The Guardian (A Wounded Warrior Novel) by Anna del Mar

Author:Anna del Mar [del Mar, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780979968273
Published: 2017-09-18T18:30:00+00:00

19

Jade

Zanzibar, where the Arabs met Africa and birthed an island out of the sordid affair. From the back of the car, I watched the throng go about their business, faces lustrous with sweat, a study in contrasts.

Men dressed in western fashions or wearing white robes and small caps staffed the market stalls and crowded the streets. Girls of all ages wore colorful hijabs in addition to their school uniforms. Women with long robes and their faces covered defied the stifling heat, while a few Indian ladies walked along the same street wearing saris and baring their midriffs. Tourists flaunting cleavage, bare shoulders and legs challenged the Muslim dress code and added to the chaotic melting pot. I sighed. We westerners were so conspicuous wherever we went.

As we made our way from the airport to our hotel in historic Stone Town, a strong sun highlighted the diversity that populated the crooked roads. We’d flown from the station in Matthias’s Cessna. Of course, self-reliant Matthias would own his own plane. I don’t know why I’d been surprised about that in the first place. It was a bright, shiny toy he drove out of the station airport’s private hangar, a lovingly maintained TTX single-engine four-seater, with a cream leather interior and a sleek, elegant console.

The three hour flight had been a delight, after I settled my nerves and realized that Matthias was a very good, experienced pilot. He flew the plane with the same poise and confidence he applied to everything he did. Not that he needed an image boost after taking care of me last night. Watching him fly just added to his sex appeal. God, help me, I was falling too fast and hard for this guy.

I could’ve refused to come with Matthias. He wouldn’t force me to do anything against my will. But I’d wanted to come. I was exhausted from fighting my emotions and I had an ulterior motive for coming along. I’d learned a lot about Matthias and yet I didn’t have the full picture on him. I hadn’t peeled off all of his layers yet. I hadn’t gotten to his core. He was holding out on me, why, I wasn’t sure. Plus, there were a few red flags that needed some serious sorting out. I’d come to Zanzibar to find out once and for all who the real Matthias Hawking was.

I slept on and off throughout our flight, still groggy from whatever drug had taken me down. Powerful stuff, that was. At some point, I mustered some energy to keep my eyes open, let go of my seat, and enjoy the scenic views of Africa.

We flew by the massive, snow-speckled heights of Kilimanjaro and over vast expanses of land pockmarked with the small, irregular circles formed by the traditional palisades that surround the bomas, where the Maasai lived in family compounds. My camera clicked the entire time. Looking down, Africa could’ve been a peaceful giant slumbering at my feet. But peace, of course, was only an illusion. The poachers were down there, plotting, killing, smuggling.

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