The Amulet of Power - Mike Resnick [28]
“I see,” said Lara. “That is a fascinating piece of information.”
She fell silent for a few moments.
“Are you all right?” asked Omar solicitously.
“Yes. I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“I was thinking,” she replied, “that the Amenhotep’s restaurant wasn’t so terrible after all.”
“I warned you that the explanation would upset you,” said Omar.
“It is not an appetizing picture,” responded Lara. “But it doesn’t upset me. When you are facing death, you do what you have to do.”
“I knew I liked you!” said Omar.
“Not everyone does, you know.”
“Show me someone who doesn’t, and I will convince them of the error of their ways,” said Omar confidently.
“They’re on that hill,” she said, looking over his shoulder at half a dozen mounted men who had just appeared atop a ridge half a mile away.
Suddenly a shot rang out, then two more.
“And they’re going to take a lot of convincing,” said Lara grimly.
10
“There are no trees, no places to hide,” said Gaafar. “We’ll have to make our fight right here.” He turned to Lara. “Get off your camel. We’ll have the beasts kneel down and use them for cover.”
“Why?” demanded Lara.
“This is what we have always done.”
“Well, it’s stupid,” she said. “If the camels are shot, how will we get out of here even if we survive?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Have you got any explosives?” she asked. “Even a hand grenade?”
Hassam pulled out a bag of grenades. “I have half a dozen, but it will do no good. By the time those men are close enough for me to use them, they will have killed us all.”
“Drop the bag on the ground right now!” ordered Lara.
Hassam looked at Omar, who nodded his assent.
“Now, do we all agree I’m the only one they want?” said Lara as a bullet kicked up the sand some fifteen yards away.
“Yes.”
“Then start riding off.”
“We will not leave you!” insisted Omar.
“I don’t want you to leave me,” said Lara. “I want you to obey me! I’m going to ride about fifty yards with you, then surrender. I’ll stand there with my hands raised and wait for them to approach me.”
“They will shoot you,” said Gaafar.
“Why? If I tell them where the Amulet is, it’s easier for them than searching for it. You’re the guys who want it to stay hidden or be destroyed; they’re the guys who want it found.”
“Surrendering isn’t much of a strategy,” said Gaafar disapprovingly.
“When they get within a few yards of the grenades, the best marksman among you will shoot into the bag,” explained Lara. “With a little luck, it will wipe them out, and I’ll be far enough away that neither the explosion nor the flying shrapnel will cause me any problem.”
“You’re asking us to hit the grenades at perhaps two hundred yards,” said Omar. “What if we miss?”
“Then I’ll try to hit them myself,” answered Lara. “But it’d be better if you don’t miss. The second I reach for my pistols, they’re going to shoot me.”
“And if we all miss it?”
“If we all miss it,” she replied, “we’ll sell our lives as dearly as possible—which is what we were going to do anyway. Now ride!”
Omar nodded again, and the three men rode off. Lara followed them, then pretended to lose her balance and fall off the camel, landing heavily on the sand. She didn’t know how realistic it looked, but she couldn’t think of any other way to dismount that wouldn’t arouse their suspicions. They just might believe that the Englishwoman couldn’t balance on a running camel.
They were within 150 yards of her, and closing fast. She raised her arms and yelled, “Don’t shoot! I give up!” Then, for good measure, she repeated it in Egyptian, Arabic, and one of the more widespread Sudanese dialects.
The men stopped firing and approached more slowly, keeping their rifles trained on her. Now they were sixty