Jade

Matthias and I returned to the reserve the next day. He flew the aircraft, mouth set in a scowl, silent as the dead. We’d fought again last night. And this morning. And this afternoon as well, as we loaded the plane with supplies for the orphanage. In more than one way, we were back to square one, frenemies plus the complication of being lust-stricken lovers.

“It’s too dangerous,” Matthias said for the millionth time as we flew by Mount Kilimanjaro. “You, involved in baiting those motherfuckers? Not right.”

“I’m not backing down,” I said, shooting video of Africa’s most famous mountain. “I’m going through with this.”

“I don’t even know if the tracking devices will work,” he grumbled.

“They’ll work,” I said. “They’ll have to work.”

“It’s a terrible idea.” He raked his teeth over his lower lip.

“You already agreed to it,” I snapped. “I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

“You make me nuts; you know that?” he muttered. “I swear, no woman—or man for that matter—has ever tested my temper like you do.”

“And you are so easy to take?”

He groaned. “Just…stop. Right now. We’re lighters to each other’s wicks. You look at me the wrong way and, bam, off I go like a stick of dynamite. And I don’t mean just sexually. Or always in a good way.”

“Sorry I’m an IED to your day,” I mumbled sullenly.

“See what I mean?” His hands tightened around the control wheel. “You’ve got to at least make an effort…”

“Me?” I scoffed. “What about you?”

“Okay, fine, we both have to make an effort. We’ve got to play down the competition for control between us and make space for each other.”

“That’d be really easy if you’d stop being all macho and stuff.”

“I’m not…” He clamped down, unable to finish his sentence, ears flaming. “I’m trying over here. But it isn’t easy when you insist on putting yourself in danger. You’ve got to give me some credit for wanting you safe. And you’ve got to give me some space to be myself in this relationship. You complain about me being an alpha, but you’re the ultimate female alpha.”

“That’s not true!”

“It is and you know it.” He shook his head again, as if making a huge effort to keep his temper in check. “Just…please…consider what I’m saying. Don’t dismiss me right off the cuff. And stop being so goddamn pissed off about everything. We’re together. Ultimately, that’s what matters.”

I swallowed a snarky remark, mostly because in the middle of all the bitterness, that last part was really sweet. I hated to admit it, but he was right. We were explosive to each other and we had no chance at a real future unless we learned to control our triggers. I took some more pictures, the best way I knew to cool off.

It’d been a long, quiet flight by the time Matthias tapped me on the arm and tipped his head toward the two fingers of glassy waters sparkling under the late afternoon sun. “Pacha Ziwa.”

His eyes were aglow with the orange light. His mouth relaxed into the upward tilt I’d missed all day. He engaged the plane into a gradual descent, until we flew only a few hundred feet above the ground, gliding over the reserve’s grassy plains. “This is my favorite part of the flight.”

The view from the air was stunning. The plains were alive with creatures, small and large, some camouflaged by the grass, their shadows slipping every which way. Invisible to the eyes on the ground, hundreds—no—thousands of small antelopes roamed the reserve and dotted the ground for as far as the eye could see.

“There’s tommies everywhere,” I said. “The Serengeti’s national crop.”

Matthias actually smiled. “I like it.”

“How can there be so many?”

“It’s a survival strategy,” Matthias said. “Overwhelming numbers. Predators can eat ten, a hundred, a thousand, but they can’t eat them all. Communal immortality at the expense of the individual. But the genes go on. These little guys stack the odds with sheer numbers.”

“If you ask me, it’s more like an all you can eat buffet down there.”

Matthias busted out a hearty cackle. The sound of his laughter put a smile on my face.

As the sun descended toward the horizon and Matthias banked the plane in the direction of the airfield, I noticed that the animals began to flow below us. Rivers of beasts streamed toward some unknown, unseen point. The sight reminded me of a biblical scene, of the Garden of Eden maybe or Noah, leading the animals to the Ark, only there was no Noah and no Ark, only the steady exodus.

“Where are they going?”

“To the water hole,” Matthias said. “Last drink of the day, before nightfall.”

“It’s like they all have purpose.” I spotted a family of warthogs trotting swiftly beneath the shadow of the plane, little ones following in their mom’s footsteps in formation, like tiny soldiers going to war. “It’s as if they know something we don’t.”

“That’s nature for you,” Matthias said. “Those animals down there have simple purposes. To survive the first few minutes after their birth. To stand on shaky hoofs. To nurse. To thrive. To stay alive another day and pass on their genes. That’s life in the Serengeti. There’s no higher purpose than to survive for the sheer drive to exist. What you see? Life on steroids.”

I was suddenly envious of the beasts below me. I’d spent so much of my time on this earth angry, bitter and resentful, containing the feral creature in me, licking my wounds, asserting my will to exist, fighting my existential angst. Was there a different way to live?

Matthias eased the plane onto the airfield. Zeke was waiting for us and drove us to the station. He and Matthias went off to plan tomorrow’s expedition. I went to my bungalow, readied my equipment and worked on my script. My work was interrupted a couple of hours later, when I had to face the inquisition. Sarah, Lara, and Cara pounded on my door as soon as they got a whiff I was back.

“Why didn’t you answer my other texts?” Sarah demanded as soon as I opened the door.

“Or mine?” Lara filed in right behind Sarah and took the only chair in the room.

“We were worried,” Cara went straight for the couch and plopped down on the cushions.

“Over 2,300 Americans, adults and children, are reported missing every day,” Lara said.

For God’s sake. “I wasn’t missing,” I said. “I went to Zanzibar. I told you that.”

Sarah braced on her feet and crossed her arms. “One moment, you’re at the party, having a great time and then the next moment you’re in Zanzibar, doing God knows what.”

“And you never said a word to us.” Lara’s accusatory glare made me feel guilty.

“There were all kinds of rumors going around,” Cara put in, “that you’d been asked to leave the station; that you’d moved on to cover some other story.”

“Surprise!” I sat down at the opposite end of the couch. “I’m still here.”

“And that’s a very good thing.” Sarah perched herself on the coffee table, legs crossed Indian style. “We’d never forgive you if you just up and left without at the very least saying good-bye.”

“I aim to correct the flaw in our communication capabilities,” Lara said. “I’ve researched the active radio codes for the station and selected channel twenty-six exclusively for our use.”

“Great idea!” Sarah clapped her hands together. “That way, we can always talk to each other, even when we’re in the field.”

“As long as we’re within range,” Cara pointed out, shrewdly reminding everyone that I’d been well out of range lately.

Evasive maneuvers. “How did the party end up?” I asked.

“We made some big bucks for the kids,” Sarah reported. “And I got a huge donation from one of the lodges for the orphanage.”

“Sure.” I winked at her. “I bet you did.”

“The big news is that Lara has a boyfriend,” Cara announced, biting down on a wicked grin.

Lara blushed. “I do not!”

“That’s a guilty blush if I’ve ever seen one.” Cara laughed. “What’s wrong with getting laid for a change?”

“Jamie?” I asked. “He seems like a nice guy.”

“He’s nice.” Lara flashed Cara a sullen look. “I calculate that over thirty-three percent of his body is covered in tattoos.”

“And as thorough as you are,” Sarah said with a twinkle in her eye, “we know you checked him everywhere.”

“Did anybody else notice how Jade changed the topic on us?” Cara said. “Dish it out, Jade. We want to know where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to. And by the way, why is there a ranger posted at your door?”

I’d anticipated that my friends would be worried and curious. I owed them some sort of an explanation, if only because they cared. I couldn’t tell them everything that was going on, but I had to tell them something.

“The thing is…” I hesitated, moistening my lips. “There was an incident at the party.”

“An incident?” Sarah’s frown wrinkled her nose. “What kind of an incident?”

“Somebody slipped something into one of my drinks.”

The women exchanged puzzled looks.

“Oh, my God.” Lara suddenly gasped. “You mean like a date rape drug?”

“Holy Mother.” Sarah’s face broke into a grimace of horror.

Cara leaned forward on the couch, her hand groping for mine, her fingers strangling mine. “Jade, you can tell us. We’re here for you. Were you… raped?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” I said, sliding my hand from under hers and tucking it on my lap. “Fortunately, Matthias happened to be passing by.” Well, not exactly passing by, but this version was close enough to the truth.

“Thank God!” Sarah exhaled a sigh of relief. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “Nothing to worry about over here.”

“Wait.” Cara’s mouth thinned. “This happened here at the station, right? Last time I saw you, you were dancing with Peter. Did he slip the drug into your drink?”

“It’s possible,” I said. “There’s an investigation in progress.”

“An investigation?” Cara gaped. “Is that why Zeke came asking all kinds of weird question about who volunteered at the bar and why?”

“I guess.”

“Jade, honey, why didn’t you call us?” Sarah said. “We could’ve helped.”

“Really, I was fine and I had to go to Zanzibar…”

Cara cocked her head. “Why?”

“And how?” Lara said.

“And most importantly…” Sarah’s stare narrowed on my face. “With who?”

I opened my mouth but I couldn’t get the words out. What exactly could I tell my friends? That I was having a torrid lust-affair with Matthias? That he was more than the reserve game warden and that he was pissed off at me because his handler had just recruited me for a dangerous secret mission? That aliens thrived on the moon?

My mouth worked the air but made no sound. Not only did I not know how to explain my situation, but I was uncomfortable confiding in anybody, because with the exception of Hannah, I’d never really had any friends before. Comrades at arms? Yes. Social acquaintances? Sure. But, friends? A group of girlfriends to back me up like these women were doing right now? Yeah, no.

I was fumbling big time when the door opened. In marched Matthias, scrumptious in his after-work wear, a Grateful Dead T-shirt, the perennial quick-dry khaki cargos and—holy fashion statement—Tevas strapped over dark socks. He wore a duffel slung across his shoulder and carried a box clanking with stuff under his arm. My heart tripped before it took off at a fast trot. It was as if I hadn’t seen him for a whole century instead of two hours. He took in the scene, the women populating my little bungalow, and my face, which must’ve been set into an expression of panic.

“Good evening, ladies. Don’t mind me.” He dropped his duffel on the bed and continued on to the bathroom where he busied himself lining up his toiletries on the shelf. “Hey, babe?” He called out. “Did you have time to get some chow before the dining room shut down?”

“Um…no,” I mumbled, mind suddenly wiped by the mere sound of his voice echoing in my little bungalow.

Three sets of stares fell on me, bright as high beams.

“Babe?” Sarah mouthed, blue eyes sparkling.

Lara broke out into a grin. “He’s moving in?”

Eyes wide, Cara pointed at me and then at the bathroom. “You and him?”

I shrugged. My face must’ve been on fire.

“It’s not a completely random mating,” Lara offered to the other two in her best professorial style. “Jade and Matthias both belong to the genus Panthera. They’re apex predators, carnivores, and they both roar. They’re genetically compatible.”

Oh, brother. That’s what I got for hanging out with top-notch scientists.

Matthias stalked out of the bathroom, grabbed a protein drink from his duffel, and ambled over to the couch. Casually, easily, as if we’d been together forever and we hadn’t been arguing almost non-stop for the last few hours, he lowered his hefty frame between me and the couch’s arm and draped his arm over my shoulders. It was uncanny. Without saying a word, Matthias told the girls everything there was to say about—well—us.

“Here you go.” He uncapped the bottle and handed me the protein drink. “Drink up. Sorry, ladies. Did I interrupt something?”

Sarah chomped at the bait. “Jade was telling us about her trip to Zanzibar.”

“Awesome.” Matthias flashed me a quick smile. “Beach, cocktails, a little diving. We had a great time, didn’t we, babe?”

I stared at the chocolate drink in my hand. Was I ever going to get used to being Matthias’s babe?

“I’m a little…shocked,” Sarah said. “Last time I saw the two of you together, you were at each other’s throats like lions and hyenas.”

Well, things hadn’t changed that much.

“And I thought you had a rule about dating the locals.” The acid in Cara’s voice caught me by surprise.

“Technically speaking, Jade is not employed at the reserve,” Matthias pointed out, galvanizing the woman’s attention, not to mention mine. “In any case, we want to keep our relationship under wraps for a very good, important reason.”

Cara seemed to be out of words, Lara sat at attention, and Sarah’s face tilted like that of an inquisitive bird. “What’s that?”

“As you probably know, I have enemies in Africa,” Matthias said. “I don’t want Jade to become a target because she’s with me. So we all need to be discreet. Does that make sense?”

“Totally.” Lara’s spiral curls shook with the force of her nod.

“We won’t say a word,” Cara promised.

“Is that why there’s a ranger posted at her door?” Sarah asked.

“Precisely.” Matthias planted a kiss on my temple. “See, babe? I told you they’d be on board.”

He hadn’t said anything of the sort. In fact, I had no idea why he was moving in or telling the girls about us, or about the poachers. I was so confused! I took a swig of my drink, wishing it had less protein and a full liter of rum.

The girls didn’t stay long. After Matthias entertained them with a few stories of our trip and I showed them some of my diving pictures, they made up some excuse about having to get up really early for work and made for the door. Sarah lingered at the threshold, looking up at Matthias who held the door open like the gentleman he was, towering over her petite frame.

“If I were you,” she said, craning her neck, “I’d be real good to Jade.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Matthias came to attention and gave her a smart salute. “That’s the plan.”

“And you.” Sarah wiggled an accusatory finger in my direction. “Give the boy a fair chance, you hear me?”

“Yeah, sure.” As if I hadn’t already fallen completely head over heels for him.

“Good night,” Sarah sing-sang as she whirled on her heel and disappeared into the night.

Matthias closed the door and grinned. “Bossy little thing.”

“She’s an admiral,” I said, “in her own, elfin, delicate way.”

“No kidding.” Matthias plopped down on the couch next to me. “I like Lara too. She’s odd, but interesting.”

“Brainy but completely lovable. And so sweet.” I hesitated then asked. “How come you’re not saying anything about Cara?”

“Cara, right.” His mouth straightened. “We had a misunderstanding there when she first arrived at the station.”

“Oh?” Cara had never mentioned anything of the sort. “What about?”

“She stole into my tent one night,” Matthias said, somewhat reluctantly.

“Wait.” Matthias was too much of a gentleman to add the details that my imagination filled in—a snapshot of Cara, butt naked in his cot. “She tried to seduce you?”

He shrugged. “I asked her to leave.”

Wow. She’d never mention she’d been interested in Matthias. Not to me.

“The important thing, we got it straightened out,” Matthias said with finality that suggested he’d moved on eons ago and I had nothing to worry about.

“Okay.” I tucked that little piece of information in the back of my mind. “I suck at this friendship thing. Don’t think I didn’t notice. Thanks for the assist.”

He enfolded me in his arms and drew me into his lap. “Glad to be of service.”

“But I don’t understand,” I said. “Why tell the girls about us when things are so complicated and you still need access to Mei? What if words gets out to Mei that you and I are together?”

“Sometimes the best strategy is to hide in plain view,” Matthias said.

“You mean like the elephant herds?”

“Exactly,” Matthias said. “Better to enlist key elements to our cause than to have your friends guessing or asking questions behind our backs. I happen to think those girls care for you and we need some good people in our corner.”

“But do you think it’s smart for you to move in with me right now?”

“Smart?” He shrugged. “No, but here’s the deal. I can pretend all day if you want. For the sake of the mission, I’ll keep in touch with Mei. But I’m sleeping with you every chance I get and that’s non-negotiable.”

The warmth spread from the center of my chest to the furthest reaches of my body even before his lips brushed against mine and disconnected my nerves from my brain. His touch drew me into the moment, made me forget about the world outside my door and focused my body’s interest exclusively on him. In his arms, I was in my safe place.

“Bed?” I whispered when we came up for air.

“Bed, couch, chaise, shower, floor.” He smiled against my mouth. “We might try all of those tonight. But before we get to that…”

I squeezed his hand. “Please don’t ask me not to go. Please?”

He let out a long breath. “No, I’m not gonna ask you that. I’m gonna drive you out there tomorrow, even if it kills me. But…” he hesitated. “There’s something I want you to do for me.”

He pulled out a small ring from of his pocket, a smooth, simple green jade band that he slid onto my ring finger right after he kissed my hand. I stared at the ring gracing my finger and then at Matthias. I was pretty sure my mouth was wide open.

“It’s nothing as beautiful or valuable as what your parents gave you,” he said, cheeks and ears high with color. “But I’d really like it if you wear it. For me. Okay?”

I nodded, because my throat was too tight for words. He kissed me, fingers undoing my shirt’s buttons with mindboggling dexterity. With my shirt open, he dipped his hand into the cup of my bra and enveloped my breast in the warm hold of his hand.

“Christ.” He let out a long exhale. “I’ve been wanting to feel you all day. It was the longest day of my life.”

I rubbed my palm along his erection. “Let’s not fight anymore.”

“Deal.” He kissed me again. “Outside? Chaise, under the moonlight?”

I grinned. “Seems like a good starting point.”

* * *

Jade

The next morning, Matthias kept his side of the bargain. As the sun came out to play on the savanna, we drove out of the station, escorted by a caravan of rangers. Zeke stayed behind, in charge of the station’s security, but Dr. Valdez and his big case of equipment rode with us in the Land Rover. We made our way through muddy tracks and swollen streams. It took us almost three hours to get to the border and meet up with Rem’s assets, a mixed group of Tanzanian troops, Kenyan Special Forces, and intelligence operatives whose names, affiliations and countries of origin I was not allowed to know.

Matthias got out of the Land Rover and began to give instructions to his rangers. Rem’s men were strategically deployed to guarantee our safety, but Matthias didn’t want to risk any chances. It was only after he was satisfied that all the approach angles were properly monitored that he signaled the all clear for Doctor Valdez and I, before he went to huddle with Rem.

I climbed down from the truck. My boots crunched on the red dirt. Doctor Valdez unloaded his equipment while I got a good look at the place. The scene of the slaughter stunned me. My stomach shot up to my throat and got stuck there. Bloated and desiccated under the midday sun, the mutilated bodies of hundreds of elephants, small and large, littered the grassy plains for as far as I could see. They lay where they had fallen to the bullets that killed them, headless corpses sprawled next to murdered younglings who’d never had the chance to grow their precious tusks. In many cases, the brain and genitals had been poached as well.

I gagged. I covered my mouth and tried to keep it together. I failed. The stench of death lingered in the air like a lethal miasma. My regurgitated breakfast ended up splattered at the base of a Strangled Fig.

Matthias stalked over to me. “You okay?” he asked, rubbing my back in small, comforting circles.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” I bent over my knees, breathing raggedly. “I never lose it like this. Never.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Matthias said. “Take your time.”

I’d seen battlefields before, cities destroyed, soldiers and civilians killed. But this? This was violence unleashed for the sake of greed, mankind turned beast. So much death. So much gore. Even the vultures that circled above us and perched on the rotten bodies had grown fat from the carnage.

The churn in my belly never went away, but I pulled it together. Matthias and Dr. Valdez set up a makeshift workshop on the back of the Land Rover. They selected a few tusks from the ones Rem and some of his men unloaded from a battered old truck. The mechanical hiss of battery-powered tools rumbled throughout the plains as they installed their tiny tracking devices. If everything worked as it should, the devices would ping on average four times a day and transmit a signal that Matthias, Rem and his team would be monitoring 24/7.

I decided to let the camera do most the talking. I shot film as I usually did, on my own, with my small camera mounted on a monopod, a kind of a selfie stick that allowed me to be included in the frame while I narrated my observations. I also shot stills and took notes to include in the edited version. The trickiest part came when I shot the pile of confiscated ivory that would serve as bait to the poachers. The ivory mount was set among the carnage, almost two stories tall, a monument to atrocity. I worked my camera angles very carefully even though they had to look like they were shot quickly and on the go.

“Shoot those hills in the distance,” Rem instructed me as if he was my producer. “They’ll be recognizable to Kumbuyo and the others.”

“I’m on it.”

“And don’t forget to shoot the road in the background,” Rem added. “It should give them another clue.”

“Got it.”

“But make sure you don’t get any of my men in your shots,” Rem said. “That would be bad. Very bad.”

“Rem?” I met his gaze. “I got this. Okay? I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay, yeah, I’m sorry,” Rem mumbled. “It’s just that…this is really important.”

“Trust me,” I said. “I know.”

The work was grueling. The sun beat down on us. The mood of the men around me was grim and uptight. When I was finally done, I was physically and emotionally exhausted, but I was also confident I could produce several compelling segments.

We rode back to the station in silence. As we rattled over the roads, I began to see the story in my head. Speed was of the essence now and I’d given Hannah heads up that something big was coming her way.

As soon as we arrived at the station, I went straight to my bungalow and edited my footage through the night. Everybody at the station knew we’d gone out to the field today, to help with Dr. Valdez’s research, they believed. But Sarah, Lara and Cara were incredibly bright. They knew we were up to something.

So I wasn’t surprised when Sarah stopped by with some food she’d stolen from the dinner buffet. She brought enough to feed both Matthias and I. She didn’t ask any questions and I was happy for that. Lara came a little later and quietly deposited a printed pile of statistics on my desk, the latest information on elephant conservation in Africa. Cara knocked on the door and thrust a Sauvignon Blanc into Matthias’s hands.

“A girl’s got to have a little pick-me-up at the end of a long day,” she said before she left.

I sipped on the wine and worked on my segments, sticking to my usual style, which had been described as Antony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown meets Nature plus a hefty load of attitude. I was determined to get this right.

Matthias sat with me, taking a couple of catnaps through the long hours. I worked best alone, but truth be told, Matthias made himself useful, sifting through hundreds of as of yet uncatalogued pictures to come up with the best and most meaningful shots. I kind of liked working with him.

Early the next morning, we met with Ari, Zeke, and Rem, who had arrived late last night to preview the segments. To protect his cover, Rem kept up his act as Matthias’s expat playboy friend, stopping by for a little wildlife viewing and dazzling everyone at the station with his roguish charm. Beyond the scene, Rem was back and forth on his cell, barking orders, at who, I had no idea. He looked tired and on edge.

I presented my little audience with three segments. We previewed them several times to ensure they revealed only what we wanted the poachers to know. As soon as I got approval, I marched over to the main lodge, attached the segments to an email and sent them off to Hannah. It was done. The plan had been put in motion.

* * *

Matthias

Three hours after Jade sent her clips to her agent, the first segment had gone viral and several big time outlets had picked it up and shared it with their viewers. Rem, Jade, Zeke and I huddled around the laptop on my desk, monitoring comments and reactions around the world.

We were crammed in my office, one of the few spaces outside the main lodge that had Internet access, a weathered safari tent staked on a wooden platform that doubled as my sleeping quarters. I’d put my rangers on high alert and Rem was getting live reports from his people in the field. We were all wondering if Kumbuyo would go for it and if so, when.

The best news so far, was that we’d gotten a lot of local and international press. Through Hannah, Jade had received several requests for interviews. It went against my grain to have Jade doing interviews right now. It went against her grain too. She didn’t want to make the story about her. But the extra-publicity was bound to help with the mission and the interviews would heighten the segments’ profiles. So Jade agreed, I flexed, and Hannah scheduled three global networks to come out first thing tomorrow morning.

Rem hung up his cell. “My operatives are telling me they think the ivory stores are being scouted as we speak.”

I looked up from the computer. “How?”

“They’re tracking what they believe is a drone.”

“Do poachers have drones?” Jade asked from her perch, sitting sideways at the edge of my desk.

“The well-funded ones do,” I said, wrenching my mind away from the distraction of her long legs, dangling so close to me. “How are we looking to the drone?”

“Like a bunch of lazy baboons, I hope.” Rem’s cell rang at the same time that a low-flying aircraft buzzed over the camp on the way to the landing field.

“Who’s that?” I stalked to the entrance, snatched aside the tent flap and scoured the sky, trying to identify the airplane. “Zeke, are we expecting a delivery today?”

“Not that I know of,” Zeke said. “Let me find out who that is.” He stepped out on the deck and radioed the rangers posted at the airfield.

I didn’t want any unauthorized arrivals or departures at the station right now. I needed everything and everybody buttoned down tight. With my limited manpower, I was joggling a lot of security priorities, the mission, the reserve, the station, Jade… Christ. I rubbed the back of my knotted neck. I couldn’t allow any harm to come to Jade.

I made my way back to the desk, put my arms around Jade’s waist and, hugging her back to my front, planted a kiss on her shoulder. She gave me a distracted peck on the cheek, but her eyes were narrowed on Rem, who paced the little tent, spitting out angry yeses and noes. “Got it,” he said right before he hung up.

I took in Rem’s clashing eyebrows and the lines deepening in his forehead. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got trouble.” Rem’s tone made my gut clench. “Get your stuff. You are on your way to the embassy at Dar es Salaam, pronto.”

“The embassy?” Jade looked from me to Rem, alarmed gaze full of questions.

“No way,” I said, shaking my head “I’m not going anywhere. We just went live with our plan.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.” Rem took off his baseball cap and tossed it on the table, lips distorted as if in disgust. “But you’ve got to leave. Right away. Those are your orders and you will comply.”

I skewered Rem with my glare. “You’re fucking nuts if you think I’m bailing now.”

“You don’t have an option.”

“What’s the deal?” Jade asked.

“Who just called you?” I demanded.

“One of my informants with the Tanzanian police,” Rem said. “It’s Peter Drake. They found him dead in Arusha last night. The police are on the way. They think you killed him.”