"What do you think, Karen? If it doesn't work you will have to put the gun to your own head, but at least it gives you a chance to survive and even go home? It's your decision, love."
Karen said nothing for a moment as she was still in a daze, she didn't want to carry on any longer. She was tired of running and desperately scared of being left alone. She looked down at her bag then sighed, "It was a good idea, Stefan, but I'd only be delaying the inevitable, I really can't cope with anymore. Besides, if I did go on, how do I find the pick-up point? I've only got notes, no real map or anything. I don't even know the language and have no food; they'll pick me up in hours even if I tried. I think I'd rather just get it over with."
Chapman stood and grasped her hand, squeezing it gently, knowing how much he was asking of her, but far better than the other option which he didn't want to take. "Don't knock yourself, Karen. If anybody could get home, it would be you. The route's very straightforward and you have your notes. I'll also give you my map; you're a good map reader so you'll have no trouble on that side. Anyway, I remember a girl coming up behind trained S.A.S. without them knowing a thing, so using conscripts to look for you will be completely useless if you keep to those tactics. But don't worry; we'll divert them by miles. You'll have a clear way through, believe me."
She looked at him, still unsure. "I suppose putting it like that, once they pass here, there's a chance I might just get through?"
"You'll easily get through, Karen," Stefan urged.
All of them fell silent, each with their own thoughts, then Karen sighed. "Okay I'll give it a go; I still have my hand grenades, so even if the gun doesn't work they'd never take me alive," she replied somewhat nervously.
Chapman gave her a thump on the back. "That's the spirit, love. You'll get there, I've no doubts about that," he urged, then reached down to his ankle and unfastened his knife holder, handing it to her with the knife. "You fought well yesterday, Karen, like a true S.A.S. soldier. It's not much, but I'd like you to have it. You never know, it might save your life one day."
She threw her arms round him and held him tightly for a moment, before kissing him on the cheek. "When we meet back in England, would you take me out for dinner and to a nightclub? I've never been to a nightclub and I am eighteen now?" she asked.
He laughed, glancing at Stefan. "Karen, we'll do more than that. We'll lay on a real S.A.S. party and believe me, you might get very drunk, but you'll love every minute, what do you say, Stefan?"
He agreed wholeheartedly and gave her a hug as well.
"Carry on, Karen, the way you have so far and believe me you will get home, love," he whispered in her ear.
She thanked him for his confidence in her and kissed him on the check as she'd done with Chapman, then it was time for them to go.
After a final farewell, they carefully buried her with only a small pipe in her mouth sticking out of the ground to breathe through, and an earphone in her ear connected to the radio. As a further precaution, her other hand rested on top of a grenade, one finger in the loop of the pin. Karen felt better with that suggestion, because, to turn the gun on herself if she was discovered, might be very difficult and they could grab the gun off her. This way five seconds would be too short a time for them to stop her committing suicide. Finally, after reiterating the instructions to stay buried until she heard one of their voices over the radio, Karen was suddenly alone. With nothing to do but wait, she began to pray, at the same time thanking God for this chance to live.
It wasn't long before she could hear the sounds of people calling each other, trucks rumbling and the steady thud of a helicopter. At one stage she believed they must have been only feet away and she gripped the ring of the grenade that much harder. However, Chapman's attention to detail on her hiding place must, she thought, be brilliant because soon the voices and noise receded until she could hear nothing else.
***
It was another forty minutes after she'd last heard voices before the radio earphone came to life inside her ear. "This is Chapman calling the all clear. Good luck, over and out." Then the radio went dead.
Karen pushed the small rocks and soil off her and stood cautiously, before scanning the horizon with glasses given to her by Stefan. She could see in the distance, soldiers spread out across the hills, but moving away. Behind her, the way Chapman had told her to go, there was nothing. Not waiting any longer, she set off and travelled around ten miles, avoiding any buildings with lights, before deciding to take a rest.
The food situation was critical with less than a quarter bar of chocolate and no water. It was important, she decided, to try to find some sort of nutriment. This time, instead of avoiding occupied buildings, she moved closer to one, entering a small courtyard with care. The only light was in the house, so she moved quickly to the barn. Inside it was littered with straw and farm implements. Gazing round in the semi-darkness, lit only by the full moon, Karen saw what she'd come for. Moving quickly she reached under a hen settled in the straw and pulled out an egg. The hen, because of the dark, was in some sort of trance and only gave a few clucks. Repeating this a number of times with others, eventually she'd three eggs. Carefully placing two in her bag and piercing the other at both ends, she began sucking. It tasted good, so settling down in the straw she lay back. An hour's rest would be sufficient and then she’d move on before the occupants knew anyone had been there at all.
Her mind drifted back to the time on the ship, then Assam and finally this man called Sirec. Everything seemed more of a blur than actual reality, in some ways she even felt flattered so many people wanted her. The money in her bag was more than she'd ever seen in her life but it had been hard won. Her experience of men, after Grant, seemed she was good for only one thing; their sexual gratification. Saeed had learned the errors of having this opinion, the men on the ship, Towkey, would also learn it if it took every penny she had in the bag; they too would die. With these thoughts Karen fell into a troubled sleep. Every few minutes coming alert as animals in the barn moved around restlessly, and then she froze. The rustling had become louder and something was crawling over her legs. She backed off, pairs of eyes everywhere in the barn seemed to be staring at her, then the realisation of just what they were. Rats! There seemed hundreds of them! Karen screamed involuntarily, stumbling out from the barn, and retching for what seemed some time at the thought of them crawling over her. However, her noisy exit from the barn had also disturbed someone inside the house. Dogs had begun to bark, followed quickly by a man emerging from the house carrying a shotgun.
With nowhere to go Karen stood her ground, swinging her own machine-gun round and clicking the safety catch off. Spreading her legs slightly so the gun would not knock her off balance if she fired, she waited and watched. By now the man had switched a powerful torch on and began sweeping the farmyard. In seconds the beam rested on her and she raised the gun switching on the laser sight. It settled on the man's chest.
His light seemed to rest on her face for a second before dropping quickly down. She stood very still, waiting for him to react. The man, on his part, was stunned, seeing the machine-gun pointing at him, and backed away. Not, however, before placing his own gun and torch on the ground and turning quickly to run back inside the house, slamming the door shut. Karen smiled to herself, he was sensible, his weapon no match for hers. She walked over to the gun and torch, removing the cartridges from the gun and throwing them across the yard before stuffing the torch in her bag. Realising these people may be very poor and the loss of the torch a serious blow to them, she placed a twenty dollar note under the gun. Then she moved quickly out of the courtyard and started to cut across country, soon leaving the farm far behind.
By daybreak she'd made good progress and felt very pleased with herself. Looking for somewhere to hide was foremost in her mind and eventually she settled for an olive grove, affording some sort of hiding place, a hundred meters from the track she'd been following. Removing her belt, she slipped the handgun from its holster and placed it, with the safety off, a little to one side of her. Then she pushed loose leaves and small rocks over to completely hide it from view. Chapman had shown her this and she also remembered Garry hiding the gun under the washbasin, warning her always to have a back up plan, in case of capture. He'd been right of course, without his forethought they'd have been in custody now. She couldn't see the real value of doing this in the middle of nowhere. However, it gave her something to do and perhaps, if she admitted it, a little more confidence. As the day wore on, she heard a number of vehicles pass on the road, but nothing else. Eventually she closed her eyes, and was soon asleep.
CHAPTER 20
Sirec was sitting, drinking by the side of a pool. The hotel he was staying in had seen better times, before civil war, but now it was the only one left, still operational, in the area.
Halif walked over to him, followed by a man dressed in the clothes of a farmer."Sirec, I think you should listen to this man's story," Halif said when he was at Sirec's side.
Sirec looked at the man for a moment then back to Halif. "What does he want?"
"He's met Karen."
With that Sirec sat bolt upright, his interest now directed at this man alone. "You've met Karen? When was this?" he demanded.
The man, obviously nervous in front of Sirec, just nodded.
"Speak, man," Sirec shouted.
"She came to my farm last night, Sir," he blurted out.
Sirec's eyes narrowed. "Why should she do that?"
"I'm not sure, but she'd been in the barn. I heard a noise and went out to see. She was just stood there in the yard, her gun following my every movement." The man fell silent, waiting for Sirec to say something.
"How many were with her?"
The man frowned. "There was no one with her, Sir."
"So what did you do then?" Sirec eventually asked.
He shrugged. "What could I do? I dropped my gun and ran. She was holding something like the man's gun over there," he said, pointing at one of Sirec's guards. "My shotgun's no match for that."
"Did the girl speak?” Sirec asked.
"No, Sir, but she did take my torch and left twenty American dollars as if in payment for it.
"Sirec leaned back deep in thought. "
Why should she want a torch
?" he asked himself. Then he glanced over to Halif. "Bring a map will you?"
Soon a map arrived and Sirec asked the man to point out his farm. Then he drew a line straight through from where the helicopter had came down. "She's following a direct route to the pick-up point, Halif. We have her now."
Halif looked at the map, then at Sirec. "You want me to go?"
Sirec shook his head. "No, call Khan and get him and his men there. I'd like you to go and see Assam. I still have a feeling this girl might elude us; if that happens, Assam holds the key to her return."
The farmer, who'd stood quietly, cut in when Sirec fell silent. "May I go now?"
Sirec nodded. "You did well to come. See he gets paid for his trouble, Halif."
The man thanked him and made to leave, then he stopped and turned. "The girl's very well armed, Sir, she stood there without any sign of fear. Take care approaching her. I saw grenades on her belt, and spare ammunition, besides a handgun holster."
Sirec smiled. "We know, but I thank you again for your warning."
As the man finally left, Sirec leaned back, deep in thought. It had now become a cat and mouse game, a very dangerous one. His Karen was all he expected of her, the next few hours would show just how good she really was, and for this, she had his respect.
Halif finally returned and Sirec looked up at him."What's your opinion, Halif?"
"On what?" he asked.
"Karen, of course."
Halif shrugged. "She's got guts, I'll give her that. As to whether you could keep her caged, even if we got her back, I very much doubt. Personally I'd let her go home, Saeed's mother has been right up to now. That girl's bad luck and has only brought death."
Sirec shrugged indifferently. "The ramblings of an old woman, Halif. The girl's been lucky, being brought out by the S.A.S. Now it would seem something's gone wrong, and she's on her own. When she's brought in, the world will never know what her real fate was. Then I'll have my fun taming this girl."
Halif said nothing; Sirec seemed to have gone into some sort of trance, so he left him alone. At least Karen had given Sirec an interest away from the devastation of the warehouses and villa; he was like an animal stalking its prey. However, it was a one-sided game, pitching hundreds of searchers against a young girl. Not really a game between a hunter and the hunted, and once caught, he'd tire of her in weeks the same as every other girl Saeed had brought. But tame her, he doubted it, she was not the sort of girl to fall into this lifestyle like the others.
CHAPTER 21
Karen froze; something cold was touching her face. A voice was shouting at her to wake up. She opened her eyes. Two soldiers were stood over her; one had the tip of his gun inches from her face. The other stood back, watching.