What people never understood is why he was named Avery. Everytime he met a stranger across the street, or was introduced in a board meeting, people were almost certainly taken aback. For some it represented an awfull history of a colonialist administrator in the '60s who ruled with iron fist for her majesty the Queen.
It is for this reason that when his name appeared on the list of co-counsels representing Wahab Kirui that nothing seemed right.
Wahab Kirui was convicted of torturing and murdering an English dissident in the silent cold hills of Kericho.
This case had attracted a series of international attention and protests had occured everyday.
Wahab Kirui had become an overnight sensation in local and international conflict politics.
He'de been loved and equally hated by every person that came across his story.
Col. Avery was a white colonialists who was killed and maimed by three Agikuyu women who worked in his farm. He was known for using cruel mind games on Africans before killing them. He would take away infant children in the dead of the night from their mothers, and return them after a few days. Some never returned.
He held a huge Estate in the outskirts of Mukurweini. A big chunk of his lands was used for farming. Some pieces were left for the tiles industry. Unlike other white settlers, Col. Avery did not put a fence around his property.
It was rumored that he held five large Alaskan wolves that roamed the farms at night. No one dared go outside past darkness
Col. Avery himself was so no easy sight.
He was a six foot beast of a man. His eyes had a sharp glare in it that no one held eye contact. It was dry and lifeless, portraying his ruthlessness.
His general facial expression lacked any signs empathy.
Most notably, not a lot of people had seen him smile. He walked with a swagger of triumphant french general. He had few friends and held very few gatherings.
He had no apparent female relations.
On the eve of his death, Avery had received a party of four foreign women. What transpired that night has never been disclosed. Post mortem results did not declare any source of death.
The Mau Mau sent out word that they'de been responsible. Some claims of poisoning by his slaves were heard on the local tavern.
The most popular story was the four women killed him.
"Why choose me?". Avery could not help but wonder. Wahab Kirui had all the resources to hire the biggest and best firms in the world, with better lawyers than himself. He did hire the best, except he had requested to have Avery among the lead counsel.
The black limousine parked outside his single bedroom apartment in Githurai had attracted a lot of attention. People had surrounded and bewildered by it's beuty. The bodaboda riders were taking selfies in all kinds of flashy poses.
A few slay queens did not miss the party either.
Two armed men in black suit stood by on each side of the car.
Two others stood infront of his door on each side.
Inside avery sat on his bed while a towering figure of a lady, leaning on the wall, talked to him.
" I do not know why he chose you, but we have to leave now. The plane leaves in fourty minutes."
She said.
Avery was still confused. He was sleeping when she knocked on his door. She did not offer a name. She looked like one of those marcanaries for hire.
He had read the Wahab Kirui story on newspapers and seen it on the TV. It was a number one trend on the social media. Albeit the popularity, he did not pay much attention at the time.
He put on his gray khaki trouser from the the day before. The cleaning lady had taken most of his little cloths to wash. He went to the sink to wash his face but she told him he will do it in the car. He grabbed his phone and his notebook.
"Leave them." She said.
The stun look on her face said she meant to have no conversation. He took the key from under the pillow case and walked out of his room.
One of the two towers of bodyguard took the key from him and closed the door. They walked down the corridor and out of the gate where the Limo was parked.
He tried to adjust his eyes to the afternoon sun.
The people had doubled and neighbours were now loudly whispering.
Some women with kids on their back stood afar and watched as he was escorted into the car.
Nothing made sense. Nothing he could think of brought any pieces together.
Part of his heart felt good on the attention he was getting from the crowd of neighbours. A big part of him was scared and confused.
He was hurriedly bundled into the limousine and soon was driving away into the day.
