African music at full volume.
‘That’s the kind of party I was counting on,’ Kevin said. He made a wide
turn and then backed toward the building. He could just make out the
window wells for the subterranean jail within the shadows of the
ground-floor arcade.
He stopped the car within five feet of the building and put on the
emergency brake. All three gazed into the room occupied by the soldiers.
They couldn’t see much of the room and none of the soldiers because the
line of sight was on an angle through an unglazed window. The window’s
shutter had been raised and hooked to the ceiling of the arcade. A
number of empty wine bottles were on the sill.
‘Well, it’s now or never,’ Kevin said.
‘Can we help?’ Melanie asked.
‘No, stay put,’ Kevin said.
Kevin climbed from the car and walked in under the nearest arch to stand
within the shelter of the arcade. The sound of the music was deafening.
Kevin’s major concern was that if someone looked out the window, Kevin
would be seen immediately. There was nothing to hide behind.
Looking down at the window well, Kevin could see the barred opening.
Beyond the bars was utter darkness. There was not the faintest light
within the cell.
Getting down on his hands and knees first, Kevin lay on the stone floor
with his head over the lip of the window well. With his face close to
the bars, he called out over the noise of the music: ‘Hello! Anybody in
there?’
‘Just us tourists,’ Jack said. ‘Are we invited to the party?’
‘I understand you are Americans,’ Kevin said.
‘Like apple pie and baseball,’ Jack said.
Kevin could suddenly hear other voices in the dark, but they were
unintelligible.
‘You people have to realize what a dangerous situation you’ve gotten
yourselves into,’ Kevin said.
‘Really,’ Jack said. ‘We thought this was how all visitors to Cogo were
treated.’
Kevin thought that whomever he was speaking with would certainly get
along well with Melanie.
‘I’m going to try to pull these bars out,’ Kevin said. ‘Are you all in
the same cell?’
‘No, we have two beautiful ladies in the cell to my left.’
‘Okay,’ Kevin said. ‘Let’s see what I can do with these bars first.’
Kevin got up and went back for the chain. Returning to the window well,
he threaded one end through the bars into the abyss.
‘Hook this around one of the bars a number of times,’ Kevin said.
‘I like this,’ Jack said. ‘It reminds me of an old Western movie.’
Back at the Toyota, Kevin secured the chain to the trailer hitch. When
he got back to the window well he gently pulled on the chain. He could
see it was tied securely around the central bar.
‘Looks good,’ Kevin said. ‘Let’s see what happens.’
He climbed back into the vehicle and made sure it was in its lowest
four-wheel drive gear. Looking out the back window, Kevin cautiously
eased the car forward to take the slack out of the chain.
‘All right, here we go,’ Kevin said to Melanie and Candace. He began to
press on the accelerator. The heavy-duty Toyota engine strained, but
Kevin couldn’t hear it. The hum of the motor was drowned out by the
frenzied beat of a popular Zairean rock group.
Suddenly, the vehicle lurched forward. Hastily, Kevin braked. Behind
them they heard a terrible clanging over the sound of the music like
someone hitting a fire escape with a curbstone.
Kevin and the women winced. They looked back at the opening into the
army post. To their relief, no one appeared to check out the awful
sound.
Kevin jumped out of the Toyota with the intention of going back to see
what had happened when he almost ran into an impressively muscled black
man heading right for him.
‘Good job, man! My name’s Warren and this is Jack.’ Jack had come up
alongside Warren.
‘I’m Kevin.’
‘Cool,’ Warren said. ‘You back these wheels up, and we’ll see what we
can do with the other opening.’
‘How did you get out so quickly?’ Kevin asked.
‘Man, you pulled out the whole friggin’ frame,’ Warren said.