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I was determined to see Kodjiro before leaving. Jessica told me that he might not get arrested, but still he shouldn’t expect much support from the FBI. He was in way too deep and has been on the wrong side of the deal too many times. She tried to talk me into forgetting about him but without success. Another matter was that the risk of someone seeing me alive was too big. But I definitely wanted to see him one more time and nobody was going to stop me. Anyway, it was another four hours before my flight was due. I took the metro looking silly because of a dumb hat that Jessica forced me to wear. As I walked from the station to his apartment a melancholic feeling came over me. These streets that had become so familiar to me, I would probably never see them again. I was going to miss the musical noises at the crossing. As I thought about Kodjiro, saying goodbye seemed impossible. How could I ever say farewell to him? The last two streets walking up to the apartment I got a feeling. Something was wrong. I would have to be very careful. Keeping a watchful eye, I walked towards the door as inconspicuously as I could. The porter opened the door for me. “Mrs. Klaveren, it’s not safe here. You better go.” I ignored what he said and hurried upstairs to find an incredible mess there. The entire apartment was turned upside down. Somebody had done their best to ravage the place. Maybe they’d been looking for something. It was virtually impossible to walk on the mats without standing on an object. I was a little scared. What if I would find Kodjiro dead in one of the rooms? Maybe with a knife sticking in his throat! Even the chopsticks in the kitchen and the bath foam in the shower were on the floor. But thankfully, a dead Kodjiro was not to be found. But where could he be? I decided to wait for Kodjiro. But it seemed wise not to wait in his apartment. The people who had made this mess might come back or I might even be falsely accused by the police. So I waited on the sidewalk beside the porter. He knew I had been up there for only 5 minutes. It would obviously have taken a lot longer to cause the mess that was up there. We didn’t speak. I sat there for about an hour without saying a word. It was strange. But it didn’t bother me. It gave me a chance to put things into perspective. It suddenly seemed very unlikely to me that Kodjiro was going to come back here. Had he already seen the mess? Slowly it dawned on me that things had come to an end here. It was over. Checking in for international flights starts early. And it takes an hour to get there by train, if I can get on one right away. There was no use in waiting anymore. No goodbyes then. Crestfallen, I walked back to the metro station. It hurt. But there was nothing else to do. I had to catch that flight. For the last time I listened to the irritating Nintendo noises at the crossing. Then I saw it. Braintec images on a plasma screen! It was a news bulletin showing between the commercials, showing footage of the Canadian, handcuffed! Head down into a police van. More people who’d been arrested were shown. Some I knew, some I didn’t. Then the reporter came on, speaking that unintelligible language. I was nailed to the ground. How many of them had been arrested? Kodjiro too? I hadn’t seen him on the screen. But that meant nothing of course. A gentle push in the back brought me back to reality. About fifty people behind me were starting to cross the street. After crossing I stood on the other side, still numb. There was another video screen at the station’s entrance. And opposite of that screen sat… Kodjiro! He looked a mess. He’d obviously been fighting and wasn’t wearing any shoes. He watched the same images I had seen, looking defeated. I don’t know how long I stood there watching him like that. I wanted to call out to him, but I couldn’t. Even walking towards him seemed impossible. Something in me snapped, and I could only watch him. The next group of people had crossed the street and came walking into the station. Impassive, I moved along with them. I had a plane to catch.
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