Boss Takes All (38 page)

t three-thirty am, three cars met at a crossroads in Karen. They had travelled by separate routes from the city to avoid any possibility of creating suspicion. From where they had parked on a wide verge, they took a right turn. Headlights were switched off for the last few hundred metres to their destination, the large pink house clearly visible under its bright security lights.

The advance party had done their job well. The gatehouse was not manned and there was no sign of any guards in the parkland surrounding the house. They parked on the lawn far back from the main door and the twelve occupants of the cars, not all of them there willingly, hurried on using the thick grass to muffle their steps.

Within five minutes of entering, the intruders had calmed the shocked household and persuaded Abel Nathaniel Rubai to leave his bedroom to join his unwelcome visitors downstairs in his conference room. Paul Miller explained their presence to their furious host.

‘No one will be hurt and no damage will be done …'

‘Miller, get your thugs out my house this minute and maybe, just maybe I will be willing to forget this outrage. Is that you, Alfred? Don't tell me that you are …'

‘Mister Koyane is here as your advocate to see that everything is done according to the demands of the law.'

‘Get out of my house! Now!' Rubai screamed. The sound of a child crying in the distance drove him close to apoplexy. ‘Get out! Get out! When my men get here, they will shoot you down like the wild animals you are!'

With no sign of emotion, Miller continued.

‘This is Mister Collins Roberts, a magistrate whose area of responsibility includes the township of Kibera. Normally business of this nature would not be held in a defendant's house, but for the sake of public order.'

Rubai's manner turned instantly, but his roar of laughter had a hollow ring to it.

‘You are trying to arrest me?'

‘And Inspector Caroline Miggot will read you your rights and then the list of charges. Your lawyer will have a copy of these, of course.'

‘Haven't I seen you before? At least you've given me one good-looking out of three. Just as well for you, sister. When you are dismissed, probably by this evening, you will find it easy to get customers downtown.'

‘Mr Rubai, I must caution you …'

‘Yeah, blah, blah, blah. And don't forget you are not allowed to have more than two shits a day except on Sunday, etcetera. Naivasha, yeah, that's where I saw you. A Rift Valley stitch-up …'

Alfred Koyane broke in.

‘I've had a scan of this list of charges. Murder, murder, attempted murder … Are you being serious?'

‘I tell you that your client will have his chance to refute these charges in court …'

‘Miller, stop talking like a constipated arsehole and get real. Suppose I behave like a good little boy and allow myself to be taken to some lockup in the city. Once news gets out, you idiots won't make it as far as the Ngong Road. You've ruined a Sunday morning for me and my family. I'm about to ruin the rest of your lives. I'm going upstairs. I need to check on my wife and kids.'

Miller blocked his path. ‘We have no beef with any of them.

We've got good people up there looking after them. So, I'm sorry …'

‘Out of my fucking way …'

‘Put the cuffs on him!'

Two lanky but strong policemen used the impetus of Rubai's charge to spin him ‘round. One pulled Rubai's hands behind his back and the other closed the manacles on his wrists. Neither of the sergeants was wearing a uniform. Of the five police personnel in the room, only Inspector Caroline could be recognised as such.

‘Reasonable force, Mr Koyane?'

‘Mr Miller, do you know who you are dealing with here?'

For the first time, Paul Miller dropped the bland, formal manner.

‘We certainly do. This is no game. This is an honest attempt by the people of this country to put this murdering scourge where he belongs!'

Rubai detected a tremble in the venom of Miller's anger. He replied calmly in a tone of sneering contempt.

‘Go ahead, you fool! In a month's time, you and your puny comrades will be history. Treason is still a capital offence in this country.'

‘Treason! You megalomaniac! Who do you think you are? You have never been elected to any office of state. You have gathered around you a bunch of cronies who are shit-scared of you but hang around for the crumbs you throw down for them!'

The theatrical silence that followed was disturbed by the sound of a powerful engine approaching the house. Paul smiled and pointed his right index finger towards the ceiling. ‘The way out!'

The scowl on the face of Abel Nathaniel Rubai revealed that a new truth was dawning in his mind.

‘Who gave permission for that vehicle to fly so close to this house?'

‘The same person that ordered this puny group of citizens to pay you a visit to let you know that you are about to become part of the history of the dark side of this wonderful country.'

‘You intend to kidnap me?'

‘Mr Rubai, ten out of ten for quick thinking! You will have to forgive us that you will not be able to enjoy what I have been told is a marvellous view of the city and the country from your seat in the aircraft that I hear has landed on your back lawn. We have the blindfold ready.'

As soon as the hum of the engine and the whirr of the rotor blades had died away, Paul Miller led everyone from the sitting room to the back lawn. After Abel Rubai was safely on board, helped up by two policemen, Paul said his goodbyes to Alfred Koyane and Collins Roberts who left at once to join the cars waiting at the front of the house to take them home. Before Caroline was driven back to Naivasha in the third car, she and Paul had a brief exchange.

‘Too late to change our minds now, Paul.'

‘It's really do or die for us. A first in my life. I had expected to feel some strong emotion when we came face to face with him, exhilaration or, maybe, apprehension. Nothing, a dull day at the office, except that once or twice I felt close to bursting out laughing.'

‘And I kept on seeing pictures of the headlines in the papers tomorrow. A bit crazy?'

‘Couldn't tell you. This is another first for … all of us. But I'm rock solid ready to go. Glad the waiting is over.'

‘Well, a big kwaheri to all of you. I'll report back to Daniel and we'll all keep in touch. You're off to the hills and I'm returning to the world.'

The air force pilot flew some aimless miles before homing in on his destination, a landing circle in an open space in the forest high in the Aberdare National Park. Abel Rubai had been a silent passenger the whole time they had been in the air.

Two cars were waiting as arranged. The pilot kept his blades moving while the transfer was made and the party of seven joined their drivers to set off along a trail that brought them to the Wanderia Gate and the road to Nanyuki. Abel spoke his first words in two hours.

‘Forest trail, then a good road. Too cold for Tsavo or the Shimba Hills. Kagamega, I don't think so. I go for somewhere in the Aberdares, as traitors like you call them, but Nyan-darua to true Kenyans. You know there's no point in keeping me in the dark. I will outwit you every day of the week.'

The prisoner was relaxed and confident. His silence on the journey had not been wasted time. In his mind he had gone over the events of the hour between the brutal entry of these clowns into his home to the moments when he had been dragged along the soft turf of his lawn and then manhandled up into that smelly, uncomfortable metal box with wings. From tiny fragments of conversation he guessed that there were seven or eight on board. His key realisation was that they would not harm him in any way for the three weeks leading up to his planned appearance in court. He was safe, whatever threats they mouthed against him. The hunt for him would be on already. The searches would be extensive and the questioning relentless. His own boys knew how to threaten effectively. Oh, yes, he would be a free man again within days, if not hours.

Before they reached Nanyuki town, the cars turned off onto a dirt track and started climbing steeply. The large, low farmhouse, set in the trees, would have been out of sight to other dwellings, had there been any. It was an ideal spot for a quiet retreat from the world, where these holidaymakers would be able to take care of their blind brother and complete a few canvases for their imminent Nairobi exhibition.

When the news came out of the disappearance of Mister Big, it caused a huge sensation in Kenya and further afield. There were rumours by the hundred to keep the media and the wananchi excited and even a limited version of the true story took a long time to come out. There were interviews, mostly with nobodies but a few with somebodies. Abel would have been annoyed and upset to learn how many of the wananchi expressed satisfaction that the country's kingpin had been removed from the scene. Once it was known that he had been flown off from his Karen home, one rumour spread quickly that he had he had been pushed out into a part of the Mara River that was infested with crocodiles.

Next morning there was a collective sobering of national opinion when
The Standard
and
The Nation
published identical versions of the charges laid against the richest man in the country. Most readers were stunned and incredulous, but a sizeable number nodded quietly and hoped that this single event might mark a new beginning of a new era for the people of the country which had once prided itself in the title of ‘The jewel of Africa.'

On the Tuesday after the disappearance, TV networks in Kenya and neighbouring countries drew a huge audience for an exclusive live interview.

In the same sitting room of the Karen house where Abel had been introduced to his kidnappers, the camera was focused on the surprisingly composed remaining members of his family. Reuben sat next to his mother on a large settee. Sally, heavily made up, was holding baby Julius in a white lace shawl. The children in between smiled shyly when they knew they were in shot and at that moment as popular as film stars or famous sporting idols.

The single lady interviewer was well-known to the Rubai family and was chosen for her sensitive manner and her way of putting at ease the shyest and most reluctant of those who sat opposite her in front of the cameras. After almost three days with no news of her husband Sally was ready to open her heart in the hope that it might help to bring her beloved Abel back home.

‘I cannot understand who would do such a thing to a man who loved his country and wanted to serve her.'

‘So what message would you like to send to those people who took him away from you all?'

‘Please, bring him back or, at least, let us know that he is well and in good spirits. There are so many stories of good men snatched away from their homes …'

Sally could not contemplate the ultimate horror. The interviewer turned to Reuben to confront him, reluctantly, with the most difficult question she had on her prepared list.

‘Reuben, we have seen in the papers the list of charges being made against your father. Do you have any comment on these?'

Without hesitation Reuben, looking straight into the camera, dismissed the accusations.

‘Garbage! My father has many enemies out there, envious people who are ready to make up a string of lies to bring him down. And I would add that it is quite disgraceful that these rags are willing to give space to this stuff just to sell a few more copies.'

‘So what about the trial to be …'

‘Madam, there will be no trial, unless it is of these cowardly thugs who saw fit to invade the home of an innocent man for whatever corrupt motives they have. I am working to bring my father back to where he belongs.'

Many of the millions watching the interview were so won over by the actual presentation of the family that they did not need to hear any opposing point of view. Abel Rubai was being foully treated, but the authorities would soon put this situation right. At that moment many of the viewers would have been happy to have raised these people who bore their suffering with such dignity to the level of royalty.

Viewers gathered in front of their set in Londiani were impressed with the program. They were aware, too, that this shameless makeover would make their task that much more difficult. Next morning at breakfast Tom expressed his fear.

‘Say we manage to hang onto him for the next nineteen days. How will we get him to court with the local rent-a-mob in action?'

Daniel reminded him.

‘Tom, we always knew that this was not going to be easy. We will not be given the chance to reply to that sentimental hogwash.'

Maria was able to bring good news.

‘Hosea has heard from Inspector George Simpson up at Nanyuki. Caroline reached the farmhouse safely last night.'

‘Thank God!'

‘Yes, Maura, that's one worry less. When I tried to tell her that it would be dangerous for her to read out the charges to Rubai, she reminded me that someone from the police had to do it. “Daniel, I am not willing to hide away. That way Rubai will survive again.”'