Read Burn (Story of CI #3) for Free Online

big act to look all excited over the food, Wara noticed he didn’t serve himself that much at all. He chewed each bite about a million times, as if it was a colossal effort just to get the food down.
    Once everyone was eating and sufficiently caffeinated, Rupert cleared his throat and crossed his fingers over his belly in that way that meant it was time to talk business. Since it was night time in the mountains and all, Rupert had pulled on a cream-colored old man cardigan over the red plaid flannel.
    It was a good look on him.
    Wara had really liked working in Rupert’s organization since she met him in Bolivia a year ago. Rupert Cole’s grandfather had run an export business here in Morocco, called Cole Incorporated. After leaving the CIA, Rupert inherited the business. He’d turned it into something else altogether: Cole Inc., or CI, an organization that employed people with different backgrounds and worked to help people being persecuted for their religious or political beliefs. Their cover was an educational NGO.
    Everybody liked Rupert, even if he was sometimes way, way too nosy.
    “Just a short briefing,” Rupert said, “because I know you’re all tired. Cail and Wara have been reading up on Mali and the political situation. This is the situation: Lalo and his team have been in Timbuktu for four months. They replaced Tabor’s team, who was sent to provide security for the kids after the bombing attempt last September.”
    Nearly a year ago. The school building had gone up in flames, but all the kids had made it out in time. And now, the second attack on the Christian school in its new location had actually succeeded. Everyone looked pained.
    “Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, or AQIM, has seemed to be slowly retreating or losing power in the area,” Rupert continued. “We thought Lalo’s team would be able to leave Mali very soon and the danger for the kids was over. That plan all changed after the attack last week. Now we need to get the surviving kids out of there. Whoever wanted them dead is obviously not gonna rest until they succeed. But we can’t move the kids until they’re stable.” Rupert glowered. He was obviously outraged at what had happened to the kids at the school.
    Wara felt herself slinking down in her chair, too. She stuffed her hands into the sleeves of her hoodie, feeling like dirt. Because of her, the kids from the school had lost one of the people who protected them.
    Alejo.
    It was her fault he was here instead of there in Timbuktu.
    Rupert’s icy blue eyes flickered to her. Sometimes it seemed the guy could read her mind. “Lalo and Caspian are managing fine at the moment,” he said, “but it will be even better when you all arrive. Reinforcements. We’ll need you to work in shifts of two teams, guarding the hospital until the kids are ready to be transported out of there. We’re working on getting them asylum in a European country, as soon as possible. Amadou is helping us with the kids’ paperwork.” Rupert glanced at Wara and Cail. “Amadou is from Timbuktu, a Christian, and the director of the school. Lalo’s team and Amadou have all gotten close during this time they’ve worked together.”
    When Rupert made them all get out their phones and look at files he’d sent them of major terrorist players in the region’s fighting, Wara didn’t really feel any better.
    Her assignment in Rabat suddenly was not seeming very challenging. She kind of wanted to go back to the moldy little apartment and friendly roaches.
    Alejo was pointing out the photo of a guy named Alexei Tsarnev. “That’s definitely him,” he told Rupert. “He was there.”
    Wara found the picture on her screen and squinted. The guy was scrawny and pasty with a mop of curly black hair and thick Middle Eastern eyebrows. He looked about nineteen. Way too nerdy-schoolboy to be a terrorist.
    “Tsarnev appears to have a lot of weight in AQIM,” Rupert said. “We didn’t know he worked in the region until