The Crocodile's Last Embrace (36 page)

“Not hard. You just jump. Static line does the rest.”

Jade pushed him an arm’s length away, watching his features in the moonlight. The beard made it impossible to tell if he was frowning or smiling. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You destroyed your plane. You loved that plane.”

“It’s only an airplane, Jade.” He moved over to a rough wooden bench and sat down, motioning for her to join him. “I’m tired. I need to sit. Shouldn’t have taken that last stroll.”

“How far away did you crash? Did you have to walk all the way back?”

Sam waved off her questions, then put his arm around her, drawing her close. “We don’t have much time. When the sun comes up, we mustn’t be seen around here.”

“I presume you’ve got a plan?” Jade asked. “You went to a lot of trouble getting everyone out of the way, including Neville and Avery.”

“You noticed that, did you? The fewer people actually involved, the better. I’d have kept them all at the mission, but I knew neither Avery nor Neville would have stood for it. As it is, they’re busy but not in the line of fire.”

“And you will be?”

“We both will be. Jade, I’m counting on you.”

Jade lunged at him, nearly knocking him off the bench. Her lips locked onto his, forcing their way past that dreadful bush of a beard. He tasted of grit and hay and smelled strongly of horses. Jade didn’t care. She pressed closer to him. He responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tightly against him. She felt a strong shudder run down his chest and wasn’t sure if it came from him or her.

“You’re welcome,” Sam said when he regained his balance and breath.

“I’d thank you some more if you didn’t have that shrub on the bottom half of your face.”

Sam rubbed his beard. “It’s not too comfortable for me, either. It’s hot. But after another day, it shouldn’t be necessary. I left a notice in the morning’s papers challenging Lilith to meet me tomorrow night. It’s one that I hope will lure her out, especially when news of your untimely demise circulates. You see, I took credit for killing you.” One hand lightly caressed Jade’s cheek. “Neville will go into town at first light to get Finch and some others to go search for you. They should come across the wreckage easily enough. Word will spread like a wildfire.”

“But there won’t be a body. Won’t they assume I walked away?”

“I sawed through the rudder cable to make it look like the plane was sabotaged. And I left the chute snagged on the tail. There’s enough bloody clothing lying about to attract the usual scavengers. If they find anything, it will be a stray boot fragment and knife and a broken pair of goggles. Remember, predators and scavengers rarely leave anything behind.”

Jade nodded. It was true enough. Animals cracked and consumed bones as well as clothing. Often when some hunter went missing, all that was ever retrieved was a gun.

“And Lilith,” continued Sam, “wherever she is, will eventually see it or hear of it. It gives us one day to get ready, if that. I have a feeling she’s been under our noses for a while. How else could she manage things so well?”

“If by ‘things’ you mean Mr. Holly, you may be right. And with her lover, Pellyn, dead, she’d have to stay closer to town to know what’s going on.”

Sam shifted on the bench, clasping his hands in front of him. “Where the devil can she be hiding? She could be anywhere, but what I’m afraid of is that this pretense of abducting that girl, Mary, had another purpose than drawing you out west to Longonot.”

Jade shuddered. “It was a decoy! Sam, we weren’t thinking this through. We thought that Lilith was diverting our attention so she could snatch one of the children. But as you noted before, it was too easy to find out whether Mary was taken. So why else would she have Holly give us that box?”

“She could move around unnoticed while we were scrambling to save the children.”

Jade shook her head. “She could’ve been planning to strike somewhere else. But who?”

Sam sucked in his breath. “Blast and damn. That list you found in Dymant’s room. Maybe Lilith
intended
for you or Finch to eventually see it, just not so soon. Pellyn’s death forced her hand. Ask yourself who’s
not
on the list.”

Jade ran through the list in her mind. “Harry wasn’t on the list and neither was Jelani.” She gasped. “Jelani! We need to get to his village.”

 

SAM FELT JADE’S ARMS WRAPPED AROUND HIS MIDDLE, solid and warm as they sped on his motorcycle towards Jelani’s village in the cool Kenyan night. It was all he could do to keep from simply riding off with her to Fort Hall or some other safe haven and locking her away. But if he’d learned anything in his self-imposed exile back in the States, it was that you couldn’t lock away a wild animal like Jade and expect her to thrive. He’d always known it in his heart. Now he knew it in his head.

It had nearly driven him mad, being apart from her, wondering if she’d actually forgive him and take him back. Then came word of Lilith’s escape and he knew that it didn’t matter whether she forgave him or not. He was not going to let her face that bitch alone. And wonder of wonders, she was actually happy to see him. It made him feel as if he were flying all over again, this time without needing a plane.

It would be worth it, though, if they could pull off this ruse. He revved the cycle a bit faster and sailed over a small rise, reveling in the open country. Nairobi had grown so much that the streets were nearly flooded with cars and cycles. Jade was right. Wild Africa had better run for its very life around here.

And so had Lilith!
As a war veteran, Sam had no qualms about killing her. She was as much the enemy as those German fighters he’d shot down. But he also knew that killing her outright could mean his own incarceration for murder. He hoped she’d strike first so he could justifiably claim self-defense. Somehow, he didn’t think that would be a problem. Satan had more of a conscience than she did. He’d been taught that anyone could be redeemed if they had a true change of heart. The trouble was, Lilith didn’t have one.

What concerned him more was Jade. He’d convinced her once before on Mount Marsabit that she wasn’t a killer. He hoped it was still true. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Lilith dead. He did, but by
his
hand and not by Jade’s. But he also knew that she was a sure shot, something he was counting on to protect his own life. Lilith was pure evil and had to be destroyed. His dad called homely animals “ugly as homemade sin,” but Sam knew that evil often put on a beautiful face to lure in more victims. And Lilith was beautiful.

He’d seen her after Morocco, when Jade’s knife had slashed up from the woman’s nose past her eye. The wound hadn’t been deep and, in a younger woman, it might have healed clean. But Lilith was no girl. Age and harsh prison conditions would have also marred her beauty. Like a cracked vase, Lilith was severely flawed. He shuddered to think of her plans for Jade.

If Dymant hadn’t died . . .
Sam let the thought disappear as Jelani’s village came into view. Over the palisade, he could just make out the tops of the huts, like hulking beasts curled up asleep. He stopped the cycle and shut off the engine.

“You mustn’t be seen,” he whispered. “Hide by the goat pen until I get back.”

Jade slid off the rear of the cycle and ducked low, her movements and bowed form making her resemble some scurrying night creature. When she reached the palisade wall, she hugged it, keeping in its shadows. Sam took his flashlight from a pannier and, switching it on, wended his way up the path and approached the gate. As he got closer, a Kikuyu man stopped him, holding a spear point to Sam’s chest.

Sam held his hands out to his sides. “I see young
mondo-mogo
,” he said in broken Swahili spoken with the fake Australian accent, bending the “o”s. “Jelani,” he added in case none of it made any sense to the guard. The guard hesitated, trying to see Sam’s face. “
Rafiki
,” Sam added, giving the Swahili for “friend.”

The guard nodded and led the way to a hut. He motioned with outstretched palm for Sam to wait outside while he ducked his head near the leather curtain and whispered inside.

An angry, snarling voice answered, and soon after an elder wrapped in a striped blanket stepped out. “Who are you and what do you want?” the man said in English.

“I’ve come to see the young healer, Jelani,” said Sam. “I think he may be in danger.”

The man snorted. “You are too late. He is not here. He has been taken.”

—The Traveler

JADE MOVED FARTHER BACK FROM THE VILLAGE ENTRANCE, pressing flat against the wooden fence. On the other side she heard a deep
maa
and knew she was outside the animal pen. The strong smell of goat wafted through the spaces between the poles. Suddenly her mind swept back to June 1919, and a shudder born of memory rippled down her spine and legs.

She’d spent a harrowing night in this same pen then, waiting with Madeline and Jelani during a hunt for a man-eating hyena that had plagued this very village. The three of them had been put in with the goats where it was safe, while the men, including Hascombe, sat in an elevated blind for the brute to take their staked-out bait. The hyena came, but passed by the bait in preference for human flesh. It had forced its way into the
boma
, stalking Jelani and uttering that horrid, maniacal laughing call—a call that still reminded Jade of shell-shocked soldiers. She’d relived that night time and again in her dreams.

There were no hyenas around tonight. At least, none that she’d heard. A lone jackal barked in the distance, and somewhere farther off yet, a male lion voiced his deep-chested, groaning roars as he announced his territory and challenged all comers. The roars settled into the final coughing harrumphs and died into silence.

She stifled a yawn, only to have her stomach growl. She couldn’t decide what she needed more, a decent sleep or a hot cup of coffee and a half dozen biscuits loaded down with smoked bacon. She settled for a drink from her canteen.

A soft cough alerted her that Sam had returned. He knelt down beside her.

“Is Jelani all right?” she whispered.

“He’s not here. The village chief says that Finch arrested him.”

Jade’s “What!” was hushed by Sam’s hand over her mouth. When he pulled it away, she whispered, “That arrest was about the time when you showed up, Sam. They found the body of another Kikuyu, Mutahi. Finch had Jelani and Irungu brought in on suspicion of murder. But Finch promised he’d release Jelani as soon as there was an autopsy and . . .” She clenched her fists. “That damned jackal Finch! He said he wouldn’t charge them with Mutahi’s death. But he must have planned all along to hold him on some other charge. Jelani’s too political for Finch’s taste, speaking out against British rule like he does. Did Irungu come back?”

“According to the chief, Irungu was only fined for not having a
kipande
,” said Sam, referring to the case and the required government documents that one was required to wear around his neck. “But Jelani never returned. The old
mondo-mogo
has taken ill so he’s of no help to them. The village is worried.” Sam inhaled deeply. “But Finch may have done us and Jelani a favor.
If
Lilith planned to kidnap him, he’s safer in a native prison than in his own village.”

“You may be right,” said Jade.

“Right now, we need to get some sleep. In the morning, I want to take a look at Hascombe’s old haunts. If Steven Holly lured you there, there must be a reason.”

“You suspect Harry?”

“I would,” said Sam “except we know Pellyn’s dead, and Harry’s sure as hell not Lilith. But she may have used his house. Holly did try to lure you there. If we don’t find her there, we’ll set up my trap. In my newspaper ad, I told Lilith to meet me where Waters took a swim.”

“Just downriver from the falls,” said Jade. She yawned.

Sam looked at the palisade behind her. “The goat pen should do for us for tonight, right? We’ll be well chaperoned, too. I told the chief I’d sleep there tonight. We just need to be out before anyone sees you.”

 

JADE SHIFTED POSITION, pushing the persistent nanny goat off her lap. The acrid scent of goat wafted up and assaulted her as much as a bottle of smelling salts. Jade had spent enough time tending sheep and new lambs on her parents’ New Mexico ranch, but goats were an entirely different aroma. She stretched her legs in front of her and looked at Sam.

For a moment after they’d entered the goat kraal, Jade had actually thought the stay might be enjoyable. She’d imagined snuggling up to Sam, his strong arms around her. And then some blasted nanny actually butted herself between them like a hairy old matron. Sam had chuckled and shifted, using the goat’s back as a pillow.