Birds of A Cage

"Rose-Coloured Glasses"

PART TWO

EDWARD

"Gentlemen. How can I help you? Why are you in my house this late?"

Standing between his muscled workers, William raised a finger to stop me from talking. He was on the phone, as composed as ever, but I knew him well enough to know there was something wrong.

"Change of plans, Edward." He hung up and turned to me. "Your uncle needs us in the house."

"It's nine o'clock. What does James need?"

"We have a problem with the business. I don't have the time to explain, James will."

We strolled into my uncle's home a few minutes to ten.

Memories of the time when I was around this hell hole came to mind, but I pushed them back. I had no time to try and reminisce on old times. Music filled the air – as usual – without effort, like the waves filling holes in beach sand; the sound rushing in and around every person. Some reacted to the beat, dancing, while others continued in chatter, but bopping their heads as if it still spoke to them in some manner. There were women in bikinis walking around and some were inside the pool. This was nothing new, I would have been surprised had there been nobody around.

Valentine's silver Mercedes was parked at the front. I knew the situation had to be dire if he needed everyone around, including her. I nodded to a couple of my friends walking into the house as fast as I could, trying to avoid unnecessary chit chat.

We called our home 'the mansion'. The house was situated in the leafy suburbs of Kiambu County, away from civilization. The closest neighbour was about five minutes away. On the first floor, there's a living room, a hall, a kitchen, and a toilet. On the second floor, there were six bedrooms, three bathrooms and a balcony. It had a study on the third floor. There was a garage, a garden, and a swimming pool. It had a foyer that would accommodate the Serengeti Plant at the foot of a vast curving staircase that I thought went to heaven the first time I moved in. Upstairs, the velvet drapes framed the windows, the lace inner curtains remained drawn, allowing moonlight to enter while rendering the heart-stopping view over the city a blur.

James, Valentine and my best friend, Matthew, waited in the study.

"It's taken you long enough to get here," James said. Blowing his cigar, he signalled for William and me to take a seat.

"Why are we here?"

"Someone's after me. Some of the things that we were moving into the country have been seized by the police," he said, with a calmness that was worse than his anger.

James was a businessman. According to the public, he was a tea farmer who owned an import and export trading business. He possessed acres and acres of tea farms in the Tigoni area. The reality was far chilling than that. He provided a service for the scum of the earth. Whatever you wanted to do that was illegal he was the man to go to and because of his consummate skill, he built an untouchable empire.

"How do we know that they are after you, maybe it was just a coincidence?" Valentine asked.

"A coincidence is always a plan in disguise." James blew out smoke. Finally, anger had found its way into his voice. "They had all the information about my shipment including the warehouses. Luckily, it couldn't be tied to me so here I am. It means someone powerful, someone in the higher-ups, is coming after me and that there's somebody in our camp comfortable enough to betray me."

"Could it be someone you had a falling out with?" Valentine asked. "A politician?"

"I avoid any politicians. They rarely have any power."