Pirate - Duncan Falconer [46]
Lotto said something in his native tongue. A pause, then Sabarak stepped into the doorway.
‘You were right,’ Lotto said to the Saudi. ‘He did come back for his friend.’
A Somali appeared in the windowless opening and said something. The leader nodded. The guard dropped out of sight.
‘Where have you and the girl been?’ Lotto asked.
Stratton had an urge to be flippant but he had seen Lotto’s quick temper. He decided it was unwise to rile the leader. ‘We were looking for a boat,’ he said. ‘We came back for our friends.’
‘You know the punishment for trying to escape,’ Lotto said. He barked a command and left the room. Sabarak followed him.
The guards had become much more hostile and two man -handled Stratton to the door, shoving him through it violently. Four others went to the injured Chinese man and Hopper and brutally hauled them to their feet. The Chinese man cried out but the Somalis showed no sympathy for his discomfort.
As Stratton stepped outside he saw the girl being pushed out of the gap between the buildings and falling to the ground, landing at Lotto’s feet. The pirate chief ignored her.
Stratton eyed Sabarak, who was standing between four hard-faced fighters. All sported long beards and looked like clones of the passenger of the truck who had delivered the missiles to the port. They were heavily armed with AK-47s, spare magazines in pouches and long machetes dangling from their leather belts. They stared aggressively at the two Englishmen like they wanted to eat their hearts there and then.
Sabarak smiled thinly at Stratton. ‘Now the tables have fully turned,’ he said.
Lotto shouted an order and a couple of his men grabbed Stratton’s arms and pulled them tightly behind his back, then securely fastened them together with nylon fishing line. One of the guards found the knife tucked into Stratton’s waistband and withdrew it. He recognised it instantly and said something to his leader.
‘Where’s the man who’s knife this is?’ Lotto asked Stratton. ‘He is not the only one who has gone missing tonight.’
Stratton could see little point in lying. The bodies would be found as soon as it was light anyway. ‘They came looking for revenge for our fight on the beach. They also wanted the girl. You can find them behind the building. I’m afraid they’re not in very good condition.’
Lotto seemed to be faintly amused by the account. ‘If they came for the girl, they deserved it,’ he said.
‘You’ll share their fate,’ Sabarak said, using every opportunity to fill Stratton with fear.
‘Only if the British don’t pay for them,’ Lotto interjected.
The comment angered Sabarak. ‘You said I could have them.’
‘I said you could have one of them.’
Sabarak clearly didn’t have the control over Lotto that he wished he had. ‘He’s the leader,’ he said, indicating Stratton. ‘I want him.’
Lotto didn’t appear remotely intimidated by Sabarak or his men. ‘Then he is more valuable,’ Lotto said. ‘Take the other one.’
‘He is more important to us,’ Sabarak argued.
‘What do you care which one you have? You will only kill them. You are at war with these people. I am in business with them. To you they are something to vent your anger at. To me they are a commodity. It makes no sense that you should cut the head off the most valuable one.’
‘We will interrogate him. He will know more than his subordinate.’
‘What will he know that you do not already know or you can guess? You can have the Chinese man too. How is that?’
‘And the girl.’
Judging by Lotto’s expression, Sabarak had clearly overstepped the mark. He turned to the Saudi, his eyes dark holes in his big face. ‘Don’t forget your place. You need me and I don’t need you. I am giving you two men as a gift. Be grateful. Or I will give you nothing.’
Sabarak and his crew looked much fiercer than the pirates but they were greatly outnumbered. The Saudi was a businessman before he was a fighter and knew when