by Chris Ryan
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 passed 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 passing 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 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 quantities as a painkiller and a sedative, but in larger quantities 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 clustered 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 space, 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 glasses 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 glasses 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.
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 retc
hing 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 spaces 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.
