and drugs. From one of the vials he shook five white tablets into the
palm of his hand.
In the galley he crushed the tablets to powder, and when he poured tea
into two of the mugs he stiffed the powder in with it. Royan had enough
English blood in her veins never to be able to refuse a mug of hot tea.
After they had served soup and buttered toast to the wounded men, Royan
accepted her mug from Nicholas gratefully. While she and Sapper sipped
their tea, Nicholas went back to the flight deck and leaned over the
back of Jannie's seat.
"What is our flying time to the Egyptian border?" he asked.
"Four hours twenty minutes,'Jannic told him.
"Is there any way that we can avoid flying into Egyptian air
space?"Nicholas wanted to know.
Jannie swivelled around in his seat and stared at him with astonishment.
"I suppose we could make a turn out to the west, through Gadaffi-land.
Of course, it would mean an extra seven hours' flying time, and we would
probably run out of fuel and end up making a forced landing somewhere
out there in the Sahara." He lifted an eyebrow at Nicholas. "Tell me, my
boy, what inspired that stupid question?"
"It was just a rare thought,'Nicholas said.
"Let it be not merely rare, but extinct," Jannie advised.
"I don't want to hear it asked again, ever."
Nicholas slapped his shoulder. "Put it out of your mind." When he went
back into the main hold, Sapper and Royan were sitting on two of the
fold-down bunks that were bolted to the main bulkhead. Royan's empty tea
mug stood on the deck at her feet. Nicholas sat down beside her, and she
reached up and touched the bloodstained dressing that covered his chin.
"You had better let me see to that." Her fingers were deft and cool on
his hot inflamed skin as she cleaned the T
stitches with an alcohol swab and then placed a fresh plaster over them.
Nicholas felt a strong twinge of guilt as he submitted to her
ministrations.
However, it was Sapper who was the first to show the effects of the
doped tea. He lay back gently and closed his eyes, then a soft snore
vibrated his lips. Minutes later Royan sagged drowsily against
Nicholas's shoulder. When she was fast asleep, he let her down gently
and lifted her feet up on to the bunk. He spread a rug over her. She did
not even stir, and he had a moment's doubt about the strength of the
tablets.
Then he kissed her forehead softly. "How could I ever hate you?" he
asked her softly. "Whatever you did."
He went into the lavatory and locked the door. He had plenty of time.
Sapper and Royan wouldn ot wake for hours yet, and Jannie and Fred were
happily ensconced on the flight'deck, listening to Dolly Parton tapes on
the audio system.
When at last he had finished, Nicholas glanced at his wrist-watch and
realized that it had taken him almost two hours, He closed the toilet
seat and washed his hands carefully. Then he took one last careful took
around the tiny cabin and unlocked the door.
Sapper and Royan were still fast asleep on the folddown bunks. He went
forward to the flight-deck, and Fred pulled his earphones down around
his neck and grinned at him.
"Nile water. It's poisonous. You have been locked in the loo for the
last couple of hours. Surprised that there is anything left of you."
Nicholas ignored the jibe and leaned over Jannie's seat back. "Where are
we?"
With a thick forefinger Jannie stabbed the chart that he was balancing
on his protruding belly. "Almost in the clear," he said complacently.
"Egyptian border in one hour twelve minutes."
Nicholas remained standing behind his seat until Jannie grunted and
lifted the microphone. "Time to go into my act."
"Hallo, Abu Simbel Approach!" he said in a Gulf States accent. "This is
Zulu Whiskey Uniform Five Zero Zero."
There was a long silence from the Egyptian controller.
Jannie grunted. "He probably has'a hint in the tower with him. Got to
give him time to get his pants back on."
Abu Simbel Control answered on his fifth call. Jannie launched into his
tried and tested routine, feigning ignorance in fluent colloquial
Arabic.
After five minutes, Abu Simbel cleared him to continue on northwards,
with an instruction to "call again abeam Aswan'.
They flew on serenely for another hour, but Nicholas nerves were
screwing up tighter every minute.
Suddenly, without the least warning, there was a silvery flash ahead of
them as a fighter interceptor, coming from below them, pulled up steeply
across their bows.
Jannie shouted with surprise and an eras another two 9 warplanes
rocketed up from under them, so close that they were buffeted by the
turbulence of their jet trails.
They all recognized the type. They were MiG21 "fishheads' sporting the
Egyptian air force livery, and with air-to-air missiles hanging in
menacing pods under their swept-back wings.
"Unidentified aircraft! Jannie yelled into his mouthpiece. "You are on
collision course. State your call sign!" They all craned their necks and
stared up through -he Perspex canopy over the flight-deck. High above
them they could see the three MiG fighters in formation circling against
the blue of the African sky.
"ZVVU 500. This is Red Leader of the Egyptian people's air force. You
will conform to my orders."
Jannie looked back at Nicholas, his expression forlorn.
low, A
something has gone wrong here. How the hell did they tumble to us?"
"You' better do what the man says, Dad," Fred advised miserably,
'otherwise he is going to blow us all over the sky."
Jarnie shrugged helplessly, and then spoke into his microphone
mournfully. "Red Leader, This is ZVVU 500.
We will cooperate. Please state your intentions."
"Your new heading is 053. Execute immediately!" Jannie brought Big Dolly
around into the east and then glanced at his chart.
"Aswan!" he said dolefully. "The Gyppos are taking us to Aswan. What the
hell, I might as well warn Aswan tower that we have wounded on board."
Nicholas went back to Royans bunk and shook her awake. She was groggy
and unsteady on her feet from the effects of the drug as she staggered
to the lavatory. However, when she emerged again ten minutes later her
hair was combed and she seemed alert and recovered from the mild draught
that she had drunk in her tea. - here was the Nile ahead of them once
more, 6.. and the town of Aswan on both banks, nestling below the first
cataract and the impounded waters of the High Dam. Kitchener's Island
swam like a green fish in the middle of the stream.
As the voice of the military controller at the Aswan irfield gave Jannie
his orders, Big Dolly settled with unruffled dignity and lined up for
the straight-in approach to the tarmac runway. The MiG fighters which
had shepherded them in from the desert were no longer visible, but their
presence high above was betrayed by their terse radio transmissions as
they handed over their captive to the ground control.
Big Dolly sailed in over the perimeter fence and touched down, and the
voice of the controller ordered them, "Turn first taxi-way right."
Jannie obeyed, and as he turned off the main runway there was a small
vehicle with a sign on its roof which read, in both English and Arabic,
"FOLLOW ME'.
The vehicle led them to a row of camouflaged concrete hangars in front
of which a ground crew in khaki overalls signalled them with paddles
into a parking stand. As soon as Jannie applied his brakes and brought
Big Dolly to a halt, a file of four armoured half-tracks raced out and