The b©dyguard Episode 9 & 10

The b©dyguard – Episode 9
By Tisa Phiri
 
 
I cleared my throat after driving for about 5 minutes in silence.
“so what’s your name?” I asked the driver
” and how long have you been working for Mr Benson? ”
“Am Simon” he looked at me adding a Kaonde surname which I couldn’t pronounce.
” so” I sighed.
” Simon it is,” I said looking at him. He was very tall and dark, in fact very dark if I may add.
He answered my second question after negotiating some potholes ahead if us his long hands holding the steering ti-ght. I was almost becominy bored with his driving, he was too slow but I let it pas-s for that day..I was always a fast driver and with the emmergence of the case at hand I really wished he could go fas-ter.
“I have worked for the big man for almost 4 years now” he told me when the road was finally smooth.
“Well you must know much about him and his family?” I giggled leading him to say more.
“Not much” he declined.
“all i do is run small errands for him and sometimes am asked to drive him or his spoiled daughter around.”
Something cli-cked in me..
“what?” I thought to myself.. ‘spoiled’ well, that was something. Judging from his expression, I could tell he was either jealousy of Mr Benson and his daughter or he was Paula’s admirer. I kept to myself though. I didn’t want to show my concern in that area, so I pla-yed along just to take as much information as I could.
“You know these people just come from God knows where and think they can just take our mines” he added.
I smiled sheepishly..
“yeah you know, you are right. it’s somehow not fair aiii” I continued just to encourage him to speak out his heart. It’s easy to find clues from people working close because they might just give you an idea of what is trully going on around someone’s life, especially the type of Mr Benson, the rich and famous.
So I let him say some more but what c@m£ out later was just some words that indicated jealousy and envy. I even discovered he did nothing worth talking about in terms of education he only managed to pas-s in 2 subjects at grade 12, though he was still holding on to the fantasy of persuing further studies.
I received a call as I was busy an-alysing the driver Simon.
“Helo!” I answered at the second ring of my phone.
I was told to wait at some place and I asked Simon if he knew where the place was, he nodded.
We had been driving for almost 25 minutes by then and when we c@m£ to a halt. Simon pointed at some bar on the outskates of town..
” that’s the place” he pointed at a small thatched building with a small poster written, Welcome to Chinsaka’s Krall.
Instead of waiting for the other guys Mr Benson had s£nt, I told Simon to driver back further away from the Bar, walked there slowly as usual hands in my pockets.
I was greeted by a fat and light in complexion woman who smiled or maybe I can just say grinned wi-dely ex-posing her yellow teeth, which I could notice even when it was almost getting dark.
“Helo!” I greeted her back in my poor kaonde. she smiled and instead answered back in Bemba.
“stranger ?” She asked, I smiled at her..
“I would prefer visitor” I suggested.
“What can i offer you” she asked as she indicated me to sit down.
“oh not yet” I said politely.
“Am waiting for someone but I would love to ask you a few questions” I added before she walked away. she stood close to me and I almost regreted calling her back she had a strong scent of sweat, rather a combination of dirty and sweat.
“What kind of people do you normally have here?” I asked her smiling as I pretended to be checking her out. I could see her coming on to me and I had to use it to my advantage..
“All kinds” she said raising her hands like saying ‘the whole’ world. I let a laugh in my head. she trully wasn’t expo-sed at all and according to her that was the best Bar in the whole world.
“Well I love it here it’s quite and nice. who are those guys then?” I asked her further pointing with my eyes at some group of boys seated in the corner with their table filled with bottles of Mosi and Castle lagers.
“Oh those are the t©p boys in Solwezi” she whispered..
“don’t dare mess with them” she added getting closer to my face.. “their boss will soon be here, you will see” she told me..
“okay then thank you swity ” I said with a flir-t smile..
she rigggled her big behind as she walked back to the counter. I shook my head.
” wonders shall never end .. how posible is it for this old hag even think I would l@ywith her..” I asked myself laughing almost showing off my teeth before I composed myself and concentrated.
Their was something fishy about the group in the corner. Though the lady didn’t say much I could tell the Bar was some kind of meeting place and hide out for the bad guys. I slowly walked to the counter and ordered a bottle of water just to make sure I had a good sight of the guys in the corner. In seconds I counted 6 of them, probably drug dealers and thieves. I thought. I took a couple of seconds to grasp atleast 3 of their faces, satisfied. I walked back to my table but before I could sit, I saw their leader walk in.
They were few other people in the bar but it’s like he got everyone’s attention. I looked closely without him noticing, he was the guy I was looking for.
My skin grew some goose bu-mps, not that i was scared but my couriosity grew large. I almost went for him but I tried to pretend pressing the small bu-ttons on my phone as he pas-sed by my Table. I could bet his eyes where on me but I didn’t raise up my head to look at him, my looks were obviously foreign and probably better than theirs. I knew for sure he would not recognise me to be the person who knocked himout in the forest. since he never got the chance to see my face.
My phone beeped and I walked out, two guys stood by the small road leading to the bar. I quic-kly realised they were the ones s£nt by Mr Benson then called them and told them about about the guy inside.
“Let’s wait for him here” I suggested.
“there are 7 guys, it won’t be easy for us to confront them straight on. we are out numbered..”
Almost an 3 hours later, the guy walked out with two other guys with bottles beer in their hands, we durked in the car to avoid being seen and as he opened his Corona car parked a few meters from us. I whispered to the driver to follow him. The two guys with him remained behind and We saw him join the road alone.
We drove behind him for almost 15 minutes before he joined a townsh!proad, the street lights shining on us and I instructed Simon to reduce the speed and follow at a distance.
He parked at a well built house, with a short wall fence, it was incomplete. I knew then that our guy was involved in some shoddy business for him to have bult such A house for himself. He didnt look like one who was working nor Educated for that matter.
I decided to watch his house for an hour from outside, satisfied there was no one outside, i told the two guys with me to wait outside as I climbe-d the small wall fence and jumped inside..
Slowly I went in throu-gh the back door. I had to be fast cause the lights were giving me away, I was too expo-sed..
The good p@rt is the guy was so drun!khe left the door open so I pushed the handle and opened it.
I was inside a room with some cheap sofa and a small screen LG TV. As I debated which room to go to I froze, in the pas-sage. Someone opened some be-droom door and I stood like a statue…
“Dammit!” I screamed in my head.
The b©dyguard – Episode 10
By Tisa Phiri
“Oh” i breathed out as I waited for the person to completely show himself. luckily the boy of about 10 years old walked with his hand ru-bbing his eyes, he didn’t see me. quic-kly, I doged and stood at the back of the sitting room door. he slowly walked to what seemed like a convenient room. I sighed with relief as he closed the door behind him..
I waited for what seemed like forever for the boy to come out almost irritated the boy was wasting my time. I had to drag his father or whatever their relationsh!pwas before the entire house woke up..
My phone however gave me away, it’s loud tone filled the house at the moment the boy walked out. I struggled to turn it off and by the time i succeeded, the boy in the bathroom c@m£ out and screamed on t©p of his voice..
” Thief thief ! ” He screamed alarming the entire house. In seconds everyone was running out to the pas-sage others in undies only.
The guy I followed c@m£ out holding a gun but I quic-kly pu-ll-ed the boy and held a gun to his head .
“Drop it or i b!ow his head off.” I warned sternly the woman who seemed like his wife started shouting and crying as 5 other kids joined in the noise .
“Shut up! ” I shouted still holding the boy at gun point.
“you,” i said pointing at the guy.
“let’s go out ” I instructed letting him go ahead of me. I could see his facial expression that he was dying to fight back but the fear in the eyes of boy I was holding giving him no other choice. He slowly walked to the outside and I pushed back the boy, closed the door behind me with one hand pointing the gun at the guy I followed.
” to the car !” I shouted..
Instead, he charged at me. I was however fas-ter than him so I hit him in his face with the gun, he fall back and realising I wasn’t going to kill him just yet. he c@m£ for me again, this time i shoot one bullet in the air and he froze.
I heard the kids screaming inside the house at the sound of the gun.
Mr Benson’s guys also ran to the house and they both gr@bb£d the guy before me and dragged him to the car outside.After securing him with some ropes, we dumped him in the trunk and drove away.
I called Me Benson and instead of the lodge he directed me to one of his incomplete buildings.
” take him there and have the guys guard him. I want to be there as you talk to him tomorrow. You will go back to the lodge and rest..”
” Yes sir!” I answered sighing de-eply.
Later after doing as told, I took the car keys from Simon and drove to the lodge leaving Simon and the guys to guard the thvg. Instead of going direct to the room I sat at the small bar inside the lodge and ordered some beers. Since I was told I could order what ever I wanted, I didn’t have to worry about paying the bill.
I was there de-ep in thoughts as I drun!k, that night’s activities just reminded me of how I had helped In the kidnapping and murder of some high government official who according to general Loko was getting in their way. For some reason, General Loko always used plural whenever he addressed us and s£nt us to do his dirty works he would always say ‘ we’..
Unfortunately I never got tbe chance to know the other people invoved in the deals he had.
I recalled how one day he made me and the other guys burn some thatched houses with people inside.
“Kill them all ! ” He ordered us
“or you die in their place, people in this area are dull and can’t use their br@ins to vote wisely, so I want you to kill them and burn their homes before voting time” he added holding a gun in our faces.
I remember reaching a certain house had saw a small boy hidden in the corner as th bodies of his dead parents l@yin front of him. I looked around and when I saw no one was looking I went to the boy and lifted him to the bushes nearby. I quic-kly rushed to get his mother who i had noticed was still breathing. I tried saving her and when she was conscious, told her to hold her son and stay put until it was quite.
she murmured some blessings holding my hand and I quic-kly ran back to other soldiers.Thoughts like that always gave me sad feelings.
Looking at my phone i saw some missed calls from Paula, but i didnt call her back.
“she’s probably slee-ping” i thougt to myself. It was past mid night. lifting the bottle, i poured half of it in my mouth, I looked at the TV mounted on the wall and I could ba-rely make s-en-se of the match being pla-yed, my mind was occu-pied.
I drun!ksome more and didn’t realise Shila was watching me from a distance. After an hour of drinking I slowly pushed the chair I sat on and staggered a little before I stood straight and headed to my room.
Going straight to the be-d and as I un-bu-ttoned my trou-sers I saw Shila standing in the corner with a short Sk-irt showing off her b©dy contures.
“What are you doing here?” I askee almost in a whisper. I was drun!k…
She just smilled and walked closer to me, pushed me down and sat on t©p of me without giving me a chance to say another word. she pu-ll-ed out my t-shi-t and started working her had hands on me. I tried to resist her but she made things difficult when she pu-ll-ed down my jeans and squized my sacred man.
I lashed out and pushed her down going for her brea-sts, she smiled naughtly enticing me to go on.
With the period I had stayed without a woman, well, it c@m£ like a bonus for me. I went into her with full f0rç£ and she responded with some kaonde moves s£nding me to some places I had not visited in 5 years.
I don’t know whether it was the beer or that girl was really good in be-d but I was fully satisfied after I had calm. I fall asleep instantly….
To be continued