Free Desert Pursuit by Chris Ryan Page A

call in the authorities and they can mop up the Scorpion and his whole organization in one operation.’ She dropped the locket back into her shirt, tucking it under the bandage to keep it hidden.
    ‘You know,’ said Amber softly, ‘it really isn’t such a bad idea.’
    Li grinned at Amber and handed over her watch and the little opal ring she always wore. ‘Keep these safe until I can be a girl again,’ she said.
    Amber took the jewellery, then gave Li a hug. ‘Be careful.’
    Li nodded. ‘I’m going to work my way over to the oasis first. Then it’ll look as though I’ve just walked out of the village.’
    ‘Good idea,’ said Amber. ‘We’ll stay to make sure they take you on board, then we’ll head back to the Unimog. We’ll be right behind you with that tracker.’
    ‘Wait! Wait a minute,’ said Alex. He was floundering. Events were moving rapidly out of his control and he could not seem to get a grip on the situation. ‘You haven’t even got a weapon—’
    ‘I can look after myself,’ smiled Li, adopting a fighting stance. ‘Paulo can vouch for that.’
    Alex grinned despite himself, remembering how Paulo had once tried to make a move on Li. He had only tried once. Li had thrown him clear over her shoulder.
    ‘OK,’ he said, raising his hands in defeat. ‘I give in.’
    Li’s smile widened and her uptilted eyes sparkled at the thought of getting into some action at last. She turned and headed off towards the oasis, keeping low and moving at a steady trot. Amber and Alex watched her go until she slipped out of sight, then they crawled to the top of the rise again and waited for her to walk out of the oasis.
    ‘She’ll be fine,’ said Amber, noticing Alex’s worried face.
    ‘I hope so,’ muttered Alex, watching as the Scorpion and his men roughly bundled the two young brothers into the back of the Unimog. ‘Because if she isn’t, I’ll never forgive myself for letting her go.’

E LEVEN
    Li hurried out from the oasis, calling and waving to the traffickers in broken French, her face a picture of anxiety in case they left without her.
    ‘She’s good,’ breathed Amber admiringly, peering over the top of the rise. ‘She even runs like a boy.’
    Alex tensed as the man with the Kalashnikov slung across his back spotted Li and reached for his weapon, but the Scorpion put out a hand to stop him. As Alex and Amber watched, Li stood in front of the Scorpion and pleaded with him to take her along too and find her a good apprenticeship. The Scorpion listened, arms folded across his chest, then turned to his men with an amused look on his face. They grinned back. It was not often a boy walked right into their clutches without a struggle.
    Turning back to Li, the Scorpion made a show of reluctance. He reached out to test the muscles in her wiry arms, then pulled down her chin to check her teeth. Finally he shrugged and pulled open the canvas flap at the back of the Unimog. Li boosted herself up on the tailgate and disappeared inside the vehicle. The dog jumped in after her, the three men climbed into the cab and the Unimog trundled away, heading north.
    ‘Right,’ said Alex. ‘Let’s move it. We need to get back to the Monster and hit the road double quick. That tracker unit only has a five-kilometre range so we need to catch up and then keep on their tail. It took us twenty minutes to get here on the quads, but we should do the return trip in half that time because we can move straight and fast—’
    ‘What’s that?’ interrupted Amber, pointing south. Alex turned to look. The whole of the southern horizon was lost behind a thick, red wall of dust. Within the wall, the dust was constantly moving, swirling in the hot, strengthening wind and rising into the sky in tall spiralling columns.
    It was a sandstorm and it was heading their way.
    Alex and Amber raced for the quads, pausing only to grab black ski goggles and thin pigskin gloves from the panniers on the back of the machines. They