Three men were dead, two injured, and none had ever reached the Kaiser Franz. Mungabe set his teeth together while Talek asked the questions. “What happened? How is it three boats were unable to take the cruise liner? A bunch of weak tourists overcame you?” Talek screamed his derision at the crew. One of his lieutenants screamed back. “We were hit from behind! A second craft hid in the shadows, waiting to attack. It launched grenades at us as we fought forward.” “Who was on this boat?” Mungabe asked. The crewman turned to him, fear in his dark eyes. “An African. Maybe Kenyan, I don’t know, and two Westerners. But, Mungabe, this is the thing—I could have sworn that the boat they used was Ali’s.” Ali the thief held few loyalties, but generally he would not cross a warlord unless under great pressure. Whoever paid for the boat held enough power to frighten Ali or was many times smarter than him. Mungabe lowered himself to his deck chair to think. An assistant brought him a pot of hot tea, bowing as he backed away.
