watched for a further few minutes as the forklift truck continued to drive crates up the ramp into the back of the Hercules. He counted all the men on the ground with guns. There appeared to be twelve in all. Then he saw Petrov standing with two others. The Russian appeared to be giving orders. Then he too headed for the buildings. Dennis had seen enough. He scrabbled back to where Natalie and Hutchinson waited, crouching by a large rock.
“I’m going down there.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” Hutchinson said.
“You don’t think it’s too dangerous?” Natalie asked, knowing he wouldn’t.
“If I can get a tracker on one of those crates we can find out where they’re going. Then all we need to do is follow. They’ll lead us straight to where they hope the spear will work. Maybe we could even collect the bounty on Von Werner.”
“Or get killed in the process,” Hutchinson put in.
“I’ll be fine. I’m just going to plant a tracker and I’ll be out.”
“Okay. We’ll be watching,” Hutchinson said, “The first sign of trouble and I want you out of there.”
“No worries. I’m going to take the AK-47. Maybe I can pass as a local if I’m seen. They’d probably shoot first and ask questions later but I’ve got to try.”
Dennis kissed Natalie on the lips.
“Wish me luck.”
“Good luck.”
Dennis checked that the Kalashnikov was loaded, put it over his back, wrapped his keffiyeh around his head and covered all but his eyes with it. He gave his companions a cheery wave and set off towards the destroyed airport.
To begin with he moved fast because there was no cover. Once he stopped and ducked behind rocks as vehicles rumbled past him. He looked back to where he’d left Natalie and Hutchinson. He couldn’t see them in the failing light but he knew they’d still be watching his every move.
Dennis had a quick check around him then moved off again. He kept low, almost running over double. Natalie feeling the cold now got up from her crouching position, her joints stiff.
“I’m going to get something warm to put on,” she said, remembering she had an extra hoodie in the land rover.
“Okay,” Hutchinson said, not taking his eyes away from the binoculars.
She got back to the land rover and opened the rear door. She rummaged around on the back seat until she found her hooded top and put it over her head. She pulled it down her face and stopped.
A convoy of army lorries was heading towards her, their headlights ablaze. She instinctively ducked down out of sight as they thundered past the white land rover. She was able to see out of the back window that there were four of them. Their drivers paid no heed to the parked vehicle. Natalie waited until they’d disappeared from sight before getting back out of the land rover. She ran back to Hutchinson.
“Jim did you see the trucks?”
“Yes. Did you see what was in them?”
“No.”
“Shit,” he said, watching Dennis through the binoculars, “I hope they’re not heading in Pete’s direction.”
Dennis had made it undetected to the first of the ruined airport buildings. These concrete structures showed the scars of battle. There were no windows left intact and the walls were peppered with bullet and shell holes. Von Werner’s armed sentries patrolled nonchalantly as the forklift continued to bring crates down from the Hercules. Dennis watched and waited for an opportunity to break his cover and as soon as he saw two of the guards meet with their backs to him he made his move. He dashed across the open ground and the now sand runway and slid into cover behind some crates. He resisted the urge to cough at the dust he’d kicked up and stole a quick peek around his cover. The forklift driver was continuing with his work, completely unawares. The two sentries were now walking away from each other.
Now for the first time Dennis took a look at the crate he was hiding behind. It had red crosses on white backgrounds stamped all over it.
‘What the fuck is Von Werner up to?’ Dennis asked himself.
From where he was laying with the binoculars Hutchinson could see two men approaching where Dennis was crouching.
“Shit Pete! Get out of there,” he said out loud.
Natalie looked on anxiously.
Dennis moved to the end of the crate to see if there was anything else stamped on it to give away its contents. He heard the voices of the two men