Ithadbeen hard.
“I won’t be that stupid twice.”
More roars from outside.
He kissed her again, reluctant to let her go. “I hate to say it, but we need to get moving.”
They dressed, and he dug through the MREs. “Guess what? Same thing for breakfast today as yesterday.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They ate quickly, packed up their things, and straightened the cabin, wanting to leave the place the way they’d found it.
Kristi glanced outside, backpack on her shoulder. “Now what?”
The lions weren’t gone, but they had moved a short distance away from the SUV.
“If I unlock the SUV’s doors from here and you climb in on this side, I think we can make it. What do you think?”
They would have to move fast, but the SUV was now between them and the pride.
“I’m game if you are.”
Malik put his duffel on his back, grabbed the rifle, checked it. Then he used the remote to unlock the doors. “I’ll get in the driver’s seat. You climb into the rear passenger seat.”
“Got it.”
“Ready?” He opened the door—and the lions fled, heading toward the trees. “Well, that made this easy.”
But Kristi ran past him. “Not taking chances!”
She opened the door, threw the water inside along with her backpack and shut the door behind her.
Chuckling, Malik got into the driver’s seat, settled the rifle, its barrel pointing down, and closed his door. “See? No problem.”
While Kristi made her way into the front passenger seat, Malik entered the coordinates of the railway bridge into the navigation console and started the engine, sending silent thanks to Ranger Tinubu.
Because of him, they were rested and had a full tank of gas.
They stayed for a moment to watch as the lions disappeared into the forest.
“You don’t realize how big they are until you see them up close like this.” There was a note of awe in Kristi’s voice.
But it was time to go.
The predators that were hunting them were far more dangerous than lions.
“Next stop, the Niger River.” Malik could only hope that his crazy gambit would pay off and they’d be able to make it safely across the river.
16
The forest gave way to savanna as they drove toward the river, the sun well over the horizon now, a hip hop mix playing on the sound system. It was almost like being on a fantastic road trip—except, of course, that killers were after them.
Kristi listened to Malik as he told her about the first time he’d come to Nigeria back when he was an Army Ranger.
“The plan was to train a regiment of Nigerian soldiers to fight the way we fight so they would be better equipped to deal with Boko Haram. We got settled in at our new base and my staff sergeant asked me if I felt more at home here.” Malik shook his head. “I didn’t know what the hell he meant at first.”
Kristi understood. “He thought that you would feel at home in Africa because you’re Black.”