BLOODLINE 2 Episode 9 (Blood And Diamond) by Ironkurtain

BLOODLINE 2 Episode 9 (Blood And Diamond) by Ironkurtain

The huge bodyguard ushered detective Allen into the living-room and said nothing. Allen glanced at the big man who stood infront of the door with his arms folded with an unwelcoming glare in face. The detective gave the man a faint smile and quietly paced towards the man sitting on one of the leather sofas and reading a newspaper.

“Mr Gus?”, Allen began and stood infront of the man.

“You are looking at him”, the man said nonchalantly with his eyes still on the papers. “So….what can i do for you detective……”,

“Detective Allen…..Allen Wilson”, Allen said.

“Allen Wilson?, never heard that name before…..are you one of those rookie cops”, Gus asked with his eyes still on the newspaper.

“Nope…..i just got transfered from Metro-city”, Allen replied, trying to hide his bad feelings for Gus’ attitude. “Can i have a seat?”, he asked and sat down before Gus gave him the go ahead.

“Oh go ahead…..sorry we dont have donuts”, Gus smirked and then put down the newspaper. “And you don’t drink on the job”.

“Dont worry about refreshments”, Allen grunted and crossed his legs. 

“So….”, Gus looked at Allen. “You are a cop transfered from Metro-city huh?, its like the lack of action over there brought you here”.

“I wouldn’t think like that”, Allen smiled and steepled his fingers. “The actions over there makes the one going on in Easthill look like child’s play”.

“So Mr Allen…..”, Gus began and moved his weight in his seat. “What is the purpose of coming to my place?”, he asked and stared at Allen.

“Just came to ask you a few questions…..concerning the recent killings going on in this city”, Allen replied.

“Oh that, i saw it in the news….probably a bunch of guys who got bored with their lives and started killing each other”.

“Well it’s more like someone probably had a beef with a certain group…..or should i say a particular gang. Then he decided to boost the coffins sales and make the funeral homes overbooked”.

“Maybe….”, Gus muttered as he stared at Allen keenly. “By the way what does that have to do with me?”, he asked. “I don’t sell coffins and neither do i run a funeral home”.

“Yep…but you know one of the men that was killed”, Allen said. “His name is Santos. He was one of the leaders of this gang. And also one of your affiliates”.

“Santos was in the habit of messing around”, Gus sighed. “Maybe he f@cked with the wrong person and…..”

“I know he f@cked with the wrong person”, Allen interrupted Gus. “All i want to know is, are there other people who knew that he was f@cking with the wrong person, or took part in the f@cking…….or even sent him on a mission to go f@ck with this individual that unfortunately turned out to be the wrong person to f@ck with?”.

“And how do you expect me to know that?”, Gus asked. “Its not like i’m babysitting Santos to know every goddamn sh!ts he decides to swim in”, he said rather irritatedly.

“Well for a man in your position and the kind of business you run”, Allen smiled and glanced around the living-room. “I thought you will be keeping a very close tab on everybody you are dealing with in case they decide to spill out something that will be bad for your business”.

“Well….detective Allen, i think you should go back to your office and investigate harder because you wont get any answer to your question here”, Gus muttered and picked up the newspaper. “And unless you are here with a warrant to search my house or arrest me, you are only wasting my time and yours”, he continued.

“Anyway i just came here to give you a heads-up”, Allen got up and looked at Gus. “The way your friend….i mean, the way Santos was killed, it showed that his killer wants to send a message that seems to say more terrible things gonna happen. I’m telling you this to let you know that the police department is always there for you. So if there is anything you know or have done that might put your life in danger, just lets us know and we will protect you”.

Gus stared at Allen for a while and roared with laughter. Allen could hear the sniggering of the big bodyguard at the door.

“Mr Allen Wilson”, Gus began after he managed to control his laughter. “What makes you think that a man like me need you and your fellow cops protection?”, he asked.

Allen didn’t answer the question. He remained silent and stared at Gus thoughtfully while the man laughed again.

“I would like to tell you a story”, he then began and slowly paced around the livingroom with both hands in the side pockets of his trousers. “There is this place….or rather a town not far from Metro-city. The place is called Gails town. Maybe you have heard of that place or maybe not. Anyway the town got a nickname….’gangster town’. It got the name due to the high crime rate with the mafias running alot of shows there. In this town, there was this very poor old woman. No husband, no children or relations. All she had was a very small candy shop that people hardly patronized, except by one particular guy…an a regular customer. This guy not only bought candies, he also spent some time talking with the old woman. Some people mistook him for her son because whenever he came around, she was happy”.

Allen paused to admire the expensive looking portrait hanging on the wall of the living-room.

“Then came this new gang”, he continued with his story and pacing. “A band of hot headed boys with an ambitious lunatic as their leader. They called themselves the Seven point mafia, and one of the points in their agenda is to run the whole streets of gangster town. They succeeded of course……after showing the other rivals the level of violence that they were willing to unleash on anybody or anything standing in their way. Soon they took over and started extorting people…….club owners, restaurants, shops and even the goddamn roadside cobbler. 

Allen paused again and looked at Gus who was staring and listening attentively.

“And of course they showed up infront of that small shop that sells candy, extorting money from the old woman”, Allen snorted. “But the problem is the money they were demanding was much more higher than what you will get if you sell all the candy and even the goddamn shop itself. The old woman flatly refused to pay . So they used the only thing they were good at and ended up putting the old woman in the hospital, badly beating. Remember that regular customer i told you about. Well he met one of the gang member and told him to go tell his boss that he wanted an apology for what they did to the poor old woman. The gangster told him to piss off or else he will be made to stop demanding for an apology forever”,

Allen stopped and stared at Gus.

“So what happened?”, Gus asked.

“Well, some interesting events began to unfold”, Allen replied with a smirk. “First, the gangster got killed. We had to go around the town to collect his body parts. Then another seven point gangster suffered the same fate and another and another……and another. At one point it got out of hand that the boys in the police department started getting scared for their own lives after seeing so many horror shows on a daily basis. Some of the C.S.I guys even quit their jobs.

Then Allen gave a faint smile and looked at the big guy standing at the door

“So the top guys of the seven point mafia decided to sit down and find a better way, after many woeful failed attempts, on how to get this outrageous guy that was taking them out like some evil epidermic. Only for the guy to show up at their meeting place, armed with cutting tools and a military grade flamethrower”,

Gus furrowed his eyebrows. Allen heard the big bodyguard gasp.

“Half of the men were burnt beyond recognition and the rest turned into a big pile of human pieces”, Allen said and looked at Gus. “But the leader of the mafia was spared. We found him on his knees, stark n@ked and shivering uncontrollably as he stared at the pile that was once his fellow comrades in crime”, Allen concluded his story.

“So why did this guy spare the leader of the mafia?”, Gus asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

“Nobody knows”, Allen replied.

“Where is the leader now”.

“Well, he is sitting in some lunatic asylum…..with the gaze of a man that had witnessed untold horrors. And from the way he incessantly mumbled to himself, he seems to be finding it difficult to process the reality of that horror”.

Allen looked at Gus. “You are wondering why i’m telling you this story?”, he asked. “Well from my investigation, the woman that was shot, probably by Santos and his men, is somehow related to this guy i just told you about…….i think she is his mother. And i don’t think he will be demanding an apology this time”.

Gus stared at Allen in silence with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. 

Allen took out a card from his pocket. “Call me if you have anything to say…..or need protection”, he said. He dropped the card on the centre table and headed towards the livingroom door. “Oh….”, he paused near the door and looked at the big guy from head to toe. “You gonna need more than king kong to step to this guy”, he said to the bodyguard with a smile and left without saying goodbye to Gus.

“I want you to alert all the boys…..i mean every goddamn person!”, Gus then ordered his bodyguard after Allen had left. “I want you to also get Hector on the phone too!”,

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

Bernard stepped into the room that looked like a private library and quietly closed the door behind him. The light smell of books and polished wood hit his nostrils as he paced towards the old man who was sitting behind a desk made from a rare and expensive mahogany. So are most of the furnitures and bookshelves in the old man’s study room that was quite big with a high ceiling.

“Sir…..”, Bernard began when he stood infront of the old man.

The old man gestured at Bernard with his index finger as he remained focused on the book he was reading. Bernard kept quiet and remained standing. He stared at the old man and could see the man’s eyes behind his eyeglasses darting back and forth.

After about a minute, the old man closed the book and slowly took off his glasses. He looked at Bernard and motioned at the chair infront of him. Bernard said a low “Thank you sir”, and sat on the chair.

“This book is quite fasinating”, the old man glanced at Bernard with a smile and stared at the book cover. “Somehow i can relate to this super villian she wrote about. Except that the super villian who suppose to be the love of her life died, while it was the opposite that happened to me”, he muttered quietly.

“I think i’m gonna read the book too”, Bernard said, but quite eager to tell the old man why he came to see him.

“You need to read it”, the old man muttered as he opened one of the drawers and put the book inside it. “By the way, my interview with this young woman, have you booked the time and place where it’s going to happen?”, he asked.

“Yes sir”, Bernard replied. “I booked it on Saturday and the secretary have already informed her”.

The old man pursed his lips. “Okay”, he murmured and nodded his approval.

“And the venue is going to be your office at Ivory square”, Bernard added. 

“My office?,…..why there?, why not here in my house?,” the old man asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“Well…..i chose your office for security purposes”, Bernard replied. 

“Isn’t my house more secured than my office?”.

“Security in terms of the young woman possibly being a spy and being able to survey this place”.

The old man laughed. “But from your investigations, you told me she is just harmless reporter for the Easthill times”, he then said.

“Yes sir…..but we still have to take some precautions”, Bernard stated. “Besides that day is a public holiday. The building will be empty and the streets will have less traffic. The boys will find it easier to monitor every movement and be able to notice any unusual both inside and outside the building.

The old man thought for a while and nodded his approval. “Besides after the interview, i might as well take her out for a dinner so as to ask her how she came up with this great piece of story she wrote”, he said with a smile.

“Good idea…..and she is quite a lovely lady for sure”, Bernard smiled too.

“By the way, how far have you gone in gathering informations about those twins?”, the old man asked.

“Yes….that’s why i’m here sir”, Bernard replied and shifted his weight in his seat. “One is named Alex Philips. He grew up here in Easthill. His records showed that he was an orphan adopted by Barry’s family. He attended Rock Valley high school and studied business and management in Easthill university . He runs some kind of a management company for artists and upcoming talents. Not in any kind of relationship but he is living the ‘playboy’ lifestyle”.

“Anything unusual about him?”, the old man asked.

“Well……apart from the fact that some of his female clients enjoy being used as his bed frame tester, there isnt much about him. He is just a normal guy”, Bernard replied.

“What about the other one?”.

“His name is Eric. He was raised by a single mother in Metro-city, had excellent grades in high school, a four time national Kyokushin karate champion and two time regional champion. He graduated from Westfield university with honours in chemical engineering”.

Then Bernard stopped. He reclined in his chair and looked at the old man. 

“Is that all?”, the old man asked after a few seconds of waiting for his right hand man to tell him more.

“I am sorry to say that that’s all we could dig up on him”, Bernard sighed. “We couldn’t find anything other than him living and working like every other normal person”.

“Nothing else?, what about his foster mother……friends, girlfriends or whatever”.

“He doesnt have a girlfriend. His mother worked as a nurse and quit her job after she married four years ago. Her husband is on a business trip in another country and her present location is here in Easthill”.

The old man thought for a while. “It is unusual for a guy like that to have a quiet and straightforward life”, he then murmured. “There is something about that young man and i can feel it. What you found out about him is probably what he wants people to see and think. He is into something……and covering his tracks very well”, he continued.

“Perhaps Nina is helping him too. He is her son”, Bernard said. “Sir if you think he is into something, then we have to be very careful. We have his father and Nina might have revealed alot of things about the Family to him, which could be dangerous, especially to you sir”, he stated.

The old man listened and nodded slowly.

“Sir i think we should get hold of him and make sure he is not up to something. And if we find out he is, then we have to get rid of him”, Bernard suggested.

The old man remained silent with a thoughtful gaze.

“And perhaps we can also make him tell us where he got those diamonds he had with him”, Bernard continued.

The old man looked at Bernard. “Which diamonds?”, he asked.

“The diamonds he gave to us on the day we met him and his twin brother”, Bernard replied.

“Oh….those diamonds”, the old man muttered. “Well it is not that important”.

“Those are rare gemstones sir…..and very very expensive”, Bernard said. “And i am sure there are more of it for that young man to be in possession of some”, he continued.

“Like i said, they are not important to me”, then the old man gazed steadily at Bernard. “Why the sudden interest in those diamonds?”, he asked.

“Well….they are quite rare sir and very expensive”.

“Of course i know they are rare and expensive. They are only found in one particular region in Congo”.

“Exactly sir!…….”, Bernard said eagerly as he leaned forward and rested his elbow on the shiny polished surface of the desk. “What i’m saying is maybe Nina must have stumbled upon those diamonds during that rescue mission in Congo but decided to keep it for herself”, Bernard continued. 

“Nina wouldn’t do such thing”, the old man smirked and shook his head. 

“Sir we can’t be sure about that”, Bernard differed. “Afterall isnt she the one who disobeyed your orders and went ahead to meet that man despite your warnings and the promise she made not to do so. And not only did she meet him but she also had kids for him and hid it from you for over 24 years”.

Then he paused for a while. “Sir think about the Congo operation”, he continued. “The plan was to supply guns to the rebel leader and then sneak the white man out of the camp. But they went there and slaughtered the entire rebel soldiers, including the rebel leader. Perhaps Nina wanted to silence them all so that none would ever talk about the diamonds”.

The old man stared at Bernard thoughtfully for a while. Then he nodded with a weak smile and asked, “So what do you suggest?”.

“Sir, like i said earlier, we should bring Nina’s boy in and make him talk……and get rid of him when we are done with him”, Bernard replied.

“Why get rid of him?”.

“Well……so we wouldn’t have to worry about him. Besides we have their father and they think we shot Nina, their mother. You saw his composure and the look in his eyes when we met them. The young man wasnt scared of you or nobody. It would be ill-advised to let him go after we are done with him. And neither is he the kind of person that would just sit back and do nothing”.

The old man heaved a sigh with his eyes staring at one of the desk drawers; the one he put in the book he was reading. Bernard stared at him, patiently waiting for an answer.

“You are right”, the old man then said, still staring at the drawer.

Bernard smiled and reached for the cellphone inside the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “Let me call the Secretary and tell her to contact the twins…..”, he began and dialled a number.

“No need for that”, the old man interrupted and opened the drawer.

Bernard looked at the old man with a baffled look, his hand that was holding his cellphone suspended infront of him.

“Sir…..i thought you want to bring the…..”, he began.

“I said that you were right”, the old man interrupted again and took out the book. “But i didnt say that i want you to go get him or anybody”.

Bernard lowered his hand and slipped the phone back into his pocket. 

“If Nina had stumbled on some diamonds when she was in Congo, then let her keep it”, the old man continued quietly as he read the pages of the book. “Since i have disowned her and kicked her out of the organization, she can as well keep the diamonds as a consolation prize. If i wanted it, i would have made that young man give it all up there and then”.

“But sir……”, Bernard moved uncomfortably in his seat. “….i don’t know about the diamonds you want them to bring in order to release that man we are holding, but i think the one that young man is in possession worth more”.

The old man lift his eyes from the book and stared at Bernard with an expressionless and somewhat hard look in his face. Bernard saw the expression and knew he might have rubbed his boss in a wrong way. And also knew it was time to shut his mouth.

“I think we are done having this discussion”, the old man then said and shift his gaze back to the book. There was abit of anger in his tone “I want you to leave now”, he ordered.

“Yes sir”, Bernard replied respectfully and got up to leave the place.

“There seems to be some kind of a gang war killings going on recently in this city and it is all over the news”, Bernard heard the old man say as he was about to open the door. “Do you happen know anything about it or the cause?”,

Bernard looked over his shoulder. “I heard about it too sir”, he replied. “But since it had nothing to do with us, i didnt bother to find out the root of the conflict. I assume it might be some rival gangs trying to take over each other’s turfs and operations”.

“What about Nina?, have you heard anything about her so far?”.

“No sir……none at all”.

“Did you also do the other thing i requested?”,

“Yes sir…..i got fresh recruits, ten men to be exact. They are highly trained men with a long career in the military and had being in the frontlines of conflicts. They have replaced the other bodyguards”.

“Good. But i want my closest men to remain”.

“It will be done as you request sir”.

Then the old man continue reading his book in silence while Bernard left without saying any other word.

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

4:20 pm The same day and three hours after Nina had woken up from her coma.

She placed both hands on the dining table to support her weight and gently sat on the chair with a grunt. She exhaled and shut her eyes a few seconds, and then opened them to look at the others sitting at the table; Suzanne and her twin boys.

“This drugs”, Nina sighed. “They make me weak…..i hate being weak”. She muttered.

“Stop complaining and get use to it”, Eric said. “Because the doctor said you will be taking it for the next two weeks”.

Nina smiled and picked up the sheets of papers infront of her. There are three copies. She handed one to Alex and looked at Eric.

“Where is Esther?”, she asked Eric

“I left her in the hotel. It’s better she stay there”, he replied.

“So are you really willing to go on one more mission for me?”, she asked him.

“Just give me the damn paper woman”, Eric sighed. 

Nina smiled again and handed him one copy. She glanced at Suzanne who stared at her intently and held on to the last copy. Then Nina looked at each and every one of them and steepled the fingers of her bandaged hands.

“We have ourselves a situation”, Nina began quietly with a hard look on her face. “An unpleasant situation perpetrated by a man by the name Gus. He is a well known business man and the leader of one of the crime families in this city. A very ruthless man and a crazy power hungry son of a b!tch who will even sell his own mother if it is a means to achieve an end”.

Then Nina paused. She took a deep breath and exhaled gently. “This fellow is a very dangerous man and a brute”, she continued. “He preferred method of dealing with his enemies is torturing them to death and he enjoys watching the show. One time a young woman refused his advances. He brutally tortured her to death, chopped her head off and raped the headless corpse”.

Suzanne furrowed her eyebrows in disgust when she heard those last words. Alex shook his head and looked at Eric who remained silent with his eyes staring at the paper infront of him.

“He is quite an interesting fellow”, Eric then said.

“Yeah……i thought i’ve seen and heard it all”, Alex murmured with a sickened look in his face and glanced at Eric. “I didn’t know there are more of such kind of guys out there . Guys with the ill-luck of being born in the wrong century”, he continued with a thoughful gaze.

Memories of what Eric did to the man guarding the entrance of the massage place keep coming back to him. Somehow he felt quite bad that he had to watch his brother brutally chop a leg off, drag the screaming man into the place and then carry out the untold horrors he later heard in the news the next day. It was quite a gory sight to behold and he just dont understand his brother or anybody with a knack for leaving enemies in pieces.

“So what’s the deal?”, Eric asked Nina. “What do you intend to do to him?”.

“Bring him down and crush him totally”, Nina replied. “And i intend to do it in a way that will send a clear message to other fools like him that are thinking of making any move on me or my people”.

“How?”.

“First, i want to go after his businesses. I want him to witness it get burned to the ground before i go after him”.

“But this guy Gus is the leader of a Mafia. He definitely has a lot of foot soldiers and other affiliate muggers”.

“Of course he does”.

“So how will you accomplish it?, there are only four of us here….three are active and you are no longer a member of the Family”.

Nina smirked. “Are they really gonna be a problem for you?….especially after that show of yours in Congo?”, she asked Eric. 

“Show?, which show in Congo is she talking about?”, Suzanne asked Alex with a whisper.

Alex leaned closer to Suzanne. “He literally ended the conflict in that country”, he whispered to her. “He was sent to sneak a hostage out of a rebel camp. But Sergent Slaughter went there and took out the entire rebel faction and their leader. Other rebels then decided to have a peace talk after they heard the insanity that went down in that camp. They just dont want it to ever happen to them”.

“Anyway…….”, Nina continued as Suzanne chuckled quietly. “…..the paper you have with you are the infos and the layouts of the places i want you boys to hit. I want you to study it thoroughly and decide on how to do the job”.

“I didn’t know you are so good in making sketches”, Eric said as he studied the paper given to him. “But this place is a garment making factory”, he murmured and looked at Nina.

“Mine is a….printing company”, Alex added with a confused look in face. “I thought we would be taking down some kind of a smuggling operation or an illegal outfit, considering the person we are dealing with. So what am i gonna do?,…..go tell them to cease and desist printing whatever it is they print?”, he asked and Suzanne chuckled again.

“That’s what he Gus wants people to see”, Nina replied with a smile. Then she looked at Eric. “That garment factory has it regular workers…..and the other workers, working in a bunker like structure in the building underneath all those garment making machines. Gus runs a heroin production and distribution ring. That bunker is his operational base and where the drugs are produced and packaged for his dealers and customers”.

Eric nodded and stared at the sketches of the place Nina had drawn on the paper.

“What about the printing company?”, Alex asked.

“At night they print fake currencies”, Nina replied. “All kinds of fake currencies…..dollars, euros, british pounds….name it all. And they make excellent prints that looks better and even more real than the real currency itself”.

“Hm….”, Alex stared at sketch in the paper and smiled.

“You boys know the rules of engagement when dealing with an enemy?”, Nina asked.

The twin boys nodded.

“Well none of them applies in this operation. We are no longer part of the Family. So you are free to do whatever you want, just make sure the job is done. And the job is to render those businesses or buildings nonexistent……blow it up, burn it down……tear it apart, i dont care how you do it. And for those that get in your way, kill as many as you can. I want those damn places to be gone before tomorrow’s nightfall

“Tomorrow?”, Alex stared at his mother with a baffled look. Then he pursed his lips and looked at the sketch again. “But if you intend to bring his business down completely, then we also have to hit his stash”, he continued. “The cash in the banks or other monies stashed away. Get all the money and his empire will crumble faster than him saying bingo night. Money can buy any person’s loyalty and no one is willing to go down with someone who got none”.

Nina smiled. “I’m already working on it”, she said to Alex. “But i need some help from that computer wizkid friend of yours named Chris. You have to call him”.

“Actually he is on his way now”, Eric said. “He called me earlier, he said he found something about your cellphone. Something very interesting, according to his words”.

“Good…..”, Nina sighed. “Eric, Alex, you boys can leave now. I need some privacy with Suzanne”, she then said.

Alex and Eric got up and quietly left the living room. 

Suzanne glanced at the living-room door they closed behind them and then looked at Nina. Silence settled in the dining room as she stared at the woman reading through the last paper she was holding. This went on for about five minutes and it made Suzanne to sigh uncomfortably several times.

“I heard that your mother, brother and sister are out of this country for their safety”, Nina then said without looking at Suzanne.

“Yes mam”, Suzanne replied quietly.

“So why didn’t you go with them”, Nina asked.

“I wanted to stay with Alex and Eric to……”, Suzanne began.

“To what?, partake in this dangerous game?”, Nina interrupted and looked at her. 

Suzanne stared at Nina in silence.

“Young girl, i dont know the reason why you would rather put yourself in a dangerous situation than stay somewhere safe, but one thing you gotta know is if you get killed, there is no coming back again”. Nina stated and dropped the paper on the table. “These men that we are dealing with are very dangerous people. I know you had sent a few to their graves but one day it could be them sending you to your own grave. And you better pray that they make it fast because i know what men like that do to young girls, especially beautiful ones like you. You are still young and have alot of good things out there for you, alot of good things that you can achieve, instead of running around with a gun and shooting up people”.

“But am i not doing something good?”, Suzanne asked. “I saved your life. And i also wanna help take down the men that are trying to kill you”.

“Why do you wanna do that?”, Nina asked.

“Because bringing down bad guys is what i’ve always wanted to do”, Suzanne replied. “That’s why i always look up to you…….i want to be like you”,

Nina laughed and put her hand on her bossom. The laughter made her feel some pain from the bullet wounds on her chest.

“Young girl…..i’m the kind of person your parents always wished that you never end up being”, Nina then said. “And i’m able to bring down bad guys because i am a very bad woman, if not worse. So i am the last person you would wanna be like. Besides why would you wanna be like me?, i am the one responsible for the problems going on in your family and also the reason why the Sosai got your father”.

“Well, no one is perfect”, Suzanne said with a smile. “If i had a problem with what you had done, i would have allowed those men that came for you in the hospital to do their job. And believe me, they would have done a very good job because i saw the determined look in their eyes”.

“I do appreciate what you have done so far young girl”, Nina sounded rather serious. “But this is not the life for you….this is not the kind of life you would wanna live, believe me”.

“Then why did you choose to live this life?”, Suzanne asked

“I used to be like you…”, Nina replied with smile. “…..always searching for thrills and wanting to have a piece of some actions. But now i live my life everyday wishing that i could hit a rewind button and go back to where it all started. That i would wake up and see all these things that are happening was just a bad dream. Wake up to see that i am still that fourteen years old innocent girl”,

Then Nina paused to take a breath. 

“Tomorrow you will be boarding the next flight living the country”, she continued. “You need to stay with your family till all these madness is put to an end so……..”,

“I ain’t going anywhere”, Suzanne interrupted.

“What?”.

“I said i aint going anywhere”, Suzanne repeated.

“Why?”, Nina asked irritatedly. “Girl you have to go back to your family”.

“I am with my family”, Suzanne said. “This is my family”.

“This is your family?….what do you mean by that?”, Nina was confused.

Suzanne looked away and gave her no answer. Then Nina sighed and gently got up. She slowly went over to other side of the table where Suzanne was sitting and stood infront of the girl. She stared down at her for a while before dropping her weight on the chair beside her. 

“What do you really want?”, she asked Suzanne quietly.

“You already know what i want”, Suzanne replied and looked at her.

“To die young?, well you can always put a gun to your head and pull the trigger. But first, you have to go stay with your family”, Nina said. “I dont want the coffin of a young girl who had zero regards for her mortality to rest on my conscience”.

“You know what i want”, Suzanne said again as she stared at Nina with a keen look. “The first day we met i told you……i’m sure you remember”, she continued.

Nina thought for a few second. She scoffed and gave Suzanne a long gaze. Then she shook her head and heaved a long sigh.

“Now i know what this is all about”, Nina finally said with a faint smile. “You want to be one of us…..you want to join this family”, she shook her head again. “Well it is not possible because you are not one of us. You cant be one of us. I dont want you to make this big mistake. A mistake that might cost you everything, even your life”.

“I know what it will cost me”, Suzanne muttered. “But you gonna keep seeing me and i’m gonna keep asking you to make me one of yours”. 

Another long silence settled in the dining. Nina and Suzanne stared at each other with Nina drumming her fingers on the table while Suzanne maintained her expressionless and unblinking eyes of hers.

“Oh what a f@cking idiot”, Nina muttered and reached for the knife in the cutlery. She knows Suzanne very well; if the girl’s mind is made nothing on earth will change it.

Nina cut her right palm with the knife. Then she looked at Suzanne. “Give me your right hand”, she demanded.

Suzanne extended the hand to Nina and showed no sign of pain as the knife cut the skin of her right palm. Nin dropped the knife and pressed her right palm against Suzanne right palm.

“Congratulations young girl on your new life”, Nina said with a smile. “And welcome to the dark road”, she added and the smile faded away. “In this road, you will have to keep your soul on ice to be able to walk through it. Just like you, alot have taken this road with the ‘willing to die’ state of mind. So many have lost their lives. And very few have survived or trying to survive it”, Nina raised her shirt to show Suzanne her heavily bandaged chest. “So you have to always bear in mind that a long peaceful life is not for people like us”, she concluded and let go of Suzanne’s hand.

Suzanne glanced at the cut in her hand and wiped the blood on her hand with her brown tee shirt she wore. Nina reclined in her chair and glanced at her from head to toe.

“Eric is really doing a very good job in turning you from that shy girl who barely talks to a natural born killer”, Nina said. “I thought he would have changed after going back to Metro-city, i thought he would have gotten weak”.

“Weak?”, Suzanne chuckled. “He didnt get weak…..infact he had gotten stronger….. ten times stronger”.

“Really?”.

“Yeah……he went back to Metro-city because he was trying to chill…..you know…..from all the killings. Just one week of staying in the house, he got bored and decided to go in some quest he called ‘self discovery’. So he went into the mountain and disconnected himself from civilization”.

“So what did he do in the mountains”, Nina asked curiously.

“Had no idea…..till i went there after a month”, Suzanne replied. “You should have seen how he worked out……the volume of his training. So i got interested and decided to join him”, Then she shook her head with a distant gaze. “I have trained extremely hard before……but there, what i went through was pure hell. I thought i was gonna die”.

Nina smiled. “Eric and i would have done something great”, she said. “But i dont know why he always wants to be with that woman, Esther. Why would he even choose her over me?”, she asked.

“Eric will always choose aunt Esther over you”, Suzanne said. “You are his mother for sure but aunt Esther is the reason why he is even living. She raised him, she sacrificed alot for him. He knows, and have seen it all throughout his childhood. So nobody, not even you aunt Nina, can make him change his mind when it comes to aunt Esther”.

Nina sighed with and pursed her lips. “If you had wanted to join us why didnt you stay with Alex here in Easthill instead of going through all the trouble of convincing your dad to send you to a school in Metro-city so that you can be with Eric?”, she asked Suzanne.

“Well what i earlier told you about Eric have answered that question”, Suzanne replied. “Besides i prefer Eric simple ways of handling things to Alex ways….especially when it comes to anything physical…..which i have seen more than once”, she smiled and looked at Nina. “The fights never lasts. If he gets through you, it’s all over”.

Nina nodded slowly. “Anyway since you are now one of us, that’s your own job”, she said and pointed at the paper on the table. “I hope you have some good cloths because you will be needing it for this job”.

Suzanne picked up the paper eagerly with a smile and scanned through it. Then she furrowed her eyebrows as the smile faded and looked at Nina.

“When am i gonna do it?”, she asked.

“Tonight my dear…..so you better start preparing”.

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

5:40 pm.

Chris took a seat and placed the black bag containing his laptop on the dining table. He looked at Eric who was standing behind him with his hands in his pocket and then glanced at Alex and Nina sitting infront of him.

“Where is Suzanne?”, he asked.

“Mother sent her on some errand”, Alex replied.

“Oh…..what kind of errand?”, Chris asked and looked at Nina.

“Oh…..let me begin by telling you that it is not your goddamn business”, Nina replied with a stern look.

“You said you found something?”, Eric asked.

“Yeah”, Chris replied.

“So, does it have anything to do with Suzanne?”, Alex asked. He was abit irritated. This isnt the first time Chris asked about his younger sister and this new habit is beginning to make him have bad thoughts about his friend.

“No it has nothing to do with her”, Chris replied and looked at Alex. “Dude i’m just asking where she is because last time……”,

“Then go ahead and tell us what it is you found out and stop worrying about Suzanne”, Nina interrupted coldly.

Feeling like a lamb in the midst of hungry wolfs, Chris muttered, okay, and quietly dipped his hand in right pocket of his brown khaki jacket. He took out Nina’s phone and place it in front of Nina.

“Before i begin, i want you to take a closer look at this cellphone”, he then said to Nina.

Nina pick up the phone and examined it. 

“So?”, she looked at Chris.

“Is this really your phone?”,

“Of course it is”.

“Is there anything about your cellphone that is quite unnoticeable to any other person…..something that only you know about?”, 

Nina stared at the cellphone for a few seconds and then opened the back cover. She took out the battery, held it closer to her nostrils. She glanced at Chris with a smile and looked at the battery again.

“I hated the smell of a new phone battery”, Nina began as she keep staring at the battery. “So i dipped mine in a bowl of coffee bean to remove the smell”, then she looked at Alex. “This is not my phone…..even the battery serial number is different”.

“Huh?”, Alex glanced at Eric. “But how is that even possible?,…..i mean…..everything in it…..the call log, the contacts lists…..every goddamn thing in it.

“Its like a clone cellphone”, Eric said.

“Exactly”, Chris agreed. “The phone is the exact replica of the original one. The number was cloned and its entire software copied and transfered to this one”.

“But how is it even possible”, Alex asked. “To get mom’s phone, and copy every in it to this one without her noticing”.

“Of course it is possible”, Eric said. “Depending on how long you left the phone and who you left it with”, he looked at Chris. “How did you find out?”, he asked.

Chris took the cellphone from Nina. He put the battery back to its position and switched it on.

“Wont it show our position to those guys?”, Alex asked.

“Dont worry, i have taken care of that”, Chris muttered with a smile.

After the cellphone had finished booting up, Chris gestured at Eric to come closer.

“Most files of all the softwares in this phone are corrupted or incomplete”, he said as Eric bent down and stared at the icons on the phone screen. “Your mother cellphone wouldnt be like this with the kind of security it has……believe me, i once tried to hack it. The damn thing allowed me to have access into the phone. But every file i took came to my computer as a corrupted file. I didnt know it was f@cking up all my systems and at the same time tracking my location”.

“But if you tried to transfer the files from the original phone and it f@cked up your system, then why didnt it do the same to this phone?”, Alex asked.

“The files were transfered through a computer the original phone recognizes very well”, Chris replied. “But one or two commands it didnt recognize was executed….. like a wrong password or probably a system override. So instead of sending out a virus to destroy the computer or send off some kind if alarm, it allowed the files to be transfered, but corrupted the ones put on high security and the others transfered incomplete”.

Then Chris sighed and looked at Alex. “Dude your mom is rolling around with some kind of a sky-net super program in her cellphone”, he said and shook his head.

“That’s why i want you boys to get my cellphone back”, Nina said.

“Now we know that the computer used for transferring the files is in the Sosai’s place”, Eric said. “Because the computers there are the only one the cellphone recognizes”, then he looked at Nina. “When was the last time you went there?”, he asked her.

“In the evening of the day i got shot”, Nina replied. “I had gone there to plead for your father’s release”, she continued.

“How many people were present when you went there?”

“The entire members of the family in Easthill city came. The Sosai had a meeting with them to inform them that i’m no longer one of them”.

“So did you in anyway give anybody your cellphone?”, Alex asked. “Infact just tell us everything that happened that day…every details”, he demanded.

Nina thought for a while. “When i got there….”, she then began with a thoughtful gaze. “…..the Sosai refused to see me. After almost pleading on my knees, i was let in. Then the chief security searched me and took my cellphone. He gave it to Bernard who handed it to the Sosai’s Secretary”.

“Why give the phone to the Secretary?”, Alex asked.

“All the members of the Family leave their cellphones with the Secretary whenever we are having a meeting with the Sosai”, Nina replied.

Then Nina thought again.

“So its that all that you can remember?”, Eric asked.

Nina heaved a deep sigh and nodded. “The rest was just your grandfather humiliating me infront of other members”, she said with a sad voice. “He humiliated me so bad that even some of the members who dare not look me in the eyes laughed at me like i was some kind of a circus clown”, then she smirked. “Even that over pampered and over fed f@ck called Larry Princewill opened his big mouth and said sh!ts to me. That brat didnt even know that i lost count of men i’ve killed when he was still a pimple faced kid who did nothing but cry and wonder on which side of the bed to piss on when he sleeps”.

Chris laughed out loud.

“How did this brat become a member of the Family?”, Alex asked with chuckle.

“His father, Chief Larry Princewill the senior, was a member and the Sosai’s closest friend”, Nina replied. “The man died and his son inherited his business empire. And also joined the Family. But the chief’s son was accepted not because he merited it. The Sosai took him in so as to protect his friend’s businesses”.

“Anyway now we know that someone in the Family wants you dead”, Eric said. “And Gus is not the one pulling the strings because this person is using Gus who gave Hector, his affiliate, the job of making sure you are dead”.

“Perhaps the Sosai was lying to us”, Alex frowned. “Maybe he really wants to kill mother but doesnt want it to be traced to him, that’s why he is using someone like Gus to do the dirty job. He wouldn’t want to be known as the man who murdered his daughter”.

“I dont think he will do such a thing”, Nina disagreed. “Did Santos mention any other name apart from Gus?”, she asked Eric

“No he didnt, even after hearing his spine break”, Eric replied. “But he told me that Hector is the guy in possession of the tracker…..and also the guy that shot Rogers”, Eric pursed his lips and sighed, exhaling the fire of anger in his chest. “I wanna get that guy called Hector”, he murmured. “I wanna get him”.

“Well i can help you with that”, Chris said to him and waved the cellphone at him. 

“How?”, Eric demanded eagerly.

“I made a few tweaks on this phone”, Chris muttered and his fingers started working on the buttons on the device screen. “So i kind of….should i say reversed the software”, then he handed the phone to Eric.

Eric looked at the cellphone screen and saw what looks like a map showing a GPS location.

“Now we are the one tracking them”, Chris continued with a smile. “So if Hector is using the tracker, then you will see his location on that map”.

Eric immediately tucked the phone in his pocket and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”, Nina asked.

“To go get that motherfucker”, Eric replied.

“No!….you are getting nobody….not untill you finish the job i gave you”, Nina said. “So stay put”, she ordered.

Eric reluctantly stayed put. Then Nina looked at Chris with a smile.

“I have a very good job for you…..tonight”, she said to him. “I just want to know if you are willing to work for me”, she asked.

Chris looked at Alex. “Is she asking as in i also have the option of refusing or i have no choice but to work for her?”, he asked.

“You find out yourself”, Alex sighed and looked at Eric. “You wanna pump some weights?”, he asked his twin brother. “I wanna bench press some heavy iron…..come and spot me”.

Eric followed Alex and both of them headed towards the room that had gym equipments in it.

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

BLOODLINE 2 Episode 9
#OpraDre

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