The Leopard's Prey Part 20

"We will guard the ar-plane, Simba Jike, until you or Bwana Mti Mguu come for it. And we will take care of the toto for you."

"I promise we will come for them soon. Until then, goodbye, and may Engai watch over you and give you many cattle and children."

"Goodbye, Simba Jike. Good hunting. May Engai s.h.i.+eld you with his wings."

With that last wish, Tajewo again gripped his spear in his right hand, turned, and loped off, his thigh bell jingling in clear metallic notes. Jade watched him run, his long shadow the advance guard. When he and his shadow blended into one, she turned back to Mr. Chalmers and climbed into the front seat. As soon as she settled herself, exhaustion took over. But as much as she wanted to drift off to sleep, she couldn't let down her guard. Not yet.

My knee doesn't hurt. That's something in Chalmers' favor. But Jade never really knew how much stock to place in her war-wounded knee. Its tendency to ache just before a rainstorm or when someone was trying to kill her never really sat well with her, no matter what the old Berber woman had said about walking with death. Besides, it didn't hurt before I took off. Shouldn't it have given me some advance warning then?

She pondered that idea for a moment, feeling the warming air breeze past her as the truck jolted and bounced eastward to Naivasha. She already knew the answer. No one knew she'd be in the plane. They'd expected Sam. She sat up straighter and forced herself to stay awake.

"How did you manage to strand yourself out in this area, Miss del Cameron?"

"Engine malfunction," she said without explaining that the engine belonged to an airplane.

"Oh. I say, that's too bad. Where did you break down?"

Jade jerked her thumb over her shoulder to the west. "Near h.e.l.l's Gate."

Chalmers turned to look at her. "That's a far distance, miss. You're lucky that Maasai was friendly." He studied the faint track in front of him, squinting into the sun. "Must have been your tire tracks I was following then." He sounded disappointed.

Jade didn't contradict him and let him a.s.sume she'd been in an automobile. "Sorry, Mr. Chalmers. You were probably hoping you were on the path of someone who might have seen your pony, I suppose."

"Hmm, yes. Indeed." He squinted some more and dodged a wallow. "Say, you didn't happen to notice any signs of habitation out that way, did you? I understand more people are moving into the lake area."

"They must be closer to the lake, then," said Jade.

"Yes, of course. Sensible thought, I guess. I suppose you would rather I took you back into Nairobi or should I leave you at Naivasha?"

Jade heard the hope in his voice when he said Naivasha. Clearly, he didn't want to go all the way into Nairobi and preferred to resume his search, but she suspected it wasn't the pony that he was looking for. He was too far from his farm to expect to find it out here. If she was going to keep Mrs. Stokes' secret, Jade needed to draw him farther away.

"I do need to get back to Nairobi," Jade said. "My friends will be very worried about me."

"Very well." Instead of circling the lake and heading north up its eastern side to reach the town of Naivasha, Chalmers kept the truck nosed due east, intending to intersect the road south to Nairobi.

Jade decided to gauge his impression of Sam, hoping that an off-the-cuff question would catch him off guard. "I believe you've met one of my friends, Sam Featherstone. What do you think of him?"

Chalmers didn't so much as blink. "I can't say as I thought anything of him." He shrugged. "I suppose he's your young man?"

"We're good friends," Jade said. "But you never married, Mr. Chalmers?"

"No." Chalmers kept his eyes on the path ahead and found a spot where the Uganda rails lay low to the ground. Jade held on to the door and the seat as the truck rocked and jolted over the tracks. After the silence ran on for a minute longer, he added, "There were not always as many women here in the colony as there are now."

And, thought Jade, there was probably always someone more handsome to attract them. A pity, really. His gaunt, pinched face could have belonged to Abe Lincoln's homely brother, but it had character. Besides, he seemed to be a stable man, quiet and hardworking. That should have gone far with a woman out here.

"Pity about Mr. Stokes, isn't it?" she asked. "Wonder what happened to his wife. What was her name? Anna?"

"Alice," he said, reciting it as one might a prayer.

"That's right, Alice. Where could she have gone? Did you know her?" Jade thought about the photo on his table, the only clean object in a filthy house.

"I knew her." The words were whispered, a treasured memory slipping away. He didn't add anything else.

They hit the Limuru Road and turned south to Nairobi. The road's pounded murram soil was rutted in spots from the last rains, and the truck springs worn to nothing. Between her fatigue and the jolting, Jade decided further conversation was not only useless but also painful. Her head ached. She settled for watching the surrounding land for any sign of wildlife. With the exception of one warthog off to the side, she didn't see any. No wonder newcomers could claim that they'd never seen a lion or a rhino. As they neared the Limuru bridge with its warped boards, Chalmers asked her where he should leave her.

Good question. The logical place would have been Neville and Maddy's farm, since she'd taken off from there. She knew Maddy would be frantic by now. But Jade's concern for Sam's well-being overrode all else. Every moment that he was unaware of the attempt on his life was a continued risk. She had to warn him first and see for herself that he was all right. Then she could ease her friends' anxieties.

"The European hospital," she said.

Chalmers gave her an openmouthed stare. "Are you hurt?"

"Nothing serious," she said and smiled to give some appearance of truth. "Merely precautionary." If he had tried to kill Sam, she didn't want him to know where he was.

Her chosen destination seemed to make Chalmers nervous, and once he'd crossed the rickety Limuru bridge, he sped up and raced down the road. He nearly collided with a rickshaw taxi where the road intersected with Sclater's Road and Forest Road.

"Slow down, please, Mr. Chalmers. I'm okay. I'd like to stay that way. You'll get a fine."

The thought of riling a constable went far toward tempering Chalmer's driving. He turned onto Government Road at a more reasonable speed. Then, just as he veered right toward the hill, Jade saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Sam!

"Stop!" she shouted.

Chalmers. .h.i.t the brake fast enough to throw them forward. "Did I hit someone?"

"No. Sorry, Mr. Chalmers. It's just that I saw my friends in front of the Norfolk. They will be looking for me, so I'd better go to them first."

He pulled to the edge of the road, and Jade jumped out. "Thank you so much, Mr. Chalmers. You've been a G.o.dsend. I don't have any money with me at present, but I promise I'll repay you for your gasoline."

"Think nothing of it, Miss del Cameron. I wouldn't dream of taking advantage of a lady in distress that way. Er, are you quite certain you're all right? I can take you to the hospital."

"I'm fine. Just fatigued, that's all." She smiled and held out her hand. When he took it, she shook his and thanked him again, using a blessing she'd learned from the Berbers. "G.o.d reward you according to your merits, Mr. Chalmers." It was a handy blessing, especially for someone you didn't know well and might just as well curse if you did.

She raced across the broad street, dodging the few rickshaws that were about that early in the morning. Luckily, most people of Nairobi didn't rouse themselves until nine a.m. at least, and it was barely past that now.

Sam, Avery, and Neville caught sight of her running toward them and shouted to her. Broad grins spread across their faces, and Avery tossed his hat into the air with a whoop. Behind them, she spotted Mr. Harding. Was he part of a search party in the formation? Harding's expression wasn't as exuberant, but showed that he was either happy to see her alive or happy not to have to mount a search. She didn't care. Her attention was fixed on Sam. His angular face, pale from his illness, showed a palpable relief.

Sam stepped forward, his arms open and extended, ready to receive her. She ran into them, nearly bowling him over. Their words tumbled out, flowing together like water joining at a confluence of streams.

"It's so good to see you, Sam."

"Thank heavens, you're all right!"

"You're out of the hospital! I was so worried."

"Are you hurt?"

"You should still be resting."

"You don't look bruised," he said, studying her face.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier that you felt sick?"

"What were you thinking, going up alone like that?" He held her at arm's length.

"You told me to. You begged me."

"I was delirious!"

"How the h.e.l.l was I supposed to know you didn't mean it?"

"A dim-witted child could have told that."

"Yeah? Well, I'm neither a dimwit nor a child, Sam Featherstone." She poked him on the chest and broke free. "And if you hadn't been sulking around like a pouty child, you might have shared some of those symptoms beforehand."

"Sulking? Pouty?" He threw up his arms before wagging his finger at her. "That really fries my fritters! I'm not the one deceiving people."

"Deceiving!" Jade's fist clenched and she gritted her teeth. "You'd better have a good explanation there, pal, or . . . Just when did I deceive you?"

"When you went off to catch that first leopard. You never said you were the bait. You made it sound like just another easy capture."

"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, buster! I didn't know I needed to get your permission. And you could've let me know where you were going at the dance instead of leaving me waiting for you."

"I got arrested!" His voice rose in volume.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't arrest you, so don't take it out on me."

"And you don't need to take it out on my poor plane. You broke my plane!"

"I didn't break the plane. It's just a rip on the wing fabric."

"What'd you do? Try to land on a rhino?"

"Ooooh! You big lummox. For your information, the engine cut out, and I had to land."

"You didn't drain the water beforehand? How many pre-flights do you need to know you always drain the water out of the gas?"

"And do you usually peer down into the tank to see if anyone's planted a wad of dirt and gra.s.s, too? 'Cause I missed that one."

Sam's jaw dropped and he stared at her angry face for a few seconds. "Someone sabotaged my Jenny?"

Jade nodded. "Someone tried to kill you."

"You could have been killed?" he said at the same time.

He reached for her and pulled her into a tight embrace. They held on to each other as though the other would evaporate like a morning dream if they let go.

"Sam, I was so worried about you."

"I'm so sorry, Jade." He kissed her brow and her hair, and he had just parted his lips to engulf hers when someone coughed behind him. Sam released Jade and stepped back a pace.

"Glad to see you safe and sound, Jade," said Avery. "We've been in quite a stew since we found out you'd disappeared." He pulled out his pipe and filled it with tobacco.

"Sorry we didn't look for you sooner," said Neville. "I was into the machinery all day, as was Maddy, and Kimathi didn't report you missing until late last night."

"It appears you no longer need me anymore, so I'll just go on back home."

Jade peered around Sam to see the speaker. "Ah, Mr. Harding. Thank you very much for being part of the search party. I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you." In the morning light, the man looked sickly, his face more like yellowed parchment bleeding into his eyes. Liver trouble?

Harding touched his hat brim. "Not at all, Miss del Cameron. Just glad to see you alive and unharmed." He nodded to Sam, Neville, and Avery. "Gentlemen."

"Mr. Harding, thank you again," said Sam, extending his right hand.

Harding looked mildly embarra.s.sed, ducking his head a bit, his lips tight. Then he shook Sam's hand. "Sorry the others weren't in any shape to help out. Not that it mattered in the end." He pulled his hands back and shoved them in his pockets. "Was that Chalmers driving you in?" He looked across the street to where Chalmers had just parked his vehicle and was getting out.

"Yes, I ran into him just west of Mount Longonot. He was looking for his missing pony."

Harding shook his head. "That's why he didn't come last night. b.l.o.o.d.y fool." Then he glanced at Jade and reddened. "Pardon me. Strong language."

"d.a.m.n right it is," said Jade with a grin. Mr. Harding managed a wan smile, touched his brim again and got into his truck. Jade and the others watched him drive away; then Sam slipped his arm around Jade's waist.

"So," said Avery, puffing on his pipe, "someone deliberately fouled the engine?"

"Yes. When I looked in to see if it had gone empty, I saw the remnants of a paper wrap and thread. Someone bound up dirt and gra.s.s inside and hung it in the fuel tank. It took a while for the paper to dissolve enough to release the contents. So the b.a.s.t.a.r.d clearly wasn't trying to prevent takeoff."

"You need to tell that to the inspector," said Neville. "And I need to get home and a.s.sure Maddy that you're safe and sound." He shook his head. "Someday, maybe there will be telephone service out to the farms."

"Thanks, Neville," said Sam, "for everything. I owe you."

"Think nothing of it. Just get back to helping me with that new washer as soon as you feel up to it." He shook hands with Avery, got into his own car, and drove off to his coffee farm.

"Neville's right, Sam. The inspector needs to know about this."

"Where did you put down, Jade?" Sam asked.

"South of Lake Naivasha, near h.e.l.l's Gate. Don't worry about the plane. There are a half dozen Maasai warriors guarding it for you."

"No fooling?"

"One is Ruta's brother. And I found a rhino calf. I think its mother rammed the train and suffered the worst for it. She died west of Longonot, and true to form, the calf stayed with her. The Maasai have taken the calf back to their kraal until Perkins and Daley come for it."

Sam lunged for Jade and grabbed her in a tight lock, hoisting her off her feet. "You saved my job. You're the bravest, most wonderful-" He leaned in to kiss her, but stopped short and glanced sideways at Avery.

"Pay no attention to me," Avery said as he turned his back. "A man's got to do what a man's got to do."

Sam grinned. Before Jade could remark that there were other people about on the streets now, Sam had already swooped in for the kiss. He tasted of bitter quinine and lime, but Jade didn't mind. His kiss still made the back of her neck tingle.

Someone driving by tooted their horn at them, and Sam released Jade. "I'll go to your compound and tell Perkins right away," he said. "Where should I direct him?"

Jade pulled out her notebook, tore out a page and drew a map showing the lake, Longonot, and h.e.l.l's Gate. "When they get to the plane, they should ask for Tajewo. He can lead them to the kraal. They should tell them that Bwana Mti Mguu sent them."