Jack Higgins - The Judas gate

Dak Khan took off his Panama, wiped his face with the scarf and managed a smile. 'I'm sure everything will be fine.'

He started up the track, and three of the goats came to meet him. Salim, binoculars around his neck, raised them and scanned the house.

'The inside of the place is very dark. No sign of any movement.' He paused. 'Yes, I think there's someone there.'

Dak Khan had reached the house, paused, and the door was opened. As he stepped inside, there was a brief flash of white, and then the door closed again.

'So now we wait,' Ferguson said, and Miller opened the door on his side to get out.

As he did so, a shot was fired, a sharp and peculiar cracking sound that echoed in the desert heat. It caught Sergeant Said in the side of the head, his scarlet turban flying into the air as he was catapulted over the side of the Sultan. Nasser's reflex action was to open the door at his side and attempt to scramble out. Three very quick shots, all making that same peculiar cracking sound, hit him in his neck and back, driving him down to collapse over the body of his comrade.

There were three more quick shots, two smashing the windscreen, flying glass cascading over Abu Salim as he crouched beneath the machine gun, another deflected by armour plating.

There was blood on his face from several cuts, and Ferguson slipped out of the rear seat and joined Miller, crouching behind the Sultan.

'Do you know what that thing is?' Miller demanded.

'Another relic of the Soviets in Afghanistan. A Dragunov automatic sniper rifle. Absolutely deadly with a competent marksman.'

'What in hell do we do?' Ferguson asked.

'Let's try this.' Crouched right down, Salim reached up to the handle of the machine gun, swung it round in the general direction of the house, and gave it a long burst.

Then he scrambled across and found the others. There was another shot from the Dragunov and, as the echoes died away, Salim flattened himself against the ground and peered cautiously round the Sultan to the house.

Ferguson said, 'What the hell is going on?'

The Dragunov fired again, several times, and was joined by another weapon, a different sound. 'An AK47,' Miller said. 'I'd know that anywhere.'

Salim said, 'Help me drop the back flap. I think you'll find I have a surprise for them.'

There was additional ammunition for the machine gun, and flares of one kind and another, but, most important, half-a-dozen rocket-propelled grenades.

'You're familiar with this weapon, Major?' Salim asked Miller.

'Yes, and I can't wait to try it out.'

They crouched together, aided by the fact that the canvas roof covered the back-seat portion of the Sultan. Salim helped him adjust the tube over his right shoulder, Miller straightened and fired. The grenade exploded to the right of the front door. There were flames, and smoke billowed, but there was also another burst from the Dragunov.

'My turn,' Salim said. Chancing it, he stood up, took careful aim, and the grenade went straight through the front door.

They went up the track cautiously and paused a few yards away. The house was a total wreck, half the roof gone, and parts of it were still burning. The first dead man they came to, lying on his back, was the man with the walleye from Khan's house, and it was obvious that the other three were his companions, although damaged so badly that no one could have recognized them.

The rest of the room had suffered badly but, as they stood there, there was a groaning sound from the very back by a door that led to the rear of the house. Legs were sticking out from under a mass of debris and, when Miller and Salim cleared it, they found Dak Khan.

He was soaked in blood, obviously dying, and yet he still spoke, gasping a little. When Abu Salim knelt to check him, Khan grabbed him by the front of his uniform.

'It's all that bastard Atep's fault.'

Salim knelt on one knee. 'Why do you say that?'

'He's the one. Acting on orders from an Al Qaeda man in London. Someone called the Preacher.'

Ferguson said, 'Does he know what he's saying?'

'It would seem so,' Abu Salim said, and returned to Dak Khan. 'You're certain of this?'

'He pressured me again and again to do his dirty work. Who can say no to Al Qaeda?'

He was weakening, and Salim continued, 'What about Shamrock?'

'He exists. Atep told me. Also said General Ferguson was being too nosy and needed dealing with.' He looked up at Ferguson and Miller. 'He said you'd done a great deal of harm to Al Qaeda.'

'So he definitely wanted us dead,' Miller said.

'Oh, yes, and not only you two.' He glanced at Abu Salim. 'I asked about you and your men getting in the line of fire. He told me there was no problem. He said you were a nothing.' He seemed to swallow and whispered, 'He said with Osama's blessing, success was assured.'

There was no death rattle, he simply closed his eyes and died. Salim stood up and Ferguson said, 'What the hell happens now?'

'Let's go back to the Sultan and talk before we leave,' Salim said. 'We need to get our story straight.'

'Do we?' Charles Ferguson said, glancing at Miller. 'Well, that should be interesting.'

Indeed it was as, back at the Sultan, Salim called Colonel Atep on his mobile and reported in. 'Bad news, sir. That swine Dak Khan sold us out. Took us to a house up country where he insisted Shamrock would be, and we were attacked by four of his men.'

Seated at his desk, Ahmed Atep managed to control himself. 'What happened to General Ferguson and Major Miller?'

'They're fine, Colonel, and – except for being cut up a bit – so am I. I lost my two Sergeants, but we managed to kill Khan and four villains in his employ.'

'And he's definitely dead?'

'I'm afraid so, Colonel, but it does mean we avoid the fuss of a public trial, which means that, considering the importance of our guests, it will be much easier to treat the whole unfortunate matter as if it had never happened.'

With considerable relief, Colonel Atep grasped at the straw. 'Excellent, you've done well, Captain. I'll have a medical Chinook with you in thirty minutes.' The mobile went silent.

'You're a marvel, Captain,' Ferguson said. 'This means we can make our return this evening. You handled the call to Atep brilliantly.'

'Thank you, General. Excuse my presumption, but I had got the impression you wanted to keep this whole Shamrock business as low-key as possible, and so I told the Colonel what I knew he wanted to hear under the circumstances. I'm only sorry your journey has been in vain.'

'But it hasn't,' said Miller. 'We now know about that Al Qaeda man in London known as the Preacher.'

'Which could be useful.' Ferguson smiled and glanced up at the noise of the approaching helicopter. 'How's that for service? There must have been one in the vicinity.' Ahmed Atep had come himself, in the helicopter, all affability and charm and concern. The ambush by Taliban, which is what it swiftly became in the retelling, reflected well on his command, and he accompanied them to the military hospital, where they were checked thoroughly, Abu Salim needing twenty stitches, the windscreen having done its worst.

After consultation with Lacey, it was decided that a suitable time to leave would be ten o'clock. Colonel Atep insisted on giving them a farewell dinner at the Palace. The news that they had been attacked in the border country had leaked, as these things do, and Hamid had pulled out all the stops to give them the most extraordinary meal on the terrace.

Ahmed Atep was bonhomie itself, the life and soul of the party, while Abu Salim, with his scarred face, was much quieter.

The Colonel patted him on the shoulder. 'Come, my boy, cheer up. You're quite the hero. They'll be impressed in Islamabad. Who knows, a promotion could be in the offing.'