Baby X by Keeble Harry

Baby X by Keeble Harry

Author:Keeble, Harry [Harry Keeble]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849831727
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK


CHAPTER SIXTEEN

BIG GAME

If you’d told me six months ago I’d be on a plane bound for a tiny West African country to take a witness statement I would have laughed my head off. Instead, I was holding my breath as we descended towards Ghana’s international airport – a fellow passenger had tapped me on the arm to tell me (with a grin) that we were lucky – the runway had just reopened after a Boeing, just like this one, carrying delegates to Liberia’s peace talks, collapsed on its wheels during take-off.

Luckily this sort of thing just added to my excitement. I always enjoyed a challenge, and this was about as challenging as it got. Besides, I was damned if a few thousand miles of ocean and desert were going to stop me from convicting Omari.

The Republic of Ghana is a small country about the size of the UK, which sits on the Gold Coast between the Côte d’Ivoire and Togo and faces the Gulf of Guinea. Its coast is lined with colonial ports, built by the French, English and Portuguese, who all mined the little country dry of gold. Now they’re after the estimated 3 billion barrels of oil hidden below the dusty earth.

Sarah was with me. We stumbled our way out of the plane, through the chaotic airport into a gusty evening heat – it was like being slapped with freshly boiled towels. Outside, a makeshift bus station was packed with overloaded minivans coming and going, disgorging dozens of passengers. Nearby was a ramshackle market where women squatted behind tiny tables stacked high with bowls of rice, salted fish, as well as dozens of baskets of fruit and vegetables. They shouted out their prices to passing shoppers. Another sauntered across a dusty, cracked football pitch, a large tub balanced effortlessly on her head, oblivious to the game under way – kids shouted for her to get a move on.

We were met by Ray, our very smartly turned out official unarmed police escort. ‘Hi, Mr Keeble,’ he said, throwing out his hand with enthusiasm. ‘We’ll drop your things off at the hotel before going to the police station.’

He led us to the 4×4 we’d hired, along with a driver (who had cost less than the fuel). We needed it because our witness lived ‘up-country’; in other words, it was a bloody long drive.

As we loaded our equipment, a screaming voice suddenly erupted from behind me. I span round to see Ray rummaging frantically through his trouser pockets. This continued until Ray retrieved his phone. ‘That’s my boss,’ he grinned apologetically, ‘I recorded him telling me off.’ I took an instant liking to Ray; he seemed like a man to trust.

Having said that, when we reached the hotel, they had no record of any reservation for us and were full. Ray was mortified. ‘Never mind,’ I said, ‘the Metropolitan Police will have to pick up the tab. Where’s the biggest hotel around here?’ Unfortunately, my hopes of staying in the largest hotel (and therefore the plushest) in town were dashed when that turned out to be full too.



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