by Terry Morgan
CHAPTER 62
It was now almost 3am. The van parked outside the Shah Medicals front entrance was still there. The driver who had gone inside the building was still inside. His two colleagues who he had left in the van had got out and got back in several times as if bored with waiting. Both of them were smoking cigarettes. In the cool and still night air the smoke was drifting up towards the outside lights.
But then all of the lights at the rear of the building suddenly went out, followed by several of the strip lights along the side the building. Then the front door opened.
"Lunneau," said Jimmy. The Frenchman was also smoking a cigarette. He walked to the van, opened the passenger door and spoke to the two men inside. They got out and followed him into the building. Two more strip lights went out behind the side windows. The building was now in complete darkness except for the lights in what Jimmy called the "reception" office.
Until that moment it had been completely silent. Jimmy and I had heard nothing except a few normal Nairobi night time sounds - distant cars and trucks, dogs barking, a cockerel crowing well before its due time and some chirping from hidden insects. But then there was a sound that clearly came from the Shah Medicals building. Jimmy lifted his finger to his ear. I nodded. I had heard it too. It was a muffled shout. Then another, louder this time. Then silence again.
Jimmy pointed at the front door. Someone was moving behind it. The outside light was switched off so that the only light now was coming from inside the building - behind the door and the two front windows. I had the binoculars, but it was becoming difficult to see the van, the Mercedes or the Toyota except with the reflections of the inside lights.
The door opened and Lunneau appeared. He went to the smaller car, the Toyota and opened the boot. The boot light came on. He took out something that might have been a tool box. He put it on the ground. Then he pulled out a long sheet of what might have been plastic and lay it flat on the ground close to the van. Then he pulled out two other sheets and lay them next to the first sheet. Then he picked up the box and went back inside.
There was more movement behind the door - two men, perhaps three.
Then Lunneau's back appeared as if he was carrying something with the help of a second man. He was. A body was dragged out of the door, across the ground and rolled onto one of the sheets.
A third man then appeared at the door. He was a big man with a light suit and he stood with his hands on his hips as if giving instructions. He pointed.
"Mister O'Brian?" whispered Jimmy.
"Yes, that's definitely him," I said peering intently through the binoculars. I then trained them on the other man helping Lunneau but it was far too dark to see detail. But as O'Brian continued to watch, Lunneau and the third man wrapped the sheet around the body, tied it with something and lifted it with a struggle into the open boot of the Toyota.
I looked at Jimmy who did not have the advantage of the binoculars but he had clearly seen what had happened. His mouth was open. He nodded at me and I handed him the binoculars to watch.
"Have they finished, Daniel?"
"I suspect not. Keep watching."
"They've gone back inside. O'Brian has gone inside. No, they are bringing out another. Your turn, Daniel."
The whole process took ten minutes. The second body was put in the boot with the first. The third body was placed on the back seat of the Toyota. Finally, O'Brian emerged completely from the front door from where he had seemingly been giving instructions. He stood, taller than Lunneau and several inches taller than the third man. But he was much bigger and broader than both of them.
"So how did they die so quickly, Daniel?" Jimmy whispered, clearly troubled by what he had just seen.
"No idea, Jimmy, but O'Brian could easily have done it himself.
"And why?"
"When you run an operation like O'Brian's there are only a very few people who are entitled to know what is going on. The others do their job and are then dismissed before they get to know too much."
"So lucky Lucky - and lucky Luther."
"Yes, you might well have saved Luther's life, Jimmy.
"So what now? We follow them?"
"We can't follow three vehicles with just your car, Jimmy. Let's focus on the car that GOB takes - obviously it'll be the Mercedes."
"GOB?" asked Jimmy.
"Colin's nickname for Greg O'Brian. Let's see which of Nairobi's smart hotels GOB is staying at."
O'Brian appeared once more and got into the Mercedes. It's headlights came on and floodlit the area where they had just wrapped up the bodies. Then the second man emerged and got into the van. Finally all the lights in the building went off and Lunneau came out, locked the front door and climbed into the Toyota. All three cars, led by the Mercedes, then drove off. It was almost 4am.
As the two cars and van - the big Mercedes containing Greg O'Brian, the smaller Toyota with its cargo of bodies and the white van loaded with boxes drove off, Jimmy started the engine of his own car and, without any lights on, edged along the side road towards the main road.
We quickly caught up with the van, overtook it, and then came up behind the Toyota. But as we did so, the Toyota, indicated left and turned off.
"Shall we still follow GOB or the hearse?" asked Jimmy.
"GOB," I replied, "that looks like his Mercedes in front."
At a discreet distance we followed O'Brian's Mercedes along Waiyaki Way and into the Westlands area of Nairobi.
"Sankara Hotel, Daniel. Nice hotel." Jimmy announced and stopped the car on the roadside near the entrance to the five star hotel.
"I told you, Jimmy. The Best Western could never match GOB's needs. But I assume he'll now sleep for a while. Let's do the same and meet for breakfast."