Elephant Dropping (9781301895199) (37 page)

Firdus got
copies made in Voi and got back to the farm just before lunchtime,
pleased to see Doug looking less stressed. He asked. ‘Did you
contact Brian? Is everything ok?’

‘Yes, he called
his sister. Said he had a few leads to follow up and I will speak
to him again this evening.’

Doug reached
for the newspaper Firdus was holding. His uncle handed Katana’s
report to him instead. ‘This should fill in a few gaps for you.’ He
left Doug reading intently.

He ordered
sandwiches from Margret while he went to pack for Nairobi and then
joined Doug on the veranda.

‘What do you
think of the report?’ He asked as he hunted through a well-thumbed
notebook for phone numbers.

‘Jesus. What
the hell am I going to do?’

‘Don’t worry, I
told Katana your side of the story. I’m getting on a flight to
Nairobi to go and see the minister. We are going to get that
bastard Rubia stopped in his tracks. Now listen carefully, this is
what I want you to do in the time I’m away.’

Firdus outlined
his plan as they munched on sandwiches. Doug was impressed he had
thought of every angle, like a master chess player. ‘Amazing - and
you think the minister will listen to you?’

Firdus smiled,
and then chuckled. ‘You know why they say you can’t teach an old
dog new tricks?’

‘Yes, but I’ve
never understood what it means?’

‘Because dear
nephew, to an old dog, there are no new tricks.’

After lunch,
Doug drove Firdus into Malindi airport. They sat together for a
moment in the car park. ‘I don’t know if Brian will have any more
news, but the two of you can hide out on the farm until I get back.
If you decide not to stay, leave the car here with the keys under
the mat. It’s vitally important that Brian communicates with his
sister as we have discussed, the timing is crucial.’

As Firdus
stepped out of the car he put his hand on Doug’s shoulder. ‘Be
careful, I will get you out of this jam.’

Doug watched as
his uncle walked to the airport terminal, and then rang Brian. ‘I
have just dropped my uncle at the airport in Malindi and I need to
see you urgently. Where can I find you? I’ve got wheels.’

‘Ok, listen’
Brian replied, ‘I am not sure how to give you directions. I’m at
apartment seven, at Sunshine Villas.’ The guard is called Alphonse,
I’ll let him know you’re coming.’

‘Okay no
worries, I’ll see you in a bit,’ Doug said.

Brian left the
computer he was working on and made his way to the front gate,
informing Alphonse of Doug’s imminent arrival. Alphonse responded
with a big grin. ‘No problemo amigo.’

By the time he
got back, Lucy was standing in the apartment in a micro bikini
dripping wet. ‘Where you go,’ she demanded.

‘I’ve got a
visitor coming, I told you about him. Stay out by the pool, we have
important things to discuss.’

‘I see, so you
don’t wants me now,’ she pouted.

‘No it’s not
that, my friend does not know you’re here. I need to explain things
to him first; I am not cutting you out.’

She waved an
index finger in his face. ‘Yous better not,’ and with that, turned
and walked back out to the pool.

It didn’t take
Doug long to find Sunshine Villas. He drove past the White Marlin
Hotel and stopped beside a vegetable kiosk. He got generalised
directions and further down the road, he repeated the process at
another kiosk, in no time he was outside the gate. ‘Are you
Alphonse?’ he asked.

The guard
looked at him. ‘Yes, you are the visitor for the
mzungu
?’
Doug nodded. Alphonse opened the gate and pointed into the garden.
‘Uko, number seven,’ he said.

Doug walked
into the apartment skirting wet footprints on the tiled floor.
‘Brian?’ he called out.

Brian heard him
and yelled. ‘Doug! Come, I’m upstairs.’

Doug looked
around him, frowning at the prints leading out to the pool. He
couldn’t see anyone. He located the stairs and found Brian on the
computer. ‘This looks interesting,’ he said, ‘how did you end up
here, and whose apartment is this?’

Brian smiled.
‘It’s a long story, but we’ve got a spare room so you can stay, no
problem.’

‘We, as in you
and I?’

Brian looked
sheepish. ‘No, there’s a girl.’

‘Aha,’ a girl.
He peered at the paper coming out of the printer. ‘So what’s all
this stuff then?’

‘It’s a summary
of the NNB Bank accounts to do with the Golden Palm, I uploaded a
copy to my e-mail before I left Nairobi.

‘Oh, so what’s
with the girl - she let you use her computer? How much does she
know?’

Brian heard the
irritation in Doug’s voice. ‘Listen it’s alright, sit down and I’ll
explain to you.’

Doug pulled up
a chair. ‘Ok, this had better be good.’ He listened carefully and
waited for Brian to finish. ‘So I take it, that this is not her
apartment or computer?’

‘No it’s some
Italian guy, a friend, away in Italy called Antonio.’

‘Oh boy, I need
a drink, have you got any beers?’

‘Listen mate,
Lucy has only been incredibly helpful so far, we’re safe here.
There’s a beer in the fridge downstairs, I’ll get it for you.’

The stairs were
wet and he almost slipped. Lucy had obviously been eavesdropping;
he went back with the beers.

Doug said.
‘While I quench my thirst, you’d better read this,’ and handed over
a copy of Katana’s report.

Brian gave him
a curious look and then started to read. ‘Wow,’ he muttered under
his breath. ‘Where did you get this?’

‘My uncle.’

Brian stood up
and stealthily moved to the top of the stairs, looking down at
Lucy’s startled upturned face. ‘We need some privacy, go and do
some shopping.’

Lucy caught out
and not in the least bit put off, charged up the stairs and brushed
past Brian to stare at Doug. The two of them eyed one another. Doug
said evenly. ‘You’re Lucy,’ taking in her sexy figure.

‘Yes, me
friends of Birin,’ pointing at Brian.

‘Okay,’ said
Doug with a grin, ‘me also friends, of Birin.’

Brian
interrupted. ‘Lucy, I need to discuss important things with Doug.’
Fishing out his wallet he took out two thousand shillings. ‘Can you
go and get us more food and beers?’

She took the
money without taking her eyes off Doug. ‘Okay, yous tell
everythings,’ she said to Brian as she walked past him.

‘Quite a
firebrand you’ve got,’ said Doug, ‘Somali, no doubt.’

Brian grunted.
‘She’s been very helpful.’ Sitting down again he picked up the
report. ‘So this means the two thugs that hijacked you and Gem are
now both dead and this Rubia cop is coordinating all this.’

Doug nodded.
‘Yup, and more importantly, the cops here in Malindi are also
involved.’

Brian leaned
back and squeezed his forehead with his hand. ‘Let me get this
straight,’ he muttered, ‘Rubia is the head of the counter terrorism
unit in Kenya and he has been hired by either the Indian or Evans -
or both - to have me killed.’

‘Yup,’ said
Doug, ‘and we’re pretty sure he had a hand in the death of a senior
immigration officer that had something to do with the fiasco over
your missing work permit.’

Brian slumped
in his chair. ‘What the hell are we going to do?’

‘First off,
this little tart of yours is a liability.’ Brian frowned at Lucy
being described as a tart. Doug held his hand up. ‘Hear me out, how
much does the girl know?’

‘It’s difficult
to say, but she knows that Evans is involved with Patel and today
she located what appeared to be his house.’

‘And she knows
you’re wanted by the police. Correct?’

‘Yes, but you
should have seen the way they treated her.’

‘And what have
you promised her - money?’

Brian frowned.
‘Yes, she needs something for her help.’

‘So in your
assessment,’ Doug said sarcastically, ‘there’ll be no way she’ll be
heading to the police station, she’ll have gone out shopping, like
a good little girl.’

‘Yes, I trust
her, and you don’t know her.’

Doug leaned
back. ‘You ex-pats are all the bloody same. You come out here with
your do-gooder attitude, assume that the poor African is an
innocent and would be so much better off if he followed your
ideals, given a little education; his obvious handicap is just
simply misplaced ignorance. That little bitch - contrary to what
you think - has you by the balls. It’s only a matter of time. She
knows that if you don’t play along she can go straight to the cops
and you’re fucked.’

‘No, she won’t
go there, she hates them.’

‘She’ll go
wherever the money is, and basically if the police or their agents
offer her more than you do, you’re done for, no correction, we are
done for. In a nutshell, the only other person in Malindi who knows
you are still alive is me and you say she knows Evans and Patel.
How much do you think they would be willing to pay for that
information? Huh, tell me?’

‘Okay, so what
are you suggesting - we bump her off? That seems to be the solution
to all Kenyan problems. Don’t you think you’re being a little bit
paranoid?’ Brian challenged.

Doug held back
his anger. ‘I’m in a whole bunch of shit, because of you. I had a
nice life till you came along and now I’m on a murder charge, all
because of your bloody
mzungu
ignorance.’

Brian frowned.
‘Listen man, I am just as much a victim as you. I was only doing my
job. I didn’t know I was going to get embroiled with a whole bunch
of crooks. I am sorry that you’ve been drawn into this thing, but I
didn’t set up this shit. There may be things that I am naïve about,
but I think it is time we started to concentrate on finding a
solution. I’m grateful for your help, really I am.’

Doug held his
hands up. ‘Okay I hear you. Now my uncle has gone up to Nairobi
talk to the Minister of National Security. However, it is not
enough just to present the evidence we have on Rubia so far. In
order to get more weight applied, we need to get your government
involved.’

Brian looked
puzzled. ‘More weight, my government?’

‘Yes, as of
now, you are missing, presumed dead, people go missing all the time
in this country, and unless some pressure is applied, nobody does
anything. My uncle has told me that you need to get hold of your
sister in England and tell her what has happened. You need to
explain she must not reveal you have called her - and instigate a
search for you through the Foreign Office. They will be duty bound
to contact and pressurise the relevant Kenyan authorities to mount
a search for you - in this case – Rupert Omollo the Minister of
National Security, who incidentally is Rubia’s boss. This is
crucial for my uncle’s success in applying pressure to the
ministry. It has to happen in this sequence within the next couple
of days. Do you think your sister will agree to do that?’

Brian threw his
hands up in the air. ‘Does it have to be so fucking complicated?
Why do I have to ask my sister to get involved, there has to be
another way around this, why can’t she say I’m alive?’

‘Because then
protocol dictates it’s a Kenyan police matter and you’re back in
the lion’s den with no help from your government. Listen, my uncle
has some very powerful contacts. He is not just trying to save your
ass, he is getting this whole mess sorted out so that I can go back
to the busy little life I had before you arrived on the scene.’

‘Ok, but I’ll
have to talk my sister and so far I’ve had no luck, only getting
her answer machine.’

Doug pointed at
the computer. ‘Send her an email?’

Brian agreed.
‘Okay, yes that would work, but it would be much better if I spoke
to her.’

‘Good, let’s
compile an email to her now and then this evening when it’s dark,
we can also try and call her.’

Brian prompted
by Doug, typed out a draft of the e-mail. ‘It’s vital that she gets
all the relevant facts in one go. Once she gets hold of the foreign
office, my uncle says her computer and phone will be
monitored.’

Brian stopped
typing. ‘Monitored by whom, how the hell does Firdus know
this?’

Doug smiled.
‘Trust me, he knows they will be able to trace this e-mail right
back to this computer if they need to.’

Brian looked
thoughtful. ‘Bloody hell, you’re right.’

’Yup,’ said
Doug, ‘so your sister will have to insist that your lack of
communication with her is out of character and an urgent search for
you needs to be instigated.’

Brian grimaced
at the irony. ‘Here I am trying to hide and at the same time I am
asking my government to get involved in trying to find me, how
weird is that?’

‘Let’s just say
you’re getting an education on how to survive in an African
country,’ and they both laughed.

*

Patel completed
his meeting with the shipping agent in Mombasa. His next
appointment was with a used car dealer where he collected a list of
vehicles in stock. Leaving his card with the manager he said. ‘I
will call you once I have made a decision.’ Then, with nothing left
to do, he drove slowly and reluctantly towards Malindi. He needed
time to think.

On the drive up
he was unaware he passed Dogra and Cyrus on their way to Nairobi.
Patel drove directly to his house, greeting the smiling old askari
and was pleased to see his other Landcruiser - he steeled himself
for the inevitable confrontation with Azizza.

Patel walked in
the kitchen to find her standing there and could not hold her
fierce gaze. ‘Hello, I’m tired,' he brushed past her in greeting.
Azizza, relieved and angry at the same time, stood for a moment
indecisive. She then put the kettle on and prepared the tea tray.
Waiting for the kettle to boil she tried to recapture her anger and
then gave up, so relieved to see him again.