by Wilbur Smith
uma Nogo watched the sun push its great fiery head out of the surface of
the Nile ahead of them. They were flying only feet above the water to
keep under the Sudanese military radar trans missions. He knew there was
a radar station at Khartoum that might be able to pick them up, even at
this range.
Relations with the Sudanese were strained, and he could expect a quick
and savage response if they discovered that he had violated their
border.
Nogo was a confused and worried man. Since the d6bdcle in the gorge of
the Dandera river everything had run strongly against him. He had lost
all his allies. Until they were gone he had not realized how heavily he
had come to rely on both Helm and von Schiller. Now he was on his own
and he had already made many mistakes.
But despite all this he was determined to pursue the fugitives, and to
run them down no matter how far he had to intrude into Sudanese
territory. Over the past weeks it had gradually dawned'upon Nogo, mostly
by eavesdropping on the conversations of von Schiller and the jr
Egyptian, that Harper and Mek Nimmur were in possession of treasure of
immense value. His imagination could barely asp the enormity of it, but
he had heard others speak of gr tens of millions of dollars. Even a
million dollars was a sum so vast that his mind had difficulty
assimilating it, but he I i had a vague inkling as to what it might mean
in earthly terms, of the possessions and women and luxuries it could
buy.
Equally slowly it had dawned upon him that, now that Von Schiller and
Helm were gone, this treasure could be his alone; there was no longer
any other person to stand in his way, other than the fleeing shufta led
by Mek Nimmur and the Englishman. And he had overwhelming force on his
side and the helicopter at his command.
if only he could pin the fugitives down, Nogo was certain he could wipe
them out. There must be no survivors, no one to carry tales to Addis.
After Mek and the Englishman and all their followers were dead it would
be a simple matter to spirit his booty out of the country in the
helicopter. There was a man in Nairobi and another in Khartoum whom he
had dealt with before; they had bought contraband ivory and hashish from
him. They would know how to market the booty to best advantage, although
they were both devious men. He had already decided that he would not
trust it all to one person but would spread the risk, so that even if
one of them betrayed and cheated him His mind raced off on another tack,
and he savoured the thought of great riches and what they could buy for
him. He would have fine clothes and motor cars, land and cattle and
women - white women and black and brown, all the women he could use, a
new one for every day of his life. He broke off his greedy daydreams.
First he had to find where the runaways had vanished to.
He had not realized that Harper and Mek Nimmur had inflatable boats
hidden somewhere near the monastery.
Hansith had not informed him of that fact. He and Helm had expected them
to try to escape on foot, and all the plans to head them off before they
could reach the Sudanese border had been based on that assumption. On
Helm's orders, he had even set up a reserve fuel dump near the border
where they expected Mek Nimmur to cross, from which they could refuel
the helicopter. Without those supplies of fuel he would long ago have
been forced to give up the chase.
Nogo had placed his men to cover the trails leading along the river bank
towards the west, and he had not even considered guarding the river
itself. It was quite by chance that one of his patrols had been in a
position to spot the flotilla of yellow boats as they came racing
downstream. However, there had not been enough warning to enable them to
set up an effective ambush, and they had been able to fire on the boats
only briefly before they escaped. They had not inflicted serious damage
on any of the boats - at least, not enough to stop them getting through.
Immediately the company commander had radioed his report of this contact
with Mek Nimmur, Nogo had started ferrying men downstream to the
Sudanese border to cut off the flotilla. Unfortunately, the Jet Ranger
could carry no more than six fully armed men at a time, and transporting
them had been a time-consuming business. He had only succeeded in
bringing sixty of his men into position before night had fallen.
During the night he fretted that the flotilla was slipping past him, and
with the dawn they were in the air again. Fortunately the cloud had
broken up during the night. There was still some high cumulus overhead,
but they were now able to fly low along the river and search for any
sign of Mek Nimmur's flotilla.
They had first flown back along the river on the Ethiopian side of the
border, as far as the point where Mek Nimmur and Harper had been fired
upon. They had picked up no sign of the boats, so Nogo had forced the
pilot to turn back, cross the border and search the Sudanese stretch the
Nile. But Nogo had only been able to persuade his pilot to penetrate
sixty nautical miles along the Nile into the Sudan before the man had
rebelled. Despite the Tokarev pistol that Nogo held to his head, he had
banked the jet Ranger into a 180-degree turn and headed back low along
the river.
By now Nogo knew he had been defeated and ourwitd. He brooded unhappily
in the front seat of the helicopter ter beside the pilot, trying to
fathom out what had happened to his quarry. He saw the tall smokestack
of the abandoned sugar-mill at Roseires poking up into the early morning
sky, and he glowered at it angrily. They had passed the mill only a
short while before on their way downstream.
"Turn in towards the north bank," he ordered the pilot, and the man
hesitated and glanced at him before he obeyed..
They passed directly over the building, flying lower than the chimney.
The factory was roofless and the windows were empty rectangles in the
broken walls. The boilers and machinery had been removed twenty years
previously, and Nogo could look into the empty shell. The pilot hovered
the aircraft while Nogo peered down, but there was no place where anyone
could hide, and Nogo shook his head.
"Nothing! We have lost them. Head back upstream." The pilot lifted the
machine's nose and turned away towards the river, obeying the order with
alacrity. As the aircraft banked steeply, Nogo was looking down directly
into the overgrown canefields verging the river when a flash of bright
yellow caught his eye.
"Waid' he shouted into his mike. "There is something 9 there. Go back!'
The helicopter hovered over the field, and Nogo gestured urgently
downwards. "Down! Put us down."
As soon as the skids touched the earth, the stick of six heavily armed
troopers dived out of the rear cabin and raced out to take up defensive
positions. Nogo clambered out of the front door and ran into the
overgrown bed of tall cane. One look was all he needed. The yellow boats
had been defla
ted and folded and hastily covered. The earth around them
had been churned up by booted feet.
The tracks led away inland. The men who had made them had been heavily
laden, for they had trodden deeply into the soft, sandy earth.
Nogo ran back to the helicopter and thrust his head in through the open
cabin door. "Is there an airstrip near here?" he shouted at the pilot,
who shook his head.
"There is nothing shown on the chart,, "There must have been one. The
sugar'mill would have had a strip."
"If there was one, it must have been decommissioned years ago.
"We will find it,'Nogo declared. "Mek Nimmur's tracks will lead us to
it." He sobered immediately. "But I will have to bring up more men.
judging by his spoor, Mek Nimmur has at least fifty of his shufta with
him."
He left his men at the sugar-mill and flew back to the border with an
empty rear cabin to pick up the first load of reinforcements.
'ñDig Dolly! Come in, Big Dolly. This is Pharaoh.
Do you read?" Nicholas put out his first call an MD hour before sunrise.
"If I know the way jannie's mind works, and I should, he would plan to
make his approach flight in darkness and arrive here as soon as there is
enough light to pick up the strip and land."
7L 111.7- 7 -7
"If the Fat Man comes," Mek Nimmur qualified.
"He will come," said Nicholas confidently. "Jannie has never let me down
yet." He thumbed the microphone and called again: "Big Dolly! Come in,
Big Dolly."
The static hummed softly, and Nicholas retuned the set carefully. He
called again every fifteen minutes as they huddled around the set in the
dark under the acacia trees.
Suddenly Royan started to her feet and exclaimed excitedly, "There he
is. I can hear Big Dolly's engines.
Listen!'
Nicholas and Mek ran out into the open, and turned their faces upwards,
looking into the north.
Nicholas exclaimed sud
"That's not the Hercules, denly. "That's another machine." He turned and
faced southwards, towards the river. "Anyway, it's coming from the wrong
direction."
"You are right," Mek agreed. "That's a single engine, and it's not a
fixed wing. You can hear the rotors."
"The Pegasus helicopter!" Nicholas exclaimed bitterly.
"They are on to us again."
As they listened, the sound of the rotors faded.
Nicholas looked relieved. "They missed us. They can't have IR spotted
the Avons."
They trooped back under the cover of the acacias, and Nicholas called
again on the radio, but there was no reply from Jannie.
Twenty minutes later they heard the sound of the jet Ranger returning,
and they monitored it anxiously.
"Gone again," said Nicholas after a while, but then twenty minutes later
they heard it yet again.
"Nogo is up to something out there,'Mek said uneasily.
"What do you think it is?" Nicholas was infected by his mood. When Mek
worried, there was usually a damned good reason to worry.
"I don't know," Mek admitted. "Perhaps Nogo has spotted the Avbns and is
bringing up more men before he comes after us." He went out into the
open and listened intently, then came back to where Nicholas crouched
over the radio.
"Keep calling," he said. "I am going out to the perimeter to make
certain my men are ready to hold Nogo off if he comes., The helicopter
moved up and down the Nile at'short intervals during the next three
hours, but the lack of any further developments lulled them, and
Nicholas barely looked up from the radio each time they heard the
distant beat of the rotors. Suddenly the radio crackled, and Nicholas
started violently at the shock.
"Pharaoh! This is Big Dolly. Do you read?"
Nicholas's voice bubbled over with relief as he replied, "This is
Pharaoh. Speak sweet words to me, Big Dolly."
"ETA your position one hour thirty minutes." jannie's accent was
unmistakable.
"You will be very welcome!" Nicholas promised him fervently.
He hung up the microphone and beamed at the two women, "Jannie is on his
way, and he will-'
He broke off and his smile shrivelled to an expression of dismay. From
the direction of the river came the unmistakable rattle of AK-47 rapid
fire, followed a few seconds later by the crump of an exploding grenade.
"Oh, dammit to hell!" he groaned. "I thought it was too good to last.
Nogo has arrived."
He picked up the mike again and spoke into it expressionlessly. "Big
Dolly! The uglies have arrived on the scene. It's going to have to be a
hot extraction."
"Hang on to your crown, Pharaoh!" jannie's voice floated back. "I am on
my way."
During the next half-hour the sounds of the fighting along the river
intensified until the rattle of small-arms fire was almost continuous,
and gradually it crept closer to the far end of the airstrip. It was
clear that Mek's men, spread , out thinly along the river end of the
strip, were falling back before the thrust of Nogo's men. And every
twenty minutes or so there was'the sound of the returning helicopter, as
it ferried another stick of men to increase the pressure on Mek's scanty
defence.
Nicholas and Sapper were the only ablebodied men left in the acacia
grove, for all the others had gone out to defend the perimeter. The two
of them moved the ammunition crates to the edge of the trees, where they
could be loaded in haste once the Hercules landed.
Nicholas sorted out the cargo, reading the contents of each crate from
the notations on the lids in Royan's handwriting. The crate containing
the death -mask and the Taita ushabd would be the first to go aboard,
followed by the three crowns- the blue war crown, the Nemes crown and
the red and white crown of the united kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt.
The value of those three crates probably exceeded that of all the rest
of the treasure combined.
Once the cargo had been taken care of, Nicholas went down the row of
wounded men and spoke to each of them in turn. First, he thanked them
for their help and sacrifice, red to take them out on the Hercules to
and then offed where they could receive proper medical attention. He
mised each of them that, if they accepted the offer, he pro would see to
it . -lat once they had recovered from their wounds they could return to
Ethiopia.
Seven of them - those who were less seriously wounded and were able to
walk - refused to leave Mek Nimmur.
Their loyalty was a touching demonstration of the high regard in which
Mek was held by his men. The others reluctantly agreed to be evacuated,
but only after Tessay had intervened and added her assurances to
Nicholas's.
Then he and Sapper carried them to the point at the edge of the grove
where jannie would halt Big Dolly for the pick'up.
"What about you?" Nicholas asked Tessay. "Are you coming out with us?
You are still in pretty bad shape."
Tessay laughed. "While I can still stand on my two feet, I will never
leave Mek Nimmur.
"
"I can't understand what you see in that old rogue," Nicholas laughed
with her. "I have -spoken to Mek. He wants me to take his share of the
booty with me. He won't be able to carry any extra luggage at the
moment."
"Yes, I know. Mek and I discussed it. We need the money to continue the
struggle here."
She broke off and ducked involuntarily, as a stunning explosion cracked
in their eardrums and a tall column of dust leaped into the air close to
the edge of the grove.
Shrapnel whistled over their heads and twigs and leaves rained down on
them.
sweet Mary! What was that?" Tessay cried.
"Two-inch mortar,'said Nicholas. He had not moved, nor made any attempt
to take cover. "More bark than bite.
Nogo must have brought it in with his last flight."
"When will the Hercules get here?"
"I'll give jannie a call, and ask him."
As Nicholas sauntered over to the radio set Tessay whispered to Royan,
"Are you English always so cooV
"Don't Ask me - I' mostly Egyptian, and I am terrified." Royan smiled
easily and put her arm around Tessay. "I am going to miss you, Lady
Sun."
"Perhaps we will meet again in happier times." Tessay turned her head
and kissed her impulsively, and Royan hugged her hard.
"I hope so. I hope so with all my heart."
Nicholas spoke into the microphone. "Big Dolly, this is Pharaoh. "What
is your position now?"
"Pharaoh, we are twenty minutes out, and hurrying.
Did you have baked beans for dinner or is that mortar fire I hear in the
background?"
"With your wit you should have gone on the stage,'
Nicholas told him. "The uglies have control of the south end of the
strip. Make your approach from the north. The wind is wester rly at
about five knots. So any way you come in, it will be cross-wirid.
"Roger, Pharaoh. How many passengers and cargo do YOU have for me?"
"Passengers are six cas-evac plus three, Cargo is fifty-two crates,
about a quarter of a ton weight."
"Hardly worth coming all this way for so little, Pharaoh."
"Big Dolly. Be advised, there is another aircraft in the circuit. A jet
Ranger helter. Colour green and red. It 1cop is a hostile, but unarmed."
"Roger, Pharaoh. I will call again on finals."
the two women were Nicholas went back to where waiting with the wounded.
"Not long now," he told them cheerfully. He had to raise his voice to
