Black Mischief

by Carl Hancock

  Half an hour before, Tom had been looking forward to getting horizontal on his bed. Now the thoughts were coursing ‘round in his brain at lightning speed. How could he buy themselves time? How could he persuade such a suspicious, impatient set of crooks to accept a lie? He must stall.

  ‘You have to give me time.’

  ‘No! I’ve got deadlines.’

  ‘Okay, forget it. I want my father back here, but I have to find the girl first. Can’t you get that through your skull? I’ve had enough of this. When I put this phone down, I have other calls to make.’

  ‘Like to the cops?’ There was a gloating roll of throaty laughter, followed by a long pause. There was the sound of voices, but they seemed far away. Someone had a hand over the mouthpiece. At last the voice returned clear but threatening.

  ‘Noon. You wait for a call from this side. We’ll tell you where to bring her. I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you break your word.’

  ‘Our word. That’s rich!’ Tom was ready to launch into a burst of angry moralising but managed to put the phone down without saying anything else.

  * * *

  ‘Bertie, I’m coming over. Bad news. I’ll explain when I see you.’

  ”Becca, I need your help. Urgent. Phone my mother and explain about Dad.’

  ‘Thomas, she will want to hear this from you. But …’

  ‘Maybe, but Dad needs my help even more. Tell her to stay where she is. Tell her I’m on my way down if that will hold her.’

  ‘I will, Thomas.’

  ‘When I’ve got my head ‘round this, I’m going to call the Daniels’ house in Karen. They’ll pick her up from the hospital. When you’ve finished here, come over to Rusinga. God, what’s going on?’

  Tom found them drinking yet another mug of coffee. Sonya had gone to be with her boys and Ewan. Tom was surprised and apprehensive to see Lydia on an armchair and wrapped in two warm sweaters. She looked up briefly and greeted him with a weak smile before turning back to the task of disentangling the knots in a silver chain. Maria, Bertie and Hosea were grim faced and concentrated. The words ‘bad news’ were crowding their minds with possibilities, none of them hopeful.

  Tom was anxious to share his news, but the presence of Lydia troubled him. He had been ready to speak openly and full on, but now he had to make sure that he would say nothing to make Lydia’s fears much worse.

  But he had underestimated the strength and courage Miss Lydia Smith, daughter of a captain in the Royal Engineers, the father she had never set eyes on. Tom uttered three words: ‘They’ve got Dad’

  And she shocked them with her comment, ‘And they want me to take his place.’

  She might have been asking for another sugar for her coffee. ‘I am ready. I cannot win. Better this way. I can save the life of a good man.’

  In the theatrical silence that followed, Bertie, Maria and Hosea were the audience waiting for the plot to move forward. Tom, struggling to find his next words, was conscious of his weakness. He had no heroic solution to offer, did not possess the wisdom to give hope and was frightened that he might cop out and lapse into the drivel of totally useless cliche. He was not at the heart of the drama. He had a kind of choice. The villains did not have him directly in their sights. For Lydia and his own much-loved father, it was the raw business of life and death.

  ‘Dad says that you must not go down there.’ His voice was croaking out of a dry throat. ‘He insists, says you’ve got a life ahead of you.’

  Lydia set down her silver chain, looked him directly in the face and smiled warmly. ‘Bwana Thomas, you know the word naive?’

  ‘Of course, but …’

  ‘Suppose I stay here or hide in some cave in the mountains, perhaps they will take life away from your father. I think these devils would do it. Do you think that they would then wash their hands and go home? No, Thomas. No, they come in search. They will pay money for news of me. I am a nobody. Yes, for the first time in my life I will be a famous person.’

  Maria calmly interrupted. ‘Lydia, you are speaking a truth. But there are other truths even in this hard place. You know that I have a husband.’

  For the first time since Tom’s arrival, some of the resigned poise went out of Lydia’s expression. What is going on with this woman? Perhaps she smokes the bhang. Perhaps …

  ‘Hosea is a very special man. He understands me. He does not laugh when I tell him about a gift I have. Gifts like this are not … fashionable in these days. If I tell you, Lydia, that you are going to be an important person, perhaps you will laugh at me.’

  ‘No, I will not laugh. I will thank you for your kindness to me …’

  ‘But you will not believe me.’

  Lydia’s reply was a shy shake of the head. ‘Because you think I am trying to be “nice” to you. How can it be nice to tell you lies? You test the truth of electricity by turning on a switch. I want you to test my gift in the same way. Experience it.’

  Bertie was in new territory. ‘Maria, I’ve never met anyone like you. I respect you such a lot. But, how shall I put it? We have a kind of triangle here - Lydia, Alex, my dearest friend and a first class bastard - pardon my French called, shall we say, Rubai. Who’s got - some big wig Nazi said this, I think - yes, who’s got the big battalions? How can we work this without taking on casualties? Do you follow my drift?’

  ‘Perhaps you are right. But there are other ways. All bullies fall in the end, even rich ones. And we have nothing to lose.’

  ‘Except your own lives.’ Lydia the realist was back in command of her thoughts.

  Rebecca returned with news about the calls she had made.

  ‘She was amazing, Thomas. She was actually pleased about the news of the kidnap.’

  ‘Thank God. There is still hope. She promised to stay put. She does not know yet, but the Daniels will be with her soon. Mary Coulson, too. She is down, staying with Philip and his family.’

  ‘They’ll look after her.’

  Lydia slipped nimbly from her chair to kneel by Tom’s side. She spoke quietly, looking up into his face as she did so.

  ‘Phone them now. Please, before all my courage goes.’

  ‘They wouldn’t give me their number.’

  A heavy lethargy held him firmly. The shock of the series of threats to him and his loved ones had created a numbness which prevented him from getting a proper grip on the reality of what was going on. Yes, he knew that his father was in mortal danger. Yes, this girl looking into his eyes was ready to give her life for a comparative stranger. But his awareness was remote. Events were happening at a distance. He was a spectator, not a participant. He knew that so much depended on him, but he had nothing to offer. And time was passing.

  He closed his eyes tight and looked in on himself. Get a bloody grip, boy. Do something, you cretin! Not a single idea sparked into life for him. He was teetering on the edge of a bout of deep self-pity. He felt a hand touch his neck and a soft cheek pressing close to his face.

  ‘Thomas, do not torture yourself. Pray with me’

  ‘Sweetheart, my whole guts, my whole heart is reaching out and there is no reply. Nothing.’

  He heard a voice coming to him from a distance. He recognised it as Maria’s. It was calm and soothing.

  ‘Thomas, focus now, now, on one single idea, hope, thought. Just one. Shut everything else out. See it clearly. Hold it up in front of you.’ There was a long pause before she continued. ‘Keep it there until it becomes a part of you. Then decide!’

  He was breathing hard as if he had just finished a bout of heavy exercise. For the others watching him was like looking in on a soul in torment. They longed for him to return to himself. He was driving himself to a state of collapse.

  Suddenly it was all over. He had come through. He stood up and let out a final deep sigh.

  ‘I know what to do,’ he said wearily. ‘It’s so obvious, but I was never one for getting the point quickly.’

  Rebecca was more anxious than ever. ‘Thoma
s, let me help you, whatever it is. This is a nightmare, but even such things come to an end.’

  Maria, still calm but more forceful now, began in a voice a little above a whisper, ‘So, you will get into your car and drive carefully home. You will step down but leave the engine running. You will go up to your bedroom and return to the vehicle and drive out onto South Lake Road, turn right at the junction and make your way towards Nairobi.’ She stopped abruptly and opened out the palms of her hands as if to invite him to complete the narrative. He took up the offer.

  ‘Hosea, where did you find her? Maria, what can I say?’ He reached out for Rebecca’s hand. ‘I’m going to kill him.’

  ‘No, Thomas!’ Rebecca’s scream did not weaken his determination. He moved towards the door. ‘Someone should have done it years ago. Don’t anyone tell me it can’t be done. I’m up for this.’

  ‘It can be done, but there is a better way.’

  ‘No, Maria. I cannot save my father. I don’t even know where they’re keeping him.’

  ‘I think I know where that place is.’

  Tom, they all waited for Lydia to continue. She picked up the silver chain and twirled it around her finger, staring at it intently as she did so. ‘I will have to guide you there. I have been there. It is a farmhouse. It is near a road and it has no fence. These things I remember from the night I ran away. I had to hide outside for many minutes.’

  ‘Can’t come. Too dangerous.’ Tom tried to sound firm but realised that what she offered was the only hope he had of getting to his father before the noon deadline.

  ‘Show me and then you can come back.’ So much for his firmness.

  In five minutes arrangements had been made. Rebecca was to be dropped off at Londiani. She would tell Rafaella what was happening. Her father, too. Bertie was to stay at Rusinga.

  ‘I’m going to sit downstairs over there. Switch the radio to World Service to keep me awake. I’ll have two guns loaded. The night askaris ran off when they saw that first mob coming. Can’t blame them, only youngsters.’

  * * *

  Dawn was still a long way off when the Land Cruiser with its four passengers reached the dual carriageway that would have taken them down into the city centre.

  ‘No, not this way. We must go to the left, towards Dagoretti Corner. It is not far now, when you are travelling in a car.’

  Tom was driving on sidelights. When she added, ‘We must slow down now. It is there up on the left,’ he slowed the Cruiser down to a crawl.

  The long, shadowy farmhouse was in silhouette on the crest of a low hill, picked out by the lines of security lights surrounding the building. Tom pulled off the road and cut the engine. Through the open windows the only sounds that reached them were the gentle breezes moving through the branches of a craggy pepper tree just off the roadside. They waited and watched. There were no obvious signs of any guards.

  ‘This is the place. Mister Rubai likes to think that it is a secret house. Perhaps I am mistaken, Thomas. I am very sorry.’

  ‘Don’t worry. You’ve given me hope.’

  There was no plan. There had been talk on the way down but, with no proper idea of location, the only fixed thought they had was that they would have surprise on their side. Maria disapproved of the guns that Tom and Hosea insisted on bringing, ‘just in case’.

  ‘Maria, this is my kind of work. You have been very quiet on the way down.’

  ‘Not much talk. I love looking out at the darkness. It makes me feel calm.’

  ‘Mmm. Talking to the stars. So, what have they come up with?’ The hardened police sergeant teased his wife.

  She was up to his mild sarcasm. ‘I have a question. Imagine that you are one of Rubai’s men inside this place. What would tell you that unwelcome strangers were prowling about outside? Too difficult?’

  ‘Er, perhaps footsteps.’

  ‘Especially the heavy boots of a sergeant or a farmer. One of your steps and they’d be out here chasing us away.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So take those boots off and skip around this place like a pair of ghosts.’

  ‘But …’

  ‘Too painful for those tender little feet. We will show you. Lydia, shoes off and follow me.’

  ‘But …’

  They slipped out of the back of the car and, bending low, disappeared along the side of the house.

  Hosea was annoyed. Tom was anxious and bemused. These surreal events kept on happening. Now he was left wondering if he would see these two wild women again. If his father was actually inside, he would surely be tied up. One careless move by these amateur detectives and a lot of blood would be flowing. A gang of humiliated thugs would enjoy taking their anger out on anyone who got in their way. And what a bonus when they discovered that they had taken care of the pest Lydia without even realising it.

  Ten minutes passed with no sound coming out of that dark shape. Was that good or bad news? Tom and Hosea spent the time looking about them and exchanging worried expressions but saying nothing. Hosea knew that sooner or later they would have to leave the relative sanctuary of the car and make a two man assault on a Rubai stronghold. This time he would take his gun.

  There was the sound of footsteps from behind. Gun in hand, Hosea crouched behind his seat for protection. A tap on the roof sent their pulses soaring. Three figures climbed in behind them.

  ‘The mice have returned with the cheese!’ was Maria’s whispered call of triumph.

  ‘Now, take it away Mister McCall, Junior!’

  ‘Bloody hell!’ and a huge sigh of mingled shock and ecstasy sent the driver’s hands into an uncontrollable tremble. The last thing he felt capable of was starting the engine and moving off. The realisation that they were still in danger of losing all their gains was enough to steady him.

  A carload of tears. The sluice gates opened. Hosea was shaking his head in relief and amazement. Alex McCall sat between his two rescuers, head down and stunned. Tom, gradually taking in the impossibility of his father’s rescue, was exhilarated by his free passage through the open countryside as the first rays of the sun opened up a new day. Blue smoke rose from a cluster of shambas. The longest night of his life had come to an end.

  Lydia grasped Alex’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Bwana, you were willing to die for me.’

  ‘Yes, Dad, I know you told me not to mouth off about what you told me.’

  ‘Mouth off! Tom, thank goodness your grandmother can’t hear you.’

  ‘She wouldn’t mind this time. Yep, and since we are on the subject, Lydia wanted to take your place.’

  ‘But how could this happen?’

  ‘Hosea, don’t look so startled.’ Maria wanted to move on. ‘Okay, let’s enjoy the moment.

  ‘There is still a lot to do.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Lydia, that’s how.’

  ‘No, Maria, you know …’

  ‘She led, I followed. You’d make a great dancer, Lydia. I was just company.’

  The front door was open, not a guard anywhere. Empty bottles on the floor.

  ‘We were dealing with idiots, arrogant ones, as usual, four of them.’

  ‘Snoring in armchairs.’

  Alex took up the story. ‘They had tied me to a chair in a bedroom. Bars on the windows, door locked …’

  ‘With a key in the lock, outside.’

  Lydia and Maria wanted to move on, to shake off the memory of the farm. Had they simply been lucky or had there been some other factors at work, unknown, even mysterious? They did not want to find out. Tom glanced in the rear-view mirror and was disturbed to see his father upset, perhaps on the verge of tears and not from joy this time.

  ‘Tom, is there something you are hiding from me?’

  ‘Dad?’

  ‘Your mother, has something happened? You know, in the hospital. Look, don’t try to hide anything. I —’

  Tom held up his hand and delivered his message low key. ‘She’s fine. She’s with Dot and David. We’re on our way. Mar
y’s there, too.’

  ‘Thank God, thank God!’ A huge sigh of relief was followed by a huge smile. The image in Tom’s mirror was transformed.

  * * *

  The last time the Daniels’ sitting room had held so many people had been the evening of the day when Simon was buried. Now, just days later, a heavy breakfast was laid on as a dozen friends enjoyed the chaos of trying to make sense of the events of the previous twelve hours.

  Maura discovered that her husband was safe only when she actually set eyes on him as he came into the room where she was sharing a quiet time with Dorothy and Mary. David had announced noisily, ‘Maura, someone to see you.’

  She gasped and closed her eyes as the rush of euphoria took hold. She felt herself being pulled up out of her chair and held in a familiar embrace.

  ‘Alex, Alex, thank God. I thought …’

  ‘It’s all over.’

  ‘That doctor and those others in the ward, how could I have been so stupid?’

  Eryl eased the mounting tension when she insisted that the unexpected guests sign the cast on her broken arm.

  ‘When this comes off, I’m going to look after it like a family treasure.’

  ‘Look through the window.’ Maria spoke quietly, but there was authority in her voice.

  ‘The sun has brought us a new day, a blessing that we take for granted. Last night a man died and there is no joy in that. He meant to harm us but he failed. Lydia is here. Alex is here. We must not be too comfortable with these blessings, this miracle. And beyond even that there is some change yet to come. I feel it. Only our own fear and laziness can stop it.’

  ‘Maria, when do we stop? The change, I believe you, but will it come today? To be alert, we need rest, sleep.’

  ‘Hosea, I’m supposed to be the practical one, the wife, the mother and all that. But you have the greater gift and you are right. One more thought. We must have the discipline never to forget the very angry man who lives around the corner in his big mansion.’

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  t eight o’clock, Abel was enjoying breakfast with Sally and Reuben. He was relaxed and pleased with himself. By his smart thinking he had come out of a potentially disastrous night with a handsome profit. The deadline was four hours away. His hostage was safely hidden, ready to be brought out for the exchange. Exchange. He would delay a final decision about that.