“We need to talk,” she said, plopping down on the ground in front of him, sitting Indian-style.
Baako said nothing. He looked at the bottle between his knees, and he used his good arm to twist off the top. He took a big sip and looked at Kara with a blank defeated expression.
“This morning you told me Afua is a Christian. You told me that your entire family is Christian. I do believe you.”
She watched Baako for a reaction. Nothing.
Kara continued, “You hinted Afua would release all the kidnapped girls that the Boko Haram has held for more than a decade.”
Baako took another pull off the water bottle but said nothing.
“You can still make that happen,” Kara told him.
Baako finally said, “I don’t have any control over these men. They followed my brother.”
Kara responded, “They followed your identical twin brother. It’s my guess that very few of these men can tell you two apart. If it wasn’t for your continual smiles and the absence of a scar on your leg, I wouldn’t have known the difference.”
“So, what?” Baako asked. He wasn’t smiling. At that moment, he looked exactly like Afua. Emotionless, yet lethal.
Kara told him, “I don’t see any reason to kill you right now. Matter of fact, I think it would be a tragic mistake to kill you. You see, Baako—” Kara said, taking the bottle out of his hands and helping herself to a drink. “—I think you will be a good leader for the Boko Haram. I think you could do good things and make up for all the horrible things your brother did.”
Kara handed the water back to Baako, and she watched him closely for a moment.
Baako was contemplating what she said, but Kara didn’t understand what there was to think about. If he said no, she would call in Kornev’s plane to pick them all up. If he made the wrong decision, she had all sorts of options of what to do with the brother of a Top Ten Terrorist. The CIA could probably get some great intel out of him, and he could be used in trade for the kidnapped girls. He would be used as a pawn in the international game of look what I got. There were so many bad possibilities for Baako if he made a poor decision.
Kara kept her eyes on the man.
“OK,” he finally said.
“OK, what?” Kara asked.
“OK, I will do good. I will make sure that the girls are released.”
“And, I won’t tell any of your buddies that you are not Afua. But I don’t expect to hear any reports of bad things going on in Nigeria at the hands of the Boko Haram. You saw how easy it was to get to your brother. Well, it would be just as easy for us to get to you and your family.”
Kara immediately regretted she had thrown his family in on the threat. It probably wasn’t necessary, and it was a level of provocation that could have been avoided. Nevertheless, the man across from her jerked in reaction to her comment, followed immediately by saying, “It’s a deal.”
Baako held out his huge black hand.
Kara transferred the gun to her left hand. She kept it loosely trained on the man as she placed her small white hand into his and shook on the agreement.
“Cut me loose,” Baako requested.
“Soon,” Kara said.
Getting back to her feet, Kara walked over to the window of the SUV.
She handed Baako’s cellphone to Kornev and told him, “Call the airport and have them radio your pilots to come back and pick us up.”
“Do you know the number?” Kornev asked.
“Do I look like your personal secretary? Google it, dumb-ass.”
Kornev began fumbling with the phone.
Kara turned, so she could keep an eye on Baako, in addition to his men, who were still waiting patiently at the end of the runway.
Above Diambu’s men, she saw Foreigner angling down for a landing. A minute later, the drone flared and touched down gently on the tarmac. It took less than thirty additional seconds for the drone to slow to a full stop in front of the SUV.
There was a mechanical hum of electric motors, followed by a small clinking sound. Kara saw four small metal hooks beneath the aircraft.
Kara stuffed the gun into the back of her pants’ waistband. She retrieved Foo Fighters from its awkward position on the ground. It was wide, bulky and difficult to handle. It was relatively light, for which Kara was grateful. It would have been heavy if it hadn’t already spent most of its ammo.
Kara knelt and slid Foo Fighters under the belly of Foreigner. Locating the mating clips on the top of the smaller drone, she pushed the drone upward snapping it into place under Foreigner’s belly. She pulled down on Foo Fighters and was satisfied it was securely locked into place.
She stood up and walked back to the SUV. Seagulls was lying in a feathery heap next to the driver’s door. It had seen better days. Many of the drone’s white feathers were scattered around the area. The bird’s head was craned to one side, like it had broken its neck in attempt to save Kara’s life. Both of its wings were fully extended. Kara gently picked up the drone and pressed the bird’s wings back up against its body. She felt locking clips snap into place. With Seagulls’ wings secured, she returned to Foreigner, and located the next set of hooks behind Foo Fighters. She felt along the back of Seagulls and found the indentations in the bird’s spine that would match up with the hooks on Foreigner. Seagulls was smaller and easier to snap into place.
Upon her return to the vehicle, she heard Foreigner’s jet engine begin to spin up. Baako had not moved from his sitting position next to the SUV. Kornev still looked green sitting inside the SUV. Kara looked down the runway to verify the soldiers were keeping their distance.
In a whoosh, she watched Foreigner use a small amount of the runway before taking flight. Now, there was nothing left to do but wait for Kornev’s plane to pick them up.
She turned back to Baako. He looked somewhat happy when Kara cut his hands free from the cuffs.
“Do good,” she told him upon releasing him from his restraints. Baako had nodded his understanding, turned and walked toward his men at the end of the runway. Minutes later, he had climbed into one of their Land Rovers and had disappeared back into the jungle. It had taken another fifteen minutes for Kornev’s pilots to turn around and land on the runway. Kara was glad to see the plane. She had had enough of Snake Island. She hoped she never had a reason to see it again. But that was up to Baako.
Rond Point Port — Aboard the Hail Proton
There was a celebratory dinner on the Hail Proton that night. Since none of the restaurants on the ship were big enough to accommodate Hail Proton’s entire crew, dinner was held in the ship’s gymnasium. Tables had been set with linen tablecloths, real silver and crystal glassware. Everyone, except for a skeleton crew, was in attendance.