BLOODLINE 2 Episode 4 – 5 (Blood And Diamond) by Ironkurtain

BLOODLINE 2 Episode 4 (Blood And Diamond) by Ironkurtain

The two nude bodies remained entangled as the kissing continued, but it was less intense. As they kissed and keep feeling up each other, they rolled over gently and the woman positioned herself on top of the him. Brushing her long hair aside, she lower her trunk and continue with the kissing. Then she withdrew her lips from the man’s own after she noticed that he wasnt that active. He seems to be losing interest in their love making. Then the woman slide her hand down to the man’s waist and furrowed her eyebrow when she felt the “thing” inbetween his legs.

“Nina……i’m sorry, am not in the mood today”, the man apologized and gently moved her body to his side.

Nina laid on her back and stared at the hotel room ceiling for a few seconds, and then got out of the king size bed. The man stared at the silhouette of her n@de body in the dim-lighted hotel room as she went over to the chair facing the drapes covered window. She sat on it and picked up the pack of cigarette on the table standing next to the chair and lit herself one. Slightly pushing the window drapes aside, she smoked silently and stared at the activities going on below from the window of their tenth floor hotel room.

“I don’t mean to make you upset dear……”, the man began and sat up on the bed with the bedspread covering him from his waist down. “Its just that this bad situation am facing. I don’t know…..”,

“Barry, what situation?”, Nina sighed and interrupted with a low tone of voice.

“You know what am talking about”, Barry replied and looked abit confused. “Agnes of course…….not only does she want a divorce, she also wants to take everything that i have earned. She is trying to vote me out of my own company……and she is getting alot of support from the board of directors”.

“So why are you here with me?”, Nina asked indifferently. “Aren’t you suppose to be at home trying to mend your marital problems with Agnes?, or in the office trying to save yourself from being bumped out of your company?”, she turned and looked at Barry. “Whats your reason for this meeting?…….are you looking for a shoulder to cry on again or what?”, she asked again.

“This problem is really beyond me dear”, Barry replied and causally got out of the bed. “I came to meet you so as to see if there are any solutions you can…..or we can come up with”.

“I thought i’ve already told you what to do…..so why ask me again?”.

“Aw come on!……you know i cant do that. This is Agnes for crying out loud……why would you suggest that i eliminate her?”.

“Well do you still love her?”

“No, i told you several times that there is no more love between me and Agnes”.

“Then go ahead and waste her……i told you i will help you ensure that there will be no trace”.

“Nina no!, that’s murder and i wont take part in that crazy plan”.

“Then look for another solution to your problems”, Nina said with a non-committal voice.

“My problem?”, Barry asked surprisingly. “So this have become my problem?, as far as am concerned, this is our problem…..you and me. And you are not helping with this lackluster attitude of yours nor are you providing a sensible solution”

“So what do you want from me?”, Nina retorted angrily. “I have told you the only solution that i know…..the only solution that i understand. If you dont have it in you, then you should go ahead and sign those divorce papers Agnes lawyers gave you. Give her the mansions she is demanding and let her take over your company”.

“No, that will not happen. I spent most of my life working so hard to build all that”, Barry sighed. “I just can’t standby and do nothing while she f@cks me over like that”.

“Why wont she f@ck you over after finding out that we f@cked each other?”, Nina asked. “I warned you, didnt i?……..i had always warning you about this relationship we are having and its consequences. But you never listened. You were so caught up in your fairy tale dream of spending your life with me even though you know the kind of person i am……the kind of damaged human being you are dealing with”.

“So what does that suppose to mean”, Barry asked. He was irritated by those words.

It means that you have to deal with your own mess and you alone have to do the cleaning”, Nina replied coolly. “Because i too have my own mess that i have to deal with”.

“Well yours is not even much of a problem!……or even mess!”, Barry retorted. He had lost his patience with Nina. “So dont bring up that ‘wrath of the Sosai’ crap because am beginning to doubt all that bullshits. I dont understand why the so called Sosai wont want you to be with the man you want to be with…….are you still a teenager or what?, you can always tell that man to get lost if he doesnt like and respect your wishes…….you are in your forties for heaven sake and not a child”,

Nina laughed. “I should go tell the Sosai to get lost?”, she asked, still laughing. “Agnes got your ass all shook up……and you think it is advisable to go tell the man who even makes the president of this country to wet his pants to get lost if he doesnt like the fact that his daughter is secretly dating the son of his greatest enemy?”.

“So?,…..this is a free society and anyone can make his or her own choice”, Barry replied.

“Yeah we are in a free society. But in this free society, the Sosai is the last person you would wanna f@ck with”, Nina reminded him. “Get on his wrong side and he gonna put you in a place where you could live up to two hundred years and never see the sun”.

“But it didnt stop you from being with me”, Barry said. “You were able maintain our relationship for four years without him noticing anything. That’s why am asking you…….begging you to help me find the best solution to this problem am facing”. he pleaded.

Then silence settled between them in the dim-lighted room. Nina head was bowed, her eyes staring at the tiny red flame burning the tobacco in her cigarette. Barry remained standing and stared at her, wondering what she was thinking; wondering if she would give him a better solution that doesn’t involve spilling blood.

“So…..”, Nina then broke the long silence and stubbed the burning end of the cigarette in the ashtray. “……you earlier said something about you being the man i want to be with”.

“Yeah”, Barry said.

“What makes you think that you are the man i want to be with?”, Nina asked.

“I know i am the man you want. I had always known that i am the one”, Barry replied with alot of confidence. “Beside why would you risk the wrath of the man who, according to you, makes the president to wet his pants to be with me?”, he asked.

Then Nina got up and switched on the light of the hotel room. She did it so that she can look Barry in his face. Barry stared at her as she stood infront him; the look on her face was dead serious.

“But am i the woman you want to be with?”, Nina then asked Barry.

“Of course you are the woman i want to be with”, Barry replied and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Am i the woman you really want to be with?”, Nina asked again.

Barry pulled her closer and looked her in her eyes. “Yes you are the woman i want to be with. And the woman i ever wanted to be with”, he replied and then brought his lips closer to hers to kiss her.

“Then i want you to give up everything”.

Barry stopped midway and gently withdrew his face as he stared at Nina with a furrowed eyebrow.

“I want you to sign the divorce papers…….give Agnes everything she is demanding”, Nina continued. “Leave everything. The company, the houses…..everything she wants to take from you. Then you and i go live somewhere else. Somewhere no one, not even the Sosai, will ever find us”.

Barry heard those words and his hand gently slide down and away from Nina’s shoulders. He turned away and quietly paced around the room with a thoughtful look on his face.

“What you are asking me to do is very difficult”, Barry then said without looking at Nina. “It’s almost impossible”, he continued and shook his head.

“How?”, Nina demanded and stared at Barry as he paced around the room

“Nina……”, Barry began and looked at her. “All that i am, all that i’ve achieved and my family legacy is here in Easthill”.

“So?”.

“You want me to leave everything and disappear with you?”.

Nina nodded. “You said this is our problem….so this is the only solution for the both of us”, she said.

“And running away like cowards is the best solution for the both of us?”.

“Well since you are not brave enough to stop Agnes from bothering you forever”.

“What do you think all the people that i know and…..and my kids will think of me?”.

“They are already seeing you as the asshole who lied and cheated on his wife, so what else do you want to present yourself as to them?”

Nina was right and Barry knew it.

Ever since Agnes confronted him in their bedroom one night with pictures of him and Nina taken in a restaurant, his family had been falling apart.

The night of Agnes’ discovery, he decided to come clean, or rather half clean and gathered his family to make a confession. Then he told them everything they didnt know; about Nina, how he met her and the circumstances that led to him meeting her. And he also told them the result of the illicit relationship he had with her; their adopted brother, Alex. But he didnt tell them he had a twin brother. He also didnt tell them that for the past four years, he and Nina had been meeting and going at each other like a priest and a nun who just renounced their vows.

As expected, their reactions wasnt good. Daniel his other son expressed his disappointments and immediately left. Victoria his first daughter called him a shameless man and left too. Agnes poured out her venom on him for hours before leaving the house to go stay in her sister’s place.

Since then, except for Suzanne, his second daughter who wasnt there when the revelation was made, his wife and his other children showed little or no respect for him. Agnes, who happened to be a major share holder in his company, started an agressive campaign to have him voted out of the company. And she is winning.

“Besides, what people will think of you will be the least of your worries if my father finds out about this relationship”, Nina said, interrupting Barry in his thoughts.

“But you assured me that he wont find out”, Barry said and looked at Nina.

“Yes…..but how did someone take that picture of us in that restaurant?”, Nina asked. “I was the one who set up that meeting and my personal bodyguard watched every movements in that place”, she said with some concern. “Maybe we might have slipped up…..or maybe not”.

“Do you think your father knows?”, Barry asked. He too had some concern in his tone of voice.

“I don’t know and i’m confused”, Nina said with a downcast gaze. “If he knows, we would be dead by now. But that man is very unpredictable. Sometimes he will take immediate action. And sometimes he will just keep watching you and act in ways that will give you some clues that he knows what’s going on……his way of ‘mind f@cking’ you so as to get you all paranoid. Thats when you start making unnecessary mistakes….and exposing more of the things you are hiding from him. Then he will deal with you accordingly”.

“But recently, did he in any way display some sort of behaviours or say things that made you feel that he knows what’s going on between us”, Barry asked.

“No….none that i can think of”, Nina replied. “But like i said, he is very unpredictable”, she sighed. “So that’s why we need to act fast”.

Silence took over the room again.

Barry quietly went over to the bed and sat on its soft mattress with his head bowed. Nina remained standing…..n@ked with her head slightly tilted sideways as she stared at him. After a few seconds, she turned towards the table near the chair to lit herself another stick of cigarette.

“I think we should stop seeing each other”.

Nina paused with her hand over the pack of cigarette when she heard those words. She glanced at Barry with an expressionless look on her face and picked up the tobacco.

“I think we should stop seeing each other……”, Barry repeated as she sat on the chair and lit a stick of cigarette. “……stop seeing each other till everything cools off”, he continued.

Nina crossed her legs and blew a cloud of smoke with a smirk. She pushed the drapes aside to stare outside the window. Her beautiful face felt the warm rays of the bright morning sunshine as she stared at the roof tops below and the city skyline.

“You didnt come here looking for answers to your problems”, Nina then said quietly.

“What do you mean?”, Barry asked almost immediately.

Nina shift her gaze away from the window and looked at him. “You came here to tell me that you are done with this relationship……but too much of a coward to say it initially”, she said.

“No…..it’s just…..”, Barry began slowly.

“It’s just what?”, Nina interrupted him, trying to control her anger. “Things have gotten too hard for you to handle?……..you are too scared of my father?”, Nina chuckled. “……oh i get it, you are scared of losing your company which is more important to you than any other thing”, she scoffed.

“My dear please dont get me wrong”, Barry protested. “But think about it…….your father’s threat…..and my company……yes you are right about me losing my company. But i’m not being selfish…….this is what i have spent almost thirty years of my life building……i…..i can’t just leave it”.

Nina listened quietly as Barry continue making poor attempts to explain to her why they should put a temporary stop to their relationship. She smoked and scoffed at every reasons he gave. She just can’t believe this man. Some minutes ago, he was almost beating his chest when he told her how she was the woman he had always wanted to be with. Now he is talking about temporary separation when presented with what it will take for them to be together……as he had always wished.

“Barry…….Barry!”, Nina cut him short as he keep explaining. “I want you to go”, she said quietly.

“What?”, Barry looked worried.

“I want you to put on your cloths and get out of here…….and get out of my life”.

“Aw come on……do you have to be so dramatic?”. Barry came over to where Nina was sitting and placed his hands on her shoulder.

“Take those dirty hands off me or i will complete that mission i failed to do over two decades ago”, Nina warned with a cold tone of voice without looking at him.

Barry stared at her as she lit another stick of cigarette and stared out of the window. Then he proceed to put on his cloths quietly. Nina continued staring outside. She was doing so to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks.

*********************************************

Nina exit the hotel building and made her way towards the parking lot in the hotel premises. Adjusting her darkshades, she glanced at her wristwatch and saw it was almost 4 pm. And the swiss gold watch brought the thoughts of Barry because it was a birthday gift he gave to her.

After Barry left her in the hotel room, she laid on the floor and wept uncontrollably. She had expected the only man she ever loved to be with her, no matter the situation they find themselves in. Even if it means losing everything, including their lives. Perhaps she was expecting too much from him……and perhaps they being together was just a big mistake. And her thoughts of them getting married some day, an unrealistic dream.

She wept for so long that it drained all her energy so much as to make she sleep on the cold floor, beside the puddle of her own tears. After a few hours she woke up, took a shower and cleaned herself up with a new resolution; never to love or fall in love again. To her, love is a weakness. Love is dead…..f@ck love!.

And as she left the hotel building, she had decided to go back to her old ways and old self; the woman of zero emotions with a bloody and grimy state of mind. This made her to take off the twenty thousand dollar gold wristwatch. She stared at it for a while before throwing it into the trash can in the parking lot. Then she adjusted the left cuff of her shirt and headed towards the white range rover sports parked a few metres away from where she was standing.

As she approached the car, the big man standing beside the car and wearing a black leather trench coat with darkshades, nodded at her. He was her bodyguard. Nina nodded back with a smile when she came over and looked at the man’s face.

“What is matter?”, Nina asked him when she saw the worried look on his face.

The big man leaned toward Nina. He whispered, “The Sosai is here”, to her and shift his gaze behind her.

Nina paused for a few seconds and then looked over her shoulder. She saw a black 2014 Rolls Royce phantom parked not very far from where they are. The car was surrounded by five men all dressed in black suits.

Nina bowed her head with a sigh and pursed her thin lips. Then she looked up at her bodyguard. He looked quite scared as he stared at the Rolls Royce. Nina have never seen him display such emotions and it made him look kind of awkward.

“Max, dont worry”, Nina assured the big man and pat him on his big arms and shoulders that look like that of a Mack truck. “Nothing is gonna happen to you”, she continued and forced a smile.

“What about you?”, the big man asked. He still looked worried despite Nina’s words of assurance.

“Oh dont worry about me…..he is my father, isn’t he?”, she smiled. But she too was worried but didnt show it. And wondered how her father, the Sosai, got to know her whereabout.

Nina left the man and head towards the Rolls Royce with steady strides and an expressionless look on her face. When she came over, one of the men opened the back door of the vehicle and respectfully motioned at her to get inside. Nina did so and saw herself sitting next to an old man who seems to pay no attention to her.

The old man is an average sized fellow in his late sixties but looked deceptively younger. His eyes were very keen despite the eyeglasses he wore and his face had the hard look of a veteran of many battlefields. He had some scars on both hands, though most had faded with age, and a calloused knuckles; evidence of an entire youthful years spent hitting hard surfaces with bare hands and knuckles.

Despite the old man’s rather hard image, he was well dressed. He wore a grey designer three piece suit with a dark grey fedora hat that had a black ribbon around it’s crown. And a black muffler scarf neatly placed around his broad shoulders. His right “butcher” hand held a walking stick that has a hand grip made of gold and his thumb keep rubbing back and forth on the lion shaped handle.

“Good day father”, Nina began and took the old man’s left hand. She kissed it respectfully and placed the hand in its original position; the man’s left knee.

He didnt respond to the salutation. He just motioned at the driver who bowed politely and brought life to the car engine. The men guarding the Rolls Royce immediately hopped into two other cars, both a black 300c Chrysler, and followed the Sosai’s car as it rolled out of the hotel premises, towards the main road. Nina looked through the tinted door glass and saw Max, her bodyguard following them in the Range Rover.

After about ten minutes of being driven to an unknown destination, Nina decided to ask her father what was going on.

“Father where are we going?”, she quietly asked the old man.

The old man remained silent for a few seconds. And then said, “I just want to take a ride with my daughter”, then he looked at Nina. “I haven’t seen you for quite a while my dear…….it like you have being busy”, his voice was surprisingly soft for a hard looking old man.

“Yeah father…..i have being very busy recently”, Nina tried not to sound nervous.

“Oh really?”, the old man murmured and looked away. “Busy doing what?”, he asked.

“Handling the family business and running a few things of my own”, Nina replied calmly.

“Okay……anyway speaking of the family business, Bernard is in town”.

Nina heard the name and stared at the old man in silence. The nervousness she had been hiding started showing on her face.

“He will be taking over all your operations”, the old man continued without looking at his daughter.

“When did he came back to the country”, Nina asked.

“A couple of weeks ago”, the old man replied. “But you were to busy with family business and the few things of your own to know that he is in town”.

Nina thought for a while with a downcast gaze. “So what will i be doing if Bernard takes over all my operations?”, she then asked and looked at her father.

“I will let you know……but first there is something i want to show you”, the old man replied with a faint smile and looked at his daughter. “By the way……are you armed?”, he asked.

Nina sighed and dugged her right hand inside her suit jacket. She pulled out the Glock 19 handgun from her shoulder holster and handed the weapon to her father. The old man examined pistol and handed it to the man sitting in the front passenger seat. Then the driver diverted the car from the main road to a minor road leading to a building that looked like a factory.

********************************************

Nina patiently followed the old man around with three of his men as he inspected the machines and other equipments in the meat processing factory. Another man who was dressed in white overalls was showing them around the place. The tag on his breast pocket says he was the company supervisor.

The meat processing plant is one of the many processing companies owned by Nina’s father. One of his several enterprises in his vast business empire that stretches across the country. But of all the places Nina wanted to be, the meat processing plants is the last place in her list. She hated the smell of the place. Even though it was kept very clean with regular check ups by the government health workers, the smell of the place never agreed with her sense organ. Maybe it’s just her being too sensitive to the peculiar odour of a meat processing factory.

But it was the absence of the workers running the company that got her wondering what was going on. Especially for the fact that the company runs both day and night shifts. And only closes during the weekend or public holiday. Today is neither the weekend nor a public holiday.

“Dont you sometimes marvel at how machines work?”, the old man asked as he stopped and inspected one of the big industrial meat grinding machine. “You just set the programs, hit the button and then watch the machine do the job”, he continued as he looked at the buttons and the conveyor belt. “It will keep doing the job…..non-stop, no complains or even any disobedience….till something in it breaks down.

The old man looked around the machine, then at Nina and the other men. “Technology……isnt it a marvelous thing?”, he asked with a smile.

The supervisor nodded sheepishly while the other men remained silent. Nina gave a faint smile and looked at the machine; a way to avoid looking at her father.

“You said this machine is new?”, the old man asked the supervisor.

“Yes sir…..it was installed three days ago after we removed the old one”, the supervisor replied with a sheepish look on his face.

“So can you show us how it works?”.

“Oh yes sir…. i can do that”.

Then the supervisor hurriedly entered the refrigeration and came out, pushing a trolley carrying the boneless hind part of a cow. He hauled the meat onto the conveyor belt and went over to the machine control panel.

“You switch this on”, the man switched on the standby button and a low whirring sound was heard. “And then this”, he continued and pushed a green button.

The machine came to live with a somewhat loud roar and the converyor started moving. They all watched as the converyor belt fed the beef into the machine and the metallic monster pulverized the steak. The end product was forced through a feed pipe into a waiting container.

“Good……very good”, the old man said with a smile as the supervisor turned the machine off. “Why dont you teach my daughter how to operate it”, he suggested and looked at Nina. “Why dont you go operate it”.

“Oh……no i will just watch you boys play with the new toy”, Nina said nervously and gave a faint smile as she looked at her dad with a furrowed eyebrow.

“I’m not asking you……i’m ordering you”.

Nina stared at her father and saw the seriousness in his face. She sighed and went over to join the supervisor near the machine control panel. Then the old man whispered at two of his men and they left after bowing respectfully.

“Oh we need to get another beef”, the supervisor said rather nervously and turned to go get another beef from the refrigeration room.

“Dont worry we already have one here”, the old man said and pointed at the men coming towards them. They were dragging a half n@ked man on the floor as they came over.

The man was Barry Phillips. His hands and feet were tied together tightly. And wore only a boxer. The men came over and dropped him on the floor like he was nothing. Nina didnt look at him nor at the men who brought him. She didnt look at anybody at all, not even her father. She just stared at the buttons in the control panel and said nothing.

“Show my daughter the buttons she need to press”, the old man ordered the supervisor who seems to have gotten the idea of what was about to happen.

“First you switch the standby button”, the man began, trying to control his trembling hands as he pointed out the button to Nina. “Then you press the green one”, beads of sweats started forming on his forehead.

“Thanks…….now you can leave us”.

The supervisor looked at Nina and quietly tapped another button before he quickly left the place.

“I want you to stand behind my daughter”, the old man ordered one of his men. The man obeyed the order. “Now take out your gun and put it on her head”, he ordered again and the man did so.

Then the old man looked at Barry with a scoff. “Put him on the converyor belt”, he said to the other men.

The men grabbed Barry, lifted him off his feet and took him to the converyor. As they hauled him onto the converyor belt, he didnt put up any resistance. He just stared at Nina with the look of a man who had resigned to fate.

“I overheard your conversations in that hotel room…….by the way i had the place bugged”, the old man began as he paced around Nina. “You seem to forget who i am……you also seem to forget that i have eyes and ears in alot places. And i thought you knew better than meeting that man again”, he continued angrily as he stared at his daughter and pointed at Barry. “Anyway you have seen the kind of man he is”, the old man muttered and looked at Barry. “And like his father, he is just a worthless lying scum not to be trusted. His father may have fooled me but that was the last time anyone ever tried to fool me”.

Then the old man sighed and looked at the man that had a gun pointed at Nina’s.

“If i give her an order and she disobeys, shoot her”, he ordered the man. The man cocked the handgun and pointed it at Nina’s temple with his finger on the trigger.

“Now my dear, i want you to press the standby button”, the old man said quietly to Nina.

Nina hesitated abit and moved her hand to the button. The whirring sound started when her finger pressed it.

“Now be a good girl and press the next one”.

Nina moved her hand slowly towards the next button and suspended her fingers over the green button.

“Press the next button”, the old man repeated.

Nina slowly moved her index finger and placed it on the green button. Then she pressed it.

The roaring sound of the meat grinder took over the air and the converyor belt started rolling, moving Barry towards machine. The old man smiled and stared at Barry as he started making his way to a painful and crushing death. Barry did nothing but keep staring at Nina. Nina didnt look at him. She remained in a downcast gaze as his feet got nearer and nearer to the massive rotating blades that are waiting to mercilessly churn on anything being fed to it.

Suddenly, Nina hit another switch. The one the supervisor had tapped with his finger before he left. The switch killed the operating machine and also stopped the converyor. Barry was about to start losing body parts, starting from his feet before he stopped a few inches away from the massive blades when the conveyor belt finally came to a halt.

Then Nina turned to her father. She had tears rolling down her cheek.

“Father please……”, she began, expecting to hear the gun go off and end her life. “Please dont do this to me……to us”, she begged.

The old man stared at his daughter with alot of anger. But he motioned at the man holding the gun to lower the weapon. Then he stood infront of Nina and stared at her for a while as she sobbed.

“Oh Nina Nina Nina……you failed me once again”, he murmured and shook his head. “You know very well that i never bode well with failures”.

“But why are you doing this to me”, Nina asked tearfully and looked at her father.

“Do what?, i didnt do anything to you…….rather, you are the one doing it to yourself”, the old man replied. Then he got closer to her. “Have you forgotten?, have you forgotten that promise you made?…….i remember that you even swore on your own life that day”, he whispered to her as he rubbed her shoulder.

Nina remembered the day he was talking about and recollected what happened that day.

FLASH!

Twenty-three years ago.

The girl left a trail of blood on the polished ceramic floor of the corridor as the men dragged her through it. She wore only a bra and a pant. She looked disheveled, extremely dehydrated and covered with blood. More blood was coming out from the numerous deep wounds on her back and shoulders and it looked fresh. She look like a teenager, probably nineteen years of age. But despite her injuries and the terrible state of health she is in, she still had a defiant look on her blood covered face with hard eyes.

The men dragged her into a spacious empty room and roughly dropped her on the hard floor. She moaned painfully on hitting the floor and made an attempt to get up. Then she looked up and saw a man infront of her, sitting on a chair. His arms where folded as he stared at her with a disgusted look on his face. He was flanked by two other men. One stood near the big screen t.v that was on a table beside them with a remote control in his hand.

The girl glanced at the two men and rested her eyes on the man sitting on the chair. She smiled and spat blood and saliva on the floor.

“Good morning dad……”, the girl began as she tried to sit up. “……or should i say good afternoon…..oh….maybe it is evening. Am sorry i have being in that dungeon you kept me for so long that i lost track of time”.

The man stared at the girl for a while. “It’s like you have also lost your mind little girl”, he said to her.

“Perhaps dad……but i havent lost count of the number of men you sent after me”, the girl smiled. “And the number that i killed…..last time i checked, the numbers were equal”.

“You think this is a game?”, the man asked irritatedly.

“I am beginning to think it is one”.

The man pursed his lips and motioned at the man holding the remote. The other man pressed a button and switched on the t.v. Then he took out his cellphone and dialled a number.

“I guess your teachers taught you alot about technology in school right?”, the man on the chair began and looked at the t.v. screen. “Well, you are about to see it for yourself”, he continued.

Then a man sitting on a bench in what seem to be a park appeared on the t.v screen. The man seem lost in thoughts as he sat and watched the kids playing around him and the couples hanging around the place.

“That is a live streaming video of your boyfriend in the park……perhaps waiting for you”, the man on the chair said as he stared at the t.v screen. “These days we can sit in the comfort of our home and watch activities going on live in another city or even another country……but the fun part is the camera is attached to a rocket propelled grenade being held by one of my men who had positioned himself on top of a building”.

The smile on the girl’s face faded immediately when she heard that and stared at the t.v screen.

“So all i have to do is call my man and give him the go ahead”, the man continued. “Then we will all watch as that lovely park full of fun activities, go to hell”.

Then a woman carrying a baby came over to bench and sat next to the man. He gave the woman a peck and took the baby from her.

“Oh look…….his wife and their new born child have just joined the party”, the man sitting on the chair elated and looked at the man with the cellphone. “Is he on the line now?”, he asked the man.

“Yes sir……he is waiting for the order”, the man with the phone replied.

“Tell him to go ahead”,

“No!…….please father dont do this!”, the girl screamed.

“Too late my dear…..”, the man shook his head. “You should have followed my order and killed that man. Now you gonna be responsible for the death of his wife and kid and every other person in that park”,

Then the man turned at the man with cellphone and nodded.

“Father please…….i beg you dont do this”, the girl begged. She crawled to the man sitting on the chair and held his feet. “I beg you…….spare him and i will do whatever you want father. I swear on my very own life……please!”.

The man heard what his daughter said and motioned at the man with the cellphone to stop.

“You swear on your own life to never ever meet this man again?”, he asked her.

The girl nodded vigorously with a defeated look on her face.

The man slowly moved his body from it’s relaxed position on the chair and leaned towards the girl. “And what will i do if you ever make the stupid mistake of contacting or trying to contact him?”, the man asked again.

“Father, i swear that will never ever happen……kill me if it ever happens”, the girl replied.

The man heard it and smiled. Then he glanced at his men and smiled again.

“Okay then, you boyfriend lives, for now…….but i will make sure you never see him again as you promised”, the man concluded and got up from the chair. Then he looked at the man with the cellphone. “Call the colonel……ask him when the next batch of soldiers will be leaving”, he turned to his daughter. “Prepare her and make sure she is on that plane…….i dont care how you do it….. i want her to be in Congo before this week runs out”.

FLASH!.

“Do you remember now?”, the old man asked Nina. “You made it clear yourself……you said i should kill you”, he continued. “I heard the break-up in the hotel room. That’s why i brought him here for you to complete the job you fail to do so that i wont have to kill you”.

Nina wiped her tears and looked at Barry. He had the look that seems to be telling her that it is okay for her to go ahead and take his life. Nina stared at him for a while and shook her head.

“Father, isn’t there anything i could do for you to set him free”, she asked the old man with a surprisingly firm voice. “Something i could do to buy his freedom”.

“The old man scoffed and shook his head. “Do you want to tell me that you still care for this fool?,” he asked. “Even after making it clear to you that he treasures his business more than whatever feelings you have for him?”,

“Father, tell me…..is there anything i can do to buy his freedom”, Nina asked again.

“Well, my dear am sorry……there is nothing you can do for me”, her father replied.

“Father, you sent me to Congo thinking that i will meet my demise there. But against all odds, not only did i make it, i also earned your respect and the respect of all the members of the family”, Nina stated. “So what is it that you want that i cannot do?”, she asked.

The old man smiled and shook his head again. “Oh now you think this is a game?……”, he asked and looked away. Then he thought for a while and looked at Nina. “There is one thing that might earn his freedom”, he muttered.

“Father what is it?, please tell me”, Nina demanded eagerly.

Then the old man looked at Barry. “His father took something from me”, then he looked at Nina. “If you can get it back, then he gets his freedom and i wont bother him again”, he continued.

“I will do it……i will find it and get it back for you”, Nina said.

“The old man chuckled and pursed his lips.

“Alright…..well in that case, you have seven days to bring it”, he then said to his daughter. “Failure to deliver after seven day, i will cut him up and feed him to the pigs”, he concluded.

The old man motioned at his men to take Barry away. As they did so, he started heading towards the factory exit. Then he paused and looked at Nina.

“And from now on you are no longer part of the family”, he said to her. “So you are no longer under our protection and neither will any member of the family render any kind of help to you…….you are on your own now”.

“Father wait!……”, Nina called out as the old man turned to leave. “What did his father take from you?”, she asked.

“The look on the old man’s face suddenly became gloomy when he heard the question.

“His father took my diamonds”, he replied and turned away. “Get me my diamonds and your man gets his freedom”.

Alex swung the Hyundai Genesis sedan into the parking lot of the building with a blinking neon sign that says, “CAFE DE TROPICANA”. He slowly brought the car to a halt in one of the empty parking spaces and surveyed the area carefully. He paused for a moment and took a glanced at his wristwatch. It was almost 11:40 pm. Alex surveyed the area again and killed the engine of the car. Taking off his seatbelt rather slowly, he sighed and opened the door. Alex didn’t know why his mother wanted to see him so urgently. Whatever it is, it must be very very important because of her numerous phone calls he had missed. About fifteen to be exact. He had been sleeping all day after partying hard throughout yesterday night at friend’s house party. After he had managed to shake off the bad hangover, he called Nina. His mother sounded quite paranoid when she answered. And bombarded him with alot of unusual questions; asking where he had being, if he had noticed anything unusual, if he was being followed. She even wanted to know if he was keeping his weapon close. Then Nina told him that she wanted to see him immediately, saying he might be too groggy to understand if she told him on the phone. But it wasnt her saying he should come as fast as he can that made him to go. It was her tone of voice. She was persuading, even begging. His mother had always used the bossy tone whenever she called or demanded for something. And it was this new attitude that made him jump out of bed and drive to place they are suppose to meet without even taking a shower or brushing his teeth. Throughout the ride to the place, all he could think was something is definitely not right. Putting one foot out of the car, Alex paused and looked at the dashboard compartment for a few seconds. Then he leaned over and opened it. He took out a .45 acp springfield handgun and checked the clip. Seeing that it was full, he took an extra clip and got of the car. Tucking the handgun in his belt, he straightened the black tee shirt he wore to conceal the weapon and headed towards the cafe’s glass door. “He is here”, Nina’s bodyguard whispered to her on seeing Alex walk into the cafe that had very few customers. Nina slowly looked up and saw her son approaching them. She gave a weak smile and looked down at cup of coffee she had being staring at with her hands folded under her chin. Alex nodded at the bodyguard who did the same and got up from the table to give the mother and her son some privacy. Alex sat on the chair opposite Nina and waved at the lone female staff working in the place as she made a move to come over. He stared at his mother as she kept staring at her cup of coffee and sighed uncomfortably. “Mom what’s the matter”, he asked and glanced at the big bodyguard who seem to be watching the door and cautiously staring outside the cafe. “What on earth is going on?”, he asked again. “You sounded kind of nervous when i called”. Nina remained silent and keep staring at the cup. “Aw for heaven sake…….”, Alex began irritatedly after waiting for almost a minute for her to say something. “……..it’s almost 12 mid night, i’m very tired and tomorrow i have a boatload of paperworks to sort out…….don’t tell me that you called me just to come have coffee with you in silence……why don’t……”, “He got you father”, Nina then said quietly, interrupting Alex as he was about to ask more questions. “Who?”, Alex demanded. Nina looked up and their eyes met. “Your grandfather got your father”, she said to him quietly with a worried look on her face. Alex exhaled slowly and looked away. He sighed and moved his body uncomfortably in his seat as he rubbed his head rather coarsely. “Oh sh!t”, he finally muttered and shook his head. “When did this happen?”, he asked and looked at Nina. “Today”, Nina replied. “And he had being monitoring us for some time now”, she added. “Monitoring us?……for some time?……how long?”, Alex asked with some concern in his voice. Nina didnt reply. “Do you think he knows about us?”, Alex asked again, getting really worried. Nina nodded slowly and sighed. “He might come for you guys next”, she murmured. “Aw jeez…..”, Alex rubbed his head again and reclined on his seat. “…..So what does he intend to do with dad?”, he asked and folded his arms. “Kill him of course”, Nina replied. “Unless i bring him diamonds”. “Diamonds?”, Alex snorted. “Yeah……diamonds”, Nina said. She too looked confused as Alex was when he heard the old man’s demand. “He gave me seven days to bring it or else your father will be a dead man”. “Why the hell will he want diamonds when he has enough money to buy any amount of diamonds he want?”, Alex asked with a furrowed eyebrow. “Anyway, if it is diamond he wants, then lets pool our resources together and buy diamonds for the old man”, he continued. “He is talking about some …..diamonds Barry’s father took from him”, Nina sighed. “It must be be some kind of a special diamonds”. “Whatever!”, Alex retorted. “Diamond is diamond….lets just buy some diamonds and give that old fool…..i know a dealer who will give us the best…..”. “Do you think he wouldn’t buy diamonds if it was diamonds that he wanted?”, Nina interrupted him with a smirk. “A quarter of his wealth is stored in gold and diamonds……..he even owns and runs an illegal diamond mining operation in Congo”. Then Nina sighed and looked at the cup of coffee she is yet to drink. It had gotten cold. “Maybe Barry’s father did take his diamonds”, she continued. “But i think he just want me to go look for it so as to make a fool of myself because he knows finding it is an impossible task…….especially this case being something that happened over forty years ago, even before i was born”. “Yeah….”, Alex nodded. He understood his mom’s situation. “But that’s just the least of our problem”, Nina then muttered as she rested her elbows on the table and face-palmed. “Least of our problem?”, Alex asked. “Yeah….”, Nina replied, still face-palmed. “…..the Sosai kicked me out of the family. That means no protection, no help and alot of enemies coming after me and my loved ones”. Alex stared at his mother with his mouth open. “The jobs that i did for the family made me get in alot of mix with some bad people that i rubbed the wrong way. And these people, who are mostly remorseless criminal individuals, all have an axe to grind……in a violent way. If they find out that i am no longer with the family, well, you already know what’s gonna happen to me or even any of you if they also find out that you and Eric are my sons”. “Oh gosh”, Alex murmured and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What are we gonna do?”, he asked without looking Nina. “I don’t know”, Nina replied and shook her head. “And this diamonds that he wants……what if we can’t find it?….”, “We have to find it, no matter what. We have to find it because i dont wanna lose your father. If we cant, i dont mind giving double or even triple the amount of that diamond”. Then Nina paused for a few seconds. “I need your brother……i need Eric more than ever”, she continued. Alex hissed. “And what is he gonna do?”, he asked. “The only thing he is good at is….going ‘Action Jackson’ and leaving a trail of carnage with reckless abandon”, he muttered. “This situation is best handled with care because it is the Sosai we are talking about” “We still need him……someone who wrecks carnage……atleast it will make any individuals coming after us to think twice”. “Including the Sosai himself?”. “Yeah……including the Sosai himself”. “Then why dont you call him?”. “I cant. I promised to stay away from him and never get him involved in anything after the Congo operation”, Nina said. “I have to keep my promise. Beside you know how unpredictable he is. He could end up causing greater damage”. “Yeah”, Alex nodded thoughtfully. “That’s why i want to solve this problem quietly……unless if i dont have any other choice but to get someone like him involved”, Nina smirked and looked away. “Someone who can make things go real loud”. “But we still have to let him know what’s going on……for his own safety”, Alex noted. Then Nina glanced at her wrist watch and started checking her handbag. “Do you have any cash with you?”, she asked Alex as she took out her cellphone from the handbag and keep rummaging in it. “Sosai had frozen all my bank accounts so i cant use any of my bank card”, she continued. “I will pay for the coffee”, Alex sighed. “First thing tomorrow morning i will bring you some cash”. Nina smiled and got up. “I have to go now”, she said and picked up her handbag. “I dont want to keep you awake all night”, then she placed her hand on Alex shoulder. “You take care of yourself my dear”, she gave him a peck on his head and headed towards the door. Alex watch his mother leave with her bodyguard and sighed. Then he looked around the cafe and glanced at his wristwatch. Seeing that it was fifteen mintues past mid night, he looked around again and saw his mother’s cellphone on the table. She must have forgotten it. Picking it up, he got up and headed towards to the door, telling the cafe waitress that he will be back in a moment. “Mom!……”, he called out when he got outside. Nina and her bodyguard are now standing near her Range Rover. She looked in his direction and smiled when she saw him waving the cellphone at her. As Alex was about to go over to where they stood, a black van suddenly raced into the parking lot and screeched to a halt a few metres away from Nina and her bodyguard. Then the door of the van slided open and some masked men pointed automatic rifles in their direction. A loud gunfire echoed all over the place as the masked men unloaded the clips, sending volleys of bullets at Nina and her bodyguard. The slugs ripped into Nina’s body. But it was her bodyguard who got hit the most because he had acted fast and used his big body to shield her. And almost got cut in half by the rain of bullets. Alex screamed as he watched his mother and her body guard drop to the ground. Then one of the masked men got out of the van as he dislodged the empty magazine and slapped in a fresh one. He wanted to finish the job. Alex pulled out his pistol, swung it at the masked man’s direction and let the hammer blow. The gun bark out and sent several slugs that hit the man on his chest and shoulder. It knock the man to his side and made him drop his rifle. Alex let off more shots as he raced towards the van but missed because he wasnt focused enough to take a good aim. The masked man who was visibly hurt got dragged into the van by the other men and the van took off immediately, disappearing in the empty street. Alex ran to where Nina laid on the ground and saw her bleeding quite profusely. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably with fear in her eyes and her breath was rapid. “Oh God!”, Alex held his mother who immediately grabbed his shirt and held it tight. “Mom are you okay?!”, he asked frantically as he tried to lift her up. “Stay with me!…….we have to go to the hospital!…….you gonna make it…..dont worry you gonna make it!”, he was frantic with fear as he put her in the back seat of the bullet ridden Range Rover. “Eric…….call Eric”, Nina managed to whisper as her laboured breath made her unable to speak. Alex slammed the back door close. He took a quick glance at the bodyguard lying on the floor as he rushed to the driver seat. The man is definitely dead. There is no way he would have survived with the sizes of the numerous holes the bullet had torn in his chest and tummy. Alex brought life to the car engine and screeched the car into the street, heading to one destination as fast as he can. The hospital. **************************************** Alex watched as the nurses hurriedly wheeled the stretcher carrying Nina into the the emergency section. He stood in one corner, his cloths covered with bloodstains and trying to hold back tears as he watched his mother being wheeled into the operating theater. Then he dialled a number and waited for the called to be answered as he listened to the ringtone. “Eric!, answer your phone you motherfucker!”, he barked and startled some of the nurses passing-by after hearing the automated voice telling him that the recipient is not answering the call. That was his tenth time of calling Eric’s number. He gave up and dropped his phone on the chair beside him. The next unsuccessful try could make him smash his phone into a million pieces because of how furious he is right now. Alex gently lowered his weight on the chair and sighed with his eyes closed, wishing that what just happened in at the cafe parking lot was just a dream. A dream he could wake up from in any moment. Then he opened his eyes and picked up his phone. And started trying Eric’s number again and again…….and again

EPISODE 5

Eric opened his eyes slowly and looked around the bedroom. Something must have woken him from his sleep. Wondering what it was, he yawned and stretched his arms. He pushed the thick blanket aside and sat up on his bed. Then he heard the sound again. It was a playful laughter and sounds of footsteps coming from the living-room. “Benjamin….you little brat”, Eric sighed with a faint smile as he got out of bed and adjusted his pyjamas. Glancing around for his cellphone to check the time, he pushed the window drapes aside and slide the window open to let in the morning sunlight and some fresh air. He looked around for his cellphone again. Then he remembered that he left it in the living-room last night and headed toward the door. Benjamin, Esther and David’s four year old son saw Eric walk into the living-room and his cute face lit up with excitement. “Eric!”, he shrilled in his cute voice and raced to his big brother, still holding the toy he had been playing with. “Benny….”, Eric grunted as he picked the boy up and avoid stepping on the toys lying around the living-room floor. “Wow, you are getting bigger and bigger. Soon you you will be the one carrying me”, he grinned. “Where is mummy?”, Eric asked as he sat on the sofa and put the boy on his laps. Benjamin pointed at the kitchen and rested the back of his head on Eric’s chest. Eric glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was almost 10 am. Then Esther emerged from the kitchen and smiled at Eric on seeing him and Benjamin together. “Did you sleep well?”, Esther began as she opened the refrigerator. “Yesterday night you looked so tired that i thought you might spend the whole of today lying in your bed”. “Nope…..i wasn’t that tired”, Eric said and moved Benjamin from his laps to the sofa. “I just wanted to go to bed early last night”. “Oh really?”, Esther murmured and closed the refrigerator after taking out two apples. “Sometimes you forget i am a nurse”, she chuckled and sat on a chair in the dining place. “Arent you taking this training of yours too serious?”, she asked with a little bit of concern. “Yesterday you and your sister looked completely wasted……i thought the three months the both of you spent training hard in the mountain was enough for whatever it is you are preparing to destroy”. “No i wasnt training to destroy anything”, Eric smiled. “Then why would you cut yourself off from civilization and spend three whole months in a mountain…..especially when the weather is cold”. “Did you see my cellphone?”, Eric asked, trying to change the topic and glanced around the living-room. “By the way, where is Suzanne?”, he asked again and got up. “Gone to the gym…….after going jogging very early in the morning”, Esther sighed and pointed at Eric’s phone that was lying on the t.v stand and being charged. “When i was her age, we spent most of our time getting beautiful, learning how to cook……and making boyfriends. You will hardly ever see any girl engaging in this….whatever it is that she is try accomplish”. “You mean her quest of becoming a one man human abattoir?”, Eric asked as he went over to the dining and sat on the chair infront of Esther. “One man human abattoir”, Esther snorted and took a knife from the cutlery rack on the table. “What is that suppose mean?”, she asked as she sliced the apples. “It means someone who seems to be a gullible, minding his or her own business kind of person. But in reality, that person is a mobile slaughterhouse”. Esther laughed at the thoughts of ‘mobile slaughterhouse’ as she cut the apples into smaller bits and put them on a plate. Eric reached out for one and she smacked his adventurous hand, reminding him that he hasn’t brushed his teeth. Eric protested that he is old enough to decide what to do with his own teeth. Esther reminded him that it is her own house and he has to follow her own rules. Then Suzanne stepped into the livingroom. “Hey guys”, she began and dropped her duffle bag . She sat heavily on the sofa and rested her head on it’s back cushion. “Oh am so tired……aunty Esther please tell me there is something to eat because i’m dying of hunger”, she continued weakly. “Hm….so when will you finally become a slaughterhouse”, Esther asked intently without looking at Suzanne. “Huh?”, Suzanne looked at Esther with a furrowed eyebrows and wondered what a slaughterhouse had to do with her being very hungry. “Your brother told me about your quest……no wonder you are training so hard”, Esther continued. “What did he say?”. “He said you want to be a walking slaughterhouse”. “Ha…..says the person who spent three months punching tree trunks because he wanted to have ‘god hands’, Suzanne scoffed. Esther laughed. “Anyway i made some toast…….i knew you would be hungry after your workout”, she said. “Yeah….you better go stuff yourself up with food and put some curves in your body”, Eric muttered. “You are beginning to scare the boys away with that body”. But Eric was wrong. Suzanne is indeed very beautiful with curves in the right places despite her favourite hobby being all hard combat sports. She had grown from a quiet and naive bookworm girl to someone boys stare at for too long while drooling over her lovely physical features. Eric himself had admired Suzanne’s beauty several times, even though he labelled her the younger version of Nina because of the expressionless look she always had on her face. And Nina happened to be Suzanne”s role model. “You mean to say that am scaring you…..”, Suzanne said and got up. Then she picked up Eric’s cellphone. “Can i use your phone?……thank you”, she said without waiting for his approval. “What happened to yours?”. “The battery is down……you got alot of missed calls…….from Alex”, Suzanne scrolled through Eric’s cellphone call log. Esther stopped what she was doing and looked at Eric. Eric glanced at her and looked at Suzanne. Alex called?, when?”, Eric asked. “Last night…….he called like four thousand times”, Suzanne replied as she stared at the numerous missed calls. Then she went into the kitchen to go get the toasts. “You said you were done with Nina?”, Esther asked Eric without looking at him. “Yeah am done with her”, he replied and rested his elbow on the dining table with a thoughtful look on his face. “Then, why is Alex calling you?”. “I don’t know…….maybe he just want to hear my voice after more than three months of no contact”. “Well…..”, Esther gently placed the knife on the table. “Alex have never called you just to say hello or hear your voice. It’s always to inform you that Nina wants to see you or make inquiries about one of those……..missions she always send you to accomplish”, she said quietly. Eric said nothing with the thoughtful look still on his face. Then he looked up and saw Suzanne coming out of the kitchen. She stopped and stared at them, her eyes watery and the look of fear on her face. “It’s aunty Nina……”, she began with a shaky voice. “……she had been shot”. ************************************************ “The doctor said she gonna make it”, Alex said quietly as he and Eric stood and stared at their mother lying in the hospital bed, still in a medically induced coma. Eric remained silent and stared at Nina who had a hospital breathing apparatus on her face and her body connected to a beeping machine that monitored her heartbeats and blood pressure. Suzanne sat beside the bed, holding Nina’s hand and sobbing. Esther stood behind Suzanne with her hands on the girl’s shoulder as she comforted her and stared at the wounded woman lying in the bed. On hearing the news about Nina’s shooting, they booked the available to Easthill. Esther called her husband David to inform him that something came up and that she wont be at home for a day or two. She took Benjamin to her sister in-law’s place and then boarded the flight with Eric and Suzanne. “She lost alot of blood and had a blood transfusion”, Alex continued. “The doctor said she was very lucky…….they took out six bullets from her body and they all missed her vital organ, one missed her liver by a few centimetres”, he sighed. “They wanted to blow her away…….thanks to Max her bodyguard, it would had being a different story. God bless that man’s soul”. Eric rubbed the back of his head and looked away. Then Alex held his arm and whispered to him that he wanted to talk to him in private. Eric rubbed Suzanne’s shoulder and told her he will be back. He whispered something to Esther who nodded and followed Alex as they left the hospital private room. “The Sosai got our old man”, Alex then said when they got outside the room. Eric looked at him and sighed with a downcast gaze. “Do you think he is responsible for mom’s shooting?”, he asked. “I don’t know man”, Alex muttered. “But mom told me that he had given her seven days to bring some…….diamonds or else he will end our father’s live. So i don’t know if it is the Sosai or those numerous enemies mom said would be coming for her if they find out that she is no longer under Sosai’s protection”. “No longer under Sosai’s protection?, what do you mean by that?”, Eric asked. “Mother said that the Sosai kicked her out of the family after giving her that ultimatum…..that means she no longer have any kind of protection……and so do we”. “And these enemies she was talking about, did she mention names or anything about them?”. “Nope……”, Alex exhaled and shook his head. “What are we gonna do?”, he asked and looked at Eric. “Mother is down, that f@cking……Saddam Hussein or whatever got father……and he could be the one responsible for gunning mother down”. Eric stared ahead thoughtfully and said nothing. Then Alex’s cellphone ranged. But he ignored the cellphone that kept ringing and ringing. “Arent you gonna answer that?”, Eric asked. Alex reluctantly answered the call. “Hello…..is this Alex Philips”, the voice rasped out of the phone speaker. “Yes this is Alex”, he replied. “This is inspector Adams of Easthill police department”, the voice said. “Yeah i talked to one of your men last night concerning my mother’s shooting”, Alex said. “Yes but you need to come to your family house immediately”. Alex furrowed his eyebrow and looked at Eric. “Why?”, he asked. “There have been an incident at your family’s house…….a home invasion”. ***********************************************

Alex hurriedly made his way through the crowd of people standing infront of the gate of the Philips mansion. He got past the policemen guarding the gate after identifying himself and headed towards the mansion in quick strides. He saw the police yellow tapes around the entrance of the Philips mansion and the forensic team collecting evidence. Spent bullet casings littered all over the place with several patches of bloodstains on the floor.

Alex breath quickened as he approached the entrance and saw five bodies on the ground covered with white sheets. Then a man among the team of policemen inspecting what seems to be the scene of a fatal shooting saw Alex and approached him.

“Mr Alex?”, the man asked.

“Yeah thats me”, Alex answered eagerly with a horrified look on his face as he stared at the dead bodies on the ground. “What the hell happened”, he asked as he made a move to go check the covered dead bodies.

“I am inspector Adams……sir you have to calm down”, inspector Adams held Alex after showing him his i.d card.

“What do you mean calm down!”, Alex bawled and forced his way through. “What happened to my family!!”, he demanded as he made a move to uncover the white sheet of one of the bodies. But several policemen held him back.

“Let him be”, inspector Adams ordered the men and they gently left Alex.

“What the hell happened!”, Alex asked again as he stood over one of the bodies and stared at it.

“Some unknown gunmen attacked your family’s house”, the inspector replied.

Alex bent over and gently uncovered the the face of the body on the floor.

“Three of the house helps and the gateman got killed”, inspector Adams continued. “But if not for the family chauffeur, the gunmen would have killed more”, the inspector looked at another covered body. It had alot of blood around it. “He is dead too…….he died protecting your mother and your brother and sister”.

Alex left the dead housemaid he had uncovered to check the body inspector Adam was staring at. He bent over it and slowly uncovered it. And sighed heavily when he saw it was Rogers.

“He stayed alive long enough till we arrived after we got the call of a massive shooting from one of the neighbours”.

Alex covered his mouth and shook his head as he stared at the dead man.

“His last words were……’tell my boy that i’m very sorry’…….which boy was he talking about?”, inspector Adams demanded.

Alex ignored the question and placed his hand on Rogers head. Then he sat on the ground beside the dead man and buried his face in his hands as he tried to control his emotions.

“My mother and my siblings”, he then began and looked up to the inspector standing beside him. “Where are they”, he asked with red eyes.

“Inside the house”, the inspector replied.

Alex could hear Agnes shouting at the top of her voice and raining curses as he stepped into the living-room. A female police detective was unsuccessfully trying to calm her down. Daniel and Victoria held Nancy’s hands and tried to comfort her as she wept uncontrollably. Agnes saw Alex walk into the living-room and regarded him with alot of disdain and anger.

“Yes i’m sure he is one of them!!”, she barked and pointed at Alex. “He and his mother!……they must have made the plan with that useless man who calls himself my husband to eliminate us…….”, she bawled. “Arrest him!…….arrest that fool!”.

Nobody did anything. Agnes continue barking at the policemen present in the living-room to do what she said while the female detective keep reminding her that she has to give some statements on what she had seen during the shootings. Alex ignored Agnes and went over to Nancy who got up and threw her arms around him and wept louder. He hugged and comforted her as much as he could and looked at his siblings. Victoria and Daniel seemed quite happy to see him and nodded at him when he turned his eyes to them.

Alex had gone to the mansion earlier in the day to pick up some documents he needed for Nina’s treatment. And told Victoria and Daniel about the shooting when they incessantly demanded what was going on after seeing how frantic he was as he searched his bedroom.

Even though Nina topped their list of the people they hated the most, Alex siblings sympathized with him when he told them that she had been shot. Daniel even offered to accompany him to the hospital which he declined. Before Alex left the house, he told Rogers about the new development and told the man to call if he happen to notice any suspicious activities within or outside the family home.

“What are you people waiting for?!”, Agnes almost screamed. “I say arrest that boy……he definitely knows something about those men that attacked us!!……if not one of them!”.

“Nobody is getting arrested here!”.

Everybody in the living-room turned and saw Eric standing at the entrance door.

“Dude i told you to stay in the car!”, Alex began. Then Suzanne rushed into the living-room, almost pushing Eric out of the way. “Aww…..damn!”, he sighed and glanced at inspector Adams who also stepped into the room and stared at the family with his arms folded.

Agnes was shocked. Her glare jumped from Eric to Alex, and then back to Eric. Daniel and Victoria stared at Eric with their mouth open despite Suzanne hugging them and tearfully asking them if they are alright. Everyone in the living-room seemed shocked, except Nancy who went over to Eric, saying if he had being in the house, her husband wouldnt had been killed. The female detective who had gotten tired of trying to get a statement from Agnes, gently dropped her weight on one of the sofas and stared at the twins. Not knowing where to begin.

“What the hell is going on here!”, Agnes managed to find her voice. “Nancy!, what is the meaning of this?, do you know anything about this?”, she asked the cook as she stared at her being comforted by Eric.

“I thought you were out of the country”, Victoria said to Suzanne. “And who is this guy?”, she asked, pointing at Eric.

“He is…..my twin brother”, Alex replied to the question quietly and looked at Eric with a look that says he had just escalated the situation. “We are actually twins…….dad didnt tell you guy that”, he continued.

“You…..have a twin brother?”, Daniel asked with a furrowed eyebrow. “But why didnt dad tell us?”.

“Because your father is a cheap liar!”, Agnes barked. Then she turned to the detective. “Now you can see why i am telling you to arrest this boy…….they liars. Both of them and their father as well. They are all liars. And this one that just walked in must have planned with my husband to kidnap my daughter. That’s why he lied to us that she had gone out of the country”.

“Stop!……mom could you please stop!”, Suzanne said to her mother tearfully.

Eric gently sat Nancy on the sofa and started approaching Agnes. Alex immediately went over and stood inbetween them. The three policemen also made a move to intervene but inspector Adams gestured at them to stay put.

“Hey hey……cool it man”, Alex said, trying to calm his brother down.

“I just wanna talk to her”, Eric said quietly.

“Nah….no need for that”, Alex knew that Eric’s ‘just wanna talk’, meant spitting some serious venom. The one that will make the receiver have some serious thoughts about suicide.

“Alex….i just want to speak to her……that’s all”, Eric said and looked at Alex.

Alex saw the dead serious look on his face and gently stepped aside, hoping that whatever he intends to say doesnt make someone end up dangling from a rope tied around the neck and a suicide note.

Eric stood infront of Agnes and stared at her for a while with an expressionless look on his face. As usual, Agnes remained mute with a somewhat scared look on her face whenever she got stared down at with an unblinking eyes. She doesnt usually get that kind of look from people. And after what happened in Alex’s room five years ago, such an expression makes her get worried. Worried for her own safety.

“Can i have a word with you…..in private”, Eric then began quietly and kindly.

Agnes stared at him and glanced at the rest in the living-room. “You want to have a word with me?”, she asked.

“Yeah”.

“Why?”.

Then Eric got closer to Agnes who backed away abit and whispered something in her ear. Agnes heard it and looked at him with a surprised look on her face.

“So are you willing to hear what i want to tell you?”, Eric then asked.

Agnes stared at him for a few seconds and glanced at the inspector who shrugged with a gesture that says he is okay with it. She looked at Victoria and Daniel who stared back at them and wondered what was going on between their mother and that person who looks exactly like Alex.

“Why don’t we go upstairs”, Eric continued and started ascending the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Agnes hesitated abit and reluctantly followed him upstairs. Alex stared at them as they left and heaved a sigh of relief. He thought something nasty was about happen.

He had seen the look on Eric’s face on their way to the mansion and knew that his brother was in a very bad mood. And after he seeing their mother lying in the hospital bed with bandages, trying to survive the attempt made on her life, he was probably making his plans. Not plans on the type of action to take because he always had that in mind. But plans on how to carry out the action; the meanest way and the intensity of the savagery to put in the work.

Alex had tried to calm him down in the car. And tried to convince him that the situation is best solved quietly, just as their mother had wanted. Only for them to arrive in the Philips’ house and find out that Rogers, the family chauffeur and Eric’s good friend had been murdered in cold blood.

After about five minutes of Alex’s anxious glances at the stairs and his siblings trying to comfort their heartbroken cook, Eric descended down to the living-room quietly. Agnes followed him behind. She was very quiet with a downcast gaze and a somewhat moody look on her face as she stepped into the livingroom. She paused and glanced at everyone. Then she looked at the female detective.

“I am ready to make my statement”, Agnes said to the woman and gently dropped her weight on the sofa.

Alex stared at Eric as he went over to the Nancy with a look that demanded what he had to the woman upstairs. Eric hugged Nancy and wiped the tears in her.

“Don’t worry…….those men gonna pay for what they did”, he assured her and then headed towards the door of the living-room.

****************************************.

Alex slided into the driver seat of the Genesis sedan and slammed the door shut. He heaved a sigh and glanced at Eric sitting on the passenger seat beside him. Eric was staring ahead with an expressionless look on his face.

“Do you think it is the Sosai”, Alex asked and also stared ahead. “Do you think he is going…….nuclear……just as mom said he would if he finds out about us and who our father is?”.

Eric didnt reply the question.

“I thought he gave us seven days to bring the diamonds he wanted”, Alex continued. “Why would he wanna kill everybody?”, he said with some fear in his voice.

Eric sighed. “The last time i called Rogers……”, he began slowly. “…….he was so happy…….because Nancy was carrying his baby. He wanted me to be his baby’s godfather…….i told him i will pay him a visit by the end of this month”, then Eric frowned. “Only to see him today, lying on the ground in the pool of his own blood”, he muttered.

“We have to meet our grandfather and see if we can…….”, Alex began.

“Dude cant you see this situation is not one of those negotiating assignments mom always send you to do”, Eric interrupted him. “And neither is it those jobs in which the target doesnt know what is coming till it hits him………this is a major crisis going on and diplomacy should be the last thing in mind”.

“I understand what you mean…….but this is the Sosai Family that we are talking about”, Alex looked at his brother. “Eric i am very scared”, he said with a sad tone of voice. “You have seen what his men had done……and what they are capable of doing. Let’s just solve this sh!t going on the way mother had wanted it to be solved…….let’s meet the old man….. and negotiate”, he concluded.

“Well i ain’t negotiating!!”, Eric barked out angrily and glared at Alex. “Those motherfuckers are out for blood and i am more than willing to take theirs by the gallons!”

Alex stared at Eric. He had never seen his twin brother that pumped up and furious. Eric sighed and looked away.

“Alex, now is the time”, Eric continued. “The time mother had always told us about……the time she had been preparing us for”, then he placed his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “The time has come and so is our moment of truth……I dont know about you man, but i am ready for war”.

Then Alex took out Nina’s cellphone from the pocket of the black jacket he wore. He stared at the device for while and looked at Eric.

“I still strongly suggest that we set up a meeting with the old man”, he said. “Try to see if we can sort things out”.

“What if it doesnt work out and he decides to kill us right where we are standing”, Eric asked.

“Well it’s better than staying alive and watch your loved ones die and you being unable to do anything about it”,

“Dude you know very well that i ain’t going down without a fight”

“Then we kill as many as we can before they drop us” Alex handed the smartphone to Eric. “You know the password to unlock it”.

Eric stared at the device for a while and started working his fingers on it’s screen. He unlocked the phone and proceed to the contact list. Then he dialled a number and handed the phone back to Alex when the line started ringing.

“Carson cleaners company, please how can i help you?”, a jovial female voice answered the call.

“I want to speak to the Sosai”, Alex demanded.

The voice paused for a few seconds. And asked, “You want to speak to who”.

“To the Sosai himself”, Alex replied, hiding the nervousness in his voice.

“Sir there is nobody here by that name…..i think you called the wrong…..”,

“Lady, i f@cking know who and where i called because i am the son of the owner of this phone”, Alex almost barked. “So cut the bullsh!t and just put me through……tell him it is Nina’s son…..”,

Alex paused and listened to what Eric was whispering into his ears.

“Tell the Sosai that we got his diamonds……tell him to give us a location to meet”, Alex then continued.

“Hold on”, the jovial female voice suddenly became a hard one.

“After what seems to be a very long pause, the female voice came back.

“Tomorrow at the Easthill cemetary……11 am prompt.”, the female on the other line said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Bearing arms will attract serious consequences……you are warned”.

The call ended before Alex could say any other thing. Then he looked at Eric.

“He wants to meet”, he said with a nod. He smirked as he thought for a while. “By the way which diamonds are you talking about?”, he asked Eric with furrowed eyebrows.

“I have some……but i have a different intention for meeting that old man”, Eric replied.

“Huh?”, Alex stared at his brother surprisingly. “Dude please dont do anything funny because that man can kill us without even batting an eye”, he sighed and rested his hands on the car steering wheel. “I hope we can convince him to have a change of mind”, then Alex looked at Eric. “By the way, what did you say to Agnes that made her mellow down and even agree to our suggestions that she, Daniel and Victoria should leave the country till everything cools off”, he asked. “You turned her from someone who was screaming damnation at us to someone who is so willing to cooperate with us……how did you do that?”.

“Well……i told her that i know Suzanne’s real father is not Barry”, Eric replied. “And i also told her that i know where Suzanne’s real father is living, or rather hiding……and unless she wants me to make him sing a tune Barry and the lawyers in the divorce court would love to listen to before being handed to the authorities for another different case, then she better calm down for her sake and for the sake of everyone else”.

Alex shook his head and murmured, “A goddamn nemesis”. Then Suzanne opened the back door and slide into the backseat of the car. The boys glanced at each other and stared at her like they have never seen her before.

“What?”, she began with a noncommittal voice and glanced at them. “I am coming with you guys……..you cant leave me with them”, she muttered.

“Them?…..your mother and your elder brother and sister?”, Alex asked.

“Just drive……as long as her mind is made up there is nothing you can do about it”, Eric sighed. We will drop her off at the hospital to stay with mother”.

“So where are we going now?”, Alex asked as he brought life to the engine of the car.

“Somewhere”.

Gus picked up the couple of glasses half filled with brandy and crossed the spacious livingroom to the sofa. He handed one to Hector and the leather sofa crinkled as he dropped his weight on it. Both men sipped their liquor in silence. Gus crossed his legs and glanced at the five bodyguards in the room; Three were his and the remaining two belonged to Hector, who was sitting opposite him. Then he crossed his leg and gazed at the news being broadcasted on the 50 inches wall mounted flat panel t.v.

Hector drank his shot and stared at Gus intently. He was summoned after his men had failed to accomplish the tasks given to them. He blamed Santos, his associate. Sometimes that man takes things for granted and end up making careless mistakes. But Santos told him they werent well informed.

“Your men seem to be finding it difficult to accomplish the tasks given to them”, Gus began quietly without looking at Hector. “Care to explain this situation?”, he asked.

“Just some strings of unforseen circumstances”, Hector sighed as he leaned to his side to set his glass on the side table beside the sofa. “And the second task wasn’t accomplished because of the tracker your ‘invisible man’ gave us. It placed the subject in his family’s house but when my men got there, he wasnt there.

“Then what happened?……because from what i saw in the news, your men left some collateral damages”.

“The family chauffeur……..he got suspicious….somehow he got the wind of our plan and acted. He over powered and killed one of our men……Santos had no choice but to eliminate every witness. But the chauffeur gave the boys some tough time even though he was hit several times. He kept shooting till Santos and the guys had to leave on hearing the police sirens”.

“And…..what about the first task?”, Gus asked and looked at Hector.

“Our man was about to complete the job before the second subject showed up from nowhere”, Hector replied.

“So?”, Gus raised his eyebrows. “Your men could have killed both subjects immediately……there is no reason for them to still be alive now”, he continued, waving his index and middle fingers at Hector.

Hector felt insulted by the finger gesture. “Well he shot one of my men twice…….the rest panicked because they didnt expect to be shot at”, he said calmly. “They had to flee the scene because they didnt know who was shooting at them or how many they were”,

Gus exhaled and turned his attention to the bright t.v screen on the wall.

“Anyway the tracker showed that subject is on the move again, probably the second one”, Hector continued. “It made a stop at the general hospital where we are sure the first subject is at, probably in the morgue or recovering. We intend to……”,

“The ‘invisible man’ is not happy with your progress”, Gus interrupted. “He thought that the task should have being completed by now……but you are disappointing him”, he sighed.

“And what about our ‘wonder-boy’?”, Hector asked with a smirk. “I am yet to hear any progress made by him in his own mission”, he was talking about Dante.

“Dante is a very careful man”, Gus replied. “Makes his plans carefully and he goes through his strategy over and over again so as to perfect it in order to avoid any unnecessary mistakes and slip ups……unlike some people”.

Then Gus gave Hector a stern look. And said, “There is a good history between the both of us Hector……that’s why i recommended you for this job. But when you start disappointing my business partner, you start disappointing me…….and that kind of disappointment, my friend, will make me start forgetting our friendship”.

“Gus don’t worry…..like i told you, it was just an unforeseen circumstance”, Hector said with a smile. “We know where the subject is right now and i will tell Santos to get the men ready”.

Gus sighed again and turn his gaze back to the t.v. “He said we shouldn’t make any move on any of the subjects for now till he gives the order”, he muttered. “But you have to tell your men not to get ready…….but to stay ready!”, he said the last words quite loud. Then he stood up and looked at Hector. “Make sure you send the professionals…..not just men who are good with guns”, he concluded and left the leader of the murder gang, telling him to leave whenever it pleases him.

Hector stared at Gus as he left the living room with his bodyguards and smirked. Then he brought out his cellphone and called Santos to inform him of the new development.

BLOODLINE 2 Episode
#OpraDre

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