A Silent Reckoning: Sinner's Empire by Nikita Slater (ereader iphone .txt) 📗

but he didn’t. He has always held the belief that freedom and democracy should take hold and flourish without corruption.”

“A dangerous belief, both admirable and naive,” Havel piped up from his seat across the aisle. He opened his eyes and pinned Ayaan with his no-nonsense stare.

Havel was in his usual position; several seats to Jozef’s left. It was both practical and symbolic. Havel always stood to Jozef’s left because Jozef was right-handed and could protect his right-hand side. Havel’s position on the airplane also put him closest to the door in case they needed to make an emergency exit.

“My brother is not naive,” Ayaan defended sharply. “And neither am I. We know that Muhammed’s work is dangerous, but he has also helped many people throughout central Africa. His work is important.”

Jozef snorted while Havel laughed out loud.

“We’ve seen the ‘important work’ he’s done in the villages he’s razed,” Havel pointed out. “You won’t convince me your brother is anything other than a mercenary.”

“Those are lies!” Ayaan said sharply. “Insurrectionists burned those villages and said it was my brother. He was trying to help them, not kill them. What does he want with a burned-out village?”

Havel shrugged, but leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees as though interested in the conversation. “To use them as an example to anyone else who refuses to fall in line. Sometimes a few deaths will save many more. Your brother strikes me as a man who would use this type of tactic.”

“The villages were no threat to us,” she said scornfully. “They were often suspicious and hostile toward the idea of a united democracy, as they had been taught to believe that any form of government was inevitably corrupt and against their chosen way of life. Despite this thinking, many of them welcomed us with open arms. They fed and protected us when we travelled. They did not harm us, and we would not have harmed them.”

“We?” Havel asked. “Did you work with Radik?”

Ayaan nodded. “I am… I used to be one of his soldiers.”

Havel looked at Jozef in surprise.

It was as Jozef had suspected; the girl had been raised a soldier. She was clearly capable of handling herself, but Radik took some dangerous jobs. Is seemed inconceivable that the sister he’d shown such love for, he’d also put in dangerous situations.

Then, Jozef had been raised with a different way of thinking. Even though his aunt and cousins could handle themselves, it was a family rule that they were to be protected at all times. Cherished. Not directly involved in business.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Ayaan said, her voice softening as she looked at Jozef.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“You think my brother could not have loved me as much as he professes if he puts me in danger.” He nodded that she had guessed correctly. She settled back in her chair, wiggling to find a comfortable spot. Then she looked back over at Jozef, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “He didn’t have much choice. I was a strong-willed child. If he hadn’t looked past my gender to the potential within, I would have followed him into battle anyway. I believe he thought training me himself was the lesser of two evils.”

Jozef thought she had been indulged as a child and perhaps needed to be strictly curbed. But then, she was right. If a male child within the Koba organization had shown potential, the family would not have hesitated in making them an enforcer and putting them on the streets.

Perhaps the world was changing and women were becoming more accepted into risky careers, such as mercenary work. Still, Jozef couldn’t shake his bone-deep desire to protect the women he cared about. He couldn’t imagine sending any of them into battle the way he sent Havel, whom he loved as a brother.

“I’ve given you something to think about, haven’t I?” Ayaan said, watching Jozef curiously.

His lip twitched with amusement. If she ever wanted to switch professions from professional soldier to mind-reader, he would give her his endorsement. She was a perceptive girl.

Jozef straightened in his chair and pointed at Havel then at his own mouth. Havel nodded that he understood Jozef wanted him to translate.

If you’re as capable as you say, then why are you relocating away from your home? Your brother suggested that you would be in danger if you stayed, yet you’re a trained soldier.

She nodded. “Yeah, I thought the same thing when he brought it up. Radik’s enemies are always closing in. We’ve moved with dizzying frequency, tearing down and setting up our lives so often I can be ready to move in a matter of minutes.”

Jozef nodded, not surprised. Central Africa could be alarmingly uncivilized. A home could be burnt to the ground and the inhabitants murdered and, depending on the location, it might never be known. The Koba family owned an impenetrable stronghold in the heart of a society too civilized to be a danger to them. They were sharks hiding in plain sight.

Ayaan continued. “The thing is, the threat wasn’t coming from my brother’s enemies, but another warlord, living nearby our territory. Chinaka.”

He threatened you?

“Not at first,” she admitted. “Chinaka tried to woo me. He figured if he could convince me to marry him, he could combine his forces with Muhammed’s. Only I didn’t fall in line with his plans. The man is a real psycho. Those pictures you saw of burned-out villages could have been his handiwork.”

“So, we’re rescuing you from a would-be suitor?” Havel asked incredulously. “Your brother is willing to pay a hell of a lot to get you away from the guy.”

“He was a would-be suitor to begin with,” Ayaan corrected. “When I rejected him, he turned from a suitor to a kidnapper.”

Jozef frowned sharply. He kidnapped you?

“Yes,” she admitted. “He took me while I was out on patrol, killing the others in my team.” Her eyes dimmed with the memory. “His plan was to force me to live with him until I got pregnant.