“Pay the money. I already called the bank to withdraw it.”
“You’re actually going to pay them? You have no idea who these guys are. They could take the money and kill both of you out there.”
Reed heard a heavy sigh come through the line, and each word carried more weight than Reed thought possible. “What else can I do? I’d pay everything I have to get her back, Reed. I can’t let her die.”
Hard to argue with that. “You know this could go south fast. Do you really think these guys would kill her?”
“I know they would. It’s not just anyone, Reed. He told me his name, and one of my men has heard about him.”
“Who is it?”
“His name is Jakaya Pinda, and he’s the real deal.”
Another thunderbolt struck. “Say that name again.”
“Jakaya Pinda. Have you heard of him?”
“I may have. What exactly does Pinda want you to do?”
“Meet him east of here, near the Serengeti.”
Well away from any populated areas. A good place to kill a man, if you were of a mind. “Isn’t he worried about rangers? They patrol all over the place.”
“I asked the same thing,” Wallace said. “Apparently he has a place in mind where no one will bother us. Near an unused army base.”
Reed’s mind buzzed. Could this work? Hit Pinda when he’s vulnerable, down men and in the open savanna. Reed could do it alone. He opened his mouth to reply, but a tiny thought buzzing around his skull at that moment picked up steam and pushed to the forefront. Does it make too much sense? Is it a trap to kill Wallace and steal his money? Pinda needed cash. But, while this offered the perfect chance to rid himself of Pinda, Reed and Wallace would be utterly exposed. Another thought struck Reed. What if this was all a ploy to get Reed out? Pinda could likely guess Reed and Wallace were acquainted. Would he count on Wallace calling Reed for help? Wallace wasn’t his closest friend, but he’d known his friendly rival for some time and the man never struck him as anything but honest. If Pinda wanted to get at Reed, one possibility, albeit remote, was using Wallace as bait.
Nobody ever got anywhere being cautious. He needed to act. “If Effie’s life is in danger, you can’t take the risk,” Reed said.
“Losing Effie isn’t an option,” Wallace said, his voice trembling. “I’m sorry to bother you with this.” He barked a harsh laugh. “Now at least you’ll know where to find my body if I don’t come back.”
“What if you could get Effie back and keep your money?”
“I’d say you’re crazy. What are you talking about?”
“I’ll tell you something, but you have to keep it to yourself. Jakaya Pinda is the guy who’s been trying to kill me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me. My information’s solid, and I’d like nothing better than to get rid of Pinda for good.”
There was nothing from Wallace for a minute. “Are you serious?”
“I am. You okay if I tag along tonight?”
“Just you?”
“Yes,” Reed said.
“Do you really think you can keep Effie safe?”
“I’ll do everything in my power,” Reed said.
Wallace didn’t think long. “I trust you. If you think we can do it, then I say we go for it. What do I need to do?”
“Get the money and act normal. I have it on good authority Pinda’s running low on men, so I’ll set up near the army base and wait. You’ll never see me.”
“What if Pinda has men waiting?”
“Don’t worry about me, Wallace. I can be quiet on the savanna when I have to.”
The man agreed to do as Reed said, and with a final admonition to keep Effie safe, he clicked off. Reed immediately dialed Godfrey’s number.
“I do not have news yet,” Godfrey said when he answered.
“I do. Listen to this.” Reed gave the details of his call with Wallace and the plan that was still taking shape in his head. “I actually know about that old army base where Pinda wants to meet. There’s only one way out there. If we set up on the path well before the meet at midnight, Pinda will have to go past us to get there. We can ambush him on the way. If you’re right, and he only has a few men, it won’t be a problem to finish them off. You in?”
The kid didn’t hesitate. “Yes I am. What must we do to prepare?”
“Let’s meet up. I have to call Captain Ereng now. Are you in the city?”
“Yes,” Godfrey said.
“I’ll pick you up in an hour.” Again Godfrey agreed at once. “Wear dark clothes, stuff you can move in. We’ll be in the wild at night.”
Once he clicked off, Reed dialed Nixon’s number. He couldn’t take the captain into his confidence about tonight, though he did want to tell him of the ambush and the bodies now lying outside of town. He wasn’t going to be happy.
The call rang through. “Captain Ereng? Reed Kimble.” May as well just say it. “I ran into Pinda’s men again this morning.” Summarizing the attack and Paul’s injuries, he braced for criticism. At the very least, the captain would be furious that Reed left the hospital without talking to the police.
“You were involved?” Nixon asked. “I was told the vehicle information was not yet ready, so I did not know.”
“I should have called earlier.”
“Yes,” Nixon said. “How many did you kill? In self-defense, of course.”
Was that a note of disbelief in Nixon’s voice? “Ten, I believe. All the bodies should still be there. I didn’t want to disturb the scene.”
“You test your luck,” Nixon said. “Until my men report and I know what is happening, do not approach Jakaya Pinda. These interactions make my life difficult.”
“I’ll do my best,” he lied. “They attacked us, though.”
“I will visit you soon to discuss this incident,” Nixon said. “Until then, be alert. Pinda’s organization is wounded, and this is when an enemy is most dangerous. Do not die anytime soon.”
Reed clicked off as he hopped in Wallace’s truck and headed to the spot where he had agreed to pick Godfrey up. Zooming through town, he motored past shops and restaurants, the business district was soon replaced with grittier buildings, some with boarded windows, others dirt-streaked and dark. Few people walked these streets. A pair of motorcycles shot past his vehicle, ignoring the red light at which Reed waited. Framed beneath a tall warehouse ahead, Reed slowed to a stop alongside the intersection, though the kid was nowhere to be seen.
After a minute of idling, a shadow flitted across his rearview mirror, and Reed looked right to find Godfrey standing outside the passenger door with a hood draped over his head, only his eyes visible in the dark depths. Reed unlocked the door and Godfrey slipped inside. “We should move,” Godfrey said, sliding down in the seat. “Just in case. I did not see anyone follow you.”
“I didn’t notice a tail on my way out,” Reed said as he pulled away. “Does Pinda have the manpower to do that?”
“Not likely, but I find it is best to assume the worst.”
“Don’t worry,” Reed said. “We’ll take care of this tonight, and you can stop looking over your shoulder.” Once they were back in the busier part of town, Godfrey straightened up and pulled his hood down. “How many men does Pinda have left?” Reed asked.
“I spoke with a friend who knows these things, and was told he had twelve men. Not including the two who were injured chasing us. Subtract the ten dead from today, and he is down to two. These men he has are very dangerous. His most trusted members, both hard killers from the military. The ones he sent after you today, they were young?” Reed nodded. “Those are the new ones he recruited recently. Pinda keeps his strongest men close to him, and that is who we will see.”
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of going at them head-on. We’re going to outsmart them.”
Exit signs flashed by in Reed’s vision as he accelerated down the highway, pulling around the slower traffic and heading back to his camp. �
�Tell me,” Godfrey said. “How will this happen?”
“First, we have to get the drop on them. There’s only one road into the place, so we need to surprise them before they get there. If we get too close to the base, Pinda may have backup I don’t know about.”
As Kimble Safaris came into view, doubt crept into Godfrey’s voice for the first time. “We will need weapons for this. Do you have them?”
Reed glanced over at him. “Don’t worry about guns. I have plenty. What I don’t have is extra time, so as soon we’re ready, we hit the road. It’s an hour from here to any place we can hide the car.” As he turned into the driveway, the sun nearly scraped the horizon, a burnished red haze pulling the darkening sky ever closer. “We can plot our course on my watch’s GPS,” he said, parking the vehicle. “It’s accurate to within three feet, so when Pinda shows up, we’ll be waiting.”
“Do you have night vision glasses?” Godfrey asked, his eyes alight.
“I do,” Reed said, chuckling at his excitement. “Lucky for us, the moon is full tonight. We shouldn’t need them.” Leading Godfrey to his front door, he held it open. “We have a lot of work to do before we go put Jakaya Pinda behind both of us for good.”
Chapter 13
Southern shore of Lake Victoria
Mwanza Region, Tanzania
August 5th
The moon and stars were reflected in Lake Victoria’s placid surface. At this time of night, few birds floated above it all. Most of the animal inhabitants were dozing or lying in wait for a midnight snack.
Reed kept well away from the shoreline. Among other creatures, hippos called Lake Victoria home, and as a rule he stayed as far from those deceptively quiet beasts as possible. The four-ton monsters could rip a man apart in seconds. Reed glanced behind him to find Godfrey staying exactly in his path, the sound of his soft footsteps lost in the night air.
“One mile to go,” he said, tapping his watch. Iridescent green lines displayed their location, distance to their target, and other information without a telltale glow. So far, the path proved to be clear and easy. Keeping his eyes open in the wild was second nature for Reed, but threats came from all directions, including the rear.
“The path narrows ahead,” Reed said, pointing toward where the ground fell away and was swallowed by darkness. “On either side, we’ll be hidden and have a good view.” Not quite a hill, the spot he indicated did have a sloping rise on both sides of the path with high points looking down on the game trail they followed. Tall grass and darkness offered cover and a good shooting position. Done properly, the short stretch of trail could be an assailant’s best friend.
“Hold up,” he said as they reached the game path’s lowest point. “Are you sure you can shoot straight with one of these?” Reed asked, pointing to the 9mm holstered at the kid’s hip that was identical to the one the guide carried. “Hit someone from up on the hillside?”
“Do not worry about me,” Godfrey said. “I will not miss.”
There was no time to test his story. “Aim for the chest,” he said, tapping his sternum. “Don’t hurry, wait until you have a clean shot. Both hands on the gun,” he demonstrated. “After you shoot, move. It’ll take them a few seconds to figure out what’s happening, but if they get a bead on you, you’re toast.”
“Relax. I will handle this.” Like an African cowboy, Godfrey patted his gun and sauntered down the path, bravado personified. “The only problem is we do not know when Pinda will come.”
The one major uncertainty. To meet Wallace and get out of the area before daybreak, Pinda needed to come this way no later than several hours before dawn. Reed couldn’t risk missing him, so he and Godfrey had arrived well before midnight. “We go another quarter mile and then stop. If Pinda shows up early and spots us, this whole plan goes south. Stay behind me and keep an eye on our rear.”
Reed went farther down the path toward the base and found nothing amiss, no gangsters lying in wait or other obstacles to success. After confirming they were the first ones there, Reed walked back and followed Godfrey up one side of the hill. Once they found a suitable spot and Reed determined Godfrey was well hidden, he made certain Godfrey’s cell phone was off and his safety on. “I’m texting Wallace now. He’ll wait here for Pinda and say he got tired and was resting. If he has the money, I doubt Pinda will worry too much.” Godfrey nodded, and Reed ran up the hill on the other side to his post and settled in.
Over the next hour, he listened for an approaching party, watched for flashlight beams, and glanced over at the other hillside periodically to confirm Godfrey remained invisible. His pistol magazine was full and secure with extras in his pocket, the stainless-steel buck knife on his belt latched down, and the tranquilizer gun around his shoulder loaded. After the fifth time through his ritual, Reed took a deep breath and lay back, briefly studying the stars. Don’t overthink this.
He caught the sound of footsteps. Sitting up, he saw Wallace marching toward them, a flashlight beam sweeping the ground ahead. Reed glanced at his watch. They were right on schedule. Following Reed’s instructions to the letter, Wallace stopped at the small pile of rocks Reed had left as a marker, scattering them and taking a seat. He left his flashlight on. Hopefully when Pinda came along, he’d stop where Wallace waited, almost directly below Reed and Godfrey.
Thirty minutes had passed before a familiar noise tipped Reed off that company was approaching. Sitting up so only his eyes showed above the grass, Reed peered down the path, holding his breath.
A dog barked. One short yip, then nothing. A bouncing light appeared, followed by two more. Dark shadows floated toward Reed’s position, too far to make out anything other than outlines, of which he counted four in total. Three carried flashlights, but he only had eyes for the front person who had a leash gripped in one hand, at the end of which the dog roamed back and forth with its nose to the ground.
That’s not good. Reed lifted a hand, the breeze tickling his fingers as it blew toward the intruders. They needed to get off the hillsides and away from here before the dog picked up their scent. The other problem was that they were armed with handguns, which had a limited range, and moving farther away to hide their scent eliminated the chance of a successful shot. Even now, the group was drawing too close for him to cross the path without being seen. He had one chance. Tranquilize the dog before it signaled their location and hope it bought them more time.
“Who is there?” A man shouted as they crested a small rise. Wallace’s flashlight cut the darkness. “Wallace Palmer. Is that you, Pinda? Do you have my wife?”
“Why are you here?” Pinda demanded.
“I got tired. Didn’t realize how far it was.”
“Do you have the money?”
Wallace lifted a travel bag. “In here. Where’s my wife?”
That seemed to satisfy the gangster. He started walking toward Wallace, and Reed saw Effie for the first time, walking beside Pinda’s other thug. When the four of them were two hundred yards away, the dog yipped, earning a tongue-lashing from his master. Reed pulled out his tranquilizer gun and lay flat on the ground. A hundred yards out now, the dog barked again, only stopping after Reed heard a heavy thud and whimpering. If these idiots kept it up, they’d beat their early warning system into failure.
“Be quiet!” The dog handler’s sharp voice carried up the hillside. Fifty yards out now, the dog started barking again, a full-throated cry stifled only by a louder rebuke. “Shut up!”
Jakaya Pinda grabbed the handler’s arm. “Stop,” he said. “The dog barks for a reason. There is something here.”
“He smells that man. A stupid animal,” the handler said, though he didn’t touch the dog again.
“Quiet.” Pinda looked up the hillside, directly toward Godfrey. Reed froze as Pinda turned around and studied the hillside on which he was hidden. The dog’s barking continued, and Pinda grabbed the leash. For a split second, it seemed he looked directly at Reed as the leash came off.
The dog raced tow
ard Reed, barking as its loping strides ate up the distance. Reed’s tranquilizer gun came up, the red laser sight dotting the dog’s chest, his finger tight on the trigger.
Reed heard a gun go off as he fired the dart.
What the hell? A second gunshot split the air, and Reed caught the flash across from him. Godfrey had opened fire on the caravan, dropping the dog handler with his second shot. In the confusion, no one noticed the dog stumble and fall when Reed’s dart slammed home. The people below ran for cover, and one of Pinda’s men pulled Effie off the path, closer to Reed’s hiding spot.
None of Pinda’s group remained in sight. Only Wallace could be seen, crouched on the path, the money clutched to his chest.
Time to move. Reed edged toward the path, aiming for a spot behind where the man dragging Effie had vanished from sight.
“Here’s your money!” Wallace waved the bag over his head. “Come get it. I just want my wife back.”
Reed stopped and searched for movement but saw none. Pinda and both of his men seemed to have vanished, lost in the darkness. As Reed resumed crawling toward the path, movement near Godfrey’s hilltop caught his eye. He blinked, and the night exploded with gunfire.
Deadly strobe lights cut the darkness as rapid gunshots lit the sky. One flash came from where Godfrey had been. The next flash came from in front of Godfrey as one of the intruders returned fire. Godfrey screamed and his gun went off as he fell back. His opponent darted forward, shooting as he went, each step punctuated by a flashing light. As he reached the spot where Godfrey landed, Godfrey seemed to get off another shot before everything on that hill went dark and quiet. Reed could only hope Godfrey had won.
Creeping toward the path, Reed stopped when Jakaya Pinda darted from behind Wallace and raced toward him. “Where is the money?” he demanded, shoving his pistol in Wallace’s face.
“Right here.” Wallace dropped the bag, though he remained beside Pinda. “Where is my wife?”
Pinda didn’t answer. Searching both hillsides, he didn’t move to grab the bag, didn’t even look at Wallace. Seconds later, moonlight flashed off Pinda’s teeth and Reed scurried closer to pick up his words. When he made them out, his blood ran cold.
The Turn Series Box Set Page 10
