7: The 14th
The gang and the abducted woman in the van were out of Karen now. The vehicle was now speeding on a busy highway and was closely being directed by Hussain from his office at the Big Blue. What was still consuming them was the suspicious man that probably witnessed the incident. George was more troubled than anyone else.
To top up their worry, George again noticed something strange. From the side mirror , he could clearly see glaring lights alternating from blue to red. A faint siren could be heard and he certainly saw a black car that was maneuvering carelessly in between the traffic lanes.He thought it to be an ambulance but as it moved closer and closer he got what he was obviously thinking. A police car! Sirens were now audible enough and other motorists seemed to pave way for it.
George was wholly trouble and momentarily lost the energy to drive. It was evident that their day had come. They were now in the hands of the police and nothing was there to save them. Yes they're gangsters! But wait do they even have a penknife? No they are not even gangsters. No weapon meant total submission to the law . No self defense.
Collins and Bruce were not spared for this. They were confused but terrified about it. Trickles of sweats running down their temples, their heart pounding loudly in their ribcages , there skins grew pale and they adapted faster breathing rates to confirm their fear. One could not imagine how build up men with strong and firm bodily statures can be greatly shaken like that. They resembled nestlings that survived a heavy downpour.
An uncontrolled energy stroke George's legs and he found himself pressing more on the pedal below to increase the speed! His hands stiffened on the steering wheel and his eyes focused sharply on the road. He did not care what other road users would do but something was evident here. To try and escape or to surrender! Of course he knew that there was no chance for escape here . But it's better to make the police utilize their salaries accordingly by giving them a little hard time.
Hussain had been told about this and he went off for a moment due to unexpected shock. He could now be heard reassuringly mollifying them. The lady at the back of the van had now stopped her shrieking and also seemed to have picked up with what was going on. She could have probably heard the sirens .
As if to mock George's ability, the police car came so close to the van and swiftly over took them with little struggle. It however did not deter with their lane. Very far ahead George saw another blue car that veered off the road trailing a cloud of dust behind it. It came to a stop and shockingly, the black police car had already gotten too close to it and stood not far from the blue car which had stopped by then. Two agile men dashed out of the car to run into the nearby bush. Like programed remotes, the police had also emerged from their car and loud gunshots were heard.The two men were took late for their rewards.
When George's van neared the incident, he was deeply shaken by the happenings. He clearly saw two men on the ground . One had a bloody patch on his back while the other lay with his hands spread to the ground as if he wanted to cuddle it and thick blood streaming from his temple to the ground. The scene sent a sure message of how he or Bruce or Collins, would die
Though relieved, they still could not imagine how they had narrowly escaped the jaws of early death. George took the chance to confirm to Hussain that it was not them that the police were after. Hussain sighed in relief from the other end and only gave them an emphatic instruction of how they were to exit the highway.
They drove into a vast area for half an hour before they came into a rough road that had thick bushes on either sides. It was now darker and George brightened the headlights. Bruce and Collins were now reduced to silence instead their usual chatting. The woman at the back was also as silent as if she was dead.
Soon the road started to narrow into the deep bush. They were puzzled when they saw another off-road car that stood ahead of them clearly blocking their way. A close look at the person who stood beside it revealed a man with a black robe that covered even his toes. He rolled his grey cloak heavily over the neck and also had a similar one on his head. He looked like one of the ghostly images of the dead that were said to haunt the living. It was none other than Hussain.
He forced a smile on his face when the glaring lights exposed him. He strode with his obvious authoritative aura and came to the van. He opened the adjacent door to George and sat next to him . He looked like he cared less of Bruce and Collins at the back. He even didn't not pay much attention when three stronger men than George's group, trotted from the car in front and came to the back of the van. They opened the back door of it rather than the side door where Bruce and Collins sat. They dragged the woman out of the van and took her into the strange car in front.
Again for the third time, neither George nor his counterparts was able to identify the men . Meanwhile, Hussain tried to confuse their minds by verbally thanking them for the job. He then ordered George to follow the car in front . They drove for about thirty metres before they came to a quite spacious grassland area. The road that they used terminated here and only footpaths extended further into the bush from the field. The place looked desolate and scary with pitch darkness surrounding them. Only the vehicles provided the illumination here. With Hussain's instructions, they made a U turn and returned their way. This time it was their van leading the way while the other car tailgated them.
They drove until they came just to the road that joined the highway. Instead of joining it, they diverted and took another road that led to a nearby shopping center. Strangely, the car behind them had joined the highway and went to a direction that only Hussain and it's occupants knew. For a moment, George could not understand why it had to be such a conspiracy. Why Hussain had darker ways of dealing with this issue than they knew.
Still trying to keep them off their minds from the happenings, Hussain was struggling to entertain his employees with stories. They came to a posh Hotel in the shopping center and were led by Hussain up to the upstairs. It seemed like he had already booked them lodging rooms. He confidentiality opened the door to one of them which was supposed to be his lodging room. He raised the overhanging bed sheet and pooled out a small leather bag from under the bed. Still thanking them for having done one of the most trying missions, he unzipped the bag and fished out three bundles of new bank notes. He handed each his bundle and this seemed to be a little bit more than their normal pay for their missions. He did it with little concern as if he was just giving them Christmas cards rather than handing them money.
George could feel this kind of an overwhelming emotion inside him. Unexplained ecstasy erasing away his down spirited mood. Bruce raised his eyebrows in disbelief of that amount and Collins only grinned slightly as he stashed them into the pocket of his coat. Hussain never paid them using their accounts lest this conspiracy leaks out. He preferred paying them in cash so that they can choose to save in their accounts or do whatever they wished. He thereafter sent them into their respective lodging rooms after an expensive treatment of their evening hunger with the hotels' delicacies.
That night George turned in his bed from time to time as it proved difficult for him to sleep. He was not sure if it was the lump of money that he was paid or the day's real incidents that he had experienced that was troubling him. What was certain was that something was flooding in his forlorn mind. He looked at the expensive chandelier of the room that had it's gold beads dangling around the light of the bulb . He could not imagine how money can guarantee him to live and enjoy such life. But the source of the money is what was bringing a dark spot in the whole affair.
He thought of how his family in the rural back at home were living in total poverty . He even gave thought to letting them know how he was successfully employed in a logistics company just some few months after he came to Nairobi. Maybe this could give him a chance to be sending them some money. But he still wanted to keep it a secret. He thought of Angela and switched of the lights to sleep.