I am smiling stupidly as I go back to my seat, touching my finger to my lips, reminiscing on Brian’s kiss when my door suddenly flews open, and there is John, his face a mask of one mad.
I frown as I look up..
”John, are you out of your mind!!!” I exclaim almost startled.
”The question here Madam is, are you in your right senses!!!!” he throws at me
I gasp at his outburst.
******
Alex is standing in the room with a few dozen men, the door is locked, and on the table is spread out with bags of cocaine, a few shot guns and rifles, pictures of girls, about two bags filled with cash, and then important documents and then cloths.
”Why did you ask us to get you these stash from the safe house?” The one who is standing close to him is asking, Alex doesn’t say anything, his expression is unreadable, at the same time, it is unsettling.
”Is something wrong boss? You never call for a meeting like his unless something is wrong”
”I never should. Where are the new recruits, the university boys, where are they?” He turns to the man who is perched on the table, pressing his phone.
”Classes, school, home. Why?” He answers Alex distracted
”If you don’t drop your phone Mikel, I would have your head on this table while I tell the others to spit on it after I use it to wipe the floor.”
”Sorry Boss!!” he pockets his phone , standing he folds his arms and listens to him
”I asked you where they are?”
”Chasing their personal life Boss; school, with family, etcetera” he says
”All of them, back to their daily life pending till when we have jobs for them, all of them are you sure Mikel?” Alex asks Mikel
”Well, I think so. Why?”
”Who is in charge of choba units, the Port Harcourt university boys; Koko’s team?”
”Me Sir?” the man who speaks behind Mikel has a brown goatee and wore an ear ring in his left ear, he has on a black shirt, and a four lettered word which read ”Fxxk!!”
”Call Koko and Bobo and the other guy, I keep forgetting his name”
”His name is-”
‘Irrelevant, call them, Now!!!” Alex snaps his fingers together impatiently.
”Okay boss” he says as he brings out his phone and then begins to dial.
No answer.
”What is it?”Alex wants to know
”Disconnected”
”Try the next person”
A few seconds later he frowns looking at him, ”Disconnected sir”
”Third person” Alex’s face grows dark as he says it.
Now everyone in the room is worried when he tells him the same thing ”Disconnected. Not available. Or the number cannot be reached” He tells Alex ”What is going on Sir?”
”Are you sure those are their numbers?”
”Yes sir, I am hundred per cent sure. We spoke a few minutes before they all stepped out to carry out your client’s request during the weekend Sir”’ He scratches his beards.
”And you haven’t heard from them since?”
”Well, come to think of it though ”He says pulling it ”I haven’t heard from them since then at all. Which makes it really strange, I mean, whenever they carry out a job for us, they might go low for a day or two just to make sure no one is on their tail, after then they come look for their pay. And they literally are on my ass before it gets to them from you. But it is so strange that up until now, my phone hasn’t buzzed, no calls, nothing and I wondered if you might have paid them already somehow or something”
”Are you stupid? How can you think that? Those boys have never seen my face, the reason why I have fools like you to be the in between man between me and the boys. The only time I talk to them is via whatsapp, with no profile picture and a number that gets disconnected immediately they tell me the job is done. So they fxxking don’t know my face or my name, nor can they tell how my fart smells like. So how can you think that I would have paid them, how? Are you thinking through your Ass?”
”No Sir, sorry Boss!!”
Alex swears
”Did you even try to call them before today at all, just to make sure they deposited the body well at all, assuming all went well?”
”No sir!!!”
”Did they call you to tell you job’s done, and that they are going under?”
”No Boss!!!”
”Did they even at all, flash you, beep you or fxxking communicated with you as they ought to on a normal, did you even bother to check in with them when you didn’t get word from them eh ?”
”No Boss, I figured that they sha just wanted to be …on a low Boss”
”How can you fxxking assume , how!!! What kind of fools do I have around me? You have a group of boys who are under you and you are supposed to be their fxxking team lead and they report to you as well as they report to me, but majorly they have to sign in and out with you, you did not hear from them and you didn’t think to find out if anything was amiss?” Alex throw the napkin he was holding at him in anger, the man catches the napkin and then steps back as Alex steps forward, everyone else behind the man he was talking to steps away, breaking away from him, leaving him alone in the middle as Alex comes to stand infront of him.
He stammers ”Well-I –I -didn’t think-so. Just- because they are quiet? It still- doesn’t mean- that something is amiss Boss!!” the man says, his voice breaking.
”You said what?”
”I said I do not think – that any-thing- is am-”
He was on the floor, holding his mouth as Alex shuts him up with his fist, ”You said you didn’t think anything is amiss eh?”
He kicks the man in the gut, he groans in pain, holding his stomach ”You. Don’t. Think. Anything. Was. Amis?” With every break, his fist or leg made contact with the guy’s body.
No one says anything, or tried to help or stop Alex. They knew better than to stop Vampire when he was mad, they knew better not to be in his line of fire, everyone would get burned, everyone.
So it was safe to stand and watch, and pray he doesn’t transfer his anger to them.
Alex kicks him again one last time, before he stops and turns to them, then he turns back to the man on the floor, whose mouth is bleed already, his nose was broken..that fact was evident as he touches it.
Alex points to him ”You are a fool.” Then he turns to them, letting his finger go round all of them ”Infact, all of you are fools if you think silence is golden in this line of business. When it is quiet, really quiet from the ends where you need to expect noise, you should be wary that something is wrong. It doesn’t mean they are laying low or because they don’t want their money. It means something is fxxking wrong!!” he kicks the table , causing a few guns to fall and then the stash of cocaine rolling to the floor. Mikel bends to pick it up as he continues to talk
”Fxxking leave it!!” he thunders, Mikel moves away quickly leaving it on the floor, Alex continues, he turns back to the man on the floor shaking his head.
”How the fxxk can you assume everything is okay when the people I left you in charge over goes for a fxxking mission , did not return back to give you the 411? The status report and you think it is okay? How daft can you be eh?” he returns back to the man and the kicks him harder this time.
”Boss, I am sorry!!” he groans coughing , ”I am sorry Boss!! Forgive me !!”‘ he cries out
”I should kill you!! I hate incompetence, I hate mistakes, and I hate anything that would put me back on the spotlight with those dirty police. For years I have been hiding out in the open and no one could tell I am the one they are looking for. Now today, today, I had to burn the church house down!!”
”What?” vibrates through the room, the one on the floor looks up, he wipes his nose and lips with the handkerchief Mikel threw at him
”Yes!! And guess why? Apparently, someone got to them, because if you can’t reach them right now it means he got to them, that is the only explanation. Those boys are probably sitting in a cell, and probably gave out my information to Him, so he comes searching for me”
”Who is he??”
”That is what I want to know. You remember Juliet?” he asks no one in particular?”
Few murmur a yes while others nod
”Well, she is dead, I sent her to God early”
”Why?” it came from Mikel ”I thought you liked to use her to do business and she helped to keep the place, why?”
”Well, she fxxked up. When he came, whoever he was, she said she gave him my information, everything in the confidential file I had in the room, in my other room. She said that he was coming to get me because I sent people after the one that he protects”
”Who is that?” the man on the ground mumbled out
”Brian Andrews!! He was the guy my client asked me to deal with, and he was the last and only deal for that day, and Koko and Bobo were amongst the three guys who was sent after them through you” he points to the man on the floor turning back to the men .
He continues ”I chatted with them, I mean, Koko had sent a message that it has been done, he also sent a confirmation picture of the dead guy. I showed it to the client who seemed pleased. But imagine my surprise to realize that the guy isn’t dead”
”How sure are you Boss? I mean if Koko sent you a picture, it meant he was dead right?”
He shakes his head ” That should be it, but…that day, while we were chatting about the hit and he sent the picture, he sent something else and I didn’t get to read it because right at that moment, Juliet walks in bearing my tea and pours it over my hands and it fxxked up my device. It was ruined and I couldn’t get to read what he said other than ”Boss, we have been-” that was it. I took it to the repairs but they couldn’t get it fixed. So I dumped the phone. In a safe place”
”Okay, so…”
Alex looks at him coldly, rubbing his jaw ”Yesterday, during the service, I realized that Juliet was nervous, like really i-have-done-something- and-i-know-i-will-get-beaten-for-this-kind of nervous. She just kept looking at the door, as though waiting for someone, as if she knew someone was coming, coming to rescue her you see” he says, rubbing his jaw as everyone paid attention
”I carried on with the service, waiting for her to come by my side, to share the holy communion and then take offering which she always does at that time of the service, but she didn’t. Like she forgot or she had something more important in her mind. Well, I was right. After the service I approached her, gun in hand and asked her directly. The bitch lied, she lied until I beat it out of her, then she says ”He” he is coming to get me. ” he shakes his head
”Who is he boss?”
”I do not know, maybe she didn’t know his name or she didn’t want to say. The bitch laughed in my face, called me the devil, said I would die a worst death. She even dared to tell me that she gave him things about me, evidence that could catch me and put me away for life, and what she gave him had my different hideouts and locations, my deport house, the hoe house where we have those girls held up, our operational units, even identities of my alias and my clientele lists, past and present, and even the goddamn phone” he exclaims throwing his hands above his head
”But” another person says
”You said the phone was ruined, it’s not like it would be useful to him”
”In the right hands , they can extract the information without repairing it. ”
”That was why you killed her” Mikel said it more like a statement
”The bitch had it coming, I only regretted that I didn’t do it since. For years I have hidden from the law in broad day light, now because of that slut of a bitch she smoked me out of my hiding place. I do not know who he is but I need to find out. If he is coming for me, I have to go after him first. And all this is because of John, that asshole must have set me up”
”But you said you never told him who you were”
”Exactly, my alias was frank, and it was frank the ”He” came looking for. But what I don’t get is who the other person is really, to have a ”He” who is skilled enough to put two and two together and come after me. he must be some…”
”some what boss?”
”Expert!! But what I want to know is who Brian Andrews is and why he is so important to the fxxker. If I find out everything about him, then maybe he can lead me to this ”He”. I want to know why the hell he caused this to happen to me and then, oh..before then, I need you to go get me John , John Efegor. He is the genesis of all this”
”Yes Boss”
”where does he stay, where does he work?”
”A construction company, Andrews Construction and designing company. I always check out my clients just to make sure they check out and not bring any issue for me. maybe I must have missed something here. If John had a hand in this, trying to set me up maybe stumbling into finding out who I am, I will kill him. And for Brian Andrews, if he had died, none of this would have happened, I will kill him too, and for the ”Him”, I am never one to be a sitting dock…find him, find out who he is, then he and me would have a conversation that wouldn’t involve lips. ”
They nod.. the man on the ground is up, he also is nodding his head, Alex turns to him ”Hey fool, you will do something else for me; find out what happened to Koko and the other two guys, go to their school, go to their houses , go to the hospital and if you don’t find them, check the cemetery, just fxxking get me information on what happened to them. If you don’t find them there, check the station and-”
”The station sir?” he stammers, wiping his nose of blood again, the frontal area of his shirt is ruined with blood
”You have a problem with that, you want more errors to be listed in your line of fxxkups?”
”No sir”
”Good”
”But what do I say when I go checking on them in their houses or the station?”
”Figure it out! I do not care. Just know that if you come back here without any information on their whereabouts, do not bother returning because I will put a bullet in your head myself”
He is quiet
”So boss, what do we do now. Since you said all things , it means whoever he is might be dangerous, he must have found out that Juliet is dead if he actually came back to look for her” Mikel says, making Alex to turn
”Well, he would have found her ashes” Alex laughed, ‘And everything else burned to the ground, every last trail of me” He smiles
”What if he is a cop, or something?” Mikel thinks out loud
”that is why I need to find him first, find out what he knows, who he has told and kill all of them. I will not be taken back into custody, no. I rather burn the city down and everyone in it than go back to that hell hole. So find him”
”But how, he is like a ghost. ‘He’ isn’t exactly a map that points you to the right direction”
”Do not be stupid” Alex snares at him ”I already drew you a mental fxxking map. Find john, he would take you to this Brian Andrews, that’s if he has found out he isn’t dead. Given the circumstance, I believe the dead would have notified the living, in any case, find both of them or the Brian Andrews, he would be the best person to lead you to whomever the fxxk ‘He’ is. Bring them to me; I would put a bullet in their heads myself. ”
”What if this John has no idea what he was up against?” Another person threw it at him
Alex snaps again causing them to shiver ”I do not care. He wanted the fxxker dead right? He contracted me to get it done. Now I am in this fxxking mess because of him, all of them would pay for disrupting my sweet life I have had for years and I am pissed as hell, so pissed that I do not mind burning down another building with everyone in it who upsets me today, now do me a favor and get to work”
”And the girls?”
”Move them, move them all”
”Where to?”
”I do not want to start thinking of the modalities right now fool. There is no time, if he is a cop, they might be closing in right now. I told you all to clear out did I not? So make sure there are no traces, even if it means burning the place to the ground and tying up loose ends, just make sure that the trail that leads back to me is dead one, even if they get their best dogs to come sniffing. Rent a motel or a house outskirts of the town, get the supplies there, send the girls to. Just fxxking leave the locations and don’t go back”
”Okay Boss”
They begin to move out, he stops them ”Those boys we recruited, the university boys, get rid of them”
”The boys?”
”All of them”
Mikel turns to him fully, ” But there are about 50 of them sir, doing about a few different jobs for us, robbing banks, kidnapping expatriates, delivering goods, smuggling them in and out of us and accompanying the girls to their clients, assignations and lot more. We recruited them and trained them, you want to get rid of about 50 boys from different universities?” he is shaking his head
”We would train another set”
”’It took me a few months sir to get them fine tuned to what we are and do, it took weeks to get them to become bad blood and do all the hell we wanted. Now you want to get rid of all of them, when you say rid, does it imply what I think it does boss?”
”Are you questioning me?” he steps closer to him, everyone backs away from him
”No boss, I am sorry that isn’t my intent, it’s just that you just said you think someone is after you, and we do not know who he is or if he is the cop, now you want to get rid of 50 boys, you think they wouldn’t see the fire from a mile away?”
”Who said anything about burning!!”
He looks at Alex curiously ”What do you have in mind then?”
”You have heard of mass burial right? Dig a hole, a big one, they can all fit in it. I said I do not want lose ends. I would need to get a new alias, and I do not want anything that would associate me with them.”
”But they do not know you, haven’t seen your face ever”
”Doesn’t mean they haven’t heard of Vampire. Get rid of them, after this blows over, and we are sure it is quiet, we have fresh recruits”
He nods sighing ”Okay Boss” he turns to the guys ”You heard him, call in all your team members from the recruits, we would meet at the junk yard”
”what do we tell them?”
”That the boss wants to meet them all officially ”
”50 boys all missing in a day, Boss, the police would sniff this …”
”Then make sure they don’t think back up from their mass grave, get chemicals…anything. I will not tell you how to do your fxxking job Mikel”
”We can just drill them to make sure no one talks”
”If those boys, one of them is caught, they can give information to the police about their team head, who can in turn lead them to me. But before that would happen, I would make sure I send you all to hell. So choose, either you all or them. ”
Mikel is silent
”Let’s just do what the Boss says ” the others says
Mikel sighs nodding, he too didn’t want to die. ”Okay Boss, mass burial it is.”
”Good!! Get rid of all of them. Then, get me John, Brian, and him, you all are dismissed”
”Okay boss, and all these?”
”Find away to get it up to my room unnoticed, tomorrow, we move it into a safe house, get me a contact, one that can be trusted. I need a new base for operation”
”Got it Boss, guys let’s move”
”And Mikel, get me someone who can do a fxxking makeover within the hour. ”
”Who are you going to be now Boss!!”
”I will tell you when I see you, until then, get lost!!!”
”Yes Boss, would call in chaplan.”
”When he is done, get rid of him too”
”Are you just going to kill everyone Boss?!!
”Yes!!”
Mikel sighs ,
”Get out off my face and do what I say”
Alex heads back to the restaurant, too much talks gets him hungry.
He dials John’s number again, this time the lady who picked cursed him with curses he had never even begun to understand. He sighs dropping the phone and beckoning to the waitress to get him a plate of Native soup and loi-loi.
John was definitely not using that line anymore, he must have gotten rid of it knowing that he would try to contact him.
Not to worry, he thinks to himself, they would be meeting soon and he intends to cut off his balls and give him to feed.
Then for Andrews, that would be a quick death because he was relatively unimportant to him but important to the ”He’, and ”He”, he just has to plan something special for him.
*
”Sir, what do you want today?” Chaplan, who has a bag slashed over his shoulders and some tools in the other hand, asks him. They are in his room.
Alex is seated infront of the mirror, a catalogue opened before him.
”Esq. Pascal Inugo. Civil service lawyer.” He smiles
Chaplan frowns ”which chamber would you be working for?” he raises an eyebrow
Being a priest was okay to pull, but lawyer? How would he be getting an ID card and all, whose firm would he register on.
Alex is watching him ”You would be stupid to think I do not have those covered. I know a friend who knows a friend who can register me as a lawyer, he would get me IDs and all. All I want you to do is just fxxking make me look like a responsible lawyer in Nigeria.”
Chaplan sighs ”Okay. so you want the low court and the beards?”
”Yes, go skin cut, add that thing you do that causes my jaw to feel all beardy, you know it. Or if that would not stick, you should have an attaché beards, for the jaw and then the side beards. ” Alex says.
”Hmmm, okay. maybe you should go all out, like Prof. Soyinka” Chaplan joked
Alex frowns as he rubs his face ”That playwright and literal icon?”
”I was joking”
Alex smiles ”Maybe, maybe that isn’t such a bad idea.”
”So?”
”So, give me that look”
”You do realize that lawyers don’t look like that!!!” Chaplan says emptying his bag on the bed.”
”Well, I decide what kind of lawyer I am playing,” he looks at the time ”Time waits for no man, get to walk”
”So you would be an esquire and a playwright?” Chaplan is confused
”Yes!!!” he smiles Broadly
”Okay Boss!!!” he picks up the grey spongy hair extensions, he gets a skull cab and places glue to it, he drops it on the bed. He takes the clipper and shaves his head and then places the skull cap on his head, he takes the grey beards, attached a glue cap to it, he rubs it over his jaw and side beards, he places it over it.
Then he began to work on Vampire’s face.
*
”Teka, please tell me you got something for me, anything?” Ikena asks over the phone.
Teka is pensive, he turns when someone beckons to him to come over, they are rampaging through a few boxes, and nothing was inside that is useful, he gestures that they still comb the area.
”Well, I have some bad news”
”what kind of bad news?”
”Well, those places in that file? The coordinates checks out all right”
”So, how is that bad, what did you find?”
”Nothing!!”‘
”What do you mean nothing?”
”It means” Teka waves a officer away as he take some things to show him, he sends him to check the last room,
”That” he continues as he makes a turn into the kitchen
”Dude, I do not have that patience right now, spill it out!!”‘ Ikena snaps
Teka shakes his head,
”They are gone, they were here alright, but no one is here right now, it’s been cleaned, almost torched but we came right on time to find a little boy with 10 liters of kerosene, he said he was paid 10 thousand to pour the kerosene inside the house, everywhere and then go outside, put on a lighter and fling it in”
”that would have killed the boy”
”Vampire and his co-horts do not necessarily care about the human life son, you shouldn’t be surprised.”
”So, you telling me that there is nothing in that house that can point me to the right direction? I need to find him and I need to find him now!!!”
Teka frowns ”No Ik, you do not need to find no fool. You stay down, I am not telling you as a friend but as a police officer,. Yes you must have gotten me some evidence, good evidence but we arrived here too late, all ten hideouts has been cleared, eight torched, the last three my boys are going through to see if we can sniff out a shit, but for you, you need to stand the fxxk down so you do not obstruct police duty. You are off official work for a year Ik, that is no joke, you fxxking went terror on their asses when your father and brother was killed, you became the fxxking terminator, everyone was literally scared of you because you showed no mercy”
”I never killed the good guys, I protected them” he throws back
‘Yes you did, but even the bad ones deserves a chance at repentance, but you off-ed them, literally from their heads when you had the chance. Leaving body parts on trail. That is fxxking scary and you were asked to come back and relax for a year, no official duty, nothing that warrants you going out there and facing criminals. ”
”It’s been a few months and I am great”
”Well, you were great until that girl died”
”Juliet, her name is Juliet, and it was my fault” Ikena”s voice is lowered
”No, it is not! And the sooner you deal with the death the better for you, for everyone around you. When you set your mind on revenge, I know the length you are going to go just to make sure they pay”
”He has to!”
”Vampire is going nowhere other than the cell, he would pay and she and others would get justice”
Ikena sighs , yes, justice, but he wanted more than that. If he keeps talking, Teka would dissuade him, he rather leaves him in the dark of his plans
”So nothing? How are you guys going to find the girls. Juliet mentioned that a few girls are being used for prostitutions and smuggling”
”We would find them, you just relax and go back to being a body guard and a driver to the Andrew’s boy, you know we do not know who wanted him dead”
”John. John Efegor!!”
”That is what the line revealed, but, who knows , it may or may not be him. He came by the station to report stolen device and a laptop this morning. So it is safe to say that he isn’t the one and maybe someone took advantage of that, probably had the phone stolen, made the call and then…set up the guy”
”It is John!!” Ikena repeats, his gut feeling was telling him.
”How do you know that, do you have prove, evidence or something?”
”Nope!!!”
”Exactly!!! Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty. That is the first thing they teach you in force and law schools”
”So you guys aren’t going to pick him up for questioning?” Ikena was pissed
”Nope!! Not until we have something on him, he could sue us you know for defamation of character and i do not need that on my tab”
”You won’t help me find Vampire, you won’t drill John and find out what he knows. So what the fxxk is your use!!!”
”Our use, dear Ik is to keep everyone safe, even you. So that means you need to stay away and let us do our job of finding Vampire and then the client who placed a hit on your boy’s head. Because if my superiors finds you on the field or close to this ? they would run it by the General Brigadier that you choose to go against a direct order and you might have your stay extended or worse, dismissed all together and I know you wouldn’t want that”
”Ofcourse I wouldn’t. I want to serve in the army and I miss it. Being a body guard and a driver isn’t what I am cut out for, but still, I was told to protect him, and I will. That is my job, so that means to also find out who wants to harm him, who placed the hit and who ordered it to be carried out. And as long as Vampire is out there, he isn’t safe, those girls aren’t safe, young boys aren’t safe..no one is”
”And we are doing everything we can to catch him, we would have forensics sweep these three houses from top to bottom, there would be something we can find… but like I said, just relax..”
Ikena sighs ”Fine!! I will stand down. ”he lied. Like hell he was.
”Good boy!!!
”I am old enough to be your father you little punk!!” Ikena says
Teka laughs ”Good to know your sense of humor hasn’t diminished,’
”well since you and the entire police force is useless to me at the moment, I should just go back to babysitting Brain”
Teka laughs again ”Jesossssssss!!!” he exclaims laughing
”He is in Heaven, tired of smelling the stench off vampire’s ass as I am” Ikena chuckles
”Well, he would also have to stand down for us to work. We don’t need angels to whisk him away to hell until we give him our peace of it here first”
”My thoughts exactly!!!”
”Gatto go champ, Brian needs me, need to take him..erm to the other office he is supposed to begin Tech programming”
”Alright errand boy. As you were champ, as you were,” he says
”Safe, let me know if anything comes up, atleast we would feel better ‘
”I would” He frowns ”Hey, where are you exactly anyways Ik?”Teka asks as he hears a sound, it didn’t sound as if Ikena was in a car park or a quiet place in the company.
”Me er…” he pauses ‘Came outside to the road to get breakfast before I take him ”
”Oh Okay”
”Bye!!’
”yes Bye!!
As Ikena cuts, Teka beckons to a level officer.
”Yes Sir’
”Run an APB on this number, just let me know where exactly he is”
”Vampire?”
He shakes his head ”No, a friend. Personal, off the books, just run it and get his coordinates and ping it to my phone.’
”Okay sir”
Teka calls out Ikena’s number for him, as the officer leaves, he turns away..
”I know you Ikena, you wouldn’t let this go. But I cannot let you take matters into your hands, not when it’s a case of national security. Vampire’s head is for the state. You may get court marshaled and I wouldn’t want you to be in that shit.” He says.
Sighing he walks to the other side of the house.
Vampire must have alerted them, there was nothing here, nothing to point them to the right direction on how to find him, nor how to predict his next move.
”Run Vampire, run. You cannot run for ever, the law will find you and I will make sure you get the gas chamber this time, no matter how long the court takes, you will not escape this one” he says.
******
Ikena drops the call, he alights the car and then gets down. He knew if he told Teka where he was, he would tell him to turn back and head back to the company . Sometimes, if you want something done, you do it yourself, and he was definitely not going to stay down. He was going to get Vampire, and he would make him pay.
Fxxk the law. They had him, and they let him slip away from their fingers, and they have been doing a shitty job on finding him. Five years was too long not to have gotten a sniff of the monster. Now a girl is dead, because she tried to help him. How many more gets to die because the police isn’t willing to do what it takes to find the dog and put him down. Good thing he isn’t a cop. He is military and they are wrongest people to cross. And he is even worse..
Vampire stepped on his toes when he tried to have an innocent, Brian harmed, almost killed. If he hadn’t come on time, he would have been having a-not-pretty conversation with Jonathan Kenekan. How would he have told the Boss his son died, who killed him, why? Who set him up, Why?
No!!!
If Juliet had a family, he wouldn’t have known how to face them , to explain to them how their daughter died and why, .. That he told her to help him safe another, that she died trying to. That If he hadn’t told her to, he would have pulled her out that same day when she told him about the monster.
How would he be able to tell them that he delayed, he messed up and it caused them their daughter.
He didn’t know the girl, not enough. And yet, every death of an innocent under his care whether for a second , meant that he was a failure. He failed his father and brother.
He failed to protect them. He failed those other families that were casualties of the law.
He could hardly sleep at night, hearing them scream, hearing his father and brother call out his name, asking for him. And no matter how much he runs towards them in the dream..no matter how much he tries.
He just never gets to them on time. When he does, there is blood, everywhere , his father, his brother, those women and children, dead. He couldn’t safe them.
He had sworn to protect them, he had and yet, like flies they died.
Why wouldn’t he snap!!
Why wouldn’t he go on a killing spree of the monsters. They all deserved to die and as gruesomely as ever. He had no regrets. He killed them all, never allowing them to face the law..
He saved more people. He protected more innocent, and when you were a harmful with a gun pointed to an innocent, you lost a hand, a leg, maybe your heart gets ripped out of your chest.
No second chances.
Second chances was what killed his family.
”Never trust the devil when he begs you in tears, because as you pull him up with your hand, he sings you into chains, he wouldn’t even listen to your own pleas”
He says
And Vampire, he was the devil’s spawn and he would be glad to send him back to hell to burn.
For Juliet.
For the other girls and women and young boys he had killed.
For pain.
For misery.
He would be his punisher, yes.
And maybe, people like Brian and others can be safe.
He sighs looking at the building he is packed in front of. Leaving his car he walks into the hotel and then gets to the reception.
”Good morning Sir, how may we help you”
”Yes, good morning, I am looking for this guy, seen him?” he shows her a picture of Vampire
He had discretely put out an APB on the stolen cab, asking anyone to call his number if they saw a car with that number.
Today, someone had called them, telling him that they had seen a car with that description and it has been parked in a hotel for two days now.
So without telling Teka, he had decided to drive down himself, not hoping to find anything since Teka told him that Vampire must have cleared out , gotten rid of any evidence or trails to him.
This might be a dead too. But there was no harm in checking.
He still has two other stops to make before heading back to Brian.
The receptionist held the picture and then frowns, he looks up at Ikena.
Just then Alex comes down, heading towards the reception, nearing the table Ikena is standing in front of. The reception looks at Alex.
His eyes lights with surprise .
”What is it?” Ikena asks, ”You recognize the person in the picture?” Ikena follows his eyes as it lands on Alex.
********
Brian washes his hands , dries it and then leaves the men’s convenience and heads straight back to her office.
He smiles, maybe he should make her upset often, those pacifying kisses were worth it.
Then he frowns, what the hell was going on with Ikena and John in there? Ikena says it is nothing but he could swear he was hiding something, maybe he should just go by John’s and ask him. Getting to his cubicle he realizes that John wasn’t there, but Tomiwa was.
”Hey baby, haven’t seen you around lately , you have been scarce, don’t tell me that your Boss lady is keeping you away from us”
”Yes!!”Tombra says appearing behind him, he places her hands on his, holding it.
Brian pulls his hands away …”Well, work work work!!”‘
”Since when are you bothered about work?”
”Well, everyone should , right?” He says running a hand over his face ”Have you guys seen John by any chance?”
”You seem different these days” Tombra observes ”I mean before, when you came, you don’t mind chatting with us, indulging us with some lovely talks. You never decided on when you want to take me on that date you promised” she says pulling his hand
Where the hell did they just appear from just now?
Brian thinks to himself.
”Actually, maybe a raincheck, haven’t been up to going out these days. Maybe I can take you both out, everyone who wants to can join. Infact, when I am ready, the whole office can join us, wouldn’t it be fun?”
She scoffs ”I meant you and I, just us both, in a romantic date not us and everyone else. ” she says frowning
”Actually, I had eyes on him first though” Tomiwa says, she moves closer to Brian, trailing her hands over his shoulder blades covered with his shirt. He pulls back.
Before today, he would have loved all their advances, but..He has a sweet sexy beautiful girlfriend in that office a few feet from here, why the hell would he want to mess that up.
Besides, he has made up his mind to do things right. And that meant, he was going to make this relationship work. He has never like a girl like that before, and all too suddenly too. This was a shocker to him, and he was loving the feeling. He may not know where they end up but for now, he likes where they are going.
Damn!! He loves kissing her, he would love to do so many sexy things to her aside just kissing her..
But,..
He wouldn’t. Not even when he is tempted but damn that shit is hard.
He remembered sleeping with a boner that night after giving her pleasure with his tongue, he swears it, it took all the control he could muster to shut his boy down, and his ears listening to her moan.
Damn!!
When she went ”What if I want you to..go all the way”
He literally almost spilled at the thought of sinking into her virgin walls, being the first one to. But, he wouldn’t, no. he would be the one to take advantage of that.
He knew that was desire talking, not him. When she was ready, he would be happy to. But for now, he wouldn’t be the one to pressure her, and he wouldn’t let her pressure herself too.
Sex to him had always been just that; Sex. Fun. Nothing more.
But, he wants it to mean something more, for the first time, it didn’t just want it to be just sex anymore.
Not for her, not for her first time.
Whatever feeling he was having for Adora was different, new. Strange and yet electrifying. He loved it.
He wouldn’t want to ruin it. Not at all.
He wasn’t that guy anymore, who loved to sink and enjoy the warmth of every woman who had interests on him. Yes, the feelings were always mutual, always. He had loved spending time with them and them with him. They had always enjoyed each other, the women. He was the player, the bad boy, the ladies man and he had no regrets..But, that was then, this was now..And this Brian was different, and this Brian liked Adora.
No!
Likes. Liking. The ‘like’ was continues.
And that likeness was growing by the second. When he realized that she was upset with him today for showing up to work when she asked that he stayed back to rest, he knew his day was going to be messed up without her smile..Her smile, it was radiant, beautiful, as she was breathtaking.
He smiles again,
‘Where ever you are Cupid, you slay bastard, I still need to have a word with you. Damn, you must have release an arrow to my heart and it is stuck” he murmurs underneath his breath and literally rubs his chest ”And I like it, a lot!’
”Erm…down to earth Brain. Have you even been listening to what I have been saying, our date, and how I like you and want us to take this up after work?” Tombra nudges him
He frowns, then he shakes his head ”Nope. Actually I haven’t, my thoughts were elsewhere actually!”
”Does it involve a girl, because you kept on smiling and stuff” Tomiwa says displeased.
He smiles ”No comment”
”Who is she?”
”No comment!!”
”Are you being for real Brian?”
”You both are entirely responsible for what thoughts you have. I mean, can’t a guy smile and talk to himself again?”
”Well, it depends. There are two hot chicks infront of you literally fannig over you and asking you out, technically, and here you are smiling to yourself and I know it isn’t about what I said” Tomiwa says
”Neither what I said” Tombra states
Brian looks up to see Peter coming , ”Hey Peter, I wonder have you send John” he calls out moving away from them ”Sorry ladies”
Tombra and Tomiwa watch him go, they look at each other
”Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Tombra says
”That Brian got himself a girlfriend that is why he is blowing us off?”
”Yes!!”
”Who is she, I mean, why would he even think to pick someone over me? ” she pushes up her bosom
”The question should be, why look at someone else other than me, I have it all. I will literally blow his mind”
Temi who has been listening comes to stand behind them ”Instead for both of you to face your work you are there thinking about a man, is that what you were employed in this company for eh?” she folds her hands
Both girls turn to look at her, one of them looks her over
”Well, atleast we are way better than you going around eavesdropping and putting mouth into other people’s business. Who called you eh?”
”You, you both did. Brian this, Brian that..Aha!! na so conji dey hold una reach? Go outside go look for boys na make them open your leg do una. See as you girls are flapping your tongues like dogs after the poor boy, who, I can see isn’t interested in both of you!” She says in pidgin and English
Tombra nudges her backwards by poking her
”You dey mad!!! You think say we are mates? What gives you the right to talk to me like that? Look Temi, your own don do for this company oh. This your sharp mouth I will soon pull it out” she made to pull at her mouth but Temi hits her hands away
”Eh eh!!! Don’t even try it. Don’t! Look, I am just telling you all to face your work and stop chasing man, I do bad?” she shows them her hands palm-out and tucked at her side
”You dey craze you eh?” This was Tomiwa ”You wei be busy body don come”
”No na jolly just come ‘Tombra states
Both of them laugh, Temi rolls her eyes
”Well, I am not like you girls. I do not chase after men”
”As though we do not know that your para for John up and down na because you like am and him no like you.” Tombra spat at her
”Me, God forbid!!” she snaps her fingers away from her
”Na so, biko shift from my front before I forget my hand on your face. Nonsense!!!” Tomiwa pushes her aside , sighing she walks away, Tombra follows suit .
Temi eyes them bitterly..
“Nonsense. Company sluts” Then she turns away to look at John’s desk
“Now where did that fool go to now?”*
******
“Excuse me John? ” I stand up,staring at him
“You heard me, or should I repeat myself? Okay.. let me repeat myself. What the hell is going on with you and that fxxking he-goat called Brian? ??” Just then, the door opens and in walks in Brian.’He stares at John. ..
“Is it just me or you suddenly just crossed a line with my Boss??”
To Be Continued.
