Ethan had driven for the better part of the night mostly in silence. What little words they had exchanged were about directions, miles, maps and compasses. He had tried to make their journey shorter, sometimes picking a dirt road or trail and sometimes plowing through the savannah head on.
They’d seen pin-pricks of light in the distance blinking on and off in their course; the creatures of the night cleared a path in their wake. It was mostly hyenas they saw, as well as owls. Each time the hyenas saw the Rover’s headlights they paused in the feast of the carcass and gazed with eyes like gems; then they carried on, the instinct of fear quite outdone by hunger.
Ethan thought that had it been any other time their improvised journey through the plains and the hills of Nigeria might’ve been quite fascinating. A proper night safari; a peek at the pure, wild Africa, untouched by man. But that was just a passing idea. So much had happened in so little time, that Ethan found it at times difficult to focus on simply driving, his mind racing in all sorts of different directions.
At some point he had felt the need to sleep but carried on for an hour or so as if his life depended on it. Nicole had kept silent all along. She sometimes dozed off even as the Rover rocked and rumbled over crests and gutters, hilly sides and gravel trails. She didn’t seem to share the same fatigue as Ethan, who kept straightening himself up, breathing sharply in an effort to stay awake no matter what. At length, while on a small dirt road beset with tall savannah grass, she told him:
“Let me drive.”
Ethan rolled his eyes before settling them on her face while his mouth widened slowly into a grin:
“I think not,” he said and yawned.
“You’ll fall asleep on the wheel if you go on like this. You need to get some rest,” she said, looking worried. Ethan glanced at her sideways and kept driving, seemingly about to pass out in any moment. He shook his head drowsily without replying. Nicole insisted:
“Look, if you won’t let me drive at least pull over and get some sleep. For God’s sake.”
Ethan drew a deep breath and shook himself trying to stay alert. He told her then without taking his eyes off the road, his voice shallow, almost resigned:
“Fine. Remember, check your compass and clock; stick to the zigzag on the map and we should be fine. Give me one hour, then wake me up. Understood?”
Nicole’s eyes rolled ever so slightly; that had sounded like an order. She replied with a raised eyebrow with evident irritation:
“I understand you don’t trust me yet, and that’s clearly wrong because we’re doing this together whether you like it or not. It’s about Andy, remember?”
Ethan braked gently then and brought the Rover to a stop. He closed his eyes and sat with fists clenched on the wheel, breathing shallowly. “I remember,” he said and went on looking at Nicole through bloodshot eyes:
“Just don’t bloody fuck this up. We need to reach the outskirts of Onitsha very much alive and completely unseen if at all possible. If you see or hear something just -”
“Look, I’m not a hapless bitch you can just work around, alright? Jesus, you think you’re so hot stuff don’t you? Please shut up and sleep,” she said loudly but without screeching or yelling. Her somewhat pale face was flush with a red tint of anger, locks of her hair stuck on her temples. Ethan strangely thought about how menacingly beautiful she looked then.
He smiled thinly, nodded to himself and got out of the Rover straining himself to get to the co-driver’s seat as fast as possible. When they crossed each other in front of the Rover, they exchanged a strange look and almost halted their stride for the barest second. A few moments later, Nicole was behind the wheel while Ethan lay in the seat next to her, arms crossed and legs drawn together, snoring like a hog.
They’d been carving a crisscross path towards Onitsha, the gateway to the Biafran territory east of the Niger. The small city had been swapping hands for the past few months between the federal government and the Biafrans. Recently it had fallen into government hands and was considered marginally safer. Still, the front-line was in an almost constant flux; units from both sides would occasionally try and force their passage over the Niger. It would come as no big surprise to Ethan if they suddenly encountered Biafran patrols instead of government troops.
As the hours went by, the savannah gave way to the lush riverside, full of mangroves and thick, green bush. The last of the starry sky shone its deep blue light. For a moment, it felt as if the Rover was wading through a dream scape, the primal Africa of the spirit fathers and the blessed mother Earth. The illusion quickly melted away as the primrose red dawn cowardly crept over the horizon. Ethan sat upright startled, his arms still tightly hugging his chest. He shot a sharp look and asked Nicole:
“What time is it?”
She glanced at her wristwatch without taking her hands off the wheel and told him:
“It’s almost six in the morning. We should be there in about an hour.”
“What?” he said slightly miffed and took another look around him. He closed his eyes for a moment and looked at her viciously:
“You’re on the road. I told you to stay off the road. What if-”
“What if we’re on the road? Wouldn’t it look even more strange if someone saw us just wading through the savannah like on a safari? For Pete’s sake, act like it.”
“Like what? A bloody fool?”
She stared blankly at the road and replied calmly:
“Like Andy’s brother. You’re all too tied up in playing the professional, while in fact you’re just winging this, aren’t you?”
Ethan let out a laugh of surprise despite himself. He was at a loss for words for a few moments. Nicole went on:
“Maybe you’re too scared. You’d be an idiot if you weren’t, but at this rate…”
“So you’re the expert? Some kind of superhero? Does the CIA brainwash their own agents as well?”
Nicole shook her head and scoffed. She said with a flat, nearly emotionless voice:
“Maybe.”
Ethan did not answer. He was simply staring at her intently, as if searching for something on her face. She took notice and asked him:
“What now?”
Ethan rested his head on his hand and let out a sigh. He shrugged and told her:
“I’m just trying to see what Andy saw in you, that’s all.”
A smirk appeared on her face suddenly and she replied as if flustered: