Part 5 (1/2)

*We'd better let him go,' Mitch said to Nelson. *We don't want him suddenly freaking out and doing something that draws attention to us. He's been brave enough to bring us here, and he's given us a plan of the inside of the place. I think he's done enough.'

*Agreed,' said Nelson, nodding.

He smiled at Oba and held out his hand to the man. Oba didn't take it a” his attention was now focused entirely on the wrecked hotel. In a quiet voice, Mitch thanked Oba and told him he was free to go. Oba gratefully slipped back into the jungle and had soon disappeared from view.

Mitch handed the sketch plan of the hotel to Nelson, who studied it.

*Good work,' Nelson said. *Some of this may have changed, of course.'

*True,' said Mitch, *but even if they're using the rooms differently my guess is the walls will still be in place.' He tapped the sketch map. *There's a bas.e.m.e.nt. I bet that's where they'll be holding Mw.a.n.ga.'

*Makes sense.' Tug nodded in agreement. *More secure.'

Nelson folded the sheet of paper up and tucked it into his pocket. *Now to scout the place out,' he said. *See where the weak points are. We need to confirm that Mw.a.n.ga is in the bas.e.m.e.nt. We need to see if we can work out how many men are in this place, and where they are. Make sure we know the location of all the entrances and exits. Any windows that look like they can be opened up. Possible traps. Everything we can.

*Mitch and Tug, you're with me. Gaz and Two Moons, you're with Benny. Get as much intel as you can about the place. Meet back here in thirty minutes.'

Mitch and Tug followed Nelson to the east. Two Moons, Gaz and Benny headed west, all of them crouching low and keeping to the cover of the jungle.

A motley collection of vehicles was scattered outside the front of the building: six off-road cars, a battered ambulance and two lorries, including one with the words *Food Charity' stencilled on the side.

*Hijacked vehicles,' muttered Tug.

He produced a small digital camera and began taking photos of the building every ten metres or so to get shots from different angles. Memory could play tricks; a photo was hard evidence.

Doing the recce was slow work. Fast movements could catch the eye of anybody watching and it was crucial not to rustle branches and disturb things, both plants and animals. Scare a bird and it would give away your position. So the men moved forward on their hands and knees, bellies sliding over the uneven ground, stopping for a minute at each vantage point before moving on, aware all the time of the armed men patrolling just a short distance away.

Nelson, Tug and Mitch crawled along until they came to a dust track that cut through the jungle to the hotel. The lack of weeds and the many tyre tracks showed the road was still in constant use.

So far they had scouted two sides of the hotel. The third side faced away from them, and to get to that they'd have to cross the road. Mitch gestured at the jungle on the other side of the road.

Nelson shook his head. *Too risky. We don't want to get spotted this early. The road's a dead end, so the other guys should be able to check out that side from their direction.' He checked his watch. *We'll head back and wait for them.'

The three men retraced their steps, using the same *crawl and stop' routine as before. They got back to the rendezvous point first. Benny, Two Moons and Gaz joined them five minutes afterwards. They moved deeper into the jungle to avoid detection and swapped observations.

*Fifteen men outside at different places,' summed up Nelson. *Ten at the front, five at the back, but they keep moving around, exchanging positions.'

*The good thing is there's lots of cover because of all the overgrown vegetation,' said Tug.

*And it goes right up to the walls of the building,' added Benny. *Plus there are the old outbuildings for the tennis courts, and storage sheds. All offer good cover.'

*The question is: how many men are we dealing with?' asked Tug. *How many are inside the building?'

*The villagers said they reckoned about thirty men are here,' said Mitch. *That makes sense, if you think about it. The satellite showed twenty men with Mw.a.n.ga. Add another ten who stay and keep guard on the place when the raiding party is away and that gives us our thirty. So, we saw fifteen outside, and although some men may be out on patrol I think we should a.s.sume at least fifteen inside.'

*OK, let's look at ways into the building,' said Nelson. *We saw the main entrance and two smaller doors round the side. The doors to the main entrance looked open, but there are at least two armed guards just inside them. The two smaller doors were shut, but whether they're locked, and how thick the doors are, we don't know. What did you see, Benny?'

Benny shook his head. *Two small doors at the back. Both shut, could be locked. No windows easily accessible. The downstairs ones are all very tightly secured with sheets of corrugated iron. Wood's been used to board up the windows on the upper floor.'

*It looks like the building's power comes from a generator,' said Gaz. *There's an outbuilding with an oil tank next to it on the far side.'

Nelson nodded thoughtfully, taking all this in.

*We really need more intel on what's going on inside,' he said. *Where Mw.a.n.ga is. Where Justis Ngola is inside the building. Where the other fifteen men are. We need to get the intel and set up a proper plan of attack, and then we go in as soon as it gets dark. They've got a numbers advantage, but we've got night vision. If we take out the generator that provides electricity just before we go in, it'll be pitch black inside there. That makes it almost a level playing field.'

*I'm thinking the longer we wait the more chance there is we'll find Mw.a.n.ga dead,' put in Tug.

*I don't think so,' disagreed Mitch. *Mw.a.n.ga's their pay cheque. OK, one side wants him dead, but it's looking like someone equally rich wants him alive. Justis Ngola will want to keep Mw.a.n.ga alive until the money arrives.'

*Makes sense to me,' said Nelson. *So, the plan is we split up again and do a full recce. See what intel we can get. Then, tonight, we take out the generator and go in. Right now, three teams of two spread out to watch the place. Me with Tug, Benny with Two Moons, Gaz with Mitch. Stay in radio contact, but keep it to a minimum. Let's not alert the opposition. OK?'

11.

The first thing Mitch and Gaz did when they reached their observation point was make a hide for themselves. They chose a spot just inside the jungle, but with a clear view of the hotel through the trees and bushes.

They found a dip in the jungle floor and dug and sc.r.a.ped away at it until they had created a shallow trench, large enough for the two of them to lie down. Then they covered it with branches to make a roof, and overlaid that with big leaves and brush. They knew that the other two teams would be doing the same at their vantage points, covering the bandits' HQ from three positions, which would give them an overall view of the whole place.

As Mitch and Gaz settled down under their hide, Mitch reflected that during his time in Special Forces he'd spent more time carrying out observation than he had in actual combat. Gathering intelligence was what kept him alive. You had to know where the enemy was, and how many you were up against. What weapons did they have? If they were in a building, was the building b.o.o.by-trapped? Which were the fastest ways in and out of it?

If the mission was to rescue hostages, you had to know where the hostages were being kept. Were they together or separate? How many guards were with them? Were they inexperienced and trigger-happy, or more cautious?

*What's the longest observation you've done, Gaz?' asked Mitch.

Gaz thought about it. *Three weeks,' he said. *Sitting in a hole in the desert watching a border and waiting for some terrorists to come over.'

*Did they come?'

Gaz nodded. *Problem was they came over the day after we were pulled out.'

*So your position had been betrayed?'

Again, Gaz nodded. *That's the way it looked to me afterwards. It's often struck me that it's a crazy situation: the enemy tries to kill you, and the people on your side betray you. You and me and the others have got to be mad to be doing this.'

*Of course we are,' agreed Mitch. *That's why we like doing it.'

Gaz laughed. *True,' he agreed. Then suddenly something at the hotel caught his eye. He lifted his binoculars and looked hard at the building.

*What have you seen?' asked Mitch.

*One of the downstairs windows,' said Gaz. *The corner of the sheet of iron has come loose. I didn't notice it before, but then I saw the shadow. It's bigger in that one corner than at the other corners.'