‘Come on. Let’s get over there.’
I led the way, moving fast, but keeping under cover, taking no risks. The way was downhill. Ahead of us the bushes and shrubs began to thin out, and the face of the bill gradated slowly to the floor of the valley. We had only another fifty yards ahead of us before we reached the flat, open plain of the desert.
We paused and examined the ground before us. The moonlight reflected on the sand. You could have seen any movement a half a mile away.
‘If they’re still in the hills, this is where we get shot in the back,’ Mac muttered. ‘Going to chance it?’
‘Yeah. You two stay here. If nothing happens to me, come on after me.’
‘You’re a sucker for trouble, aren’t you?’ Mac said and gave me a slap on the back.
Mary said in her calm, matter-of-fact voice, ‘I don’t think they’re up there. I think they’ve gone on to the mine.’
I hoped she was right as I slid down the little slope on to the sand. I began to run, zigzagging a little my shoulders hunched, and covering the ground rapidly. Nothing happened. I ran on for a couple of hundred yards, then stopped and turned. Mac and Mary were running after me. I waited for them to catch me up.
* * *
‘They’re at the mine,’ I said. ‘Spread out and keep moving. Drop fiat if there’s any shooting.’ We began to run over the undulating sand towards the mine. Every now and then we paused to get our breath, but I kept them at it. I was worried, thinking of Paula, wondering if she had got through. The silence worried me. If Mifflin had arrived, there should have been shooting. After a while, the sloping edge of the quarry came into sight.