on-the-job training.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The cemetery Kelly and I staked out was a bust as soon as the sun cleared the horizon and started beating down on us . I sensed more than a few spirits hanging around, a benefit of my shamanic abilities, but not a djinn in sight.
“What now?” Kelly asked the question upper-most in my own mind.
I crinke d the stiffness in my neck away before looking around and answering, “Now we try plan B.”
“Which is?”
“Don’t have a clue.” The dust of donkeys and diesel buses choked the winding roadways near the cemetery entrance as the roads started filling up with more and more people. Lush red-pink flowers emitted a sweet scent in the air. But my mind wasn’t on the life of Kigali. “I was so sure the graves would be a perfect hiding spot.”
Kelly waited a beat before saying, “But what if he’s not hiding?”
I glanced sideways toward her. Former kindergarten teachers must think more laterally than I’d given them credit for. “Good point. So where would a Tuareg hang out?”
“A criminal Tuareg,” Kelly added.
“Sometimes you’re scary,” I said, wanting to high five her, which wasn’t a smart move in public. Instead I started heading toward the east, unfurling my map as I walked. There could be a hundred locations for criminal activity in Kigali. It wasn’t like there would be a neon sign flashing— trouble this direction . On the other hand I often felt like I had such an arrow pointed straight at me. Being sent to prison could do that to a person. Yeah, I’d killed a man. Well, technically a Were attacking my brother who had been in the middle of shifting to his wolf self. A vulnerable position and one that could have given me the defense of justifiable homicide, if humans knew about preternaturals.
They didn’t. But that was water under the bridge. Right now I needed to focus on finding me a slime bucket of a djinn.
Kelly double-timed it to keep up with me. “Where to now?”
“Where’s the most likely place to find a Tuareg tribesman away from his home area?”
“With other Tuaregs,” Kelly smiled.
Give the woman a gold star. “And what’s this place remind you of?” I asked, waving my hand to indicate the city.
She glanced around. “You mean Kigali?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. Africa.”
I smiled, pushing back the alasho headscarf. Not enough to reveal my face or hair. I had to admit it made a heck of a disguise, sort of like being a masked bandit, which is what had given me an idea. “Think harder. Look around.”
Kelly slowed as she did what I’d asked, then a smile spread over her face. “Okay. It’s like that scene in the first Star Wars movie with Harrison Ford.”
She was getting warmer. I looked up to orient myself. Kigali was built on a series of hills. With the wealthier tending to hold the high ground, which meant we headed toward where desperation drove life, the valleys. In particular a place called the Caplaki .
“I give up,” Kelly said at last as I gazed up and down the Ave de l'Armée .
“The wild, wild west,” I murmured, glancing from map to nearest road signs. “And you know what that means?”
“No.”
“No rules and anything goes. Which works in our favor.”
I thought I heard her groan as I chewed my lip.
“It was supposed to be here.” I double-checked once more that I was next to the Milles Collines , when I mumbled, “Just a sec.”
A few quick words to a man standing outside the posh--by Kaligi standards--hotel and I waved Kelly after me. “Come on.”
Bless her, she didn’t ask for details or drag her feet until we reached the newer Caplaki Market.
“Where are we?” Kelly asked, her eyes saucer wide as she edged closer to me. The sounds of vendors shouting and buyers haggling made a solid din, but nothing more than a good country rodeo boasted.
Sellers were lined up in fixed stalls, hawking everything from fresh produce to carvings and masks smuggled across the
CHAPTER EIGHT
The cemetery Kelly and I staked out was a bust as soon as the sun cleared the horizon and started beating down on us . I sensed more than a few spirits hanging around, a benefit of my shamanic abilities, but not a djinn in sight.
“What now?” Kelly asked the question upper-most in my own mind.
I crinke d the stiffness in my neck away before looking around and answering, “Now we try plan B.”
“Which is?”
“Don’t have a clue.” The dust of donkeys and diesel buses choked the winding roadways near the cemetery entrance as the roads started filling up with more and more people. Lush red-pink flowers emitted a sweet scent in the air. But my mind wasn’t on the life of Kigali. “I was so sure the graves would be a perfect hiding spot.”
Kelly waited a beat before saying, “But what if he’s not hiding?”
I glanced sideways toward her. Former kindergarten teachers must think more laterally than I’d given them credit for. “Good point. So where would a Tuareg hang out?”
“A criminal Tuareg,” Kelly added.
“Sometimes you’re scary,” I said, wanting to high five her, which wasn’t a smart move in public. Instead I started heading toward the east, unfurling my map as I walked. There could be a hundred locations for criminal activity in Kigali. It wasn’t like there would be a neon sign flashing— trouble this direction . On the other hand I often felt like I had such an arrow pointed straight at me. Being sent to prison could do that to a person. Yeah, I’d killed a man. Well, technically a Were attacking my brother who had been in the middle of shifting to his wolf self. A vulnerable position and one that could have given me the defense of justifiable homicide, if humans knew about preternaturals.
They didn’t. But that was water under the bridge. Right now I needed to focus on finding me a slime bucket of a djinn.
Kelly double-timed it to keep up with me. “Where to now?”
“Where’s the most likely place to find a Tuareg tribesman away from his home area?”
“With other Tuaregs,” Kelly smiled.
Give the woman a gold star. “And what’s this place remind you of?” I asked, waving my hand to indicate the city.
She glanced around. “You mean Kigali?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. Africa.”
I smiled, pushing back the alasho headscarf. Not enough to reveal my face or hair. I had to admit it made a heck of a disguise, sort of like being a masked bandit, which is what had given me an idea. “Think harder. Look around.”
Kelly slowed as she did what I’d asked, then a smile spread over her face. “Okay. It’s like that scene in the first Star Wars movie with Harrison Ford.”
She was getting warmer. I looked up to orient myself. Kigali was built on a series of hills. With the wealthier tending to hold the high ground, which meant we headed toward where desperation drove life, the valleys. In particular a place called the Caplaki .
“I give up,” Kelly said at last as I gazed up and down the Ave de l'Armée .
“The wild, wild west,” I murmured, glancing from map to nearest road signs. “And you know what that means?”
“No.”
“No rules and anything goes. Which works in our favor.”
I thought I heard her groan as I chewed my lip.
“It was supposed to be here.” I double-checked once more that I was next to the Milles Collines , when I mumbled, “Just a sec.”
A few quick words to a man standing outside the posh--by Kaligi standards--hotel and I waved Kelly after me. “Come on.”
Bless her, she didn’t ask for details or drag her feet until we reached the newer Caplaki Market.
“Where are we?” Kelly asked, her eyes saucer wide as she edged closer to me. The sounds of vendors shouting and buyers haggling made a solid din, but nothing more than a good country rodeo boasted.
Sellers were lined up in fixed stalls, hawking everything from fresh produce to carvings and masks smuggled across the
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