CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Nairobi Cocktail, The Sleaze

Many years ago, Kamau and Boss met when their stars crossed paths under the crime mistletoe. It was criminal love at first sight. Like any love, theirs had had a few bumps along the way but the bumps had only served to make their bond stronger. When Kamau had tried and failed to pick Boss’ pockets, Boss had been more amused than angry at the audacity. He was well aware that he had an aura that scared off people and enough times, he had occupied a table on his own while people around him stood, or looked for other tables. That Kamau had got as close as he had deserved an award.

He, Boss, could have let his bodyguards beat Kamau to a pulp, but there was something about the young man that had got Boss saving his life. The same thing that had made him want to talk to him, know him better, and then offer him a job. He had never regretted that decision. That first night, Kamau, injured, cold and scared, was transported inside the boot of a car to an undisclosed location. The undisclosed location heavily features today.

It is located in a busy neighbourhood. An old house with snake like plants crawling up its walls. It stood on its own, had a high electric fence and security dogs, for obvious reasons. Two of Boss’ high ranking employees lived in the four bedroom house. The two were the same ones in charge of surveillance and interrogation. The house was the interrogation headquarters. Only the privileged few knew details of what happened in the house. Other unauthorised guests were hauled in, in blind folds or comatose. Sometimes both. Most of the unauthorised guests left with psychological and physical trauma. Some of the guests left in sacks, cheap versions of body bags.    

It was a perpetually cold house, weather notwithstanding. The almighty sun passed round and over it, deliberately avoiding the ghosts still lurking within the walls of the house, not forgetting the scary living characters who resided there. The inside of the house was dark too, and not for lack of windows. In fact, French windows dominated three sides of the living room, but the trees and bushes of flowers surrounding the house kept out natural light.  

Several groups of people were headed there, top of the rank was Boss.

***

It had been a restless night for Boss, and for a good reason.

He had stayed up on the rooftop, drops of rain beating on his body – sometimes the drops were hard and rough, sometimes they were nice and gentle. Under the same rain, soaked to the bone and fighting the temptation to strip naked, he had made many calls, Naliaka had been one of the people he had called. He had drank too much alcohol that should have got him drunk but the amount of adrenaline he was generating was also an antidote for alcohol.  

Up on that roof, he had pitched mental camp till three AM. Only when the rains had ceased and the shivers had attacked his body had he gone back to the house for a cup of coffee and a long, hot shower.

Adrenaline was not only an antidote for alcohol but for sleep as well. He had tucked himself under the warm duvet, turned off the lights then tossed and turned for nearly two hours. A few minutes before five AM, he had finally fallen asleep, only to be woken up after what felt like two minutes later by his bodyguards. It was nine AM. And he had a hangover.

With a busy day ahead, he should have been up half an hour earlier but he had forgotten to set the alarm clock. If his bodyguards had not woken him up, he would have slept much longer. Today would be the day that time was of serious essence. Not a minute to lose and every action had to be coordinated to the letter and to the dot of time. To make up for the time lost in bed, the shower was quick and he skipped breakfast then followed his bodyguards out of the building.

Watcher One was there, but Boss already knew that. The bodyguards had used the length of the walk downstairs to give him a quick rundown of what was happening.

Mwenda Samuel was sitting a few metres from Watcher One. Nobody paid attention to him. Mama Mboga otherwise known as Cecilia was just setting up her makeshift market. Boss nodded and waved at her, at the same time swallowing the disappointment of not finding the tall beautiful woman. Yesterday she had caught his attention, first because she looked slightly familiar but also because she was very beautiful. More and more in recent times, the sight of a beautiful woman excited his loins and his heartbeat. When she had looked at him with those hypnotising eyes, she had joined the growing list of women he wanted to sleep with.   

It was however a niggling feeling that had made him order for surveillance on the Mama Mboga. She was new, and sudden, and she did not come in the evening like other hawkers. With the heightened tension on the street, being new turned everyone into an instant suspect. So far however, she had not done anything to warrant suspicion. The report he had received in the evening was that she had spent the day selling her vegetables and nothing else except chatting his boys and buying them lunch.

As casually as he could, one bodyguard in front and the other one behind, he walked down the road where his car was parked.

“We are heading there.” He was using a different phone line. Not the one Naliaka had. Not the one his contacts had. A third one he only used when he and his people were on high alert. He had no illusions about not being tapped by the authorities or other criminals. Once in a while, he used the registered line, just to keep them hooked on it. They thought they knew him. They did not. Nobody did, yet.

They were in Westlands within minutes. “Let’s give the bugger time to find parking.” Boss instructed. Occupants of his own trail car had reported Watcher One had hopped on a motorbike, just like he had the day before. Boss did not understand how careless the other party was being. If he had wanted the watchers dead, they would be minced meat by now. “Let’s go in.” They all entered a restaurant in Westlands and ordered for breakfast. Forty five minutes later, Boss went into the toilet. The Boss who came out looked like the Boss who had gone in, even wore the same clothes, only he was a skin tone or two lighter.

Ten minutes later, the original Boss came out and entered a different car with a different set of bodyguards. His body double would take Watcher One on a wild goose chase to Thika and back as many times as possible, or until Boss said otherwise.

 Boss and his new entourage headed back to town, back to his house. There was one more thing to do before heading to the undisclosed location.

***

Kamau was taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down the butterflies in his tummy. It was cold but his palms were wet with cold sweat. He had just used the public toilet at GPO but five minutes later he was tempted to walk back and use the same toilet. But he could not because time was of essence.

He was excited and nervous in equal measure. What he was about to do was the equivalent to a final exam, one that would decide if he moved on to the next level or got kicked the hell out. Mentally, he rubbed his palms together in readiness but physically he was calm, or looked it. He was just a lone figure in the midst of hundreds of other people walking in and out of Uhuru Park. 

In measured steps, he walked into Uhuru Park, alone. He was not alone though. Keeping an eye on him were about fifteen people from the age of ten to twenty five years, some in tattered clothes others in smart clothes, all spread out in well synchronised formations, all doing their best not to look conspicuous.

He was going to meet the police contact, codename Judas. Judas did not know that it would not be Boss turning up. Kamau had discussed with Boss and agreed to take advantage of the element of surprise by ambushing Judas. That way, Judas would have no time to call anyone to warn about the change of guard.

There was a chance, a risky chance that Judas would refuse to play ball. He had the power to. There was even a chance of a physical confrontation and even worse, a gun fight. Judas always turned up alone but Boss knew that did not mean he was alone. He would be disappointed if Judas did not have backup. A shootout would signify the end of a reign, Boss’ reign and his own reign, even before it started. In a shootout between cops and robbers, the loser was oft the robber.  

He walked as near to the cash booth as possible then made a call to Boss. He spotted Judas, standing a few metres from him, unable to hide his impatience. He kept shifting his weight from leg to leg, looking at his watch and clicking his mouth. Kamau took time to study him. He was tall, very tall. He had a long coat on but that was not off as the weather dictated warm clothes. Kamau had his own coat on, just not as long. Kamau did not need anyone to tell him what the coat was hiding from the public because he had a loaded gun inside his own jacket. So did half of the people watching him.

“I am a few metres from him.” He mumbled on the phone to Boss.

“Wait there. Look towards him. I am going to call him immediately. When he looks at you, nod at him and tip your hat.”

Ignoring the shoving and pushing from people making their way to and from the boats, he watched Judas. He saw him pick a call, tense up, look around him in surprise. Their eyes met, Kamau nodded and tipped his hat. He, Kamau, continued to watch Judas, ready to bolt depending on what happened next. He watched Judas make angry gestures, still on the phone. Kamau stopped breathing, just for a few seconds, when Judas disconnected the line. He resumed breathing when Judas beckoned at him to join him in the boat.

Kamau did. He entered the boat next to the watcher and they started cycling away towards the centre of the lake without looking at each other. 

They were a few metres from where they set off when Judas said in an accusing tone, “You are short.”

“You are a tall asshole.” Kamau retorted.

Judas laughed. “At least your sense of humour is better than Boss.” He said, removing his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes. “The hell is wrong with you guys? You don’t captain this boat and should not change the rules without consulting us…”

They stopped in the middle of the lake and let the boat tread.

“I thought Boss told you about the impending changes the last time you met.”

“He did not get our green light…”

“He doesn’t need your green light. Besides, nothing has changed except the messenger.”

Judas humph’d.

“I don’t think this is the time to worry about who is in charge and who is not. We have a common enemy we need to deal with like yesterday, then we can worry about the rest.”

Judas, in frustration and acceptance of the situation, growled. That the new guy sounded confident made him feel some confidence, less worried, and he had been worried a lot of late. “Anyway, what’s happening on your end?”

Kamau cleared his throat, then told him about the watchers. “They haven’t done anything, but we know they are not there to give Boss security. What we would like to know is what they are waiting for. Why haven’t they struck?”

The contact cleared his throat as well. “They haven’t attacked because they are still looking for leverage. Your operation has proved too tight for him and he doesn’t have enough to try and hang Boss. He has tried fishing from us but obviously without success.” He rubbed his nose noisily. “He could just have Boss killed but that would be pure malice. No winners. From sources, they had recruited someone who would have become the new kingpin. It has been a week since they heard from him. What did you guys do with him?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Kamau did not really know anything about that but even if he did, he would still have given the same answer.

“You know, I always wanted to ask. Is Boss actually a good man worth the kind of loyalty he has, or is there something about him we don’t know?”

“Surely you are not trying to get inside information from me?”

Judas chuckled and shrugged. “One’s got to try. I can’t wait for the day somebody actually betrays him…”

“What can I say? He is a good boss.”

He nodded. “I feel weird agreeing with you but out of all the criminals I have worked with, he is the most honest. Never tries to undercut. Anyway, what happens now? The egotistic tension between my two bosses at work is like a time bomb. If you guys do not sort it soon, we are all screwed. We cannot make a move for obvious reasons, only you can…”

“I know. Front soldiers – worthy of sacrifice. Don’t worry, we are doing something. Today.”

“What are you planning?” Kamau could feel Judas’ glare. Kamau, instead of returning the glare sat back against the plastic seat, seemingly relaxed.

“Nothing brutal, yet. We are sending a message. What happens next will depend on what they decide to do with the message. We are definitely making the first move because something’s gotta give. If we don’t fight him, we lose everything. If we fight, we have a chance so, tell him he is fighting with people who have run out of options and because of that, everything has become an option.”

 “So nobody dies today?”

“No plans to kill anyone, but accidents happen.” Kamau answered with a shrug. “Boss is fed up with cat and mouse chase. A piece of advice for you and your people though; have good alibis for today and tomorrow. It is likely to get dirty.”

“You should have warned us…”

“You are kidding, right? We do not trust anyone right now.”

“Not even me?”

Kamau chuckled. “Don’t look so hurt. It’s not like you trust us either. The only thing between us is honour among thieves. We deliver what we promised. You better deliver what you promised.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here…”

The two figures, one tall and one short, cycled back in silence. Judas hardly waited for the boat to stop before jumping off, rocking the boat so violently that Kamau almost fell in the water. When he disembarked from the boat, Kamau took time to stretch. He was proud of himself, of how he had handled it.

 He had relished it. 

***

Naliaka woke up with more energy than she had woken up with within a week. She woke up with a purpose, and for a good reason too. Since moving to Queen’s house, the feeling of being useless had engulfed her slowly and surely until she was sure it was about to swallow her alive. She had fought anxiety because she knew her life was about to go through another major change. She longer wanted to be pawn for Kamau and Oti, no longer willing to work for Boss. She was done with that, the same way she was done with selling her body.

Over the years, she had saved enough money to set her up in a business. The problem was, without any skills, she would probably fail at whatever she tried and lose all her money. With regret, she realised she had never come round to deciding what she would want her career to be. Queen had curtailed any dreams of any career she may have harboured, even subconsciously. Had she not met Queen, had her mother not died, she may now be a lawyer, or an administrator, or even have joined thousands of her village women in getting married to men they did not like as they worked poorly paying jobs. She wondered if she would have had children by now.

As an option to what she could do next, she flirted with the idea of getting married. She did not know any happily married people, but she reckoned being married and having children would be something to keep her busy. She had known many men in her life, but her options were like a drop in the ocean. Boss? Hardly, unless he sorted his manhood, and if he survived whatever it was he was going through. Father Joshua? Naliaka smiled. Joshua was what she would call the epitome of the man she would want to settle with, but perhaps he was like that because he did not have to worry about being committed to a woman. She remembered a time he had said he had considered walking out on his faith because of her. She had laughed and quickly changed the topic because as unreligious as she was, she was not ready to fight with invisible higher powers.

Oh, wait! There was Samuel. Now that one was special. A man who had brought up the inner sexual animal in her and mentally stimulated her. He was an animal in bed as well, and he was nice. And funny. And he had a great view of Mount Kilimanjaro. And he had not judged her. He had expressed desire to see her again – perhaps, if she played her cards right, he would consider settling down with her? Naliaka was aware of her deluded line of thought. All the men she was considering for potential husbands had been good to her, but perhaps they were good to all women they slept with. She doubted she was that special.

Today however, she would not worry about her future. She would worry about settling old scores for herself and for Julia. She would be hopefully making Boss’ parents happy by telling them that that their son was alive. She did question the wisdom of the timing; Boss was fighting a life and death battle.

He had called her the night before. He had given her directions the old school way.  “Don’t you have a pin you can drop?” She had asked after telling her several times ‘to take a left then right’.

“I could give you a pin, but that is for lazy folks. I am sending you on an adventure. Anyway, nobody gets lost in villages, you should know that. If you ask for Mama Kanja from the shopping centre you should be delivered to the doorstep.”

She woke up in Queen’s bed, one she had refused to vacate since she discovered she slept better.  She stretched her body and allowed her warm body to be cooled by the cold parts of the bed sheets. She was alone, something that has been happening a lot of late. Queen kept disappearing for days. Unlike other days since she arrived, she bounced herself out of bed and started getting ready.

Wearing a pair of jeans and a light sweater top, she made her first stop to her disused room to check on the backpack of money, one she had not opened for days. It was still intact. Boss had told her to take whatever amount she wanted from it. It was still in dollars, she needed to stop by a bank.

With a bounce on her walk and a smile on her face, she joined Julia, Malaika and three other girls for breakfast. “Lazy bone.” Malaika called as a good morning. “What are you so happy about?”

“Morning ladies.”

Julia nodded her greeting and returned to playing with her half eaten sausage this way and that way with the fork. For several days, this had become the new Julia. Spoke little. Spaced out a lot such that Naliaka would have to repeat questions directed at her twice.

Naliaka felt partly responsible for that. She had begged Julia not to go for her husband, that she, Naliaka, would find a way to do it. She had not. She had promised her because she had panicked at the thought of Malaika poisoning him and everything being traced back to Queen, but she had also counted on Boss helping her. Now Boss was too preoccupied with his own survival to worry about eliminating husbands of people he did not know well.

“Hi Julia…” She said cautiously.

Julia nodded and gave a frozen smile.

“I think Julia is going through menopause. The moods on this woman…” Malaika declared in exasperation. She left the table and went to smoke outside.

Ten minutes later, it was just her and Julia on the table. “I am going out today.” She whispered to Julia.

“Why are you whispering?” Julia asked without looking up. She was still playing with her breakfast.

Naliaka smiled, undeterred. “Can you tell me where your house is?”

Julia paused then glared at Naliaka before dropping the fork on the plate.

“What are you on about?”

“Please. Trust me on this. Can you give me directions to your house?”

The two women eyed each other in silent communication. A minute passed before Julia sighed. “Naliaka, you cannot give me anymore hope if you will not do anything about it.”

“Did I ask you to trust me? Please…where is your house?”

When Julia left the table, Naliaka sighed in disappointment but two minutes later, she returned with a pen and a paper. “I will write it down for you. Also, the two hideous brothers don’t live far from each other.” She winked and smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Also, don’t do anything stupid. I know it is weird for me to tell you that, but please do not take an unnecessary bullet for me.”

“I will be careful. Where do your children live?”

Julia snapped her head, looking alarmed. “Why?”

Naliaka shifted on her seat and took a deep breath. “Because it would be good to know where your children stand with you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“If he still loves his children as much as he loved them when you were still in their lives, they would be the best gateway. Woe the children, the children woe him for you.

“Naliaka, that man hated me. I doubt anything has changed. I don’t think the kids are enough to change his mind…”

“Perhaps not, but you are not trying to be his friend. You want to reconnect with your children.”

She nodded. “Okay, but remember it has been a decade since I last saw them.”

“I know. The time could work for or against you, but the only way to know is to talk to them.” Naliaka was looking at Julia appealingly. Julia was looking back at her with doubtful eyes.

“As long as that man is alive, I doubt anything can work in my favour.”

“You do not know that. Let me ask you a question and please, think about it before you answer. What do you want most? Reconnecting with your children or your husband dead?”

“I see what you mean…” Julia said softly.

“Baas. Do you have their phone numbers?” she did. Kaggai had given her. “Good. I will tell them I have a message from you and it will be up to them to meet me or not…”

“What if they tell their father…he knows you, remember?”

“Then we deal with it. Trust me, please. Now, those telephone numbers, please.”

***

“You know, there doesn’t have to be tension between us.” Kamau said, unwrapping a pack of chewing gums and offering one to Oti. Oti accepted it and popped it inside his mouth, sucking at it and savouring the taste before starting to chew. It took both of them right back to the first time they met when Oti had outsmarted Kamau on the streets of Nairobi.

The two men were occupying the backseat of a big car similar to the ones that ferried Boss used. While he was still getting ready in the morning, the vehicle had been delivered, complete with the bodyguards. It would be one of the several cars he would have access to. He had used it to go to the meeting with Judas and used the same car to pick up Oti.

They had parked outside a shop. Leaning on the shop was Oti holding his phone and looking nervous. He only gave the vehicle a two second long attention then continued to look nervous. Boss’ vehicles were all black. This one was white and Kamau understood why it did not warrant attention from Oti.

For a full minute, behind the dark wound up windows, Kamau studied Oti. Nervous, body language communicating total dejecting, looking like a rat cornered by a clowder of cats or a meerkat on the lookout for enemies. His shoulders were hunched, giving him the appearance of someone in grave pain.  Kamau allowed himself to feel like a jerk for participating in pushing his friend to a corner because that was exactly what they had done to Oti.

There was the possibility that Oti was about to become Kamau’s sacrificial lamb, collateral damage just so he, Kamau, could prove his allegiance to Boss. It broke his heart. Long time ago when he was in school and college, when he was still half a decent human, Kamau used to be popular. He had many friends but since joining Boss, he had dropped his friends one by one until he was left with nobody to talk to except his girlfriends. He had dropped his friends because he was a robber and they were not. A year ago, he had gained a friend, Oti. Now he was about to sacrifice his only friend. 

Right at that moment, he decided he would do anything to save his friend’s life.

He wound down the window and called Oti’s name. Oti nearly dropped his phone as he stood to attention. “Come in Oti.”

Oti had entered but kept silent. He had pushed himself against the car door, making Kamau hope that the door was properly locked because if it was not, a fall from the speed they were moving at would only ensure a fatality.

“I know this is confusing but if it helps, I did not know about the changes until a few days ago.”

Oti looked at Kamau. Kamau did not need to hear from Oti that he didn’t believe a word he said.  

“It really doesn’t have to be a tragedy. It’s entirely up to you how this turns out.” He popped another gum in his mouth. He offered the remaining one to Oti who declined. “If it makes you feel better, I do not have a choice either. Actually I do have a choice – I can stay on and make it work for me, or I can choose to die. You could too.”

“B...but, kill people? How is that okay?”

Kamau sneered. “Oti, you are a thug. A thief. You are scum!” He said with more force than he meant to. Oti cringed. “Every criminal knows that there is always a risk that somebody may die because of them. Why do you think we do not have bullets in our guns? Do you think it is because we cannot afford them?”

Oti looked thoughtful, then shook his head.

“Exactly. You may want to convince yourself that you are a good guy without a murderous bone, but also remember, I have worked with you for a year. I have seen how excited you get when we make a hit. I have seen you severally use the gun to injure victims.” Kamau paused, letting his statement sink. “You, Oti, would have already shot someone dead if you had bullets in your gun. You are trigger-happy. Deal with it.”

Oti reacted like someone who had been slapped. He had been slapped, with the truth. He thought about all those times he had cursed for not having bullets in his gun, the most recent one being only a couple of days ago.

After that, it was a quiet drive, all the way to the undisclosed location. 

***

Another vehicle was heading there.

Its journey had started somewhere on Koinange street at eleven AM.

A pub. Conspicuously, a woman was among several lone, middle aged women spread out in the pub. Several lone young men sat on other tables. Once in a while, the men turning to chat one another. The women never spoke to each other. Instead they concentrated on avoiding one another’s gaze. The pub was part of an establishment that had a hotel and rooms upstairs. Those rooms were the reason the women chose the pub, and its reputation with young studs.

For three days a week, she went to this pub to eat, drink and most importantly, to have sex. She was in her early forties but the meticulously done makeup disguised a number of those years. When she was half her age, she had been a petite girl. Three children later and a husband who seemed to lose interest in her with every child, she had turned to the fridge for comfort. And ate. And got fat. The last time she had visited the doctor, he had advised her to lose some of the weight, that she was courting lifestyle diseases, but she needed more than doctor’s advice to stop eating too much.

Her husband was a fresh Kiganjo graduate rookie when they met. Two years later they got married. Over the years, she had stayed by his side through all the promotions and the women. With every year, he got crueller, and the number of women increased. She could have just walked out, she had considered walking out several times. She could afford to walk out because as much as her husband was a curd, he had set her up in a hardware business and had no interest in the money she made. She did not need him for money, she certainly no longer needed him for sex. But she had stayed. She had stayed because the house she lived in was in his name, and she loved the house. She had stayed because she could not imagine another woman enjoying the labour she had put in to decorate the house.

Besides, he was hardly ever in the house. He was either working or visiting his women.  She had found immense peace in his absence.  

And she loved sex. Sex she could not get within her matrimonial set up. She was not particularly proud of her preference of the many young men she slept with, but as much as her husband no longer found her sexually stimulating, she doubted he would take it well if she flaunted a man for all and sundry to see, not when she was still Mrs Him, not when she still lived in his house and attended his side of family get together parties. So she picked up men. Young men. Men she could pay to do it how she liked it and for the length of time she liked. Men she could leave to return to her matrimonial home in time to have dinner with her children. And her husband when he bothered to come home.

A couple of years ago, a friend going through similar marriage issues as she was, had introduced her to this pub, a centre for male hookers. She had not even known they existed. “There are many young men who hang around there.” Her friend had said. “They are willing to do you how you like, for a fee of course.” And for two years, two or three days a week, she went for her dosage of sex. The men were as regular as she was in the pub, she knew them all, she knew the new ones, even knew when one of them was absent.

Today, there was a new face.

She had checked into the pub. As usual, the barman had delivered her cold beer as he asked what meat she wanted – fish, chicken and lamb were her favourite. Only after the order was taken had she started looking around, window shopping. The men never approached her, never approached any of the other women in her position. They would perch themselves on stools like mannequins on display windows and would only approach when pointed at. She would share her meal with the man of the day, pay for his drinks bill as well before leading them up to the room.

The new face was ignorant of the rule of ‘no approach’ because as soon as the waiter walked away with her chicken order, he walked up to her. She considered telling him off because she preferred to have the power from the offset but when she studied him closely, she decided one day of rule breaking would not do any harm. She would talk about his manners later.

In her eyes, he was a specimen to behold. She liked them tall, dark and muscular. She did not always get what she liked but she needed at least two of those qualities. Height and muscles were paramount in turning her on because when she met her husband, she had fallen for him for his height and muscles, muscles that like hers had been replaced by a thick layer of fat padding. The young man she was looking at was all that with a bonus of a great smile and dilated eyes.

He flashed her the smile and fluttered his eyes, one hand in his pocket. “Hi. Could I give you company?”  

She gave him a once over, taking time to look at his strained crotch then nodded in approval. She liked his confidence too. With her mouth, she pointed at the seat next to her.

“You are new around here?” she said as her way of greeting.

“Hardly. I come in the evening.” She could not have known, but the man already knew that she never went to the pub in the evening. It was his first time in the pub.

“Ah, right. No wonder. So are you as good as you look?”

“Even better. I deliver heaven.”

She laughed, liking him even more. And he was interesting to talk to. Often, the men she chose would sit quietly next to her and smile, eat quietly and smile, drink quietly and smile. They only found their voices when they went up to a room. Not this one. He was funny and when the food was brought to the table, she almost regretted that their chat was about to come to an end. 

They ate, they drunk, she paid the bill. They never made it upstairs.

When the regular patrons saw her walking out with the young man supporting her, they assumed she had drank more than usual. They were all too busy to worry further about her.

Now, delirious with the drug he had sprayed on her face, she was in a car with three strange men. One of them was the same young man who had serenaded her earlier. She was sandwiched between him and another unsmiling man. Then there was the unsmiling driver. She knew something was wrong, very wrong, but for some reason, she had lost her ability to resist or ask questions. She resigned herself. And she was sleepy.

They pulled into the compound of the undisclosed location, two of them helping her out of the car and into the house. 

***

Then there was another car.

So far, so good. The undisclosed location was filling up fast. Boss and his people had succeeded in causing confusion with the watchers and him being here, he was giving them time to regroup, to dig themselves deep into a hole. When Watcher One had followed him to Westlands, the same one trailing his double to nowhere in Thika, Watcher Two had taken his place outside his house within twenty minutes. He almost felt sorry for him for what was about to befall him.

On his return from Westlands, he had not entered his building immediately. Instead, he had taken his time, for a good reason, to chat to the Mama Mboga. He was also beginning to enjoy his conversations with her, but not in a sexual way. 

“Good morning…” He greeted Cecilia cheerfully.

“Morning Sir. Did you finish the tomatoes already?”

He chuckled. “Certainly not, but I just noticed you have lemons and garlic.”

“I do. How many do I pack for you?” Cecelia was having a hard time keeping calm. She was multi-tasking by packing stuff for Boss and watching the man across the road. Something had set him off and it had something to do with Boss’ return. He had shot up, like one would shoot up when attacked by safari ants. He had down again then made a call. He looked frantic during the call, throwing his free hand all over and standing, sitting and walking around. When the call ended, he stood, one hand on his waistline and the other on his forehead, staring across the street in confusion.

“What a hardworking woman you are…” Boss said as he paid her. “Your husband must be very lucky.”

Cecelia gave a snorty laugh. “I am hardworking because I am married to a lazy bum. If I didn’t do this, my children and I would starve. One day I will leave that idiot and find myself a rich sponsor…”

Boss laughed. “Sorry to hear that. Perhaps we can do something about your situation…” He winked at her and walked away, leaving Cecilia genuinely confused. She wished she could read minds, just once and for all know if Boss was hitting on her or toying with her because he knew what she was.

She sighed, gave the street boys behind her a quick glance. They were busy watching the man across the road. She started watching him as well. Samuel, sitting as close as possible, was being his sleepy self but she had no doubt he was registering everything. 

‘What I would give to know what just stirred the hornet’s nest…’

Samuel got up slowly, like a creaky old man would do, walking away, no doubt to pass some sort of message.

When his door shut behind him, Boss went straight to the fridge and picked a canned beer, opening it with a loud gassy pop. By the time the fridge door shut, he had downed a quarter of it. He needed it. This was the day that would decide who between him and his current enemy had the edge. It could even be the day that his empire came down.

Naliaka. He dialled her number. She picked it after a single ring.

“Hey!” Naliaka answered cheerfully. 

He smiled. Hers was the kind of happy voice he needed to hear just about now. “Hey there. Did you sleep well?”

With excitement, Naliaka told him how she had hardly slept because she was so excited.

“Excited for going to meet my parents?”

“That too, but more because I get to see where it all started.”

He gave a short laugh. “Well, be ready for shockers. You may never look at me the same way again…” he wanted to add ‘if you see me at all,’ but he did not want to be responsible for dampening her mood.

“Whatever it is, I can take it because it is better than nothing.” And she meant it. She had gathered enough that he came from a poor background. She would be the last person to frown upon that because she had come from the same background, if not worse. “I am making another stop.”

“What stop?” He expected her to mention the priest.

“Remember I told you about Julia and her husband?”

“Right…”

“Well, I am going to try and get in touch with the children.”

“How?”

“Not sure, but I will start by calling them.”

“Don’t do anything stupid…”

“Julia told me the same thing. I am not going to try and kill anyone, I just want to try and see the kids and the worst they can do is refuse to see me.” She did not mention the possibility of Julia’s husband turning up.

He took a deep breath. “You know your taxi guy? If anything goes wrong, he would know what to do.”

“I understand.” She did. She understood that the taxi driver was not really a taxi driver but a henchman on Boss’ payroll.

“I will call him to tell him to be on the lookout. Do not hesitate to ask him for favours.”

“Thank you. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He should be here any moment now.”

“Also, he must not know that you are visiting my parents. You can tell him they are your parents.”

“I understand.”

“Take care Naliaka.”

“You take care too.”

He sighed and looked at his watch. About an hour had passed since he returned. It was time to go to the next phase. When he walked out of the house, the bodyguards were already waiting for him outside the door.

“Let’s set the ball rolling down the hill boys.”

***

Samuel was calling Kerubo again. 

Kerubo did not have to cook an excuse to see him. It was lunchtime already.

“You need to call Cecilia and find to what the hell is happening.” He started, then explained everything he had seen and heard. “This morning Boss left, returned after some time. When he returned there was serious confusion. From what I could eavesdrop, Boss was supposed to be on his way to Thika. The other watcher was supposed to be following him but right in front of us, chatting and laughing with Cecilia, was Boss, looking relaxed, like he was on a holiday. Totally unbothered.”

“So maybe he shook off the trailer.”

“Maybe he did.” Samuel chewed on his matoke thoughtfully. “If I had not listened to his side of the conversation, I would have gone with the shake-off theory. He kept asking the person on the other end, and I am pretty sure it was the other trailer, if he was sure he had not lost track of Boss, if he was sure it was him he had followed. He kept telling him that he was looking at Boss across the road…”

“Sorcery.” Kerubo quipped.

“Or a double…”

“Huh?”

“Body double. Political decoys, they are called. Saddam Hussein reportedly had several. Stalin and Fidel Castro and many others had them. All these figures have one thing in common; that they had people who wanted to kill them, like Boss. In Happy Valley they are called celebrity lookalikes, or doppelgänger.”

“How do you even know these things?” Kerubo asked in fascination.

“I was in the army, remember.  I was in the army trailing terrorists. It was our business to know these things…” He said smugly.

“You actually think there are two of him?”

Samuel shrugged. He did not know any Kenyan with a body double but that did not mean they were not there. When he had listened to the watcher lose his pants over seeing Boss while he was supposed to be heading to Thika, he had assumed it was a shake-off. Then he had listened more and it had hit him; that it was the only explanation about what was happening. “It’s the only explanation.” He repeated to Kerubo.

“Where would he get somebody who looks like him so much that he could pass as him?”

“He would be a very lucky bastard and we know he is a lucky bastard. They say that out there, there is someone who looks exactly like you, head to toe. It’s like having a parallel world in the same world. Few people get to meet their doppelgängers but meeting them is not unheard of.”

“Oh wow…do those doppelgängers have the same fate?”

“I didn’t get that deep in the lesson.” Samuel laughed. “But if we take Boss as an example, perhaps they do, because it would mean his double is also a criminal. It would also have to be somebody willing to take the bullet for him.”

“I wonder where the real Boss is right now. I wonder if he is the one who was talking to Cecelia or the missing one.”

Samuel swallowed the last of his food, covered the container. “You need to call Cecelia, pronto, then update Onyango, then you need to get back to me. I am heading back down the streets, I will be back in an hour.”

“Done. I will take a walk around and make the calls. Not the sort of calls I would make from the shop.”

***

When Boss walked out of the building, Cecelia was on the phone with Kerubo, trying to keep calm about the information she was being fed. She looked at him disappearing in the crowd, his bodyguards surrounding him, and wondered if the man she had sold to yesterday was the same man she had sold to today. She wondered if it was the real Boss or the doppelgänger.

She did see the watcher cross the street and heading to the same direction as Boss.

Traffic out of the city was slow, perfect conditions because Boss needed Watcher Two to catch up. They already knew he was on his bike, one he had shamelessly parked next to Boss’ official car. He followed them, out of the city and into faster moving traffic on Mombasa Road.

They didn’t get far. A kilometre into Mombasa Road, an accident happened. The accident involved a 4x4 and a motorbike. The vehicle hit the motorbike from behind, sending the rider and his bike sprawling on the tarmac. The driver of the 4x4 and his passenger came out of the car quickly and started helping the rider up. The rider, who knew what was happening, protested and weakly insisted he was not hurt.

“No, we have to take you to the hospital.” The driver insisted for the benefit of the crowd that was quickly gathering around them.

“I am fine. Leave me alone…” He was not fine. He had a broken leg. His helmet was still on, but there was blood trickling down. He had bruises on his arms, bruises that could be seen through the shredded shirt.

“We cannot leave you here. You have a broken leg and you may have internal injuries.” The driver of the car insisted, ignoring the protests and holding him under his arms while his passenger carried him by the legs, taking no consideration to the broken one. The rider screamed in pain and passed out from pain. They carried his limp body to the backseat of the car.

They headed to the undisclosed location.

***

There were ten people in the room.

Two of them were there unwillingly. The others were happy to be there, or half happy if one considered Oti. Oti stood at the back of the room, fighting fascination and fear of what he knew was likely to happen. Wondering if someone would die. The two people on the floor looked half dead already. When they had driven into the compound, a chill had gone down his spine. Now he was a little relaxed because he knew he was not the victim.

Boss and Kamau were the only ones sitting on chairs. The others were standing at different positions, menacingly looking down at the two figures, one of a man and one of a woman. They were waiting for both of them to come round.

The man came round, immediately cringing and groaning in pain. The room was dark and it took him a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. He saw the figures and remembered why and how he was here. He sat up quickly, surprised that they had not tied him up. Then he remembered his leg was broken and he could not run if he wanted to.

“Welcome back…” Boss broke the silence.

“You will regret this…” He threatened.

“You have the nerve to make threats…” Boss said with a yawn.

“You don’t know who you are dealing with…’

“I am so disappointed that you think so. Kamau, tell the man who he is, his rank in the police, his wife’s name, his girlfriend’s name, where his children go to school…”

“The hell!” Watcher Two shouted, genuinely shocked. When he had been put out there to watch Boss, he had suspected it was not official business, but he was a lowly ranked policeman with no authority to question. Nobody had told him that he would be investigated. He had believed his boss when he had told him he was keeping an eye on pesky criminals. Over the weeks though, he had started wondering if pesky was the right description. He had watched what looked like a powerful criminal with big cars and bodyguards.

Kamau cleared his throat, ignoring the man’s groans. They were no longer groans of pain but groans of fear. He gave Watcher Two his complete profile, just as Boss had ordered.

“Do you still think we do not know who we are dealing with?”

The man wimped and shook his head. “I…you…my colleague followed you. How did you…”

“Shake him off? Oh, easy. But that’s for me to know and for you to wonder about.”

Watcher Two’s shoulders dropped and he let himself sink to the floor, his head resting on the woman’s thighs. 

“Careful where you rest your head…your boss may not be very happy to know you put your head on his wife’s thighs…”

“Oh lord …oh lord…” He was up again, looking behind him at the sleeping woman. “Is…is she dead?”

Kamau spoke. “Nope. Not yet. We don’t kill innocent people…”

“Why is she here? My boss will kill you all…”

“Argh…there you go again, underestimating us.” Boss said in disgust.

“She will walk out of here, alive. She is just here as leverage.” Kamau said. “As for you, it is up to you if you walk out alive or as a ghost…”

“What do you mean?”

“What we mean is, you are going to tell us exactly what we want. If you do, we will even take you to the hospital to sort your broken leg. If not, we will break the other leg, and the arms, then leave you in a forest so you can die slowly…”

Somebody squeaked. It was Oti. He was trying to shrink to nothingness. If anybody had heard his squeak, they did not acknowledge it.

“What do you want to know?”

“How about everything…”

“I don’t know much…”

“…two broken legs, two broken arms…” Boss interrupted. One of his guys approached Watcher Two as he cracked his knuckles, gently kicked Watcher Two. He groaned in pain because he had been kicked on his broken leg.  

“I swear…I do not know the details. My new boss just told us to watch your house, to watch you, and report everything that happens. I swear…”

Boss put up his hand to stop the torturer. “Did he tell you why you were watching us?”

He shook his head. He was crying, and snorting at the same time. “He said you are a wanted criminal and needed to be eliminated.”

“Mh…did he ask you to kill me?”

The man shook his head. “No.” He looked thoughtful. “No. But I did think it was strange that I did not fill up any reports, and he warned us not to tell anybody else…”

Kamau and Boss exchanged glances. The man was telling the truth. His boss was still too new to have recruited faithful rogue cops. For the moment, he was working alone.

“How many of you have been watching me?”

“Two of us.”

“Are you sure? He has not planted other people on the street?” He was thinking about Mama Mboga.

Watcher Two shook his head emphatically. “Not that I know of. I swear.”

“If he has, and we find out about it, you know we will come for you, right?”

“I swear I don’t know about anyone else.”

Boss nodded. Satisfied. “We believe you.”

“You do?” The man asked in disbelief.

“Should we not?”

“No…no, no, please. I am telling the truth…does…does this mean I will survive?”

“We keep our word. Now, you see the woman next to you? I told you it is his wife. We know he does not love her, that he probably would not care if she was dead or alive, so we will not kill her. She is unharmed, just a little drugged and she will sleep it off. When your boss visits you in hospital, you are going to tell him that we had his wife. That the same way we had his wife is the same way we can have his children, or him, or his pregnant girlfriend. Also, tell him the man he had picked as his puppet is resting somewhere in Karura Forest. Hopefully the wild animals have left something for him to be identified from…”

***

Thika Road.

Earlier on, way before Watcher Two had had his bike accident and broke his leg, way before he was taken to the undisclosed location, Watcher One had nearly had an accident himself. He had followed the car to Thika Town, returned to Ngaara and back to Thika. He was beginning to wonder what was happening when Watcher Two called him just as he cruised past Ruiru Town on his second trip to Thika within an hour.

“What’s happening?” He had asked on his hands-free.

“You tell me!” Watcher Two had shouted.” I thought you told me you were following Boss…”

“I still am…”

“Then how the hell am I looking at him from across the street?”

“What!” That was when he had almost lost control. “I haven’t lost sight of them.”

“Are you sure he is the one who entered the car?”

“Of course I am.”

“Well, they outsmarted you at some point. You better not tell our boss unless you want to be skinned alive.”

Watcher One had continued following the vehicle he had believed carried Boss, mainly because he was too confused to decide his next course of action. He had accelerated and got close enough to peep inside the vehicle. The windows were down. There was no sign of Boss – there was no way for him to know that Boss’ body double was hiding under the legs of one of the bodyguards.

He had called Watcher Two back.

“There you go. You must have blinked at some point. Now, follow them to the end.”

He had. The end had been interesting, and not in a nice way. At four PM, he had followed the vehicle back to Westlands, a different building. Boss had then emerged from the building and entered the car.

He tried to call Watcher Two. The phone was off. It did not bother him because he often forgot to charge his own phone. So he drove back to the station where he found his boss frantic.

“What the hell happened?”

“Sir?”

“I just received a call from the hospital that your friend was involved in a bike accident.”

“I didn’t know about that, sir…”

“I thought you were following Boss and he was watching his house. Why was he on the road?”

He took a deep breath. It was time to tell part of the truth. “Sir, I followed the vehicle that had carried Boss but somehow they managed to trick me. He must have come out of the car in traffic. When I found out I told Watcher Two,” as he lied about being the one to call, he hoped Watcher Two had not given his side of the story. “He told me to keep following the car and he would keep an eye on Boss. I tried calling him a few minutes ago but his phone was off…”

“You are a bunch of losers. Losers. You cannot take care of one small criminal. What kind of cops are you? Useless. Useless.” At that moment, his phone rang. He listened for a few seconds then punched the wall. He turned to his watcher, eyes red like he had red contact lenses. “Get the hell out. Get out!”

***