“If they were behind my abduction… then what?”
Malik looked up from his phone. “Then we need to get the hell out of the country before they come looking for payback.”
Oh, God.
Kristi’s stomach knotted. She’d just been on TV. If any of those Sky Kings had seen her, they would have some idea how to find her.
David opened the driver’s side door and climbed in. “Now we head to the airport. You asked about the Sky Kings. You have kicked the hornet’s nest, my friend.”
Malik held up his phone. “Shields just got back to me. They’re some kind of college fraternity that functions like a cartel.”
“Yes, very much like a cartel.” David started the engine, made a U-turn, the three of them waving to Obi as they drove away. “The men who abducted you must have been one of their strike groups, men who do their dirty work—robbing, trafficking, killing. They live on very little, while the members live like royalty. With any luck, the bastards saw the press conference and believe that the NPF rescued you.”
“If they don’t?” Kristi was afraid she knew the answer.
David met Malik’s gaze, something passing between the two men. “Let’s not worry about that yet.”
* * *
This shit was getting real.As much as he trusted David, Malik had questions. “How connected are these bastards?”
“Most of the members live in the southern part of the country in the bigger cities, but their strike groups are everywhere. Members join in college, and they help one another in the business world afterward. They have eyes and ears in the police force, the military, the corporate world, and the government.”
“How do we evade them?”
David merged onto the highway. “The plan is for you to get on a helicopter and fly to Abuja, where you catch a flight out of the country. I will drop you off, return your rental, and drive back to Abuja with Bruno and Idris—and the lovely drone.”
That was a start.
“Are these assholes going to be able to connect you and Obi with us?” Malik didn’t want to put David or the boy in danger.
David turned onto the main expressway, heading north. “I doubt it. I wasn’t at the police station. No one at the bandit camp saw me. The imam won’t talk. The only people who know about my involvement are my contacts in the army and the NPF and the officers who came to the hotel. If they were dirty, we’d be dead already.”
Malik supposed that was true.
David went on. “My name wasn’t on the hotel registry or your rental vehicle. Even if they had my name, all of my property, including my vehicles and aircraft, is owned by a corporation registered in the Cayman Islands. All my family’s property is owned by this corporation, so Obi is also safe.”
“Can’t they just look up who owns the corporation?” Kristi asked.
Malik explained. “Corporate records in the Caymans are private. No one can gain access to that information. The owners have anonymity.”
“Oh. That’s useful.”
David grinned. “In my line of work, I must be cautious, Miss Chang.”
“I believe that.”
Malik looked back at Kristi, saw the worry on her pretty face. She’d been through enough already. “What about the airport? Could they be waiting for us there?”
“Anything is possible.” David slowed the vehicle, stopped, the traffic coming to an abrupt standstill. “Wahala.”Trouble.
“What is it? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” David called Idris, spoke to him in rapid Naija.
The black SUV ahead of them pulled off the road, and Idris climbed out and strode along the side of the highway toward the source of the traffic jam. “He will find out what is happening.”
“What about the drone?” Kristi asked.