Page 78 of The Death
“And you would have been,” Joe said.
“I don’t care,” Eve said. “They’ll find a way to kill her. We have to do something to help her. She’ll have to be smuggled out of Shafira or she’s dead.” She was rubbing her temple as she tried to see a way out. “But we’ll have to wait until it’s safe to do even that.”
“Maybe not as long as you might think,” Joe said. “Things are looking a bit more upbeat at the moment.” He held up hishand as she opened her lips to speak. “Look, I need to call Dominic right away and tell him you’re safe and what’s happening to Celine. He might not know that the village has been deserted, which probably means that Caldwell is concentrating on other areas that we should shore up for possible attack.”
“You mean like that damn celebration Zakira is planning for Celine?” Eve asked bitterly.
“Possibly,” Joe said. “Anyway, we need to know where there’s movement. I’ll tell you everything, but I want to get you and Michael to safer territory right away. We’re heading out of the village and going north to join Caleb’s strike team until we’re ready to make a move on Caldwell.”
Eve inhaled sharply. “And tell me that’s going to be soon?”
Michael moved a step closer and smiled at her as he took her hand. “Of course it is, Mom. Dad and I are a great team. I told you that we’d come and get you and here we are. You’ve got to trust us.”
“I do trust you.” She leaned down and kissed his temple. “And I’m flattered you’re letting me join your team. Now let’s go and see if we can find any other bad guys who might be bothering Celine.”
Dominic received a call from Seth Caleb hours later. “Are you busy? I have someone who wants to talk to you.”
“It better be Celine,” Dominic said. “I’ve been waiting since I heard that she was heading your way. Kontara said that Celine wasn’t going to take a chance on her call being traced but would call when she decided it was safe. Is she okay?”
“She looks fine to me,” Caleb said. “Though I don’t know why she’d want to talk to you when you can’t seem to keep track of her.”
“Be quiet, Caleb.” Celine was on the line. “I’m grateful that you took me in but I don’t want Dominic to be any more annoyed than he has to be. But you can see that I didn’t really have a choice, Dominic. Even Kontara realized that I’d be safer up here in the hills. Anywhere else near Shafira wouldn’t have been safe.” She paused. “Not for me or anyone I care about. I’m a target, and I’m not about to forget it. I’m not really safe here, either, but if I keep on the move, then I can risk an occasional contact.”
“You could come to me,” he said hoarsely. “You can trust me to keep you safe.”
“But I can’t trust you to keep yourself safe,” she said gently. “I won’t be bait for you, Dominic. We’ve already played that game. You have to keep on doing what’s best to get rid of Caldwell and Zakira.”
Dominic muttered a curse. “Then will you stay in Caleb’s camp?”
“Until I don’t think it’s safe for him any longer. The same for Kontara. I’ve no intention of being caught again by those bastards.” She paused and then had to clear her throat. “I hope I’ll see you soon. I miss you.” She hung up.
He called Caleb’s phone back immediately.
Caleb answered. “Too late, Dominic. She’s gone.”
“I thought she probably would be. Keep an eye on her. Don’t let anything happen to her.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will.”
“No threats? No intimidation? You must be in a very bad place.”
“You have no idea.”
“Oh, but I do,” Caleb said. “It’s good that we have a plan in place and a number of distractions looming on the horizon. I suggest we dive in and see what damage we can do…”
HELIPORT IN THE MOUNTAINS NEAR SHAFIRA
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER
Kaboom!
“What the hell!” The night sky was suddenly lit with firecrackers and drones. The sound of explosions echoed in the darkness as Dominic ran toward his helicopter.
As if in answer to his exclamation, Dominic was receiving a call from Seth Caleb. “You appear to be having entirely too much fun over there in the heliport, Dominic. I think you’d be better served to come up to the mountains and let me and my team help a bit with the general cleanup. I assume you set off the fireworks?”
“Just as I told you I would,” Dominic said. “But the explosives you set were a little more than I expected. I almost didn’t get back to my helicopter in time.” He looked back at the burning helicopters on the tarmac. “I don’t believe Caldwell will be going anywhere anytime soon. Why are you calling? What’s happening?” Then he answered his own question. “Don’t tell me they’ve located Celine? You said you’d keep an eye out for her until I could finish setting up the attack agenda.”
