"Higgins, Jack - Sheba" - читать интересную книгу автора (Higgins Jack)

He nodded. 'If we get moving straight away, we should find them without much difficulty.'

He sat beside Marie in the front seat, Jamal climbed into the back, and within a few moments they were moving, following the clearly defined tracks of the three camels.

The truck was fitted with twelve forward gears and this, coupled with four-wheel drive, made it ideal for crossing the shifting sand dunes.

Kane leaned back in his seat. 'You'd better fill me in on what happened at Bir el Madani.'

'I finished my business with Jordan by eleven,' Marie told him. 'He sent Jamal and me back to the village in this truck with one of his drivers. When we reached the airstrip, Omar was waiting for us. He said there was a stranger in the village - a coast Arab who had been heard to boast that you would not be returning.'

'And Omar actually volunteered this information?' Kane said.

She smiled faintly. 'You'll never understand the complexity of the Arab mind, Gavin. To kill your enemy face-to-face is one thing, but a trick such as tampering with the plane,' - she shrugged - 'to Omar, such a thing would lack honour.'

J34

Til go along with that,' Kane said, 'but how did you find out for certain what had happened?'

'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.