Jack Higgins - The Judas gate

'What's going on?'

'Just killing a little time.' Dillon watched Hakim and Holley go. Several of the policemen were still hanging around the Falcon, looking it over and talking amongst themselves.

'I just wanted us to get away from Hakim and Holley. I don't like the look of that bunch of gorillas. They look all bad to me and I wonder why that should be.'

'I admit they don't seem very prepossessing,' Miller said.

'Which is a posh way of saying they look bloody awful,' Dillon told him. 'And as they've now been told we don't speak Arabic, I think it might be interesting to hear what they say about us.'

'Okay, let's test the water. I suggest we each take an AK47 loaded for bear, as they say.'

'Now you're talking,' Dillon said, and went and unpacked the holdalls.

When they emerged from the Falcon and went down the steps, Dillon closed and locked the airstair door, turned and smiled at the policemen hanging around, then said to Miller, 'Shall we go, old man?' He turned to the men, 'Where is Colonel Hakim?' He spoke rather slowly, as if to fools.

'That is the British for you,' one of the policemen said. 'Stupid and arrogant, Nadim, as if we were idiots.'

'What you say is true, but be patient: every dog has its day, and that day has come as far as these two are concerned.' Nadim, who was a Sergeant, pointed in a direction and said to Dillon, 'Hakim.'

'Thanks very much,' Dillon told him.

As he and Miller started to walk, another of the men said, 'The AK47s they've got are the fully automatic version. A very dangerous weapon.'

'Do not be afraid,' Nadim said. 'A knife in the dark can be just as effective.'

'And the small man carrying it doesn't look like much,' another said.

'Cut it out,' Nadim told him. 'Remember what Colonel Hakim said: these are dangerous men. You must be very careful. Remember the proverb. It is the cat which bides its time that catches most mice.'

They moved away, and Hakim appeared on the jetty and waved. 'So what do you make of that?' Miller asked.

'Well, it could just have been some Muslims shooting their mouths off. They don't like us much these days.'

'Dillon, I only speak a certain amount of Arabic, but what I could understand, I didn't like. You speak the language fluently, so for God's sake, you little Irish bogtrotter, tell me what you think.'

'Well, to put it inelegantly, I'd say we're in deep shite,' Dillon said. 'You are carrying?'

'Armed to the teeth, which includes my underwear if you count the vest.'

'Excellent. Let's go and enjoy Hakim's hospitality and see what unfolds. It intrigues me, the thought that the police could turn out to be our problem.' Dillon shook his head. 'Now why would that be? It would put Hakim on the other side, a man whom Daniel has known for years and respects, a government man.'

'Yes, well, life does have its little surprises.' Dillon waved to Hakim, who was standing in the stern of the launch with Holley. 'Join us for champagne,' Hakim called. 'You see we have everything. Then we'll go to the village cafe where they are preparing a meal – it's better than you would imagine.'

An orderly in a white jacket came forward and offered a tray, and Dillon and Miller accepted a glass each. 'To the friendship of our two great countries,' Hakim said. 'And especially to Daniel, who more than anyone has built the bridges that unite us.'

'Isn't that nice?' Dillon said. 'You have a way with the words, Colonel.'

Sergeant Nadim came along the jetty and stood waiting. Hakim said, 'Excuse me a moment.' He went down the short gangway to speak to him.

Dillon took the last glass from the tray, the orderly went below, and Miller said, 'You were saying how sensible it would be to keep quiet about being able to speak Arabic.'

Holley's face betrayed nothing. 'Tell me the worst.'

Which Dillon hurriedly did. 'It all sounded pretty menacing to me.'

Holley frowned. 'It's not that I disbelieve you. But he's been a friend for years.'

'Let's just stay alert and prepare to cope with whatever comes up,' Miller said.

Hakim returned. 'Excuse my bad manners, but I was just discussing your quarters with Sergeant Nadim. You'll be staying on the second boat, Evening Star. He'll command the boat with six men. He is very experienced in the ways of the Khufra, so he'll lead our little invasion, and I will follow, half an hour later, in Fortuna. General Ferguson expressed a wish for you to take part in the action, so I thought my plan would please you.'

'It certainly does,' Miller said.

'So, you will leave at dawn. Four in the morning, gentlemen. But for now, the Cafe Bleu awaits.'

As they went over the side to the jetty, Dillon murmured, 'I thought the French left this country years ago?'

Holley said, 'Just shut up, Sean, you never know. Maybe you'll get a surprise.'

Which they all did. It was a house slightly larger than the others, a terrace open to the sky and looking out to sea. Sergeant Nadim and four men armed with small Uzi machine guns stood guard, menacing and watchful.

There was French wine, Chablis, cold from a deep well where it had been hanging suspended by string. There was a roast lamb to be carved, mounds of rice, peppers of various kinds and onions that had been cooked with the lamb.

Afterwards, drinking more wine, Hakim said, 'I am sorry if the presence of guards has spoiled the meal, but there are those out there in the marshes, possibly even watching us now, who would kill me without compunction.'

'There is no need to apologize. Life is the most precious thing we have,' Dillon said. 'One must be willing to do anything to preserve it. Sometimes, however, even the guards are not enough.'

'Then what is, my friend? If we were sitting here, as we are now, and brigands from the Khufra rushed in to overwhelm us, what would you do?'

Dillon took a pineapple fragmentation grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin and held the release bar tight. 'I would point out that if I released the bar, I might kill myself, but also every person within a fifteen-metre radius.'

The four men with Nadim cried out and backed away hurriedly. Nadim stood firm and Dillon smiled. 'A brave man, your Sergeant, but we'd have died together.' He replaced the pin and put the grenade back in his pocket.

'My friend, you must be insane.' Hakim was horrified.

'Ah, well, I'm from County Down, and they say we're all a bit crazy there.' Dillon turned to his friends. 'I'll need to get a few things from the plane, Harry. If you'll help me, we can leave Daniel to chat on for a while.'

'Of course,' Hakim said, 'but I insist Sergeant Nadim and his men accompany you.'

Dillon said, 'A good man, the Sergeant. I'm sure he'll take care of us perfectly.'

There was a half-moon and a slight breeze as Dillon and Miller walked ahead, Nadim and his men behind.

'There was a purpose to your utterly mad act and now this?' Miller said. 'I'm right, aren't I?'

'Of course you are, but let me listen, Harry.'

They walked in silence, the murmur of conversation behind them, and reached the Falcon. Dillon found the key, opened the airstair door and led the way in. He reached for the weapons bag and opened it. 'I'll get an AK47 for Holley: he's going to need it.'

'Why?' Miller demanded.

'One of the cops asked Nadim why they couldn't cut our throats in bed while we were asleep on the launch. Nadim said it was necessary for us to die in action in the Khufra. He said Hakim had told him it would look better.'

'Anything else?'

'Oh, yes. One of the other guys tried to argue, and Nadim told him he had taken the oath from Colonel Hakim. You know what the oath was, Harry? To put his life on the line to serve Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. What do you think of that?'

'I learned a long time ago not to be surprised at anything in our line of work, Sean. It'll be terrible for Holley when we tell him the man who's been his partner's best friend since youth, is what he is. Do you think there's any chance Malik has gone the same way?'