Leaping up in my position would get me killed. Instead I grabbed the rifle and hugged the earth while I tried to locate the source of the gunfire. That’s not an easy thing to do when you’re crouched in a hole, half asleep and with your head clouded in cotton wool. Sounds get distorted and deflected every which way. I figured I’d heard at least four or five shots in rapid succession. But they’d been faint, so not from anywhere close by. Then came another burst, and I pinned it down. Dhalib. I risked a quick look. Was this an attack? Or had the men with One-eye run into trouble with the locals? The light was still good but beginning to drop, and I couldn’t see any signs of activity towards Dhalib. If the Kenyan army or police had decided to pay a visit, and the shots had been a first encounter, no way was I going to hang around. The army would come in heavy-handed and mop up anybody in the area. And that would include me. Then I saw smoke drifting into the air. I checked the villa.
