Dead Centre - Andy McNab [108]
I grabbed another look over the wall. A cloud of grey smoke erupted from a corner of the compound and the back blast kicked up a storm of sand. The sustainer motor kicked in and the round screamed towards us.
‘RPG!’
We ducked. But it wasn’t coming for us. Chunks of breezeblock and rendering blasted in all directions from the court-house. Debris rained down on us like hailstones.
Screams, shouts and the rattle of automatic fire came from the far side of the madrasah.
6
‘BB, LISTEN IN! That’s my backup. We’re RVing with them down at the harbour. They’ve got boats. Make sure they take you down the road, right of the court-house. You’ve got to stay on the road.’
Rounds zinged in all directions as chaotic and drugged-up shouts and screams echoed around the square. Tracer bounced off the ground and whizzed into the sky. A machine-gun opened up somewhere the other side of the obelisk. More shouts and screams; then a couple of lines of a rap song and taunts from the crew aimed at the court-house. Above it all I heard, ‘Mr Nick! Mr Nick!’
Awaale and his crew charged up the alley between the court-house and the compound like the Seventh Cavalry. Muzzle flashes flickered at the windows of another building maybe 150 metres away. BB loosed off a couple of short bursts in return.
‘Over here, mate! On me! On me! Awaale!’
The rounds were hurtling in from everywhere and everyone. Tracer zapped into and out of the court-house and from the buildings surrounding the square. We lay in the dust. I kept Tracy covered. Partly to protect her, partly because she kept trying to get up and run.
Awaale arrived alongside us with half a dozen of his crew. Their teeth glistened with khat juice. They were totally off their tits. They squatted and bounced, fired a couple of bursts, squatted and bounced, fired a couple more, not really caring who they hit.
Awaale gobbed off into his radio, probably creating even more chaos.
I put my mouth to Tracy’s ear. ‘It’s OK. I’ll get him.’ I kept my voice level. ‘You go with BB. These lads will look after you, OK? I’ll get him, I promise.’
She twisted her head. I could see the fear in her red, tear-filled eyes.
BB cut in: ‘Yep, no problem. I’ll take care of her. I’ll keep her with me.’
She didn’t want to leave her son. ‘Nick – no!’
‘Stefan will be OK. I’m going to go and get him. Awaale!’
The fucker was only about three metres away but he still wasn’t answering me. He was too busy shouting at everyone else on his radio.
‘Awaale!’
Screams and howls came from the crews both sides of the court-house as they revved up. An RPG kicked off to our right and flew straight down the middle of the square. It shaved the obelisk and slammed into a building fifty metres further on. There was a bright orange flash and lumps of concrete flew into the air.
‘Awaale!’
‘Yes, Mr Nick!’
‘Let’s take them down to the harbour. Remember, only on the road, dead centre. Let’s go!’
I grabbed BB. ‘Take her now, with these lads. I’ll get Stefan and we’ll RV at the boats. Awaale!’
The fucker had evaporated again.
Two technicals came screaming towards us from the direction we’d taken this morning. The guns’ heavy reports reverberated above the rest of the shit around us. Tracer zoomed over our heads. Some hit the obelisk.
‘Awaale!’
‘Yes, OK, I am here, Mr Nick!’
He stepped out of the gloom. He was soaked with sweat. His hands glinted with jewellery. Any passing Black Hawk wouldn’t have stood a chance while he was in this mood.
‘Get some fire down on those fucking technicals!’
‘It’s no problem, Mr Nick. It’s my crew. They landed in the wrong place so they took the AS technicals. This is very good, Mr Nick. This is a great victory.’
‘No, it fucking ain’t great! You’ve got to control them, mate.’
On cue, their tracer kicked into the compound building. Some of it scudded into the shallow graves the girls had finally pulled themselves out of. If they hadn’t, they would have been history.
‘You got fucking rounds going all over the place.