by D. V. Berkom
She tracked back across the alley to the roof of the neighbor’s garage, where she noticed a pile of palm fronds fluttering in the wind. Several palm trees surrounded the home, so the debris wasn’t unusual. Leine stared through the scope as the rain beat a monotonous chorus on her windbreaker. The wind howled through, whipping at the trees. Shadows danced across the roof, messing with her view.
She had just wiped the rain off her face and was about to clear the scope again when she caught movement in the pile of vegetation. She tightened her focus and zoomed in. Nestled in the chaotic pattern of fronds was a perfect circle, similar in size to the circumference of a rifle barrel.
Leine’s finger hovered near the trigger, waiting for the gunman to move, wishing she and Derek had taken the time to grab radios.
She assumed the shooter wasn’t paying attention to the roofline, or that little circle would have been pointed at her instead of trained on the back door.
All she had to do was wait, and hope neither of the two gunmen had called in reinforcements.
A few minutes later, the fronds moved again.
Derek must be in view.
Leine released her breath and waited, finger slowly taking up slack on the trigger until it was tight.
The palm fronds levitated, like something was pushing them up from underneath. Leine sighted in and watched the mass of leaves transform into a man’s face, partially obscured behind a scope.
She fired. The rifle was off and the bullet clipped a tile next to him. The man dropped to the roof.
Cursing under her breath, Leine corrected her aim and fired. At the same instant a flash erupted from the other man’s rifle. A tile exploded in front of her, hurling bits of composite into her face.
Heart racing, Leine sighted again, but a bright light erupted from the back of the house near the shooter. A man’s silhouette appeared in the doorway.
“What’s going on out there?” the man shouted.
The shooter swiveled toward the man, leaving himself open for an instant. Leine took the shot. The gunman slumped forward onto the roof.
“Shit. Margery—get back inside. Someone’s fucking shooting out here,” the man yelled and slammed the door closed.
Leine sighed with relief. She waited a beat, expecting return fire, making sure the shooter didn’t move.
Nothing.
“Derek?” Leine called out, the wind and rain stealing her words. “Derek?” she called again, this time louder.
No answer. Was he hurt?
Leine closed the dust covers and inched backward, taking the rifle with her as she made her way to the balcony side of the house. She collapsed the bipod and slung the M21 over her shoulder before climbing down to the master bedroom. Then she sprinted along the hallway to the stairs and descended, taking two at a time, headed for the back door.
Easing the bullet-riddled door open, she followed the wall until she could make out Derek’s dark form crouching near the Rover.
He was all right. Leine relaxed her grip on the gun and made her way over to him.
“Any movement?” she asked.
“None that I could see.” He handed her a pair of night vision binoculars. Leine took them and scanned the roofline of the neighbor’s carport and surrounding area. She didn’t see anything.
“We’d better get out of here,” Derek said. “Jim and Margery aren’t going to let this slide. Won’t be long until the police are crawling all over the place.”
Leine helped him stow the weapons and ammunition in a false compartment under the cargo area and then jogged through the pouring rain to open the gate. Derek drove through, and she closed it behind him, replacing the padlock. She climbed into the passenger seat and they sped away.
CHAPTER 21
DEREK DIDN’T TURN on the lights until he was well clear of the alley. He didn’t say anything as he drove. The adrenaline began its slow retreat from Leine’s system, leaving her drained. Derek appeared to be exhausted, too, so she relaxed back in her seat and watched the storm rage on through the steady beat of the windshield wipers.
They drove past neighborhoods and small community markets, all shuttered against the storm. Not a soul walked the streets. A cardboard box flew out of nowhere, smacking the windshield and whipping up and over the roof.
Soon the terrain shifted to just plain dark, uninterrupted by streetlamps or the glowing windows of houses or storefronts. She assumed they were traveling through the countryside now and wouldn’t encounter a large city for several kilometers.
They drove in silence for the better part of two hours. Leine couldn’t help dozing off and on. When she woke, she checked the odometer. They’d covered half the normal distance. The Rover’s headlights illuminated barely a meter in front of them; sheets of rain obscured anything beyond that. The road was fast becoming a river, but Derek seemed unconcerned.
“Would you like me to take over? You’ve been at it for quite a while.”
“No,” came the short reply.
“Do you think we should stop somewhere until the storm blows over?” Leine didn’t want to end up buried to their axles in mud, having to dig out after the storm.
Derek didn’t answer.
Leine fell silent, wondering if he was having a hard time concentrating. She sensed an undercurrent that hadn’t been there before, and tried again.
“Is something wrong?”
Dodging a tree branch, Derek turned onto a road riddled with potholes. He shook his head. “I was thinking that it’s a damned shame I’ll never be welcome in that neighborhood again. I sure as hell can’t go back. Not anytime soon.”
“Do you think Wang’s going to continue to watch your place?” she asked.
Derek shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe. That isn’t what I’m worried about. My neighbors prefer peace and quiet. Cocktails at seven and dinner parties on Friday.” He hit the steering wheel. “Damn. I worked hard to make myself into an upstanding member of society. Now I’m fucked.”
“I’m going to ignore the obvious irony here, and just suggest that you live somewhere else where no one knows you. Like I said, I can make sure you’re able to go anywhere you want, within reason.” Leine leaned her head back. “Besides, that kind of lifestyle sounds awfully boring if you ask me. Especially in light of what you’ve done for a living.”
“You don’t get it.” He glanced at Leine. “I can’t leave. Africa’s in my blood. It’s my home. What else am I supposed to do?”
“How about import-export? Remember your invitation to go into business together?”
Derek gave her a lopsided smile. “Yeh, I didn’t really expect you to go for it. It was just an idea to pass the time.”
Leine raised an eyebrow. “You mean you weren’t serious about Derek and Claire’s Fabric Emporium? I’m devastated.”
“Ja, ja. Devastated,” he said, grinning. “That’s a good one.” He glanced at her and shrugged, then looked out the windshield. “It’s hard to imagine myself anywhere else.”
“Africa’s a big place. Why not cross into Kenya or Botswana? With your knowledge you’d make a great addition to a safari company.”
“Yeh. Maybe….” His voice trailed off. “What if I talk to your boss? He obviously has reach. I don’t know many people who can work up a passport as fine as yours in twenty-four hours.”
“I wouldn’t really call him my boss. We used to work together in another lifetime. He still has the contacts he established back then. Comes in handy with the work we do.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you and he were members of a criminal enterprise.” Derek said, watching her for a reaction.
Leine smiled. “Some people might feel that way, but technically, no. We were legit.” She didn’t tell him the jobs the agency and its operatives were involved in often stretched the definition of lawful and reasonable.
Often? Hell, most of the time.
“Hmm. Well now, that sounds mysterious enough to warrant further discussion—”
Derek’s words died in his throat as he slammed on the brakes and steered hard to the right. The Rover skidded to a stop.
“Shit.”
The headlights cut through the driving rain and dropped off, illuminating a large swath of swift-moving water streaming over the road.
“How deep?” Leine asked, eyeing the mud-filled chasm between them and the rest of the road.
“A meter, maybe more.” Derek squinted at the water. “It’s the ‘maybe more’ that worries me. We could be digging out in Kenya in the morning.” The joke did little to lighten the mood.
Derek shifted into low gear and inched forward, frowning in concentration. Leine gripped the door handle and craned her neck to look out the side window. The muddy water rose first to mid-wheel and then fanned out over the tire as they moved forward into the washout. She scanned the floorboards for seepage as Derek pushed through the deepest part.
“Are you sure we’re going to make it?” Leine asked.
“Of course we’ll make it. I modified this beast a while back for such occasions. She’s been through a lot worse.”
Derek’s bravado had a hollow ring, but Leine bit her tongue and held on.
Midway across the impromptu river, the back end of the Rover skidded to the right. Leine caught her breath as the rear wheel slid into a void with a loud thunk. Derek ignored it and gunned the gas, forcing the four-wheel-drive forward, and then back, spinning the wheels and trying to rock the vehicle. The water rushed past, splashing Leine’s window. On the third try, Derek punched the accelerator. The Rover rocketed out of the hole, climbing out of the water and onto the other side.
Derek drove a safe distance away and parked.
“Haven’t failed me yet, have you girl?” Derek said, patting the Rover’s dash.
“Good job.” Leine looked back at the ruined roadway. “How long do these downpours usually last?”
Derek shrugged. “They’re normally just a squall. It’ll be blue skies and sunny days tomorrow, I’ll wager.”
Clearly covered in mud, the headlights projected a weak beam maybe a foot in front of the grill. Derek reached into the backseat to retrieve a hooded raincoat and shrugged it on.
“Hand me that, would you?” he said, pointing to a dirty T-shirt on the floor by Leine’s feet. She gave it to him and he got out, proceeding to the front of the vehicle. Still wearing the slicker he’d lent her earlier, Leine tore off several paper towels from a roll in the backseat and joined him, cleaning the lenses as well as she could. Derek inspected the undercarriage for damage and, finding none, they climbed back into the Rover and continued on.
“You asked me earlier where we’d be stopping,” Derek began. “That’s up to you. In good weather, the drive to where Wang likes to set up his traveling sideshow takes about nineteen hours from Dar—nine hours to Arusha, and then about ten more after that. Now, we can bust our asses to make it there by tomorrow night, which, by the looks of that wash doesn’t seem likely, or, we can drive until we’re tired, camp for the night, and resume our trip in the morning. Up to you.”
“I’d like to get as far as possible,” Leine replied, “but you know the terrain. I defer to your judgement.”
Derek’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t expect that answer from you.”
“I know when I’m out of my element. It’s called being prudent.”
Derek let out a chuckle. “Well, I’m not known for being much of that.”
“I gathered.” Leine closed her eyes and sighed, wondering if it was too late to attempt finding Wang’s camp on her own.
CHAPTER 22
LEINE WOKE WITH the sun the next morning. They’d driven to the town of Arusha, where they stopped to fill up the Rover and the four jerrycans lashed to the back. Derek drove for another couple of hours before pulling over to rest, preferring to take a northerly route to the Akili Game Reserve during daylight. Guttural snores coming from the front seat told her he was still asleep. Grateful he let her have the back where there was more room, Leine yawned and stretched, then quietly opened the door and got out.
Derek had been right—the storm passed over them in the early hours and the day looked promising. A verdant expanse of savannah stretched in all directions with no buildings or towns or remnants of civilization to mar the otherwise peaceful scene before her. Mount Meru jutted skyward back the way they’d come, anchoring the terrain. A smattering of graceful, flat-topped acacias punctuated the green, along with a vast herd of wildebeest munching contentedly in the distance.
Egrets circled the herd, swooping in to rest for just a moment on the backs of the tolerant before launching themselves into the air in graceful arcs. Other birds she didn’t know the names of sailed above her head, serenading her as she retrieved Derek’s single-burner stove and filled the tea kettle. She searched for and found a tin of breakfast tea and two travel cups, along with some matches, which she used to set the kettle to boil.
She was sitting on the roof of the Rover, dangling her feet over the racks and sipping her tea when Derek scrambled out of the front seat, disoriented, his hair sticking out in all directions. He noticed the makeshift table Leine set up with the tea kettle and stove and staggered toward it, acknowledging her with a grunt. He poured himself a cup of tea and, yawning, scratched his chest, gazing out at the wildebeests.
“It’s migration time, you know,” he said, his back to her. “Although, not the migration. The rain brings them back to the valleys. Predator, prey. The dance of life and all that.”
“You sound like an advertisement for The Lion King,” Leine said with a laugh.
Derek swiveled to look at her and grinned. “Yeh. I guess I do.” He turned back to the massive herd of animals slowly moving north. “God, I love this place. It gets in your blood.”
“I can see why.”
They sat in silence, watching the peaceful scene and enjoying each other’s company as they sipped their tea. Derek produced a package of jerky he swore was the best he’d ever had, and offered her some. When she asked him what kind of meat he’d used, Derek’s answer was vague.
“Let’s just call it bush jerky.”
As they cleaned up breakfast, Leine glanced back the way they’d come and noticed a tiny white speck in the distance. She retrieved the binoculars from the Rover and trained them on the speck. An SUV with official-looking emblems was headed their way.
“Derek.” Leine nudged him and handed him the binoculars, nodding at the approaching vehicle.
Derek shaded his eyes and squinted through the glass. “Shit.” He threw the rest of their things into the Rover and slammed the back shut. “Get in. We’re leaving.”
“Won’t that look suspicious?”
“Probably, but they’re too far away to check my plates. Besides, if they catch up with us, they’re only going to want money. I’d hate for you to lose more of that stash.”
“Less for you, right?” Leine offered. Derek shrugged, smiled.
“You know me well.”
They climbed in and Derek hit the gas. The back tires spun, finally caught, and the Rover lurched forward.
Derek drove with one eye on the road in front of them, and one on the rearview mirror, trying to keep a good distance from the other vehicle. Leine trained the binoculars out the back window. There were two people in the front seat.
“They’re getting closer,” she said.
Derek nodded. “Yeh. I know. I just need to get over this next hill…” He stepped on the accelerator, and the Rover screamed forward, zigzagging wildly as Derek steered clear of potholes and chunks of road washed away by the downpour.
They crested the rise and dropped down, headed toward a dense thicket of brush in the midst of acres of towering grass. The Rover left the road, flushing a flock of doves as they drove across the flat and into the grass, not stopping until they were deep in the thicket, obscured behind a wicked-looking thorn tree. Derek turned off the ignition and got out. Leine slipped on her shoulder holster and followed him th
rough the tall grass to a lookout where they could watch for the approaching car.
He glanced at the gun in her holster as she came up beside him. “I don’t think we’re going to have to kill them,” he said, his voice low.
“This is for the fauna,” Leine replied.
Derek’s eyebrow twitched upward. “That nine won’t do you much good if you’re charged by an elephant. Or a lion, for that matter. You’ll learn. We’ll make a poacher out of you yet.”
“That’s not exactly what I was hoping for—” Leine fell silent at the sound of the vehicle coming over the rise. The car slowed as it crested the hill, pausing near where they’d left the road.
“Our tracks will be obvious from last night’s rain. Let’s hope they decide it’s not worth the effort.”
The vehicle with the official markings crept along, its front windows down. The passenger leaned out the window, watching the ground.
“What happens if they decide to follow us?”
Derek shook his head. “They aren’t going to want to work that hard. Unless—”
“What?”
“It could be they’re looking for my vehicle, specifically. That little exchange of gunfire we had at the house was major activity for my neighborhood. Violent crime isn’t normally a problem in that area. Knowing my neighbors, the police are going to be stirred up hotter than a termite nest and looking for results. I guarantee they’ll be after whoever did the two gunmen. My place was obviously the target.” He shook his head. “It’s not like it’ll be hard to guess who’s responsible.”
“This is a long way from Dar. Would they really come after you here?”
“It’s possible that they put out a description of the Rover so they can bring me in for questioning.”
The vehicle stopped and Derek fell silent. The passenger opened his door and got out. Tall and thin wearing a white, short-sleeve shirt with epaulets and dark slacks, the man started toward them, following the Rover’s tracks. Leine and Derek stayed where they were.
“Turn around, now,” Derek whispered to him. “Don’t come any closer.”