THE GENTLE RACKETEER: A Novella

by Kingsley Aguchibe

  The female friend would have to take the child, while Teezee would pretend to be holding lots of baggage. Their plan was, to their expertise, perfect enough to convince the Nigerian security that nothing fishy was going on.

  Teezee took all the necessary stuff that would prove he’s the ‘caretaker’ of the child. He has handled a lot worse situations than that. It’s easier to convince a whole lot of people that he’s just a humble white guy that’s taking very good care of his helpless black son.

  Luckily for them, the plan was successful. Within 2 hours, they were all in a moving plane, with a quiet little boy that just sat and stared at every movement. The quietness of the boy amazed Teezee and his men. They expected the boy to give a lot of trouble, of which they’d force him to sleep by giving him sleeping injection. This injection that forces people to fall asleep, they came with it from America. Should anybody try to prove his/her smartness, they’d just inject the person. That makes it easier for them to proceed without getting any attention.

  But the little boy sat back and enjoyed the flight. Nobody knew whether he noticed what just happened or not. He just sat back and watched. It was mostly a night flight. The little boy slept on his own, most of the time. But twice, Teezee had to take him to the toilet to clean him up and change his diaper.

  It took about 14 hours for Teezee and his men, well, and the new boy child, to get back to America. After all the struggles and stress, it was time for Teezee and his men to touch base and freshen up.

  Master Scott stayed in a quiet village. That was where he handled most of his business operations. He had other branches (some he owned with some other money lords of other countries), where he handled some business deals. It was one of those branches that he wanted to establish in South Africa, had it not been for the scam in the land deal.

  So it took Teezee and the men a couple more hours to drive back to base. From the city back to the village, was about an hour's drive.

  When they reached the base, most of Scott’s men and some ladies came out to greet Teezee and the men. They were aware of their absence. And they waited for them, especially their direct boss, Teezee, to come back.

  Teezee waved at them and went straight through the house; to tell his boss how successful he was with everything. When he got to where his boss was, few meters at the back of the building, he observed his boss enjoying some alone time. His boss was sitting in a pool. While he drank some wine, he looked at some artworks that hung on a wall opposite to him.

  “Morning Master Scott,” Teezee said, caressing the little Nigerian boy on the head.

  “Hu-hu-hu! Hey Teezee! This the boy?”

  “Yes, Master Scott. This the boy.”

  “Wow! You did a hell of a job,” Master Scott said and got up to take a good look at the boy.

  “Thank you, sir. So what are you gon call him?” Teezee asked.

  “That is not a problem. You made sure his parents are dead?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “And you are sure you didn’t make no mistakes?”

  “No. Everything was clean. No trails,” Teezee said as he waved his right hand across his waist. He still held the child close to his chest with his left hand.

  “I hope so. What was that his father's name,” Master Scott asked while he held the little boy by the cheeks and shook them.

  “Nicholas. Nicholas Daniels.”

  “Yuh! Nicholas is such a dumb name for a cute little boy like you. Isn’t it?” Master Scott asked, still shaking the little boy’s cheeks. “I’ll call him Daniel. Daniel Jenkins. Danny is way much better than ‘Nichollaas’ (Master Scott said by twisting the shape of his mouth and putting up his fingers as a quotation symbol). Isn’t it, Danny? Because Jenkins doesn’t take dump names” He did that as a fun play to the little boy.

  “Daniel is a good name,” Teezee said.

  “Of course it is. Welcome to America, Danny.” Master Scott said as he headed back to where he sat before, in the pool. “Teezee, take him to the ladies. We’ll have to go register him up tomorrow morning.

  “Alright sir,” Teezee said and went away with the boy. All the while, the boy didn’t seem overwhelmed by the new appearances, and the new faces he was seeing.

  Master Scott just acquired a new son. He already had one. But then he’s got the second one. Well, his sons would have been three in number by now, had it not been that one of them died in a fistfight.

  His eldest son, Jack Jenkins, AKA JJ, died while he was fighting with three other guys. The death of JJ was the only reason while Master Scott promoted Teezee, one of his men, to the second rank in command.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Death of JJ

  None of Master Scott’s sons had a mother. Each of the sons came from different women – dead women. Master Scott had to kill each of the mothers of his sons. It was bad for business because a loving mother might influence her child in a way that might alter the child’s behavior.

  At first, seventeen years ago, he killed JJ’s mother when JJ wouldn’t know what was going on. From infant age, JJ started undergoing tough pieces of training that altered his emotions. Master Scott tried to prepare him for what lay ahead – he wanted to get him ready for business.

  The kind of business that Master Scott did wasn’t the type that anybody could easily handle, especially a teenage boy. Because Master Scott knew the risks of his operation, he wanted someone he could call his own. Someone strong enough to handle the business should anything bad happen to him. He wanted a trustworthy successor.

  That was why he even considered having a child in the first place. It was only JJ that he hoped would carry his legacy forward. But at the age of fourteen, he discovered that JJ is hardwired to just be rough and naughty. The undesirable behavior of JJ forced him to make another child – Charles.

  Master Scott had been giving JJ all the possible pieces of training he felt was necessary to make him a man as soon as possible. JJ received intense physical and emotional pieces of training all the time. But it takes more than strength, and the ability to repress emotions, to become a man.

  At age 17, Master Scott felt JJ was ready enough to become second in rank of command. Crowning JJ this position had to come with some rituals and a celebration.

  The ritual was intended to present JJ with good luck charms. Because the nature of the business involved getting into a shootout all the time, it called for the need to have the ability to always come out of it, unharmed. Master Scott trusted that the rituals and the charms worked wonderfully well for him.

  The lady that was handling the ritual ceremony, Lina Torres, was a friend of Master Scott. She was into astrology and spirituality. She knew that Master Scott’s business did harm to people. The huge amount of money she’d got from Scott has made her mind block her feelings. She had this belief that there was no judgment if Master Scott did something to people of which he wouldn’t feel bad if that same very thing was been done unto him. Do unto others what you’d have them do unto you – strictly on a business level. That was the belief that made her do what she did.

  There was usually an intense shootout anytime Master Scott or his men went to deliver or receive a package. And by ‘package’, the content could be anything that’s worth a fortune, human organs, precious objects and jewels, weapons, drugs, ancient paintings and ornaments, and some other worthy stuff that they call ‘package’.

  These shootouts weren’t much of a problem of Mrs. Lina. Her business was always to do her rituals and go home with her money.

  And so, on that very day that JJ was crowned ‘second in rank’, Mrs. Lina did her part. Everything went well. JJ was then a man, a man that can command hundreds of other men. He’s got power. A highly intoxicating power.

  Immediately after the ceremony, JJ started misusing his power. He started giving useless commands, just to feel the fear in others. He liked the feeling of seeing his men tremble in fear. JJ had the right to do whatever he liked to his men unless Master Scott said otherwise.
And that was how the organization was structured. Every other man listened to whatever their direct boss said.

  That intoxicating power of JJ’s wasn’t so funny for his men. Even other men from other criminal organizations started to feel JJ’s heat. JJ loved fighting. And he always defeated his opponents. He sometimes got into a fight with other men from other organizations.

  On one of those occasions, he went to a location where three guys were alone, playing video games. He started playing the boss there. He started showing off. But those other guys couldn’t endure his childish behavior. JJ wasn’t afraid to fight them. He knew he’d always win his fights. He’d been preparing since his infant, undergoing hard gym pieces of training with strong men and athletes.

  JJ went to one of the guys and removed his face cap.

  “I like your cap. Oops! It smells like shit. Ha-ha-ha-ha!” JJ said, with an act of a drunk.

  “Look, man, we don’t want any of your troubles. Just give back the cap and leave us alone. Alright?” One of those guys said, with a tone of fear in his voice.

  “Woh! Woh! Woh! Who said I came here for trouble? Look, bro, I came here just to deliver a message to your boss. I noticed he tried to manipulate my men with his stupid ‘game of wits’. It’s just a little misunderstanding, I guess. Your boss didn’t know that I’m not into all these ‘game of wits’ bullshits. And that was his mistake. Which I’m here to correct.” As JJ was saying all those things, he was moving in circles, around those guys. The guys just sat on a couch and listened to JJ.

  “And how did you intend to correct the mistake?” one of the guys asked.

  “By whooping your asses of course!”

  “Hmm. Really? Look, we don’t want none of your trouble. Okay?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m gon beat the shit out of your little asses?” JJ said and threw the face cap to the guys.

  The guys didn’t want to fight. Each of them was afraid of JJ. They wanted to let that insult go. But JJ wouldn’t just stop. “Uhuh! What are you guys afraid of? C’mon! Let’s have some fun,” JJ said. He went and hit one of them hard on the head.

  Three of them got up with a start and charged to fight JJ.

  “Yeah! This what I’m talking about, baby!” JJ clapped his hands and smiled.

  The four of them started the fight, three men against one. Even as at that, JJ was beating the shits out of those guys, just as he said earlier. But one man has only two hands and legs. Though JJ was very fast and strong, he couldn’t handle those guys for long. The guys fought like a team. Two of them would volunteer to take blows from JJ, while the other would come from JJ’s behind and land a very strong combo to JJ.

  This continued for a very long time, to the point where one of the guys would lie down and rest, while the other two continued the fight. When the resting one regained a little strength, he’d come and hit JJ with all he’s got. And one of them would take his own rest. They all worked together.

  The fight was intense. They destroyed all the furniture in the room and their video game consoles. Sometimes they’d use pieces of furniture as weapons on each other. All four of them got tired. JJ was entirely exhausted. Two hands against six, that wasn’t entirely a good idea. But JJ was arrogant. Maybe he misjudged his ability.

  The other three men started getting into him. All of them were bleeding but JJ has lost a lot of blood already. All the pieces of furniture they used on him, made him cough out blood. Those guys kept hitting him hard, with the little strength they’ve got. JJ fell to the ground. He was the kind of guy that never accepted failure. Even when he was down on the ground, coughing out blood, he was still trying hard to get on his feet. But the guys wouldn’t let him. They kept kicking, punching, and hitting him with a piece of furniture.

  All the while, JJ tried to get on his feet. The guys started taking turns in hitting JJ. They’d bring him off the ground just to knock him down again. One of them would do his turn, then the other, and the other. Each turn, they would laugh and course JJ.

  “You. Stupid. Son. Of. A. Bitch!” One of them would be saying as he brought JJ off the ground and punched him hard on the nose. The sound of the word ‘bitch’ and the flow of the punch, all went together. JJ would fall back down again to the ground when hit.

  They kept doing this for a while. They were enjoying the sequence of the situation until one of them came up with an idea. The idea was to hit JJ with combos. One of them would hold JJ upright while the other two would hit JJ at the same time.

  They did that. And it was more of a fun than the single hits. JJ coughed out blood. He could barely see. His face got so swelled up that his eyes could barely be seen.

  Those guys kept delivering combo hits to JJ until they delivered the one that took him out. The combo was a kick, with two legs at once. One of them held JJ while the two others, one from behind and the other from front, ran up to JJ and kicked him with both their legs, at the same time.

  Two-legs-kick, a combo kick that they managed to deliver to JJ, took him out. Two legs from front, two legs from behind, all landed on JJ at the same time. The force of the kick shook JJ’s internal organs, especially his heart. JJ couldn’t handle the thrust. He fell on the ground.

  One of those men felt JJ’s purse. He gave his fellows a sign that JJ was out. They all walked out of the house.

  And that was the end of Jack Jenkins. He only lasted four days, after his father crowned him second in command. And that was how Teezee got into his recent position.

  CHAPTER 6

  The Young Hopes

  The death of JJ wasn’t the end of hope for Master Scott. He still had one other son, Charles. But he didn’t trust the way Charles's behavior was developing. He felt Charles might end up like his brother, JJ. That was why he ordered Teezee to bring a little boy from Nigeria.

  The two sons – Charles, AKA CJ, and Daniel, AKA Danny – were more like a cat and a dog. CJ, being two years older than Danny, had been tormenting Danny since his arrival. The fact that Danny has a different skin color made CJ have an intense hatred for him.

  CJ found it hard to accept Danny as a brother. Scott kept trying his best to convince him that Danny is a brother. But the young lad wouldn’t just accept. The hatred he had for his brother kept increasing because it turned out that Scott liked Danny more.

  It got a point where CJ had to bring rough play into the situation. One day he gave his little brother a cup of lemonade mixed with pee. Coupled with some other major wicked treatments, Danny had always been at the mercy of his elder brother. Well, unless of course, their father intervened.

  Each time they got into a fight, CJ would always try to give his brother a serious injury. He even got Danny into a boxing ring one night and tried to kill him with continuous punches on the face.

  As the two boys continued to grow up in such a discordance situation, Master Scott always tried to impart to them the ethics and values of his organization.

  Scott was a highly respected man. He has mastered the act of masking his emotions. A more perfect description of him would be ‘a man that has lost his ability to feel’. He always presented himself as a gentleman. And that was how he wanted all his sons to be. On several occasions, when his sons were not in the gym, or in a room, playing mind games, he would call them to himself and start teaching them about life.

  He was showing his sons the world, through his own filters. He started from when the boys were very young, to mold them to follow the line of his business. One of his sessions with his sons would be something like:

  “See, what I want you two to know is that life is hard. Whatever you want in life, you have to go get it. Because if you don’t, nobody is going to give it to you. It’s a game, boys. It’s all a game. The mightiest wins. Survival of the fittest. Doom to the weakest (He’d say this one directing his gaze to Danny. And then CJ would smile). You have to be strong boys. You have to be. Just like your father. Look at all these I’ve built; a weak person cannot handle all of it. And, you may be wonderi
ng why I put you into tough practices and games and pieces of training. Don’t you see? All of them were to prepare you. So that you can inherit and be able to handle all of these (he waved his two hands up in the air) someday. You may not understand the point of it now. But someday, you’d understand.”

  “I understand, dad,” CJ would say in his cute little voice.

  All the while, Danny would stay mute. He barely said much.

  CJ and Danny continued to play tricks on each other, and they grew up together. They didn’t attend any school. All the pieces of training, and the schooling activities, all the practices, were carried out at home. That gave them a lot of time to stay together and play their tricks.

  It took Danny a very long time to catch up with the tricks CJ played on him. He kept taking all the maltreatments that CJ gave to him. He’d sometimes complain to his father, of which the father would tell him to catch up and stop acting like a helpless little girl waiting for mama to save her.