the tail. The plane was descending and obviously heading for the ruined airport.
“Hey Pete I thought you said nothing was allowed in or out. That nothing could land,” Hutchinson said.
“That’s right. Nothing can.”
“Well someone, somewhere, has obviously got clearance.”
Dennis watched as the plane banked and then dropped more height and disappeared behind buildings and tarpaulins. Then Dennis was running for the Land Rover. “Come on!” he shouted at Natalie and Hutchinson, “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dennis opened the driver’s door of the Land Rover and jumped in. He thrust the key into the ignition, started the engine, slammed the door shut, selected first gear, released the parking brake and swung the vehicle round in a wide arc. Stones and dust were kicked up from the tyres. Dennis roared up to where Natalie and Hutchinson were. He jumped out and grabbed the equipment Al Massri was carrying. He shook the big man’s hand.
“Thank you.”
Al Massri nodded at his men to load the Land Rover with everything they’d bought.
“Military vests, two hundred rounds each, handguns, spare bullets, trackers, three automatic assault rifles.”
“Where are you going?” Al Massri asked Dennis.
“The people in that plane are searching for something that is very dear to us. We would very much like to get to it first.”
“Is that the reason for the guns?”
“Yes. They have tried to kill us on more than one occasion.”
“Where are you headed?”
“We think Galiliee.”
“Are you going to enter Israel?”
“We have to. There is no other choice.”
Al Massri moved away from the Land Rover.
“I wish you luck.”
“Thank you. Ma Salama. Goodbye.”
“Ma Salama.”
“Better keep the weapons out of sight,” Dennis said to his companions. He engaged first gear and the defender roared away.
“We didn’t get any extra food,” Hutchinson shouted above the noise.
“We should have some left,” Dennis shouted back.
Natalie leaned over the back seat and rummaged through the items they’d brought in from Egypt.
“We’ve still got some cheese, chocolate, water, some biscuits. That bread we bought is going hard though.”
“It’ll be enough. Might just need it for a night. If all goes well we’ll be in Israel tonight or tomorrow.”
“And where are we going now?”
“Look that plane should not have landed here. Nothing can and if Israeli forces didn’t shoot it down then it must have permission to land. And if that’s the case I want to know why and what they’re doing here.”
“And we’re going to just drive straight in there are we?”
“No. I’m going to see if I can get a tracker on that plane.”
“That is precisely what I was worried you were going to say.”
Natalie, Dennis and Hutchinson watched the activity around the Hercules from a distant vantage point. Behind them was Rafah. It was getting dark and Dennis glanced at his watch again. Natalie was starting to shiver at the cool evening air.
Dennis was laying on his front while peering through a pair of binoculars. He had watched as netted pallets of cargo had been unloaded and reloaded into the large belly of the transporter by a fork lift truck. There were currently pallets and crates scattered nearby as the fork lift driver sorted them.
The Hercules was stopped on the smooth desert terrain where cones marked a landing strip. The badly damaged runways had long since gone, ripped up many years before by civilians who, after the airport was destroyed in 2001 by Israel, had used the tarmac and foundations for building materials elsewhere in Rafah.
The three had been watching the activity for some hours now. The only visitor had been a large black Mercedes saloon flying Palestinian flags from its front wings. Men in suits with short stubby machine guns had got out of the car along with another man in a suit who had appeared to be unarmed. Then as Dennis had watched, the stunning redhead he had seen on the ocean breeze and the unmistakeable figure of Von Werner had descended from the open ramp at the back of the Hercules. The redhead moved to stand by him.
Dennis watched as they’d conversed for several minutes and then Von Werner surrounded by his armed men had handed over a large briefcase, clearly payment for something.
The two men had shaken hands. Then the man from the Mercedes shook the hand of the redhead, turned and had gotten back into the saloon which sped away.
Now Dennis focused on the tall redhead. She was clearly saying something to Von Werner, then together, they turned and he placed an arm around her shoulder as they headed for the severly wrecked airport buildings.