The Oracle (Fargo Adventures #11) - Clive Cussler Page 0,47
begging, then quickly backing off as though suddenly recognizing him and recalling their last encounter. A few followed at a safe distance as he turned the corner and ducked into a doorway, waiting for them to catch up. He didn’t wait long. Two boys rounded the corner and he stepped out, blocking their path.
“Don’t run off,” he said as they started backing away. “I’ve got a deal for you.”
They stopped, eyeing him warily. One tilted his head back, trying to look defiant. “What sort of deal?”
“I need to talk to Kambili Kalu. Where can I find him?”
“You can’t. He finds you.”
The other boy added, “If he wants.”
“The thing is,” Sam said, “I’m a bit short on time.” He fanned out some bills in front of them. “Tell me where he is and I’ll make it worth your while.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for something.
– AFRICAN PROVERB –
The kidnappers lined up the women against the siding of the unfinished dorm, tied their hands behind their back and ordered them to sit. Remi, Amal, Zara, Jol, Maryam, and Tambara huddled together. Though tears slid down the girls’ cheeks, they remained stoic.
Makao ordered his men to search the buildings a third time. “There’s a ladder,” he said, nodding to the one Pete had used to get on the roof. “Maybe there’s an attic in one of these buildings. Search every corner, anywhere someone might hide.”
“This is my fault,” Amal said after the men moved off. “Had the girls not stopped to help me, they’d have been safely away.”
“No,” Zara said, near tears. “The only reason anyone was in there was because I was too tired to wake up. And then we heard the gunshot and—”
“It’s no one’s fault,” Remi said, looking over at them. “And we’re going to get out of this.”
“How?” Amal said.
“I’m not sure. Yet.”
One of the men looked at them. Amal waited until he turned away, then whispered, “Do you think they’re Boko Haram?”
Remi thought about the attack on the road and the men who’d been hiding in the back of the white pickup. The road spikes would have disabled their vehicles, which meant they weren’t in it for the truck, the rental car, or the cargo. At least not the cargo meant for the school. Undoubtedly, they’d been after hostages. These men had enough firepower to ensure that anyone they came up against would quickly surrender without a fight. “I have no idea. But whoever they are, there’s no doubt they’re holding us for ransom.”
Zara looked at her in alarm. “My father doesn’t have any money. Who’ll pay?”
“My husband will.” But only as a last resort—that, Remi kept to herself. Right now, she needed the girls to remain calm. “Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”
Her words sounded hollow even to her. A loud crash, then another and another, all coming from the dorm, startled the girls as the men ransacked the school.
“What are they doing?” Maryam asked, her voice shaking.
“Looking for the others.”
“But where are they?”
“Not here,” Remi said.
The answer seemed to confuse the girls, but Remi didn’t have time to come up with a plausible explanation. Noises came from every direction as the men searched. “Makao,” one of the bandits called out from the cafeteria. He walked over, looking in the door, the two talking intently. Remi wondered what they’d found that was so interesting.
“Look,” Tambara whispered. “At the shed.”
She turned to see Nasha peering out the door, watching the men standing by the mess hall. As much as Remi wanted to call out to her, tell her to stay there, she didn’t dare make a sound, even when the girl slipped out, ducking behind one of the planters. A moment later, she belly-crawled to the edge of the wooden box, looking out through the long tussock of grass that grew up at the corner of the bed.
Zara took a breath. “What’s she doing?”
Remi shook her head at Nasha, warning her away, but the girl darted toward them, scrambling into the space between Remi and Zara just as Scarface looked back to check on them. He watched them for several seconds, and Remi leaned forward, trying her best to block his view of the girl.
Apparently not realizing they’d gained an extra hostage, he returned his attention to whatever the man was telling him about what he’d seen in the mess hall.
Remi glanced over at Nasha, relief mixed with worry. If Makao connected her to the missing girls . . . Knowing they