Midnight Runner - Jack Higgins [82]
"What was that all about?" Dillon asked when Ferguson switched off.
Ferguson explained, and Harry Salter said, "So we're going to look like the London Palladium cast of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."
"You'll love it, Harry, you and the General back with the Scouts, sitting beside a fire of dried camel dung, sleeping under the stars."
"Yes, well, you can enjoy it if you want. I'll just endure it."
The Gulfstream landed, Lacey at the controls, and taxied up to the RAF compound and straight inside a hangar, where they found Villiers leaning against one of two Land Rovers, smoking a cigarette. He'd driven one himself and Achmed was at the wheel of the other.
"Good to see you." He shook hands all round.
"That's a great tan you've got, Colonel," Billy said. "Been on holiday, have you?"
"Cheeky young bugger," Villiers told him. "You'll find robes and head cloths in the back. Sort yourselves out and we'll get moving."
Which they did. Harry said, "Jesus, do I look as bad as you lot?"
"Worse," Dillon told him. "Believe me, Harry, worse."
"I'll take you and Harry, General," Villiers said. "You two go with Achmed and we'll get out of here."
T he encampment was by a pool, an outcrop of rock sheltering it, and a few scattered palm trees. There were three bivouac tents beside a roaring fire, five Land Rovers in all.
They had a meal--canned soups, Heinz beans, and new potatoes all mixed into a kind of stew--but the bread was the local unleavened kind.
Billy wiped his plate with a piece. "That was good. I thought you'd be giving us goat."
"Not you, Billy." Villiers called to Achmed. "One of my bottles of whiskey and the tin cups. Scotch, I'm afraid," he said to Dillon.
"It'll do to take along."
It arrived, and Villiers unscrewed the cap and poured a generous measure into each cup, Billy declining as usual. Villiers handed the bottle back to Achmed.
"The night is cold, but if you take a whiskey sup for yourself, do it in my tent that the others may not see."
"Allah is merciful and so you are, Sahb."
He slipped away and Villiers said, "So let's go over it again. Barry Keenan, bomber extraordinaire, and his friends Kelly and Casey, will be delivered to Al Mukalli to board the freight train leaving at four A.M. It proceeds north to the Empty Quarter at approximately eight A.M. I presume Keenan will have done everything he needs to do by then with the explosives."
"I would think so," Dillon said.
"So, we're at Tank Five, where you and Billy board and have the fifteen miles to the Bacu to do the business. After which, the train still works, the bridge is intact, and Kate Rashid's Scorpion is hovering around, hoping to pick up Keenan and company."
"With Rashid Bedu all the way back to Hazar and the airport," Dillon said.
"I know, so I'll come and get you with my Scouts. It should take about four hours. I can't promise, mind you. These roads can be hell and it is desert country."
"Ah, well, something to look forward to, Billy." And Dillon smiled.
I n London the following afternoon, Hannah called at Rosedene, since Henry Bellamy had told her he intended to be there. She waited in reception, talking to Martha, and finally Bellamy joined them.
"How is he?" Hannah asked.
"Poorly, running a fever, and not happy with himself. Look, I don't know the details of what happened and I don't want to, but it's left him depressed."
"Can I see him?"
"Of course, but don't overdo it."
Quinn lay against high pillows, a robe covering his bandages, his eyes closed, but he opened them when she pulled a chair up.
"Superintendent. Good of you to come."
"How do you feel?"
"Lousy."
"I can sympathize. I was once shot three times. It hurts like hell, but it passes."
"Not what's going on in my brain. I let Dillon and Billy down. I faced that guy and froze, the gun shook in my hand, I couldn't pull the trigger. He'd have probably finished me off if Billy hadn't shot him."
"Well, Billy would. He and Dillon have at least one thing