[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Halfway, maybe.Near United Nation school.' He beamed with pride.'My children will go school there and be doctor.'I stood up to let him out and we shook hands.'Have a great evening with your family, mate, and remember – keep that mobile with you.'He headed for the door and I jumped ahead to open it for him.He gave me a smile, and I couldn't help noticing that the school-fees savings fund obviously took precedence over a dental plan.He paused on the threshold.'Mr Nick, you go where bad people are.But I know you not bad, you kind.I listening for your call, maybe.'It would have made my night a whole lot easier if I'd got him to drive me up the hill and back down again with Dom.But he was a real person, the sort who had a real job and a real family who loved him.I didn't want to be responsible for fucking that up.I'd walk from here to the target in local gear, then get changed.72TV HillSaturday, 10 March0146 hrsThe lights of the city twinkled below me.Above, the sky was clear and full of stars.The wind was starting to pick up.It chilled the sweat on my back.I was still in local gear, but hadn't bothered with the Marmite this time.The shemag covered my face and I walked with my head down.Kabul wasn't exactly swamped with street-lighting.A whole swathe of the city around the Gandamack was suddenly plunged into darkness.Even the embassies were affected.Then, one by one, lights came back on as their emergency generators kicked in.It was pitch black up here, excepting the odd glimmer from an oil lamp spilling under a door or past the sacks most houses used as curtains.A couple of dogs barked at each other in the distance.Apart from that there was no sign of life as the road wound upwards.I came across two knackered American school buses, painted white with UNHCR stencilling, parked on a tight hairpin.A stretch of hillside close by had been scooped out to make way for a big brick building.A blue board drilled into the concrete-block wall announced that I'd arrived at the UN school.Magreb's Hiace was tucked in by the wall.Any of the five or six nearby houses could have been his.I kept climbing, fingers crossed that his mobile was taped to his ear while he slept.It was another fifteen minutes before I came parallel with the target house.Not even a pinprick of light leaked from the boarded-up windows.The 4x4 was still outside, and didn't seem to have moved.I carried on past, until I was sure I was out of line of sight of both the house and the Turks on the summit.Either might be on stag and equipped with night-viewing aids.I slipped behind one of the Russian wrecks and changed.When the Gunga Din kit was back in the Bergen, I prepared the weapon.A magazine was already loaded into the pistol grip.I pulled back on the cocking handle and the working parts stayed to the rear as I slid it back to the forward position.There would now be a round poking up from the magazine, ready to be snatched when I squeezed the trigger and the bolt went forward.I hoped I wouldn't have to use it.The ejection system was so poorly designed that, with the working parts held to the rear, the ejector-opening became a fucking big hole just waiting to suck in all kinds of shit and give you a stoppage.I shoved the hotel torch into the front pocket of my trousers and a spare mag into each of the back ones.I felt in my sock for the cash and the Stevens passport.Finally I shouldered the Bergen, pulling the waist strap tight, and held the weapon vertically at my side to hide its silhouette.After a couple of jumps to check for noise, I started back downhill.My mind was zoned in.The only thing in my head now was getting inside the target.And after that, nothing would matter but getting Dom out.73The target house, still in darkness, loomed on my left.Down in the valley, most of the Gandamack district was still plunged into darkness.The only ambient light up here came from the stars.I walked carefully up to the wagon, bent down and touched its exhaust.It was cooler than the rocks after a day in the sun.A couple more dogs got pissed off with each other further up the hill.I picked my way along the pathway towards the rear, lifting and lowering my feet in a slow-motion moon walk.I didn't want this to go noisy.There could be half a platoon inside for all I knew.The back door was dead centre, like the front, with a window each side of it and three across the floor above.I stopped at the first window
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]