"we are going back to the city Kogna,". "you better get a plan spooky."
"I need to meet with Ziggy, and you are going to make that arrangement".
"wanna use me as bait right, Spooky,". "do you have a much better way?"
"call out to momma, she is the mediator, liaison to Lycan heights, she can hook you up with any of them boys you want meet with."
"how long have momma been working for Lycan heights?". "long before Ziggy came aboard. hell she hooks up Ziggy with them suits. you've been in the darkness for demm long Spooky."
"you are right Kogna, I had been so engrossed with my petty Wodmax, I lose track of all that was going around it…".
Could momma be the one who put the tracking device on me? I rule the thought out before it ever surface on my mind.
The slacks had been new when Ruby brought it to me with the t shirts and converse sneakers, Ziggy, momma and their entourage where long gone by then.
Diana had been my last visitor before I left the hospital and we had been in contact. Nothing about Diana adds up now, my mind begun to race, making all sort of connections, I didn't take my time to reflect on.
"who is the king of Lycan heights, if Felix is the prince Kogna?". "nobody knows the boss of Felix; he is the man at the top."
"I guess you are the one who killed my uncle Tarik's father for his betrayal of my father".
"yeah Spooky, but it was validated by Lycan heights, your uncle was becoming very greedy, and they wanted him gone to use his heir as the next puppet king."
No wonder Felix is right behind Tarik, and had the same share value as him, 20% shares for each of them respectively.
Next 20% is owned by Rakaia, and last forty goes to Diana. Rakaia had her 20% because she is sister to Tarik, same father different mothers. From a typical polygamous home.
Felix and Diana are the odd ones out with a total share value of 60%, and from the look of things Lycan heights own that sixty. Diana and Felix are definitely in the same team and my initial suspicion is probably right.
I bring in the projects, then you run them. Diana's offer in my garden came knocking on my mind.
She brought in almost 90% of all the projects, and most of this projects are the ghost projects Kate was talking about. that explains the discrepancies in the appropriation of project funds in the books.
Who are this two agents reporting to in Lycan heights? I need to find out the head of this snake.
"I never knew my old boy had that effect on you people Kogna, and to avenge his death bearing in mind the consequences, is a deed I deem honorable man, I hope to invoke that kind of loyalty in people."
"the good old days of loyalty and honor, is dwindling with the uprising of this new hungry generation. Their loyalty never rises above the stuck of hot cash. They sold out to the highest bidder."
"I know you don't feel any remorse for killing Kate's husband Kogna, but I want you to apologize to the woman."
"hell yah Spooky, been meaning to do it all day, but the woman kept herself busy in the kitchen with Nana all day… pass me the spliff man, this yah garden surely can entice a man to smoke a bag of weed in a cold evening such as this one. Is it always like this foggy and drizzling up here all the time?".
"yeah Kogna, most of the time. That's why it's called Mimposo." "meaning mountain top right?". "right, Kogna".
"so wanna tell me bout the little thing you get going on with the princess?"
"nice try Kogna, I don't think you want to know, and don't even try next time. Unless you want to have a spooky mouth like mine."
"hold your peace man, no hard feelings err. I think the gal is into you man…". The punch nearly caught Kogna on the face but he was quick to duck under.
"what the hell spooky, okay man, I hear you, my gaping mouth is zipped close."
"good, glad you got the message Kogna."
*******†****†****†*****
"dinner is ready boys", Kate called out from the kitchen window overlooking the garden."
I can get use to this. For a moment I thought that was Ruby's voice, and my heart leapt in joy. Then, I began to wonder how it will feel like to have Ruby call out to me from the kitchen to dinner. Damn, the weed is probably making me hallucinate in the cold weather.
we walked into the house and there she stood in her chaperon, bringing the food out from the kitchen on to the dining table.
She was all smiles and radiance; from the ponytail, the plain ash cardigan with the matching faded jeans.
Beads of sweat runs down her dimpled rosy chicks, beckoning me as I walked by, heading straight upstairs to say the twilight salat, before night approaches.
"dinner is ready kuga," Nana called out as I felt the weight of Ruby's eyes on my back.
"I will be right back Nana. I want say magrib salat before I joined you. I just need five minutes".
I came back in four minutes, felling energized and refresh after the ablution and prayer.
"you are a Muslim kuga?", Kate said or asked forthrightly, and I simply nodded. I could sense Ruby studying me closely from the side but I didn't glance her way.
"born and bred in the faith," Nana added.
"I learnt…", Ruby cut her mother off. "can we change the subject, mother?". "I totally agreed my dear", Nana added.
"Nana, tell me more about grandpa kuga, you seem to have been very close to him in his days," I said trying to divert the discussion without being impolite.
"like I said, you are more of him than your father, for your father took after his mother, your grandmother Makilla," at the mention of her name, I felt cold night air blow into my face, and Ruby sat erect and tense on her seat.
Kate looked at her daughter worried.
"it's okay, Ruby. it's a whiff of air". "it doesn't feel ordinary mom", she whispered breathlessly, and I assumed only I and Kate heard what she said.
"nothing about Makilla was ordinary my dear," Nana said looking at Ruby and Kate, like a priestess about to tell a dark demonic tale.
"and just so you know kuga, your grandpa was all that he was because of Makilla. She put him into the path of honor, and greatness, marking the creation of the first sustainable business in the family, wodmass or something, I was never able to mention the name right…" Nana paused and nobody wanted to interrupts the woman as she gathered herself.
"Makilla was not from around her. Came out of nobody knows where. She did claimed she from up north, tall and prettier than any woman I did ever see. until our little princess here off course," Nana locked eyes with Ruby as she said this and Ruby blush at the compliment turning to glance my way, and we held gazes.
"you mean gramma formed Wodmax?". "yes kuga, she did, woman has her own wealth before your grandfather.
She pumped money into the company to get it running, and your grandpa took on the reigns and steer the company to full glory.
Things happened, and your grandpa married another wife, and Makilla went into her long solitude. woman have her wilds about her but she was never envious.
But the second wife was envious and scared of Makilla, who wasn't."
"yet you seem to be the only person who ended up with grandpa, perhaps got to know him well…", I interjected.
"yes kuga, privileges of the mistress…", Nana replied and smiled contagiously.
"your old boy was the love of my life kuga. man was spilling and overflowing with so much love, I guess I was swept in the current," she added and pursued;
"I didn't care about how many wives the man has, a little piece of him is worth the love of a hundred men." Kate and Ruby laughed at the wilds of the crony.
"how did you caught his attention?". "I was the closest to Makilla as a friend. And when I beheld this handsome man she introduced as her husband, I was held spell bound… I was disgusted at myself, for having these alien feelings towards this one forbidden man…."
She sighed as the memory of strong emotions grab her… and she place her palms to her chest….
And said tearfully, "I fought, but the more I tried, the more the emotions snares me till I couldn't fight anymore and surrender myself to this man, who had eyes for only Makilla… but it's worth it…. if time rewind, I probably will fall back on my folly all over again."
"have a goodnight lovely people," she said and walked out of the hall, wiping at her eyes.
"what a family story you have here, kuga," Kate said, breaking the silence as she started to clear the table with Ruby.
"yeah ma'am, a twisted family tale," I said under my breath.
"ma'am, do you mind taking a walk with me, I just need a moment please," Kogna said as he approached Kate nervously, after dinner.
The woman seems lost momentarily before recovering and nodding to the man silently.
Kogna had a boyish charm about him in his vulnerability in the fleeting display of innate emotions, that shows his human side.
Getting to know the man better, I had come to the conclusion that he carries no guilt or regrets for his chosen profession.
If putting a bullet in a man's skull, especially one he did justify as an albatross in the way of what he considered right.
or if killing one man will get two homeless children fed and clothe for the rest of their lives, the hit is ripe for the taken, to him it was that simple…
everyone one is out there for themselves, it's a transaction, a battle out there, he is perhaps the ultimate cynic.
Yet above all this, his most dreaded trait, is his sense of loyalty and honor to anything he defines as such. I will never want to be on the dark list of such a man.
"I will be hanging around in the garden, ma'am", Kogna added before the two women headed to their rooms to take a shower.
"what time are we leaving for the city on the morrow Spooky?". "at noontide on the morrow".
"want to hit safari in the night?". "want to storm it by surprise Kogna."
"I bet, you didn't make that call to momma". "naah, not if we want to give away our current location, and I want to keep the women safe in this place, until its safe for them to return to the city."
"and when we hit the city, I want to go to my house first before going to Safari. I have information there I want to retrieve."
"it will be under surveillance, Spooky." "I know, but we are not going to be long."
"what a bobby trap the lady lay for you in that house. You are lucky the princess came to your house that morning."
"what lady Kogna?". "the pretty one with them pink lips?"
"what are you talking about Kogna?". "wait, you don't know about the gas poisoning through your air condition."
lady, gas poisoning… lady with pink lips in my house, "Diana?" I murmured in surprise as scene, upon scene begin to unfold right in front of my eyes. The alien smell and presence I felt in my inner space; the headaches, drowsiness, the weird dreams, the hemorrhage…
Diana's last call to me in her quest to find what I did share with the detectives at the hospital.
Freda's warning before I left the club that dreaded night, "the roof is gone spooky, you better start parking before it starts to rain,".
Demm, the woman was telling me not to sleep in my room that night…. And the call I gave her after the theft, she had said, "I would've been miles away from here if I were you…".
They might have known about my secret room. I open my phone gallery to show Kogna the picture of Diana.
Kogna stared at the screen and nodded, "yah, that one." "damn, the robbery had been a diversion, to make me think they only wanted the info I had. That way will think they wouldn't try to kill me."
"hell yah Spooky, they never want to give you time to escape. they knew you probably make the connections. They read you all the way to the end spooky, there was no escape for you.
your only mistake was undermining the timing of your enemy, Felix is that swift spooky, it's about time you know the kind of man you are dealing with."
Damn, I need to see, the hospital reports, it must be with Kate and Ruby. The doctor never mentioned gas poisoning… are the women aware but told me nothing?
++++++++++++++