Hinterlands

The rest of von Junzt's party had arrived that evening in three battered taxis which had pulled up outside the hotel just as it was starting to get dark. They'd tumbled out of the cars laughing and joking like a bunch of students about to go out on the town. Behind them a Silver Mercedes had slowed to a stop to allow von Junzt to get out.

Holden hadn't seen von Junzt since the fateful day of the ambush, but for a man who'd been rushed off for intensive care he'd seemed to be moving about without any sign of discomfort.Von Junzt's rude health was in stark contrast to Holden's.

Holden still walked with a slight limp and looked as though he had a case of blackheads worse than any teenager, infact the blackheads were where his body had been peppered with small pieces of shrapnel and grit thrown up by the exploding RPG. The doctors hadn't bothered picking them out his body did it automatically rejecting the foreign matter and pushing the small lumps of grit and metal to the surface. Every time he had a shower of bath he left a small layer of dark grit behind.

Holden made his way down stairs to meet them rest of the party. Von Junzt was just walking through the door with a mobile phone pressed to hi ear as Holden reached the bottom of the stairs, Holden wasn't sure what he had expected of their first meeting since the incident, some kind of shared camerarderie but von Junzt had simply breezed past stopping only long enough to tell Holden their was a to be a meeting for the whole team in the resteraunt.

Holden hadn't had much time to think about it when the rest of the team had come boiling through the door loaded down with rucksacks and boxes of equipment, the majority of them were students studying archaeology at Berlin, although you'd never know from their english which was faultless

Holden sat down in the resteraunt feeling very old, with the exception of von Junzt and another proffessor who'd simply introduced himself as Dieter Holden had a good fifteen years on the rest of the party and it showed. The students were noisy and full of life, here in a new country digging trenches and sorting through piles of dirt for fun.

Holden watched a couple of girls sharing headphones on an ipod as they danced together. He looked away as the taller of the two girls caught him staring, luckily von Junzt had started talking before he could get any more embarrassed, by the big smile she'd flashed him.

Standing patiently in the center of their little group, Von Junzt had stopped talking while he waited for quiet. Satisfied everyone was listening he continued. Thankyou, let me welcome you all to Albania. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us but I thought I'd take the time to tell you a bit more about where we are heading.

Tropoje is one of the most remote parts of Albania. The only practical means to get there is to drive north from Tirana for 5 hours towards a place called Shkoder, were we follow a mountain road which hugs the sid eof the lake, the road ends in an unpaved tunnel. The tunnel will take us to the western shore of Ligeni Komanit, one of two huge valleys which the Albanians have flooded to provide the bulk of their hydroelectric power.

From here we will take one of the two car ferries which ply the waters of Liqeni Komanit; the trip is two-hours in length but on bad days the journey may be nearly twice this as, this is Albania so the ferry will often put ashore to take on passengers.I would add by European standards the ferries are to put it politely old and rather tired.

When the ferry arrives at Breglume, we'll head for the largest town in the Tropoje area. Its about 20-kilometres to Bajram Curri, but considering the roads here it will probably take us at least an hour of so.

I hope to make it to Bajram Curri by the end of tomorrow so we need to pack all of our equipment tonight and be ready to leave by six o'clock, any questions? verstanden? No, then I will see you all in the morning. Goodnight

With that von Junzt started to walk out of the room, Holden jumped up to try and have a word with him, but von Junzt didn't let him talk. I assume you have all the equipment you need? Typically von Junzt kept talking without letting Holden reply. I doubt very much you will need it, but it makes the students feel better that we have a guard. I am sure you are anxious to speak, but we will have time on the journey,Goodnight Mr Holden. With that von Junzt strode away leaving a rather confused Holden in his wake.