Ann2012:

SureConcept:
This is lovley.. You are blessed bro

Thanks sir. Amem

really nice read

barristerbiodun:
really nice read

Thanks boss. A lot.

Chapter 23

A Piece of the Puzzle

The moment she got out of the reach of any of the men, Grace sped on after shouting
at Ademola to tighten his belt. The area was dark, peaceful and the road, smooth.
‘Jesus. Bidemi shall not die in Jesus name...' she kept on muttering.
‘Mummy, why did Daddy hold a gun?'
‘Because those men wanted to kill him. Ah! This chief will know me. He thinks he can do anything he likes'. She banged the wheel.
‘But Mummy-'
‘My friend will you shut up and let me concentrate...'
She said as she swerved out of the rough road that linked from the street adjacent Chief’s street to the tarred road. Not looking either side, she drove into the road that led from University of Greencity to Sango.
‘I will arrest him. Did he think he can use his wealth to overrule the world’? She said, driving roughly and not minding the other drivers yelling at her.
She picked her phone, called her Pastor, and told him to start praying for her husband. At first, her Pastor wondered what was wrong with her, asking her how she would ask him to pray for a dead person. However, she explained things to him shabbily, promising to report more, he understood her plight.
‘Stay in the car', she said to Ademola as she jumped out of the car and rushed into the police station at Sango bus-stop.
The light of the bulb made the cream colour of the station looked cheap. When she entered, the heat was too much but she couldn’t fathom if it was the heat from her body or the heat of the bulb and she wasn't ready to know its source.
‘Officer, I want to arrest a criminal'.
‘Madam, chill. I dey come', the policeman said and went out to the back of the station, spending up to five minutes. He came back to meet Grace who was shaking angrily.
‘I said I want to arrest someone'.
‘Wetin he do?'
‘He took my husband away at gunpoint. I know where he stays'.
‘Oya. Chill. Tell me how everything happened.'
Grace explained what she could, sparing the police the details of the past. All she wanted at present was to get her husband.
‘Who is yelling there now?' A sergeant asked.
‘Shan sir!' the other policeman said, saluting the sergeant. And then, the policeman narrated what Grace told him to the sergeant, spicing up the story.
‘Madam, calm down. Where do you say this place is?'
‘Aderibigbe street'.
‘Oh!' The sergeant and the other policeman looked at each other. ‘Please, you have to come with me to my office'.
‘Why? You need to save my husband now’
‘Come with me’.
Grace stood still, staring at him as she gasped for breath. She allowed her shoulders drop as she followed him. When they entered the office, he offered her a seat, which she sat in reluctantly.
‘Madam, that place is no-go-area for the police. Please, try to understand me, someone like me…Me... I would love to nab this Chief but he's powerful and we wouldn’t even exit his house before I.G and top officials give us a call to liberate him. More so, he has dangerous assassins that I and one of my friends had been looking for a way to peg someone's death on. Yemi had tried and was almost near, but he was transferred to Lagos, when he was seen as a threat'.
‘Do you mean officer Yemi, that short fair man?’ Grace said as she shifted to the edge of her seat.‘I know him. He was the one that brought to me the news about my husband being alive’
‘Ehn ooo.... ‘
‘But why ...why are they doing this? I need my husband back. He must not die...' She said and burst into tears, shuddering as it dawned on her that she can’t legally save her husband. The sergeant came near her, and put his hand on her shoulder.
‘Madam, don't shed tears. You should have noticed the trend. Anybody that tries to raise a motion against them had always been found dead'.
Grace was dejected.
‘Is that how he would be left to himself'? I’ve to do something. I will go to newspapers and other Media’.
‘Then. be ready to relinquish your life. Ask Yemi he will recount the death of a woman who tried to talk about Chief on an online forum. They got to her and killed her, scattering her body around her abode, so disgusting.’
Grace cried again.’ Abidemi o’.
Suddenly, someone started shouting outside. The Sergeant excused himself to quell the noise that was coming from outside. And after a few minutes, the officer entered with a lady that was held down by two others at Chief’s house.
‘You have to arrest him tonight. He is an animal. I used to call him father but he’s dead to me’. The lady shouted and stared at Grace for a long time. 'Were you not the one Chief wanted to kill the other time?'
Grace nodded as tears poured down her face. The right eye of the lady was red.
‘Officer, you can see what I was talking about? He almost killed Jerry’.
‘Bidemi’, Grace corrected.
‘Because he wanted to tell Jerry to build a car’.
‘A car?’ Grace and the sergeant said at the same time, they hurriedly shared glances and looked at the lady on red.
‘Yes… The idiot said he wanted to build a car that can be used with water’.
‘Oh my God….’ Grace said and hit her head with the edge of her palm.’ I should have known. God!’
‘What happened?’ The police asked.
‘He was building a car that runs on water before he suddenly left home one day and later appeared in Brown Valley’.
The lady on red and the sergeant looked at her as if she was a Christian preaching heresy.
‘What? Don’t you people know that people a lot of people want to build cars that runs on water and all the people that did that successfully have immediately gone into extinction. Either the people openly declared it was a mistake or the press call their invention something else. The first man even died. And that was why I told Bidemi to stop till we can convince the petrol dealers that cars can run on water and wouldn’t affect them because the major problem came from them’
The sergeant appeased the lady on red and gave her the same explanation he gave Grace to her. Afterwards, he saw them off to the gate, telling them that there was hope and that he would send for Yemi. Moreover, it was finally time to catch Chief, even if they had to do so illegally and break many codes of conduct.
While he was still at it, he received a call. The caller told him a bomb had being detonated at a car park in Emperor road.’ Impossible’ the sergeant shouted.
Grace looked up, staring at him from her car.
‘Oh God! Ladies, I’m sorry…I have to leave for Emperor road immediately… Bomb blast…’ the sergeant ran into the police station.
‘What… In the west? Impossible...’Grace exclaimed. She thought of who she could call to cover the news and decided to call Itunu. When she called him, he said he was already near the event and the first on the scene.
‘Chief did this….’ The lady in red said, shaking her head in anger.’ That crazy man did it. God! What does he want?’
As if in response to the lady’s question, an explosion rocked the police station. Throwing the lady at Grace’s car and jerking Grace forward. Grace hit her head on the steering and the last thing she heard was the cry of Ademola.
***
When she opened her eyes, she was in a room painted green. She looked about in the room, touched the bed and tried to rise but a sharp pain in her head held her down. She moaned loudly and returned to her lying position into the bed, holding her breathe as the smell of drugs filled the air. Then, her fuzzy head became clear as she remembered her son, Ademola.
‘Nurse’, Grace called,’ nurse’.
A nurse hurried into the ward and told her to calm down while she began to check for one thing and the other, correcting something and releasing some other things.
‘Where is my son?’
‘Madam, calm down’, the nurse said as she began to pack her things. ‘The Doctor, will come to attend to you now’.
The nurse left the room, making Grace wonder if she had woken from her unconsciousness. She pinched herself to assure herself. She must see her son, and must see him immediately. She rose from the bed with the hope of heading for the door but the pain in her head was unbearable. She pushed herself backward and rested her back on the wall, knowing that she would soon be able to rise after resting a while.
‘Madam, please don’t injure yourself’, a plump man said as he entered the ward. ' Calm down… Stay calm… Everything is fine’.
‘Doctor, I’m fine’, she said. 'I need to see my son. I want to know if he is fine’.
‘We are putting things in place. You people were near the blast; the other lady lost a finger to it’.
‘God will heal her. I need to know the fate of my son. Can’t you tell me where he is? You can at least make me know if I still have someone to call a son’.
The man placed his hand on her shoulder.
‘Take your hand off my shoulder and talk to me like a man’, she shouted.’ Where is my son?’
‘The blast made him hit his head. You know he was still a small boy. The hit was too much for him to take. He was a strong boy… We did all we could but God has purpose for every man’s life. He has kicked the bucket’.
‘No’, Grace screamed, forgetting her pain. She held on to the doctor’s cloth with excruciating pain surging through her body. It felt as if several native men were drilling a hole the pores of her skin. Her hand was shaking, yet firm, as tears flooded down her face.’ Ademola miii ooo’
She cried, holding the doctor’s shirt for support. Pain crawled over body and made it feel as though it were on fire. She couldn’t take the pain anymore. She fainted.

Chapter 24
The Sworn Enemies
Jerry became obsessed with studying how to build a water car. Firstly, to do something great, something extra ordinary. Secondly, to keep his family alive because Chief constantly sent Chioma to remind him that if he didn’t do it well or on time he would be killed and his family wouldn't be allowed to see the end of the year.
He kept working like a maniac, expending his time and energy on building the car. Luckily, Chief made sure he got high-quality food and fruits that kept Jerry healthy. He slept in the underground and worked in a workshop, which had all the equipment he needed to succeed in the building of his car.
However, his only regret was that Pastor Matthew would be worried about him. He wondered how Pastor Matthew was coping with the building of the ark. He had told Chioma to tell Jessica that he wanted to see her. So, he was relieved when Chioma came into the workshop that day.
‘Did you tell her that I want to see her? I mean Jessica?’
Chioma was putting on a brown bum short and an orange armless top, a silver chain, complementing her neck. She smiled at him and licked her lower lips as she ran her fingers across the rough wall of the workshop. ‘You don’t know how we do things here… Nobody can talk to Jessica anyhow’.
‘Please, I want to see her’.
Chioma moved toward him to arouse his feeling. But he wasn't ready to comply with her wish, he moved back. He needed to continue the few works he had started that day, planning to meet the target he set for himself.
‘Chioma, we can’t be doing this everyday’, Jerry said as he pushed her hands away from his body. She eyed him and moved back, her leg, disturbing the box of spanners on the floor, ’Jessica might enter here anytime from now. I don’t want to be seen as you know…’
She stared at him and smiled, licking her lower lips,’ you are still your old self. Always avoiding me…’
‘Ever since I came here, I’ve never avoided you. I’ve never denied you of what you always wanted but I’m tired. I need to face my work and you know any time we go on together, I always have this bad feeling that I would miss heaven for this. Pastor Matthew’s words kept coming back to me and I don’t want such to happen.’
She stared at him and burst into laughter as she placed her hands on his chest.
‘You know… This was what almost the same thing you said the night before you left here and you were never seen again until we saw you behind that baba’s house. The night before you jumped into the carnal’
Jerry was eager to hear her out,’ I jumped into the carnal?’
‘Can’t you remember anything at all?’
Jerry shook his head as he gently placed the wrench he was holding on the floor and faced her.
‘That night, we were having a get- together… I so much desired to have sex with you because you were uptight and too rigid for my liking. If you said you wanted to stay fine because of your wife, I would have understood you then. But you were saying you cannot sin against God…I got frustrated’.
Jerry stared at her, and made sure he pushed every equipment away from his reach. He didn’t want to get angry and hit her with one of them. The body reacts faster than the mind. From the look of things, she caused some of his woes and he needed to keep his cool.
‘So, I mixed a little something into the juice you were drinking that night, and I allowed you to go to the toilet and then followed you there. My surprise that day was that you were able to stop me from having a good time with you despite the effect of the drugs I put in your drink but I was able kiss you’.
The connection wasn't there but he wished he were as he was then. He wished he could be the same person who could fight his desire for a nice time with Chioma. She was driving him crazy and he needed to ward her off.
Someone entered the workshop, they both turned to see Once poked his head into the shed. He had a stick sweet in his mouth.
‘Yes…? What do you want?’ Chioma said, snarling.
‘Is that of any concern to you?’
‘Yes… I’m concerned’, she said, eyeing him. ‘I’m chief’s P.A and you know what that means. It means that I have the right to query any foreign body that wants to disturb Chief’s work’.
‘You’re crazy… I’ll kill you’ Once said, folding his fingers and coming near her. His height should frighten anybody but Chioma stared at him, standing her ground. Jerry noticed a little resemblance between them.
‘It’s your mother that is a crazy… You are jealous that Chief gives me preference over you and that I have the authority to do anything to you. I can tweak your information and tell Chief you are having shady deals. I can tell him about the businesses you did offline. The one you didn’t tell him, those illegal assassinations.’
Jerry looked from one person to another as if they were playing table tennis.
‘Chioma, watch out for me’, Once said, his veins protruding under his skin, and his hand folded as he pointed it at her nose’ I’m your death’.
Chioma erupted into a spree of laugher and held her stomach.
‘You can do nothing’, she said moving towards him, and stepping on his wounded feet.
Once pushed her away. Her back hit the wall. He lifted her off the ground with his left hand, and pushed her back against a wall as she gasped for breath.’ If you dare try to do anything foolish again in your life, I will kill you’.
He dropped her and left the workshop, dragging his feet.
‘Once, I will kill you… I swear…’ She screamed as she rose from the ground.
***
Chioma dusted her body, turned to Jerry, eyed him, turned towards the door and left. She was breathing faster than she could ever imagine. She hated Once with everything in her, and would like to see him disappear.
Firstly, he wasn’t the best; yet, he did things as if he was the best. In qualification of expertise, Rachael was better than he. He wasn't as handsome as Bidemi neither was he half-handsome as Kasali their gateman.
Secondly, he was the one that caught her mother who was held captive at an unknown location to make Chioma do the bad things she had found herself delving into of late.
Thirdly, he was the one sent to kill Bidemi and had tried to kill him again.
She had made sure she told Chief that no one should be allowed to see Bidemi. She told him that almost every one there didn’t like Bidemi. Once might have done something to Bidemi if she wasn't there.
She rushed through the bush that hid the workshop. She would report Once to Chief. She would show him how a lady was better than guys; they do things better and neater than the guys. He had shown himself a potential danger and she needed to take him down with every power she had as the personal assistance of Chief, his brain box.
She was about to get out of the bush to enter the compound when a strong arm grabbed her from behind. She was terrified and choked. She moaned and kicked the air but the hand was stronger. She knew whose hand it was. He carried her away amidst her incessant kicks. She pushed her back against her assailant’s chest with the hope he would drop her but it was a fruitless action.
He dragged her on and stopped. It was Once. He tied her hands and a dark blue rickety car drove out of the bush. Once gagged her, and tied her hand. He dumped her into the trunk of the Volvo and shut the trunk, plunging her into darkness.
Chioma shivered, though the trunk was emitting great heat. She knew she had offended him but she didn’t expect this from him. Rather, she didn’t expect it to be this fast. Tears dropped from her eyes. Even her breathe was faster than cowbell jingle. They plied a rough road for sometimes. Then, the road became smoother and they journeyed on. Chioma kept moaning and trying to untie the rope. She tried to slash the rope with the rough edges in the trunk but it was to no avail. She cried with all her strength but the gag didn’t make any meaningful noise come out of her mouth. She kicked the trunk and tried everything but nothing happened and she gave up the fight. She was weak, and her eyes began to droop.
The trunk smelt of dry blood and she understood that the car was one of the few used to assassinate people. Whenever FALT didn’t want people’s death to be known to the world, they made the person disappear. She hated herself for advising Chief to give his men free hands.
The car kept moving, and she didn’t know what to do. The only thing that kept coming to her mind was her last prayer because though Once wasn't the best killer, he was the next to Rachael and Jessica. And he was the best in every state Jessica and Rachael had never being to and had even been given awards for these.
‘Slowly…’ Once said as he opened the trunk and dragged her out of it. He removed her gag and she sucked in air.
‘Help…’ She screamed. Once stared at her as she fought with the rope. She hated this position when she can only use her mouth and not her legs, which could carry her faster than the wings of any bird. She moved about, screaming for help. Once stared at her. He brought out a stick sweet and dipped it into his mouth. He rolled the sweet in his mouth and smiled.
‘Idiot… No one will hear you here… Welcome to Elelyele dam, where your life is damned. As the name implies: Eleyele, it means something in Yoruba, you know. It means that you, the dove (Eleyele), cannot eat with the owner of the house, drink with the owner of the house and on the last day i.e. the day of death, this same dove run away, fighting for his own life’.
‘Shut up! Who ask you for sermon? The organisation will find you. They will hunt you and they will slash out every bone and marrow in you for what you have done to me. You have been missing for some time now and someone will notice that I disappeared the same time you disappeared’, she shouted at him, her head doing what her hand should have done.
Once laughed and nodded, his gun raised high as he fixed his gaze on her. 'You are good. You calculate well. I see why chief can’t do without you. I would soon take your position’.
‘Shut up…’ Chioma said and rose with her hands still tied behind her as she stared dagger at him. She swallowed hard and wished she could get something to kill him.
‘To inform you before your death. It will do you good to know that I have someone who will stand as an alibi for me. According to her, I was inside her…you know what I mean now… ehen…That I was inside her at the time of your being missing’, Once said and turned, spreading his hand. He laughed when Chioma tried to come towards him. 'You are a killjoy. I was telling you a story about the dove that does not leave the person he had eaten with most of its life. So….’ Once laughed hysterically. 'You know what, I love you… You make me laugh. I mean from my heart and I love that. If I were a magician, I would have love to keep you alive to amuse me every day’.
Chioma walked to some feet away from him and spat into his face, her feet digging into the shrubs of the elephant grasses. He wiped the spit off his face, smiled, and laughed. Chioma was surprised at the way he was doing. She wondered what he was up to.
‘Back to the story of dove. Who do you think is your dove?’ He said and rolled the sweet in his mouth.
Chioma wondered who the person might be. She thought but didn’t know how the person was. She swallowed hard as she scratched her mother out of the expected dove. Although she wished to see her mother for another time, she knew it could never be her mother. Once would never get the idea of the place Chief kept her mother, and that made Chioma be at peace. At least, she would die without seeing her mother dead.
‘You don’t know… Okay let me call…’
‘Shut up! You are demented. You need to be treated for extreme madness of the head. I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you’. She screamed, her neck extended.
‘Shut up, Chioma, Shut up. You are not even dramatic, I was about to call the person holding your dove but you kept interrupting’, he said as he removed the sweet from his mouth.
Chioma sighed as her eyes darted from one part of the forest they were. The birds around sang, jolting her. She looked about the bush. Insects chirped. She wanted to remain stoic but her sense organ widened as she listened and watched out for who he was about to present. Dry leaves rolled. She became a part of the environment. Her eyes widened. She stopped breathing. Time ticked. Silence enveloped the area.
‘Okay… I call on Stone to present Chioma’s dove’
Stone, a dark heavily built assassin, dragged a blindfolded woman towards them. Dry leaves crunched. The bushes rattled. Chioma recognised who it was immediately. Her heart bled at the sight of the woman they brought. Her only hope was uprooted.
‘Mama’, Chioma cried as she moved towards her mother and fell, the dry leaves scratching her body. Once laughed heartily, clapping.
‘Aww… Real love…’ He said, 'I don’t talk and shoot or shoot and talk, you understand now…’
Chioma pleaded and cried but it fell on deaf ears.
‘Chioma… Chioma…oooo…’ Chioma mother cried and her head moved blankly from one side of the forest to another because she was blindfolded.
‘Mama…’ Chioma knelt and moved towards her mother but Stone was faster, he pushed Chioma back. She tumbled into the dry grass.
‘Okay…Okay… The end of your dove’. He said and unlatched the safe of the gun. And immediately, he shot Chioma’s mother, who fell sideways like a pile of wood. Chioma wailed. She rose to a kneeling position and moved to her.
‘Mama’, she screamed, as she tried to be there on time as though getting to her mother side would save her mother.
‘Whoa…’ Once shouted. He jumped and played around excitedly. ‘Do you know it’s been a long time, I killed…’
Chioma kept screaming as she crawled to her mother’s side. She kept crying even as
‘Okay… Okay… Let’s deal with you like the saucy idiot you are’, Once said and pulled her away from her mother, whose head was already oozing blood. He put the stick-sweet into his mouth. He dragged her to the bottom of a mahogany tree and laid her back on the floor. She screamed and tried to get up. But none of her noise, plea, and cry made Once wince for once. In fact, his smile had suddenly disappeared and had been replaced with a hideous look.
Once loosened the rope binding Chioma. She tried to get up. But Stone was already pointing a gun at her. Tears poured liberally out of her eyes. The dry sand had dirtied her cloth. The thorns in the grass scratched her. But who valued those. Her hair was mixed with a lot of sand as she rolled on the floor.
Chioma was plunged between lamenting for her dead mother and pleading for her life. She decided to do the latter and crawled to Once.
‘Please forgive me’, she cried, her mouth deformed and her hands clasped together like a praying mantis. 'Please, let me go… Let me run away from here. I will never ever return to this place in my life. I will go to the north’.
‘That’s a good idea. I will use that when I have a potential enemy but Once does not let his enemy live. I kill them and let them die finally’.
‘But Bidemi saw you… He will tell’.
‘It’s so simple. I came there to make sure you were there. And this is my story. I was angry with you, I left, and went straight to the room of my alibi, she helped me calm, and the story will be interesting. I will first be reluctant to tell them but will ask for their confidentiality and, ‘gbam’, I am not seen as a murderer. If it were the police, they might still look for clues but you know that chief’s men are grumpy and they would do a lousy job. Telling themselves they have done the best job in the world, while you will be here, dead. Ah! Rachael, I adore you. You taught me well. There must be a plan for everything’.
Chioma’s heartbeat increased pace as goose bumps rose over her. She didn’t even smell the air from the dam. She didn’t listen to the birds who were singing her last song. She wished she were Rachael, she would have known what to do, what to say, how to cross-pollinate her reactions and her words.
‘Okay…Okay…Time for talking is over’, Once declared and tied her hands to the tree. ‘And the next thing on the agenda is to…’
Kill you, she thought. Tears burst out of her eye.
‘To sleep with you… No. That sleep is too soft for my liking. I want you to experience total pain until your last breath. I want you to be injured everywhere’. Once said as he began to unzip his trouser. ‘Do you remember the words of sage Rachael. Always enjoy your work no matter how trivial’.
Chioma knew what he would say. Rachael used to say that when she was facing the animal she wanted to use as an experiment and she herself had taken it as a motto.
‘Never leave a place without placing an impression about who you are’, Once continued
‘No’, she cried. She struggled to rise, twisting her hand in the rope. But it wasn't working. She cried and screamed.
‘I told you nobody will hear you here’.
‘Once… Once… Please…Please… I’ll give you freely. With all my heart’.
‘No’, Once said, and turned to Stone.’ No be this babe dey find how I go peme? See as im dey beg. Chai… Chai... there is God ooo’.
He climbed her and bent over her as she struggled. Stone held her dangling legs with firm grips.
‘No’, she screamed.

Hmmmmm

OP tanks for the update

oh menh, everywhere rugged die

More update please. I am enjoying this story. Welldone bro.

Nice update man.

skubido:
Hmmmmm

OP tanks for the update

You're welcome baba... Do you think Once should have raped her..?

germaphobe:
oh menh, everywhere rugged die

Aswear down..

Imagindat:
More update please. I am enjoying this story. Welldone bro.

Coming. Tomorrow unfailingly..

CivilzedTyger:
Nice update man.

Thanks boss. .

Walai
you don blow @sir divepen1

Divepen1:
You're welcome baba... Do you think Once should have raped her..?

No,

crownaayam17:
Walai you don blow @sir divepen1

Thanks...

Chapter 25

Skip if you hate blood

No Coincidence
The Chain was too tight. She wondered who gave him such idea but Once tied her with chain that it was hard to float out to the surface of the water. She watched her mother's body float away. She was weak from being raped by the two men that she couldn’t plead for her life any more.
Once said he wanted to make her life miserable and he had successfully done that, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted her to pay more for hoping he would die. He wanted her to die fighting the water for her life.
Once and Stone carried her to the middle of the dam and dropped her into it. She sunk into the water. At first, the ray of the sun was beginning to give her a little light, but her fight with the water began, she couldn’t see the light anymore; in fact, she saw nothing the only thing she saw was the cold hand of death struggling with her precious breathe and she held them back within.
Rachael had trained every one of them to survive under water for ten minutes. And she had kept doing that training. Although, they lost few assassins to this training she had always come out the best in staying under the water.
As she laid under the water, she knew she had up to eight minutes to live.
She began to count time for herself as she held on to the breath. As the last breath gushed out of her lungs, she shook terribly. She fought hard but couldn’t hold the breath anymore. She was too tired and needed rest. The chain held her to the bottom so the thought of swimming up was impossible. She knew it was over. And decided that giving up was the only option, that releasing her breath, to inhale the water, was the best option.
The chain sank her into the soil, and made other insect crawl over her. Her body shook, as it demanded unavailable air. She released the breath and water rushed into her mouth and nose, choking her.
She yearned for air. She needed air but it wasn't coming. Rather, it kept itself out of her reach. She opened her mouth again, needing air desperately but it was out of her reach; instead, the water entered her mouth and choked her. She couldn’t fight it anymore. She gave up the ghost.
***
Something choked her. Chioma wanted to cough it out and she did. The choking objects were still there in her nose, lungs, and her mouth. She coughed and opened her eyes, gasping for breath. Fresh air was available in abundance. She opened her mouth to help her nose in sulking fresh air. She panted and looked at the face looking at her. It was the face of the guy that crushed over her, Mike. She knew and pretended as if she didn’t always see his eyes roaming her body. And there he was today, smiling. He sighed.
‘Oh…’ He said, as he sighed again.
She sat up, trying to avoid his touch and eyes. She panted.
‘Ehy… Stay calm. You need to relax. Don’t move’. Mike removed the sweatshirt he was putting on.
She was wet. The only clothing left on her was her pant and her top. Once had removed her bum short when he was forcing his way into her. Water dropped from her head to the grass she was sitting on. Her body itched her as the grass stuck to her body.
‘Once…’she said as her thought-flow became clear.’ Where’s Once’?
‘He’s still alive for you to kill’, Mike said as he turned and pointed to a direction. Her eyes following his navigation.
Once and Stone were tied to two trees, and they were both bleeding from their legs. Once was staring at her in disbelief.
‘How-?' She said as she turned to him.
‘I was following you. I followed you to the shed, as I used to. And I saw when he carried you away into the car and I followed you here. I couldn’t get to them until they had gone into the river to dump you. I took away all their weapons and got ready for them to come out of the river. I shot their legs because they are yours to kill’.
Chioma heart warmed and a big smile crept to her face as she saw Once wincing in pain. She looked at Mike, pulled his head nearer, and kissed him. Her heart warmed. The bushes around fell towards them as though they also wanted a taste of the kiss, as though they would like to know how it felt to receive a kiss from a lady, from Chioma.
‘Thank you... You saved my life. I’ll forever be grateful. In the meantime, do you have anything sharp item in your tool bag?’
Mike nodded as he produced a pocketknife and gave her. She smiled and held it firmly as she moved to Once. He wouldn’t talk as she came nearer and she was glad he looked horrible and terrified. She licked her lower lips.
Water dripped from her body on to the floor but wasn't audible. She needed something audible, something ear piercing.
‘You will never get the chance to sleep with any woman, in heaven and in earth’, she said as she began to unzip his trouser. He looked at her quizzically as he breathed hot air on her body. She didn’t mind being near him. She checked his pocket and saw two stick sweet. She unwrapped them.
‘Toast…To death’. She hit the two sweet-sticks against themselves and put one into Once’s mouth. He didn’t reject it as against what she expected.
‘I don’t understand. Does it make you think better?’
He smiled. She smiled too. She pulled out his penis and played with it as she opened the blade of the knife.
‘So, tell me how… How did you manage to make Bidemi’s death a suicide?’
He eyed her. She smiled as she noticed he was trying to prove strong. She loved strong people, she always overcame them. Bidemi was a subject anybody could ask. Even Chief, who was a man of focus, couldn’t help being tempted by her and if she had given him the chance, he would have fallen too.
‘A little something for you little brother’, she said as she smiled at Once’s penis. He stiffened. She licked her lower lip. And with all her strength, she began to butcher his penis.
‘Help…’ He screamed and wriggled but the rope that held him restricted his movement. ‘No…’
She wasn't bothered by the blood splashing to her face and her hand. She kept tearing the manhood from its source and when it was remaining a bit of flesh, she left it, dangling from its source.
‘Enjoy the pain’, she said as she turned to look at Mike. Mike stared at her as if she was the ghost he had been trying to hide from. He swallowed hard.
She smiled at him and blinked. She had rattled his thought and she knew how to rattle him the more, how to make him to always want to please her. She pecked him and left his side to wash her face in the dam.
Stone on the other hand kept repeating ‘hun?’ and stared blankly into the space. Once was still crying and panting in the background, his noise louder than those of the birds.
‘Gun... Please…’ She said as she returned. Though, Chief later made her his P.A, he first made Rachael train her as an assassin and she was ready to use her skills. She aimed at Once’s head.
‘Now, tell me… About Bidemi’.
‘He indeed tried committing suicide. I don’t know why. Ask Rachael…’
‘Shhh’, she said. She loved to kill him once and for all and that she did. She shot Stone also and left him stone dead.

Eberechi24:
I am suspecting myself, think am falling in love with Jerry,

Don't you dare, he's mine

RIP Once and Stone

queenitee:
Don't you dare, he's mine

Please shed little blood oo

queenitee:
RIP Once and Stone

Indeed.. We'll hold service for them and drink to their afterlife

Divepen1:
Please shed little blood oo

Merry Christmas

Ahh! What did i just read?? what a cruel way to die.
Divepen1, thanks for the update and a Merry Christmas to you!

Deeviiid:
Ahh! What did i just read??
what a cruel way to die.

Divepen1, thanks for the update and a Merry Christmas to you!

I wish you the same ooo

Thank you OP for this one. Merry Christmas man.

CivilzedTyger:
Thank you OP for this one. Merry Christmas man.

You're welcome... Wish you the same.

queenitee:

Don't you dare, he's mine

Lol, don't lemme catch you, if I will break you o. Don't say I didn't warn you o

Well done Divepen1
I still dey your back

LightQueen:
Well done Divepen1
I still dey your back

Trust ya....

Chapter 26
The Recruit
Chioma, like an empress, turned to Mike and gave him a heart-warming smile. She had killed the third best assassin in Fortune City. She would make sure she changed the opportunity every one of them got. Henceforth, she would make sure the assassins were equal and were treated so. Nobody would be better than anybody else. Nobody would have more skills than anybody else. All equality would remain even after her death. She wouldn’t leave Chief’s place. She had a new plan and would ensure it was implemented.
Bidemi’s statue would be carved into the centre of the new community Chief’s men were building. Although, the plan wasn’t in the plan Rachael wrote at first.
‘You’ll be my P.A’, she said as she turned to Mike. She placed her hand on him, dragged him nearer and sucked his lips.
What happened was tragic, all right, but Chioma and Mike couldn’t think about it because something began to come through the bush, towards them.
They separated. Chioma took aim of the spot the noise was coming from.
‘Once, the hole wey baba talk sey mey we close don dey…’ a male voice echoed in the dam as the bushes kept rumbling as if they were being stomped by an hippopotamus. The fat guy stopped at the sight of the gun pointed at him.
‘You … You are not dead….’ the guy said. His round face became void of expression as he saw Once and Stone tied to the tree, dead.
‘Yes, I’m not dead, now, get on your knee’.
‘I told them I’m not part of it ooo. I told them it’s not part of the plan…’ the short guy said. His knees dug into the sand.
‘What plan? And who are you?’ Chioma said, moving nearer,’ erm...Mike, dump those fools into the dam. Use the chain to tie them before throwing them. I don’t want the stench of their dead bodies to pollute the air. Mike left her side and started working on her orders. Her mother's body could remain there until she was in control.
‘Yes, you what’s the plan? Who are you?’
‘I’m Don’.
‘Your real name before I blow off your head’.
‘I’m Precious. I’m a recruit. My job is to make sure nobody discovers this dam’.
Chioma’s eyes hovered past the guy’s head and traced the wall, which stood at the far end of the water. The wall went round the dam and went past the bushes to a place she couldn’t see.
‘So, you are saying there is …. This is part of Chief Ajanaku’s project’.
The guy nodded.
‘Do you know me?’
The guy shook his head, his body doing the same.
‘I’m Chioma, I’m Chief’s P.A. I’ll soon be in charge and I want you to work for me’. She paused and watched his eyes widen in its socket. She smiled.
‘You … you are not killing me’.
She nodded and dropped her hand. ‘The fight was between Once and me. Now we are even. Rise up. I want you to work with and for me’, she said as she fiddled with the gun. The guy nodded.
‘Be here… I’ll send message to you on what to do next. Mike will bring a means of communication to you’.
Mike came out of the river and came towards them, his eyes fixed on the short fat guy. He was proud of himself. Chioma slowly changed her expression to conform to his, playing with his subconscious. She turned and pecked Don, whose face brightened. She turned to Mike and pecked him. The pain of the chain and the rape got to her again. She bent, shut her eyes, and allowed the pain to relieve itself.
‘Are you alright?’ Mike said.
She raised her hand and nodded.
‘Mike, meet Don. Mike, I’ll fill you in later but you are my vice in the plan I would be relaying to you on the way home'.
Mike blinked severally as he watched her turn towards the bush.
‘Where’s the way?’ She said.
‘That way’, Mike and Don said at once.
Don rushed to the path. Mike went back to pick his weapon bag and when he met her, she handed the gun to him. Then, she told him the plan, making sure Don heard her.
When they got where the fence met, she and Mike went out of a small door and proceeded through another set of bushes, from where they took Mike’s car to chief’s abode.
When they got home, Chioma told Chief what Once did to her, making sure she expressed her anger at Chief about keeping her in the dark concerning the dam.
Chief told her Once talked him into keeping the Dam and five other places from Chioma. He handed over the information concerning those places. And he told her he wouldn’t worry about Once’s death but she shouldn't have been the one to kill him. She didn't understand him and wouldn't stress herself about it.
Now, her next mission was to kill Once’s alibi, whoever she was, and she would eliminate Chief's priest and then proceed to Jessica.

Nice one, Happy Christmas divepen