The wadi erupted as the mines detonated one after the other like a string of firecrackers. The Arabs started to pour fire blindly down at the orange flashes before the two grenades exploded among them. Screams of pain and confusion echoed from the ledge and the firing grew even wilder and less directed. An officer screamed orders and pointed towards the crest near the Scorpion, but his voice was ignored in the screams and noise of firing.

Just before ducking behind the crest the Scorpion had seen what he’d been looking for: flashes of muzzle fire coming from near the arfaj. And there were no shots from the far side, he thought, his pulse racing. It was an L ambush after all.

A chip of stone flew near his cheek. He’d been spotted!

He rolled on to his back and fired the flare pistol straight up into the sky. Then he scrambled to another position on the crest, shading his eyes to prevent momentary blindness as the flare exploded high above the wadi with a loud pop. Bright white light blazed as the flare floated down, turning the sand to light gray. The Scorpion froze, his eyes closed. Wrapped in his black bisht he looked like just another rock on the crest.

Something inside was screaming for him to move, but he forced himself to stay still until the flare went out. Blue-green tracers from several AK-47s began to float towards him like streams of fireflies homing in. They had sent a squad to the crest.

Just then he heard the sound of horns blaring as the Mutayr trucks, their headlights blazing, raced into the wadi near the far slope. But it was too soon, he thought, a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t neutralized the arfaj ambush yet and he was pinned down by the squad at the crest, only thirty meters away judging by their muzzle flashes.

He felt a tug at his sleeve and had to force himself not to move as the bullets splattered on the rocks around him. Ya Allah, but that was close! Now the rounds were moving away from him. Shadows danced as the flare dropped below the level of the crest and down towards the floor of the wadi and still he waited, every nerve in his body screaming, as the convoy of Mutayr trucks raced through the heavy fire towards the deadly arfaj. He would have to do something no matter what the risk, he decided.