later they arrived on the edge of the northern part of the town. Morgan killed the engine and they remained in the car.
‘That gap in the wall,’ Morgan said, indicating the other side of the road with a jut of his chin. ‘Go through it and just follow the track and after a couple hundred yards you’ll find yourself overlooking the quarry. Head down into it soon as you can and follow the lowest line through.You can’t miss the settlement. It’ll be right above you surrounded by a big fuckoff wall and razor wire. That’s your main problem. Once that place is out of sight you’re laughin’.’
Stratton looked at the gap in the wall, then over his shoulder at Abed who stared coldly at him.
Stratton opened the door and paused to look back at Morgan, studying his nose and ears. ‘Nice job,’ he said.
‘I saved ’em for you,’ Morgan said, indicating a chewing-gum wrapper on the dash with a pile of curly black hairs in it.
‘You’re a pig, Morgan.’
Morgan grinned.
‘Let’s go,’ Stratton said to Abed and climbed out of the car. Abed made his way across the road to the gap in the wall to take a look.
Stratton paused before closing the door and crouched to face Morgan, something on his mind. ‘You said you had a place to go in Gaza.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why don’t you go down there. Today . . . like, now.’
Morgan looked deeply into Stratton’s eyes and saw something he had never seen there before. Fear was probably over the top but if not fear, it was the look of someone who had grave doubts about their business, and Stratton’s business was not just the job, but also staying alive to do it. Concern for his friend rose in Morgan but he knew better than to ask why Stratton was worried.
‘All right, mate,’ Morgan said.
Stratton nodded and was about to stand up when Morgan put his hand out.
‘Stratton.’
Stratton looked down at the big, black hand and took hold of it. Morgan leaned over and placed his other hand on top of Stratton’s, who did likewise. They held on to each other for a moment, no words spoken but everything being said.
‘You take care, mate,’ Morgan eventually said.
‘You too. And remember, nothing in this business is what it seems and there’s always more than what they tell you. Don’t trust any of ’em, Morgan . . . Better still, get a fucking real job.’
They smiled at each other.
‘I’ll see you back in Poole, mate,’ Morgan said. Stratton released him, closed the door and crossed the road to join Abed. Seconds later they were gone. Morgan stared at the gap in the wall for a moment, unable to guess why Stratton had told him to leave the West Bank. He would not allow his imagination to run wild but one thing was certain: when Stratton looked you in the eye and told you to get out of town, you had better do it. He started the car and headed away.
Stratton and Abed reached the top of the old stone quarry and crouched by several jagged boulders to view the area. The route through looked obvious; with a sheer wall of rock on one side and a steep craggy climb on the other it had to be along the bottom. The settlement was out of view from their position but no doubt they would see it from where the track disappeared around the side of the quarry.
Stratton glanced at Abed who was concentrating on the area ahead and wondered what he would be like if they ran into a problem. He looked athletic and alert, and anyone who could climb a supertanker at night in rough seas and murder the entire crew was undoubtedly capable. However Abed was the leader and Stratton’s concern was whether the man would take commands from him. He had to rate Abed’s value on this op as high, if for no other reason than he was all he had, after Gabriel. If there was contact of any kind in the quarry they would have to go either forwards or backwards. Backwards meant having to find another way out, which would also burn up time and possibly increase the risk since the authorities would know that someone was trying to avoid the checkpoints out of Ramallah. Going forward meant moving quickly into unknown territory, and that was always a high risk and inadvisable. This was one of those situations where there was no point in hanging around