Page 76 of What Remains

“You’re nobody, Amu. There’s nothing to stop me from killing you and wounding your man here. Oh, I’d take good care of him. We have a very fine doctor, who knows how to follow orders. Saves me the expense of a bullet. Anyway, your man will be healed in no time and then I’ll put him to work. You, on the other hand, will be found for the wolves or leopards…whoever gets to you first. So, let me put this into language you will understand. I don’ttrade, Amu. I never trade. I take—and if I want to take thisboy…” Resting the heel of his right hand on his Glock, Sarbaz flicked a finger at Poya. “I will.”

This is a mistake. This is never going to work.Swathed in his coat and hat and a bulky scarf which he’d wrapped around his nose and mouth, Poya kept his head down, staring up at Sarbaz through his lashes. His bunched fists knotted, and he gritted his teeth against a sudden lance of pain the coarse rope slipped beneath his mittens and cut his wrists.Stop, stop, you’re just going to make it worse.But he was scared out of his wits.

Because I told you, John Worthy. I told you.Except John wouldn’t listen.

Oh, John had apologized. Said, as he was tying Poya’s hands together, that he was so sorry things had come to this but offering him up was the only way to get his and Driver’s two friends out of the mine. To do that, John explained, they had to give Sarbaz something he would really want—and then just one more thing to sweeten the deal.

That, John said, was Poya.

I’m sorry.John cupped one of Poya’s cheeks in a hand.I’m sorry, honey, but you need to be brave. As brave as you’ve been since Kabul. I wish there was another way, but there isn’t. We don’t have a choice.

Right. That was such a lie. Adults always had choices, but not he. What was he supposed to do? Go shrieking away into the snow? Adults were all alike, too. They were always sorry, so sorry, but they didn’t mind using kids like him.

Well, Poya was sick of adults who claimed he had no say, no choice. First, his parents who’d made Poya into what he was and then Mami telling him hehadto stay while she went away, and then Ibrahim with his doleful eyes who’d seen the thing that had made Zahid curse him and spit and now frightened Amu so badly. Adults always looked for any excuse to get rid of Poya.

Even that American doctor, that John Worthy.

But…Poya let John tie his hands. What was he going to say? No? Find somebody else? Therewasno one else. Everyone knew it.He’dknown what they would do as soon as Driver had looked his way and said,What about we sweeten the deal with a trade?

He was the sweet. He was the only one, too. There were no other boys old enough whom Sarbaz would want.

So Poya sat still while John made his complicated loop and tie. Even when John cinched the rope and a bit of the tender skin of Poya’s left wrist had gotten caught and cut, Poya hadn’t squeaked or jerked. He only gritted his teeth. John wouldn’t have been the wiser if he’d not seen a smear of Poya’s blood.

Oh, I’m sorry. Here, let me see.There wasn’t much blood, but John fussed, his head down, his mouth close to Poya’s ear.

So Poya could not possibly miss what John said next.

“I’m givingyou more than just this boy.” Amu’s tone was as flat and void of emotion as his face. The wind only whistled past this hollow, and the tiny flag of surrender tied to the willow pole he still gripped snapped to life in tiny, abortive spasms, like a bird trying to fly with a broken wing. “I will give you the woman, too.” He inclined his head toward the blood-stained bundle the yak carried. “Andthat.”

“Mmm.” Like Poya and Amu, Sarbaz was well bundled against the cold. Only his face, bearded and wolfish, showed and he worried the beard now, combing it with the cracked fingers of his right hand. The gold ring with its magical curse was dull in the last of the day’s light, the metal more like lead. “What makes you think I want either?”

“Two reasons. One is the medicine you gave that woman. I know you did. There are needle marks. She also babbled for hours.”

“So?”

“So, you wanted information. The other reason is you wasted bullets chasing them. We all heard the shots in the valley. You don’t shoot at people you want to keep alive.”

Sarbazhmmed again as his fingers tangled in his beard. “How did you come on them?”

“I didn’t.” Amu tipped his head at Poya. “He did, and that’s another reason I want to trade. I bought him. I gave him a home, and he repays me by lying, stealing, sneaking off.”

“Thinking to run away? And that’s how he found them?”

“Well, he found the woman. The man wasn’t far away. Most of his face is gone.” Amu moved his shoulders in an indifferentshrug. “No surprise. Leopards and wolves always go for the soft parts first. Lips, nose?—”

A scream, loud enough to make them all flinched. Even the yak lifted its head.

“Let mego!” she raged, struggling against the ropes bound around her wrists. One around her waist tethered her to the yak. “Let me go or I’ll killallof you! I’ll dance on your gravesKhuday darla da spo marg rawali!” Foam flecked Shahida’s lips. She looked like the dogs she hoped would tear Sarbaz apart. “Jaaru she!”

Sarbaz raised both eyebrows. “She must’ve had some mother. Mine was always slinging curses like that at my sisters. I can see why you’d want to be rid of her. I could order another injection. That would slow her down. On the other hand, she might be good in bed, Amu,” Sarbaz said. “Give you more children.”

“Dogs!” Shahida spat and twisted. “Gudree shai!”

“Shut up, woman,” Sarbaz said.

“No!” Shahida let loose a huge gobbet of spit. It didn’t get far before the wind snatched and carried it away. “You want me to shut up, you will have to cut out my tongue!”

“Don’t tempt me,” Sarbaz said.

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