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IMARA WRAPPED AN ARM AROUND THE boy’s shoulders and pulled him to her body. He moved in close enough that she could feel the shivering in his limbs.
“Ignore them,” Abe whispered. “Just keep walking.”
Six gangsters looking for a fight didn’t seem like the sort of thing she should ignore. But Abe knew Cairo better, so she tried to heed his advice. The best she could do was step forward and pierce the gangsters with the meanest glare she could muster.
“Out past curfew, I see,” came a voice from behind.
It took only a tiny glance back to see the speaker. He was a portly man with a constellation of freckles spread over his light brown cheeks. The freckles might have been endearing on their own, but the eyes above them were worse than the cobra’s. He stared at the boy with a fury that didn’t make any sense. How could a boy so young incite so much fear and anger in a grown man?
The man tucked a hand into the pocket of his pinstripe suit. “Give me the boy and I’ll leave.”
The boy gripped Imara’s free hand with fingers as hard as iron. Her grip on his shoulders was no softer. What kind of person could go after a mere boy with such vengeance? Whatever kind of people they were, she didn’t have time to figure it out.
With a tiny gulp, she moved toward Abe’s headquarters with steps so small, she hoped they would be imperceptible. She made eye contact with each of the gangsters, hoping to distract them.
The freckled man stood in a staring match with Abe when one of the gangsters decided to act. He jumped toward Imara, and the boy at her side screamed.
Another gangster closed in on her other side, giving her no choice but to fight. She peeled the boy’s fingers off her hand and pushed him forward. “Run inside that building. I’ll keep the gangsters busy,” she said.
A gangster reached for the boy as he started to run, but Imara barreled toward the man with the red armband until her head slammed into his gut. While he teetered backward, she rammed a heel into the other gangster’s shin and slapped the hand reaching for her hair.
Only distracted for a moment, both gangsters reeled back, ready for new attacks. In the chaos, Imara noticed a female gangster with eyes on the boy. Still running, the boy only needed a few seconds to get inside. She just needed a brief distraction.
She crouched to the ground to avoid a swinging fist. While low, she spread her fingers across the ground until they found a heavy wooden board. Clutching the board, she rolled to the side to avoid a boot.
Soon, she was back on her feet and used the board to whack the woman’s leg with as much force as she could. By then, the boy had been stopped from his goal. His feet kicked through the air as a gangster held him up by the shoulders. The boy flashed his teeth and bit down on the gangster’s hand. Even though he yelped, the gangster didn’t release the boy.
Shouts rang through the air, including ones from Abe, but Imara was too engrossed in the fight to register his words.
All she cared about now was getting the boy safe. Abe had been so insistent about getting the boy inside. It didn’t seem like that would be enough with all these gangsters around, but it would be a start. She had no training in fighting, but for some reason, the gangsters mostly ignored her and focused on the boy. If they decided to ignore her, she would take advantage of it.
She eyed the gangster holding the boy, waiting until he stepped close enough to her. Then, she whacked the wooden board against his head. A crack sounded out, and her gut clenched. Hopefully she hadn’t done more harm than she meant.
The gangster shook his head, recovering too quickly. Still, he had dropped the boy when the board hit his head.
“Run inside!” Imara shouted, pointing at the building.
Again, the gangsters ignored her and focused only on the boy. Desperate to stop them, she lunged for the nearest gangster’s legs. As he toppled to the ground, the other gangsters tripped over him. Only one was still on the boy’s tail.
The boy was up the steps, a hair’s breadth away from the entrance. He slammed a fist against the door opener. The female gangster stood at the bottom of the stairs and reached for the boy’s ankle, but she missed by a centimeter.
The boy crossed through the doorway, and the door closed behind him. The nearest gangster let out a growl, and Imara raised her fists, ready to fight even with no knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. But, apparently the gangster had given up. She frowned again at the doorway but didn’t attempt to go inside. With narrowed eyes, Imara turned and noticed the rest of the gangsters wearing the same dejected expression. Would they really let the boy go just because he was inside?
For the first time since the fight broke out, she heard Abe’s voice well enough to comprehend his words. “As I’ve been trying to say, we have three minutes until curfew.” His face turned red as he curled his hands into fists. “If you’re going to break your promises, you can bet I will too.”
The portly man nodded at one of his gangsters, but it was so fast, she almost didn’t notice. A split second later, the gangster jammed an elbow into Imara’s side. She clutched her stomach as she gasped for air.
“HEY!” Abe yelled as he marched up to the portly man.
The man scratched his freckled nose and said casually, “Is she one of yours?”
Abe stomped forward until his nose was centimeters from the man’s. At this distance, Abe towered at least a head over him. Abe jabbed a finger into the man’s sternum and said, “If she gets hurt because of you, I swear you will regret it.”
The freckled man swallowed and stepped out from Abe’s shadow. Once he backed up, he lifted his chin. “Don’t cut it so close to curfew next time.”
Abe scowled as the man turned his back and started walking away from them. The gangsters followed without question. As they left, she noticed the wooden board just a meter away. Bits of concrete and broken glass littered the rest of the street. She’d never seen such debris except in the worst parts of Nairobi. What kind of a city was Cairo if this was one of the better roads? Why would Abe choose to stay when things were so bad?
The gangsters disappeared down an alley, and she noticed the road was now empty but for her and Abe. “Where’s Maye?” she asked.
“She already went inside.” He shook his head while letting out a long, slow breath.
“Who was that man?” she asked. “And what promises were you talking about? Why didn’t they try to get the boy once he was inside?”
He grimaced at each of her questions, then screwed up his face as if trying to decide which to answer first. Finally, he said, “That was Sef and a few of his most delightful gangsters.”
“Why didn’t they try to get the boy once he went inside?”
“It’s against the rules.”
Her eye twitched at his words. “What rules? It’s illegal? I thought Sef broke rules all the time. He’s the leader of a child slave cartel. And you said he deals drugs worse than death. What does he care about rules?”
Abe shook his head and let out another long breath. “It’s hard to explain. He breaks rules, but he doesn’t break his own rules. He must have been really desperate to attack before curfew. And right outside our headquarters too. We have security cameras but he might have disabled them. A couple of his gangsters have electricity-based hilas. I’m sorry that guy elbowed you in the stomach. They’re not supposed to do that.”
“What do you mean supposed to?”
He rubbed a hand down the side of his face with a pained expression. Rather than answer, he reached for her until his fingers rested in a gentle squeeze above her elbow. “Are you okay?” he asked.
The warmth of his fingers turned her brain to mush and suddenly staring into his eyes seemed like the only important thing in the world. She nodded without considering his question.
When a teasing chuckle erupted from his mouth, it brought her back to reality. “Are you sure?” he asked.
This time, she actually considered the state of her body. She’d only escaped the catacombs a few hours ago and now a new adventure had gripped her by the shoulders and shook wildly. Tingles of anxiety danced under her skin, and her heart pounded in her chest. Although, at least a little of the heart pounding had something to do with Abe and the way he was looking at her now.
“I’m fine,” she said as she leaned into him. Everything with Abe was so new, but nothing had ever felt so natural.
“You were amazing,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “Better than I expected. Much better. That cobra...” He chuckled and nuzzled his chin into the curls on her head. “I loved that.”
Just when she had almost pinpointed the smell of his t-shirt, something spicy, he pulled away and said, “Come on. Let’s go meet everyone.”
He took her hand, but quickly tore it away and grabbed his forehead. “Oh,” he said. “There’s just one thing. We have this employee, Husani. You’ll see what I mean when we get in there, but he flirts a lot, and we had to make rules about employees dating each other.”
She started to open her mouth, but Abe waved a hand through the air. “No, we can still date each other if you start working here, that’s not a problem. We just have to be professional when we’re at headquarters and on missions and stuff. No holding hands or flirting or fluttering our eyelashes at each other. That kind of thing.”
“That makes sense,” she said. “But I haven’t taken the job yet. I want to make sure I spend plenty of time with my family over the next couple months. I have a lot of making up to do. Especially with Naki.”
Her head hung as the memories gripped her. For eight years she had ignored and mistrusted her sister. The memory of those eight years sat like a bitter taste in her mouth. But things would be different now because Imara was determined to be better.
Abe ran his fingers over her cheek with a smile that warmed her up. “You don’t have to decide tonight; just come meet everyone. They’re going to die when they see the video I took of you and that cobra.”
She cocked her head to the side. “You got video?”
“Yeah, you didn’t notice?”
She shrugged. “I guess I was a little distracted.” Now that imminent danger had passed, she had a new concern. Meeting new people. After years of mistrusting everyone she met, was she even capable of making friends?
Imara stepped through the office doorway, expecting to see a roomful of people. Instead, there were only four. The boy, Maye, a teenage boy, and a young woman with a lilac ribbon in her hair.
The teenage boy stared out the window and said, “Did you see how hot that gangster woman was? When did Sef get attractive gangsters? I might need to cause some trouble just so she has to come and take care of me.”
The young woman with the lilac ribbon rolled her eyes. “Please don’t start flirting with the enemy, Husani, or we’ll all be in trouble.”
Abe cleared his throat, and all of them turned to face him at once. Imara started to smile, trying to make a good first impression. Before her lips could curve up, Maye marched toward them with a glare.
“I quit, Abe. I QUIT. This job is insane! I never thought it would be this dangerous.”
“Come on, Maye,” the young woman said as she tucked a stray hair under her lilac ribbon. “It was just a bad day. You can’t give up yet.”
Maye turned and jabbed a finger toward the young woman. “Don’t patronize me, Edrice. You’re afraid to go on missions too. Do you know how many times I almost died today? Eleven. Eleven times! I might as well start preparing canopic jars because I’m going to die if I go on another mission, I know it.”
Her voice was rising with each syllable. Before she could continue, Abe raised his hand as if to calm her. “Maye,” he said. “You’re allowed to quit. I’d never ask you to do something you’re uncomfortable with.”
“She can’t quit,” the girl with the lilac ribbon—apparently Edrice—said. “Without her we’ll just have you, me, and Husani.”
Ignoring her, Abe looked back to Maye with a gentle expression. “You know how much we need you right now, but it’s up to you.”
Maye seemed to consider his words, but it didn’t last long. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said.
Edrice rolled her eyes. “Really, Maye? It can’t be that bad.”
Maye turned on her, hunching her shoulders forward. “How would you know? You don’t do anything but sit in this office all day.”
Abe stepped between them, facing Maye. “There’s no shame in quitting. Edrice can send you the paperwork by tomorrow night. It will take a few days before you get your last paycheck. Is that okay? I can loan you money if you need it earlier.”
Maye huffed and turned her back on them. “That’s fine. Just send me the paperwork, and I’ll you see around.”
With that, Maye stormed out of headquarters, her hijab billowing behind her. The air went still for a few moments as everyone sat, afraid to react.
Finally, the teenage boy let out a low whistle. He turned to Imara with a smirk. “How was that for an introduction to our team, huh?”
“Uh,” she said, toeing the line between saying something nice and saying something truthful.
The boy chuckled and saved her from having to answer. “I’m Husani. And you must be the lovely—” He stopped when Abe shot him a glare. “I mean, the completely normal-looking Imara. Welcome to headquarters.”
Husani’s copper brown skin matched Abe’s making them both look traditionally Egyptian. With a name like Edrice, Imara had been expecting Abe’s business partner to look similar. Instead, her fair skin and hazel eyes almost made her look European. But since air travel had become so fast and cheap in the last fifty years, the world culture was more global than ever. Race was pointless to assume based on name, home country, or even family members.
Edrice stepped forward and took Imara’s hand in a warm handshake. The judgmental expression she wore when talking to Maye had disappeared. Now, she wore a smile that made her eyes twinkle. “Welcome,” she said, as she dropped her hand and turned back to the others.
When Abe mentioned the name of his business partner back at Nazari Academy of Hila, Imara wasn’t sure how to picture her. Edrice was definitely prettier than she expected. And younger. Probably only nineteen or twenty.
A surge of jealousy stung through her and then an accusatory thought.
Coward.
That’s what Edrice was. She sat in her office putting other people in danger, all while she did nothing but paperwork. She’d been quick to dismiss Maye’s fears. Definitely a coward. And an immature one at that.
The thoughts flew through her mind so fast, Imara didn’t have a chance to stop them. More thoughts raced in, but she slammed a door on them.
No. She wasn’t this person anymore.
No more judging people before she knew them. No more assuming the worst. Even if it took every bit of brain power she had, she would find something nice about Edrice.
She was young, maybe slightly immature, but still, she co-owned a business. That was impressive. And apparently she was in charge of the paperwork. Also impressive since, to Imara, wrestling a cobra seemed less of a burden than doing paperwork day in and day out. What else? There had to be something else.
Just as she was searching, Edrice pulled an orange from her pocket and handed it to the young boy with a smile. He snatched it away without a thank you, but Edrice didn’t seem to mind. She smiled at him and patted him on the head.
There. Edrice could do nice things too.
Edrice turned back to her and said, “It’s good to meet you, Imara. Abe said enough about you in a message to know we’d love to have you work here. You probably noticed, we’re a little desperate for employees. I’m coordinating a job for tomorrow if you’re interested.”
“Edrice is our scheduler,” Husani said, dropping into a chair. “And the brains. Her hila is photographic memory so she helps us through buildings and stuff by memorizing the blueprints.”
Imara attempted another smile as she nodded at Husani. See? Edrice was smart and organized. She also figured out a way to use her hila to help the business. All very impressive things.
“I’m a time feeler myself,” Husani said. “I act as a stopwatch, timer, alarm clock, and more. I know exactly what time it is down to the nanosecond. It’s not a very exciting hila, but you’d be surprised how often it comes in handy.”
“What about you?” Imara asked the boy. He stood in the farthest corner of the room, dipping his head down, trying to appear smaller.
When she addressed him, he looked up with wide eyes and said, “What?”
“Do you know your hila?”
He frowned. “I’m only eleven.”
She nodded in understanding. “Still too young then? Do you have any guesses? Some children can tell even before their hila manifests.”
The boy puffed up his chest. “Twitch finder. They can tell when someone is trying to hide something. Just like Sef was hiding...” His eyes went wide, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. “Never mind,” he said as he dropped his attention back to the orange in his hand.
“Good thing we stopped them from kidnapping you,” Abe said. “Twitch finders can be useful, and Sef never would have let you go.”
“They weren’t going to kidnap me, they were going to kill me!” the boy shouted.
Abe narrowed his eyes, then softened his expression to a smile. “Sef doesn’t kill children.”
“He does if they find evidence that can get him arrested,” the boy muttered under his breath.
Abe’s eyes went wide, and he stepped toward the boy with a curious hunger in his eyes. “What do you mean? You actually found evidence? Real evidence?”
The boy’s jaw flexed, and he took a step back. Before he could retreat anymore, Imara stepped forward and used the most soothing voice she could manage. “What would happen if Sef gets arrested?” she asked.
The boy peeled his orange as he stared at the floor. “There would be less stealing and less fighting. It would be better.”
Imara nodded and gave a knowing look to the boy. “Telling us doesn’t change what you know, but it might help us stop him. Wouldn’t you like that?”
He nodded reluctantly and slipped an orange section into his mouth. “Sef has a list. It names everyone in the city who works for him, including some police. There’s a record of what his men did and how much they got paid. If the Egyptian Council had that list, they could arrest Sef and everyone working for him.”
“Where is it?” Imara asked. “Why hasn’t anyone tried to steal it?”
“It’s saved on his ring in an un-shareable file,” the boy said. “He can sync to a wall hologram and access the list from there, but once he un-syncs, the list automatically deletes itself from the wall hologram. He protects the list carefully, but if anyone downloaded it, Sef would be finished.”
Abe let out a short laugh in disbelief. “No wonder he attacked us even before curfew. And here I thought he was going senile.”
“Are you tired?” Imara asked the boy. When he nodded, she turned to Abe. “You said there was a place for him to sleep, right?”
Abe nodded and pointed down the hall to a door on the right. “Just down there. There’s a little bed and some food as well.”
She took the boy’s hand to lead him out of the office. She relaxed more than she had in days until Husani asked, “Hey, Imara, what’s your hila?”
* * *
ABE SLAMMED THE DOOR behind Imara so she wouldn’t have to answer. “Don’t ask about her hila again,” he said to Husani.
“Why? Is it a weird one?”
He clenched his jaw and settled into the chair behind his desk. “She’s... mashimo.” That seemed like the easiest answer, even if it wasn’t technically true.
“I like her,” Edrice said suddenly.
Husani sat up wearing a half smile. “Maye said she killed a cobra with her bare hands.”
“No, she didn’t,” Edrice rolled her eyes. “Obviously Maye was exaggerating.”
Abe felt his face melt into a smile. “She did, and I got video of it. Do you want to watch?”
They both hurried to his side and gaped at the screen projecting from his hologram ring. When the video finished, Edrice punched a fist in the air. “This is exactly the kind of person we’ve been missing on our team. Where did you find her?”
Husani waggled his eyebrows up and down with a grin. “Not to mention she’s extremely hot. I know I can’t flirt with her at work, but after hours I might steal her away...”
“Stop,” Abe said, clenching his teeth together. “She’s not single, so don’t even go there.”
Husani’s face wilted, but he recovered with a shrug only a moment later.
“Also,” Abe said as he sunk into his chair. “I am the best at hiring people. You already know this. Besides...”
His thoughts drifted back to the catacombs. The Judge, the leader of a fanatic group called the taggers, had kidnapped Abe’s dad, Imara’s sister, and a few others. They spent days in the catacombs, braving traps and illusions in order to rescue those kidnapped. Abe’s dad, the owner of the best hila school in the entire world, was an obvious target for the kidnapping. Imara’s sister had seemed like a random victim, until they found out the Judge was after Imara all along.
Abe could still taste the relief he felt at seeing his dad alive after being taken hostage. His dad even had good things to say about Imara, including how he thought about hiring her. Of course, his dad’s excitement faded when he realized Abe had feelings for her, but he’d get used to it. Eventually.
Abe let out a quiet chuckle. “Besides, my dad said he’s thought about hiring Imara, so obviously I had to poach her before he got the chance.”
Edrice snickered. “You and your dad have the strangest competitions. Can I draw up the hiring paperwork and make it official?”
He ran a thumb along his chin as he replied. “Not yet, but hopefully I can convince Imara in the next couple of days. This job is perfect for her personality. She protects people without any thought for herself.”
“I like her too,” Husani said. “Not like that. Calm down, Abe, I know she’s not single. I just think she’s going to do well with us.”
Abe sat back in his chair and smiled. Yes, Imara was perfect for this job. And now that they knew about Sef’s list, he might actually be able to save his business.
