I appreciate all the comments i have gotten so far. I was too busy to even view my posts and updates.

Nina smiled after the line clicked and tucked her cellphone inside her pocket. She glanced around the spacious living room and looked at the bodies of the five thugs she had gunned down. They were lying all over the place in the pool of their own blood. Four were dead with ugly holes in their head, and body riddled with bullet holes. One was still moving weakly. And bleeding heavily from the holes in his chest with his knees and thighs nothing but a bloody and shredded mess.

Nina stood over the gravely wounded man and stared at him as he made a futile attempt to crawl away from the carnage in the living room. Then a cellphone started vibrating. Nina cocked her ears as she followed the sound of the vibration. And noticed that it was coming out from one of the wounded man's pockets. Bending over the man, she searched his pocket and took out his cellphone that was still vibrating an incoming call. She checked the number and smirked.

And pressed the answer button.


"Hello?, i want you to take the boys to the bedroom......", Gus began immediately when the call he made was answered.

"That was very rude of you to abruptly end our conversation".

Gus heard Nina's voice and froze with his mouth wide open. Lucas saw the expression on his face and knew that something was wrong. Something terrible was definitely wrong.

"Quite a nice house you got here", Nina's voice continued. "I hope you will forgive me for the bloody mess my unannounced visit had caused in your place. Anyway, back to the conversation we were having before you rudely cut it short. I didnt say i wanted to back out of the deal, what i was saying is i didnt like your new way of conducting it. So let's just do it your regular way,......the greater violent way".

"You f@cking b!tch!", Gus fumed. "I'm gonna find you and f@cking rip your head off with my barehards!", he barked. The other men in the SUV glanced at Gus surprisingly.

"Well we have already found you", Nina could be heard laughing. "I think one of my boys is already there......".

Then a motorbike grinded to a halt beside the SUV. The the rider who wore a helmet, waved at the occupants of the vehicle and got their attentions, including that of Gus. Then he dipped his hand inside the black polyethylene bag he was carrying and brought out something; a severed human head. The head of Bones, Gus' enforcer. The bike rider waved the head at them as Gus, Lucas and the other men stared with horror. Then he tossed the severed head at them and it landed on the hood of their SUV, staining it with blood, before rolling to the ground.

"........and his new order is to rip your own head off with his barehands", Nina continued and laughed.

"Get him!!", Gus bawled and pointed at the biker who screeched the tire of his bike and took off. The driver immediately hit the gas pedal to give the bike a hot pursuit while the man beside him pulled out a sub machine gun tucked under his black jacket and cocked the weapon. "Alert all the men!", Gus barked another order at the man in the front seat and the man speedily took out his cellphone to do so.



**********************************************************

The thugs in the living room continued playing their card game and oblivious of what happened in the bedroom. One of the men muttered a curse and dropped his cards beside the guns they left on the table while the others laughed out loud. He sighed looked up. And saw one of the men who was suppose to be guarding the hostages in the bedroom, descending the stairs slowly with his hands raised up.

"What the hell.....", the thug muttered when he saw the blood on the man's face and the rest turned their attention to the stairs.

Suddenly, a loud gunshot rented the air and the chest of the man descending down the stairs got ripped open. The gunfire startled the thugs and they watched as the man's body rolled down the stairs to the living room. Then they made a quick move to grab their weapons.

"Nobody move!".

The thugs paused with their hands over their weapons and saw a woman holding a pair of desert eagles on both hands. They glanced at each other with a surprised look on their faces and then stared at the woman keenly with their hands a few inches away from their guns.

Nina stared at the men with the hand canons pointing in their direction. She remained like that for a short while and then slowly lowered the weapons to her side.

"I'm gonna play it fair with you boys", she then said to them. "So go ahead......go for your guns", she dared them.

Immediately, the men reached for their guns, diving at it and almost falling over each other in the process. Nina raised the desert eagles and stroked the triggers with their muzzles pointed at the men.

The first guy that got hold of his weapon had half of his brains blown across the room before he could even swing the automatic sub-machine gun at Nina. The second guy only succeeded in swinging his weapon in her direction before the slugs ripped holes in his chest and tore out a chunk of flesh from his neck.

Nina docked down and moved her body, almost in an acrobatic way to dodge the slugs that were sent flying in her direction by the chatterings of the SMGs and pistols when the thugs replied. The huricane of bullets drilled holes into the wall behind her and tore out chunks of dirts from it. Nina smiled at the way the men shot at her as she docked and dodged. One was shooting as if his was having a fit.

Then Nina made one of her moves again, swung the clappers at the men as they took cover. She unleashed a hail of gunfire and put bullets in flight. And none of them went stray. They all hit their intended targets; the thugs. Killing them instantly......or taking out limbs before the next incoming slug finished the job.


The last shot rang out and Titus smiled after a somewhat long silence. He knew that it was done, that Nina had killed them all. He smiled again and took another drag from the cigarette he held loosely inbetween his fingers. He exhaled the smoke out of his lungs after holding it for a few seconds and looked at the two dead men lying beside his white van; the men he killed after the first shot rang out.

The big men who were watching and somehow, sizing him up as he 'waited for his co worker', got startled by the wild gunfight that started inside the mansion. They reached for their weapons as they made their move towards the building. And Titus also made his own move that left them lying on the ground, very dead. One with a snapped neck bone and the other with a hole in his skull, caused by the bullet Titus fired from his colleague's handgun.

Titus stubbed the cigarette and exhaled the last smoke out of his lungs as he strode towards the gate to open it for Chris.


**********************************************************

Gus smirked as he listened to Lucas rants and reached for his cellphone that vibrated. He glanced at the number and recognized it. And pressed the Answer button.

"Just have my printing plates ready, we are on our way", Gus said to the phone mouthpiece.

"I called to tell you that there is a change of plan", Nina's voice said.

"What?", Gus furrowed his eyebrows.

"There is a change of plan", Nina repeated.

"Well....i'm the one incharge here, so you are in no position to make any f@cking changes in the plan", Gus chuckled and glanced at Lucas. Then he moved his weight abit and asked, "By the way, what sort of change do you intend to make?".

"I think i gonna pass on this meeting between you and i", Nina replied.

"Why if i may ask?", Gus demanded.

"Well....lets just say it seems kind of strange....kind of too peaceful", Nina replied. "Especially for a man like you who uses violence.......excessive violence to settle disputes. That's why i'm calling it off",

"Hm....i see", Gus muttered and glanced at Lucas again. "You made a good observation. But you failed to mention that i use greater violence on anyone who decides to go back on any deal with me", he said with a chuckle. "So this is what am gonna do, i will make your friend, Vincent, hear the sound his wife makes when she is being f@cked by another man.....or even group of men. Then i will tell them to chop off the first two cute little fingers of his beloved daughter. And the rest will follow, one for every twenty minutes you keep me waiting....i hope you got that?", Gus concluded with anger in his tone of voice and ended the phone conversation.

Lucas sneered and shook his head. "You are one sick f@ck", he muttered and looked at Gus.

Gus ignored him with a scowl on his face and started dialling a number. "Call Bones....tell him there is a change of plans", he ordered the man sitting in the front passenger seat and the man immediately took out his cellphone. "And he should bring that bastard to the warehouse because that's where we are going now".

Eric ducked the punch and hit the big man with a hard punch to the guts. Bones groaned and Eric redirected the fist and rattled Bones teeth with an uppercut. And threw several punches that rocked the man hard. Bones grabbed Eric and hit him squarely on the face with a head-butt. Then he put Eric in a bear hug, lifted him off the ground and violently propelled him to the bathroom stall.

Eric's body almost knocked the stall door out of its hinges as he crashed into the place. Before he could recover from the landing that stunned him, Bones was already on top of Eric with his big hands wrapped around his neck. A brief struggle between the men ensued with Bones pushing Eric against the ceramic toilet seat and throwing some punches, while Eric blocked most of it and replied with harder punches. Then Eric reached for the toilet ceramic cover. Bones made a move to defend himself but the ceramic cover broke into two when it impacted his head and busted it open. Eric hit him on the face with what was left of the ceramic cover and sent the big man tumbling out of the stall with a hard kick to the guts.

Then Eric stepped out of the stall and glared at Bones with a murderous stare as the big man got up. Bones wiped off the blood that was flowing down from his head and covering his face. He rushed at Eric and threw a wild punch. Eric ducked, planted a foot to the ground and swung powerful right fist.

Vincent stared with his mouth open after seeing Eric's punch knock Bones off his feet and to the ground, like someone who got hit by a massive sledgehammer. He saw Bones facial expression as he tried to get up and knew that the big man was wondering what hit him.

Then Vincent watched as Eric approached Bones menacingly, like someone who just got possessed by something very evil. Bones managed to shake off the thunderclap he took and got up. He balled his fists and went on the attack........and Vincent watched as Bones' bones got snapped and cracked by every blow delivered by Eric's fist. And soon Bones was lying on the floor and having his teeth bashed into his mouth after his right chin bone had been caved in.

Then Eric went over to his jacket and pulled out a matchete from it. He came back and stood over Bones who was groaning with his face totally destroyed.

"Wait!", Vincent barked out as Eric raised the weapon to finish the job". "He is mine", he continued and got up.

Then Vincent came over and Eric handed the matchete to him. Then he proceeded to drag Bones body into one of the toilet stall while Vincent felt the sharp edge of the matchete with a murderous look on his face, thinking about what Bones did to Abigail. And he entered the toilet stall after Eric stepped out of it to finish off the man that nearly raped his wife.



**********************************************************

Eric maintained the distance between him and car till it stop in the parking lot of a medium sized mart standing beside the road. Eric stopped. And waited until the huge man who got out of the car, entered the building. Then he parked the bike a few metres away and headed towards the car. He could see the two sturdy men, glancing around and discussing.


Vincent opened his eyes and noticed that the car wasn't moving after what seemed like hours of being driven in a car trunk. Perhaps this is it, he thought as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness in the trunk. This is the end of the road for him because he knew very well that Gus will still kill him, deal or no deal.

Then Vincent heard the door of the car open and slam close almost immediately. Suddenly the car jolted with a enough force to move his body. It continued jolting for a few seconds and then stopped. Vincent remained still and listened. His heart was racing and beads of sweats formed on his forehead.

After few more seconds of silence, the lid of the car trunk opened. Vincent squinted his eyes to the sunlight that hit his face and turned his head away. Then a strong hand grabbed him and pulled him out of the trunk of the car.

"I guess we are even now".

Vincent recognized the voice and smiled as he opened his eyes. "Yeah we are even", he said and looked at Eric as he cut the ropes used to tie his arm and legs.

"Your wife and daugher are also safe", Eric added.

Then Vincent immediately checked the car after he was cut loose and saw two mutilated dead men in it. "Where is he?, where is Bones?", he asked Eric eagerly.

"The big dude?, he went inside the mart", Eric replied. "I have to go.....".

"No!......", Vincent interrupted Eric and held him back as he made a move towards the mart building. "That f@cker is mine....gimme your gun", he demanded.

Eric pulled out his handgun from his waist-belt and handed it to Vincent. "Are you sure you can handle him?", he asked.

Vincent grabbed the weapon without saying a word or responding to that question and headed towards the building in quick strides. Eric stared at the man as he entered the place and sighed.

Vincent pushed the door open and wildly glanced around the mart as he stepped inside place. He remembered he was carrying a gun openly and immediately concealed it under his shirt as he moved around the mart, checking the sections. Then he came to the building materials section and saw the Bones.

Vincent immediately docked behind the counter and watched Bones as he inspected a shovel. Staring at the big man and remembering what he did to him and his wife made Vincent to slowly pull out the handgun and cocked back the hammer.

Bones paused and suspiciously looked behind and around him. Seeing nothing but a few customers checking the goods displayed on the counter, he turned and started heading towards the male restroom. Vincent came out from where he was hiding and quietly followed Bones with the pistol hidden under his shirt.

When Bones entered the restroom, Vincent glanced around to make sure no one was watching and then headed towards the restroom in quick strides with a determined look on his face and tightened his grip on the handgun. He opened the door angrily and something hit him. It was that same calcified knuckles that tortured him in Gus place and it hit him squarely in the face and dazed him.

Bones knocked the handgun out of Vincents grip and threw another punched that sent Vincent flying some feet away from where the blow impacted him. Bones kicked the gun away and took off his jacket.

"I would rather enjoy beating you to death than waste my time asking you how you escaped", Bones said and menacingly approached Vincent who was on the floor.

"Hey!......King Kong!".

Bones turned around and saw another man standing near the door. Vincent saw who it was and heaved a deep sigh of relief as he felt his jaw.

"Thank God you came here man", he muttered to Eric as he continued feeling the hurting jaw.

"Why dont you pick on someone your size", Eric said and took off his own jacket.

"Who the f@ck are you?", Bones asked and pointed at Eric.

"You know those scary monsters that gives us sleepless nights because we think they are under our bed?", Vincent began with a chuckle. "Well......say hello to the man that gives those monsters sleepless nights".

"Oh really?", Bones glanced at Eric from head to toe and balled his big fists. "Well i use to f@ck men like you in prison....and i'm in the mood for that".

"Well you better hurry up before you miss the opportunity", Eric balled his own fist.

Both men rushed at each other and Bones swung first.

"Bones, have any of the under bosses called Vincent's cellphone", Gus' voice came out from the earpiece of the cellphone.

"Yes sir", the hefty man sitting at the back of the sedan replied.

His name is Bones. He is Gus toughest enforcer and the man that tortured Vincent earlier in Gus' mansion.

"How many of them?", Gus demanded.

"All of them sir", Bones answered in his scary hoarse voice. "And from the text messages they sent, it seems they all took part in Vincent's plan".

"Good.....keep an eye out for anything funny and wait for my next order", Gus said and the line click.

Bones big hands slided his cellphone back into his pocket and he stared at the scenery that flashed by as their car followed the convoy. Then a smirk formed on his face as he moved his big body on his seat. He was thinking of how close he was to having a good time with the beautiful wife of the man tied up in their car trunk. Just one push and he would have been inside the woman. And he would have f@cked her into the ground because she got a nice body and behind.

Bones sighed and reached for his cellphone that interrupted his thoughts with a vibration. He saw it was a text message with Gus' cellphone number. He read the message and looked at the driver who was having a quiet conversation with the man in the front passenger seat.

"The boss wants us to take the man somewhere else", Bones said to the driver and put his cellphone back to its former position.

"Where?", the driver asked and glanced at Bones through the rearview mirror.

"To the field......The boss want him buried alive", Bones replied. "Do we have any shovel in the trunk?", he asked.

"Nope.....we have to make a stop at the shop or gas station to get one", the man in the passenger seat said.

Then the driver redirected vehicle away from the convoy to another road. He hit the gas pedal and powered the vehicle ahead. But they didnt notice the bike that followed suit.

**********************************************************

The big gate slided open and two grim-faced men came out. One stood infront of the van with one hand tucked inside the black jacket he wore while the other went over to the driver's door. He took a careful glance around the interior of the vehicle and stared at the two occupants, a man and a woman. And both of them wore a blue overall uniform with a face cap

"Good day sir", the man who was driver of the van began. "We are here for the monthly gas check up".

"Today?", the man asked.

"Yes sir", the woman sitting beside the driver replied politely and brought out a clipboard. "We are here to do the monthly check ups....", she said and looked at the paper in clipboard. "And also change the gas valve, incase of any gas leak".

"Well, there is no smell of gas here", the man said.

"Sir you wont notice it and it could become a highly explosive situation with time", the woman smiled. "Do you really want that to happen?", she asked.

The man stared at the woman for a while with an expressionless look on his face. Then he turned to the other man and nodded at him. The other man quietly stepped aside and the driver said a "thank you" and drove the van into the compound of Gus' mansion.

"There seems to be many of them", Titus said as he brought the van to a halt and killed the engine.

"Ten of them", Nina said.

"Ten?.....it's like you will be needing more than being driven into this place", he muttered. He surveyed the place and looked at Nina. "Why dont you let me give you a hand".

"Dont worry, i can handle all of them", Nina replied and reached for the duffle bag in the back of the van.

"Three of them are outside. So the rest are inside the house, probably in different rooms", Titus said and made another quick survey. "I dont really know what's the plan is, but i think i have to watch the ones outside so as to take them out in case they get suspicious", he suggested.

"Okay then, only act if they get suspicious", Nina muttered and felt the desert eagle pistols concealed in her overall. "This business is f@cking personal, so i want to be the one to send each and every one of these f@ckers to hell", she continued and opened the door of the van.

As the both of them got down from the van with Nina carrying the bag. Two men walked up to them.

"We will have to accompany the both of you", one of the men said.

Nina and Titus glanced at each other and shrugged. Then one man motioned at Titus and followed him to gas pipes outside the back of the building while the other man followed Nina to the kitchen.


Chris parked the car gently and glanced around the high class neighborhood, marvelling at the opulent looking mansions that were surrounded with a high walled fence. After briefly enjoying the views, he opened the lid of his laptop after winding up the car tinted glasses and put on his Bluetooth device. He rubbed his palms together and switched on the car air conditioner. Then he pressed a button in his laptop.

"Guys, you are now on a live broadcast", he began with a smile as he stared at the windows on the screen of his laptop. "And the day seems very bright with conditions good enough for the insanity that is about to go down.....so i want you guys to say 'copy' if you can hear me".

"Copy", Suzanne and Alex said as Suzanne worked the woodgrained steering wheel of the Range Rover, while Alex stared outside through the glass of the door with his finger on the trigger of the automatic assault rifle.

"Copy", Eric said and revved the engine of the bike as he followed the Range Rover.

"Copy", Nina muttered inaudibly as she followed the man to the into the mansion.

"Alright.....the sound is clear as water", Chris continued and worked his fingers on laptop keyboard. "And i have clear visuals of the activities going on in the mansion and the movements of the convoy.....so Eric, what's the plan?", he asked.

"First, we have to rescue Vincent and his family", Eric replied as he raced the powerbike to keep up with the Range Rover. "It has to be done simultaneously and carried out without the knowledge of Gus and the men riding in the van and SUVs", he continued. "Mother, what's your situation in the house?", he asked Nina.

"Getting some help.....and being followed to the kitchen", Nina muttered quietly as they crossed the spacious living room, heading to the corridor that led to the kitchen. The man following her cocked his ears and then stared at her suspiciously. Nina looked at him with a smile. She said, "My boyfriend is calling", and pointed at the Bluetooth device.

"What does she mean by getting some help", Eric asked.

"A bone breaking man who probably works part-time in the gas company, helped her to gain entrance into the mansion", Chris replied.

"Titus i guess", Alex smirked.

"Anyway how far are we from the convoy?", Eric asked and hit the brakes as he approached the redlight on the less busy street.

"They just made a turn and heading your way", Chris replied. "You will be seeing them in......three.....two.....one....".

Suzanne looked ahead and saw the five car convoy coming out from the adjacent road and making a left turn.

"There they are", she said to Alex.

Alex sighted the convoy and saw the SUVs rolling in the front with the sedan in middle and the van at the back. "The sedan is riding inbetween the SUVs and the van that is probably filled with armed men", he noted. "So how are we gonna rescue the man from the trunk?", he asked.

"We have to find a way to divert the car away", Eric replied. He too saw the convoy carrying Gus and Lucas. And was waiting eagerly for the traffic light to flash the go-ahead.

"Why dont we just roll up beside Gus' ride and shoot that nigga dead in his sh!t, him and his friend Lucas", Suzanne suggested and hit the gas pedal after the greenlight flashed. "Then in the ensuing confusion, we rescue Vincent".

"I dont think so", Alex differed. "Gus is riding in Lucas car and Lucas car is bulletproof and amoured plated. Besides, Gus and Lucas men will be sending hundreds of slugs flying at us in the ensuing gunfight. So how are we gonna rescue Vincent?".

"Eric, any idea?", Nina asked with a whisper as the man followed her into the kitchen that was sparkling clean with all the utensils well arranged. "You better hurry because i wont be fixing the gas pipe all day. "And neither do i know how to fix a gas pipe nor am i carrying the equipments. "So you better do something and do it fast".

Then the big man following Nina grabbed her by her shoulder and halted her in the process. He stood infront of her and stared at her for a short while. And then looked at the bag she was carrying with alot of interest.


"Wait.....", Chris looked at the window that just appeared on his laptop screen. "Gus is now making a phone call......", then he worked his fingers on the keyboard. ".....the cellphone he is calling now is in one of the convoys, the sedan car".

Eric thought for a while as he revved the engine of the bike to close the gap between him and van. "Chris, can you get me connected so i can hear their conversations?", he asked.

"Of course....infact i'm on it now", Chris replied.

"Guys....i think we have a slight problem", Eric heard Nina say.

"What?", Eric demanded.


Nina cleaned the bloodstained serrated blade on the dead big man's shirt and tucked it back into its sheath. She looked at the man who laid motionless on the floor. Blood was still gushing out from the nasty knife cut that opened up the arteries in his neck. And his eyes still has the look of desperation he had while trying to survive what hit him before giving up the ghost.

"What is it?".

Nina heard Eric's question again and straightened up. "One of the guys got too nosy", she began and picked up the bag. "So i had to take him out", then she quietly paced to the door leading to the corridor and opened it. "You guys better act fast before they notice what happened to their colleague. I think Vincent's wife and kid are being held in one of the room here".

"Okay mother. Now i want you to go find where they are being held, and try not to engage the men until i tell you to do so", Eric said.

"But what if they start looking for their man....or even find his dead body", Nina asked and glanced at the dead man.

"Just dont let it happen", Eric replied with a firm voice.

"Okay....i will try", Nina sighed. But she knew that it wasn't possible as long as she was concerned. "Chris, i think will be needing your good eyes", she then said to Chris.

"What do you want?", Chris asked as he enabled Eric to listen to the phone conversation between Gus and one of his men.

"I wanna know the men's positions", Nina said as she quietly opened the door leading to the corridor to check for any activity.

Chris tapped a button on the keyboard and glanced at the screen several times as he did so. "Two men are outside the house with Titus, five men are in the living room playing a card game and one man is dead for sure", he stated. "So that leaves two men unaccounted for", he added.

"They are probably in one of the rooms, guarding Vincent's wife and kid", Nina said as she tip-toed through the brightly lit corridor. "I have to get past those men in the living room so as to go to the bedrooms upstairs. And i have to do it without them seeing me. So do you have any trick up your digital sleeves?", she asked Chris.

Chris paused for a while with his fingers over the keyboard. Then he smiled and started working his fingers on the buttons.

"I think i know how", he muttered as he typed. "Where are you now?", he asked.

"At the door, watching them", Nina replied in a low tone as she peered into the living room through the slightly opened door.

"Okay...i'm gonna hack into the house alarm system and set it off to divert their attention", Chris worked his fingers on the keyboard and several windows popped up in his laptop screen. "It gonna be brief.......so get ready to make your move........now!", he clicked the enter button.

The alarm system at the door leading to the balcony started blaring. It made the thugs who were sitting around the living room center table and playing a card game to turn their attention to it. As they stared at it and wondering what was the problem, Nina immediately sneaked into the living room, ascended the stairs and made it to the corridor upstairs before the alarm stopped, prompting the men to shrug and continue their card game.

Nina glanced around the corridor and at the doors to the bedrooms. She tip-toed to the first door and turned its handle. Seeing that it was locked, she pressed her ears against the door to listen for any sound and decided that it was empty after hearing none. Then she paced to the second door and cautiously reached for the handle.

The door suddenly opened and the man walking out of the room bumped into Nina. Both of them stared at each other for a moment before the man hands reached for Nina's neck. Nina blocked the attempt with one hand and the other hand stunned the man with a straight punch to the face. From the corner of her eyes, Nina could see another man in the bedroom, standing near a woman holding a little girl.

Nina dazed the man and sent him tumbling backwards into the room with a hard kick to the guts. She reached for her sheathed serrated blades as the second man went for the weapon tucked in his waist belt. Nina pulled the first one and sent it flying towards the second guy. The blade found its intended target and nailed the man's adventurous hand to his belly. The man groaned and tried to make use of the other hand. But it was only a futile attempt because Nina had propelled herself towards him with the second knife in her hand.

Abigail held her daughter tight and covered the little girl's eyes when Nina opened up the second man's guts with multiple quick stabs. She watched as the woman yanked out the man's handgun from his waist belt and threw it at the first man who was getting up. With pinpoint accuracy, the handgun found the man's face and knocked him out. Then Nina redirected the serrated blades of the knife to the second man's throat and opened up his arteries.

Abigail covered her mouth and looked away as Nina got up and left the second man with a fountain of blood coming out of his slitted throat.

"Are you okay?", Nina asked Abigail.

Abigail nodded fearfully and wrapped her arms around her daughter who was trying to see the new face in the room.

"Good", Nina smiled and hid the knife from the little girl's sight. "Now i want you to remain quiet. No matter what happens downstairs, i want you to remain still with your little girl", she said to Abigail and she nodded again.

Then Nina went over to first man who was moving on the floor and muttered, "I have found them", to her bluetooth device.

"Good", Eric's voice said.


**********************************************************

A white van passed the Genesis and halted a few metres away from the sedan. Nina unbuckled her seatbelt and flashed the headlamps three times. Chris, who had been silent throughout their journey to the high class residential estate, was tempted to ask Nina what was going on. But he decided against it and remained mute.

"So...aren't you gonna say something?", Nina asked Chris as they both of them watched the van make a slow reverse.

"You gave a strict 'no talking' order and i dont want to suffer the consequences of disobeying it", Chris replied.

Nina smirked. "My sons disobey my orders alot of times and nothing happened to them", she said and looked at Chris.

"Well i'm not your son....and i still have no intention of disobeying the order", Chris muttered. "Especially if it is being given by the mother of the guys that spent the entire week killing a gang of murderers at a record pace", he sighed.

Nina smirked again and set her eyes on the man who got out of the van. He carefully glanced around the area and started walking towards their car. He was of average height with a sturdy built frame. He wore a blue uniform with the logo of the country's national gas company that was also painted on the van.

"Who is he?", Chris asked.

"A friend.....and also my enforcer", Nina replied. "And he is very very talented in the art of breaking bones", she looked at Chris and winded the window down as the man approached the car.

"Thanks for the warning", Chris said.

The man came over and stood beside the driver's door. "Hello big mama", he began and peered into the car.

"Hi Titus, how are you doing?", Nina said to the man with a smile and took off the dark shades.

"Enjoying my day off till you called me". The man looked at Nina's bandaged arm. "They did that to you?", he asked.

Nina nodded and said, "battlefield scars".

The man nodded several times with some anger in his eyes. "So is it true?.......that you are no longer in The Family?", he asked

"You heard it right".

The man pursed his lips and lowered his eyes with a thoughful look on his face. Then he turned his eyes to Chris who was staring at him intently.

"Who is this?", he asked.

"An employee", Chris replied, trying to sound bold.

"An employee?", the man sneered and ran his eyes from Chris' frame to the laptop on his laps. But Chris maintained the bold look on his face even though he was somewhat scared. "Your boss must have lowered the requirements needed to work for her".

Anyway, did you bring it?", Nina asked.

"Yeah it is in the back of the van", the man pointed at his vehicle.

"And the other thing?",

The man dipped his hand inside one of the pockets of his overall. Chris, who was watching him keenly, furrowed his eyebrows when the man took out something that looks like a cigarette with both ends twisted.

"Only one?", Nina asked and took the blunt from the man. "Is this the best product out there?", she sniffed it and her thin lips formed a smile.

"Yeah....this is some hardcore plant sh!t.....And very rare", the man smiled. "You better go easy on it big mama".

"Hm", Nina nodded her head.

"What's going on?", Chris asked intently.

"What?", Nina glanced at him and put the blunt inbetween her lips.

"What are you doing?".

"Getting high on this hardcore sh!t is what i'm doing".

"Is this even necessary?, especially with the situation we are faced with?".

"Son, i gotta hit the 'Gung-ho' mode before making my move".

Chris stared at Nina as she took out a lighter and fired up the twisted end of the blunt. He sighed and shook his head.

"What?......", Nina took a drag and looked at Chris. "Do you think am gonna go against those heavily armed savages with a twenty percent health level and a busted arm?", she asked and exhaled the marijuana smoke from her lungs.

Chris stared at her and said nothing.

"I need to get an extra boost in my system", Nina muttered and took another drag. "And you need to get out of the car because i like being alone whenever i'm doing this".

"Huh?", Chris swallowed hard.

Seeing that Chris havent done as he was told, the man hissed and walked around the car to the front passenger door. He opened the door and unbuckled Chris seatbelt while Chris stared at the man.

"You heard what she said.....", the man said and grabbed Chris by his jacket. "Why dont we go and get to know each other", the man continued and pulled Chris out of the car.

Chris felt the "over the top" strength of the man's arm when the man grabbed his jacket and knew that it would be useless to put up any form of resistance. Even if he did and held onto something, his arms would probably be ripped from his shoulders because the man seems to have the power of a Mack truck in his arms.

As both of them walked away with the man's arm around Chris shoulder, Nina reclined the car seat and closed her eyes. What she was smoking was now working its magical effects on her. And she could hear herself laughing out loud for no reason.



"This is the front side of the mansion", Chris said and clicked the Enter button. "And these are the men guarding it", he continued as he tapped another button.

"Hm......good....very good", Titus muttered with a smile. "I underestimated you kid......and i'm sorry for that", he apologized. "You know....i'm so used to working and dealing with big ass fellows and dangerous individuals".

"It's okay man", Chris smiled. "I'm so used to being looked down upon", he murmured.

"Why dont you ask big mama to toughen you up?", Titus suggested. "Especially now that you are working with her".

"Not with this kind of body", Chris gestured at his 'less than average' frame.

Titus laughed. "Hey, a body like that with the right training, you could be one of the greatest killers", he said. "You will be hard to detect, no one will take you serious and you can easily blend into the crowd when making an escape", he smiled. "Think about it. If you kill fifty people in a particular place, the authorities would probably be looking for a big scary ass king kong instead of checking the little guy walking past them".

Chris stared at the man with a thoughtful gaze. He was really fascinated by the thoughts of being a little man who happens to be some kind of a super killer. But the thoughts of dying a violent death, either by a hail of bullets or the way Hector got butchered, made him shake it off his mind with a sigh.

Then both men looked up and saw Nina walking towards them. She came over and stood infront of them with a faint smile on her face. Titus smiled and walked towards the van while Chris stared at her with unblinking eyes.

"What?", Nina demanded and got closer to Chris.

"Nothing.....", Chris replied and turned his face away, pretending to be looking at his laptop screen after getting a whiff of the marijuana smell in Nina's breath. "It's time to move in because Gus and the gang are getting closer to where Eric and Alex will make their move", he said.

"Good, i hope you can drive?", Nina asked.

Chris nodded and Nina handed over the car key to him.

"I will be in the van with Titus", Nina said and put on a Bluetooth earpiece. "Keep the communication line open and make sure no one can trace or tap into it. Follow us behind and park the car a metre away from Gus' mansion. Titus will drive me in and you already know what your job is?", she asked.

Chris nodded as he put on his earpiece. Then he looked at Nina. "Please do be careful", he said to her.

Nina smiled. "Don't worry, i will be back soon", she said and headed towards the van.

Chris slipped into the driver's seat of the Genesis and watch Nina enter the van. He sighed deeply and whispered, "Alright, lets go do this.....lets go take them down", he muttered and brought life to the car engine.


**********************************************************

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.



Dedicated to JEREMYBENTHAM.
My apologies for the insults you received because of your comment.




The mechanic came over, carrying a handful of bolts with the face of a confused man. He spread the bolts beside the numerous nails lying on his workshop table and looked at Eric.

"Here you go", the mechanic sighed. "Twelve by thirty size bolts.....as you requested",

Eric glanced at bolts and nodded as he poured the cleaning liquid into a small paint can that was half filled with a white powdery substance.

The mechanic rubbed his greasy hands on his dirty grease-stained overalls and watched as Eric mixed the substance together in the paint can.

"Doing some kind of a project for an assignment huh?", he asked as Eric gathered the bolts and put them all in the mixture.

"You bet your ass i'm", Eric muttered and also gathered the nails to put them in the paint can. "Did you bring the other....thing?", he asked without looking at the mechanic.

"I thought i told you that we dont have it here", the mechanic replied.

Eric smirked. Then he stopped what he was doing and stared at the man.

The mechanic stared back at Eric for a while and looked away with a sigh. "Alphonso!", he then called out loud.

"Yes sir!".

A young skinny looking boy who was quite tall for his age, came running into the workshop. He also wore an overall that was heavily stained with grease and much more dirtier than the mechanic's wear. He was probably an apprentice and in his late teens.

The boy came over and the mechanic whispered something into his ear. The boy nodded and left. And came running back a minute later, holding a small plastic container with no label on it. Eric took the container from boy before he could hand it over to his boss. The mechanic opened his mouth to protest but Eric was already pouring its content into the mixture in the paint can.

"Sir i could get arrested if the authorities know that i'm in possession of that", the mechanic complained.

"Are you worried about what the authorities will do or what could happen if this sh!t comes in contact with the wrong chemical?", Eric muttered and gently poured the content of the plastic container into the can. He paused and stared at the amount he had poured into the can for a short while, as if gauging it. "F@ck it", he then muttered and emptied the container.

The young apprentice glanced at his boss and stared at Eric with his mouth open. Eric dropped the container and stirred the mixture with a stick. Then he tightly closed the paint can with its lid and wrapped it with a duct tape.

"Is my bike ready?", Eric asked.

"Fueled up and ready sir", the apprentice replied.

"Good", Eric pulled out the credit card Alex gave him and handed it to the mechanic. "Hand me the receipt will you", he said and left the workshop, carrying the paint can with him.



"Dude!......seriously, did you just buy a bike?!", Alex asked with a baffled look on his face when he saw the apprentice rolling out the powerbike out of the auto repair shop with Eric following him.

Eric gave the boy a tip and dismissed him. Then he opened the bike compartment box that was under its front seat. Suzanne ran her eyes around the bike with furrowed eyebrows and stared at Eric keenly.

"And what the hell is that?", Alex asked again as Eric put the paint can inside the compartment box and closed it.

"A yet to be discovered highly explosive mixture", Eric replied and handed Alex back the credit card.

"Explosive mixture?, do you intend to blow Gus and his men to kingdom come?",

Then Alex glanced at the bike and looked at his credit card. "With all the cars in our possession, why would you wanna buy a bike?", Alex asked and slipped the card into his wallet. "So when will i get my reimbursement?".

Eric ignored him and glanced around carefully to make sure no one was watching before opening the trunk of the Range Rover.

"Atleast the bike looks cool", Suzanne said as she admired it and joined Eric at the back of the Range Rover. "Why do you need a powerbike?", she asked.

"It's a good transportation for a sneak attack", Eric replied as he took out his Remington 870 shotgun and matchetes from the Range Rover trunk.

"But there are alot of men riding in that convoy", Suzanne said and picked up her Llama pistols. "They could use you as a target practice if you go at them, riding that bike", she continued and tucked the two pistols in her waist belt.

"And you have to be very very good with that shooter", Alex added. "Because from what i heard, those guys are very good with guns.....i mean....SWAT team kind of good", he continued and grabbed an Ak47 from the car trunk. "And dont make the stupid mistake of trying to take a machete to a gunfight", he concluded and dislodged the gun magazine to inspect it.

Eric smirked. He put on a fingerless leather gloves and black trench coat. "You seem to forget where i grew up", he muttered and tucked the guns and matchete inside the coat. "South Delta,....home of the country's killers and original gun clappers", he looked at Alex and put a Bluetooth earpiece in his right ear. "Dont worry about me. Just be careful and listen very attentively", he concluded and put on a helmet and then straddled the power bike.

Alex smirked and slapped the magazine back in, while Suzanne grabbed two bulletproof vests and glanced at the case containing the Barret M107 sniper rifle parts before slamming the trunk of the SUV shut.


**********************************************************

Updates coming up sunday evening.

oluwaemmanuel:
Gud evening sir, hw was ur trip to d service center

It was okay, i got a new cellphone but the guys there said that they cant transfer that document from the old phone to the new one because the application didnt come with the phone. I will have to fix the old one to be able to get it. But no worries, it is being fixed and i will get the phone tomorrow. And update will be coming this weekend. I have to cross check all the updates to be sure it wasnt affected in any way. And for those argueing on who wants the Sosai dead, if you have read the story very well, i mean line by line, you would have known by now. Take care everyone and remained blessed.

JEREMYBENTHAM:
Ironkurtain, regretfully, my comment is misconceived and thus, attracting negative reactions which I never envisioned. Imagine where it becomes one's routine to visit Nairaland to keep up with your story, that every spare time of the day; at the office, at the hectic traffic jam, at the living room while listening to news, while cooking, before i retire to bed; midnight if i'm awake; you name it, i would always peek at your page to see if there's new update. That's how engrossed i am with your story. So when i commented, i did that with a tone of dejection and disappointment, as though i had left something undone for the day. My write up only reflects the disappointment of an ardent follower of your story & not to insult you or being ungrateful as some people make it seem. I apologise to you and all those who misreceived my initial comment. Thanks and God bless.

Bro i hear you......and understand your disappointments. But why would i play with people's feelings just as you initially said?. That's the reason for me being unhappy with the comments. Anyway i'm really sorry for not updating this weekend but it was because of something beyond my control. My cellphone screen became epileptic. I dont know if any if you guys have ever experienced it. This time it got worse. All the touch buttons were completely dancing ashoki. I decided to go hard on it and the screen vanished. Anyway i went to tge department store today and got a new phone. It will be connected tomorrow. But for the data in the old one, i don't know if they will be able to extract it.

JEREMYBENTHAM:
I'm not apologetic about my statement. Let him feel a tinge of how demoralized we are whenever he fails to post updates. Nobody doesn't or hasn't eulogised him for his exceptional talent. As his big fan this is the only story that made me visit the literature section until his infrequent updates made me discover another action thriller with striking resemblance with his. Some OPs beg for readership, so he shouldn't abuse what he has.

Well, when i first came to the literature section of nairaland, i saw some good stories and alot of bad and unfinished ones. As of that time i was writing the final parts of Bloodline 1. My wife who was with me when i was surfing through the section, read some of the stories and encouraged me to upload mine. I flatly refused. I told her the headaches that comes with it and even showed her comments like the one above. She told me not to worry and just do things at my convenient time. Now she is even kind of regretting. Why?, when she was 7 months pregnant she had to take an uncomfortable subway ride with me to the phone service centre because i couldnt locate the place. Some early morning she wakes up to see she is lying down on the bed alone cos i'm in the other room typing new updates. I get up at 5 am, type for an hour then take shower to go to work. In the bus stop i think of what to write. Standing or sitting in the bus, i got to my "Idea note" and write things i might use. At work i use bathroom breaks to write as much as i can. The boss sees me but says nothing because he knows that i know that without me, his company will have production problems. And besides the products are being rolled out at a faster pace(meaning that i compensate by overworking myself). Then i come back home by 9 pm, take shower, listen to what the wife have to say and show my daughter that daddy loves her. Then i use whats left of my time to write if i'm not passing out in the bed due to being dead tired. I do this for six days a week, four weeks a month.

So read all i have said above and tell me if you can even write a full paragraph of a story, how much more a full chapter of a story. I have taken my cellphone to the service centre three times this year. Each time it cost about 4000 naira to fix it and it is always the same problem. Yet if i dont make update, i still come here to apologize and try to squeeze out time to complete one and upload because i always complete what i start, no matter how difficult it is. Today is sunday here so by monday i will get a new phone, extract the updates in the old phone and continue this story. After this story is done, i will unregister from nairaland and go back to being the ghostreader i was.

And for your information, i and Oyin are friends on whatsapp. He too was complaining bitterly about what people say whenever he fails to update. He said he was even threatened.

Hi fellow nairalanders i have literally typed my cellphone to death. Maybe it had reached its full lifespan. I will have to get a new one and also extract the data from the old one. You all need to have patients. Have a nice weekend

Thanks for all the comments, i really appreciate.

Essyprity i'm no longer seeing your comments....abi you dey vex for me?

"Have you forgotten the reason why i wanted to meet you on the day i got arrested by Andrew?", Diana asked.

"But.....i thought Nina was Marianne's daughter", the old man muttered.

"What makes you think so?", Diana asked with her head slightly tilted to the side and steepling her fingers. "Is that what Marianne told you?, or did she get pregnant for you?", she asked.

"After that crazy night we had together, i thought she got pregnant for me", the old man began thoughtfully. "And when i first met my daughter, i conducted some investigations and found out that Marianne took care of her before she was taken to a children's home after Marianne passed away".

Diana listened attentively and nodded. "Young woman, please turn off that recorder", she said to Lisa without looking at her. "And bring it to me", she said, gesturing her hand at Lisa.

The old man turned to Lisa. He stared at her as if it was his first time of seeing her. "She shouldn't be here", he said to Diana and pointed his index finger at Lisa as she came over and slowly placed the recorder on the table. "She's not suppose to hear about it", he continued.

"Oh that?, dont worry my dear", Diana smiled and looked at Lisa. "It is now one of the crazy things that is freely done among the youths of nowadays. Infact they boast about it in their networking sites".

"Maybe i have gotten too old", the old man murmured. "Anyway, is Nina our daughter?", he asked. "Are you....Nina's real mother?".

"Well,.....after that 'crazy night', i got pregnant", Diana sighed. "I didnt even know how it happened. I mean.......i did my calculations very well before we....you know.....did it", she muttered thoughfully. "Anyway i started having morning sickness. I did a test and it came out positive. By the way, Marianne cannot conceive a child. That's why i chose her".

"Chose her for what?", Lisa involuntarily asked the question. Then she immediately covered her mouth and looked away after muttering an apology to the old man and Diana who stared at her with an expressionless look on their faces.

"So how did Nina end up being raised by Marianne", The old man asked.

"After i gave birth, i gave the baby to Marianne", Diana replied. "I told her everything. And she suggested that i should leave the country. So i took her advice and left the country after giving her our daughter".

"But why leave me?", the old man asked. "Why make that decision when you knew you were carrying my child?. You could have waited till i finished my time in prison then we leave the country together".

Silence took over the office again.

"Cantona", Diana began, breaking the silence after seemingly thinking of what to say. "I have always wanted to spend my days and life with you, believe me, i do. And i was always willing to give up anything so as to do so. But all i ever wanted was a quiet and stable life with you......and some kids we would nurture together and watch as they grow", then she sighed. "Being what we are, we unknowingly started this flame. A flame that had the potentials of becoming an inferno", she gestured her hands around the office. "An inferno that would consume you and i. Worst of all, you started losing focus. Maybe it was because of your love for me that made you take every other thing for granted. That's why you didnt notice what was going on between Brandon and Robert. And for a man like you who seems to have the uncanny ability to predict every move anyone intends to make, not being able to see what was going on under his nose, meant that there was a problem and i was the problem".

"But how?", the old man asked. "We had a good plan for the future and everything seemed fine".

"Yes. But the thing we had together, the strong love for each other, made you to lose focus and you losing focus made you vulnerable", Diana said. "Alot of people wanted to take you out and i didnt want it to happen".

"So that's why you left me?", the old man muttered.

"You remember that day i called, telling you that i thought i was pregnant and wanted to see you?", Diana asked.

"Yes i remembered that day", the old man replied thoughtfully. "That day i woke up feeling unusually excited because i was hoping that the news was true. Since then i haven't felt like that until.......", the old man looked at Diana with a bright smile. "Perhaps meeting you today after a longtime was the reason why i woke up this morning feeling the same way".

Diana stared at the old man with a funny look on her face. "Anyway, that same day i also called Andrew and met him", she continued. "I wanted to talk to him. To see if we could end the crisis going on between us once and for all. But he said that as long as i am with you, it will never end, not for him. Then he told me about Brandon's plan and warned me that as long as the commissioner was involved, worse things are bound to happen to us. And as long as i chose you over him, he dont mind helping Brandon to achieve it", the nun smiled weakly. "So i had to formulate a plan and was able to convince him to help. And the rest was history".

"How did you convince him to help you", the old man asked.

Diana smiled again. "I told him that the only way he can beat you was to take me away from you", she said. "And since he cant have me or even kill me, he willingly agreed to help fake my death".

The old man sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck and reclined in his chair. He clasped his hands and looked at Lisa.

"So i guess she was the one that told you everything", he said to Diana and stared at Lisa. "Everything going on between me and that fool Nina wants to be with. So young girl, how long have you been doing your investigations on me?, or are you one of those minions Nina is keeping around her?", he asked Lisa.

"Aww dont try to spit that venom of yours on her", Diana cut in irritatedly and got up. "How could you just sit and watch someone else try to kill our daughter and do nothing about it", she asked.

"Is that what she told you?", the old man asked. "If so, then that's half the truth and......".

"She didn't tell me anything", Diana interrupted.

"Please, can i say something?", Lisa began. She wanted to inform them about their grandson's intention. His intention to eliminate the old man.

"She only told me what was going on between you and our daughter", Diana continued, ignoring Lisa's request. "I did my own investigations and also found out that you left our grandsons to go against a dangerous murder gang on their own. Cantona, how could be so mean?", she asked irritatedly.

Well, if Nina had listened to me and obeyed my orders, then all these wouldn't have happened to her", the old man replied, trying to keep his cool.

"Please can i say something?", Lisa asked again.

"What?!", Diana and the old man bawled at her at the same time.

"I think we have to call one of your grandsons", Lisa said. "He said he will be coming", she looked at the old man. "Coming to get you sir".

The old man smirked. "Why?", he asked.

"Because you are holding Barry his father, hostage", Diana asked.

"Eric right?", he asked and looked at Lisa.

Lisa nodded.

The old man smiled and relaxed in his seat. "And i guess he is.....your friend,.....boyfriend to be exact", he said and stared at Lisa.

Lisa said nothing.

"That disrespectful brat", the old man then muttered and nodded his head. "Well, let him come, and for your sake, i will tell my men to go easy on him", he said and pursed his lips.

"You better do as she said", Diana said and adjusted her habit. "And also order the immediate release of their father, if you dont want trouble", she continued and went over to the water dispenser machine standing in one corner of the office.

"Trouble?", the old man snorted and stared at Diana as she took a few gulps of water with a paper cup. "What kind of trouble will he be to me?", he asked.

"Maybe it's those oversized disrespectful idiots that you are keeping around you as bodyguards that is making you take things for granted", Diana began and paced towards the old man. "Or maybe it is the huge wealth that you have acquired that is corrupting your damn mind. Whatever it is, i dont give a damn. But we are talking about your own flesh and blood. I know you as a very tough man, but from what i have read so far, this.....Eric is something else. And you better take him serious".

The old man stared at Diana for a short while and nodded. "Okay then", he sighed and slowly got up. "I will tell the boys to.......".

A loud gunshot interrupted the old man. Then followed by several rapid gunfire that erupted outside the office. The old man immediately gestured at Diana and Lisa, and they all took cover behind his desk. What seemed like a loud ferocious gunfight continued for about a minute before silence settled.

"What's going on?", Diana whispered the old man who was covering her.

"I have no idea", he whispered back. Then he looked at Lisa. "Is it your boyfriend?", he asked her.

"I dont know", Lisa replied with a shaky voice.

Suddenly the office door got kicked open and it startled the three of them. They remained quiet and listened to the muffled foot steps of the person that walked into the office.

"Could you all please come out", a voice then said, followed by the sound of a gun being reloaded and the office door being locked. "The thoughts of you all hiding behind that desk like mice, is kind of embarrassing", the voice continued. "So please do come out with your hands on your head and also bear in mind that i'm the only one with a loaded weapon in this room. Any fun move will be countered with deadly force".

The old man sighed and slowly got up with his hands raised, followed by Diana and then Lisa. They all got up and saw themselves staring at the man wearing a janitor overall uniform.

"Kevin?", Lisa began surprisingly when she recognized the face. "What's going on.....what are you doing?", she asked and glanced at the handgun the man was pointing at them.

"Hello my dear", the man began with a smile and looked at the old man. "Good day sir, my apologies for the unruly way i made my presence to be known", he said to the old man.

The old man smirked and put his hands down. "Dante", he began and sighed. "So what brings you to my office?", he asked coolly and glanced at the handgun pointed at him.

"My presence here is strictly business sir", Dante said and dropped the bag he was carrying.

"Business?, hm.....i thought you and i made a deal", the old man said. "And part of the deal was to never see your face again", he added.

"Correct sir....", Dante said and unzipped the bag with his eyes watching them keenly. "But there has being a renegotiation about that deal", he smiled and took out three handcuffs. "My apologies for you not being aware of it".

"I see", the old man muttered and looked at Lisa. "Is she aware of this renegotiation", he asked.

Lisa shook her head. She didn't even know what he was talking about and neither did she know why her co-worker was there with a gun in his hand.

"Nope......she is just a means to achieve another end", Dante then said. "Another end that will be sweeter than taking your life and cashing the checks", he smiled.

"Who is this young man?", Diana asked.

"Hello madam", Dante greeted Diana with a smile.

"His name is Dante", the old man replied. "He is an assassin and a hit man. And very good at it".

"The best in this country", Dante corrected and tossed the handcuffs at them. "I thought you are already convinced by now".

"Is he one of yours?", Diana asked the old man.

"No. But his father worked for me", was his reply.

"Then why is he pointing a gun at us?".

"Diana i don't know. I have lots of enemies who wants to get rid of me. You even said it yourself some minutes ago".

"And should it be today of all days?"

"Well you dont expect them to give me the time and date they intend to kill me".

"Enough!", Dante said out loud. Then he looked at Lisa. "Pick up those handcuff will you", he ordered her. "I want you to make yourself useful".

Lisa hesitated.

Dante aimed the weapon at her. "You have seen the sweet side of me which you decided to piss on. So dont let me show you my ugly side", he said with a murderous look on his face.

Lisa immediately picked up the handcuffs and waited for the next order

"Good", Dante's face brightened up with a smile. "Now i want you to cuff them", he ordered again and watched Lisa carry out the order. "Alot of money was paid for this day", he said and looked at the old man as Lisa cuffed him. "And i intend to take my time".


************************************************

A knock on the expensive mahogany door broke the long silence in the plush office. It made the old man to lift his eyes from the knuckles of his clasped hands, resting on the chrome finished surface of his desk. He gave the door a brief gaze and nodded at his two bodyguards standing beside the door. They nodded back respectfully and one of them proceeded to open the door, while the other remained alert with his hand close to the concealed weapon in his black suit jacket.

The old man got up and quietly paced to the office window behind him with one hand holding his walking stick and the other hand tucked inside the pocket of his suit jacket. With his back slightly hunched, he stared at the activities going on below from his executive office on the thirtieth floor of the thirty storey building that belonged to him. The office that was only meant for meeting high profiled guests.

"Sir, they are here", the big man who brought Lisa and Diana from the lobby, ushered both women into the office and left immediately.

Diana smiled at the two "no nonsense" looking bodyguards standing beside the door and glanced around the spacious and expensively decorated office. She did so with few silent 'wows' escaping from her lips while Lisa cautiously followed the nun into the old man's executive office. She too was dazzled by the office that speaks of spectacular opulence. But she was more concerned about her present situation; what she just found out and what the old man's reaction might be. It could be good......or it could be very bad, and even terrible especially if what Diana had told her happens to be false. She just hoped that everything goes well so as to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed.

"Oh my God......Eric", Lisa gasped when she remembered that Eric had told her what he intends to do to his grandfather. This prompted her to reach for her cellphone. "Oh God!", she gasped again when she remembered that she left her cellphone and handbag with the two bodyguards at the ground floor lobby.

"Miss Lisa Richards", the old man began without looking at the visitors in his office. "This is our first meeting....and i'm already having a bad impression about you", he continued as his eyes followed the activities going on down below. "I am a very strict man.....and you were given a strict order to come alone. So why did you disobey it?", he asked, still watching the activities going on outside the building.

"Even if it means bringing me here?", Diana asked.

The old man heard the voice and gasped with furrowed eyebrows. He slowly turned his head to where the voice came from and his walking stick fell off from his hand when he saw Diana.

"Hello Cantona", Diana smiled weakly at the old man who stared at her like he saw ghost. "It's been a long time, huh?", she continued and paced towards him.

The old man immediately went over to Diana with quick strides and stood infront of her, staring at her and unable to say anything. Then Diana got closer and slowly raised her hand to his face. The old man shut his eyes and gently exhaled deeply when Diana's hand touched his face.

"After all these years, you are still as handsome as you were the first time i set my eyes on you", Diana muttered with a faint smile on her face as she hand travelled from the old man's face down to his shoulders. "And still strong".

The old man opened his eyes and snapped his fingers at the two bodyguards standing beside the door. They immediately left the office without saying any words. Lisa glanced at them as they left and then turned her attention to the old man as he got hold of Diana's hand and held it gently, staring at it like it was something very precious. A faint smile formed on her lips when the old man immediately wrapped his arms around Diana and both of them got locked in a tight passionate hug.

"God....if this is a dream, please dont let me wake up", the old man murmured deeply and gave Diana a passionate kiss on her cheek.

Diana did the same. "It's not a dream my dear", she said. "It is not a dream".

They remained in each other's warm embrace for several minutes, whispering words to each other. Then Diana suddenly pushed the old man away with a rather angry look on her face.

"And for heaven's sake Cantona!", Diana began irritatedly and turned away from the old man. "What in the devil's name are you doing?", she asked with a crossed look on her face and started pacing around the office.

"What do you mean?", the old man replied with his arms still held up and a confused look on his face.

"This....war that you are still waging with the Philips family", Diana said. "I thought it ended long ago when Andrew died".

The old man sighed and shook his head with a downcast gaze. "No, it didnt end. Infact, it only began after that fool died....and to this day i still wish that his death was brought upon him by my own hands", he looked at Diana. "So the war never ended. Not after what he did to us", the old man added with a bit of anger in his voice.

"Oh......", Diana pursed her lips and nodded. "So what did he do to you that made you to have so much anger in your heart?", she asked and got behind the old man's desk. "Why are you still holding on to this grudge after all these years?", she asked again and sat on the old man's swiveling chair.

"That man killed.......", the old man began immediately and paused. Then he shook his head with a faint smile. "I thought he killed you......even after making a deal with him to let you go", he muttered.

"Well you can see that i'm not dead", Diana said.

"Yeah, after almost....half a century. But all these years why didnt you......", the old man began.

"Whatever....we will talk about that later", Diana waved her hand and interrupted him. "So what else did he do to you?", she asked

"Aww come on Diana, have you forgotten how he tried so hard to bring us down?", the old man protested.

"Cantona, we were gangsters and he was the lawman. He was only doing his job", Diana chuckled and felt the chrome surface of the desk with her palms.

The old man sighed. He pursed his lips and slowly paced back and forth with a thoughful expression on his face, while the nun took a reclined position in the seat and stared at him. Lisa was still standing on the same spot and watching the both of them in silence. And they seemed to have forgotten about her presence.

"He killed our good friend, Robert", the old man broke the short silence that have taken over the office. He sat on the chair infront of Diana with a grunt and rested his elbows on the desk. "And i think he also killed Brandon because of something he did. Something he did for me", he muttered with his eyes staring at his clenched fist.

"Something?", Diana smirked. "You mean Brandon killing the key witness who was going to give a testimony in court that would have put you in jail forever. And the witness not appearing in court made the judge who had some serious grudges against you to only sentence you to two years imprisonment", she stated.

The old man lifted his eyes and stared at Diana for a short while with a surprised look on his face. "How did you know all these thing?", he asked quietly.

Diana smirked and looked away. "Brandon didnt kill any key witness", she said and looked at the old man with a serious look on her face. "Brandon was the key witness...and he was the one that killed Robert who was, by the way, never our good friend". Then she lean forward and also rested her elbow on the table. "Brandon and Robert wanted to bump us out of the gang so as to take over the operations. So they made their plans on how to eliminate us".

"What?", the old man stared at Diana with confusion written all over his face.

"Yeah", Diana continued. "But Brandon got greedier because he wanted everything for himself", So he made a different plan, with the then commissioner of police. A corrupt and greedy fool who also wanted a share of the money we were making". Diana paused and took a deep breath. She exhaled gently and drummed her fingers on the table.

Lisa stared at Diana fingers as she did so. The rhythm of her drumming was similar to that of Eric's whenever he drummed his fingers.

"After my supposed death and you being detained, the police raid that was carried out in one of our safe houses was orchestrated by Brandon and some of the commissioner's men", Diana then said, still drumming her fingers, but in a slower rhythm. "That's when he killed Robert and the other men who were there. I heard he did it executional style", she scoffed. "All those times he visited you in jail, he had a tape recorder on him. He was trying to make you say things; incriminating things. Being unable to get any, he decided to appear in court to testify against you. So Andrew killed him", Diana looked at the old man. "Andrew killed him so as to save you from spending your entire life in prison", she said.

The old man thought for a while. "I guess it was Andrew who told you all these things", he sneered.

Diana nodded.

"I know you can do better than believing the words of the man who spent his entire lifetime trying to bring us down", the old man scoffed. "From the battlefields of the civil war to the streets of Easthill, that man had always been coming at us with the intention to do harm".

Diana sighed. "Andrew was just angry. That's why he did what he did", she muttered.

"Angry about what?", the old man was confused again. "Is there something you are not telling me?", he demanded.

Diana sighed again and looked at the old man. "He was like....a brother to me", she said to him.

"Like a brother?", the old man gasped and stared at Diana with his mouth open. "But......but i thought you said you were an orphan and had no family?", he asked.

"Yes i was an orphan. But it was Andrew's family that took care of me and we saw ourselves as brother and sister", Diana replied. "We grew up and......and he wanted to be more than just a brother to me", she smiled weakly.

"You mean that he was in love with you?", the old man chuckled.

"Yes", Diana replied. "He wanted us to be engaged. Then the civil war broke out, i fought for the side that brought death to his family.....and started living a life that was against his family principles. The same family that raised me", she muttered and glanced at the old man. "Andrew survived the Bridgemont ambush because i didnt pull the trigger when i had him on my sights. I let him live", then Diana laughed. "The funny thing is, while i had my rifle pointed at his heart, he was asking me....begging me to run away with him so that the both of us can go somewhere else and start a new life. But i told him that my heart was already taken by another man", she looked at the old man. "Another better man".

The old man nodded thoughtfully. "So that's why he wanted to bring me down so bad", he muttered.

"He just wanted to show me that he was the better man", Diana said.

"Well, he failed. And quite miserably if you ask me", the old man grunted and moved his weight on his seat. "Even if we live to be a thousand years old, he will still fail.....miserably".

"That's what i thought, till you started this....new hobby of yours with his son.....and our daughter", Diana said with some anger in her voice.

The old man scoffed and turned his eyes away. "Well....i wouldnt want an enemy to.......wait", the old man furrowed his eyebrow and looked at Diana. "Our daughter?, is Nina your own daughter?",

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.


The yellow mini van quietly rolled into the parking lot and interrupted the four big men in their discussions. They turned their attention to the vehicle that was painted with a cleaning company logo and watched keenly as it grinded to a halt in one of the parking spaces. A man wearing a brown overall janitor khaki wear, quietly got out of the van. He glanced at their direction and casually walked to the back of the vehicle. The big men glanced at each other with a lot curiosity written on their faces and then stared at the man as he opened the trunk of the car and brought out a bag, two mops and some containers of cleaning detergents. The men saw what he was doing and glanced at each other again with a confused look on their faces. Apart from the journalist who came to interview their boss, they weren't expecting anyone else , especially a janitor because the day was a public holiday.

Then one of the big men motioned at the other three and they immediately started heading towards the janitor while he touched the Bluetooth earpiece on his left ear. And walked away to go make an inspection in the parking lot.

The janitor turned and saw the three big men approaching him. He gave them a friendly smile and continued unloading his cleaning equipments from the back of the van.

"Good morning", the janitor began nervously, his face still bearing the friendly smile as the three big men surrounded him. "I hope everything is okay?", he asked.

The smell of alcohol made one of the men to wrinkle his nose. "You are not suppose to be here", he said to the janitor. "You have to pack up your things and leave immediately", he ordered.

The janitor glanced at the men with a confused look on his face. "But...i...have to go to work", he stammered and gestured at the cleaning detergents and bucket he had taken out of his van.

"He must have been drinking last night and forgot that today is a public holiday", another big man whispered to the others and they all sneered.

"I.....work here", the janitor stammered again with a highly intimidated look on his face as he stared at the three big men towering over him. "I....think i have my i.d card here", he slowly felt his back and side pockets and then unzipped his overall to reach for the inner pocket.

Then one of the big men stepped forward and placed a hand on the janitor's shoulder as the man searched for his i.d. "Mister, you have to leave.....now", the big man said to the janitor coldly. "Today is a public holiday and here is strictly out of bound. So you have to pack up your stuff and go".

With a hand still tucked inside his overall, the janitor glanced at the big hand resting on his shoulder and smiled. Then with a flash, he pulled out a handgun fitted with a silencer from inside his overall and pushed the barrel against the big man's chest. And pulled the trigger.

Three slugs ripped holes on the big man's back as they made their exit after going through his big chest and heart. The big man groaned and his big body collapsed to the ground. The other two immediately reached for their weapons tucked inside the suit jacket. But they weren't fast enough as the janitor swung the pistol at them and sent multiple slugs that put them down with ugly holes in their chests and heads. Then the janitor ducked behind one of the concrete pillars in the parking place. He made a careful glance around the place with his weapon pointed. Seeing that the fourth guy havent noticed what just happened to his colleagues, the janitor reached inside his overall wear and took out a signal jamming device. He switched it on and tucked it back into his pocket. And then moved swiftly, hiding in the dark spots and taking cover behind the concrete pillars of the parking place.

The fourth man took out his earpiece to inspect it. He had pressed it several times to radio out a message , but wasnt getting an answer.....or any sound. Then he turned back to go see what the other three men were up to with the janitor.

"F@ck!", he cursed under his breath and pulled out his handgun when he saw the three men lying motionless on the floor. The janitor was no where to be found.

The man threw the earpiece away and immediately grabbed the two-way radio clipped to his waist-belt. "We have a code red situation!....i repeat, we have a code red situation!", he bawled and frantically glanced around the parking lot.

Hearing nothing but a crackling static sound from the speaker of the radio, the man cursed under his breath again. He raced towards the glass door of the elevator lobby with his weapon in a 'ready-to-fire' position and glancing around with alot of caution as he did so.

"There is a breach in......", the man began as he pushed the door open and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw two lifeless bodies lying in the pool of their own blood. The bodies of the elevator lobby guards and both were riddled with bullets.

The big man took off his dark shades and threw it on the floor. He tightened his grip on his weapon and slowly paced towards the bodies of his colleagues. As he bent down to check on them, he heard a sound behind him; perhaps a movement. He made a quick turn, but wasnt quick enough as stunning blow hit him and made him to lose his balance. He got hit again and his handgun got knocked out of his hand.

With a quick movement the big man then rolled away to avoid further onslaughts and got up wildly to faced his opponent. And saw that his assailant was the janitor.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall", the janitor began and kicked away the big man's handgun that was lying on the floor. "Sir, you and your colleagues are really doing a shamefully poor job in protecting your boss", he mocked the man. "The old man should have hired better security and bodyguards".

This made the big man to rush at the smaller man, like Goliath coming at David with full force. The janitor calmly balled his fist and hit the big man with a swift and hard punch to jaw after dodging the big fist thrown at him. Another swift left and right hook delivered to the big man's gut knocked the wind out of him. Then the janitor fell the man with an uppercut.

The visibly dazed big man got up wildly again and made another move on his smaller but seemingly tougher opponent. But his opponent put him down again with a right overhand punch that dislocated his jaw. A left and right hook to the guts that put a hurt on his internal organs, followed by a ferocious stomp that landed on his right ankle and dislocated the joints. Then another powerful right hook to the side and the big man groaned painfully when the blow impacted and snapped some ribs.

The blows that came in quick succession with the broken ankle made the big man's leg to buckle. He drop on one knee. The janitor dazed him again with a left hook and swung a wicked knee kick that bloodied the man's face. Then the janitor moved behind the man and pulled out a thin metal wire from the sleeve of his overall. He wrapped it around the big man's neck and pulled until the big man stopped struggling.

"Too bad you chose the wrong profession sir", the janitor muttered and released his grip on the metal wire.

Then he bent over his dead victim and proceeded to search the man's pockets. He took out a card from one of them. After examining the card with a satisfied look on his face, he got up, picked up a bag lying near the lobby exit door and headed towards one of the elevator.

"Six down....three more to go", he murmured to himself and pushed the elevator button. "I hope the old man will be glad to see me......again", he sighed as he waited for the elevator to arrive.

The elevator arrived. The janitor loaded his handgun and removed the silencer. And entered after the door slided open with a determined look on his face. As the elevator made its ascent to its new destination, another vehicle rolled into the parking lot. A black van.


***********************************************

Continuation from the last update.





"So what is the present situation in Gus place?", Eric asked.

"Alot of men.....alot of big scary men, all literally wearing weapons", Chris' voice came out of the car speakers. "Now they are riding out in a convoy of three SUVs, one van and one sedan vehicle. Gus and the leader of the so called large gang are riding in one".

"You mean large team", Alex corrected.

"What about Vincent?", Eric asked again.

"He is in the trunk of the sedan car, tied up", Chris replied. "And Gus left ten armed men in the mansion to guard Vincent's wife and his daughter".

"What about mother?".

"Chris is riding shotgun with me", Nina's voice answered the question. "We are now heading to Pearl Estate".

"She is heading to Gus' place", Suzanne muttered.

"Perfect", Alex muttered.

"What?, i thought your plan involves negotiating with Gus?", Eric asked.

"The plan was to negotiate with Gus so as to buy some time for Vincent and his family", Alex replied. "I didn't say we will be keeping our end of the bargain", Alex smiled.

"What if Gus finds out?. He could kill Vincent or order his men to kill his wife", Eric protested.

"That's why i'm heading to his place", Nina's voice said.

"And we will be going to where Gus wants to meet our mother for the exchange", Alex said.

"Perhaps meet them on their way to the place and rescue Vincent", Suzanne suggested. "They are the ones with men with alot guns. And they are not expecting any action till they reach the place".

"Alex nodded as he stared at Suzanne with a smile on his face. "And there is only one person very good at unleashing bloody mayhem", he said and looked at Eric. "So is there any guerilla warfare tactics you might wanna share with us?", he asked his twin brother.

Eric glanced at Alex and asked, "mother are you sure you can handle those men in the mansion?".

"Dont worry about me son, just tell them what you have in mind", was Nina's answer.

"Okay then", Eric began with a nod. "Chris, can you track all the cars in the convoy?", he asked.

"Yeah", Chris replied. "From the model of the cars and year manufactured, they all have a built in tracking device. So i will just capture their signals.....and also use the street cameras to know exactly where they are if they make a stop".

"Okay....mother i want you to only make a move on my go", Eric said to Nina and she answered in the affirmative.

Then Eric looked out of the car window and saw an autobike repair shop. "Do you have a credit card on you?", he asked and looked at Alex.

With a quite confused look on his face, Alex reached for his wallet and pulled out a platinum credit card.

"Do you intend to buy a bike?", Alex snorted as he handed the card to Eric.

"That's what i intend to do", Eric smiled. He slipped the card into his pocket and got out of the car after telling them to wait for him.

Still writing so you all have to exercise a little patient

Of course i will finish this story. I'm working on this weekends update.

And by the way, u are totally wrong about story

Vidamia:
My dear fellow readers, I'm the most ghost reader on NL. The reasons are: the posters of literature are not always busy for the first weeks of posting their stories, but once they catch people's feeling/emotions/interest on their storie, they will start playing or rather toying with it. I've notice it along on most of stories posted on NL. I'm not trying to insult the poster here but that is what i think


back to the story, i think the baby that diamond give birth to is not Philip son but cantona son, which mean he is also nina's elder brother

My brother you are right. Me myself is also guilty of the said observations but i'm pleading on behalf of most of the writers that somehow abandoned their story or stories. You have to understand that we have things like jobs and other commitments that sometimes hinder us from writing, or even make us lose interest. When i wrote the part one of this story, i updated like three times a week. But now my time is divided between my job and my newborn daughter that's why i find it hard to write. Other writers probably have other engagements that are limiting their ability to put pen on paper. So pls bear with us.

babapressy:
Thanks for the updates but hope the story is not being rushed.;-)

Nope

My week days have being a very very busy one.......we are usually busy during the summer season.

"I hope your boys are ready to do this?", Gus asked Lucas who was sitting on the leather sofa and staring at the burning end of his Cuban cigar.

Lucas smirked. "Are your boys ready?", he asked, taking off his cold and calculative eyes from the cigar and shifting them to Gus.

Gus looked at the men in the living room. There are ten of them, all grim-faced and putting on bulletproof vests and loading up automatic assault rifles with high calibre rounds.

"They always stay ready", Gus smiled as he watched the men put on their gears.

"I hope you are right about this woman", Lucas put the cigar in between his thick lips and majestically took a drag. "She said she's coming for the exchange?", he asked and blew a cloud of smoke in Gus direction.

"She gave me her word", Gus replied.

Lucas smirked and took another drag. "So i guess it's payback time for you", he smiled and exhaled the smoke out of his lungs. "And for me", he muttered quietly and pursed his lips.

Then men made their last inspections of their weapons and one of them stepped forward.

"Lock and loaded sir", he said to Gus.

"Well....lets go", Gus said and looked at Lucas. "Lets go kill that f@cking bitch and everyone down with her".

All the men proceeded to leave the living room with Gus following them behind. Then Gus paused in his movement and stared at the mini bar with a rather suspicious look on his face. There's a camera well hidden behind the numerous bottles that gives him a clear view of his living room whenever he's not around. He thought he saw the red light blink as he was about leave. Probably not, he thought again after staring at place for some seconds and then left to join the others outside.


Lucas dangled the cuban cigar in between his thick lips and stared at the armed men with Gus standing by his side. He moved his keen eyes from one man to another, both his and Gus men. The hefty grim looking men remained silent and they stared back at the two bosses, fingers on the trigger of their hammer with an 'eager to go do harm' sinister looks on their faces.

Lucas carefully studied the men who were twenty in number and nodded slowly with his nostrils breathing out the smoke in his lungs.

"I hope you guys have gotten well acquainted to each other", Lucas began and glanced at each and every one of the men. "Because you all gonna be working together in this mission. So whatever differences any of you have with another person here should be thrown out of the window", he said with alot of authority. "This subject we are going after is of utmost importance. And this subject being alive and free, means having hands in our money pockets", then Lucas paused while some of the men scoffed at those last words. "That's a total disrespect...... especially to goons like us", he then continued. "So if you all dont wanna stay starving, then you all gotta stay alert on this ride and shoot at anything that agrees with this subject......you boys understand?!".

"Yes sir!!", the men roared out.

"Good", Gus nodded his head with a smile. "Now lets ride", he said.

The men immediately started boarding the black SUVs and van. Gus and Lucas headed towards one of the SUVs; a black Cadillac Escalade. As both men boarded the vehicle, Gus paused and looked at the car that had Vincent in its trunk. He smirked and turned to slip into the back seat of the SUV. Then he paused again. And turned his eyes to the cctv camera that was pointing at his direction. He stared at the camera suspiciously with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"Are you going or what?", Lucas, who was staring at him from inside the SUV asked.

"Yeah", Gus replied and slipped into the backseat and sat beside Lucas. But he still has his eyes on the camera as the vehicle rolled out of the high walled mansion.


************************************************

"Did you track their location?", Nina asked Chris.

"Yep.....", Chris nodded and glanced at Esther who quietly walked into the dining place, carrying a tray with three cups of coffee. "A mansion at Pearl Estate.......house number 206", he said, staring at the screen of his laptop and working his fingers on the keyboard.

"Pearl Estate?", Esther placed a cup of coffee infront of Chris after giving one to Nina. "That place is a high class neighborhood", she said and held her own cup in both hands with her eyes on the laptop screen. "And you would think the leaders of these savages would probably be living among them in rough neighborhoods".

"No one eats or sleeps where they sh!t", Nina said and took a sip from her cup of coffee.

"Well is there anyway we can see what's going on in Gus house so as to go take a big sh!t there", Eric's voice came out of the speakers of the cellphone on the table. "Good morning mom", he then greeted.

"Good morning son", Esther and Nina replied at the same time.

Esther sighed and shook her head while Nina eyed her.

"For us to know what's going on in there, we need to have eyes in that place", Chris then said and distracted both women that were staring at each other like they are about to start an argument. "Like cameras.....", he muttered and worked his fingers on the keyboard. Windows popped up and disappeared in the laptop screen as he did so. ".....And there are some security cameras in that neighborhood".

"But they are for the street view", Alex voice said.

"Oh we will be needing those ones too. I am talking about cameras in the mansion", Chris said. "A company called Setkom provides security services for the entire house in that area", he looked at Nina. "One of the services include being able to view what's going on inside and around your house wherever you are, through your cellphone or tablet device", he smiled.

"But Setkom is one of the biggest security company in this country", Nina noted. "Do you think you can hack into their system?", she asked with furrowed eye brows.

"I already did", Chris said coolly and smiled at the woman.

Nina and Esther glanced at each other and stared at Chris in amazement.

"I designed that security software", he continued. "I presented it to them but they said it wasnt good enough. Only to later find out that they were using it in their computer system", Chris pursed his lips and looked away with a some anger in his eyes. Then he faced the laptop screen. "I'm beginning to like this job that i am doing", he moved his index finger to the'Enter' button on the keyboard. "Aaaaand......", he clicked the button. "......we are now watching them live", he smiled and reclined in his seat.

Several windows appeared on the screen of the laptop. Each showing a clear view of the activities going on in and around Gus house.

"We can also control the cameras", Chris added and clicked on one window; the one that showed the activities going on infront of the house. "But we gotta be very careful not to let them notice the camera's strange movements".

Nina and Esther watched the screen keenly as Chris moved the cameras by taping a button on the keyboard. Then Nina placed her cup of coffee on the table and headed towards one of the bedrooms.

"Alot of men", Esther murmured. She sounded a little bit concerned as Chris rotated all the cameras that showed every part of Gus mansion and the scrappy looking men moving around the place. "Alot of scary looking men", Esther murmured again.

"Yeah....and alot of mob cars", Chris nodded. "It's like there is some kind of a gangland committee going on there".

"That's Lucas men", Nina said and dropped a duffle bag on the dining table. She has changed to an all black outfit.

"Where are you going?", Esther asked and ran her eyes from the tight fitted black tee shirt Nina was wearing to the black Timbaland boots.

Nina ignored the question and unzipped the duffle bag with a dead serious look on her face. And started taking out it contents; automatic weapons and magazines. She took them out one by one and placed them on the table.

"I thought you were going to deliver the....printing plates to Gus", Chris said quietly as he stared at the guns; two cold black carbon steel koch and heckler ump 45 submachine guns, a stainless steel desert eagle semi auto pistol, other automatic 'hand cannons' that he was too scared of looking at and two wicked looking knives with serrated blades that gave him cold chills.

"I've decided to go to work", Nina muttered without looking at Chris or Esther, after a minute of inspecting the weapons in silence.

"Work?", Esther was flabbergasted. "What kind of work are you going to with all these things....?", she pointed at the weapons. ".....and you dressed like you are going to some battlefield?".

Nina smirked and picked up stainless steel Desert eagle. "Stop pretending as if you dont know what i do", she said to Esther as she held the weapon close to her ear and cocked several times. "These are my work tools", Nina dropped the 'deagle' on the table and gestured at the other guns.

"Of course i know what you do", Esther said. "But you just woke up from a coma about three days ago and you are still recovering from near fatal gunshot wounds", there was alot of concern in Esther's voice. "If those men dont kill you, your condition could!".

"I know....", Nina started loading the gun magazines with hollow point bullets. That's why i'm wearing my funeral cloth", she pointed at her all black outfit.

Esther and Chris glanced at each other and stared at Nina. They were lost for words as Nina loaded up the weapons and proceeded to pack them back into the bag.

Nina zipped up the bag and then looked at them as she slung it over her shoulder. "Keep me updated on every movements made by Gus and Lucas and their men", Nina said to Chris and then walked out of the dining room, heading towards the living room front door.

"What the hell is going on there?", said Eric's voice from the cellphone speakers.

"It's one of your mothers", Chris sighed, staring at the door Nina closed behind her after walking out of the house. "She wants to go to work", he continued.

"Who?", the voice demanded but Chris didn't answer the question. He continued staring at the door thoughtfully while Esther shook her head.

"Every time i start liking someone, they start looking for a way to end up dead", Esther muttered and still shaking her head with a downcast gaze.

"Then i guess you like me too", Chris said to her.

"What?", Esther furrowed her eyebrows at Chris.

Chris got up and closed the lid of his laptop. He told Eric he will call him back later and ended the phone call before anyone could understand what Eric's protesting voice was saying. Then he hurriedly grabbed his laptop and its black bag, and rushed out of the dining place. Esther could hear him say, "what the hell are you doing", as he exited the house.




"Hello.....Titus, it's me....Nina", Nina spoke on the cellphone mouthpiece as she tossed the duffle bag at the back seat and closed the door of the Hyundai Genesis. She listened to the voice rasping out of the earpiece for a few seconds and wrinkled her nose to the 'New car' smell that hit her nostrils. The car must have undergone some after-service repairs and replacements. "Well, you can see they didn't succeed in taking me out and that's why i called you", she continued and buckled her seatbelt. "I want a favour from you cos you you owe me alot it", then she paused listened again. "I dont care if today is a public holiday and......and tell that woman in bed with you to stop complaining, she will get her pleasuring another time. And you better get your ass out of bed right now".

Then Nina glanced around the car while listening to sounds and voices coming out of the cellphone earpiece. She placed the other hand on the wood-grain steering wheel and stared at her bandaged arm. She balled her fist and stared at the arm, wondering if the limb was still good to bring pain.

Then a rasping sound brought her attention back to the phone conversation.

"Okay...this is what i want you to do", Nina began. "I want you to get dressed.....", she paused. "....in your work cloths of course!.....get the company car and drive to Pearl estate. Then you wait for me there", then she paused and listened. "Good.....very good", she nodded with a smile of satisfaction. "I will call you when i get there.....and please, also bring....that thing".

Nina ended the phone conversation with a faint smile and slipped the device inside her pocket. Then she slided the car key into the ignition switch and reached for the car start button after turning it. As her finger was about to press the button, the front passenger door opened. Chris slided into the seat and shut the door without looking at Nina. After staring ahead for a few seconds and seemingly unsure of what he was doing, he turned his face at Nina and his eyes met those cold eyes of hers that was staring at him with a funny look on her face. Both of them stared at each other for almost a minute before Nina looked away with a sneer.

"Would you mind giving me a good explanation why you are in this car?", Nina then demanded.

"I'm going", Chris muttered with an uncertain tone in his voice.

"What?", Nina scoffed.

"I said i'm going with you", Chris said again, this time with some boldness.

Nina chuckled. "Sorry kid, you are in the wrong vehicle", she muttered and looked away.

"There is only one vehicle leaving the house", Chris countered.

"Well, this one is going to the place where a violent scrimmage with some thorough men gonna happen", Nina reminded him.

"I know", Chris agreed. "That's why i'm going with you. You need eyes in that place. A very good and intelligent one for that matter".

"That hardly count in this kind of showdown and i didnt say i'm going blind".

"You dont always just need excessive amount of brute strength and good trigger fingers to take on the big bad guys. You also need intelligent people too", Chris looked at Nina as he tried to convince her to take him. "Havent you heard of......",

Nina cut Chris short by raising a hand to his face. "Son.....", she began with her eyes closed. "The last thing i want now is a long, unnecessary debate", then she moved the hand to the car start button and pushed it. "You are old enough to know that this situation is not some cartoon comic where the characters always come to life again. If you wanna die young, be my guest".

The engine of the Genesis roared to life. "But please stay quiet and only talk if i ask you questions", Nina warned and put on a dark shades. "I wont repeat myself again".

Then she hit the gas pedal and worked the steering wheel, screeching the car out of the house driveway and into the street. Chris shaky hands struggled to buckle his seatbelt as he also tried to get hold of his laptop that almost fell off from his laps as the car raced away.


************************************************

"Goddammit!, i told you i dont know where she is!!", Vincent gasped painfully and spat. "Gus i swear i dont know where the hell she is".

Gus smirked as he paced around with his hands in his pocket. "Then how did you get to know her?", he asked. "How did you even get her number?".

"Gus i have known this woman for quite some time", Vincent replied.

"For how long?".

"Long enough to know that she is not the kind of person you would wanna f@ck with.....Gus you have to believe me".

"So you were too scared of her, that's why you informed her about Hector's plan?".

Vincent stared at Gus in silence.

"Of course.....", Gus continued and paced around. "After you called her, some of my men winded up dead in a shopping mall. The same day Hector went missing and my cousin and the man he was with, turned up dead in an abandoned loading dock".

Vincent sighed with a downcast gaze. "Gus.....i probably did you a very big favour. If Hector had carried out that plan, things would have gotten even worse", he muttered and looked at Gus. "That woman is very very dangerous. If you had told me about this disastrous plan of yours, i would have strongly advised you against it. You are going against someone who is part of the most feared organization in this country".

"Who was part of the most feared organization in this country", Gus corrected. "That, i already know my friend. But have you asked yourself if it was that same organization that wants her taken out", he asked and looked at Vincent. "How do you think i got the info that you called her huh?", he asked again.

Vincent stared at Gus and bowed his head again. Gus laughed and gestured at one of the men in the room; the big man who had been inflicting pain on Vincent. The man gave Vincent a mischievous sneer and left the room.

"You chose the losing side my friend", Gus said after the man closed the door. "So you are about to know how it is to be on the losing side", he smiled with a cold look on his face.

A minute later, the big man came back inside the place, dragging Vincent's wife as she struggled to free herself from his powerful grip. Another man followed them with Vincent's daughter in his arms. The little girl was crying uncontrollably as she stared at the man manhandling her mother. Abigail, Vincent's wife, screamed when she saw the terrible bruises on her husband's face and struggled harder. But it only attracted a hard slap to her face from the big man's rough hand and more manhandling.

The scene before Vincent made his lips tremble and tears welling up in his eyes. Then he turned at Gus with the face of a defeated man.

"Gus....please", Vincent begged. "Please let them go.......you can have all my businesses and money......you can take my life....please, let them go".

Gus smiled and went over to the man carrying Vincent's daughter. He patted the girl on her back and comforted her while the girl sobbed.

"It's okay", he whispered to the little girl. "Uncle Gus is just playing a game with mommy and daddy", he smiled. "After that, mommy will leave first, then daddy will join her. Then uncle will take care of you till you are old enough", he smirked and looked at Vincent who was breathing hard as he rubbed the little girl's hair. "Take her to the other room", Gus ordered the man holding the girl. The man nodded and and left the room with the Vincent daughter who started crying louder as she was being taken away.

Lucas, who had been watching what was going on in silence and with an indifferent look on his face, motioned at his men and started heading towards the door.

"Arent you gonna enjoy the show?", Gus asked him and motioned at another man who immediately dragged a table and kept it infront of Vincent.

Lucas looked over his shoulder. "I know how you are with women. And i'm really not in the mood to watch", he replied. "I will be in the living room......meet me there when you are done", he muttered and left the room with two men.

Then the big man lifted Vincent's wife up and slammed her face down on top of the table. Vincent let out a cry and cursed out loud as the other men joined and held her down firmly. Gus stood behind the woman that was sobbing and whispering something inaudible. He stared at her behind and gave Vincent a condescending smirk.

"She is beautiful, isnt she?", Gus asked the big man.

The big man nodded with a smile and stared at Abigail with a lustful look. The other men nodded too. They already know the next order Gus will give to them. Their boss had done it several times; ordering them to take turns on their enemy's wife again and again and again till they are done.

"I always reward people who are loyal to me my friend", Gus continued and glanced at Vincent who was still breathing hard and putting up a futile struggle to free himself from the chair he was tied to. "These men had been loyal to me. So i have to reward them with something. I hope you do understand what i mean".

Gus winked at Vincent and pulled up a chair at a corner of the room. He dropped his weight on it and looked at the men who stared at him with alot of eagerness. Then he smiled and nodded the go ahead.

The men immediately pounced on Vincent's wife as Vincent let out a throaty cry. The big man wanted to go first. And was already behind the woman who stared at her husband as the man ripped her skirt to pieces and unbuckling his belt frantically.

Then Gus' cellphone ranged. He reached for it and looked at the caller i.d. He glanced at Vincent who was weeping and telling his wife that he was sorry. And at the big man who was about to start raping Vincent's wife.

"Hello?", he began after pressing the answer button.

"Getting really busy huh?", it was Nina's voice.

Gus immediately snapped his fingers at the men as one was about to penetrate another man's wife.

"Hello Nina....how are you doing?", Gus said coolly and gestured at the men to stop. "Oh i heard what happened to you. I'm very sorry that i didnt call because i was very busy".

"It's okay, beside i wouldnt have answered if you did because i too was very busy", Nina said. "We all have been very busy".

"So why are you calling me?, especially now that i'm in a middle of a very interesting game", Gus asked and stared at Vincent who was staring at him and glancing at the men who were still holding down his wife.

"Actually i called because of that interesting game of yours", Nina replied. "I want it to stop".

"Hm.....what you are asking is kind of hard to do", Gus grunted as he moved his weight on his seat. "Especially now that it is getting really interesting".

"Well it's me that you want, isnt it?".

"Alot of people want you Nina, especially now that you are no longer riding with the crew of the untouchables".

"Yeah alot of people want me.....but i'm the one with your cash.....and printing plates".

Gus immediately got up from his seat and glanced at Vincent.

"Gus, just let the man and his family go then i will give you back all your money and printing plates", Nina then said to him.

Gus smiled thoughtfully as he paced around with the cellphone earpiece still pressed against his ear. "So how do you intend to make that happen?", he asked and looked at Vincent's wife who was whispering something; a silent prayer with her eyes shut tight.

"You tell me.......as long as you gonna let them go after the deal is done", Nina replied.

Gus nodded with a pursed lip and looked at Vincent. "Okay then, this is what's gonna happen. I will keep his wife and kid here in this place and i will take him to go meet you where the exchange will happen", he said.

"Why keep his wife and kid there?", Nina demanded.

"Let's just say as an insurance. Incase you wanna try anything funny", Gus replied. "My men will watch over them. So if you in anyway try to make any funny move on me, or even show up late at the meeting place, i will make him listen to his wife and sweet daughter being cut to pieces. Then i will kill him", he warned. "I hope you got that?", Gus asked

"Understood", Nina replied.

"Good.....i want you to bring my cash and those printing plates and wait for me near the Red hills, off Route 82 highway. I will meet you there".

Nina responded in the affirmative and ended the phone conversation. Gus smiled and looked at the men who were now grumbling in low tone because they already knew that they wont be having a taste of the woman they are holding down on the table.
"You are one lucky son of a b!tch", Gus said and looked at Vincent. "The woman really like you alot as to be willing to stake her life for your freedom", he smiled. "Take her to where her daughter is and watch over them", Gus ordered. "Put him in the car trunk. We will be going for a ride with him and also alert the rest", he continued and then left the room.

The big man who still standing behind Vincent's wife, adjusted his cloths with a scowl on his face. Then he stared at Vincent's wife behind for a few moments and looked at Vincent. He sneered and gently caressed the woman's behind as he stared at Vincent with a smirk on his face. And chuckled when Vincent glared at him with alot of anger in his eyes. Then the big man gestured at the other men and they started carrying out their boss orders.


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I'm very sorry for the disappointment my fellow nairalanders. I will make it up to you guys.

babapressy:
Not fair o...you syd every wikend

Yes.....but things do come up now and then. And i have to always put my job first before this write up.

Sorry folks.....wont be updating this weekend. I had to study some scripts for a Tv show here this week. My apologies.