Page 41 of The Angel and the Agent

He looked Amelia up and down and spoke to Ethan. “Is the translator for sale?”

Ethan shook his head, his hand tightening on the gun. “We’re leaving now, getting out of the country before the poachers retaliate.”

The man frowned, looking to the east. “The poachers are coming here?”

“They’re a couple of hours behind us, armed and angry.”

The man was now frowning at the eastern horizon, his hand tightening on his gun. “Go,” he directed, nodding his head in the opposite direction.

Ethan didn’t need to be told twice. He turned and walked briskly away, practically dragging Amelia behind him. When they were safely out of town, she spoke.

“Can you explain to me why that worked?”

“American agents are high-value targets, but no one cares about mercenaries. They like Australians better than they like Americans who have the stigma of being Americans attached wherever we go. And ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ came into play. They don’t like the poachers, a brutal, ruthless group, and the poachers don’t like them, a brutal, ruthless group. Pitting them against each other was enough to buy us an escape.”

“What will happen when the poachers don’t show up?” she asked.

“Nothing. Maybe he’ll figure out I was lying or maybe he’ll think the poachers heard they were arming up and changed their minds. Either way, he won’t pursue us.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he was emaciated and barefoot. He doesn’t have the energy for wild goose chases against an armed man. Like all predators, he was looking for an easy target. We weren’t one.”

“That’s brilliant,” Amelia said.

“Thank you, but this is kind of what I do for a living,” he said. They walked in silence a while before she spoke again.

“Ethan, please don’t resent what I’m about to say, but how can you consider quitting to become a high school football coach? I mean, don’t get me wrong, shaping young minds is important. But you could do that on a volunteer basis. A lot of men could coach football, but only one in a few hundred thousand could do what you do, and you’re so, so incredibly good at it.”

“It’s different when you’re here,” he said.

“How so? Do you bumble like the Nutty Professor when I’m not with you? Drop your gun and accidently shoot yourself in the foot? Yell out classified information whenever you get nervous?” she asked. Somehow she couldn’t imagine him being bad at anything.

“No, but having you with me gives me a purpose. Keeping you safe and well is my number one priority. I have a clear objective. I always had a clear objective in the SEALs. Most of the time at work, I don’t. I follow bad guys around and take pictures, tail important men to make sure they haven’t gone rogue. It feels boring and pointless.”

“Can’t you transfer somewhere else? I mean, Maggie and Ridge seem to do a lot of stuff that has a point, a clear objective. Why can’t you work with them?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again. “To be honest with you, I never considered it. This is where the Colonel placed me, so this is where I’ve been. I’m used to taking orders from people who rank higher. But you’re right, there’s no reason I have to stay here when I hate it so much. I’m not in the navy anymore. I can switch jobs, I can go where I want, do what I want.”

“You’re a real boy, Pinocchio,” she agreed.

Laughing, he picked her up and twirled her around. “This little talk has been life changing. You have no idea.”

“It was almost worth getting kidnapped and taken to Africa by armed Russians so we could have this moment,” she said.

He laughed again and set her down. “You are a crazy child. This is not a laughable situation, especially because we’re about to enter Carnot.”

“What’s bad about that?”

“A few years ago it erupted into crazy violence.”

“Boko Haram or Isil?” she guessed.

“Neither, an anti-Muslim group, a local tribe. They rounded people up, killed them with machetes, forced them out of the city. It’s better, but crazy volatile. It could erupt again at literally any moment. We can’t stay here. Our number one objective is to score a ride to Gamboula, a border city.”

“Why can’t we go all the way to Cameroon tonight?” she asked.

“Because you don’t have a passport. We’re going to have to sneak in,” he said.

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