The Land-Rover began to buck as the plain broke up into wavelets. The wheels sprayed plumes on either side as they drove straight through hillocks of sand. Behind them the sun began to droop towards the horizon, a blood-red tinge beginning to smear across the sky.

Youssef nudged his shoulder and pointed dead ahead. “Allah is good. Look there!”

Then the Scorpion saw it: the tiny shape flickering in the windshield glass, the man and woman like toy figures in the distance.

“Faster. We have to get them before they reach the dunes,” the Scorpion shouted and was rewarded with a surge as Youssef floored the accelerator.

The Land-Rover began to skid and fishtail as they bounced roughly across the humps of sand. The Scorpion had to grip the M-16 tightly with one battered hand and hang on with the other, but they were closer. They could see the two figures clearly now. The slender image of the woman, her golden hair streaming in the wind and the man in his black bisht fighting the wheel, glowed in the reddish dusk light as if outlined in neon.

The Scorpion leaned dangerously out of the open window. Hanging on to the side and rocketing swayingly over the uneven ground, he raised the M-16 and fired short sharp bursts at the Jeep. He had to stop it, even at the risk of hitting Kelly. Ahead he saw Bandar raise a rifle, turn and fire a single shot back at them.

The bullet ricocheted off the door mirror with a metallic whine, leaving a deep scar in the twisted chrome. It was an incredible shot, firing backwards while driving over uneven terrain. Bandar’s skill had to be taken into account, the Scorpion realized, even as he leaned out and fired again, emptying the clip. Whether any of the bullets hit the Jeep he couldn’t tell. They seemed to have no effect.

They were beginning to close up, the skidding Jeep barely a hundred meters ahead. But the light had turned fiery red, as if the horizon was burning. There was little time left.

Then, on his third clip, the Scorpion got lucky. He clearly heard the metallic whunk as the bullet slammed into the Jeep’s gas tank. The air filled with the strong scent of gas as the Jeep’s tank began to leak as though a tap had been turned on. Suddenly the Scorpion was thrown sideways as Youssef swerved to avoid Bandar’s aim. The slug tore through the windshield, creating an instant spider web, and embedded itself in the Land-Rover’s roof, passing cleanly between Youssef’s and the Scorpion’s head.

They could hear the Jeep sputtering ahead. Youssef pumped the brakes like a demon and swerved the Land-Rover broadside, across the sands. He and the Scorpion dived for cover behind it as it skidded to a stop. Even before it had stopped they were already firing across the hood at the stalled Jeep.