“What the fuck are we doin’?” Musa asked.
Daudi glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Musa struggling to keep the girl in her seat. She seemed determined to throw herself into traffic. She’d already tried to claw his eyes out and scramble into the front like some possessed wild cat. Right now, Musa was getting the worst of her claws.
“We’re taking her somewhere quiet. We need to know what she knows,” Daudi repeated. He’d said it half a dozen times since they’d snatched her off the street. It wasn’t sinking in. He kept trying to see if there was anyone following them, but the only thing back there was dust.
The buildings had long since thinned out.
Give it a few more minutes and they’d be on the outskirts of Freetown.
If all they needed was quiet, anywhere here would do. But on some subconscious level, another part of him was steering them back towards the compound. Let Boss decide what to do with her. Let Boss ask the questions.
It would be better that way.
“I ain’t telling you shit,” the girl snapped. “And when my father finds you two fucking creeps are gonna wish you’d never been born.”
“I wish that every day,” Daudi said.
Musa laughed. “We ain’t afraid of yo daddy, little girl. Whoever the fuck he is, he needs to know his place. Now, you gonna tell us everything you know and then we’ll let you go. Nice and simple. No one needs to get hurt. But if you don’t, well then things are gonna be bad for you. There’s some really bad men where we’re going, an’ some of them ain’t seen a woman in months, if you know what I mean, little thing?”
“Fuck you.”
He gave a sudden grunt of pain.
Daudi knew that she’d found a soft target.
A moment later she turned her attention to him.
He swerved the car hard, slamming on the brakes.
She almost came flying into the front seat, but it was enough to take the wind out of her.
Musa pulled her back into the seat.
Daudi heard a slap of hand on cheek, harder than maybe needed. Daudi hit the accelerator again, giving another glance over his shoulder. The girl was cowering now, and suddenly looking very young. Much younger than he had thought. She was vulnerable and he felt like shit.
For the first time, he was wondering if they’d fucked up.
He’d figured she was the girlfriend, that she’d lured Lebna into town and in the end had him done for, but not anymore. That nagging doubt that she looked older than she really was, had solidified into certainty. She was far too young. Lebna was a lot of things, but he was no pedo.
What the fuck had they done?
He slowed down a little once they had finally left the last of the buildings behind. There was still a way to go, but the quality of the road quickly deteriorated, and the car rocked and juddered as they went. If he’d kept up the speed they’d been traveling at, the suspension wouldn’t have held up to the battering. He slowed, which meant they were kicking up less dust. Now, at least, he could see behind them.
There was no sign of a tail.
Before long he could make out the shape of the compound in the distance.
“You fuckers are going to be in for some real shit when my father finds out what you’ve done,” the girl fronted. She’d recovered enough of herself to face them down, bravado in her words even if her voice didn’t carry the same level of confidence.
Daudi said nothing.
He concentrated on the road, practicing in his head what he was going to say to Boss when they presented him with the girl.
He was way past having doubts.
They shouldn’t have brought her here. They should have driven back into Freetown and ditched her at the side of the road. But she’d seen their faces well enough to cause problems if her father really was someone like she seemed to think.
Everything was spiraling out of control.
“You just keep your mouth shut, bitch,” Musa snarled, “unless you want another slap.”
“Leave her alone,” Daudi said. “She’s just a kid,” Daudi said.
“Yeah, a kid who dick-punched me.”
Daudi tried not to let a smile play across his lips, but it wasn’t easy.
Ahead of them, the gates of the compound loomed large. He slowed even more until the rusty old Trabant finally came to a stop.
Someone keeping watch up on the wall waved a hand. He couldn’t see who from this angle. They shouted down to someone below them. Less than a minute later the gates were swinging open, grating across the hard-packed dirt road, to let them through.
Daudi should have felt relief, but instead there was a kind of dread building, tying his guts in knots.
It didn’t help that Boss was waiting for them in the courtyard and he didn’t look happy.
“Where the fuck have you two been?” Boss demanded the moment that Daudi stepped out of the car.
“Town,” he answered.
“And what the fuck were you doing there?”
“I didn’t think…”
“And that’s always the fucking problem with you. You never think. And why the fuck is that idiot just sitting there clutching his prick?”
Musa clambered out slowly but didn’t say a word in his own defense.
Daudi was relieved. Whatever he’d said would have only made matters worse. He was about to tell Boss about the girl when the other passenger door opened, and she stepped out.
“And who the fuck is this?” There was no doubting the anger in his voice.
“My name is Lori Danjuma,” the girl said defiantly, arms folded in front of her. “Now, my turn to ask a question. Who the fuck are you?”