"MCNAB, ANDY - LIBERATION DAY" - читать интересную книгу автора (McNab Andy)

were ashore. No way did he want the Algerians capturing his boat and
crew. The Egyptian navy couldn't afford to lose so much as a
rowing-boat from their desperately dilapidated fleet, and he didn't want
his crew to lose their eyes or bollocks, or any of the other bits the
Algerians liked to remove from people who had pissed them off.

"Brace for float-off." Lotfi had done this before.

I could already feel the submarine moving beneath us. We were soon
surrounded by bubbles as it blew its tanks. Lotfi slotted the Yamaha
into place and fired it up to get us under way. But the sea was heaving
tonight with a big swell, and no sooner had our hull made contact with
the water than a wave lifted the bow and exposed it to the wind. The
Zodiac started to rear up. The two of us threw our weight forward and
the bow slapped down again, but with such momentum that I lost my
balance and fell on to my arse on the side of the boat, which bounced me
backwards. Before I knew what was happening, I'd been thrown over the
side.

The only part of me uncovered was my face, but the cold took my breath
away as I downed a good throatful of salt water. This might be the
Mediterranean, but it felt like the North Atlantic.

As I came to the surface and bobbed in the swell, I discovered that my
dry bag had a leak in the neck seal. Sea-water seeped into my cheap
pullover and cotton trousers.

"You OK, Nick?" The shout came from Lotfi.

"Couldn't be better," I grunted, breathing hard as the other two hauled
me back aboard.

"Got a leak in the bag."

There was a mumble of Arabic between the two of them, and a schoolboy
snigger or two. Fair one: I would have found it funny too.

I shivered as I wrung out my bobble hat and gloves, but even wet wool
keeps its heat-retaining qualities and I knew I was going to need all
the help I could get on this part of the trip.

Lotfi fought to keep the boat upright as his mate and I leant on the
front or bow, as Lotfi was constantly reminding me -to keep it down. He
finally got the craft under control and we were soon ploughing through
the crests, my eyes stinging as the salt spray hit my face with the
force of pebble dash. As waves lifted us and the outboard screamed in
protest as the propeller left the water, I could see lights on the coast
and could just make out the glow of Oran, Algeria's second largest city.
But we were steering clear of its busy port, where the Spanish ferries
to'd and fro'd; we were heading about ten Ks east, to make landfall at a