LITMIR.BIZ

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speak Swahili among themselves.’

      ‘You speak it?’ Gerber said, surprised.

      ‘Some,’ Ben said.

      ‘So they’re from Kenya?’ Jude asked.

      ‘Possibly. Or Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, the Congo; pretty much anywhere in central or south-east Africa. It’s not where they’re from that concerns me. It’s what they do for a living.’

      ‘Boosting ships?’ Gerber said.

      Ben shook his head. ‘No. Jude’s right. These guys are in a whole other line of work. They’re PMCs. Private military contractors. Professional guns for hire, most or all with some kind of army or militia training, or what passes for that in Africa.’

      ‘Freakin’ mercenaries?’ Condor gasped, almost letting go of his stomach contents.

      Ben nodded. ‘That’s who you’d approach if you were planning something like this, or at least, I would. Someone who could bring the necessary firepower to the table and get the job done quickly and effectively. Or at least more quickly and effectively than a band of complete amateurs. All it really takes is a few guys who can yank a trigger, aren’t afraid of a little blood and won’t run away if anyone starts shooting back. But it seems that Pender slipped up. He obviously didn’t reckon on what his mercenaries would do to him if they got an inkling of what this was really about. I’ve come across men like this Khosa before. Pender made a big mistake with him.’

      ‘And then some,’ Condor groaned. ‘Jesus Christ. Mercenaries. I heard about these fuckers, man. They’d slit their own sisters wide open from ass to eyeball for something like this.’

      ‘That’s right,’ Gerber said, scratching his beard. ‘The world’s chock full of evil sonsofbitches who’d do anything for even just a few bucks, let alone a rock like that. I wouldn’t feel safe with it, that’s for sure.’

      Jude blanched and stared at the diamond in his hand. ‘I can’t stand hanging onto this thing any longer. It’s too much responsibility for me.’ He thrust it towards Ben. ‘You take it.’

      ‘What makes you think I want it?’ Ben said.

      ‘It’d be safer with you.’

      ‘Safest place for it would be at the bottom of the sea,’ Ben said. ‘That’s the only way you can guarantee it won’t do any more harm.’

      Jeff interrupted. ‘Gents, I hate to break in on this sociological, philosophical or whatever-the-fuck-it-is discussion, but we need to talk about what we’re going to do with the prisoners. If we’re right and it now looks like we’re dealing with a bunch of hardcore warriors led by some nutjob who’s pretty highly bloody motivated to slaughter every single one of us on board to get his mitts on a bobby dazzler the size of Manchester, we need to be taking every possible precaution. That storage locker they’re in isn’t secure enough and I don’t feel good about having two inexperienced sailors down there on guard duty. No offence.’

      ‘None taken,’ Gerber said. ‘I was in the Corps myself, back in the day, final rank of staff sergeant. Most of these boys couldn’t guard a Quakers’ convention.’

      ‘Jeff’s right,’ Ben said. ‘Ideas?’

      Jeff shrugged. ‘What about all these containers up on deck? Those things are built like tanks. Empty one out, dump whatever cargo’s inside and bung the bastards in there in its place.’

      ‘Sounds good to me,’ Ben said.

      ‘In this weather?’ Jude objected. ‘What if it breaks free and goes overboard? That can happen. We almost ran into a forty-footer floating adrift just after we left Djibouti. They’d drown inside.’

      ‘Then let them,’ Ben said.

      ‘And even if it doesn’t, once the storm’s over, they’ll bake in there.’

      ‘Then let them,’ Ben repeated.

      ‘You don’t mean that.’

      ‘Don’t I?’

      ‘You’re not that cruel, surely.’

      ‘There are quicker ways,’ Ben said. ‘If you’re concerned about inflicting cruelty on your fellow man.’

      ‘Meaning what?’ Jude said.

      Ben just shrugged.

      ‘I can’t believe you would even contemplate that,’ Jude said. ‘What, you want to line them up on the deck, make them kneel, bullet in the back of the head and dump them in the ocean? Execute them in cold blood?’

      Ben said nothing.

      ‘No. Absolutely not. That’s not who we are,’ Jude said.

      ‘Compassion is great, Jude. But if these men had half a chance to get free, do you think they’d show you an ounce of quarter? Have you forgotten what they did to your friends, and almost did to you?’

      Jude was silent for a second. ‘Fine. I agree that’s a risk we can’t afford. But I can’t accept that we stick them in a container, and we’re certainly not going to murder these people. So we find another way.’

      ‘Such as?’

      ‘Such as, we don’t keep them on the ship. We let them go.’

      ‘I see. Drop them off at the nearest port, nice and easy, wave bye bye and put it all behind us?’

      ‘Or something,’ Jude said.

      Ben looked at him. ‘Think about who you’re dealing with, Jude. Khosa won’t give up easily. He’s seen what’s at stake here. He’s had the diamond in his hands once already. And you can be sure he’s got the contacts to put together as many men and as much hardware as he’s going to need to reclaim it. If you let him go, he’ll be back again before you know it, and I don’t think he’ll be any more interested in negotiating than he was first time around.’

      ‘They’re murderers. I know.’

      ‘No, Jude. You don’t know.’

      ‘But we’re better than that. At least, I thought we were. What happened to you?’

      Too much, Ben thought. ‘That’s just the way it is.’

      ‘Here’s what we’ll do,’ Jude said. ‘We’ll put them in the lifeboat and cut them loose.’

      ‘Aren’t you listening to a word I say?’ Ben asked.

      ‘Apart from anything else, it’s getting awful heavy out there,’ Jeff said.

      ‘No shit,’ Condor said miserably.

      ‘That thing’s pretty much unsinkable. They’ll have a chance,’ Jude replied. ‘You know, they’re still human beings. We owe them a chance, don’t we? Or what does it say about us?’

      ‘And you want to make a go of it in Special Forces,’ Ben said, looking straight at him.

      Jude flinched. ‘Who told you?’

      Ben pointed at Jeff. ‘He did. Apparently that’s what you’re gunning for, to get into the SBS. Starting with the navy interview in February. Tell me I’m wrong. I’d love to be.’

      Jude said nothing. Jeff was frowning.

      ‘Trust me, Jude, you don’t want to be a part of that,’ Ben said. ‘You couldn’t be. Because it’s shit, and it makes stone-cold killers out of people, and you just proved to me that you’re better than that.’

      ‘Hey, thanks,’ Jeff said. ‘Speak for yourself.’

      Ben went on, ‘And you also proved to me that you wouldn’t survive in that environment. This is not your world, Jude. It’s my world and I know what makes it go round and round. So listen to me.’

      ‘We’re

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