Page 41 of The Death
“We’re leaving earlier than expected,” she said as Kontara turned away from the refrigerator to face her. “Dominic saidthere was an emergency situation and he’d take care of doing the prep work on the road.”
“Emergency?” Kontara frowned. “This entire trip is one big emergency. What is it this time?”
“We told you about Eve Duncan. Caldwell has managed to persuade her to come to the village to do the death mask. He promised to keep her son safe if she agreed.”
“He lies,” Kontara said flatly.
“But it buys time to keep her Michael alive,” Celine said. “That’s all she cares about. And that’s why we have to move much faster to help her. I know you didn’t want to do this.” She grimaced. “I didn’t want it for you, either.”
“I know you didn’t.” Kontara shrugged. “But you worked very hard to keep me as safe as you could by teaching me all that you could on those damn mats. I’m grateful to you for that. But now you’ve done what you set out to do, I don’t need you any longer.” Her voice was suddenly harsh. “So for God’s sake stop being stupid and tell Dominic you’re not going to go trekking up that mountain and get yourself killed. He won’t argue with you. You’re not important to him in this particular scheme of things. He needs me to find those bastards, and he told me he’s practically got an army to take them down once he zeroes in on them. You’re not needed, dammit. You’ll just get in his way.”
Celine shook her head. “Then he’ll have to find a use for me, won’t he? Because I don’t believe you. You haven’t wanted him to take me with him to help bring down those monsters since the day I came here. It’s clear you wanted to protect me. You’ve seen enough ugliness and horror to last you a lifetime, and you want to be done with it.” She smiled as she shook herhead. “But then the worst thing possible happened. Lo and behold, now we’ve actually come to like each other. What a predicament.”
Kontara was scowling. “That’s not funny. It is the worst thing if it means you’re going to do something that could get you killed.”
“We’ll just have to take care of each other to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Celine’s smile had vanished. “As well as find a way to help Eve.” She turned away and headed out of the kitchen. “No more arguments. It’s a done deal. We both have to start packing.”
“Wait.”
Celine glanced over her shoulder.
Kontara was smiling at her with almost catlike satisfaction. “You’re getting a little too cocky. It’s probably because you’ve been taking me down too often in our gym sessions. But never count me out. It’s not a done deal until I tell you it is.” She turned away and began scraping the food she’d cooked into plastic freezer bags. “We’re in this together.”
BON JAKA COURTYARD
ONE HOUR LATER
Celine gave a low whistle as she saw the number of jeeps, trucks, and helicopters in the courtyard. She said to Dominic who was coming out of the main house, “Kontara said that you practically had an army to help you take down Caldwell’s thugs. She wasn’t exaggerating. No wonder she thought I’d believe her when she said you didn’t need me.”
“I can call on considerably more assets than I discussed with her,” Dominic said. “Though it took considerable persuasion to convince her that an attack on Zakira and Caldwell could be successful after the chaos they’ve caused.” He shrugged. “And even after she decided to trust me to get the job done and agreed to try to lead me to their village, she still kept nagging me to leave you behind.” He was watching Kontara crossing the courtyard toward them. Her red hair was pinned back, and she was dressed in jeans and a loose brown shirt, carrying a backpack. She was ignoring Celine and staring straight at Dominic.
He sighed. “And, by that determined expression on her face, I believe she’s going to make a final attempt to get me to order you to do exactly that. I’ve sent drones out in search of the village, but it’s too well hidden.” He smiled as he took a step forward. “I’m putting you in the lead jeep with Rashid, Kontara. I thought you should familiarize yourself with the surroundings as you see if you can recognize any landmarks from your trip down from the mountain. It may save us a few false moves through the maze if you can catch them ahead of time. Does that make sense to you?”
“I told you that I’d try,” she said curtly. “There won’t be anything to watch out for until we’re several miles from the estate. The last thing I remember was a creek near a ditch. After that, I woke up near his temple, which is where we want to go.” She shrugged. “But yes, when I was on the run, I’d remember things from the last time I’d escaped from the village. That does make sense.” Her lips tightened as she looked him in the eye. “What doesn’t make sense is that you’re still letting Celine come with us. I thought surely you’d changeyour mind. You don’t want her along. I can feel it. It’s all wrong that you pay any attention to what she says. They’ll kill her. I know it.”
Dominic shrugged. “If you feel that deeply about it, then you should have persuaded her to your way of thinking. I did my very best. She’s damn stubborn.” He turned back to Celine. “She’s actually very convincing. You wouldn’t care to change your mind?”
She shook her head. “It’s natural that she would believe I wouldn’t stand a chance with those bastards. She’s seen too much death and torture in that village. But she should realize I can take care of myself now. I told her that she should drop trying to convince you. It’s a done deal.”
Kontara whirled to face her. “Zakira doesn’t think you can take care of yourself. Neither does Caldwell.” She was spitting the words out. “They both think that you’re just something to use and abuse like the rest of the women in that camp. But they have something special in mind for you. I’ve seen it. Give them a chance and they’ll show you.”
“Seen it?” Dominic repeated thoughtfully. “Now what have you seen that’s upset you? That’s the first time you’ve mentioned any personal connection between Celine and those assholes. I believe you’d better elaborate.”
“I didn’t want to elaborate.” Her eyes were blazing. “Do you think that I wanted to frighten her with all that ugliness? But she wouldn’t listen to me. It’s all your fault. All you had to do was make sure she didn’t go up there with us and I wouldn’t have had to say anything else.”
“But you did say it, and now you can’t unsay it,” Dominic said. “Because Celine won’t let you.” He added, “And neitherwill I. I thought you were a little fanatical about insisting that I not bring her, but evidently you weren’t telling us everything. What is the special thing Caldwell and Zakira have in mind for Celine?”
She didn’t speak for a moment. “It was mostly Zakira,” she finally said grudgingly. “At least the priest was the one who got angry because Caldwell didn’t have the two women he wanted yet. I’ve heard that he’s often yelled about Caldwell breaking the bargain they’d made. The entire village heard him, and everyone was afraid because Zakira did terrible things to the women and soldiers in the village when he was in a temper, and he was definitely furious when Caldwell said he was having trouble getting hold of the women he wanted.” She moistened her lips. “Caldwell got a lot of phone calls and he kept making excuses. But then one day he took one of his helicopters out of the village because he said he’d arranged to give Zakira exactly what he wanted.”
“And I can hardly wait to hear what Caldwell said he’d give Zakira,” Dominic said grimly.
“The women in the photos,” Kontara said simply. “The ones in the temple. Caldwell had brought two large photos framed in gold as a special gift to Zakira at the same time he shipped in boxes of guns and bombs in exchange for the bars of gold Zakira had given him. Zakira seemed to be very happy with the photos. He hung them on special walls of the temple he’d had built for himself.” She smiled bitterly. “And he brought all the concubines to the temple to have one of his sex festivals in honor of his fantastic new gifts. I needn’t tell you that we didn’t appreciate that particular honor. Or the ones that came after it.” Her gaze shifted to Celine. “But I could hardlyforget any detail of that night, and you have a very memorable face. I knew the minute I saw you that Zakira and Caldwell would want to get their hands on you. It brought everything back to me, and I just wanted to hide away again.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t even sure that I wouldn’t be a part of any bargain that anyone made with those bastards. I couldn’t bear the thought of it. Even when I realized that Dominic wouldn’t betray me, I still wasn’t sure you wouldn’t try to save yourself, Celine. Some of the women in the camp would do anything to make the abuse go away.”
“We all tried to tell you that we’d keep you safe,” Celine said gently. “I’m sorry you couldn’t believe us.”
“It took a little while,” Kontara said wryly. “I only knew part of what was going on while I was at Shafira village. I learned the other part from you and Dominic once I came to the estate. I didn’t know what Eve Duncan’s role was going to be in Caldwell’s plans. I thought the two of you were going to be just other women for the priest to use for barter. But then I was told why Zakira was so eager to get hold of Eve Duncan to do the mask. I was still puzzled about you, Celine, and I thought maybe I’d been right the first time and they just wanted you because your looks made you an asset. But it was unusual that they’d wanted you bad enough that they’d actually argued about you. So I went back and tried to remember everything that happened in the temple so I could puzzle it out.”
“And did you manage to do it?” Celine asked.
