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.Fragments of cloth from Kesia’s sleeve had been rammed into her flesh by the bullet and were now embedded in the wound.If he did not get them out, the dust-laden scraps of cloth would cause infection.Paulo pulled the knife from the water and waited for the blade to cool, then he nodded to Li, who gripped Kesia’s arm more tightly.Paulo dug the point of the knife into the wound and hooked out a fragment of cloth.Kesia stiffened and screamed, then her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out.Paulo was relieved.Back home on his ranch, he had cleaned up dreadful wounds on cattle that had caught themselves on barbed wire, but he had never had to do this to a young girl before.He set to work, quickly digging out all the embedded cloth while Kesia was still unconscious.‘There,’ he said after a few minutes.‘Now we can clean it.’ The potassium permanganate mixture was cool enough now for Paulo to lift out a strip of cloth with his fingers.He cleaned all around the wound, irrigating it well with the sterilized water.‘Now, Li, I want you to hold the edges together while I apply the sutures,’ he said.Li screwed up her face at the thought of touching the wound, but she did as she was told and Paulo quickly and expertly applied the sutures that would hold the wound together.Finally he bound up the arm with more strips of sterilized cloth.‘There.That is the best I can do.Now, we wait for her to wake up again, give her some tea and pain-killers and head on towards Samir’s village.’Five minutes later Kesia was sitting up by the fire, sipping from a mug of sweet tea that Sisi was holding for her.She looked drawn and she was obviously in some pain but otherwise she was recovering well from her ordeal and the wound was now hardly bleeding at all.‘Your survival kit saves the day yet again,’ teased Li, grinning at Alex.‘Will she be well enough to travel?’ asked Alex, handing Kesia two painkilling tablets from his survival kit.‘She can sit up front in the cab.’Li translated Alex’s question and Kesia nodded and smiled.She would be well enough.Juma and his gang of three took over the watch while Amber, Khalid and Hex came down for some tea, then Alex put out the fire and they all clambered wearily back into the Unimog.Amber had retrieved her GPS unit from her quad bike earlier that evening and packed it into a rucksack she had bought in the souk.She went in the front to keep Paulo headed on the right track.Kesia and Sisi sat between them in the high cab.‘Let us go,’ said Paulo, flourishing the ignition key.‘Hey!’ said Amber.‘Where’d you find that?’‘Behind the sun-visor,’ grinned Paulo.‘So you didn’t have to hot-wire it after all, back in the town?’Paulo looked embarrassed.‘I did not find the key until we stopped here.’Amber laughed.‘Don’t you know to look there first? That’s where they always find it in the movies.’Paulo shrugged and turned the key.The engine coughed, then spluttered to a stop.Paulo frowned and tried again.Again the engine croaked a few times and died.‘What’s wrong?’ asked Amber.Paulo tried a third time.A harsh grating noise came from the engine and dark smoke began to escape around the edges of the bonnet.‘I am not sure,’ said Paulo.‘I think maybe the bullets caused some damage.Hold on, I will check.’He reached down under the steering wheel and pulled the bonnet release lever.The bonnet sprang open and a sudden explosion of flames shot out from beneath it, rising high into the air and licking against the windscreen.Amber screamed as a gout of flame roared around the side of the windscreen and flared into the cab through her shattered side window.She flung herself back against the seat and felt the heat of the flame sear past her face, sizzling the hair above her forehead.Amber was terrified of fire.Her parents had both died in a burning plane.She turned to the door and kicked it open with the strength of panic, then she grabbed Sisi’s arm with one hand and her rucksack with the other.Pulling Sisi after her, Amber jumped from the cab.They soared through the flames and landed some distance from the cab, rolling over and over on the stony ground.Amber sat up and looked down at herself, then over to Sisi.She could not quite believe they had escaped unscathed.She looked back to the Unimog cab.It was full of flames.‘Paulo!’ she screamed, scrambling to her feet and heading towards the burning cab.‘Here,’ called Paulo, staggering towards her, carrying Kesia in his arms.Amber gave a sob of relief, then rushed on past him, heading for the back of the Unimog.The flames were licking at the fuel tank behind the cab and she had to get the others out of the back.Alex was already opening the flaps and peering out, wondering what the problem was.‘Come on! Out now!’ Amber yelled, grabbing him by the arm.‘It’s going to explode!’Alex looked at the jerry cans of fuel wedged under the bench seats.The big truck was a bomb on wheels.If there was anyone anywhere near the Unimog when it went up, there would be no chance of survival.He jumped out, grabbing a water-filled girba from under the nearest bench as he went.Turning back, he yelled to the others, ‘When you get out, run! Follow me and Amber!’They all scrambled out and began sprinting away from the Unimog, heading for Paulo and the two girls.Amber and Alex were in the lead, Alex carrying the girba slung over his shoulder.Li and Hex took up the rear, with the children in the middle.Li was counting heads as she ran, but she couldn’t get the number right.She tried again.There was one missing.Li slowed, turning a shocked face to Hex.‘Samir!’ she gasped.Hex slowed too, scanning the running children in front of him.Li was right.Samir was not among them.For an instant Hex stood still and a muscle jumped in the angle of his jaw, then he turned round and ran back to the burning Unimog.‘Hex!’ called Li behind him.‘Come back! It’s too late!’Hex ran on.As he ran, he muttered over and over to himself, ‘What the hell am I doing? What the hell am I doing?’ but his legs kept pumping, ignoring whatever his brain thought.The canvas cover on the back of the truck was alight by the time Hex panted up to the tailgate again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]