‘Omar pointed out the man in question, and Jamal took him behind a hut and questioned him. He was stubborn, but with his right arm broken and the threat of similar treatment to his left, he saw reason.’
Kane glanced sharply at her in amazement. ‘My God, you don’t believe in half-measures, do you?’
‘My mother was a Rashid,’ she said calmly. ‘We are a hard people, especially when the things we value are threatened.’
To that, there could be no reply, and Kane said, ‘He’d tampered with the fuel tank, I suppose?’
‘He took advantage of the confusion when the villagers were swarming around the bodies of the assassins. No one noticed him in the crowd.’
‘Did you manage to find out who’d paid him?’
She nodded. ‘Just as you thought – Selim.’
Kane frowned. ‘He must really hate me to go to all this trouble. How did you manage to find the plane so easily?’
‘I knew you were flying on a direct line from Shabwa to Marib. I took a bearing, followed the compass and hoped for the best. I sent Jordan’s driver back to the camp with a note explaining what had happened.’
Kane grinned wryly. ‘You’re fast becoming indispensable.’
For once she could find nothing to say and concentrated on her driving, following the twisting tracks with ease until they finally came to a broad plain of flat sand mixed with gravel, which stretched away into the distance. She moved into top gear and pressed her foot flat against the boards.
The truck raced across the flat plain in a cloud of dust, and soon the three of them were coated with sand from head to foot. Kane helped himself to water and his eyes ceaselessly searched the plain ahead, looking for the black dots in the distance which would indicate their quarry.
There were two rifles bracketed to the roof of the truck and he took them down and handed one to Jamal. The great Somali’s hands checked the weapon expertly and then he cradled it in his arms, one finger inside the trigger guard.
Kane gripped his tightly and stared through the windscreen out of dust-rimmed eyes. His mind became a blank as he waited so that he was taken completely by surprise when Marie screamed in his ear, and the black dots in the distance seemed to rush towards them.
He raised his rifle slightly and waited. As they came up fast behind the three camels, the man at the rear turned and looked towards them and his mouth opened in a cry of dismay. He urged his camel forward.
Marie spun the wheel and the truck moved abreast of the Arabs. Kane raised his rifle and fired a warning shot over them, and then the truck had drawn ahead.
As Marie swerved to a halt, the man with the diseased face, who was carrying Ruth Cunningham in front of him, released her so that she tumbled to the ground. He raised his rifle in one hand, and Jamal fired a quick shot, which lifted him from the saddle.
Marie drove the truck forward and halted beside Ruth Cunningham. She was weeping, her head buried in her hands, and Marie spoke gently to her. ‘Did they harm you in any way?’
Ruth Cunningham shook her head several times and spoke with difficulty. ‘The man with the awful face kept pawing me, but the one who seemed to be the leader made him leave me alone.’ She collapsed in a flood of tears and Marie led her gently to the truck and eased her into one of the seats.
Kane walked across to the two men, who sat their camels quietly under the threat of Jamal’s carbine. The man with the cropped ears grinned down at him. ‘The ways of Allah are strange.’
‘You’re damned right, they are,’ Kane told him. ‘It’s lucky for you, you didn’t harm her. Now get to hell out of here.’
He stood for a little while, watching them ride away, and then he went to help Jamal who was digging a shallow grave for the dead man.
When they returned to the truck, Ruth Cunningham was still sobbing quietly on Marie’s shoulder. Kane raised his eyebrows enquiringly and Marie shook her head. He shrugged. ‘There’s no hurry. We’ll rest up for an hour before starting back.’