Botha, Alexei and Mikhail scramble down from the Humvees and cover behind them. Nearby, Lola moans, her body racked with excruciating pain. Trapped, she writhes underneath the bike and tries to free herself.
Mikhail wraps a tourniquet around his thigh to stem the blood loss from his bullet wound.
Alexei crawls over to Lola, clenches his fist, then punches her in the face and knocks her out cold. He raises his fist again.
"Leave her," Botha orders.
"Leave her! I want to kill her."
"This bitch is more useful to us alive than dead," Botha says.
"Then she'll wish for death after I finish with her."
***
Sophia peeps over the Humvee's gun turret and looks out at the pink and black trucks, only thirty yards away. She cannot see any movement.
She calls down to Jedi. "Kid, you hear me in there?"
In the truck's rear cabin, Jedi's muffled voice calls back. "Yeah—talk to me."
"Matt's safe. He's behind the container."
"Lola?"
"Her bike crashed. They've got her," Sophia says.
"Shit. How many of them?"
"I can't see—three or four."
"You okay?" Jedi asks.
"Yeah. You?"
"My left shoulder—took a bullet."
"How bad?"
"My right hand's okay, and that's all that matters!" Jedi jokes. He breaks open a first aid kit and tapes a field dressing to his shoulder. His face is pale and clammy.
"Hang in there."
"I'm hanging." Jedi wipes away the sweat from his brow. He loads up a syringe with morphine and pumps himself full of the painkilling drug. He pushes past Books' body and comes to rest at the back of the Humvee. Next to him is the blue case and the remotes. He pulls his knees up to his chest and hugs them. His whole body shakes.
***
Behind the cover of the Humvees, the African-Russians stand and train their weapons toward the Americans.
***
Behind the white container, Matt talks to himself. "Standoff at the O.K. Corral time." He shouts out over the neutral ground, "Touch her and you will die!"
Botha shouts back. "My friend, you are in no position to tell us what to do!"
Alexei steps over to Lola, raises his foot and presses his body weight down on the KTM. The bike's super-hot exhaust pipe presses against Lola's leg and burns her. The unbearable pain jolts her back to reality and she screams in agony.
Matt loses control. He spins around the side of the container and shoots blindly at the Humvees. The rounds bounce harmlessly off the truck's armor plating.
Alexei burns Lola again. She screams, louder this time.
"You cause the girl great pain!" Botha shouts over to Matt.
"FUCK YOU!" Matt rages. He cannot think.
"I cannot speak for my friend, but I am not a savage. I am a man of God. If you want the girl to live, there is little time left to save her. Do you not agree?"
Sophia trains her M16 on the African-Russian Humvees and shouts over, "Keep talking!"
"For all of us to have any chance, we must work together!" Botha shouts.
