“What are you going to do? Try every combination?” asked Danny.

She wasn’t, just the most likely ones, which on that sort of lock were almost always the solutions. She went slowly at first, then fell into a rhythm. She got it on the fourth try.

“Here you go,” she told Danny, slipping the lock off its hasp.

He creaked the door open, dropped to his knees and peered inside.

“Forget it,” he said. “Inside’s filled with junk. They’re not meeting here.”

They were halfway to the second building when MY-PID told Danny that the Russian had just gotten into his vehicle.

“They’re on their way,” Danny told Flash over the radio. “Drop back and cover me. I’ll get some bugs down.”

“Yeah, roger.”

Danny turned back to Melissa, who was huffing next to him as he ran.

“They’re coming,” he told her. “I want you to hide over there.”

He pointed to the ditch across the road. It was about thirty yards from the building.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll get a bug in and get out.”

“Is Li Han coming?”

“He hasn’t made a move yet that we’ve seen. Stay back,” Danny added. “If you see anyone coming, just keep your head down. We’ll take care of it.”

He didn’t wait for her to answer, sprinting toward the building. Much of the roof had fallen in, and the UAV’s infrared camera could give MY-PID a fairly clear view into about two-thirds of the interior. There was also no door, and hence no lock. Danny stepped over a small pile of rubble into the ground floor and scanned the interior. An old desk sat to his left, surrounded by bricks and the debris. The two floors above looked like the broken teeth of a sawed-off comb, jagged and leaning down. He hopped onto the desk, reaching up to the remains of the floor above, and placed a bug there.

“Subject is estimated to be two minutes away,” warned MY-PID.

Danny jumped back down. As he turned to go, he realized he’d left two large boot prints on the top of the desk. He swept the top with his hand, but that only made things look even stranger—now the desktop was the only thing in the place not covered with dust.

Not sure what else to do, he reached his hands under and pulled the desk up onto its back, removing the top from sight. Then he spread bricks and some large beams over the area.

“Subject is thirty seconds away,” warned the computer.

“What happened to my two minutes?” he demanded.

MY-PID took the question seriously and asked him to rephrase.

Danny bolted to the door. He sprinted toward the spot where he’d left Melissa, bounding in with a head-first dive.

“Here he comes,” said Flash.

“Any sign of Li Han?”

“Negative.”

Chapter 21

Duka

Kimko got out of the jeep and walked over to the building, trying to get as much distance between himself and Girma as possible. He needed a plan to get away from him. The odds of that happening peacefully shrank exponentially with each khat leaf Girma stuffed into his mouth.

The sun had gone down about a half hour before. Li Han was undoubtedly waiting somewhere nearby, watching. Hopefully he wouldn’t be spooked by Girma and his men.

Maybe he’d kill the bastard. Now there was a possibility, Kimko thought. Maybe he could work that into the deal.

The building was a wreck, though at least this one couldn’t be blamed on Girma. Kimko took a small LED flashlight from his pocket and shone it around the place. There was a battered desk and a massive pile of debris, and nothing else.

The hell with the UAV, he decided. He was getting out of Africa as soon as possible. He’d walk if he had to.

“Where is your man!” shouted Girma, back near the truck.

Kimko could shoot the bastard himself—but could he take the bodyguards as well?

Girma walked through the door. “Where is he?” demanded the African. His AK-47 was slung under his shoulder, his hand near the trigger.

“He’s late,” said Kimko.

“Ha! You see—you cannot trust these people. Chinese.”

“He’s working with the Brothers,” said Kimko.

“Ha, the Brotherhood are cowards. You see, none of these people have the strength of Girma. Girma is a lion!”

Girma is an asshole, thought Kimko.

“How long do you wait?” Girma asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t wait!” shouted Girma. “You go to see him.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

Girma smiled. “You are with the lion now. Come.”

Chapter 22

Duka

The women had settled into a kind of semicomatose state of shock, huddled together next to the ruined outbuilding on the slaughterhouse property. Gunfire continued sporadically in the city, stoking up for a few minutes, then dying down, like a fitful whale surfacing for a romp before heading back to the depths. Nuri knew from MY-PID that the Sudan First army was routing Meurtre Musique. It was a murderous fight, with the defeated shown no mercy; both sides simply gunned down anyone who attempted to surrender, women and children included.

“Looks like some of them are headed in our direction,” he told Boston. “Can we call in the Osprey?”

“They ain’t gonna make it,” said Boston. “They’re waiting for Li Han to show up at the meeting. Colonel Freah wants the MV-22 to stay away until they make the attack. Might spook him.”

Naturally, thought Nuri. It was the right decision, but it didn’t make things easier for them.

“What do you think we should do?” he asked.

“I say we cross out of this field and head north,” said Boston. “We get into the brush, hide there. Sitting here makes no sense. The tangos are more than likely to come up and look in the building. I know I would.”

“You think we can get them moving?”

“We can always carry them,” said Boston. “I’ll scout down to the road and come back. Be ready.”

Nuri got up and went to the nurse, Bloom. She was holding the baby in her arms, swinging him gently back and forth. The baby’s mother was passed out next to her, slumped backward against the side of the building.

“We have to move,” he said. “The troops are coming this way.”

“They’re exhausted,” said Bloom.

“We have to move.”

“I can’t.”

“We have to.” Nuri looked at her. “You’re with MI6?”

She shook her head. “I was. I quit.”

“Well don’t quit now.” He reached down and helped her up. Then he looked at the woman who’d given birth. Her mouth gaped open; Nuri wasn’t even sure she was still alive until he bent close and heard her breathing.

There was no way she was moving on her own. He dropped to his knee and shifted his shoulder so he could lift her in a fireman’s carry. He rose with a grunt, stumbling back a step, not quite balanced. Then he started to move toward the road.

There was a low whistle in the air behind him.

Shit, he thought as the mortar shells began to land near the main building.

Chapter 23

Duka

“Where’s the Russian going?” Flash asked Danny over the radio as their subjects got back into the jeep.

“Damned if I know.”