The Golden Hour Read Online Free PDF Page B

muddy boys riding donkeys. And goats, an endless throng of goats.
    “Your first time in Mali?” she asked.
    Judd faced Larissa James.
    “I was here many years ago as part of a survey team with the Haverford Foundation. We were assessing community water management in Kidal. I actually met my wife, Jessica, here on that trip.”
    “How wonderful.”
    “She’s an agronomist.”
    “So Mali has been lucky for you?” she smiled.
    “Yes.” Judd turned back to the window and the bustling cityscape. “So far, Mali has been very lucky for me.”

6.
    KIDAL, NORTHERN MALI
    ELEVEN YEARS AGO
    “Judd, they’re here. Come out and meet the team!”
    “Coming, Professor!” Judd replied from inside the tent.
Christ, it’s hot,
was all he could think.
I should have gone on the Mongolia project. Or, better yet, stayed in my lab.
    Judd opened the tent flap and ducked his head to exit. Standing outside among several parked Land Rovers were Professor BJ van Hollen and a middle-aged African man with a short-cropped goatee.
    “Judd, this is Dr. Papa Toure. He’s come up from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria to help us with this project. No one knows water in this part of the world better than Papa.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” said Judd, extending a firm handshake.
    “Judd is the rising star I was telling you about,” van Hollen explained, rubbing his fingers through his thick graying beard, a habit from the classroom that he could never quite shake during fieldwork.
    “I really don’t think so,” replied Judd, doing his best to deflect the uncomfortable praise from his mentor.
    “Nonsense. Judd is one of my best students.”
    “How do you two know each other?” asked Judd, steering the conversation away.
    “Oh, we’ve known each other for ages! Since Papa first went to the university. He was still a frightened little village boy back then. Papa, you were scared out of your mind!” exclaimed van Hollen, slapping Papa on the back and looking very pleased with himself. “It was your first time in Nigeria!”
    “It was my first time outside of Mali,” added Papa, returning the hearty smile. “It was my first time anywhere. What can you expect?”
    “Ah, those were the days! We were all so naïve back then. Remember how we thought oil would make Nigeria the next Norway?”
    “So long ago, BJ!” agreed Papa.
    “And so foolish!”
    “Yes, fools among fools! That was us!” said Papa. “But what does that make us now?”
    “Papa is the most honest man in Nigeria,” declared van Hollen, his face suddenly turning dead serious. Then he turned to Papa. “I’d say that makes you a prince among thieves.”
    “Ah, still a fool among fools,” said Papa, shaking his head in mock disgust.
    Their banter was interrupted by a loud rustling coming from inside one of the Land Rovers. The three men turned to face the noise. One of the truck doors swung open and out stepped a pairof tall slender black boots. Wearing the boots was a young woman
in a tight white blouse and khaki trousers.
    “And,
here
she is,” announced van Hollen with a flourish.
    The girl had long dark hair, mocha-colored skin, and bright blue eyes. Most of all, Judd noticed she was suspiciously immaculate for someone who’d just spent eleven hours on a dusty desert road.
So clean
.
    “Lovely to see you, BJ,” she said, slightly embarrassed. She gave him a warm hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Judd was transfixed.
A desert mirage?
    “Judd, this is our agronomist, Jessica White. She recently finished her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. She’s one of my new protégés.”
    She gave Judd a polite but distant smile.
    “Madison has a strong Africa program,” Judd offered.
    She nodded.
    “Judd used to be one of my students. Just finished. Brilliant work on conflict measurement. Cutting-edge data metrics. Luckily, I’ve convinced him to help me one last time before he flees the van Hollen nest. He’s joining us on this Haverford Foundation