Eve and Felicity Garner smiled and waved excitedly. They had their backpacks with binoculars attached and were almost jumping up and down, happy to see her. According to both women, their fitness level was fairly good. They’d hiked extensively but weren’t used to steep terrain as of yet.
Shabina checked off their names and went on to view the four men from the university. Jules Beaumont from Belgium was present, and her heart dropped. He stood just a little apart from the other three students. Today he was dressed in hiking attire. The other three men, Emar Salhi and Jamal Talbi from Algeria, and Deniz Kaplan from Turkey, were also dressed in looseclothing. These men were climbers and backpackers, according to the brief information they’d provided about their state of fitness.
Three women had come from Washington together, vacationing. Two were in their late thirties, with one, Theresa, being in her early forties. Theresa Nelson, Val Johnson and Janine Hale. All claimed moderate to good physical condition and appeared to be. The three kept looking at Edward, Bale and Sean and then smiling at one another.
A family of four, Oscar and Leslie Myers were attending with their teenage daughters, Pamela and Cindy. The parents were early forties in moderate physical condition, and the teenagers, one sixteen and one fifteen, were in good shape, both athletes. The girls eyed Sean and giggled quite a bit.
The last two on the list were Ellis Boucher, a thirty-six-year-old physically fit man, and his thirty-four-year-old business partner, Rhys Cormier, claiming equal fitness, both from Paris. These were the two men who had come into her café. Up close to them, she realized their features were familiar to her. She had been with Scorpion for six months and studied his every expression and his mannerisms. She could have sworn that both men had his all-too-familiar mannerisms. She told herself she was paranoid, but her heart beat like crazy. Worse, their eyes and foreheads seemed more familiar than ever.
Shabina’s breath caught in her lungs as she raised her gaze to take in the two men. She’d asked Raine to look back through the security footage to see if she could identify them. Shabina knew she’d seen their features before. They claimed they were from Paris. Just the fact that their mannerisms and expressions reminded her of Scorpion, and they spoke French, it was all she could do to keep from having a panic attack. Twice she saw them laughing and talking with Jules Beaumont, all three speaking French.
Harlow had decided to come with her on the tour, and she was grateful. Vienna had taken Raine back down to Knightly. Zahra and Stella had returned to work since Shabina assured them she was going home after the tour. At least she had Harlow with her. It made her feel not quite so alone. Was she being paranoid or were those men Scorpion’s men? Her head was beginning to pound.
She knew Bale was there to cause trouble. No way would he ever want to go bird-watching. He’d brought Edward and Sean along to aid him in harassing her. She decided the best way was to circumvent the problem before it began. She just needed inspiration.
She gave her talk on safety, sticking together, staying quiet and letting her know if anyone was having a difficult time with the terrain. She asked if anyone had any questions.
Bale was the first to make himself heard. “I read that there’s no degree to be a bird expert, so how do you get to call yourself one?” He smirked at her, looking pleased with himself.
Shabina flashed him a high-wattage smile. “Thank you for bringing that up, Bale, I always forget to explain to everyone. Just so everyone knows, we have three locals taking the tour today. We’re very lucky to have them. Bale Landry is one of our most prominent senior members of Search and Rescue. He’s a diver, skilled climber and skier. If any of you have a problem today, rest assured, Bale is quite able to help you.”
The ladies and the two teenagers all murmured appreciatively. Bale looked a little shocked and lifted his hand, not quite knowing what to do.
“Next to Bale is Sean Watson. He works for Fish and Wildlife and knows Yosemite inside and out. He also is a valued senior member of Search and Rescue. Sean has incredible skills when it comes to climbing and bouldering. He also dives and skis, and,Sean, you work with avalanche control, don’t you?” She poured admiration into her voice.
Sean dipped his head to acknowledge that he did.
Shabina beamed at him. “Sean is another man you can count on if you have any problems. And Edward Fenton is with them. He is also a local and a senior member of our Search and Rescue team. Edward is a helicopter pilot, and his skills are invaluable when we have rescues requiring a helicopter. He owns the local flying service. If you want to learn to fly or book a really cool trip to see Yosemite from a bird’s-eye view, he’s the man to call. He also climbs, dives and skis. I think we’re in good hands today.”
Edward’s smile was the biggest she’d ever seen. He even puffed out his chest a little as the ladies cooed over him. The men from the university carefully wrote his name down, as did the Myers family, probably with the idea of booking a sightseeing flight over Yosemite with him. Shabina could tell Eve and Felicity liked the idea as well. She hoped she hadn’t gone too far in promoting the man. She didn’t want him shoving the men from Algeria, Turkey or Belgium from his helicopter or harassing the Garner sisters. She tried not to think about shoving the men from Paris out of the helicopter. It wasn’t like she knew for certain they were members of Scorpion’s cabinet.
She glanced at her watch. She had to get everyone moving before first light. “As for my education. Bale is correct: there isn’t a specific degree for being a bird-watching expert.” She gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “I pulled off a double major at the University of California, Davis, getting both my bachelor’s and master’s in wildlife biology, and I’m working toward my PhD. I also have a bachelor’s and master’s in botany. I’m working toward my PhD in that as well.” She gave a little shrug. “What can I say? I like to learn things.”
“You look very young to have earned such degrees already,” Jamal Talbi said. “I’m going to the university and have a workload I thought was heavy.”
Shabina snuck a quick glance at Bale. He hadn’t expected her answer or the group’s reaction. He had no idea what to do. She’d called attention to the three men and described them as heroic. If they made their snide comments to her or any of the other women, they would look bad. She’d also answered questions about her education in a way that was totally unexpected. Bale hadn’t done his research on her at all. Now the group looked at her as if she was a superstar, especially the ones from the university.
“We need to get moving if we’re going to see the birds we’d like to observe this early. You have to remember to stay as quiet as possible. I don’t usually have such a large group.”
She started up the narrow trail toward the first wide meadow where they would be able to catch a variety of early morning birds calling out to one another. If they were really lucky, in the dim light before dawn really broke, they might catch a glimpse or two of one of the owls that had been nesting close by. There was also a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting in close vicinity of the meadow. It was the first time she’d seen a pair of the hawks there. That meadow wasn’t large, and usually, the hawks preferred a larger open area to hunt prey. The group might get lucky enough to spot the male high up in the branches of a tree, watching for prey.
She took them along the trail leading to the meadow, and when they reached the edge of the trees, she halted the group so they could spread out. Each of them had brought along binoculars and little earbuds, allowing them to hear when she spoke to point out a bird or tell them about it.
Shabina had been giving tours for the last year and a half, and she found it easy to slip into the role of instructor. She had agroup, including the teenage girls, that seemed to be very interested in the various species. They studied them and took photographs. Before moving on to the next site, she would answer questions. They asked very good ones.
The two businessmen claiming to be from Paris didn’t speak to her during the walk as most of the others did. They seemed to be, like the others in the group, caught up in the different types of birds as they went from meadow to rockier terrain and then to forest. There were a few times when she caught one or the other watching her instead of the birds, giving her a very uneasy feeling.
During the break for lunch, she kept her distance from Bale, Edward and Sean, gratified to see they were surrounded by females asking them questions and generally being admiring. Every few minutes, Bale would lift his head and stare at her across the distance, a malevolent look on his face. With a sinking heart, she could see Bale was working himself up to something. She knew the afternoon wasn’t going to be quite as easy as the morning had been.
She made her rounds, Harlow by her side, visiting with each of those on the tour and answering specific questions they had. It took effort to approach the students from the university, but she called on the months of discipline, not allowing her hands to tremble or her facial expression to be anything but absolutely calm.
They were friendly, asking about various species and what had gotten her interested in the study of birds. The question threw her for a moment. She’s always had a special connection to birds, even as a young child. She tried to answer it thoughtfully without sounding as if she was out of her mind. She just told them she’d always dreamt of flying, and watching birds and listening to them brought her a sense of peace and happiness.
Deniz Kaplan asked her if she’d lived a long time in Saudi Arabia and how she’d learned to cook such delicious food. He asked her the question not in English but in Arabic. She didn’t hesitate to answer him in the same language. She wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t understand or speak Arabic.
Her heart ached the way it always did remembering that she’d spent a little over a year and a half in Saudi Arabia and had met a wonderful woman who had treated her as a daughter. She’d taught her to cook, bake and grill. She knew the four men and Harlow heard the love and sorrow in her voice, but she didn’t care. Mama Ahmad had been a huge influence on her life. She missed her every day. She also told them her mother was from Saudi Arabia.
All four men complimented the woman who had trained her. She took that as the highest praise they could give her.
