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by Robert Muchamore

  ‘All that changed when Adam left. I’d enjoyed rumbling with him. Teaching him things. Teasing each other. When you took him, this place seemed dead. I hated staring at the same trees and walking the same path down to the lake every day. It got very dark in my head and I started to think about ending it all.’ ‘Did you try?’ Sami asked. Billy shrugged, ‘No. I started thinking about heading west, but it’s hard on your own without maps. I

  was wondering if I could travel with you.’ I shrugged, ‘I can’t see why not.’ Sami didn’t seem so sure, ‘You’ll get recognised.’ ‘That’s why I haven’t shaved,’ Billy said. ‘The beard disguises the famous Mango jaw line.’ ‘You looked after Adam for two months,’ I said. ‘As far as I’m concerned, I owe you one. You’re

  welcome to come along with us.’ ‘But if there’s trouble, we’re not sticking our necks out to rescue you.’ Sami said. ‘Adam’s safety comes

  first.’ ‘That’s fair,’ Billy said. ‘When are we going?’

  25. MARINGA

  Our next target was Kisumba, the nearest big town. It was 400 kilometres away on the western bank of the Maringa river. The Maringa cut the country in two, running north out of the mountains, before merging with the Congo and spilling into the pacific 3000 kilometres away. The river was a natural barrier, which the government used to keep rebel forces from the western part of the country. Captain’s notes summed up our options:

  Crossing the Maringa

  1) All bridges across have been destroyed.

  2) Banks of river lined with mines, spikes and booby traps.

  3) Gun boats destroy unauthorised river traffic.

  4) Vehicles can cross on ferries, mostly army traffic. Vehicles are usually searched.

  5) Do not try to get across dressed as civillians. The army assumes anyone crossing from east to west is a rebel and you will be interrogated and probably shot.

  6) Best bet: Go over in a truck dressed as soldiers. Make Sami look like a boy. Adam’s too little, you’ll have to find a way to hide him.

  7) Once you are over the Maringa and into the town of Kisumba you have travelled less than a quarter of the distance to the capital, but the most dangerous part of the journey is done.

  We wouldn’t have had a chance without the notes. There was no point ambushing a truck. I’d never seen one where the truck didn’t end up with bullet holes and broken glass, which would raise questions at every roadblock. Our only option was to stick our head in the lion’s mouth one last time and raid an army base. We needed other stuff as well: diesel, a couple of days food, a uniform for Billy, some sort of cargo in which we could hide Adam and we had to switch our AK47s to army issue M16s if we wanted to pass for government soldiers.

  We stayed three more days at the lake, making a full week. The best thing about Billy coming with us was it cheered Adam up. The two of them got on great, teasing each other and mucking about all the time.

  Billy tidied and swept inside his hut, made a couple of repairs to the roof and stacked his fishing equipment inside. He’d probably never come back, but it had been home for five years and he took pride in it. We left an hour before sundown, giving us time to reach the road before dark. The air was even stickier than usual. A thunderstorm was pounding its way towards us.

  According to Captain’s map, there was a base about ten kilometres down the road past Grandma’s house. There was no indication about it’s size, or what security was like. It might be a couple of sheds and a few drunks manning a checkpoint or it could be a big deal with mercenaries, tanks and all the trimmings. Whatever it was, the level of detail on our maps dropped dramatically once we got out of Captain’s old stomping grounds. It was better to face the unknown sitting in the cab of a truck disguised as soldiers than on foot.

  The rain hit us on the road. The water was warm, like being in a shower. Our shoes got sucked into the mud, but it was cooler in the wet and the falling water cleaned the dust out of the air. We cut through trees behind a tough looking roadblock that had machine guns dug in and a metal gate across the road. ‘Last time I came out this far, there was nothing like this,’ Sami said She stopped moving and let out a little gasp. ‘I felt something under my boot,’ she said, sounding scared. ‘I think I’m on a trip wire.’ ‘What?’ Adam asked. ‘She thinks she’s standing on a trip wire,’ I explained. ‘If she moves suddenly, it might set off an

  explosion.’ My heart was going mental. I pulled Adam out of the way, ripped off my pack off and fumbled inside

  for the Aussie’s torch. I flicked it on and traced the path of the wire with the beam of light. ‘What can you see?’ Sami asked. ‘It’s hooked to a metal pin sticking out the ground.’ ‘Shit,’ Sami said. ‘That’s a mine.’ You had to step right on a mine. Attaching a trip wire to the trigger made it effective over a much

  bigger area. ‘Any ideas?’ I asked. ‘Get me a strong branch,’ Sami said. ‘You better take my pack. It’s got all Dad’s notes inside and you’ll

  need them.’ Billy reached above his head and cracked a branch out of a tree. Sami slid her pack off, taking care not

  to loose her balance. The tiniest movement might blow the mine. ‘Give us the stick and move well back,’ I said. ‘If this blows up, they’ll be after you when they hear the

  noise. Don’t wait around to see if I’m OK, I won’t be.’ I took the pack and handed her the branch. Me, Adam and Billy crouched behind a thick trunk. We should have covered our faces, but I couldn’t stand not knowing what Sami was doing. She pressed a fork in the branch against the wire and lifted off her boot. It looked easy enough, the second part was trickier. She had to wedge the branch against the nearest tree, so that the mine didn’t go off as soon as she let it go. The branch was slippy and she had no free hand to wipe the rain dribbling into her eyes.

  A massive bolt of thunder cracked off, turning the sky blue and making menacing silhouettes out of the trees. Adam jumped with fright. The back of his head banged into my jaw, making me crack my teeth together and bite my tongue. ‘Sorry,’ Adamsaid.

  My mouth started filling with blood. Sami got the stick wedged into a spot where the tree trunk joined one of it’s branches. Ideally, it would stop the wire setting off the mine for hours, but I’d be satisfied as long as it held long enough for Sami to back away. ‘Give me some light,’ Sami said. My mouth was in agony, so Billy took my torch and walked up close. Sami inspected the spot where the branch met the tree. Adam had his hands pressed together and kept mumbling the same words over and over: ‘Please god. Please god. Please god. Please god. Please god…’ Billy stepped back behind the tree with us. Sami gently lifted one hand off the branch. She took the other off quickly and dashed towards us, stumbling and just saving herself before she ran head first into the trunk. Adam gave me a high five and mouthed, ‘Yes.’ Billy shone the torch at the tree, ‘I think that’s gonna hold the wire down a while.’ ‘I’m a genius,’ Sami grinned. I had both hands over my blood filled mouth. When Sami realised she couldn’t kiss me, she ducked

  down and smooched Adam on the mouth. ‘Oi,’ Adam moaned, swiping his lips on his sodden t-shirt. ‘What happened to Killer?’ Sami asked. I tried to answer, but a load of blood dribbled over my bottom lip and spilled onto my uniform. ‘Typical,’ Sami said. ‘I step on a mine and Killer still comes off worst. We better be ultra-careful the rest

  of the way. There could be hundreds more mines about.’ Sami kept close to the ground, flashing the torch before taking a couple of steps. We stepped over a couple wires and a lump of metal sticking out of the ground that was probably a mine. I felt sick with fear and there was no easy way out: we were as likely to get blown up going back as forwards. It took us an hour to walk less than a kilometre to the edge of the base.

  There were freshly cut trees piled along the edges of a huge clearing. A roar broke out and all the leaves around us started shaking. It was the unmistakable pulsing of helicopter blades. We leaned against the stacked logs and watched a chopper lift off in a cloud of fine dropl
ets. There were three more choppers on the ground. A crew of conscripts was hammering fence posts into the mud on the far side of the clearing. ‘What do you reckon?’ I asked, looking at Sami. ‘Bet this is the new headquarters,’ Sami said. According to Captain, the commander of the old headquarters was a slacker, mainly interested in grabbing truckloads of booze and selling them to his own men at inflated prices. He kept his job by marrying the defence minister’s cousin and cutting his superiors in on the profits. He’d been killed when we took headquarters and his replacement was made of sterner stuff. It wasn’t just that the camp had sober conscripts in it. It had sober conscripts building a fence, in a thunderstorm, at midnight.

  ‘Jake, give your rifle to Adam,’ Sami said. ‘The AK47 is a giveaway. Billy, stay here with Adam. We’re going shopping.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ I asked. ‘This camp looks rock hard. We could go around the edge and look for a smaller base further away.’ ‘Reverse the logic,’ Sami said.

  ‘Eh?’ ‘Killer, I thought you’d been on enough missions to pick up a bit of sense. This is a well protected new

  base. They just kicked our asses and no rebel in their right mind is going to stroll in and raid the storeroom.’ ‘I nodded, ‘That’s what I just said.’ ‘Military strategy 1A,’ Sami said. ‘Always do the last thing you’re expected to. If anyone asks questions,

  act cool and say hello.’ ‘You’re a smart girl,’ Billy said. I looked back at him, ‘You’re not the poor sod going in there.’ ‘True,’ Billy said. ‘Rather you than me, especially without a rifle.’ Sami buttoned her jacket. She always wore one that was too small, so her tits got squashed flat. You couldn’t tell she was a girl unless you put some thought into it. We ducked low and stepped over the trees into the clearing. The rain laid a couple of inches deep over the cleared ground. We only splashed three steps before there was a gun pointing at us. ‘What the hell you doing back here,’ the gunman said. He was part of the Presidential Guard, wearing fancy waterproof boots with tucked in trousers and the yellow and black presidential shield embroidered on his jacket. I had to do the talking, Sami could make herself look like a small man, but she sounded daft when she attempted a man’s voice. ‘Sorry Sir,’ I said. ‘I cut my mouth. We’re looking for the medical tent.’ The guard let his gun drop onto its shoulder strap and pointed his torch at my blood streaked face. He smiled, ‘Looks like I missed a good punch up.’ ‘I just bit my tongue,’ I said. The guard started laughing, ‘You’re one dumb arsed conscript, aren’t you? ‘Yes I am, sir,’ I said. ‘Try the building with the big red cross painted on the front,’ the guard said slowly, as if he was talking

  to a little kid. ‘It’s a dead giveaway.’ ‘Sorry sir,’ I said. We walked past rows of tents. They were lightweight jobs, all different colours and sizes. The ones on

  lower ground were flooded. ‘Looks like over sixty,’ Sami said. ‘Mercenaries?’ I asked. ‘Must be with tents like that,’ Sami nodded, ‘Let’s check out the trucks and find a storeroom.’ There were about thirty trucks and tankers parked up, plus some APCs and tanks. Sami opened one of

  the truck doors to see if the keys were in the ignitions. ‘See him,’ a soldier walking by said, pointing at a skinny man holding a clipboard. The clipboard man looked imposing, he had a fancy uniform and a bull necked conscript keeping his

  paperwork dry with an umbrella. ‘Truck?’ Clipboard man asked. ‘That’s right,’ I said. Clipboard started scribbling on a form. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘We’re taking supplies out,’ I said. ‘Re-supplying a group out hunting for rebels.’ ‘Do you have a weapon requisition?’ I shook my head, ‘Should we?’ Clipboard tore off one of his sheets of paper, ‘That’s what you need. Can you write?’ ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Take this to the store room and get whatever you need. I’ve already signed it. Make sure you write down everything you take.’ ‘Yes sir.’ Clipboard handed me a set of truck keys. A helicopter was coming down, spraying the rain in our faces ‘There’s extra fuel cans over there if you need them,’ clipboard shouted. We could barely hear each other over the noise. ‘Thank you sir,’ I said. The supply hut was built from metal sheets, the same as the ones we melted at the old headquarters.

  Three guys stood at the counter inside. I showed one of them my soggy form. He grabbed it out of my hand. ‘Who gave you that?’ He asked. I shrugged, ‘Guy out there under the umbrella.’ He screwed the paper into a ball and threw it across the floor. ‘You’d think an army runs on paperwork,’ he said bitterly. ‘Just tell us what you want.’ I went for the works: four M16s, three boxes of ammunition, grenades, food and uniforms. People might be starving in the city and soldiers might not get their wages, but nobody ever seemed to be short of weapons. ‘And a 20mm machine gun,’ I said. Sami gave me a funny look. I turned to her and whispered, ‘We can hide Adam in the crate.’ Sami nodded, ‘Good thinking Killer.’ The stockroom guys helped us carry everything through the mud and put it on the truck. We got in the cab. Rain plinked off the metal roof and torrented down the windscreen. I put the key in the engine. ‘This is like a dream,’ I said. ‘It’s too easy.’ ‘And you were crapping yourself,’ Sami said. ‘You sneak off and get Billy and Adam. I’ll deal with the

  helicopters and meet you fifty metres past the front gate in about thirty minutes.’ ‘Helicopters?’ I said, shocked. ‘This has all gone so smooth, why do you want to risk messing it up?’ ‘Those choppers can drop on a camp and kill rebels. If I can take them out, we’ll be doing Captain and the others a big favour.’ ‘No way,’ I said. ‘We shouldn’t take any more risks. Captain wants you safe, not out trying to be the

  hero.’ ‘Just try and stop me,’ Sami said. ‘You’re mental,’ I said furiously. ‘You’ll mess everything up.’ She jumped down out of the cab. I got out my side, walked around the cab and grabbed her arm. ‘What are you gonna try and do?’ I asked. ‘See if I can find the fuel tanks and pour in some diesel. They won’t fly with the wrong fuel.’ ‘I just want to go home, Sami.’ She shoved me up against the truck and waggled her finger in my face. ‘Those people were my life for six years, Jake. There’s never going to be a time when I’ll stop helping

  them.’ I shoved her away from me. ‘Do what you like,’ I said. ‘You’re an idiot.’ ‘Don’t shove me Killer. I’ll kick your arse.’ A friendly voice interrupted our row, ‘Hello Jake, Sami. How is married life treating you?’ We both spun around, shocked. It was Father Desmond, the priest who’d married us. We only had

  pistols. We’d never get out alive if he grassed on us. ‘Umm, hello Father,’ I said. ‘Married life is great.’ ‘Yeah,’ Sami stammered. ‘Great.’ ‘Should I be keeping my head down for any reason?’ The father asked. ‘No,’ Sami said. ‘We’re only here for a truck and some supplies.’ ‘Captain told me you’d be trying to get home after the wedding,’ Father Desmond said. ‘He warned me to stay out of headquarters the night you attacked. I’d have been asleep in one of the huts otherwise. Where’s the little fellow?’ ‘Adam’s hiding in the trees,’ I said. The man with the clipboard was walking towards us, with the umbrella holder shuffling awkwardly

  behind him. He spoke to Father Desmond. ‘Do you need a guard, Father?’ Father Desmond shook his head, ‘I’m going out with these two. I’m sure they can look after me.’ ‘If you’re sure,’ Clipboard said. Father Desmond turned to us, ‘I can escort you the next fifty kilometres. I’m well known around here.

  I’ll should be able to get you through two serious roadblocks and as far as the main track to the Maringa.’ ‘How will you get back?’ I asked. ‘There’s always a bored truck driver willing to give a priest a ride.’ Sami drove the truck to Father Desmond’s tent, on the edge of camp. I was glad to have an escort, but Sami was angry she’d lost her chance to sabotage the helicopters.

  The Father went in his hut to get a few things, while I crawled through the undergrowth to get Adam and Billy. When Sami gave the all clear, we dived out of the bushes. Adam and Billy climbed in the back. I got in the front, sandwiched betwe
en Sami and Father Desmond.

  26. PRAYER

  The roads were pretty hairy in the rain. Sami put out the back end in some thick mud and one the rear wheels jammed into a ditch. Every truck had a kit on board, designed to help out if you got stuck. It consisted of rope, a few wooden boards and a shovel. I wedged the planks under the overhanging wheel to help it get a grip. Adam had his chin resting on the tailgate of the truck, watching me. He cracked up laughing when Sami hit the accelerator and I got blasted by mud as the truck jerked forwards. I climbed back in the cab, half drowned and covered in filth.

  We drove anther few kilometres until we hit our second road block. There was a line of six trucks. A soldier thumped on the door. ‘Open up,’ Sami cracked her door a few centimetres. ‘Where are you heading?’ The guard asked. ‘Kisumba,’ Sami said. ‘The roads are slippery,’ the guard said. ‘Trucks coming the other way say there have been several

  accidents.’ Father Desmond leaned over Sami. ‘What’s the hold up?’ He asked. ‘Everything must be searched,’ the guard explained. ‘We’re looking for rebels trying to flee the area.’ ‘Is Upton on duty up there?’ ‘Yes Father,’ the guard said. ‘Tell him Father Desmond needs to pass urgently. I have to read a sick man the last rites.’ ‘We have orders to inspect every truck,’ the guard insisted. Father Desmond shouted, ‘If I have to get out in the rain and speak to Upton myself, you’re gonna find

  yourself in a deep dark hole, soldier.’ The guard looked suitably flustered and ran to fetch his boss. We waited a couple of minutes before the