‘No good man can live there.’
He smooths his moustache with his fingers and asks me what I want.
‘We have no papers. My friend should be with her people.’
His head tilts from side to side, like he’s deciding something that could go either way. The wind blows in the sides of the tent and with a snap sucks them back out. It’s like my god is waiting for me.
‘And you? I should arrest you. Give you to the British.’
‘I’m not ready.’
‘Not ready?’
He’s smiling now, smiling and frowning, like it isn’t for me to judge. But I’m not being arrogant, it isn’t that.
‘I need to repair what I’ve done.’
An atom of good against an atom of evil – that’s what God will weigh, the most high, when He is ready to show me my labours. Not yet. Please not yet. For now the scales hang round my neck, twisting me down, a great rock on one side and nothing but air on the other. This man holds the fate of my soul.
‘Please.’
‘What will you do? If I let you go.’
I’ve thought about it. It’s been in my head for longer than I realized. Ever since I started teaching the class maybe, slowly coming up to the surface all that time. I look at Zarifa.
‘First, take her to her people. I have to know she’s safe.’
‘I can do that for you.’
‘No. I’m responsible for her.’
‘And then?’
‘I work with other sisters for a true Islam. Somewhere, I don’t know.’
He looks at me with an eyebrow raised.
‘I try to level the scales.’
One hand goes to my belly and I stroke Zarifa’s arm and pray that God will help me protect her and His children everywhere, the living and the unborn.
THE GOOD SISTER
For over a decade Morgan Jones worked for the world’s largest investigations company, where he specialized in Russian matters and international disputes. Under the name Chris Morgan Jones, he wrote three novels about that world: An Agent of Deceit, The Jackal’s Share and The Searcher. The Good Sister is his first novel writing as Morgan Jones.
He lives in London with his wife and two children.
Also by the author
An Agent of Deceit
The Jackal’s Share
The Searcher
First published 2018 by Mantle
This electronic edition published 2018 by Mantle
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-230-76987-8
Copyright © Chris Morgan Jones 2018
Cover Images © Mohamad Itani/Arcangel
The right of Chris Morgan Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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