Open Up
1583 Words
_POV: Aria Wanjiru Mwaura_
_Word count: ∼1350_
---
“Open up. It’s the cops.”
The voice outside was muffled through the steel door, but I knew it. Inspector Mutua. Kamiti PD. Narcotics Division. My boss.
My stomach dropped.
Knox didn’t move. He stood in front of me, shoulders squared, body a wall between me and the door. His hand hovered near his waist, where I knew he kept a blade. Maybe more.
“Don’t,” I said quietly.
He didn’t look back. “They don’t get to take you.”
“If you fight them, you’ll give them a reason to shoot,” I said. “And if they shoot, they’ll call it self-defense.”
His jaw clenched.
Outside, Mutua knocked again. Harder this time. “Vance! We know you’re in there. Open the door before we break it down.”
I stepped around Knox.
“Don’t do this, Aria,” he said.
“They’re not here for you,” I said. “They’re here for me. Let me handle it.”
His eyes searched mine. Dark. Furious. Protective.
“Handle it how? You think they’ll listen?”
“I’m a prosecutor, Knox. I know the law better than they do.” I reached for the keypad. “If I’m wrong, you drag me out of here yourself.”
For a second I thought he’d stop me.
He didn’t.
The lock clicked open.
The door swung inward with a groan of metal.
Mutua stood there with four officers behind him. All armed. All tense. Floodlights from their vehicles lit up the warehouse behind them, turning the night into midday.
His eyes landed on me first.
“Aria Wanjiru Mwaura,” he said. Not a question. A charge. “Prosecutor, Narcotics Division. You’re under arrest for obstruction of justice, conflict of interest, and unauthorized contact with a known criminal target.”
I didn’t flinch.
“Where’s your warrant, Inspector?” I asked. My voice was steady. Had to be steady.
Mutua smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes.
“Don’t need one for a suspect caught fleeing a crime scene. Step outside. Hands where we can see them.”
Knox shifted behind me.
“Touch her, and you won’t live to regret it,” he said.
Mutua’s gaze flicked to him.
“And you’re Knox Vance. President of the Iron Reapers. Wanted for trafficking, extortion, and murder. Step back, Vance. This doesn’t concern you.”
“It concerns me if you lay a hand on her,” Knox said.
The officers shifted, fingers tightening on their weapons.
I raised my hands slowly.
“Inspector, I’m invoking my right to counsel. I’m also invoking my right to a hearing before the DPP. You know I can’t be arrested without a warrant unless I’m caught in the act. Running isn’t a crime.”
Mutua’s smile thinned.
“Running from a raid on a warehouse linked to Vance Enterprises is. We have the CCTV. We have your name. We have motive.”
“And you have nothing,” I said. “Because you don’t have the video. You have a leak. And leaks don’t hold up in court.”
His expression flickered. Just for a second.
I’d hit a nerve.
“You’re bluffing,” he said.
“Am I?” I stepped forward. One step. Knox tensed behind me but didn’t stop me. “Ask yourself why someone would leak that video now. After three weeks of silence. After I reopened the Kamiti Port case. Who benefits from me being removed?”
Mutua’s jaw tightened.
“Step outside, Prosecutor,” he said again.
I did.
But I didn’t put my hands behind my back.
“Handcuff me if you have to,” I said. “But you’re going to explain to the DPP why you arrested a prosecutor without a warrant, based on evidence you don’t legally possess, while the real target walks free.”
Mutua’s eyes darkened.
“Get in the car, Aria.”
I walked past him.
As I passed, I said low enough that only he could hear, “Check the Kamiti Port manifests from March. Check who signed off on the ‘lost’ container. Then tell me I’m the criminal.”
His face went blank.
Good.
Let him sweat.
---
The back of the police SUV was cold. Metal against my skin through the thin leather.
Knox was still in the warehouse. I could hear his voice, low and furious, arguing with Mutua.
“You take her, you’re starting a war,” he said.
“Then start it,” Mutua said. “We’re ready.”
I closed my eyes for half a second.
This was bad. Worse than bad. If Mutua was in on it, then Kamiti PD was compromised. If he wasn’t, then he was being used. Either way, I was the bait.
The door opened again.
Mutua slid into the seat opposite me. No cuffs. Not yet.
“You’re smarter than this, Aria,” he said. “Running with Vance? Do you know what that looks like?”
“Like a woman who knows her own office is compromised,” I said.
He went still.
“What did you say?”
“Someone leaked the CCTV. Someone with access to Narcotics Division files. Someone who didn’t want me looking at the Kamiti Port manifests from March.” I leaned forward. “Was it you, Inspector?”
He laughed. But it was short.
“You think I’d risk my career for a biker?”
“I think you’d risk it to protect whoever’s paying you,” I said.
His face hardened.
“Careful, Aria. Accusations like that get you disbarred.”
“Not if they’re true,” I said.
We stared at each other.
Outside, I heard an engine roar to life.
Knox.
Mutua heard it too. He glanced out the window.
“He’s not leaving without you,” he said.
“He’s smarter than that,” I said.
As if to prove me wrong, the warehouse doors slammed open and the sound of a bike engine screamed closer.
“Get down!” Mutua barked, grabbing for his radio.
Too late.
The SUV rocked as something hit the side. The window shattered. Glass sprayed across my face and clothes.
Knox’s hand reached through the broken window, grabbed my vest, and yanked me out.
I hit the ground hard, rolling to kill the momentum.
“Run!” he shouted.
I didn’t need to be told twice.
We sprinted toward his bike, parked behind the SUV. The officers were shouting, scrambling. One fired a warning shot into the air.
Knox threw me onto the bike first, then swung on behind me.
“Hold on,” he said.
I wrapped my arms around him.
The bike roared to life and shot forward, tires spitting gravel.
Gunshots cracked behind us.
None hit.
We hit the main road doing 100km/h, Nairobi’s skyline a blur of light in the distance.
---
We didn’t stop until we were 40km outside the city.
Knox pulled into another abandoned warehouse. This one was smaller. Dirtier. But it had a lock on the door and no lights for miles.
He killed the engine and got off first. Helped me down.
My hands were shaking. My face stung from the glass.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, thumb brushing my cheek.
I hadn’t noticed.
“It’s fine,” I said.
“It’s not fine,” he said. He pulled off his cut and wrapped it around my shoulders. “You should be in a hospital.”
“I should be in Kamiti PD,” I said. “Filing charges against you.”
He let out a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh.
“Yeah. You should.”
We stood there in the dark, breathing hard, the adrenaline still buzzing under my skin.
“You came back for me,” I said.
“You think I’d let them take you?” he said.
“I think you’re the reason they wanted me in the first place.”
He didn’t deny it.
“Mutua’s dirty,” I said. “I know it now. He knew I’d mention the March manifests. He tried to shut me up.”
Knox nodded slowly.
“Your office is compromised, Aria. If you go back, you won’t make it to a hearing.”
“Then I don’t go back,” I said.
His eyes sharpened.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Year Five starts now,” I said. “Learn to stay. With you.”
For a long moment, he didn’t move.
Then he reached out and cupped my face in his hands. His thumbs brushed the cut on my cheek. Gently. Like I was something breakable.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said.
“I know exactly what I’m asking,” I said. “I’m asking you to let me in. All of it. The club. Vance Enterprises. The truth about my father’s case.”
His throat worked.
“If you come in, there’s no out, Aria. Not alive.”
“Then I’ll die trying,” I said.
His lips crashed into mine.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful.
It was everything we’d been holding back since the godown.
I kissed him back like I meant it.
Because I did.
When we broke apart, both of us were breathing hard.
“Year Five,” he said against my mouth.
“Learn to stay,” I finished.
Outside, the night was quiet.
For now.
- Writer
