Fire Force(124)

‘Now that I don’t know. It’s a rare motor.’

‘Only sixty-five ever built.’

‘Which means they’re hard to lay your hands on.’

‘I’ll settle for a Jag Mark II then,’ said Sam. ‘But has it got a 2.4, 3.4 or 3.8 engine?’

‘I’ve got a 2.4 and a 3.4 in stock.’

‘You need at least three litres under the bonnet in a car like that.’

A bird who knows the difference between a 2.4 and a 3.4, and doesn’t think you’re mad for caring, thought Steve with a wry smile. Perfection doesn’t come much better gift-wrapped than that. He could remember something his Uncle Ken had said to him on one of the few occasions they hadn’t been talking about football or cars. Once in his life, a man meets the perfect woman, but usually he walks right past her. ‘Just learn how to spot it when you see it,’ he’d added. Steve had meant to ask him how, but they’d been watching a Chelsea game in the pub, and Vialli had scored, and the conversation had drifted on. I wish I’d asked him how you spot it, thought Steve. Maybe then I’d know if that’s what I’m looking at right now.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, looking straight into her blue eyes. ‘You should be getting your nails done in Knightsbridge.’

‘Kapembwa died, didn’t he?’ said Sam, looking down into the water, and with a hint of defiance in her tone. ‘For what he did to my family, to this country, it’s what he deserved.’

‘Your brother didn’t think so.’

‘That’s Archie,’ she said with a sigh. ‘All he cares about is money, nothing else. It’s why Dad hated him. And the feeling was mutual, of course.’

‘You shouldn’t have come to the rescue,’ said Steve, sounding annoyed. ‘You should have gone to a hotel, like I told you.’

‘I wanted to help you.’

‘You could have been sitting on a BA flight home by now,’ said Steve. He shook his head angrily. ‘It’s going to be sodding hard getting out of here alive, and we can’t be sure we’re going to make it.’

‘Like I said, I wanted to help you.’ Sam paused, splashing her toes in the water, then looked back at Steve. ‘I think I love you.’

Steve remained silent.

He’d knocked around with a few girls in his time, but he’d never told any of them that he loved them. It didn’t seem right. Maybe he loved some of them, and maybe he didn’t. But he knew that he wasn’t going to settle down with a girl because he couldn’t even settle down with himself, and so long as that was true, there wasn’t much point in trying with someone else. So he had steered clear of the ‘L’word.

But this time? Maybe.

‘I’ll get us some breakfast,’ said Sam, suddenly standing up.

‘But . . .’

But she’d already walked back to the gas stove, and was opening up some more of the cans of beans. Over the next few minutes, she had a pan of sausages simmering up nicely, and a big fresh pot of tea brewed, and she was waking up the rest of the lads and serving the grub. Steve checked the lake to make sure there was no one out there, then walked back to get himself a plateful of food and a fresh mug of tea. It was doing the boys good to have a woman cook for them, he noticed. It made them more human. Except Maksim, of course. The Russian still ate like an animal.

‘OK, lads, we need to discuss the drill,’ said Ollie, pushing away an empty tin plate. ‘Number one: how are we getting out of here?’

‘Maybe we should stay,’ said Nick.

‘You mean it’s better than Swansea?’ Ollie shrugged. ‘I can see your point.’

‘I mean we stay here until the noise has calmed down,’ said Nick, ignoring the jibe. ‘They’ll be scouring the whole country right now, but in a few weeks, things will have changed.’

‘He might be right,’ said Ganju. ‘The next few days are going to be the most dangerous for crossing the country. We’ve plenty of food and drink here.’

‘I’ve got a wedding to get to,’ Ollie said moodily.

‘Maybe you should have thought about that before you took the job,’ said Ian sharply.

‘Leave it,’ growled Steve. He looked towards Sam. ‘Are you sure Archie doesn’t know about this place?’

‘We used to play here all the time as kids but I don’t think he knows about the stash of weapons the General left here.’

‘But you can’t be sure he won’t guess?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’

‘Then we can’t risk it,’ said Steve. ‘It’s a good idea, Nick, but this is an obvious place for them to search, and if the Sixth Brigade descends on us then we’re all dead men. So we need to get out of here by noon.’