A single question ran through David’s mind: What side is he on? He needed a way to test Kamau’s allegiances without revealing his own. “Why haven’t you told him?”
“Because you have not told him. I believe you have not done so for a reason, though I do not know what it is. Three years ago, you saved my life in the Gulf of Aden.”
David remembered the operation: a combined Clocktower strike force from several stations had worked to dismantle a pirate ring. Kamau had been an operative from the Nairobi station. He was a skilled soldier who had simply been unlucky that day. His team had boarded the second of three pirate ships and they had quickly been overrun—it had been impossible to estimate the number of combatants inside each ship. David’s team had secured their boat, then moved to reinforce Kamau’s team. It had been too late for many of the members.
Kamau continued. “I had never seen anyone fight the way you did. I have not since. If keeping your identity a secret can help repay my debt to you, I will keep it. And I will help you, if you want it, if you are here to do what I believe you will.”
Was it bait, David wondered, to draw him out? In his mind, he inched toward trusting Kamau. He needed more information. “How’d you end up here?”
“I took a piece of shrapnel in the leg three months ago. Clocktower gave me medical leave, and I wanted to get out of Nairobi. I had family in Tangier. I recuperated there until the plague hit. It wiped the city out in a few days. I made my way here. They gave all the Clocktower operatives commissions in the Immari Army. I was assigned the rank of captain. Station chiefs were made lieutenant colonels, which is partly why Major Rukin believes your story. Northern Africa is dangerous for anyone alone, even a soldier. I took refuge here; I had no other choice.”
“What is this place?”
Kamau looked confused. “You do not know?”
David focused on him. The next answer would reveal where Kamau came out, what he really believed. “I want to hear it from you.”
Kamau straightened. “This is a wretched place. Hell’s doorstep. It is a processing center. A place where they bring the survivors from Africa and the islands of the Mediterranean. And soon, those from southern Spain.”
“Survivors…” David said. Then it occurred to him. “Of the plague.”
Kamau looked at him with even more confusion.
“I’ve been… out of the loop for a while. I need you to bring me up to speed.”
Kamau told him about the global outbreak and the fall of nations around the world. The rise of the Orchid Districts and the Immari master plan. David took it in. It was truly a nightmare scenario.
“They bring the survivors here,” David said. “What do they do with them?”
“They separate the strong from the weak.”
“What do they do with the weak?”
“They send them back, on the plague barges. They feed them to the sea.”
David sat down at the table, trying to grasp the horror. Why?
Kamau seemed to read David’s mind. “The Immari are building an army. The largest in history. The rumor is that they found something in Antarctica. But there are so many rumors. They say Dorian Sloane has returned. That he cannot be killed. What Rukin told you is true: there was an explosion yesterday in Germany, at the Immari Headquarters. There is talk of all-out war, but the Allies have another problem. They say that their miracle drug, Orchid, no longer works, that the wave of death has restarted around the world. People believe this is the end.”
David rubbed his temples. “You said you thought you knew why I was here.”
Kamau nodded. “You are here to destroy this place, are you not?”
As the words were spoken, David made up his mind. Was this the measure of a soldier, to fight a just fight, even if it was lost? What else could he do? He desperately wanted to find Kate, but he wouldn’t run, not from this. In that moment, more than any other in his life, he knew what he was. He would die fighting. Actually, it was becoming a habit for him. He tried not to think about that, about awakening in the tubes, about what he was. Here and now—that was what mattered. “Yes. I’m here to destroy this place. You said you would help me?”
“I will.”
David eyed Kamau, still trying to decide whether he trusted him. “Why haven’t you tried before? You’ve been here for…”
“Two months.” Kamau paced away from David. “I did not know the Immari plan before I arrived here. Nor did I know Clocktower was their covert ops branch. I was shocked and horrified when I learned the truth.”
David knew the feeling. He let Kamau continue.
“I was trapped here in Ceuta. The world was desperate. I only knew that survivors came here and found refuge. I had no idea… that I would make a deal with the devil to survive. There was no way for me to take the base. I had no choice. Before yesterday, there were almost a hundred thousand Immari troops stationed here.”
“And now?”
“About six thousand.”
“How many would fight with us?”