Stephen Leather - The Hunting

As Van der Sandt was finishing his meal, he heard the buzz of an approaching helicopter off to his left. It got louder and louder and then the Airbus came into view. It did a circuit of the grounds and landed. As its rotors slowed, Colin Bell appeared from the doorway. He had changed out of his fatigues and was wearing a long-sleeved denim shirt and jeans. The men who had been exercising ran over and surrounded him as he walked towards the terrace. He said something to them, they grunted in unison, and then they jogged back to the cottages.

Bell climbed the steps to the terrace. There were dark patches under his eyes and a greyish pallor to his skin. Van der Sandt waved for him to sit. ‘How’s Nick?’ asked Van der Sandt as Bell pulled out a chair and sat down.

Bell grimaced. ‘Not good. He’s got a collapsed lung and a busted spleen and several broken bones. He’ll mend, but he’ll never be the same.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Van der Sandt. ‘Has he any family?’

‘Divorced, two kids.’

‘Make sure they’re looked after. Nick, too. And I’ll pick up all the bills, obviously.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Do you want a coffee?’

Bell shook his head. ‘I’m good,’ he said. He leant forward. ‘How do you want to play this, Mr Van der Sandt?’

Van der Sandt frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Are you still sure you want to go into the forest alone?’

‘What are you saying? I should let you go in? If I did that, the whole exercise becomes pointless. I want those bastards dead and I want them to suffer, and I want to be the one to make them suffer. If I let you do it for me, we might as well have shot them in the house when we had them.’ He sat back in his chair. ‘I appreciate your concern, Colonel, but I have hunted and killed some of the most dangerous predators in the world. These men are scum. Worthless scum. And I’ll hunt them down and kill them like the dogs they are.’

Bell smiled thinly. ‘I understand,’ he said. ‘If it’s all right with you, I’d like to stay here with a few men until Nick gets the all clear to leave the hospital.’

‘Of course. You can stay in the staff cottages, though I’m afraid there won’t be a maid service and you’ll have to take care of yourself food-wise.’ Van der Sandt had given all the regular staff extra paid vacation until he’d finished his hunt. He knew that Bell and his men would stay tight-lipped about what had happened but he couldn’t say the same about the legion of housekeeping staff and gardeners who took care of the mansion and its extensive grounds.

‘That’s not a problem, sir,’ said Bell. ‘And would you do one thing for me, sir, to keep my mind at rest?’

‘If I can,’ said Van der Sandt. He sipped his coffee.

‘I’d like you to take a radio with you. That way you can at least stay in touch with me. And if anything goes wrong, I can come with the chopper and pick you up.’

‘Nothing will go wrong, Colonel,’ said Van der Sandt. ‘But yes, I’ll take a radio with me.’

The Colonel smiled. ‘And I really think I should keep the full team here until everything is resolved.’

‘That’s not necessary, Colonel. You can stand some of your men down. Just keep the bare minimum on the estate. My own security team will be back with Neil Thomas in two days. As soon as I’ve been dropped in the clearing, most of your men can head for the airport.’

‘Roger that,’ said Bell. ‘So when do you want to leave?’

Van der Sandt pushed back his chair and got to his feet. ‘I’ll get my gear and we’ll be off,’ he said. He picked up his plate and mug and headed inside.

CHAPTER 27

The first sign of dawn was a lightening of the patches of the sky that Raj could glimpse through the tree cover. Then there were streaks of red and the sound of birds overhead. He was sitting outside the shelter, his back to a tree. He had only slept for five or six hours. Sid had woken him up when he had accidentally jabbed him in the ribs while rolling over. Raj had tried to get back to sleep but Sid had started snoring and eventually Raj had rolled out of the shelter and sat by the tree. He was used to snatching sleep in short bursts; working at the short-staffed hospital meant he was on call pretty much any hour of the day or night. The temperature had dropped drastically during the night but Raj kept rubbing his hands for warmth, and once the sun made an appearance it began to get warmer.

He heard a cough from the second shelter, and then a rustling of leaves. Jaffar appeared. ‘What time is it?’ he asked Raj, blinking blearily.

Raj looked at his watch. ‘Five forty-five,’ he said.

‘What are we going to do about food?’ asked Jaffar, standing up and stretching.

‘You might be able to find some berries,’ said Raj. ‘Hazelnuts maybe.’

‘And what about water?’

‘What about it?’

‘How are we going to get some?’ said Jaffar. ‘You’re the survival expert.’

‘The priority is to get to safety,’ said Raj. ‘There’s a nutter with a gun after us, remember?’

Jaffar walked over to Raj, then sat down and pulled his knees up to his chest. ‘So what’s the plan?’ He gestured at the gun by Raj’s side. ‘You planning on shooting him?’

‘My plan is to get as far away from here as possible,’ said Raj.

‘The quicker the better, right?’

‘Right.’

Jaffar moved his head close to Raj’s, and lowered his voice. ‘Thing is, we’ll move faster without Mo, and that’s a fact.’

Raj frowned. ‘I thought he was a friend of yours?’

Jaffar pulled a face. ‘I’d never met him until we went to the training camp. Barely said a word to him. Bit of a twat, to be honest. Thing is, like you said we need to get the hell out of here, and carrying Mo is going to make that more difficult.’

‘So we do what, leave him here?’

‘Why not? Maybe light a fire or something to keep him warm.’

‘So that the hunter can find him, you mean? That’s harsh, Jaffar. That’s really harsh.’

‘It’s survival of the fittest, innit?’

‘And what if you were the one with the broken leg? Would you be happy if we left you behind?’

Jaffar shrugged. ‘I’d understand,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t expect to be carried.’

‘That’s very noble of you,’ said Raj. ‘But we’re not leaving a man behind.’

Jaffar sneered at him. ‘That’s just fucking crazy. It’s bad enough the way Erol is limping but at least he can walk.’

‘Erol is your mate, right? You’re both from Bradford?’

‘Yeah, we used to live next door to each other. We went to primary school together.’

‘Would you leave him behind? If he couldn’t walk?’

‘That’s different. He’s a mate.’

‘So you’d carry Erol but not Mo?’

Jaffar grimaced. ‘When you say it like that, you make me sound like an arsehole.’

‘If that cap fits,’ said Raj.

‘What the fuck does that mean?’ snapped Jaffar.

‘You know exactly what it means,’ said Raj quietly. ‘Look, if you want to take your chances out there on your own, be my guest. But I’m not leaving Mo.

If we do he’ll either die of exposure or that guy will kill him. The only chance he has is if we stick with him. And I think you know that, otherwise you’d have left with the other two last night.’

‘I just want to get out of here,’ said Jaffar quietly.

‘You and me both,’ said Raj. He got to his feet, then reached down and picked up the carbine. He slung it over his shoulder and then went over to the smaller shelter where Erol was asleep on his side. Raj prodded him with his boot. ‘Wakey, wakey,’ he said.

Erol blinked and screwed up his eyes. ‘What?’