The Lebanese was on his feet in an instant. ‘Moves fast for such a big man, doesn’t he?’ Jock said with a grin.
‘Only if there’s money in it,’ said Shepherd.
They took the battered and bullet-holed Landcruiser that they had commandeered from the SAS base on their first day in Freetown and drove down into the city, past the now familiar landmarks of the crumbling art deco State House on Tower Hill, the Pademba Road jail, the abandoned and looted Government Book Store and the American Embassy overlooking the Cotton Tree roundabout, shaded by the huge tree that gave it its name. They drove on across the city, past the derelict City Hall and the grey concrete bowl of the football stadium - a monument to his own vanity built by a former dictator, Siaka Stevens - and reached a once-prosperous district where every shop and office now seemed abandoned. They turned into a side-street and drove in through the iron gates and into the yard of a dingy warehouse building. A guard eyed them suspiciously but before he could challenge them, a dark haired woman came out of the building and smiled in recognition as she saw Shepherd at the wheel.
She hurried to greet him as he climbed out of the vehicle and he introduced her to the others. ‘This is Laurence Beltran,’ he said, ‘Medicaid International’s regional director, and one of the few foreigners in this country who is here for the benefit of its people and not to steal from them. How’s Abiola, Laurence?’ He turned to Jock. ‘ He’s a boy I met last time I was here,’ he said by way of explanation.
‘He’s fine,’ she said, ‘and there is someone else here you may recognise. Baraka!’
Shepherd’s patrol had rescued the boy from the rebels, along with several other traumatised children, some weeks before. Despite the children’s pleas, the SAS men had no choice other than to leave them to defend themselves. Shepherd had gone to see Laurence to try to persuade her to rescue the children, but given the thousands of other destitute and traumatised children in Sierra Leone, he hadn’t been optimistic about Baraka’s fate. However to Shepherd’s delight, he now saw the boy emerging from the shadows at the back of the yard and breaking into a broad smile as he caught sight of the SAS men. Shepherd waved at the boy and the boy waved back.
‘My friends and I have something for you,’ Shepherd said to Laurence. ‘You will need to be discreet because it is, shall we say, an unofficial gift.’ He gestured at the Lebanese merchant. ‘But Farid here will help you with it. It should give you the resources not only to help Abiola and Baraka, but to aid and rescue many other children too.’ He reached into his top pocket and took out a handful of rough diamonds and poured them into her hands. She stared at them in disbelief as tears formed in her eyes. ‘Are these what I think they are?’
‘They are, and Farid will make sure that you get a fair price for them, because he knows that if he doesn’t, the SAS will hunt him down wherever in the world he goes and no matter how he tries to hide, we will find him, and we will make him pay. And it won’t be in dollars, Farid, it’ll be in blood.’ He smiled. ‘Isn’t that right, Farid?’
Farid, whose eyes had been glued to the rough diamonds, gave an involuntary shudder. ‘You have my word that, apart from a modest commission for myself of course - though only enough to cover my time and trouble,’ he said hastily as he saw the look in Shepherd’s eye, ‘I shall give every cent I receive to this beautiful lady.’
‘Make sure you do,’ Jock said. ‘Or else.’ He drew his finger across his throat menacingly.
They said their goodbyes to Laurence and the boys, then dropped Farid in the Lebanese quarter of the city, where he disappeared into a maze of alleys.
Jock drove back out of the city and along Lumley Beach Road to their hotel. As they got out of the Landcruiser, Jock gave a broad smile. ‘When did you sneak those diamonds out of the bag?’ he asked.
Shepherd grinned. ‘On the chopper.’
‘You did the right thing.’
‘I know that.’
‘Didn’t keep a few back for yourself and your mates, did you?’
Shepherd laughed. ‘Sorry, Jock. No.’
‘Probably best. Don’t know what I’d do with serious money.’
‘Me neither.’
They walked into the hotel together. ‘Know what, Spider? I would never have taken you for a do-gooder.’
Shepherd grinned back at him. ‘I didn’t see you objecting to me giving her the diamonds.’
‘For the kids,’ said Jock.
Shepherd nodded. ‘Yeah. For the kids.’
‘Well if you’re not going to give me diamonds, I’ll settle for a few whiskies. And correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve got a feeling it’s your round.’
‘Funny how it always seems to be your round yesterday and my round today, Jock.’
The Glaswegian’s smile broadened even further. ‘You’ve still got much to learn, Grasshopper. Watch and learn from the Master, watch and learn.’
* * *
There are six more all-action Spider Shepherd military stories in Spider Shepherd: SAS (Volume 2). Spider has his own website at www.danspidershepherd.com and you can read more about Stephen Leather’s work at www.stephenleather.com
Spider Shepherd left the SAS at the end of 2002 and joined an elite police undercover unit. You can read the first of his undercover adventures in Hard Landing, where he goes undercover in a high security prison to unmask a drugs dealer who is killing off witnesses to his crimes.
Hard Landing is available in the UK for 49p at – http://amzn.to/xxX2YU
And in the US for less than a dollar at – http://amzn.to/xWg1E7
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Table of Contents
About Stephen Leather
Hard Targets
Natural Selection
Narrow Escape
Warning Order
Hostile Territory
Rough Diamonds
Spider Shepherd: SAS: #1 Page 24
