Nairobi Spy

6. Disclosure

Jannelle and Eli both stared at the numbers and letters on the small note. 

"Does this mean something to you?" Jannelle asked. 

"Maybe," Eli murmured thoughtfully.  "Give me a second I need to call this in." He said, taking the note and then reaching for a radio-looking device. 

"Yeah, you do that... " Jannelle said, resuming her car key fob button pressing. "I'm getting out of here." She heard the blessed BEEP of the passenger door opening and had one leg out the door when he called her name. 

"Jannelle! Please." Despite herself, she turned again to look back at him. Why she wasn't getting the hell out of this whole situation was beyond her. But deep down inside, she also had that familiar feeling. The one she usually felt when the plane took off on one of her many travel adventures around the world. The feeling that something extraordinary was about to happen, and that she would encounter something new and cool and exciting. After all, wasn't that what her Instagram and TikTok bios said? "MsJanelleTravels. Adventure with a spritz of lime." This felt like something great was about to happen. Even though I hardly know this Eli guy, she thought, and I definitely didn't plan for the adventure this time.

Jannelle further settled into a calmer state as Eli made a radio call and explained the situation to someone in a pretty professional way. It wasn't clear what authority this was, but from what she heard, they were some international law enforcement, working with local Kenyan police on an operation. Either way, it seemed pretty above board - or at the very least, she was pretty sure that she wasn't going to get randomly beheaded and dumped in Karura forest, more likely to be in some sort of legal or bureaucratic trouble if any kind of trouble at all. 

When Eli finished the call, he explained that she needed to accompany him to meet his superiors. Seeing her skeptical look, he hurried to add that the agency he was working for was based in the US but was affiliated with Interpol and was currently working together with local law enforcement. His superiors were currently at Diligence House, the staid 60s concrete eight-story building in the middle of the city center that Jannelle knew was the country's law enforcement headquarters. She agreed and soon Eli started up the SUV and joined the main road. 

It was now almost sunset and the Nairobi streets were full of evening rush hour traffic. Jannelle mused that traffic that didn't discriminate between regular commuters and top-secret SUVs on duty. She figured that it would take them at least thirty minutes to get through the less than 2km trip to the city's central business district. She made a couple of half-hearted efforts to start a conversation and was met with Eli's very brief responses. Instead, she sat back in the surprisingly comfortable car seat and watched Eli as he drove, mildly surprised by how well he seemed to know the local roads and driving styles. They passed through a large roundabout where the lanes were merely a distant memory and cars and matatu vans surged in and out of the roundabout exits in no particular order. Eli seemed used to this and easily joined the roundabout hustling with other cars for every inch of space. Matatus coming to abrupt unplanned passenger pick-up stops and motorcycles overtaking from both sides hardly phased him. He must have been driving in Kenya a while, Jannelle mused. He squinted slightly at the setting sun but didn't put back his sunglasses. Good, Jannelle thought. It would be a pity to hide the dark blue eyes that were fringed with long straight black lashes and a full eyebrow. The eyes showed alertness and focus. Jannelle reflected that this was mirrored in his entire body, including the upright way he sat in the car, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the manual gear shift. Janelle watched his fingers flex and a vein in his forearm jump as she shifted down and then back up a gear and felt a little flush of heat. She quickly set her eyes firmly back on the car ahead of her and waited to reach their destination.