CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
6:35 a.m. West Africa Time (12:35 a.m. Eastern Standard Time)
Lake Chad
North of N’Djamena, Chad
The lake was black with birds.
Rajan Muhammad gazed at them with wonder as the small helicopter passed overhead, moving south in the dim light of morning.
He had frequented this region for nearly two decades. During that time, the weather patterns had changed, rain had become less plentiful, and Lake Chad had grown smaller and shallower. Meanwhile, the grassy wetlands surrounding it had become larger, gradually eating into and taking over the lake itself. Most of the gigantic lake could now more accurately be called a swamp.
The management of the lake was a disaster, of course, as the management of everything in Chad was a disaster. It was a country of illiterate sub
