Deep Black - Andy McNab [77]
He held the bumbag in one hand and the camera in the other. ‘I should be there, Nick.’
‘Hey, we’re hiding from the fucking US Army, remember? We can’t call your source again, and we’re fucked without Rob. Let’s hold tight here and see if these guys can find him. If so, that’s when we talk to them about the picture.’
‘And if they don’t?’
‘Then you don’t get it and we all go home. Simple.’
It wasn’t that simple for me any more, and I’d known it the moment I started telling Rob about that day at the cement factory. I really wanted to meet this guy. I didn’t know what I’d say if I met him, but that didn’t matter. I’d think of something.
I picked my sun-gigs off the coffee-table and gave them a wipe with my shirt-tail. Jerry still looked pissed off. ‘Look, what does it matter?’ I said. ‘As long as we get the right result.’
‘What if you get to him tonight? I should be there.’
I shrugged and slid the glass door shut. ‘Jerry, it’s not open for discussion. You stay here, don’t go outside, don’t get yourself seen. We’re supposed to have left for Turkey, remember?’
‘OK, OK.’ He wasn’t really listening.
I left the room, made sure my bumbag was done up securely, and took the stairs. Baby-G said it was 17:46.
57
I’d only seen him briefly, but I recognized the Uzbek – I supposed that was what they were called – at once. He was sitting in the lobby reading the waffle on my empty Coke can. Maybe he was a football fan.
He stood up as he saw me, and smiled. After seeing Nuhanovic close up in ‘Chetnik Mama’, and now looking at this man more closely than I had on the flight, I realized they’d been part of the same job lot. He was slightly built, maybe five six, and in need of a few fish-and-chip suppers. He was wearing a black linen suit, white shirt and blue Kevlar with a ceramic plate covering his chest. It was a wonder he could support the weight.
I went straight over and shook a small, bony hand. ‘Hello, I’m Nick.’
His teeth were perfect behind the big smile, his eyes green and clear. Close up his skin was almost translucent; there wasn’t a crease. It was difficult to work out how old he was. ‘I know.’ Still smiling, he motioned towards the main entrance. ‘Shall we?’ His accent was like a 1950s BBC newsreader’s.
As we stepped into the heat I saw the Beemer, Rob at the wheel, wraparounds shielding his eyes. We both put our sun-gigs on. The windows were up; I hoped that meant the air was running.
The Uzbek opened the rear door and ushered me inside. Coolish air hit me. I glanced up just before my head disappeared under the roof and I could see the balcony doors were open again. There was a brief flash of light. Jerry was on the balcony. He was a professional, he understood the dangers, and it pissed me off that he wasn’t doing as he was told.
Rob’s boss got in beside me and closed the door. Rob’s semi-automatic was tucked under his right thigh. He wore no body armour. I could see it in front of me, tucked into the right passenger footwell along with the AK. Maybe he was trying to blend in a little with the outside world as we drove around – not that it was going to happen unless he acquired a serious suntan before we hit the main.
I was going to have to grip Jerry when I got back. For all I knew, I might be in one of his pictures now and I didn’t like that. Never had done. I didn’t even like showing my passport at Immigration.
58
The scaffold bar acting as a barrier was lifted by the bored local on stag. Two Aussie infantry in the shade of a tree looked just as uninterested.
Nothing was said until we got to the main, where we had to wait for a convoy of tanks and AFVs to pass. One of the tanks looked like it had been attacked very recently. The side facing us was scorched all the way up to the turret. The Bergens and other kit strapped to the outside were burnt to a crisp, and anything plastic had melted and stuck to the steel.
‘My name is Benzil.’ He spoke calmly and quietly.
I smiled politely.
‘While we all waited for the flight from Amman – wasn’t that a wait? – Robert told me some quite amusing