Lies, Lies, Lies

by David A Max

  “I have a hunch for this things,” Gina replied.

  “So you also had a hunch about the four investors that invested billions into Gent Visa and withdrew their money just two days later, making you and them a ton of money.”

  “If you fellows have any evidence to show that I have done anything wrong, can you please let me know, otherwise I have no reason to be here,” Gina said.

  The FBI agents looked at each other, “You can go, Mrs Davies, but don’t travel out of town.”

  Gina got up and left their office, confident that they could never find any wrong doing. ‘Kevin is using voodoo, so how do you investigate that?’ Gina thought to herself and smiled as she walked to her car.

  That evening Gina got home and her phone rang, it was Kevin, “Don’t worry about the FBI, they cannot find any wrong doing,” he assured her.

  “Okay no problem,” Gina replied.

  Later on that evening Gina was cleaning her kitchen when she looked up and saw Fred standing by the door. Gina shrieked, “How did you get in, and what are you doing here?” Gina asked Fred.

  Fred moved closer to Gina, “Don’t come closer,” Gina warned Fred, what do you want?” she said as she grabbed a kitchen knife.

  “I just came to talk,” Fred replied, “yes I was married and I had a kid, but they are not with me anymore.”

  “Why did you lie to me before?” Gina asked, “it’s over, Fred, leave my house now or I will be forced to call the police.”

  “Please calm down,” Fred said. He got closer to Gina and knocked the knife from her hand, grabbed her and covered her mouth, “Nobody leaves me again!” Fred shouted. He saw some tape on Gina’s kitchen counter, grabbed it and used it to tape her hands together behind her back, and wrapped the tape round her ankles.

  “Fred why are you doing this?” Gina asked.

  “Because nobody leaves me, I thought we had a good thing,” Fred shouted, as he dragged her and put her in his car. Before he drove off he used the tape to cover her mouth and drove off.

  Fred drove to his house, Gina could not move; he dragged her into his house, “I cannot allow you destroy the good thing we shared.” He put her on the chair and kissed her with the tape on her mouth. Gina was petrified, ‘what have I gotten myself into, this guy is a lunatic.’ Fred removed the tape from her mouth and put a glass of wine to her mouth, “Drink it!” he shouted as he forced her to drink.

  Then he pulled Gina to his basement, and pushed her to the ground. He left and locked the basement door.

  After about an hour on the floor, Gina tried to free herself, and after struggling for a while she broke the tape around her hands, and removed the tape from her mouth and ankles. She got up and looked around, maybe she could find a window she could climb out of but there wasn’t one; so she looked for somewhere to hide. She noticed some freezers and opened them to see if they were working; immediately she opened it she saw a frozen woman in the freezer whose face looked familiar. It was the woman from the picture she saw earlier, his wife. Gina fell back, and sat on the floor, ‘Fred killed his wife!’ Gina was now really scared, ‘Fred’s going to kill me!’ She got up and opened the other freezer and it contained the body of the little girl in the picture, ‘Fred’s a lunatic!’ she thought to herself.

  Two hours later the basement door opened, and Fred walked in. Gina hit Fred on the head with a shovel, he fell to the ground, and she ran out of the basement. Fred ran after her, “You are not going anywhere!” Fred shouted as he chased Gina, “You saw what happened to my wife when she tried to divorce me and take our kid away, nobody leaves me!” he shouted as he got close to grab Gina.

  She turned and hit him hard on the head with the shovel she was holding, he spun round and fell flat on the ground. Gina found Fred’s car keys on a table, took the keys and ran out, got in the car and drove straight to the police station, where she reported the whole incident. The police raided the house, found the dead bodies of his wife and daughter, but there was no trace of Fred.

  Chapter 14

  Elsa told Lisa and Emilio, “It’s time we leave Miami, we are not safe here, I know where Greg is, let’s look for a way to link up with him. Kevin has hired a lot of men to search for the two of you. He is also determined to capture Greg alive, he wants his money back and he wants to personally torture him.”

  The next day Emilio, Lisa and Elsa snuck out of their apartment, got into a taxi and headed for the airport. Elsa and Lisa kept looking around as the taxi drove to the airport to make sure they were not being followed. When they arrived at the airport they bought three tickets to Johannesburg, South Africa, the three of them boarded the plane. The flight was sixteen hours duration, so they planned to sleep through the long flight.

  Lisa and Emilio sat down next to each other by the window and Elsa sat in the middle row seat. The plane was not full, so there were a few empty seats. A couple of hours into the flight, Elsa, Emilio and Lisa were fast asleep, when Elsa felt a tug on her side; she adjusted and thought maybe someone touched her by mistake. Then she felt the tug again, opened her eyes and saw a man sitting next to her; he opened his jacket and showed her a gun, “Do not make any sound,” the man said, “if you do, I will shoot you.” Elsa turned to her side and saw another man sitting next to Emilio and Lisa; Emilio could not move and was scared because the man sitting next to him had also showed him a gun.

  The men told them to get up and walk to the back of the plane quietly. The three of them and the two men walked to the back and entered the kitchen; two of the air hostesses saw the five of them enter the kitchen and said hello to the two men, one of them stood by the entrance to prevent anybody from entering the kitchen. “If any of the three of you make a scene and this plane is brought down, Kevin will find out where you are and kill you, so it’s better for you not to make any noise,” one of the men told them. The three of them were later quietly taken down into the cargo hold, where there was luggage stored; one of the men brought out a rope to tie Elsa up, but she quickly grabbed his hand and kicked him and the man fell down. Lisa immediately turned around and tried to punch the other man in the jaw, but the man dodged the punch and punched Lisa hard across the face, she fell down dazed. Elsa rushed to the aid of Lisa, she kicked the man hard in the stomach, and the man fell backwards hit his head hard and passed out. The other man got up behind Elsa and grabbed her throat, Lisa got up and gave him a choke hold until he left Elsa and passed out. Elsa and Lisa immediately tied the two men up.

  “These men followed us, that means Kevin and his team know we are on our way to South Africa and might have people waiting for us or coming after us when we land,” Lisa told Elsa, “where is Emilio?” Lisa looked around and saw Emilio hiding behind some of the luggage. “You can come out now Emilio,” Lisa shouted.

  “I am sorry for not helping out, but knowing both of you, I knew you could take care of yourselves,” Emilio said as he walked out from where he was hiding.

  “We have to make sure these two men remain tied up until we land, they must not communicate with the others, until we are safe,” Elsa told Lisa and Emilio. Elsa gagged the two men, she checked their pockets and removed their phones, their passports and IDs; she also hid their guns underneath the floor in the cargo area.

  “Should we go back to our seats?” Emilio asked.

  “Not now, the two air hostesses that work with them will come down quickly and loosen them,” Elsa said as she checked her wristwatch. “When the plane lands and people are leaving the plane, that’s when we will come out.”

  The three of them lay down on different luggage, “We need to rest, we still have over eight hours’ flight,” Lisa said.

  The plane’s wheels came out for landing and the sound woke the three of them up. The plane landed, taxied and came to a final stop, and after about fifteen minutes the passengers started leaving the plane and the three of them came out from the cargo hold and joined the other passengers as they walked out. One of the two air hostesses saw them leaving, so th
e three of them walked quickly from the tarmac, checked out and ran out of the airport.

  Elsa made a quick call, and in five minutes a car pulled up and it was Greg driving a black Mercedes Benz SUV; the three of them got in. “I think we are being followed,” Elsa told Greg. So Greg sped off and drove to a hidden property on farm land; he drove the car into a garage and locked the garage. The four of them entered the house, “Greg, how are you doing?” Emilio shook his hands.

  “I’m doing fine, and my name is now Tony.”

  “That’s why we couldn’t find a trace of you anywhere,” Emilio said.

  “I don’t live in Johannesburg,” Tony said, “I live in Port Elizabeth, but we will be here until the dust settles, and we know the coast is clear. The only problem is that Kevin knows the three of you are in Johannesburg and can easily track us here,” Tony told them, “we have to travel out of this country in the next couple of days or we might be tracked.”

  Two hours later they looked out the window and saw two SUVs driving towards them. Tony told them to all run towards the garage and get into the Mercedes SUV. They all got in and he opened the garage and drove out; the two SUVs followed them.

  “I have to drive through the back routes to lose them, there might be others waiting on the main road, the back routes will take us through the savannah,” Tony said, as he drove through the back routes. The roads were not tarred, just part way so that cars could drive through. Tony kept driving and looking at his rear mirror, the two SUVs followed them, Tony saw a ditch and quickly swayed the car and drove past the side of the ditch. The SUV directly behind them didn’t have enough time to turn away and drove directly into the ditch and the SUV got stuck; the two men in the SUV abandoned it and joined the second SUV as it continued pursuit.

  Tony had been driving for over forty-five minutes and driven far into the savannah with the other SUV still in pursuit; the road was becoming narrow and they had to slow down, “I think I’m lost,” Tony said, “but I can’t even seem to shake them off from pursuing us.”

  Tony checked the rear mirror and noticed the SUV behind them wasn’t moving again, he saw five men come out and they were checking their tyres, “I think their tyres are busted,” Tony said as he drove. They all turned back, “Yes, they can’t pursue us any more, they are right in the middle of the savannah, well I’m sure they will call for help,” he said.

  Tony had been driving for hours; it was getting dark and they were beginning to run low on fuel. “We’re running low on fuel, I will have to stop soon. Luckily I have a big keg of fuel behind the SUV.”

  It was beginning to get dark and the savannah felt like it was coming alive, there were all sorts of noises, from birds and different animals. “I need to refuel,” Tony said, but I can’t come out now, it is too dangerous, a lot of animals will start hunting now. Please make sure all windows are up because the animals here are dangerous,” Tony said as he locked the central locking. Tony opened his glove compartment and removed the three bottles of water he had there, and a big pack of biscuits, “This will have to do for now until we can find a link to the main road,” Tony said and gave them biscuits and water for all of them to share.

  “I have a question,” Emilio asked Lisa, “do you know why we all hear that loud noise and the thunder sounds and shortly after that we see Déborah or Kevin?”

  “The noise you all hear is what lets Kevin and Déborah know you are the particular people they need for their next assignment, so the person or people around the noise at that time are the ones chosen, it’s part of the voodoo stuff Kevin is involved in,” Lisa answered.

  “So we are running from the Dark Lord,” Emilio joked.

  They all slept in the SUV that night. The next morning when Tony woke up and looked around, Elsa and Lisa were in the back seat, “Where’s Emilio?” he woke Elsa and Lisa up, “have you seen Emilio, where did he go?” Tony asked.

  “We just woke up now,” Lisa answered. They looked around and there was no sign of Emilio; the three of them had to wind the glass down and shouted Emilio’s name, but he was nowhere to be found.

  “What happened to Emilio?” Tony said.

  Tony, Lisa and Elsa got out of the SUV and searched around, shouting his name, as they shouted his name, Tony reminded them, “Be careful and don’t go too far from the SUV, there are dangerous wild animals around. The men pursuing us can’t have been responsible because they want the four of us, or was he eaten by a wild animal?”

  “This is bad!” Lisa panicked.

  After about twenty minutes they got back into the SUV and sat down thinking of what to do next. Elsa looked out and saw Emilio walking towards them, “Look at Emilio,” they all turned, “Emilio!” the three of them shouted.

  Emilio looked up and walked quickly towards the SUV, he got in and sat down like nothing happened. “When did you all wake up?” Emilio asked.

  Tony, Elsa and Lisa were stunned, “Where have you been!” Tony shouted.

  “Take it easy,” Emilio told Tony, “I saw some zebras and I followed them and took some pictures with my phone; I even saw some elephants.”

  “Do you know you could have been killed out there? There are animals like lions, cheetahs, and hyenas that would have easily killed you,” Tony said, shaking his head.

  “Well, I was lucky not to see any of them,” Emilio replied, shaking his head like it was not a big deal.

  Back on the road again, Tony and Emilio got out and refuelled the SUV. Tony drove for almost five hours before he reached the nearest town, and while driving through the town he found out that Port Elizabeth was just a couple of miles away. He followed the signs until he got to Port Elizabeth, drove to a hotel and booked different rooms for each of them to spend the night, to make sure they were not being followed.

  That night while Tony was sleeping, Carlito and Andreiá appeared in his room. Carlito grabbed Tony’s throat and started choking him. Tony tried to fight back but couldn’t, he started losing breath as he struggled to remove Carlito’s hand from his throat, but when Tony was about to pass out Andreiá told Carlito to stop, “He is our friend,” she reminded Carlito.

  “But we were sent here by Kevin to choke all of them, one after the other in their sleep,” Carlito said as he released Tony’s throat. Tony coughed and jumped out of bed trying to catch his breath. “Carlito, Andreiá, how did you both get here and you almost choked me to death!” Tony said as he backed away from them.

  “If I wanted you dead you would be dead by now. Kevin sent us to choke all of you, one after the other while you slept; we just changed our minds, so you owe us a thank you,” Carlito replied. “Thank you,” Tony said, still trying to catch his breath.

  “We all have to leave here tonight,” Carlito told Tony. Tony picked up his phone and called Elsa, Lisa and Emilio, he told them to get dressed and meet him in his room because they all had to leave the hotel immediately. They got dressed quickly and rushed to Tony’s room, and when they entered the room and saw Carlito and Andreiá they were surprised.

  “What’s going on, how did they get here?” Elsa asked.

  “Why are you even asking that question?” Carlito replied, “Kevin sent us to choke each and every one of you to death, but we changed our minds; and how we got here, well, you know once Kevin knows your exact location we can appear there using his voodoo.”

  “But how did you know we were here?” Lisa asked.

  “Déborah must have given one of you something, that’s what they have been using to track your movements.”

  “Déborah is meant to be our friend,” Elsa shook her head.

  “Déborah used one of you to track Tony so that all of you could be eliminated together,” Carlito said.

  Elsa, Lisa and Emilio checked themselves to see if Déborah had put anything on them but there was nothing.

  “The fact that we have not carried out our assignment makes us co-conspirators, like you,” Andreiá said, “so it’s time we move. Kevin is not joking about eliminating a
ll of you, that is including us now.”

  They all rushed downstairs to the parking lot and got into the Mercedes SUV. Tony sped off and just drove around for hours as they all figured out where to go. “We need to hide somewhere safe from Kevin and his men,” Carlito said as he shook his head.

  Tony decided to drive to his house, “I don’t think we’re being followed and it’s safe at my place, I have been hiding out there for months now.” Tony drove to his hilltop house, he parked and they all got out.

  “The house and the view is lovely,” Lisa said as she looked around.

  “No wonder Kevin wants to get you at all costs,” Emilio laughed.

  “We are all wanted by Kevin now, don’t forget that,” Tony replied.

  Faith came out of the house and hugged Tony, “This is my girlfriend Faith.” They all said hello and walked into the house. “You didn’t tell me we were going to have guests,” Faith whispered to Tony, “I would have prepared for their arrival.”

  “It’s okay, they are my close friends,” Tony replied.

  “I have to go to the supermarket and get some food items, I would like to welcome our guests well,” said Faith and hurried out.

  “We can hide out here for some time, and then come up with another plan,” Tony suggested.

  Three hours later Faith came back with a convoy of cars, she walked inside the house and told Tony she had invited some friends over to entertain his guests. Her friends walked in with wine bottles and plastic cups, Faith had invited more than twenty-five friends over, and also invited a close friend who was a DJ; they all came in happy and were ready to party.

  Tony pulled Faith to the side, “We don’t need this now, we need everything to be quiet.”

  “But I’ve invited them, I can’t send them back,” Faith argued before she walked away from Tony.

  The DJ set up and started playing some music. Elsa pulled Tony, “What is going on? We don’t need this noise right now.”