she heard Lieutenant Hammed coming from the truck and she slumped back
in despair, rch. He flashed it Hammed was carrying an electric to down
into the grave.
ugh.'
'Good,' he said loudly. 'That is deep eno He switched off the torch and
said to the man guarding Go back and wait at the truck. When her, 'No
witnesses.
come back with the others to help me you hear the shots, fill the hole.'
over his shoulder and disap The guard slung his rifle JI peared amongst
the trees. Hammed waited until the man was well out of earshot, then he
came to Tessay and hoisted her to her feet. He pushed her to the edge of
the grave, and then she felt him fumbling with her clothing. She tried
to lash out at him, but her arms were still bound behind her.
'I want your shanitna.' He pulled the white woollen cloak off over her
shoulders, and then went with it to the edge of the grave, He jumped
down into the hole and she heard him scuffling about in the bottom.
His voice came back to her, speaking softly. 'They must see something
here. A body-'
He climbed back beside her, puffing with the exertion, and stepped
behind her. She felt the touch of cold metal on the inside of her
wrists, and then he was sawing at the leather thong. She felt her bonds
fall away, and she gasped at the pain as the blood poured back into her
numb hands.
'What are you doing?' she whispered in confusion. She looked down into
the grave and saw the pale shamnia arranged to look like a human body.
'Are you going-'
'Please don't talk,' he instructed her softly, as he took her by the
shoulder and led her back amongst the trees.
'Lie here.' He pushed her down and made her lie flat, with her face to
the ground. He began piling dead leaves and fallen branches over her.
'Stay here! Do not try to run. Don't. move or speak until we are gone.'
He flashed the torch briefly over the mound of dead branches to make
certain she was covered, then he left her and hurried back to the
graveside, unbuckling the flap of his pistol holster as he went. Two
spaced pistol shots cracked out in the night, so loud and unexpectedly
that she jumped and her heart raced wildly.
Then she heard Hammed shout, 'Come, you men.
Let's get this thing finished.'
They trooped back into the grove, and she heard the sound of their
spades and the thump of earth clods falling into the grave.
nant,' a voice
'I cannot see what I am doing, lieute complained. 'Where is your
torchlight?'
'You dorA need a light to fill a hole,' Hammed snarled.
'Get on with your work. Tramp that loose soil down. I don't want anybody
stumbling on this place.'
She lay quietly, trying to stop the wild tremors that shook her body. At
last the sound of the shovels let up, and she heard Hammed's voice
again.
