CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
11:40 a.m. West Africa Time (5:40 a.m. Eastern Standard Time)
The Skies Above the Desert
Diffa, Niger
“Where’s the border?” Luke shouted.
They were in the hold of an ancient Huey helicopter, crouched by the open bay door. Dunn was giving Ed and Luke the lay of the land. They had taken the SRT jet to a landing strip near a little slice of nothing called N’Guigmi, not far from the border with Chad, then choppered down here to Diffa.
Standing above them, an impassive Nigerien soldier in Oakley sunglasses and a brown beret manned the door-mounted machine gun. From the corner of his eye, Luke watched the man target people—mostly women and children—in the vast, sprawling refugee camp passing below them. Luke knew what the man was doing. He was practicing.
Dunn’s thick wr
