Malik spoke into his mic. “Don’t shoot the kid. He’s coming with us.”
Obi looked over at the bodies near the river, then he clambered to his feet and ran to her, fear in his young eyes, tears on his cheeks. “Peter killed Jidda.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Let’s move!” Malik led the way.
7
Malik knew right away that Kristi was in trouble. She must have hit her head hard. He wrapped an arm around her, half leading and half carrying her toward David’s position. “Stay on your feet, Kristi. Come on, kid!”
To his surprise, the boy wrapped a skinny arm around Kristi’s shoulders, helping to support her.
Malik was reluctant to trust anyone with Kristi, but he needed his hands to work his rifle. “Have you got her? Let’s go. Hurry.”
As long as they stood in this clearing, they were sitting ducks for any asshole with the balls to shoot back. Most had fled into the forest or run downriver. But all it took was one bullet.
From the rise ahead, David fired a three-round burst.
Someone behind them grunted, hit the dirt.
“Eyes forward! Keep moving!” Malik shouted to the kid, who’d looked back over his shoulder.
Fuck.
Malik wished they’d been able to wait for the police or the army to show up, but there was no way he could have sat there while that bastard brutalized her. Now, they had a five-kilometer retreat back to the vehicles with no one to watch their six.
They reached the edge of camp.
“Keep going!” Malik turned and dropped to one knee to cover the kid and Kristi as they made their way into the cover of the forest.
He watched for movement, but the camp seemed deserted, bodies lying still in the dirt. The bastards had no idea they’d been attacked by a force of only two. When they figured that out…
The drone buzzed by above him, David’s voice coming over his earpiece.
“They have all fled down the river. I see no movement around us. Let’s go!”
Malik stood, caught up with Kristi and the boy in a few strides, and led them to David, who was ready to go, rifle over his shoulder, drone controller in his hand.
Kristi looked around them. “Where are the rest of the guys—Thor, Lev?”
She thought Malik was here with Cobra.
“It’s just the two of us.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
There wasn’t time to explain or to introduce David.
With the drone giving them eyes in the sky, they made their way through the forest back to the waiting vehicles.
* * *
Malik helpedKristi climb into the backseat of his rental, buckled her seatbelt, then got her and the boy bottled water and energy bars from the back. “We’ll be in Kaduna in a few hours. You need to hang on until then.”
She drank thirstily. “I’m fine now that you’re here.”
As good as that made Malik feel, he knew it wasn’t true. He could see from her face that she was in pain. “Watch over her, kid.”