As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked behind, her eyes wide with terror.
The angry mob was still chasing her. She quickened her pace, her mind in a whirl by the recent events.
Everything had happened so fast that she was caught off guard. She had heard rumours of the plan, but had not taken them seriously. Evidently she had underestimated them.
The result was the ambush of her convoy, which had culminated in a mad dash towards the fortress.
She could see the guard posts now. In a minute she would be within the range of the watch towers, equipped with high powered machine guns. They wouldn't dare touch her then.
With a final desperate burst of speed, she covered the last few meters which separated her from safety. Behind her, the shouts of the mob began to die down, as the futility of the chase dawned upon them. She knew they were giving up. She knew they were scared of the horror their rash act was about to unleash.
And scared they should be, she thought. Pathetic little fools. They should have known better than to rebel against a ruthless warlord like her. They should have been too scared to muster the courage which they had shown today. But they were not. It must have been the work of the new chief, she thought. Too bad he would be the last chief they would ever have.
As a matter of fact, she knew that all of them would not see tomorrow's sunrise. She would see to that. It was high time an example were set to re-establish her authority, her ownership over them.
With a wicked smile on her face she turned around to face them. Seeing the scared and confused look on their faces, a short laugh escaped from her lips. She took a few steps back, revelling in thoughts of the brutal massacre that was to follow. That was when she heard the click.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Did she really hear what she just heard? And then it dawned upon her.
She wasn't leading them to the fortress, they were leading her.
The whole thing had been planned and executed to perfection. The smoke screen during the attack on the convoy was to confuse her sense of direction. The location of the ambush was selected such that she would run towards the place where she was now standing. The place where no one dared venture. The place no one left alive.
With a sick feeling in her stomach, she slowly turned her gaze towards the ground. One look confirmed her worst fears.
The mine was already armed.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
