“Tomorrow?” Lazlo said. “That bloody well smacks of desperation. You think Mrs. Fargo and the girls got away?”
“It’s starting to look that way.” Sam glanced up to the sky, the stars still bright, dawn hours away. “We better not get ahead of ourselves. If they’re desperate, that makes them unpredictable and dangerous. Call Pete. Tell him to keep those girls hidden until we can get help up there.”
“Will do.”
Sam called Selma to give her an update.
“Guarded good news,” she said.
“If Makao doesn’t have the girls, we need to find them before he does. Have you heard back from Rube?”
“Yes. He’s pulling in a few favors with his Nigerian military contacts. A helicopter with a search and rescue team is headed your way first thing in the morning, along with some extra men to stand guard at the school until the matter’s resolved. I’ll send an email with anything else. In the meantime, get some rest.”
“Thanks, Selma. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”
Sam called Makao next. He picked up on the first ring. “I can get you one hundred thousand dollars by tomorrow night. Now let me talk to my wife or one of the girls.”
“You’ll talk to them when we have the money. You know how to reach me.”
Sam’s phone beeped as the call ended. “Things are looking up. We’ll have a helicopter in the morning and we can start our search then.”
“Why wait?” Okoro said. “We should be heading up there to look for them now.”
Sam, understanding the man’s panic and knowing the real danger came from making a mistake from being too tired, said, “What I do know is there could be more of his men up there. The last thing we want to do is walk into a trap. We need to wait for m
orning. I’ll take the first watch.”
“I’ll watch with you,” Okoro said. “We let the others sleep. I doubt I’ll be able to.”
The two men walked out to the front of the house. After several minutes of strained silence, Okoro looked over at him. “I should never have agreed to rent my property to you.”
“If I’d ever have thought any danger would come to the girls, I’d never have agreed to build the school. We took every precaution—”
“Not enough, it seems,” Okoro said quietly. The two faced the long drive, looking out at the hillside that led up to the school.
Sam studied the dark forest, worried, wondering where Remi and the girls might have taken refuge. The park was a collage of habitats, everything from grasslands and swamps to woodlands and rain forests, and all manner of wildlife that might be found therein. “What sort of dangers are they facing?”
“Much depends on where they go. The biggest threat would be the Fulani herdsmen. Some of them are no better than Boko Haram. Killing anyone who threatens the land they’ve claimed for livestock.”
“Remi would know to watch out for them.”
Okoro looked at him. “You seem to have a lot of confidence in this wife of yours.”
“For good reason. The only other person I’d trust to keep those girls safe is me.”
“One thing I don’t understand,” Okoro said. “If this Makao doesn’t have my daughter or your wife, why are you promising him money?”
“To keep him connected to us,” Sam said. “If I had to guess, he’s hoping to cut his losses and run. I’m going to kill him, and every one of them, before that happens.”
Okoro’s smile was grim. “At least we agree on something.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Earth is the queen of beds.
– NAMIBIAN PROVERB –
Once Remi caught up with Amal and the girls, she pressed them at a fast clip for a couple of hours until their exhaustion became too hard to ignore. Without rest, they were prone to make mistakes and that was a danger. Jogging ahead, she found a clearing that was far enough from the trail, the entrance well camouflaged to keep them from readily being seen.