Juggernaut

McGrath, his face and arms covered with blacking, slung the gun over his shoulder. 'Raise your hands and turn round, Maksa,' he said. Trembling with anger, the Colonel turned as McGrath's hand came out of his pocket holding the cosh. He hit Maksa behind the ear and the Colonel dropped solidly.

McGrath turned to the sergeant. 'Now you, son. Turn round.'

He obeyed unwillingly. Again there was a surge of movement and McGrath said, 'Keep it down, you flaming fools. We'll have the guards in if they hear that going on. Just you keep quiet now.'

Relief made my tone edgy. 'Where the hell have you been, McGrath?'

'Out and about.' He began to strip off the colonel's uniform jacket with its red brassard on one sleeve. 'Give me a hand. Tie him up and dump him back there in the cotton. Same with his sergeant.'

'Goddamnit, we're taking one hell of a risk, McGrath. We might have been able to talk our way out of that jam, but there's no chance now.'

'You weren't going to be given much more time to talk, Mr Mannix,' he said mildly. He was right but I hated to admit it; to be that close to death was hard to accept.

McGrath went on, tugging on a pair of trousers. 'Do you know what they're doing out there? They're piling up petrol drums. They were going to burn down the warehouse.'

'With us in it?' Kemp asked in horror.

Someone said, 'For God's sake, we've got to get out of here.'

'Take it easy,' said McGrath. They won't strike a match before the Colonel's out.' He was dressing in the Colonel's uniform. 'Who's for the other outfit? Who fits?'

As we considered this he went on, 'I'm sorry, but I've got a bit more bad news for you.'

'What now?'

'Max Otterman's dead.'

Dr Kat said, 'I should have been with him.'

McGrath said gently, 'He was murdered.'

We stood rigid with shock.

'I saw the soldiers going over the rig after they brought you in here. They were pretty rough on everybody, even their own sick people. Then Max started convulsing and calling out, the way he's been doing, and they… Well, they booted him off the rig. I think his neck's broken.'

'Oh my God!' Wingstead whispered.

'I think the fall may have killed him. But one of the troops put a bullet in him as well. I'm sorry to have to tell you.'

The change in everyone's attitude was almost tangible. Neither the war, the bombing in Kodowa, our own capture, nor the death of Russ Burns had had this effect. It had come closer with the news of the intended burning of our prison. But the callous murder of our pilot had done the trick; it had roused them to fighting pitch.

Wingstead said, 'You've got a plan, McGrath, haven't you?'

'Carry on as though the Colonel were still here.' McGrath adjusted his uniform. Sam Wilson was getting into the other. Dr Kat bent over Burn's body.

McGrath said, 'Leave Russ where he is. He's evidence if anyone comes in. They know there was a shooting.' He picked up the sergeant's Uzi. 'Anyone know how to use this?'

'I do,' Wilson and Zimmerman both said. McGrath tossed it to Wilson. That's fine. It fits your image. Here, add this.' He tossed Wilson a small pot of blacking. 'It stinks but it'll do.' Wilson started to smear the stuff on his face and hands.

I held on to the shotgun, and Wingstead took the Colonel's pistol. That made four guns plus McGrath's cosh and God knows what else he had in the way of knives or other lethal instruments. It wasn't much to start a war with.

Wingstead said, 'Mick, how did you get in here?'

He pointed upwards. 'Easy. Through the roof. It's corrugated iron but some of it's so old it's soft as butter. But we're not going out that way. There's a door at the back of this shed. I couldn't open it from the outside, it's bolted. And from the inside it's hidden behind the cotton. But we can leave that way.'

Hammond said eagerly, Then let's go.' 'Not yet, Ben. We can reduce the odds out there a bit first. Now listen. When I saw what was likely to happen I ducked out; didn't like the idea of waiting to be rounded up. I went into the bush to look for Sadiq. I damn near got shot by his lads. They're trigger-happy.'

'How far away is he?' Wingstead asked.

'Not far. He's been scouting and these are his conclusions. This Fifteenth Battalion has been in action, probably against the loyalist Seventh Brigade, and came off worst. There are about two hundred men, a quarter of the battalion.'

'It's a hell of a lot more than we can handle,' Zimmerman said.

'Will you wait a minute, now,' McGrath said irritably. 'Maksa has sent most of them across the bridge, leaving about fifty men and a few vehicles on this side. Many of them are wounded. There are only two officers outside. Sadiq's ready to attack. His mortars can drop bombs on them like confetti at a wedding when he gets the signal.'

'Let's hear your plan,' I said.

'It goes like this. We take out the officers first. That way the men have nobody to direct them, and they'll run or surrender.'

'Just how do we do that?' Hammond asked.

'Well, as you see, I borrowed a dab or two of boot polish from the Captain, and here I am like a bloody nigger minstrel in the Colonel's uniform. If I put his cap on I reckon I can get away with it for as long as it takes to call them in here, one by one.'

'It won't work,' said Zimmerman. 'You haven't the voice for it.'

Lang said, 'We've got Doctor Kat though.'

McGrath took a piece of paper from his old jacket. 'Most of the officers are on the other side of the water. The ones here are Captain Mosira, that's the laddie in the dark glasses, and Lieutenant Chawa. We get them in here and deal with them. Then we go out the back way, smuggle the nurses back onto the rig, it's got a light guard but they'll be no problem, and then signal to Sadiq to start his action.'

Wingstead had a tough time of it with Katabisirua. The Doctor was concerned about violating his noncombatant status as a medical man.

'For Christ's sake, Doctor, we're not asking you to kill anyone. Just talk to them,' McGrath said. Eventually Dr Kat agreed to do what we wanted.

I said to McGrath, 'What happens after we knock off the officers?'

McGrath took out a knife and squatted on the floor. 'When Sadiq makes his attack he doesn't want any interference from across the bridge. So our job is to hold the bridge.' He scratched lines in the dirt floor. 'Here's the river and here's the bridge. On it near the other side they've stationed a Saracen armoured troop carrier. We have to stop it coming across and at the same time block the bridge somehow.'

'What's it armed with?'

'A heavy machine gun in a turret, and twin light machine guns on a Scarfe ring.'

Hammond blew out his cheeks. 'How in hell do we stop a thing like that? Bullets will bounce off. It'll be moving as soon as Sadiq attacks.'

'I stop it,' said McGrath. 'With Barry Lang's help.'

Lang stared at him.

'Look, here's the rig. All our tractors bar one have been coupled, ready to take it across the river. The free tractor is here, near the bridge. We take it onto the bridge and ram that bloody Saracen with it.'

Wingstead said sharply, 'You won't have a chance, Mick. The heavy machine gun will shoot hell out of you.'

'Not if we go backwards,' said McGrath simply.

Lang's face lit up.

'Behind that cab are twenty tons of steel plate set in cement. The thing's armoured like a tank. Nothing they've got will penetrate it and it outweighs the Saracen by a long chalk. What we need is covering fire. The cab windows aren't armoured and we'll have to lean out to see our way backwards. The rebels on this side will be busy but there may be some shooting and it'll be up to the rest of you to give us protection.'

Kemp said, 'With what?'

I said, 'We've already got three guns and a pistol and we'll get more from each officer. And there are four or five guards out there with sub-machine-guns that we can. pick up too. I think the time for talking is over.'