sent the Janjaweed out here to kill us. Ordered them to butcher everyone so that it wouldn’t look like a government-sanctioned assassination. Trust me, we’re better off not broadcasting. With a little luck they’ll think we’re dead. When those trucks get to civilization, you can be damn sure the SI employees won’t admit to knowingly leaving us out here alive. We’re dead to the world, and we can use that to our advantage.”
Now Gentry kneeled over another wounded Janjaweed horseman. The Arab was flat on his back, breathing shallowly in soft wheezes. Court pulled a water flask from around his neck, a long knife from his belt. He inspected the weapon. This blade passed muster, and he took the belt and the scabbard and the knife and strapped it all to his own body.
“What about them?” Ellen asked as Court returned to his feet.
“What about who?”
“Those two men. They are injured.”
“What about them?”
“Can we help them?”
“Are you a doctor?”
“No, but—”
“Me either. Pick one of the horses. We need to get moving.”
She looked at the bearded American for several seconds. “But these men. What if no one comes by before nightfall? There are wild animals out here. These are human beings, Six. You can’t just leave them behind to die.”
“Watch me. Get on a horse. I’d like to take the camel, he won’t need water like a horse will, but if we encounter another Janjaweed gang out in the desert, we’re gonna want the speed of horses to get away from them.” He pulled two turbans from the heads of two of the dead horsemen and tucked them into the belt he’d just scavenged.
Ellen shouted angrily, “We take these two men with us, or I don’t go, Six. That is absolutely final!”
Gentry ignored her, kept speaking, more to himself than to the woman. “Camels are actually very fast, but if you don’t know how to handle one, and I don’t, it’s easy to lose—”
“Listen to me! They need a hospital!”
Court stopped talking and looked over the wounded men. “More like a morgue.”
“They are alive! And I am not going anywhere without them!”
Now his eyes turned to the shouting woman. He sighed. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. We can’t just leave two living men out here in the desert.” One of the wounded groaned softly.
Court’s jaw fixed, jutted forward a bit as he stared at the Canadian lawyer. He nodded, lifted the rifle hanging from his neck, causing the woman to flinch in fear. With no hesitation at all, he turned and shot the two wounded men, once each in the chest. Their torsos jerked violently with the impacts, dark blood rooster-tailed a foot into the air above them, and both men stilled instantly.
After the report from the second round died off in the desert, Gentry let his rifle hang by its sling in front of him. “Problem solved. Let’s go.”
Ellen Walsh’s face whitened with horror, then seconds later it reddened with rage. She charged the American. He walked away from her, heading for one of the horses, but she grabbed him by the back of his T-shirt, literally spinning him around. He did not make eye contact with her; instead, he continued marching forward alongside the burning truck.
“You bastard! You are no better than them!” she berated as she ran alongside, trying to get in front of him.
“They’re dead; I’m alive. I’d say I am doin’ a lot better.” He said it mirthlessly, continuing forward. But she finally made it in front of him, put her hand on his chest. Her small sunburned fingers clenched his sweat-drenched brown T-shirt. With his free left hand Gentry snatched her hand, spun it backwards into a wristlock, and pushed her back, away from him. He angrily raised the butt of the AK towards her with his free hand as if he were going to slam it into her face.
Ellen was unafraid; her rage had pushed her past concern for her own personal well-being. “Ah, you beat women, too, do you? You fucking animal! Executing wounded men! Picking over dead bodies like a vulture! Blowing up—”
“How the fuck were we going to haul them across thirty miles of desert? They would have bled out anyway, and we would have died trying.”
“We could have carried them on the horses!”
“And moved at half speed! You want to be out here at nightfall?”
“Don’t make excuses! Just admit it, you wanted to kill them!”
He lowered the gun and let go of her hand. “I’ll admit this. I don’t give a fuck about those