The People Traders (28 page)

"The first point to me," she said quietly.

Franco and Hawkins watched with more than a passing interest now. Never had they seen a girl move so fast and disarm a man so easily. Franco moved close to Hawkins, his voice low. "This kid's a judo expert. Chapman was really taken by surprise then, next time he won't let her get him so easily."

Hawkins nodded knowingly, not replying.

By now Chapman had got up and was brushing the dust off himself. "Lucky break that, Karen. You've not told me the complete truth, have you? A girl going to self-defence classes doesn't move at that speed."

She laughed. "Then it's up to you to find out my capabilities, isn't it?"

He just grinned slightly and nodded his head. ‘
Yes, you little minx,'
he said to himself, ‘
I'll show you this time.’'

They were now back in the same position, facing each other, Karen again watching the hand with the knife, Chapman weighing up her position. Then suddenly he went for her, dropping the knife arm, before bringing his other up to grasp her right arm. Karen saw it coming and side stepped the other way, lunging herself at him, grasping his neck and trying to get her leg round his. But Chapman was too strong and literally lifted her in the air, throwing her away like a rag doll.

Karen rolled in a ball and sprang up before he could follow her down. She ended up behind him and in seconds, high kicked him squarely in the centre of his back. Chapman lunged forward, narrowly avoiding falling flat on his face. He spun round to face her but she was ready again and high kicked him hard in the chest before retreating.

Chapman shook himself. "You've done a little kick-boxing as well then. You're full of surprises, I must say."

Ignoring his comments, she positioned herself again, ready for his attack. This time he went for her, turned slightly, then hit her with all his body strength. For Karen it was like hitting a brick wall, she'd no chance and was sent reeling away from him, completely off balance. This time he followed and in seconds spun her round and had the knife to her throat.

"One to me, Karen?" he whispered, and then pushed her away.

However, as he turned, she went for him again, grabbing his neck with her arm and kicking his legs from under him. Chapman fell heavily to the ground, Karen followed.

"Two out of three to me, I win?" she said breathlessly.

"No, that's cheating, I wasn't even ready," he protested.

She rolled away and sat up. "I know, but to tell you the truth, you're too strong. I confused you at the beginning because you didn't know what to expect but now... I give up, you win. You can take your prize if you want, I probably deserve it for being so stupid," she said quietly.

Chapman stood and offered his hand. "Come on, Karen, don't knock yourself. I accept your win, I was only joking when I said you'd cheated. In any fight I shouldn't have turned my back, but for all that you're a plucky girl with the guts to admit defeat, and yes, if you'd carried on, my superior strength would have defeated you in the end. Think about it, you must be six stone lighter than me, that's a hell of a lot of weight for anyone to give away."

She gave him a weak smile, accepting his hand to pull her up, before dusting the dirt off her clothes. Chapman opened his bag and handed her a can of beer. The two others joined them and Hawkins patted her on the back. "So how did you learn that sort of fighting then?"

She gave a shrug. "I've done self-defence, kick-boxing and in judo;I'm a brown belt, I was supposed to go for my black this summer. Anyway, I think I bit off more that I could chew. I really didn't think strength mattered, my instructor always taught me it didn't, but he was wrong. Chapman lifted me as if I was nothing, I think I realised then if I carried on I'd lose and probably get hurt."

Chapman finished his drink and crushed the can in his hand. "Don't be so down on yourself, Karen, you really were good. I underestimated you and that's a real advantage in a fight. Many men would have done the same, not expecting skilled retaliation."

She glanced at him between gulps of the beer. "So what are you saying?" she asked.

"What I'm saying, Karen, is in a straight fight I'd have struggled to win, in fact, I'd go as far as to say you'd have won, or you'd have injured me enough to escape. As it was, even with your skills, forewarned is forearmed and the second time, once I knew, it was sheer brute strength that saw me through."

She offered her hand to him. "So we're friends then, you're not going to keep having a go at me?"

"Yes, I take back everything I said about you and I won't want to smack your bottom. Besides, I'm a father, it's not something I should do to a young lady, win or lose," Chapman replied, grasping her hand and shaking it hard.

Then he had an idea. "Tell you what, we've got all day and probably tomorrow. If you're up to it, and I think you are, we'll show you some of our training tricks. With your background you'll have no problems in disarming any man, no matter what his weight is, after we finish with you."

Karen looked a little dubious. "Okay," she replied nervously, "so long as you don't hurt me too much. I'm not a wimp but I like to think I'm feminine and not some tomboy. Besides, I do want to be able to walk home."

Chapman patted her back. "That's a girl. Don't be so worried; we'll try to make sure you don't get hurt. If you do, you won't feel a thing, it'll be over in a flash."

"What will?" she asked.

He suddenly looked very serious. "Why death, if the knife slips, Karen, what else?"

"You're joking aren't you?" she gasped.

All the men burst into laughter, then Chapman pulled his knife from the sheath before handing it to her. "Right, first lesson, how to hold a knife."

By late afternoon they'd all had enough in the heat. Karen was laying out in the sun, the men checking and cleaning their guns. No word of Farrow's progress had reached them and Chapman was becoming more concerned.

"They should have called by now. Send a call signal, Franco," Chapman said quietly.

Franco leaned over to the radio and listened for some time, then pressed the automatic call signal generator. With no response he called again. This time the radio broke into life.

"Group One to Group Two, come in please, over."

All the men sat up, listening intently.

"This is Group Two, receiving strength four, over."

"Where have you been, we've called six times in the last hour, over?" Farrow asked.

"We have been trying to raise you as well, it may be atmospherics. Have you completed over?"

"Yes, but met heavy resistance. We've casualties, require the use of transport, over," Farrow replied.

Chapman grabbed the mike. "Have you co-ordinates, over?"

Farrow gave coded co-ordinates and Franco busied himself decoding then finding the location on the map. "Got it, it's a good fifteen miles south; three of its cross-country. I don't think, looking at the terrain on the map, the truck could get much closer than a couple of miles from where they are," Franco eventually said.

Chapman raised his mike. "I'll send co-ordinates of a possible pickup. We estimate two hours. If you're not there we'll come and help you, over."

"Okay, over and out."

Chapman glanced round, resting his eyes on Karen. "Sorry, it wasn't intended that you should be near any danger. You could stay here and we'll pick you up on the way back, if you want?" Chapman asked.

She shrugged. "Can't be helped so let's go, I'm not staying here on my own, that's for certain."

As they approached the pickup point, Chapman kept scanning the area with his binoculars. He saw nothing.

"Farrow's not here so we'll have to find him. If we leave the truck well away from the road it might not be noticed. Franco, you stay with it. Karen, you too," Chapman ordered.

Karen glared at him. "I'm coming with you, you said I could before and if somebody's injured, I could help."

Franco cut in, not really wanting Karen to stay in her current state of mind. "She's probably right, Chapman, they may want help with the injured and anyway, I'd rather stay alone. It's easier to look after the truck without worrying about somebody else in case of trouble."

Chapman nodded his agreement and soon they were on their way, Chapman leading, Karen and Hawkins some twenty yards behind. The terrain was flat at first; no houses in sight, not that Chapman had expected many. This was an area used by military and illegal traders over the years to cross the border into Israel. However, as they moved forward, the area became hilly, giving many places to hide.

Chapman raised his radio and pressed the call button, sending the automatic call signal. Immediately he got a response, and after a quick conversation they turned east and pressed forward as fast as they could. In less than fifteen minutes they'd teamed up with Farrow.

"Good to see you, Chapman, how far is the truck?" Farrow asked, shaking him by the hand.

Chapman removed the map and pointed to a position about two miles away. "We came on the direct route, Sir. It'll be difficult with the injured to go back that way, but if we go northeast and follow this ravine, after a mile it should be a great deal easier."

Farrow agreed and they packed up. As they walked, Farrow talked quietly to Chapman. "The military were involved and they'd formed a circle round the area, closing in slowly. We'd done the job and were getting out. It was a case of fight or be captured. So we chose a weak area of the circle, caused by the terrain, making the soldiers split further apart. I'm afraid we sustained injuries, it's bad, Chapman."

Chapman listened, not making any comment. This shouldn't have happened and it was up to Farrow, not himself, to explain when they arrived home. They'd travelled only half a mile when one of the injured had deteriorated to the point where Farrow decided to stop and allow their medic to check the injuries. Karen took the opportunity to move away from the group and find somewhere to go to the toilet. She'd not dared to ask earlier because of the problems with the injured, now she was desperate. Farrow was watching the medic when he heard a distant throbbing.

"’Copter, ’copter, down everyone!" he shouted.

He'd hardly stopped talking when a helicopter appeared from the valley below, rising quickly in front of them. A powerful loudspeaker attached to the underside of the helicopter was blaring out. "Drop your weapons and stand away from them. You're surrounded. There's no escape," the voice shouted at them curtly.

Farrow swore to himself but with injured men he could see no advantage in them trying to fight their way out. "Do as he asks, men, I'm not prepared to lose anybody else," he commanded.

They all did as he'd ordered, then watched helplessly as the helicopter came to land thirty yards away. Three men jumped out, running towards them, guns outstretched.

"There's only three, Sir, we'd take them easily," Hitchen hissed under his breath.

"I said don't move, that's an order," Farrow replied quickly.

While this had been going on Karen was walking back, completely oblivious to the fact that the soldiers had been captured, when a hand grabbed her, pulled her down and a man placed his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming. "Keep very silent, Karen, we've got company," Chapman told her, his voice low, at the same time removing his hand.

She did as he asked and the two of them crawled forward to peep over some rocks. The position placed them both on the other side of the helicopter. She could see the three men standing a short distance from Farrow. One was waving his hands about trying to tell Farrow something. Chapman touched her arm. "If we take the machine-gun position mounted on the helicopter, Karen, we might be able to free the team. Are you with me?"

"Of course, what do you want me to do?"

"The gunner's got his back to us, and with the helicopter ticking over like that, he'll not hear me coming until it's too late. I want you to go for the pilot and stop him using his radio to call for help, can you do that?"

"I'll try, you don’t want me to shoot him, do you?"

"No, just keep your gun trained on him till I come and help you."

They were just going to go when she grabbed his arm, "Chapman, will you promise me one thing?"

"What's that, Karen?"

"If this doesn't work, I can't be taken alive, no matter what. You lot may be okay, but for me I'd go back to a life that doesn't bear thinking about. I want you to promise that will not happen."

He looked at her, saying nothing.

"Please, Chapman, I beg you, don't let them take me. If you won't promise me, I'd have to pull the ring of one of these grenades which could injure others around me."

He nodded. "If that's what you want, Karen, I'll not let them take you. Now we must move before other troops arrive."

Both of them crawled forward. With the huge open sides they'd no difficulty in climbing aboard. Chapman went for the soldier stood behind the mounted machine-gun, Karen turned into the cabin.

"Don't turn round, there's a gun at your head. Cut the engine," she demanded.

The pilot said nothing but leaned forward and pulled a lever. The engine slowly died.