The Devil’s Kingdom

Chapter 45

‘Psst,’ was one of those handy phrases to grab someone’s attention when you were about to shoot them.

Ben whirled. Gun up, finger on trigger, eyes wide, heart jolting. He hadn’t known many men who could sneak up behind him unnoticed. But this one had. He’d either been inside the house since before Ben arrived, or he’d crept in through the same back door and made his way through to the front in absolute panther-like silence.

‘Hello, arsehole. Thought I might find you here.’

Jeff Dekker had his arms folded, his lips pursed into a lopsided sneer, and didn’t seem particularly pleased to be reunited with his old pal.

‘Jesus Christ,’ Ben muttered, lowering the gun.

‘No, just little old me. I’m almost impressed you managed to survive this long, gallivanting about this delightful place on your own. Having fun, are we?’

Ben stepped closer to him, back into the shadows of the doorway. The soldiers across the street had noticed nothing.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

‘Uh, that would be saving your skin, Major Hope. Intervening just as you were apparently about to do something very moronic, even by your standards. What the bloody hell were you thinking?’

The radio gave another belch of static, followed by a burst of distorted voices saying something Ben didn’t catch. He ignored it.

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘What, moronic?’

‘Major.’

Jeff frowned at him, then unslung the submachine gun hanging from his shoulder and waved it in the direction of the back door. ‘Whatever. Now, if you don’t mind, as one shepherd said to the other, I suggest we get the flock out of here. In a couple of minutes’ time this place will be crawling with our new friends.’

Ben shook his head. ‘I’m not going anywhere. Khosa’s still in there.’

Jeff leaned past Ben’s shoulder, cocking an eyebrow as he peered across the street. He shook his head. ‘Not anymore, he isn’t.’

Ben turned and followed Jeff’s gaze out of the doorway, just as General Khosa emerged from the mansion and went storming towards his Hummer at the head of a swarm of his soldiers. ‘Doesn’t look like a happy chappie, does he?’ Jeff said. ‘For a guy who’s just scored a total walkover of a coup and is all set to become the next governor of this shithole. Wonder what’s biting him.’

As they watched, Khosa ripped open the passenger door of the Hummer and climbed angrily inside. Moments later it took off with a squeal of tyres while his soldiers piled into the rest of the vehicles, U-turned across the lawns, trampling several of the dead bodies under their wheels, and the whole procession streamed out of the gates with the armoured cars rumbling along in their wake. Going off in a real hurry, as though something serious had come up.

Ben caught a glimpse of Khosa through the window of the Hummer as it roared past. The driver was punching the gas hard and the engine was revving loudly as they accelerated away, heading west on Avenue Laurent Kabila. The General had a radio handset clamped to his ear and was yelling into it like a crazy man.

One momentary glimpse. One fleeting chance.

Ben slammed the butt of the rifle tight into the crook of his shoulder and tracked the speeding vehicle in his sights. Giving it just enough lead for the figure in the passenger window to travel into the path of his burst of full-auto fire. His finger curled around the trigger, mounting up the pounds of pressure.

His perfect sight picture was jerked away as Jeff grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and jerked it downwards. Seeing the look on Ben’s face, Jeff let go as if the barrel were red-hot, and stepped back with both hands raised. ‘All right, then. Take the shot, if that’s what you want. Get it off your chest. Kill the bastard. But don’t look at me when the rest of them turn right round and blow this house apart with us inside.’

It was too late to fire. The line of vehicles was speeding away with the Hummer at its head. And in any case, Ben knew Jeff was right.

But it was painful to let him go like this, with no way of knowing when he’d catch up with the man again. Ben watched his target disappear into the distance. ‘Khosa,’ he seethed through gritted teeth.

‘To hell with Khosa,’ Jeff said. ‘The fucker won’t live long, whether it’s our bullet or someone else’s that does the job.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Ben said.

‘Look at me, Ben.’

Ben looked at him. Jeff’s eyes were hard and small, the way they went when he was deadly serious.

‘I understand that angry’s not the word for how you feel. I feel that way too. That’s why we need to back off here. Because angry guys fuck up, and fucking up will get you fucking killed, my friend. You know it’s true, because you’ve seen it happen even more times than I have, to good men who should’ve known better.’

Ben said nothing.

‘So drop it. We’ll get the bastard another time — that, I promise you. But for now, this place is gone tits up and we’re out of it. Mani’s waiting for you.’

‘You found him?’

Jeff’s rock-hard expression melted into a grin. ‘That’s not all I found. Bet you can’t wait to see.’

Ben was about to reply when the radio gave another popping fizz and a hiss of static that dissolved into the sound of a crackly voice. It was just a nuisance, no longer any use to him, and he went to turn it off.

But then he stopped. Listened. Heard the same voice again, blurting through the traffic. The caller wasn’t speaking French or Swahili. He wasn’t giving a military call sign to identify himself. He was using real names, which was something no soldier would do over the radio.

The signal was scrambled and kept breaking up. But there was no mistaking that voice.