which was used to store hay, straw, and whatever. Zamo paused long enough to light a pile of hay.
I hit the stairs first and bounded down three and four at a time, then shoulder-rolled across the earth floor and got on one knee and covered the narrow doorway with my M4.
Kate came down next, followed quickly by Brenner and Zamo.
I stood, moved quickly to the door, and peered out into the devastated and body-strewn courtyard. Some of the wreckage was still smoldering, and the only people out there were dead.
I signaled all clear, pointed in the direction of the gate, and charged into the courtyard, with Kate, Brenner, and Zamo right behind me.
I got to the gate, stopped short, and spun around in a crouch to cover the courtyard and tower. I could see smoke seeping through the stone walls of the tower.
Just as Kate was getting to the open gate, a figure appeared in the diwan window and fired. Kate went down and lay sprawled on the ground. I got between her and the tower and fired long, rapid-fire bursts at the window, glancing back at Kate, who was getting to her feet. No blood, so she’d taken a round in her Kevlar, and I yelled to her, “Move! Move!”
Kate and Zamo ran through the gate, but Brenner spun around and emptied his magazine at the window. The smoke was pouring out of the tower now, and I could see flames in the windows of the diwan.
I slammed a fresh magazine into my M4 and emptied it at the five vehicles in the courtyard, blowing out the tires and shattering the windows. Brenner did the same and one of the Hiluxes burst into flames. Time to go.
We ran through the gate and I saw that Zamo was already behind the wheel and Kate was in the rear, leaning out the window covering us. I jumped in beside her and pulled the door closed as Brenner jumped in the front. Before his door was even closed, Zamo was pushing pedal to the metal and we were shooting across the flat terrain toward the ravine.
Brenner and I lowered our windows, leaned out, and turned back toward the gate.
Two Bedouin came charging through the gate and all three of us opened fire, hitting one of them and making the other dive back behind the stone wall.
Within a few minutes we were at the edge of the plateau, and Zamo was slowing up, looking for the ravine. He spotted some tire marks and cut the wheel sharply to the right, then hit the brakes as the Land Cruiser’s front wheels slipped over the edge of the plateau and into the ravine.
Zamo navigated down the steep, twisting terrain, going faster than was safe. But back there wasn’t too safe either.
The sun was low on the horizon behind us, and the ravine, which was on the east side of the plateau, was in shadow, making it hard to see up ahead.
After a few minutes of escape-and-evasion driving, Brenner said to Zamo, “We shot up the SUVs, so anyone behind us is on foot.”
Zamo let up on the gas and said, “Now you tell me.”
We didn’t exactly relax, but we were all breathing again.
I looked at Kate, who actually seemed fine, all things considered. She’s cool under fire, and only loses her cool with me. I asked, “You okay?”
“Knocked the wind out of me… I’m okay…” She looked at me and said, “You can say it now.”
A bigger man would have said, “I love you,” but I’m not that big so I said, “I fucking told you so.” And I meant it.
Kate said, “I love you.”
Brenner, who had more important things on his mind, asked, “Anybody have any ideas?”
I asked him, “Can we get to the Marib airstrip?”
He replied, “Maybe. Maybe not. The airstrip has only a few charter aircraft going in and out, and there’s usually no one there.”
Kate asked, “Would the Bilqis Hotel be safe?”
Brenner replied, “Only if you want to run into someone like Colonel Hakim, or maybe Hakim himself if he came to Marib.”
We didn’t want to do that, and Kate asked, “How far is it to Sana’a?”
Brenner replied, “About four hours, but it might as well be on Mars. There are checkpoints all along the route, and we’ll never make it without getting stopped by somebody who we don’t want to meet.”
Forget Plan C. Or was that D?
Zamo continued down the ravine, which was getting wider and less steep.