The bright sun rose above the horizon, blinding Julian as he drove the Humvee across the rugged desert land. Eyes constricting, he squinted, dipping his head low to keep his eyes on the target looming ahead.
The town of Takaba.
Enzo had uncovered the depths of Hakeem’s lies with a single phone call to Emershan Smith, the prominent art dealer Hakeem was supposed to be protecting on a trip to deliver art in the Ukraine. Smith was surprised that Enzo didn’t know he’d postponed the trip by a month. The information had been relayed to Hakeem a week ago.
Sunny had remained stoic, insisting that Hakeem had to have a good reason for the subterfuge and the rest of the TIDES team shared her views. Everyone except Julian. He hadn’t worked side by side with Hakeem over the past few years like they had. He didn’t have the same trust in Hakeem, or any of them, for that matter.
Separating himself from the rest of the team, Julian had gone into Sunny’s private office and started tracing Mena’s call to his cell phone. After an hour of painstaking analysis through a complex web of towers, Julian had uncovered the calls weren’t coming from Kiev. They had come from northeastern Kenya, somewhere in the vicinity of a small town named Takaba.
Getting to Takaba presented its own difficulties. There was no airstrip close by. The only option was to fly into Mandera, northeast of the town, or into Wajir, further south of the town. Both were over a hundred miles away. After some considerable debate, they’d settled on Mandera, where Sunny had a contact that would supply a Humvee to the team once they landed.
Julian had been driving all night, speeding across the rugged terrain and sipping watered down coffee as sleep eluded him. Mena had said they were leaving for Nairobi in the morning. He had to make it to Takaba before Hakeem took off with her. He knew for a fact Hakeem was lying to Mena. He had no plans to take her back to Nairobi. He was going to deliver her to Tubeec Hirad.
“It ain’t money,” Enzo said, his voice startling Julian in the quiet that had settled within the Humvee over the past six hours. Glaze and Taye were snoring in the back. Enzo had been studying maps and intel on the last calls that had come in from Hakeem, trying to figure out what Hakeem’s next move would be.
“What?” Julian asked, confused.
“Hakeem didn’t take Mena for the bounty. Sure, he’s flashy and likes nice things. Bling bling and all that bullshit. But, he ain’t broke. None of us are. That bounty is big enough to make these poor ass rebel groups excited, but it’s a drop in the bucket for us. He could do a lot less to earn a lot more,” Enzo explained.
Julian contemplated Enzo’s conclusion. Money was the easiest motive, but if that was off the table, what were they left with?
“Could Tubeec be forcing him to do it?” Julian pondered the idea. If Tubeec was threatening Sunny, would Hakeem do whatever it took to protect his sister? Possibly. A theory he couldn’t share with Enzo as Sunny had sworn him to secrecy about her relationship with Hakeem. None of the TIDES team knew about their sibling bond.
“That’s more feasible if you ask me. Won’t be long before we find out. If he’s in some kind of trouble, we’re going to do whatever he needs to help him. Once he sees us, I’m sure he’ll come clean about what’s going on. Hold on …” Enzo stopped, glancing down at his cell phone.
“Is that Sunny?” Julian asked, hoping she’d gotten more information from Hakeem.
“No. It’s Zale. She thinks Hakeem could be hiding out at a hut that was used by poachers a decade ago. Hakeem would have access to that info from our databases,” Enzo said.
“As good a place to start as any.” Julian glanced at the map on the cell phone, then at his GPS coordinates. Steering the Humvee toward the right, he drove faster. His body bounced in the seat as the vehicle jostled along the deep ruts in the road.
“Wake up, motherfuckers!” Enzo said, turning to shake Taye and Glaze. As he filled the others in on the intel they had so far, Julian focused on the square hut appearing in the distance.
Julian steered the Humvee near what he hoped was the front of the structure and killed the ignition. The hut looked deserted. A wave of disappointment sliced through him. Had they gotten the location wrong?
“Come with me Taye,” Enzo said. “Between me and you, we know enough Swahili and other tribal languages to communicate with any locals in the area. Let’s see if we can find someone who may have seen Hakeem or Mena.”
Enzo and Taye jogged off toward a group of huts in the distance near a watering hole. Glaze lingered behind Julian.
“If they were here, there’s got to be some tracks around. Footsteps, tire prints, something. I’m going to search around the hut and see what I can find,” Glaze said.
Julian nodded, then stood still as the warm morning air blazed across his skin. The hut was small, constructed of tree branches, and plastered with mud. Compressed leaves and grass formed the thatched roof. Julian ducked his head, stepped onto the small porch and slipped through an opening. A faint lingering aroma of wood smoke wafted in the air. To the left was a stove built into the floor, embers barely perceptible as the fire died out. Lining the wall on the right were dozens of cowhides stacked one on top of the other forming two separate beds. Squatting low, Julian reached his hand toward shiny metal resting between the two beds.
Squeezing his fingers around the object, he pulled it out and stared at the rose gold bracelet. The single heart-shaped charm engraved with the J and M he’d given to Mena rested in the palm of his hand.
Mena had been here. This was where Hakeem had kept her, but where were they now? Mena had said they were leaving for Nairobi this morning. It was just after sunrise. Why weren’t they still here?
“Julian!”
Rising to his feet, Julian stuffed the bracelet into the pocket of his pants and emerged from the hut.
“I found empty food wrappers in the brush and tire tracks of a Jeep leading south from here,” Glaze said, pointing to a spot a dozen yards away. “The tracks are fresh, within the last twelve hours or so.”
Taye and Enzo came running over.
“Any luck?” Taye asked.
“I found Mena’s bracelet. She was here. Glaze found some JEEP tracks we can follow,” Julian said.
