Honour Among Thieves

quicken their pace. Once they reached the side of the road, Aziz gave the order that the pieces of the car should be lowered gently to the ground, and a little girl, who Scott hadn't noticed before, handed out bread, goats' cheese and water while they rested. Cohen was the first up and began walking around his platoon, checking on the various pieces. By the time he had returned to the chassis, they were all impatient to put the car together again. Scott sat on the ground and watched as thirty untrained mechanics, under the direction of Sergeant Cohen, slowly bolted the old Cadillac together piece by piece. When the last wheel had been screwed on, Scott had to admit it looked like a car, but wondered if the old veteran would ever be able to start. All the villagers surrounded the massive pink vehicle as Cohen sat in the driver's seat. Aziz waited until the children had emptied their last drop of petrol into the tank. He then screwed on the big steel cap and shouted, 'Go for it!' Cohen turned the key in the ignition. The engine turned over slowly, but wouldn't catch. Cohen leaped out, lifted the bonnet and asked Aziz to take his place behind the wheel. He made a slight readjustment to the fan belt, checked the distributor and cleaned the spark plugs of the last few remaining grains of sand before screwing them in tightly. He stuck his head out from under the bonnet. 'Have a go, Kurd.' Aziz turned the key and pressed the accelerator. The engine turned over a little more quickly but still didn't want to start. Sixty eyes stared beneath the bonnet, but offered no advice as Cohen spent several more minutes working on the distributor. 'Once again, and give it more throttle!' he shouted. Aziz switched on the ignition. The chug became a churn, and then suddenly a roar as Aziz pressed the accelerator � a noise only exceeded by the cheers of the villagers. Cohen took Aziz's place in the front and lifted the gear lever on the steering column up into first. But the car refused to budge, as the wheels spun round and it bedded itself deeper and deeper into the sand. Cohen turned off the engine and jumped out. Sixty hands were flattened against the car as it was rocked backwards and forwards, and then, with one great shove, it was eased out of its deep trough. The villagers pushed it a further twenty yards and then waited for the Sergeant's next order. Cohen pointed to the little girl who had distributed the food. She came shyly forward and he lifted her into the front of the car. With sign language, Cohen instructed her to kneel by the accelerator pedal and press down. Without getting into the car, Cohen leaned across, checked that the gears were in neutral, and switched on the engine. The little girl continued to push on the accelerator with both hands, and the engine revved into action. She immediately burst into tears, as the villagers cheered even louder. Cohen quickly lifted the little girl out onto the sand and then beckoned to Aziz. 'You're about half my weight, mate, so get in, put it into first gear and see if you can keep it going for about a hundred yards. If you can, we'll all jump in. If you can't, we'll have to push the bloody thing all the way to the border.' Aziz stepped gingerly into the Cadillac. Sitting on the edge of the leather seat he gently lifted the lever into first gear and pressed down on the accelerator. The car inched forward and the villagers began to cheer again as Scott, Hannah and Cohen ran along beside it. Hannah opened the passenger door, pushed the seat forward and jumped into the back as the car continued at its slow pace. Cohen leaped in after her and shouted, 'Second gear!' Aziz pulled the lever down, across and up. The car lurched forward. 'That's third, you stupid Kurd!' shouted Cohen. He turned to see Scott running almost flat out. Cohen reached across to hold the door open as Scott threw his bag into the back. Scott leaped in and Cohen grabbed him round the shoulders. Scott's head landed in Aziz's lap, but although the Kurd swerved the car still kept going on the firmer sand. Aziz continued swinging the car from side to side to avoid the mounds of sand that had blown on to the road. 'I can see why there aren't likely to be any army patrols on this road,' was Cohen's only comment. Scott turned back to see the villagers waving frantically. Returning their wave seemed inadequate after all they had done. He hadn't thanked them properly or even said goodbye. The villagers didn't move until