Pain and sudden shouting dragged me back to awareness. The blurred images
resolved themselves into Pete struggling with the guard, who was naked from
the waist down. Pete was much lighter, but evidently had the advantage of
surprise, because he suddenly pushed the man off balance across the room.
The guard tripped on the edge of the carpet and fell heavily, cracking his
head on the wash basin.
“He’s out for a bit!’ Pete exclaimed, “Come on, for Christ’s sake get
dressed before somebody comes to find out what all the noise is about.’ He
threw me my clothes, and I put them on as best I could. He half-dragged,
half-carried me out to the lorry and heaved me up into the cab. As he got in
he glanced anxiously at the side of my head where the gun had struck me, but
it couldn’t have looked too bad, because he started up and drove quickly
across the border. I was still seeing stars, and felt rather sick. I began
to thank him for coming to help me, but suddenly keeled over on to the
steering wheel. That was the last thing I noticed for a long time.