Andy McNab - Boy soldier

Her eyes were red and sore and her brain was telling her to stop. She made herself focus and carry on, but tiredness crawled over her, sewing seeds of doubt and disappointment.

'Why won't someone out there help me?' she whispered as she logged on to another site.

It was the last thing Elena was aware of until the alarm clock on her desk started to ring. She'd set it for seven thirty to make certain she was online for Danny. She reached for the alarm clock and fumbled for the off switch, then looked at her dark computer screen. The machine had long since logged off and gone into standby mode. When Elena went online to Danny her latest screen name told him exactly how she was feeling: Useless says: (8:07:16 am) im sorry, I cant do it

Danny looked at Fergus and saw him frown. 'It was worth a try.'

Fergus nodded and Danny started to type, not bothering to change his screen name. Stockwell says: (8:08:02 am) not useless, if u cant no1 can Useless says: (8:08:31 am) swot I thought. big head or wot? O yeah, n my dads here, all I need, it's a nightmare

'Danny, we haven't got time for this,' said Fergus. 'You'll be talking about the weather next. If she's got nothing for us, then we're off.'

'But she hasn't seen him for years.'

'Well, then let's hope their reunion goes a bit better than ours has. Now, come on!'

'Two minutes, that's all.'

Danny went back to the keypad. Stockwell says: (8:09:05 am) u ok wiv that Useless says: (8:09:18 am) just. look I wanna try again 18ter. 2morrow might ave something 4 you

Tell her no,' said Fergus. 'We're visiting friends tomorrow and can't make contact like this. If all goes well, you'll be online the day after.' Stockwell says: (8:09:47 am) cant do. visiting 2morrow. day after. got 2 go, take care Useless says: (8:10:04 am) u 2. bye then xx

Danny logged off and ten minutes later they were on a local train to the seaside town of Cromer.

'Why stop here?' asked Danny as they walked from the station into crowds of late season holidaymakers. It was hot and clammy, as if a summer storm was slowly building up its forces.

'Because it's too early to get to where we're staying tonight. If we have to hang around it's better to do it in a crowd. We need a whole day for Meacher, time to recce and then make the approach. We do that tomorrow.'

At the cliff top they looked down on the beach, where brave swimmers were splashing about in the grey, choppy North Sea. They moved down to the pier. Huge posters with pictures of 'stars' Danny had never heard of promised a night of fun, glamour and excitement at the 'Seaside Special'. It must have been popular with Cromer's elderly visitors: there was a long queue at the ticket office.

Fergus found an empty wooden bench, gestured to Danny to sit next to him and then took out the map Elena had provided.

'I know this area,' he said. 'Came here when I was a kid. I think we can find somewhere close to Meacher's place for tonight. He lives further along the coast. Very remote.'

Danny stared out to sea. A huge freighter slowly moved across the horizon; closer to the shoreline white-sailed yachts ploughed through the waves.

'What's up with you?' asked his grandfather.

'I'm worried about Elena.'

Fergus refolded the map and replaced it in his day sack. 'Look, she's all right. It's only her old man who's turned up, not the police. And you'd be better off worrying about yourself.'

'You would say that. You've only ever thought of yourself. Never gave a toss about anyone else.'

Fergus stood up and beckoned for Danny to follow him to the very end of the pier. They leaned on the railings. 'You're right, I never did care – not enough, at least. Not until I got back to the UK this time.'

Danny turned to his grandfather. 'What, you're saying you cared about me?'

'I wanted to know you were OK. I made enquiries, found out where you lived. I saw you a couple of times, outside Foxcroft.'

'But why? What was the point if you never meant to meet me?'

Fergus shrugged. 'Getting old, maybe. Or maybe I needed to know that not everything I was part of had turned out badly. I dunno, I wanted to, isn't that enough?'

'No,' said Danny angrily, 'it's not enough. It's what you wanted, as usual. What about what I wanted? You never thought of that, did you? And what's the point of telling me now, anyway?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, suddenly I've got this caring granddad and guess what, he might well be dead tomorrow or the day after.'

Fergus looked out at the freighter on the horizon. It seemed hardly to have moved. 'D'you fancy some fish and chips? Cromer's famous for its fish and chips.'

Danny nodded.

'Good,' said Fergus. 'And after that we need to get some more supplies and go to a garden centre.'

'A garden centre? You taking Meacher some flowers?'

Fergus smiled. 'Something like that.'

Elena was having the day from hell.

Joey didn't come straight out with it. He spent the first few hours 'getting to know his beautiful daughter', as he put it.

They went out for that big English breakfast he'd been looking forward to ever since he stepped off the plane from Nigeria. And then his 'get the cash' campaign began. Joey was smiling, joking, saying how wonderful it was they'd found each other again.

And at first Elena was almost taken in. She did enjoy being with her dad. They went sightseeing and he told her stories of the family she'd never met back in Africa. She was fascinated and intrigued, just as he meant her to be.

It wasn't until mid afternoon that the subject of money and her inheritance came up. He was so pleased that her dear mum had managed to leave a few pounds for her and he only wished he had money to spare too.

'It doesn't matter, Dad,' Elena replied. 'It's just great to see you after all this time.'

But Joey wasn't finished. 'But I can help, darling, and I want to – it's my duty as a father. There's an investment I have lined up that will double your money, guaranteed, maybe even treble it. Much better than leaving it in the building society with its miserable couple of per cent interest.'

Elena's heart sank. If only he hadn't said that. If only Joey really had made the long journey back to England to see her and be with her.

She listened in silence as he went on and on about the great wealth they would make by investing in his friend Sonny's scheme to export second-hand 'white goods' – fridges, freezers and washing machines – back to Nigeria.

'You see, darling, in Africa we repair old white goods so they can be reused. It's not like the UK, where people throw them out after a few years because they want a new style or colour. It's a winner, babe, I'm absolutely certain of it. And believe me, I wouldn't risk your inheritance if I didn't trust Sonny like a brother.'

Elena nodded and smiled and eventually agreed to go and speak with Sonny. There was no way that Joey or his friend were going to get their hands on a single penny of her savings, but at that moment she was too tired, disappointed and disillusioned to even argue.

'We'll go now then, shall we, darling?' said Joey with a huge grin. 'No time like the present.'

'Yeah, all right.' Elena just wanted the whole thing over and done with.

They set off with Joey convinced he was at last on the way to the fortune he deserved, and with Elena wishing that he would go home and never come back.

She liked Sonny exactly as much as she had expected to – not at all. He was loud and self-important and dripping with chunky gold. And he spent most of their visit telling them how lucky they were to have the opportunity of coming in on his moneymaking scheme.

They wandered around his lock-up, staring at old fridges, freezers and washing machines that looked as though they should have been carted off to the rubbish dump instead of taking up valuable cargo space on a freighter to Africa.