Deep Black - Andy McNab [106]
Nasir’s eyes never left the men on the track. He gobbed off something to Salkic.
‘What’s he getting so excited about?’
‘Nasir said I must never tell anyone where Hasan is, or his brother’s death would be in vain. He also wants to kill the aggressors.’
Nasir got the drift of what was being said and grunted. They were both grim-faced. As far as these boys were concerned, the war had never really ended.
I leaned into my pile of rocks, digging a space for my own magazine. ‘Ramzi, you’re the only one who knows?’
Salkic was taking deep breaths; Jerry slid back down to help Benzil into a more comfortable position. ‘The only one here.’
Nasir muttered something and I looked out. ‘They’re coming.’
I slithered down too.
‘Jerry, you got any idea how to use a pistol?’
He didn’t bother looking up, just nodded.
‘Good. Ramzi, tell Nasir to give him it.’
Nasir handed it over, along with a couple of mags. I couldn’t see the make, but it didn’t matter at this stage, as long as it went bang and Jerry knew how to point it and reload. Whether he had it in him to kill a fellow human being was something we’d be finding out soon enough. As for me, I’d always managed to be pretty calm at times like this, maybe because I could accept when I was in the shit, and had never been particularly bothered about dying. I just wanted to make sure I took as many of the fuckers with me as I could.
Nasir started muttering and I crawled back up my pile. The guys on the track had disappeared.
‘Where’d they go?’ I murmured to Salkic. ‘Ask him where they went.’
Salkic did so. They’d gone off to the right, into dead ground.
The Motorola sparked up. ‘Ramzi Salkic! Ramzi Salkic!’
The gravelly voice echoed round the cave.
I looked at Salkic for clues. His face was stony, but Nasir’s was contorted with rage. He immediately started shouting back, then he turned and yelled at me too, so vehemently that flecks of spit showered across my face. If the flat tops hadn’t known we were in here, they certainly did now.
Nasir rammed his weapon into his shoulder and fired off a burst.
I had to scream above the firing. ‘For fuck’s sake, stop! Ramzi! Get him to stop!’
Spent cases rattled on to the stones. The air was thick with cordite. Salkic tried to calm him down and at last he succeeded. Benzil stared up at me, eyes wide as saucers, trying hard not to look scared.
Return fire ricocheted off the walls as the flat tops shoved their automatic weapons around the edge of the cave and squeezed off. There was nothing any of us could do but curl up and hope.
Apart from Nasir, who yelled at the top of his voice and sprayed half a mag at nothing in particular.
‘For fuck’s sake, stop firing! Save ammo.’
Another long retaliatory burst came our way, filling the cave with sound heavy enough to feel.
Salkic shouted at him and tugged at his trouser leg, but I knew Nasir wasn’t listening: blind hatred had taken over from common sense. If only he’d kept quiet, we could have let them come in and maybe been able to drop one or two.
It stopped as quickly as it started. I raised my head just enough to look over the top of the mound but saw nothing. Benzil was still curled up below me, Jerry half covering him despite my instruction to spread out. Salkic was below Nasir, who was up on his knees straining to find a target, still wanting to kill the world and his dog. He turned to me with wild eyes, and let loose another stream of angry words and saliva. His echo was as loud as their gunfire.
I ignored him and kept my eyes on the cave mouth. If he’d wanted to top me he would have done it by now. I wasn’t sure what he was most sparked up about: his brother, me bringing the flat tops