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 gla.s.s and examined the wadi carefully. The information that Tariq had given him seemed to be confirmed: no roads or tracks traversed the wadi. 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 gla.s.s and examined the wadi carefully. The information that Tariq had given him seemed to be confirmed: no roads or tracks traversed the wadi.
He straightened up and went to where Bernie and Nella were standing outside the door, puffing on their cigarettes. Hector spoke quietly to them. "Tonight I want you to drop Tariq as close as you can to the village of Ameera. I am inserting him to make a reconnaissance of the area. After you have dropped him you will carry straight on to the Jig Jig landing strip with Paddy and his gang who will be on board. You will disembark them there with the trucks, and then come back here to Sidi el Razig." He glanced through the door at Hazel, who had followed him out of the situation room. He knew it was neither wise nor kind to let her sit alone in Sidi el Razig, with nothing to keep her fully occupied.
"Mrs Bannock and I will come along with you for the ride to Ameera and Jig Jig." Hazel nodded her agreement, and Hector turned back to Bernie.
"Work out your flying time for each stage of the flight. We must arrive at Jig Jig when it"s light enough to make a landing. We don"t want to attract any attention by circling around the area too long. Do you think you can find the strip straight off?"
"Stupid question," Nella replied. "We"ve been there before, if you remember." She placed a pair of reading gla.s.ses with bright-orange plastic frames on her nose and she and Bernie went to work with a hand-held calculator. Nella looked up after only a few minutes. "Okay, takeoff from here will be at 2000 hours sharp. Anybody not on board gets left behind."
Hector and Hazel stood together at the back of the flight deck of the Hercules, and over the heads of the pilots they watched the African nightfall. Hazel leaned lightly against him. The last rays of the sun lit the crests of the mountains ahead, turning them the colours of bronze and freshly minted gold. At the same time the land directly beneath them had already been blotted out by the darkness, and only the tiny pinp.r.i.c.ks of light marked the positions of the widely scattered hamlets and villages of Puntland.
"It"s so beautiful," Hazel whispered, "but I cannot see the beauty for the hideousness. Cayla is down there somewhere." The night closed its grip on them and the stars spread in splendour above them. Nella turned in her seat and lifted her headphones from her ears.
"I"m beginning the descent now. Twenty minutes to the drop zone, Hector. Get your man kitted up and ready to go." Hector went back into the main cabin. Most of Paddy"s men had climbed into the trucks and found themselves comfortable places to sleep. But Tariq was waiting for Hector near the tail gate. He was dressed like a Somalian peasant with his possessions in a goatskin satchel tied around his waist, and rawhide sandals on his feet. While Hector helped him to buckle on his parachute, he went quickly over the pre-arranged contact and recognition signals.
"Ten minutes to drop zone!" Nella"s voice came over the tannoy. Hazel came back to shake Tariq"s hand.
"This is not the first time you have risked your life for me, Tariq. I will find a way to repay you."
"I ask no payment, Mrs Bannock."
"Then I pray for Allah"s blessing and protection over you," she said, and at that Nella"s voice came over the tannoy again.
"Five minutes to drop zone. I am opening the tail gate now. Make sure your safety harnesses are hooked on." The ramp lowered ponderously and the cool night air whipped around their heads and tugged at their clothing.
"I can see the lights of Ameera dead ahead," Nella sang out. "One minute to jump." Then she began to count down the seconds: "Five, four, three, two and Go! Go! Go!"
Tariq ran forward and sprang head first over the edge of the ramp. The slipstream snapped him away instantly into the darkness. Nella closed the tail ramp and gradually increased the power on her engines. They climbed away on course for Jig Jig.
They circled the airstrip in the dawn. There were the ruins of a building, roofless and with the remaining walls crumbling. Even after eighty years the abandoned runway was still marked by small cairns of whitewashed rocks. The only sign of life was on the hillside above the strip, where a small boy in a red blanket warmed himself at a smoky little fire while his herd of goats grazed around him. The smoke from the fire gave Nella the wind direction. As the Hercules thundered low over them the boy and the goats scattered in panic. Nella touched down the big machine as lightly as a b.u.t.terfly landing on a rose. Then it b.u.mped and jarred over the rutted ground and pulled up long before it had run out of track. Nella dropped the tail gate, and Paddy led the little convoy of three trucks down off the tail ramp, and with a last wave of his gloved hand roared off back towards the Somali border. Nella used the engines to gun the Hercules around in a 180-degree turn and they were airborne again within five minutes of touch down.
"Five and a half hours" flying time home," Hector said as he slipped his arm around Hazel"s shoulders. "I have no idea how we are going to pa.s.s the time."
"We have this cargo hold completely to ourselves," Hazel pointed out. "May I make a suggestion?"
"I read your mind and find it to be an excellent suggestion. Mrs Bannock, you are a genius."
Tariq found an aardvark hole and stuffed his parachute and his para helmet down it. He wound his turban around his head, and slung the goatskin satchel over his shoulder. During his descent he had carefully marked the direction of the village. There were only two or three dim lights showing and he was amazed by the acuity of Nella Vosloo"s eyesight that had enabled her to pick them out from 10,000 feet. He set off for Ameera and within half a mile he smelt the woodsmoke of the cooking fires and the strong odour of goats and men. As he approached the village a dog barked, and another joined in, but the village slept on. It had been ten years since his last visit, but there was a gibbous moon to give him sufficient light to orient himself as he moved quietly among the thatched huts. His aunt"s was the third after the well. He tapped on the door, and after a while a woman"s voice spoke softly from behind it.
"Who is it? What do you want so late at night? I am a decent woman. Go away!"
"I am Tariq Hakam, I am looking for my mother"s sister, Taheera."
"Wait!" called the unseen woman. He heard her moving around in the hut and then there was the strike and flare of a match. The soft yellow light of a kerosene lamp showed through the c.h.i.n.ks in the mud wall. At last the door sc.r.a.ped open, and the woman stood looking out at him.
"Is it truly you, Tariq Hakam?" she asked and held the lamp so that the light fell on his face. "Yes," she whispered shyly, "it is indeed you." Artlessly she let her veil fall open.
"Who are you?" He stared at her face. She was young and very pretty. Her features were vaguely familiar.
"I am sad that you do not know me, Tariq. I am your cousin Daliyah."
"Daliyah! But you have grown so big!" She giggled coyly and pulled the veil over her mouth and nose again. Only ten years before she had been an urchin who had trailed around behind him in a most irritating manner in her grubby short skirts with unkempt hair and flies crawling on the dried snot under her nostrils.
"So have you grown big," she said. "I thought I would never see you again. I have often wondered where you had gone and what you were doing." She stood aside and held the door open. He stooped under the lintel and brushed past her. The light contact made his breath come a little shorter.
"Is my aunt here, Daliyah?"
"My mother is dead, Tariq, may Allah preserve her soul. I have returned to Ameera to mourn for her."
"May she find happiness in paradise," he said quietly. "I did not know of her death."
"She was very sick for a long time."
"What of you, Daliyah? Is there someone to protect you? Your father, your brothers?"
"My father has been dead these five years past. My brothers have gone away. They have gone to Mogadishu to become fighters in the army of Allah. I am alone here." She paused then went on, "There are men here, coa.r.s.e rough men. I am afraid. That is why I hesitated to open the door for you."
"What will become of you?"
"Before she died my mother arranged for me to work as a servant at the fortress at the Oasis of the Miracle. I have come back here only to bury my mother and to mourn her. Now the days of mourning are spent I will return to my work at the fortress." She had led him through to the small lean-to kitchen at the rear of the hut. She set the lantern down and turned to him. "Are you hungry, cousin? I have some dates and unleavened bread. I have curdled goat"s milk also." She was eager to please him.
"Thank you, Daliyah. I have some food with me. We can share it." He opened his leather satchel and brought out a pack of military rations. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. He guessed that she had eaten little for some while. They sat cross-legged on the dry mud floor facing each other with the small enamelled bowls between them, and he watched her eat with pleasure. She knew he was watching her and she kept her eyes modestly down-cast, but now and then smiled a little to herself. When they had finished she rinsed out the bowls and came back to sit across from him again.
"You say that you work at the fortress?" he asked, and she nodded confirmation.
"I have business there, in the fortress," he said, and she looked at him with quick interest.
"Is that what brings you here?" He inclined his head and she went on, "What is it you seek, cousin?"
"A girl. A young white girl with pale hair." Daliyah gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were dark with shock and fear. "You know her!" he said with certainty. She did not reply but hung her head and looked at the ground between them.
"I have come to take her back to her family."
She shook her head sadly. "Beware, Tariq Hakam. It is dangerous to talk loosely like this. I fear for you."
They were silent for a long time, and he saw her shiver.
"Will you help me, Daliyah?"
"I know this girl; she is young, as I am. Yet they have given her to the men to sport with." Her voice was almost inaudible. "She is sick. She is sick with the injuries they have inflicted on her. She is sick with loneliness and fear."
"Take me to her, Daliyah. Or at least show me the way."
She did not answer for a while, then she said, "If I do as you ask, they will know that it was me that led you to her. They will do to me what they have done to her. If I lead you to her, I cannot remain in this place. Will you take me away with you when you go, Tariq? Will you shield me from their wrath?"
"Yes, Daliyah. I will take you away with me, and gladly."
"Then I will do it, Tariq Hakam, my cousin." She smiled shyly and her dark eyes shone in the lantern light.
Tariq crouched under a ledge of rock facing the east. He had been there since an hour after nightfall. He was thinking about his cousin Daliyah. He was still wondering at her transformation from child to woman. Thinking about her made him feel happy. That morning before she left him to walk the four miles to the Oasis of the Miracle she had touched his arm and said, "I will be waiting when you come." He rubbed his arm where she had touched him, and smiled.
His thoughts were distracted by a soft tremble of sound in the sky. He looked up, but there was nothing to see but the stars. He c.o.c.ked his head and listened. The sound grew stronger. He stood and picked up the old kerosene can with its lid cut off that Daliyah had given him and carried it into the open. He stacked the stones that he had collected earlier around the sides of the can to hold it securely. He listened again; now there were no doubts. The throb of multiple aircraft engines was unmistakable. From his satchel he brought out the naval distress flare and pulled the ignition tape, then dropped the flare into the can. He stepped back. It burst into flame and sulphurous smoke boiled from the can. The ruddy brilliance was reflected upwards. The sound of the engines increased until it was almost overhead.
Nella"s voice boomed over the tannoy. "I have the red marker flare visual. Two minutes to drop zone. I am opening the tail gate now." Hector had divided his men into two sticks of five. He would jump first with his stick, and Uthmann would follow him immediately with his four men. They were all dressed in traditional clothing with black scarves covering most of their faces, but over that they wore flak jackets and battle helmets, and they carried survival packs and ten clips of ammo for the a.s.sault rifles on their webbing belts and a sheathed trench knife. The Cross Bow armourer had sharpened the blades until they were keen enough to shave with.
"First stick on your feet!" Hector ordered and they stood and shuffled towards the open tail gate. "Switch on your marker lights!" Each of them had a tiny fluorescent light fixed to the front of his helmet with an elastic strap. They reached up and switched them on. The bulbs were coloured blue and the light they threw was so feeble that it was unlikely to be picked up by a hostile watcher at ground level, but the pinp.r.i.c.ks of light would orient them to each other during the free fall. Hazel had been sitting on the bench beside Hector, and now she stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I love you!" she whispered and he was the first man she had said that to for a very long time. "Come back. Come back to me." Over the tannoy Nella"s voice had begun the final countdown to the drop.
"I love you beyond the telling of it," he said, and kissed her, leaving a smudge of cammo paint across her cheek. He rubbed it off tenderly with his thumb. "When I come back, I"ll have Cayla with me." She turned away quickly from him and ran forward towards the doorway onto the flight deck. She did not want him to see her cry. Before she reached the flight deck Nella gave the jump command over the tannoy.
"Number one stick! Go! Go! Go!" Hazel turned swiftly for a last glimpse of him, but he had been sucked down into the dark maw of the night.
In the rush of the wind Hector stabilized his fall in the belly-down star position, and looked firstly for Tariq"s red distress flare. He spotted it ten thousand feet below, at a down angle of approximately 45 degrees. Then he checked the s.p.a.ce around him for the blue a.s.sembly lights of his men. Once he had located all of them he steered with subtle movements of his limbs and body to place himself at the head of their formation. His four companions were within touching distance as they dropped towards the red flare. He checked his altimeter and stopwatch. The time to fall was a little over a minute. Already they had reached their terminal velocity, and the earth was coming up to meet them rapidly. They were less than four hundred and fifty metres above ground level when he gave the hand signal to deploy their chutes and flare out. Now it was easier to steer and they slipped across the small breeze to settle like a flock of cranes within twenty paces of the burning red flare, landing almost simultaneously and staying on their feet as they spilled the air out of their parachutes. Immediately they formed a defensive circle with their weapons aimed outwards.
"Tariq!" Hector called softly. "Show yourself!"
"It is me, Tariq Hakam." He stood up from behind a pile of broken rock. "Don"t shoot!" He ran to meet Hector and they shook hands quickly, using the double grip.
"Is all well?" Hector demanded. "Where is this girl, your cousin?" Tariq had spoken briefly of her this morning over the satellite phone.
"She is inside the fortress. She will lead us to where they are keeping the Bannock girl."
"Can you trust her?" Hector demanded. Having someone inside the fortress was an amazing stroke of luck, and he was always wary of too much luck.
"She is of my blood," Tariq replied, and almost added, "and of my heart." But he did not want to tempt Iblis, the Devil.
"Okay, I"ll accept that." Hector handed Tariq the spare rifle and pack he was carrying. At that moment Uthmann and his four men dropped out of the dark sky and landed close beside them. Tariq kicked over the can and piled rocks on top of the burning flare. The others were bundling and burying the parachutes.
Within minutes they had regrouped and Hector gave the order, "Tariq, take the point. Move out at the double."
They followed Tariq at carefully maintained intervals. With weapons at the ready, they trotted at a ground-consuming pace along a rugged path made by grazing goats. They reached the first palm trees of the oasis in forty-four minutes and went into a defensive circle again, lying belly down and heads up. Tariq signalled that the ground ahead was clear and Hector waved him forward. Tariq slipped away amongst the trees. Uthmann crawled up alongside Hector.
"Where is he going?" he whispered. "Why are we stopping here?"
"Tariq has someone inside the fortress. He has gone to make contact, and then he will lead us through one of the side gates."
"I did not know of this. Who is this informer? Is it a man or a woman? One of Tariq"s relations?"
"What does it matter?" Hector felt a tiny flutter of ill ease. Uthmann was too insistent.
"You did not tell me of this, Hector."
"You did not need to know until now," Hector replied and Uthmann looked away. The set of his head and body was angry. Was he displaying his resentment that Hector had not trusted him? This was not Uthmann"s usual style. Hector wondered if he was getting too old for the game. Was he losing his nerve? Hector could not face any darker possibility. Suddenly he made a decision, and he touched Uthmann"s arm, forcing him to look into his face.
"Uthmann, you are to remain here with your stick as a fallback for us. If we run into trouble inside the fortress we will come out in a hurry. I want you here to cover us. Do you understand?"
"I have always been at your side," Uthmann said bitterly. His surly behaviour was excessive, and it reinforced Hector"s decision not to take the man with him into the lair of the Beast.
"Not this time, old friend," he said, and without another word Uthmann turned his face away and crawled back to his position with the second stick. Hector put him out of mind and stared into the trees of the oasis. He saw a moving shadow like a flitting moth, and he gave the soft two-tone recognition whistle. The reply came at once and Tariq materialized silently out of the trees. He had someone with him, a slim figure dressed in a long black abaya.
"This is my cousin Daliyah," he said as the two of them dropped down beside Hector. "Her news is disturbing. She says that there has been much excitement amongst the Khan"s men. Nearly every man in the garrison has been sent to the north section beyond the mosque."
"Why?" Hector demanded of the girl.
"I do not know." Her voice was very soft.
Hector pondered a moment. "Is there a gate there in the north section where the men have been sent?" he asked.
"There is a gate," Daliyah confirmed, "but it is not the main gate."
"Did you intend to lead us into the fortress through that gate?"