#THE_MINISTER’S_SON
EPISODE 25
Everyone agreed that Joe should drive David and Rozina home. He appeared less drun!kand strong compared to the rest. As he sat on the driver’s seat, he felt for his gun beneath his belt. David was alre-ady snoring at the back seats , Rozina sat beside him.
Joe smiled and he started the engine….
Before Joe took off, Joyce approached. She wanted him to open the door for her. Though he didn’t like it, as he had no room for more delay, he had no option than to open for her. His prayers was that , whatever she wanted , she would be gone in one minute time. He feared that David might sober up before his mission was over.
“Madam, you nee-d something from any of us?”
“No and yes, Maccain and I will travel together with you.” She said, she was alre-ady squee-zing herself inside, beside Joe.
“The space ain’t enough for us all madam, why don’t you…” Joe complained, trying to hide his disappointment.
“There is more than enough room for us all, Maccain is alre-ady comfortable with David and Rozina in the back seats.” Joyce said with finality.
“What about my cousin Mercy, where is Mercy?” He sounded alarmed.
“She is in good hands, drive now, its an order.” Joyce ordered.
“Are you threatening me? I won’t drive until I see my cousin.” He barked.
“Then she will die, you will have to follow our instructions if you want to save her life.”
Joe pu-ll-ed out his gun and pointed it to Joyce who just smiled, she wasn’t moved.
“I will shoot you right now if you don’t tell me where Mercy is!” He threatened.
“Look behind.” She giggled. Joe turned to see three guns pointed at him. David, Maccain and Rozina had guns pointed at him.
He couldn’t believe his eyes, were they not supposed to be drun!k?
“But you were drun!kand asleep!” He said desperately.
“Now we are awake and sober, hand over your gun to Joyce, now!” David ordered.
Joe had no option, though he hesitated, he feared for his life, of all the things, he would never risk his cousin’s life too.
“Good, now, let’s drive to the by pas-s.” David ordered.
“And my cousin? What are we going to do there? At the bypas-s?” He sounded weak, beaten and alarmed.
“Your cousin is there, we nee-d to rescue her. Secondly, at the bypas-s is where you were to meet the minister after as-sas-sinating me.” David’s words made Joe run out of words, he couldn’t figure out how he had come to know all about it. It was true, he was to meet the minister and receive his cheque at the bypas-s after as-sas-sinating David.
“But sir,,,,,” He stammered.
“No more words from you, drive! Now!” Joyce threatened to shoot him.
“The court of law will determine your fate but if you misbehave, we will have you dead. A traitor is not worth living.” Joyce said harshly. Joe had no otherwise, a great as-sas-sin like him was now being ordered by a lady, he smiled at what he thought as his foolishness. If he would get a single chance, he swore upon his soul that he would kill all of them, even Joyce the minister’s daughter, had he not killed more prominent people? Ndegwa himself had given him a job to kill his political opponent.
******************
In thirty minutes time, they arrived at the bypas-s, he was eager to see his cousin Mercy.
“Where is my cousin? You said he was here!” Joe barked.
Before David answered him, Joe’s phone rang, he checked it, it was Minister Mutua. He hesitated to pick it.
“Pick the phone and tell him you have killed us alre-ady. Everyb©dy, get out of the car!” David ordered as he threatened to shoot him.
“Your cousin will die within one minute if you don’t pick the call and say as I told you to!” He threatened. Joyce, Rozina and Maccain were alre-ady out of the car.
Joe picked the call.
“Yes sir, they are dead……yes… At the bypas-s…” David gr@bb£d the phone and turned it off. He ordered Joe to get out and follow others into a saloon car that was parked some yards ahead.
He hesitated but he had to, he feared for Mercy’s life.
“Your cousin is at home, no one t©uçhed her.” David informed him as they approached the saloon car.
“What? You mean…”
“I mean, Mercy will drive us home, she is in that saloon car.” Joe couldn’t believe his ears and eyes as he saw Mercy get out of the car and hvg all of them, had she double-crossed him? He would blame her for that, he felt that he hated her.
Before he thought of what to do, there was a loud explosion that s£nt everyone on the ground. They looked back to see the car they had come with in flames. Joe could not un-derstand but the rest did.
“You see? The minister wanted you dead too…” David told Joe.
“It was a set up?!”
“Yes Joe, I overheard it from my Dad as he was talking to minister Mutua about it, it seems he no longer trust you and so he wanted you dead after the mission.” Joyce explained.
Joe seemed so shocked to believe it but he had no choice. We had no time to waste standing there since the explosion was alre-ady attra-cting security officers. Cops are known for always arresting someone around a crime area even it the crime was committed days ago, furthermore, being an eye witness to a crime is a crime by itself, you become the first suspect. A cop will arrest you to cover for his job, he or she has to arrest someone to begin their prolonged investigations.
“You better get into the car , all of you, before the cops gets us here.” I advised or rather ordered. Having ‘Dad’ trying to kill me was not to be taken simply, if Joyce had not been so sharp, I would be dead. Her mother was worth my gratitude, she had overheard everything as the two minister’s planed to have us killed. She told Joyce everything, being my sister, Joyce had not hesitated in trying to save me.
Joyce had told me everything and we faked our drinks to fool Joe who had obviously seen his mission almost succeeding. Joyce had visited the restaurant during the day and had soft drinks transfered into beer bottles. It was a nice game for us all as we pretended to be so drun!k, I wondered if i couldn’t make a good acter. Maybe I would write my life story and make sure it was acted, I would then pl@yp@rt in it. But then, acting my life story wouldn’t be nice, I would have my son act it then, by then I would be an old man, but wait, would I imagine my own son in such kind of a life? Maybe I would have just anyb©dy act it, anyone not my own son and not me. I wondered if anyone would love to be Judas or Joe Ngigi, it would be ha-rd to find such characters.
These all pas-sed throu-gh my mind as we drove towards the city, everyone seemed so preoccu-pied with their thoughts to speak, it was alre-ady 03:00 dawn and everyone seemed sleepy, Maccain was behind the sterling, he seemed more active. The following morning we all woke up to find what we expected, all the newspaper had the news that there was a car explosion at the bypas-s and it was feared that the former Minister’s gateman had died in the explosion, according to media, the minister nee-ded more security for it seemed that his life was in danger too.
Later that day, the minister was seen speaking to the press, he looked so scared for his own life, in fact he almost shed tears as he mourned ‘Joe’s’ death. He really was a good acter too, Joe watched everything silently.
At the afternoon news, the Minister also s£nt a message to the media houses, he feared that his son, David was also in the car. According to him, I was with Joe the previous night and we were seen getting in to that car. At that point, the minister could not hold his tears.
“Though their bodies haven’t been traced, we fear that they perished in the flames…” The minister was taken away by his guards as he wiped his tears, ‘he was overc@m£ by grief.’ Inside him, I knew he was really enjoying his victory.
The news about my death spre-ad like fire on dry gras-s, mourning was to start immediately after my remains were traced.
On that evening, I called one of my friends working in a media house. At first, he doubted my voice, he was sure I was dead, in fact he cut the line so fast. I had to call him with a different line and convince him that it was me.
I begged him not to say anything to anyone, as the nation mourned my death, I wanted to appear on the TV station that evening and fight it out with the minister, the public must know the truth…
#THE_MINISTER’S_SON
EPISODE 26
Of all the people, the news about David’s death seemed to hurt them most, madam Njeri (David’s mother ) and Serena were two people that David held a special places in their hearts, none of them was herself from the time the news was broadcasted. None of them saw any reason to continue living, each had a secret plan to commit suicide. Serena blamed herself for all that had happened, she knew that if she had not met David on that valentine evening, he would have married Joyce as it had been the Minister’s demand. She wondered why the gods had not pla-yed their roles, they should have influenced her to turn down his proposal. But, one thing she was sure, a strong bond had alre-ady connected them even before he proposed, in fact, if it wasn’t considered uncouth, she would have proposed to him herself, that is if he had delayed an hour longer.
Serena believed in David, in him she had seen her strength and a great future. He was handsome and wealthy, a man that every girl would fall for , his character made him unique. David’s as-sociation and love was for the ordinary, the poor and the weak. There was no doubt that the minister was not his biological dad, he was completely different. Without him, Serena saw no hope to live. She planed to take some poison as she went to be-d, she pitied madam Njeri, the poor lady seemed to have no more tears left. She had fainted twice during the day, she had taken nothing not even a drop of water. She stared on the television like a ghost, she really wished that it was a dream that her only son was dead. It was at this time that she remembered her daughter, she had no idea of what had happened to her since Mutua took her from her life. She had always suspected that she was long dead. Njeri wanted to die, she would commit suicide and die in knowledge that she had left none of her child in the unfair world, she wished and prayed that she would meet her family in the next world. She vowed to haunt Mutua as a spirit, she would make sure she ruins his life.
Njeri had a plan of hanging herself in her be-droom and Serena had no idea of it, Serena had a plan of taking poison in her be-droom and madam Njeri had no clue of it. Maybe it would be a great surprise incase the two died and met in the next world.
The two were living in a rented ap@rtment in which, only Mohammed the cop was their frequent visitor.
****************
The country was in a grave silence, everyone seemed to had a reason to mourn. Even those who had not seen David, they had at least heard about him. Some knew him a rebel from a loyal family, others knew him as a champion of change, a humble young man with a great dream of bringing justice for the weak. David himself was t©uçhed by the intensity in which his death ought to have t©uçhed the country.
The media house was less busy when he entered, accompanied by his friends. Joyce, Maccain, Joe, Rozina and Mercy had gone with him. Edward was his journalist friend, he welcomed them warmly ,he had alre-ady set a place for each. He was now re-ady to switch on the c@m£ra.
On the other side, Mutua had every reason to cerebr@te, his friends sat around metallic tables occu-pied by rich drinks. Infront of them there was a hvge screen but none seemed interested in following whatever was going on in the telly.
All of them were the minister’s closest friends and business p@rtners , he had arranged the p@rty to cerebr@te his victory. All of them knew the kind of victory he was cerebr@ting.
“Minister?” One of them called in shock as he glued his eyes on the screen.
“Yes Julius.”
“Is that not David on the television?” The minister turned sharply.
“David is dead, how can he….” His words failed him as he went down on the floor.
MINISTER’S SON* *p@rt forty six*
Serena saw it first, she was so shocked to speak. She was sure that the media had maybe decided to pl@yone video of which maybe David was captured. pla-ying it for the memory of her David was a nice thing, she was proud of him even at his ‘death.’ She was glad that regardless of his young age, he had left unforgettable legacy.
Serena thought of calling madam Njeri from her be-droom to come and witness her son’s video being pla-yed on telly for his memory. But then she had a second thought, it would only add grief on her. After all , maybe she had alre-ady been used to seeing her son on telly. Whatever Serena didn’t realize was that David was live on air, he was very much alive.
David sat opposite his friend Edward who was their interviewer. No sooner had the c@m£ras been switched on than the room went flooding with journalists from different media houses. All of them wanted to capture him live.
“David Kamau Mutua, those are your full names my friend?” Edward enquired for the benefit of the viewers.
“Its my name.” David said shortly.
“The whole country believes that you are dead, what do you think about that?” Edward asked.
David cleared his throat and wore his usual smile.
“It’s not a big deal to me, the country we live in is full of bigger lies, lies out of selfishness. Its now up to the world to know that I am alive.” David concluded.
“Does your dad the minister know that you are alive?”
“My Dad died ages ago, the minister believes that am dead.” David answered.
“The minister is not your dad?” One of the journalists put across with surprise.
“I said he is not.”
“Tell us, what happened to your dad? Who is the minister to you?” Another journalist asked.
“The matter is alre-ady in court, I don’t wish to speak about it. My message to my country men is that, I am alive. We will fight for truth and justice until its achieved.” He concluded emotionally, his voice carried with it some irresistible power, power that had always made him obeyed and respected regardless of his humility and his medium b©dy.
“David, the journalists had always seeked to interview you but you always turned them down, why?”
“Nice question, I never work with people who only think of ma-king money and building up their names.” He answered boldly.
“The press you mean?”
“The whole lot is corrupt, its an enemy to justice and equality, why do you think you guys ran here to capture me with your c@m£ras? To air the truth? No, bless my soul! All want to earn an extra coin..” There was lots of murmuring in the room as the journalists protested against his statement.
“That’s an insult David…” A male journalist shouted.
“Let it be, in our nation, truth sounds worse than an insult. Were you not the same guys who broadcasted about my death? Did any of you take time to try to investigate before airing it? If at all we nee-d equality and change in our nation we nee-d a stable and independent press as well.” David put in. Everyone saw s-en-se in his words, there was no doubt that he meant to bring change in the nation. One of the journalists wanted to know why and how the minister wanted them dead. He gave chance to Joe Ngigi and Joyce Ndegwa to explain everything, the story was no doubt a shock to everyone but before they completed their interview there were sirens of police cars outsides and in few seconds there was no journalist left in the room ap@rt from Edward.
Elsewhere, Serena was jumping and cl@pping her hands with joy, she had listened to everything and there was no doubt that he was alive. What Serena didn’t know was that she was about to loose David’s mother who was alre-ady tying a knot to hung herself. She chose a painful death to be as a punishment for her sins, she blamed herself for death of her husband, her daughter and son David. The immediate death of her son sorrowed her most.
Madam Njeri didn’t bother to leave a will or an explanation of why she chose death. One thing she was sure of was that justice was a dream that will never come true, not without her son to champion it. She shed more tears on David’s ph0to that she was holding, she stepped on the chair and placed her n£¢k right inside the knot. She closed her eyes before thrashing the chair away…
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 27