Page 9 of Guarding Zuri
Anger kindled in her chest. She shoved her room door open and stomped inside the small quarters that offered a bed, desk, and small dresser. The ceiling sagged underneath someone’s weight above, causing the one hanging lightbulb in the center of the room to sway. Her vision had deteriorated, thanks to a lack of natural light.
Zuri dropped onto her bed and flung off her heavy black boots. Her top lip covered her nostrils as the stench from her unwashed socks hit her in the face. Thank goodness today was wash day. She flung them off and then stripped over her top. A finger went through a hole at the hemline. She groaned as she wiggled her finger in the hole. How old was this shirt? A few years? She delicately folded it and placed it on the bed beside her. It needed a good washing, but if she continued to scrub it, no matter how gently, she’d only rip it to shreds. Most of the funds the resistance received went to feeding the fighters, buying supplies, and paying for housing. Their clothing budget was minimal.
Her ripped shirt added to her frustrations.I should be making decisions.Instead, her father wanted her to stay in her room—like a little girl.She couldn’t blame her father for being protective, but that meant living in his shadow and never reaching her potential.
One the bed beside her was her only book. She opened the front cover to the picture of her mother. Her smile was wide as her outstretched arms. Zuri imagined running into those arms and hearing her mother’s approving voice one more time. Zuri closed the book and slipped it inside the tactical bag she carried with her whenever they did a mission, as they often didn’t return to their current safe house for security reasons.
Until she was able to shake off the fatal mistake she made when she was seventeen, no one would see her as a mature, capable leader.What else can I do to make them understand? Bendola is my purpose. I’ll rest when Gohi is defeated and exiled. I’m ready for this.
CHAPTERFOUR
“Colin, quit laughing.”
Colin ignored Daemon’s order and continued howling over the comm line. His gleeful sounds increased the revelry of the men in the background, whose chuckles grew into outright laughter. Daemon loved these men, even if he was the source of their amusement.
“Have we all had enough?” Daemon asked, thankful that neither Colin nor the rest of the team stationed at Knight Shield headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia, were witnesses to Daemon’s face, which he knew was red given how hot his neck and cheeks burned.
“Man, that was the best laugh I’ve had all month!” Colin yelled. “I want to meet this girl.”
“Never,” Daemon growled.
“Ooh, jealous already.”
“Are you serious!”
“Yeah, she might like me better than you.” Once again, the men in Virginia hooted.
“I doubt it,” Daemon said, squirming against the vine of jealous that erupted deep in his stomach. He had nothing to fear from Colin making a play. “She doesn’t like Americans.”
“Isn’t the resistance hoping the State Department agrees to help?”
“Yes, butshedoesn’t like us.”
“Nah. She doesn’t likeyou.”
Daemon couldn’t blame their jubilation over his humiliation with Zuri. If he was in their shoes, he would also laugh. Meeting the client only to have her fire him in less than fifteen minutes was a record for Knight Shield. Well, it was the only statistic of its kind. No one ever fired a Knight Shield protection agent.
Ever.
If a trend had to start, it might as well be led by the boss. Daemon assumed personal and professional responsibility for all outcomes of Knight Shield services, whether good or bad. But he didn’t consider himself fired. He’d been hired by Bayo Msongo, not his daughter. Daemon figured Bayo gave his daughter “authority” to appease her entitled nature.She probably needs to feel important—like she has decision-making authority, which Daemon doubted she possessed. With an attitude like hers and a willingness to ignore facts, Bayo couldn’t count on his daughter to lead anyone, let alone a resistance.
David had contacted him weeks ago after going dark for longer than a year. He’d been entrenched in Bendola’s resistance army, battling the country’s dictator for independence. When David told Daemon that he was returning to his mother’s country to fight, Daemon had wished him well and asked him to call if he ever needed anything.
He never expected David to ask him to babysit a princess while David and her father fought a war. But David had been one of his best friends in the military; he couldn’t say no to the man who had saved his life more than once. He owed David.A small price to pay to settle a life-debt.His employees having a laugh at his expense? Now the cost was mounting.
Daemon turned onto the street that led to his team’s operational base. His beat-up Volvo bounced over potholes in a badly worn asphalt-paved road. One thing Bayo promised to Bendolans in a free society was better roads. They couldn’t come soon enough.
“Have you packed your bags?” Colin asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you were fired.”
“She doesn’t get to fire me.”
Whistles came over the line. “What does she look like?” Colin asked.
Beautiful. Stunning.“I didn’t notice.”
