Andy McNab - Dark winter

There was a burst of light inside the Lite Ace before cigarette smoke leaked from the driver's window. Suzy leant forward over my shoulder and breathed in deeply, then I could hear her laughing behind me. I didn't know whether to be pleased she wasn't flapping on the job, or to flap myself because she wasn't. I liked people who got scared.

The coastline of Penang was low-lying, but as soon as you turned inland you began to climb. The target worked as a waiter in a Dutch restaurant up on the high ground in the centre of the island; I knew we'd be coming up to some lights soon, and he should be turning right. But something was wrong. He wasn't moving into the right-hand lane; instead he fought his way past the traffic at the junction waiting to turn inland.

Suzy was on my shoulder. 'What's he doing?' I ignored her and carried on with the take; there was nothing we could do but follow.

The traffic stopped and started before the left indicator flashed up ahead and the Lite Ace headed into a world of rusty corrugated iron. I slowed at the junction and followed, just as he hung another left and disappeared.

We were on a narrow, rough concrete road, flanked by shacks. I took the bike down into the darkness, stopping just short of the turning. There was a glow of static light hanging above a group of tin roofs. Suzy jumped off and I just managed to grab her arm before she ran towards it. 'Not here, OK? Not here.'

Her helmet came off and she faded into the darkness.

I carried on past, turned to face the junction in shadow, and killed the engine. The ghostly glow of TV sets flickered inside most of the shacks, and I could hear kids playing and dogs barking. There was a strong smell of drains.

Vehicle lights soon sparked up along the track out to the junction, and I could hear an engine heading my way. I couldn't see inside the Lite Ace as it turned right, towards the main; I hit the ignition but kept my lights off as it stopped at the junction then tried to fight its way back out and head right.

Suzy reappeared, running as fast as she could. I rode up to meet her as she waited and shoved her helmet back on. Jumping on the back, she sucked in air as she held on to me. 'He was picking up – it's two-up. Of all fucking nights.' I could feel her warm breath against my neck as we watched the vehicle disappear. I turned the lights on and we started to move.

'Did you see who it was?'

'No. What now?'

I shrugged. I never really knew what to do until I was doing it when these fuck-ups happened. We got out on to the main and this time I gave it some throttle and joined the rest of the mosquitoes weaving in and out. Her arm tightened round my waist and her legs squeezed tight against mine.

She saw the brake light at the same time as I did, pulling at my stomach with her right hand and pointing over my shoulder with her left. I exaggerated my nod as the glare of neon and traffic lights merged in my badly scratched visor.

The Lite Ace was nearing the crossroads, in the left-hand filter. I passed another car and was now just one vehicle behind, trying to get a better view inside. I pushed up the visor and a rush of cooler air hit the sweat.

Neon bathed the two bodies in the front seats. The passenger was a man, younger than the target, and Malaysian. The good news was that he also wore a white shirt, and was obviously a model employee. When he turned his head to talk to the target I could see he'd already put on his bow-tie.

The vehicle's indicators flashed for the left turn and they left the coast road. The route inland was busy but not as chaotic as the one we'd just quit, and I could feel the contours almost immediately as we started to make height. After less than a kilometre the breeze-block shacks petered out, and with them the clatter of petrol generators and the yelps of their scabby dogs. As we climbed even higher there was nothing at the roadside but vegetation. Lights twinkled occasionally behind the greenery, suggesting habitation, but even those soon disappeared. The road narrowed; two vehicles could just have squeezed past each other.

I let us fall back as we became the only vehicles in sight. I was anticipating a sharp left-hand bend before long, and sure enough his rear lights flared in the darkness, one flickering, as he hit the brakes to negotiate it, then disappeared.

Suzy's head came over my shoulder, her.45 digging deeper into my back. 'We sticking to the plan?'

There was nothing for me to do but nod as she sank back behind me. The job must go on. I felt Suzy's right arm delve into her bag as her legs squeezed round mine to support her. She was putting on her rubber gloves.

The red lights in front of me came and went as the target followed the bends uphill, but I didn't need to be right on top of him for about another kilometre. I knew where he was going.

I glanced in the rear-view mirror. The coastal plain was way below us now. The road ahead had been carved through rainforest and our headlight glistened on the solid green stuff that reared up on both sides of us, still wet with rain, as I dodged fallen palm leaves and water-filled potholes.

Five hundred metres further on we passed our marker – a big stone Buddha on a log, looking down on to a junction with a mud track that went right into the forest. Maybe it was some sort of accident black spot and Buddha was there to bring good luck.

Suzy tapped my arm with a hand in a red rubber glove, and pointed to make sure I'd seen it. Then I felt her left hand go completely round my waist and her right push into the bag wedged between us. A few seconds later the barrel of the revolver ran up my back.

We were nearly at the ambush point, a narrow, staggered crossroads where the target would have to stop to negotiate a stream that cut across the junction. That was the point we were channelling him to: why force a target into the killing ground when you can pick a route he always uses? He would have to slow almost to a standstill as he forded the water.

We were less than fifty metres from the Lite Ace now. Suzy pushed down under my arse with her left hand, the.45 in her right, ready to jump herself off.

The red lights flared and flickered as the target braked for the junction. He'd have to turn right, cross the stream, then do an immediate left.

I approached the Lite Ace on its right-hand side and could smell cigarettes. As we slowed, level with the rear of the vehicle, the bike wobbled. Suzy had leapfrogged off the back as I carried on.

There was a shout from the cab.

I twisted the throttle to get myself forward to block him, but this boy wasn't for stopping. The Lite Ace crashed into my front wheel and I curled up, taking the fall. My right hip hit the tarmac, then skidded along the road with the bike following until we finally came to a halt in the stream.

I dragged myself to my feet, yanking the helmet back in time to see the vehicle roll backwards down the hill, headlights blazing skyward. Suzy was running after it. I hobbled forwards, trying to get my leg to work. It felt like someone had taken a cheese-grater to my thigh.

The vehicle kept rolling and the lights arced higher into the sky as Suzy dived in through the driver's window. What the fuck was going on?

It hit the trees fifteen metres further downhill, and came to a halt. Suzy's legs disappeared inside the driver's window at the same time as the side door slid open and the interior light came on. A figure leapt out and crashed through the foliage as two shots were fired.

'Which one? Which one?'

Suzy scrambled out. 'He's in the cover!'

'Wait, wait.' I drew level with her and grabbed her arm to stop her jumping into the forest. It was the pickup who was dead, his head twisted and pushed up against the blood-soaked seat.

I ripped off my helmet, gulping down oxygen. 'Sssh, listen.'