Limiting Liabilities: Book Two - The Martinique Files

by Colette Alaine

  She explains her dilemma as Rebecca suggests without any haughtiness or preference to do Billy’s work. It is a little difficult to be so humble and meek but she performs brilliantly. He listens to her then reminds her how important it is to be ready to do any partner’s work. She agrees and says that she has had such a comfortable rhythm with Billy and Rebecca that she assumed it would automatically happen. Now she realizes she will have to be better prepared.

  He seems to buy her humility and decides she must finish Billy’s research first more so because Nick is depending upon it to do his work. He insists, however, that she immediately start working on his memo as soon as she gives her work to Nick. She agrees that she will and leaves his office.

  Returning to her own desk, she forgets about Brandon for the time being and begins researching Chicago chrome platers. A decent group of them exists and after making a list, she spends hours working to find any problems they have encountered. Calling each of them, she pretends she is looking for a job and asks questions about what she may be able to do. She even sets up two job interviews. Her chemistry background helps her wing it when she is asked about her interest.

  Working until ten o’clock that night, Brandon beats her out of the office by just an hour. Wondering if this is his normal schedule, she cannot wait for Mark to move out of his office so she can move in. She does not need Brandon checking her schedule and making her feel bad for leaving before he does. She does not know his status but doesn’t remember a ring on his finger. Not sure if he is married or not, she may see more of him than she desires.

  It will be interesting to see what time he arrives in the morning. Tawny usually arrives between eight-thirty and nine. Hopefully, Brandon is not an early bird too.

  Leaving the building, her car is one of only four left in the parking lot. It is a little creepy being alone in the large structure. The partners have the best parking spots, those that are close to the elevator entrances. Walking down the parking garage, her heels echo as they click with every step. In what feels like forever, she finally reaches her car, quickly opens up the passenger door and drops her briefcase on the floor before sliding into the driver’s seat.

  Driving toward her apartment, she wonders how her role is going to change with Brandon at the firm. Admittedly, this is how most associates are treated in the large law firms. They are given assignments and expected to work on them and get them done as quickly as possible. Billy does not do anything according to standards, which is amazing given his absolutely controlling nature.

  So here she is working for the best environmental attorney in the city, maybe beyond, and definitely the most prestigious environmental engineer on one of the biggest cases in the country. She has proven herself on a previous case that had worldwide attention. In the end, she is still just a second year associate that a new partner can boss around at his leisure.

  The more she thinks about the contrast, the less she likes it. She will play Brandon’s game for a while but then she is going to Billy if it does not suit her. She cannot be a major player for the senior partner and gopher for a lesser partner. If the roles were reversed, it would be easier to stomach. All at once she realizes how valuable it is that she dated Billy Solomon.

  CHAPTER 11

  N wankwo returns home for the first time in five months. His mother, Kelechie, is ill and has stopped working. She is eight months pregnant with her fourteenth child. Nwankwo is her third oldest child but her oldest son. Five of her children have died from disease that could not be treated in the ill-equipped Nigerian hospitals.

  His father, Edochie, fished his entire life and from the time Nwankwo could walk, he accompanied his father on days when school was cancelled. The fishing industry fed and sheltered his family. He wanted his sons to have a profession that ensured a comfortable quality of life. Not the wealthy standard of the Nigerian government officials but rather one that provided the basic necessities and maybe a few luxuries.

  Raised in a happy family, Edochie learned fishing from his father and grandfather. When he married Kelechie, he hoped she would be able to give him many children, especially sons, so he could teach them the profession and carry on the tradition. Overjoyed when Nwankwo and his brothers entered the world, Edochie was eager to bring them onto the boat.

  Edochie also wanted his children and especially his sons, to receive enough education to make their way in the world. His own mother taught him what she knew and his aunts and uncles added whatever they could. He found learning fun and reached about a six grade level of knowledge. It was enough for him. He could read and write and do enough math to make certain he always had enough money. He maintained his finances well and had a happy family to ease his mind during tougher days.

  Edochie strove to impart wisdom to each of his children. He wanted them to be moral members of a community that shared traditional family values. As a father, he wanted his children to marry well and to be happy with a simple life but a complete life.

  Nwankwo shared his father’s dreams and he adored Edochie. His father was his superhero. He wanted to emulate his every action. He was not interested in what other boys were doing. He followed his dad like a loyal soldier, never disobeying, never questioning.

  He learned the fishing trade and studied hard at school. He made good marks. When she needed him, he helped his mother with the younger children as best he could. His two older sisters learned to keep house and tend to the babies being born year after year. Life was relatively good until Nwankwo turned fifteen.

  That year each time Edochie returned home, he was more irritated and unhappy. While Nwankwo attended school, he stayed in his rural home and helped his mother with the children after finishing his homework. He did not see his father for days at a time so this disgruntled disposition worried him. What was going on that changed his father’s cheery outlook on life? What was the trouble he experienced while fishing?

  Edochie would never discuss the issue while the children were present. Whether or not he ever told his wife, Nwankwo has no idea. He was the patriarch of the family and what he said was how it went. His wife, a smart woman with limited education, remained submissive to him and did what he decided. She gave birth to his children and nourished them the best she could. Shelter and food were not abundant but there was always enough to satisfy the family’s hunger. She kept him satisfied as any good Nigerian wife would do.

  When school let out, Nwankwo got ready to go with his father to fish but was told he should stay at home. Protesting his father’s declaration for two weeks without letting up, Edochie finally relented and brought his teenage son with him.

  And that is when Nwankwo learned how much his father’s world had changed. Foreigners began fishing in traditional Nigerian waters, which was not welcomed by the families controlling these waters for decades. But it was not only the intrusion of these foreign trawlers that upset the natives. The foreigners looted marine life, taking much more out of the waters than it could replenish by itself. They had no respect for the natural cycle of reproduction and depleted the resources.

  These foreign trawlers were bad enough but then the native Nigerian fishermen began catching more and more diseased and dead marine life. Toxic dumping was killing what was left after the looting foreigners took more than their share. All of this was initiated, approved and blessed by the greedy Nigerian government interested in building their personal wealth rather than safeguarding the health and welfare of their countrymen.

  Edochie, his crew and others like them, could not catch enough to justify the work and expense involved. Using fewer crew members to pull in smaller catches became the norm but even this method did not change the inevitable. Nwankwo understood the plight of his father and the others. He realized why the sparkle of his father’s eyes had dimmed and the cheeriness of his demeanor had faded. And it affected Nwankwo deeply.

  Nwankwo was no longer going to be a fisherman. All of his hopes and dreams were wrapped up in this one profession. He watched his father
work and copied every move. He was becoming an expert just like his father. He wanted to take over his father’s duties in time to provide for his own family one day and to make certain his parents and siblings never wanted for the very basic needs in life.

  As fishing produced less and less revenue for the family, Kelechie became more resourceful and planted additional crops for selling. The family worked a small farm that met their needs but now they needed another income source. Sacrificing what she could to plant more than they needed, she became a local entrepreneur. It was a small business but it kept them fed.

  Then fishing dried up altogether. Nwankwo’s once upright father, the model Nigerian patriarch, lost his moral compass and joined a group of local fishermen, ex-militiamen and technical experts and became a pirate.

  Seasoned fishermen are the brains of the pirates' operations. Their skill and knowledge of the sea gives them the power to control the others. Those ex-militiamen, who previously fought for the local clan warlords or ex-military from the former Barre government, are used as the muscle in the piracy world. The technical experts, they operate equipment like GPS devices to assure the new pirates they can sneak up on their victims and capture them without warning.

  The sea bandits rule the Gulf of Guinea by fear and manipulation. Taking what they have learned from their Somalian pirate brothers, they too plan to reap the spoils of wealthy nations stealing their livelihood and destroying their waters. If these carriers cart away the valuable oil cargo from Nigerian wells, then they can pay ransom for their human crew. The new pirates easily justify their actions and their methods.

  The year leading up to Nwankwo’s fifteenth birthday brought forth the harsh reality of life without fishing for his father. As each month passed and earning a reputable living became more and more difficult, Edochie’s spirit began to sink until he lost his moral turpitude to anger. His wife just gave birth to her seventh child and the growing family needs more space and more food. Edochie needs to bring in a larger salary, not less money. The frustration overwhelms him and he turns from a model citizen into a vicious criminal.

  Nwankwo witnesses his father’s transformation and at first, tries to remind him of who he had been as a role model. As time wears on, Nwankwo begins to imitate his father’s actions and grows restless with the lack of resources for help. By the time he reaches the age of seventeen, Nwankwo is a full-fledged pirate like his superhero father.

  At eighteen, Nwankwo has another sibling: a little girl this time. At this point, Edochie is a pirate captain, but it takes time to become successful at pirating. Some of the other pirate captains captured large ships with a wealth of good cargo, making Edochie look bad. All the while Kelechie is growing more and more crops to feed her large and expanding family. She is the one bringing in the money now and it strikes at the core of Edochie’s pride.

  He loves his wife and he knows she is trying to help him out. As much as he hates to admit it, he needs her little entrepreneurial business to make ends meet. He hates watching her work so hard. She is expected to keep the house in order and the older girls help but his two eldest daughters are married with families of their own so it all falls on the little ones.

  Education has been forfeited as the children work in the fields. They live hand to mouth and are trying to help their neighbors while earning a measly living. Their plight is not much different from a hundred million other Nigerians.

  With a population close to one hundred sixty million, it is those living in the rural areas that suffer the most from the dire poverty sweeping the country. Although rich in oil and agriculture, it is the corrupt government of Nigeria that is sapping the life out of the country. Wealthy government officials take all the revenue and do not use it to better the country. In fact, the poverty level continues to lower the standard of living for many impoverished Nigerians and as each year passes, more of the population falls into poverty. At least seventy percent of Nigerians are living in this decadent state of misery.

  It is this state of living that forces Edochie to take the biggest risk of his life. Losing his best technician, he has to rely on one who wants to join another pirate group. This technician is not as savvy as the others that left, which is why he is still with Nwankwo’s father. Without enough detailed information, Edochie attempts to hijack a large French tanker with his band of pirates.

  The two skiffs make their way toward the target in the early morning hours. Upon spotting it, they quiet their chatter and creep up close to the stern. All is silent as they hope the crew is sleeping. Nwankwo has been left back at the small mothership captured two years ago in case the hijacking goes badly.

  And it does go very badly. As the pirates unload onto the tanker from the skiffs, a flood of armed guards and crew bolt out of hidden spaces and begin firing. Edochie attempts to rescue as many of his sea bandits as possible but loses three in the attempt. The others that either make it back onto the boats or never left them, untie the skiffs and begin to speed away, leaving their pirate captain to fend for himself. Attempting to jump onto one of the skiffs, Edochie misses it and lands in the water. Starting to swim away, he is shot by a tanker guard and in time bleeds to death.

  The news hits Nwankwo hard. He adored his father and curses the crew that left him. Not seasoned enough to become a captain, he is quickly recruited by Okonko, a friendly fisherman who stood by his father’s side during the turmoil leading up to their decision to forget fishing and join the piracy movement.

  With so much pent up anger, Nwankwo is a perfect addition to Okonko’s crew. He is not a pirate leader yet but in no time he will be one of the best and this captain wants to make certain he is on his side. Nwankwo follows every order in an attempt to avenge his father’s death. Not only his physical passing but also the complete loss of his dignity after his livelihood was so mercilessly stripped from him.

  He is nineteen now and his mother is having her last child. Discovering her pregnancy a few months following her husband’s death, she is in emotional and physical agony. Older now and worn out from the previous eight deliveries and the hard work in the field, she must rely on her children to help in this time of dire need.

  Nwankwo gets word from his brother three years younger than he. Loko, as he’s called, is not the next child after Nwankwo. That son died shortly after childbirth and his mother did not get pregnant right away. It was about the only break she had during her childbearing years.

  Loko wanted to be a fisherman like his father and his brother. He never knew that his father had changed professions. Either Edochie never told his wife what he was doing or she kept it a secret from the remainder of the family. It does not really matter because she knew the truth one way or another. She understood her husband as well as any wife. She knew the warmth of his heart before he sold it to piracy. When he was with her, the pirate in him relented, if only for a day or two.

  Loko leaves his mother with his younger siblings to search for Nwankwo. Going to the boats he inquires about his older brother’s whereabouts. Many of the young men shrug him off. They too were children of fishermen who have now become pirates.

  “Vhat you vant vith Nwankwo?” One of them asks.

  “He is my broder and he needs to help vith our moder. She is bery sick now.” Loko responds. “Vhere is he fishing?”

  The young men look one to the other. Part of them cannot wait to tell Loko that his older brother is now a pirate but they wait to make it more suspenseful.

  “Nwankwo is not fishing.”

  “Vhat is he doing den?” Loko is confused.

  “He’s attacking cargo ships,” the youngest of the group informs him.

  “I don’t understand.” Loko sits down next to them.

  They proceed to tell Loko the startling news that his brother has become a pirate as he searches for him where the fishermen gather. Stunned at the revelation, Loko weeps for his dead father and his militant brother. He must find Nwankwo and tear him away from this evil world of criminal activity. He
hopes his sick mother will never discover the truth.

  It takes Loko several days to locate Nwankwo as he must wait for him to return to shore from the mothership but it is a joyous reunion when the two finally meet. Loko is reluctant to bring up Nwankwo’s piracy but once he does, the older brother tells his younger sibling that there are times when being a man forces him to do things he would not normally consider moral.

  “Not a pirate dough.” Loko still cannot believe the news.

  “A pirate, yes. You vill understand bedder vhen you are older, Loko. Don’t tink about it now.” Nwankwo cannot change the facts.

  Nwankwo is smart like his mother and turns the conversation to her as Loko explains her precarious condition and that of the family farm. Without her guiding them, poachers are stealing their crops and the government is selling land for toxic waste dumping. The rich land is becoming contaminated and it is affecting crops all over Nigeria.

  While their small tract is still healthy, it is those that are losing their own property who are stealing. Everyone is hungry. No one has any money. Unemployment is rampant and there is no end in sight. Nigerians are angry and starvation is breeding desperation; all this in a country with vastly rich natural resources. Human greed is the biggest culprit of all.

  Loko tells Nwankwo that he must return to help defend the family plot, especially now that he is a pirate, he will be respected. Nwankwo agrees but needs another three days. He has business to finish. He sends Loko home to care for his mother and their farm but promises to join him within a week. A large tanker is expected to glide through the waters in two days and his band of pirates are preparing for an attack. If successful, he should have money to feed his family and get his mother some much needed help with her pregnancy.

  Loko is suspicious but follows his brother’s orders. After all, he is a pirate.

  ~