Andy McNab - Boy soldier

'Don't argue with me, Danny. You can't do it alone, and if that reporter bloke won't help, you'll need someone.'

Danny glanced towards Eddie, who tapped his watch, indicating that he was anxious to get on the road.

'But… but what about your dad?'

Joey was sitting on a bench, looking perfectly content as he sat in the late afternoon sunshine and smoked one of his cheroots. Elena moved a little further away and spoke quietly into the phone. 'I've been to the building society and got him five hundred quid. That's just for a start – I had to order the rest to collect tomorrow. I'll tell him I'm staying the night with you and… and your dad. He won't care; it'll give him a chance to start spending his money.'

Danny hesitated. 'Are… are you sure. It'll be-'

'Dangerous. Yeah, I guessed that. Where do we meet?'

'I'll ask Eddie. But can you go to the shops for me first?'

'Shops?'

'There are a few things we might need.'

They rendezvoused just outside Sheringham. Joey was happy enough to let his daughter go off for the night, especially after listening to Elena's elaborate lie about how Danny and his 'dad' had got back together after a long separation – 'just like we have'.

'You see, that's what I was worried about. Danny had come all this way to Norfolk and there was a message at Foxcroft saying his dad couldn't see him. But everything's fine, now they've met up.'

'Mmm, I understand, darling,' said Joey, lighting another cheroot. 'But that other place we visited, what was that all about?'

Elena thought quickly. 'That was… that was where I thought Danny's dad was living. He's a… he's a vicar, just started at a new parish. But I got the wrong village.'

'A man of the cloth, eh? Well, that's fine then, darling. I couldn't leave you in safer hands. So, we meet back in London tomorrow and-'

'And go to the building society, yes, Dad. I'll be there.'

While Elena bought the things Danny had ordered, Joey sat in the car and thought about the different ways he could enjoy making inroads into the five hundred pounds burning a hole in his pocket.

They met Danny and Eddie in a lay-by soon after. Joey pulled the hire car to a standstill and walked back with Elena to where the old Sierra was parked.

'Evening, reverend,' said Joey, extending a hand to Eddie as he got out of the car.

'This is my dad, Joey,' said Elena, spotting Eddie's bemused look. 'I told him all about your new parish, Reverend Watts.'

'My new-?'

'Travelling incognito, are you, vicar?' smiled Joey.

'Incog-?'

'No dog-collar,' said Joey. 'Well, I'm all in favour of the modern ways.' He glanced over at Danny, who was looking equally confused, and then turned back to Eddie. 'Glad to see you and the boy have made things right, reverend, just like me and my darling Elena. And I can see the family resemblance. He's the image of you.'

'Well, we'd better get off, then,' said Elena hurriedly. She went to Joey and kissed him and then nodded to Danny to get into the car.

'Right, bye then,' said Eddie, as he climbed back into the driver's seat. 'And, er… God bless you.'

'Praise the Lord,' called Joey as the Sierra stuttered into life.

Elena waved through the back window as the car pulled away from the lay-by and then turned and smiled at Danny.

'Don't ask,' she said.

They were on their way. At last. Eddie counted the miles taking them closer to the target and worried about the suicidal rescue attempt, while Danny and Elena sat in the back, packing Elena's purchases into a day sack.

They were animated, excited. Elena's arrival seemed to have given Danny fresh confidence and assurance. Eddie drove in silence, partly cursing himself for his own cowardice and partly thinking that he should just head straight for London without stopping. But he knew it would be pointless. Danny was so set on trying to rescue his grandfather, he would probably fling open the door and leap from the car.

Danny had given Elena a long shopping list which included two hand-sized blocks of wood, a hammer and some five-inch nails.

He took one of the blocks and started hammering a nail into it as Elena watched, and Eddie looked in his rear-view mirror to see what was going on.

'I didn't ask why when you said you wanted this stuff,' said Elena over the sound of hammering, 'but, er… why?'

'Shit!' said Danny, as he missed the nail and hit his thumb with the hammer. 'I'm making climbing dumars. My granddad told me how to do it.'

'Climbing? Danny, you may not have noticed, but this is Norfolk. There's no mountains.'

Danny ignored her and hammered a nail into the second block of wood. When both nails were all the way into the blocks, with their heads flat against one side, he took out his Leatherman knife and pulled out the pliers attachment. He bent over the ends of the two nails to form hooks, leaving a straight section of nail between hook and wood block.

Next he took two orange nylon straps, the sort normally used for securing things to roof racks, from his day sack. He wrapped one end of each strap around the straight part of each nail. Then he formed one-metre loops and wound the other end of the straps around the nails and secured them with the buckles. The dumars were finished.

'I think that's right,' said Danny, as he packed them carefully into the day sack.

'If they don't work you could always hit someone with them,' said Elena. 'They look lethal.'

Just outside Thetford they pulled into a filling station. Danny told Eddie to park off the forecourt because of the security cameras and then went into the garage shop in search of Landranger Map 144.

'Can't you get him to give up on this stupid idea?' said Eddie to Elena as they waited in the car.

Elena laughed. 'When Danny wants to do something, he does it. Doesn't matter what anyone else says. Don't worry about us, vicar, we'll be all right.'

The reporter turned in his seat, glaring angrily at Elena. 'You think this is all a laugh, don't you, like a game! It's not. You could get killed! Killed! Can't you get that into your head!'

Elena looked away and stared out through a side window. 'I know it's no game,' she said quietly.

They sat in silence until Danny returned to the car. 'Last one they had,' he said as he opened up the map and found the six-figure reference Eddie had written in his notebook.

'There's nothing there,' said Elena, looking up from the map. 'It's just forest.' She pointed at two words printed in the target area. 'See that?'

The two words read: DANGER AREA.

'It's an army training area,' said Danny. 'They put that to warn the public off.'

Eddie started up the car. 'Yeah? Well, it's working on me.'

'You're sure you wrote down exactly what the woman said?'

'I'm a reporter, that's what I do.' Eddie made one last attempt at warning them off the rescue attempt. 'Look, it's dark, it's late, and you've got no idea what you're up against. Come back to London with me. I can probably get this on the television news tonight and in the papers tomorrow. They won't do anything to Fergus then.'

'We're wasting time, Eddie,' said Danny, refolding the map. 'Just get us as close as you can to the map reference.'

Eddie crunched the gears as he shoved the Sierra into first gear and pulled away.

They parked in a firebreak in the forest, just past the track leading into the army training area. Danny used his Maglite to read the map. 'This is it; we walk from here.' He grabbed the day sack and reached for the door handle. 'Thanks, Eddie. Write the whole story, and get the facts right.'

'Wait,' said Eddie. He hadn't spoken since they'd driven away from the filling station, but he had been thinking. 'Look, I'll come with you, just to see what's there. Then if you still want to go through with this crazy plan, you're on your own. OK?'