(Continued from The Rider III)
Kate is furious.
“He has no right to drag you into this,” she says.
Horace sits still. On one hand, he wants his brother and father to be safe. On the other hand, he doesn’t want Kate to lose her property or to sleep with that fool.
“I will do it,” she says suddenly.
“What?”
“I will give Maingi what he wants. He can take the property and he can sleep with me if he wants.”
“You can’t do that Kate,”
“Why? I am the one who dragged you into this whole mess. If your father and brothers die, it will be because of me. I cannot live with that. Let him take the property. At least Chris educated me. Maingi and his people cannot take that away from me. I will find a job and I will make my own wealth,”
“Will you also transfer the building you bought in Murang’a? It is not part of what your father-in-law left behind,”
“If Maingi wants it, he can have it,”
“He wants to sleep with you as well,”
“Then let him. It is just sex, Horace. I can survive it. All I want is for your people to be safe.”
“It is not just sex, Kate. It is your life,”
“What do you mean?”
“What if Maingi isn’t interested in sleeping with you? What if what he really wants is to kill you in that hotel room after you sign the transfer documents? Or worse, rape you then kill you?”
“Why would he do that?”
“The property, Kate. If you are dead, then the transfer will never be challenged by anyone. He will never have to worry about you turning around and claiming that he forced you to do it.”
“You are too bright, Horace,”
“Thank you. So what are you going to do?”
“I will give Maingi what he wants and keep your people safe,”
“I thought you are saying I am bright because you liked my line of thought,”
“I do, Horace. But I said you are too bright because Maingi cannot think that far. He is not as bright as you. He is just driven by a primitive desire to conquer a woman, take what is hers, and have his way with her. I will give him that satisfaction so that your people can be safe. Besides, he cannot kill me in a hotel in Sagana. He is too well known around here.”
Horace looks at her. She looks defeated. Beaten. She is no longer the confident girl that he was so attracted to a few hours ago. Or the fierce lioness that intrigued him. He rises slowly and walks up to her. He wraps his hands around her. She stiffens. She does not like being embraced by men. A peck in the cheek is okay, but not a full embrace. That makes her feel weak and vulnerable. Plus, experience has taught her that hugging gives some filthy men the excuse to place their dirty hands on her behind. And that makes her feel violated. She prefers handshakes. As a matter of fact, she has not been embraced by a man since Chris died. The few who tried to hug her forcibly, like that boy Alfred, met her wrath. And today, when she wrapped her arms around Horace, it was under her own terms. Now though, he is hugging her under his terms.
Her first instinct is to aggressively push him away. But she feels like she lost that privilege when she hugged and kissed him earlier today. She violated his personal boundaries, and it is hypocritical for her to insist that he doesn’t touch her. Besides, she has caused him enough trouble today. So she reluctantly submits to his embrace.
She is relieved when he places one hand above her waist and the other behind her neck. It is a very romantic embrace, one she wouldn’t ordinarily allow any other man besides Chris to attempt, but it does not feel like he is groping her. She cannot deny that she is attracted to him. And the attraction did not begin today. On the day she first recognized him from her office window, she felt something in her that she hasn’t felt for any man except Chris. He is still as good looking as he was as a teenager, but he is manlier now. He is no longer the lanky teenager, but a well-built man. The smooth face that he had as a teenager now hosts a full beard. She knows she has to be careful. She knows nothing about him except the memories of a fiery Christian teenager. But many teenagers lose their faith and turn into wicked men and women.
She has to be careful here, and remain in control. But it is difficult to do that when he is holding her so closely. For a moment, she forgets their troubles, and allows herself to be intoxicated by his masculine presence. She is almost closing her eyes when she realizes that he is talking to her.
“I am attracted to you, Kate,” he is saying. She is suddenly alert. “But this is not the you that I am attracted to. I prefer the confident and fierce you. We cannot allow Maingi to win like this. You promised me that you will crush him.”
“Yes, but when I said that, the lives of your father and brother were not at stake. This is different. We are talking about innocent lives that have nothing to do with my quarrel with Maingi. I just want to make this right,” she says. She has gently moved away from him so that she can think straight.
“They are my people and I care about them, Kate. But think. What guarantee do we have that after you do all that he is asking you to do he will release them? He could continue holding them so that he can continue blackmailing you to continue sleeping with him. How do we even know that he has not killed them already?”
“So are you saying we abandon them?”
“No.”
“Good. Then I should start preparing to leave. I will do what Maingi wants, and your people will be free. Hopefully it will not be too late for your injured brother.”
*
Police Inspector Sean Kiambi has distinguished himself as a tough law enforcement officer. He takes his job very seriously. Being a devout Christian and a church elder, he sees his job as his God-given mission on earth-a mission to keep God’s people safe. He is respected, hated and feared at the same time. He is respected because he is ruthlessly fair. He is hated, mostly by some police officers, chiefs and sub chiefs, because he is incorruptible. Officers and chiefs in his area who get paid by criminals to look the other way often find themselves in the cells and ultimately jobless. The first thing that Sean does when he gets to a new station is to establish a network of informants. That way, nothing escapes him.
He is feared simply because he is fearless. He will go to any length to secure his area of jurisdiction without fearing for his own safety. When he gets to a new station, usually a crime hotspot, he often goes on patrol with his officers. This is one of the reasons they respect him so much. He usually stops going on patrol when the crime rate of the area drops but by that time his bosses are usually looking for another trouble spot to send him to. He often says that if God has ordained that he dies in the hands of criminals, then so be it.
He is famed for identifying and killing the notorious criminal called Kali Kali. Legend has it that when Sean was posted to Kikuyu Police Station as the OCS, Kali Kali and his gang were roaming around the area, including Kikuyu, Wangige, Karura Kanyungu, Gachie, Ndenderu, Ruaka and Banana, terrorizing residents and getting away with it. Kali Kali seemed to be invincible. Nobody even knew his real name.
One day, two weeks after he was posted to Kikuyu, Sean attended the wedding of a popular Kikuyu businessman called Gitau. Gitau was getting married a second time because his wife of twenty three years had died two years before. Gitau was a socialite. He liked being in the company of the who is who in Kikuyu: the OCS, the then DC, Bishops, MPs amongst others. So naturally, Sean was invited to the wedding, and even allowed to say something to the newly-wed couple.
Sean looked at the groom straight in the face and said:
“Bwana Gitau congratulations on your wedding. But if you want to live long enough to impregnate your new wife, I would advise that you leave Kikuyu. I know you are Kali Kali and I am coming for you.”
Everyone was stunned. The speakers who came after the OCS condemned him for embarrassing a respectable member of the society. The MP threatened to have him demoted and sent to Mandera.
The following week, Sean and his officers arrested tens of youth believed to be Kali Kali’s operatives. The youth would post bail, presumably with money given by Gitau, and Sean would arrest them again for another offence. It was pure harassment, aimed at forcing the hand of Gitau, aka Kali Kali. As the pressure and harassment mounted, the youth started turning against Gitau. He was forced to take an action against Sean, to reassure his operatives that he was in control. He led an attack on Sean’s house. What he had not realized up to that point was that Sean already had an informant in his organization. So that evening he walked into a police trap. He and three of his men were killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and six of his remaining men arrested. After that incident, other criminals in Kikuyu went underground, and residents began sleeping peacefully at night again.
*
Sean is the new OCS at Kangema Police Station. He is on his way to a meeting in Murang’a, accompanied by three officers. When he sees a police cruiser without a number plate parked on the side of the road, he gets interested. He is sitting at the front, beside the driver.
“Why doesn’t that vehicle have a number plate? Is it one of ours?” he asks.
“I don’t know afande,”
“Pull up behind it,”
When the cruiser stops, Sean hops out and approaches the other police vehicle.
“Mbona mnaendesha gari bila number plate?” he asks. He has already noticed that the vehicle belongs to Murang’a Police station.
“Zimengoka afande,”
“Zimeng’oka aje? Na hawa mnawapeleka wapi? Si huyu mmpeleke hospitali?”
“Ni mahabusu afande,”
“Kama ni mahabusu mbona hawana pingu? Wamefanya nini?”
“Ni walevi,” the cop says and instantly regrets it.
“Ni walevi na hawanuki pombe? We nani,” he calls out addressing the old man. “Ingineni kwa hii gari yangu niwapeleke hospitali.”
Horace’s father and brother quickly do as they are told and carry their injured kin to Sean’s vehicle. Sean then orders two of his men to disarm the two officers, handcuff them and take them back to Kangema Police Station. They might be Murang’a cops, but they are in his jurisdiction, and he will deal with them the way he deals with all other suspects. His two extra men ride in the plate-less cruiser back to Kangema Police Station.
When Sean and his driver pass a silver Premio about an hour later, they do not notice the panicky face of the youthful driver. Neither do they see the relief on his face when they overtake him without fuss and speed away.
Sean takes the old man and his sons to Murang’a Level Five Hospital. He instructs the police driver to stay behind and keep an eye on them while he rushes to the meeting alone. He will come back and personally interrogate them after the meeting.
(Continued Here).
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/lake-boat-fisher-man-landscape-5000642/
*
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