Those in Peril (Unlocked) (20 page)

‘Do you know that you have the bluest and most beautiful eyes in all the world?’ he said. She sat up and stared at him angrily.

‘Are you cracking your stupid jokes at a time like this?’

‘No, my darling. I am telling you why you cannot come with me.’ She shook her head in incomprehension, and he went on, ‘Things might not go as we planned them. We might become stranded and have to try and blend into the local populace and worm our way out. The Arabs call eyes like yours devil’s eyes. The first of the enemy who looked into your face would know what you are. If I took you with me it would halve the chances of getting Cayla out safely.’ She looked at him steadily for a long while, then her shoulders slumped and she hid her face against his chest again.

‘That is the only reason why I would stay,’ she whispered. ‘I would not do anything that reduced the chances for her. You will get her out, Hector? You will bring her back to me?’

‘Yes, I will.’

‘And you? Will you come back to me? I have only just found you. I cannot lose you now.’

‘I will be back, I promise you, with Cayla beside me.’

‘And I believe you,’ she said. She slept holding on to him. He could barely hear her breathing. He was careful not to move and disturb her. She woke as the dawn light filtered through the curtains.

‘That’s the first night I have slept straight through since Cayla . . .’ She didn’t finish the sentence. ‘I’m starving. Take me to breakfast.’

Big Nella was in the mess before them with a huge platter of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage in front of her. She looked up at Hazel, and a flash of intuitive understanding passed between them. Nella looked down at her plate and grinned.

‘
Mazel tov!
’ she said to her eggs, and Hazel blushed. Hector would never have believed that she was capable of such a thing, and he stared at the phenomenon with astonishment; for him it was more lovely than the sunrise. After they had eaten he took Hazel out to the Hummvee. She sat beside him in the front seat and every time he changed gear he touched her leg, and she smiled demurely. Hector parked the Hummvee in the shade under the wing of the Hercules, for even at this hour the sun was already uncomfortably warm. Now they could hold hands. The Fokker F-27 Friendship was only half an hour behind schedule.

‘For Abu Zara Airways that is almost early,’ Hector told her, as they watched it taxi up to park in front of the terminal building and shut down its engines. The twenty or so passengers began to disembark and Hector watched them without any real expectations. They were nearly all Arabs in traditional dress carrying bundles and parcels of their possessions. Suddenly Hector stiffened and squeezed her hand hard.

‘Son of a gun! It’s them!’ He swore softly.

‘Which ones?’ Hazel sat upright. ‘They all look the same to me.’

‘The last two. I could tell them from a mile off by the way they walk.’ He blew a single short blast on the horn and started the engine of the Hummvee. The two Arabs looked across at them, and then headed towards them. They climbed into the back seat.

‘Peace be on you!’ Hector greeted them.

‘On you, peace.’ They responded in unison. Hector drove a mile along the track above the beach before he parked. Hazel swivelled in her seat to look back at the two men behind her.

‘This is driving me screaming mad,’ she blurted out. ‘I have to know! Have you found where my daughter is, Uthmann?’

‘Yes, Mrs Bannock. We have found her. I have been staying with my brother Ali in Baghdad. He is different to me. He believes the only way forward for our nation is the road of jihad. He is a mujahid and is allied strongly with Al-Qaeda. He knows that I do not support his views, but we are brothers and bound together by our blood. He would never divulge any of his jihadist affairs to me, but after I had spent these last weeks in his home he became relaxed and less secretive. Usually he uses a mobile phone and he never makes business calls from his home. A few days ago he mistakenly believed that I had gone out with his wife to visit friends of ours, but I was in the upper floor of the house when Ali used the land line to speak to one of his Al-Qaeda associates. I listened to the conversation on the extension. They were discussing the capture and the imprisonment of your daughter, and one of them mentioned that she was taken by members of the clan of Sheikh Khan Tippoo Tip.’

‘Tippoo Tip! That is the same name as the steward that got on board the
Dolphin
. But who is this sheikh?’ Hazel demanded, and Uthmann answered her.

‘He is a warlord, and the head of one of the most powerful clans in Puntland.’

Hector touched his shoulder. ‘As always, you have proved your worth, old friend,’ he told him.

‘Wait! I have more to tell you.’ Uthmann shook his head sadly. ‘Do you remember the men you shot and killed in Baghdad many years ago?’

Hector nodded. ‘The three jihadists that had detonated the roadside bomb.’ He glanced sideways at Tariq. ‘Of course Tariq and I remember them.’

‘Do you know what their names were?’

‘No,’ Hector admitted, ‘apparently they were all using code names. Even Military Intelligence could not identify them. What have you discovered, Uthmann?’

‘The man you killed was named Saladin Gamel Tippoo Tip. He was the son of Sheikh Khan Tippoo Tip and the father of Adam Tippoo Tip. The sheikh declared a blood feud with you.’ Hector stared at him speechlessly, and Uthmann went on, ‘The dhow that you and Ronnie Wells destroyed had six men on board. They had been sent by Sheikh Khan to avenge his eldest son. Amongst those who died was Gafour Tippoo Tip, the sheikh’s fifth son. The blood debt then stood at two. The Sheikh sent a third son to find you and avenge his brothers—’

‘The one called Anwar!’ Hector exclaimed. ‘My God! I will never forget him. With his last breath he mocked me:
My name is Anwar. Remember it, Cross, you pig of the great pig. The debt has not been settled. The Blood Feud continues. Others will come.
’

Tariq nodded. ‘It is even as you say, Hector.’

‘Where can we find this creature, Sheikh Tippoo Tip?’ Hector demanded.

Tariq cut in sharply. ‘I know him. His stronghold is in Puntland.’

‘Puntland! That name keeps cropping up,’ Hazel interjected.

‘It’s a rebel province of Somalia. Puntland is Tariq’s home turf,’ Hector explained, and looked back at Tariq. ‘This is what we’ve been waiting for. What can you tell us about this thug?’

‘Only what everybody else in Puntland knows: Tippoo Tip has his stronghold in the north-western part of the country at a place called the Oasis of the Miracle. It’s south of the main road in the province, near the small village of Ameera.’

‘Do you know the area?’ Hector demanded, but Tariq shook his head. Hector knew him so well that he had no doubt that he was lying, or at least skirting the truth.

‘Okay.’ Hector needed no further confirmation. ‘We need to find out all we can about Tippoo Tip and his fortress. We need maps of the area. I must get back to the terminal and get everybody working on this.’

When they were all assembled around the long table again Hector looked them over, before he spoke.

‘Well, we now know where we are going. Does anybody here, apart from Tariq, know of a place in Puntland called the Oasis of the Miracle, or the village of Ameera? Those are our targets.’ They all looked mystified. Hector singled out Dave Imbiss.

‘Dave, can you get on to the website of Google Earth. Tariq will point out the targets on the map. I want copies of the satellite photographs of the area. I want to know the distance to fly. I want to know which is the closest airstrip in Ethiopia, and the distance by road from there to our target.’ Then he paused and looked across at Bernie and Nella. ‘Or do you two have any ideas on that? Do you know of a landing strip which fits the bill?’

‘Jig Jig!’ said Nella, and then screamed with laughter and gave Bernie a nudge in his ribs with her elbow that doubled him over.

‘A landing ground with a name like that?’ Hector raised an eyebrow. ‘Interesting!’

‘Nella gave it that name, not me,’ Bernie protested as he straightened up rubbing his ribs. ‘I don’t know what its real name is, probably doesn’t have one. It’s an old deserted Italian military strip from World War Two. It’s in shocking condition, but the Hercules doesn’t mind rough ground.’

‘We made an emergency landing there once.’ Nella was still bubbling with laughter. ‘I was taken short with an acute case of the hots and we landed there for Bernie to bonk me. It was terrific! One of his very best efforts, ever. Never forget it.’ Bernie maintained his sober mien despite the hoots of laughter and general levity.

‘It’s perfectly situated, less than thirty miles from the Puntland border but, best of all, there is no official presence, no police and no immigration,’ Bernie said.

‘Sounds as though it was made for us. Show Dave where it is on the map. Nella, do you think you can restrain yourself when you land there again? No more indiscriminate bonking!’ He turned to Paddy. ‘Paddy, get on the radio to Ronnie Wells and tell him to move his MTB across to the Puntland coast and find a safe anchorage as close to the target as he can get. Let us know when he gets there.’ All the time he was giving his orders he was aware that Tariq was watching him covertly. At last he glanced at him directly and Tariq jerked his head almost imperceptibly and then stood up and left the room. Hector gave him a minute, and then he said to Paddy O’Quinn, ‘Carry on here. I won’t be away too long.’

He went out to search for Tariq and after a few minutes spotted him behind one of the parked trucks. He was smoking a cigarette in blithe contempt of the no smoking sign on the side of the truck. When he saw Hector approaching he ground out the cigarette under his heel and walked off along the pipeline. Hector followed him, and found him squatting behind one of the pump stations.

‘Speak to me, oh beloved of the Prophet,’ Hector invited as he squatted beside him.

‘I could not speak in front of the others,’ Tariq explained.

‘Not even Uthmann?’

Tariq shrugged. ‘Did it not seem to you that Uthmann was able to gather a great deal of information about the Tippoo Tip clan by simply eavesdropping on his brother’s telephone? It’s the safety of my family I fear for, Effendi. I can take no chances.’

‘There is truth in what you say, Tariq.’ Hector nodded thoughtfully. Despite his deep affection for Uthmann he felt the worms of treachery stirring in his bowels.

Tariq drew a breath and then said, ‘My aunt married a man from the village of Ameera, very close to the Oasis of the Miracle. When I was a child I spent many months there every year. I herded the camels with my cousins. I saw the fortress of Tippoo Tip many times, but only from a distance. My aunt was a servant to the Khan in the fortress. But that was long ago and perhaps my aunt is dead by now.’

‘Then again, perhaps she is not dead. Perhaps she still works in the fortress. Perhaps she knows where they are keeping the girl. Perhaps she still loves you enough to show you how to get into the fortress and where to find the girl.’

‘Perhaps.’ Tariq grinned and stroked his beard. ‘Perhaps all those things.’

‘Perhaps you will visit your aunt and find out.’

‘Perhaps.’ Tariq nodded.

‘Perhaps you will go tonight. We will drop you from the Hercules close to Ameera. I will give you one of the satellite phones. You will call me as soon as you make contact with your family. And that is not perhaps.’

‘As always, to hear you is to obey you, Hector.’ Tariq nodded and his grin grew wider. Hector punched his shoulder and started to rise to his feet, but Tariq laid a hand on his arm.

‘Wait, I have something else to tell you.’ Hector squatted beside him again. ‘If we get the girl out of the fortress we will be hunted by many men. They will be in four-wheel-drive trucks. We will be on foot with the girl. She may be sick and weak after what they have done to her. We may have to carry her.’

‘Tell me what you suggest.’

‘To the north of the fortress there is a deep and rocky ravine. It runs for seventy miles east to west. We can cross it on foot, but even a four-wheel-drive vehicle will not be able to follow us. They will have to go around thirty or forty miles east to cross the wadi. Once we get across the wadi, it will give us a start of at least two or three hours, if not much longer.’

‘You deserve to be rewarded with a hundred virgins!’ said Hector smiling.

‘I will be happy with one,’ said Tariq, returning his smile, ‘but a good one.’ Hector left him squatting in the shade of the pump house rolling himself another cigarette.

As Hector walked into the situation room Dave called across.

‘These are the Google Earth satellite pics of the area, boss.’ He tapped the sheets spread on the table in front of him. ‘The village of Ameera is tagged but I can’t find anything about the Oasis of the Miracle.’

‘Let’s have a look.’ Hector studied the high-resolution photograph then stabbed his forefinger down on it. ‘There it is!’ he exclaimed. ‘
Mo’jiza.
The miracle. Let me have the coordinates, Dave.’ While Dave worked them out, Hector continued scanning the map. Now he knew what to look for and where, he picked out the wadi immediately. He took Dave’s magnifying glass and examined the wadi carefully. The information that Tariq had given him seemed to be confirmed: no roads or tracks traversed the wadi.