Dr. Keith has postponed his vacation by one month. He feels it’s the best thing to do under the circumstances. The nightmares are becoming so real. The image of a masked girl, begging him to get her killer is fresh on his mind.
He has made some inquiries and from what he got, he’s darn sure he’d have made a good and successful career in the intelligence unit of a security organisation.
To think that he actually wanted to join the force but for his consultant surgeon father, who railroaded him into the medical field. It was sheer anger and his not wanting his father to have the last laugh that made him specialise in clinical pathology.
His mother had wondered why he wanted to deal with the dead, and not the living, and he had laughed and laughed until they thought he was getting off the handle.
Thirteen years on the job now and for the first time, he’s getting so excited about it. He has a feeling that he’s onto something that will give him a lift to where he wants to belong.
******************
As Mekson noses the vehicle into the hotel’s gate, he’s disappointed that his friends are not waiting for him there. He dials Addy’s number and it rings out. He dials it again and again and it isn’t picked.
As he hurriedly parks the car while trying to dial another friend, he bumps into a parked car. He curses as two security men run towards him. Oh no! Not today, not now! They examine the damage and one of them runs off, to get the owner of the vehicle, he guesses. “Good evening sir. I’m afraid you have to wait while we get the owner of this vehicle.” The other one is actually a pretty lady.
The lady looks so sensual in her uniform. Mekson takes in her wide hips and jutting chest and for the first time in weeks, he feels movement between his legs. He curses silently.
That idiot down there has no conscience! Then he remembers what the old man who gave him the herbs to turn his thumbsize pee into a monster dangler told him many years ago: “If it’s a blessing, it’s yours, if it turns out a curse, it’s your lot.” He sighs sadly as he tries to take his mind off the errant idiot down there. “Good evening. I’m really sorry. I’m in a hurry. I have to move out of this place.
It’s a matter of life and death,” Mekson pleaded urgently, adding, “I’ll take care of the cost of fixing the car, but I just have to get away from here now. “Sir, I’m not the owner of the car.
You have to wait for the owner. I can’t take such a decision. I’m sorry sir,” she said, respectfully. Of course, Mekson knows he’s asking for the impossible but right now, he’ll do the impossible to get away from here.
The only snag is that he has to pick his briefcase in the hotel room. He has so many important documents in there. “Okay, get the owner,” he told the security lady, while praying that those fearful youths led by the chimpanzeelike Danoo don’t get here soon. He’s sure they’ll have missed him by now. They may probably be on their way to the hotel now. “Get the owner of this vehicle,” he barked at the security, who flinches.
“I’m sorry sir,” she said. Another thought occurs to him. “Look, here’s my car keys. You wait here for the owner. Let me go and check out of the hotel room,” he said, thrusting the car key into the lady’s hand and running to the reception area of the hotel. His phone rings at that moment. It’s Addy! “Sorry my guy.
Those fearsome youths in May’s town want my head. But we have another issue to contend with right now…” Mekson said, stopping abruptly as he sees his friends turn the corner at the hallway with their bags. “What problem?”
Ken asked. “Old boy, when they are after you from your village, even your food can turn into cow dung. I rammed into a parked car outside,” Mekson replied. “Haaaaaa…hope you’ve sorted it out?”
Addy asked, perplexed. “For where? The owner never come as I comot there,” Mekson said. “We go bail leave the car here o. I no get the liver to see those boys again. They look like bad news,” Ola said. “They look like bad news abi, them be bad news?” Addy asked as they race to the car park. They almost suffer various degree’s of heart attacks as they behold the crowd outside!
………
Danoo and the village youths race down the road to the church. Mekson’s car is no longer there! They scream in anger and run towards the major road that leads out of the town. It’s getting dark…
When they get to the outskirts of the town, they hijack a pick-up van with weak headlamps. They order the driver to take them to the next town as some of them jump into the van. The driver drives fearfully down the major road as they urge him to accelerate, threatening to deal harshly with him if they fail to intercept their target. “Old man, step on the throttle and make this car to move.
We are not here for a jolly ride. We are on a grave mission. If you want your family to see you alive, then you drive like you passed driving test. If not, we will carve you up like we do bush meat,” Danoo threatened in a guttural voice. He is sharing the passenger seat with another youth. The rest are crammed in the back of the van. Some of them had gone back to the village as the van couldn’t take them all.
“My son, if I can, I will move faster but I can’t. I am not young, neither is this van. If I over flog it, it will stop working. This is what I manage to put food on the table for my family,” the man replied.
Danoo glares at him and says nothing. He can’t drive…none of them can. He keeps thinking of the implication of going back to the village without Mekson. He shakes his head…unimaginable.
Mekson must prove his innocence. Their late sister’s spirit must be invoked and armed to go after whoever is responsible for her death. That Mekson is deceptive. He fooled everybody! Me Danoo! How did he get me fooled?
He slaps himself in rage and barks at the driver, “Move it!” The old man isn’t expecting that. He panics and in confusion, steps down, hard, on the throttle. The old van lurches forward and to the side.
They all scream as the driver tries to control it. Danoo keeps swearing as the old man struggles to steer the van back to the road. As they approach a sharp bend, the old man, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel so hard, veers the vehicle off the road.
He’s picked a faint headlight ahead. Danoo’s curses die in his throat so abruptly that he chokes. It’s a quick calculation by an experienced driver because at that very moment, a trailer bearing a 40-feet container looms out of the darkness and flies by them.
Before the old man could bring the van to a successful halt, the boys have already jumped out of the truck. Even Danoo and the youth have bailed out.
The van moves unsteadily few feet away from the boys, some of whom are arguing with Danoo.
As the driver notices that they are not paying him much attention, instead of killing the engine, he glides the vehicle to life and before the boys realise what he is up to and sprint towards him, he has put a distance between them. Blind with fury, they race after the old pick-up which cannot speed so much.
******************
Mekson is caught in a triangle. Who gets him first?
Danoo and May’s people?
Dr. Keith? Did the owner of the car get his pound of flesh?
My adrenaline is pumping…let’s continue here on Sunday.
