The Crocodile's Last Embrace (39 page)

“A constable?” Jade paused, considering her idea. “No, wait!” She snapped her fingers. “A reporter! Bev’s sister, Emily, met with the reporter from the
Leader
. He’s a small man and he wears very large sun protectors, as I recall. Emily said he had rooms in the Victoria and they looked opulent.”

“If that was Lilith, it would explain how she was able to leave notes and packets for Steven Holly so easily,” said Sam. “She lived in the same hotel. And reporter is a job that would give her access to a lot of people and places.”

“Spit fire!” Jade said. “
The Leader
is the paper running most of the articles on riots and problems in the Indian district. Good lord, you don’t suppose she actually fomented a riot to have Pellyn killed, do you?” But even as she said it, she knew the woman was capable of throwing away anyone, even her own lover. “Should we go back into town, Sam, and confront her?”

“Too risky. She’ll be in that search party for you. After reading my notice, she’d want to see for herself that you were dead. Then she’ll come for my rendezvous. If we go into town, we might miss her or, worse yet, alert her that we’re onto her.”

Jade’s head was still reeling from the insight. As she turned around, another object, tucked into a darker corner, caught Jade’s eyes as Sam’s flashlight brushed past it. She took hold of his hand and carefully swung the light back.

“Well, dip me in phosphorus and call me a match,” he said. “It’s a lantern. An old magic lantern.”

Jade reached for it with the handkerchief and brought it down for a better look. The lantern was a large one, nearly the size of her old Graflex camera, with a space inside for a candle. “When I first stopped by this place, I saw a monkey here. I thought she had some white root in her hand, but it was a candle stub. Lilith or Pellyn must have dropped it when they brought back the lantern.”

Inside the lantern was a flat packet wrapped in brown paper. Jade set the lantern on the table and opened the packet, exposing glass photo disks with transparent photographic images. Each image was carefully tinted, but the images themselves made Jade shudder. The body in each was the same, David in his uniform, but where David’s smiling face showed on one, a skeletal head showed on another, and in between, half skeletal and half flesh. Rotating the disk at the right speed would give the illusion of the face melting into a skull, especially when projected onto wavering smoke. Add a mind distorted by drugs and one got a convincing ghost.

“That explains the image of David by the barn,” Jade said. “How could she do that to her own son’s picture?”

“Would you expect anything less of her? She’s Lilith,” said Sam. “But it gives me an idea.” He took Jade by the shoulders. “Now listen up. I told you once that you weren’t a killer, and you aren’t. But this plan of mine, of ours, might put us in a position where one of us has to shoot to kill.”

“You’re not a killer either, Sam.”

“But I did shoot down men in the war.
This
is war and
we
are on the side of good. So if it comes to it, just remember these words: ‘Be sure that you are right, and then go ahead.’ ”

“Abe Lincoln?”

Sam shook his head. “Davy Crockett.”

“Well, blast. We know how the Alamo turned out.”

Sam eyed the magic lantern. “This gives me an idea. I’m going to create my own diversion to fool Lilith when she comes tonight.” He examined the glass disk with David’s images. “Amazing in a warped sort of way. That shows a great deal of planning.”

Jade shuddered, remembering that nightmarish vision. “It shows a complete lack of moral scruples. What’s your plan?”

He lit one of the candles. “There’s room between the pictures of David. I’m going to make a silhouette of a seated man and shine it inside my tent.”

“Ah, to make it seem that you’re inside when you’re not. Won’t she just shoot?”

“She might, in which case I’m not the target,” Sam said. “But I’m betting that her ravenous desire for vengeance on Pili outweighs her need for killing a blackmailer.”

Jade shivered and Sam put his arm around her. “Worried?”

“Yes, and I’ve been thinking about Neville leading that search party today. Everyone thinks I’m dead. It’s a bit unnerving. Lilith should be gloating by now.”

“I imagine she’s furious that you escaped that easily. I’m sure she had big plans for you.” Sam took down a tin mug from a shelf and held it over the flame, collecting soot. “Can you find another mug or a bowl? Oh, and a bottle of alcohol. I saw one by the medicines.”

Jade brought the items to him. Sam scraped the accumulated soot from the bottom of the mug into the dish. Next he added a few drops of alcohol, enough to make a slurry. When he had enough, he used his knife tip to painstakingly apply the ink to the glass. “This should make a decent image. I’ll put the lantern in my tent and shine it on the canvas flap. It will look like I’m sitting in a chair, waiting.”

“Where am I going to be?” asked Jade.

Sam looked up from his work. “I’d planned for you to be atop the falls with a clear line of fire, but now I’m having second thoughts.”

“Sam! You promised me that I’d be a partner in this.”

He applied a bit more ink and surveyed the result. “That was before we found this hideout. What if she comes here to collect or destroy evidence? She’ll know we’ve been in here. She might just flee the country, or she might come to my camp even warier.”

“You want me to stay here, then?”

Sam blew gently on the image he’d made and nodded. “Looks rather contemplative, doesn’t he?” He set the disk aside and took Jade’s hands in his. “If she comes here, you’ll be waiting for her. We can’t risk letting her escape again.”

“Somehow, I don’t see her trying to. As far-reaching as the British Empire is, she’s running out of places to go. All right, Sam. I’ll stay here. And between the two of us, we’ll finish this tonight.”

—The Traveler

HARRY DROVE AT A BREAKNECK SPEED towards Parklands, pushing his truck past forty miles per hour in the open grasslands. Considering the hidden wallows and rocks as well as the brush, it was a risky act, but Harry was beyond any thoughts or emotions save a burning need for revenge. Like smoke from a brushfire, it filled his nostrils, tainted his mouth, and stung his eyes. The accompanying blaze scorched across his soul, leaving a blackened and raw wasteland.

How could Dunbury be such a damned fool? He hired some wastrel and, soon after, there were threats against the children. Couldn’t he see the connection? The newcomer had obviously duped him and driven Jade to fly an injured plane to her death.

Harry ground his teeth and bit his lower lip.
Jade!
Except possibly for Dunbury’s own wife, Harry had never met a woman with the pluck and daring of Jade. And he’d never wanted a woman in the way he’d wanted her. In his head, he knew he could never have her, but it was enough to know she existed and to have her dance in and out of his life, refreshing it and all of Africa like the rains after a drought.

He’d find this Fairley and kill him.

 

AN HOUR AFTER SAM LEFT, Jade couldn’t abide the shack any longer. True, from within, she’d have an element of surprise and a clear shot at Lilith when she came through the door, but that was only if it was still light when Lilith arrived. And Jade felt as confined as when she’d sat in a cage as leopard bait. There had to be a better place to make a stand.

She listened at the door and, hearing nothing, pushed it open, her Winchester in hand. The shifting shadows told her that the day had moved on into afternoon. Sam should be putting his tent up now. He’d promised Jade that he’d first motor into Nairobi and leave word with Finch to arrest the reporter from the
Leader.
They’d argued that point for nearly thirty minutes before Sam had conceded.

“You can leave some of these documents for him with an anonymous note,” she’d argued.

“But if he doesn’t arrest her, and she finds out, she’ll be warier. She may go to ground,” Sam had countered.

“Or it will drive her to your rendezvous more quickly. But we need to plug
all
the holes, Sam. I’ll be here at the shack, you’ll be back at the falls, and Finch can watch Nairobi.” He’d finally agreed, but Jade could tell he wasn’t happy with the idea.

To a large extent, Jade agreed. But she told herself that they had to make the moral effort to take her alive. Shooting Lilith had to be a last resort.

“The croc isn’t getting that chance,” argued Sam. “Why should she?”

Sam’s question had been rhetorical, but Jade kept trying to answer it in her mind. So far she hadn’t succeeded.

The tree line stood a few yards from the shed. Jade eyed the stand, looking for a tree that would provide decent cover and conceal her while giving her a clear view of the building. After fifteen minutes of deliberation, she chose the one that the little vervet monkey had climbed. But just as Jade reached it, she saw something sticking out from the brush below.

A rawhide pouch!
It was the kind worn by both Jelani and his mentor. Neither of them would have left it without an excellent reason. It was a mark of their office.

Jelani left it as a sign. He’s here.
She looked back at the shack.
But where?
They’d searched the entire place. Or had they? If this outer door had been hidden, might another one also be hidden inside?

Jade stuck the pouch in her pocket and went back in. Sam had left his flashlight with her and she played it over every surface, looking intently for a hidden door. There were no scrapes on the floor, nothing to show that a set of shelves swung out.

She stepped outside and paced the building’s dimensions, then measured the interior.
Nothing!

She paced it again and this time she felt more than heard the echo of a hollow space. The sound was as faint as a breath, but it was real.

Jade grabbed the worn rug and threw it back, revealing an inset door. There was no handle, only a wooden bolt that fit into a recess in the floor. She drew back the bolt, then used it to hoist the door, propping it against the bed frame. Jade shone the light into the Stygian darkness.

“Jelani?” she called.

No one answered. Slinging her rifle across her back, Jade descended the wooden ladder. The air below was suffocatingly close, dank and ripe with the scent of stale sweat and urine. But it didn’t smell of death or decay, and that gave Jade hope. She drew on it as she turned, willing it to steady her hand as she ran the beam over the cellar.

He lay in a corner, his hands bound to his feet behind his back. Jade leaned her rifle against the wall and knelt beside him, feeling for a pulse. It was there, faint but steady. She pulled her knife from her boot and sliced his bonds. Then she gently massaged his wrists and ankles.

“I’ve got to get you out of here,” she murmured. “But how?” Unless he regained consciousness and could cling to her back, she couldn’t see a way clear. It was too far to try to lift him and there was nothing to stand on.

Rope!
She remembered seeing a coil. She could tie it around his chest, under his arms, and haul him up like a sack of meal.

Jelani moaned faintly. “Lie still,” she said. “I’ll be right back with some water.”

Jade went up top, picked up her canteen, and took the rope. When she reached the cellar floor, she gently lifted Jelani’s head and let the water trickle down his throat. He swallowed once, then coughed, his chest and shoulders jerking with each spasm. His eyes flickered open.

“Easy,” she whispered, shifting her leg to ease the cramp in her left knee. “Did Finch put you in here?”

Jelani shook his head weakly. “He released me. Taken on way home.”

“Who?” She offered more water, but Jelani had fainted again.

That was when she heard the elephant trumpet.

We’ve got to get out of here now!
Jade leaped for the ladder but before she could reach the second rung, the trapdoor above her slammed shut.

 

SAM HEARD THE COMMOTION all the way up to the police station. Glass shattering, shouts, screams, and general pandemonium erupted from somewhere in the Indian district. A phalanx of European curiosity seekers—mostly men—hurried down Government Road, eager to catch a glimpse of the riot.

There was no one manning the police station desk.

“Damn!” Sam rummaged for paper and a pencil, then wrote a quick note for Finch.

Inspector. Have reason to believe that the reporter from the
Leader
, the small man with the large sunglasses, is actually Lilith Worthy in disguise. Do not let her leave Nairobi.