Gabriel Hunt - Hunt Through Napoleon's Web

“We are now going into the older portion of the Djemaa el Fna. Please to walk along this side of the square. We will stay another thirty minutes. Please to buy what beautiful souvenirs you find. Please to return to the bus by nine o’clock. As soon as everyone is back we will leave and travel to the beautiful Majorelle Garden.”

Gabriel and Lucy merged into the crowd, most of whom appeared to be American judging by their accents.

“Can’t we just get a taxi?” Lucy whispered

“I’m afraid all the money we’ve got is what your friend Chigaru had in his wallet. And the Alliance doesn’t seem to pay its people very well.” On the plane ride into Morocco, Amun had made Gabriel empty his pockets—less, Gabriel figured, as a matter of theft than to reduce his mobility if somehow he managed to get away. It was working.

The tour group stopped at a basket shop, a jewelry shop; they spent some time at a fruit stand. Then they walked toward a familiar street. At the far end Gabriel saw a sign that brought him up short—NIZAN’S CARPETS.

“Let’s slip away, Lucy. Slowly and quietly.”

But it was too late. Nizan stood in front of the shop, one hand raised to greet the morning’s customers. His eyes fell on Gabriel, and his smile abruptly vanished. He turned and shouted something in Arabic toward the back of the shop.

“Go. Go ,” Gabriel said, pushing Lucy into motion. They took off across the square, threading between the knots of tourists and muttering apologies on the run for the occasional collision. The square was crowded enough already at this hour that it was difficult to move with any speed. The only good thing about the congestion was that it made things equally hard for their pursuers.

Gabriel looked back. Kemnebi and two other men had come out of the carpet shop. Nizan pointed in Gabriel’s direction.

Gabriel pulled Lucy toward the section where the crowd was thickest, a wall of people facing one direction, watching something. Lucy speared right through them, slipping between a pair of men holding their cameras up to their eyes. Gabriel followed. He stumbled into an open area, in the center of which a performer was busy—

Charming snakes.

The man, wearing an open vest over his skinny frame and a turban on his head, held several serpents in his arms. At his feet several more were coiled—a couple of cobras, a viper, an asp. He sang to the reptiles in a high-pitched voice that Gabriel thought would be enough to make him take a bite out of the guy if he were a snake, but the snakes appeared to be entranced by it.

Lucy had plunged into the circle at top speed and it took her a few steps to come to a halt. She caught herself up, arms windmilling to keep her from falling forward. There was a cobra at her feet. It twisted to face her and hissed. She reflexively stepped sideways, bumping into the covered basket by the charmer’s side. The man jumped up, shouting, reaching for it, but not in time. The lid toppled off and the basket went over, spilling its contents.

Suddenly there were two dozen snakes on the ground, spreading in every direction. The crowd shrank back with a collective intake of breath. Two people screamed and several bolted for safety, though most stayed frozen in place. A few were snapping photos as quickly as they could.

Lucy, meanwhile, had snakes on every side of her—she couldn’t take a step without coming within striking distance of at least one.

“Don’t move,” Gabriel said. He came closer, watching the snakes carefully. He’d have thought the charmer would have milked their venom before putting them in the basket—but betting on that could be a deadly proposition.

The big cobra was still the one closest to Lucy. Gabriel circled around till he was beside it, then aimed a careful kick at its raised head with the toe of his boot. It went flying. The crowd scurried out of its way, and it landed hissing.

Gabriel took hold of another snake—an asp—behind its head just as it darted toward Lucy’s leg. He flung it aside. “Here,” he called, reaching out an arm. Lucy leaped toward him and he snatched her off her feet, carrying her over the snakes between them. One reared up and snapped at her heels, but its jaws closed on air. Lucy clasped her arms around her brother’s neck and Gabriel ran, not putting her down till they were a safe distance away.

“Are you okay? Can you walk?”

Her eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded. Gabriel let her go and they took off. They carefully skirted the edge of another circle of tourists. This one appeared to be watching nothing more venomous than a troupe of acrobats—but you never knew what else might be going on in the center of the circle, and one encounter with the local wildlife was enough for any morning.

Gabriel tried to keep an eye out for the Alliance men, but it was impossible in this chaos. Occasionally he’d glimpse a familiar scowling face or a raised arm with a gun in it, but he was sure there were other men, equally dangerous, that he wasn’t spotting. They, on the other hand, wouldn’t be having much trouble keeping an eye on him and Lucy. The only thing he could do was keep pushing toward the edge, toward a place where they could hide, or a car they could use to get away—

Suddenly, a hand reached between a pair of people behind them and took hold of Gabriel’s shoulder. He tried to shake free, but it clung mercilessly. From the weight, he’d have bet money—if he’d had any money worth betting—that it was Kemnebi’s.

Gabriel bent at the knees and spun, launching a punch behind him. It collided with the rock-hard boulder of flesh that was Kemnebi’s midsection.

The big man reached in and encircled Gabriel with his arms, ignoring the punch as if it had been a pat from a child. He lifted Gabriel off his feet and began constricting, squeezing Gabriel’s chest with the strength of an automobile crusher. Gabriel couldn’t breathe—he felt as if his rib cage was about to snap. He kicked wildly, hoping to land a blow on one or both of Kemnebi’s kneecaps, but it was no use. The man was holding Gabriel so high that his legs dangled in the air.

“Let him go!” Lucy shouted, throwing punches of her own at Kemnebi’s side. He kicked her aside, sending her sprawling.

The pain was excruciating. Gabriel imagined the top of his head bursting from the pressure. Looking around, he couldn’t see Lucy anymore. He hoped it meant she was taking advantage of the situation to get away, at least.

He wrenched from side to side, desperately trying to pull free. In his head, he was running through his dwindling options. He couldn’t get to his gun, not with his arms pinned to his sides. A head butt? It was likely to do more damage to Gabriel than to Kemnebi, whose forehead looked about as tender and vulnerable as a cinderblock. Gabriel opened his jaws wide and was about to bend forward, aiming for the cartilage of the man’s nose, when suddenly Kemnebi screamed and released him.

As Gabriel fell to the ground, he saw Kemnebi’s hands shoot up to his throat, which seemed to have something wrapped around it . . .

Lucy ran up to Gabriel, tossing aside the wicker basket she’d been carrying. It looked familiar—and now that Gabriel took a second glance, so did the thing around Kemnebi’s throat. One of the charmer’s snakes. Another seemed to have sunk its fangs into the back of his shirt, and more were writhing around his feet.

Lucy’s face was bloodless and her hands were shaking. Gabriel had never minded snakes himself, but he knew she hated them—absolutely hated them. He knew what it had meant for her to go get that basket.

“Thanks,” Gabriel said, climbing to his feet. “Now let’s get out of here.”

He took her by the arm and dragged her toward an alleyway he’d spotted earlier. It had looked promisingly dark and empty of people. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a dead end. Gabriel glanced back. If they stayed here, it wouldn’t be long before the Alliance’s men would find them; on the other hand, returning to the center of the square wouldn’t exactly keep them hidden either.