Another figure joined the two. Dominic coughed, wiping away a fleck of blood from his lips. He said nothing but his intent was clear. He, too, had picked his time and place to die.
That was enough. Abdul started to step forward. Langers stopped him.
'No more.'' Abdul's dusty black face began to tighten.
'No more,' Langers repeated. 'It would serve no purpose save death, and you are not ready. They are. Don't go where you are not wanted, Abdul. This is their moment. Yours will come, but it is not now.'
Dominic smiled. 'He is right, Abdul. And he may need you later. Get the rest of what you need off the broken Land Rover and put it in the other one. Leave us some ammo and a bit of water. I don't think we will have time to eat dinner. Oh yes, find us some bottles. I know Gus will have a few stashed and we could use a gallon of petrol. That will be all we need. But make it quick.'' He nodded to the south at a spiral of dust rising around the bend of the canyon.
'You heard him. Let's do it!' Langers commanded, breaking the tension with a direct order. Now there were six: Langers, Abdul, Roman, Gus, and the young couple. It would be crowded but they had a chance if they left now.
To keep Gus from getting too sentimental, Langers had him go to work on storing the extra water and ammo on the remaining vehicle. It was time to leave. If they waited any longer, then they took the chance of losing their only way out.
Moving up to the three, Langers knew that what they were doing was right, and he envied them their death. What more can a man do than pick his time and place to die and know it was right. Dominic had been in the process of dying for a long time. His soul had been leaving him in tiny pieces for years. Sharif Mamud was old, wishing to return to the past of his fathers. This was the place where he belonged. And Sims, well, he was just being practical. If there'd been any other way, he'd have made the little Englishman get back in the Land Rover. But there wasn't. Sims was right. You could see it in his eyes. He was badly hurt. There was no way he could survive the journey back to the Ahaggar Mountains.
The girl and her husband watched in fascination. It was alien to everything they had ever learned. The girl wanted to say something to force Langers into taking them along even if it meant overloading. It wasn't the expression on his face that stopped her words, it was that of the three men. The old Arab, Sims, Dominic, all of them. Their faces were at peace. There was no fear in them. If anything, they looked a bit anxious, as if they wanted the rest of them to get loaded and go away, leaving them to finish their business. Taking her hand, her husband led his wife over to the Land Rover.
He said, 'I know. Let's just let them do things their way. This has nothing to do with us.'
She knew he was right. Even though the three had come to rescue them, it had been for their own reasons. She and her husband had been incidental. For these men it had been just a job.
Gus took the wheel. He and Dominic gave each other a long look. Dominic nodded his head up and down as if to say it's okay, then turned his back on the Land Rover and looked to the south. Gus's face was stone. For once he had no quick words. Carl took the seat beside him. The rest piled in as best they could in the back, Abdul facing out the rear with a rifle.
It was hard to leave them but it had to be done. Fate always dealt all the cards and no matter what kind of hand you held, when she wanted to, she would always win.
That was it. They pulled out, heading deeper into the canyon.
Sunni Ali had his half-track come to a halt. Taking his field glasses he looked ahead. The men he was chasing had cost him much. They were not to be underestimated. Adjusting the focus, he brought the abandoned Land Rover into clear view. The doors were open, the spare fuel cans were gone, no one was in sight. Carefully he scanned the gorge on both sides. Nothing. If they had all transferred into one vehicle then he would catch them. Still he felt uneasy, but there was no time left to play a waiting game. He had to go on.
Behind their cover Dominic finished stuffing rags into the necks of three petrol-filled bottles. The half-track would have to pass the Land Rover on the right side. The other side was too rocky. When it did pass and they could hit it with Molotov cocktails, it would block the pass, buying the others a bit more time.
He could see Sunni Ali searching the terrain with his field glasses. Dominic hunched a little lower behind his rock. Patience. They would come to him. The sound of the half-track shifting into gear brought everyone's head up a bit. Sims moved to where he could set the LMG up, using a rock as a bipod. Sharif Mamud stayed where he was. The range would be too far for his SMG to be of much use until the enemy was near the Land Rover. Overhead the sun hammered at them. Flies buzzed trying to suck moisture. Lizards and serpents observed the proceedings with expressionless eyes.
Sunni Ali signaled for his vehicles to move out slowly. The half-track edged closer to the Land Rover. His fingers tightened on the trigger of his MG-34. His eyes were eager. Somehow he knew that there were men in the rocks around him. He couldn't see them, he could feel them. This was a killing zone and he had to go through it. That was good. The tension, the quiet was good. It fed his soul. The Tuaregs sensed his feelings. Their dark eyes also scanned the rocks, hands tightening on their weapons.
The half-track dug its treads into the rocky path, grinding over a road that had once been a trail for caravans. Sunni Ali motioned to the two jeeps behind him. Obeying, the Tuaregs offloaded and spread out, packing the vehicles. If they were ambushed, he didn't want his men bunched up where they could be taken out by a single blow.
'Goddamn that son of a bitch, he must have read my mind,' Dominic grumbled to Mamud. He had to choke back a cough. His lungs were filling with heavy black blood, making it even harder to breath in the furnace air of the canyon.
Crawling closer to Sims he whispered, 'When they get close enough, Mamud and I will heave the cocktails at the half-track. When we do, lay fire on the Tuaregs out of the jeeps. They'll be the hardest to hit later. Then cut loose on the jeeps and knock them out. If we can do that, there'll be no way they'll ever catch up to Langers and the others.'
'Right you are, love. That's just what we'll do.' The sun had reached its apex. Brushing flies away from his mouth and eyes, Sims remarked drolly, 'You know, I'll be glad when this is over. It's getting beastly hot. Most uncomfortable.'
Mamud and Dominic grinned through cracked lips at the little man's humor. Dominic patted him on the shoulder. 'Sims, you might be queer, but you've got more balls than anyone I ever met. It's a pleasure and honor to die with you.'
Sims blushed. 'Why, thank you, and the feelings are mutual, I assure you. But now we had better keep an eye on those gentlemen below or all our efforts will have been for naught.'
He was right. Sunni Ali in his trundling armored beast was almost at the Land Rover.
Flicking his lighter into life, Dominic grinned. 'In case I don't have time to say it later, good-bye Sims, Sharif Mamud.'' He lit the gas-soaked rags.
'Go with God my friends. Allah maak. ' Mamud took one of the torches. Dominic lit the last one. Holding one in each hand he peered over the rocks. The half-track was there.
' Now! ' Dominic cried, tossing the two petrol bombs in an overhand arc. Mamud followed with his as Sims opened up with the machine gun, sending a stream of bullets out to hunt down the Tuareg flankers.
Sunni Ali saw the fire bombs as they arced in the air, trailing a dark plume of smoke. Without even thinking about it he reacted. Throwing his body out of the half-track on the far side, he hit the ground rolling. He was twenty feet away when the first bomb hit the open back of the half-track, exploding among the men there and setting them on fire.
The next hit the hood of the half-track, bursting into flames. The liquid fire spilled onto the driver, bathing his face in flames. In his pain, he released the steering wheel to tear at his eyes so he could quench the fires eating at them. The half-track rolled up against the Land Rover and ground to a halt. Some of the flames found their way inside the motor, burning wires and melting fuel lines. In seconds the entire machine was on fire.
Only the shotgun rider escaped death. He had covered his eyes with an arm when the bomb exploded. Screaming, he broke out into the open, jumping from the cab and rolling on the ground to smother the fires consuming his robes.
