Chapter 16

Nocturnal

When I open my eyes again, I find myself in a small, wooden hut, one just big enough for two. And it’s fairly empty, the only piece of furniture being a stool in the corner.

Whose hut is this?

I look at the door. It’s made of dried leaves bundled up together, which means I can easily get out.

Thank goodness.

Or so I think until I realize my hands are tied to the posts behind me.

Shit.

What on earth is going on?

I try to remember what happened.

Right. I was at the airport. I called Pam. Elaine sent me those files. Then I went to Jack’s hut and…

Jack.

“Jack!” I shout at the top of my lungs.

I know he’s supposed to be dead, but I also know what I saw.

My brother is alive.

Moments later, someone comes in through the door. It isn’t Jack, though, but a large man with dark skin and tattoos, my camera hanging around his neck.

My camera.

“Who are you?” I ask him.

“The man who knocked you out,” he answers.

A lump forms in my throat, but I swallow it. So much for thinking about asking for my camera back.

“Where’s Jack?”

“I don’t know anyone by that name.”

All right. So maybe he changed his name. Any man pretending to be dead would do the same.

“The guy with the brown hair and the mole near his left eye,” I describe. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” he answers. “And I don’t like questions.”

I stop.

“Good,” he says. “I’ll get you some food. You can shout all you want. No one will hear you.”

I nod.

He leaves, coming back with a bottle of water and a bowl of… charred meat and fresh leaves.

“Eat,” he orders.

“Um… I can’t.” I tug at the ropes.

He frees one of my hands. “Try anything funny and I’ll knock you out. And when you wake up, you might be horrified with what you find.”

A fair warning.

He leaves and I eat. I realize I’m hungry, after all.

The food isn’t bad. Some meat and vegetables. More meat than vegetables. The vegetables are a bit bitter. The meat is grilled. A bit burnt. But it’s fine.

Something tells me I’m going to need my strength.

As I eat, I think about Jack.

Where is he? Obviously, he faked his death. But why? What is he still doing here in Africa?

Does he have something to do with my abduction? Does he know my captors? If so, why didn’t he ask them to let me go or, at least, to treat me more kindly?

There’s only one way to know. I have to talk to him.

He doesn’t appear, though. Only my bear-like jailer comes in to get my bowl and give me some sort of basin to use as a toilet.

Yeah, right.

The hours pass. It gets dark.

I wait for dinner. It doesn’t come.

I worry. Have they decided I’m not worth fattening up? Is someone going to kill me soon?

The door opens again, and a man with a flashlight comes in.

At first, the light gets in my eyes, but as it is pointed somewhere else, I see who my guest is.

Not Jack, but another person I never expected to see — a man with black hair and eyes that I met not too long ago.

Edgar Brooks, Nathan’s right-hand man.

What is he doing here?

“Ah, we meet again, Ms. Willis.” He grins. “Though, unfortunately, under less pleasant circumstances.”

“What do you want with me? Where’s Jack? Where am I?”

He chuckles. “So many questions.”

But he doesn’t intend to answer any of them.

Just then, the door opens again and this time, it’s the person I’ve been wanting to see.

“Jack!”

It’s him — my brother! He may have long hair now, but I’d still recognize him anywhere.

Jack, however, doesn’t seem to recognize me.

Edgar grins. “I see you know my friend here.”

“Friend?”

“Remember when I said I’d heard so much about you. Surely, you don’t think Nathan was the one who told me. He never tells me anything. It’s Jack who did. He never told me you could cause trouble, though.” Edgar gives a disapproving click of his tongue. “You should have just stayed in America. At the very least, you should have stayed at your lodge and waited for Nathan to fuck you. What will he say when he finds you gone? He’ll be devastated for sure. Not that I care.”

I shudder at the word gone, but then, I realize something.

Edgar doesn’t know Nathan and I fought. He doesn’t know I accused Nathan of murdering my brother and getting involved in the trade of poached wildlife goods.

And Nathan doesn’t know I’m here.

Nathan has nothing to do with my abduction.

Or any of this.

American. Tall with brown hair from Landers Innovations.

The pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

I glare at Edgar. “You’re the one who’s dealing with the poachers, aren’t you? You’re the one who’s dabbling in the trade of rhino horns and elephant tusks.”

“Well, it is a lucrative business. And Nathan doesn’t pay me enough.”

“Nathan doesn’t know, does he?”

And to think I accused him. No wonder he looked so offended.

What have I done?

Edgar shakes his head. “Just as I feared, you know too much. You know what that means? We’ll have to kill you.”

“You promised not to hurt her,” Jack finally says.

So, he does recognize me. And he still cares about me. But why is Jack with Edgar?

“We can’t very well let her go,” Edgar says. “If this whole thing blows up, I’m not the only one who’ll suffer the consequences. Or have you forgotten we’re partners?”

Partners. So, they really are working together. But why? Why would Jack work with someone who’s trying to kill off rhinos and elephants? It doesn’t make sense.

Then again, pretending to be dead doesn’t make sense, either.

I have a feeling there’s something more complicated going on, but I don’t ask. With Edgar around, I have a feeling Jack won’t tell me anyway.

“I have an idea,” Jack says. “We’ll let her go.”

“What?” Edgar’s eyebrows crease. “Didn’t I just say—?”

“We’ll set her loose out there in the savanna,” Jack continues, glancing at me. “Tonight.”

Wait. What? Has he forgotten what animals are out there? That’s practically a death sentence.

Edgar seems to think so, too, because his thick lips curl into a grin. “I like that idea. It seems fun. Let’s do it.”

No. I look at Jack, trying to plead with him to do something, trying to understand what he’s thinking.

Unbelievable. And to think I looked up to him all these years, that I fell apart when I thought he had died.

Is it possible I never truly knew my brother?

“Your brother died a long time ago.” Edgar is the one who answers, patting Jack on the shoulder. “This man here is a ghost.”

He’s right. I don’t recognize this man.

Edgar smirks. “Sorry, princess, but there’s no one to save you now. Not your beloved brother or your precious boyfriend.”

I glare at him as I struggle against the rope around my wrist, wanting to strangle him.

He chuckles, the sound as detestable as nails scratching a chalkboard. “If I were you, I’d save my energy. It’s going to be a rough night.”