“Nothing but the best for Clancy. He did give me a choice of which appendage I wanted to duplicate for the bomb. But there were only two choices, and the other appendage I refused to destroy even in effigy.” He glanced casually at the gauges on the panel in front of him and his smile disappeared. He uttered a brief but violent curse.
“What’s wrong?”
“The gas, dammit. The gauge is dropping like a stone. One of the bullets must have hit the gas tank.”
Her eyes widened apprehensively. “We’re almost out of gas?”
He nodded. “And we’re still a good ten miles from the beginning of the foothills. We’ll be lucky if the jeep makes it another eight or nine miles. We’ll still have to hike a mile or two in the desert.”
“Is that all?” Zilah breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought we were going to be stranded out here for Hassan and his men to find.”
“It’s bad enough. It means that we’ll have only a short head start on Hassan and may have to play hide-and-seek in those hills tonight. We’ll have to stay off the main paths. We’ll be lucky if we get to the border by tomorrow morning.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter when we get there, just so we do. A night in the hills won’t be so terrible.”
“You can handle it?” he asked mockingly.
“I can handle anything,” she said in a grave tone of voice. “I’ve had an excellent teacher.”
His lips tightened. “Bradford?”
She nodded. “David taught me practically everything I know.” Her voice softened. “He’s a wonderful, wonderful man.”
“I’m sure he enjoys enormously the manner in which you express your gratitude,” Daniel said harshly. “But I’ll wager there are still a few lessons you could learn.”
She stared at him, clearly puzzled. “I don’t know what you mean.”
His boot suddenly jammed on the accelerator with a force that caused the jeep to buck. Then, realizing that the impulsive action had wasted precious gas, he cursed beneath his breath. “You will.” His gaze was fixed on the hills wavering in the distance like a cool, verdant mirage. “I assure you that I have every intention that you understand me very well.”