Peter O'Donnell - Cobra Trap

There was hardly any wind, and it was very quiet on the ridge when Modesty said softly, "Willie… give me a kiss."

He was startled, as he had not been when Dinah used almost the same words. "Eh? Oh… my pleasure, Princess." He edged towards her to kiss her cheek, but she put a hand to his chin and moved her head a little so that her lips were laid gently on his for a moment, and for the first time.

Then she was smiling up at him, patting his cheek and saying, "Back on watch, Willie, and don't look away from that peak while I talk. There's something I have to tell you."

He stared across the valley, stomach suddenly taut with anxiety, trying to concentrate on his task. "What's up, Princess? I mean… did something 'appen I don't know about?"

She said, "I want you to go back now, Willie. Back to the train. Dinah just said they'll be ready to move in twenty minutes, and I want you there from the start. I'll be staying on to cover you. I won't be coming back."

He said hoarsely, "Christ, no! It's not on, Princess! I know disengaging could be tricky, but we'll manage. Even if the train goes without us we can make it through the jungle, you and me. We'll do it easy—"

She broke in. "Don't argue, Willie, we haven't much time. Believe me, this is the best thing that could have happened for me, it really is. If I went in for praying, it would be what I'd pray for. No, don't take your eyes off that peak. Just listen. I've been worried sick about you for weeks now, trying to figure how to tell you, but now it's simple."

Without moving his head he said in a whisper, "Tell me what?"

"About three months ago I started getting headaches. That's new for me, but it wasn't just headaches. I began to feel there was something wrong in my head. That's when I went off to New York for a week or two, because I didn't want to worry you." He felt her hand on his arm, and swallowed incoherent words that were jumbled in his throat.

She said, "I'll keep it short, Willie. I went into the Royston Clinic. They took X-rays, made scans, and decided something needed checking. They drilled a little hole in my head, took a sample from inside, and discovered that I've got something nasty there that they can't do anything about. It's too late. It was always too late."

She was silent for a few moments, letting him absorb the shock. Willie said nothing, for no words could cope with the huge horror that filled him. She said gently, "I know it's a shock, but be glad for me, Willie. I've had a marvellous life, you know I have. Now time's up, and for the last few weeks I've known that I'll soon be starting to die, but that first I'll stop being me and become pretty much a vegetable. In a way I suppose that wouldn't matter much for me, because I wouldn't know, but I couldn't bear it for you, and I've been at my wit's end trying to think whether to tell you, or just disappear, or… whatever."

She pressed his arm, then took her hand away. "But when this Montelero thing happened I had a feeling that somehow I'd have a chance to go out the way I'd want, the way we both thought it likely we'd go during all those years when we somehow managed to miss it by a whisker. I didn't dream it could work out quite so well as this. I mean, we can't disengage until that train's on the move. Apart from Steve and Dinah there are… how many children aboard? Thirty, didn't you say? Well, one of us has to stay till they're on their way, and I'm first choice by a mile. You can't argue, Willie. I have to go on the big walkabout soon, and I'd so much rather go with a bang than a whimper, doing something a bit useful. This is the very best thing that could have happened to me."

He lay for a long minute, holding back futile protest, a part of him seeking desperately for a way out, an alternative, yet knowing there was none. Now he understood the open affection she had shown for him these past weeks, the small physical contacts, the almost maternal regard, and the moments when she had seemed far away in a world of her own. Now too he understood the eagerness for action he had sensed so strongly during the phonecall from Government House yesterday, and he knew that she had come here gladly to die.

He heard her laugh softly, and she said, "It's been a great bonus, living this long, Willie. Don't make it hard for me now. I want you to start back right away. I'll tell Dinah about it on the radio, so you won't have that job to do when you see her. All right?"

It was an effort to speak, for his throat had almost closed, but he croaked, "All right, Princess." The last word had barely left his lips when he saw a figure stand up on the peak across the valley, a rifle aimed. With instant reaction he sighted and fired. The man went down, and as he did so Willie heard a quiet sound close beside him, followed a fraction of a second later by the brief chatter of firing from the peak, delayed by distance and no more than four or five rounds.

He said, "I got 'im just as he fired, Princess. Looks like he was on 'is own."

Her hand pulled feebly at his arm, and when he turned his head he saw that she was lying on her side now with blood welling from the hollow behind the collarbone, and he knew that a chance bullet had driven down through that hollow, deep into her chest. She said in a gentle voice, "Well, there now. I'm sorry. Do what you think best, Willie love."

She turned on to her front, head pillowed in the crook of her good arm, her face hidden. Seconds later her body went limp. Willie reached out to rest a hand on her neck. Two fingers felt the last fading pulse of the carotid artery, and he knew he was alone. Beside her the radio squawked and Dinah's voice said, "We've got up steam, Modesty, and the driver says only ten minutes now. You and Willie start running. Please, honey, don't wait."

Before Willie could reply he heard the sound of mortars from down in the valley. Moments later, when three bombs landed, he was huddled down in the hollow, the radio beneath him for protection, an arm across Modesty for no reason. The bombs exploded, the nearest fifteen yards from where he lay. He said, "No damage, Princess," and was lifting his head to watch for the expected attack when a piece of rock the size of a melon came down from thirty feet on to his ankle.

After the first gasp of agony he focused on the pain, closing his mind to it as he peered down the slope. Four men were moving up at a crouching run, weaving as they came. He waited a little, ignoring Dinah's anxious voice from the radio, then picked off the leading two. The others turned back and he let them go. Using the Sivaji technique, he opened himself to the pain, letting it wash through him as water through a net, distancing himself from it until it faded to insignificance. Then he picked up the radio and said, "Dinah?"

"Oh God, I heard them start that bombing again, Willie. Are you both okay?"

He said, "I've got something important to tell you, Dinah. Modesty was going to tell you 'erself, but it's too late now. She just died."

"Oh Willie, no!" Her voice cracked on the word.

"It's what she wanted. Exactly what she wanted. She told me why, only a couple of minutes ago. Now listen…"

A little way from where the second rail was being bolted to the last of the fishplates, Dinah stood whitefaced and drawn, the radio close to her ear. A minute later, cheeks wet with tears, she said shakily, "But why didn't she tell us? Oh, I'm sorry, that's stupid! She wouldn't lay that on us. But… but… oh God, I can't think. Can you get away now? She'd want that, Willie, you know she would. We'll be ready the moment you get down here."

His voice over the radio was easy and untroubled. "She told me to do what I think best, so here it is, Dinah. With one of those last bombs, a bloody great chunk of rock came down on my ankle and it's bust. Now listen and don't argue. There's no way I can come with you. I'm staying 'ere till I see the train on its way. When it's about 'alf a mile from where you are now I'll be able to see the smoke until you go be'ind that low ridge where the track takes a long bend."