MIXED FEELINGS "I should go and get ready to leave," Liliana said and stood up. She had slept in her work dress although she removed her coat. Caleb looked at the nape of her neck as she wrapped up her hair to enter the bathroom and suddenly remembered the shawl and diamond earrings he had bought for her at the Rio de Janeiro airport. "There's something I forgot to give you," he said and went to fetch it from inside his travel bag. Liliana shrugged, not the least bit curious.Caleb frowned a little at her indifference. "Aren't you wondering what it is?""That's all I ever do when I'm with you. Wonder! So for once, I'll let myself go."Caleb scoffed. "Women!" Liliana ignored him and opened the bathroom door and slipped inside. The moment she shut the door, she leaned against it and exhaled. Caleb was eliciting different emotions in her. One moment he's acting aloof and distant, and in another, he's giving her weird thoughts. If she didn't know better she'd think he saw him giving
THE HUNT CONTINUES Guillermo sat still after the call with Nathan ended, his hands trembling as his mind became a warehouse of scattered thoughts."Where in the world am I going to get twelve million dollars from?" he flung his hands in exasperation."The Don knows I don't have the money," he lamented, "and he's aware of my predicament - hiding in an underground that is a little bigger than a dungeon. Otherwise, if I were out there, I might have gotten a loan from the bank." Guillermo had gone into serious financial crises after his last contract with the government expired and he was unable to renew it. The company he used to partner with was struck off the list and the contract was given to a new company. One that he always suspected belonged to El-Zaki. How did he know? Simple. When he went to meet the man in charge of issuing contracts, he told him he had received direct orders from above to not renew the contract. But he forced the truth out of the man's mouth and he eventuall
ANOTHER GUNNED DOWN "What in God's name was that snell?" he growled and continued to follow the smell until the penlight became a full moon. It seemed magical! He saw something like a processor machine; very big and wide, and thought, "Oh wow, it's a chemical laboratory!" He felt disappointed though and wanted to turn back until his eye caught another penlight blinking intermittently at the far right of the room. He touched the handle of the door but it was locked. Sigh! What was inside that particular room to make them shut it under lock and key? He tried to push it open but the door remained immovable. Then he decided to use his gun. Luckily the gun had a silencer. So he shut the keyhole and turned the knob and the door gave way. He didn't put on the light to avoid attracting anyone's attention. Using his phone light instead, he pointed to where the penlight was coming from and saw that it was actually a monitor box. What was inside the box? Guillermo went to work disabling th
THE RUDE SHOCK Caleb always left his television on overnight. It was a habit he had cultivated recently since the day he woke up to the news of Mr Benson's arrest in Brazil. He promised himself he would never miss out on any important news. This morning wasn't any different. As he opened his eyes, he lazily turned to the news trending on his screen. Every media house station, online platform, and newspaper headline was buzzing with the sensational news of a certain chemical factory that had been alleged to produce hazardous substances busted last night by the police. He cleared his eyes and promptly sat up. Last night, as soon as he reached home, he had gone straight to bed. His grandfather realized how tired he was when he kept yawning intermittently throughout the drive to the house and released him. "You must have had a long flight, my boy. Take a suitable rest and we can finish our discussion in the morning," he said the moment their entourage pulled into the driveway. Cale
WHO IS NEXT? "I don't understand what they mean by Guillermo is their man." Lord Dezani asked rhetorically, peering into Caleb's phone. "It could mean many things," Caleb said crisply. His grandfather took his eyes off the phone and tilted his head toward him prompting Caleb to explain. "His DNA matching with the fingerprint found on the electrical vault means he was the one inside the factory." "Probably, but what about the body in the body bag?" Mateo's curiosity heightened. "Maybe that's one of his men. He couldn't have gone into the factory alone," Caleb tried to reason. "Then who shot and killed the man and why did they neutralize his body beyond recognition?" Caleb shrugged. His mind was racing in different directions. "Could it be the factory was his hideout all along?" His eyes sparkled with renewed hope at the possibility. "That's another angle," his grandfather agreed. "The police said they got to the scene after they heard the sound of gunshots, meaning whoever th
A MINUTE TOO LATEThe Don waited with bated breath to hear the good news. He had more faith in his number one hitman than he did in anyone else. Even himself.Aguero had successfully carried out numerous assignments in the past - even the most dangerous like killing a sitting Senator right inside the Palacio Nacional. It was the reason he took him into his employ as a personal hitman. He was young, swift, brutal, and very smart. He learned it was his bullet that took out the great Guillermo Lozano. After he had sent out four of his boys to invade the underground where he was hiding, Nathan called him to say that Guillermo was missing."Master, we met the back entrance unlocked. He's nowhere to be found.""Then lay siege at the entrance and ensure you don't blink or look away until he returns. He couldn't have gone into the city because he knows the police are looking for him," he replied. Instinctively though, he asked him to check the factory. "Maybe he went inside the factory to
WAITING FOR THE RESULT His mind raced as he rode off to Cholula. There were policemen everywhere and at every stop. There was no chance for anyone who attempted any smart play on them to escape. He was lucky not to be suspected. He kept wondering what happened to the security guard he shot last night at the cathedral. Was he dead? Would the priest be mad at the Don because of that? Well, since the Don didn't mention anything about any shooting, he should think the guy was still alive. Good for him if he was. Aguero planned to enter Cuautlancingo from Cholula and then continue till he got to the border town of Guatemala. He didn't mind the distance so long as he got away from Don El-Zaki and anything that had to do with handling guns ever again. He was tired of living this life. Because of it, he had no wife, no kids, and no relationship. But as soon as he reached the Pyramid, he had his scooter stopped by the police. He had nothing to be afraid of because he wasn't carrying any
ONE LAST CHANCE Caleb waited for the longest 30 minutes he could remember. Thirty minutes turned into an hour and then two hours, but there was still no new update on the incident. He started to get anxious. His hands were tingling from the tension that he had to shove them inside the pockets of his chinos. He was home and on the third mug of coffee that afternoon just to keep himself warm but even that helped very little. He had suspended every meeting and redirected all his work-related calls to the secretary. Sofia who didn't know he was back in Mexico City relayed the details of the conference call she and Mr David had with his grandfather to him. He told her he was cool with everyone's suggestions, and that if there were any new changes or additional information, he'd fill her in. She asked to know when he was returning but he declined to answer directly. Sofia was smart enough not to probe further. As he sat in his living room staring at the TV and occasionally monitoring h