I took his pistol, a 9mm semi-automatic made in South Korea by Daewoo, the car people, and told him not to fire unless Nasir had a stoppage or got dropped. I didn't want to be in more danger from Jerry than the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds outside.

'OK, Ramzi, you ready?'

Benzil gave a bit of a good-luck wave. Salkic nodded to him. 'If G.o.d wants me to die today, then so be it.'

'Enough of that f.u.c.king Muslim fatalism.' I meant it. 'Just have a quick word with him now so you stay alive and get us to Nuhanovic, all right?'

He patted my arm. 'Inshallah.'

We bent low, trying to become part of the rock. After ten metres we had to get down on our stomachs and crawl through the puddles and chunks of rubble.

I checked the Thuraya every metre. One bar would be enough. Sweat poured down my face, despite the cold. And my twelve-dollar coat was no barrier to more stagnant water and mud. Sharp stone chips cut into my elbows and knees. The pain would come later.

I could hear them outside now, just to the right of the cave mouth. I stopped, Thuraya in my left hand, 9mm in my right, trigger finger out straight over the guard, thumb on the safety catch. No way was I giving myself the slightest opportunity to have an ND [negligent discharge] as we moved forward.

Still no bars, maybe ten metres short of the entrance.

'Salkic! Salkic!' It was Motorola voice again, followed by that mocking laugh.

Nasir screamed back. Whether they knew it or not, these guys were doing us a favour. The more noise they made, the more cover it gave us.

We inched forward. About two metres from the end, a bar appeared in the display. I stopped and motioned Salkic to come up level with me. Even Jerry joined in the shouting now. Nasir might be angry, but he wasn't stupid.

I hit Send on the number and pa.s.sed the Thuraya to him. Then I held the pistol out in front of me, left hand supporting the right, aiming at about chest height, safety off and first pad of my finger on the trigger.

Nasir and Jerry were still letting the guys outside know what they thought of them at top volume, but they weren't getting much in return. Maybe the flat tops were becoming bored. Then I heard a roar of laughter. Whatever was being said, the flat tops thought it was pretty funny.

I hadn't heard Salkic say a word. I felt a tap on my arm and he pa.s.sed me the phone. He didn't look happy. I listened; it was still ringing. I hit the b.u.t.ton and leaned over so I was speaking right into his ear. My eyes were still forward, pistol out, pad on the trigger, safety off. 'You definitely know where we are?'

He nodded slowly. With my left hand, I fished around in my jeans for the Holiday Inn card and tapped in the number. 'Tell the hotel we're being robbed. They're armed. We need SFOR.'

I pressed Send and handed it over. While I concentrated on the entrance he muttered quietly into the mouthpiece.

Someone outside bellowed Salkic's name again and he took advantage of the noise to repeat the information more loudly.

The barrel of an AK poked round into the cave at about waist height. I took first pressure on the trigger of the Daewoo, my eyes glued to a point just above the muzzle.

I caught a glimpse of cheekbone and pulled the pistol up until I had the clear and focused foresight centre ma.s.s of the target. The rear sight was out of focus, just as it should be. The first pad of my forefinger squeezed the trigger a couple of millimetres, until I felt the first pressure stopping me moving it back any further.

Salkic was still mumbling into the phone, but I shut every ounce of background noise out of my head as I watched the cheekbone grow into a face, which half turned so its mouth could shout more efficiently into the cave. I could see the veins in its temple swell with effort as spit flew from its lips.

Then he turned to fire.

The weapon's foresight was level with his upper lip as I took second pressure. The pistol kicked in my hands and the boy crumpled. Another AK, attached to a pair of hands, appeared and fired. I could feel the pressure waves of the rounds above me, then a volley of single shots rang out from behind us.

When the AK finally stopped, I pushed myself up against the rock, kept my head down, and started to run.

Heavy 7.62 short rounds started to bounce off the walls again but there was nothing we could do about it. We just had to keep low and keep moving.

As I scrambled over the rock piles into cover, Salkic was at my shoulder, still firing.

'Stop! Stop! Save the ammo!'

I grabbed the phone from Salkic and switched it off. 'What did they say? They understand?'

His chest heaved. 'I think so. And they must have heard the firing.' He slumped against the rock pile, trying to catch his breath.

Nasir and Jerry had stopped firing. The only sounds now were our breathing and the shouts that echoed from just outside the cave mouth.

Jerry took back the phone. 'Maybe she was out at the shops. Maybe they couldn't find her...'

Salkic looked up, his eyes full of concern as he looked beyond us for Nasir. 'We'll see.' His voice was far too calm. It was that fatalism s.h.i.t again.

82.We lay there for another hour, Nasir and me on the rock piles with our AKs, the other three on the ground below us.

Mocking flat-top voices kept echoing round the cave, with the odd aggressive insult or a line or two from a song thrown in. Nasir couldn't restrain himself. Each time, he'd give as good as he got.

I eased my way down to Salkic. 'What's Nuhanovic going to do now we haven't turned up? Come looking?'

'I don't know. This is the first time I've failed.'

I put on my happy face. 'Let's try and make sure it stays that way. First up, we've got to keep eyes on the entrance at all times. Since he's already there, Nasir might as well take the first hour.'

I wanted to get a routine going. A routine gives a sense of purpose and meaning. It kids you something productive is happening.

Salkic gobbed off and Nasir nodded, then cleared his nostrils into the rocks.

'Ramzi, get that radio of yours on, just in case Nuhanovic sends some of your guys out and they get line of sight with the cave.' There was a chance anyone trying to raise us would just scroll through the frequencies.

Benzil was still in a bad way. His face was etched with pain and concern. The scabs on his cheeks had cracked and started weeping again. 'Do you think SFOR will come?' His throat sounded like sandpaper. He needed liquid. He wasn't the only one.

'Absolutely. Sure of it.'

He pulled me so close I could smell the sourness of his breath. 'Nick, what we talked about in Baghdad... the offer is still there. I know Rob would want you to take his place. We still have a purpose. I'm sure this is just a temporary setback that you will overcome for us.'

'Let's talk about it later, yeah?'

I crawled back up the rock pile to check on Nasir. He indicated with a shake of his head that nothing had changed, but wouldn't look at me. Fair one, I'd be p.i.s.sed off, too. I knew I'd have to watch him when we got out of here. When he reckoned he no longer needed me, that AK of his might be pointing my way.

'What do you think, Nick?' Jerry crawled to the bottom of the rocks. 'They still there?'

'You're welcome to take a look.'

I slid down alongside him and put my lips to his ear. 'Keep that weapon of yours handy and watch Nasir. He's f.u.c.ked off with us. We need to look out for each other.'

'Ramzi! Ramzi!' The gravelly voice from the cave mouth was now calm and controlled. Whatever it was saying, I liked it even less than when it was in mocking mode.

I moved back up to Nasir. Way in the distance, I could see a 4x4 making its way along the track. I watched it disappear off to our right. Salkic joined us. As Nasir filled him in, the look in his eyes told me all I needed to know.

'Your sister?'

The radio crackled in his pocket. I made out a gravel-voiced 'Ramzi! Ramzi!' Then Salkic pressed the b.u.t.ton and spoke. I couldn't see that he was crying, but I could hear it. He was doing his best to make sure that whoever was at the other end couldn't do the same.

Nasir mumbled away to himself, then started to rant at no one in particular.

Benzil's eyes widened again. 'What is it, Ramzi? What do they want?'

'To know where Hasan is.'

Before I could say anything, a piercing scream echoed round the cave. Nasir ripped the radio from Salkic's hands and cracked it against the rock, but the screams and begging continued from just beyond the cave mouth.

Salkic lay with his arms over his head to try to block out the world. I knew exactly how he felt.

Nasir scrambled over the rocks and ran towards the light.

'For f.u.c.k's sake!'

I picked up my AK and started after him, flicking the safety down to full automatic. He might want to kill me once this was over, but I needed him alive if we were going to have a chance of getting out of there first. He kept left, weapon in the shoulder, oblivious to me behind him.

Fifteen metres to go and the moans and cries outside were drowned by the crunching of our feet on the rock chips. I checked safety again.

We only made it another five metres before another barrel appeared in front of us and fired a long burst into the cave. Nasir stood his ground and got some rounds down as I moved to his right and joined in.

Nasir didn't need any shouting at. We were on autopilot. He turned on the spot, ran back a few paces, stopped, turned and fired. I followed suit as we fired and manoeuvred back to safety. I could taste the cordite as empty cases clinked off the walls.

I turned for the last time to see Nasir and Jerry firing from the rocks. As I ran and hurled myself over the pile between them, I could feel the pressure waves of Nasir's AK against my face as they covered me in.

Everything fell silent, apart from the hissing of my barrel as I put it on the ground and it made contact with a puddle. Nasir slapped me on the shoulder as we both climbed back up to our vantage-point. It seemed as if I was in his good books at last, but I wouldn't stop watching my back.

We kept our eyes on the entrance as we both changed mags. I only had thirteen rounds left; I fed them all into one mag.

I heard a whimper then a shout behind me, and took a moment to work out where it came from. Nasir shook his head and pleaded with Salkic. The Motorola had survived his attempt to destroy it, and Salkic wanted to listen. His sister was sobbing, but defiant.

Salkic tried to mutter a few words of comfort but ended up in tears. His tormentor mocked and jeered as her sobs turned into rhythmic cries of pain.

Nasir ripped the radio from Salkic's hands, hurled it to the ground and stamped on it, but it brought them only a few seconds' respite. We could hear her outside, closer now, and Salkic retreated into a dark place of his own as his sister's agony filtered into the cave. 'She told me to be strong, and I will be,' he murmured to himself. 'The most important thing is protecting Hasan.'

Nasir sparked up, shouting at the top of his voice. If my guess was right, it had less to do with anger than drowning sound.

We all went quiet, apart from Nasir, who carried on trying to keep the cries at bay.

83.Everything went quiet. No more screams, no more shouts, not even from Nasir. Benzil insisted he did his share and went on stag above us, muttering a quiet prayer to himself.

Unless our call was taken seriously and SFOR appeared, night was going to be our only hope. I checked Baby-G: 11:14. If we could hold out until dark, we might be able to break out and make a run for it, especially if the cloud cover held.

'Oh, G.o.d! Oh, G.o.d!'

Benzil was no longer praying: he was in shock.

Nasir was the first one up the rocks to join him. I was close behind.

The silhouette swayed in the cave mouth, then staggered a couple of steps to one side. Nasir could not suppress a gasp of anguish.

Salkic and Jerry came up to join us, just as the girl started to stagger in our direction, like a drunk coming down an alley. She lost her balance and bounced against the wall. Nasir pulled his weapon up into the aim as she called out for her brother. 'Ramzi? Ramzi?'

One hand now against the wall for balance, she took a few more unsteady steps and groaned. Nasir still had his AK up, b.u.t.t in the shoulder. Tears streamed down his face as he begged Salkic. They argued, and Nasir handed him the weapon.

Like me, Jerry didn't need a translation. Either before or after the rape, she would have been drugged, then rigged up with explosive. It had happened all the time during the war. Mothers were rigged up and pushed back towards the trenches where their sons, husbands and fathers were holding the line. Serbs or Muslims, it didn't matter, each side was as bad as the other. Now it looked as if the guys outside had decided that if Salkic wasn't going to give Nuhanovic away, there was no point keeping him alive. Then again, maybe they just wanted to see how he'd react, and have a bit of fun.

She was no more than twenty metres from us and something needed to happen. But this was family s.h.i.t and I was keeping well out of it. One of them would have to drop her.

Jerry dragged Benzil down to explain the score as Salkic begged her to stop, choking on his tears. Nasir joined in, but her only response was to hold out her arms, lose her balance and fall to her knees.

Now would be a good time: she was a static target. It would be a cleaner kill.

Salkic's eyes were on Nasir's, begging his brother-in-law for help. He couldn't raise his arms.

Benzil had just worked it out. 'Oh, G.o.d, he is telling him to shoot her...'

Salkic finally lifted the weapon into the aim as she tottered to her feet, calling out to him like a child. 'Ramzi... Ramzi...'

Nasir urged him on, but the stock just collapsed off his shoulder. Nasir turned his attention to his sister-in-law, pleading with her to stop.

She came a few steps closer. In the gloom, I could see that her nightgown was ripped and she was covered with blood. She was totally s.p.a.ced out.

I couldn't see a line behind her.

Maybe she wasn't rigged up. Maybe this really was just their idea of a good day out.

Nasir screamed at her. The sound reverberated round the cave and she stumbled against the wall, disoriented. She took another couple of steps. I still couldn't see a line.

Salkic brought the AK into the aim again but it wasn't going to happen.

She continued to stumble forwards. This had to be done or we'd all be dead.

f.u.c.k this. I got my b.u.t.t in the shoulder and pushed the safety all the way down to single shot. All the shouting and screaming around me became background noise.

I lined up the rear- and foresight so they were centre ma.s.s of her head. She'd be dead before she heard the round fired.

There was a shot from my right and some of the back of her head slapped against the wall.

I turned. Jerry had the 9mm up in the aim.

She was on the ground, but still moving. Nasir grabbed Salkic, pulling him behind the rock pile. The flat tops might detonate her now she was down.

Jerry fired again but his tears and shaking hand got in the way of his aim.

He didn't miss with his third round. Her body quivered, she gave a low moan, then nothing. I scrambled over, grabbed Jerry, and we joined the others behind the mound.