The blue Volkswagen Polo sedan was parked at the intersection of Lillian Ngoyi and Quartz Street, inconspicuous in the late afternoon swirl of city life. It was 4:30 p.m., and the operatives had been there since nine that morning�leaving only once or twice for short thirty-minute drives to avoid drawing attention. Each time, they returned and found a new spot as close as possible to Alomwe Computer Shop, where they had dropped off a laptop for repairs.
They needed a legitimate reason to linger in the area, and a day-long computer fix was as good a cover as any. In Lillian Ngoyi, anonymity was a luxury no one could afford. Everyone knew everyone�s trade, and unfamiliar faces were like foreign currency�immediately noticed, and quickly examined.
Here, the vetting process was almost instinctive. If any stranger parks on the street the locals must know who they are, and why they�re there. The first to react were always the openers�petty thieves who specialized in breaking into parked cars. Their methods were meticulous. One would shadow the vehicle�s occupants, noting their movements and gauging whether they were truly outsiders or linked to someone local. Meanwhile, others fanned out, asking around�posing casual questions to nearby traders and stall owners.
If the occupants were found to be unconnected�ghosts in a neighborhood that didn't tolerate strangers�the vehicle would be marked for looting. But if they were tied to any local business, even loosely, it would be spared. No one on this street wanted to ignite unnecessary confrontation. Protection in Lillian Ngoyi didn�t come from the police. It came from association�being seen, known, and vouched for.
That morning, the owner of Alomwe Computer Shop had been approached by the openers. In the unspoken negotiations of Lillian Ngoyi Street, he vouched for the blue Volkswagen Polo without hesitation. He told them the vehicle belonged to clients from Durban�researchers in town whose high-end laptop had crashed. The hard drive, he explained, needed replacing. But the model was brand new, cutting-edge, and sourcing the part wasn�t straightforward. It had to be ordered directly from the main distributors, a delay the clients had accepted as part of the repair process.
The plan had been carefully constructed. It was orchestrated with the help of Luhwani, who had secured Intel from the Johannesburg Central IT Forensics Division. The laptop had been provided by the department, its original drive swapped with a damaged one to support their cover. The aim was simple: to buy time. Time to remain in the area, to observe, and to learn more about Emmanuel Adedeji, the elusive owner of Sahara Night