a ‘goddamned mountain’ when he first saw it. But the size of such things is always deceptive at night and within an hour they had reached the top.
Stratton halted them short of the ridge line in order to find a place to cross over without exposing their silhouettes. A road ran along the valley floor on the other side and they had to assume that it was patrolled by government soldiers.
They followed the ridge for some distance before Stratton ordered a dismount and they passed through a narrow cut, emerging the other side to find themselves overlooking another and much larger valley. They could see none of its features in the darkness but according to the map a small river meandered along the bottom alongside a tarmac highway.
They weren’t far from the ambush site now and they stayed on foot down the steep, rocky incline, Kebowa and Mohesiwa sticking close by. The group had not gone far when a light appeared at one end of the valley. They stopped to watch what was obviously a vehicle on the road. As it drew closer the gentle rumble of its engine could be heard. The headlights suddenly began to flicker, strobe-like, as they passed behind something. At the same time the sound of heavy-duty wheels driving over a metal grid drowned out the noise of the engine.
‘The bridge,’ Victor said.
The truck’s red tail lights glowed as it headed down the valley and disappeared out of sight.
The group continued down the slope without another word. A large dark patch near the bottom of their side of the valley turned out to be a small wood, an ideal place in which to hide the horses until the sun came up. As they neared it they discovered a small rise between the wood and the river, which made it an even better place of concealment. The ground was arid and peppered with shrubs and stunted trees.
The moon shone as brightly as it had the night before, more so than Stratton would have liked.
Stratton ordered the equipment unloaded and the horses and burros unsaddled for the time being. He spread his shelter canopy on the ground while the Indians stood by, watching him. Stratton removed one of the claymores from its pouch and laid it on the canopy along with the roll of wire, the twine and a couple of wire-cutters.
When the others had completed their tasks they returned to see what Stratton was up to.
‘Sit in a line,’ Stratton said, slipping naturally into instructor mode. ‘I’m going to run through the ambush set-up. If at any time you don’t understand what I’m telling you, just ask me to go through it again.’
‘I feel like I’m back in school,’ Victor said.
‘You are. The difference is that if you screw up this lesson we may all die.’
The Indians moved closer to look at the strange devices that the soldier was holding.
‘The plan is quite simple,’ Stratton went on. ‘The bridge is our ambush point - our killing zone. All we’re going to do is wait for our target vehicle to drive onto the bridge and then we’ll blow it. You’re happy with how to wire up the detonators like I showed you yesterday?’
Victor nodded.
‘David, Bernard?’ Stratton asked.
The two young men nodded.
‘Show me again, quickly,’ Stratton said. He tossed Bernard a claymore and the wire and placed a detonator in front of him.
Bernard confidently unscrewed the detonator-terminal cap from the top of the claymore. He stripped the plastic coating off the ends of the wires with his teeth, picked up the detonator with care, unravelled the wire that was factory-wrapped around it and connected the bared ends, twisting them together. He finished by tying the join in a knot to prevent it from being pulled apart. He inserted the detonator into the claymore and screwed the terminal housing home.
‘That’s good,’ Stratton said. ‘Do I need to see you two do it?’ he asked the others.
‘If you want,’ Victor said. ‘But I’ve never been more sure of something in my life.’
David nodded in agreement.
‘Good. Victor, your job will be to roll out the wire from the bridge all the way to here, which will be the firing point. Put the batteries there but keep them in the bag and nowhere near the ends of the wires.’
‘Of course,’ Victor said.
‘We’ll prepare all the mines here, then take them to the bridge. I’ll lay them out.You boys,’ he said, looking at David and Bernard, ‘will tie them into position and connect