Natalie skittered backward, searching the crowded deck for the escaped monkey. Her ankle scraped against a wooden crate, but she ignored the sharp sting. The boat had dozens of places the animal could hide, from bags of maize to racks of smoked fish to wooden stalls piled high with goods for sale. And if it bit someone—
The monkey let out another shrill oof from atop one of the stalls and the crowd scattered.
Chad grabbed her hand, and they darted toward the railing to avoid being trampled. A child screamed. Someone slammed into Natalie’s shoulder. She pressed against the railing as the monkey swung down onto the stall in front of them, toppling over a basket of fruit. Dozens of oranges spilled across the deck. Catching the edge of a blue tarp, the monkey scampered onto the deck and picked up a piece of fruit, its attention sidetracked for the moment. Or so she thought. Turning toward Natalie, it paused and then hurled the orange straight at her.
Natalie lunged sideways, but only managed to trip over a pile of rope. Chad grasped her elbow, stopping her fall.
“You all right?” he asked.
She wiped the perspiration from the back of her neck and forced a smile, her gaze still fixed on the monkey. “Yeah, but this is definitely not my day.”
Another orange flew across the deck, this time hitting a child in the head. Natalie’s temper soared as she skimmed the crowd for the owner. As the child sobbed behind the crumpled skirt of his mother, the monkey’s owner appeared from the middle of the crowd, holding out his hat and trying to entice the beast with a piece of fruit. Miraculously, it complied, climbing into the man’s lap. Natalie blew out a sharp breath of relief as he tied the rope around the monkey’s waist before disappearing back into the crowd.
“Why in the world would that man consider bringing a wild monkey on board this boat in the first place? Wait a minute.” She pitched Chad an orange and groaned. “What am I saying? The place is filled with crocodiles, parrots, turtles, and all sorts of smoked animals. What’s one loose monkey terrorizing a group of children?”
Chad tossed the orange into the air, then caught it again. “You’ve given me an idea.”
Natalie watched as Chad picked up three oranges and started juggling. Many of the children, who minutes ago had whimpered in fear, now squealed with excitement at the one-man show. She couldn’t help but grin at the children’s smiles. Just moments ago, the deck had been filled with panic. Now a little boy with tattered clothes and a protruding belly smiled up at Chad, laughing while one remaining tear rolled down his chubby brown cheek.
Chad reached for a fourth orange and several of the parents gasped as he kept them spinning through the air. Like father like son; the man had a knack for making people smile, easing the children’s fears while at the same time easing hers. The applause grew when Chad, without losing a beat, threw one of the oranges to a young boy.
Natalie scanned the lively crowd, stopping at two men standing at the back of the boat, dressed in army fatigues, their gazes fixed on her. A scar edged the forehead of the tallest man, white against his dark skin as he squinted into the sun.
Nudging the man beside him, they moved on to one of the stalls. Natalie shook her head and turned back toward Chad. No. It was only her imagination chasing ghosts in her mind. No one could know they were here.
Finishing with a flourish, Chad took a bow, reached into his front pocket, and tossed a coin at the fruit vendor. He began giving out oranges to the children, who screamed with delight over the gift.
Natalie laughed when he finally managed to push his way through the crowd and join her at the railing. “I think you’ve got your own fan club. You really are full of surprises.”
“Come on. I’ve got another surprise for you.” He took her hand and started across the deck. “Besides, I’m out of oranges and have to get away from here before I get mobbed.”
They pushed their way through the busy throng and its continual movement. Vendors bartered with customers. Men drank beer while playing a traditional game of kari, with its pebbles and pitted game board, to pass the time. A pig let out a blood-curdling scream beside them. No one even seemed to notice.
“Where’d you learn to juggle?” she asked him.
“When I worked a few months in the children’s ward back in Portland, I decided that I should add a few tricks to my bedside manner.”
“I’m sure the kids loved it.”
“I like to think it took their minds off their situation for a while.”
He stopped in front of one of the stalls where an old, toothless woman sat over piles of food wrapped neatly in green forest leaves.
Natalie frowned. “What is that?”
He adjusted the strap of the backpack he carried for her across his shoulder. “You’re telling me that you’ve lived here eighteen months and never tried mandazis?”
“Let me put it this way.” She looked up at him. “When you work in my field and are trying to stop a cholera epidemic, you tend to avoid food bought on the side of the road or off crowded boats with absolutely no sanitation rules.”
“I don’t know how you’ve survived living here.” He shook his head. “Come on. It’s time you lived it up a bit. I used to eat these all the time as a child, and I’m still around and kicking.”
Natalie laughed. “So what are they, exactly?”
He opened up the corner of one. “Balls of dough fried in hot oil. Add a dollop of peanut butter and voilà—you’ve got a bit of heaven.”
Heaven? Natalie squinted down her nose at the bucket of peanut butter. Looked more like a great glob of brown goo in a dirty plastic container to her.
“Come on.”
“Okay.” She hesitated at the offered snack, then took a bite. Her taste buds watered. “Mmm. This is good.”
“So you concede?”
She grabbed a second one and shot him a grin. “You could say that.”
Something clattered above the persistent roar on the boat. Natalie glanced at the guilty party, a squawking chicken that’d escaped from its cage and knocked over a row of pots. She was about to turn back to Chad when she saw them again. The same two men she’d noticed earlier. They stood a dozen yards away in the shadows of the riverboat’s two-story wheelhouse, watching her and Chad.
Natalie licked her lips. “Tell me I’m just paranoid after all that’s happened?”
“Paranoid about what?” Chad popped another bite of fried donut into his mouth as the boat shuddered beneath them.
“I think those men are following us.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Okay, you’re being paranoid. While I’d assume the government and military use radios that work even when the cell phone towers are out, we’re talking third-world here. They don’t exactly have the resources of the CIA, so I’d think it’s highly unlikely.”
“I suppose.” She wanted to think she was wrong. That fear had taken over her instincts, making two ordinary passengers into the enemy. But she shivered as one of the men flicked his cigarette into the water, his gaze never leaving her face. Something wasn’t right.
She shot a glance behind her, and Joseph waved as he wove his way toward them across the deck. If the men had been told to look for two Americans, she and Chad stood out like snowcapped mountains in the middle of the Sahara. How hard would it be for whoever was behind this to turn them into wanted fugitives?
Chad gripped her elbow as she turned around and looked again at the soldiers. “What’s wrong, Natalie?”
She jutted her chin at the two men just as the taller man pulled back his shirt, exposing the butt of a gun. She swallowed hard. Now she had Chad’s attention.
There was no time to react as the men surrounded them and raised their weapons.