“I…” The guard eyed Kate. “I have to call this in.”
“You do that,” the soldier said as he stepped behind the man, quickly gripped his head and neck and ripped hard, sending a loud crack into the hallway. The guard fell to the floor, and the people in the hallway, those left alive anyway, scattered, leaving Kate alone with the mysterious soldier.
He focused on her. “Coming here was a very stupid thing to do, Dr. Warner.”
CHAPTER 42
Immari Operations Base at Ceuta
Northern Morocco
Major Alexander Rukin adjusted the sniper rifle. Through the riflescope, he could see the mysterious colonel approaching the Berber encampment on horseback. The man had ridden out wearing plainclothes, as if that could help his cause.
The colonel had been evasive about his purpose for leaving, and Rukin had only protested enough to seem believable. In truth, this was the opportunity Rukin had been waiting for. He had placed a tracker and a bug on the colonel's clothes; they would know exactly where he went and hear everything he said. A team was also shadowing the colonel, just in case he made a break for it. That would expose him as well. One way or another, Rukin would soon know what this “Alex Wells” was after.
The colonel brought the horse to a stop, then dismounted, his hands in the air.
Three Berbers ran out of the tent. They carried automatic rifles and shouted, but the colonel remained still. They surrounded him, hit him over the head, and dragged him into the tent.
Rukin shook his head. “Jesus. I assumed the fool had a better plan than that.” He packed up the rifle and handed it to Kamau. “I’d say we’ve seen the last of our mysterious colonel.”
“You think—”
“I think they’re having him for dinner.”
“To talk terms?”
The major smiled and shook his head. “No I think they are having him for their dinner. Or maybe the pre-meal entertainment. Either way, he’s finished.”
Kamau nodded and gave a final look in the direction of the tent camp before following the major into the stairwell that led down from the roof.
“I’ve come here to help you,” David insisted.
The Berber soldiers tore the last of his clothes off and carried them out of the tent.
The chief stepped forward. “Don’t lie to us. You’ve come here to help yourself. You don’t know us. You don’t care about us.”
“I’m—”
“Don’t tell us who you are. I want to see it.” The chief motioned to a man standing by the entrance to the tent. The man nodded once, left quickly, then returned with a small burlap sack. He closed the flap to the tent, plunging the room into almost total darkness, save for the dance of candlelight that played across the cloth walls. The chief took the sack from the man and tossed it into David’s lap.
David reached for the sack.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
David looked up, then he felt it. Muscle, a finger sliding across his forearm. Then another rope gliding out over his thigh. Snakes. Two, no three of them. His eyes had almost adjusted to the dim light, and he knew instantly what they were: two Egyptian cobras. One bite would do him in. He would be dead within ten minutes.
David tried to control his breathing, but he was losing the battle. He felt his muscles tense, and he thought the snakes reacted. The one on his forearm was creeping up his arm more quickly now, toward his shoulder, his neck, his face. He took another shallow breath. He wouldn’t inhale fully—the contraction could alarm them. Slowly, he let the air escape his nose, and he focused his mind on the place where the breath touched the tip of his nose, observing the sensation, the absence of any other feeling. He stared straight ahead, at a dark spot on the floor. There was one last tingle, at his collarbone, but he kept his mind on his breath, taking in and breathing out, the sensation as the air met the tip of his nose. He couldn’t feel the snakes.
Through his peripheral vision, he was vaguely aware of the chief pacing toward him.
“You are afraid, but you have control of your fear. No rational man walks the world without fear. Only those who control their fear live a life free of it. You are a man that has lived among snakes and learned to hide himself. You are a man who can tell lies, who can tell them as if you yourself believe them. That is very dangerous. At this moment, more for you than for me.” The chief nodded to the snake handler, who crept carefully toward David and collected the snakes.
The chief sat across from David. “Now you can lie to me, or you can speak the truth. Choose wisely. I have seen many liars. And I have buried many liars.”
David told the story he had come there to tell, and when he had finished, the chief looked away, seeming to contemplate.
In his mind, David began rifling through the chief’s possible questions, mentally preparing responses. But no questions came. The chief stood and left.
Three men rushed into the tent, seized David, and dragged him out toward a communal fire that burned in the center of the makeshift village. The tribespeople gathered as he passed. Just before they reached the fire, David got his feet under him and threw the man on his right off, but the man holding his left arm held tight. David hit him hard in the face and the man released his grip and fell listless into the sand. David turned, but three more soldiers were on him, dragging him to the ground, covering him, holding his arms. Then someone else loomed over him—the chief. Something rushed down, a sword, or a spear. It burned orange and smoke rolled off of it. The chief plunged the burning iron prod into David’s chest, sending waves of searing pain throughout his body and the sickening smell of burning flesh and hair into his nose. David fought not to gag as his eyes rolled back into his head and he lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 43
Immari Sorting Camp
Marbella, Spain
Kate was safe, or so she thought. The tall British soldier, Adam Shaw, had killed the other guard and… he knew her name.
“Who are you?” Kate said.
“I’m the fifth man from the SAS team sent here to retrieve you.”
“The fifth—”
“We had a bit of a disagreement over tactics. I submitted that we should alter our plans after the Immari invasion of Marbella. The other four didn’t listen.”
Kate eyed his uniform. “How did you—”
“There’s a lot of confusion right now. A lot of new faces. We’ve been studying the Immari Army organization extensively. I knew enough to fake it. Getting the uniform was easy. Just had to kill one of them. Speaking of.” He bent over the dead guard. “Help me get his uniform off.”