Page 31 - Archangel

over failing to save the brave sister to whom was owed the lives of many.
Skye galvanized his recollection of the Land Rover and its markings.
Turning to his Kenyan comrade with the passion and piercing eyes of
Saint Michael, MacIain declared to him and all the Saints: “This isn’t
over. It’s just beginning. I will never stop, Layla! As long as blood money
from genocide gets legally laundered for profit through middlemen and
mines. As long as Bosnian warlord and convicted war criminal Illya Kosic
washes Balkans death money through the same Swiss bank that helped
finance Hitler’s mass murder decades ago. As long as that EuroMining CEO
finances militia who slaughter Africans for their lands mined for minerals
that make our phones and computers. Greed and murder are not bound by
continents, and neither is righteous vengeance.”
Pushing the motor to full throttle, he added, “And those of
you responsible for killing this angel?” he promised. “You’re dead
men walking.“
In pain but still conscious, Ndara feared that MacIain meant the pledge
which could be the death of him.
Fighting sleeplessness and hours of stress from potential discovery,
Skye and Ndara watched the African daybreak start to color the skies in
pastels as the bateau finally nuzzled the dock in Bukavu. Two hours prior,
MacIain had radioed ahead an ETA which passed one and a half hours ago.
Both before and after entering DRC waters, they twice killed the motor
to remain undetected as approaching boats with large engines and police
light configurations flew past.

bloody bukavu revisited

Rather than torches and singing, this time they were greeted by only
Dr. Collins, Ndara’s retired Special Forces medic Sergeant Ngetti who
had served with Kenyatta for years, and a pastor from the Operation
Moses coordinating committee who pronounced, “Their return to us is
a miracle!” Anguishing over the decision to share via radio or postpone
sharing the knowledge of Layla’s death with Sean, he chose the former as
Collins would have done for Skye out of compassion.
Sean and the Reverend were shocked by the normally virile MacIain’s
and Kenyatta’s appearances. Sergeant Ngetti was also visibly shaken by
the condition of the bullet-ridden and leaking bateau. Tying it off with
little faith it would ever float again, he answered Sean’s shocked request

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