Page 17 of Pierre (Voodoo Guardians #40)

As they walked toward Henri’s camp, Frank stayed at the back of the line with his son.

“How much do you trust this man?” asked Frank.

“As much as I trust anyone here. He’s proven himself to be honest and helpful. When we arrived, he was our target, but nothing about that fit. I know what you’re thinking. It seemed odd that he was here and so were we.”

Frank said nothing, just nodding at his son.

“Believe me, I thought that as well. But he’s given me no reason to not trust him. I’m being careful, Dad.”

“I know you are,” nodded Frank. “I just remember when we were here. We could trust no one, and those we did trust weren’t exactly completely trustworthy.”

“This whole place needs to be leveled and started over,” said Ham, walking with them. “There’s a reason it’s been on the government’s list of places to not visit for years.”

“Well,” smirked Pierre, “I don’t think the Army got that memo.”

Up ahead were three dozen men and women seated around an open campfire. They were talking quietly, not yelling, no one drinking, and no one appeared to be doing anything strange. At least nothing they could see.

“These are friends,” said Henri. “You’ll treat them with respect and help them if you can. They are on our side.”

“Can you find our children?” asked a woman.

“We’re trying,” said Pierre. “Is your child missing?” The woman looked away from the group, and Pierre turned to Henri.

“She had one daughter and three sons. All four are missing. They were walking home from their school, one of the few that still has daily classes. She always met them halfway, just to be certain they were safe. That day, she was held up by someone who stopped to speak with her.”

“Who?” asked Ham. The others stared at him, then the woman looked up at him. “Who stopped you to speak with you?”

“Lavergne. She is a member of the church,” said the woman.

“The church again,” frowned Pierre. “Why is this making me nervous?”

“Because you’re smart, and you know there’s something going on here. We need to find the other church and Sister Josephina.”

The team did what they do best. They asked questions of the men and women around the fire. What had they seen? What did they know to be true? Were there any commonalities between the abductions?

Before they laid their heads down to sleep, their small group met to confer.

“Kids are taken in groups, never just one at a time. Isn’t that strange?” asked Conn.

“It is, although not unheard of,” said Ham.

“It’s like getting two-for-one. Makes their jobs easier, which tells me these aren’t people who want to work harder or smarter.

It’s a risk taking more than one at a time.

If one were to get loose, they would be able to identify the people taking them. ”

“They’ve taken mostly boys,” said Tucker. “I’ve counted only about six girls taken, and it was because they were walking with the boys.”

“Team, you read?” asked AJ.

“We’ve got you loud and clear, AJ,” said Pierre. Tucker and the others stared at their leader, then back at one another.

“We’ve been following some chatter online about kids for sale, especially boys, and we didn’t find anything that led us your way.”

“Shit,” muttered Ham.

“Hold on. I didn’t say I found nothing. Just not that. Someone is building an army. An army of boys. Someone is pulling a Joseph Kony.”

“Shit. Kony,” frowned Pierre.

“Kony?” questioned Winslow.

“Joseph Konyis a Ugandan militant andwarlordwho founded theLord's Resistance Armyor LRA, designated as a terrorist group by theUnited Nations Peacekeepers, theEuropean Union, and various other governments, including theUnited KingdomandUnited States,” said Frank.

“He kidnapped boys from various tribes, forcing them to become child soldiers or sex slaves. It’s estimated more than sixty thousand children have succumbed to him.”

“Have we killed him?” asked Winslow.

“Not yet,” frowned Ham. “But maybe he’s found a new way to obtain soldiers. Maybe it’s too difficult where he is now.”

“I’ll let you know if we find anything else, but things are looking like this is what’s happening to those kids. I just don’t know where they’re going yet.”

“Thanks, AJ,” said Pierre. “Well, that will ruin sleep for me.”

“Don’t worry, son. It’s underrated. Besides, get used to no sleep,” smirked Frank. “You’re marrying a triplet, from a triplet, from a triplet. Odds are your days of sleep are done.”