Behind the Wire (A Dan Taylor thriller)

by Rachel Amphlett

  ‘Dan?’

  He stopped at the note of panic in Anna’s voice and spun on his heel, expecting her to tell him she’d twisted her ankle or, worse, had stepped on a snake.

  ‘What?’

  She stood next to the small shrub she’d ducked behind. Instead of answering, she pointed towards the horizon, back the way they’d walked.

  In the distance, he could make out the tiny speck of the abandoned SUV, and his first instinct was to congratulate himself on how far they’d walked in such a short space of time.

  And then he saw the dust cloud beyond that, bearing down on them at speed, the outline of vehicles silhouetted against the setting sun.

  They were being pursued.

  CHAPTER 24

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘How did they find us so easily?’

  ‘They probably posted look-outs at that settlement,’ said Dan. ‘And other small towns around the border. They’d only need a couple of men at each, and then once someone calls it in, they can re-group.’

  He pulled Anna to his side. ‘Turn your back. Keep walking.’

  ‘But they’ve got vehicles. We won’t be able to out-run them.’

  ‘No, but we can plan for what happens next. Hold this.’ He passed his backpack over to her and pulled his mobile phone from his pocket, grateful the satellite signal was still relatively strong. He pressed the speed dial, and David Ludlow answered immediately.

  ‘David, we’re about to have company.’

  ‘You think they’ll take you hostage?’

  Dan could hear the fear in the man’s voice. Either the general’s daughter would be killed or ransomed. The other alternatives didn’t bear contemplating.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But I don’t intend to stick around, so do what you can.’

  ‘We’ve got contacts in the Polisario,’ said David. ‘They haven’t wanted to get involved yet – they might now that there’s a direct threat on your lives. They’ve been taking pot-shots at Al Qaeda in the region for years, so I’ll make some calls. If your pursuers take you hostage, how will I know where to send the Polisario?’

  ‘Have you got my GPS coordinates from this call?’

  ‘I have.’

  ‘I’m going to leave my phone on. When they take us, hopefully you’ll be able to track where we’re going. Tell Mel to use the satellite to keep a look-out for it.’

  ‘Copy that.’

  ‘Thanks. Got to go.’

  Dan ended the call, and deleted the call log and numbers from its memory. He left it switched on and then bent down and removed the boot from his right foot.

  He ripped out the insole, shoved the smartphone inside, and then slipped his boot back on.

  Next, he pulled the Glock from his belt, removed the clip, and threw the components in different directions, far away from where he stood.

  Anna watched him in disbelief. ‘Dan? If they take us hostage, what are we going to do?’

  ‘They won’t believe I work in insurance if they find that on me,’ he said.

  He reached out and squeezed Anna’s hand before retrieving his backpack from her. For someone unaccustomed to the situation, he was impressed by her ability to keep a level head and ask the right questions, but now sheer terror had taken over.

  ‘Look around you,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing for miles. Think about the houses we saw back there. I’m betting that wherever they take us, it’ll be deserted, run-down.’ He squinted up at the sky. ‘There’s only a few hours of daylight left, so nothing will happen tonight. We might get roughed up a bit, and they will intimidate you, but these people aren’t in charge. They’ll have a leader, but he’s not going to be top dog. He’ll be getting orders from someone else.’

  ‘Same as Galal, you think?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  Anna looked over her shoulder. ‘They’re getting closer.’

  ‘I know. I can hear them.’

  ‘I’m scared, Dan.’

  He stopped then, reached out, and gently tilted her chin until her eyes met his. ‘I won’t let them hurt you,’ he said.

  Anna swallowed, then wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. ‘I just want to go home.’

  ‘And I’ll get you there.’ He returned the hug. ‘Be brave. I’ll look after you.’

  He heard the vehicles draw closer, the engines now accompanied by the baying of their pursuers.

  Dan tilted his head until he could see them: three battered four-wheel drive vehicles, each carrying three men. Those who weren’t driving were leaning out the windows, brandishing assault rifles.

  Dan kept his face impassive as he watched them circle around where he and Anna stood.

  The men were locals by the look of it, heavily armed but not professionally trained, evidenced by the way they waved their guns around instead of keeping them aimed at their quarry. No doubt the mercenary force was stretched to capacity over the region, smaller than he’d anticipated, and had employed local look-outs to bolster their presence.

  He suppressed a smirk at a saying he’d heard once.

  All piss and wind.

  As in, all noise and no intent.

  ‘Keep calm,’ he murmured to Anna. ‘They’re doing this on purpose. Just do as they tell you, stay close, and you’ll be fine. Remember, these men aren’t in charge. They’re acting on orders.’

  ‘Okay,’ she managed.

  Dan held his hand up to his eyes and turned his head away from the dust cloud created by the vehicles as they continued to circle, the whooping cries of the men leaning out of the windows almost hysterical as they yelled in their unique dialect.

  The driver of the lead vehicle stopped suddenly, causing the two following to skid to a halt, jolting the occupants from their seats before they righted themselves and sprang from the vehicles.

  Dan crossed his fingers, hoping the men were simply over-excited and not on drugs as well. He could cope with stupidity and lack of training in his captors, but not if they were high on substances and unpredictable.

  He forced his body into a non-threatening stance and raised his hands.

  Anna copied him.

  A stocky man led the others towards Dan and Anna.

  Sunlight reflected off his sunglasses, his skin heavily wrinkled and tanned from years spent in the harsh desert environment.

  He was slightly shorter than Dan, and he removed his sunglasses and squared his shoulders as he approached, his chin jutting upwards.

  The leader cast his eyes over his men, waited until they were all watching him, and then strode from his vehicle and stood in front of Dan, who lowered his eyes.

  The leader began to laugh, a deep guttural rumble that shook his shoulders. ‘Ah, Mr Insurance Man. You will never cross this land on foot.’ He lifted his chin and waved a hand in the direction of the abandoned SUV. ‘And not in that.’ He gestured towards his vehicles. ‘Much better.’

  ‘I’ll bear that in mind next time, thanks,’ said Dan. ‘Are you here to give us a ride?’

  The leader’s face darkened, a moment before he swung his weapon round and jabbed the butt viciously into Dan’s stomach.

  Dan’s knees went out from under him as all the air was sucked from his lungs, and he heard Anna scream as he fell to the ground.

  He leaned forward, his hands in the dirt as he concentrated on getting his breath back.

  The leader bent down, grabbed the back of Dan’s shirt and pushed him down until his face was touching sand and gravel, and hissed in his ear.

  ‘You need to learn respect, Englishman.’

  He straightened, and Dan raised his head a moment before two of the men grabbed his arms and forced him to his feet.

  Dan staggered, his gut on fire, and glanced at Anna.

  Her eyes wide, she struggled when two more of their attackers wrapped their hands around her arms, and Dan gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

  Don’t fight them.

  He couldn’t explain that he’d had to
demonstrate to the leader of the group that he wasn’t a threat. By creating a situation where the leader of the group could exert his authority, he’d given the man the impression he had the upper hand.

  ‘Bring their bags,’ the leader commanded.

  He snatched the backpacks from the men who retrieved them and tipped the contents of each onto the sand. His eyes lit up when he spotted the hard drive, and he held it up with a grin on his face.

  ‘That’s mine,’ said Anna, trying to break free from the men who held her. ‘Give it back.’

  The leader’s eyes darkened.

  Dan clenched his fists.

  With the hard drive in the militants’ possession, only Anna could prevent them retrieving their money. He held onto the hope that they didn’t suspect her of having the information they sought.

  ‘Anna, leave it,’ he murmured. He shook his head. ‘It’s not worth dying for.’

  Anna stopped squirming, and they were dragged to the back seats of the first vehicle and their hands tied to the straps above the windows.

  ‘Where are you taking us?’ asked Dan. ‘We’re English and American citizens. We demand you take us to the proper authorities.’

  The leader laughed and swept his hand expansively across the landscape. ‘Here, we are the authorities, Mr Insurance Man.’ He grinned, revealing blackened gums.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Anna, her voice shaking.

  The man’s gaze fell to her, and Dan gritted his teeth at the look in the man’s eyes.

  ‘You will be guests of our beloved leader tonight,’ he said. ‘In the morning, we will have a visitor. When he is finished with you, you will be mine.’ He stepped forward and ran his fingers down Anna’s cheek.

  She flinched, and he grabbed her jaw, turning her head until their eyes met.

  ‘You will be mine,’ he repeated.

  He stepped away from her, and the doors were slammed shut. The leader of the group climbed into the passenger seat and nodded at the driver, who set off in the direction Dan and Anna had been headed.

  Dan cursed under his breath. He’d assumed the men would take them back to the settlement. Instead they were heading for unknown territory, and further into the desert.

  He felt his mobile phone sticking into the sole of his foot and hoped the signal was still working.

  And that the battery didn’t run out before he had a chance to let David know where they were being taken.

  CHAPTER 25

  It took nearly an hour to reach the abandoned buildings the group were using as their base, the vehicle bouncing over the terrain on well-worn suspension.

  Dan stole glances at their captors whenever he could.

  The leader appeared on edge, despite his men’s deference to him, and Dan couldn’t work out if it was due to nerves or substance abuse. If it was the latter, it would make him unpredictable – and more dangerous.

  The other men seemed almost nonchalant by comparison and reeked of marijuana.

  Dan frowned as he turned away and watched the sun set, the last of the orange and purple hues clouding the horizon.

  The men who had captured them didn’t display any of the qualities Dan had found in mercenaries he’d met over the years.

  Their weapons handling was shoddy, for a start, and they appeared to be more of a local group of thugs than a highly trained and organised force.

  Dan twisted his hands, testing the thin ropes that dug into his wrists. They held tight, and he rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate the sensation of pins and needles in his arms.

  He glanced across to Anna and raised an eyebrow.

  She looked scared, but she nodded once and then continued to stare out the window next to her, the darkening desert stretching for miles beyond.

  As the last of the sun’s rays began to dip, the vehicle slowed, and Dan could see the outline of the derelict outpost.

  The buildings looked as if they’d been constructed during the Spanish occupation – one that had ended decades ago; in places, walls had collapsed, leaving skeletal remains of supporting beams and broken roof tiles.

  One building remained relatively intact, larger than the rest, and resembled a fort.

  Dan sat up straighter as the vehicle approached it, assessing the layout as best he could from his restricted position.

  Although run-down, it appeared to have been repaired using materials scavenged from the other buildings, and he admired the group’s resourcefulness. They’d recognised the strength in the design of the small fort and had bolstered it rather than attempting to salvage the rest of the outlying ruins.

  The four-wheel drive creaked to a halt, and the leader of the group and his driver climbed out.

  Dan watched as a conversation ensued between them, the driver gesticulating and pointing at the fort until the leader appeared to acquiesce. The doors to the back seat were then ripped open, and Dan’s hands were released from their bindings.

  He rubbed his arms to get the circulation going again and checked to see that Anna was being untied as well. His arms were grabbed by the same two men who’d seized him before, and he was frog-marched towards a narrow opening in the fort wall.

  ‘What is this place?’ he asked, craning his neck to take in the height of the structure in the gloom.

  ‘It is not your business,’ the leader growled.

  He pushed through a heavy wooden door and led the way into a narrow passageway.

  Dan kept his face passive, but his eyes flickered left and right as he took in his surroundings.

  He stumbled at the entrance to another room, the door open.

  Inside, an array of weaponry littered the floor – crates with Russian markings on the side, rocket-propelled grenade launchers lined up against one wall, and boxes and boxes of ammunition.

  His captors grabbed his arms and steadied him, dragging him into the depths of the building, but he’d seen enough.

  Anna’s fears about an organised uprising were real, and somehow he had to stop it.

  CHAPTER 26

  Dan clenched his jaw as he was pushed over the threshold into a room to his right, moments before he heard Anna being dragged in after him.

  A single candle burned brightly on a wooden table, the crooked surface of which appeared as if it had been nailed together by debris from the original fort.

  The leader of the men who had captured them brushed past Dan and laid the hard drive he’d taken from Anna’s backpack on the table, then stepped back and addressed the man who sat behind it, his dark eyes blazing as he glared at his new guests.

  Although his skin was pock-marked by childhood disease and burned a deep brown by the sun, Dan reckoned him to be in his forties, no more. Deep wrinkles creased his cheeks, and his headdress did little to disguise a receding hairline.

  ‘They were caught trying to escape,’ the man said. ‘And that was in the woman’s bag.’

  ‘You have done well. This will be remembered.’

  The militiaman bowed, then moved to the door and crossed his arms, his features giving nothing away.

  The man behind the table rose from the chair and picked up the hard drive, turning it over in his hand.

  ‘You know, Miss Collins, it would have been much easier if you had simply handed this over to the police.’ His eyes flashed. ‘Much easier.’

  ‘Who are you?’ asked Dan.

  A round was chambered by one of the men behind him, the sound reverberating off the solid stone walls.

  Dan automatically raised his hands in the air.

  ‘I am Salim abd-al-Aziz,’ the man said. ‘And you are now mine.’

  Dan kept his hands up. ‘I demand you hand us over to our embassies in Rabat,’ he said, his voice urgent. ‘This is outrageous.’

  Salim’s eyes narrowed. ‘It is not your place to negotiate, Mr Insurance Man,’ he said, his voice dangerously low. ‘I would remind you that you are in a very precarious position at the moment.’

  For such a large man, he crossed the ro
om with efficiency, before slamming his fist into Dan’s stomach.

  Dan dropped to the floor, the sound of Anna’s scream reaching his subconscious as he struggled to breathe.

  He screwed up his eyes, panting to try and counteract the burning sensation that fanned out through his body.

  He raised himself to his hands and knees, seconds before Salim crouched down beside him and pulled one of Dan’s ears, forcing him to the floor once more.

  ‘I have what I need,’ he hissed, and used his other hand to point at the hard drive on the table, and then to Anna. ‘You are, as the Americans say, “surplus to requirements”.’

  Dan tried to ignore the pain at the side of his head. His vision blurred, and he saw Anna standing with her hands to her mouth, a look of sheer terror etched across her features.

  Somehow, he needed get the militant leader to focus on him, not Anna, and keep them both alive until he could get her away from the fort.

  ‘You can’t kill me,’ he said. ‘I’m the only one who has the codes.’

  Salim’s hand dropped from Dan’s ear, surprise in his eyes. His eyes flickered between Dan and Anna.

  Dan held his breath.

  Salim straightened. ‘Is it true?’ he asked Anna.

  She nodded. ‘I’m – I’m useless with computers.’ She forced a nervous laugh. ‘That’s why I have to rely on the men to do that for me.’ She shrugged. ‘I can’t access the money without him.’

  Dan shot Anna a glance and stayed still, watching Salim’s face as the man processed her words.

  Finally, his attention fell upon Dan once more, and he sneered.

  Dan had no time to react as Salim’s foot lashed out and caught him under the chin.

  His head snapped back, and he grunted as his skull met the wooden floor.

  As he groaned, the militant stooped over him, lifted his arm, and removed the watch from his wrist.

  ‘Get up,’ he snarled.

  Dan hissed through his teeth as fire tore through his belly and did as he was told. Instinctively, he edged closer to Anna before the man who held her dragged her backwards out of his reach.