The room occupied by the army post was ablaze with light. As they got closer Kevin, Melanie, and Candace could hear the music. This group of soldiers also had a cassette player, only theirs was cranking out African music at full volume.

“That’s the kind of party I was counting on,” Kevin said. He made a wide turn and then backed toward the building. He could just make out the window wells for the subterranean jail within the shadows of the ground-floor arcade.

He stopped the car within five feet of the building and put on the emergency brake. All three gazed into the room occupied by the soldiers. They couldn’t see much of the room and none of the soldiers because the line of sight was on an angle through an unglazed window. The window’s shutter had been raised and hooked to the ceiling of the arcade. A number of empty wine bottles were on the sill.

“Well, it’s now or never,” Kevin said.

“Can we help?” Melanie asked.

“No, stay put,” Kevin said.

Kevin climbed from the car and walked in under the nearest arch to stand within the shelter of the arcade. The sound of the music was deafening. Kevin’s major concern was that if someone looked out the window, Kevin would be seen immediately. There was nothing to hide behind.

Looking down at the window well, Kevin could see the barred opening. Beyond the bars was utter darkness. There was not the faintest light within the cell.

Getting down on his hands and knees first, Kevin lay on the stone floor with his head over the lip of the window well. With his face close to the bars, he called out over the noise of the music: “Hello! Anybody in there?”

“Just us tourists,” Jack said. “Are we invited to the party?”

“I understand you are Americans,” Kevin said.

“Like apple pie and baseball,” Jack said.

Kevin could suddenly hear other voices in the dark, but they were unintelligible.

“You people have to realize what a dangerous situation you’ve gotten yourselves into,” Kevin said.

“Really,” Jack said. “We thought this was how all visitors to Cogo were treated.”

Kevin thought that whomever he was speaking with would certainly get along well with Melanie.

“I’m going to try to pull these bars out,” Kevin said. “Are you all in the same cell?”

“No, we have two beautiful ladies in the cell to my left.”

“Okay,” Kevin said. “Let’s see what I can do with these bars first.”

Kevin got up and went back for the chain. Returning to the window well, he threaded one end through the bars into the abyss.

“Hook this around one of the bars a number of times,” Kevin said.

“I like this,” Jack said. “It reminds me of an old Western movie.”

Back at the Toyota, Kevin secured the chain to the trailer hitch. When he got back to the window well he gently pulled on the chain. He could see it was tied securely around the central bar.