“It would be much easier. No one with any common sense tries to drive across the Sahara. That would be crazy.” Amie said.
“They’ll make for some airport and fly them out,” Shalima agreed.
“But that could be anywhere,” Amie said sadly. “They might even land the planes here and transfer them and we wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. All we could do is sit and watch it happen. How do we even know they’ll stop and make a camp down there in the valley?”
“We do not know that,” Ben joined in. “But if they still have Jonathon and Charles with them, we can follow if they drive further west or north. We may have a chance at some point.”
“And if they do stop here for the night, and I’m sure that’s what they’ll do …” Shalima sounded very certain, “… then we have the chance to rescue them right at the beginning.”
“You make it all sound so easy,” Amie moaned.
“You did pretty well before, and you was all on yer own when you did that,” Shalima pointed out. “Do what you did before. Creep in and cut them free.”
Amie wasn’t convinced. She had a sinking feeling that this time the soldiers were going to be much more alert. They wouldn’t be so easily fooled again. She knew Hussein had been punished because the women had escaped and that would be a sharp warning to anyone who was careless in the future. She remembered the suppurating sores on his back. They’d have to plan as they went along, but now they were here, she wondered how stupid they really were.
They’d decided it was safer to sleep in the Land Rover and take it in turns to keep watch. They would rotate sleeping in the back of the vehicle which was a lot more comfortable than a full night in the front seats.
Amie took the first watch and a few hours later, she was happy to change places with Shalima and climb into the back of the truck. She folded the burqa and snuggled down to sleep as best she could.
She wasn’t sure what woke her up some time later as it was still dark. She lay quite still and listened. She could hear a soft moaning that sounded more human than animal. She sat up without making a sound and peered out of the window. Beside the Land Rover, Shalima and Ben were locked in a passionate embrace. Amie gasped. Yes, she’d wondered very briefly before if there was anything between them but not for a moment had she really believed it. Only a few hours ago they had been sniping at each other, so was Ben romantically drawn to Shalima? The idea was totally outrageous. She felt like a voyeur, and turned away, and hoped no predator would creep up on them while they were otherwise engaged.
She lay down again and decided it was nothing to do with her, but she couldn’t help feeling a little betrayed by Ben. He was her friend and she wasn’t happy about the, what could she call it, liaison, friendship, love affair, between one person she was very fond of and one she didn’t like even a little bit. It was probably just a mad fulfilment of lust brought on by the dangers they were all about to face.
Dawn came and Amie was amused to see that as she sat up and stretched, the other two sprang apart as if they’d been scalded. She pretended not to notice, climbed out of the Land Rover and poured herself a cupful of water to wash her hands and her face. She did wonder who had been keeping watch if they had both been so occupied.
Looking down into the valley from their refuge among the rocks, Ben announced he was going to go and check the co-ordinates on the GPS. He wanted to be quite sure they were in the right place.
Shalima seemed reluctant for him to leave their makeshift camp, but he was adamant he needed to check their exact location. He argued that if they were in the wrong valley, the convoy could well pass them by and the whole exercise would be a total waste of time.
To Amie’s surprise, Shalima didn’t argue and then offered to go with him. She watched them clamber over the rocks and set off across the open plain. Her attention was diverted by the antics of a couple of rock hyrax peeping out from their hiding places among the large stones. They resembled large guinea pigs, with short grey coats, and pointed, twitching noses. They were constantly on the alert and the slightest movement sent them scurrying out of sight. From what Amie observed, they had little defence against predators, except their ability to run and hide. Pimbi was the local name for them, Dirk had told her, and she smiled at their cute little faces while they munched away on a lobelia plant, and scooped up any insects that came within reach. There was a sudden high-pitched squeal from one of the sentries and, in an instant, they were all gone.
Amie looked up to see an eagle soaring overhead, and realised she’d not been on the alert for any danger to herself. Rocky areas were favourite haunts for leopards, and she prayed there were none around. She eased the gun Ben had given her out from under the seat, tucked it back in the waistband of her trousers and pulled her top down. It didn’t feel particularly comfortable, but it gave her a measure of courage.
As she watched Ben and Shalima wandering back towards their temporary camp, she was astonished to see they were holding hands. Shalima was, in the vernacular, all over Ben like a rash. Amie was astounded. How was it she hadn’t even suspected there was any real chemistry between them? Now, Shalima the tough, radical, fundamentalist fighter was gone, and she’d morphed into a simpering teenager hanging on to Ben’s every last word.
Amie didn’t stop to think about it any further. It was no business of hers and if Ben was happy about it who was she to complain? It was a surprising turn of events though. How Ben could be attracted to the teenager after the way she’d behaved was beyond Amie. But it was not for her to judge.
When they walked back up the rocks, they said that the coordinates matched exactly in the valley, and now all they had to do was wait. Amie would’ve been content to sit and wait patiently for the little hyrax to reappear, but Ben sensibly suggested they forage for branches and anything else they could find to cover the Land Rover. It would be very easy to see from the air, and they did not want to be attacked, or frighten anyone off if they thought the area was compromised.
Shalima was positively cheerful now, and she volunteered to throw her burqa over the roof of the Land Rover. Amie’s was flung over it as well, while Ben placed large stones on top to keep them from blowing off. Amie remarked they’d come in useful after all. They’d used them as blankets, pillows, hiding places, as a disguise and now camouflage.
The sun beat down, the valley became a succession of mirages and the ground quivered in the heat. It was tempting to strip off as many clothes as possible, but there were too many insects about, and they were trying to save the insect repellent for use against the mosquitoes at night.
The day dragged on and still the brilliant blue sky was empty; and the valley floor below remained deserted. An occasional small group of wildlife wandered across, stopped to graze then moved on: zebra, wildebeest and an assortment of antelope. None paused for long, as there was very little to eat or drink, and very little shade.
It had occurred to Amie they wouldn’t be able to hide behind the pitifully few trees and bushes when they made an assault on the camp. When they left the safety of the rocks, they had a couple of hundred metres to go with virtually no cover. She’d had it easy in her first hideout by the river, but this time, she had a really bad feeling about their current position, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. The only thing in their favour was the moon - it was in its first quarter and would give very little light.
They dozed on and off wriggling into the shade as the sun moved across the sky. The hyrax grew bolder as they perceived no threat from the lazy humans who’d invaded their territory, until one sentry gave an excessively loud screech and they all vanished.
Ben jumped up. “What did they hear?”
“I don’t know,” Amie whispered back, it seemed safer to keep her voice low. Then they heard it, a faint drone from the sky, getting louder and louder.
“Yeah!” Shalima looked ecstatic. “Yeah. Right place. Right here. Brilliant.” and she punched the air with her clenched fist.
As
the planes approached, the watchers kept a low profile and the two, small aircraft, Amie had no idea what kind they were, circled lower and lower. For a moment she thought they were about to land, but they came in very close to the ground, whipping up the dust on the valley floor. The doors in the belly of the planes were already open and several boxes attached to small parachutes floated down and came to rest on the sand. It only took a few moments and immediately after, the planes rose again into the sky, the doors closed and a couple of minutes later they had gone.
The packages lay there as the dust settled around them. There must have been a couple of dozen large, square and rectangular boxes covered in what looked like thick, black plastic.
Ben was the first to speak. “Shall we go and get one?”
“I’d love to know what’s inside,” Amie replied. “Guns? Food? Fuel?”
“Bound to be useful stuff,” Shalima added.
“What if we’re caught?” Amie said. “Just as we’re out there, right in the middle of an open valley and the convoy roars up. We’d be blown away in seconds.”
“But the convoy might not arrive for hours, even a couple of days,” Shalima pointed out.
“It is a risk,” Ben agreed, “but we might be lucky.”
They stared at the wrapped boxes. To go, or to stay?
“Well, if we’re gonna get one or two we betta move fast,” Shalima’s suggestion made sense.
“Is that wise?” Amie was reluctant. “They might be too heavy to move anyway and we can hardly rip one open and leave the wrappings behind, that would give the game away.
“So, we go now,” Ben decided. “We go and see if we can carry one back and if it is too big, we could fetch it in the Land Rover.”
All Amie wanted to do was hide out and make one mad dash to see if they could rescue the men under cover of darkness once the convoy arrived. This was an extra risk to take, was it worth it? How many times was she being forced to be courageous? It simply wasn’t in her nature, but the other two were keen, so she could hardly say no and stay right here. It would need the three of them at least to steal one box. The others were so enthusiastic there was no way she was going to argue with them, so she nodded her head.
They scrambled down the slope and set off towards the nearest box. Amie felt terribly exposed out here in the open. There was nowhere to hide and no shade. She imagined the zinging sound of bullets racing towards her back as she hurried across the open savannah. The grass was too short to hide them, even if they lay flat, and there wasn’t a tree in sight. Even the termite mounds were miniature and the heat hit her like a sledgehammer. She found she was breathing in red hot air, gasping as the heat radiated off the ground.
When they reached the nearest package, it was a lot larger than they’d expected and they could only shift it slightly. It was impossible for the three of them to lift it and carry it back as they’d hoped. The outer wrapping was made of what looked like industrial strength black bin liners and these were kept in place by thick bands of woven straps linked together with metal strips.
Amie wondered if they’d be able to break it open even if they did get it back to camp. They had enough supplies for a few days, so why were they taking this added risk?
20 CAPTURED
Ben decided they needed the Land Rover and raced back up the hill to fetch it.
Amie had known this would be more trouble than it was worth. She shook her head while she watched Shalima try to make a hole in the corner of the box with a knife.
She glanced at Amie. “Don’t yer look so worried,” she said. “If we get guns in this lot, it’ll be a doddle gettin’ the men out. No problem.”
Inside Amie groaned. Why did this teenager always make her feel like a scared child? Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to be older and wiser?
The roar of a truck startled her and she whirled round to see it speeding towards them.
“We must hurry,” Ben pointed back up the hill. “I can see dust clouds fifteen, twenty miles off. We must get this into the back.”
The fear of the approaching enemy jump-started their adrenaline and they strained to lift the box, but it was almost impossible to get it more than a foot off the ground.
“Now what?” Shalima asked. “It ain’t that big but it’s too heavy. How we gonna get it into the truck?”
Amie’s mind flashed back to Dirk and his men using metal tracks to pull vehicles out of soft sandy soil. They’d placed a block of wood under the jack, and winched up the vehicle and placed the tracks under the tyres and they were out.
She peered in the back of the Land Rover, then dived inside, and reappeared with a smile on her face holding a pair of metal tracks. “We use these."
The heat made it agonizing work, and the black plastic burned their hands as they wriggled the box to the bottom of the tracks that now formed a ramp up to the tailgate. Bit by bit they pushed the box into the back of the Land Rover.
The moment it was secured, all three of them leapt into the front, and they started the slow drive back towards the hillside. The springs on the old Land Rover groaned alarmingly, and fearing something would break, the girls got out and scrambled up to the rocks.
After Ben reversed into the space between the boulders, they covered it again with the burqas and branches to stop the sunlight glinting on the metal.
If the convoy was close by, they could neither see it nor hear it. But Ben was right, there was a huge dust cloud to the south and they could only guess how long it would take before they arrived in the valley. It was unlikely the terrorists would miss one box from a couple of dozen, and the dust they’d kicked up with the Land Rover was already beginning to settle.
Amie grabbed Ben’s arm. “Look! You can see our tracks from here. Tyre tracks and they lead right to our hiding place.”
Ben’s face registered horror. Did he have time to grab one of the branches and brush them away? They’d been so vigilant before, about leaving none behind, why had no one thought about it this time?
“What’s the problem?” Shalima asked, coming around from the other side of one of the large rocks.
Amie pointed. “Our tracks, as clear as day, from there to here.” She never knew what possessed her, but suddenly she was running headlong into the valley. She dragged a large branch behind her.
She refused to look in the direction of the approaching vehicles, and from the spot where the box had landed, she swept frantically back and forth. She ran backwards as she brushed over the tyre tracks.
Ben appeared beside her carrying another branch, sweeping away as fast as he could. They still had a long way to go. It seemed it would take forever as they moved inch by inch towards the hill.
Sweat was pouring down Amie’s face stinging her eyes and making it hard to see. They could hear the rumble of engines as the convoy came closer and closer. The ground vibrated around her and it was difficult to keep her balance as she brushed away furiously. Then, she tripped over a rock and only just managed to fling herself to one side to avoid cracking her head open. She lay winded for several moments as the few clouds in the sky swirled like round-a-bout horses. Ben came to help her up, but she shook him off and scrambled to her feet.
“Keep brushing, I’ll be fine.”
They’d reached the bottom of the hill, and although an experienced tracker would have no difficulty in knowing exactly what had happened, it looked as if they’d covered the tracks pretty well.
Worn out, covered in dust and desperate for a drink, Ben and Amie reached the Land Rover, grateful to grab the bottles of water Shalima handed them. They flung themselves down in the tiny area of shade and took deep, gasping breaths. Not that there was time to relax. The enemy was arriving and they would have to stay on the alert.
While Ben and Amie had been away, Shalima had managed to break open the box and found several assault rifles and ammunition beneath tins of food and powdered milk.
She looked very disappointed. “No bloody bombs or hand grenades. Those woul
d have made the rescue a piece o’ cake,” she moaned to the other two, while they lay panting on the ground.
“We can’t even begin to plan how to attack until we see if they’re gonna to stop, and if they do, how they set up their tents and where the patrols go.”
“They will stay,” Ben said. “It is past the middle of the day and they must collect the boxes. No, they will stay for one night at least.” He seemed quite convinced.
The afternoon passed all too quickly as, safely concealed among the rocks, Shalima showed them how to use the various bits of armaments she’d unpacked. She passed one of the guns to Amie. “AK47,” she said.
Amie held it gingerly. It didn’t seem too heavy for the size of it and she lifted it to peer down the sights and waved it around a little.
“It ain’t no good like that,” Shalima said, “you need this as well.” She handed her a magazine and showed Amie how to slot it in underneath. Amie nearly dropped it.
“I can hardly lift it!”
“Don’t be such a wimp,” the teenager snapped. Her aggressive manner was back.
“These are the lighter kind, couple of bags of sugar, no more.”
Amie wasn’t convinced. She tried to heft the unwieldy rifle and keep it focused.
Next Shalima showed her how to change it from single to multiple shot and assured her she could kill someone a quarter of a mile away.
“Yer don’t have to get too close,” she crowed, digging Amie in the ribs.
She demonstrated each of the magazines that contained thirty bullets and how she would insert a new one when they were used up.
Amie was aghast. She was quite convinced she would never be able to use it. How could she fire blindly at a group of people? She’d never even fired the pistol she still had in her waistband. If the time came, she’d probably fire one shot at someone, if she felt her life was in danger, and then drop the gun.
Meanwhile Ben was using the binoculars to watch what was happening below. The first two vehicles had arrived and several men in black fatigues jumped out. It looked as if they were unloading tents and other equipment.
Amie in Africa Box Set 1 Page 62
