“Most important,” I said, “is to tell them about the camel caravan that will enter the Taza Gap. Tell them I said to run with the ball.”
She frowned.
“That means to do whatever is necessary to meet the situation,” I said.
“Where will you be, Nick?” she asked.
“I’m going to find me a spot somewhere and wait for that caravan,” I answered. “If my people don’t make it, I might still find a way to do something. I don’t know what but I’m sure as hell going to try.”
I looked down at her and remembered my thoughts about giving her a personal stake in all this. Now it was my time to buy a little insurance. I pressed my lips down on hers and held her breasts, pressing both hands against them. I ran my thumbs gently across their tips, feeling her nipples swell beneath the fabric of the dress.
“Remember what I said about needing each other?” I asked. “After you get to my people, when this is over, maybe we can make this a permanent team?”
I saw her eyes deepen and she nodded, holding me tight.
“Now get going, honey,” I whispered in her ear, a little reluctant to let go of those soft, enticing breasts myself. “Every second counts.”
I helped her mount, kissed her again and watched her go off. When she was out of sight and the first gray tint of dawn began to spread across the sky, I turned the stallion around and headed east along the edge of the Taza Gap.
The sky continued to lighten, and as it did I saw the flat stretch of land along which I rode, the historic road for conquerors from the East. The Taza Gap lay between the Rif range and the mountains known as the Middle Atlas. Through its wide swath, ancient legions had traveled from east to west and west to east and left their mark on the land itself.
I passed the ruins of ancient villages where Roman garrisons had been quartered, the unmistakable relics of Roman architecture an echo of their days of glory.
The road led up high into the mountains but still remained a natural highway between the two mountain ranges.
I stayed close along the northern edge, watching carefully as the sun rose high in the sky.
El Ahmid and his men would be out, coming this way, I knew. They might travel a distance in the Rif mountains and then cut down onto the Taza Gap as I had done with Marina, but sooner or later they would have to appear. Knowing I’d escaped, he had only one thing to do, meet the caravan and advance his timetable before I could summon help.
I had to halt to water the horse a few times but other than that I rode steadily, grateful for the deep-chested stamina of the Arabian under me.
It was late afternoon when I neared the eastern end of the gap. I wheeled the horse up into the Rif foothills, found a sheltered spot behind a circle of large boulders and put the stallion out of sight.
Climbing up onto the boulders, I flattened out and began to watch from my makeshift falcon’s nest. I could see a good distance down the gap in either direction, and I wondered how Marina had made out. I was pretty sure she had kept on with her mission, but I wasn’t at all sure they hadn’t cut her off before she got very far.
Only time would tell, and, as I waited in the heat of the blistering sun, I realized that I was pretty damn helpless. I hadn’t a revolver, a rifle, a dagger or a toothpick.
If Marina hadn’t made it, how the hell did I expect to stop an armed camel caravan of some seven hundred men plus those El Ahmid would bring with him to meet them? I’d have to meet a genie in a bottle, I said to myself. That or find Aladdin and his magic lamp.
My idle thoughts were cut off by a cloud of dust from the west. The cloud grew and materialized into El Ahmid and his men. There were some two hundred of them, I estimated, riding like hell with the Rif leader in the forefront. They were just about opposite me when I saw El Ahmid raise his hand and rein up to a halt.
I peered in the other direction to see the camel caravan approaching, the stately, unhurried motion of the camels somehow reminiscent of a royal procession. The caravan stretched out farther back than I could see, and I saw the double rows of camels in the center carrying the
The armed guards, equally hidden in their
El Ahmid and two of his men raced forward to meet the caravan while the rest of his force stayed behind.
I saw them hold a hurried conference and then a series of shouted commands was passed back along the caravan.
I saw the camels suddenly come to life and begin to move forward with surprising speed. When they neared me I saw they were using the
I waited, watching, as the caravan moved past and went on down the Taza Gap, headed westward.
I mounted up and began a careful pursuit, staying in the narrow passes of the foothills.
