*Maybe,' said Nelson. *We'll just have to wait and see.'

It was hard work but they made good time through the terrain, despite the difficult conditions. Every now and then they stopped when they heard a heavier noise than usual, but on each occasion it turned out to be an animal rooting in the swamp, or monkeys up in the high branches. Now and then a snake slithered by, or they saw the flicker of something vanishing into the undergrowth, but mostly their journey went without a hitch. The nearest they came to real danger was when Two Moons found himself sinking fast into a pit of oozing mud and the others had to pull him out without sinking in themselves.

*How deep is this mud?' asked Two Moons after they'd dragged him out of it.

*Depends,' replied Mitch. *In some places, just waist deep. In others, you can sink right in over your head and disappear. The trouble is once you start sinking a vacuum forms under you that sucks you down more and more. Also, make sure no leeches get stuck to you. They can get in between any gaps in your clothing and they just love the taste of blood from nice warm moist skin.'

*I have been in jungle before,' said Two Moons.

*Yeah, but trust me, until you've been bitten by one of these leeches, you ain't been bitten,' finished Mitch.

They took turns to take the lead and to bring up the rear, and for part of the trek Mitch found himself guarding the rear with Tug. Unlike the others, Tug stayed silent. Mitch still wasn't sure whether this was just Tug's character or if Tug was still suspicious of him. At least Benny had put his opinion into words. Tug just stayed close-mouthed, his ears and eyes alert as they made their way through the jungle.

They had been travelling for about two hours when suddenly from about a mile ahead they heard the ear-splitting sound of automatic gunfire, followed by screaming and wailing.

7.

The unit moved forward, rifles ready, crouching low, using the jungle as cover. Nelson was in front, Benny, Gaz and Tug watched the sides while Mitch and Two Moons guarded the rear, all alert for any sudden movements from the jungle around them. All the time the sound of terrified wailing was getting nearer.

They reached a point where the jungle ended and saw a small village: a collection of mud huts with roofs made of palm branches, and some dwellings made from bits of corrugated iron and plastic.

Two men sat on a battered open jeep. Both of them carried automatic rifles, which they held casually across their laps.

Another armed man was standing in the clearing at the centre of the village, aiming his rifle at a group of women and children.

Further back stood a couple of unarmed men, both with their hands on top of their heads. Two more armed men covered them with rifles.

But all the unit's attention was drawn to the sixth man, the obvious leader of the gang. A golden headband was tied round his shaven skull, and he was more heavily armed than the rest. As well as an automatic rifle slung over his back, he had loaded ammunition belts hanging from his shoulders, and a vicious-looking machete in his right hand. With his left hand he was gripping the hair of a man kneeling in front of him and he was shouting at the man. Specks of spittle came from his mouth as he yelled and waved the machete menacingly.

The kneeling man said nothing, but Mitch could see blood trickling from his mouth and nose.

*Any idea what's going on?' Nelson whispered to Mitch.

*A raiding party,' murmured Mitch. *Looks like some local warlord and his gang. Rob, loot and terrify. It's an occupational hazard here.'

*Think they could be rebels?' asked Nelson. *You know, part of the group holding Mw.a.n.ga?'

*Could be,' replied Mitch. *But they could just as easily be a bunch of regular bandits grabbing what they can.'

*I say we leave them alone and move on,' said Benny. *It's a local issue. We've got a mission to complete. We get involved here, it blows our cover. Plus, we could take casualties, and it's the wrong time for that. We need every man we've got if we're going to free Mw.a.n.ga.'

Nelson said nothing, just kept his eyes on what was happening in the village.

The bandits watched their leader. From the grins on their faces it was obvious they were enjoying what was happening.

*Seems to me our cover's blown anyway,' put in Two Moons. *Otherwise we wouldn't have been shot at as soon as we arrived.'

*You think we ought to intervene, Two Moons?' asked Nelson.

Two Moons nodded. *I hate bullies,' he said. *We let *em get away with this, they'll keep coming back. Keep terrorising these villagers. And my guess is that fella with the gold headband sure ain't gonna use that machete for cleaning his fingernails.'

*This is not part of our mission,' insisted Benny. *We screw up here, who's going to rescue Mw.a.n.ga?'

*I agree with Benny,' put in Tug. *I'm sympathetic to the plight of these people, but we have a mission. That's why we're here, and we mustn't jeopardise that.'

*What about you other guys?' Nelson asked Mitch and Gaz.

*I'm with Two Moons,' said Gaz.

*Me too,' said Mitch. *For one thing, these bandits are in our way. They could be a problem when we're coming back with Mw.a.n.ga. If we take *em out now, that's one less obstacle for us to deal with later.'

Nelson nodded. *Three to two, gentlemen,' he murmured to Benny and Tug.

*You're the commanding officer,' Tug pointed out to him.

*d.a.m.n right,' agreed Nelson. *Which gives me two votes. So, it's five to two on us going in.' He grinned. *I really don't like that gold headband he's wearing.'

The leader had now raised the machete above his head and was waving it around threateningly. The man kneeling on the ground closed his eyes and tried to push his head into his shoulders, as if it would stop him being attacked.

*If we're going to move, we'd better move fast,' said Gaz. *Before he chops that guy's head off.'

*He's not going to chop his head off,' said Mitch. *If he does that, the village packs up and moves on, which means no more stealing from them in the future.'

*So it's going to be OK,' said Tug. *He's not going to kill him. Just threaten him.'

Mitch shook his head. *No. He'll cut one of the man's hands off, as an example to the others. Then he'll start on the others. Cut a hand off one of the women or one or two of the kids.'

*When?' asked Benny.

*Any second now,' said Mitch.

As they watched, the leader let go of the kneeling man's hair, grabbed the man's left hand and pulled it out from his side. The women began to scream as the machete was swung back.

Bang! In one movement Nelson had brought his rifle up to his shoulder, switched it to single shot, and fired. The bullet took the leader right through the head, and he fell sideways, eyes wide in surprise.

The two men sitting on the jeep gaped, stunned at the sight of their leader's body tumbling heavily to the ground. Then they sprang into action, rifles leaping into their hands. But the unit was already moving.

A spray of automatic fire from Two Moons and Gaz took out the other two men near the jeep.

*Save the hostages!' shouted Nelson.

Mitch, Benny and Tug were already running towards the village men standing with their hands on their heads, now looking terrified. The two armed bandits by them hesitated, still shocked by what had happened to their leader.

Benny let fly a hail of bullets and one of the bandits crumpled to the ground. The other bandit turned and began to run.

Bang!

A burst of fire from Tug took the fleeing bandit's legs from under him and he crashed to the ground, screaming with pain.

*We've got one prisoner at least,' grunted Tug.

*I wouldn't count on it,' murmured Mitch.

As the unit watched, they realised the women had broken away from their previous position and were running towards the wounded bandit. As they ran, they gathered up their farming tools: axes, picks, shovels and rakes. They were still shouting and wailing, but these were now screams of triumph and revenge, not of fear.

*They're going to kill him?' asked Gaz.

*That's the general idea,' said Mitch.

*We have to stop them!' said Tug, and he fired a burst of gunfire into the air.

The running women stopped, hesitated, then carried on.

*Do something!' snapped Tug. *You know the language, Mitch. Shout at them! Tell them to stop!'

*Why?' Mitch shrugged. *These bandits will have been living off the people of this village like parasites for ages. Looting, torturing, murdering.'

As he spoke, the women had reached the fallen bandit and had begun striking him with their farm implements. The bandit's screams ceased.

*You stupid idiot!' Tug raged angrily at Mitch. *We could have got some intel from that prisoner! Information about the rebels. Now he's dead we won't find out anything!'

*Yes, we will,' said Mitch calmly. *And a lot quicker and more truthfully.' He gestured at the villagers, who were now approaching them, slowly and warily, but with their hands held out in a gesture of peace and with smiles of grat.i.tude on their faces. *We've just made ourselves some new and very useful friends.'

8.

While the men of the village and the rest of the unit disposed of the bandits' bodies, Mitch and Nelson sat down to talk to the leader of the village. His name, he told them, was Adwana, and these bandits had been terrorising his village for a very long time. At least, that was the impression Nelson got from the gestures Adwana made with his arms and hands, stretching them out to show a long length of time, accompanied by the clicking noises and almost singsong rhythms of the native language.

*You understand all this?' Nelson asked Mitch.

*Most of it,' replied Mitch. He turned back to Adwana. *We're here to help Joseph Mw.a.n.ga,' he said, using the same mixture of tonal sounds and clicks.

Adwana nodded. *We heard there were strangers coming to save Mw.a.n.ga,' he told Mitch. *The bandits said so.' Adwana spat on the ground to show his disgust at the word *bandits'. *They wanted to know if we had seen anyone dressed like you. Like soldiers. American. British.'

So they did know we were coming, thought Mitch.

Mitch and Adwana talked while Nelson listened. Nelson hadn't a clue what either man was saying, but he could tell by the body language, the way they were using their hands to explain themselves, that the conversation was going well. Adwana was keen to give as much help as he could to the men who had saved his hand, and his people.

At one point Adwana turned and called another man over. Nelson gathered that this man was called Oba, and soon Mitch, Adwana and Oba were engaged in a three-way conversation that went on for some time. Mitch gently asked questions, listening and nodding as Adwana and Oba replied.

A couple of times Nelson noticed that Mitch seemed puzzled by an answer, and when that happened he frowned and repeated what either Adwana or Oba had said, with a few additional questioning words in Igbo himself, until he had made sure he'd understood the answer correctly. Then, Mitch would smile, nod and move on.

By the time Mitch seemed satisfied, and the conversation had ended with smiles and handshakes all round, the light was fading.

Nelson smelt food cooking, and noticed that the women of the village were preparing something in a pot over a fire.

*Let me guess,' he said. *It's supper time.'

Mitch nodded. *And we're the honoured guests.' As Mitch saw Nelson's eyes stray to his watch and his mouth open to argue, Mitch added hastily: *It would be rude to refuse. Eating with an invited guest is very important to these people. We'll be seriously insulting them if we leave now a" and we need their help.'

Nelson hesitated, then nodded.

The sounds of the other village men and soldiers approaching made them look up.

*All tidied up,' said Tug. *We can move on.'

*It seems we can't,' said Nelson. *Local tradition says we have to eat.'

Two Moons grinned. *No argument from me,' he said. *That food smells great. A lot better than our emergency rations.'

*What have they told you?' Benny asked Nelson.

Nelson jerked his thumb at Mitch. *I'm hoping that's what Mitch is going to tell us while we eat,' he said. *And I hope they ain't just been talking about the weather and crops.'

By now night had fallen. As always in the tropics, it happened quickly. One moment it was daylight, the next, following a very brief period that could have been described as dusk, it was dark.

The men of Delta Unit joined the villagers sitting on the ground near the fires that sent showers of sparks into the dark sky, and on which the food was cooking.

Benny picked a piece of food from his wooden bowl and sniffed it, before popping it into his mouth.

*Smoked fish,' he said. *It's good.'

*It's what everyone here eats,' Mitch told him. *That, and monkey meat.'

*Mitch, can we move on from this gourmet-chef stuff and get on with what these guys told you?' asked Nelson, a touch of impatience in his tone.

Mitch nodded. *The group holding Mw.a.n.ga is led by a warlord called Justis Ngola,' he said. *For good measure, it just so happens that the bandit chief with the gold headband we just took out is a cousin of this same Justis Ngola.'

*So this is a family business,' commented Tug.

*Do they know why Mw.a.n.ga was kidnapped in the first place?' asked Benny.

*The word is that someone very important paid Justis Ngola a lot of money to have Mw.a.n.ga captured and killed.'