Page 37 - Archangel

Skye ensured he was out of earshot and dialed a number at the other
end of the world. In moments, a deep, Southern voice answered MacIain
in Gullah with a snicker, saying, “Only one crazy ass Geechee would be
calling from Africa, and at this hour. How the hell are you, Cousin?”
“You’d know one like yourself, Buckra! It’s good hearing your voice,
Dane,” Skye responded. “How’s your favorite marine biologist, and that
beautiful daughter, who thankfully looks like your wife instead of you?”
Laughing, he responded, “We’re all good. Since your prefix screams
‘satellite phone,’ we’ll catch up later when y’all come this way. You owe me
surfing that shore break at Tybee Island’s North Point.”
“On the money as usual,” Skye admitted. “I’ve got two minutes and
you already know the basics about our evacuating refugees before they’re
slaughtered in Rwanda.”
“Copy that,” Dane responded. “Grandma says, ‘That Skye is brave, but
sometimes he doesn’t have a lick of common sense!’ How can I help?”
After a painful pause, MacIain croaked out, “We’ve lost two teammates,
Dane, incredible women who sacrificed everything to help others, and now
they’re dead. Keezie betrayed, drawn and quartered, and fed to wild dogs,
and the latest, Layla, tortured, strung up on a Rwandan shoreline, and
dangling from a rope like a butchered antelope.”
“Damn. I’m sorry, buddy. Whatever you need, Skye. It’s done, if it can
be,” Gunn promised.
MacIain continued, “I’ve got evidence that something or someone
called ‘EuroMining International’ may have had something to do with
the murder.”
“Those slippery bastards have been on the radar before, but nothing that
sticks and is ‘actionable,’” Dane observed. “They’re evil. They’ve got their
hands in poaching endangered species, in blood diamonds, and stealing
lands from peasants which feature deposits of natural elements like those
in phones and computers. Apparently, EMI is often the mouthpiece and
broker for the Chinese who are buying up half the African continent from
crooked elected and tribal leaders.”
Skye responded, “Copy. I need to know what they do. Where they do
it. Who owns it. Who runs it. And why the hell they would be supporting
Interahamwe butchers fueling genocide in or near Rwanda.”
“I’ll try and run something down. Should I revert to this number, an
e-mail, what?,” Dane asked.
MacIain considered and then suggested, “E-mail via the address you
have on file, and I’ll pick it up when I depart.”

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