But as he stared into the cold eyes of the man standing in the doorway, his confidence in that last analysis withered. He swallowed, his throat dry, hoping there was a chance the man, whom the other one had called Stratton, had come to arrest him as he had in Yemen.
Stratton allowed the end of the barrel of his Colt to drift in Sabarak’s direction.
The Saudi read the message clear enough. He had killed Stratton’s friend. He knew Westerners weren’t generally savage without a cause, not like his own people. He regarded it as a weakness in their race and a strength among his own kind. But he was well aware of the Westerner’s appetite for revenge. This one had braved hundreds of fighters and risked his life in an attempt to rescue his friend. And he had failed. He then had tried to kill Sabarak. He wouldn’t fail this time. Sabarak could see it in the eyes. There was no doubt there, just a cold hard reality.
‘I have something for you,’ Sabarak said.
He reached under the desk. Stratton applied a little pressure to the Colt’s trigger as a warning.
Sabarak froze. ‘You can shoot me after. But allow me the pleasure of seeing your face when I present you with my gift.’
Stratton didn’t move, suddenly curious about Sabarak’s ‘gift’.
Sabarak took hold of a heavy bundle covered in a towel. The effort caused him some pain, which he fought. He tossed the bundle towards Stratton while keeping a hold of the corner of the towel.
A human head rolled out and came to rest on the floor between the two men.
Hopper’s head.
20
Stratton looked down at the head, Hopper’s eyes half open, teeth visible and all of him, especially his hair, matted in dried blood, his neck in tatters where it had been hacked at. So the replacement executioner had his own problems cutting through it cleanly.
But the thing that struck Stratton most was something he couldn’t see. Stratton had last looked at Hopper’s face above the sights of the AK-47. It was not an accurate weapon and he could easily have been off by several inches. But he could see no damage to any part of Hopper’s head. A bullet would have created a neat entry hole and a larger exit hole. So they had carried out the ritual. They had cut off the head because Hopper had been alive.
Stratton needed to confirm that. ‘Why did you kill him?’ he said.
‘What else should we have done with him?’ Sabarak asked, like the question was a stupid one.
It was all Stratton wanted to know. He hadn’t killed Hopper, despite his efforts. Matt had been right in part. Stratton had decided Hopper’s fate, like he had been God. If these bastards had only waited a couple of days longer, Hopper would most likely be alive and thanking the lads for rescuing him. But only because Stratton had missed the shot. Hopper might even have forgiven Stratton for leaving him in the prison hut. But he couldn’t, because he was dead. And it was still Stratton’s fault.
Downs stepped into the hut. He saw the Saudi first and then Hopper’s head on the floor. ‘Dear God,’ he muttered.
Milton walked in with the recorder strapped to his head.
‘Get out of here,’ Stratton said coldly.
The cameraman either didn’t hear or chose to ignore him. Milton reached for his recorder to unpause it. Stratton grabbed him by the neck and threw him outside and to the ground.
‘Easy man,’ Downs said.
‘Leave us, please,’ Stratton said softly. ‘He’s the one I’ve come for.’
Downs considered what to do. If he did his job, he should restrain Stratton and take him back to the town and then on to the ship. But that was easier said than done. He knew Stratton well enough to see the state he was in. He would need tying up and all sorts to get him back to the beach. So the wiser course of action would be to let him be. Downs looked at Stratton and the Saudi. Then he looked at the head on the mud floor between them. The man sitting beside it was surely responsible otherwise Stratton would not be looking at him like that.
‘He was driving my guards crazy talking about his wife and children all the time,’ Sabarak said, a smile on his face.
Downs’s eyes narrowed, darkened, like a shadow had passed across them.
Sabarak seemed to see it and his smirk faded.
‘Did you hear that, me old fellah?’ Downs said to Sabarak. ‘That was the sound of your own God turning his back on you.’
Downs walked out of the hut, closing the door behind him and leaving Stratton inside. He joined his men who looked between him and the hut. Some seemed to accept it, for whatever private reason they had. Some looked unsure, like they considered it to be wrong.
‘What’s going on in there, Downsy?’ one of the men asked.
‘Well, there’s two men inside. One filled with uncontrollable hate, the other half mad with revenge. Thing is, I don’t know which is which.’
Then they heard a shot. Then a crash. They saw the inside of the hut light up. The door opened and Stratton stepped out. The inside of the hut became engulfed in flames. Within seconds the entire room had turned into an inferno.
‘Still playing God, are we, Stratton?’ Matt said.
‘We should’ve at least buried him,’ Milton said. ‘We should’ve taken Hopper home and buried him.’
Stratton walked right through them like they weren’t there.
‘He’s mad,’ Milton said to Downs. ‘He’s lost it, hasn’t he?’
‘We all live on the frontline,’ Downs said. ‘He just lives a little closer to it than we do.’
The hut that contained the missiles abruptly burst into a massive blaze, one enhanced by several incendiary devices. Smudge came running through the trees towards the group, pausing to look back at his work. ‘I suggest we’re not anywhere near that lot when it goes up,’ he said.
They all heeded his advice and started to walk away down the slope.
Downs brought his radio up to his lips. ‘This is Downs. We’re finished here. Call in the perimeter. We’re headed towards Tango Charlie.’
‘This is Harvey, roger that,’ came the reply. ‘All stations muster on the track towards Tango Charlie.’
As Downs and the others set off in the direction taken by Stratton, the hut with the missiles inside exploded with a tremendous thud. The rain seemed to fall harder then, like the blast had ruptured the clouds above. The downpour was temporarily joined by small pieces of timber and shrapnel returning to earth.
Downs’s team exited the wood and were met by the other half of the assault squad that had covered the perimeter in small pockets to mop up any of the fighters who managed to regroup to mount a counter-attack. It had obviously been far from the enemy’s minds or their ability.
The men broke into an easy jog while spreading out into a defensive pattern. Two of the fitter young men sprinted ahead to act as lead scouts.
Downs jogged towards Stratton and as he came alongside him the operative broke into an easy run to keep up with his old friend.
They said nothing as they made their way across country. The rain eased off soon after the teams reached level ground and by the time they arrived at the outskirts of the town, it had practically ceased.
They kept up the pace as they made their way along the eastern side of the town. They couldn’t see a soul about. Some lights. But the place wasn’t deserted. It was late and most of the population had to be in their beds.