Behind the Wire (A Dan Taylor thriller)

by Rachel Amphlett

  He glanced down. ‘Ready?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He nodded, then strode towards the bars of the cell and blew a low whistle.

  The guard’s eyes twitched but remained closed.

  ‘Oi,’ said Dan, careful to keep his voice low. ‘Hey.’

  The guard mumbled in his sleep, then one of his arms fell to his side, and he began to snore once more.

  Dan exhaled, exasperated. He turned and stalked around the small room, then found some plaster chips that had fallen away from one of the walls and carried them over to the barred door.

  ‘Hey,’ he said again, and threw half the chips at the guard.

  They showered him in fine gravel and dust, peppering his head and shoulders.

  The guard’s eyes opened immediately, wide and staring as he appeared to try to get his bearings, and then he glared at Dan and stood up.

  Dan beckoned to him. ‘Get over here.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘She’s not feeling well.’

  Anna groaned and sounded so convincing that Dan checked to make sure she was really acting. She caught his eye, then let out another theatrical groan and clutched her stomach.

  Dan turned his attention back to the guard. ‘Listen, I think it’s something she ate.’ He mimed eating and then rubbed his stomach, hoping to hell the guard took the hint.

  The man frowned, took two steps forward, and then stopped, confusion clouding his features.

  Dan beckoned to him. ‘Hurry, man. I don’t know what to do.’ He knew the man couldn’t understand him, so he made his tone urgent, pleading, and tried to look as worried as possible. He checked Anna’s position as the man drew closer, then spun round as the guard reached the iron bars, threaded his hand through the gap, seized the man’s vest top, and pulled.

  Hard.

  The man over-balanced, arms flailing, and a dull thunk resonated around the small space as his skull met the metalwork.

  Dan loosened his grip as the man fell back, dazed.

  He frowned.

  The man was still conscious.

  Dan yanked at the man’s clothes again.

  Harder.

  This time, the man collapsed the moment his head met the iron bars, and Dan felt him sag under his grip.

  ‘Now!’ Dan hissed.

  Anna ran across the room and began searching the pockets of the guard’s tracksuit pants while Dan held him aloft.

  ‘Got them,’ she said a few moments later, and extracted a set of two keys.

  ‘Get the door open,’ said Dan. ‘Hurry.’

  He could feel the guard’s deadweight beginning to slip from his grip. He thrust out his other hand and steadied the man while Anna fumbled with the keys, trying to find the lock on the opposite side of the cell grille.

  The steel bars were designed to swing outwards, and if Dan dropped the guard’s body before Anna could release the door, they’d be trapped, the man’s body blocking the door.

  After what seemed like an age, Anna managed to insert the right key, and the grille shifted under their combined weight.

  ‘Go,’ said Dan. ‘Push it open.’

  Between them, they opened the grille, and Dan pushed past Anna and grabbed the guard under his arms.

  Blood trickled from a gash behind the man’s left ear, and Dan made sure none of it fell to the floor as he dragged the man into the cell and pulled him across to the darkened far side of the room.

  ‘Help me,’ said Dan.

  He bunched up the man’s body into a foetal position, his back to the cell opening, and took one of the blankets Anna held out to him.

  ‘What if he wakes up?’ whispered Anna.

  Dan reached out to check the man’s pulse and shook his head. ‘I don’t think he’s going to wake up any time soon,’ he said. ‘His pulse is too weak.’

  He straightened and dashed towards the open door. ‘Stay here,’ he said.

  ‘What? Wait.’ Anna ran to the grille as Dan swung the door shut, desperation in her eyes. ‘Don’t leave me.’

  Dan reached out and grasped her fingers. ‘You have to stay here. Curl up on the other blanket in front of the guard. Hide him from view with your body. If anyone comes here, it has to look as if the guard has left his post of his own accord, and that we’re both in there asleep.’

  He turned and picked up the rifle the guard had dropped and checked the breach. It was clogged with dirt and grease, and Dan’s nose wrinkled in disgust. He emptied the rounds, put them in his pocket, and propped the now useless weapon against the wall.

  ‘Back in a minute,’ he said.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘There’s a weapons cache near the entrance they brought us through. I’m going to get us out of here.’ He squeezed her hands and let go. ‘And I want to take out as many of the guards as I can before we go. Otherwise we’re just going to end up with them all on our tail again.’

  Anna nodded, understanding. ‘Be careful, okay?’

  Dan winked. ‘I’ll be back. Don’t wait up.’

  CHAPTER 30

  Dan padded away from the cells and edged along the far wall of the corridor, keeping his profile in the shadows.

  A whirring mechanical noise emanated beyond an outer wall, while next to him candles had been placed in cavities dug into the wall, casting a dull light, and Dan realised that any power to the building would be from a diesel-powered generator. As he progressed along the passageway, he leaned across and blew out some of the candles, reducing visibility to a minimum.

  He sniffed.

  Someone, somewhere in the building, was cooking, and the fragrant aroma of spices and meat cut through the stagnant air.

  The passageway widened, and the first of two doors were revealed. Dan wanted to explore, to get his bearings and work out where their captors were, but first he had to find a weapon.

  He slipped past the doors after checking the way was clear and made his way through the rabbit-warren of corridors towards the arms cache he’d seen.

  The sound of muted conversation and the occasional laugh reached his ears, and he realised that with the guard on duty in the cells, the rest of the men were relaxing. With food in their bellies and marijuana in their lungs, they’d be unaware of his movements.

  He didn’t trust Salim though; the leader of the motley bunch of militants had already shown his sociopathic tendencies and would likely ignore any temptation to take recreational drugs in front of his men – especially with the likelihood of his paymasters arriving the following day.

  He recalled that the passageway intersected with another at what he supposed was the mid-point of the fort; when he and Anna had been taken to the cells, they’d headed straight across the path of the other stone-hewn corridor, and he hadn’t had a chance to see what lay down either of the other passageways before his captors had pushed him onwards.

  Now, he slowed his pace further as he approached the junction, the voices of the men filtering from the passageway to his left. He checked the way in front of his position to ensure it was clear, then to the right. Once satisfied no-one would find him on the loose, he edged around the corner to try to see where the noise was coming from.

  A glow emanated from the end; firelight flickered over the walls, reflected from an open doorway to another room. Swirls of marijuana-fuelled smoke escaped into the passageway, twisting as they filtered towards the exposed beams that had once held a ceiling aloft, and Dan realised that the men were in the old kitchen area of the fort.

  Laughter and cat-calling filled the space, together with the sounds of plates being scraped across a hard surface and the occasional loud belch.

  He froze when Salim’s voice cut through the rest, his tone argumentative, the guttural tones of his native dialect echoing off the walls.

  A silence followed his words, the only sound coming from a log that crackled loudly in the fire, and then one of the men guffawed, the rest joined in, and the moment passed.

  Dan exhaled, letting some of the pressure
that had built up in his chest to pass. Satisfied the men were going to be occupied for a while yet, Dan hurried across the intersection and back the way he’d been brought earlier that evening.

  He soon drew level with the door to the room Salim had occupied, the table inside illuminated by a single candle. Dan’s mouth twitched as he ran his eyes over the contents of the table, and a refinement to his original plan began to form in his mind.

  Taking a spare candle from the table, he lit it, then quickly exited the room, turned left, and finally rounded the corner to where he’d seen the guns and ammunition.

  He left the candle on the floor just inside the door to avoid it falling over near any of the munitions crates and began to rummage through the contents of the wooden boxes.

  Pushing the packing material aside, he soon pulled out two Russian-made pistols and an assault rifle, then turned to the other side of the room and pocketed as much ammunition as he could carry.

  Finally, he crouched down next to a single box he’d spotted near the door, picked out one of the objects that lay inside, and tossed it in his hand, testing its weight, his heartbeat racing.

  An idea struck him, and he grabbed a second grenade.

  He snuffed out the candle, pulled the door until it was almost closed, and removed the pin from the first grenade. Sweat poured from his brow as he kept his thumb on the safety lever and wrapped the crude tripwire around it.

  The trap set, he hurried back to Salim’s room, keeping his footsteps light on the stone floor.

  Entering the space, he put the candle back where he’d found it, then reached out and picked up Salim’s decommissioned grenade.

  He held it up next to the one he’d taken from the munitions room, turning them in the light from the candle that still flickered on Salim’s table.

  They were identical.

  CHAPTER 31

  Dan returned to the cell without incident and passed one of the guns to Anna before pulling the grille across the doorway.

  ‘Nothing happened. What did you do?’

  ‘Patience,’ and Dan. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’

  ‘What do we do now?’ asked Anna.

  ‘We wait,’ said Dan.

  A loud groan emanated from the corner of the room where the guard lay.

  Dan wandered over to the curled-up form, crouched down, and checked the man’s pulse. It was still weak, but Dan reached out, tore a strip from the blanket, and tied the man’s hands behind him before placing a gag over his mouth in case he awoke and cried out, alerting the others.

  ‘These guns are brand new,’ said Anna as Dan returned to his position at the door. She turned the weapon in her hands before she fed the ammunition Dan held out to her into the magazine.

  ‘At least you know you were right about what the money was being used for,’ said Dan.

  ‘Great,’ muttered Anna under her breath. She sighted the gun across the room, then relaxed her grip and eyed the passageway beyond the cells. ‘Why don’t we go now? You made it to Salim’s room and back without being seen. We could leave.’

  Dan shook his head. ‘They’ll have a couple of look-outs on the roof as a minimum,’ he said. ‘At least, I would if I were Salim.’

  Anna wrinkled her nose. ‘He’s the only one who seems to know what he’s doing,’ she said. ‘The rest—’

  ‘Would be dangerous if we provoked them,’ said Dan. ‘They’re thugs.’

  Dan automatically raised his wrist and then cursed as he remembered Salim had removed his watch. He had no idea how long it would take for his plan to take effect, but he hoped to be on the move under cover of darkness. The longer they waited, the more tired they would become, especially Anna who was unused to combat situations.

  He stole a glance at the woman next to him. He hardly recognised the scrawny twenty-something he’d met when she was still a university student. Now, she was more mature and self-assured, despite the trauma she’d endured the past two days.

  She held the gun in her hand with ease, and with the general as her father, he had no doubt about her marksmanship.

  He fleetingly wondered, though, if she would shoot another person, even if her life depended on it.

  His thoughts were interrupted by noise from the men’s quarters.

  ‘They’re coming,’ hissed Anna, her body tensing next to his.

  ‘Stay here,’ said Dan under his breath. ‘Don’t fire unless I tell you.’

  The scraping of a chair being moved reached his ears, and then footsteps echoed along the passageway.

  In his mind, Dan envisaged the small group disbanding after their meal, splitting up through the fort to sleep or carry out whatever duties Salim had set them.

  He figured one man would be sent to relieve their guard from his post.

  ‘When he appears, distract him,’ said Dan. ‘Make sure he looks at you.’

  Dan pushed the cell door open and hurried over to the opposite wall, where he’d be out of sight from the guard until he walked into the room.

  Anna ran to the cell door as the footsteps grew louder.

  ‘Hello?’ she called. ‘Please – help me. I think there’s something wrong. Hurry!’

  The footsteps quickened, and Anna reached out through the bars of the cell.

  Dan could sense the guard’s presence, heavy breathing reaching his ears a split second before the man’s form filled the doorway.

  Dan didn’t hesitate. He spun away from the wall, dragged the man into the room, and forced him to the floor in a headlock, using the guard’s own momentum to drive him into the hard stonework.

  The man’s body went limp on impact under Dan’s weight, his head lolling to one side at an impossible angle.

  Dan pushed himself upright, checked the man’s pulse, and then shook his head.

  ‘Okay,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Let’s go.’

  The sound of sobbing reached his ears, and he looked up to see Anna trying to regain her composure.

  He stood, tore open the cell door, and pulled her into his arms.

  ‘We need to go,’ he said.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Anna. ‘It’s just – I’ve never seen you like that.’ She sniffed. ‘That was scary.’

  ‘It was him or us,’ said Dan patiently. ‘Come on. Pull it together,’ he added. ‘We’re not out of danger yet.’

  She wiped her eyes and nodded.

  At that moment, an explosion ripped through the building, and Dan reached out to steady Anna as the floor shook.

  Parts of the wall next to them crumbled, and plaster dust rained from the ceiling as the noise died away, and the sound of screams and shouting filtered through the fort.

  Anna’s eyes widened. ‘What the hell was that?’

  Dan winked. ‘The warranty ran out on Salim’s toy grenade.’

  CHAPTER 32

  ‘Go!’

  Dan checked none of the militiamen were present, and pushed Anna through the door.

  He began to follow, then pivoted and ran back to the cell, crouched down next to the unconscious guard and tore more strips from the blanket next to him.

  He joined Anna, swung the door shut, and shouldered the rifle.

  ‘Here,’ he said, and handed her one of the cloth strips. ‘Tie this around your mouth and nose.’ He waited until she was ready, and then grabbed her hand.

  ‘Stay behind me. Do what I do. Watch our rear,’ he commanded. ‘Got it?’

  She nodded. ‘Got it,’ she said, her voice muffled behind the cloth.

  Confused shouting filtered along the passageway as they hurried towards their escape, the sound of a man’s screams piercing the smoke-filled air.

  Miraculously, candles still burned in some of the recesses, and Dan pulled down his makeshift mask to blow them out, casting their position into shadows.

  He put a finger to his lips and turned as footsteps drew closer.

  A curse echoed around the space, and Dan heard the distinct sound of a round being chambered. He clenched his jaw, f
orcing himself to wait until the last minute to show his position.

  He signalled to Anna to crouch and stay down. He figured the guard would expect them to walk around the corner of the passageway.

  Instead, Dan crept forward in a stooped position, his rifle raised.

  The guard spotted him a moment too late, and Dan fired a short burst as the man’s finger found the trigger of his own weapon.

  Dan threw himself to the floor as a hail of bullets hit the wall next to him, before the man fell to the ground, the gun silent.

  ‘Okay, come on.’ Dan straightened and beckoned to Anna. ‘Let’s find the back door to this place.’

  Then a second explosion rocked the building, and Dan pulled Anna to the wall with him, shielding her face from the rush of air that was sucked from the passageway to fuel the flames.

  ‘What–’

  Anna’s confused eyes found his.

  ‘I also booby-trapped the arms cache,’ said Dan. ‘Let’s go.’

  He had realised when he’d planted the two live grenades that there was a risk of fire spreading uncontrollably once it exploded, but he was desperate. He had to get Anna away from the fort before reinforcements arrived in the morning.

  Reaching the main passageway that bisected the fort, he turned the opposite way from where he’d found the arms cache, the air filled with choking smoke.

  Breaking into a jog, he led the way to where he’d heard the sounds and aromas of cooking only hours before.

  He slowed as they reached the room, signalled to Anna to stay behind him, then swung into the room, rifle raised.

  The room was deserted, all its occupants having left to find the cause of the first explosion and arm themselves.

  ‘Come on,’ he said.

  The back door to the fort was unguarded, another sign of the rag-tag militants’ inexperience.

  A single long piece of timber acted as a lock, and Dan slung his rifle over his shoulder.

  He removed the timber, propped it against the wall, and then opened the door a crack, the rifle ready.

  ‘Okay, we’re clear,’ he said, pushing the door open. ‘Let’s go.’