'We must take this -Matabele alive. Even if your own life is the exchange, I want him alive!' The helicopter would be called in by radio as soon as they had good contact, and another three hundred men could be rushed up to seal off the area.
The small force moved swiftly. The girl was dragged along by the big Shana Argeant, and, weeping with shame at her own treachelryloshe pointed out the twists and forks of the barely distinguishable path.
'The villagers have been feeding and supplying them,' Peter murmured to the Russian. 'This path has been used regularly.'
'Bad place for an ambush.' Bukharin glanced up at the slopes of the valley that overlooked the path. 'They may have elements of the escapees with them.'
'An ambush will mean a contact I pray for it,' Peter told him softly. And once again the Russian felt satisfaction at his choice of man. This one had the heart for the task. Now it needed only a small change in the fortunes of war and his masters in Moscow would have their foothold in central Africa.
Once they had it, of course, this man Fungabera would need careful watching. He was not just another gorilla to be manipulated with a heavy pressure on the puppet strings. This one had depths which had not yet been fathomed, and it would be Bukharin's task to undertake this exploration. It would require subtlety and finesse. He looked forward to the work, he would enjoy it just as he was enjoying the present chase.
He swung easily along the track behind Peter Fungabera, pacing him without having to exert himself fully, and there was that delicious tightness in his guts and the stretching of the nerves, the heightening of all the senses that special rapture of the manhunt.
Only he knew that the hunt would not end with the taking of the Matabele. After that there would be other quarry, as elusive and as prized. He studied the back of the man who strode ahead of him, delighting in the way he moved, in the long elastic strides, in the way he held his head upon the corded neck, in the staining of sweat through the camouflage cloth yes, even in the odour of him, the feral smell of Africa.
Bukharin smiled. What a set of trophies to crown his long and distinguished career, the Matabele, the Shana and the land.
These mental preoccupations had in no way distracted Bukharin's physical senses. He was fully aware that the valley was narrowing down upon them, of the increased steepness of the slopes above and the peculiar stunted and deformed nature of the forest. He reached forward to touch Peter's shoulder, to draw his attention to the change in the geological formation of the cliff beside them, the contact of dolomite on country rock, when abruptly the Matabele woman began to shriek. Her voice echoed shrilly off the cliffs and repeated through the surrounding forest, shattering the hot and brooding silences of this strangely haunted valley. Her screams were unintelligible, but the warning they carried was unmistakable.
Peter Fungabera. took two swift strides up behind her, reached over her shoulder and cupped his hand under her chin; he placed his other forearm at the base of her neck and with a clean jerk pulled her head back against it. The girl's neck broke with an audible snap, and her screams were cut off as abruptly as they had begun.
As her lifeless body dropped, Peter spun and urgently signalled his troopers. 'They reacted instantly, diving off the path and circling swiftly out ahead in the hooking MOvement of encirclement.
When they were in position, Peter glanced back at the Russian and nodded. Bukharin moved up silently beside him, and they went forward together, weapons held ready, quickly and warily.
The faint track led them to the base of the Cliff, and then disappeared into a narrow vertical cleft in the rock.
Peter and Bukharin darted forward and flattened themselves against the cliff on each side of the opening.
'The burrow of the Matabele fox,' Peter gloated quietly.
'I have him now!' he Shana are here!' The scream came from the entrance of the cavern, muted by the fold of the rock and the screening brush. 'The Shana have come for you! Run! The Shana-' a woman's voice cut off suddenly.
Sarah sprang up from the fire, overturning the three legged iron cooking-pot, and she fled across the cavern, snatching up the lantern as she went, racing into the maze of passages.
From the head of the steep natural staircase into the grand gallery she screamed her warning down towards the pool, 'The Shana are here, my lord! They have discovered usP And the echoes magnified the terror and urgency of her voice.
'I am coming to yaup Tungata boomed back up the gallery, and he came bounding up the shaft into the light of her lantern. He climbed the stone staircase, swinging himself up on the rope, and placed an arm around her shoulders.
'Where are they?'
'At the entrance there was a voice, one of our women calling a warning I could hear the fear in her and then it was cut off. I think she has been killed.'
'Go down to the pool. Help Pendula to bring Pupho up.'
'My lord, there is no escape for us, is there?'
'We will fight,' he said. 'And in fighting we may find a Hill way. Go now, Pupho will tell you what to do.' Carrying the AK 47 at the trail, Turigata disappeared into the passage leading upwards towards the main cavern.
Sarah scrambled down the rock ramp way in her haste failing the last few feet, barking her knees.
'Pendula!' she called, desperate for the comfort of human contact.
'Here, Sarah. Help me.' When she reached the slab at the bottom of the gallery, Sally-Anne was waist-deep at the edge of the pool, straining on the rope.
'Help me, it's stuck!' Sarah jumped down beside her, and grabbed the tail of the rope.
'The Shana have found us.' She heaved on the rope.
'Yes. We heard you.'
'What shall we do, Pendula?'
'Let's get Craig out of here first. He will think of something.' Suddenly the rope gave, as forty feet below Craig managed to force himself through the narrow opening in the wall) and the two girls hauled him upwards hand over hand.
Oxygen bubbles burst in a seething rash on the surface of the pool, and they saw Craig coming up through the gin-clear water, the masking transforming him into some grotesque sea monster. He reached the surface and ripped the mask off his head, snorting and coughing at the fresh air.
'What is it?' he choked as he splashed to the edge of the rock slab.
'The Shana are here.' Both girls together, in English and Sindebele.
'Oh GaR Craig collapsed weakly onto the slab. 'Oh GaR 'What shall we do, Craig?' They were both staring at him piteously, and the cold and the pain in his head seemed to paralyse him.
Abruptly the air around their heads reverberated as d-lough they were within the sounding body of a kettledrum beaten at a furious tempo.
'Gunfire!' Craig whispered, covering his ears to protect them. 'Sam has made contact.'
'How long can he hold them
'Depends if they use grenades, or gas-' he left it hanging and straightened up, shivering violently. He stared back at them. They seemed to sense his despair, and looked away.
'Where is the pistol?' Sarah asked fearfully, glancing up at the twist of goat-skin in the crack of the rock wall.
'No,' Craig snapped. 'Not that.' He reached out and caught her arm. He pulled hi mse If together, shaking off despair as he shook the water from his hair.
'Have you ever used an aqualung?' he demanded of Sally-Anne. She shook her head.
'Well, now is as good a time-'
'I couldn't go in the reP Fearfully Sally' Anne stared into the pool.
'You can do anything you have to do,' he snarled at her.
'Listen, I have found another branch of the shaft that comes up above surface. It will take three or four minutes-'
No, 'Sally-Anne cringed away from him.
'I'll take you through first,' he said. 'Then I will come back for Sarah.'
'I would rather die here, Pupho,' the black girl whispered.
'Then you'll get your wish.' Craig was already changing the oxygen bottle, screwing on one of the fresh cylinders, and he turned his attention back to Sally-Anne.
'You put your arms around me and breathe slowly and easily. Hold each breath as long as you can, then let it out carefully. The hole in the wall is narrow, but you are smaller than I am, you'll make it easily.' He lifted the oxygen set over her head and lowered it onto her shoulders. 'I will go through first, and pull you behind me. Once we are through it is straight up. As we go up just remember to exhale as the oxygen in your lungs expands again or you will pop likea paper bag. Come on.
'Craig, I'm afraid.'
'Never thought I'd hear you say that.' Waist-deep in the pool he fitted the mask over the lower half of her face.
'Don't fight it,' he told her. 'Keep your eyes closed and relax. I will tow you. Don't struggle, for God's sake, don't struggle.' She nodded at him, gagged by the mask, and again the gallery
