The moment he was gone, Claudia leaned across the table to Sean. "Can't we get out of here now I don't think I can bear another moment of it. God, how I hate that man."
"Mess tradition doesn't seem very strict," Sean murmured. "If we leave, I don't think anyone is going to take offense."
As they crossed to the doorway, there was a drunken chorus of suggestive catcalls and whistles, and they went up the steps with relief.
The night air had cooled, and Claudia breathed it in deeply and gratefully. "I don't know which was more suffocating, the smell or the dialectic." She breathed again. "I never expected Africa to be like this. It,s so confused, so illogical, it turns everything I know to be true upside down."
"But it's interesting, isn't it?" Sean asked.
"Like a nightmare is interesting. Let's go to bed. At least that's something I can believe in completely."
They turned toward their dugout shelter, but General China's voice halted them. "You aren't leaving us so soon?" His tall, lithe form came striding toward them out of the darkness. "I'm afraid I have disappointing news for both of you."
I our deal," Sean "You aren't letting us go. You are reneging On said flatly. "I knew this was coming!1 red him
"Circumstances beyond my control," China assu smoothly. "I have just had a radio report from Sergeant Alphonso.
As you know, I was expecting his return this evening, and he and his men would have escorted you and Miss Monterro safely back to the border. However-" angrily.
"All right, let's hear it from you, China," Sean snarled "What new scheme have you cooked up?"
General China ignored the accusation and the tone in which it "Sergeant Alphonso reports that there is a massive was delivered.
it seems that emboldbuildup of enemy to the west of our lines.
ened by their gunships, Frelimo, backed by Zimbabwean continJ gents, is about to launch a full-scale offensive. We are probably already cut off from the Zimbabwean border. The territory we once controlled seems certain to have been overrun by the enemy advance. Within hours it will become a battlefield-even now Sergeant Alphonso is fighting his way through and has taken some casualties. I am afraid you would not last long out there, Colonel.
It would be suicide for you to try to reach the border now. You must remain under my personal protection."
"What the hell do you want from us?" Sean demanded. "You are up to something, I can smell the stink of it from here. What is it?"
"Your lack of confidence in my motives is very distressing."
China smiled coldly. "However, the sooner the Hind gunships are destroyed, the sooner the Frelimo offensive will collapse and you and Miss Monterro will be returned to the civilized world."
"I'm listening," Sean told him.
"You are the only one, you and Captain Job, who understand the Stinger. In this our interests coincide. I want you to train a select contingent of my men to handle the Stingers."
"That's all you want?" Sean stared into his face. "We train your men to use the Stinger, then you let us go?"
"Exactly.
"How do I know you won't move the goalposts again?"
"You pain me, Colonel."
"Not nearly as much as I'd like to."
"It Is agreed, then. You will train my men, and in exchange I will have you escorted across the border at the very first opportunity."
"What option do we have?"
"I'm so pleased that you are being reasonable, Colonel. It makes life much easier for all of us." His voice became crisp and businesslike. "We must begin immediately."
"You'll have to let your staff sober up a little," Sean told him.
"I'll begin first thing tomorrow, and I'll train the Shanganes; under Alphonso and Ferdinand, if Alphonso makes it through the Frelimo offensive intact."
"How long will it take you?" China wanted to know. "From on every hour will be vital to our survival."
now "They are bright lads and willing. I should be able to do something with them in a week."
"You will not have that long."
"I'll have the Stinizers; in action just as soon as I possibly can," i Sean retorted irritablfy-"Please believe me, General, I don't want to hang around herea minute longer than I have to. Now we'll bid you goodnight." H& took Claudia's arm as he turned away.
"Oh, Sean," she whispered. "I have a terrible premonition that we are caught up in something from which we are never going to escape."
Sean squeezed her upper arm to make her stop. "Look up there," he ordered softly, and she raised her face.
"The stars?" she asked. "Is that what you want me to look at?"
"Yes, the stars." They daubed the night as though a gigantic firefly had been crushed to death and its luminous essence smeared across the vault of heaven.
"They calm the soul," Sean explained gently.
She breathed softly and deeply. "Yes, you're right, my darling.
Tonight we have our love. Let's exploit it to the full and let tomorrow take care of itself."
She felt safe and invulnerable under the tented mosquito netting.