‘Don’t start putting down rounds with the mortar until I give the order. Stick to your rifle for now. We want to save the heavy stuff until they start coming at us en masse.’

‘Do you want to tell me how to use a gun as well?’

Mallet laughed.

Casey said, ‘Don’t worry about me, guys. Look after yourselves.’

Bowman rested the Gimpy on top of the stone parapet and scanned the ground to the north-west. In the murky half-light before dawn he could make out the ornamental garden below, the mortar pit beside the crumbling wall on the northern edge of the garden. The irrigation ditch to the north of the garden wall, with the two Claymores planted at the bottom of the trench. Further west a pair of gun pits guarded the flank. In the far distance, Bowman could just about see the outline of a clump of trees.

Everyone watched and waited.

Eleven minutes until first light.

‘Still quiet,’ Webb said.

‘Won’t stay that way for long,’ Loader said. ‘The Machete Boys will know we’re here. The only question is when they’re going to hit us. And how hard.’

They continued watching. Mallet checked his phone for messages from Six. Loader ran downstairs to get a brew on. He came back a short while later with a two-litre coffee flask, cups, loaves of bread, a bag of apples. The team helped themselves to mugs of hot black coffee while Webb observed the front approach road. Occasionally, he would get tired of peering through the scope and look up, scanning the ground with his naked eye. The treetops were alive with the predawn chorus of birdsong and primates, announcing the coming of the new day.

Maybe our last, Bowman thought.

Six minutes before first light.

‘Anything, guys?’ Loader called out.

‘Nothing,’ Webb replied.

‘Same,’ Mallet said.

‘Any word on those inbound Hercs?’ Bowman asked.

‘On their way. No change. Still due to land at eight o’clock.’

Bowman checked his watch: 05.25.

There’s a long way to go yet, he thought.

‘Where will they land?’ Loader asked. ‘The main airport is out of action.’

‘They’ll fragment,’ said Mallet. ‘SFSG and the SBS detachments will head for an RV in the north of the country. They’ll retake the airport and secure the infrastructure in and around the capital. D Squadron will land at the private airfield up the road. Twenty miles from here. Which is good news for us. Means they’ll get here sooner.’

‘How long will that take?’

‘Depends,’ said Mallet.

‘On what?’

‘The situation on the ground. The guys might run into an ambush on the way over here. Or they might hit an IED. Any number of things could slow them down.’

‘Or the rebels might attack the airfield,’ Webb said.

‘Not likely. There’s a military contingent based at the airfield. Two platoons. They’re under orders to protect the airstrip at all costs.’