With a savage growl, Bandar hurled Kelly out of the Jeep and leaped after her, using her as a shield between him and the Land-Rover. He grabbed her by the throat and kept the muzzle of the AK-47 jammed into the underside of her jaw.

“Scorpion! Throw down your rifle or by the Prophet’s beard I’ll blow her head off!” Bandar shouted.

His voice had an ugly edge to it that caused the hairs on the back of the Scorpion’s neck to rise. He and Youssef looked at each other. Then they looked back at Bandar standing behind the girl. Her eyes were blank and mute as a rabbit’s. She was utterly terror-stricken.

“Scorpion! I’ll kill her! I mean it!” Bandar howled, a fleck of froth at the corner of his mouth giving him the appearance of a mad dog. The Scorpion had no doubt whatever that he meant it.

“Shoot her and you’ll be dead before she hits the ground,” he called back.

“Throw down your gun and she lives. This is your last chance,” Bandar screamed.

“No, Bandar. If I throw down my gun, we’re all dead. Either way the woman dies. She means nothing to me. All I want is a clear shot at you.”

“You have murdered her! Let it be on your head!” Bandar howled in a frenzy. His finger tightened on the trigger.

“Wait!” Youssef called.

Bandar hesitated. If he fired, he was doomed. His last card had been trumped. He had only malevolence left.

“Settle this the way it began … with khanjars. The woman is the prize for the victor,” Youssef said.

An utter silence settled like dust over the desert. The wind died and the sand ceased its timeless whisper. Only the ragged animal breathing of the woman could be heard anywhere.

“So be it!” Bandar announced contemptuously. He flung the woman aside and tossed the AK-47 back into the Jeep. The khanjar glittered in his hand as he waited. A trembling Kelly crawled behind the wing, her eyes wide as saucers, an unreadable look in them.

“Do this for me. If he should win, shoot him,” the Scorpion muttered to Youssef out of the side of his mouth.

“As Allah is my judge,” Youssef swore.

The Scorpion stood and dropped his gun. He pulled the khanjar from his belt sheath and stepped out from behind the Land-Rover.