Silhouette

XXI

The men stare straight ahead. They say nothing.

Thomas is sandwiched between them, he sees his face in the rear mirror; sweaty and stricken with fear. "Care to tell me where we are going?" he says.

There is no reply from either men.

Thomas rubs his palms on his trouser. They come away with wet trails. "You know I have people waiting for me... somewhere. If you will just let me inform them that I am being kidnapped. That is what is happening here, right?" He glances at both men. "That would be very nice of you, you know? You could live the rest of your lives as heroes knowing you didn't kidnap that nice dude."

The car stops at a red light. A traffic warden flags down a rickety bus next to them. Thomas stares at the traffic warden, wills him to turn his back and flag down their car or demand it be searched.

The red traffic light is blinking at 35. Thomas glances at the door handle next to him without turning his head.

Suddenly he shouts and lunges for the door, struggles to open it. It doesn't budge. The two men watch him calmly. He sits back and smiles sheepishly.

Twenty minutes later the car stops before a massive iron gate. There is a low ping and they open slowly to reveal a sprawling estate. Thomas looks behind him at the receding gates, there is no one behind them. It is automated.

"Where are we?" he says.

There is no reply.

He looks out the window. They are on a smooth tree-lined driveway. Through the trees he sees a mansion. White walls, stained floor to ceiling windows and numerous balconies.

He sees a man on one of the balconies with his hand pressed to his ear. He is soon obscured by the trees. Thomas doesn't see him when the mansion comes back into view.

The car swings around the driveway and pulls up before the entrance. Thomas and the two men get out.

"Follow me," says the man with the scar. He starts for the front door.

Thomas follows him. The other man is behind him. His shoes are crunching the gravel.

A stocky housekeeper in uniform opens the door and Thomas is led past her into a large foyer.

The walls inside the mansion are brown. Paintings appear at intervals. Some are simply a crisscross of lines and some are jumbles of colors that makes Thomas wonder what the whole point of it is. Others are breathtaking beauties.

Thomas smells the vain grandeur in the air. It is a pit he has tried not to fall into on numerous occasions. He finds that the lines between need and want can be blurred when he can afford luxury.

They climb a curving marble staircase that leads to a door. The man with the scar opens the door and gestures to Thomas.

Thomas enters. He is on a balcony. There is a long brown table and two chairs. A man is seated in one of the chairs. Fiftyish, barrel-chested and with a thick powerful neck. He is flipping through a newspaper. There is a glass of red wine on the table.

"I know you," says Thomas.

"Yes, I'm somewhat popular around here. You may have seen me in the news."

Thomas frowns. "Chief Koko? What is happening here?"

Chief Koko folds his newspaper and throws it on the table. He glances at the man behind Thomas. "Thank you, Franklin," he says.

Franklin nods and closes the door behind him.

"Please sit," says Chief Koko.

Thomas takes the chair before him. "So it was you all along. It was all you."

"You may have to be specific, Mr Thomas."

"Oladotun's death, the men who almost killed me and me being kidnapped." Thomas rubs his eyes then it all clicks in. He gives a short laugh. "You don't want what I have getting out."

Chief Koko smiles and inclines his head. "You have hit the nail on the head. Mr Oladotun was an unfortunate necessity. Recently I have found that removing your obstacles completely is the only way to move forward. What you have in your possession is something that could be damaging for a lot of people in a lot of ways, not excluding me. I will be the governor of this state soon, that kind of... dirt can be the end of me."

"I have gone through them the past few days and the trail doesn't seem to end. I can't wrap my head around how that amount of money is being washed and no one noticed."

"The techniques involve, but it hardly matters, Mr Thomas. Money laundering is hard and dangerous business in spite of the peachy returns, I'm sure you can understand that. You are a banker."

"I just... Look, I'll give you whatever you want and you let me go."

Chief Koko chuckles. "You don't understand how these things work. I can't afford to leave you alive. You are an obstacle, you are smart enough to understand that, right?"

Thomas sits back on the chair. He stares at the railing, tries to judge the distance from the balcony to the driveway below. He tries to keep his face calm and think of how to reason with Chief Koko. "What is the point of all these?"

Chief Koko sighs and gazes at the sprawling lawn as if recollecting a memory." I have always asked myself the question; am I the most powerful person in the room? Most of the times the answer is yes. At other times the answer has been no. I wasn't born with a silver spoon, far from it. I was born without any spoon at all in my mouth. So power has been a sort of obsession to me. And so in every room I entered, every hand I shook, I needed to be the most powerful. And if I wasn't then, I needed to strive towards it.

"You see power is a subjective fact, just like pain. Power is fluid and as unstable as a nuclear core. Power also needs to be handled with care and you can't do that with obstacles on your path, with flies buzzing in your ears."

Chief Koko takes his glass of wine to his lips and takes a quick whiff. "I intend to ride to the top of the hierarchy humanity has built itself."

Thomas swallows. He thinks of the flash drive hidden in a loose ceiling board in his hotel room. "I... I'm just an ordinary guy who stumbled on something he shouldn't have. I swear I won't tell anyone what I found. I don't have to be... an obstacle."

The door behind Thomas swings open and Franklin walks in, he holds a mobile phone in his hand. He stoops and whispers into Chief Koko's ear. Then he hands him the phone.

"What is it?" says Chief Koko into the phone. His gaze slides to Thomas then he says "Deal with it."

Thomas feels a change, it is in the way Chief Koko smiles.

Chief Koko slowly gets off his seat. He is still smiling but there is something malevolent about it. Thomas stares at his glittering eyes. It is like watching a clown grow fangs. 'I hate obstacles, they are like weeds. You pull them early or they overtake your farm with deep roots. Is Dave Coker a friend of yours?"

Thomas shakes his head. "Dave who?"

"Dave Coker. A policeman."

"I've never heard of him."

"You are going to die whether you give me the files or not. I can grant you a few minutes to say your last prayer." Chief Koko takes his newspaper and walks out the door. Franklin is behind him.

Thomas rushes to the door. He tries the knob but it doesn't budge. He bangs it with both hands. "Please, I beg of you," he shouts.

His heart is loud in his ear. He has a strange urge to scratch his armpits.

"Think, think, think," he says to himself.

He goes to the railings of the balcony and leans over. Stares at the ground below. It is a sickeningly high drop.

He remembers hearing that the best way to reduce the impact of a fall is to roll into a crouch after landing. He doubts there is a chance of surviving this fall. The balcony is almost three stories high and the ground below is a bed of gravel.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and drapes a leg over the railing.