Gaz frowned, puzzled. *OK,' he said. *Maybe I'm not the brightest penny in the box a'

*Torches!' explained Nelson with a groan. *If the generator keeps breaking down, they'll have powerful torches ready.'

*And our night-vision goggles will be more of a hindrance than a help,' added Two Moons.

Bright light from a torch was the worst enemy of night-vision goggles. Even the smallest torch blinded anyone wearing night vision.

Two Moons turned to Mitch and grinned. *Yeah! Good thinking, Mitch.'

*You'd all have made the connection,' said Mitch, shrugging.

*But only when someone started pumping bullets into us while we're blind,' Two Moons grunted.

*OK, so either we make sure the bandits don't suddenly start waving torches at us, or we go in without night vision, just ambient light,' said Nelson.

*We could lock them up,' suggested Gaz. He pointed to the receivers, which were still picking up sound and vision. *It looks to me that quite a few of them are in the rooms we bugged.'

*And how do we lock them up?' asked Mitch.

Gaz grinned, produced his small pack of burglar tools and opened it. *Lock-picks, pal. They can be used to lock a door as well as unlock it.'

Benny looked doubtful. *It's risky,' he said. *For one thing, we don't know if any of the doors still have locks on them, let alone whether they'll actually work.'

*It's worth a try,' said Nelson.

*If we can't lock the bandits in, we'll use flash bangs,' said Tug.

Flash bangs were stun grenades that produced intense white light and an incredibly loud noise when they exploded.

Nelson looked doubtful. Everyone knew what he was thinking. The noise would alert Ngola and the other guards, and once that happened it would be an open fire-fight inside the hotel.

*OK,' said Nelson. *Flash bangs are a back-up. But only use them if you have to. That's it. Anything else?'

*Once we're away, where do we meet up?' asked Tug.

*Somewhere along the line,' said Nelson. *Keep on the main road. We'll find each other.'

*And getting out of the country?' asked Benny. *We've already said we can't trust anyone. Not even our own side.'

Nelson nodded thoughtfully. *I'm working on that,' he said.

*Will you have finished working on it by the time we go in?' asked Benny.

Nelson grinned. *Maybe. Maybe not,' he said. *But hopefully it'll be sorted by the time we need to get out of the country.'

16.

Darkness fell.

Delta Unit lay ready in the long gra.s.s, equipped for a night a.s.sault: black Kevlar body-armour, full-face balaclavas beneath their protective helmets, night-vision goggles ready to be slipped over their faces, a.s.sault rifles with silencers and laser sights.

The three bandits guarding the front had given up any pretence of being a military fighting force and were sitting on the ground playing dice and drinking from bottles. The labels on the bottles looked as if they were half torn off.

*Some kind of local hooch,' whispered Mitch. *If we're lucky, the guys inside will be drinking it as well. A few bottles of that and they won't be able to walk, let alone hold a gun.'

*Benny and Two Moons, you take out the guards at the back and prepare the generator as we planned,' said Nelson. *Me, Tug and Gaz will take the guards at the front. Mitch, you'd better be the one who frees Adwana and tells him what's going on. We don't want him freaking out and giving the game away.'

Benny and Two Moons slipped into the darkness, heading for the back of the hotel.

Mitch slid along the ground towards the trees where Adwana and the other villager hung slumped from the ropes that tied them. Suddenly he stopped. The three bandits had stood up and were stumbling towards the prisoners, shouting and jeering.

Mitch now saw that Adwana and the other villager were still conscious. He could see the fear in their eyes as the bandits approached. These bandits were dangerous at the best of times. Drunk, they would be out of control, and Justis Ngola's order to keep the prisoners alive easily forgotten.

*We've got a problem,' Mitch whispered into his helmet microphone.

*We got it,' he heard Nelson's voice say confidently in his ear.

The three bandits were in front of Adwana now, lurching and jabbering insults. Then one of the bandits pulled a pistol from the holster at his hip and levelled it at the other villager. The villager strained at his ropes and twisted, fear and panic on his face.

The three bandits laughed.

Then Mitch heard three phhtt! sounds going off so close together they sounded like one shot.

The three bandits jerked like puppets on string; and then they crumpled to the ground.

Immediately Mitch ran from his cover to where Adwana and the other villager were tied, his knife already in his hand. He began cutting at the ropes. At the same time he whispered urgently for the two men to keep quiet.

*Say nothing!' he said.

He cut the ropes and Adwana and the other man sank to the ground. Mitch reached down to help them, but they were already pushing themselves up.

*We're going to rescue Mw.a.n.ga,' Mitch told them. *You can wait and travel with us, or you can go now.'

*We go now,' Adwana murmered.

*But what about the magic in the jungle?' asked Mitch.

Adwana shuddered. *Better the magic in the jungle than the devils in there!' he said, casting a fearful look at the building.

Nelson, Gaz and Tug joined Mitch. Adwana nodded at them, muttered something and then stumbled off into the jungle.

*What did he say?' asked Nelson.

*He thanked us,' said Mitch. *And wished us good luck.'

Benny and Two Moons materialised near them.

*The guards at the back are out of action,' said Benny. *The generator's ready to blow.'

*Good,' said Nelson. *Wait till we're at the main entrance, then do it. As soon as we see the lights go out, we go in.'

17.

Nelson, Mitch, Tug and Gaz stood in pairs at either side of the main entrance, a.s.sault rifles ready.

Mitch could see Benny crouched near one of the old vehicles. He guessed he was already fixing plastic explosive to it, most likely by one of the axles so that when it blew the wheel would come off and break the axle, making any immediate repair to get it going impossible.

Two Moons had slipped out of sight round the side of the hotel to set off the charges at the generator. From inside there were the sounds of men shouting, arguing, chattering, even some singing. It was a party of sorts. Maybe the bandits were already celebrating the money they expected to get as ransom for Mw.a.n.ga.

Suddenly all the lights went out, both inside and outside the hotel. Immediately the four soldiers pulled their night-vision goggles down over their eyes and slipped inside.

The shouts and crashes that came from inside the rooms off the ground-floor hallway showed that the bandits had been caught by surprise by the sudden cut in power, no matter that it must have happened plenty of times before.

Gaz was already moving to the nearest door, his lock-picks in his hand. The door was partly open. Gaz pulled it shut quietly and then slid his lock-pick into the lock, turned it and heard a satisfying click.

Gaz looked over at Tug, who was standing watching, a.s.sault rifle poised, and gave him a thumbs-up. One door locked.

Swiftly Gaz moved on to the next door. This one was already shut but as Gaz got near to it, he saw the handle turn and the door begin to swing open inwards. Quickly Gaz grabbed the handle on his side and pulled it shut again. Then, holding the door firmly shut with one hand, he slid the lockpick in and started to turn it. For one awful second the lock-pick stopped, jammed, and Gaz felt the door handle kicking against his hand as the person on the other side tried to pull the door open. Determined, Gaz held on with the iron grip of one hand while he tried again to turn the lock-pick with the other, all the time aware that if it didn't work soon he'd have to use a flash bang, putting the whole mission at risk.

Once again, the lock-pick jammed, and Gaz cursed silently. If he tried to force it, there was a good chance it would break, making it impossible to lock the other doors too.

Someone inside the room shouted angrily and Gaz felt the door being shaken violently. He gritted his teeth, tried to turn the lock-pick one last time, jiggling it slightly backwards and forwards, and this time he heard the cogs of the lock click into place.

Meanwhile Nelson and Mitch had made it down the stairs to the bas.e.m.e.nt. They stood and listened in the darkness. There were no sounds from any of the rooms around them. Either they were empty, or their occupants fast asleep. In which case there should be no torches shining down here.

They glanced around them at the weird world of black and grey through the night-vision goggles.

Nelson indicated the two doors that opened on to the smallest rooms, according to the information Oba had given them. If their calculations were correct, they were pretty sure Mw.a.n.ga would be in one of them. If they were wrong, then they had major problems.

Nelson checked the first door. It was unlocked, which suggested it was unlikely to be where Mw.a.n.ga was held. He moved to the second door. This door had two heavy bolts on it, top and bottom. Cautiously he tested the handle. It wasn't locked. But it was bolted.

That made sense. If Ngola needed to get Mw.a.n.ga out of here in a hurry, the last thing he'd want was to find that someone had lost the key to the room. Nelson slipped both bolts back and pushed the door open, staying clear of the opening. A basic rule of survival. Never stand in an open doorway: all you do is make a perfect silhouetted target for any enemy waiting inside the room.

No gunfire sounded.

Nelson moved swiftly into the room, followed by Mitch, rifles ready.

A man was sitting in one corner, chained by his ankle to a radiator. Even with the grey fuzz of the night vision, they could see that it was Mw.a.n.ga and that he had been badly beaten. His face was bruised and swollen. There were cuts above his eyes, and dried blood crusted down the sides of his face and around his mouth.

*Mr Mw.a.n.ga?' said Nelson.

There was a m.u.f.fled groan from the man.

*Mr Mw.a.n.ga, we are here to rescue you,' said Nelson.

Swiftly he pulled out a pair of bolt cutters and severed the chain holding Mw.a.n.ga to the radiator.

Mw.a.n.ga struggled to get to his feet, but then fell back to the floor.

*I'll carry you,' said Nelson.

*No,' said Mw.a.n.ga, his voice still thick with pain but sounding firm. *I will walk.'

Once more he pushed himself up and stood unsteadily. He lurched forward, swaying, but obviously determined to get out on his own feet. He made it to the door, and then collapsed again, crashing to the floor.

*I'm sorry, Mr Mw.a.n.ga, but we don't have time for this,' said Nelson.

He grabbed Mw.a.n.ga and hauled him over one shoulder, then he headed back to the stairs, Mitch covering him all the way.

Just as they got there, the deafening sound of gunfire erupted from above them.

18.

*Situation?' barked out Nelson as he and Mitch hurried up the stairs. Tug's voice came to them through their helmet headphones.

*They're shooting at the doors to open them. We're returning fire.'

More bursts of gunfire echoed through the building.

Nelson arrived at the top of the stairs first, Mw.a.n.ga draped over his shoulders. Tug and Gaz fired at the now shattered doors to keep the bandits inside at bay, while Nelson ran for the main entrance.

A burst of returning fire came back through the splintered wood, and Gaz fell back, wincing with pain and clutching his left arm.

*Go with Nelson!' Mitch snapped. *I'll take your position!'