Recoil - Andy McNab [88]
I crashed my way towards him.
‘I have to go back, Nick. I have to fetch more supplies. I know what’s going to happen. I’ll need my bag.’
I shook my head. ‘They’re too close. They’re going to hit us soon. Last light, it’ll all kick off.’
‘I’ll have to take that chance.’ He wiped sweat from his face with the back of his hand, then moved off.
I kept up with him, and had to shout over the roar of the river. ‘Listen, mate, sorry about fronting you earlier on. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have done it.’
He slipped and landed on his knees. ‘Fronting? What do you mean?’
‘Nothing. Don’t worry about it.’ I went down with him, making myself a smaller target.
He nodded his thanks. ‘How is she? The diamond-toothed guy said you were back.’
‘She’s fine, twisted her ankle.’
Relief showed on his face. ‘I told her she should have stayed in Lugano, sorted things out with you before coming here. I hope it works out between you two.’ He smiled at me, got back on his feet and walked on.
I followed. ‘What about you?’
He stopped and faced me. Gunfire rattled the far side of the river. ‘Nick, I wouldn’t do anything to harm her. Anything.’ He looked along the path. ‘I must get my bag. You should go back and do whatever you’ve got to do. I’ll be fine.’
I put out a hand before he could leave. ‘One last thing, mate . . . Stefan. He the middle man for this mine?’
He seemed amazed that I didn’t know. ‘When it comes to death, corruption and suffering, Stefan has never been far away.’
I turned back. Fucking hell. It wasn’t only Silky I knew so little about. Had Stefan been phoning Standish? And what about the Chinese? Did they let Stefan control the mine and not worry what the fuck happened here as long as they were getting casseritite by the shipload?
And if Tim knew, so did Silky.
It looked like I’d have the opportunity to talk to her about it sooner rather than later. As I turned into the valley, there she was, hobbling round a mound a few metres in front of the bags of ANFO, nursing her foot, her face tight with anxiety. ‘Tim! Where is he going?’
7
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get down!’
‘Where’s Tim going?’
‘Get into cover!’
I grabbed hold of her and dragged her back between the ANFO and the mound. She tried to protect her leg, but her anguished face showed it wasn’t happening.
‘He’s gone to get some gear. He won’t be long.’
‘To Nuka? Why didn’t you stop him? Why didn’t you go with him?’ She couldn’t disguise her horror as she stared in the direction of the river. ‘They’ll be here any minute! I heard Sam say so.’
‘He’s a grown man. I told him to stay here, but he wouldn’t. His call. Everyone’s responsible for their own actions.’
‘Why didn’t you go with him, protect him?’
‘He knew I had to come back here and help with the defences, or none of us will get out alive.’ I pointed in the direction of her Nuka contingent. ‘Including that lot.’
‘You know a lot about the jungle, don’t you?’
‘Now’s not the time . . .’ Now wasn’t the time to talk about anything, even though I had some questions myself. I got up and looked past the ANFO for Crucial. ‘Go back to Sam. I’ll get someone up here to—’
‘I’m not going, Nick. I want to know that Tim is safe. Besides, you need me to interpret, don’t you?’
She could see the cogs turning in my head. ‘You can waste your time arguing with me, or you can get back to whatever you were doing. I’ll help. I want to stay alive too, believe me.’
She was right. Every second counted. I turned and offered my back once more. Then I grabbed my AK and we headed towards the first claymore.
Crucial was in the valley, screaming at the miners, getting them to surrender their tools. He wasn’t going for the hearts-and-minds approach. A stream of them was snaking towards the dugout ahead of us, laden with picks, hammers, pots, pans, ladles, all sorts of shit.
We got to the claymore. ‘OK, work for your ride. Tell them to start stacking the tools in the dugout. Tell them to pack them in tight, all the way up to the roof. And tell them not to touch the brown