The Watchman

Thirty-One

Taking the Vektor and Ka-Bar knife, with the ghillie net around my shoulders, I followed the kid along the rough beach-side track leading to town. It was hard, packed dirt for most of the way, with ruts where vehicles had driven out along the coast. It made walking relatively safe in the near dark, but risky if guards had been placed along the way.

I moved off the track at one point when I heard a noise ahead of me, and ran into the wrecks of two skiffs, half buried in wind-blown sand. I had to feel around to get my bearings. The wood was sticking up like rotten teeth, and coarse grass had sprung up between the base boards. I turned back and got on to the track, and hurried to make up lost time.

Fortunately, the kid had slowed down, and I got close enough to hear him mumbling to himself, which I guessed was to bolster his nerves. It meant I’d get plenty of notice and be able to get off the track in time if he came across anybody.

We were soon passing Dhalib, which was in darkness. Little more than a few ramshackle huts clustered above the beach and used by fishermen, it was dwarfed by the nearby town of Kamboni, which began with a few houses and was well spread out. The sea was close by on the left, with the long sleek lines of skiffs just visible against the near-white of the sand, lying on the shore like beached sharks. We passed several low bungalows scattered in a seemingly haphazard manner, some with rough fences, some with lights on from gas or oil stoves or the telltale rattle of generators.

Most of the houses were of a simple plaster construction, with thatched or corrugated-steel roofs and overhanging verandas. Spindly-looking palm trees poked up like curved fingers in between, the only show of vegetation.

The kid was acting more nervous the closer we got to the centre, constantly turning to scan his surroundings. It was probably his first time in town, and I was guessing he’d been told to talk to nobody, to watch his back and stay out of trouble. I allowed the gap between us to grow, using whatever cover I could to stay out of his sight. All the time I was watching out in case I ran into trouble myself.

I lost him when he moved between two houses to avoid a group of men, but soon picked him up again. He’d got well ahead of me and was hurrying, his shoulders hunched to reduce his profile. I put on a spurt and nearly ran into three armed men standing alongside a beat-up Mitsubishi pickup.

I dived sideways into deep shadow. Luckily for me, they were too busy giving the kid a hard time to notice me.

When they eventually let him go, I was ahead and parallel to him, checking his progress through the gaps between the houses. By now I guessed we must be close to the centre of town. The alleyways here were narrow, the houses jammed close together. But everything was deathly quiet, and I figured the presence of the pirates was not universally popular.

Along the way I passed three or four more vehicles, and heard laughter from inside a couple of larger buildings, which I guessed had been taken over by pirates. Experience made me check the back of the vehicles, but none showed signs of carrying spare water containers.

I knew from the map Vale had supplied that Kamboni stood on a small peninsula jutting out into the Indian Ocean. The main part of the town was slightly inland, with a concentration of houses behind the local mosque, which had a commanding position overlooking the water. I couldn’t be certain, but my guess was that the kid was on an errand for food. We had already passed a couple of stalls which were closed for the day, and among the aromas of cooking and the more acrid smell of fuel oil, there was a lingering tang of fish.

A flare of light showed me where the kid was heading. It was a food stall selling fruit, vegetables and — the thing I had come for — bottled water and juices. A number of men were bunched around the front and a couple of gas-powered lights strung overhead gave the scene an unreal edge, picking up the sheen of fruit, packaging, smooth skin … and AK-47 rifles. A dog sniffing around the sides of the stall was an added danger.

The kid fronted up to the stall and the men made way for him. I watched as he pointed to some fruit and bottled drinks, and paid with some notes out of his bag. He had trouble using his right hand. Then he turned and began to make his way back through town towards the villa.

I jogged to get ahead of him on the outskirts of town, where we weren’t overlooked, but where a faint splash of light made it easy to see me. I took out the Ka-Bar.

I’d thought about this carefully. The kid might run screaming for the hills, but it was a risk I figured worth taking. I was trying not to think about what I would have to do if he freaked out on me, but something told me he wasn’t about to go out of his way to help the men who treated him so badly.

I stepped out in front of him.

He was pretty cool, in spite of his earlier show of nerves coming into town. He took one look at me and stopped dead. He made no attempt to shout or run, but eyed the knife in my hand.

‘I saw you,’ he said calmly, ‘watching the house — when the men wanted to shoot at cans.’ Hearing him speak English was a stunner. It was heavily accented, and hesitant, but good. I guessed he’d been to college or university, which made him city-bred.

‘You’ve got sharp eyes. Yet you didn’t tell your friends I was there.’

‘They are not my friends. Also, I did not know who you were … and you did not do me harm, even though I saw your gun. Are you French, sir? American? I have not seen Americans here before.’

I considered my reply. Trying to explain why I was helping the two SIS people would take too long, and I wasn’t sure what his reaction might be to me owning up to being an American. Pretending I was French was also risky; their recent venture in Mali had caused uncomfortable ripples throughout the region.

In the end I took a gamble. I went for the middle ground. ‘I’m English.’

‘Ah. The man and the woman from the plane, they also are the English. Are you a friend of the English, sir?’

‘No. They don’t know me.’ It was an easy truth. But something was bothering me. ‘What’s your name?’

‘They call me Madar.’

‘Madar, why didn’t you tell the others about seeing me?’

‘Because they do not listen to me. I am less than nothing to them, here to do their bidding. They beat me when I do not do something right.’

‘They hurt your arm?’

He held up his right hand and winced. ‘Yes. The man Xasan did not like some rice I had prepared. He beat me with a stick. I tried to protect myself. They say bad things about my uncle. He was an important man in Mogadishu, a professor of political science in the university. And he liked the English,’ he added proudly, tinged with sadness. ‘He taught me English and said I would need it one day to travel and work.’

‘He’s a wise man. Why don’t they like him?’

He hesitated and shrugged. ‘They tell me I am not worthy of being here because of him.’

‘Why are you? It’s a long way from Mogadishu.’

‘A friend told me I could earn much money coming here.’

‘With the pirates?’

‘Yes. There is no work in Mogadishu. Many men have come to the coast, like me.’

‘And your uncle allowed you to come?’

He shook his head. ‘My uncle was killed last year and I do not have other family, save for a sister, Amaani. She lives in Mogadishu. She says my uncle was killed because he criticized those who would hold back our country from its future. I do not know why they would do that.’ His breathing was coming in short bursts, and I got the feeling he’d been waiting for some time to talk about it.

I felt sorry for him. There were plenty of militant groups in the region accused of hurling the country back several hundred years by supporting piracy and allegiances to terrorism. His uncle must have fallen foul of one of them and it had cost him his life. It also explained why they were using Madar as some sort of slave — a punishment by association.

‘What about the English — what do they intend doing with them? Will they trade them on?’

He shook his head. ‘I do not know. They do not speak to me of these things. But I heard them talking. An important person is coming soon, tomorrow.’

It must be Musa. ‘To do what?’

‘He is a chief of many people and he will decide what is to happen to them.’

That didn’t sound much like any negotiation I’d ever heard of. ‘Where is this chief coming from?’

‘From the north. Everybody here comes from the north.’ He waved out towards the sea. ‘He comes on a boat.’

More intel to relay to Vale, although I wasn’t sure what he could do with it. By the time he acted, any boat would be lost among the other craft on a vast expanse of ocean.

Madar had put down the bag, which was heavy with the goods he’d bought. It reminded me that I was thirsty. I pointed at the bag and took out some Somali notes. ‘Can I buy some water from you?’

He nodded. He delved in the bag and produced a litre bottle of water and a box of dates.

‘Will this get you into trouble?’

He shook his head, showing white teeth in the gloom, a touch of rebellion. ‘No. I was told to get what water and juice I could find. It will not matter how much or how little. They do not know what can be bought here.’

I handed him some notes and he folded them and slipped them inside his bag.

‘Thank you, Madar,’ I said. ‘You won’t say we met, will you?’

He shook his head and picked up the bag, slinging it over his shoulder. ‘I must go now. Can I ask your name, sir?’

‘Marc. It’s Marc.’ Most people called me Portman. But for this kid it didn’t seem right, not after he’d helped me like he had.

He nodded and turned away, and I allowed him to disappear into the dark before setting off after him.

Time would tell if he was going to tell the others about me. I would know soon enough.