The Australian KTM veers away from the white convoy and hurtles toward Matt and Lola.
Matt sees the move. "Fuck it—heading our way."
"Keep going, American!" Lola yells.
The Australian passenger on the dirt bike rips out short spurts of machine gun fire. He misses. Both bikes fly toward each other. Lola picks off the passenger. He falls off the bike and tumbles over the ground. Both bikes skim past each other.
Lola stands on the KTM's footpegs, turns, shoots and kills the Australian rider. His bike loses control—it rolls over and crashes.
"Close—that was too fucking clo—" Matt shouts.
Before he can finish, 12mm rounds from the Australians' M2 hammer into the ground in front of him. He swerves the KTM from side to side and dodges the incoming firepower.
Lola reloads. She punches Matt on the shoulder. "We go around again!"
Matt leans the bike over, arcs away from the Australians and out over the salt pan, then lines up another attack run.
Both Humvees rocket toward each other—only five hundred yards separates them.
Lloyd screams, "NO WAY! No fucking way!"
"Don't just sit there, dude, DO SOMETHING!" Jedi shouts.
Lloyd leans out of the truck's passenger side window and takes wild shots toward the Australians.
In the gun turret, Jim and Cutter keep the M2 busy. Sophia ducks down for cover. More incoming rounds bombard the Americans.
A bullet shatters through the Americans' windshield and hits Lloyd. His chest cavity explodes. He gasps for air, then takes his last breath. He slumps sideways, his dead body half sags out of the passenger window, his blood gushes—everywhere.
Jedi screams, "They got—they fucking got Lloyd!"
Sophia scrambles down a side ladder. She looks down at Lloyd's mutilated remains, then yanks open the side door. His body falls clear of the truck. She jumps into the passenger seat and slips and slides on Lloyd's blood. She uses the butt of her M16 to smash out the shattered windshield. More bullets fly in. Sophia tries to defend. The Australian Humvee is now three hundred yards away. She screams at Jedi. "Keep going, kid—we have to keep going!"
***
On the Australians' right flank, Books attacks. He fires long bursts from his Uzi. He hits the white quad's gas tank, and it explodes. He leans the KTM over and cuts between the burning quad and the Australian Humvee.
An Australian shoots at Books with the M2. She misses. She screams and turns the big gun back toward the American Humvee. 12mm rounds rip through the truck's front grill and slam into its engine block.
***
The Americans' Humvee loses power and slows.
Jedi pumps the throttle. "I GOT NOTHING HERE!"
The Humvee's rev counter needle drops to zero. The truck stutters and grinds to a halt. A fire bursts up from the engine compartment and black smoke billows upwards. More bullets hammer all around them. Jedi and Sophia duck and cover in the cab's footwell.
The Australian Humvee closes in.
Cutter jumps down from the gun turret. He runs full tilt at the Australian Humvee and pulls out a knife. Through a hail of bullets, he screams, "Motheeeeeeerfuuuuckkkeerrrrrr."
Jim shouts, "Cutter!"
***
Matt and Lola attack the Australians' left flank.
Books skids his bike around and attacks from the rear.
Every last Australian shoots out at the stricken American Humvee—it is being decimated.
It's close combat mayhem.
Cutter hurls his knife. It spins through the air and sticks into the Australian woman's neck. She falls forward over the M2. Her dead body is pushed clear by another Australian, who takes her place. Cutter reaches down and draws another combat knife.
Books leaps from his bike and clings onto the back of the Australians' truck. He climbs up the rear ladder and crawls toward the gun turret.
Matt and Lola attack.
Lola shoots and kills the Australian driver. Her teammate in the passenger seat pushes her aside. He grabs the steering wheel and stamps on the Humvee's throttle. Cutter leaps up onto the truck's running board and plunges his knife through the Australian's heart. The Humvee slows, then stops.
The last Australian ducks down into the Humvee's gun turret, grabs a grenade and pulls the pin. He screams at Books, "See you in hell."
The small bomb detonates. Shrapnel obliterates him and destroys the white case next to him. Ten-thousand-dollar-bills explode upward from the gun turret.
Books is blown off the Humvee. He lands in a heap on the salt pan. He does not move.
Sophia leaps from the American Humvee and sprints toward him. She screams, "No, Books. Nooooooooo!"
