The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 115

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fingers, her mouth wide open to his kiss, her tongue sinuous and

slippery as it twined around his.

He slid his other hand up between their bodies and unhooked the buttons

of her shirt down as low as her belt.

She leaned back slightly in his embrace to make it easier for him. With

a delicious shock he discovered that her breasts were naked under the

thin cotton shirt. He cupped one of them in his hand: it was small and

firm, only just filling his hand. When he pinched the nipple gently , it

stiffened between his fingers like a tiny ripe strawberry.

He broke off the kiss and bowed his head to her bosom.

She moaned softly, and with one hand guided him down.

When he sucked her nipple into his mouth she gasped and hooked the nails

of her other hand into his back, like a cat responding to a caress. Her

whole body undulated in his embrace, and after a while she pulled his

mouth away. He thought for a moment that she was rejecting him, but then

she moved his head across and placed her other nipple in his mouth. Once

again she gasped as he sucked it in.

Her movements became mote abandoned, keeping pace with his own arousal.

He could restrain himself no longer and he reached up under her khaki

culottes and laid his hand on the plump mound of her sex. Then with one

swift lithe movement she broke away and sprang to her feet. She stood

back from him, smoothing down her culottes and buttoning her shirt with

fingers that trembled

"I am so sorry, Nicky. I want to, oh God, you will never know how much I

want to. But-' she shook her head and she was panting wildly, "not yet.

Please, Nicky, forgive me. I am caught between two worlds. One half of

me wants this so very much but the other half will not allow me He stood

up and kissed her chastely. "There is no hurry. Good things are worth

waiting for," he told her with his mouth just touching hers. "Come! I

will take you home now."

while it was still dark the next morning, the first levy of priests that

Mai Metemma had promised came filing up the valley. Their chanting awoke

the camp, and everyone came sleepily out of their thatched lean-to

shelters to welcome the Ion column of holy men.

"Sweet heavens," Nicholas yawned, "it looks as though we have started

another crusade. They must have left the monastery in the middle of the

night to get here at this hour." He went to find Tessay, and when he did

he told her, "You are hereby appointed official translator. Sapper

speaks not a word of either Arabic or Amharic. Stick close to him."

As soon as it was fully light, Mek and Nicholas left camp to reconnoitr

the drop site. By noon they had agreed that there was only one

possibility: they would have to use the valley itself Compared to the

rocky ridges that surrounded them, the floor of the valley was level and

fairly free of obstructions. It was imperative that the drop should take

place as close to the dam site as possible, for every mile that the

stores must be manhandled would add immeasurably to the time and effort

needed for the work.

"Time is the major factor," Nicholas told Mek as they stood in the

chosen drop zone the following morning.

"Every day counts from now until the rains break."

Mek looked up at the sky. "Pray God for late rains." They marked out

their drop site a mile down from the river, along the stretch where the

valley was widest and there was a clear approach through a gap in the

hills.

Jannie would need to fly straight and level for five miles under full

flap and with the loading ramp down.

"Cutting it fine," Mek remarked, as they surveyed the rugged slopes and

frowning peaks that surrounded them.

"Can your fat friend fly?"

"Fly? He is half-bird,'Nicholas told him.

They moved down the valley to check the placement of the flares and the

markers, The markers consisted of crosses of quartz stones laid out down

the centre of the valley floor, and they would be highly visible from

the air.

Sapper was up at the head of the valley. They could see him there on the

skyline as he moved around, setting out his smoke flares to mark the

approach to the drop zone.

When Nicholas turned around and looked in the opposite direction, he

could see the two women sitting on a rock together at the far end of the

valley. Sapper had already helped them to set up their flares. These

would mark the far limit of the zone, and give Jannie a mark for his

climb out of the valley.

Nicholas then turned his attention back to Mek's men as they finished

laying out the stark white quartz markers.

Once these were all in place, Mek ordered the area to be cleared. Then,

lugging the radio, they climbed up to join Sapper on the high ground at

the head of the valley. Mek helped Nicholas string out the aerial. Then

Nicholas switched on and adjusted the gain carefully before he thumbed

the microphone.

"Big Dolly. Come in, Big Dolly!'Nicholas invited, but the static hummed

and whined.

"They must be running late." Nicholas tried not to let his disquiet

show. Jannie will be coming straight in from Malta on this run. After

the first drop he will go back to your base at Roseires and pick up the

second load. With luck, both loads should all be dropped before noon

tomorrow.

"If the fat man comes at all," Mek remarked.

Jannie is a pro," Nicholas grunted. "He will come." He held the

microphone to his lips, "Big Dolly. Do you read?

Over."

Every ten minutes he called -out into the empty echoing silence. Each

time his call went unanswered he had visions of Sudanese MiG

interceptors racing in with their missiles cocked and locked, and the

old Hercules plunging earthwards in flames.

"Come in, Big Dolly!" he pleaded, and at last a thin, scratchy voice

floated into his headset. "Pharaoh. This is Big Dolly. ETA forty-five

minutes. Standing by." Jannie's transmission was terse. He was too much

of an old hand at the smuggling game to give a hostile listener time to

fix his position.

"Big Dolly. Understand four five. Pharaoh standing by." Nicholas grinned

at Mek. "Looks like we are in business after all."

Mek heard it first. His ear was battle-tuned. In this i  land, if you

wanted to go on living it paid to pick up any aircraft long before it

arrived. Nicholas was out of training, so it was almost five minutes

later that he picked up the distinctive drone of the multi-props echoing

weirdly off the Cliffs of the gorge. It was impossible to be certain of

the direction, but they shaded their eyes and stared into the west.

"There she is." Nicholas redeemed himself as he spotted the tiny dark

speck, so low as almost to blend into the background of the escarpment

wall. He nodded at Sapper.

Sapper ran out to his flares and fussed over them briefly. When he

backed away they bloomed into clouds of dense marigold-yellow smoke that

drifted out sluggishly on the light breeze. The smoke would give Jannie

the strength and direction of the wind, as well as his orientation for

the drop zone.

Nicholas lifted his binoculars and gazed towards the other end of the

narrow valley. He saw that Royan and Tessay were busy with their flares.

Suddenly crimson smoke billowed from them, and the women ran back to

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