They’d reached the outskirts of Abuja now, the city falling behind them, the setting sun low on the horizon ahead.
“Did you lose people?”
“Yes, sometimes. But it was hard in other ways, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I treated girls who’d been freed or escaped from Boko Haram. That was tough. To hear their stories… It broke my heart.” It was some of the worst violence Kristi had ever seen on a human body. “One had been raped pregnant at age fifteen. She managed to escape and gave birth to a boy. Both had contracted AIDS from her attacker. When we found her, it was too late to save her baby, but we got her on good medications. Even after all of that, she was resilient enough to take in two little boys orphaned by Boko Haram. She’s just a kid herself, but the three of them are a family now.”
“Geezus.” Malik took her hand. “You don’t know how much I wish we could take those Boko Haram fuckers out for good.”
“When I was abducted, I thought at first that they were to blame. I thought about that girl, about all of those girls and how brave they were. I couldn’t help but think about what had happened to them and wonder if that’s what was going to happen to me, too.”
“Not as long as I’m alive.” Malik looked over at her, sunglasses hiding his eyes, his grip on her hand tightening. “I know what they’re capable of doing. That’s why I couldn’t wait. That’s why I had to come, even if I came alone.”
She raised his hand to her lips, kissed it. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Lips that had kissed her senseless curved in a soft smile. “You already have.”
How could a man who’d spent his adult life at war be so sweet?
“Did I bore you to death with all the medical stuff?”
“No, you didn’t bore me. I asked, remember?” He changed lanes, merged onto a highway, the traffic light. “I’ll let you in on a secret. When you and I said goodbye at Amundsen-Scott, I wished that I’d taken the time to get to know you better.”
“I felt the same way.”
“Now we’ve got another chance.”
12
Malik pulled over at the first filling station they saw, uncertain how many miles lay between them and the next one. “I think this place has restrooms. Take advantage of it while you can. There aren’t many public restrooms here, and the ones that exist are pretty disgusting.”
“I’ve lived here for the past nine months, remember? Do you have any Nigerian money? They might charge.”
He reached into his wallet, drew out a ten. “That ought to be enough. I think I’ve got a baseball cap to help you hide your hair, too.”
He grabbed it out of his duffel, handed it to her. “Try not to let anyone see your face, and pretend you don’t know me if we run into each other inside.”
She tied up her hair, hid it under the cap. “Got it.”
SIG tucked in the waistband of his jeans, he watched as she made her way indoors. Then he topped off the fuel tank and filled both gas cans. He wanted some insurance that they wouldn’t run out of fuel if they were forced to leave the highway and take backroads. When he was done refueling, he went inside to pay, entering the building just as Kristi was walking out.
She didn’t so much as look at him.
He paid for the gas and the restroom, took a leak, and then walked back out to the vehicle. While Kristi sat inside with the windows up rubbing her hands furiously with hand sanitizer, he went to work, searching for the anti-theft GPS tracker. It would be small, not much bigger than a deck of cards. Based on experience, he checked beneath the engine and found it attached by magnets to one of the struts.
He ripped it off, tossed it into a trash bin, and got back into the driver’s seat.
“What was that?”
“It was a GPS tracker—an anti-theft device. I wanted to get rid of it so they can’t track us if they connect us to this vehicle.”
“Shit. Do you think they know where we are?”
“No.” He didn’t want her to worry unnecessarily. “If they did, their trail ends here, near the intersection of two highways, one heading north and the other heading south to Lagos. Once they realize we didn’t catch a plane, I’m sure they’ll think we’re on our way to Lagos.”
They set off again, merging back onto the A124.