Midnight Runner - Jack Higgins [84]
His English was good. Keenan nodded to the younger man, who was powerfully built. "Who's he?"
"Halim, the fireman. They speak no English."
"I understand you are all Rashid?"
He could see the pride on Yusuf's face. "Yes, Sahb, we are of the clan."
"And the Countess?"
"Our leader, the blessed one, praise be to Allah."
"So you have been informed what is expected of you?"
"Indeed, Sahb."
"Good." Keenan walked to the engine, aware of the gentle hum of escaping steam, the unmistakable smell. He looked inside. "My granddaddy drove one of these back home. When I was five, he took me up there on the footplate. They're firing up, getting ready for the run."
"A right old stink on it," Kelly said.
"You've no soul, no poetry," Keenan told him, and said to Yusuf, "Take us to your van."
Yusuf led the way, mounting the iron steps at the very rear of the train to a railed platform. He opened a door and led the way in. Two oil lamps hung from the ceiling. There was a desk, long leather-covered benches, a small stove with a kettle on it, and a gas cylinder underneath. At the other end was a washbasin, a narrow door beside it labeled Toilet, and another door. Casey and Kelly put the holdalls with the Semtex and timers down.
"Anything to eat?" Casey asked.
"Dates, Sahb, dried meat, bread."
"Jesus," Casey said.
Yusuf added, "There is tea in the cupboard, Sahb, English tea."
Keenan turned as Kelly produced a half bottle of whiskey from one of the bags. "I'll have a go at that." Kelly unscrewed the cap and handed him the bottle. Keenan took a long pull and handed it back. He said to Yusuf, "We still leave at four o'clock?"
"Yes, Sahb."
Keenan glanced at his watch. "Forty-five minutes. Right, we'll check the freight cars and you can show me where the explosives are."
The open ones were loaded with oil pipes. The explosives were in the two enclosed cars in the center of the train, stacked in boxes and clearly visible when Yusuf slid back the doors. Ladders gave access to the roofs at each end of the cars, and down through trapdoors inside.
Keenan said, "That's fine. I can get in while we're traveling." He turned to Yusuf. "Tell me, what happens to you on the other side of the Bacu, afterwards, I mean?"
"We have friends in the hills, Sahb, we will be safe."
"That's all right then. Let's go back and try that tea of yours."
A t six o'clock, when the Gulfstream taxied out of the hangar at the RAF compound, Dillon and Billy were ready to go in black jumpsuits and titanium waistcoats. The parachutes and weaponry were on the floor by the door. Parry closed it, then returned to the cockpit.
Dillon and Billy sat opposite Harry and Ferguson, while the Gulfstream turned at the end of the runway and awaited takeoff instructions. It was already less dark, but the moon still made a fine display.
Harry looked very tense. "Bleeding crazy. How can you jump from a thing like this? It's suicide."
"We did it in Cornwall two years ago," Billy said. "My first jump. I'm still here, aren't I? You worry too much."
A t the airport at six-thirty, Kate Rashid, Dauncey, and Abu and two Bedu, all armed with AKs, climbed into the Scorpion. Carver, in the cockpit, looked over his shoulder. "The weather's changed. There's a bit of a headwind. It might take us a little longer."
"Just get on with it," Rupert Dauncey told him and turned to Kate. "Here we go then, cousin. What was that remark of yours? To make history?"
She was wearing a black jumpsuit and a burnoose, the hooded Bedu cloak. "I'm all in favor of that, darling. Give me a cigarette."
He lit two, passed her one, and they started to rise.
A t the same time, the Gulfstream, approaching the target area, descended from five thousand feet to one thousand. Parry came from the cockpit, wearing headphones skewed a little so that his left ear was free.
"Four minutes, gentlemen."
Dillon and Billy strapped on their parachutes and suspended the AKs across their chests. Dillon looped a pair of Nightstalkers around his neck. They were standing now and waiting. Lacey started to reduce power. "Open