Annah's eyes narrowed as she stared at the cracked phone screen. Wendo Munge. Last know location was working at chakava hospital.Had travelled to Mombasa due to a family emergency, allegedly.
His name had lingered in her mind ever since she found Lucy's letter. She had tried to ignore it, but it was like a thread pulling at her, unraveling everything she thought she knew.
She had tried calling him. Twice. No answer. He had always been a shadow...there one moment, gone the next. But there was something else. Something she couldn't shake.
Wendo Munge wasn't just a name on a piece of paper. He was the missing link. The thing that had always been wrong.
And now, she was going to find him.
Her first stop was a small bar in downtown Nairobi, where he had been spotted on a rare visit a few years ago. She had the bartender's description charming, silver-tongued, always with a laugh that seemed too rehearsed.
She pushed the door open, the faint smell of beer and cheap cologne hitting her immediately. The place was dimly lit, the air thick with smoke. A couple of men were scattered across the bar, nursing drinks. She didn't see Wendo, but she wasn't looking for him in the usual way.
She was searching for the echoes of his past.
She approached the bartender, a wiry man with thinning hair.
"Do you remember Wendo Munge?" she asked, her voice low but direct.
He glanced up, then looked away. "Wendo? Yeah, I remember him."
"Where is he now?"
The bartender shook his head, wiping a glass with a rag. "Don't know. Last I heard, he'd gone back to the coast. Haven't seen him in months."
"Who would know more about him?" Annah pressed, not letting him evade her gaze.
He hesitated, then pointed to a man in the corner. "That guy. He used to run with Wendo. They were... close."
Annah nodded and moved toward the man. His face was round, pale, with the kind of bloated look that came from too much drink and too little sleep. He was wearing an old sports jacket, too tight at the shoulders.
She sat across from him, not waiting for an invitation. "I'm looking for Wendo Munge."
The man took a long swig from his glass, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Why you looking for that devil?"
The words made Annah's heart skip. "What do you mean?"
He chuckled, a sound that made her skin crawl. "That man's bad news. You don't wanna be anywhere near him."
"I just want to talk to him," she said, keeping her voice steady, though the tremor in her hand was hard to ignore.
"You don't get it, do you?" He leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "Wendo... he doesn't just hurt people. He enjoys it. He's got a taste for it, you see? And it's not just women. Nah. He's got this thing, this... darkness."
Annah felt her stomach tighten. She leaned in. "What kind of darkness?"
The man looked around nervously, as if the walls might have ears. "People die or go missing when he's around. They show up weeks later, sometimes. Sometimes not at all."
"Where is he now?" Annah pressed, ignoring the cold pit that had formed in her chest.
He stared at her for a long moment. "He went back to Mombasa a while ago. Looked like he was running from something. Probably the law."
Annah's mind was racing. The pieces were starting to come together. Lucy had been right. She had warned her. Wendo wasn't just another player in the background. He had been part of something much darker.
She left the bar with a sense of urgency. It wasn't enough to know Wendo had gone to Mombasa. She needed more. And she would stop at nothing to find him.
Mombasa was a different kind of heat.
Annah stepped off the bus, the humidity pressing down on her like a heavy weight. The air smelled of salt and decay, the remnants of the sea's constant whisper. She moved quickly, her steps deliberate as she made her way through the narrow, winding streets of Old Town.
The people here were different. There was a weight to their silence, a sense of knowing but not speaking. She asked around, using the few details she had, but no one was eager to talk about Wendo. His presence was like a shadow, a thing everyone pretended not to see.
Until, finally, an old woman with a crooked back pointed her in the right direction. Wendo Munge lived in a small house by the coast, tucked away behind a row of shops. No one came or went except for an occasional delivery.
It wasn't much, but it was enough.
As she approached the house, her pulse quickened. The sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks below filled her ears. There was a feeling in the air, like a storm was brewing like something terrible was about to happen.
The door was ajar.
Annah stepped inside, the floor creaking beneath her feet. The house was dark, the only light coming from a dim bulb above. She moved slowly, listening for any sound. The place smelled musty, like something long abandoned.
And then she heard it.
A low chuckle. Soft, menacing. It echoed from somewhere deeper inside the house.
"Annah."
Her breath caught in her throat.
Wendo stood in the doorway of a back room, his frame tall and imposing. He was dressed casually...too casually for someone who was supposed to be hiding. His eyes were dark, calculating, a smirk playing at the edges of his lips.
"I knew you'd come," he said, his voice smooth like silk. "I wasn't sure when. But you're predictable, Annah. Always were."
Annah's heart pounded in her chest. The air around her thickened, the world narrowing to just Wendo and herself.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady, though the fear was creeping in.
Wendo took a step forward, his eyes never leaving hers. "What do I want? You still don't understand, do you? I don't want anything from you. I want you to understand why this happened. Why you're here."
"I'm here for Lucy," Annah snapped. "For what you did to her."
Wendo laughed again, low and cold. "Lucy? Oh, she was just the beginning, darling. You're the real prize."
Annah's stomach turned. She took a step back, her hand tightening around the handle of the knife hidden in her jacket.
"You're a monster," she spat, her voice thick with disgust.
"And you're a fool," Wendo retorted, his smile widening. "You think this is about justice? About revenge? No. This is about power. Control. The kind of power you'll never understand."
Without thinking, Annah lunged forward, the blade flashing in the dim light.
Wendo's eyes widened, but he moved too late. The knife sank deep into his side.
He gasped, but didn't scream. Instead, he grinned. "You think that'll stop me?"
His hand shot out, grabbing her wrist, twisting it until she dropped the knife. He shoved her backward, knocking her against the wall.
"You don't understand, do you? You're just like me. You're just as broken. Just as willing to destroy to make yourself whole."
Annah's breath was ragged as she stood, blood pounding in her ears. "I'll stop you."
"You can't stop what you are," Wendo hissed. "And you will become me."
His words were poison, seeping into her thoughts. But she pushed them aside.
She reached for the knife again, her fingers curling around its handle, and this time, she was ready.
The next strike was faster. More precise. His eyes went wide with shock, then slowly dimmed as the life drained from him.
Wendo Munge fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
Annah stood over him, her chest heaving. The darkness inside her twisted, a part of her whispering that she was free now, that she had rid the world of another monster.
But the other part...the quieter part...knew that the real monster was still waiting in the shadows.
And she was still hunting it.