Desert Pursuit Part 10

TWENTY.

Li looked deep into Kesia's eyes and spoke to her gently in French. 'Kesia. You have to be brave now, all right?'

'I will be as quick as I can,' said Paulo. 'It will not take long.'

Kesia closed her eyes and Sisi squeezed her hand while Li took a grip on her other arm and held it down for Paulo. The bullet had only clipped the arm, carving a channel through Kesia's bicep without hitting the bone. The entrance wound at the front of the arm was small and relatively neat, but the bullet had made a much bigger mess on the way out. It had blasted a splatter of flesh out ahead of it, tearing a large, ragged hole in the back of Kesia's arm as it exited.

Paulo had not dared to stop the Unimog until they were well away from the Scorpion. He had crossed the border into Algeria and driven grimly on through the night, with Kesia moaning and crying in the back of the vehicle. Amber and Li had bound her arm with strips of Amber's headcloth, but the wound would not stop bleeding and soon the makes.h.i.+ft bandage was soaked through.

Finally Paulo looked over to the eastern horizon and spotted the black outline of the sandstone bluff they had pa.s.sed on the way in. He nodded in satisfaction and brought the Unimog to a halt behind a low rise. Hex, Amber and Khalid climbed the rise to keep watch for vehicles following from the north, while Li and Paulo gently lifted Kesia from the Unimog. Alex had pulled up a few of the wooden slats from the truck bed and made a small fire at the base of the rise. He had boiled up some water and added pota.s.sium permanganate from the medical kit in his survival tin. Finally, he had used his knife to cut strips from the remains of Amber's headcloth and dunked them into the pink, boiling water to sterilize them.

Now Paulo was about to clean the wound and attempt to stem the bleeding. He and Li had left Juma in charge of the fire, where he was now giving out many more orders than were necessary to brew up some tea. They had carried Kesia around to the front of the Unimog, bringing Sisi along to give her friend moral support. Paulo discreetly slipped Alex's knife blade into the pota.s.sium permanganate mixture to sterilize it in case it was needed, then he signalled to Alex up in the cab of the Unimog. Alex turned on the vehicle's headlights and the little group was suddenly bathed in bright, white light.

Kesia whimpered as Paulo leaned forward to inspect the wound in the glare of the headlights. It was still bleeding freely. Li was going to have to pinch the ragged edges of the wound together while he applied b.u.t.terfly sutures from Alex's survival tin. Then he would bind the arm with the sterilized strips of cloth. But first, he had to clean the wound and, as he feared, he was going to need the knife. Fragments of cloth from Kesia's sleeve had been rammed into her flesh by the bullet and were now embedded in the wound. If he did not get them out, the dust-laden sc.r.a.ps of cloth would cause infection.

Paulo pulled the knife from the water and waited for the blade to cool, then he nodded to Li, who gripped Kesia's arm more tightly. Paulo dug the point of the knife into the wound and hooked out a fragment of cloth. Kesia stiffened and screamed, then her eyes rolled up in her head and she pa.s.sed out. Paulo was relieved. Back home on his ranch, he had cleaned up dreadful wounds on cattle that had caught themselves on barbed wire, but he had never had to do this to a young girl before. He set to work, quickly digging out all the embedded cloth while Kesia was still unconscious.

'There,' he said after a few minutes. 'Now we can clean it.' The pota.s.sium permanganate mixture was cool enough now for Paulo to lift out a strip of cloth with his fingers. He cleaned all around the wound, irrigating it well with the sterilized water.

'Now, Li, I want you to hold the edges together while I apply the sutures,' he said.

Li screwed up her face at the thought of touching the wound, but she did as she was told and Paulo quickly and expertly applied the sutures that would hold the wound together. Finally he bound up the arm with more strips of sterilized cloth.

'There. That is the best I can do. Now, we wait for her to wake up again, give her some tea and pain-killers and head on towards Samir's village.'

Five minutes later Kesia was sitting up by the fire, sipping from a mug of sweet tea that Sisi was holding for her. She looked drawn and she was obviously in some pain but otherwise she was recovering well from her ordeal and the wound was now hardly bleeding at all.

'Your survival kit saves the day yet again,' teased Li, grinning at Alex.

'Will she be well enough to travel?' asked Alex, handing Kesia two painkilling tablets from his survival kit. 'She can sit up front in the cab.'

Li translated Alex's question and Kesia nodded and smiled. She would be well enough.

Juma and his gang of three took over the watch while Amber, Khalid and Hex came down for some tea, then Alex put out the fire and they all clambered wearily back into the Unimog. Amber had retrieved her GPS unit from her quad bike earlier that evening and packed it into a rucksack she had bought in the souk. She went in the front to keep Paulo headed on the right track. Kesia and Sisi sat between them in the high cab.

'Let us go,' said Paulo, flouris.h.i.+ng the ignition key.

'Hey!' said Amber. 'Where'd you find that?'

'Behind the sun-visor,' grinned Paulo.

'So you didn't have to hot-wire it after all, back in the town?'

Paulo looked embarra.s.sed. 'I did not find the key until we stopped here.'

Amber laughed. 'Don't you know to look there first? That's where they always find it in the movies.'

Paulo shrugged and turned the key. The engine coughed, then spluttered to a stop. Paulo frowned and tried again. Again the engine croaked a few times and died.

'What's wrong?' asked Amber.

Paulo tried a third time. A harsh grating noise came from the engine and dark smoke began to escape around the edges of the bonnet. 'I am not sure,' said Paulo. 'I think maybe the bullets caused some damage. Hold on, I will check.'

He reached down under the steering wheel and pulled the bonnet release lever. The bonnet sprang open and a sudden explosion of flames shot out from beneath it, rising high into the air and licking against the windscreen.

Amber screamed as a gout of flame roared around the side of the windscreen and flared into the cab through her shattered side window. She flung herself back against the seat and felt the heat of the flame sear past her face, sizzling the hair above her forehead. Amber was terrified of fire. Her parents had both died in a burning plane. She turned to the door and kicked it open with the strength of panic, then she grabbed Sisi's arm with one hand and her rucksack with the other. Pulling Sisi after her, Amber jumped from the cab. They soared through the flames and landed some distance from the cab, rolling over and over on the stony ground.

Amber sat up and looked down at herself, then over to Sisi. She could not quite believe they had escaped unscathed. She looked back to the Unimog cab. It was full of flames.

'Paulo!' she screamed, scrambling to her feet and heading towards the burning cab.

'Here,' called Paulo, staggering towards her, carrying Kesia in his arms.

Amber gave a sob of relief, then rushed on past him, heading for the back of the Unimog. The flames were licking at the fuel tank behind the cab and she had to get the others out of the back. Alex was already opening the flaps and peering out, wondering what the problem was.

'Come on! Out now!' Amber yelled, grabbing him by the arm. 'It's going to explode!'

Alex looked at the jerry cans of fuel wedged under the bench seats. The big truck was a bomb on wheels. If there was anyone anywhere near the Unimog when it went up, there would be no chance of survival. He jumped out, grabbing a water-filled girba from under the nearest bench as he went. Turning back, he yelled to the others, 'When you get out, run! Follow me and Amber!'

They all scrambled out and began sprinting away from the Unimog, heading for Paulo and the two girls. Amber and Alex were in the lead, Alex carrying the girba slung over his shoulder. Li and Hex took up the rear, with the children in the middle. Li was counting heads as she ran, but she couldn't get the number right. She tried again. There was one missing.

Li slowed, turning a shocked face to Hex. 'Samir!' she gasped.

Hex slowed too, scanning the running children in front of him. Li was right. Samir was not among them. For an instant Hex stood still and a muscle jumped in the angle of his jaw, then he turned round and ran back to the burning Unimog.

'Hex!' called Li behind him. 'Come back! It's too late!'

Hex ran on. As he ran, he muttered over and over to himself, 'What the h.e.l.l am I doing? What the h.e.l.l am I doing?' but his legs kept pumping, ignoring whatever his brain thought.

The canvas cover on the back of the truck was alight by the time Hex panted up to the tailgate again. s.h.i.+elding his face against the heat with his hand, he peered into the smoky interior. At first he thought the back of the Unimog was empty and he had put his life at risk for nothing. Then he saw Samir, still sitting on the bench right at the far end of the truck with his feet not quite reaching the floor and his hair crinkling in the heat. His hands were held neatly together in his lap and his back was straight. He could have been a kid on a school bus, except for the look of frozen terror on his face.

Hex looked up at the blazing canvas roof, then ducked his head and threw himself into the back of the truck. He grabbed Samir by his gandourah and hung on tight as he backed out again on his belly. A piece of blazing canvas fell on to his back and he yelled with pain as the heat began to scorch through to his skin. He fell from the tailgate on to his back with Samir on top of him. He rolled back and forth in the dirt to put out the flames, then he jumped up, hefted Samir under one arm and ran for his life.

Li and the others had stopped a good distance from the Unimog. They watched in horror as Hex disappeared into the smoke surrounding the burning truck. It seemed to take an age before a black silhouette came running out of the smoke again, lit up by the flames behind him.

'He's got him!' yelled Li, spotting Samir wedged under Hex's arm.

'Come on, Hex!' yelled Paulo, urging him on.

Hex was halfway between the Unimog and the waiting group, when the whole thing went up with a ma.s.sive whump that sent a blast wave of scorching air and flames spreading out from the centre of the explosion. Everyone fell flat and put their hands over their heads as the blast pa.s.sed over them. Seconds later they were on their feet again, scanning the flame-strewn ground between them and the truck.

'There he is,' cried Alex, pointing to Hex's still form, lying face down on the ground.

They held their breath and watched for one second... two; finally Hex raised his head and clambered to his feet. He held out his hand and helped Samir up, then the two of them walked shakily towards the others.

'Since when did you become a hero?' demanded Amber tearfully, giving him a hug.

'Don't know what came over me,' said Hex, grinning down at her. 'It won't happen again, I promise.'

TWENTY ONE 'Well, the good news is we all survived and we have some water,' said Alex, patting the girba.

'And the bad news?' asked Amber.

Alex nodded at the shattered sh.e.l.l of the Unimog. Flames and smoke were spouting from it and soaring high into the night sky, well above the top of the rise.

'If the Scorpion is following us, then we've just lit a huge "come-and-get-us" beacon.'

'We should start walking then,' said Amber.

'Where to?' asked Hex, looking around at the dark desert surrounding them.

Amber turned and looked at the sandstone bluff outlined on the horizon. Behind the dark bluff she could see another red glow lighting up the sky. 'Of course!' she grinned. 'Remember that oil installation beyond the bluff? That's the gas flare we can see in the sky. We can head for that. They'll have medics there, and satellite communications even a helicopter pad.'

'What about the armed guards?' said Alex uneasily.

'They're not going to shoot a bunch of unarmed kids,' said Amber. 'Besides, if the Scorpion is coming after us, I'd rather face them than him any day.'

The bedraggled group moved off through the moonlit desert, heading for the northern end of the bluff. It took them hours to reach it, and by then Kesia and the younger ones were staggering with exhaustion.

'We have to stop,' said Paulo, casting worried looks at Kesia.

'But we're nearly there,' said Amber, gazing at the red glow in the sky beyond the bluff. 'Once we get round the other side of the bluff, there's only another hour of walking, if that. If we keep going, we can reach the oil installation before dawn. It'll be a far harder walk later, in the sun.'

Kesia moaned and fell to her knees, then lay down on her side and curled up.

'She is my patient,' said Paulo firmly. 'And I say she cannot walk another minute. Jumoke and Samir are out on their feet, too.' He scanned the face of the bluff ahead of them. There were cave openings in the cliff, just as he remembered them. 'We can shelter in one of the caves for a few hours. We will be out of sight, but we can keep a look-out to the north. Once we have rested, then we can finish the walk.'

Amber looked around at the others. They were all nodding, agreeing with Paulo. She sighed as her vision of being whisked off by helicopter to a luxury hotel on the coast faded away. 'OK,' she said reluctantly. 'We find a cave.'

There was one cave at ground level, right on the northern tip of the bluff. They headed for it, with Alex and Paulo supporting Kesia between them, and Hex and Amber giving Samir and Jumoke piggybacks.

'What is that smell?' demanded Amber as they reached the final slope leading to the dark cave mouth.

The group came to a halt. Amber was right. There was a smell coming from the cave that was so strong and acrid, it sc.r.a.ped at the back of their throats and sent them into fits of coughing if they breathed too deep.

'Did something die in there?' asked Hex, covering his nose with his hand.

'No,' said Li, bending in the moonlight to examine a spattering of brown droppings at the cave entrance. 'But there's something living in there.'

She took a couple of steps nearer to the cave and nodded as she saw that the brown spatters thickened inside the cave, covering the floor like a rough carpet. There were thousands of beetles moving busily back and forth across the droppings.

'We can't go in there,' she said, turning back to the others.

'What is it?' asked Paulo.

'Bats,' said Li.

Khalid nodded in agreement. 'Is dangerous smell,' he said.

'Too right it is,' muttered Amber, wiping tears from her smarting eyes.

'It's ammonia,' said Li. 'It's a gas given off by the beetles that eat the bat guano and it's dangerous to breathe it in.'

'OK,' said Alex. 'We'll have to camp outside the cave and hope that overhang up there gives enough shade to hide us if we're still here when the sun comes up.'

They settled down on the rocky ground. Alex handed the girba of water round and Amber produced dates and pistachio nuts from her rucksack. She had bought them in the souk as they were preparing to rescue Li. She forced herself to eat a few dates, even though she was so tired she could hardly chew. The four of them had eaten a hurried meal in the souk earlier, but Amber had to make sure she kept up her blood sugar levels. She pulled her kit from her pouch and tested her blood, then injected herself with insulin.

Paulo tended to Kesia, noting with satisfaction that the only blood on the bandages around her arm was old and brown. The wound had not bled for hours, despite the long walk. He sniffed at the wound, but there was no smell of infection. 'Ask her to wriggle her fingers for me,' said Paulo.

Li translated and Kesia obliged, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g her face up with pain.

'Good,' said Paulo as he watched her fingers move. 'There is no nerve damage. I think she will be fine once she can get some proper treatment.'

'I'll take the first watch,' said Alex, moving off to sit with his back against a rock that gave him a good view of the desert to the north.

'Wake me after an hour,' yawned Li, checking under the stones for scorpions before curling up in a ball on the ground. The others settled down where they could and soon they were all deep in an exhausted sleep, despite the hard ground. Alex sat on, listening to the gentle snores of the rest of the group and scanning the northern horizon.

Hours later, he opened his eyes with a start. He was surrounded by a fluttering, squeaking black cloud. He sat up, his heart pounding, trying to figure out where he was. The smell of ammonia caught at the back of his throat and made his eyes smart. Alex gasped as he realized that the black cloud above him was made up of hundreds of bats, returning home in the early dawn light. He sat up quickly, glancing around with a shamefaced look as the bats zoomed in low over his head and poured into the mouth of the cave behind him. Not only had he fallen asleep on his watch, he had then slept on until dawn.

Everyone else was still asleep. Alex scrambled to his feet and the stream of squeaking bats parted smoothly around him. He rubbed his stinging eyes, then gazed out into the northern desert. His heart went cold as he saw a small cloud of dust moving slowly across the huge plain that stretched to the northern horizon. It was heading straight for the black streamer of smoke that still rose from the burnt-out Unimog over to the west. Alex groaned. That cloud of dust had to be the Scorpion. He had regrouped, patched up his men and found a new vehicle. Once the slaver reached the Unimog, it would be an easy matter to follow their footprints all the way to the bluff.

Alex gazed at the cloud of dust, estimating that it would take about an hour for the vehicle to reach the bluff. If he got the others moving right now, they might just make it to the oil installation before the Scorpion caught up with them.

The group members were all awake and on their feet in a surprisingly short time. Alex doled out water from the girba while Amber quickly injected her morning dose of insulin. Minutes later they were off, tramping around the northern tip of the bluff and chewing on dates and pistachios as they walked. They moved out of the shadow of the bluff and turned east, into the low sun. The oil installation was spread out on the plain beyond the bluff and they got their first proper look at their destination. One by one, they stumbled to a halt and stared.

'Dios,' breathed Paulo, gazing at the thick pall of black smoke that rose into the sky above the installation and drifted eastward on the wind. Beneath the smoke a huge ball of red and black fire boiled from the ground. The comforting glow on the horizon they had been walking towards all night had not been the gas flare at all. The wells were ablaze and the compound was a shattered ruin.

'What the h.e.l.l happened here?' whispered Amber.

Khalid spoke up hesitantly. 'I think... my friends... maybe they do this.'

Alpha Force looked at one another, suddenly remembering the sullen boys in the refugee camp. Amber's uncle must have failed to persuade the news agencies to show the minefield footage Alpha Force had filmed, and the boys had responded with a second, successful attempt to blow up the oil supply pipes.

'But how did they get past all the guards?' asked Amber.

'It's a big s.p.a.ce, Amber,' said Alex. 'It's almost impossible to make a whole section of desert totally secure. If someone is determined to get through, they will.'

'Yeah, and those Sahawaris, they're pretty good at sneaking up on you,' said Amber, remembering how Khalid had scared her at the minefield.

'What do we do now?' said Li.

'We have to keep moving,' said Alex, looking over his shoulder. 'I think we should still head over there. There might be people who can help us. A helicopter. Something...'