At times like this, just after placing a bug, there was often a moment of doubt, a dread certainty that he had been seen. That fear seized him as he rose, and for a second he found himself dizzy. Blood rushed from his head. His muscles tensed, ready to fight.
Nuri forced himself to breathe slowly. One breath, two…there were no explosions, no accusations, no one grabbing him by the neck and dragging him away.
See, he told himself. Nothing to worry about. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Nuri turned and walked toward the center of the room. As his apprehension receded, a low-grade euphoria swept into its place, encouraging him that he could do practically anything. If his dread had been misplaced, so was this optimism, and he tried to tamp it down, folding his arms and feigning interest in the map Commander John was using for his pseudohistory lesson.
Uncle Dpap was still on the phone. He was pleading with a man in South Africa to send him ammunition—his troops had only a few hundred rounds, hardly enough to defend themselves, let alone launch an assault. The South African claimed he did not have any ammunition for sale, and refused Uncle Dpap’s efforts to persuade him to find some.
The tidbit of conversation was invaluable to Nuri. For one thing, it practically eliminated the possibility that Luo had been killed by a competitor: anyone that motivated would have already made his pitch to replace him.
Confident that the bug was picking up the conversation, Nuri turned his attention to Tilia, who was frowning deeply as she translated. She’d be a perfect target to be turned as a spy, he realized: well-placed, intelligent, with a small taste for expensive things, if her rings and watch were any indication.
He smiled at her. She didn’t notice.
When Uncle Dpap finally got off the phone, he called Commander John over for an explanation. The African’s face lit up and his chest swelled. He put his hand around Hera and introduced her.
Nuri decided it was time to deflate some of the rebel commander’s interest, if not his lust. “This is my wife,” he said, putting his arm around Hera’s shoulder from the other side. “We work together.”
Commander John frowned. He had no qualms about cuckolding a man, especially a westerner who had strange ideas about bones. But clearly he would get no further with Hera while Nuri was around.
On the other hand, it explained her strange attitude toward him. Clearly, he thought, she would return his smiles if her husband was out of the way.
Uncle Dpap, though annoyed at the interruption and preoccupied by his supply problems, managed to feign some interest in the scientists. The discovery of large monsters on nearby land would not surprise him, he said; many tales told of fierce creatures who held sway before the land was tamed.
Then he let the conversation lag. He had many things to do.
“Well, thank you, Your Excellency, for taking the time to meet us,” said Nuri. “You must come and visit sometime.”
“Your camp is in Red Henri’s territory,” said Uncle Dpap. “I think we’ll leave it to him.”
“I see.”
“These things are not something for you to be involved in, or concerned about,” said Commander John. “If there is a conflict, you should come to me.”
“Yes,” said Nuri. “But we wouldn’t want to be involved. Good-bye.”
ABUL HAD WAITED ON THE BUS, SURE IT WOULD BE STRIPPED clean if he left it. Nearly a dozen boy soldiers leaned against it, sheltering themselves from the sun while they chattered in high-pitched voices.
Nuri and Hera came down the steps, practically running. Hera went straight to the bus, but Nuri went back into the store—he wanted to preserve the cover story that they had come to town for supplies.
If the storekeeper was puzzled by his earlier disappearance from the bathroom, he didn’t mention it. Nuri bought some canned food, overpaying just enough to make the shopkeeper look forward to his return.
“Let’s go,” Nuri hissed under his voice as he hustled up the steps into the bus. “Go.”
Abul started the engine and leaned out the window to scoot the soldiers away. They didn’t respond until he put the bus in gear. Even then they seemed barely to notice, edging off the bus as it slowly moved forward.
“Go back the way we came,” Nuri told him.
“I know.”
Abul turned around at the side of a wide lot beyond the center of town, giving his passengers a good view of one of the shantytowns where the bulk of Uncle Dpap’s followers stayed. The street was so narrow he had to maneuver back and forth several times before finally managing to get in the proper direction.
“They’re looking for ammunition,” Nuri told Hera. “That’s interesting.”
“He told you that?”
“No, I overheard him.”
“Why did you tell him I was your wife?”
“That was just to get Commander John to stop leering. I wanted us to be able to get the hell out of there.”
“You’re an ass.” Hera put her head back against the seat. “If we had taken our rifles, no one would have messed with us.”
“We’re undercover. Scientists don’t carry rifles.”
“They’ve never seen scientists before. Everyone goes around with guns.”
“It would have put them much more on their guard.” Nuri blistered. “Listen, I’ve been out here a lot longer than you have.”
“I’ve been in Sudan before, Nuri.”
“Not here.”
“Darfur was worse than this.”
At the front of the bus, Abul did his best to pretend he wasn’t hearing their argument. He stopped at the checkpoint and gave the soldier the second half of the ten dollar bill. Then he headed back toward Base Camp Alpha, happy to be out of the rebel village. Becoming a millionaire, he decided, was a dangerous business.
17
Gambella, Ethiopia
“HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT EVOLVING INTO THE LOWEST form of life on earth?” Nuri asked Danny when he returned to camp.
Danny didn’t know quite what to say. “If it’ll help the mission,” he answered finally.
“Good. We’ll leave for Ethiopia with Abul before first light. The rest of the team can watch the store while we’re gone.”
TO NURI, CERTAIN CITIES VIBRATED A CERTAIN WAY, AS IF THE sounds and movement of the people within them set off a resonance in the earth beneath the streets. Some vibrated with danger, others excitement, still more with fear.
Gambella, in Ethiopia, combined all three.
Nuri had first come to Gambella barely a year earlier, but its rhythm touched something at his core, and he felt at home there, with or without the Voice’s turn by turn directions to guide him through the back alleys of the old city’s bazaar. The Voice’s directions helped immensely, however. The jumble of streets and pathways, mostly empty a year before, were packed now, populated by a menagerie of shops and merchants, legitimate and otherwise.
There were far more of the latter than the former. Ethiopia had become a nexus for eastern Africa, a relatively stable oasis in a cauldron of trouble. Gambella, in turn, profited greatly from its neighbors’ woes. Poor for years, the country’s ethos held that any business was good business; Gambella’s particular interpretation of that philosophy meant it was possible to buy almost anything here, including people.
“Left. The stall is in the middle of the block,” said the Voice.
Nuri walked briskly, brushing past a man trying to sell watches. They were counterfeit Rolexes, of high enough quality that they would have passed muster even in Switzerland.
Shady dealers aside, the city reminded Danny of Istanbul in Turkey. It had the same otherworldly feel, and the same wide range of languages spoken in its streets. People hustled here, literally and figuratively, trying to get ahead.
“Just follow my lead,” whispered Nuri, slowing his pace as he came near the shop he’d been seeking. “And don’t show your gun unless absolutely necessary.”