Stephen Leather - The Hunting

‘He knew what to do with my leg,’ said Mo. ‘It still hurts, but at least I can move.’

Jaffar held up his hands. ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘If you want to team up with a fucking kafir, so be it.’

‘Keep your voice down, bruv,’ whispered Sid. ‘I don’t want to piss him off.’

‘Are you scared of him?’ sneered Jaffar.

Sid’s eyes hardened. ‘Watch your mouth, Jaffar. I’m not scared of anyone.’ His hand moved towards the Glock in his belt.

‘You want to shoot me, bruv?’ Jaffar tapped his chest above his heart. ‘Go ahead and fucking shoot me.’

‘You two guys need to chill,’ said Erol. ‘Fighting among ourselves isn’t going to get us anywhere. There’s a madman with a gun out there who wants us dead, and if we don’t get our act together we’re going to die in this forest. You hear me?’

Sid kept his eyes on Jaffar. ‘He’s right.’

Jaffar sighed. ‘Okay. I’m cool.’

Sid moved his hand away from his gun. ‘Let’s just do what we have to do to get out of here.’

CHAPTER 32

Sal and Abdullah reached the top of the wooded hill. They were still surrounded by trees and even though they had reached the high point, they couldn’t see more than fifty or sixty feet in any direction. Sal looked up at one of the towering redwoods. ‘The only way we’re going to be able to see where we are is if we climb,’ he said.

‘Fuck that, I’m no monkey,’ said Abdullah. He dropped down and sat at the base of the tree, his arms wrapped around his knees. ‘I’m gasping for a drink.’

‘I don’t see any water,’ said Sal. He put his hands on his hips as he looked around. ‘There’s no streams or anything, how the fuck does anything drink? There are animals, right, and birds. There has to be water somewhere.’

Abdullah reached out and grabbed a handful of earth. ‘The trees have to get water. Can’t we dig down and get water that way?’

‘Dig with what, bruv?’ asked Sal. ‘I don’t see any spades around, do you? We need a stream or a lake or something.’ He looked up through the branches. ‘It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain, either.’ He pulled the transceiver out of his pocket and switched it on. He began switching frequencies. Each time he heard static he stopped and pressed the transmit button to see if anyone could hear him.

‘You’re wasting your breath,’ said Abdullah.

‘If you don’t try, you don’t get. Do you have any bright ideas?’

‘I just want to get the fuck out of here,’ said Abdullah.

Sal clicked the frequency switch and there was a burst of static. He put the transceiver to his face and pressed the transmit button. ‘Is there anyone there?’ He released the transmit button and listened but there was only static. He pressed the button again. ‘Hello? Is there anyone there?’ He released the button and took the transceiver away from his face, scowling.

‘Just throw it the fuck away,’ said Abdullah. ‘What time do you think it is?’

‘I don’t know. He shaded his eyes with his left hand. ‘It’s hard to see where the fucking sun is.’

The transceiver crackled. ‘Hello? Are you receiving me?’

Sal jumped and the transceiver fell from his hand and hit the ground. ‘Shit!’ he shouted. He bent down and picked it up, and held it to his ear. ‘Hello?’ he said. ‘Hello? Hello?’ He realised he wasn’t pressing the transmit button and he cursed as he pressed it again. ‘Yes, hi, who is this?’ he said. There was only static. Abdullah got to his feet and walked over to him. ‘Hello?’ repeated Sal. ‘Hello? Hello?’

‘You’ve got to take your finger off the button to hear them,’ said Abdullah.

‘I’m not fucking retarded, bruv,’ snapped Sal.

He released his grip on the transmit button. There was a burst of static and then a man’s voice. ‘This is Chris Schnapp of the US Forest Service. Do you have a problem, sir?’

‘Yeah, we have a major problem,’ said Sal. ‘There’s a guy with a gun trying to kill us.’

‘I’m sorry, sir. What was that?’

‘There’s a guy. With a gun. Trying to kill us.’

‘What is your name, sir?’

‘Sal. My name’s Sal.’

‘Your full name, sir.’

‘What does it matter what my name is?’ snapped Sal. ‘You need to come and get us before this maniac shoots us.’

‘It’s for our records, sir. I’ll need your name.’

‘Okay, fine. My name’s Salmaan Yousif.’

‘And who else is with you, sir?’

‘My friend. Abdullah Rarmoul.’

‘So there’s just the two of you?’

‘Yeah. Now can you come and get us?’

‘What is your location, sir?’

‘I don’t know. We’re in a forest. All I can see are trees.’

‘That doesn’t help me, sir. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. You could be anywhere.’

‘Yeah, but what is the range of your radio?’

‘My radio, sir? Twenty kilometres on a good day.’

‘Right, so you must be twenty kilometres away or closer? That’s not too far, is it?’

‘Sir, a twenty kilometre radius would mean you could be anywhere within twelve hundred square kilometres.’

Sid cursed under his breath. ‘Look officer, my friend and I have no food or water, no shelter, no nothing, and there’s a madman with a gun trying to kill us. Can’t you track my signal or something?’

‘On a phone that might work, but you can’t track a radio signal, sir. Do you have a gun?’

‘A gun? Why?’

‘Because if you fire your weapon the sound might carry and I might hear it.’

‘I don’t have a weapon,’ said Sal.

‘Could you light a fire?’

‘I don’t have a lighter.’

‘If you could light a fire and make smoke, I would possibly be able to see that.’

‘Okay,’ said Sal. ‘We’ll try.’

‘And are there any identifying features where you are, sir? Any rocks, a clearing, a lake, flowing water?’

‘Just fucking trees,’ said Sal.

‘Is the ground flat? Are you in a valley, on a hill?’

‘On a hill,’ said Sal. ‘Does that help?’

‘Not really, sir, there are plenty of hills in the area. Look, your best bet would be to light a fire and make smoke. If that fails, head down the hill and look for water. If you find water follow the stream in the direction it flows and with any luck that will take you to a lake.’

‘There’s a lake?’

‘There are several lakes in the area, sir. As soon as you make your way to one, call me on this frequency. But as I said, a fire is your best bet.’

‘We’ll try,’ said Sal. He switched off the transceiver and shoved it back into his pocket.

‘So there’s a lake,’ said Abdullah. ‘We need to find it, bruv.’

‘How the fuck do we find a lake?’ said Sal.

‘He said we find a stream.’

‘Yeah, well there was no stream on the hill on the way up. And there’s no stream here.’

‘So we head down the other side.’

Sid shook his head. ‘I think the fire’s the best idea.’

‘A fire? Unless you’ve got a Zippo stuffed up your arse that’s not going to happen.’

‘I saw that Bear Grylls light a fire with sticks.’

‘Nah, bruv, he fakes all his stuff. It’s all done off camera.’

‘He did it for real. He took a stick and sharpened one end and then used string to make it twist real fast into another piece of wood. Then when it got hot he dropped on wood shavings or something and then he blew on it and that burst into flames.’

‘Bruv, we don’t have anything to sharpen a stick, or string, or wood shavings.’ Abdullah threw up his hands. ‘We’re fucked.’

‘We’re not fucked, bruv. All we’ve got to do is get to the park ranger or whatever he is.’ He pointed at Abdullah’s belt. ‘You’ve got a belt with a buckle.’