He flapped his hands anxiously in front of me. ‘But, Mr Nick, the roads — please … It’s so dangerous …’
He slapped his cheeks. ‘No face hair … and you, you will not make it. Erasto can help you. Maybe he—’
‘Stop. It ain’t going to work. Dangerous roads?’
‘Yes, they are dangerous. But Erasto—’
‘Awaale, shut up. We’re not going to take the roads. Let’s go.’ ‘Where?’
‘Erasto’s a fucking pirate, isn’t he? We’re going to get ourselves a boat. Come on — chop-chop.’
16
Flames flickered behind crumbling walls each side of the deserted streets. It reminded me of Aceh, only here the devastation was man-made.
‘Where are we going now? How far?’
Awaale hit the airport road and followed the unlit strip around the perimeter beyond the terminal. ‘We take the boats from the beach, Mr Nick.’
‘The pirate boats?’
He nodded.
That was good. If they could travel five hundred miles out to sea in those things, hugging the coast would be a piece of piss.
‘But Erasto, he will be very, very angry, Mr Nick.’
‘No, he’ll be very, very happy — because I’ll pay him when we get back.’
I studied Awaale’s face in the glow from the dash. His sensitive, intelligent features didn’t belong in a place like this. ‘Why did you come back to Somalia? Things must have been a lot better in Minneapolis. You’re an American citizen, aren’t you?’
‘Yes.’ He shrugged. ‘But I am young, and I am a Muslim. It doesn’t matter what passport you hold. My father wanted me to stay, to keep on trying. Even a McJob …’ He looked at me and smiled. ‘It may not look like it, but it’s better here. I send money to my father, he sends it to others in Minneapolis who need it. It’s better here.’
Our headlights splashed across the line of decaying hangars and dilapidated Soviet fighters on concrete blocks. Soon we were in the world of sand and rusting hulks that separated the top of the runway from the docks. A shanty town had grown up around the large commercial ships that had long since been run aground. The closer to the beach we got, the deeper the rusting wrecks had settled into the sand. Threadbare men huddled around the small fires that glowed in the darkness. Keeping a firm grip on their bottles and AKs, they shielded their eyes from our main beams as we passed.
Awaale pulled up alongside one of the groups and tilted his head at me, looking for permission to jump out. I nodded. He stepped down onto the sand and rattled away in Somali. Erasto was mentioned more than a couple of times. The locals didn’t rush forward. I couldn’t work out if they were being cautious or frightened.
‘Mr Nick, this way.’
I also didn’t know whether Awaale was basically just a very good guy, or if the mention of payment had made all the difference to our relationship. It wasn’t long since I’d been threatening him with the AK; now he was leading me willingly to a row of skiffs. I could just make out their shape a few metres short of the surf.
We waded into a foot of water. It was warmer than I was expecting. The wooden craft were maybe five metres long and a couple of metres wide. A Mercury 150 outboard was bolted straight into the wood at the back of the nearest one. There were no fancy fuel bladders or metal tanks, just three white plastic twenty-litre drums. A hole had been drilled into the black screw caps to accommodate the fuel line.
There was a rubber squeeze pump about halfway along the pipe to propel the fuel into the engine without an air blockage, and that was it on the technology front. The three containers were tied together but not secured to the boat. Sixty litres, I reckoned, would equate to about a 150-kilometre round trip. That should be all right. And it could easily take five of us.
I shouldered the AK alongside my day sack, and helped Awaale pull the boat fully into the water. A light breeze brushed our faces. ‘Do you know exactly where Merca is?’
‘Sure. It’s the first town.’
The last foot or two of keel cleared the sand and the skiff bobbed up and down at chest height beside us.
‘We can’t miss it?’
He stared at me. ‘We? No, Mr Nick — I have to go back. The technical, I have to—’
I heaved myself over the side and onto the worn wooden deck. There were two cross benches, one at the back by the engine, and one mid-ship.
‘No, mate. You’re coming.’ I grabbed the shoulder of his shirt and gave it a tug. ‘Come on.’
He was suddenly very concerned about the mobile and cigarettes in his shirt pocket. ‘But, Mr Nick, I must go back. They will miss me …’
‘Tough shit, mate. You’re coming.’
I pointed to the fuel pump. ‘There you go, get squeezing.’
I released the retaining lever that kept the propeller clear of the water. As I tilted the engine down, the boat swung side on to the incoming waves.
There were no electrics on this thing. Opening up the choke, I tugged the rope starter cord until the outboard kicked off. I twisted the throttle on the tiller, turned the choke down to halfway, and revved some more. The stink of fumes washed over us; smoke must have been billowing from the exhaust. I let the revs drop, pushed the gear lever to forward and started turning back offshore.
I wanted to get beyond the surf before chucking a right. We should be in Merca in about three hours. Awaale sat forward of me. He just wanted to be back on the beach. The breeze was still warm, but his arms hugged his chest like we were in the Arctic.
‘Calm down, mate. It’ll be first light soon. Then you’ll wish it was cooler.’
His head dropped. I throttled up and headed south. I needed to keep the shore to my right. It would be all too easy to wander off to the east as the lights disappeared.
17
We passed where the runway jutted out into the sea. Whatever lights were there began to fade. We powered on into inky darkness. There were no points of reference. As long as we kept to the phosphorescent line where the surf started to form, we should be OK.
I checked the time on my iPhone. I’d left the Breitling with the 911. We had about four hours until first light. In this part of the world, sunset and sunrise were fairly consistent events, give or take ten minutes, at any time of the year. It was up at six and down at six. If we were still going by first light and the sun was directly to our left, we’d have overshot. We’d be on our way to Kenya and Tanzania. If the sun came up and we were facing it, I’d have seriously fucked up. We’d be heading east: next stop the Seychelles or, worse still, India.
I left Awaale to his own devices and checked the iPhone. I still had five full bars. Reception was better here than anywhere in the UK. It was another good indication that the coast was within sight. If I started drifting east I’d be losing signal.
I sparked it up. Anna took a while to answer.
‘Nicholas? Where are you?’
‘On a boat. I’ve just left Mogadishu. I think we’ve found them.’
‘Wait — when did you get to Mogadishu?’
I explained everything. I couldn’t really tell what she thought about it. ‘Jules thinks they’re in Merca. So does my Somali friend. I’ve got nothing else to go on. So that’s where we’re heading.’
Then it became very clear what she thought. She was angry. ‘Nicholas, AS, they’re dangerous. Even al-Qaeda won’t deal with them. They’d get taken hostage too. They don’t bargain. They don’t negotiate. Why didn’t Jules warn you?’
‘He did. But I don’t have a choice, Anna. I made a promise.’