'Hello,' Seronga said. 'Hello!' After a moment he glared at Aideen. 'No one is there.'
'No,' Aideen said. 'My superior did not want the Botswana Air Force tracing the call.'
'The air force? Why would they?' Seronga asked.
'Apparently, they found your camp in the Okavanga Swamp and are on their way,' she said.
Seronga stood very still for a moment. Then he turned and yelled to the man in the truck. 'Get the radio from the dash-
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board and call the camp,' Seronga said. 'Find out what the situation is.'
The man in the truck acknowledged the order. Seronga turned back to the others.
'What else do you know?' Seronga demanded.
'Just that,' Aideen replied.
Seronga waved his pistol at Aideen, Battat, and Maria. 'Get in your Jeep, all of you.'
'Why?' Battat asked.
'We are going to the camp,' Seronga said.
'To do what?' Battat asked.
'If there is some kind of attack, we must make certain it is stopped,' Seronga replied.
'How?' Battat asked.
'You two are Americans, I think,' Seronga said. 'We will contact the Botswana military and let them know you are there. They will be less inclined to attack if you are at risk.'
'We cannot tell anyone we are here,' Battat said.
'Why?' Seronga asked.
'Because officially, we are not here,' Battat said.
'But you are here, and lives are at risk,' Seronga said. 'Your legal status is a ridiculous point.'
'Not when it comes to Gaborone stopping Dhamballa,' Battat said.
'But this woman knows we did not kill the bishop-' Seronga said.
'That will be irrelevant, unless you release the priest,' Battat warned him. 'I have a feeling that if the army attacks, they'll find him dead in the rubble of your camp.'
Just hearing that gave Aideen chills. It was conceivable. It truly was.
'I have raised the camp!' the man in the truck shouted. 'They see no sign of an aircraft!'
'Where are they now?' Seronga asked.
'They are out of the swamp and moving toward the diamond mine,' the man in the truck answered. His voice sounded flat and mute by the echoless expanse of plain.
'Tell them they must change their course and come toward
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us,' Seronga said. 'I will give them the coordinates in a minute.'
'What if they won't listen?' the man in the truck asked.
'Then they will die!' Seronga said. 'This is no longer about a rally but about survival. Tell them that!'
'I will!' the man shouted.
Seronga turned back to Aideen. As he did, his eyes caught a gleam of the truck headlights. They glinted bright, narrow, ferocious.
'You don't know when the attack is. due?' Seronga pressed.
'I do not,' she answered.
'Do you swear this?' Seronga demanded.
'I don't want any deaths on my conscience,' Aideen replied flatly.
Seronga seemed to accept that. He looked around as if he were searching for answers, for inspiration.
'They must be using helicopters,' he said after a moment. 'Jets would have trouble spotting them through the trees.'
'Can't they land?' Aideen asked.
'Not if they think we are still in the swamp,' Battat said. 'There's nowhere to set down.'
'What if they know Dhamballa has left?' Aideen asked.
'We can still scatter and hide if we have to,' Seronga told her. 'And we can fire back. My soldiers are
