A Silent Reckoning: Sinner's Empire by Nikita Slater (world best books to read .TXT) 📕

He let the doors go.

Just before they closed, Shaun shouted, “Don’t you dare die! We’re not done talking about this.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Mogadishu had never been one of Jozef’s favourite places. It was hot and smelled like mildew and dirt. The red zone, where they were currently hiding out, smelled like shit too, from improper sewage disposal in that part of the city. They had to be constantly vigilant so as not to get caught up in the ongoing violence between sectors. The poverty was nearly overwhelming.

Ordinarily poverty in a region he was travelling through wouldn’t bother Jozef. He’d travelled the world, seen poverty of every kind.

Now, he was looking at it through Shaun’s eyes. Everywhere he looked he saw starving children, women prostituting themselves to feed their families, injustice.

“Ali, go get us something to eat,” Cooper said from his cot, where he was laying with his hands twined behind his head, staring at the ceiling. “I’m fucking sick of rations.”

“Why me?” Ali demanded.

Cooper pushed himself up to stare down the smaller tech guy. “You’re the only one of us who can blend in.”

Ali took immediate offence. “Fuck you, Coop. I don’t know if you noticed but I don’t look even close to fitting in here. They’ll take one look at me and peg me as a foreigner before I even open my mouth.”

Ali wasn’t far from the truth. Though he was the only person of colour on their team, his skin tone was still several shades lighter than most of the citizens of Mogadishu.

Jozef looked at his team through new eyes. Most were poached from mob families throughout Eastern Europe and Russia. A few were foreign, from the United States, Ireland and Egypt. No women. No one with darker skin than Ali. For the first time he contemplated the advantages of hiring for more diversity. The team could blend in better, depending on the region they worked in. A woman would be able to access places that men couldn’t.

Damn. Shaun was getting into his head. Making him think things he’d never thought about before. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Of course, he loved having her in his life, but it was an uncomfortable realization. He and the men on his team were far more privileged than most of the people in Mogadishu and surrounding areas.

Ali and Cooper were still arguing when Havel grunted, “No one’s leaving. We have enough rations to get us through until we get the green light on our mission. Shut up and relax, boys.”

Jozef stood and headed for the door.

“What about him?” Cooper asked. “Why’s he allowed to leave?”

“He can do whatever the fuck he wants,” Havel growled. “Now shut the fuck up. Some of us are trying to get some rest.”

“What happened to lead by example?”

“This isn’t a fucking democracy. Now I suggest you do as I say, or you’ll be chewing on a bullet next. Don’t give a fuck if your team’s down a man.”

Jozef didn’t hear if there was more back and forth. He pulled his ball cap lower on his head, lifted his collar and headed out into the street. His minor efforts at disguise weren’t particularly useful. He was pale as fuck with tattoos covering every inch of skin except for his face. He would stand out like a beacon in the night, and if anyone was targeting him, he wouldn’t be hard to find. It didn’t matter. Jozef hated being cooped up, especially after his stint in prison. In his mind, the freedom to go outside was worth the risk for him. Not for his men though. He needed them to stay inside and stay hidden. He didn’t care if the rules weren’t fair. As Havel pointed out, he wasn’t running a democracy.

Jozef had always been a restless person. He hated sitting for too long. But much of their time in Mogadishu had been spent sitting and waiting. Seven days, so far.

Jozef walked, his feet taking him in the same direction he went every time he stepped foot outdoors in Mogadishu. When he arrived at his destination, he stayed to the shadows, standing just inside an alleyway across the street from the free clinic. As there had been every day prior, there was a long lineup of mostly women and children. Some were obviously sick, while others waited for things like vaccinations and birth control.

Prior to this trip, Jozef hadn’t paid any attention to the health care systems in the different parts of the world. But through his observations, it became clear that Somalia had a huge need for medicine and not enough clinics and doctors to fill that need.

The free clinic he was watching was run by Doctors Without Borders. Most of the doctors and nurses going inside were from different parts of the world. He knew Shaun had worked in the refugee camps on the Chad border. He wondered if the conditions were similar but knew in his gut, they were probably worse.

He felt a strange mix of emotions as he imagined her working in this part of the world. Anger and fear that she would put herself in so much danger. He had proved to her how much danger she was in by kidnapping her from a different but no less risky place than this one.

He was also proud of his girl for doing some of the hardest work on the planet. She had brains, guts and beauty. She was truly a rare gift, one he intended to treasure for the rest of his days. A chill ran through him as he thought about how close he’d come to extinguishing all of that greatness.

Shaun had once told him that when he took a life, he wasn’t just taking the person, he was taking away their potential. Everything they could’ve accomplished in their lives. Her words had stuck with him, changed him. Not significantly, he admitted, but enough that he was more careful