₦airaland Forum

"Lawrence, stop." She said to the boy, placing her arm on his gun. She shifted the turban off her head and made a long sign. She packed her hair into a pony tail with a rubber band from her wrist.

"I have heard these rumours about robbers using bullet proof charms. This is the first time I'm actually seeing it in action. I dont know what you want or what you think you know, and i dont care what charms you have on. I cant allow you live here alive." That was the first time she would talk . I never got to hear her first words. I felt a pinch of sadness hearing those words. This was not the life I had planed for her.

She spoke so confidently, and with no doubt , she meant what she said.

"I'm here to help you, Ben. Thats what they call you right?" I tried to catch my own voice back.

She threw her turban at me, ensuring my vision was blocked and made a few rounds of shots. But that was a decoy as charged at me with a knife .It happened to quickly and I was so distracted by the turban that I did not notice when she had slipped out a knife. But all her ingenuity was cut short as I saw her up in the air trying to fight for breathe .

Rita had caught her by the neck and was choking her. Her legs were dangling in the air and the little boy was mortified by the invisible thing that held Ben above the ground.

"I would say this just one more time. I'm here to help you. " i allowed Rita hold her up for a little while longer so that the message would get across.

"Thats enough Rita ". I said softly with a wave of the hand. " and you , let me have the gun." I instructed the boy. I wondered what kind of person the boy might eventually become. What would may be of the trigger happy boy.

So cold and blood thirsty .he carried a look of very harmless normal boy. I gathered he was a member of the gang also . That was exactly how Humble Ben liked her things done. Gang member never appearing harmful in anyway.

One of her gang members happened to have been an accountant working in the most reputable law firm in the city. The firm represented clients equally as reputable as themselves and he served as the gangs biggest informant . He went by the name Alice.

Alice was named by his father after his mother as she had died giving birth to him. His father had remarried a way younger replacement when Alice was barely a year old. Calling her 'way younger ' is just a subtle way of saying she was underaged , and that was how His father had described her to his friends and business associates. Alice's father was a very wealthy accountant , and his wealth grew with his sadistic and violent nature. And with a nature like that, he had an underaged wife to take it out on.

His new wife knew nothing about taking care of a child and took out her frustration on Alice. Alice lived all his life agony and lack of motherly care .The only thing that brought him joy was stealing. He had an eye for seeing through peoples vulnerabilities and taking their belongings . It was the only way he felt good about himself. Taking peoples most beloved possessions from them. Watching his victim mourn over the loss of what what had now become his. It had started when he was seven. He had stolen his step mothers necklace . She cried for days over it , and it made Alice feel so good . One day when he was sixteen years old, as his usual routine ; he had snuck home from boarding school and stolen some money from his father and returned to school the same day undetected .His father thought his step mother had stolen from him and beat her with a stick to death.

Alice had heard about the rumours surrounding his step mothers death. He hated himself for what he had done, he hated his father more , he hated the fact that his father got away with the crime, and from there his hatred for the rich waxed . Alice was a very emotionally unstable guy, but managed to put it all together in public with his good looks, pristine appearance and eloquent speaking.

For a fact, Alice had no reason to be in the gang. The gang was another way for him to get high. He came from affluence and as much as he had emotional instability , he was animus to violence, and he was the weakest in the gang. Perhaps he hated everything his father was. But Alice , like every gang member had something they brought to the gang and like every member of the gang , they were masters of their craft.

"Alice , your gang member; he has given you all up to the police. They have all the other members by now, and they would soon be here for you. They got a forged message from you to meet..." I paused and poured my self another glass of wine. "They fought well. You know the inspector general has been on ..."

"Are they dead?" Ben asked as she tried to stand. Her face had started to take to emotions. Her eyes burned in fury and confusion . She rubbed her palm hand across her face. And swiftly turned to me.

"Who , and what are you?"

"I am here to help. Call me Ink, and grab your things and lets get moving."

"Damn Alice, I would kill him . I will kill that bastard. I would drown him in his own blood." She kept muttering in low tone.

" He has giving too much information to the police. Just get your pictures and leave every other thing ."

"Why would Alice betray me." She whispered under her breathe and stood looking confused . Betrayal gets to us all. I notice she had said 'me', making reference to her self and not the gang. There had to be more to their relationship than gang membership.

"What do you want from me? Why are you helping me?"

"Do you want to live? "

"Lawrence , get the emergency bag. You know how we practiced." She instructed Lawrence without taking her eyes off me. "I would leave, but not with you until you give me something. What are you? Why are you helping me? "

I never considered her leaving but not leaving with me. Just as stubborn as her mother. " I knew Sister May... From the home..."

Lawrence was back with a small travel bag. She stared at me for almost a minute. "I need to make a call." She said before entering one of the rooms. I remembered seeing a land line telephone in her room. Rita had followed her into the room unaware to Ben as she still could not see Rita. They both walked out the room in about a minute. "There is one more member of the gang who is very much alive and well." Rita whispered to my ears at a frequency only I could hear.

" The police probably know my vehicle. I take it you came with one." Ben said , taking inventory of her guns in the bag.

I had a lot to think about. Questions i needed answers to. I kept her in the care of the monastery. How does my blood line keep finding its way back to violence ? At least she wasn't an assassin. At least armed robbery is better . Is it? What was I even saying? Who knows how many she has killed ? She is just 21, and she is the leader of the most dangerous robbery gang in the nation. If I find sister May, I would put a bullet in her head. I wish I had time to find that one. I shifted my mind to the faceless gang member. The one Ben spoke with on the phone. At least , I knew one thing for sure, before the end of the day , I would get to the bottom of it all.

We drove out of the apartment just an hour before the police had arrived . They met a flat that had been burnt to the ground.

I left Rita behind with three
assignments. The first was to set the building on fire, the second was to find the other gang member Ben had put a call through to, and the other was to get Alice and bring him to my mansion.