106

We bumped down the track at 40 k.p.h., only easing off at the bends. I slowed for each one and exited on the outside of the curve to give me more of a view of what lay ahead. I didn’t want to sail round a corner and straight into a checkpoint without warning.

Fir trees towered on both sides of us. The mist cut visibility to a hundred metres. The ranges might have been three minutes away, or three hours.

I drove another couple of K, shut down the engine and listened for the crack of supersonic rounds.

I didn’t hear any gunfire. But I did hear the rumble of wagons coming towards us.

‘Nick, we’ve got to hide.’

‘Where?’

The forestry block was too close and too dense. There were no firebreaks. We had been channelled down the track.

I restarted the engine. ‘Give them a wave. Show confidence. You belong here. We’ll carry on as if nothing’s the matter. No looking back.’

‘But what if—’

‘Fuck it. Let’s see what happens.’

I opened up the throttle. There was no more time for discussion. I wanted us to pass them on the move, not give them an excuse to stop and ask questions.

We were doing a very bouncy 50 k.p.h. as the first set of headlights cut through the gloom. There were four of five of them, closing fast. I had to swerve off to the left to let them keep their momentum.

The trucks were green and canvas-backed. The driver of the first looked as though his face had been carved out of stone. Anna gave him something close to a salute and the lad didn’t even bother acknowledging. The next four rumbled past. I checked in the mirror as I wrestled Cuckoo back on the track and saw soldiers on benches in the rear, leaning forward and resting their heads on their rifles. They looked very wet and very knackered.

That was a good sign. With luck they’d just had an early morning on the range.

We came to another sign at a T-junction a couple of K further on. This time, when I stopped and closed down, I could hear weapons in the distance. Single shots: high-velocity cracks as the rounds came out of the muzzle so fast they broke the sound barrier.

‘Anna, we’re nearly there.’ I leant down towards the sidecar. ‘There will be troops, but just sit tight and do what I say when I say it, OK?’

She nodded slowly. She didn’t like it one bit. ‘Do you have a plan?’

‘Sure.’ I gave her a lopsided smile. ‘My plan is just to get on with it. If we fuck up, we fuck up, and they’ve won – but at least we’ll have tried.’

I fired up the Ural again and we lurched in the direction of the shots.