canopy, which was a dozen tarpaulins tied together. There was a large square table in the centre and a man was opening boxes of communications equipment and inspecting it. It was hot under cover and Dennis felt the sweat trickling down his back. The air was thin and a constant trail of dust drifted past. Al Massri threw out his arms.
“What do you want?”
“We need a machine gun each, sidearms, vests….” Dennis looked Hutchinson up and down, “He needs clothes. Do you want a sidearm?” he asked Natalie. She shrugged. “Give her a sidearm. Oh and we’ll want some thigh holsters. Flashlights. Let me think a minute. We brought some food with us. We’ll think about provisions in a minute. Let’s start with weapons.”
Al Massri grabbed a crowbar and began opening some crates.
“For assault rifles we have AR-15’s, FN FAL’s, AK’s….”
“AR-15,” Dennis said, “Give us two of those.”
Al Massri took two of the American machine guns out of the crate and threw one to Dennis and one to Hutchinson, who hefted it in his hand.
“Not too heavy, “ he said, “Is it a good weapon?”
“Very,” Dennis replied.
“Extra ammunition?” Al Massri asked.
“What do they come with?”
“One clip each of thirty rounds in an extended mag.”
“We’ll take two hundred rounds each.”
Al Massri nodded at one of his men to sort the extra ammunition.
“Sidearms?”
“Something easy to use.”
Al Massri threw a gun over. Dennis caught it and turned it over in his hand.
“Sig-pro! Nice,” he said inspecting the German-Swiss made handgun, “These are used by police forces around the world.”
He tossed it to Hutchinson who passed it from hand to hand.
“Nice and light,” the American said. He handed it on to Natalie who looked at it and went to hand it straight back.
“It’s yours,” Dennis said to her, ”I suggest you tuck it into the waistband of your jeans so you can get to it easily.”
She did as she was told. The feel of it was reassuring to her.
“We’ll have thigh holsters for ours.”
Al Massri sorted two out. Dennis attached his to his jeans straight away. He stopped Hutchinson from doing his.
“Hang on Jim. We’re going to sort your attire out.”
“RPG’s?” Al Massri asked.
“No,” Dennis answered. His t-shirt was now completely soaked from the heat under the tarpaulins. “We could do with some flashlights though. The type that clip onto combat jackets.”
Al Massri sought out three.
“What else do you want?”
“I dunno. Are we still in budget?”
“Still in budget?” Hutchinson said, “That was twenty grand.”
“I told you prices have gone up. Before 2008 an AK-47 was less than a thousand, now they’re probably two. Plus the percentage Hamas takes for itself.”
“Grenades?” Al Massri asked.
Dennis looked at his companions, then at the bearded man.
“No,” then a thought struck him, “Have you got any trackers?”
“Personal trackers? Of course.”
“ Magnetic ones?”
“All types. What do you want to track? People? Vehicles?”
“Probably both.”
Al Massri spoke to the man sitting at the table. He was still opening small boxes. He hadn’t spoken since they’d got there. Now he beckoned Dennis over. He opened a box and took two personal trackers, the size of a large cigarette lighter, out and activated them. He handed one to Dennis and the other to Hutchinson.
“One more,” Dennis said.
The man nodded and opened another box. There was a brief discussion between himself and Al Massri. The faction leader had the final word and the man shrugged.
“They come in pairs. I told him to let you have the other one so now you have a spare.”
“I’m sure it will come in very handy,” Hutchinson thanked him.
“So how do we track ourselves?” Dennis asked.
“The signals can be picked up by computers, laptops and smart phones.”
The man handing out the trackers gave Dennis the codes for each personal tracker. Dennis found it on his I-phone and was impressed to see a red dot appear on the GPS map on his screen.
“It’s working?” Al Massri asked.
They each checked with their phones. Each had a red dot.
“You had better turn them off again,” Al Massri ordered, ”I hope Israel is not already picking up the signals.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so,” Dennis replied.
“Let us hope not.”
“Do you want us to switch our phones off now.”
“It might be better if you did.”
Al Massri felt a little more relaxed once their phones were off. He should have insisted when they’d first arrived.
“Now,” he said, “A weapon for the woman.”
“AK-47,” Dennis said instantly, “Something lightweight, easy to use.”
Al Massri selected one and tossed it to Dennis who caught it mid air.