by Hodge, Sibel
He walked from the beach to the shingle area and back again, studying the ground intently. ‘There were four people. But one of them was injured.’
I swallowed hard. My throat felt dry and constricted. ‘How can you tell?’
Osman pointed to some marks in the sand and the shingle. ‘If you look carefully you can see three sets of footprints and one set of drag marks in between two of them. Someone was being dragged between two people.’ He crouched down by the shingle, pointing to some small reddish-brown flecks on a few of the stones. ‘Look, you see this? It’s blood.’ He glanced up at me.
I let out a strangled cry. ‘Oh, God.’
Yasmin threw her head back and wailed at the sky.
Ayshe’s face drained of colour.
‘But which way did they go in the vehicle?’ Ali asked.
We all turned to look up the bumpy track that we’d travelled on down to the beach from the main road. Further behind the track was a small viaduct that ran underneath the main road. I could see a dried-up river bed in it. It was big enough to get a vehicle through. And beyond the viaduct it looked like there were fields. Beyond the fields were the Kyrenia Mountain Range.
‘If they went on the main road, we have very little chance of tracking them. But if they went under the viaduct, we have a good chance of finding the vehicle,’ Osman said. ‘Of course, with the terrain in the mountains, it’s very possible that they stashed the vehicle somewhere and carried on by foot. My bet is that they are hiding out up there until the heat blows over, waiting for the search to be called off.’
I turned to him, frowning. ‘How do you know all this?’
‘Osman was in the Special Forces here for fifteen years. He’s the best tracker the Army had,’ Deniz said.
‘What? I thought you were a shepherd?’ I said.
‘I am now. I’ve retired.’
I launched my arms around Osman’s neck. ‘Oh, thank you! You have to find Kalem for me.’
‘If anyone can find him now, it’s Osman.’ Deniz nodded gravely.
‘We have no time to waste. Come on.’ Osman quickened his pace towards the viaduct, carefully checking out the ground and the tyre tracks. ‘We’re in luck. They went underneath it. Understandable, really. They wouldn’t want to be seen on the main road.’
‘I’m going to arrange for some search dogs to help you track him,’ Ali said. ‘If they did leave the vehicle at any point and go on foot, we’ll need some dogs to search for them. ’ He was just about to radio his instructions.
‘No. I have a sniffer sheep,’ Osman said.
‘A what?’ Ali looked confused.
‘Yes, a sniffer sheep. I trained it myself. It’s had a crash course in detecting people. Even if I can’t find Kalem, I bet you anything that Kuzu will.’
Ali snorted at the suggestion. ‘No, we can use the sniffer dog from the airport.’
‘But he can only find sandwiches!’ Osman shook his head. ‘No. We don’t have much time. I can only work with Kuzu. She is now fully trained, and I trust her judgment completely. I can’t work with sniffer dogs that I haven’t handled before and who can only find sandwiches.’
I didn’t even have the strength to argue that Osman must be even more crazy than I’d first thought, and it was the most ridiculous suggestion I’d ever heard in my life. All I wanted was to find Kalem. And if it meant using a sniffer sheep, then that’s what we would do.
Chapter 20
‘If they went towards the mountains they could be anywhere. There are many caves in the mountain range that they can easily hide in.’ Osman’s voice suddenly oozed authority, like he was now running the show. ‘I will go ahead on my own, and the police must stay on the beach. If Kalem is still alive we don’t want to risk them seeing the police and panicking.’
Ali shook his head. ‘No, I can’t allow that.’
‘Think about it,’ Osman said to Ali. ‘If they see the police, there will be an instant confrontation and shootout, and Kalem could be killed. If they see a shepherd in the mountains with his sheep, they won’t think anything of it. We can observe them, get close to them, and they won’t suspect anything.’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Atila said.
‘I vote we go for that,’ Deniz said. ‘I trust Osman completely.’
Yasmin and Charlie nodded vigorously.
‘Me too,’ Ayshe said.
‘I want to come as well. I have to come.’ I clutched Osman’s arm. ‘He’s my fiancé. I have to come.’
Osman looked down at me. He gave me a strained smile, as if acknowledging the pain that must have been radiating through my eyes. ‘That may be a good idea. If we find these men, Helen will be able to identify them,’ Osman said to Ali. ‘There could be hikers in the mountains, and I don’t want to mistake one of them for the criminals.’
‘OK. How do you want to do this?’ Ali asked.
‘First, I need to get Kuzu and my sheep.’
‘What, all of them?’ Charlie said.
‘Of course. This has to look real. I will bring my sheep here and some of my mother’s old sheep herding clothes for Helen, so she looks the part. Then we track them.’
Nods of agreement all round.
As Osman left, we all paced the ground, lost in our own thoughts. I prayed to the sheep gods that Kuzu and Osman would be able to find Kalem. Alive.
It felt like the longest moment of my life. I know everyone always says that when bad things happen, but it really is true. Time seemed to have lost its momentum. Like it was stuck. I kept checking my watch and only a minute had actually passed since the last time I’d nervously looked. Osman seemed to be taking forever. And when he finally reappeared with his truck full of sheep, only an hour had actually gone by.
Osman jumped down from the truck and released the back section of the white pickup, pulling it down so it became a ramp to the ground. The sheep bleated and baaed away, instantly nibbling the sparse grass and sage plants.
Osman handed me a headscarf, some Turkish baggy trousers, nipped in at the ankles with elastic, and a shawl. ‘Put these on. You will look like a country shepherdess.’
I pulled on the trousers.
‘Do you have anything that belongs to Kalem that Kuzu can use as a guide?’ Osman asked me.
I shook my head frantically. In all the excitement of the night before, I hadn’t had anything on me when I’d been running after Ferret Face before I’d been arrested. ‘No,’ I wailed.
‘Yes, you have, Helen.’ Charlie pointed to Kalem’s baseball cap on my head.
My hand flew up to touch it. I pulled it off my head and thrust it towards Osman. ‘Will this do?’
‘Yes. It will do very nicely.’ Osman nodded.
I tied the headscarf around my head and clutched Kalem’s baseball cap in my hand.
Osman grabbed a walking stick about two metres long from the cab section of his truck. ‘Are you ready?’ he said to me.
I took a deep breath. ‘I’m ready.’
Ali grabbed the police radio from Stubby Legs and handed it to Osman. ‘Keep me informed. But if you see them, I don’t want you to do anything. Your job will be to find them and keep them in your sights. Then report back to us, and we’ll do the rest.’ He reached out and squeezed Osman’s shoulder. ‘Good luck.’
Osman turned the volume down on the radio and tucked it into his baggy trousers. He bent down and whispered something in Turkish to Kuzu. ‘Let Kuzu smell the hat,’ he said to me.
I handed him Kalem’s baseball cap. Kuzu sniffed it, her little nostrils flaring repeatedly.
Osman handed the cap back to me. ‘OK. Let’s go.’
We walked through the viaduct with Osman keeping a firm eye on the tracks. Kuzu obediently stayed by Osman’s side, sniffing at the ground, wagging her woolly little tail. The rest of the sheep meandered behind us, nibbling away in their own little sheepy world, oblivious to our task. I clutched the baseball cap in my hand, hanging onto it for dear life. There was no way I was goin
g to let it slip from my grasp if it meant the possibility of finding Kalem.
On the other side of the viaduct were fields of olive and carob trees. A wide, dusty track curved through it, heading towards the pine tree covered mountains beyond. Deep tyre tracks in the now dried mud indicated years of vehicles using this pathway.
‘How can you tell which vehicle is theirs?’ I whispered, keeping my voice quiet so no one else could hear us.
‘Simple. They are using BFGoodrich All Terrain Tyres. I can tell by the markings in the dirt.’ He pointed his stick in the direction of the mountains. ‘They definitely went this way.’ His voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear him.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
‘Sorry for what?’
I sighed. ‘I’m sorry to get you involved in all of this.’
‘Kalem is family. There is nothing more important than that. You don’t have to apologize for getting me involved. In fact, I wish you’d told me in the beginning. I could have helped you.’
‘And I’m sorry for thinking that you were crazy when I first met you.’ I gave him a sheepish smile.
‘That’s OK.’ He smiled and his moustache wiggled.
‘Now I think you’re the bestest ever.’
‘What is that saying? You shouldn’t judge a sheep by its fur?’
‘You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.’
‘Ah, yes.’ He paused for a beat. ‘You city people are strange.’ He shook his head to himself. ‘You have to always think too much and rush too fast and make things too complicated. Really, life is simple.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you’re born. You breathe. You eat. You sleep. You die. Anything in between is a bonus. Simple.’
‘That’s the reason we moved here. Kalem wanted the simple life. Back to nature, getting back to basics, he’s always loved that kind of stuff. We were supposed to be living the dream of moving to the unspoiled sunny Med and enjoying a new life.’
‘And what about you? Do you want that life?’
‘All I know now is that I’d give up everything I own as long as I can get Kalem back. Even if it means living in a mud hut without two pennies to rub together.’
‘So you see, when it comes down to the important choices, life really is simple, isn’t it?
He left me thinking about that as we walked on in silence through the vast fields, up a gentle slope, and to the foot of the mountain range. Sweat dripped between my shoulder blades and off my forehead under the scarf. I wiped it out of my eyes and focused on the mountains above, praying that Kalem was still alive.
The dusty track narrowed considerably here, becoming a bumpy trail of mountain rubble, pine needles, and fallen dead logs.
Kuzu sniffed the ground and looked up at Osman, her black nose twitching. Osman bent down, staring at the path for a while. ‘They went this way.’ He climbed onward.
We walked for over two hours until we found ourselves in the dense forest. Osman stopped a few times, crouching down to the ground and examining it to be sure we were still going in the right direction. Kuzu had no such reservations as she led us onwards to a sound of contented baaing from the other sheep behind.
Osman and Kuzu stopped abruptly.
‘What? What’s the matter?’
‘The vehicle left the track here.’ His eyes darted around, searching for something I couldn’t see.
Kuzu smelled something, baaing like crazy, leading us to an area densely packed with fir trees.
‘Kuzu is on to something.’ Osman followed her.
Through the trees, the ground suddenly dipped down into a bowl shape. There, at the bottom of the dip, covered with branches of fir and pine trees, was a black Mitsubishi pickup truck.
‘They have covered this up quickly, but they didn’t do a good job.’ Osman approached the truck with me close behind. He pulled the branches out of the way and peered in the windows.
Inside was a yellow dinghy, slashed and deflated.
Osman pulled the door open and looked inside. I stood behind him, staring at a small patch of blood on the back seat.
‘Oh, no! There’s more blood. It must be Kalem’s.’ I dug my nails into the palms of my hands in frustration. ‘Do you think he’s…?’ No, I still couldn’t say the word.
Osman wrapped an arm around me, squeezing me towards him. ‘No, there’s not enough blood for that.’
I sniffed back the tears threatening to pour out.
‘Let Kuzu smell the cap again,’ Osman said.
I bent down next to Kuzu and let her go through her sniffing exercise again.
‘Come on. Let’s carry on.’ Osman gave my shoulder a final squeeze. ‘We have no time to waste.’
Kuzu led us past the truck and onward, and as we climbed up a particularly steep part of track, something in the distance caught Osman’s eye. He stopped, putting a hand up to indicate I should do the same. Back straight, ears straining, he focused on the top of what Kalem had told me was Five Finger Mountain. Five jagged peaks jutted up to the Mediterranean sun, casting shadows on the slopes below.
‘What can you see?’ I whispered.
He pointed to a small, dark indent in the grey rock and bushes. If you weren’t looking for it, you would probably have never noticed it.
I strained my eyes, feeling the tension in my shoulders pulsating at the bottom of my neck.
‘It’s a cave. I can see something moving. Helen, if we find someone up there, I need to know if they are the same men you know. If you recognize them as the people involved, then cough once to confirm it.’
‘Cough once. Got it. How long will it take us to get there?’
‘About twenty minutes. With the rough terrain, maybe half an hour.’
Oh, God. Another half hour? Another half hour to find out if Kalem was alive. Come on, Helen, don’t lose it now. He will be there. He’ll be OK. He just has to be.
****
We approached the cave from the side. Osman’s sheep were spread out in front of us now, munching on the undergrowth. Just a couple of shepherds and their sheep. The perfect cover.
Kuzu sniffed around with heightened excitement. Osman studied the ground, nodding to himself. I was about to crap myself.
We were thirty metres away.
Then twenty.
Then ten.
At eight metres I could clearly see the entrance to the cave. Missing Link and another skinny guy sat cross-legged in the dark outline, looking at us with watchful eyes. Maybe Skinny Guy was the driver of the getaway boat. I couldn’t see Ferret Face anywhere.
What did that mean? Had he taken Kalem somewhere else?
I kept my head down, pulling the scarf further over my face and looking at the ground, in case they recognized me. Bringing my fist up to my mouth, I coughed behind it.
Osman waved his walking stick at the men in a greeting as Kuzu ran into the cave, sniffing the ground. Osman whistled for her to come back to him, which she obediently did. He handed her a treat from his pocket and patted her on the head. It must’ve been a secret signal between them, because as soon as he did that, she realized her job was done and trotted off to join her curly friends.
‘Merhaba,’ Osman said to them, Hello in Turkish.
Missing Link clambered to his feet. Skinny Guy carried on sitting, watchful.
‘Hello.’ Missing Link gave us an uncertain wave.
The muscles in my shoulders coiled into a thousand knots. My heartbeat thumped so hard I was sure they would be able to hear it.
Osman stopped in front of them. ‘Nice day for walking.’ He gave them a friendly and unthreatening smile. ‘You walk much up here?’
I bowed my head further towards the floor, so they wouldn’t be able to get a good look at me. The only problem was that it meant I wasn’t able to get a good look in the dark cave beyond them. We were three metres away from them. Was Kalem in there?
‘Yes. It’s good for hiking.’ Missing Link visibly relaxed at the sight o
f an old shepherd and his wife. ‘Nice views up here.’
Osman casually leaned on his walking stick. ‘I’ve been walking these mountains with my sheep since I was a young boy. You can’t get a better view than this.’ He grinned at them. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen any goats around here, have you? I’ve lost some.’
‘No. No goats.’ Skinny Guy stood, dusting off his jeans.
I inched my face upwards slightly, trying to get a better view in the cave. In the darkness, I could make out another shape, sitting at the back, knees bent, hand outstretched to the side, behind a rock. Could it be Kalem? I narrowed my eyes slightly, trying to get a better focus. No. It was a bald man, clean-shaven. Where was Ferret Face? Hang on, though. There was something familiar about the bald man. A pointy nose and chin, beady eyes – yes, I was sure that it was Ferret Face. He’d just shaved his hair and beard off. But where was Kalem? It seemed like Kuzu had smelled him inside the cave, otherwise why would she have gone sniffing towards it? The only question was – was he alive?
All the moisture drained from my mouth, and my tongue felt swollen so much that I was having trouble swallowing.
Osman tutted with disappointment. ‘Damn Goats. You can never tell where they will end up. How about a dog? A black and white one. Have you seen it? He was herding the goats, and he ran off.’
Shards of pain stabbed inside my chest.
They had guns and they weren’t afraid to use them. How could we get past them and inside the cave? We couldn’t exactly storm the cave, swinging a few sheep around by their tails as a distraction, and hope for the best. We were going to be slaughtered.
Osman looked calm and relaxed. He pushed his weight off the walking stick, so he was holding it at his side, elbows tucked in.
‘Haven’t seen a dog either,’ Missing Link said. ‘Maybe it’s on the other side of the mountain.’
I heard a quiet moaning noise from somewhere in the cave, and Ferret Face, distracted by the sound, turned his head to the side, looking at something I couldn’t see from where I was standing.
And before Ferret Face could turn his head back to us, Osman had the stick in both hands, swinging it through the air with lightning speed, catching Missing Link on the temple with a loud crack. Then he swung the stick through the air towards Skinny Guy’s nuts. It all happened so fast, the stick was a blur before my eyes.
