ironkurtain:
I made a mistake somewhere. Already corrected. Abeg no blame me on. It's close to 12 mid night so I was almost falling asleep when I posted these updates.

ironkurtain:
I made a mistake somewhere. Already corrected. Abeg no blame me on. It's close to 12 mid night so I was almost falling asleep when I posted these updates.

ironkurtain:
Dear readers, I truly apologize for being extremely slow with this story. Since I came back, I have been just crazy busy. It's even a surprise to me that I'm even able to have time to write something. There are times that I even consider abandoning it. But I'm someone who always finishes what I've started, and I will finish this story no matter what it takes.

ironkurtain:
Dear readers, I truly apologize for being extremely slow with this story. Since I came back, I have been just crazy busy. It's even a surprise to me that I'm even able to have time to write something. There are times that I even consider abandoning it. But I'm someone who always finishes what I've started, and I will finish this story no matter what it takes.

ironkurtain:
8.30 pm.

Bronco eased his bulky frame from the sofa back-cushion to get a refill from the bottle of the St Remy brandy on the table in front of him. He poured a shot in his glass and held the bottle in front Desmond, who was sitting next to him with one leg crossed over the other.

Desmond nodded at Bronco, his approval for another shot. Bronco poured a generous amount in his glass as he continued going through his cellphone, having ended a conversation that involved their business deal that was now close to completion.

A cocaine shipment had arrived into the country just as Desmond had promised to deliver, Bronco had come up with the complete amount for the payment with more to come, and both men had used the majority of the hour they had spent together in finalizing the agreed plan on how the delivery and money would change hands. The mutual agreement of Bronco taking over Desmond's business had been reached, too, and the Colombian connect will be arriving into the country in a few days for the introductions.

Matt was also present in the living room, sitting on one of the two single-seater sofas, set on both sides of the three seat sofa that carried both Desmond and Bronco's weights. With the exception of his answers to the few questions that Desmond had asked him, he was silent throughout the conversations. He had listened attentively, and as usual, taken note of every words, mostly the ones uttered by Bronco, so as to later on give Desmond his honest opinions, especially if the man had raised a proposition that sounds unfavorable to them.

The three men have now spent over an hour in the farmhouse, and in the company of four other men from the ten heavily armed goons that Bronco had brought with him; the rest had taken their guard positions outside the house, which also served as one of Bronco's secret base of operation. And with the important matter that had brought them together now settled, they are about to move on to the next one on the list.

"Your guy seems to have a problem with keeping time," Desmond sighed with an impatient glance at his wristwatch. "Are you sure he's gonna be here?" He asked Bronco.

Bronco took a sip from his glass and muttered, "Relax, he will be here soon. You just have to wait."

"I am beginning to wait too long." Desmond then looked to Matt and gave him a questioning stare.

Matt immediately knew that his boss wanted to know; Desmond wanted to know if he had gotten any feedback from the men whom they had sent on an errand earlier in the day. To which he then gave a negative answer with a slight shake of head.

Desmond sighed again, feeling increasingly unsettled. "Are you really sure of that?" He asked again with a fixed gaze at Bronco.

Bronco suspended the glass in front of his face and regarded Desmond with a funny look. "You seem to be the one that's more concerned between the two of us," he noted with furrowed brows.

"Precautions, my friend. Not concern," Desmond corrected. "You probably know a lot about him." He paused to empty the drink in his glass with a swig. "Or should i say, think you know a lot because you are doing business with him," he continued with a sneering stare at Bronco. "But in a situation like this, any move that's been made earlier than expected, or delayed, could possibly mean something else." He shrugged. "And i don't see any contingency plan in place if that's the case," he added.

"Contingency plan, huh?" Bronco scoffed. "So all these gun stroking ugly faces with us are here to sing Christmas Carol with you," he muttered, jerking his head at his men, and regarded Desmond with a hard glare. A suppressed snigger was heard in the living room.

"Anyway, I am only advising you as a friend. You gotta handle your sh!t properly," Desmond continued. "The public display that i had seen on the news doesn't look good for you and your men," he warned. "Your rivals might see it as an opportunity to move in on your turf, and you wouldn't wanna see two or more of them joining forces with that interest in mind," he concluded.

A vast cloud of all kinds of dark emotions then settled over Bronco as he thought of his dead brother, his men that were killed last night, and the idea of him losing his turf to his enemies.

"I've already made my list," he muttered under his breath, announcing the all-out war he had declared. "Me and my men are gonna get real busy with it after the deal is done," he continued with a fiery look on his face.

At that moment, the front door then opened, and Rick was ushered into the living room by another serious looking gunman. He carried with him a big black bag, which he held onto as if his life depended on it.

"I told you that he would be here," Bronco said quietly to Desmond and reached for the bottle for another shot in his glass.

Rick stood before the men in the living room as the gunman who had brought him in, then left the place, closing the door after him. He made glances at both Demond and Bronco as they regarded him with plain stares. He shortly rested his eyes on Desmond before proceeding towards Bronco.

"My apologies for keeping the party waiting," he heaved breathlessly and set the bag next to Bronco's feet. "I wasn't expecting to meet you today, but i was able to come up with the cash," he continued and sat down heavily on the other single-seater sofa.

Bronco glanced at the bag beside him. "Is it complete?" He asked Rick.

"Sure, and more at hand if needed," Rick replied

Bronco lips turned wide with a grin of satisfaction. "You see...," he began, looking at Desmond. "That's why i like doing business with him cos he never disappoints," he continued, turning back at Rick.

"Closing this deal is also important to me as much as it is to you, Bronco," Rick said.

Bronco nodded. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "Anyway, i have a re-up for you," and he lit one for himself. "Packed and ready," he continued, the tobacco smoke slowly receding from his nostrils.

Rick regarded Bronco with raised eyebrows at what the man had said, which came as a surprise to him. "I thought you said I'll be getting my cut tomorrow," he said confusedly to Bronco

"Yes," Bronco agreed and took another drag from his cigarette. "But you had complained earlier of running low on your supply, and i wouldn't wanna see a partner lose his customers to the competition," he stated.

"How much are we talking about?"

"Twenty keys."

Rick's face then brightened up, thinking to himself the kind of luck that was coming his way today. He being able to secure a loan from a friend on a short notice to be able to come up with his own share of money for the deal, and coupled with the good news that he had received earlier from someone very dear to him, it did show that today was indeed a major win for him.

"Alright!" Rick got to his feet with an elated mood. "I'll have to leave you guys and go to work immediately," he told Bronco.

"Why the hurry?" Desmond then demanded quietly without looking at Rick.

Rick looked at Desmond. "Do you have something that you wanna discuss with me?" He coldly asked the man whose presence, to him, had always been a buzzkill.

"I was just wondering why you're such in a hurry to leave after just showing up," Desmond replied, fixing Rick a searching stare.

"Well, there is a lot of money to be made out there," Rick told him. "I've got to get busy with making mine, just as you have made yours," he continued curtly to Desmond.

Bronco quietly stubbed his cigarette in the ashtray beside the liquor bottle. He emptied his drink with a gulp and then got to his feet after leaving his glass on the table. He went towards Rick and gave him a friendly pat on the back with a superficial smile on his face.

"The package is ready." He jerked his head at the door of one of the rooms in the house. "Let me show it to you before my men give you a helping hand with it," he continued. Three of his men stepped forward and stood beside the door as he led Rick towards it.

Both of them stood in front of the door with Bronco's men standing behind them. Bronco reached for the door handle, gave Rick a brief stare, and opened it. Rick suddenly froze with his eyes turning wide as he stared into the room after Bronco had pushed the door wide open for him.

"What the Bleep is going on?!" He bawled, and a barrel of a gun was pointed at his face as he turned a glare at Bronco. Two gunmen immediately grabbed and roughly searched him for any weapon that might be in his possession while the third man held him at gunpoint.

"You can't always tell when a partner might decide to cheat you, or start having f@cked up ideas," Bronco said sinisterly at Rick as the men roughed up. "You thought i wouldn't find out what you were up to, huh?" He muttered under his breath with his eyes narrowing an evil glare.

Rick regarded Bronco confusedly as the men roughed him up. He again looked inside the room, and stared with horror in his eye, at the two young women in the place. One was lying on the floor with both her hands and legs tied together, and completely n@de. The other was also on the floor, sitting with her back against the wall, and looking disheveled. Her hands and legs were bounded too, but she was fully clothed.

Rick didn't know the second woman, but the n@de one was his girlfriend; the same woman that had served them drinks at the strip club.

The n@de woman then turned head and weakly regarded Rick with a horribly bruised face that made her look quite unrecognizable. He then made an immediate attempt to dash inside the room and toward her. But he was stopped short by Bronco's fist that swung at his face and fell him down instantly. It was then followed by more blows and kicks from Bronco's men while Bronco stood back and watched.

The second woman turned her face away from beatings, while Rick's girlfriend sobbed painfully as she watched her fiance being brutally subdued.

The blows rained down on Rick, who groaned painfully to the beatings he was taking and bleeding profusely from the bruises that the men had opened up on his face and body.

Bronco then lit himself another stick of cigarette while the beatings continued. He calmly blew clouds of tobacco smokes as he regarded Rick with no mercy in his eyes as his now former business partner remained on the floor, taking severe damage from his men.

This went on for a while before Bronco finally raised his hand at his men, signaling at them to stop. He tossed the cigarette away and then stood over Rick, who was still lying on the floor, groaning and coughing up blood.

"Now, i want you to tell me where Rangel is hiding his ass and those that are also in on this sh!t with him." Bronco made the demand as he crouched over the hurting man and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Start spitting out, or am gonna put you through great pain!" He thundered the threat.

Rick coughed a few more times. Then moaned, "I...i don't know what you are talking about," and grimaced to his great pain.

"You still have f@cking guts to lie to me, huh?! When it's very clear that your wh@re is a close friend to Rangel's b!tch!" Bronco barked at him with murderous anger. "So i wanna know who else that's innit. You better start talking... or we all gonna watch while my men do your woman.. again, and it's gonna be to her death this time," he fumed.

Rick coughed, spurting out more blood from his mouth. "I don't know what you are talking about, man!" he repeated those words with a groan.

"Well, i don't think there is any other explanation as to how the guy could have killed six men and escape unscathed," Desmond said quietly with his eyes staring at his glass. "Hell, even if this Rangel is a trained killer, that won't be possible... unless someone had told him what was about to happen," he continued and took a sip of his drink.

"And i do remember you being present on the day that i gave the orders to have him taken out," Bronco put in. "Your girl was also seen with Rangel's girl before that order was put in motion," he went on. "And my brother had also gone to where his girl works on the night he was killed."

Rick glanced at Desmond, now knowing that the man had also taken a part in the setup and shook his head.

"I have nothing to do with all this!" He cried to Bronco."You have the wrong man here! For God sake! I don't even know who Rangel is!"

"My men are never wrong," Desmond muttered. "That, i know very well."

"We have been doing business with no problem at all, and I've always made sure that it stayed that way," Rick continued painfully. "Are you gonna believe this motherfucker's word over mine?" he asked.

Bronco scoffed. "I've known the motherfucker as far back as when you were still a small time street corner hustler," Bronco replied. "And we have been doing business before you even earned that corner," he added.

"But why the hell would i even wanna do such thing to you? Why would i still be in business with you if am also in this setup?"

"I do have a lot of people that I'm doing business with, and some of them are also out to do unpleasant things to me if they get that chance."

Bronco then let go of Rick's shirt. "But I'm gonna get all of them in due time, just like I've done with you," he coldly muttered, glaring at Rick.

Rick then took another glance at his girlfriend. "Bronco please, just let her go," he begged and looked at Bronco. "You have done enough damage to her. Just take my money, take my joints and spots, take everything and let us go," he pleaded.

Desmond snorted. "Dude's stupidly in love," he muttered quietly and looked at Matt who also was watching in silence.

Bronco scoffed. "And why should i do that?" He asked.

"She is...carrying my baby, man," Rick whined. "I promise we will get out of town and never to come back if you let us go. Please!" he begged.

Bronco then gave the nude woman in the room, a short gaze, and slowly straightened up with his eyes turning back at Rick. "Okay," he muttered. He looked at the men standing next to him. "Hold him still," he ordered, and they immediately did so while he proceeded into the room. "And i want you to make him watch," he told them.

Bronco got hold of Rick's girlfriend by her hair and callously dragged the woman out of the room with her putting up a weak resistance. He stopped several feet away from Rick and let-go of her.

"Anyway, congratulations for the new baby on the way." Bronco quickly rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and then swung a vicious kick at the woman. He drove the blow into woman's tummy with enough force to spin her body and leave her lying on her back.

"No!!" Rick screamed as the men held him down with his head pressed against the floor and forcefully made him to face his girlfriend as Bronco proceeded to get on top of her, balling his big fists, and started bringing it down savagely on the woman's face.

The beatings echoed in the living room with Rick's screams drowning some as Bronco violently pounded her face and neck with reckless abandon. It went on continuously until the woman's fingers ceased trembling to the blows, indicating her now being lifeless.

Then Bronco exhaled and got off from the dead body as Rick wept profusely. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he straightened up and looked at Rick with a smile of satisfaction for what he had done.

"It's good doing business with you," he muttered at Rick and pulled out his handgun from his waistbelt. "Give my regards to your woman and the baby." Three gunshots rang out, and Rick was dead on the floor with blood leaking out from the ugly holes in his head.

Then Bronco turned his attention towards the second woman who had been sobbing uncontrollably throughout the ordeal. He regarded her briefly with a wicked glare and quietly tucked the handgun back in his waistbelt.

"Get rid of these bodies," he told his men. "Make sure they are left in the place were others would see them," he added. "And close that f@cking door before i start having a change of mind on what i intend to do to that dog faced b!tch in there." he pointed at the second woman in the bedroom.

He picked up the bag of money his men carried the body of the man that had brought to their presence with that of his dead girl to dispose them. He quietly set it next to Desmond on the sofa, with an unblinking stare that seriously warned of being the person not to be trifled with.

"That's the ten percent down payment," he said. "You will get the rest when you make the delivery. If you don't, you will be owing me two million dollars, and with added interest to every delay," he warned.

Desmond pursed his and nodded with a faint smile on his face. Glancing at Matt, who was now answering a phone call with a low tone of voice, he then to his feet and extended his hand at Bronco.

Bronco plainly stared at the hand in front him, shook it, and then turned to make his way out of the living-room.

"So, what do you intend to do to her," Desmond asked, jerked his head at the door of the where the second woman was being held hostage.

"I have something very special prepared for her", Bronco muttered as he reached for the handle of the door leading to the corridor. "But first, i intend to collect the money that her boyfriend had taken from me."

"And if he doesn't have it?"

"Then, the motherfucker should be prepared for the trips around town cos he will be going to a lot of places to pick up pieces of her."

Desmond chuckled as Bronco walked out of the living-room and turned his attention to Matt, who now standing next to him with his cellphone in hand.
"Boss, i think we have a problem." He then heard.


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