By Any Means

by Kurt Ellis

“Hey, it was the best I could do with the money Captain gave me,” Spider snapped.

  Captain reached into the bag and pulled out a black SIG Sauer automatic pistol. “These will do,” he said, checking the barrel of the weapon. “These are lukka. Everyone, grab yourself a gun.”

  The Godfathers walked over and each reached into the bag to find a weapon. Jimmy’s hand also disappeared into the bag, before Captain grabbed him by the wrist.

  “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m … I’m going with y’all,” Jimmy stuttered.

  “No, you’re not. You’re not getting involved in this, Jimmy.”

  “Hold up,” Spider interrupted. “We need all the soldiers we can get. There is only, what …” – he counted quickly – “nine of us left. Ten is better than nine.”

  “I can count, and I do not care.” Captain raised his voice. “He is not getting involved in none of this. He is going home.”

  “What? No, Captain, I want to stay,” Jimmy protested. “Let me help. Wahied and German were my friends too.”

  Captain looked at him sternly. “Go home, Jimmy. Now.”

  Jimmy stared at him defiantly, so Captain glared back until he broke down the look of defiance. Jimmy sighed and walked out through the kitchen.

  Captain looked back down at the weapon in his hand, thumbed the release switch and began to load bullets into the clip. When the creature of death was fully fed, Captain tucked it into his belt. “It’s on tonight. We meet at Hay Place. We fuck them up tonight. We end it tonight. We hit them hard, we hit them fast. We fucking destroy them, ouens.” Captain looked each one of the Godfathers in the eye. “Tyson wants to come and take everything from us. Everything that we have worked hard for. And he will regret it. We’ll make him and all of his boys regret the day they even thought to cross us.”

  Fear swam through his heart, but he quickly drowned it with rage. That night, he was the grim reaper. That night, he was the bringer of death. By any means necessary.

  39

  Amia held his hand in her soft palms and gently rubbed it. “Are you okay?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.

  Kyle shrugged slightly and smiled as if he did not understand why there was concern in her voice. “I’m fine.” She knew he was lying, he could see it in her eyes. So he smiled even more broadly.

  “So what will Captain do now?”

  “He’s not gonna let this go. He’s going to go after Tyson.”

  “You’re not going to get involved yourself, are you? Please don’t get involved, Kyle. You’re going to Johannesburg in two days. You don’t need –”

  “Whoa, I never said I was gonna get involved. I’m not. Don’t worry.”

  He kissed her, those damn sweet lips of hers, but he felt that something was wrong. It was almost as if he could taste it.

  “Are you okay?” he repeated her earlier question to him.

  Amia seemed a little uneasy. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why would you think anything was wrong?”

  “I don’t know. You’re acting weird. Are you sure everything is fine?”

  Amia laughed, and it sounded forced.

  He looked inquiringly into her eyes.

  “I’m fine,” she repeated. “Just upset about the fight I had with my mother.”

  Kyle’s eyes dropped to the bandage on her hand. She’d told him she’d cut herself washing dishes and that had led to an argument with her mother. He wasn’t sure if he really believed that, but he kept his doubt to himself. Amia had absolutely no reason to lie to him.

  “So when are you going to Charlie’s?” she asked.

  “Tomorrow. And then I’ll be leaving for Joburg from there.”

  Charlie and his wife were leaving for Johannesburg the next afternoon, a full day earlier, to prepare everything for the team’s arrival. Kyle would be house-sitting at their place in Westville for the one night before leaving with the team bus in the morning.

  “Why don’t you come over? We can watch DVDs. Charlie’s got a nice selection,” Kyle said.

  “I’d like that,” Amia smiled in return.

  They walked hand in hand to Kyle’s rooftop and they looked out over Sydenham. They spoke for a long time. About the upcoming matric ball, about Kyle playing in Johannesburg, about Amia struggling to memorise the mathematical formulas she was studying in pursuit of a bursary. Kyle didn’t really care what they spoke about, just as long as he could hear her voice.

  40

  The night was silent, as if it was nervous. As if it was expecting something bad to happen. The moon was bright and white, shining a probing eye onto quiet Barnes Road. Street lights offered further illumination, as did the headlights of a car that slowly panned left into Butcher Road from Barnes Road. Lester drove slowly, like a nocturnal predator stalking. Captain sat in the passenger seat and nervously gripped his gun. His knuckles were white and his palms were wet. He glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw John’s car slowly and quietly tailing them. Bruge, who was sitting in the back seat with Shivas, grabbed Captain’s shoulder and pointed forward. “Look,” he said. “That’s Guthrie’s car over there, bru. Tyson is always with him.”

  Captain spotted the black VW Golf parked outside the fenced property. As he’d thought, Tyson and his NBKs were at Dora’s shebeen. Part of Captain had hoped he was wrong. Dora had two young preteen daughters, and even though it was close to midnight, he was certain they would be up and about, running around outside among the patrons of the tavern. His gut began to knot at the thought of a stray bullet striking an innocent girl.

  “Pull over here,” he instructed Lester nonetheless. Lester eased the vehicle onto the shoulder of the road, with John doing the same behind them. They were six houses down from the shebeen.

  “Remember the plan,” Captain whispered to Lester. “Once we start plugging, you and John need to pull up behind us so we can get the fuck out of here fast.”

  Captain eased out of the passenger seat. Crouching low in the space between the car and a fence, he was joined by Bruge and Shivas. John, Gary, Chillie and Earl hustled over from the second car.

  Shivas flicked his head at John. “What the fuck are you doing here? Who’s driving?”

  “Spider says he’ll drive.”

  “Okay,” Captain said in a loud whisper. “Guys, let’s not fuck this up here. We need to be fast, and accurate. There are lighties in there. So nobody fucks up. No one. And shoot only after I start. Got it? I take the first shot.”

  They all nodded in agreement.

  Apart from the sound of laughter coming from behind the fence of the shebeen, all was silent. The Godfathers began to make their way to the house. They walked on the soft green grass, which muffled their footsteps and kept their approach as quiet as possible. Captain led the way, clenching his jaw in trepidation. He doused his fear with anger.

  They were now four houses away. Captain stole a quick look down at the gun in his hand. He did a quick mental check. The gun was fully loaded. Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole. The gun was cocked and it was ready to spit lead. They were now only three houses away. It all felt like a dream. A large part of him hoped that it was, and that he would wake up soon. Then Wahied and German would still be alive, and Tyson still rotting away in Westville prison.

  But there was another, conflicting feeling. Part of him didn’t want to wake up. He wanted Tyson dead.

  They were now only two houses away, and the noise grew louder. He could make out Tyson’s voice, along with a few other familiar ones.

  They were only a single house away when an idea struck Captain. He stopped in his tracks and turned to signal. Gary and Earl came up to him, sweat and confusion on their foreheads. Captain pointed into the neighbour’s yard. “Flank them,” he whispered. “Go to the back yard. You’ll have a good shot from over the wall. And we’ll hit them from two sides.”

  Gary seemed to like the idea, because he smiled broadly. The two of them crept away from the others and into the neighbour’s yard.
Captain watched them disappear around the corner.

  When he lost sight of them, Captain and the remaining Godfathers slunk a little further forward until they reached the fence of the shebeen. A large Coca-Cola sign was bolted to the wall with Dora’s Den written in white beneath it. Next to the sign was an open gate. The Godfathers crouched by it, hidden behind the cement wall. Captain counted to ten in his head, to give Big Earl and Gary a chance to get into position. He had reached the number four when he heard the Nokia tone of someone’s cellphone ringing.

  “Hello.” It was Tyson who’d answered.

  Captain’s heart was pounding like a bass drum. His breathing was fast, shallow and almost painful. He peeped around the corner to quickly survey the scene and to count as many targets as he could. He spotted Tyson and his friends in the driveway, in front of the door to the kitchen of the tavern. They were sitting in a circle on school chairs and beer crates in the light coming from the house. Captain could smell the strong odour of marijuana. Then for some reason Tyson looked up in his direction, his cellphone still pressed to his ear.

  Captain’s head snapped back. He’d made out between five to eight men, all NBKs. All part of Tyson’s crew and all enemies. All targets that would meet their maker that night. Captain’s legs felt as if he had cement in his sneakers. The weapon he clutched in his hand felt as if it weighed a ton. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. He was frozen.

  Bruge leaned forward. “Cap?” he whispered.

  Captain took a deep breath and forced his legs to move. Forced his arms to raise the gun. He stood up and rushed into the middle of the driveway with the gun at his side. He was surprised to find Tyson already standing. Already armed with a gun at his hip.

  Their eyes met. “Hey, Tyson!” Captain called out.

  Tyson smiled back. He began to raise his weapon. But Captain managed to lift his gun faster and he tried to aim it right between Tyson’s eyes. The firearm screamed as it spat out the bullet. And in reply, so did Tyson’s.

  They had both missed. There was a mad scramble of legs and arms as the NBKs dived for cover. The rest of the Godfathers leapt out from behind Captain and unleashed shot after shot at their enemies. Gary and Earl popped out from over the fence and unloaded their weapons at the NBKs as well. The Godfathers were firing on their enemies from two directions.

  Tyson, who had somehow dodged Captain’s first shot, scrambled back, away from Captain and to the rear of the property. To the only avenue of escape still open to him. Captain tried to shoot him down before he managed to hustle over the back wall. The bullets ripped through the fence and bounced off the ground. They ripped through the backs of the chairs and through the flesh of men. They fired at anything and everything that moved. But Tyson managed to get out of the yard, and Captain doubted if any of his bullets had hit their mark.

  Behind them, the two cars screeched to a halt. The Godfathers raced to the vehicles and dived in. Captain’s ears were still ringing from the barrage of gunfire as he looked back at the carnage he’d left behind him. There were three lifeless bodies on the ground and another two were trying to crawl away. Screams were coming from another house in the street, and Lester quickly pulled off with Spider racing behind him. Rubber squealed on tar as the cars shot forward.

  There were cheers in the vehicle, but not from Captain. Captain was furious. “How the fuck did I miss? How the fuck did that prick know we were there? He knew we were coming. How did he know?”

  “I don’t know,” Bruge said. “Maybe he checked you peeping around the corner?”

  Maybe, Captain thought.

  “But fuck it, we rocked them, bru!” Bruge continued. “We had them running. We fucking ended them!”

  Bruge was wrong, Captain thought. This was only the beginning, not the end. He had failed to end Tyson. And Tyson would want his revenge. He would hit back. This was war.

  41

  Kyle had always desired to know what being in love felt like. He had wanted to know what it was like to hear someone say those three words to him, and mean it. What it was like to have someone thinking of him. Missing him if he wasn’t there. He looked at Amia in the passenger seat. He had borrowed Charlie’s Honda to pick her up that evening. And she looked absolutely breathtaking just sitting there, staring out of the window with her feet tucked up underneath her. As if she belonged there, next to him. Kyle could not help but smile as large raindrops began to slowly tap on the windscreen. He had found that special someone.

  The drive to Charlie’s single-storey house in Westville took about fifteen minutes. By the time they reached the suburb, the drizzle had become a torrent. After parking the car at the top of the serpentine driveway, he hurriedly opened the front door and let Amia escape the downpour.

  “Wow,” she said. “This place is beautiful.”

  Kyle laughed. “Are you kidding me? Your house is twice this size.”

  Amia smiled meekly and asked for the bathroom. Kyle showed her to it before he went to the lounge to put on a DVD. He skimmed through Charlie’s collection and settled on a copy of Ghost, with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. He laid a warm duvet on the couch and walked over to the kitchen to make some popcorn. As he waited for the yellow seeds to pop in the pot, he could not resist imagining the day when he’d be in his own house. His own home, making a romantic dinner for Amia. A place where he could feel he belonged.

  He was so deep in thought that he did not hear her come up behind him. He jumped with a start as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

  “You won’t get into trouble for taking the car and bringing me here?”

  Kyle smiled. “Nope. Charlie lets me borrow it whenever I need to. He’s the one who taught me how to drive. Hey, do you want something warm to drink? It’s getting a little cold.”

  “Yeah, coffee will be fine.”

  “There is hot chocolate if you like.”

  “Ooh, that’ll be much better.”

  Kyle turned and kissed her softly. “Okay, so you go get warm and I’ll bring it to you.”

  He quickly dumped the popcorn into a bowl before putting the kettle on to make two cups of hot chocolate. Amia had her tackies off and was already snuggled up under the duvet when he joined her on the settee.

  He put the popcorn and hot chocolate on the coffee table and eased in behind her on the couch. She leaned back against his chest and he held her tightly. This must be what heaven feels like, he thought.

  “What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?” she whispered without taking her eyes off the screen.

  “The bus’ll be here at about ten.”

  “Are you still nervous?”

  Kyle laughed. “A little. Not really, any more. I just want it done with. Get it over.”

  They sat in silence, watching the movie. Kyle was having difficulty following the story. Holding Amia in his arms was all he was aware of.

  “Do you believe in ghosts?” she suddenly asked.

  “Yup. Why?”

  “I was just wondering. I was sure I saw my father again after he died.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I was in my room when I think I saw him walking past.”

  Kyle nodded. “I’ve always wanted to see my mother again. Never have, though.”

  “And look at this story,” she continued. “It’s about how this guy loved his girl so much he came back from death to be with her. A little corny, but sweet.”

  Kyle laughed. “I don’t think it’s corny. I’ll come back for you.”

  Amia laughed and turned. She looked at him and tilted her head. “Are you saying you’ll haunt me?”

  Kyle laughed. “Of course. You don’t think death can keep me away, do you?” He kissed her. “Nothing will keep me away from you.”

  She kissed him back and eased on top of him. Her mouth explored his and his hands caressed her hair and then her back. He felt himself stir, and had a pang of embarrassment. She must have felt it as well, and she pulled back from the kiss. Her eyes scanned his face,
then looked into his eyes. She lightly ran her fingers down his cheek and seemed to examine his face for the answer to a question she alone knew. She must have found the answer, as she whispered to him, “I love you.”

  Kyle was stunned. Trepidation teased him for a second, and then dissipated. “I love you too.”

  She smiled. Her eyes dropped to his mouth and she bit her bottom lip nervously. “I want you.”

  He was lost for words. What exactly was she asking of him? Was she saying that she … ? He was on the precipice of panic, but when he looked into her eyes again, all doubt evaporated. He trusted his feelings and he trusted her.

  He eased off the couch. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her off to the main bedroom. He kissed her with hungry passion and with trembling hands he peeled off her clothing. Her hands fumbled at his jeans until they were both standing there naked.

  He felt overwhelmed. She was more than he had ever dreamt of. The sound of her breathing and the gentle drumming of the rain outside made this moment perfect. Leaving the room in darkness, he laid her on top of the bed covers, before he eased himself on top of her.

  She searched his eyes in the dark. “Will you always love me?” she asked. “Will you love me forever?”

  He smiled. “No. Forever isn’t long enough.”

  They kissed, and he felt her body shudder. He entered her for the first time. The first time he had ever entered anyone. Her warmth surrounded him and it was overpowering.

  The first time did not last that long at all. They lay in each other’s arms for a couple of minutes before she got to her feet and went to the en-suite bathroom. He watched her as she stuck the plug in the bathtub and began to fill it with water. He too got to his feet and walked out into the lounge. Apart from the glow from the television, the house was in complete darkness. He found the stereo in the corner and with a stab of his finger, he turned it on. His mind was racing with thoughts. His heart was violent with joy. He had just made love for the first time. He had just made love to Amia, and he laughed silently with delight as he listened to Boz Scaggs croon about love.