Ambush in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone

government.”
    “I really doubt, Ms. Preston, if you fully comprehend the depth of my disdain.”
    “Perhaps we can discuss the merits of our respective governments at some later date, General.”
    “Anytime, Ms. Preston. Corrie, see if you can get through to, ah, her government, please.”
    “That should prove to be a good trick,” Corrie mumbled.
    “I’m sure you’ll succeed, dear,” Paula said to her.
    “Only if they have enough sense to find the on/off switch … and flip it in the right position,” Corrie popped right back.
    Paula sighed with the great patience of a career diplomat.
    Ben laughed at the expression on her face.
    It was turning out to be a very interesting trip.

77 Ten
    A vast emptiness stretched out before the column, seemingly void of any living thing. The Rebels had left the looted and burned city of Laayoune behind them, after doing what they could for the few thousand residents left.
    It was almost unbearably hot, and to make matters worse, the Western Sahara and the bordering nation of Mauritania were in the grip of a long drought, and the sun burning every living thing. The Rebels had removed their shirts and stripped down to T-shirts in an attempt to cool off during the day; at night it was sometimes downright cold. During the day, no vehicle air-conditioning could be run because of overheating.
    “Goddamn miserable country,” Jersey bitched. “Why in the name of God would anyone in their right mind willingly choose to live here?”
    “You were raised in the desert,” Cooper said. “I thought you liked this?”
    “That’s what you get for thinking, Coop,” Jersey came right back. “What was that last village we passed through?”
    “Guelta Zemmur,” Beth told her, fanning herself with a magazine.
    “We’re in Mauritania now,” Ben said. “Crossed the
     
    78
     
    border a few miles back. Bir Moghrein is a few miles ahead.”
    “Which used to be called Fort Trinquet,” Beth injected.
    “A French Foreign Legion outpost?” Cooper asked.
    “I guess so. The brochure doesn’t say.”
    “What does it say?”
    “Not a whole lot. One paragraph stating that there is nothing there.”
    “How far to some vestiges of civilization?” Jersey asked.
    “About a hundred and thirty miles,” Beth replied. “Give or take twenty or so.”
    “And that would be? …” Anna asked.
    “Zouerate.”
    “Is there anything at … whatever you called it?” Corrie asked.
    “Not much.”
    “What a shithole,” Jersey muttered.
    There was even less at Bir Moghrein than the travel brochure mentioned-nothing but the skeletons of a few dozen long dead humans, their bones bleached white.
    “This place gives me the creeps,” Cooper said, looking all around him.
    “For once I agree with Coop,” Jersey said.
    “What do you think, Doctor?” Ben asked the Rebel doctor who had been inspecting the bones.
    The doctor stood and looked at Ben and Lamar Chase, the chief of medicine, who had just walked up to stand alongside Ben. “Disease and starvation would be my guess. Possibly bad water. There are no broken bones on any of these remains. No bullet holes in the skulls; skulls have not been smashed.”
    Rebels had been testing the water supply; what there
     
    79
     
    was left of it. “Water’s bad,” they replied. “It’s been contaminated.”
    “Well, let’s get the hell out of here,” Ben said. “We’ve got a long dry pull ahead of us.”
    There were about five hundred people left in Zouerate, and they were all in bad shape.
    “Used to be almost twenty-five thousand people living here,” Beth stated softly.
    Lamar had been observing his doctors check over the people. He left the tent and walked over to Ben. “About twenty percent of these people are dead and don’t realize it,” he said. “They are too far gone for us to be of any help. Ravaged by disease, lousy diet, bad water. If the others remain here, they’ll all be dead within a year. There is just nothing we can