The security car was concealed behind the curve, which probably meant the people couldn’t see him either. The problem was that he didn’t know how far the gate was. He had changed direction so many times, and The Pines was so large that he felt lost. Running along the outer wall seemed to be the safest solution, but it was also the most time-consuming. The numerous obstacles. The undesired contact with the people who were home at this hour. Why not shorten his path? Maybe covering a few meters on the street was the best course of action.
One last question. Run or walk?
Three seconds of consideration. Running shortened the duration, but it looked suspicious. Walking cost more time, but alarmed fewer people. Moses opted for the slower variation.
He took the street that started across from where he was. A short distance into the subdivision, then turn and see the exit. Walk calmly. Don’t look all around. Stay cool, he warned himself. Keep going, just keep going, he thought. It might all be over soon.
Turn. Keep walking. The street he had started walking down soon ended in the one that ran closest to the outer wall. This offered him the opportunity to quickly disappear behind the outermost houses. This was what he suddenly wanted to do, too, since he was feeling visible. Much too visible.
I shouldn’t look around, Moses thought, but I really want to. One, two, three. Just to make sure no danger was creeping up on him from behind. He stopped and checked his watch. Almost two o’clock. He then glanced behind him. Shit. It was the white guy from earlier. The one with the club. He was once again slapping it against his palm, and he was rapidly closing the distance between them.
Moses started running again. First, slowly, then faster. Up to the T-junction, by which point he would have to decide to go either right or left. Accelerate. Run even faster.
A car was now rolling toward him. Security. Damn it. Trapped! Moses stopped and looked around. The white guy was still behind him. The car ahead. He vaulted over a few brightly blooming flowers and vanished between two houses.
31
Thembinkosi opened the wardrobe in the large bedroom. As he did so, he recalled the slip in his jacket pocket. Better not bring that up right now.
“Well?” Nozipho asked.
“Pick something out.”
“But what?”
“Whatever fits. And looks good on you. And you like.”
“Hmm… And you think this is the best strategy?”
“Can you think of anything better? The maid get-up is only good as long as no one looks too closely. Now we need something new.”
Nozipho pulled a dress out of the closet. Yellow and white pinstripes. Sleeveless. She hung it back up. Another one was red with randomly splattered ochre spots. A plain one in navy.
“What’s wrong?” Thembinkosi asked. “They’re all nice.”
“Don’t really fit.”
“What do you mean? Too tight?”
Thembinkosi picked one up and examined it. It was black, and the fabric flowed pleasantly through his fingers. Somehow the fashionable dresses didn’t fit with the rest of the apartment.
“Obviously too tight.”
“Mmhmm… Just keep looking. You’ll find something.”
When Nozipho didn’t reply, he added: “And even if something’s a little tight… I like it that way. And the boys out there will, too!”
“Get out now,” Nozipho ordered. “I’ll figure it out.”
32
Hedges and walls, waist and shoulder high. For the time being, they were shielding him. Crouched between four houses, Moses saw the ninety-degree angles of the walls. The street he had just come from was behind him, the next one in front of him. This was the one he needed to cross now. And the one he was afraid of.
“The hunt has begun,” he muttered quietly.
A voice behind him. “He has to be somewhere.”
That was the white man. If he was talking to someone, then the car and whoever was in it had to be behind him as well. And the street in front of him might not be watched yet. So now he had to run. Moses burst through the hedge and caught sight of a barred living room window. To the right or the left past it? Didn’t matter.
He veered to the left.
Past the house with another wall along its side, now the front yard. Something was blooming there. He hesitated briefly before reaching the street, then sprinted on.
Quickly checked down the street both ways. The one side of the street was empty. Anything but empty in the other direction. He leaped into the next yard. Rapidly assessed the situation. One story. Blinds down. Good. Unoccupied or empty. Behind the house. Think fast.
The only thing sitting in front of him was the outer wall. What was it he had seen the split second before he had slipped back here? A car, parked, someone standing next to it. Had it been painted blue and silver like the security company vehicles? Yes, probably. So, another car. And the person? What did he remember? A man. No, a woman. How old? Who cared. He couldn’t remember all the details. The important thing was the car. Whoever had been sitting inside had seen him. And what would they do now? Drive in the direction that Moses would be heading. Toward the exit.
And so he would do the opposite. Even if it pained him to do so. Back toward the river, in the other direction. In the wrong direction. He kept running. Hedges and walls.
Walls and hedges.
He was now being careful whenever he leaped over them. After taking a few jumps, he knelt down and looked around. He hadn’t even noticed that the houses around him were all two-storied again. This wasn’t good, since it meant that he had finally reached the back part of the gated community. When all he wanted to do was get out of here.
Moses was crouched on a terrace decorated with an array of flower tubs. Colors splashed everywhere. Plastic table and chairs. Bars on the door and windows. He raised his head over the hedge and looked back.
He caught sight of a uniform back where the one-storied houses were standing. At least he had made the right decision. Running toward the exit would have put him on an intersect course with that man. A second person in uniform joined him. They were talking, coming in his direction. Walking. Far away. No danger.
For now.
He turned around.
In the neighboring yard, a man was standing on the terrace, gazing in his direction. Moses jerked his head down immediately. Scooted a little to the side. The bushes were a little less thick here. Tried to peer through them.
The man was around fifty. Heavyset. Mostly bald on the top. Probably blonde originally. T-shirt with the stupid Sharks logo, the one with the shark running around with a rugby ball. He now turned around and reached back before putting on some glasses. Stared back in his direction. Removed the glasses again. Squinted. Then vanished into his house.
Moses slowly turned around. The two guards were walking toward him, but were still far off. He squeezed through a gap in the hedge into the next yard. On hands and knees. Peeked over a wall that was only knee-high, into the house in which the man had just disappeared. He couldn’t see him through the terrace window.
That meant… absolutely nothing. The man might be hiding behind something and watching him, too. But what other choice did Moses have? He scrambled over the little wall and looked through the window once more. Nothing. Crawled on. Took a header over the next wall. Waist high. Landed in a bed. Pain. Moses pulled himself together and rolled on. A thorn was stuck in his lower arm. He pulled it out. Studied the small bush he had just flattened. Some kind of yellow fruit. The guards weren’t far now.