Pussycat in Peril (Pussycat Death Squad Book 3) (14 page)

The imam, recognizing the stratagem dropped a tiny wisp of paper at her feet. Astaria picked it up and immediately shoved it into the pocket of her long skirt. Her encounter with the imam was so brief even the closest observer wouldn’t have noted, but the small scrap of paper in her pocket carried tremendous weight. She was terrified it was a death notice and even after they returned to the Hamadi home she was reluctant to look at it. When she did so it took her a moment to realize it wasn’t in code. At least none she recognized.

20 R 12

She stared at the communiqué for a while longer, trying to gather some meaning from the oblique missive. Finally she concluded that 20 had to mean a time. Twenty hundred hours or 8:00 p.m.

“Your brother is a man of few words,” Kaeden mused from his position looking over her shoulder as she sat at the dining room table. Both children had been given a snack and were upstairs. Abdullah was napping and Ravia was reading a book.

“If I didn’t know Mama hounded him until he could be bothered with school, I would swear he was illiterate,” Astaria said kissing her teeth in irritation.

“I’m sure he assumed you could figure it out or he wouldn’t have written it that way,” he said.

“That’s what we have codes for,” she groused.

“Twenty is either 8:00 or it could mean a location, or both,” Kaeden offered.

“Yes, I came to that conclusion too. Could R mean a row like in a concert hall?”

“Or maybe a football stadium. Of course there are probably dozens around here,” he said.

“Yes, there are, but I don’t think it’s a football station. I think it’s a cinema,” she said.

“Cinema?” he frowned.

“Yes. Halil is absolutely movie crazy. Fighting with the LOV he’s probably missed his habit and is taking this opportunity, to get two outs with one pitch. Only my brother would want to go to the cinema in the middle of a war.”

Kaeden scratched his beard. Though the hair was so silky it didn’t even leave beard burn on her skin it tended to bother him as he was so accustomed to being smooth-shaven. “It’s a common clandestine meeting place. I’ve used it myself. Question is, which one? There are quite a few,” he said.

“He has a favorite. Not too far from here. They show martial arts movies a lot. Halil is mad for them.”

“See. Told you he knew you could figure it out. I assume the night is tonight since he didn’t put a date on it.”

Astaria nodded. “It’s not far, I could walk there easily in fifteen minutes, probably less.”

“You mean we.”

“No, I said what I meant,” she said.

“We’re not even having this conversation. You’re not going anywhere without me.”

“What about the children? One of us should be here to guard them.”

“At that time of the night they’ll be asleep. Sarai and Dawood are more than adequate, and we’ll only be a few minutes away should anything happen.”

Astaria closed her eyes. The man was going to drive her insane. “Do you really think I’m in danger meeting my own brother?”

“In this country right now I’d think you’re in danger going to the toilet,” he said his chin raised at a mulish tilt.

Finally she capitulated because it was clear he was prepared to argue all night if need be.

“Fine, you can come with me,” she said.

“Good. I haven’t seen a martial arts movie in a while. This should be fun.”

They decided to walk to the theater, as it was only a few blocks away. Astaria sighed as they made their way through the streets. The buildings and even the sidewalks were marred with pockmarks from the many firefights and even shelling that had accompanied the Uprising. Laria had always been, and still was, a beautiful city. The light from the setting sun painted the pale buildings in a glorious palette of terra cotta hues, but in the current climate no one had repaired the damage left by the fighting and the buildings themselves looked sad and disheveled. Colonel al-Fariq, in his obsessive need to maintain his image abroad, had consciously kept the capital pristine, even while the rest of the country fell to rack and ruin. Now even that façade had been torn away, showing putrid decay underneath. Astaria was grateful the streets were relatively empty because of the quarantine as it made it easier to avoid the potholes in the sidewalks, and because it made it obvious they were being followed.

“You hear them?” she asked Kaeden.

“Yeah. Two guys. One is a pretty big fucker. I’ll take him,” he gritted out. Totally Marine and nothing could have thrilled her more. “You ready for the other one?”

She nodded, and with that they sped up until they were nearly running. The men followed, at the same pace giving up any pretense of concealment. Just when the men had almost reached them, they cut to the right into a narrow alley. The men followed right behind them. Astaria dropped to the ground. Using her legs in a sweeping motion, she took her assailant’s feet from under him. He face-planted into the pavement and she drove her heel into the back of his head with a forceful blow. There was a
crunch
as his face crashed into the concrete and he didn’t make another sound. 

Having dispatched her attacker so expeditiously Astaria had time to check on Kaeden. The knife appeared in his hand with such speed it was hard to believe it hadn’t been there all along. They both had handguns on them but were reluctant to use them with others around. Kaeden preferred to use his Arkansas Toothpick and Astaria wasn’t as skilled with small arms as she was with a rifle, so she was relieved that they’d managed to get the job done.

Kaeden jabbed the knife into the man’s back just above his kidneys, then jumped back to avoid the spurt of blood when he pulled the knife free. The man dropped to his knees, then fell to the ground dead, or near death. Kaeden wiped the blood off his knife on the man’s shirt and re-sheathed it. He looked over at Astaria.

“You okay?”

She nodded as she rose to her feet. “And you?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s get out of here,” she said. “This doesn’t feel right.” As they turned to exit the alley a large military vehicle pulled up to the curb with a squeal of tires. Convinced that the assailants’ back up had arrived Astaria crouched in combat position and Kaeden’s knife immediately reappearing flashing lethally in light of the setting sun.

“Get in,” Halil said through the open passenger side window. Astaria had never been so grateful to see her brother in her life. She grabbed Kaeden and they jumped into the back of the vehicle. The driver took off with another screech of burning rubber.

“What the hell was that all about?” Halil asked, looking into the backseat where both Kaeden and Astaria were winding down from their adrenaline high.

“I don’t know. I thought maybe you could tell me,” Kaeden said, his soft voice belying the anger she could feel coming off him in waves.

Astaria turned to him with a gasp, “You don’t think—”

“I think it’s a bit convenient that we were ambushed on our way to meet with him,” Kaeden said his voice even softer.

Astaria was struggling not to panic. Kaeden was just barely holding it together. The last thing she wanted was a fight between the two men she cared most about in the world.

“I’d hardly set you up when you had my sister with you. Not to mention, you’re my brother by marriage. As a general rule, I don’t kill kin,” Halil said, glaring at Kaeden from beneath his heavy brows. His expression made it clear he was reconsidering
that
policy.

Astaria gathered her scattered thoughts for a way to stop this. Halil was only holding back for her sake. For the first time in her life she was seeing Halil not as her baby brother but as a man and a deadly one at that. Kaeden’s accusation was unforgivable, but she’d be damned if she was going to let them fight. The consequences in either direction were unthinkable. She forced herself to calm down enough to think clearly. Details of the fight were coming back to her. There had to be some clues as to who was actually responsible.

“Kaeden, they called you ‘the American.’ They said it twice,” she said, trying to recall as much information as possible.

“They did?” he asked, still staring at Halil as though he welcomed a deadly encounter. The air in the SUV was thick with menace and testosterone. She knew he was only waiting for her brother to make a move.

“You didn’t hear them?” she asked.

“I didn’t hear anything. I was focused on killing the bastards before they could take you,” he said grimly.

Astaria frowned in confusion. “Me? Why did you assume they were after me?”

He turned to look at her as though she’d suddenly beamed down from another planet. “You’re an escaped prisoner. You’ve been fighting with a resistance group. You spent years guarding the leader of the previous regime. A leader whose head wound up on a pike. You’ve managed to piss off every goddamned side of tetrahedron of a conflict. The only wonder is that everyone in the country isn’t trying to kill you,” he said.

So he did have a point, even so, she knew her conclusions were more accurate. “They weren’t after me. They wanted you. The question is why.” They were both silent for a long moment as they each went over the facts as they knew them. Finally Astaria spoke again. “Boulos. They had to be from Boulos,” she said.

“I thought we agreed that Boulos was probably dead or at least in prison,” Kaeden said.

“Boulos? Who the hell is Boulos?” Halil asked from the front seat.

“Yeah, but he had to have someone working for him. Probably lots of someones. You don’t steal two royal orphans and smuggle them out of the country by yourself,” she said.

“Royal orphans? What the hell are you two talking about?” Halil shouted.

Kaeden finally answered him, giving Halil an a pithy update on their current situation. Then there was a long silence in the vehicle. Not the deadly silence from before, Allah be praised, but a tense, quiet one nonetheless. She waited to see what would happen next.

Halil laughed. He paused, and then began whooping with merriment. “Amazing Astaria you still have a talent for it. Mama always said you could attract trouble in
Janna
itself,” he said once he caught his breath.

Astaria just rolled her eyes at him. “Never mind,
baby
brother. Right now Laritrea is about as far from paradise as you can get. And while questions are being asked, you might want to tell us, who is that,” she said nodding toward the big blonde man who was driving the utility vehicle with the intensity of a fighter pilot in a dogfight with the Red Baron. “And where you’re taking us.”

“That’s Berg,” Halil said. “Better known as the Flying Dutchman.”

“Seems apt. With the way he drives we’re all liable to be ghosts,” she said. “Isn’t he a mercenary? I think I’ve seen him before.”

“Hardly a mercenary. More like an adventurer. LOV couldn’t afford my going rate,” the big blonde man laughed, then took a turn so steep it seemed the vehicle was only on two wheels. They were speeding rapidly out of the city.

It was always disconcerting the way Laria went so rapidly from a dense urban landscape to remote desert within just a few kilometers out of the city. The road connecting Laria to Amaru the next largest city was full of ruts and potholes from having had little maintenance in the past thirty years. Colonel al-Fariq had always pleaded poverty but everyone knew he had kept the roads in disrepair as a way to hamper the military. He never got over his fear of being overthrown in a military coup. Even with all the hazards they hadn’t traveled long before they reached the LOV camp. Astaria was surprised it was so close.

They climbed out of the vehicle and followed Halil and his driver into a large tent. The LOV camp itself wasn’t large, though it was orderly. There were only a dozen or so tents. This one was clearly set up for meals, with four large tables and accompanying chairs, though currently it was empty. At one end was a larger table that looked as though it was used as a buffet line. It too was cleared and had been washed down recently as it glistened wetly in the low light inside the tent. Astaria and Kaeden took seats across a table from Halil and his Dutch friend. Halil got right to the point.

“Amaru fell to the LOV two days ago. We’ll be taking over the government here as well.”

“Wha…What? How can that be?” Astaria asked, stuttering from shock. “We’d heard the LOV was gaining the upper hand, but we didn’t believe it would happen so quickly.”

“We’re forming a coalition with the two governments against IJIWO. They’ve agreed to our terms. This crazy quarantine will be lifted and you will be able to leave.”

“Oh Halil, you know that will never work. They hate the LOV. The fighting will be awful. Why is General Isa doing this?” she said. General Isa was the LOV leader.

“General Isa keeps his own counsel, you know that. It’s not for nothing that they call him Ghamid Isa,” Halil said.

“Mysterious indeed,” Astaria said. “The most mysterious thing about the man is that he’s still alive.” Isa had once been a close confidant to Colonel al-Fariq, but had been exiled some years before under mysterious circumstances. “The Colonel wasn’t well-known for sparing the lives of those who crossed him.”

Halil nodded in agreement. “You know he’s as clever as they come. I assume he figures they hate IJIWO worse than they hate the LOV,” Halil said with a shrug.