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Chapters (96)
  1. Cover
  2. Berkley titles by David Ricciardi
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHARACTER LIST
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. FIFTY-THREE
  60. FIFTY-FOUR
  61. FIFTY-FIVE
  62. FIFTY-SIX
  63. FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. FIFTY-NINE
  66. SIXTY
  67. SIXTY-ONE
  68. SIXTY-TWO
  69. SIXTY-THREE
  70. SIXTY-FOUR
  71. SIXTY-FIVE
  72. SIXTY-SIX
  73. SIXTY-SEVEN
  74. SIXTY-EIGHT
  75. SIXTY-NINE
  76. SEVENTY
  77. SEVENTY-ONE
  78. SEVENTY-TWO
  79. SEVENTY-THREE
  80. SEVENTY-FOUR
  81. SEVENTY-FIVE
  82. SEVENTY-SIX
  83. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  84. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  85. SEVENTY-NINE
  86. EIGHTY
  87. EIGHTY-ONE
  88. EIGHTY-TWO
  89. EIGHTY-THREE
  90. EIGHTY-FOUR
  91. EIGHTY-FIVE
  92. EIGHTY-SIX
  93. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  94. Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation
  95. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  96. What’s next onyour reading list?

“On the wall it said something like ‘the building is a gift from Allah, a ladder, and a lion.’”

Pickens laughed.

“Seriously,” Jake said. “Gadhka Cas said the legend was injured during a boarding. Maybe the ladder broke and he fell into the ocean.”

“And was eaten by a lion?”

“Maybe it was a sea lion.”

Jake said it as a joke, but Pickens wasn’t laughing anymore. “Do you remember when you told me I needed to go back to language training?”

“I don’t, but it sounds like something I’d say. You don’t really think it was a sea lion, do you?”

“No, but the Somali word for ‘lion’ is libaax and the word for ‘shark’ is libaax badeed,” said Pickens. “I told you that there are two warlords locked in a fight for control of Somalia, right?”

“Yeah, the leader of the Darood and the leader of the Hawiye.”

“Well the leader of the Hawiye is from Kitadra, and they call him Badeed.”

SIXTEEN

THAT NIGHT OVER dinner, Jake and Pickens decided to return to Kitadra. They needed to learn more about Badeed, but they’d also killed four of the warlord’s clansmen—in his hometown. The trip would be dangerous, but it was a risk they needed to take.

They reached the outskirts of town around noon. An old fisherman was picking the morning’s catch out of a homemade wheelbarrow and throwing it into a broken refrigerator that had been flipped onto its back and repurposed as a cooler.

“This place is so damned poor,” Pickens said as he stared out the window at the old man. “Nothing gets wasted here.”

“Except maybe us,” said Jake. He was looking out the windshield at a Toyota pickup with flared fenders and chromed roll bars, parked on the side of the road. Three men with rifles were standing next to it in the shade of a palm tree.

A checkpoint.

Somalia was full of them, run by militias, clans, or civilians in uniform—basically anyone who thought he could make a buck and not get killed in the process. It was all about intimidation.

The pickup lurched into the road and blocked traffic. Jake tried to swerve around it, but he was boxed in with a heavy truck on his rear bumper and traffic in the oncoming lane. He slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop, denting the pickup’s fender in the last instant.

“That’s not good,” Jake said.

“Just be cool,” said Pickens. “They usually just want a few shillings.”