THE HEART OF DANGER by Gerald Seymour Read Free Book Online Page A

brought in. No
    point
    in trying to reach Rosenovici from the Vrginmost road, because there
    was always a block by the Territorial Defence Force on that route.
    The
    32

    last week, when they had been there and digging, they had used the
    turning to Bovic off the Glina road, then taken the plank bridge short
    of the village of Salika to get themselves to Rosenovici. The
    roadblock was at the bridge. There were four TM-46 mines laid out
    on
    the bridge. Nasty little bastards, and the Canadian knew that each
    held
    a bit over five kilos of explosive. It was the first time that he
    had
    tried, in the company of his Kenyan colleague, to get to Rosenovici
    since the digging, the taking away of the bodies. He had hoped to
    get
    back to the village and leave a little food for the old woman, and
    a
    little love, to have been discreet. Now there would be no food
    dropped
    off, and no love, because they were held at the roadblock ... It was
    what the Kenyan called 'another peace-advancing day in Sector North'.
    They would not get the food to the old woman, but that was not good
    enough reason to back off. Push, smile, probe, smile, negotiate,
    smile, step by fucking step and half of them backwards, and smile
    .. .
    always goddamn smile. The Canadian police sergeant had been
    stationed
    at the Petrinja base for 209 days and could tell anyone who asked
    that
    his posting had 156 days to run. When he made it back to Toronto,
    when
    his colleague made it back to Mombasa, then both of them, bet your
    life, would never forget how to smile. They were kids, they weren't
    out of their teens, but the TDF shit at the roadblock had shiny
    Kalashnikovs, and they had four TM-46 mines to play with, and they
    were
    drunk. The Canadian police sergeant reckoned that drunk teenagers
    with
    automatic rifles and mines should be smiled at... It would have been
    easy to have given up and reversed the jeep away from the bridge,
    away
    from the scarred village of Rosenovici, and driven back to Petrinja
    easy, but the abandonment of the old woman would have come hard. It
    was worth smiling, to keep the road open to the village that was
    wrecked .. . Rule 1 of Sector North, and Rule 10 and Rule 100, don't
    argue, don't, at kids with high-velocity hardware and mines and booze
    in their guts. It was a full hour since he had smiled and asked the
    first time for the responsible official, please, to be allowed to
    contact that senior and responsible official, and he would appreciate
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    their courtesy if that senior and responsible and important official
    had the time to spare, just shit .. . They could barely walk upright,
    the TDF kids, and every few minutes they'd go move the mines, shove
    them or kick them, and every few minutes they'd go drink some more.

    The truck came.

    The Kenyan grinned. "You happy now, man?"

    The truck stopped behind their jeep.

    "As a hog in dung .. ."

    The Canadian smiled. He looked out through the front windscreen of
    the
    jeep. He knew the man. He had met Milan Stankovic on the third day of
    his posting to Sector North; he had known Milan Stankovic for 206
    days.
    And Milan Stankovic had only himself to blame. The big mouth of
    Salika, the big boasting militia boss. It was the big mouth and the
    big boast that accounted, the Canadian thought, for the shit-sour
    face
    of Milan Stankovic. The kids were trying to stand tall, and the kids
    were telling it to the shit-sour face of Milan Stankovic that they
    had
    obeyed the orders and stopped the UNCIVPOL jeep from reaching
    Rosenovici. The Canadian smiled big, and he knew they would not be
    going over the bridge, and there would be no food for the old woman,
    and he held the smile.

    The shit-sour face was at the window of the jeep.

    "You cannot go over."

    The Kenyan said, pleasantly, "It is part of our patrol area, sir."

    "It is forbidden for you to go."

    The Canadian said, friendly, "We have never had a problem in the past, sir."

    "If you do not leave, immediately, you will be