Desert Pursuit Part 8

They kept close to the base of the bluff, glad of the shade it provided for them as they travelled through the hottest part of the day. The sandstone had been carved into fantastic shapes by the wind and the walls were dotted with caves. It took them half an hour to travel the length of the bluff, then they were out of its shade and back in the full heat of the desert sun, but they kept going, determined to catch up with Li before night fell.

The sun was low and the shadows long when Amber slapped Alex on the shoulder. Alex jumped. He had fallen into an almost trance-like condition as he followed the Unimog tracks through the desert with the sun beating down on his head.

'Border!' yelled Amber.

'What?'

'Border coming up! Stop!'

Alex brought the quad to a halt and Paulo pulled up beside him. Amber showed them the map on her GPS unit. The border was clearly marked on the little screen, but there was nothing ahead of them to show that they were about to cross over into Morocco; just the flat plain with the Unimog tracks cutting across it towards a range of low dunes. Alex lifted his binoculars and scanned the area.

'What are you expecting to see?' drawled Hex. 'A red line marking the border? Or maybe a little checkpoint, just for us?'

'There might be soldiers,' said Alex.

'Out here?' Hex snorted. 'Why would they be out here? There isn't even a road. That's why the Scorpion came this way.'

'I know it's unlikely,' said Alex tightly. 'But it would be stupid to head into danger unprepared.'

'But that was just what you let Li do,' said Paulo. 'Wasn't it?'

The three of them glared at one another. They knew they should stop, but they were all feeling tired and dehydrated and wanting to take it out on someone.

'Guys, back down!' yelled Amber. 'Can we focus, please? According to my GPS unit, there's a town over the other side of those dunes. It's in Morocco, but only just.' She grinned at them. 'A frontier town. If I were the Scorpion that's the location I'd chose for my base. I think that town is where he's taken Li and the others. We're nearly there!'

Paulo smiled for the first time since Li had gone missing. 'Let us go,' he said.

The town was just where Amber had said it would be, spread out beyond the dunes like a 3D map. Alpha Force lay on their bellies at the top of a dune, studying the layout. The only road to the town came in from the north. To the south, there was nothing but desert, with the Unimog's tracks cutting across it. The town was built beside a large oasis. Unlike the dying well back at the village, this oasis was green and thriving. There was a large palmery around the edge, full of the feathery tops of date palms. Further in, there were terraces of olive, almond and fruit trees. Looking through his binoculars, Alex could even see grain and vegetable crops planted beneath the trees.

'There must be a big reserve of underground water here,' he muttered, studying the oasis.

'Forget the water,' said Amber, s.n.a.t.c.hing the binoculars. 'Is there any sign of the Unimog?'

'You won't see it from up here, even with binoculars,' said Hex. 'There are too many alleyways and courtyards where it could be hidden.'

Amber threw him a look, then raked the binoculars back and forth across the town. Hex was right, of course. The houses were the white, flat-roofed buildings typical of the area and they all had deep courtyards to provide shade. Amber shifted the binoculars to the busy souk in the centre of the town. She could see hole-in-the-wall shops and market stalls and people thronging the streets, enjoying the relative cool of the early evening.

'That's where we should go,' she said, handing the binoculars back to Alex. 'The souk. The market. They sell everything there. If we want to know about slaves for sale, that's the place to find out.'

SIXTEEN.

The Scorpion unlaced the canvas at the back of the Unimog and yanked open the flaps, making everyone blink in the sudden brightness.

'We have arrived,' he said.

It was four long hours since they had left Hakim bleeding and screaming in the desert. The shocked group in the back of the Unimog had needed no more convincing from Li of the Scorpion's intention to sell them into slavery. As the vehicle rattled on through the desert, they had cl.u.s.tered around Li and Khalid in the hot, stinking darkness, demanding to know the escape plan. Khalid had proudly told them all about Alpha Force, explaining that Li's friends Alex, Amber, Hex and Paulo were tracking the Unimog to the Scorpion's base, where they would carry out their rescue plan.

Li had smiled and nodded in agreement, but underneath her smiles she was much less confident of rescue. She had not told Khalid that she had left her tracker device out in the desert with Hakim. And there was another problem. The sandstorm. She knew it must have delayed Alpha Force, but by how much? Even if they managed to find her without the tracker device, would they get there before the auction?

'Out! Out now!' yelled the Scorpion, gesturing impatiently at them.

Li gave the others an encouraging smile before climbing stiffly down from the back of the Unimog. Quickly, she scanned the quiet back street, but there was no sign of the other four.

The Unimog was parked beside a high, whitewashed wall. There was an arched, wrought-iron gate in the wall and the Scorpion pushed it open, hustling them through into an enclosed courtyard with a well in the centre. Li looked around as the gate clanged shut behind them. This was the Scorpion's base. It was a long, low building, stretching around the other three sides of the courtyard. The side to the right of the gate was open to the courtyard and Li could see that it was one big, rectangular room with elaborate rugs scattered across the floor. On the rugs were low tables, set with hookahs, bowls of dates and pistachios and gla.s.ses with sprigs of mint in them, waiting for green tea. Cushions had been laid out around the tables to serve as seats. It could have been a room prepared for a party.

Except for the raised dais at one end.

Li stared at the platform and realized she was looking at the auction room where they were to be sold the next day. A shudder ran through her as she imagined standing on the dais while a roomful of buyers bid for her. Turning away, she scanned the left-hand wing of the building. This side was not open to the courtyard. The frontage was a windowless, whitewashed wall, with a stout, padlocked wooden door set into it. Li had a feeling that the room beyond that door was to be their quarters for the night.

The silence in the courtyard was broken by the sound of a high-pitched, complaining voice coming from the house that formed the main part of the building. The voice came closer, accompanied by the slip-slap of leather sandals on tiles. They all looked towards the dark, open doorway of the house and a few seconds later the owner of the voice and the sandals appeared.

She was a huge woman, with a broad face as worn and pocked as a piece of old sandstone. She was dressed in black from head to foot, but her sleeves were rolled to the elbow, showing ma.s.sive, slab-like forearms. As she came into the courtyard, a non-stop stream of Arabic flowed out of her, mainly directed at the Scorpion and his men. The Scorpion ignored her. He was tending to his dog in a shady corner.

'What's she saying?' whispered Li in French, turning to Khalid.

'She is his mother. She is saying that he is late. She has only two hours to make us ready before the buyers arrive.'

'The buyers! But the auction isn't until tomorrow.'

'No. But tonight there is a viewing. They are coming to look at us before they buy.'

The woman marched up to them, still complaining, and roughly pushed them into a line. She inspected them, tutting when she came to Khalid. She grabbed hold of his chin and turned his head from side to side, inspecting the scarring before she moved on down the line.

'What did she say?' whispered Li, once she had been inspected.

'She says I will fetch less. But I don't need a pretty face to weave carpets,' said Khalid matter-of-factly.

Li felt the anger race through her at this casual cruelty. She narrowed her eyes and glared at the woman as she waddled on down the line. 'She's no oil painting,' she hissed and Khalid grinned.

'How can you smile at a time like this?' demanded Li, staring at Khalid's cheerful face.

'Because we will escape tonight,' said Khalid calmly. 'Alpha Force will make sure of that.'

As Li stared at Khalid, she wished she could be so sure. At the other end of the line the woman's complaints had turned into shouts and they both turned to see what was happening. She had hauled a bucketful of water from the well and plonked it down in front of Juma, who was at the head of the line. As Li and Khalid watched, the woman handed Juma a metal dipper.

'Yallah!' she shouted. 'Yallah! Yallah!'

When Juma did not move fast enough for her, she pulled a thin, whippy cane from her belt and began beating him across the back of the legs with it. Juma yelled with pain and surprise. Quickly, Khalid translated for him. 'She's saying "Come on, let's go!" She wants you to pick up the water.'

Juma grabbed the bucket handle and the woman stopped beating him. 'Now take it down the line and give everyone a drink,' translated Khalid.

The water was cool and clear. After two days in the desert, drinking from goatskin girbas, Li thought it was the best water she had ever tasted. While they drank, the woman moved to the side of the courtyard, still complaining. She took the covers from two large bowls and beckoned them over. Everyone jumped to obey her, but she still used her cane to hurry them along.

'She says we must eat quickly,' explained Khalid.

The larger bowl was full of cold, stuck-together couscous and the smaller bowl contained some sort of a watery stew with swirls of grease floating on the top. Li peered more closely at the stew and wished she hadn't. She could see pieces of liver in there, and part of a heart, with the white tube of artery still sticking out of it. She felt her stomach turn over at the thought of eating cold offal stew, but the others were already tucking in, sitting around the bowls in a tight circle and eating with their hands. Only Samir was not eating. He sat, staring straight ahead, his eyes big and strained in his thin face and his mind full of images of his brother's fate. Sisi leaned across and pushed morsels of food into his mouth, feeding him as though he were a baby bird. Li forced herself to sit down with them and eat a few handfuls of the couscous.

'Here,' said Kesia, holding out a dripping piece of lung.

'No,' said Li, feeling her stomach clench. 'Thanks.'

Kesia shrugged and ate the morsel herself. Li felt ashamed at her distaste. Her companions were very hungry. They had been existing on flat bread and water for days. Besides, it was only Li's western upbringing that was making her feel sick; the others saw nothing wrong in using every part of an animal. In their communities, when a beast was slaughtered, not a single sc.r.a.p was wasted.

While they were eating, the Scorpion and his men disappeared into the house, leaving the woman in charge. By the time the bowls were empty she had drawn another bucket of water and was standing beside it, holding a large scrubbing brush and a bar of hard soap. She shouted across the courtyard at them.

'She says girls first,' translated Khalid.

The boys sat against the wall on the left-hand side of the courtyard while the girls lined up in front of the woman. Kesia was at the head of the line. The woman grabbed her and began to strip off her clothes. Kesia resisted, casting horrified glances towards the line of watching boys, but the woman beat her with the cane until she stopped struggling. Kesia hung her head and tears of shame dripped from the end of her nose as she allowed the woman to strip her. An uncomfortable silence grew in the courtyard, broken only by the sound of Kesia's sobs.

Li was horrified. The woman was stripping Kesia of more than her clothes; her human dignity was being stripped away too. Li looked over to the line of boys. They were all embarra.s.sed, staring at the ground or studying their hands. Suddenly, Khalid's face brightened as an idea came to him. He glanced at the other boys, then shuffled around until he was sitting with his back to Kesia. Hastily, the other boys copied Khalid. They all turned to face the wall and stayed there, staring at the whitewashed surface as though it were the most fascinating thing they had ever seen.

When Kesia saw what the boys were doing, her sobs stopped and a relieved smile spread across her face. She straightened her shoulders and stood proudly, meeting the woman's gaze. The woman tutted, grabbed Kesia by the neck and dunked her head into the bucket. Kesia came up coughing and spluttering and the woman attacked her hair with the hard soap. Next she lathered the brush and scrubbed Kesia all over with it, ignoring her winces of pain. Finally, the bucket of water was upended over Kesia's head and the woman handed her a simple, round-necked cotton tunic with holes for her arms. Kesia pulled on the tunic, which came down to her knees, and went to sit in the sun to dry off.

Jumoke was next. She cried as the harsh bristles sc.r.a.ped her skin, but the woman beat her with the cane until she stopped. When Li stepped up for her turn, she understood why Jumoke had cried. It felt as though the bristles were tearing her to shreds and the soap was harsh and stinging. Once it was over, Li tried to pick up her gandourah and sirwal, but the woman slapped her hard and thrust a tunic at her instead. Li glared at the woman, the anger flaring inside her again, but the woman stared back at her with eyes as hard and cold as a pair of black marbles until Li lowered her gaze.

I will pay you back for this, thought Li as she pulled on the tunic and went to join the other girls. Just you wait.

SEVENTEEN.

'They're all staring at you!' hissed Amber to Hex and Alex, as Alpha Force walked towards the souk.

They had left their quads in a quiet side street on the outskirts of the town. In their travel-stained headcloths, gandourah and sirwal, they had hoped to merge in with the crowd, but things were not quite working out. Amber could easily be one of the many West Africans living and working in Morocco, and Paulo's dark, South American looks meant he could just about pa.s.s as an Arab if n.o.body looked too closely, but Hex and Alex were causing problems.

Their fair skin labelled them as westerners, but their desert clothes gave out a different message and the street traders and gangs of little boys trying to sell baskets of dates did not quite know how to react to them.

'What do you suggest, Amber?' replied Alex, trying to keep his head down and his grey eyes hidden as he walked.

'I don't know, but we'll never find out where they've taken Li while you're getting this sort of attention!'

'Wait here,' said Hex suddenly, grabbing Alex by the arm and pulling him down a narrow alleyway.

Amber and Paulo moved to the side of the street and leaned against the wall as though they had nothing better to do than watch the crowds pa.s.s by. The date boys lost interest and moved on, the street traders turned to more promising customers and still Hex and Alex did not reappear.

After a few more minutes Amber turned to peer into the alleyway. Two women dressed in allenveloping black burkas were approaching her, but otherwise the alleyway was empty. 'Where are they?' she sighed.

'Right here,' said one of the women in a deep voice, gripping Amber by the elbow.

Amber squeaked and peered in through the cloth grille in the front of the burka. Hex's amused green eyes looked out at her.

'Where did you find those?' gasped Amber.

'Washing lines are useful things,' said Hex, still gripping Amber by the arm as they walked into the souk. 'You'll have to guide me though. I can't see left or right in this thing. Can't even see my own feet. I feel as though I'm going to fall over something any minute now.'

Behind Amber and Hex, Paulo took Alex by the arm and the four of them made their way into the centre of the souk. No-one paid any attention to the two women in burkas being accompanied through the streets by their young sons. Amber led them from stall to stall, pretending to inspect the displays of semi-precious stones, jewellery, pottery, carpets, leather, bra.s.swork and spices. All the while, she was listening to the buzz of voices and homing in on any conversations in French.

They were pa.s.sing a small street cafe when Amber came to a sudden halt. Alex walked straight into the back of her. 'Give me a bit of warning, will you?' he whispered from under his burka.

'Shhh!' hissed Amber, tilting her head. Someone was talking about an auction. She looked in the direction of the voices and saw two Arab men sitting at a small table in the corner, drinking gla.s.ses of tea. A slow grin spread across Amber's face as she listened.

'We've found her!' she whispered to the others. 'Those two are talking about a beautiful Chinese girl who will be sold at auction tomorrow. That must be Li. There's a viewing tonight and they're going to have a look at her once they've finished their tea. All we need to do is follow them!'

The men led them back out to the southern outskirts of the town. As they walked, more men joined the two they were following and by the time they arrived in a quiet back street right on the edge of the desert, there was a small crowd of potential buyers. The men all strolled through an arched gateway set into a high, whitewashed wall. Amber nudged Hex in the ribs and nodded towards the dusty Unimog, parked out on the street beside the wall. The Scorpion's men were working on it, swilling out the back and loading new supplies into the s.p.a.ces under the benches.

'This is it,' she whispered. 'And it looks like they're planning another buying trip after the auction. Huh! That's what they think. Come on.' She marched up to the gate with Hex clutching her arm and Paulo and Alex hurrying along behind, but the Scorpion stepped in front of her, barring her way.

'Buyers only,' he snapped, folding his arms. He was wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a different checked shirt. His cowboy boots were polished to a high shine and his scorpion tattoo glistened on his forearm, the stinger seeming to move whenever the muscles flexed. His curved knife hung at his belt in its leather sheath. Amber stepped back meekly, guiding Hex away from the gate, and the Scorpion dismissed her. Turning to his men, he gave a sharp whistle and pointed to his watch. They were ready to start the viewing.

The two men hurried into the courtyard and the Scorpion shut the gate. Alpha Force moved cautiously back up to the closed gate, expecting to be shooed away, but n.o.body paid them any attention. It seemed that curious onlookers were a common sight at the gate on viewing evenings.

The buyers settled on their cushions in the open-sided auction room and the Scorpion moved around, shaking hands and greeting old clients. A huge woman dressed in black was easing her bulk between the low tables and bending to pour green tea into the men's gla.s.ses. Alex shook his head as he watched the scene in the courtyard. It all looked so civilized, but these men were there to trade in human beings.

The woman finished pouring tea and, at a signal from the Scorpion, waddled over to a stout wooden door on the opposite side of the courtyard. The hum of conversation died and the men all turned to watch as the woman unlocked the padlock and swung the door open. She pulled a cruel-looking switch from her belt and shouted through the doorway in a high-pitched voice.

'Yallah! Yallah!'

The men all craned their necks and then relaxed back on to their cushions as six boys walked from the dark room beyond the doorway and stood blinking in the courtyard. The Scorpion knew who the men had come to see and he was saving the main attraction for last. There was a lot of good-natured laughter from the buyers. The tea was hot. The dates were sweet. They were happy to play along.

'This is disgusting,' muttered Amber, glaring at the buyers.

'You're looking the wrong way,' whispered Hex. Amber followed his pointing finger and saw that one of the six boys in the courtyard was Khalid. She grinned and tried to catch his eye, but Khalid was too busy sending wary glances over at the buyers. The woman brought her switch down over his shoulders and he jumped, then hurried across the courtyard, keeping a firm grip on the hand of a young Arab boy.

'That's the kid from the village,' said Alex and Amber nodded, recognizing him. Paulo watched him intently, remembering the promise he had made to the boy's older brother to bring him home again.

One by one, the boys were hustled up on to the platform at the front of the auction room. They were all wearing identical pairs of coa.r.s.e cotton trousers and their chests were bare. The buyers studied them and occasionally called out a request to the woman in black. She would nod and get the boy to turn round, or run on the spot or hold his hands out with the fingers spread. Once she switched on a torch and shone it into a boy's open mouth so that the buyers could see his teeth.

When all the boys had been viewed, they were lined up to one side of the stage and three West African girls, two older and one younger, were brought out of the dark room across the courtyard. They were dressed in short, sleeveless tunics and their feet were bare. The girls went through the same viewing procedure as the boys, then they too were lined up at the side of the stage. A rustle of whispering spread through the buyers. The girl they had come to see was to be brought out next.

Amber, Alex, Paulo and Hex turned to watch the dark doorway. The woman called, then called again, but it wasn't until she brought out her switch and flourished it threateningly that the final girl stepped out of the room. It was Li. She was dressed like the other girls in a sleeveless shift, but she wore it as though it were a royal gown.

Paulo felt his heart swell with pride as he watched her stalk across the courtyard with her head held high and her uptilted eyes flashing defiance. She looked beautiful. Her long hair swung loose, reaching down to her waist. It was still slightly damp and it shone with glossy highlights as it caught the evening sun. Her skin looked a little red, as though it had been scrubbed too hard, but otherwise Paulo was glad to see that she looked unharmed. Behind Paulo, Alex let out a long, relieved sigh. He had never quite forgiven himself for letting her go off with the Scorpion in the first place.

Li stepped up on to the dais and stood with her hands on her hips, glaring out at the men who sat at the low tables. The murmur of voices rose in volume to an excited buzz, and suddenly hands were being waved in the air as the buyers called out their offers. The Scorpion smiled, then walked up to the front of the room and stood there, shaking his head and holding up his hands. He gave a nod to the woman and she began herding the group back across the courtyard.

'Come on, Li,' breathed Paulo. 'Look this way. This way.'

As though she had heard him, Li turned her head to look out at the street. Her eyes widened in delighted astonishment as she saw Amber and Paulo standing at the gate, grinning in at her. Li turned her attention to the two burka-clad women standing behind Amber and Paulo and her look of delight turned into a puzzled frown until one of the women gave her a thumbs-up sign. Li smiled in sudden understanding, then gave a slight nod towards the dark room before facing forwards again and walking on across the courtyard.