Checkpoint by Jean-Christophe Rufin

Author:Jean-Christophe Rufin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa
Published: 2017-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

Never once, since leaving Lyon, had they driven this fast. Marc kept the gas pressed to the floor, and as the road was flat and straight, the old fifteen-tonner sped along. The tired suspension rattled over stones in the road, and they could hear impressive creaking sounds whenever the ruts were deep. Maud clung to the door, her window open, and leaned out from time to time to see if she could see anything behind them.

But Lionel’s truck was nowhere to be seen.

The road went slightly uphill, which was in their favor. They knew that their truck was slightly more powerful than the other one. Marc had his jaw clenched, and kept his eyes riveted to the road because of the dim headlights. They only began to relax once the first rays of dawn appeared, which meant that driving fast would be less of a hazard.

“How long will it take them to fix the tire, do you think?”

“We have the pump.”

“Can they put on the spare?”

“You know we didn’t repair the one with the bullet hole. And we have the other one. On top of it, last night I took the jack.”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

The clouds were not as thick as the day before. They could even see a patch of clear sky toward the east, turning pink in the dawn.

“Get out the papers, in case we come to a checkpoint.”

Before leaving Lyon, Marc and Alex had photocopied all the documents. They had let Lionel proudly show the convoy’s papers at every checkpoint, but they had exactly the same ones, hidden in the sun visor on the passenger side. They had made a slit in the padded rectangle, slipped the papers inside, then closed the slit up with a piece of black masking tape. Now Maud took them out of their hiding place and examined them.

“But . . . it says there are two trucks, and five people are listed.”

“I know.”

“But there’s just two of us now. And one truck. The paramilitaries won’t like that.”

“No, take a look: the freight lists are on two separate sheets. Find ours, and tear up the other one. For the drivers, all we have to do is cross out the three names. We’ll say that authorization was requested for five people, to be on the safe side, but that in the end two were enough. In any case, don’t worry. You’ve seen how they check, as a rule . . . ”

Maud knew that from time to time they might get fussy civil servant types. But Marc’s calm manner reassured her. He seemed to know what he was doing and he certainly had his reasons.

At one point, early in the morning, the sun’s rays shone across the tops of the trees, real rays from a real sun, however pale and cold. A little cluster of long-haired donkeys had gathered beneath the branches of an oak tree and were lifting their noses to the light. Streams sparkled their way through the pastures.

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