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Kira nodded toward the chopper. “This is it?” she said. “You’re leaving?”
“You’ve got all the help you need here,” he said. “I’m going home. I’m done. I’ve got classes to teach.”
Kira fought the urge to step closer.Let it go,she thought.Let him go.
“Okay then,” she said. “So long, Doctor.”
The professor hesitated, then took his foot off the skid. He took a few steps toward her. “You’re allowed to call me Brandt, you know. That’s my name.”
Kira shook her head. “Nope. Sorry. You never seemed like a Brandt to me.”
A commando hustled over and slapped the professor on the shoulder. The chopper engine kicked into gear. “Let’s go, Doc!” he said.
Kira smiled. “Doc.” That sounded about right.
CHAPTER 104
Gaborone, Botswana
JAMELLE MAINA WAS on her forty-first circuit around the quarter-mile track. Her only competition was a pair of middle-aged joggers. She had lapped them several times.
Jamelle knew that if she ran long enough and hard enough, she could sometimes press the image of her missing daughter to the back of her mind. Otherwise, that was pretty much all she thought about. She slowed for a cool-down lap—as if it was possible to cool down in 91-degree heat.
Jamelle felt the vibration of the phone ringing in her arm strap. She mopped her forehead and put the phone to her ear. The voice on the other end was thin and scratchy. A bad connection. Jamelle could only pick up scraps of what was being said. “Report… match… international…” Her pulse rate was at 150 BPM from the workout. Now it shot up even higher.
“What?? Hello??” Jamelle screamed into the phone.
She spun around on the track, straining for better reception. “What did you say??” It wasn’t the PI calling. She hadn’t heard from him in months. Besides, this was a woman’s voice.
She jogged to the edge of the track and jumped onto a bench, as if the two feet of elevation would help. Amazingly, it did. The caller’s voice was still distant, but a bit clearer.
“Is this Jamelle Maina?” the woman asked.
“Yes!”Jamelle shouted into the phone. “Who are you? What do youwant??”
“My name is Kira,” the voice said. “I have some very good news.”
CHAPTER 105
Eastern Russia
THE OPEN AREA of the compound was empty now. The relief organizations had finished their work. The huge tents were folded in neat piles on the grass. The students were gone. After intensive interrogations, some of the teachers and staff had been released to restart their lives; others were in custody, awaiting trial on outstanding charges from human trafficking to manslaughter.
Kira was standing next to the INTERPOL commander at the far end of the compound. As they looked toward the complex of buildings, a small squad of commandos ran toward them from that direction.
The squad leader stopped directly in front of the commander.
“Charges set, sir,” he reported crisply.
“Copy that,” the commander replied.
The commander turned to Kira and handed her a device that looked like a heavy-duty flip phone. “Whenever you’re ready, Ms. Sunlight, just press Send.”
Kira took a deep breath. She stared at the buildings at the other side of the huge yard. Administration building. Gym. Classrooms. Eighteen years of her life. And almost a hundred years of pain for the world. Enough.
“Fire in the hole!” the squad leader called out.
Kira placed her thumb lightly on the Send button. She closed her eyes. A Rachmaninoff piano concerto swirled in her head. She pressed down hard.
