‘They’ve obviously had a lot of security problems here,’ said Gerry. ‘I really didn’t want to go through another ID check, but we…’
‘Benzine, benzine!’ shouted a teenage boy, struggling towards their vehicle under the weight of two twenty litre jerry cans of fuel.
‘Great!’ said Gerry, ‘just what we need!’ She began to negotiate a price in Arabic with the lad while Dan ran over some puns on the name Gerry and jerry can which he wisely kept to himself. After the refuelling operation was complete she paid the agreed sum and then pulled an old canvas sheet out of the back of the car and then opened a rear door. ‘Hold this up like that would you?’
‘Whatever for?’ he asked as he took it from her.
‘So I can take a piss behind it, since you ask. I might be a highly trained agent but remember I’m also a girl so I need to squat down. And don’t watch me!’
The convoy set off again after about half an hour. Dan took over the driving and Gerry stared out as they passed a herd of goats grazing incongruously beside a wrecked Iraqi armoured personnel carrier and shortly afterwards a few men leading some camels. Gerry watched them as they passed them by and then said ‘Next stop Baghdad.’
They had no way of knowing that as the convoy had pulled away a jeep without any military markings but manned by three US army rangers had pulled out and was now trailing the convoy. One of the men was talking to Neil Samms on a satellite telephone as he and Vince Parker flew towards Baghdad airport.
As they approached Ramadi the desert plants grew more vigorously and there were clusters of palm trees to relieve the monotony of the landscape. They stopped outside the town where the vehicles were fuelled and the drivers and passengers could stretch their legs. When they passed Habbaniyah the land changed abruptly as they drove through the wetlands on the banks of the Euphrates River. Soon they were passing Fallujah, just over ten miles from Baghdad, where they saw burnt out battle tanks and wrecked buses and trucks. Helicopters swooped overhead inspecting the convoy. ‘I hope they’re not searching for us,’ said Gerry.
‘Just routine patrols,’ said Dan.
A line of tall buildings appeared as they crested a rise in the ground. ‘Look, there’s Baghdad!’ After they passed the airport the traffic began to build up and the convoy split. The city scape was filled with trees, tall buildings, some in good order and others with holes torn through them. Everywhere there were tower cranes hanging over construction or reconstruction sites. Mad traffic came from all directions; drivers hooting, weaving in and out, accelerating, slamming on brakes, shouting and gesturing and showing a reckless disregard for the rules of the road. Dan drove the vehicle to a halt beside a ruined office building with a heap of rubble in front of it and gave a deep sigh. ‘Well here we are. Now we just need to find our way to the house.’
‘I can’t see the street on the map,’ said Gerry, ‘but here’s Khulfalfa Street and here’s Mutannabi Street and the museum, so it must be in this area.’
‘Well if we can’t find it we can always ask for directions.’
‘That will be a blow to your male pride then,’ said Gerry with a grin.
‘Yeah I know! You’ll have to do the talking while I hang my head in shame.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
‘That’s got to be it!’ said Dan.
‘Where? Which one?’
‘Over there. Remember Rashid said that the wall had been blown down and he had mended it with concrete blocks but could only get blue paint.’
‘You’re right, and that seems to be an Arabic number twelve by that broken bell push.’
They climbed out of the car and walked over to the gate. ‘Give me a boost and I’ll have a look over,’ Gerry suggested.
She grabbed hold of the top of the gate and peered over. ‘The front door’s just as he described. I’m going to climb over.’
‘Are you sure? Maybe we should come back tomo… ok, you’re over.’
‘Ow!’ said Gerry from the other side.
‘What?’
‘I just banged my ankle on something. Hold on, I think I can unbolt it.’ The door creaked open on its hinges. ‘Welcome to the Hamsin’s,’ said Gerry with a grin as Dan walked through and peered about.
‘I don’t know how welcome we are.’ Suddenly he was struck by the fact they were close to their objective. He gave her a big hug. ‘Hey we’re here! So where do we find it?’
She gave him a quick kiss. ‘We just have to measure out the distance from the south west corner and then you just have to dig it up. Simple.’
‘Oh I have to do the digging do I?’
‘Of course; digging is men’s work, but I’ll take over when you get tired.’
‘Thanks. Now which is the south west? The sun’s setting in that direction so it must be that one.’
‘It’s the one closest to the mosque as well. You can see the minaret over that corner.’
‘Ok. Did you remember to bring a shovel?’
‘No, but maybe there’s one around somewhere. After all they had to use one to bury it.’
‘That was years ago Gerry, we’ll be lucky to find… hey look there’s some kind of storage shed there.’
They both ran over towards it and found an old rusty padlock on a clasp. Dan rattled it and pulled at it. ‘It’s locked but the wood looks a bit rotten; maybe…’
‘Mind out the way,’ commanded Gerry, who had picked up a large rock. Dan stepped back while she hammered at the padlock. It fell clear. She pulled open the door and seized hold of a shovel that was propped against the side. She handed it over with a grin. ‘Here you are; you can make yourself useful at last. Hey, here’s a tape measure as well!’ In high spirits she ran over to the corner. ‘Take the end. Now it’s five metres from that corner along the wall to the east.’
‘Yup, that’s here, said Dan.
‘Ok, now it’s one metre at right angles.’
Gerry measured off the distance and picked up a stone and drew in the sandy soil. She looked up at Dan with a smile. ‘There we are; X marks the spot; let’s start digging!’
Dan plunged the blade of the shovel into the soil and levered up some soil. He dug the shovel in again; the handle broke off at the blade. ‘Fuck!’ he said, the wood’s rotted.’
‘Never mind, I remember seeing a building site in the next street,’ said Gerry. ‘I’ll run over and see if I can find a shovel. You wait here and preserve your strength.’
In high spirits Gerry began to run down the road, and then decided she would attract too much attention by running. She pulled her abaya around her and walked around the corner. There was the building site where a house was being repaired. She stepped through a gap in the wall and looked around. She saw a tarpaulin weighted down with rocks and she pulled up a corner. Yes, there was a shovel that seemed to be in good condition. She held it in front of her and gathered the abaya around it and began to shuffle awkwardly along the street. After a few paces she lost patience and decided that she might as well just carry it as if a local woman might handle a shovel as a matter of course and she paced confidently round the corner with the shovel swinging in one hand.
‘Are you back already?’ Dan asked as he heard the gate creak open. The next thing he knew was bright flash, a hideous impact in his chest which made him cry out in agony and he collapsed to the floor. He tried to shout out a warning to Gerry but the effort of drawing breath made him gasp and then he coughed up some blood. He closed his eyes but then told himself he must stay awake and when he opened them again he saw Vince Parker staring down at him, and he felt a bitter regret as he slipped into unconsciousness…