“What’s that?” Zilah had to shout to be heard over the roar of the motor and the hail of bullets.

“I was going to wait until we were farther away, but I think we need the distraction more than the distance.” Daniel pressed the red button on the box.

The earth heaved as an explosion four times as strong as the previous ones rocked the desert. She glanced back over her shoulder to see that the Learjet was now nothing but a blazing inferno. “You blew up the plane!”

“I told you we needed a distraction.” He looked back over his shoulder. Hakim, who had been close to the plane, had been knocked off his feet and was crawling with desperate swiftness away from the flaming wreckage. Another rifle shot sounded. “Hassan doesn’t appear to have been stopped, but I think we’re out of range now.”

“You blew up the plane,” she repeated, dazed.

“Ben Raschid wants them,” Daniel said calmly. “I didn’t want to chance them turning chicken and flying out of here. I also wanted to make them mad enough to come after us across the border.”

“You planned for them to follow us?”

“You’re damn right.” His grin took on a touch of ferocity as he shot a sideways glance at her. His gaze lingered on her swollen lip. “I’ve decided that I want them too.”

She was wiping her streaming eyes with the handkerchief. “Well, I don’t think there’s any question you succeeded in making them mad enough. When the other two men return with the jeep, they’ll probably be hot on our trail.”

“Probably. But by that time we’ll be out of this desert and halfway through the hills. You’ll be across the border and safe at my friend’s compound before they reach Sedikhan.” His lips tightened grimly. “And then I’ll go on a little hunting trip.”