Andy McNab - Deep Black

Nasir got the drift of what was being said and grunted. They were both grim-faced. As far as these boys were concerned, the war had never really ended.

I leaned into my pile of rocks, digging a space for my own magazine. 'Ramzi, you're the only one who knows?'

Salkic was taking deep breaths; Jerry slid back down to help Benzil into a more comfortable position. 'The only one here.'

Nasir muttered something and I looked out. 'They're coming.'

I slithered down too.

'Jerry, you got any idea how to use a pistol?'

He didn't bother looking up, just nodded.

'Good. Ramzi, tell Nasir to give him it.'

Nasir handed it over, along with a couple of mags. I couldn't see the make, but it didn't matter at this stage, as long as it went bang and Jerry knew how to point it and reload. Whether he had it in him to kill a fellow human being was something we'd be finding out soon enough. As for me, I'd always managed to be pretty calm at times like this, maybe because I could accept when I was in the shit, and had never been particularly bothered about dying. I just wanted to make sure I took as many of the fuckers with me as I could.

Nasir started muttering and I crawled back up my pile. The guys on the track had disappeared.

'Where'd they go?' I murmured to Salkic. 'Ask him where they went.'

Salkic did so. They'd gone off to the right, into dead ground.

The Motorola sparked up. 'Ramzi Salkic! Ramzi Salkic!'

The gravelly voice echoed round the cave.

I looked at Salkic for clues. His face was stony, but Nasir's was contorted with rage. He immediately started shouting back, then he turned and yelled at me too, so vehemently that flecks of spit showered across my face. If the flat tops hadn't known we were in here, they certainly did now.

Nasir rammed his weapon into his shoulder and fired off a burst.

I had to scream above the firing. 'For fuck's sake, stop! Ramzi! Get him to stop!'

Spent cases rattled on to the stones. The air was thick with cordite. Salkic tried to calm him down and at last he succeeded. Benzil stared up at me, eyes wide as saucers, trying hard not to look scared.

Return fire ricocheted off the walls as the flat tops shoved their automatic weapons around the edge of the cave and squeezed off. There was nothing any of us could do but curl up and hope.

Apart from Nasir, who yelled at the top of his voice and sprayed half a mag at nothing in particular.

'For fuck's sake, stop firing! Save ammo.'

Another long retaliatory burst came our way, filling the cave with sound heavy enough to feel.

Salkic shouted at him and tugged at his trouser leg, but I knew Nasir wasn't listening: blind hatred had taken over from common sense. If only he'd kept quiet, we could have let them come in and maybe been able to drop one or two.

It stopped as quickly as it started. I raised my head just enough to look over the top of the mound but saw nothing. Benzil was still curled up below me, Jerry half covering him despite my instruction to spread out. Salkic was below Nasir, who was up on his knees straining to find a target, still wanting to kill the world and his dog. He turned to me with wild eyes, and let loose another stream of angry words and saliva. His echo was as loud as their gunfire.

I ignored him and kept my eyes on the cave mouth. If he'd wanted to top me he would have done it by now. I wasn't sure what he was most sparked up about: his brother, me bringing the flat tops to Salkic, or that he wanted to kill everyone within reach. I hoped he still realized that if we were going to get out of here alive he'd need my steady pair of hands, as much as I'd need his not so steady ones. I waited until he'd finished and got his eyes back on stag.

'What's all that about, Ramzi?'

There was no answer. I turned and even in this light saw the glimmer of tears in his eyes.

Nasir tuned up again, venting his rage between Salkic, me and the cave entrance. Salkic reached up and put a hand on his leg, attempting to soothe him.

'What's going on, Ramzi? What the fuck is he saying?'

'He's blaming you because you led them to me in the mosque.' Salkic's face was a mask of pain. 'Not only is his brother dead, but now they say they are collecting his brother's wife, my sister, from Sarajevo. They have a family, two children.'

There was a few seconds' stunned silence as I slid down rocks next to Jerry and took the Thuraya out of his bumbag. The little red LED glowed brightly in the gloom when I hit the switch. 'Your sister got a phone?'

He recited the number and I tapped the buttons.

'We'll need to get nearer the entrance for a signal. Can we call Nuhanovic to get us out of this shit?'

Salkic shook his head. 'He has no phones. I drive there each time we need to talk. I'm sorry, this is not all your fault. I was in too much of a hurry after meeting you and Benzil. They must have followed me to the farm. Now we all have to pay the price.'

I checked Baby-G and the Thuraya: 06:47 and no signal.

I pulled up the antenna and pointed it at the entrance. 'You up for it?'

He stood, without a flicker of fear.

'Stay to the right, hugging that wall. If there's trouble, just turn and run back. Whatever you do, don't move into the centre of the cave.'

I held out my AK to Jerry. 'Can you handle one of these?'

He didn't look too sure, but he'd probably photographed enough guys using them to have a vague idea of which end was which.

'Ramzi, tell Nasir what we're doing. Tell him, if he's got to fire, to use single rounds and aim. We must save ammunition. Got that?'

He nodded and started to gob off in Serbo-Croat while Jerry took the AK.

'There's one in the chamber. You know how to work the safety catch?'

To my surprise, he immediately looked in the right place. The safety on an AK is a long lever on the right-hand side. All the way up is safe; first click down is fully automatic; next click down is single shot. Old Soviet doctrine: lots of firepower and not much aiming.

I took his pistol, a 9mm semi-automatic made in South Korea by Daewoo, the car people, and told him not to fire unless Nasir had a stoppage or got dropped. I didn't want to be in more danger from Jerry than the bastards outside.

'OK, Ramzi, you ready?'

Benzil gave a bit of a good-luck wave. Salkic nodded to him. 'If God wants me to die today, then so be it.'

'Enough of that fucking Muslim fatalism.' I meant it. 'Just have a quick word with him now so you stay alive and get us to Nuhanovic, all right?'

He patted my arm. ' Inshallah.'

We bent low, trying to become part of the rock. After ten metres we had to get down on our stomachs and crawl through the puddles and chunks of rubble.

I checked the Thuraya every metre. One bar would be enough. Sweat poured down my face, despite the cold. And my twelve-dollar coat was no barrier to more stagnant water and mud. Sharp stone chips cut into my elbows and knees. The pain would come later.

I could hear them outside now, just to the right of the cave mouth. I stopped, Thuraya in my left hand, 9mm in my right, trigger finger out straight over the guard, thumb on the safety catch. No way was I giving myself the slightest opportunity to have an ND [negligent discharge] as we moved forward.

Still no bars, maybe ten metres short of the entrance.

'Salkic! Salkic!' It was Motorola voice again, followed by that mocking laugh.

Nasir screamed back. Whether they knew it or not, these guys were doing us a favour. The more noise they made, the more cover it gave us.

We inched forward. About two metres from the end, a bar appeared in the display. I stopped and motioned Salkic to come up level with me. Even Jerry joined in the shouting now. Nasir might be angry, but he wasn't stupid.