‘They hate the House of Saud,’ Assim rumbled darkly beside Ethan.
Ethan saw the two dusty tan sedans still nearby, their occupants nowhere to be seen, but now they were parked alongside the compound fence. He watched as the crowd surged against the security fences around the compound, and then a sharp crack split the air as a cloud of acrid grey smoke spiralled up from the hood of one of the sedans.
‘Bomb!’ he yelled.
Assim Khan’s men reacted instantly and grabbed Amber Ryan as they formed a protective huddle around her and rushed toward the 4x4 nearby.
The sedan exploded with an ear — shattering roar, the trunk engulfed in an expanding fireball as the vehicle was lifted off its wheels and flipped over onto its back. A cloud of shrapnel from the blast sliced through the fences, and as a billowing cloud of smoke dissipated on the hot wind Ethan saw the fences lacerated and weakened by the blast.
In an instant, the crowd cheered and surged toward the damaged fences.
Assim gave Ethan a gentle shove toward the escort vehicle parked nearby, further down the road from the chaotic mass of humanity plunging into the fence.
‘Go, get to your vehicle!’
Even as Ethan moved, a phalanx of armed soldiers broke away from the guard post at the main gates and rushed between their charges and the chanting crowd.
‘This is going to get ugly!’ Lopez shouted with clairvoyant certainty as the crowd surged against the fences. Ethan was half way to the car when the fence failed and crashed down onto the desert floor. A protester broke out from the crowd and rushed toward him, eyes filled with the fury or the desperation of the insane, one finger jabbing accusingly at him.
‘American, American thieves!’
Before the man could impart any further gems of information the guards broke ranks and swarmed upon him, flicking open combat sticks from their belts to cut the Saudi down in a frenzied cloud of blows. The crowd turned to watch as their comrade was beaten to the ground.
‘Belay there!’ Ethan shouted above the chanting.
Lopez instantly recognized the seriousness of the situation and dashed toward their car as the deep and melodious chanting of the crowd underwent a sudden and grotesque mutation, a bellowed roar of indignation and rage. Retreating from the beaten man, the guards had drawn their firearms, holding them at port arms as they fell back. Confronting them was the advancing mob, a turbulent milieu from which flew a sudden and brutal cloud of rocks and bottles.
Ethan ducked as the projectiles showered down around him, and to his disbelief Assim’s guards broke their defensive line and fled for the safety of their vehicle. Assim Khan grabbed hold of Amber, one forearm wrapping around her neck as he jammed a pistol against her side and hauled her away toward the 4x4.
‘Wait!’ Lopez yelled.
One of Assim’s men aimed his pistol at Lopez, who froze in horror. Assim bundled the writhing Amber into the rear of the vehicle as strong hands hauled her inside, and then Assim jumped into the passenger seat in the front. The 4x4’s doors slammed shut and Ethan watched the vehicle accelerate past them toward the main gate, Assim Khan watching him through the partially tinted windows with a sneer on his face. Behind the 4x4, their sedan also accelerated away from the impending crisis, its driver’s eyes wide with fear.
‘We’ve been set up!’ Ethan yelled above the din of the crowd.
The 4x4 raced through the gates and disappeared around a far corner of the street in a cloud of dusty haze as Lopez backed away from the crowd toward Ethan.
Ethan looked up at the riot vehicles arrayed further down the street, and to his dismay he realised they were not moving forward to confront the growing mob. The soldiers atop the vehicles were holding the water cannons pointing at the ground, a clear sign that they were not yet prepared to take on the crowd.
‘We’re on our own!’ Ethan yelled. ‘Run, now!’
The burning American flag tumbled onto the dark asphalt amid the crowd as dozens of them swarmed upon it, stamping on it with cries of mindless hate. Lopez dashed across the street even as an enraged preacher lunged for Ethan with fury writ large across his features. Ethan saw a long, narrow blade clasped in his hand flash in the sunlight as the preacher tried to conceal it with his robes while at the same time lashing out towards Ethan with the weapon.
Ethan whirled and bought his right arm crashing down upon the preacher’s wrist, blocking the weapon and pushing it to one side as he instinctively swung his left fist across the preacher’s face. The preacher staggered backwards in shock and collapsed onto his back amid the crowd, his fury gone and replaced with an expression of shocked indignity. Ethan did not wait to see what the reaction of the crowd would be. He whirled and dashed in pursuit of Lopez as she sprinted away through the open gates and across the street and then vaulted over a low wall.
A shower of broken bottles and other debris crashed down around Ethan as he ran, pursued by the roar of the crowd as they launched themselves after him. He vaulted over the low wall and saw Lopez reach a battered truck parked in a lot that was caked in dust. Lopez lifted one boot and drove it into the passenger door window, shattering the glass.
‘There’s no time!’ Ethan yelled as he joined her.
Lopez yanked open the door, used her boot once more to smash the plastic guard from the driving column.
‘Get in!’ she yelled as she yanked a handful of wires from the column and began re — wiring them together.
Ethan hurled himself across the hood as he heard dozens of heavy footfalls thundering across the parking lot behind him. He turned to see countless men flooding over the wall, some of them waving bats and other threatening objects in his direction as they screamed and yelled.
Ethan jumped into the passenger seat of the truck and slammed the door shut.
‘Hurry up!’
‘Thanks for the hot tip!’ Lopez snapped back as she focused on the mass of wires.
Ethan leaned across her and grabbed her door, slamming it shut just as the crowd rushed upon the vehicle. The truck rocked violently as the angry mob slammed against it and a man’s hands reached in for Lopez.
Ethan reached out and grabbed one of the man’s arms and hauled him into the vehicle straight over Lopez’s lap, instantly blocking the window and preventing further attackers from reaching inside. He saw others moving around the vehicle, tyre irons in their hands as they prepared to smash the windscreen out.
‘Any time now would be good!’
An iron bar smashed into the screen and Ethan saw a spider’s web of cracks blossom around the impact point as a Saudi with features ablaze with righteous fury smashed the bar across the glass again and again.
Lopez, reaching now over the back of the captive man’s waist as she attempted to start the truck, finally found the correct wires and wound them together. The truck’s engine spluttered into life and Ethan reached down and yanked off the handbrake as Lopez slammed the automatic drive into reverse. The truck lurched backwards to the sound of panicked yelps as the crowd attempted to get out of the way.
A deafening rattle of tire irons and cricket bats slammed down across the vehicle like hail on a tin roof as the angry crowd fought to get inside and stop the vehicle from moving. The man across Lopez’s lap screamed as his legs were pulled violently by the bodies outside the truck, and Ethan immediately let him go. Lopez jerked her head back and her hands out the way as the man’s body was ripped from the truck and she grabbed the wheel as she slammed one boot down on the throttle.