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ABE SCROLLED THROUGH THE NAIROBI POLICE directory while Husani and Keiko bickered over possible locations for the taggers’ base. The directory only listed one Safiya with an O last name. That had to be her.
He stared at his hologram screen, ready to call. He blinked and stood up instead. “I’m going to the other room,” he announced. “You two are distracting me.”
“Keiko’s hair is distracting me,” Husani said. “It’s too shiny; it’s making me lose focus.”
Keiko flashed her teeth at him. “Don’t be stupid, Husani. This is important. Do you have any idea what my mother could be doing to Imara right now?”
Abe curled his hand into a fist as he slammed the door behind him. That was one thought he didn’t want running rampant through his mind. He called Safiya and raised his eyebrows when she answered right away.
Before he could open his mouth, she was already speaking. She glanced over her shoulder and said, “They deleted the file, but I have a backup at...” Her head rounded back, and she saw Abe’s face for the first time. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“Uh,” he asked, “Why did you answer without looking at my picture?”
She grunted and looked over her shoulder again. “I was expecting a call from someone else. It doesn’t matter. I have to go.”
Before she could turn off her ring, she ducked, and two gray blurs flew over her head. It took a moment before he realized they were bullets.
Safiya’s face popped back into view, and she aimed a gun before shooting it twice. She seemed to have completely forgotten about the phone call.
“I’m Imara’s boyfriend. Imara Kalu,” he said, trying to divert her attention back where he wanted it.
The police woman narrowed her eyes and jumped up to smash a fist across a man’s face. Abe noted, with no time to interpret the information, that the man wore the exact same police uniform as Safiya. “Congratulations,” she said. “As you can see I’m a little busy.” She ignored her hologram screen completely as she threw another fist at the man.
Abe thought it strange she hadn’t ended the call already, but with her mind on the fight, she probably didn’t have a spare moment to turn off her ring. Once Safiya was a safe distance from the uniformed man, Abe said, “Imara’s been kidnapped.”
A broken drone hurtled over the woman’s head, and a cold fear started crawling up his arms. What if she couldn’t help them?
Safiya grabbed a nearby ladder. As she climbed, she said, “Kidnapped? Do those Kalu girls have a thing for being kidnapped, or what?”
“She’s in trouble. I know she’s been helping you. We hoped you could get the Kenyan police to rescue her and maybe help us with some other issues while you’re here. We have a lot of corruption in our police force right now.”
She snorted at that. “There’s the understatement of the century.” She dodged another bullet and pulled herself to the top of a roof. “Unfortunately, my own police department is facing corruption as well. I can’t do anything for her at the moment.”
“But Imara helped you,” Abe said. His words seemed empty considering Safiya had been dodging bullets a moment ago. But they needed her help. They were counting on her. “If you don’t do something, she might die.” The words came out before he could process them, which only made the lump in his throat harden like a rock.
“I would if—” Safiya’s words turned into a strangled scream. A large hand had wrapped itself around her neck from behind. After the momentary shock, Safiya grabbed a knife from her pocket and stabbed the hand clutching her throat. The hand retracted, and the woman turned and swung a fist. She fished through her pocket and pulled out a stun gun. A second later, the attacker fell to the ground in a heap. He also wore the same uniform as Safiya.
She stuffed the stun gun into her pocket and ran across the roof to a door. With impossible speed, she raced down a dark set of stairs. “I owe a lot to Imara,” the woman said. “And I promise I would help her if I could. Unfortunately, I’m being framed for murder at the moment. My airport pass is frozen, and I can’t leave the country in a bubble car either. Who kidnapped her? Please tell me it’s not that tagger woman, Takara.”
Abe gulped. “How do you know about her?”
Safiya entered a dark alleyway and opened a dirt-stained door. Inside the room, take out containers littered the floor, and photos were plastered onto every inch of the wall. She shook her head. “I’ve been following the news in Egypt. If Takara doesn’t take over Cairo soon, Sef will. I’m sorry, I know you have problems, but I have them too.”
Just then, Safiya turned toward a knock at the door. She ended the phone call before Abe could say another word. Letting out an angry growl, he kicked a nearby wall. Maybe the help they needed wouldn’t be coming at all. Just when he was ready to throw his ring into a fire, someone started calling him. For a split second, he hoped Safiya had changed her mind. Instead, he stared back at a picture of Siluk.
When the call connected, Siluk had his arms folded in front of his chest. His eyebrows were furrowed into a glare. “Naki said Imara got kidnapped, and it’s your fault.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Abe said as he ground he teeth together. “It wasn’t even my idea.” He let out a huff and relaxed his fingers out of the fist he had formed. “It doesn’t matter. We were counting on someone to help us, but she can’t. I have no idea what to do now except maybe storm Takara’s base and take Imara by force. If we do that, we need more people. Hey—” He looked up with a start. “Do you want to fly to Egypt and help rescue Imara?”
Siluk glanced over his shoulder. For the first time, Abe noticed the commotion going on behind his friend. Wood beams, ladders, and tools lay neatly on a patch of snow. It looked like Siluk was in the middle of building some sort of shelter. Not exactly the best time to drop everything and leave.
Siluk looked back again and stroked his chin in thought. “Yeah, I’ll come,” he said finally.
“Uh,” Abe said. “Aren’t you busy?”
“Obviously.” Siluk shook his head. “I can get to the airport in half an hour, and then it takes an hour to fly to Cairo. Should I bring anything?”
“Uh,” Abe said again. He looked to one side and then to the other. “I don’t know. We don’t even have a plan yet. Just get here as fast as you can, and we’ll figure it out as we go.”
Siluk nodded, and soon Abe was staring at his empty hologram screen. He was grateful for Siluk’s willingness to help. He was. But then why did his writhing gut seem to think it would be better if Siluk stayed far away?
He shook his head and kicked the wall again. He knew why.
History.
Siluk and Imara had history. Maybe not good history, but enough that Siluk willingly dropped everything for her. It begged a question Abe didn’t want to think about. Especially not right now. But the question rolled through him knocking on every nerve as it passed.
Could that much history be overpowered?
