One Day in a Small-Town Desert, chapter 17, page 5

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Umo Amuéné heard the automobile telephone buzz. Umo opened the driver’s door and reached in to grab the receiver. The cord stretched to the doorway. Lango stopped pacing and fiddled with his gold chains on the other side of the auto, watching Umo with his beady eyes.

The sun had risen fully, beginning the daily bake of the ochre desert. Umo and Lango’s black jumpsuits would no longer be comfortable in a few hours. Hopefully this job would be resolved by then.

“Yes?” Umo asked.

A male voice, which Umo recognized as Gogzhuè’s secretary, answered. “The police are at the residence in full force. The search has begun.”

“Yes,” replied Umo.

“Trust in Èmmwımwènhı.”

“Hallowed be his name.” Umo replaced the receiver in its cradle, then straightened back up. To Lango, he said, “Time to go to town.”

They quickly climbed into the auto. Umo started the engine and began driving back to the highway.

Lango toyed with his chains, the tiny clinking barely audible over the rumble of the tires on the dirt-and-rock road.

His Majesty, Emperor Bhanar, was being held in custody for the murder of the Colonial Enforcer, resisting arrest, and a variety of other dubious charges. Umo entirely doubted the validity of every charge, except perhaps resisting arrest. You can’t blame an innocent man for protesting unlawful detainment.

If Umo were able to capture Zhudıro, instead of killing him like Gogzhuè wanted, then he could hand him over to the police as the true murderer. He would have to explain himself to Gogzhuè and ask forgiveness--and lose face in the process--but at least he would save the emperor from the humiliation of imprisonment.

First things first, though. They had to get the weapons, and that meant heading into Tuhanı and possibly raiding the very building where His Majesty was being held.

As Umo steered his automobile back onto the paved highway, he reminded Lango, “When we pass the Kılímo residence, look inconspicuous.”

The greasy man eyed Umo. “Then are you going to remove your sunglasses? The sun is up now, but we are headed west, after all.”

Umo didn’t turn his head, but could sense Lango’s smirk. Wearing sunglasses was exceptionally reasonable in daytime in the desert, despite wherever the sun sat in the sky. On the other hand, Umo wouldn’t want to risk the chance that the same county lawman who had seen him last night would see him again and recognize him as such, and thus become suspicious.

He wished he had thought to drive to a different location to wait through the dark hours of the night, so they could return to Tuhanı from the north instead of passing by the Kılímo house again. On the other hand, it would be good to check up on the situation there.

When their automobile crested a rise in the road, the Kılímo residence and its swarm of police and police vehicles came into view in the distance. Umo removed his sunglasses, folding them awkwardly with one hand and setting them on the seat between his legs. He could feel Lango’s gaze intent and intense upon his eyes. Not that there was anything unusual about Umo’s eyes--they were ordinary and brown--but it was the first time he had removed his sunglasses in Lango’s presence.

Umo gripped the steering wheel with both hands and maintained his forward vision. As they approached the cluster of police vehicles, he slowed down the auto, as any normal person would do, and glanced around.

Only a handful of police were in the immediate area, most looking bored and a couple looking busy. Amongst the police vehicles, the brown Sonla and the blue truck still sat alongside the road.

“Why haven’t they towed those yet?” Lango muttered.

“They have bigger problems to deal with,” Umo replied as they rolled away from the scene. And yet he was thinking the exact same thing. Shouldn’t the autos be locked up at the local precinct? He hoped the police had removed any evidence they had found--the weapons, for instance--and had taken them to the precinct headquarters. Otherwise, a raid on that building would be completely and utterly futile.

Umo replaced his sunglasses.

If he couldn’t find the guns, he might have to break out Emperor Bhanar, just to accomplish something.

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