The second Mi-24 was coming around again. Wohl turned to fire at it, but the rail gun was out of commission, damaged in the rocket attack. The Mi-24 attack helicopter’s steerable cannon lined up on Sanusi’s Humvee. Hal fired from the commandeered Libyan APC, but the Mi-24’s armor was too strong and the bullets had no effect. “Chris! Tag that son of a bitch!” But he saw in his own electronic visors that their last rail gun was out of commission. “Look out!”

Suddenly, a small explosion erupted on the right side of the Mi-24. Another of Sanusi’s Sandstorm warriors in what looked like a World War II-vintage jeep had fired an RPG round at the helicopter, missing the tail rotor and cockpit and hitting only the heavily armored side. The Mi-24 wheeled in an impossibly tight right turn and fired a rocket salvo, and at that range the attack was devastating. The jeep exploded in a twisted, burning hunk of metal. Hal continued to fire on the Mi-24, hoping that his shells would hit something vital, but he couldn’t tell if he was hitting anything at all.

Then he saw Sanusi’s Humvee stop, and Muhammad as-Sanusi himself climbed out, went into the back of the vehicle, and emerged with a man-portable Stinger missile system. But the Mi-24 pilot saw him at the same time, and he wheeled the helicopter left to line up on him—the nose cannon was already leading into the turn. “Sanusi! Take cover!” Briggs shouted.

But Sanusi stood his ground. With his men firing rifles at the oncoming helicopter, the king stood calmly, his feet together, and hefted the Stinger to his right shoulder. He activated the battery, powered on the unit, then pulled a lever with his right thumb, uncovering the missile’s seeker head. The Mi-24’s cannon started firing long before the pilot finished the turn, and at less than a mile away, he couldn’t miss. The shells made a rooster tail of sand race across the desert, headed right for Sanusi. The ripple of sand reached the king just as Sanusi pulled the launch trigger and sent the Stinger blasting out of the launch tube.

The missile exploded on the Mi-24 gunship’s left engine intake, and the force of the explosion followed by the complete destruction of the left engine caused the Mi-24’s main rotor to fly off in a cloud of fire. The helicopter plunged straight forward into the desert floor, then flipped upside down on its back before exploding less than a hundred meters from where the king of united Libya stood.