I could hear Koen breathing hard less than ten feet below me. Every second seemed an hour.

'What's up?' he demanded.

'I'm stuck.'

'I'll give you a shove.'

It was the last thing I wanted. Where was Nadine? 'Okay, Okay, I'm free now. His smothered oath and the loading clunk of the M-25 sounded as one. My fingers clamped involuntarily on their holds and a spasm of terror shot through me as I expected a burst to rip into me from below. Simultaneously there was a heavy crash of stone on metal, the scream and slam of one isolated shot, followed by a long volley whose racket in the confined space stunned me. Sick with anxiety for Nadine and marvelling that I was unwounded, I clawed my way upwards into the open.

I dreaded what I might see on the summit, but to my relief Nadine, her eyes wide with horror at what she had done, looked down into mine.

Her primitive missile had smashed the stubby barrel and long magazine into Koen's head and chest, breaking its force, which otherwise might have brained him. It was probably some animalistic survival instinct which had caused him to glance up, throw up the weapon and try to fire at the last moment before the thing crashed on him but he had been too late. A whole long burst had discharged as he fell; and his broad shoulders had eventually. saved him, lodging across a narrow section of stairway and suspending him senseless a hundred feet above the ground.

I was numb with reaction and couldn't make the rest of the climb. Nadine came down to me. Her tears fell into my face. When we had recovered we worked our way carefully down to Koen. Between us we managed to lever him safely to the bottom. Exhausted, we hid ourselves and him behind the curtain of fig roots, out of sight of Praeger.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Inside the cage formed by the overhanging roots the air was blessedly cool, with the same hint of concealed moisture as in my baobab hideout. Welcome, too, was the roots' filtering effect on the sun's scorching light — it was now a little after midday. Nadine and I hardly spoke: we were in the process of unwinding, reliving each risk and finding it magnified in retrospect. We tacitly avoided discussing Koen, whom I had dragged into a far corner.

It was I, however, who unintentionally set off Nadine's latent nervous explosion.

I indicated an ooze of sticky white sap which streaked a big main root. It resembled rubber latex.

'Look at this, Nadine. That happened a moment after my clip exploded in the fire in front of Rankin. It was meant for me. It's where one of his bullets went in.'

She stared at it for a long moment and then threw herself into my arms, shaking and sobbing. She kissed my lips, my eyes, my face, and her tears became part of the wild wetness of it all.

'I'm changed the way The Hill's changed — oh God, how I hate myself for it!'

Nothing's changed, my darling. Our love's more wonderful than it ever was.'

'I looked down at him with that rock in my hands and something took hold of me. I wanted to kill him!'

'You haven't killed him — he's not even badly hurt.' 'I wanted to, Guy! He stood between me and you.' 'It was a wonderful plan. It worked.'

'It was my plan! I didn't want this!'

'It's the way of it, Nadine. It had to be done.'

'No, no, Guy!'

'Of course it had to. It was very clever. I was at my wits'

end to think of anything.'

'I was in the grip of something, up there. My brain was burning- kill him, I'll kill him! I couldn't think of anything else.'

'You were very brave and clever.'

'Brave, clever — but it wasn't love; that's what I'M saying. It was hate — hate, Guy. At The Hill itself, which means love to me. I feel unclean.'

I reached out a foot and pulled the M-25 to me. I held the barrel against her bare arm and the still-warm metal seemed to stem her rush of anguish.

'There were maybe twenty rounds in there. Koen meant them for us. See it that way.'

She gained control of herself and said in a small, flat voice.

'Are there any left?'

'I don't think so but I'll check. Even a couple of live rounds would put a different complexion on our entire strategy.'

My words rekindled her nightmare. 'Strategy! Why has it got to be strategy, tactics, plans, plots, bullets? Why must they come between us and our love?'

'I was the first to sell us down the river, remember. That day with Charlie Furstenberg. For a long time I've wanted to confess to that.'