WE GO DOWN FIGHTING As they drove through the forest road, they heard the approaching siren of a police car. "Holy crap!" Caleb cursed. "W-what do we do now?" Adriana stammered, tightening her grip on the steering. "We can't do anything other than prepare ourselves to fight back," Carlos said calmly. "Are you for real? I've never handled a gun in my life," cried Doctor Fernandez. "There is always a first time," Pedro snickered. ***Andrés had taken a small team of police officers to escort him to Woodward Valley. One of them was Detective Alonso and the other was the Sergeant. "If what you say about the suspects heading to Woodward Valley is true," the Sergeant commented as they got to the T-junction that split the road into two axes, "then I can bet my license they likely followed the forest road instead of the highway." "But that's a much longer route," argued the detective. "Yeah, right. It's almost three times the trip if you followed the highway. And the criminals know
BOOMERANG Everywhere fell silent. The humid air became stiff. The chiming sound of the police siren had completely ceased alongside the revving engine of the ill-fated black Jeep. Only the faint chirping noise of birds singing and flapping their wings from a distance filtered into Caleb's ears. He groaned and opened his eyes. There was pitch darkness everywhere. As he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness, suddenly, a big flashlight from outside was pointed at him; its illumination sparkled against the windscreen. Caleb squinted his eyes and attempted to shield them from the blinding light using his right hand. But he found he could not move it. "Oh, shit! My hand..." he grunted. Something was pressing hard against his hand. It felt moist and warm but solid. He struggled to free himself all to no avail. Then he paused and tried to recollect where he was. A pang of nagging headache hit him with the effort. Caleb lay still seeing as any movement he made only brought him pain. B
THE TABLES HAVE TURNED "How did you do it?" Caleb asked her not believing the sudden turnaround of events in their favour. Or whether to call it a sudden stroke of luck. Adriana chuckled reemerging from the darkness after shackling Detective Alonso from behind. Her clothes were dirty and torn at the side. Her shiny, silky sand-coloured hair which had been wrapped into a pony now hung wet and plastered against her muddy neck. "Come quickly and give me a hand," she said to Caleb as a request instead of answering his question. Adriana wanted him to assist her in dragging the officers into the trunk of their Jeep. "We have to dump them in the Jeep until someone finds them." "Or they die from hunger and thirst," added Caleb. The two of them snorted simultaneously. The night was still dark and gloomy. They managed to drag Andrés and Alonso and shoved them in the trunk of the Jeep. Caleb banged it shut and it locked automatically. The two officers had been knocked out when he hit the
THE SEARCH The next morning had promised to be a cloudy day. The Don sat in his dining sipping coffee from a mug, his phone in his right hand. He had been trying since his waking hour to get across to his nephew to know the latest. Unfortunately, every effort to reach Andrés met with a brick wall. His phone line was switched off. His official line automatically redirected him to his voicemail. His home intercom buzzed on end with no one to answer until the answering machine prompts him to leave a message, which he had done a couple of times. Still, he was yet to get a feedback. El-Zaki was starting to feel really frustrated. It got worse by the fact that none of his colleagues he'd spoken to knew his whereabouts. "He never told us where he was headed when he angrily left late yesterday afternoon," the police officer he contacted, Julio, who also happened to be one of the patrol officers on ground that night at Fenton Hotel said apologetically."Who did he go out with then?" "Alo
TOO CLOSE A CALL Adriana did her best for Mr Enrique and hoped it would work. He was still in a coma and breathing weakly. His wife had woken up after Caleb left and became hysterical such that Adriana had to inject her with a sedative to sleep back.Afterward, Adriana looked around the old farmhouse for anything that could pass for a meal. She was starving. She wandered into the kitchen and found a package of food that Camila had forgotten on top of the counter. It was meant to be their meal for the night: Carlos and herself when they got to the deserted farmhouse. However, after the plans changed and they had to leave in the Jeep with the others, it completely skipped her mind.Adriana tore open the parcel and dug into the loaf of sandwiches found inside. It tasted strangely delicious. She wasn't expecting to find something remotely nutritious let alone tasty. After she finished eating, she decided to take some of it with her as she went out to look for Caleb.She found the key to
THE ENEMY CALLS Two days after the accident, Caleb decided to turn on his newly acquired phone line to communicate with his grandfather. The old man was worried sick having not heard from him for nearly five days. The moment he did, he heard a sigh of relief escape from his lips. "Goodness, my boy! Where have you been? Why is your name mentioned everywhere in the news? And why does El-Zaki suddenly want to talk with you?" That last question piqued his curiosity. He raised his eyebrow. "The Don wants to speak to me about what?!" he asked, both as a question and a sarcastic remark. "I don't know exactly. But he sounded really desperate," he replied. Then added, "In all the years I've known him, since the cruel death of your parents, he has never spoken to me directly. Not even when we used to attend the AGM together."There was a pregnant pause. Then a thought crossed Lord Dezani's mind. "Does it have anything to do with you staying at the same hotel where some police officers are
LET'S CALL A TRUCEBarrister Alfred Crusoe was sitting in his small office in the less busy area of Brava going through some documents when his private phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked at the number on the screen.Don El-Zaki!A look of pleasant surprise spread across his face."The Don? He remembers me today after all these years?" he chuckled. "He must be in some serious trouble. Just like I am in dire need of some serious cash," the shrewd lawyer muttered out loud looking around his dingy office. He had been looking for money to relocate from Brava to a highbrow area where he would stand a better chance of meeting business clients, contractors, and most especially those moneybags criminal politicians who needed the services of an equally badass lawyer to defend their corrupt asses. He was a lanky, tall man in his late fifties. A barrister no doubt but not by any means a 'legal' practitioner. His reputation as a shrewd, conman in suit preceded him. But he was a very smart
MAKING GOOD HIS THREAT "You do not want to make an enemy of us all, Don." The barrister said coolly as he headed for the door. Then suddenly he turned around as though forgetting something. "Think carefully about what I just said." El-Zaki clenched his fist as the barrister shut the door behind him. "Why is everyone daring to stand up to me?" he growled. And the answer came a few seconds later. A notification had just buzzed on his computer which was on the table. He turned it to face him, clicked it open and it read: "The police to reopen investigations into the murder case of a billionaire businessman and his family." Without waiting to read the full details, El-Zaki knew it was the Dezani case. He felt his limbs go limp on the spot. "Did that boy make good his threat already?" Then the words of the barrister flashed rapidly in his subconscious: "You do not want to make an enemy of us all." "Was the barrister aware of something he didn't yet know?" he wondered out loud. His
THE ENDCaleb went to DeZ Cosmetics the next day with some men from the ministry to reopen the place. He still remembered a few of the staff there and began to call them one by one.Mr Apollo, the company's supervisor, was the first person he called. "Hello Mr Apollo, this is Caleb. Caleb Dezani. I'm calling from DeZ Cosmetics and I am in the office right now. Do you mind reporting to work?"The man grunted in disbelief. "But the company was closed down two days ago. And you no longer work there. Last I asked, I was told you took over as the CEO of another company." Caleb laughed. "Well, that last part is true. However, the company was under dispute and has now been resolved. I have reclaimed it as the rightful CEO and want you to return to work. Please while coming, do well to call others to report to work too. I shall be waiting at the reception hall."But Mr Apollo didn't call anyone until he got to the company and found out for himself that the place was indeed reopened. It was a
THE TRUTH IS OUT It felt like a nightmare as the black police Hilux which carried Madam Rebecca drove into the ministry. Her heart was thumping in her chest. She didn't know what to expect. She was ushered into the office by the officers who brought her with specific instructions from the inspector. Meanwhile, Caleb hadn't joined them. When the inspector asked whether he was going to the ministry from the station, he replied that he wanted his grandfather to be present during the meeting. "I need to go and pick him up at home." The two men shook hands, "Well, whatever happens, do not hesitate to ring me." "Thank you so much, Inspector. I hope we shall be able to meet and have that drink soon." The man laughed. "I will count the hours till I hear from you. Good luck!" he added. Caleb drove back home and lord Diego joined him to the ministry. Abhi couldn't follow because he had already left for work. But his stepmother, Leah, insisted on being a part of it. Caleb obliged her.
The FINAL NAIL The next man to interrogate him was the meanest of them. His face was cold and unfeeling."Why did you abandon your textile business?""I didn't abandon it.""Excuse me?""I did not abandon the business. I was defrauded and the business collapsed." "That means you went bankrupt after that?" He didn't answer. "Please can you speak up so the next person can take over?" "Not really. I had people who pulled resources together to loan me the capital I needed to rebuild my business." "And yet you didn't. Or did you?" Again he swallowed hard. "Okay, let me rephrase the question. As a businessman who was into textile, after you were defrauded and people loaned you money, did you rebuild your textile business?" "No." "So what did you do? "I went into partnership with someone in another line of business." "And what business was that?" "Cosmetics. I went into cosmetics." "Good. That will be all from me."By the time the rest of the members had interrogated him, El-Za
MAKING CONCESSIONEl-Zaki woke up for the third time since he was shot and realised he was in a different atmosphere.This new place smelled of drugs and drip water. "Where am I?" he asked no one in particular. A male nurse who was attached to him was sitting by a desk writing. He looked up and said, "You are in an infirmary. You were shot but now recovering." El-Zaki tried to look around and the effort made his head hurt. "Who shot me and which infirmary is this?" The nurse was instructed not to answer any questions past introducing himself and offering medical care. "I'm sorry sir but you shouldn't be concerned about that. You are responding well to treatment and your wound is drying up faster than expected. Please tell me if you feel any pain or want anything." The man stubbornly tried to sit up and felt a sharp pain on his side." Oh gosh! My rib!" he grunted. "Lie still," the nurse advised. He looked at his watch and said, "It's almost time for your midnight draught. It will
SLIPPING AWAYIt was Mr Ramirez calling back Caleb to tell him the men at the checkpoint said the truck was merely carrying items for charity.But Caleb knew better than to buy that lie. He remembered his own travel adventure with Pedro. How he had to hide at the bottom of Grandpa Carlos' truck loaded with cow refuse and feed for hours until they got to Woodward Valley from Greenville."But did they offload the entire truck to search?" he probed."I doubt that they did." "Okay. You should get to your hotel and remain inside. I just got info that the police team from yesterday may be visiting Cholula this afternoon." "Is that right?" "So I heard. Or better still, do not go to any hotel. Find somewhere else to lodge until you hear from me again." "But where else is safer than a hotel?" he asked feeling desperate. "I know a place. It's an old farmhouse occupied by an old couple. Fabian's grandparents." "Oh ho! Don't tell me this was your grand plan all along to make your friend see
DISCOVEREDIt was lunchtime and Caleb realised he was starving. All he had eaten the previous day was toasted bread and salad prepared by Hannah and Bella. Then in the afternoon, he didn't have time to eat as he spent it trying to help them settle down at the new place he got for them. Later that evening, he was called to be at Primo Palace and all he took was a bottle of the most expensive wine which he shared with Mr Ramirez. And later on in the night, he drank French wine as they talked.He felt his stomach growling in protest. Even Abhi heard it from his office and teased him. "When Madam Leah was begging you to have breakfast at home you said food was the least of your worries. Now the worms can't bear it anymore that they want to cause a volcanic eruption in your stomach." Caleb didn't know when he let out a burst of laughter. "You're crazy, man!" "I swear I've been so busy that I can't wait for all of this to be over so I can take a month-long vacation." "Sure. You will ne
SHOWING UPCaleb called the inspector of police, and he promptly answered. "To what do I owe this personal call?" he said cheerfully. "To a long-lasting friendship of mutual interests," he replied. Then he added, "I was hoping we could hang out maybe later in the day. What do you think?" "Oh, that would be wonderful. Let's make it eight o'clock this evening." "That's fine by me," Caleb consented. "What venue?" the Inspector asked. "FanFood Eatery." "I shall be there," the inspector promised and the call quickly ended. A notification dropped in Caleb's phone. He checked it was a text message. He hastily read through because he was behind the wheel. A delivery truck just turned up in the El-Zaki mansion. It has spent about 25 minutes inside the premises." The message read. Caleb immediately sensed something sinister. He pulled over and replied to the informant. "Have it followed and let me know its destination." The info made him feel a bit troubled. But he shrugged it off an
DOOMSDAY Everyone's attention was turned in the direction of the intruders. "Gentlemen, how may we help you?" the lady questioned. "It's more about how we may help you," Caleb responded. Barrister Crusoe kept his face down avoiding Hart's gaze. The director spoke next. "Yes, let's hear you out." "Good day, lady and gentlemen. My name is Caleb Dezani of Dezani Cosmetics," he introduced himself. The director narrowed his furrow, and the three men seated to the right of the lady gasped. The other three including the lady shone their eyes in disbelief. "You mean you're the CEO of Dezani Cosmetics!" "That's correct," Caleb said suppressing a grin at their dramatic expressions. The director went on. "How may we help you? I mean you already said it's you who wants to help us, so please, to what do we owe this August visit?" "Well, I was reliably informed that you were asking to see the original documents of DeZ Cosmetics." "Dez Cosmetics isn't the same as Dezani Cosmetics, am I
DETAINEDHart drove with bated breath heading to the ministry. He kept trying to reach his father to find out whether he was able to trace barrister Crusoe but his line remained unreachable.It was almost ten o'clock and his line wasn't still connecting. None of the bodyguards that went out with him had returned home last night. It was as if there was a conspiracy amongst them to abandon the mansion the moment their boss went incommunicado. Everyone was just acting strangely - including his mother. She had suddenly packed her bags after his father left the house telling him she was going on an emergency business trip but that she would call to inform him when to join her. "Where is this business conference, seminar, or whatever taking place?" "We'd be touring round different countries starting from Portugal. Then we'd move to Brazil and so on.""All within South America?" Hart had enquired. But she didn't give a definite answer. Surprisingly, not too long after she left for the ai