Desert Pursuit Read Online Free PDF

digging.
    ‘Paulo,’ whispered Li, ‘I – I don’t know how much longer I can hold still.’
    Paulo looked up at her. Two tears were trickling down her cheeks and her head was beginning to tremble on her neck.
    ‘You will be fine,’ he said, looking her in the eye.
    ‘Yes, I’ll be fine,’ whispered Li. ‘But . . . just in case, if I tell you both to get out of here, you have to go. Promise me you’ll go.’
    ‘Stop being so noble,’ said Paulo with a grin.
    ‘Got it,’ said Hex, as his fingers came up against a hard, rough surface. Gently, he brushed the sand away, then sat back on his heels with a relieved sigh. His end of the tripwire was wrapped around nothing more than a large rock.
    ‘Now, all we have to do is make the mine safe without tripping the wire,’ said Hex lightly.
    Paulo grinned at him and took out the customized tool-kit he carried in his belt pouch. ‘Let us start,’ he said.
    At the top of the dune, Amber nudged Alex impatiently. ‘Why have they stopped digging?’ she demanded.
    Alex frowned into the camcorder, adjusting the focus slightly. ‘Looks like they’ve uncovered the mine.’
    ‘Let me see!’ Amber snatched the camcorder away from Alex. He sighed and lifted his head to ease the tension in his neck. Since Hex and Paulo had started digging, every second had seemed to last a minute. As he stretched his neck, a bright flash from the road on the other side of the berm caught his eye. Alex looked across, then snatched the camcorder back, ignoring Amber’s protests. He focused on the road and what he saw there made his heart sink. The bright flash he had seen was the sun bouncing off the windscreen of an approaching vehicle. A jeep. A military jeep.
    ‘What is it?’ asked Amber.
    ‘Army patrol,’ said Alex. ‘And they’re heading this way.’
    ‘See those three prongs sticking out of the top of the smaller pipe?’ asked Hex.
    Paulo nodded.
    ‘The pipe is called a flash tube. The three prongs are the top part of the fuse,’ said Hex. ‘If I’m right, there’s a hole through the flash tube just under the sand there. The tripwire is attached to a release pin which fits into that hole. When the wire is tripped, it yanks the pin out of the hole. That releases a spring-loaded striker—’
    ‘—which sets off the mine,’ finished Paulo.
    ‘Yeah. Now, when Li tripped the wire, she must only have pulled the pin part of the way out. What you have to do is clear the sand away and push the release pin all the way back into the hole. When you’re sure it’s secure, then you can cut the wire with the pliers.’
    ‘That is it? But it is so simple,’ said Paulo, smiling up at Li.
    ‘In theory, yes,’ said Hex reluctantly. ‘But what we don’t know is how much of the pin is still left in the hole. It could be hanging by a thread. Even the slightest disturbance could—’
    ‘Hex!’ called Alex softly from the top of the dune. ‘Patrol on the way. ETA three to four minutes.’
    Li gave a strangled sob and the foot that had snagged the wire wobbled dangerously.
    ‘Be still!’ snapped Paulo. ‘Forget the soldiers. We are doing this. Only this.’
    Li gulped and nodded, holding her leg as still as she could and trying to ignore the excruciating cramps that were twisting through her thigh muscles. Paulo leaned forward and began to move the sand from around the flash tube. His big hands worked with delicacy and confidence and soon he could see the gleam of the wire through the sand. He stopped, leaned forward and gently blew the last of the sand away. As he did so, the sound of a jeep engine carried on the wind. The patrol was nearly upon them.
    Up on the top of the dune, Alex, Amber and Khalid ducked low as the jeep came into view on the road.
    ‘Khalid, run. Hide!’ ordered Amber.
    Khalid shook his head.
    ‘You must get out of here!’ insisted Amber. ‘If the troops find us five, it’s no big deal. We’re just a bunch of stupid tourist kids who lost our way.