They reached Samir"s village just after dawn. Their camel train had been spotted a long way off, and by the time they approached the straggle of mud-brick houses a hostile group was waiting for them on the edge of the village, armed with rifles.
"What"s going on?" demanded Amber. "Why do those men have guns?"
Khalid explained that there was no love lost between Arab villagers and Tuareg nomads. The name had been given by the Arabs and it meant "abandoned by G.o.d". The Tuareg preferred to call themselves Kel Tageulmous in Tamachek, Kel Tageulmous in Tamachek, a mouthful which translated as "people of the veil". a mouthful which translated as "people of the veil".
"But why don"t they like each other?" persisted Amber, eyeing the rifles of the village men as the camels swayed steadily nearer.
"The Tuareg this is their land, long time back. They think, Arab not belonging here. The Arab, they have many times the Tuareg raiding their villages." Khalid shrugged. "Is how it goes," he finished.
The tension increased as the camels drew closer to the village. The Tuareg did not help matters by veiling themselves so that only their eyes showed like black stones through a slit in the cloth.
"After all this, there"d better not be any shooting," muttered Hex, watching the village men"s fingers straying closer to the triggers of their rifles.
Suddenly Samir spotted his father amongst the crowd. With a cry, he slid recklessly from the saddle while his camel was still moving. The Tuareg leading the beast reacted quickly and managed to catch Samir before he hit the ground. He set the sobbing boy gently on his feet and they all watched as Samir ran towards his father and jumped into his arms.
The village men did not know how to react. Some lowered their guns; others raised them to their shoulders. The Tuareg tensed and swung their AK-47s from their backs.
"Khalid!" hissed Amber. "Explain. Fast!"
Khalid stepped forward and began to talk to the village men. Alex realized that he could pretty much guess what point Khalid had reached in the story by watching the changing expressions on the faces around him. They went through a whole range of emotions from disbelief, to anger and, finally, to sorrow.
When Khalid had finished, Paulo and the leader of the Tuareg lifted Hakim"s body down from the little red camel and carried him over to his father. The gaunt-faced man set Samir on his feet and held out his arms for his other son. They laid the wrapped body gently in his arms and he cradled the boy for a moment, his face full of grief.
Finally he raised his head, looked the Tuareg leader in the eye and spoke to him. The Tuareg inclined his head, then took hold of his camel"s head rope and began to lead the beast over to the village well at the centre of the tired little plantation of date palms. The other Tuareg followed, each inclining his head gravely to Samir"s father as he pa.s.sed.
"What did he say to them, Khalid?" asked Alex.
"He say the best thing to a Tuareg," whispered Khalid, his eyes damp with tears in his scarred face. "He say, like brother, "our water is yours"."
TWENTY FOUR The Tuareg left an hour later, with their camels watered and their girbas full. Alpha Force watched from the outskirts of the village as the swaying camels and the men in blue robes walked off into the rising heat of the day, but the Tuareg never once looked back.
They buried Hakim in the dusty little graveyard on the edge of the village later that morning. The whole village was there, standing out in the merciless heat of the sun to say their farewells. The women wailed and wept over the grave. Hakim"s mother was inconsolable and had to be supported by two other women as the burial went on. Samir stood on the opposite side of the little grave, dry-eyed now, with his father"s hand resting on his shoulder.
Alpha Force, Khalid and the other children kept to the back of the crowd, feeling awkward and out of place. Li decided she would come back to the grave later, when everything was quiet, to say her own goodbyes.
After the burial there was a village meeting. Alpha Force had already warned the people that they thought the Scorpion would come searching for Samir. Look-outs were posted around the edges of the village and the rest of the people gathered in a shady courtyard at the heart of their community to decide what to do next. The meeting was held in French, the only language common to everyone there, although Alex, Hex and Paulo found it a struggle to keep up with what was being said.
"When the Scorpion arrives, we will kill him and his men," said Hakim"s father and the village men cheered, shaking their rifles in the air.
Amber looked at the others and they nodded at her to go on. She was the best French speaker and they had made her their spokesperson. She rose to her feet and waited for the people to grow quiet before she spoke.
"My friends and I think that would be wrong," she said. "If we kill these men, then all the people who have helped them to sell children into slavery will go free. If we capture the Scorpion and hand him over to the proper authorities, then the whole trafficking ring will be caught."
"The authorities have done nothing to stop him so far," called a voice from the back and the people shouted in agreement.
"I promise you they will do something this time," said Amber stoutly. "There are international agencies who have been after this man for years. If they have the Scorpion, they will make sure the rest of the trafficking ring is destroyed. My uncle is a powerful man. He will also make sure of this."
The people murmured unhappily. They had just buried one of their own and they wanted their revenge. Amber could see that she was losing them, but she kept trying.
"If you kill these men now, their organization will continue. More children will die. Children like Hakim."
The discontented murmuring grew in volume and a few men raised their guns in the air again. Amber felt her heart sink. Then Hakim"s mother stood up and gazed around the small crowd. With her face drawn with grief and her eyes red from weeping, she made a powerful figure, and the people grew quiet to hear what she had to say.
"Our oldest grandfathers still remember a time when great trade caravans of camels pa.s.sed through here, carrying salt, spices, ostrich feathers, gold and copper. Our village was a good place to live then. The wells were full and the caravans brought us wealth." She paused, looking around as the people nodded in agreement.
"But now our village is dying. The drought has sucked dry all the wells except one and the caravans have stopped pa.s.sing through. Instead, big trucks carry the trade goods along black roads far to the east of our village."
Hakim"s mother paused again and looked across at her husband. The next thing she had to say would be difficult for both of them. "That is why we let the Scorpion take Hakim and Samir away with him. We thought we were doing the best for our sons." She searched for Samir and her dark eyes softened as they lingered on him for a moment, but when she faced the villagers again, her eyes were hard. "That man promised us he was taking our sons to a better life. He promised us they would be taught a trade and find work in Morocco. So we let them go. This morning we had to bury one of them. I do not want any more children to die. I want to catch all all the slavers. I say we listen to the American girl!" the slavers. I say we listen to the American girl!"
This time the murmurings were in agreement. Amber relaxed as Hakim"s mother sat down again. The tide was beginning to turn.
"How will we capture them?" asked a young man. "You tell us they have Kalashnikovs. We have rifles but nothing to match those weapons."
"We shall not use guns," said Hakim"s mother, rising to her feet again. "When the Scorpion comes, we shall hide Samir and his new friends away. Then we will welcome these men back to our village with a special feast." She held up her hand to stop the outraged shouts of the crowd. "This feast will have one very special ingredient. Dried henbane leaves."
Li smiled and nodded her approval of the plan. She knew all about henbane. It was a narcotic plant and the leaves were the most powerful part. Dried, powdered henbane leaves were readily available in all the souks of the Sahara. They were used in small quant.i.ties as a painkiller and a sedative, but in larger quant.i.ties the plant was a deadly poison.
"What is this henbane?" asked Paulo. "And what will it do to the Scorpion and his men?"
"It"ll turn them all into sleeping beauties," grinned Li. "As long as the village women get the dosage right, the Scorpion and his men will fall into a deep sleep, almost like a coma. It could last for days."
"When they are asleep," said Hakim"s father, "we shall tie them up and hold them prisoner until the proper agencies arrive."
"But how shall we bring the agencies here?" asked one of the men.
The villagers fell silent. Theirs was a poor village. There was no radio mast or satellite dish here for them to communicate with the outside world.
"I can answer that," said Hex, standing up. "The Scorpion is driving a new Land Rover. I had a good look at it from under my sheet as the Tuareg smuggled us past. I saw a satellite phone clipped to the dashboard. Once the Scorpion is asleep, we can use his phone to arrange for his arrest!"
The villagers roared with laughter at the idea of using the Scorpion"s own phone to make the call that would finish him, and the meeting broke up on a high note. The men went off to relieve the look-outs and to prepare a room that would be strong enough to hold the prisoners in case they woke up before the police arrived. The women cl.u.s.tered together to plan the feast.
All afternoon they worked, using food stores they could ill afford to lose and burning fuel that was in short supply. Alpha Force were very tired after their night of walking but they were determined to help. While Khalid and the other children slept, Li and Amber chopped and stirred with the village women and Alex, Hex and Paulo took their turns on watch. All five of them hoped they were right about the Scorpion. If he did not follow them back to the village, all the planning and work would have been for nothing. They could still report him to the right people, but the Scorpion had a knack for disappearing whenever the authorities thought they were close to catching him. If the Scorpion did not come to the village, there was no guarantee that he would ever be caught.
By the end of the afternoon all the food was ready. There was a rich bean soup, spiced chicken with orange peel and olives, a tagine of lamb with prunes and almonds, and a dish of sweet rice with raisins and cinnamon. It looked and smelled wonderful.
Amber stared at the little piles of dried, crushed henbane leaves, which were set out ready to add to the dishes at the last minute. "How do you know the right dosage?" she asked the women.
Samir"s mother eyed the piles of grey powder. "The trick is to add enough to put them to sleep but without making the food taste bad. I think that is about right."
"And you"re sure it won"t kill them?" asked Li.
Samir"s mother shrugged as though she did not really care. "If one man eats like a pig, then he might not wake up again. But as long as the other two live, we can still find out about the rest of their contacts."
She looked at Amber and Li with a grim smile, then looked again, noticing their tired faces. "Now," she said. "All we can do is wait for our guests to arrive. And we can do that without your help. Go back to my house and sleep. We will wake you if anything happens."
Li and Amber were too tired to argue. As they stumbled through the darkening alleyways to Samir"s house, they were joined by an equally tired Paulo, Hex and Alex. In the main room of the house they rolled out the sleeping mats that had been left for them and lay down side by side. Five minutes later they were all deeply asleep.
It was Khalid who woke them a few hours later. He started with Hex, who was nearest to the door.
"Go "way," snapped Hex irritably, turning over on his mat.
Khalid moved on to Alex, crouching over him in the dark room and shaking him by the shoulder. "What?" muttered Alex. "What is it?"
"Headlights," hissed Khalid. "We see headlights, in the desert. They are heading for the village."
TWENTY FIVE "It is them," whispered Paulo, raising his head to get a closer look at the approaching vehicle. "It is their Land Rover."
"Get down!" hissed Alex, digging his elbow into Paulo"s ribs. "If they see us up here, everything"ll be ruined."
Alpha Force were all lying on the roof of a house on the northernmost edge of the village. All the village houses had flat roofs which could be reached via a set of stone steps built on to the side of the house; each roof had a low, whitewashed wall around the edge. Paulo ducked his head back down behind this low wall and flattened himself on to the roof as the Land Rover rumbled past beneath them, heading for the village square.
Once the Land Rover had turned into the next street, Alex clambered to his feet and the other four joined him. They stared across the moonlit rooftops. The route to the main square was marked out for them. On every rooftop that bordered the way, one or two village men in dark robes were in position, their rifles trained on the street below in case anything went wrong.
"Let"s go," whispered Alex.
Alpha Force turned and ran for the edge of the roof. They stepped up on to the low wall and launched themselves into s.p.a.ce, soaring across the narrow alleyway below. They landed on the next rooftop and continued running with hardly a break in their stride. All along the route the Land Rover was taking, the village men were doing the same. As soon as the vehicle was past them, they picked up their rifles and followed it, jumping from rooftop to rooftop like large, black bats.
By the time the Land Rover came to a stop in the main square, Alpha Force and the village men were in place on the surrounding rooftops. Samir, Jumoke and the others were hidden away in a village house well away from the square, with a reluctant Khalid to watch over them and keep them quiet. Now everything depended on the village women and the remaining men putting on a good act.
The plan was that they would come out to greet the Scorpion and his men, looking pleased and surprised to see them again. Samir"s mother would ask after her sons. Li"s guess was that the Scorpion would be brazen and tell the villagers that Samir had run away before he could be apprenticed. Samir"s mother would be outraged at this slur on her family honour money had changed hands and her son had then broken the agreement. She would invite the Scorpion and his men to stay as their guests while they waited for her wayward son to return.
Alpha Force watched from the rooftop as the Scorpion and his men clambered from the dusty Land Rover. The traffickers were wary as they scanned the quiet square and they held their Kalashnikovs at the ready in case of a hostile reception. When the village men and women emerged from their houses, all calling and holding out their arms in greeting, the Scorpion relaxed. A slow smile spread across his face and he signalled discreetly to his men to shoulder their weapons.
"It"s working!" whispered Amber, watching the pantomime below.
Samir"s mother stepped straight up to the Scorpion, asking after her sons. The Scorpion began to talk, and as she listened, the eager expression on her face was replaced with outrage. She shook her head and put her hands on her hips as he told her about Samir"s ungrateful behaviour, then she and her neighbours took the Scorpion and his men by the arms and led them into the shady courtyard off the main square where, eight hours earlier, the whole village had planned their ambush.
Alpha Force moved across to the rooftop of one of the houses edging the courtyard, moving fast and silently and keeping low. They watched as the villagers brought out a carpet and cushions and settled the Scorpion and his men. The men sat cross-legged on the cushions and propped their weapons beside them. Of the three of them, only the Scorpion looked uncomfortable. His tight western jeans were not made for sitting cross-legged on cushions and he kept tugging at his waistband.
First the women brought water for the three men to wash the dust from their hands and faces. Then came gla.s.ses of green tea; finally the steaming bowls of food were brought out and placed in the middle of the carpet.
"That"s it," muttered Hex, his green eyes glinting as he watched the men take their first bites of the food. "Eat up, boys."
The men were hungry and the food was good. The two henchmen set to, stuffing it into their mouths and swilling it down with gla.s.ses of water. The Scorpion ate much more slowly, stopping often to ease his waistband away from his belly.
"Will he eat enough?" asked Amber anxiously.
"We"ll soon see," whispered Alex.
It did not take long. Twenty minutes later the two henchmen were sprawled on the cushions with their heads resting together, snoring heavily. The Scorpion was propped up against the wall of the house behind him with his head back and his mouth open. Slowly, Alpha Force and the men on the rooftops clambered to their feet and looked down. In the courtyard below the actors stopped their charade, and for a few seconds everyone was still, staring at the three unconscious men. Then Hakim"s mother produced a coil of thin rope from within her robes and held it in the air. Quickly, three other village women stepped up to help her. They moved the two Kalashnikovs out of the way, propping them up against the house wall next to the Scorpion, then they flipped the first henchman over on to his belly and yanked his hands behind his back. The rest of the women began to clear away the contaminated food.
Up on the roof, Alpha Force stood in a circle and grinned at one another.
"We did it!" laughed Amber.
"They did it," corrected Hex, nodding down to the women in the courtyard. did it," corrected Hex, nodding down to the women in the courtyard.
Amber made a face at Hex. "Whatever. I"m gonna call my uncle and get him to send the cavalry in. You coming?" She turned on her heel and headed for the steps that led down to the Land Rover in the main square.
Hex sighed and looked at the others. "What can you do with her?" he said, shaking his head before he followed Amber.
Alex and Paulo headed the other way, leaping across the moonlit rooftops towards the house where Khalid and the children waited. Paulo wanted to be the first to tell Samir the good news. Li stood alone on the rooftop for a moment, hesitating. Her head was full of thoughts of Hakim and she was not sure she wanted to be in the middle of a crowd of excited children. She chose the quieter option and followed Amber and Hex towards the Land Rover.
Down in the courtyard the women finished trussing up the first henchman and moved on to the second, bending over their work. Behind them the Scorpion twitched, then his mouth snapped shut and his eyes fluttered open. He turned his head and stared blearily at the women for a few seconds, then his eyes sharpened as he realized what they were doing. Reaching out, he grasped one of the Kalashnikovs propped against the wall next to him and, using it as a crutch, he levered himself to his feet. The drug was making his brain slow and stupid, but he knew one thing. He had to get away. He turned and walked out of the courtyard with exaggeratedly careful steps, heading for his Land Rover.
Li stepped out into the main square, following Amber and Hex. She stopped when she saw that quite a crowd of villagers had gathered around the Land Rover to listen to Amber make her call. Li watched them for a moment. Everyone else seemed to be celebrating their success, but now it was all over she could only feel a deep sadness. It was as though she could only now start mourning for the brave young boy who had died trying to save his brother. Li looked down a moonlit side street. At the end of the street, the desert opened out. Hakim"s grave was out there in the dusty little graveyard. Li remembered her promise to go back to the grave later and say her goodbyes. Now would be a perfect time. She could let Hakim know that his brother was safe and his killers were caught.
Li turned away from the square, then stopped as she heard a retching noise in the street behind her. Someone was bending over and vomiting his stomach contents into the dust. Li stepped forward to see whether she could help, and the Scorpion straightened up and looked straight at her.
He recognized her instantly. His eyes and his brain were a lot sharper now that he had rid his system of the henbane-laced food. His face was hard and he only staggered a little as he moved towards her, raising the Kalashnikov to his shoulder. Li wasted two precious seconds while her shocked brain adjusted to this new threat, then she moved into a fighting stance, judging distances. She tensed, preparing to leap high in the air and knock the weapon from the Scorpion"s hands. It was a risky move but she was counting on the henbane he had digested slowing his reactions enough for her to reach him before he could fire the gun.
Just then, she heard the laughing voices and running feet of Khalid, Jumoke and the other children. They were coming closer, heading for the main square to join in the celebrations, and Li knew they were going to appear round the corner any second now. She hesitated. Suddenly the stakes had changed. If her leap failed she was putting all their lives at risk as well as her own. Li looked down the quiet alleyway leading out to the desert and made a split-second decision. Instead of leaping towards the Scorpion she dived down the side street, leading him away from the children.
Li flew down the alleyway. As she ran, her head-cloth fell off and her long black hair streamed out in the moonlight. She heard running footsteps behind her. The Scorpion was following. Li felt her back muscles clench as she imagined a few rounds from a Kalashnikov slamming into her spine. She found more speed in her legs as she pushed on towards the end of the alleyway and burst out into the open s.p.a.ces of the desert.
Li sidestepped and pressed herself against the wall of the last village house as she looked frantically around the flat desert, trying to think of a plan. She had to lure the Scorpion away from the village and then try to take his weapon from him. She shuddered to think of the damage he could do in the crowded main square with a semi-automatic Kalashnikov. Her frantic gaze skittered over the little graveyard, then stopped on the oasis.
She headed for the grove of stunted date palms. If she could get the Scorpion in amongst the trees, she would be able to surprise him, she was almost sure of it. One good kick to the side of the head would finish what the henbane had started. As Li sprinted away across the desert, the Scorpion stumbled out of the end of the alleyway. He raised the gun to his shoulder and found her in his sights. The barrel of the Kalashnikov wove from side to side as he tried to focus and the back of Li"s head kept appearing and disappearing in the cross hairs.
With a curse, the Scorpion threw the gun to one side and headed off after Li, pulling his wickedly curved knife from its sheath as he ran. That was all he needed to kill this troublesome girl. He could finish her quickly and quietly, without attracting the unwelcome attention the noise of the Kalashnikov would bring, then he could make his escape.
The Kalashnikov clattered when it hit the stony desert floor. Li glanced back over her shoulder and saw the Scorpion jogging towards her. The knife in his hand glinted in the moonlight. Li smiled. Now he had been stupid enough to throw away the gun, all she had to do was hide until she had the chance to slip away. She could leave him stumbling about in the desert, while she headed back to the village to warn the others, picking up the Kalashnikov on the way.
Li reached the oasis and darted in amongst the trunks of the date palms, slipping between them like a shadow. Her confidence faltered as she saw that, close to, the trees were thin and spa.r.s.e. The double trunks were too slender even for her to hide behind and the ground beneath the trees was flat and open. She glanced back and saw that the Scorpion was closing in. She looked up, thinking about climbing one of the date palms, but the feathery tops would provide little cover, and if the Scorpion spotted her, she would be trapped up there.
Li turned, desperate to find somewhere to hide. Her gaze swept past the village well, then stopped and returned to it thoughtfully.
When the Scorpion staggered into the oasis less than a minute later, it was quiet and empty. He frowned and turned in a slow circle, peering between the slender tree trunks, then he did the same again, this time looking at their feathery tops. There was no-one there. The Scorpion walked over to the concrete wall surrounding the well. He put one foot on the wall and peered down into the well. It was a deep well and the moonlight only illuminated it part of the way down. The rest was in darkness.
The Scorpion straightened, then spotted the bucket made out of a tyre inner tube. The bucket was tied to a long coil of rope, which was itself attached to a rusting metal ring set into the circular concrete wall. The Scorpion sneered at the makeshift bucket. He could not quite believe that this scrawny little village had tried to take him captive. When he had made his escape, he would come back here with reinforcements and make them regret what they had done. He lifted the pathetic inner tube contraption and flung it down the well.
Li was hiding deep inside the well. She had climbed down without a rope, using a free-climbing technique. Pressing her back against one side and her feet against the other, she had used her legs and elbows to move slowly down into the depths of the well. The shaft was lined with palm trunks and the s.p.a.ces between the trunks had been filled with a mixture of clay and palm fibre. The surface was ideal for chimney climbing, with plenty of nooks and crannies for her to wedge her feet into. She sat comfortably, below the reach of the moon"s faint light, staring up at the pale circle at the top of the well and waiting for the Scorpion to go looking somewhere else.
When the bucket came tumbling down the well towards her, Li nearly fell. Quickly, she jammed her elbows into the walls, wincing as the rough surface grated the skin from her arms, then she spread her feet far apart for balance and jinked her body to one side. The bucket caught her hip as it pa.s.sed and she bit her lip to stop herself crying out with the pain. The bucket careered on down the well shaft and splashed into the murky water at the bottom. Seconds later, it shot past her again, as the Scorpion hauled it up by the rope. Water showered over her, making the walls of the shaft slippery and harder to grip. Li cursed under her breath and held on.
The Scorpion let the bucket drop a few more times, then hauled it back up to the top of the well and dumped it on the wall. He turned and walked off, kicking stones out of his way as he went.
Li listened as the Scorpion"s footsteps died away. She waited for a few more moments, but the oasis above her was silent. Her arms and legs were aching from holding herself in position and she dared not wait too long in case the Scorpion was heading back into the village. She shook the water out of her eyes and began to chimney-climb back to the top of the shaft.
When she reached the top, Li cautiously raised her head above the concrete wall and looked around. The oasis was quiet and empty. She scanned the surrounding desert, then looked towards the village. The Scorpion was nowhere in sight but she could see his Kalashnikov, still lying on the ground beside the last village house and glinting in the moonlight.
Li nodded with satisfaction, then gripped the concrete lip of the well with her strong fingers and levered herself on to the wall, preparing to head back to the village and warn the others. As she straightened up on the edge of the well shaft, a dark shape rose from behind the low concrete wall and something slammed into her stomach.
Li gasped and doubled over at the sudden, burning pain in her belly. She turned her head and looked straight into the grinning face of the Scorpion. He twisted the knife in the wound and she cried out and fell to her knees. She felt the knife being yanked out again and she cupped her hand to her stomach. When she pulled it away again it was covered in her blood, shining like black tar in the moonlight.