Алистер Маклин - Time of the Assassins

‘Someone’s coming!’ Sabrina hissed.

Tambese looked round sharply at her and gestured for her to close the door. She did as he said then took up a position at the side of the door, waiting. He unslung his Uzi and trained it on the door. He was certain they hadn’t been seen from the street, and Okoye’s contact had said that the alarms had been cut by the Security Police when they took control of the building, so how had they been detected? He quickly reassured himself that the guard’s appearance could have nothing to do with them. What if he were going to another room? It was a long corridor.

Suddenly the door handle was pushed down from the outside. The door was locked, as it had been when they got there. Sabrina stiffened, the Uzi held inches from her face. She curled her finger around the trigger when she heard the sound of keys jangling outside the door. Moments later a key was pushed into the lock and the door opened slowly. But nobody entered. Then there was a distinctive metallic click above them followed by an order in Swahili for them to drop their weapons. Tambese shook his head at Sabrina when he saw her hands tighten on the Uzi. He turned slowly and looked up at the skylight. A man stood a couple of feet away from the window, the kalashnikov assault rifle in his hand trained on Tambese. He repeated his order. Tambese dropped the Uzi. A second man entered the room and quickly disarmed Sabrina.

‘I could have taken him,’ she hissed to Tambese.

‘So could I, but at what price? The other one would have opened fire. And even if we had managed to take him out as well the gunfire would have alerted every patrol in the area. The last thing we need is a gunfight in the middle of the city centre.’

Sabrina remained silent. She knew he was right. She prayed that Graham had seen the man climb up onto the roof. At that moment he was their only chance. Tambese purposely spoke to the guard on the roof, hoping Graham would hear the voice. The guard grinned and pointed to the wall by the door.

‘There’s an infra-red sensor embedded in the wall by the door,’ Tambese translated for Sabrina. ‘That’s how they detected us.’

‘Okoye said nothing about any sensors,’ Sabrina whispered back.

‘They were put in when the Security Police got here. It was one way of cutting down on guards.’

The guard behind Tambese told him to be quiet. He looked up at his colleague and as they spoke Tambese’s face became increasingly grim.

‘What is it?’ Sabrina hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

‘They’re deciding what to do with us. The one up there says we’re curfew-breakers and should be shot now. The one behind us wants to call Branco and tell Ngune.’

Again Tambese was told to be quiet. The guard pulled the hat off Sabrina’s head, spilling her hair onto her shoulders. He shouted something to his colleague and the two men laughed.

‘What did they say?’ she asked Tambese who had got to his feet again.

‘You don’t want to know,’ he replied.

The butt of the kalashnikov slammed into Tambese’s back again as punishment for speaking to her. He stumbled and fell to the floor. The guard aimed the kalashnikov at him, his finger curled around the trigger. Sabrina lashed out with her foot, catching him on the wrist. The kalashnikov spun from his hand. The guard above them swung his gun on Sabrina’s back. Tambese knew he could never reach the Uzis before the guard pulled the trigger. He lunged at Sabrina and knocked her to the ground. The guard on the roof opened his mouth and a trickle of blood seeped down his chin then he fell through the skylight, landing with a deafening thud on the wooden floor. There were two bullet holes in his back. Tambese and the remaining guard both made a grab for the fallen kalashnikov. The guard got to it first. He lashed out with the butt and caught Tambese on the side of the face. Tambese reeled backwards like a groggy boxer who had been rocked by a punishing right hook. The guard swung the kalashnikov on Sabrina who was still reaching for her Uzi.

Then he saw a movement above him. He was still raising the kalashnikov when Graham shot him twice in the chest. The bullets punched him back against the wall and he slid lifelessly to the floor.

Graham crouched at the edge of the skylight. ‘You guys OK down there?’

Sabrina retrieved the Uzis then looked up at Graham. ‘What kept you?’

‘That’s gratitude for you,’ Graham retorted.

‘Did you find the manhole?’ Tambese asked, gingerly rubbing his cheek.

‘Yeah, with great difficulty. The nearest is a couple of streets away. That’s what took me so long. That, and dodging half a dozen patrols. You got the plans yet?’

‘Not yet,’ Tambese replied. ‘But it won’t take me long.’

Sabrina piled her hair up on her head and pulled the hat back onto her head. She shouldered her Uzi then climbed up to the roof. Tambese rifled through the remaining drawers until he found the blueprint. He stuffed it down the front of his shirt then he, too, climbed back up to the roof. Graham pulled up the rope and Sabrina closed the window over the skylight,

‘How long before they’ll be missed?’ Sabrina asked, looking through the window at the bodies below them.

‘The next shift comes on at six in the morning. We’ll be long gone before then.’

Graham untied the rope from the flagpole then looped it over his shoulder and followed Tambese and Sabrina down the ladder.

‘How far is the prison from here?’ Sabrina asked once they had reached the ground.

‘About three miles, due east,’ Tambese replied then pulled the blueprint out from under his shirt and put it in the holdall. ‘We’ll look at it when we get to the sewers. At least there we won’t be constantly on the lookout for rebel patrols.’ He took the rope from Graham and replaced it in the holdall. ‘Ready?’

Graham nodded then broke cover and sprinted a hundred yards to the safety of a low hedge at the bottom of the garden. He scanned the length of the deserted street then gestured for them to follow. They ran to the hedge and crouched down beside him. Graham was about to get to his feet when he heard the sound of an approaching car engine. They lay flat on the ground until it faded into the distance. Graham got to his haunches again and peered over the hedge.

He nodded and ran to the gate, wincing as it creaked open. Then he beckoned them forward and led them across the road, up a narrow alley linking the two adjoining streets. He held up his hand as they reached the end of the alley and peered cautiously the length of the second street. It was deserted. He pointed to the manhole cover in the road fifty yards away from where they stood.

Tambese put the holdall on the ground and flexed his hand where the straps had dug into his flesh. He was about to pick it up again when Sabrina tugged his sleeve and tapped her chest with her finger. She picked it up. It was heavy. But then it would be, she reminded herself. Inside were the oxyacetylene tanks. Graham looked round at them then slipped out into the street, careful to keep close to the buildings in case they needed the cover of a doorway.

They were twenty yards from the manhole when the man emerged from the shadows of an alley on the other side of the street. Tambese immediately recognized him as the same man who had urinated in the bushes at the city hall. He had another bottle of liquor in his hand. It fell from his fingers the moment he saw them and he was still reaching for his shouldered kalashnikov when Tambese shot him. Graham sprinted over to him and felt for a pulse. He looked up and shook his head.

‘I thought you said they never patrolled on foot,’ Sabrina said to Tambese once they had crossed to the body.

‘They don’t,’ Tambese replied grimly.