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He sighed. “And, by that determined expression on her face, I believe she’s going to make a final attempt to get me to order you to do exactly that.

I’ve sent drones out in search of the village, but it’s too well hidden.

” He smiled as he took a step forward. “I’m putting you in the lead jeep with Rashid, Kontara.

I thought you should familiarize yourself with the surroundings as you see if you can recognize any landmarks from your trip down from the mountain.

It may save us a few false moves through the maze if you can catch them ahead of time. Does that make sense to you?”

“I told you that I’d try,” she said curtly.

“There won’t be anything to watch out for until we’re several miles from the estate.

The last thing I remember was a creek near a ditch.

After that, I woke up near his temple, which is where we want to go.

” She shrugged. “But yes, when I was on the run, I’d remember things from the last time I’d escaped from the village.

That does make sense.” Her lips tightened as she looked him in the eye.

“What doesn’t make sense is that you’re still letting Celine come with us.

I thought surely you’d change your mind.

You don’t want her along. I can feel it.

It’s all wrong that you pay any attention to what she says. They’ll kill her. I know it.”

Dominic shrugged. “If you feel that deeply about it, then you should have persuaded her to your way of thinking. I did my very best. She’s damn stubborn.” He turned back to Celine. “She’s actually very convincing. You wouldn’t care to change your mind?”

She shook her head. “It’s natural that she would believe I wouldn’t stand a chance with those bastards. She’s seen too much death and torture in that village. But she should realize I can take care of myself now. I told her that she should drop trying to convince you. It’s a done deal.”

Kontara whirled to face her. “Zakira doesn’t think you can take care of yourself.

Neither does Caldwell.” She was spitting the words out.

“They both think that you’re just something to use and abuse like the rest of the women in that camp.

But they have something special in mind for you.

I’ve seen it. Give them a chance and they’ll show you. ”

“Seen it?” Dominic repeated thoughtfully. “Now what have you seen that’s upset you? That’s the first time you’ve mentioned any personal connection between Celine and those assholes. I believe you’d better elaborate.”

“I didn’t want to elaborate.” Her eyes were blazing. “Do you think that I wanted to frighten her with all that ugliness? But she wouldn’t listen to me. It’s all your fault. All you had to do was make sure she didn’t go up there with us and I wouldn’t have had to say anything else.”

“But you did say it, and now you can’t unsay it,” Dominic said.

“Because Celine won’t let you.” He added, “And neither will I. I thought you were a little fanatical about insisting that I not bring her, but evidently you weren’t telling us everything.

What is the special thing Caldwell and Zakira have in mind for Celine? ”

She didn’t speak for a moment. “It was mostly Zakira,” she finally said grudgingly.

“At least the priest was the one who got angry because Caldwell didn’t have the two women he wanted yet.

I’ve heard that he’s often yelled about Caldwell breaking the bargain they’d made.

The entire village heard him, and everyone was afraid because Zakira did terrible things to the women and soldiers in the village when he was in a temper, and he was definitely furious when Caldwell said he was having trouble getting hold of the women he wanted.

” She moistened her lips. “Caldwell got a lot of phone calls and he kept making excuses. But then one day he took one of his helicopters out of the village because he said he’d arranged to give Zakira exactly what he wanted. ”

“And I can hardly wait to hear what Caldwell said he’d give Zakira,” Dominic said grimly.

“The women in the photos,” Kontara said simply.

“The ones in the temple. Caldwell had brought two large photos framed in gold as a special gift to Zakira at the same time he shipped in boxes of guns and bombs in exchange for the bars of gold Zakira had given him. Zakira seemed to be very happy with the photos. He hung them on special walls of the temple he’d had built for himself.

” She smiled bitterly. “And he brought all the concubines to the temple to have one of his sex festivals in honor of his fantastic new gifts. I needn’t tell you that we didn’t appreciate that particular honor.

Or the ones that came after it.” Her gaze shifted to Celine.

“But I could hardly forget any detail of that night, and you have a very memorable face. I knew the minute I saw you that Zakira and Caldwell would want to get their hands on you. It brought everything back to me, and I just wanted to hide away again.” She shook her head.

“I wasn’t even sure that I wouldn’t be a part of any bargain that anyone made with those bastards.

I couldn’t bear the thought of it. Even when I realized that Dominic wouldn’t betray me, I still wasn’t sure you wouldn’t try to save yourself, Celine.

Some of the women in the camp would do anything to make the abuse go away. ”

“We all tried to tell you that we’d keep you safe,” Celine said gently. “I’m sorry you couldn’t believe us.”

“It took a little while,” Kontara said wryly.

“I only knew part of what was going on while I was at Shafira village. I learned the other part from you and Dominic once I came to the estate. I didn’t know what Eve Duncan’s role was going to be in Caldwell’s plans.

I thought the two of you were going to be just other women for the priest to use for barter.

But then I was told why Zakira was so eager to get hold of Eve Duncan to do the mask.

I was still puzzled about you, Celine, and I thought maybe I’d been right the first time and they just wanted you because your looks made you an asset.

But it was unusual that they’d wanted you bad enough that they’d actually argued about you.

So I went back and tried to remember everything that happened in the temple so I could puzzle it out. ”

“And did you manage to do it?” Celine asked.

“Yes, and it didn’t take that long. But it scared me.

And then after I got to know you I realized I couldn’t let you go when I knew what they probably intended to do to you.

There was a chance Eve Duncan might come out of it alive if she negotiated.

But they weren’t going to let you go until you fulfilled their purpose.

” She shook her head in frustration. “And you wouldn’t listen to me. ”

“And what was that purpose?” Dominic asked sharply. “Talk! What the hell did you remember, Kontara?”

“It was the placement of those framed pictures in the museum.” She turned and looked at him with something like desperation. “I told you they were hung on separate walls. The Eve Duncan photo was on a wall by itself, and it looked like a place of honor.”

She moistened her lips. “But the Celine photo was on an entirely opposite side of the temple. Her picture was the only photo on that wall, but there was a statue and some other objects on the fancy decorated gold shelves surrounding it. It was those objects that were being honored on her wall.”

“What kind of objects?” Celine whispered.

Kontara looked her straight in the eye. “You’ve probably guessed. Weapons. Daggers. Torches. Guns. Weapons of medieval torture. Even some kind of modern water torture gadget.”

Dominic was cursing softly and vehemently.

Celine reached out and touched his arm. “I see that we agree on what they intended my fate to be. Zakira evidently decided he needed a human sacrifice to go along with Eve Duncan’s death mask.

” She smiled wryly. “Not very complimentary. It makes me want to spit in their eyes and spoil all their carefully laid plans.”

“And all I want to do is keep you here and go after them myself.” Dominic added grimly, “I intend to use every one of those weapons to do serious damage to those bastards.”

“I won’t object.” Celine shivered. “As long as you don’t try to cheat me out of my share of the action.

” Her lips were trembling as she tried to smile.

“Though maybe I should thank Zakira for choosing me for such an important role. And here I thought he only wanted me to be another pretty face in his slave harem. I didn’t realize he wanted to make me a star. ”

“I don’t find that amusing,” Dominic said harshly.

“And I’ll lay odds that the statue on the shelf with the weapons is a copy of the Nefertiti statue.

He wants to ceremoniously replace it with one that you model for before your sacrifice, to show his followers how much more important and splendid his entombed queen is than any other in history. ”

“And glorify his own splendor by doing it,” Celine added grimly. “I admit I didn’t think about the significance of the statue at first. But then I was a little bit overwhelmed. I believe I may be starting to dislike Zakira even more than Caldwell.”

“It’s not a contest. They’ll both be dead men before this is over. I promise you.” His voice was absolutely implacable. “And now that you know what you’re facing, will you please stay here at the estate and let me take care of this?”

“It’s because of what they’re making me face that I can’t do that,” she said. “My father taught me that no one has the right to make a victim of me, and if they try I have to fight back.”

“I didn’t think so.” He was gazing at her with a mixture of desperation and helplessness before he threw up his hands in frustrated disgust. “Get into my jeep. I’m not letting you get more than a seat’s distance away from me until this dirty charade is over.

” He turned to Kontara. “Front jeep. Keep sharp. Don’t take chances.

Your job is to track, find, and report. When you’ve located the target, I’ll take a team in to do the rest. Understand? ”

She nodded absently but her gaze was still focused on Celine, and she took a half step forward. “This is wrong. I didn’t mean to—”

“Give it up,” Dominic said. “Drop it. I believe she’s had enough of a shock for the time being. She knows your intentions were good.” He gave Celine a gentle push toward his jeep. “I’m sorry as hell you weren’t successful, Kontara.”

“So am I.” She grimaced as she turned and headed for the jeep at the front of the column. “This isn’t a good idea. I hope she doesn’t regret it.”

“I’m getting a little tired of being spoken about as if I’m not here,” Celine said wearily as she got into the jeep.

“You’re right. I’m going to do this, so resign yourselves.

Now let me see if I can find something to keep me busy besides thinking about some weird creep of a priest who’s trying to pick just the right ceremonial spot to slit my throat.

” She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a few of the maps she’d been studying during the last few days she’d been at Bon Jaka.

“I’m going to ignore both of you and check out the trails on the first several miles from the estate that lead toward the falls… ”