minutes, perhaps twenty. Over.’
Taking his cue, Kemp was giving answers only. He could pick up clues pretty smartly. There was no such thing as a designated speed and Kemp knew this. I went on, ‘Get it down to no more than fifteen, ten if possible. Over.’
I was praying for an interruption and for once I got lucky. Sadiq’s military unit had got restless and several vehicles, including those carrying the guns, started down the road towards us. The commander turned alertly to see what was going on. In that moment, with nobody listening except the Colonel’s driver, I said hastily, ‘Basil, if you don’t get the hell off that bridge we’ll have shells coming up our ass. These guys are trigger-happy. Go man go. Acknowledge formally. Over.’
It was all I had time for, but it was enough. The Colonel was back, looking more irritated than ever, just in time to hear Kemp’s voice saying, ‘Message understood, Neil, and will be acted upon. Going faster. Out.’
I handed the microphone back to the driver and said, ‘That’s it, Colonel. He’ll do the best he can. You should be on your way in a quarter of an hour. I’ll arrange to hold all the rest of our stuff until you’re through.’
The muscles round his jaw bunched up and he nodded stiffly, casting a quick glance skywards, and then began snapping orders to his Captain who got busy on the radio. All down the line there was a stir of activity, and with interest and some alarm I noted that machine guns were sprouting from turret tops, all pointing skywards. I remembered the jets that had gone over and wondered what Air Chief Marshal Semangala, or whatever his title might be, was doing just at that moment. Away in the distance I saw the four barrels of a 20-millimetre AA quickfirer rotating.
I said, ‘Has a war broken out, Colonel?’
‘Exercises,’ he said briefly. ‘You may go now.’
It was a curt dismissal but I wasn’t sorry to get it. I joined Sadiq and we drove back to our lines. I passed the word for everyone to remain clear of the bridge and to let the army through, once the rig was safely on the other side and uncoupled from its umbilicus. Everyone was bursting with curiosity and the tension caused by the rig’s river passage had noticeably increased, which wasn’t surprising. But I had little to tell them and presently everyone fell silent, just watching and waiting.
Seventeen minutes later the rig was clear of the bridge and safe on firm land again. Things are comparative, and after the bridge even the most friable and potholed road would seem like a doddle, at least for a time. The airlift truck was uncoupled, its hoses stowed, and it was moved back from the bridge approach. The Colonel came towards us in his staff car.
‘Thank you,’ he said abruptly. Graciousness was not a quality often found out here and this was the nearest we’d get to it. He spoke into the mike and his leading motorcycles roared off across the bridge.
I said, ‘Mind a bit of advice, Colonel?’
He speared me with dark eyes. ‘Well?’
‘That bridge really isn’t too safe: it’s been cheaply made. I’d space out my tanks crossing it, if I were you.’
He nodded shortly. ‘Thank you, Mister Mannix.’
‘My pleasure.’
He peered at me uncertainly and then signed to his driver to go ahead. As he drove off already talking into his microphone, I sighed for the days of the mythical bush telegraph. The battalion that followed was mostly armour, tanks and a battery of self-propelling guns, with a few truckloads of infantry for close defence work. Even as small a unit as a battalion takes up an awful lot of road space and it was twenty dusty minutes before the rearguard had crossed. I watched them climb the hill on the other side of the river and then said, ‘Right, you guys. Let’s go and join Mister Kemp, shall we?’
As the convoy started I turned to Sadiq. ‘And then, Captain, perhaps you’ll be good enough to find out from your driver, and then tell me, what the hell is going on. I know you’ll have had him radio-eavesdropping right from the beginning.’
And then for some reason we both glanced quickly skywards.
Both Kemp and Hammond looked shaken. I couldn’t blame them; nobody likes being at the wrong end of a big gun. Hammond, as could be expected, was belligerent about it. ‘This wasn’t allowed for in any contract, Mannix. What are you going to do about it?’
‘It’s hardly Neil’s fault,’ said Kemp.
‘I am going to do something about it,’ I said. ‘Something I should have done before this. I’m going to put you two properly in the picture.’
‘Was that what you said you wanted to talk about?’ Kemp asked, giving me a chance to cover myself. I nodded. ‘Overdue,’ I said. ‘But first I want another word with Captain Sadiq. Want to come along?’
Kemp and Hammond conferred briefly, then Kemp said, ‘Yes. Everyone’s a bit jittery still. We shouldn’t move on until we know the situation. I wish to God Geoff was here.’
‘We’ll try to contact him,’ I said. I didn’t see what he could do but if his presence was enough to calm his partners’ fears it would be a big bonus. We found Sadiq, as expected, glued to his earphones in his car, and according to the usual ritual he handed them to his sergeant before joining us. I said, ‘All right, Captain. What’s the story?’
His voice was neutral. ‘You heard Colonel Hussein. The Army is holding manoeuvres.’
I stared at him. ‘Don’t give us that crap. No army captain is going to threaten to shell a civilian vehicle during war games. He’d be scrubbing latrines next. And that was damn nearly more than a threat.’
Kemp said, ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Captain.’
I jerked my thumb towards the sergeant. ‘You’ve been monitoring the wavebands pretty constantly. What have you heard?’
Sadiq shrugged. ‘It’s difficult to tell. There’s a lot of traffic, mostly in code. There seems to be much troop movement. Also a lot of aircraft activity.’
‘Like those jets this morning.’ I had plenty of ideas about that but I wanted his version. ‘What do you think is happening?’
‘I don’t know. I wish I did,’ he said.
‘What does Radio Nyala have to say?’
‘Nothing unusual. Much music.’ Kemp and I glanced at one another. ‘There was a little about us, news of the new power plant at Bir Oassa. And other talk as well …’
He was getting closer to the real thing. His voice had become very careful. I said nothing but waited, out-silencing him. He went on at last, ‘There was other news from Bir Oassa. The new airfield was opened today, with a ceremony.’
I gaped at him. ‘But it isn’t meant to be ready for a couple of months at least. Who opened it?’
‘The Air Chief Marshall.’
My first irrelevant thought was that I’d
