Deep Black

29

One of the single-storey rooms jutting out from the ground floor seemed to have been taken over by CNN. All its windows had been sandbagged, and their logo hung from a small shed where the security guy was sitting. Just outside, on the grass, were a black leatherette sofa and chairs that would only get sat on once they were in the shade. The place was heaving with important-looking cables and antennae. Beyond it, a guy in shorts, T-shirt and trainers was sprinting along the bottom of an empty thirty-metre swimming-pool. Each time he got to one end he did a shedload of sit-ups, ran to the other, did some burpees, then back again for more press-ups. It was making me sweat just watching him.

I needed to check out our escape route, since jumping six floors wasn’t an option. A green sign in the corridor directed me in Arabic and English to the fire escape.

A push-bar door led to a bare concrete stairwell. There were no lights, just slits in the walls, so fuck knows what happened here at night. The stairwell was littered with cigarette butts and old newspaper photographs of Saddam smiling and pointing at something in the distance. I’d always assumed it was a fucking great suitcase full of money. I wedged one of the papers between the door and the frame so it wouldn’t lock on me if I needed to come back up.

Moving down the fire escape, I checked the doors on each floor. They were all locked from the inside. Even worse, on the flooded ground floor, the double exit doors that led out into the open were chained, padlocked and blocked by a mountain of rubbish. The only way out from the sixth was the lift.

I went back up and knocked on Jerry’s door. He was busy sorting out the recharging equipment for the camera and phone. The Thuraya, about the size of a household mobile, was resting on the balcony ledge. He’d pulled the thick plastic antenna out from the side in an attempt to get a satellite fix.

No cell networks were operating in Iraq now the Ba’ath Party’s had been obliterated. There was a system of sorts, but for the exclusive use of CPA officials. With a Thuraya it didn’t matter if you were in the middle of the Russian steppes or on top of Mount Everest: as long as it could shake hands with a satellite, you could talk to anyone, anywhere, with a mobile or a landline. Where anyone got the money to run them, I didn’t have a clue. You could buy a week in Greece for a few minutes on one of these things.

I went out on to the balcony while Jerry untangled several lengths of wire, one of which connected the phone to the camera so he could transmit images down the line. Jerry’s plan was to download them to the Telegraph as soon as he got them, then wipe the memory card clean so there was no chance of anyone else getting their hands on them.

The guy in shorts was still bouncing backwards and forwards in the pool. I picked up the Thuraya to see if it had a signal, but the five-bar indicator was blank. I carried it along the balcony a few steps, but still got nothing.

I went back into the room. Jerry was stretched out on the bed, hands behind his head, admiring his prowess with the electrics.

‘No signal – the sat must be the other side.’ I threw the Thuraya on to the bed next to him. ‘The only way out of here is by the lift or jumping. The fire escape is blocked.’

‘Don’t worry, man, this place is as safe as Fort Knox. First things first.’ He had cheered up a lot since the wait in Amman. Maybe he felt we were just that bit closer to Nuhanovic. He sat up on the edge of the bed. ‘You get the beers. I’m going to need some local clothes if I’m going to do the brown thing right.’

We had already agreed that he was going to do the brown-man stuff and I would do the white.

‘I’ll call DC, then hit the mosque over the road in time for Asur and see what I can pick up. That’s if I can get past that tank without them putting a bullet in my Islamic ass.’

I nodded. It was pointless just sitting around waiting for the source to come up with the goods: we had to get out there. Somebody had to know something. Jerry didn’t want to quiz the journalists because they’d sniff a story and either clam up or lie. But there was nothing to stop me getting among the guys working on the circuit.

I checked Baby-G, my own black one this time. I’d left Kelly’s behind: I needed to keep a clear head. Who was I kidding? Looking at my own just made me think about hers – and then about her. It had been wider than her wrist, and took her for ever to fasten.

It was just after three p.m. – seven a.m. Washington time. We’d missed a couple of nights’ sleep. No wonder I was feeling knackered.