Adam jammed the brakes, cranked the bike sideways and put it to ground as he deftly hopped clear. He stood with legs braced apart, trying to process the puzzle.

Ava was positioned between Ali and Adam. She had one arm extended at him, striking the Diana Ross pose.

She was not restrained. Ali was behind her, but this time he did not have Ava covered with a weapon.

"Adam, stop!" Ava shouted. "Listen to me. Ali Khan is unarmed..."

Adam didn't allow her to continue. He strode forward, pulling out his 9mm Browning, saying, "Good. Grab a hand-basket, Ali." And to Ava: "Outta the way, Slim, this bastard's going to Hell."

"Miss Ava, please!" Ali squeaked.

Adam was three paces away from Ava. Instead of stepping aside, she whipped Ali's Beretta from her pocket and aimed it at Adam's nose. She said, "Nobody has to die, Adam. It's up to you."

He stopped dead, dead in his tracks, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. He said, "What the hell are you doing, Ava? You're protecting this venal weasel? He handed you over to Somali pirates for chrissakes!"

"I told you, Adam. I told you I would do whatever was necessary to stop you from becoming a cold-blooded killer."

Adam relaxed his stance. He let his gun hand hang to his side. He pushed back the hair from his forehead. He lowered his chin to his chest in surrender. Then he looked up at Ava and sighed as he said, "Okay, Slim. You win. So what's the deal? Are we turning him over to the cops?"

Ali Khan piped in, "No, Adam, my friend, we have a deal. Miss Ava..."

Ava swung her 'stop' sign at Ali, kept her focus on Adam but lowered the gun. She said, "Adam, I made an agreement with Ali. He's returned all my stuff. And, he's provided the hard evidence I need to link Yuri Dostov to terrorism. In return, I told him I'd persuade you to help him get out of Yemen, alive. Everybody's after him: The police; the army; a couple of maniacs, apparently;" –Ava rolled her eyes– "even his brother wants him 'eliminated'."

Adam shook his head. And he grinned. This person, this girl, this beautiful woman. How in God's creation had he gotten so lucky to become involved with such an amazing individual? He'd become resigned to sailing solo forever. Then, by divine intervention, or whatever, this angel of a woman drops straight outta heaven. She'd landed in one of the hairiest places on Earth without any manner of backup or safety net. And against crazy sick odds she'd achieved everything she'd set out to do. Unfrigginbelievable! Adam summarized to himself, then asked, "Oh, really? And how am I supposed to help this Muppet get out of Yemen?"

"I can sail with you, Adam," Ali stated hopefully. "Your boat, it is right there." He pointed down at the harbor. "We can depart immediately. Nobody will see, not even my brother."

"Hmm," Adam said as he contemplated the stubble on his chin between his thumb and forefinger, "I know two things for sure, Ali." Adam let go his chin and popped up his middle finger, said, "Number one: The chances of you sailing away with us on Vendetta are somewhere between no way and fuck you." He formed a peace sign, continued with, "Number two: You're right about your brother; Badaki won't see anything. He's attending a family reunion... with your ancestors."

"Badaki is deceased?" Ali Khan exclaimed with a tone that did not convey an iota of bereavement.

"Badaki is dead?" Ava echoed. Her voice was thick with the emotions she was struck with: disappointment, hopeless despair. She could feel the life energy in her soul drain away. She couldn't utter another word. Any hope for Adam was kaput. He had just said, 'sailing away with us '. But that was now a dried-up whimsy. 'Us' no longer existed in Ava's mind. Adam had killed Badaki. No matter how she felt about Adam there was no way Ava could run off with a murderer. She felt empty and tired, bereaved. She turned and walked to the parapet where her satchel was lying. She gazed out over the Gulf through stinging tears. Only snippets of the conversation occurring behind filtered through.

"Adam," Ali pronounced solemnly, "naturally this news fills me with great sadness. But in truth I trust my brother will find contentment in eternal Paradise. Recently, his prostate was causing him much frustration, his moods yet more foul. Furthermore, Badaki, unlike me, was not a man to appreciate what life on Earth has to offer." Ali nodded sagely before continuing with, "Now, with grief, closure and healing behind us, let us sail off to more welcoming climes."

"Ali, you're pissin' into the wind," Adam answered. "I told you, we're not sailing off anywhere with you." Adam was speaking to Ali but Ava could feel his eyes on her.

"But, Adam, please, did I not give you a chance? Remember, I could have deposited you into the sea and taken your boat. I did not do this."

"A chance? Uh-uh, Ali, that was not a chance. You gave me, maybe, hmm... half a chance." Adam paused, thought about it. "But you know what? Because Ava made an agreement with you, I'm gonna give you half a chance." He strode to his bike and heaved it upright, asked, "Do you know how to drive one of these? The gearing is one down, four up."

Ali stared at Adam, puzzled. He said, "I have driven a motorbike. But what are you suggesting, my friend?"

"This is your half a chance, Ali. A gift. The Beast is yours. You can take 'er off-road, outta sight. Tank's almost full; you might make it all the way to Mecca... Inshallah. Call it your hajj. You'd best be quick about it, though. Some of Ava's Christian charity evidently rubbed off on me, but it may not last."

Ali regarded Adam quizzically. Nothing on Adam's face would reveal anything but complete detachment. Ali smiled ironically and went to the bike. He clasped the hand grip. Adam let go. Ali grabbed the other grip and levered his leg over, settled into the saddle. He shook his head and smiled again, looked at Adam. He said, "Yes, this is half a chance, Adam East, and un beau geste. I do thank you, it is more than I deserve, since my chickens have come home to roost." He kicked the engine to life.

Adam slapped Ali on the back, saying, "Hey! Good for you, Ali. At last, you nailed one. Maybe there is hope for this world." He took out his Browning again, popped the magazine and ejected the round from the chamber –he still didn't trust Ali for one second. He handed it all to him, saying, "Here you go, some real firepower. You'll need it more than I will."

Ali stuffed the ammo into his pockets, the gun into his waistband. He handed Ava's BlackBerry to Adam and motioned him closer. Adam leaned in. Ali slipped a small mag into Adam's hand and said, "Before you make use of the pistol I loaned to Miss Ava, replace the load with these live rounds." He offered a lopsided grin and shrugged. Adam stood back, shaking his head. Ali touched his brow in salute. He carefully steered The Beast in a tight half-circle and then out through the exit of the Keep.

Beneath the sound of the departing bike, Ava could hear Adam's approaching footfalls. She could guess the lame excuses that would follow: justice, retribution, honor, and all the other platitudes meant to soften the hard callous truth of murder.

"Okay," Adam said, easy-breezy, "we're good, right?" He came next to her, placed the BlackBerry beside her hand and rested his forearms on the parapet.

Ava was flabbergasted, thinking, We're good? That's all he has to offer? She spun away from the wall, rounded on him. She said, "We're good? That's it? Are you friggin' nuts? After what you've done?"

"Wha'd'ya' mean, what I've done? You made the deal. Did you really expect me to sneak Ali outta here on Vendetta?"

"I am not referring to Ali, Adam. I'm talking about Badaki. And cold-blooded murder. You shot him with that gun." She snatched her cell-phone and tossed it into the satchel.

"Oh, oh, that? Ava, I didn't kill Badaki. Guess what? It was Frick and Frack."

"What? Who?"

"Yup, Zalmay's brothers, the ZZ Top impersonators. And guess what else? They were the guys that followed you to our pick-up point that night. They got word you'd killed Zalmay so they were out for revenge. I think they first picked up your trail by following Inspector Guma to the Gold Mohur Hotel. They saw us take off on my bike that night. They're the 'maniacs'."

"O M G! Ava's jaw dropped, she shook her head. "How do you know all this?"

"Aaron Abel. They must've followed you when you went to his place that day. So late last night, they paid Aaron a visit to find out where you were. He told them they were after the wrong person. He sicced them on Badaki... after some unfriendly persuasion."

"What? Oh no. Is Aaron okay?"

"Meh, his face is roughed up some. He'll survive, don't fret."

"So you didn't kill anybody?" Ava's relief and joy shone bright in her big violet eyes.

"Nope," Adam declared proudly. "Well, not that I'm aware of at least," he added, thinking back to the dhow fire and explosion.

Ava flung her arms round Adam's neck and stood on her toes to kiss him full on the mouth. He kissed back with equal gusto. He massaged her lower back, pulling her pelvis in tight.

Ava tasted her tears seeping between their lips. She lowered herself to her heels and rested her ear against Adam's chest, squeezed herself against him. She could hear the strong regular beating of his heart. She said, "Oh, Adam, I am so happy." Her butt wiggled involuntarily just beneath Adam's interlaced fingers.

"So, we are good, huh?" he asked.

"Yes, oh yes, we are good."

They took their time strolling hand-in-hand back down the long stone walkway. They stopped twice at benches provided along the way so Adam wouldn't overtax his leg.

At the first stop, Ava rang Aaron Abel but there was no answer so she left him a brief message to say all was well. Ava could see Adam was not thrilled with this gesture. So at the next stop, she pulled her laptop out of the satchel and they browsed through some of her old photos. They lingered and talked and laughed and enjoyed the spectacular view of The Gulf of Aden as if there weren't a problem in the whole wide world.

But when they reached the end of the path and turned onto the road that led off Sira Island, sirens wailing down the main drag in Old Town transformed Ava's sense of the illusion to complete delusion.