Bodyguard: Ambush (Book 3) (21 page)

‘Are you OK?’ he asked.

She nodded and pulled her knees into her
chest. They lapsed into silence, listening to the snap and crackle of the fire while
staring into the flames.

After a while, she asked, ‘Do you
honestly think anyone else escaped?’

Connor thought back to the chaos of the
ambush. ‘Gunner and Buju, perhaps. Also, I’m certain Minister Feruzi and
Minister Rawasa and the others in their vehicle did. They’re probably raising the
alarm as we speak, bringing in reinforcements. With any luck, Buju will be following
our tracks and we’ll be picked up by
a government patrol tomorrow.’

Amber rested her head on his shoulder;
whether through tiredness or for comfort he couldn’t tell. ‘Thank you,
Connor,’ she said.

‘For what?’

‘For saving our lives.’

Connor went back to prodding the fire.
‘I’m the one who should be thanking
you
. I was useless against that
snake.’

‘Snake combat isn’t part of
bodyguard training then?’

‘No, of course not,’ he replied,
before realizing she was teasing him.

‘Don’t beat yourself up about
it. We all have our fears to face. And you’ve eaten yours!’ she said with an
impish grin.

Connor laughed. ‘I suppose
that’s what you call true revenge.’

Amber sat up. ‘Can I ask you a
question?’

Connor nodded. ‘Sure.’

‘How did the gunmen know where to
ambush us?’

Connor turned to face her.
‘That’s something that’s been bothering me too,’ he admitted.
‘The attack had to be carefully planned; they’d even dug a trench. So they
must have known the route in advance.’

Amber’s eyes widened in comprehension.
‘You mean someone told them. But who?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine. One of
the soldiers? Perhaps a park ranger?’

‘Or even one of the ministers,’
suggested Amber darkly.

No Mercy had seen the white boy look straight
at him just before the general gave the command to open fire. That second or so of
advance warning had undoubtedly saved the boy from a bullet to the head. And, despite
the number of rounds he’d drilled into the Land Rover, the boy’s
lightning-fast reactions had also saved the other two passengers from being killed. Much
as he hated to, No Mercy had to admire the boy’s warrior spirit.

The fact that there’d been three white
kids travelling with the president’s convoy in the first place had surprised No
Mercy. But their unexpected presence ultimately made no difference to ANL’s
mission objective: to ambush and kill the president and all his entourage. It was just
irritating that the kids had got away.

But they wouldn’t be free for much
longer.

‘Which way did they go?’ Blaze
demanded of the tracker.

Buju studied the ground surrounding the
crashed Land Rover. His eyes read the confusion of footprints in the dirt, identifying
three different sets before his attention was caught by a line of broken fern stems. He
pointed west.

‘Then
let’s go,’ said Blaze impatiently. ‘They’ve got a night’s
head start on us.’

With Buju and Blaze leading the way, No
Mercy followed with Dredd and two other soldiers from the jeep. The jungle was barely
awake, dawn filtering through the canopy in shafts of spectral light, and birds only
just beginning to sing their morning chorus. As the unit of ANL soldiers trekked through
the undergrowth, the tracker paused every so often to look for another sign – a
footprint, a damaged piece of vegetation, an unusual displacement of soil, a few strands
of red hair caught on a vine. The going was slow but steady, despite Blaze’s
urgings to move faster.

Occasionally Buju would have to cast ahead,
sending the soldiers in two different directions until they found the next clue. Then
they would pick up the trail again and move forwards, closing in on their prey with
every step. But at times the trail disappeared and Buju would be forced to make an
educated guess, assessing the terrain and vegetation for the most likely direction of
travel.

‘Are you sure we’re going the
right way?’ said Blaze as Buju stopped beside a fallen tree.

In answer to his question, the tracker
picked up a bloodsoaked wipe from the ground.

‘One of them’s injured!’
exclaimed Dredd with glee.

No Mercy smiled to himself. Perhaps he had
shot the boy after all.

‘That’ll slow them down,’
smirked Blaze.

Buju knelt and examined a print in the
earth. ‘Leopard. Big one. Passed this way an hour ago.’

The soldiers
exchanged uneasy looks at the thought of a man-eater in their vicinity.

‘We’re not hunting
leopard,’ Blaze snapped. ‘Just tell me where they headed next.’

Buju scanned the undergrowth and noted a
sharp change in direction. He pointed south.

The trail zigzagged through the jungle until
the soldiers hit an animal track. Here, even No Mercy could spot the sign – a clear
print of a boy’s trainer heading upslope. Sensing they were drawing close to their
quarry, the soldiers chambered their assault rifles. Unless the kids had walked through
the night, they couldn’t have made much more progress.

Cresting a small ridge, they stopped again.
Buju studied the ground and surveyed the landscape.

‘The trail’s gone cold,’
he announced.

‘What do you mean
gone
cold
?’ snarled Blaze. ‘You claim to be the best tracker in Burundi.
Find them!’

‘It’s harder to track someone on
rocky terrain,’ Buju replied evenly.

Even through his mirrored sunglasses,
Blaze’s glare was searing. His right hand began to twitch and No Mercy took a
cautious step back, recognizing the telltale signs of the man’s legendary short
fuse. Unless the tracker produced the goods very soon, there was little doubt that
he’d be introduced to Blaze’s machete and meet a gruesome end.

Further down the hillside a wisp of smoke
drifted above the canopy, catching one of the soldier’s eyes.

‘Look! There! A fire!’

Connor yawned, stretched and rubbed his eyes.
After a night lying on the hard rock floor of the cave, his body felt stiff and sore.
Amber was curled next to him, still asleep, her expression so peaceful that Connor had
no desire to wake her, not with the sort of day that was ahead of them. He scratched his
chest and sat up. Dawn had broken, the warming rays of the sun fingering their way into
the cave. Birds warbled in the nearby treetops and Connor heard the distinctive whooping
of hyenas and the gruff roars of lions rising up from the savannah below.

Africa was coming to life.

The fire had burnt out overnight, its ashes
smouldering and leaving a smoky haze at the cave entrance. Connor gave himself another
good scratch. His skin was feeling itchy, not surprising given the layers of grime,
sweat and insect repellent. Then a painful nip on his leg caused him to wince. Glancing
down, he discovered a massive ant with hooked jaws biting into his skin. He knocked it
off with the back of his hand, but instantly it was replaced by three more equally
monstrous ants. Then another six. As
Connor
went to dislodge these, he was met by a terrifying sight – a seething column of black
driver ants swarming across the floor and crawling over him.

Connor jumped to his feet and brushed them
away in a frenzy. But he was fighting a losing battle as the teeming mass surged into
the cave and up his body.

Amber woke with a start. ‘What’s
wrong?’ she asked as he slapped himself repeatedly.

‘Ants!’ cried Connor.

Seeing him prance around the cave like a mad
hatter, Amber began to giggle.

‘It’s
not
funny!’
he said, ripping off his top to get at the ones now crawling under his shirt.

But Amber couldn’t help herself. After
all the horrors of the previous day, her laughter was a much-needed release and she
giggled uncontrollably – until she too saw the floor alive and rippling with the army of
black ants.

‘They’re all over
me
!’ she yelped, leaping up and shaking her arms and legs.

Connor had no idea if the ants were
poisonous or not, but their bites hurt like crazy, leaving nasty red puncture wounds.
Overrun by the horde, he realized they had to act fast.

‘The pool!’ he cried as she too
pulled off her T-shirt.

Running out of the cave, they both jumped
into the water.

The coolness was an immediate relief and the
ants were soon washed off, floating away like leaves with the current. Connor helped
Amber remove the stubborn ones trapped in her long hair.

‘All
gone,’ he said, flicking the last into the water.

Amber turned back to him. As she did so,
their arms became entwined and they ended up in an unexpected embrace. For a full second
they simply stared at one another. Then she kissed him on the lips.

It was an impassioned, almost desperate
kiss. And Connor abandoned himself to it, forgetting their situation, ignoring the
danger they were in and simply relishing the moment of sweet delirium.

But his head quickly overruled his heart. He
knew it was wrong, even as he continued to kiss her. Amber was vulnerable. Heartbroken
from the split with her boyfriend. Distraught at her parents’ unknown fate. He
guessed she was seeking comfort and security, confusing it with intimacy. And he
couldn’t blame her – the kiss was an escape for him too. But he knew from past
experience that life-or-death situations intensified feelings, leading to developments
that might not have occurred under ordinary circumstances. He reminded himself that he
was her bodyguard. And, as such, he couldn’t cross that line into a personal
relationship. Connor had made that mistake before, Charley having burst in on him and
the US president’s daughter at just such a moment. A second violation of the
strict ‘no involvement with clients’ rule would undoubtedly lead to his
dismissal from Buddyguard.

Connor gently pulled away.

Amber looked up at him, confusion in her
eyes.

‘I shouldn’t … I can’t as
your bodyguard.’ He glanced towards the cave, hoping that Henri hadn’t
witnessed their
brief kiss. Then he was
struck by the horrific realization that he was still in there with the ants.
‘Henri?’ he called.

Amber spun round, their intimacy forgotten
in an instant. ‘
Henri!
’ she shouted, Connor having got no
reply.

They scrambled out of the pool, both
picturing Henri covered head to foot, the ants swarming into his nose and mouth,
suffocating him. Reaching the cave entrance, they found the ferocious ants still on
their relentless march across the cave floor but no Henri.

‘He can’t have gone far,’
said Connor, guessing her brother had also fled the tidal wave of insects. His eyes
scanned the undergrowth, looking for any indication which direction he might have
run.

‘What if he’s got lost? Or
he’s been taken by a wild animal?’ Amber said in a frantic panic.

‘Then we’ll find him,’
Connor replied, grabbing his Go-bag before it also fell prey to the ants.

‘What
have
you two been up
to?’

Startled, Connor and Amber spun to see Henri
step from behind a bush. He stared at them, dripping wet and shirtless, with a knowing
smirk on his lips.

Amber’s face flushed red and she
snatched up her T-shirt. Then, hiding her embarrassment behind anger, she demanded,
‘Where have
you
been? You worried the hell out of me!’

Henri held up his hands, filled with fresh
berries. ‘Breakfast,’ he said.

Relieved just to see the boy safe, Connor
said, ‘Next time don’t wander off on your own.’

‘Sorry – but
I thought you’d be hungry,’ he replied, offering Connor a handful.

Shaking out the last of the ants from his
shirt, Connor inspected the berries. ‘These could be poisonous.’

‘Don’t worry, I saw a bunch of
monkeys eating them,’ Henri explained, confidently popping one into his mouth.

Connor slipped on his shirt and, overruling
his caution, ate his share of the berries. Then he spread out the remains of the fire
with his foot. As he covered it with earth to ensure it was completely out, a final waft
of smoke rose into the air.