Silhouette

LXI

Charles falls on the car, hears the loud thud his body makes, feels his right leg give way beneath him. His ankle explodes in pain as the car roars to life beneath him. He feels lucky that his fall was a straight descent onto the roof of the car and not straight at the ground. He grips the edge of the roof as Yemi guns the car out of the alley.

They are accompanied by shouts from the officers at the window, and somewhere a siren pierces the night. Yemi drives at breakneck speed, bursts out into a main road, and is soon swallowed up by the traffic. Now they are just one among the five million cars plying the roads of Lagos.

Charles gingerly eases into the car through the passenger side window. His ankle is on fire, he cradles it, moans through gritted teeth. He can still flex it, so it's not broken.

Yemi stares at him from the rearview mirror. "Everything good?"

Charles nods. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Dave Coker sits across from him, staring out into the night. Charles doesn't know what to make of this man. This ex-soldier turned police detective who has then gone on to kill quite a number of people, and although Charles thinks they frankly deserve it, it is plain that there is no place for this man; the police will disown him and it is only a matter of minute before he is declared wanted and a state-wide manhunt ensues.

Dave turns to him. He asks, "What now?"

"We are building a case against Chief Koko," says Yemi. "And you seem to have something personal going on with him, so we need to know what you know. We need your help."

Dave goes silent for a while. Then he says, "Chief Koko had my friend killed."

"Only the court can stop his inauguration right now. We can add that to the list of the ever growing charges."

Dave looks back at the window. Charles stares at him, a suspicion grows in his chest that Dave would be uncooperative.

"Stop the car," says Dave.

Charles sputters. Moans as he accidentally puts his weight on his right leg while trying to sit up. Yemi glances at him from the mirror.

"I need to get down," says Dave.

Yemi slows the car, lets it coast down a deserted stretch of highway and stops. A streetlight behind them bathes half the car in an eerie yellow glow. "Where on earth are you going to?" Charles asks through gritted teeth.

Dave stares at him. The streetlight makes his face a haggard yellow, his eyes--dark pools of nothingness. At this moment, Charles thinks there is a certain otherworldliness about him.

"Thank you for breaking me out," says Dave. A yellow truck hauling goods rumbles past them, the breeze it gathers in its wake shakes the car. "I have to go on my own from here." He steps out of the car.

Charles points at him, finger trembling, breath whistling from the pain in his ankle and his barely contained fury. "After what we have just gone through."

"Let him go," says Yemi.

Chasrles sits back, breathing hard. "I hope you survive the shitstorm that's coming your way."

Dave regards him for a cold, silent moment, then he closes the door. Charles watches him walk back the way they came. Then he cuts left into the dense bush bordering the road and is swallowed up by the dark foliage. A strange man in a strange world.

***

Ola finally makes the call. She doesn't know why, but she can't help but feel that Dave is walking a tightrope, feels like Dave is making a descent into a dark whole he will never come out of.