The Exodus Quest

III

Abdullah glowered at Khaled's back as they laboured up the hillside and then across the plateau, his feet soaked and sore and cold inside his ill-fitting boots. What madness this was! No way would they be able to make it down that sorry excuse for a path in such a torrent. But Khaled had anticipated this. There was a protruding spike of rock on the hilltop above the tomb mouth. He tied a slipknot in one end of a coil of rope, slung it around this spike, then tossed the rest over the edge. 'Down you go, then,' he told Abdullah.

'Me?' protested Abdullah. 'Why me?'

'We wouldn't be in this damned mess if you'd followed my orders.'

'You should have been clearer,' muttered Abdullah.

'On the phone? On the phone?'

Abdullah grudgingly took hold of the rope. He gave it a couple of tugs to test it. It promptly rode up the spike and came free. 'Look!' he said.

'Stop whining, will you?' said Khaled, looping it back around, pulling the knot tighter. 'Just climb.'

'Don't worry,' murmured Faisal. 'I'll keep an eye on it.'

Abdullah nodded gratefully. Faisal was the only one he trusted. He fed the rope through his belt, fastened his torch-strap around his wrist, traded his AK-47 for Nasser's pickaxe, which he slung over his shoulder. Then he lowered himself backwards over the edge, like he'd seen on TV, but his boot slipped on the slick rock, he crashed into the cliff-side, hanging on desperately while Khaled and Nasser laughed themselves sick. He was still muttering curses when he reached the relative sanctuary of the tomb mouth.

The cement had formed a crust, but hadn't yet dried underneath. It came away easily when he attacked it with the point of the pickaxe, fragmented grey mush washing down the cliff-face. He made a hole large enough to reach his arm inside and set his torch down at an angle to light his work, then hacked out more cement. Lightning lit up the wadi all around. He braced himself for the crack of thunder, but just before it started he could have sworn he heard a different noise, that of automatic gunfire. He anchored one hand inside the tomb, leaned out and looked up to find out what the hell was going on. But there was no one up top to answer his question.