Laughter filtered along the corridor towards the cells from the rooms the militants occupied, and Dan raised his gaze to their guard.
The man snuffled in his sleep, then began to snore once more, oblivious to his surroundings.
Dan sniffed the air and caught the familiar scent of marijuana wafting through the building.
His heart skipped a beat. If Salim’s men were relaxed enough to trust the young guard to keep an eye on their prisoners while they in turn got stoned, it worked to his advantage. Out of all of the men he’d seen in the building, Salim was the only one who gave him cause for concern, and his plan had to work if he and Anna were to escape before daybreak.
‘Okay, listen,’ he murmured. ‘We’re going to have one shot at this, so we have to make it work.’
He laid out his plan to Anna, whose eyes grew wider as he set out what she needed to do. When he finished, he held her gaze and raised an eyebrow. ‘Got all that?’
She didn’t answer. Instead, her eyes darted to the man in the chair outside the cell and back to Dan.
‘What if it doesn’t work?’ she hissed.
‘Anna,’ said Dan patiently, ‘we need to get out of here tonight. Tomorrow, whoever is giving Salim orders will turn up, and we won’t stand a chance.’ His voice softened. ‘If I’m going to get you away from here, alive, then we need to do this now, understand?’
She swallowed, stole another glance at the guard, and then turned back to Dan. ‘Okay. Let’s do it.’
He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. ‘Good girl.’
He rose to his full height and cricked his back muscles, all the time keeping an eye on the sleeping guard while Anna scooped up the blankets, gathering them together.
He glanced down. ‘Ready?’
‘Yes.’
He nodded, then strode towards the bars of the cell and blew a low whistle.
The guard’s eyes twitched but remained closed.
‘Oi,’ said Dan, careful to keep his voice low. ‘Hey.’
The guard mumbled in his sleep, then one of his arms fell to his side, and he began to snore once more.
Dan exhaled, exasperated. He turned and stalked around the small room, then found some plaster chips that had fallen away from one of the walls and carried them over to the barred door.
‘Hey,’ he said again, and threw half the chips at the guard.
They showered him in fine gravel and dust, peppering his head and shoulders.
The guard’s eyes opened immediately, wide and staring as he appeared to try to get his bearings, and then he glared at Dan and stood up.
Dan beckoned to him. ‘Get over here.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘She’s not feeling well.’
Anna groaned and sounded so convincing that Dan checked to make sure she was really acting. She caught his eye, then let out another theatrical groan and clutched her stomach.
Dan turned his attention back to the guard. ‘Listen, I think it’s something she ate.’ He mimed eating and then rubbed his stomach, hoping to hell the guard took the hint.
The man frowned, took two steps forward, and then stopped, confusion clouding his features.
Dan beckoned to him. ‘Hurry, man. I don’t know what to do.’ He knew the man couldn’t understand him, so he made his tone urgent, pleading, and tried to look as worried as possible. He checked Anna’s position as the man drew closer, then spun round as the guard reached the iron bars, threaded his hand through the gap, seized the man’s vest top, and pulled.
Hard.
The man over-balanced, arms flailing, and a dull thunk resonated around the small space as his skull met the metalwork.
Dan loosened his grip as the man fell back, dazed.
He frowned.
The man was still conscious.
Dan yanked at the man’s clothes again.
Harder.
This time, the man collapsed the moment his head met the iron bars, and Dan felt him sag under his grip.
‘Now!’ Dan hissed.
Anna ran across the room and began searching the pockets of the guard’s tracksuit pants while Dan held him aloft.
‘Got them,’ she said a few moments later, and extracted a set of two keys.
‘Get the door open,’ said Dan. ‘Hurry.’
He could feel the guard’s deadweight beginning to slip from his grip. He thrust out his other hand and steadied the man while Anna fumbled with the keys, trying to find the lock on the opposite side of the cell grille.
The steel bars were designed to swing outwards, and if Dan dropped the guard’s body before Anna could release the door, they’d be trapped, the man’s body blocking the door.
After what seemed like an age, Anna managed to insert the right key, and the grille shifted under their combined weight.
‘Go,’ said Dan. ‘Push it open.’
Between them, they opened the grille, and Dan pushed past Anna and grabbed the guard under his arms.
Blood trickled from a gash behind the man’s left ear, and Dan made sure none of it fell to the floor as he dragged the man into the cell and pulled him across to the darkened far side of the room.
‘Help me,’ said Dan.
He bunched up the man’s body into a foetal position, his back to the cell opening, and took one of the blankets Anna held out to him.
‘What if he wakes up?’ whispered Anna.
Dan reached out to check the man’s pulse and shook his head. ‘I don’t think he’s going to wake up any time soon,’ he said. ‘His pulse is too weak.’
He straightened and dashed towards the open door. ‘Stay here,’ he said.
‘What? Wait.’ Anna ran to the grille as Dan swung the door shut, desperation in her eyes. ‘Don’t leave me.’
Dan reached out and grasped her fingers. ‘You have to stay here. Curl up on the other blanket in front of the guard. Hide him from view with your body. If anyone comes here, it has to look as if the guard has left his post of his own accord, and that we’re both in there asleep.’
He turned and picked up the rifle the guard had dropped and checked the breach. It was clogged with dirt and grease, and Dan’s nose wrinkled in disgust. He emptied the rounds, put them in his pocket, and propped the now useless weapon against the wall.
‘Back in a minute,’ he said.
‘Where are you going?’
‘There’s a weapons cache near the entrance they brought us through. I’m going to get us out of here.’ He squeezed her hands and let go. ‘And I want to take out as many of the guards as I can before we go. Otherwise we’re just going to end up with them all on our tail again.’
Anna nodded, understanding. ‘Be careful, okay?’
Dan winked. ‘I’ll be back. Don’t wait up.’