Dawn of Deception

by Dan Fletcher

  Apart from Gupta there was little else to transfer and they were soon driving towards the city centre. David shrugged off the momentary feeling of guilt in abandoning the KWS vehicle that had served him so well. In less than a few hours at most local thieves and hooligans would strip the jeep bare. Within a couple of days even the engine parts and seat covers would be sold on the local black market.

  Feeling a lot less conspicuous in their new mode of transport his confidence grew the closer they got to Caitlyn’s apartment. He found a space facing the park and turned off the ticking engine. David wasn’t sure whether the noise was normal or it was low on oil. He decided it would be prudent to check the levels before continuing north to the Maasai Mara and made a mental note to stop at a garage. David was taking Gupta up to Scott’s lodge. It was the best place to hold him for now, assuming that Damo and the other rangers had made it there safely.

  “Now stay here and be a good boy,” David turned towards Gupta and smiled before ripping the tape off his mouth. A few more long grey hairs came with it. “And don’t go shouting for help.”

  “Bastard!” muttered Gupta but they both knew that he would obey. If he was found with his hands and legs taped together the first thing his rescuer would do is call the police. And then Commander Abasi would find out.

  David took the precaution of checking the area for Abasi’s men. He walked past the apartment building on the opposite side of the street and surveyed the cars and people for anybody out of the ordinary. There was the odd shopper taking advantage of the fashion boutiques’ later opening times and a few office workers returning home but that was about it.

  He stopped and pretended to examine the goods in a closed sports shop, using the window to check whether he was being followed out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t see anybody acting suspiciously.

  When David reached the intersection he crossed onto Caitlyn’s side of the street and doubled back towards her apartment. He went into an open grocery store and paused in the doorway as if looking for change in his pockets. David used the opportunity to steal a look back towards the traffic lights but there was nobody there.

  He went in and bought a packet of biltong and a bunch of bananas that the grocer stuffed into a brown paper bag. David thanked him and paid the extortionate price, living in the city obviously didn’t come cheap. He could have bought a carrier bag full for the same amount in Kisii.

  Holding the bananas under his arm he ripped open the plastic packet and took out a strip of biltong. The dried beef, cured with salt and vinegar, softened as he chewed and released the intense meaty flavour. David glanced into the deserted foyer of Caitlyn’s building and walked on to the end of the block. He stopped around the corner and pretended to tie his shoelace. Satisfied that nobody was following him David went back down the street and pressed the buzzer.

  There was no answer so he pressed it again. He was about to give up and try the public phone box outside when a smartly dressed couple arrived. They were both in their mid-twenties and seemed to be a little wasted but they politely held the door open for him. David guessed that they had stopped off for dinner on the way home from the office and drank too much wine. The red stain on the white shirt the man was wearing looked like it might have come from something full bodied like a Rioja. His hands were all over her short grey skirt as they went up, she kept giggling and telling him to wait. David couldn’t help noticing she had long toned legs below the thigh-length skirt.

  They got out of the elevator on the third floor but the smell of alcohol remained in the air. That’s when it started to bother him that Caitlyn hadn’t answered the buzzer.

  As he walked down the corridor towards the door of her apartment the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Maybe he was being paranoid but David couldn’t shake it. After placing the groceries gently on the floor he put one hand behind his back onto the butt of his pistol and rapped on the door. It swung open a few inches and he could see broken bits of wood around the lock.

  His stomach knotted up instantly. David took a step back, pulled out his gun and thumbed off the safety. Holding the Browning close to his chest in a two handed grip David kicked open the door and rushed in at a crouch. Trying to avoid being silhouetted by the lights in the hallway. Apart from the dim glow of the streetlights coming through the drapes the lounge was swathed in darkness.

  He was like a duck in a shooting gallery and didn’t wait for his eyes to adjust. Staying low he stopped at the end of the short entrance corridor and felt around on the wall for the switch. When he finally flicked on the light his heart skipped a beat as he surveyed the damage.

  One of the wicker armchairs had been smashed through the middle of the coffee table and was resting there with a broken leg. Shards of glass scattered around it. Another chair was toppled on its side and David noticed a dark circle on the floor next to it. The air was expelled from his lungs as if he had been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. He bent down for a closer look and was overcome by another more powerful wave of nausea. David forced himself to dip his finger into the small puddle and hold it up to his face for inspection.

  It was wet and fresh between his thumb and forefinger. The blood was still bright red, not yet brown from oxidisation. Where was she? Forcing himself to stay calm he took a few deep breaths before standing up. He wiped his hand on the leg of his combats and turned towards the corridor leading to the kitchen and bedrooms.

  Gun stretched out in front of him he took the first step and felt the anger rise within him. It started in the pit of his stomach and climbed up through his chest to engulf him. Turning on the corridor light revealed a sinister trail of large splatters leading across the fake parquet flooring to her door. There was a streak on the white gloss paint near the middle where she must have brushed against it. David had no doubt that it was Caitlyn’s blood and that she was bleeding badly.

  He ignored the other rooms and rushed forward, heart pumping and grabbed the handle. David swung the door open. The light cast from the corridor illuminated the fixed mask of terror on Caitlyn’s face. Her eyes and mouth were open wide, tongue hanging to one side, bruises on her face and neck.

  She was laying spread eagle on the bed with her arms tied to the headrest. Someone had used a knife on her repeatedly. There were gaping slashes across Caitlyn’s abdomen and breasts. Another deeper stab wound just above her hip. The white towelling robe was soaked in Caitlyn’s blood, open and pulled up to her waist. Her legs were straight and stretched apart. There were tell tale rings of purple bruises around her ankles where she had been held whilst she was tortured. Caitlyn’s genitalia were a bloody mess and a large pool of blood had flowed onto the sheets to form a puddle between her thighs.

  David walked over to the bed as if in a trance and let the gun drop to his side. He fell to his knees beside her and touched her cheek. It was still warm. If he had got there just half an hour earlier he probably could have saved her. It was then that he started to sob, short silent intakes of breath that racked his chest as he struggled to breath. The pain she must have suffered was almost unimaginable. Surely only an animal could do this kind of thing to another human being?

  Whoever was responsible for this was going to pay, and pay dearly! An ‘eye for an eye’ seemed more than a fitting punishment in the circumstances. David was reasonably sure that it was Commander Abasi’s eye that needed taking out. Maybe Tanui’s as well.

  He wiped away the tears with the back of his free hand and used the bed to push himself to his feet. David put the gun down and reached up to untie the hand nearest to him. She deserved to have some dignity. He wanted to cover her up at least before he called the local police and the circus arrived.

  She had pulled hard on her restraints in an attempt to escape. The knots were tight solid lumps of rope. David pulled at the first one for almost a minute before it came free. As he lent over her to reach her other hand a single tear rolled off his cheek and landed on her forehead. Finally the second knot came undo
ne and he closed the soiled dressing gown over her mutilated chest. Then David folded Caitlyn’s arms loosely on top so that her hands rested over her lap.

  “I’m so sorry Caitlyn.” He leant over and kissed her on the lips before closing her eyelids, “I promise that I’ll get whoever did this to you.”

  He heard the footsteps coming up behind him and started to turn around but it was too late. David was struck on the back of the head by something hard and everything went black.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  GSU Headquarters, Nairobi

  August 19th, 1996

  David’s mind flitted between the dream world and reality as he came out of the nightmare. It was the usual one about his father and the masked murderer wearing the medallion. But for some reason that David didn’t fully understand Caitlyn was there, trapped inside the burning house instead of his mother. He could still hear the echoes of her screams for help as he regained consciousness.

  His head was throbbing worse than it did after a night out on the town with Damo, and David’s eyelids felt like they were made of lead. He attempted to open them but nothing happened. Screwing up his eye sockets first he tried again, pulling down with his cheek muscles and raising both eyebrows to give them assistance. This time they opened but he still couldn’t see anything. There was some kind of hood over his head. When he tried to investigate David found that his hands were handcuffed behind his back. He pulled at the restraints, heaving around face first on what felt like concrete and reeked of urine and human defecation.

  The handcuffs were clasped so tightly around his wrists that he could barely move them, let alone slip them over his hands. But he carried on trying anyway. After a few more minutes of pointless thrashing around that left his skin raw he began to feel light-headed. Realising that he was close to passing out David stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

  “Arrrggghhhh!”

  The howl that broke the silence came from somewhere beneath him. Although high-pitched it was too deep to be a woman’s, more like the sound of a man in some serious pain. Then the louder voice of someone else, his angry shouting overlapped another cry of agony.

  As if struck by a bolt of lightning it all came flooding back to him. The screams that he had heard in his dream weren’t Caitlyn’s at all. How could they be? Caitlyn was dead, her face twisted in agony. Murdered because he hadn’t protected her. David had failed to save her, just like his father. He rolled onto his side and started to weep silently, tears flowing over the bridge of his nose. Caitlyn’s face kept changing between one of beauty to the grotesque death mask that he had found in her apartment.

  David wasn’t sure how long he lay there lost in his own thoughts but it felt like an eternity. Slowly his self-pity and self-loathing was replaced with anger. It started like a hot ember in his belly and grew until it consumed him.

  There was no doubt that Commander Abasi was the sick bastard responsible. Just before being knocked out David recognised the thug he had seen opening the car door for Abasi at KWS headquarters. Maybe he was the one who held Caitlyn down? Judging by the marks on her legs more than one person had been involved. He fought the urge to vomit. One way or another he was going to find out who they all were and make them pay. But first he had to get free somehow.

  He rolled onto his back, his hands trapped uselessly beneath him. Then he performed an awkward sit-up, thrusting his head and shoulders forward to compensate for the ungainly position. The effort seemed super-human and made him gasp for breath under the hood. Star-like pinpricks of light started to spin in the darkness and he came close to passing out again.

  The hood was so tightly tied around his neck that it was making him hyperventilate. David forced himself to calm down and took shallow breaths until the spinning stopped and the feeling of nausea faded.

  Maybe it was the lack of oxygen or a protection mechanism but he found himself imagining a bizarre news story. In the article David was discovered naked in a ditch. He could see the headline.

  ‘UNKNOWN MAN CHOKES TO DEATH ON OWN VOMIT’

  He straightened his back and shook his head. Besides not being ready to die, Abasi needed to suffer for what had been done to Caitlyn. The promise of retribution stiffened his resolve and David began to assess where he was.

  His feet were bare. They must have taken his boots and socks, so he used his toes to explore the space around him. The walls on either side were less than a few feet away. Shuffling around on his bum it took David less than a minute to work out that he was in a small rectangular room less than eight feet long.

  The door set in one of the smaller walls felt cold to the touch but he kicked it with his heel to make sure. A dull clang confirmed that it was metal.

  Combined with the smell it didn’t take a genius to work out that he was being kept in a cell. KWS holding facilities were much the same and he had smelt the mixture of sweat and piss before. It was a distinct odour that David had come to associate with human fear.

  “Hey!” he shouted to anybody that might be listening. “Let me out of here!”

  The screams and shouting stopped and it went quiet. He waited for over a minute but nothing happened. David kicked at the door, “Bastards! Where are you?”

  Then the man’s pitiful screams started up again. David kept kicking at the steel and shouting until his voice was hoarse and his heel felt bruised. But still nobody came. Wherever he was being kept they obviously weren’t worried about the noise. He was somewhere that they felt secure, probably at a GSU facility. Realising eventually that it was hopeless he shuffled away from the door, turning ninety degrees so that he could lean against the wall. Knees bent and feet touching the wall opposite David arched his spine to accommodate the handcuffs. He tried to rest his head but a sharp shooting pain told him that it was a bad idea.

  Examining his situation objectively David came to the conclusion that the Commander must think he knew something. Otherwise he would be dead already. It had to be Koinet, or more precisely his whereabouts. He hadn’t told Caitlyn about his decision to move the prisoner to Spencer Scott’s lodge. A wave of guilt hit him, imagining Caitlyn being tortured for information she didn’t even have. He should have tried to warn her sooner, before he left Mombasa with Gupta.

  “Shit!”

  David had forgotten all about Gupta, he’d left him tied up in the rental outside Caitlyn’s apartment. Maybe they hadn’t found him and he was still sitting there. He shuddered, or maybe the screams coming from the depths of the building belonged to Gupta. Thinking about it everything had been quiet for a while, how long was impossible to tell. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours.

  Straining his ears he heard footsteps first, then the jangling of keys and the scraping noise of a lock being opened. The keys clanged against a metal door somewhere outside his cell. Judging by the squeal they made the hinges needed oiling. As the laboured wheezing got closer he painted a mental picture of the heavyset bodyguard. His jail cell suddenly felt positively luxurious. A regular sanctuary compared to what might be waiting for him. David backed himself into the corner and held his breath.

  Although he was expecting it the noise of the key entering the lock made him jump. He pulled his knees up to his chest and hung his head forward as if asleep. Thighs tensed, his whole body sprung like a snake ready to strike. The door to the cell was swung open and some light came through the hessian sack. Then it dimmed as the man stepped inside the cell. Although David couldn’t see properly through the thick material the changing shadows allowed him to make out a shape. His brain put the pieces together and the shadows came together to form the vague outline of a man.

  “Are you still asleep?” the man’s laugh was deep and booming. He took a step closer, “Come on wake up, there’s somebody who wants to see you.”

  David didn’t move and continued to exaggerate his breathing.

  “You better not be faking it!” The dark shape got bigger as he leant over, “I’ll...”

  His threat was
cut short as David unleashed the pent up energy in his coiled legs and kicked out. He was hoping to connect with something hard like the man’s head but his feet drove into something soft and squishy.

  The man grunted, his voice sounded strained and had gone up a few octaves, “You little bastard!”

  Thrashing out again David found nothing but air, before he could withdraw his legs steely hands locked around his ankles. Although he tried to resist and pull away there was nothing he could do to stop himself being dragged across the floor feet first. Skin was scraped from his forearms and his head bounced off something solid. Suddenly the hold was released and his heels hit the ground with a thud before he could get his leg muscles to respond.

  His jailor was taking sharp short breaths. David guessed that he must have caught him in the balls and that it would take him a few minutes to recover. David wasn’t doing so well himself. He had used up the oxygen under the hood during the brief tussle and his head was spinning again.

  Maybe he sensed the attack coming, or heard the rustle of clothing, David rolled away enough to prevent the kick bursting his kidney. A steel toecap drove into his ribs and knocked the wind out of him. At the same time there was an intense stabbing pain and David thought he felt something break. It was swiftly followed by another kick that caught him above his handcuffed wrists in the small of his back. David curled into a ball to protect himself against the series of blows to his arms and back that followed. The man changed angle and aimed a kick at his head, it struck the wound he had received in Caitlyn’s apartment. David cried out as a shard of pain stabbed into his brain.

  “Shut up!”

  He cringed expecting the next blow but thankfully the beating was over. An arm slipped through his and he was lifted off the floor to his feet, a little too easily for David’s liking. The man was even stronger than he looked, if it was the bodyguard. David’s legs were jelly and he would have collapsed.