Bearly Gold by N. D. Jones

Author:N. D. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kuumba Publishing LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“The kid gave you a long-ass to-do list.” Kwame pulled Fayola close for a one-arm hug. “With all of these missions, we might as well call the kid Kamau Jwahir.”

Squeezed between Jelani and Kwame, they stood opposite Jwahir’s big pink heart.

“She didn’t mean it that way.”

Kissing her cheek, Kwame held her tight but not long.

Fayola had missed him, too, although neither had uttered the words.

“I’m sure she didn’t, but that doesn’t change the facts. Omitting Jwahir and the two deceased boys, that leaves eighteen unaccounted-for children.”

Despite her guilt, Fayola refused to soothe herself by entertaining the possibility that Jwahir’s situation with Mr. Seager was an anomaly.

In the face of my wrath, Seager admitted to purchasing Jwahir from the Sotos. As despicable of a person as he was, the man told me the truth.

Jelani’s hand slid into hers. The back-and-forth caress of his thumb was a silent reassurance. But no words or actions could minimize her regret.

“The truth was right in front of me, but all I saw were twenty-one obstacles to completing my fortieth and final mission.”

“You saved them,” Jelani said.

“Not all.” Her gaze rose to two names on the heart design—Peng and Orion. “After everything the children went through to get across the border, I turned around and returned them to a woman as dangerous as the soldiers they’d fled.”

“You didn’t know.” Hands going to her shoulders, Jelani turned her to face him. “Anyone can be deceived, even a veteran soldier. Criminals like Dr. Pérez-Soto perfect the art of deception. That, more than anything else, is how people like the Sotos earn the trust they don’t deserve.”

Kwame rested his chin atop her head, an annoying reminder of their height difference. “Skilled liars and manipulators, those kinds of criminals are the hardest to discern. But once we do, once we take away their advantage, they go down just like any punk on the street.”

Jelani’s hands slid from Fayola’s shoulders to her cheeks, cradling her face. “Kwame is right. We have all been victims of con artists. It doesn’t feel good. But I won’t offer you a bullshit pep talk because I would feel the same if I was on that mission instead of you. This is what I know. That was the first and last time you’d be deceived by the Sotos. Our job is to guarantee they aren’t allowed to trick others into trusting them.”

Warmth radiated from her, filling the small space between them like convection currents rising from a hot pavement—shimmers of heat.

“Umm . . . when did you guys become a threesome?” Durah cleared her throat, too late, if interrupting an intimate moment.

Laughing, Kwame removed his chin from Fayola’s head but gave her a quick squeeze around her waist before stepping back. “Tried that once five years ago. It works better when two of the three aren’t already a couple going in.”

“Spilling secrets,” Fayola said, feeling more like her pre-incarcerated self the longer she stayed in her friends’ company. “People we know?”

“No.”

“Liar,” she accused with the same lack of conviction as his quick one-word reply.

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