warning from up front. Then they would stand quietly waiting in the
darkness, nerves tensed, until at another whisper they would move on
again at the same pressing pace. Once she smelt the cool muddy effluvium
of the river on the dry warm night air, and she knew that they must be
very close to the Nile. Without a word being spoken she sensed the
nervous tension in the men ahead of her, and was aware of the alertness
in the way they carried themselves and their weapons.
'Crossing the border now,' Nicholas breathed close to her face, and the
tension was infectious. She forgot her tiredness, and heard her pulse
beating in her own ears.
This time they did not stop for the usual rest break, but continued for
another hour until slowly she felt the mood of the men changing. Someone
laughed softly, and there was a tightness in their pace as they swung on
towards the luminescence in the eastern sky. Abruptly the moon thrust
its crescent horns above the dark silhouette of faroff mountain ranges.
'All clear. We are through,' Nicholas told her in his normal voice.
'Welcome back to Ethiopia. How are you feeling?'
'I' okay.'
'I am tired too.' He grinned at her in the moonlight.
'Pretty soon we will camp and rest. Not much further.'
He was lying, of course- the march went on and on until she wanted to
weep. And then suddenly she heard the sound of the river again, the soft
rushing flow of the Nile in the dawn. Up ahead she heard Mek talking to
the men who were waiting for them, and then Nicholas guided her off the
path and made her sit while he knelt in front of her and unlaced her
boots.
'You did well. I am proud of you,' he told her, as he stripped off her
socks and examined her feet for blisters.
Then he unbandaged the knee. It was slightly swollen, and he massaged it
with a skilled and tender touch.
She sighed softly, 'Don't stop. That feels good.'
'I'll give you a Brufen for the inflammation.' He dug the pills out of
his pack and then spread his padded jacket AI for her to lie on. 'Sorry,
the sleeping bags are with our other gear. Have to rough it until Jannie
makes his air drop.'
He passed her the water bottle, and while she swallowed the pill he
pulled the tab on a pack of emergency rations. 'Not exactly gourmet fare
He sniffed the contents.
'In the army we call them rat packs.' She fell asleep with her mouth
still halffilled with tasteless meat loaf and plastic cheese.
When Nicholas woke her with a mug of hot sweet tea, she saw it was
already late afternoon. He sat beside her and sipped at his own mug,
noisily blowing away the steam between each mouthful.
'You will be pleased to know that Mek is now fully in the picture. He
has agreed to help us.'
'What have you told him?'
'Just enough to keep him interested.'Nicholas grinned.
'The theory of progressive disclosure. Never tell everything all at
once, feed it to them a little at a time. He knows what we are looking
