The Night Ranger Read Online Free Page A

away. “Isn’t it too dangerous?”
    “You said that yesterday when I told you I was going to Witu.”
    “Just because you didn’t get killed doesn’t mean it was smart.”
    “Suggs says we’ll be fine. We drive to Garissa and then southeast so we don’t get too close to the border. Get to Mokowe in two or three hours, that’s on the coast, and from there it’s about a twenty-minute speedboat ride.”
    Gwen wished she didn’t have such a nasty headache. “What do you think, Owen?”
    “It’s probably okay as long as we have Suggs. Maybe we go one morning, stay a couple nights, drive back in the afternoon. I was talking to an MSF guy last week and he said it really is great. Plus all the millionaires are staying away, so if we go now we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
    Owen’s confidence was reassuring. Aside from his doomed love for her, he was a levelheaded guy.
    “When?”
    “Next week,” Scott said. “Before the rainy season starts.”
    “What about the reporter? Aren’t we supposed to be here to talk to her?”
    “She’ll be around a few days.”
    “I’ll talk to Hailey about it.” Gwen just trying to buy time now.
    Scott smiled. “She’s in. Said it sounded great.”
    Then Gwen knew that she was going, whether she felt like it or not.
    —
    The Land Cruiser had the usual supplies that African roads demanded. A full-size spare tire and a spare for the spare. A plastic jerrican of gasoline, two of water. Twenty yards of tow rope and two-by-fours to provide traction if the truck got caught in mud. A jack and a repair kit with every tool a mechanic might want.
    “Looks like we’re going across the continent, not on a two-night holiday,” Owen said. The four stood by the Toyota, waiting for Suggs. It was just past dawn. The air for once felt crisp, the stink of diesel gone. Gwen saw why Hailey liked this hour.
    “When did you start saying ‘holiday’?” Scott said. “It’s a vacation. Or maybe research.”
    “Research for what?” Hailey said.
    “The book I’m writing. Still trying to pick a title. Which do you like, ‘I Heart Refugees’ or ‘Kenya on Three Handouts a Day’?”
    “Shouldn’t you read a book before you try writing one?”
    “I don’t see why.”
    “You know what I love about you, Scott?”
    “Nothing?”
    Hailey laughed. “You think you know how ridiculous you are, but you have no idea.”
    Suggs walked across the compound’s central courtyard toward them. He had a big man’s rolling gait, short wide steps. He held a thermos and wore a bright orange polo shirt and lime-green pants. A pistol on his right hip completed the outfit.
    “He planning to play eighteen at the Dadaab country club?” Scott said.
    “I can never tell whether he’s riffing ironically off the African-fixer look or embracing it,” Owen said.
    “That is a very good question.”
    “Ready?” Suggs said.
    “As we’ll ever be,” Scott said.
    “We’ll be in Mokowe in four, maybe five hours.”
    “Then the boats?”
    “They will be happy to see you, I promise. Real Americans with real American money. Every Kenyan’s favorite.”
    “I feel so loved,” Owen said.
    No one argued when Scott took the front passenger seat. The other three sat in back, Owen in the middle, splaying his legs for maximum thigh-to-thigh contact with Gwen. Suggs shoved his gun under the driver’s seat and out the front gate they went. Gwen had a knot in her stomach, a mix of excitement and nervousness. She remembered feeling this way at her junior prom, knowing she’d be losing her virginity before the night was through. More than six years had passed since then. Amazing.
    “What are you thinking about?” Hailey said.
    “How glad I am to be on this trip with all of you. Even Scott.”
    “The Wisdom of the Barbie,” Scott said.
    Suggs stopped at the guardhouse to register their departure. But he seemed to hear something he didn’t like from Harry. They had a short, heated conversation in Swahili.