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Chapter 12
Elise
The next day, we drove into Durban at night. We went to a part of the city I had never been to. It was a local bar. The area was suburban with buildings made out of wood, cheap roofing sheets, and polythene. I stared around in disbelief as Andrei parked the car.
“Do you want to come?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I hesitated.
I readjusted my sunglasses before stepping down from the car. Andrei led the way as we both headed into the bar, which didn’t even have real walls, just some wooden stands to support the roof and short fences made of iron to restrict the area where people sat and ate.
The people sitting in the bar were of different colors and backgrounds—black, white, and Asian. I held Andrei's arms as we headed to the back of the bar.
A man walked toward us and stared into our faces as if that should mean something.
Andrei handed over his pistol, which I didn't know he was carrying. Then he looked at me and said, “She’s clean.”
“I’m not sure of that,” the man answered.
I glared back at him, holding Andrei tighter, knowing he wouldn’t let the man touch me. The guy called over to a lady at the bar who came to search me for weapons before he allowed us into the building.
We walked into a small office. A large man covered in gold chains and rings was sitting on a stool with a pistol and several passports arranged on the desk in front of him.
“Welcome, my friend,” the man said, smiling. “It’s a great exception I made to meet you here in person and not send my taco truck. I hope you stand by the price we agreed upon?”
“Yes. Do you have my passport ready?” Andrei asked.
The man pulled out his drawer, brought out a passport, and placed it on the table in front of him. “It's a Swiss one like hers. You have the same last name, just like you asked for. I also arranged you a trip on a cargo ship to Indonesia. It came at a steep price to keep it off the books, but I pulled it off. The ship leaves tomorrow night out of St. James Beach.”
“Tomorrow? St. James Beach is very far. Is there no other ship?” I asked.
“There are plenty, but none that I trust. Up to you,” the man said.
“Tomorrow will do,” Andrei said and inspected the passport. Then he nodded and placed the bag with all the cash on the table. “Thanks.”
“It was a pleasure doing such good business with you,” the man said, counting the money.
Andrei slid the passport into his pocket, and we walked back to the car. I sat in the front seat and took a deep breath.
“That was easy enough. But do we really have to leave so soon?”
Andrei started the car. “We actually have to leave right now.”
“Now?”
He nodded. “We don’t have time to go back to the cabin. We need to drive through the night if we want to catch the ship tomorrow. I packed everything we need this morning and put the bags in the trunk. With all the noise we made, it will only be a matter of days until your husband or the CIA find us here. I wiped the computer last night and burned anything that they could use to track us.”
Wow. So this was really happening.
The streets got busier as night fell and the road filled up with vehicles, typical for a night in the city. Sitting beside Andrei, I tried to stay calm and stop thinking about our new adventure. Moving to Indonesia sounded like a decent option, but I couldn't help thinking about the chances of us running into trouble. Andrei said he had done his research and that my husband didn’t have any ties in Indonesia. But I was still restless.
“He won’t ever hurt you again,” Andrei said, as if he could read my thoughts. “You just have to trust me.”
He gave my hand a little squeeze, and I glanced at his face. “You know I trust you... I am just nervous about... running again.”
He nodded and kept driving.
I pressed my legs tight together and kept my eyes on the road. When my hands started getting wet, I rubbed them on my jeans Andrei had bought me and exhaled. We had been preparing for the past two days. Andrei had told me a little about Jakarta, where we would likely live.
