“Please friend. Push!” he said. He gestured with his hands, “Push!”
Dennis eased his hand off his sidearm and answered in Arabic. The man gestured again for a push.
“Come on Jim. He wants a push to the side of the road.”
Dennis and Hutchinson got slowly out of the defender. The man who’d asked for help was walking slowly away from the pair.
“Leave the engine running,” Dennis instructed his girlfriend.
They hadn’t gone more than a few paces when Hutchinson nudged Dennis’ arm and pointed at the Arab’s feet. Dennis looked but didn’t notice anything. Then he saw the british military issue boots.
‘What the fuck is going on’ he was thinking.
The man stopped near the Pajero.
“Push! Push!” He said in a heavy accent.
“Yeah! Push. Push.” Dennis replied.
The man under the bonnet turned suddenly and pointed an Ak-47 straight at the pair.
“Hands up!” he yelled.
Dennis and Hutchinson put their hands on their heads. The other man produced an AK-47 from under his robe. He levelled it at the windscreen of the defender and strode towards Natalie. Dennis could see the terror in her eyes.
“Bastards! If you hurt her?”
“Shut it!” the man covering them said. He took their handguns from them then told them to sit. Reluctantly they obeyed.
The other man opened the driver’s door of the land rover.
“Step out of the vehicle please Miss.”
She did as she was told. He lowered the gun.
“You can join your friends.”
As she walked towards Dennis and Hutchinson he rifled through their belongings in the land rover until he found what he was looking for. He climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and drove the defender to the Pajero and switched it off. He got out and kept the AK-47 pointing at the ground.
“If this is a car jacking it’s pretty sloppy.”
“Just keep quiet can you,” the man covering them said, “Miss you sit there please.”
“You’re English,” Dennis challenged him, “Would you mind telling us what the fuck is going on.”
“In about thirty seconds I will mate.”
He spoke into his collar and Dennis now noticed this man’s gun was also pointing at the ground, no longer threatening. A low humming sound could now be heard. It got closer and louder. They could all now see a black dot in the sky that was getting bigger. It came in low, barely feet off the desert floor. As it got closer Dennis could see it was a Boeing MH6 little bird helicopter, also known as a killer egg because of its shape. Now he knew for sure who was detaining them.
“British special forces,” he said to his companions.
The little bird touched down on the road and the four men who were sitting half in half out of the small helicopter stepped out and walked swiftly towards the vehicles on the road. The helicopter lifted off again almost instantly and was soon just a speck in the sky again. One man clearly in command approached ahead of his men. None of their weapons were pointing in a threatening manner. The man who’d got Natalie out of the land rover came forward and handed over passports. They were quickly thumbed through. The man glanced at each face as he found each photograph, comparing the likenesses. Then he nodded at the man who been under the bonnet of the Pajero. This man slung his AK-47 over his back and offered his hand to Dennis to pull the journalist up.
“Sorry about that mate.”
Dennis swatted the hand away and got up. The passports were offered.
“Mr Peter Dennis.”
“Yes,” Dennis replied snatching the passports.
“Those fake Australian passports are very good.”
“How do you know they’re fake?” Dennis asked, knowing the copies were perfect.
“Because if our intel is correct you are Peter Dennis and Natalie Feltham, both british nationals and Jim Hutchinson of the united states. We’ve been tracking you since you entered and left Egypt. Mossad has been tracking you since you entered Gaza. We are with the british SAS. I’m Tosh. That there’s Deano, Smithy, Tommo, Richie and the jock with the ginger goatie is Angus.”
“What are your real names?”
“Those are our real names.”
Dennis smirked. Then asked.
“Where did you come from. I know that little helicopter has a range of over two hundred miles but there isn’t a base near here.”
Tosh now smirked at Dennis.
“Like I said. We’ve been tracking you since you left Egypt.”
“Did you say Mossad were watching us?” Hutchinson asked dusting the palms of his hands off. Natalie looked into the back of the Pajero and saw a pack of mineral water