Last to die

Part Three

Thirty-one

Côte d’Ivoire is about the size of Germany or New Mexico. Jack’s problem was that getting from Germany to New Mexico is a heck of a lot easier than getting from the airport in Abidjan to the grasslands of the north.

“I don’t do puddle jumpers,” said Jack.

“You what?” said Theo.

“I just don’t. I’ve had some bad experiences, and I just don’t do them anymore.”

“You represent a badass like my brother, and you’re afraid of flying on a little plane?”

“No, I’m afraid of crashing on a little plane. Got no problem with flying.”

And so began the ground segment of their journey, a half-day bus ride on the heels of a seventeen-hour international flight. The road system of Côte d’Ivoire is among the best in West Africa, so it might have been bearable had the nine-hour trip to Korhogo been the end of the line. Unfortunately, Sally’s sister wasn’t in Korhogo, which surprised Jack. Before leaving Miami, he’d managed to contact her by e-mail, and from an Internet café in town she’d confirmed the meeting. A nice retired couple who ran the Children First headquarters gave Jack the bad news.

“She’s gone to Odie

“Oh, damn.”

“No, Odie

“I know, I meant…When is she coming back?”

“Don’t know. There was a little medical emergency she volunteered for.”

“How do we get to Odie

It was an indisputable fact that any trip, no matter how well pla

They rented an old Land Rover in Korhogo and took turns driving, headed due west. Roads between most major towns in Côte d’Ivoire were paved, with one major exception. The road from Korhogo to Odie

They reached the outskirts of Odie

“My back is killing me.”

“Don’t blame me,” said Theo.

“Nobody’s blaming anybody for anything.”

“Which only proves what a great guy I am.”

“What?”

“Next time we’re hoppin’ a plane from Abidjan. I don’t care if I have to pistol-whip you and tie you to the fucking wing.”

Jack cooled his face with a splash of water from his canteen. Theo was working on his second giant liter of Bock beer, which had been ice cold when they left Korhogo, but an afternoon temperature of thirty-four degrees Celsius had taken off the chill in short order.

“You think we’ll find her?” asked Jack.

“Yup.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Cuz if we don’t, you’ll bitch all the way home like a teenage girl, sayin’ this trip was all for nothin’. So get it through your head right now, Jacko. We ain’t leavin’ till we find her.”

“That was truly powerful,” said Jack. “Have you considered a career in motivational speaking?”

Theo sucked down the last of his beer and pretended to scratch the side of his head with just one finger, the middle one, fully extended.

They entered the city around six-thirty, minutes after the largely Muslim population of forty-seven thousand had finished the sunset prayer. It was a historic agricultural town, but the grand mosquée was all that remained of its architectural treasures. The rest of the old quarters had been hastily razed as part of a radical urbanization plan that replaced shady streets and traditional old homes with utterly unremarkable modern buildings, one more facet of the development crazy mentality that cost Côte d’Ivoire more of its rain forest than any other country on earth.

“What’s that smell?” asked Jack.

“Like charcoal,” said Theo.

They drove to Hôtel les Frontières, one of the best hotels in town, which was not where Rene Fe

“Was fire in market three day ago,” he said.

“That explains the smell,” said Theo.

“Dr. Rene come here to make help. Come. Follow.”

He led Jack and Theo outside, down a dusty walkway to the back of the building, where a large cafeteria had been converted into a hospital. About a half-dozen beds lined one wall, another dozen cots lined another wall, and dozens of brightly colored woven mats covered the floor. Most of them were empty, as if the emergency had passed. Jack counted eleven patients remaining, many with bandaged hands or arms.

A woman wearing a makeshift surgical mask, the only white woman in the room, approached them and said, “You must be Jack Swyteck.”

“Yes. This is my friend, Theo.”

She removed the scarf from around her face, and Jack realized it wasn’t a surgical mask, but rather an appropriate covering for a woman in a Muslim community, particularly a blond American trying extra hard not to offend. “I’m Rene,” she said as they shook hands. “You fellas mind stepping outside with me? You’re a little dusty, and we’re doing our best to keep down the risk of infection.”

She led them out the back door. Night had fallen, and it surprised Jack how the temperature had dropped in such a short time since sunset.

“Sorry I had to skedaddle out of Korhogo on you,” she said.

“That’s all right. Obviously it was an emergency.”

“The worst is over now. It took some doing, but we finally evacuated the most seriously injured to Abidjan.”

“Bet they wouldn’t have been afraid to fly,” said Theo.

“Excuse me?”

“Ignore him,” said Jack, shooting his friend a look that asked, “Is nothing sacred?”

Rene said, “Sorry for the way I look. I’ve hardly slept in two days. I know you’ve come a long way and would like to talk about Sally.”

“We can do it in the morning,” said Jack.

“Lunchtime would be so much better,” she said with a weary smile.

“That’s fine.”

She said, “There’s a maquis next door.”

“What’s a maquis?”

“You boys haven’t been here long, have you? It’s like a café. Let’s meet there at noon.”

“Great. See you then.”

She smiled and went back inside. As the door closed behind her, Jack and Theo looked at one another, as if sharing the exact same thought.

“Wow,” said Theo.

“Unca

“Ten minutes in the shower, and she is an absolute knockout.”

“Gee, all these years I thought you were shallow, and here you are, able to look past a woman’s outer layer of sweat and see all the way down to her true, naked, dripping-wet worth.”

“What the hell did you just say?”

“I said she looks pretty damn good even without a shower.”