The Reaper's loot (Episode 20)

The Reaper's loot (Episode 20)

He arranged for her to meet him in tantalizers at mobile so he could update her on the job she had given to him. as he sat at the last compartment waiting for her, he saw her strut in wearing a white and black stripped jumpsuit with a black tote handbag. He wondered why a woman as beautiful as she would indulge herself in such nefarious acts over a man. She could get any other man of her choice swooning at her feet if she so wished but there she was, trying to kill innocent people so she could feel better about herself.

Angela: “Hope I did not keep you waiting for too long?” she drew a chair out and sat down without smiling.

Francis: “Not for too long” he replied taking a bite of the meat pie he had ordered before her arrival.

Angela: “So did you get the job done? Why did you ask for us to see here even after I ordered you to disappear when you’ve had it done?” she cast him a look of suspicion.

Francis: “Its done with the baby but just as soon as I was about to finish off the lady, I heard people outside so I had to hide run from there”

Angela: “What? You incompetent fool. I paid you to finish off the two of them but why only the girl? I should have known you were not up to the task. I wonder why my aunty placed so much faith in you” she said in hushed tones.

Francis: “I will return your money. You can find someone else to do the job for you or you could do it yourself, it is not as difficult as you think” he said, brought out the brown envelope exactly the way she had given it to him and pushed it towards her on the table.

Angela: “What is this? You should go back and finish the job”

Francis: “I am no longer interested. Just do it yourself, you could dress like a nurse, no one will suspect you since it’s a large hospital but just make sure the guy did not catch you, he watches her like an hawk watches its young”

Angela: “I see!” the thought of Ife watching over the almost dead body of Bola made her insides churn with anger and hatred. She started giving his idea a thought until she was convinced that her doing it was the best. No one will have to disappoint her in anyway. She took up the money and dropped it inside her bag, stood up and left without another word.

Francis: “Thank God I have been exonerated. Now she will have no evidence against me when she gets caught. I will never do this kind of job again. God I give my life to you. Bola has saved my life even without having to say one word to me, her truthfulness about her pregnancy the first day we met is something out of the ordinary” he mumbled to himself in between mouthfuls.

===

Bola: “Hmmmmmmm… who exactly are you?”

Lady: “You needn’t worry about who I am, just know I am someone who can grant your every wish. If you want power, I’d give it to you but with a price of death, eternal death”

Bola: “That does not sound so good to me. My heart is against it”

Lady: “Not that your heart is against it, you are simply scared, scared of death but one thing you don’t know is that death will still come for you whether now or not. Would you rather watch your daughter harmed? When you wake up, from who will you find consolation for her death? You know that guy is loving you because of his daughter and nothing more. Once the daughter is taken away from him, he will relegate to his old self and leave you in the lurch. Is that what you want?”

Bola: “What I need is rest and you don’t seem like you are going to give me that. You sound like one who is after my soul and no I shall not give it up. I love my daughter and that is why I’d rather stay alive for her since I believe she will get through this too and about Ife, he has always been who he is, no one has been able to dictate feelings to him before. He can do whatever he wants, I am not desperate for his love. Please leave me alone” she said and when she looked up, the lady was gone and she was no longer alone. There were other friendly faces around, smiling and discussing among themselves. She felt light-hearted just watching them like that.

===

He got home that day to meet the gat wide open with no one manning it. On getting inside, he met his wife stretched out lazily on the chair watching Zee World. She had started tying a little bundle of cloth around her stomach to depict a small baby bump. She always wore big cloths to conceal her fake looking baby bump and had stopped letting her husband touch her- not even a hug.

Charles: “Why is the gate left open like that dear?” he dropped his briefcase on the chair and proceeded to removing his shirt.

Mmesoma: “Don’t drop your cloths inside this parlour o, take your briefcase inside before you ask me any silly question” she replied without looking at him. He obeyed and came back.

Charles: “So why is the gate left open?”

Mmesoma: “I sent the gate man away”

Charles: “Why?” he asked incredulously.

Mmesoma: “Because he keeps poke nosing on stuffs that is none of his business”

Charles: “What stuffs?”

Mmesoma: “Don’t you know what you were discussing with him this morning? That reminds me, what exactly was he telling you?” she sat up.

Charles: “He was begging me to pay him in advance because his son is being harassed in school for one payment on the other. Is that why you sent him away?”

Mmesoma: “Well yes. that definitely did make me very happy. Or don’t you want to see me happy again?”

Charles: “Of course I want to”

Mmesoma: “Then stop asking me stupid questions and just for your information, my brother and his family will be coming. I have asked them to occupy downstairs since we don’t use it anyway”

Charles: “What? Did you tell me that before now?” he looked like he was going to fall over. His first instinct was to punch her in the face for playing with his life and emotions but he restrained himself, he had to keep playing the good boy”

Mmeosoma: “We own this house together so I don’t need your permission to ask my people to join us here do I?” She laid back and turned her concentration back to the Indian Drama she was watching.

===

She disguised herself as a nurse with a surgery mask on her face. She pushed a trolley filled with drugs which she had found inside one of the wards like one who was going to administer drugs to the patients. No one paid her heed since they had never had a case of an impostor in the hospital before. She entered into Bola’s warn without betraying her cover and surprisingly, she met it empty. She had intended to change one of her drips to the one she had with her which she had injected with a poisonous substance right in the presence of whoever was there. She was that confident in herself but when she met the ward empty, she decided that a change of plan would be better, she wanted to derive maximum pleasure from watching her squirm as she snuffed the life out of her with a pillow.

“Bola your life is in my hands now and I will be more than happy to get you out of your misery. If I can’t have him then neither will you” she muttered from under the mask she wore. She removed the pillow from under her head and positioned it in front of her smiling satisfactorily to herself.