He slipped away round the corner of the shed.
I felt breathless, barely able to believe we were out. ‘Gen,’ I whispered, ‘somebody answered your prayers.’
‘I know. Geordie, how are you feeling?’
‘Stiff as hell, specially my neck. Bruises all over. You all right?’
‘I wouldn’t say that. But I don’t think anything’s broken.’
Gingerly, I touched my lip, which seemed less swollen than it felt from inside. Next I swung my arms round vertically, slowly at first, then faster, to loosen cramped muscles and get circulation going.
In less than ten minutes our saviour was back. ‘Nothing much,’ he said, ‘but it’s liquid, anyway.’
He held out his hand, and I took what I could feel was a water-bottle.
‘Are we okay here?’ I asked.
‘Long enough to take a drink.’
‘Go on.’ I passed the bottle to Gen. ‘You first.’
He unscrewed the top, took a swallow, and said, ‘Champagne!’
In fact it was sweet lemonade, better than anything in the world. I took two long swallows, then handed the bottle over again.
‘I got some food as well,’ said the American. ‘Only MREs, but there you go.’
I took two squashy foil packets and slipped them into the thigh pocket of my DPMs. Genesis pouched a couple as well.
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘What time is it?’
‘Ten of three. You guys gotta get out of here. They’re planning to kill you once you’ve done whatever it is they want. Which way d’you want to head?’
‘North, I suppose. Back towards the place we left the rest of our team. Where are we?’
‘This goddamn dump’s called Chimbwi. It’s a decommissioned bauxite mine. The rebel army’s taken it over as a forward base.’
‘How far are we from Msisi?’
‘Never heard of that. What is it?’
‘A convent. It was one, at least. Not a nun left now. That’s where we ran into trouble. We didn’t know the rebels had captured the place.’ I took another drink and asked, ‘Who are you?’
‘Sam Kershon, former SEAL.’
‘A SEAL!’ I peered at him, trying to see his features in the starlight. All I could make out was a neat crew-cut head and powerful-looking shoulders. ‘My God,’ I said, ‘what the hell are you doing here?’
‘I’m with an outfit called Interaction.’
‘Interaction! We know it. Based in London.’
‘Yep. London and Joburg. This guy Muende hired us to smarten up his rabble.’
‘Some job.’
‘You said it. Are you guys British special forces?’
‘Correct. Part of a training team.’
‘For the government forces?’
‘Exactly.’
‘That means we’re on opposite sides. But when I saw you being brought into camp, I thought you looked like Brits. I said to myself, shit, this is too much. Say, what are your names?’
‘I’m Geordie. This is Genesis.’
‘Genesis! Good one! First book of the Bible.’
‘Spot on!’ Gen agreed. Then he asked, ‘How did you get here?’
‘Trucked up from Sentaba, the Afundi headquarters. That’s a hundred miles or so. Eight-hour ride. What about you guys?’
‘We came the opposite way, from the north.’
Talking in fast whispers, I filled Sam in with an account of the crash, the attack on the mine, Joss’s volte-face, the discovery of the big diamond, and his plan to cut our throats in the middle of the night.
‘Nice way to treat your guests and allies,’ Sam said. ‘Sounds like there ain’t much to choose between the two sides.’
‘No,’ I went. ‘But this damned diamond is twisting everything. Until that came into the reckoning, Joss was okay — wasn’t he, Gen?’
‘Better than okay,’ Gen replied. ‘He was good.’
‘Well,’ said Sam. ‘Big money always talks loudest.’
A single shout came from the camp behind us. We listened for a few seconds, but the disturbance died down.
‘Look,’ I said. ‘We’ve got to get the fuck out of here.’
Then Sam sprang a surprise. ‘All right if I come with you?’
‘Why, are you wanting out?’
‘Too right I am. I’m through with this lot.’
‘Well, it’s up to you. It’s going to be some hike.’
‘How far’s this Msisi?’
‘It’s got to be about fifty ks from here. The Zebra Pans about the same.’
‘Sixty ks!’ The American gave a low whistle. ‘That’s over thirty miles. You have any equipment — compass, GPS?’
‘Nothing. The bastards who captured us nicked everything.’
‘Well, I’ve got a compass. Know what heading we want?’
‘Not exactly. Where’s Gutu in relation to Chimbwi?
‘Gee, let’s see. I’d say about forty ks north-east of here.’
‘Then I reckon we need to head north until we hit the river, then turn downstream. Can you get us out of camp?’
‘Oh, sure. That one’s easy. There’s plenty holes in the fence. But we’ve only got three hours of darkness. There’s no way we can make it back to the rest of your guys before first light.’
As the elation of getting free wore off, exhaustion was clamping down on me, and I sat on the ground to think.
‘Any chance of nicking a vehicle?’
‘Tough. The transport’s kept in a compound of its own and guarded pretty good. You’d stir up a hornets’ nest if you tried to get in there. Tell you what, though. Can you fly a plane?’
‘Depends what it is.’
‘A light aircraft,’ said Sam. ‘Very basic.’
‘Christ, that could be okay. Don’t tell me there’s one here.’
‘Sure is. They had it for prospecting.’
‘Is it operational?’
‘Absolutely. Somebody took it up a couple days back.’
‘Jesus!’ I felt my adrenalin stirring. ‘Where is it?’
‘Right over there.’ He pointed. ‘In an open shed.’
‘Any security on it?’
‘Nothing. There’s only one guy knows how to fly it, and he’s an officer, so they trust him.’
‘What about a strip?’
‘Right in front of it.’
‘Fuel?’
‘Should be plenty.’
‘Can we go and look at it?’
‘Sure. Come on.’
He led us to the end of the shed, took a cautious scan round the corner, and set out across the open ground beyond. The moon was already well across the sky. As I looked up at the stars, it seemed incredible that only twenty-four hours earlier our whole team had been driving though the dark. It felt like a month ago.
In three or four minutes we came to a perimeter fence, weldmesh on steel posts. As Sam had said, it was full of holes, and we found one easily enough. Behind us the camp lay silent, but out in the bush hyenas were howling. Walking was hard work for me; I was bruised all over, and my legs hurt when I moved them.
Soon, another large shed showed up ahead of us, black against the sky.
‘This is the hangar,’ Sam whispered. ‘Wait here while I check it out.’
Gen and I knelt down. Being so used to carrying weapons, I felt defenceless and vulnerable, lacking even a knife. Without thinking, I raised my left wrist to look at my watch, remembering too late that it had gone. I glanced behind us, trying to estimate how far we’d come from the main part of the camp. Half a mile, anyway.
Presently, Sam loomed up out of the dark, and announced, ‘All clear.’
The shed was open-fronted. Just inside it, with its perspex bubble of a canopy glinting in the moonlight, stood a very basic-looking aircraft.
‘Jesus!’ I went. ‘This is all right. You have a torch?’
‘Sure.’ He handed one over.
‘I’m going to have a quick look over it. Keep an eye out while I switch the torch on.’