Billy said, "Now what?"

"Tony says he just saw the Rashid helicopter, so we keep going hard until we meet up with them. You go down on the footplate with the driver and fireman and keep them at it. I'll talk to them. Get on with it."

Billy did as he was told an dropped down to Ali and Halim, who looked greatly shocked. Dillon shouted down in his bad Arabic. "Everyone else is dead. If you want to live, keep the train moving and do as you're told, otherwise my friend will shoot you."

Ali looked cowed, but Halim, as it sank in, looked angry now. Dillon went back to the roof of the first wagon, got the Codex, and rang Ferguson. There was an almost instant reply.

"Ferguson."

"Dillon. I'm standing on top of a train just about to cross the Bacu Bridge. There've been no nasty explosions, so the oil can continue to flow to an ungrateful world, which will never know how close it came to disaster."

"And Keenan and company?"

"Dead, I'm afraid, gone to that great IRA rest home in the sky."

"As usual, you astonish me."

"G.o.d save us, General, I astonish myself sometimes, but I must go. I think I heard the Rashid helicopter approaching."

They were on the way in to the bridge, the Scorpion at six hundred feet, when Rupert Dauncey first saw the column of Land Rovers over to the left. Kate Rashid picked up a pair of binoculars and focused on them.

"It's Tony Villiers and the Scouts. What's he doing here?"

"More importantly," her cousin said, "how did he know to be here?"

The Bacu Bridge loomed ahead, an awesome sight, and the train started to cross. "What in h.e.l.l is going on? It isn't stopping," Kate said.

Dauncey had taken the binoculars from her and focused them. He pa.s.sed them to her. "Even more interesting is how an old friend of yours happens to be down there dressed in a Special Forces combat uniform."

It was her turn to focus the binoculars. "My G.o.d," she whispered. "Dillon, but how?"

As the Scorpion made its pa.s.s, Dillon waved cheerfully.

"d.a.m.n you," she said.

The train continued to cross, Dillon still waving. It reached the other side and she said, "Abu, shoot him."

"Waste of time, sweetie," Rupert told her. "That's not the way this thing operates."

Abu pulled open the door, leaned forward and fired, but the helicopter bucked and he dropped his rifle and grabbed at a seat belt, almost going headfirst through the door.

On the footplate, Billy looked up at the sound of the shot, and Halim grabbed at Billy's AK, forcing the barrel up. Billy fired, alerting Dillon, but even as he did so, the fireman, with his great strength, hurled Billy backwards out of the engine.

As Dillon shot Halim in the back, too late, driving him also to the side of the track, Dauncey took the binoculars and focused on Billy. "It's young Salter."

Kate Rashid shouted at Carver, "Land beside him. Go on, do it." She turned to Rupert. "Give me your Walther."

"Now look, Kate, Villiers will be here at any moment. Let's get out of here."

"Give me your Walther!"

Abu glared at Dauncey and held his AK ready. Rupert sighed, took out the weapon, and gave it to her. "As you say, cousin." The Scorpion turned, hovered, and went down.

Dillon dropped onto the footplate and rammed his AK into Ali's side. "Stop the train," he said in Arabic. "Now."

Ali did as he was told and Dillon jumped to the ground, turned, and ran back.

Billy, dazed, was hauled to his feet by Abu and the two Bedu. There was blood on his face from a bad cut.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Kate said. "You little c.o.c.kney swine. I told you all that you were dead when I was ready. Well, your time has come. Go on, run for it." She said to Abu in Arabic, "Make him run."

Abu sent Billy staggering away, and she fired at him repeatedly, most of her bullets. .h.i.tting the t.i.tanium waistcoat, but two struck the top of his right thigh and another pa.s.sed through the left side of his neck.

Dillon dropped to one knee and fired, catching one of the Bedu, then swung as Rupert pulled Kate inside, and shot Abu in the back of the head as he tried to follow them. The other Bedu simply ran away, making for the sand dunes.

As Carver took the Scorpion up, Dillon ran to Billy and fell on his knees beside him, and it was at that moment that Tony Villiers and the Scouts arrived.

They laid Billy across the rear seats of one of the Land Rovers while Villiers checked him out, a combat medical kit open on the driver's seat. They'd taken off the t.i.tanium waistcoat, which had four bullets embedded in it.

"Has he had it?" Dillon demanded.

"Well, I'm no doctor, but I've treated plenty of gunshot wounds. Here, the bullet's gone straight through the neck. If it had damaged an artery, the blood would have been pumping out, and it isn't, so we can do a temporary job on that with wound packs. Pa.s.s me one."

He quickly bandaged Billy's neck, who moaned softly, eyes staring. "Thank G.o.d for t.i.tanium," Dillon said.

"Yes, but he's been shot twice at the top of his right thigh." Villiers took a scalpel from the kit and sliced open the material, exposing two bullet wounds. There was very little blood and he felt round to the other side. "They're still inside. G.o.d knows how much damage they've done. All I can do is bandage again and give him morphine. There are drips in the medical kits in all the Land Rovers. Someone can sit close and hold one for him."

"That's me," Dillon said.

He helped sit Billy up as Villiers used the wound pack, tying it securely round the waist. Finally, he covered the gash in the face with a large bandage and carefully inserted the needle from one of the drip bags into the left arm. The Bedu had watched impa.s.sively, and now Achmed came forward and held the plastic bag high.

"Four hours to Hazar and a hospital, on this road. Does he have a chance?" Dillon asked.

"I don't know, but I can improve his chances. I'll call Ferguson."

He found him enjoying the comforts of the Excelsior, there no longer being any reason for them to maintain their presence in Hazar secret.

"Where are you?" Villiers asked.

"In the bar at the Excelsior, celebrating with Harry. I've spoken to Blake Johnson. He's over the moon."

"Well, hold the celebration. Billy's been badly wounded. Kate Rashid shot him several times in the back."

"Dear G.o.d."

"We need to get him to Hazar Hospital as soon as possible. The train's no good. It carries on north into the Empty Quarter, which leaves us with a four-hour trip by road."

"But can the boy survive that?"

"Well, his chances would improve if you arranged to have an ambulance come to meet us halfway. The head of surgery at the hospital is a man called Daz, an Indian. He's done a lot for me in the past. Get in touch with him and arrange it. They can't miss us. It's the only road."

"Leave it with me."

Villiers said, "Let's get out of here. You sit beside Billy, Dillon, I'll go in front with Achmed. My lads will have to sort themselves out." He turned to his men and said in Arabic, "Let's move out. We push for Hazar hard."

In the Scorpion, Kate Rashid called Captain Black on his mobile and found him at the airport. "What can I do for you, Countess?"

"We'll be landing in about an hour. I want an immediately departure slot for England. Take care of it."

"Of course, Countess. There was a message for you from your houseboy. He said that if you were in touch, to tell you he's heard General Ferguson and a Mr. Salter have moved into the Excelsior."

"Thank you."

She switched off and pa.s.sed the information to Dauncey. "It's a good thing we have our personal luggage on board. We can get straight off."

"Are we running, Kate?"

"Don't be silly. From what? The Bacu Bridge is still in one piece, and so is the train. Everybody down there is dead. They can't prove a thing."

"Interesting, though, that they were all here. I wonder how they knew?"

"It's something to do with Dillon, it always is. G.o.d knows what, not that it matters now. At least I've settled the score with one of them."

"But not Dillon."

"My day will come, darling, just wait and see."

An hour and a half after leaving the bridge, Villiers received a call from Daz. "Ah, Tony, the General explained your predicament. Describe the young man's symptoms." Villiers told him quickly what had happened and what he'd done.

"And how is he now?"

"Unconscious, but still with us. It's a rough ride."

"I know. I decided to come myself. It could make big difference. It won't be long now, Colonel."

Villiers told Dillon, who said, "Thank G.o.d. There's no color in him at all."

"Just keep the faith," Villiers said. "That's all we can do."

The wind sprang up again, spraying sand everywhere, and Dillon leaned over Billy, trying to protect him, despair in his head now. My younger brother, that was how he liked to describe himself, Dillon thought.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n you, Kate," Dillon said softly. "If he dies, there'll be no place you can hide from me."

A moment later, a large ambulance emerged from the murk in front of them. Daz, a tall, cadaverous Indian wearing a hooded burnoose, emerged with two paramedics carrying a stretcher. They had Billy on it in a moment and turned back to the ambulance.

"We'll get straight back," Daz said. "I don't want to waste time."

Villiers said, "Go with him, Dillon. I'll see you soon."

Dillon ran after Daz and climbed in the rear of the ambulance. Suddenly, it was a calmer, more ordered world, the sound of the wind and the sandstorm remote, and he sat there watching Daz and his paramedics working on his friend.

In the lounge at the hospital three hours later, Dillon and Harry Salter sat drinking whiskey from a half-bottle obtained from the Excelsior bar.

"What a b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Harry said.

Dillon nodded. "You've no idea how sorry I am."

"Oh, yes I have. It's not your fault, Dillon." He shook his head. "I couldn't love that boy more if he was my own son." Suddenly, he held out his paper cup. "Give me another." His hand shook a little. "He could die on us, Dillon, and that b.i.t.c.h shot him in the back."

"You know what they say, Harry. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It gives some people the idea they can do anything and get away with it. Kate Rashid's like that, but what happens when you find out you can't get what you want, can't have your own way? It's enough to drive you mad, if you're not mad already."

"Well, she bleeding is. If I ever get my hands on her..." He didn't finish, because Tony Villiers and Ferguson entered.

"Any news?" Ferguson asked.

Dillon shook his head. "Not yet."

"Well, I have. I've just checked with Lacey at the airport. Apparently, Kate Rashid and her cousin left for London more than two hours ago."

"Flying the coop," Dillon said.

"You could say that," Ferguson replied. "But look at it another way. What do we really have on her? The Bacu Bridge didn't happen. She's still the leader of the Rashid Bedu, the most powerful figure in Southern Arabia."

"What about the tape-the recording?"

"It doesn't mean a thing, because none of it happened. What would you ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to do? What would they be trying to get the richest woman in the world for, a flight of fantasy? No, the DPP's office wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, and if they did, a posse of London's most gifted QCs would make mincemeat of them."

"So she gets away with it?" Harry said.

At that moment, Daz entered the lounge, still in his operating clothes. Harry was on his feet in seconds. "How is he?"

"I've done all I can here. He was lucky that the bullet in the neck missed a major artery, otherwise he'd have bled to death. Eighteen st.i.tches in the face will leave him with an interesting scar, but the trouble is the other two bullets. They've fractured the pelvic girdle. He's going to need a top orthopedic surgeon when he returns to London, but, in my opinion, it's nothing that can't be put right."

"Where is he now?" Harry asked. "Can I see him?"

"I'd rather not. He's in intensive care. Tomorrow morning would be better."

"When will he be fit for a trip to London?" Ferguson asked.

"I'd say four days from now, a.s.suming no complications."

"Excellent." Ferguson turned to Harry. "You'll want to stay with him?"

"Too b.l.o.o.d.y right."

"Good. I've got to get back to London, but we'll stay in touch. I'll have the Gulfstream come for you four days from now and I'll discuss the case with Henry Bellamy. If anyone knows who the best orthopedic surgeon in London is, he will."

"Great," Harry said.