Secrets of the Dead

Abby switched on the radio and kept her eyes on the road. She thought Jessop was watching her, and felt herself recoil. However nice he’s being, he’s still a spy, she reminded herself.

North of Mitrovica the road got quieter. Jessop put his phone away and stared out of the window. They were in a river valley, green fields on the valley floor giving way to thickly wooded hillsides and mountains beyond. Tall haystacks like beehives lined the fields at the sides of the road.

Something was puzzling Jessop. ‘The signs are different,’ he said. ‘Serbian?’

‘Up here, they almost run a parallel state. A lot of them only take Serbian money, too.’

Jessop shook his head in disbelief. ‘This whole so-called country’s barely the size of Somerset. You’d think that would be small enough for them, without trying to subdivide it again.’

‘They still think they’re part of Serbia. If NATO hadn’t conquered it, they would be.’

‘Maybe they should have thought of that before they started massacring Albanians.’

‘Maybe.’

Jessop gave her a sideways look. ‘It says in your file you’re supposed to be an idealist.’

From the corner of her eye, she saw a steel cross standing proud on a ridge overlooking the road. ‘That was a long time ago.’

They lapsed into silence. A military lorry with a German flag on the back drove past in the opposite direction. In the rear-view mirror Abby saw bored soldiers sitting with their rifles.

‘Do you think you should have brought back-up?’ she asked.

‘London’s assessment is that the countryside up here is fairly peaceful.’

‘It isn’t London who’ll be getting shot at if things go wrong.’

‘I’m aware of that.’ Jessop squinted at the map. ‘I think our turn should be just around the next corner.’

They slowed to a crawl. Abby checked her mirror. There’d been a little red Opel behind them for a while, but she hadn’t seen it for the last few miles. ‘Is that it?’

It was a dirt track with a strip of weeds down the middle. It blended with the surrounding fields so well they might not have noticed it, if there hadn’t been a white shrine standing on the corner. A bedraggled bouquet wilted at its base, testament to some too-familiar road tragedy.

Jessop stared at the map. ‘Let’s try it.’

The track was heavily rutted. Abby engaged the Landcruiser’s four-wheel drive, wrestling to keep it moving through the mud. Jessop leaned forward and peered through the rain-spattered windscreen.

‘Do those tyre-marks look fresh to you?’

Abby didn’t have time to look. The track had crossed the valley and begun to climb through the trees, where the slope and protruding rocks added new complications. Rivulets streamed down the track, gouging away the soft earth. Under the tree canopy, the day was almost black.

She crested the hill, spun the car around a sharp bend – and stopped so fast she almost stalled the car. A black pick-up truck stood parked across the road, blocking it completely. Two men in dark blue camouflage fatigues and balaclavas were standing beside it, AK-47s cradled in their arms.

‘KFOR are supposed to make sure this doesn’t happen,’ Jessop said. He had his phone out and was frantically tapping the screen. ‘They’re supposed to keep the roads open.’

‘Looks like someone didn’t get the memo.’ She was surprised how steady she felt. Crazy though it was, she knew what to do in these sorts of situation – had faced them dozens of times before. The scenery changed, but the actors never did: pick-up trucks and men with guns.

She reached in her pocket for the cigarette pack, then raised her hands so that the gunmen could see. One man walked forward; the other stayed by the truck, weapon pointed at the Toyota’s radiator.

The man drew level and gestured her to wind down the window. Dark eyes surveyed her from the balaclava’s moon-holes. He looked surprised to see the woman driving.

‘Papers, please?’ he grunted in English.

Abby fished out a cigarette with her teeth, then offered him the pack. He took it without thanks.

‘Is it OK to reach in my bag?’ She’d spoken in Serbian. The eyes squinted; the head nodded.

‘What are you doing here?’

Abby jerked her head at the side of the Landcruiser and thanked God for the stickers on the side. ‘EULEX. We’re supporting the environment ministry.’

She fumbled in her bag and handed the passport to the guard. He opened to the page with the twenty-euro note slipped inside.

‘And your friend?’

‘Some expert from London. He wants to see the trees.’

The twenty euros disappeared into a pocket. ‘Wait here.’

He walked back to the pick-up and conferred with his companion. He took out a silver mobile phone and started talking vigorously. The gun pointed at the car didn’t move.

‘What did you tell them?’ Jessop asked.

Abby stared ahead and tried to control her breathing. ‘He thinks we’re looking for illegal wood.’