Since the state of emergency had been declared the village had been busy. With the exception of a still-damaged launch that remained tied up at the river-bank, the other boats had been moved downstream. The last to leave had been the Selina, delayed by the need to have its heavy machine-gun put in place, and because of the time it had taken to turn the vessel round in the narrow confines of the estuary.
As far as Coburn could make out, the Selina was a backup, staying out of sight unless the ground defences were in danger of being over-whelmed and more serious measures were to be called for.
He couldn’t foresee the circumstances in which they would be. Although the majority of the men had been deployed along the inland perimeter of the plateau, those who’d been left to protect the river boundary had Hari’s secret weapons to rely on — the drainage ditches and the jetty.
The ditches served two purposes. Besides being the equivalent of trenches from which gunfire could be directed out into the estuary, in the ditch running closest to the water, drums of gasoline and diesel now stood ready to be spilled and ignited by explosive charges that in the case of an extreme emergency would throw up a hundred-yard-long wall of flame.
The protection offered by the jetty was similarly difficult to discern — a central section from which the supporting pins had already been removed so that under the weight of the first man to put foot on it the whole structure would collapse to render the jetty useless as a landing stage.
Despite the defences being an odd mixture of the very old and the very new, the set-up was pretty damn good, Coburn had decided, a stronghold guarded on one side by fire and a medieval trick draw-bridge, and on the other sides by men armed with modern weapons equipped with the best high-tech night sights that Hari had been able to buy.
For his own protection Coburn was carrying a 5.45mm Steyr assault rifle, a gun he’d chosen partly because he was familiar with it, but mainly because in the trench where he’d taken up position, a short-barrelled gun was easier to handle and would be easier to reload.
He wasn’t expecting to have to reload. As though Hari had wanted to avoid exposing his guest to unnecessary risk, the position he’d recommended was unlikely to see much action, located some way from the jetty at the end of a ditch that drained water directly into the estuary itself.
Tonight, only the very bottom of the ditch was damp, just moist enough to attract frogs of the kind that had jumped on to Heather’s skirt.
That had only been an hour ago, Coburn realized. Yet in such a short length of time the village had been put on what amounted to a war footing — a lesson on how swiftly conditions could change in a place like this, and why all he could do now preparations were complete was hope like hell that everyone’s time had been well spent.
He was less apprehensive than he’d been before the raid on the Pishan, listening for the sound of an approaching boat above the noise of the insects, knowing that he alone was responsible for guarding a thirty-yard stretch of river-bank, but gaining in confidence whenever he lifted the Steyr to his shoulder and sighted in on some distant moonlit mark.
He was doing just that when he discovered that he wasn’t going to be alone at all.
Heather had arrived. She was carrying a rifle and she’d brought someone with her.
‘Hi.’ She jumped into the ditch and waited for her companion to join her. ‘This is Indiri.’
Coburn had seen the young woman working around the village. Apart from a missing front tooth she was quite pretty, but until tonight she’d always been too shy to say hello or return his smile.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ he said.
Heather checked the safety on her rifle before she answered. ‘Hari sent us to say that one of the boats has stopped upstream to unload men, but the other one looks like it’s coming here.’
‘OK. You’ve told me. Now get back to where you’re supposed to be. Go on — do it.’
‘No, no.’ Indiri shook her head. ‘The containers have room only for the wounded and for mothers with young children. Like Heather I have no babies, so we both must help to stop these men who wish to drive us from our homes.’
Coburn swore under his breath. ‘Have you any idea how to use that?’ He pointed at the rifle she was holding.
‘My family comes from Aceh.’
Since she evidently saw no need to elaborate, he didn’t enquire again. Nor was Heather going to let him question her ability to handle the M16 she’d brought with her from the armoury.
‘Don’t ask,’ she said. ‘While you were in Iraq, I was running food convoys in Darfur. If you want to worry about something, what about those three huts that have still got their lights switched on? One of them has even got music coming from it.’
Coburn had been told about the lights, but this close to the water it was impossible to hear anything above the buzzing and clicking of the millions of insects that came to life after dark along the river-bank.
‘The huts are come-ons,’ he said. ‘Hari called them sacrificial. They’re supposed to make it look as though we’re not expecting company. That’s why the launch has been left there too.’
‘That’s silly.’ She tried to see the launch in the moonlight. ‘No one’s going to be stupid enough to be taken in by a boat and a few lights.’
Indiri knew better. ‘The men we must fight will not be stupid,’ she said. ‘They will be crazy — crazy in their heads from the amphetamines they are given, or from the mixture of rum and gunpowder they are forced to drink before they come. They are told it will make them brave, but instead it makes them easier to kill.’
So casually had the information been supplied that she could have been talking about cockroaches, Coburn thought, an indictment if there ever was one of the culture Hari was fostering in the village.
He listened again for the sound of an engine, endeavouring to filter out the background noise while he searched for signs of movement in the estuary.
‘Maybe both of the boats have stopped,’ Heather said.
‘Maybe. Did Hari say anything about who could be behind this?’
‘He’s telling everybody that only natives or local pirates would know the marsh trails are OK to use at the moment, but after what happened on the Pishan I think he believes the whole thing’s been organized by someone from outside.’
‘Who’s paid good money for a swamp guide and a couple of fishing boats.’ The possibility had already occurred to Coburn. ‘Someone who’s hired themselves enough men to finish a job they didn’t get done the other night?’
‘Hari didn’t say that.’
No one had to, he thought. Although two or three rival groups of pirates could easily have joined forces, if the reason for the attack had its roots elsewhere, the implications were alarming.
Heather was whispering to him, lining up her rifle with the estuary.
At first sight, the boat was only faintly sinister, more ugly than menacing, and with its engine at a standstill, moving so slowly that not a ripple was disturbing the water around its bow.
Continuing to lose what little forward speed it had, it kept coming until its hull scraped along the jetty and it came to a silent halt.
The manoeuvre should have been successful, but it wasn’t. Even at slack water in the estuary, the river current below the surface never really stopped, and already the stern of the boat was beginning to swing out towards mid-stream.