‘So who’s this?’ Ayesha asked, nodding warily at Francis.
I went through a round of introductions.
‘Yo, Cooper! That you?’ Boink asked as he pulled himself up the last step onto the shelf. ‘What up, dog?’
Twenny’s head security guy walked over and held out his fist so that we could bump knuckles, the male air kiss.
‘I never seen nothin’ like what happen’ down in that village, yo. When you stowed away on that truck after what we seen?’ he shook his head. ‘That was brave, fucked-up shit. I thought you was a goner.’
‘Who’s a goner?’ It was Leila. She reached behind her head, wrangling her hair into a ponytail as she came up the step. ‘Cooper… When did you get back?’ She caught sight of Francis and said, ‘What’s going on?’
‘Got movement down there,’ said West, interrupting, holding up the scope for me to come take a look.
‘Excuse me,’ I said to Leila.
‘No, you’re not excused,’ she replied.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Cooper, you’re not going nowhere till I know what’s going on. We went with you yesterday. I hoped it might keep your eyes on the prize — getting us back to Cyangugu. But instead, off you went. You put us all at risk again. And we’re still no closer to getting out of here.’
‘I thought we were in agreement about rescuing Twenny,’ I said, keeping the annoyance out of my face and tone.
‘Which agreement was that?’ she said.
‘I’ve made it plain to you that it’s our responsibility to protect all our principals, not just your Hollywood ass.’
A hand went to her hip. She didn’t like that, a suggestion that the universe might not revolve around her ass.
‘I’m sure if you asked Deryck, he’d want me to be safe.’
‘As far as I can see, you are,’ I said. ‘You’re not tied to a tree with a hood over your face, not knowing whether you’re going to live or die from one moment to the next.’
‘There mightn’t be a hood on my head, Cooper, but what’s the difference between Deryck’s situation and ours? We don’t know whether we’re going to survive either.’ She looked to Ayesha for backup. Her friend and makeup artist gave a reluctant nod. ‘Y’know, I don’t think this is about getting us out of here. It’s not about getting us to safety,’ Leila continued, stabbing a finger in my direction. ‘Maybe that’s where you started out, but it’s not what’s happening now. You think you’ve uncovered a crime. You’re a cop, so you want to arrest someone. This has become a case, hasn’t it? And you’re going to solve it or die trying. Which is fine by me — go ahead and die, if that’s what you’re determined to do. Just don’t take the rest of us with you.’
‘Shut the fuck up, woman,’ said Boink. ‘Pulling Twenny out and getting your sorry ass back over the border — they’re both the same deal. You still think we can just walk in an’ ask for him and Peanut back? Damn you, woman. If we want them back, we have to go an’ convince the motherfuckers that we want ’em more than they want ’em.’
Maybe I’d underestimated Boink. The guy summed up like a math professor.
Leila dismissed him with a flick of her hand. ‘I don’t care what you think, Phillip, ’cause you never do any damned thinking for yo’se’f.’
Phillip? I tried mentally to pin the name on Boink and had a lot of difficulty making it stick.
‘This guy, Cooper?’ she said, pointing at me. ‘He’s damaged goods. He killed his fancée and now he wants to die to make amends for it. He doesn’t care what happens to you, or me, or any of us.’ She turned to me again, her face… ugly. ‘That’s what this is all about, right? You’re in pain and you want out of your misery. You have a death wish.’
Maybe she was right. Maybe that’s exactly what I had. And maybe she was right about Death having a score to settle with me, just like the one she figured it had settled with Anna.
‘Well, Cooper?’ The singer’s arms were folded, her weight on one slender long leg, a study in self-righteous impatience.
‘Lockhart and his friends cooked up a scheme to capture you and your ex and extort money for your release,’ I said. ‘And that’s just part of what they’re into. Your ex is still down there — the man you said you still loved — and we’re hoping he’s still alive. Also down there are trucks and a road going somewhere. You get that? So, the plan is simple — we snatch Deryck and Peanut and take the trucks. And we make a lot of noise doing it. The alternative is a fifteen-mile hike through the forest to the nearest town. In this terrain, the way we move, I figure that will take us three more days — three more days without enough food, three more days of battling the elements, three more days of mosquitoes and snakes, three more days of you and me rubbing up against each other like nitro and glycerin. Walk if you like, but I ’d rather roll outta here.’
‘So, what? Now we just hang around and wait to see what you do?’
‘No. I’m hoping that you can make yourself useful and learn how to shoot one of these,’ I said, lifting my M4.
She clenched her fists in frustration. Hmm… Leila somewhere behind me with loaded assault rifle. What was wrong with that picture?
‘Sir…’ West called out again, impatient.
‘Can I go now, ma’am?’ I asked the star.
She ignored me and turned on Cassidy as she stormed off. ‘As for you, we could have rescued that baby girl and you know it.’
Boink sidled over like he had something illegal to sell. ‘Cooper,’ he said under his breath. ‘That name you heard from her. It stays right here in the jungle, yo.’
‘What name?’ I said as I retreated in West’s direction. The sergeant handed me the scope and I braced it against the tree. There was some movement on the hill. The camp was beginning to stir.
‘We’ve got maybe an hour and a half of useful darkness before dawn,’ I said to myself.
‘Boss, if you’re cooking up one of those half-plans of yours,’ said West, ‘right about now might be a good time to share.’
Ambush
We came down off the observation ridge, retracing our steps in the pre-dawn light, the ones that brought us up behind the looted village. As we picked our way across the higher ground, the broken sounds of women wailing for their lost children and husbands drifted up through the dense growth like the tendrils of mist curling through the trees.
‘I have heard this many times,’ Francis whispered. ‘I do not need to go down there to know what has happened.’
No, I guess he didn’t.
Leila appeared particularly anxious and, for once, not about herself. I overheard Ayesha whisper to her, ‘I’m sure she’s fine.’ The ‘she’ referred to I presumed was the baby we’d rescued briefly from the brutality.
Above, the cloud cover thickened into a solid slab and the rain started to fall, not heavily, but constant, drenching and cold. I caught the sky in snatches through the canopy and saw that it was lightening to the color of wet concrete. There was not a lot of time to get into position. We came around behind the village, and started down the hill on its far side.
‘We stop,’ said Francis, around halfway down the slope. ‘This is good place. Your people will be safe here.’ He gestured at a stand of larger trees that would provide our principals with some cover should they need it.
‘What now?’ said Leila. ‘Is this where you’re going to desert us? Again.’
I signaled Cassidy and West and they handed out a couple of the spare Nazarians, giving one to her and the other to Ayesha. ‘Try not to shoot the good guys,’ I said to Leila as I double checked its safety and magazine and handed it back to her. ‘Do I need to worry?’