by Max Winters
She slid her creamy legs into a Gucci leather sandal and stealing a glance from the dressing mirror she brushed her eyes mildly probably to get rid of the swells that gave her an awful look. She snatched her phone from the small stool where the chandelier lamp stand stood. Scrolled vividly, she dialed the contact Id Malcolm and it went straight to voicemail and she flung the phone on the bed in frustration.
She earnestly prayed he was okay as her heart couldn’t take it if something bad had happened to him. She brushed her hair behind to fall over her shoulders and changed her nightgown into a fitting pair of black jeans and a designer blouse that puffed her boobs seductively. She broke open the elaborate wardrobe door that stood discretely at the corner of the room beautifully painted in white expensive paint. She sorted out Malcolm’s dirty clothes. She was bored and perhaps laundry was the perfect idea to get rid of the sad thoughts that haunted her.
She sorted out his dresses one after another. She flapped her feathery lashes as her hand was hushed by a powdery substance that was in a white plastic bag. Her gaze grew dull as she inspected the powdery substance. She sighed and then dropped it on the bed searching the wardrobe further. His hands fell on something hard and she cautiously peered wondering what it was. She dropped the clothes in her hand in bewilderment, taking a closer look at the black weapon that had a handle. It was a gun and her blood rushed at a level she couldn’t control.
She took the substance from the bed and with a twisted brows, she opened the plastic trying to sniff the content of the powder. She had read about cocaine and recognized it immediately. Malcolm was a drug dealer she ascertained instantly. No wonder he always worked at night. She now understood why she had always felt weird about his so called secret agent job. She now understood why he was able to solve her issue with Damon so easily. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had dealings with Damon-she wasn’t sure but she was going to make him talk.
How could Malcolm treat her like a fool? She wrestled with her emotions. Maybe she was actually stupid for trusting him that much. She sure was doomed. She escaped from her gambling and abusive uncle only to end up in the clutches of a drug trafficker. What could be worse? She snapped her feet restlessly on the ground to ease the tension that mounted uncontrollably. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she managed to guard her thoughts. As much as she tried to suppress the surging pain, she couldn’t hold her tears back. She had fallen for the man and now she feared it was all a mistake. She had agreed to marry him and promised to be his forever but she had no choice now but to end it all. She didn’t see herself making a future with him.
***
“Baby…where have you been?” Malcolm pressed a soft kiss on Keisha’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you last night…my battery was flat.” He continued adjusting the white towel that circled his waist. “I know much stress I must have put you through…” He apologized inspecting her gaze that looked far from the enchanting smiles that always welcomed him. Could she be mad because he didn’t return home? He wondered. “Honey I’m going to quit that secret agency job for something better okay, so you don’t have to go through the hassle of worrying about my safety. He reassured.
“Malcolm what do you do for a living?” Anger burned in her soul as she finally managed under her gusts, with eyes red and pale. She had left the house all day to get a cool head. She contemplated going away without a word but she was hoping that it was a misunderstanding and that he was going to give her an explanations.
“What was that?” He spun instantaneously dazed and frozen with a towel stuck in his hands. His eyes flipped at the impulse of the shock but he managed to keep his composure.
“You heard that right.” Keisha added shooting a terrific stare that warned him not to make a fool of her.
“Baby why are you asking me that…I told you I am a secret investigation agent.” He walked towards her not knowing the right words to use to dismiss the issue as he couldn’t lie to her. He was going to try his best not to tell her the truth. If only Damon had led him go, he wouldn’t have to face this raging woman.
“I know about that.” She reassured. “Look me in the eye and tell me the truth…What do you do for a living?” She asked in a gruff tone and moved towards the large window to avoid looking him in the face. The pain was overwhelming but she pressed her lips together suppressing the pain.
“Baby…” Lamentation possessed his voice. Words escaped from him and desperation was written all over him.
“Don’t….don’t you dare touch me.” She hushed him with her hands. “Would you tell me and stop wasting my time?” She barked.
“I am a secret agent.” He said boldly, hiding the bruises that were on his elbow. He slipped into a sweatshirt and then glided towards the window to give in his very best.
“No you are not and you know that.” She yelled.
“What’s all this interrogation session for? I have been working all night for us and that’s what I get for coming home to you?” He asked furiously in a manner to intimidate her so as to dismiss the subject.
“Care to explain this Mr. secret agent?” She shook the doze of drug and the pistol in front of his face to his bewilderment. He stared with his mouth wide open, lacking the right words to present his plea.
“Have you been going through my things?” His eyes fumed in some sort of rage.
“Does it matter? All I want to know now is the truth.” She insisted.
“Of course it matters… my job requires a gun, don’t you know that?” He asked trying as much as possible to deviate from the subject matter. If only he could shun the real issue but from all indications they had come to their crossroad.
“I know…” She responded. “I suppose you also use this too right?” She flung the cocaine on his body in spite with eyes that mocked him.
“Baby… I can explain.” He broke down.
“I’m listening.” She agitated, tears flowing from her eyes, realizing that he wasn’t going to deny it.
“Keisha…c’mon trust me…I can’t get involved with anything illegal and you know that.” He argued begging her gaze which emitted disdain.
“I thought so but right now I’m not so sure. Tell me the truth if you still want to have anything to do with me” She responded introducing a blackmailing tactic to force him to speak.
“I am a drug dealer so what?” He yelled feeling frustrated. “Are you going to leave me now?” He asked. A drop of tear rolled down his cheeks as he turned away. She threw her gaze through the window while he buried his head in the wall.
“You are right Malcolm… I can’t stand your lies and deceit.” She protested. “I am leaving you. After all, what kind of life do I have with a drug trafficker?” She said with the intention of driving him insane and she did succeed to get him off balance.
“Is that all you think of me, a drug dealer and nothing more?” His voice felt depressing and desperate. “You think I like doing what I do?” He asked with the intention to inspire some degree of empathy.
“About that other question you asked, people who drugs are called drug dealers. I think you do, if not you would have quitted.” She added robustly.
“You think it’s that simple huh?” He yelled loudly. If only she knew how much he wanted to get out of Damon’s clutches just to keep their relationship, she wouldn’t misunderstand him as much as she did.
“It’s not so simple and that’s why I won’t waste my time with a criminal like you.” She marched to the wardrobe and started unpacking her stuff.
“I knew you were pretending all this while…I knew you never truly loved me.” He started with manipulations probably to lure her to stay.
“If that’s your way of saying you are sorry I’m afraid it’s not working. If you loved me you would have trusted me enough to tell me the truth about yourself.” She flushed her stuff into a black valise in a rush, ignoring his seemingly lamenting episode.
“I was going to tell you.” He sobbed though hesitantly. His manly ego
couldn’t let him cry. He loved her but he had hurt her and perhaps she was justified in condemning him.
“Unfortunately you didn’t.” She responded under a shallow tone.
“I was afraid I would lose you.” He pleaded.
“I see…it doesn’t make a difference because now you’ve lost me forever.” She remarked brushing the tears that leaked down her cheeks. “Just so you know I am going to expose you and your gang members to the police.” She threatened. At the impulse of her words, he realized that he and his gang would be in trouble.
“You won’t dare Keisha.” He warned emitting a stern gaze with the intention to scare her but she was not the type of woman who easily backed down from a fight. She was virtuous with rigid principles that she wasn’t going to abandon neither for him nor anyone.
“Try me …” She bragged provoking him. If she wanted to leave he wouldn’t stop her but she threatening to talk to the cops was completely unacceptable.
“I dare you Malcolm.” He pulled out a gun vividly from his back pocket and pointing the gun straight at her, he panicked.
“I love you Keisha…but you are pushing me and I don’t know how far my patience can contain this.” He said looking her straight in the eye with his gun fixed tightly to his grip. He had an oath of loyalty to the drug cartel and he was going to do all what it took to keep it that way. The cartel had been the only family he could rely on for years. He was willing to give up everything for her but she had judged him without giving him a moment to explain his side of the story. He wasn’t the type of man she could be proud of but for a woman who claimed to love him, he was vaguely disappointed given her reactions.
“What are you doing Malcolm?” She shivered in fright at the sight of a gun, not in her wildest dream had she ever imagine that Malcolm could think of killing her.
“What do you think I’m doing, so you think I’m going to fold my arms and watch you ruin my life?” He asked. “You must be mistaken if you think you will be alive to tell the tale to the cops.” He threatened in a thundering tone that expressed is misguided rage.
“Don’t do this Malcolm.” She begged seeing that he had gone out of control.
“I’m sorry Keisha…I love you but you leave me with no choice.” He said sorrow clouding his voice as his hands crept to the trigger.
Chapter 10
“Malcolm you don’t have to do this.” Keisha begged, seeing the determination in his eyes. He sure was dedicated to his friends that he was willing to end her life just like that.
“I’m sorry baby…you don’t understand the nature of this business.” His eyes formed tears as he maintained a firm hand on the trigger. Keisha kicked a side tool over his leg distracting him and she ran out of the house in frantic but daring steps while Malcolm trailed her at top speed. She rushed into a narrow street without any contemplation.
She had been in a run in recent times and she wouldn’t have believed a moment would come when her fiancé would be a menace to her life. She ran swiftly. The street was deserted though a car raced at top speed, he ran after her shouting her name at the top of his voice. The car had stopped slowly and the driver who seemed to have caught interest in the scene, stepped out though in a manner that Malcolm didn’t noticed.
“There’s no need to run or scream Keisha…no one around here will come to your aid.” If there wasn’t any mistake, the neighborhood was probably a hideout for pimps and that spelt doom for Keisha. “I warned you about trying to double cross me.” He continued, in a deadly smile that brushed his face as he was some meters close to her. The stranger got out of the car and watched in fear. Keisha looked behind and fright possessed her countenance. She was going to breathe her very last by the hand of the one she loved the most. The stranger had a complete view of her but he couldn’t help as he was unarmed. He feared for his life too. There was a loud blast from the gun and Keisha dodged, slipping into a narrow corridor that led to a lonely street.
“Shit.” He screamed in a frustration that was eminent. He raced after her and in an impulse he realized she was nowhere on sight. He brushed his soft hair that veiled his face vividly popping his eyeballs from their sockets. He couldn’t afford to let her go. She was going to tell the police about everything that had happened and they all would be in great trouble. He searched the whole area in frustration and Keisha had disappeared into thin air and his frustration heightened.
Robert Copper was the eye witness to Malcolm’s threat as he drove towards La Salsa. He perhaps had an ulterior motive for going there. He moved to the back of the building holding a stick of cigarette in his hands. His black sweat shirt had a hood that masked his appearance completely. He heard voices and then followed closely.
The men spoke in a low tone and suddenly they dispersed. Their boss was a tall and huge. Someone could mistake him for Damon because of his authoritative tone, but unlike Damon he had a square facial cavity with a croaking tone that must have come with age. His demeanor was becoming of a government official. Two body guards guarded him closely. One of them opened the car door for him and he glided in. They drove for about two hours towards an inland port located in the outskirts of the city.
He trailed them steadily though fear consumed him. They stopped at a point and he watched them move into a shipyard. A large truck drove, overtaking him and he wondered what the truck was for. His eyes popped open when he saw the driver of the van and three fierce looking boys ushered several girls into the shipyard. Some of the girls who could walk where blindfolded but they looked weak, while most of them were almost lifeless.
The three boys carried them into a ship that anchored. His legs shook in fright as he realized that the girls were being sold. They were about thirty in number, beautiful and very young. He searched for his phone, probably to take pictures, but he had forgotten the phone in his car. He had left the car to have a vivid view of whatever they were doing.
One of the other men who stood watching how the girls were transported into the ship stretched a hand in greeting the politician after which he handed him a briefcase. The politician clicked some numbers and the box flipped open, exposing bundles dollars that filled it to the brim. He took out a bundle of dollar notes, after examining it, it locked the box. Robert’s heart started palpitating as he tried to take a photo, his hands shook and immediately his phone fell off his grip making a sound that alerted the men.
“What was that?” The politician’s voice rose, closing the box tightly. “Search this place and make sure there is no threat.
“Yes sir.” Responded one of the boys, while the politician marched towards his state of the arts car followed by his two bodyguards. Robert thundered into the bush as the man gave the command. He wasn’t ready to die yet. He had followed them only to uncover the mystery he had always found Damon to be but he had been shocked at the realization that Damon might have been involved only in drugs though no one had ever found the evidence to nail him. A government official had a human trafficking syndicate and no one knew anything about it. He fell into a ditch as the boys followed him.
They ran pass the hole and he looked up with a stiff breathe that almost gave him away. He looked around but everywhere was dark. He reached for his phone but it was gone.
“I think he is somewhere around…Look I got his phone.” One of the boys screamed.
“Where could he be?” The other asked, loading his gun.
“Do you think he’s in the pit?” The other asked. At this Robert’s mouth opened in shock and distress probably in an attempt to say his last prayers. He held himself with both arms tightly and closed his eyes.
“I doubt that.” One of them remarked and the next thing he fired two shots into the hole and Robert passed out in shock. He gained consciousness about 4a.m in the morning. He had to report to work that morning and he didn’t know how that was going to be possible. He had gone on a wide goose chase for some human traffickers whom he had suspected was Damon but it turnout to be someone he didn’t know and he had no
evidence whatsoever to prove his claim. He struggled to climb off the stiff hole but he kept falling back until he realized there could be a snake there with him as he heard that peculiar hissing of a snake.
Adrenaline rushed vividly in his system and at this moment he resorted to himself that he was going to get out before the snake claimed his life. He jumped with all his might and fortunately his hands grabbed a small opening in the stiff side and with both legs he forced himself upwards with a determination that was eminent in his loud groans. He pulled himself outside breathing heavily. He had just escaped death. He staggered to his feet, trying to find an exit root though in fear that the hoodlums could still be lurking somewhere in the bush. He limped towards the shipyard and then to a narrow path leading to the main road.
What caught his sight was terrific. His car had been reduced to haggard piece of ashes. He let out a cry of frustration, brushing his hands over his head and trying to think properly. He had driven for two hours at top speed, how was he going to transport himself back home. He searched his pocket and fortunately he saw some dollar notes.
“Thank heavens.” He exclaimed feeling slightly relieved though a sad expression covered his face as he circled the black skeleton of the car. He must have spent a fortune on it. He looked on both ends of the road probably for a glimpse of any passing car. The area was located in the border and few passed there. He needed absolute luck to get out alive as the area was inhabited by dangerous predators that hunted with each passing second.
