'Yes, she'll do it,' said Red Bancroft. 'She's incredibly clever with everyone — except with me.'
'What's the matter?' I said.
'I can't go down that rope. I'm frightened of heights… I get dizzy just looking down into this yard here.'
'I'll tie it round you, and lower you down. Keep your eyes closed and you'll be all right.'
'Will he come up here looking for the corpse?' she asked.
'Perhaps — but not until he's finished his transmission. And that will take hours.'
She went to the other window and looked down at the sand far below. Dempsey and Mann had left already but they were not to be seen. 'And the sentries?'
'Stop worrying,' I said. I went across to her and put my arm round her waist. It was no more than a brotherly gesture, and she did not shrink away from me as she had done earlier.
'I'm sorry,' she said. 'We both lost out — but now I'm beginning to think maybe I lost more than you did.'
'Let's get the rope round you,' I said. 'It won't get any darker than this.'
The night air was cool but underfoot the sand was warm, and soft enough to make progress slow and difficult. Even with the stars to guide, we lost our way after the moon disappeared. The sandhills, like some great rolling ocean transfixed for ever, shone in the dusty starlight.
There was no sound; it must have been flying very high. There was a flash like that of an electrical storm, and a rumble like thunder. Anywhere else and we would have written it off as a thunderstorm, put up our umbrellas and waited for the rain. But this was a thousand miles deep into the Sahara.
'Smart bomb,' said Mann. 'You put a laser beam from aircraft to target and let the bomb slide down the beam.'
'Unless you can persuade the target to put up a beam for you,' I said.
Red Bancroft said nothing. Ever since we'd caught up with Mann and Dempsey she'd been walking a few paces behind us. Several times I saw her turning round hoping to see Mrs Bekuv there.
The sound of the explosion rumbled across the empty desert, and then came rolling back again, looking for a place to fade away. I waited for Red Bancroft to catch up. She had discarded her shoes. I put my arm out, offering to help her, but without a word she limped past me, sliding sometimes in the soft steep dune. After the explosion she didn't look back again.
