Bendoo lay sleeping on the damp crocus bags. There was a knock on the door and he rolled over. The knock was heavier the second time.
“Bendoo, Bendoo,” a female voice called out softly. It was definitely Camilla, Rattigan’s woman.
“Bendoo, wake up, the camp is almost empty. It’s time for you to escape.”
He rose up and went to the little window. He saw Camilla; she gave him a hammer, screwdriver and a machete for him to take off the door. He worked hard at the heavy door and finally got the hinges off. He felt tired and weak and didn’t venture outside but waited.
“Bendoo, have you got the door off? The guards aren’t here yet.”
He gently pushed the door to one side and came through it. He knelt and closed it back. Camilla was kneeling on the other side of the door.
He looked over at the guard tower in the big guangoo tree and beside the trail. He wondered if they noticed his movements. Camilla handed him one of Rattigan’s AK-47s plus a magazine for the gun. She lay in the grass with her bag around her shoulders.
“Crawl along the grass until you reach the back,” he told her.
They crawled along the tall grass until they reached the rear of his former prison. They were out of view of the lookout positions.
“Where are Premba and the rest of the men?”
“They’re on a raid in the country to destroy a guerilla training camp, Karl said.”
So they had found the camp, he thought to himself. If they were successful, he suspected that they would be looking to kill him when they returned. Mc Creed might reward them for a successful raid with his killing.
“Those men might be returning soon so we have to get out of here now,” he told her.
“We have to get around the guards and get on to the trail,” she told him.
“It’s better we go through the bushes so we don’t meet them when they are returning,” he opined.
“Let’s go now,” Bendoo told her. “Keep your head down.”
They crawled slowly in the high grass until they reached the
edge of the settlement. She held on to him as they made their way through the bushes. They had only gone about two hundred meters when they heard shouts behind them.
“Bendoo has escaped!”
“Did you hear that?” he asked her.
“What do we do now?” she asked, holding on to his hand.
“We keep on moving, they might be making up a search party right now. I’m sure they are going to post guards along the trail.”
They would have to reach the road very soon. It was likely that they would have the place surrounded. But they had to get out before the fighters returned.
They were some distance east of the trail. Bendoo knew that by now they would have guards posted along it. Yet they couldn’t hear them as they moved through the bushes.
“Ardez will kill me if he catches me, Bendoo.”
“Why, what have you done to him?”
“He wanted me to sleep with him, when I refused, he threatened to lie to Karl about me sleeping with you.”
Knowing Ardez, Bendoo didn’t doubt her words.
“Did you know that he is sleeping with Yasmin? She’s gotten herself so mixed up, I don’t know what will happen when they find out that she’s been sleeping with all three of them.”
He shook his head.
“I never knew that Yasmin was like that.”
“Bendoo, did you know that Karl has been with some women from Mountain View?”
He shook his head again. He had seen him leaving the camp, mostly on Friday and Saturday nights; maybe that was where he was going.
He stood up and took her hand. If Ardez had men watching the escape routes then it would be suicide to have Wood come and wait on them.
Ardez was lying beside Yasmin in the afterglow of their lovemaking, and was waiting to have a second session. The fighters were due back any time now and he knew that Bendoo was a dead man. The girl had dozed off, he felt himself dozing off too, but hearing the shouts he jumped up waking her up.
“What’s happening?” she asked as he put on his clothes.
“Bendoo escaped, put on your clothes, but don’t come out until the way is clear.”
He rushed towards Bendoo’s cell, it was empty. He swore under his breath. The guard came up to him.
“I was on duty and went to the bathroom, when I returned, he was gone.”
“Okay, all of you spread out and look for him and shoot to kill. Chester, I know that you’re useless and you see if we don’t find him it’s you who’s going to take his place. Those guys say that when they return from the raid they’re going to fire every bullet they have left at him. Four of you come with me, let’s go and patrol the trail. Any of you know who helped him?”
“I feel that it was Rattigan’s woman, I’ve seen her coming
from his shack several times,” Chester volunteered.
“Go down to Rattigan’s shack and see if she’s there,” Ardez directed the man.
He took out a cigarette and lit it while he waited on the fighter.
He had nearly finished smoking his cigarette when Chester returned.
“I don’t see her down there, neither Yasmin.”
“What a wicked woman,” Ardez shouted. “It’s Rattigan’s fault, if he didn’t start sleeping with Yasmin this would never have happened. As for Camilla, I must shoot her, you know how many times I’ve told her that I wanted to sleep with her and all this time she was sleeping with Bendoo.”
“We have to either capture or kill him. I suspect that he’ll be having some of his colleagues come to pick him up. We’re going down to Wareika Road. The fighters should soon be here so they can help us search for him,” he finished.
For Bendoo and Camilla it was a race against time. Ardez and his men were headed towards Wareika Road, four women with hand guns went with them.
“We have to make it, because if they capture us they’re going to kill us. We have about ten minutes left. Karl ever told you anything about the AK-47?”
“He taught me how to use it, he said it was the Russian version of the M-I6.”
“He should know,” he replied as they made tentative steps through the bushes.
They could hear crickets and other night insects screeching.
Camilla coughed.
“Wished we had a light.”
“We would be dead by now,” Bendoo replied.
Camilla held on to the limb of a small tree, Bendoo jerked her away and flung her to the ground just as a bullet ripped into the tree.
“They know where we are, we have to move faster,” he said taking hold of her hand.
Shots were piercing the bushes in their wake. He held her hand as they went through the bushes at a fast pace. If they stayed they would be cornered and killed.
Suddenly lights showed and he knew that they were near the road. He could hear the constant shouting of their pursuers. They wormed their way through some thick bushes and there was the road.
“There is a man who runs an illegal telephone facility just up the road. Stay in the bushes and don’t move. I’m going to call Woody,” he told her and started off.
Five minutes later, he returned.
“He’s giving us fifteen minutes to reach the pickup spot.”
“Do we go across it, Bendoo?”
“We wait here, Woody will pick us up. To go across that road would be suicide.”
They were in the shadows of some trees, when four men burst out of the trail and on to the road.
“They aren’t far from here, I don’t think they went across the road,” Bravo, one of Pennant’s fighters stated.
“They might still be in the bushes; we fired some shots after them. I doubt if any of them got hit because I heard them running after that. They are around somewhere, one of us should go and call Ardez,” Brownman, another of Pennant’s fighters, told them.
A car appeared from down the road cruising slowly along.
“That’s Woody,” Bendoo told her excitedly. “Run towards the car, I will cover you.”
Camilla got up and ran towards the car with Bendoo behind her, firing at the Wareikans who dived for cover. The four men were caught by surprise, Wood seeing what was happening had also fired his service revolver. Bravo was shot in the left shoulder and Brownman in his left leg as they raced for cover.
Camilla and Bendoo jumped into the car.
“Step on it, Woody,” Bendoo shouted. “This place is going to be all hell in a few seconds.”
Wood needed no prodding, he spun the car around and raced down the road just as Ardez and the others reached the road and began pouring lead in the direction of the departing car. Bendoo replied with the AK-47 rifle, while Wood kept zigzagging the car in an effort to throw off their attackers aim and Chester was shot in his abdomen and upper left thigh in the crossfire. Finally, they rounded a corner and the firing ceased. They had only gone a few meters when two trucks bearing men in camouflaged uniforms passed them.
“It’s the Wareikans returning from that raid,” Bendoo shouted.
“My God and I thought that they were some soldiers,” Wood expressed his surprise.
“You think they’ll come after you, Bendoo?” Camilla asked.
“Those trucks could never catch us. Still, Woody, if I were you I would take some side roads, because you never know what those men might do.”
Another thirty minutes and they were on Molynes Road and Wood drove into the parking lot of the apartment court. All three of them jumped out and hurried up to Bendoo’s apartment.
“I think we shot some of those guys,” Bendoo stated.
“I saw them diving for cover,”Wood replied.
“We should find that out in the morning,” Bendoo told him.
“I hope that you never told anybody about this place, Bendoo.”
“No,” Bendoo replied, as he headed for the bathroom.
When he returned, he saw Camilla seated on a sofa talking to Wood.
“Everybody except the Chief and I gave you up as dead, Bendoo.”
“What do you mean by everybody?” Bendoo asked, feeling annoyed.
“The Minister and the army top men knew about your mission.”
“I found out that at least four policemen are on McCreed’s payroll.”
“You know who they are?” Wood asked.
“I found out three of their names.”
Camilla was nodding.
“You want to sleep, Camilla?” Bendoo asked as he went over to her and took her hands. She took up the bag she had brought with her.
“I’m going to show her where to sleep, Woody.”
He led her down the passage and opened a door. Inside was a big divan bed, a dresser, a chest of drawers and a reading lamp. He pointed out the bathroom to her. She went into her room and closed the door behind her.
When he returned, Wood was drinking a beer.
“Hey, I hope that you didn’t turn my apartment into a boarding house.”
“You should know me better than that. From those guys heard that you were gone away and I was in charge of your apartment they came down on me wanting to rent it. Some of them are still angry with me because I refused.”
“I know that you’re lying, but I know certain men, who can’t keep a secret.”
“I can bet you that none of those guys can tell you that I lent out your apartment to them.”
Bendoo lit a cigarette.
“So they found out about you, Bendoo?”
“Yes, it’s Fred Billings I heard who found out, though I’m not sure he didn’t get help from that senior police officer I’ve been telling you about. It was she, who rescued me.”
He pointed to the room where Camilla was.
Wood looked in the direction Bendoo had pointed.
“It seems as if they wiped out the other gang. This looks dangerous, we have to raid Wareika.”
“We have to talk to the Chief tomorrow.”
“Delbert, I don’t understand how you guys let Brad and Jack and their gang escape from the warehouse with all that weed.”
“The men, who were watching the warehouse, said that they got a call about a robbery and went to investigate. When they returned, the warehouse was empty.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t a hoax, they went on?”
“It was a big robbery, which took place, they had to
chase the robber’s way down to Riverton City. They killed one of them and held the other two with the money.”
“It seems that a lot of things happened that day, but I still feel we should never have let those men elude us. I just feel that the outcome of all this might be what we saw those men returning from.”
“The Chief was angry about it, but they said it was due to a shortage of personnel.”
“There is something else I must tell you. Brad Elliot and Jack Marriot were held by the police down in St. Ann. They found an illegal gun in their car. Also, we picked up Danny King at the airport, he was on his way out of the island.”
Bendoo digested the information Wood was providing
“I got that information just before they caught me. But do you have any idea, which gang the Wareikans went to fight?”
“I think whoever they were, they were affiliated to
those men we recently arrested. Remember that Brad and Jack were probably on their way to a meeting, when the police held them. I don’t know why Danny King was leaving the island.”
“We’ll soon find that out. Also, why Ruddy Brown and G.C Cox were shot?” Bendoo stated.
“I’m going to let my car remain at your home until this is over because they might have a description of it.”
“That’s no problem, I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow, and don’t bother to overdo it.”
Bendoo was looking for something to throw at him, but he had already descended two flights of stairs.
He stood up and looked around the room; it was the same as he had left it. He had no doubt that Wood had brought some of his women here. He went down the passage after turning off the lights. After a bath he went to his room. He was glad that it was a two bedroom apartment. In any case, if it was only one bedroom, he would have been prepared to sleep on the couch in order to let Camilla have her own privacy. He switched off the lights after making sure that the AK-47 was where it could be reached in case of an emergency.
***
Gaskell Burke had slept alone that night. He had a disturbing feeling from the moment he went to bed. He had left everything at the camp in order, so it couldn’t be that. He showered, put on his robe and then came downstairs for the breakfast that his housekeeper had prepared for him. The news was just about to be read when he finished his last cup of coffee.
There was something in it about the violence in Downtown, Kingston and some other domestic news, which hardly interested him. Then he got a shocker, ‘Gang war in St. Ann, eight men killed and house razed to the ground. Police on the scene nab several wounded men.’ The news flash was too short. He wanted more information about what had happened.
It wasn’t the police who had done it. It had to be McCreed’s gunmen. The numbers suggested that several persons had escaped. He wondered who they could be? Could it be Ken, Benny, Wally, Mose or Bucky who had survived? On the other hand it could be some of the trainees. He should have known. The weed was at the warehouse in Kingston, he alone couldn’t handle it. And how would he get it shipped? He had to get in touch with Ken’s people to let them know what had happened. He would keep out of circulation for a few days by going to Portland and stay at one of the guesthouses down there. The only man, who could be of any use to him was Ken but if the man had been down there or had heard of the tragedy, he wasn’t sure what state of mind he was in. Whoever had survived, he knew he wasn’t safe until he knew who they were and then he could decide on what action to take. He also had to think about Lunan and the fact that King, Brad and Jack were still in jail but could get bail anytime.
He rose from the table, his steps almost faltered as he headed for his bedroom. Ten minutes later he went out to his car and drove away.
***
Bendoo was asleep when he heard a knock on his door. He wondered where he was. Then he remembered what had happened last night. He put on a robe and went to answer the door.
Camilla was there.
“I took the liberty of making breakfast for both of us,” she told him. She had on fresh clothes, that she had taken with her in the travelling bag she had been carrying.
“I’m going to have a bath. So how do you feel this morning?”
“Couldn’t be better, knowing that I’ve escaped from Wareika.”
“Glad to know,” he told her.
She left and went back to the kitchen.
He sat on the bed and turned on the radio. It was nine thirty and he knew that the news would have some information about the raid. It was time to get into action. Wareika had to be captured.
He knew that had Grosset and Premba had their way he would have been killed instantly.
When he came out of the bathroom, she had eggs, bacon, bread and coffee on the table.
They had just sat down to eat when there was a knock on the door; it was followed by three hard ones evenly timed.
“That’s Woody, open the door for him, Camilla.”
Delbert Wood came into the room looking very sleepy.
“Your food smells good,” he said. “I can bet that it’s not you who cooked it, Bendoo. You see how I took care of the apartment; I’ll give you the bill later.”
“You care for a cup of coffee?” Camilla asked him.
“Yes,” Wood replied. He settled on one of the sofas
and reached for an ashtray. He took out a cigarette and lit it. He looked at the silently eating Bendoo and smiled.
“You look hungry, Bendoo, you’ve lost weight too,” he remarked.
“They had me in a one room cell feeding me on bread and water,” Bendoo replied as Camilla passed Wood his coffee.
“Is it ten o’clock yet?” Bendoo asked.
“About two minutes to. Why?” Wood asked.
“I want to hear the latest news, maybe they have something about that raid last night.”
“I’m coming to that,” Wood said as he took a sip of his coffee.
“This coffee really tastes good,” he remarked downing the rest of it.
“They killed eight men, but we believe that more bodies could be in the burnt out buildings. Police on the scene say it seems as if a war took place. They said that they found hundreds of spent shells down there. That was where we saw the Wareika gang coming from last night.”
He looked somber as he finished.
“Eight men dead in one night, there will be hell to pay. The Chief must be under pressure.”
“If he’s under pressure, we have to go and help him out. He doesn’t know that you were captured and that you’ve escaped.”
Bendoo had stopped eating. Camilla stared in stony silence.
“Where did it happen, Woody?”
“Down at Groves Valley in St. Ann. They had a big meeting with the Minister. He is demanding that we raid Wareika.”
“We have to attack them, but not yet. They’re some really bad guys up there who need to be taken care of. But as I said, one of our senior officers is passing information to them.”
“What do you think the other gang wanted, Bendoo?”
“They wanted to take over the drug running from McCreed.”
“Karl told me that they wanted McCreed out. That’s why they brought down Mose and Bucky. He said that both of them have worked with nearly every major drug gang in the United States and are extremely dangerous. He said that several security agencies have them on their most wanted list. They were training men to attack McCreed.”
“How did McCreed find out about them?” Wood asked.
“Karl never said how they found out. All he said was that they had gotten careless and would pay for it with their lives.”
“What about the shoot out we had with those guys? Anything further?”
“I haven’t heard anything, maybe the Chief will be able to update us some more,” Wood told him.
“I’m going to put on some clothes and you and I can go and check the chief, Woody. I’ll take the rifle with me,” Bendoo said. He rose from the table, went down the passageway and into his bedroom leaving Wood and Camilla.
***
Ken Stone had left the Linstead flat of his woman that morning, telling her that he was going to do some business in Ocho Rios. He hadn’t heard the early morning news as they had spent half the night making love. It was eight thirty and he was just approaching Ewarton, when he turned on the car radio and heard the news flash. Eight men killed at Groves Valley. He immediately pulled off the road and waved a passing motorist on. The man let out a string of bad words, but Ken wasn’t taking him on. What the hell had happened? The whole camp had nearly been wiped out. He got out of the car and went to buy a pack of cigarettes and a stout in a nearby bar. As he drank his stout and smoked his cigarettes, he thought over what to do next. As he had told Patsy that he was going to Ocho Rios, it might be best for him to go down there. He could then go on to St. Ann’s Bay and keep his ears open to hear about what had happened to his colleagues. Had Burke betrayed them? Why did he want him, Wally, Dickson and Benny to stay at the camp from Wednesday night when the marijuana wasn’t due to be picked up until Saturday? On the other hand the man, whom Bucky and Mose had caught spying on the camp, may not have been alone. He knew that the two men were party-goers and maybe that was what had happened. They had gone partying with some local women, been seen and followed down to the hideout by McCreed’s men. But just who had survived, that was the big question. But that wasn’t important, he had to get to Burke fast before the police pulled him in.