Page 55 of Warlord’s Empire

Jacob pointed his gun at Shaun. “You’re not going anywhere until we sort this out.”

“Why… why are you doing this?” Shaun stammered, putting her hands up. “We hired you to help us find our friends. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Speak for yourself, Leeza thought, balancing on the balls of her feet.

“Women don’t come out here alone unless they’re up to something,” Jacob sneered. He swung his gun back and forth. “Why would your friends be all the way out here? It’s dangerous, only warlords and outlaws live out here.”

“That’s exactly who we’re looking for,” Ayaan said, coming up behind Jacob. “Didn’t we tell you who my brother is? He’s well known in this region. Perhaps you’ve heard of General Radik.”

The colour drained from his face. He swung around to face Ayaan, taking his gun off Leeza who reacted with the swiftness of a leopard, leaping on his back, her knife slicing his throat in one smooth motion.

“Argggghh!” he gurgled, flailing with Leeza still on his back.

Ayaan dove to the side, taking Shaun down to the ground and covering her as Jacob’s finger tightened on the trigger of his gun, spraying the area with bullets before his body hit the ground. As he lay bleeding out, Leeza crawled out from under him, yanking his weapon from his body and throwing it aside.

“Everyone okay?” Leeza eyed Shaun and Ayaan who were picking themselves up off the ground.

“I’m good,” Ayaan assured her.

“Oh god!” Shaun stumbled a few steps before bending over, hands on her knees, and vomiting. Leeza reached for her, but Shaun waved her away. “I’m fine.” She swiped an arm across her mouth, then kneeled next to Jacob’s body and checked for a pulse. She looked up, shaking her head grimly.

Leeza stifled the urge to laugh. If Shaun had found a pulse, Ayaan and Leeza would have had to then stop that pulse from continuing. It was a pain in the ass travelling with a doctor who insisted on ethics and principles and shit like that.

“Please tell me whoever you were talking to can get us the rest of the way,” Leeza said to Ayaan, wiping her blade on Jacob’s shirt while Shaun gave her a disgusted look.

“I think so. He’s working on redirecting a satellite. He’ll call once he has a potential for us.”

“A potential what?” asked Shaun, her hands shaking as she gathered their water bottles.

“A potential target. My brother surrounds himself with mercenary personnel who require barracks. Those kinds of buildings aren’t common in this area, so he’d have them specially built. He would also have excellent security measures, including a wall, guards, scouts, drones. A satellite view will give us the best opportunity of spotting the infrastructure in and around Radik’s compound.”

Shaun nodded her understanding and headed to the stream Leeza had tried to send her to earlier.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Ayaan asked. “She seems pretty shaken up.”

Leeza waved a dismissive hand. “She’ll be fine.” Whether it was true or not, because Shaun had no choice. She couldn’t collapse on them because a little blood was spilled.

“Still, I think we should move our camp away so she doesn’t have to look at the body.”

Leeza agreed, not saying that she felt the same. As much as she didn’t mind spilling the blood of bad men, she didn’t particularly enjoy dealing with bodies.

Shaun seemed grateful when they joined her at the stream, telling her they intended to stay there until the call came.

As they were eating a lunch of rehydrated curry and rice, the satellite phone rang. Ayaan listened and nodded, saying, “Thanks, Coop. Send me the images and I’ll look them over.” She was silent for a minute, then said in an impatient tone, “Of course this is a legitimate op. Jozef doesn’t want it going through usual channels. Look, I gotta go. I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”

Leeza gaped at her as she hung up the phone. “You asked a Guard Dog employee for help? Are you insane? You may as well draw a map for our husbands.” She thought about Havel’s reaction when he found out his wife had left their home and flown to the Central African Republic without telling him. “I’m a dead woman.”

“Me too, but I knew that before we came here.” Shaun stared at Ayaan for a moment before adding, “I think I know what you’re up to. You believe the guys are going to eventually trace Saskia’s whereabouts and you think if we get there first, we can mitigate the potential war. It doesn’t matter if you ask Cooper to help us and he takes that information to Jozef because we’ll still arrive first since we’re closer.”

Ayaan nodded. “I’ve worked with Jozef and Havel long enough to know they’ll find my brother eventually. This way we have a fighting chance of stopping the massacre.”

“I think the massacre is going to be on our side when they find us,” Leeza grimly interjected.

Shaun glanced guiltily in the direction of Jacob’s body. “My husband is going to kill both of you for murdering that guy in front of me.”

Leeza and Ayaan exchanged glances.

“Probably shouldn’t mention that part,” Leeza said.