By the time the ship had fully stopped, Lindswe was able to get it to his skull that the wasn’t the only one that had a TV or listened to news, as almost 400 people had already rushed here.
He was however lucky to find himself a spot in the ship after getting some help.
“Look brother, I’ve got some large stock for you here” a thick dark-skinned man said to him leading him down the way to the inner decker.
“It’s really nice of you to make me this offer” Makazi said gratefully, following and climbing down in a haste.
“No big deal, man. Don’t you know we’re brothers?” the man said looking up at Makazi who smiled in return; a feigned one though. He didn’t really take note but this guy was Xhosa.
“This one sure looks big. Doesn’t it?” Makazi said, touching a brown bag and trying to lift it.”
“Yes, it’s one of our biggest catch, they’re two though. They were sent by the gods; that’s exactly how we saw them” the man said, and pointed to a second one.
“Okay then, how much does it cost?” Makazi said, shifting a little, knowing this would be the tough part.
“Well just 2500 rands would do for the both bags” the man answered relaxing on a piece of wood which hung just above him.
“What? 2500!” Makazi exclaimed. That was like all his savings just on a bag filled with filthy fishes.
“Common man, this bag weighs a lot plus it was a blessing; rare to find” the man said, showing a little disappointment.
Makazi looked on for a while, though it did cost much, it could yield him some huge profit and according to the man, it was a blessing from the god of food; Xanphosa. He heard an increasing noise from outside, traders were starting to come in their numbers … he had to act fast
“Man, act fast, my boss would not be happy seeing me selling this at such a low price” he pressurized.
“Okay, I’ll have it” he said, hesitantly. Felling the bag once again-he hoped the returns would be more than what he was about to spend on it.
“Thank you” the dockworker said collecting the money from Makazi.
Makazi carried the bag with the help of another dockworker until they reached the truck.
“Thank you” Makazi said to the man, who he noticed had just ran off.
Makazi drove into his farm, parked the truck and came out of it; shutting the door with force. The farm was small, producing a medium harvest of arable crops every month which in total sold for not more than 1000 rands … not so much, which was why he hoped the catch would be a lot gainful.
“Kalwindze! Kalwindze!” he called out as soon as he stepped down
“I am here, Makazi” a woman putting on a wrapper got from a burial ceremony, ran out to meet him with a basket of maize cobs in her hands.
“My Makazi” she said, smiling and hugging him. She was also Xhosa; had a chocolate –colored skin, black eyes and a long wavy hair that looked like it’d never been done.
“You know what darling?” Makazi started, refraining and holding her hand.
“What mystery did you discover again” she teased.
“Well a huge catch of some catfishes” he said, pointing to the truck.
“Wow, let’s tear it open”
“Sure” he said, opening the booth.
“Gosh, why is this one so heavy?” Kalwindze asked, after they had dropped the first one on the ground.
“I was about asking the same thing” Makazi said, with a stunned look.
“Aren’t you the one that bought it?” she asked
“Well, it did not seem this heavy” he said. “Could you bring the knife, please?”
She went into the house. Makazi stood puzzled, different thoughts flew through his mind; was he cheated? did they make a mistake? And then his wife came running towards him.
Collecting the knife from her hand, he bent down and slowly tore the bag open from the side. He noticed something, and then he opened it up for his wife to see. It was a human.
Kalwindze couldn’t bring herself to say a word, Makazi just stood there bewildered.
How was this even possible? He asked himself. He was there and even assisted to carry the bag of fishes into the truck.
“Kalwindze” he started. “let’s just check, someone might have put these bodies here just for the fun of it”. Being a calm woman that she was, she helped offload the remaining bags, though the second seemed like the first.
Makazi bent down and tore the remaining bags open. And then, with a smile, he called out to Kalwindze- who was sitting on a block before entry into the house.
She looked over at him. “The fishes are still here!” he said, attracting her attention. When she came, he showed her the two bags he had purchased.
“So who are these people and why are they in your truck?”
“Let’s inform the police as quick as possible” she suggested after they had been standing, thinking, for what seemed like forever.
“No. not an option” Makazi bluntly answered.
“What do you mean? They’re the only people that can help us now” she said.
“You don’t understand” he started. “They are going to think we murdered some white folks.”
“So what do you suggest we do?” she asked, having agreed with Makazi.
“For now” he paused. “We take care of them”
Wednesday (2 Days Later)
Achoo! … one of them sneezed.
Kalwindze rushed to the mat on which the man lay. She had already treated his bullet wounds. He was lucky he was shot by a plastic bullet; intended only to cause injuries and not to kill.
He was recovering fast enough. She brought a bowl of mealies to him.
“Where am I?” he said, with mixed feelings trying to get up from the mat.
“You are in the Kundulanga village of Cape Town” she said adjusting her wrapper.
“Cape Town?” he said aloud. He had heard of the place before, even had something here; he was in South Africa.
“Yes. Looks like you were recovered from the shore of the ocean”
“I’m leaving here, now!” he said, standing up.
“You’re going nowhere” Makazi said, entering the room.
“Do you know who I am?” he dared.
“Well, no. Would you mind telling us? We’ve spent a fortune taking care of you since you arrived here” Makazi said, and asked.
“Okay, first off” he started. “I am Daniels White” and then told the rest of the story.
20 Minutes Later …
“Okay so do you have anywhere to go in Cape Town? Like a company or something?” Kalwindze asked.
Jack was up now. After seeing his boss struggle to remember. He spoke up. “As a matter of fact, yes.” He continued.
“He owns a diamond mine in Witswaterand”.
“Okay, let’s think of how we’ll get all the way there now” Makazi said, and with that left the room.
Jake Industries
Hong-Kong, China.
Jake Kalm turned on the television with his voice and sat down on the chair facing his occupied table.
…BBC World News. It is so sad that after one month now, no news has been heard concerning the disappearance of Mr. Daniels White; American Tycoon and world’s man, from our sources, his dog- the Gunther IV was able to trace that he was outside the building when it came crumbling down. The question now is; where is he?
Next on BBC news, where is Zidane Black?
Jake turned off the television and faced his guests; Chang and Wan chi.
“That was supposed to be done by us. Right?” he questioned.
“Well, I guess…” Wan chi said, trailing off.
“Can you recall what really happened that day, Chang? At least you were there before the evacuation” Jake asked, now facing Chang.
“Honestly, not much. There was fire in the building that day and we all told to leave and being a little suspicious and afraid, I did keep the glasses at a considerable location when I left” C
hang said.
“And yes.” He continued. “the Zidane guy was visiting that day”
“Hmmm. Wait, you said you left your glasses, right?” Wan chi said, standing.
“Yes, but it was obviously destroyed.” Chang said, looking down at him.
“But the information we need can’t be” Wan chi said, bringing a laptop from his briefcase.
“What do you mean?” Jake said, looking at him all the while.
“I was able to create an auto-save feature for the camera display here at base.” He turned on the system. “it must somehow have been saved in the cloud then. Then he showed them his screen, the video was there.
“So that Kay is the mastermind behind all these? I think she needs a taste of her own medicine” Jake said, after the video ended.
“Well, what do you suggest, sir?” Wan chi asked.
“Let’s give her that taste, we’re flying to New York tomorrow, get everything set up” he said, standing up.
Chapter 8
A Week Later
Wilcott’s Residence
New Jersey
McCarthy Silvanna put her luggage in the booth of a fine black limousine parked outside. She had just finished her ‘holiday’ in New Jersey at Jane Wilcott’s house.
“Thanks for doing away with that man, I think you deserve a gold medal, Silva” Jane appreciated, once again.
“It’s my pleasure” Silva said, moving to enter the car.
“So I’ll be heading for New York now, they’re a lot of renovations to do now since-”
“You’re now the boss” Jane completed.
“Yeah, I guess. Bye Jane” Silva said, closing the door.
“Bye Silva” Jane said, long after the car had disappeared out of sight. They had been best of friends for some time now. But now, she wasn’t sure their reunion would last. She had known White enough not to quit. He was going to come back for her somehow; even if it meant resurrecting…
Pluto Airport
New Jersey
A black limousine stopped in front of a private jet, painted all black with a white inscription in the middle indicating Black. It was Zidane’s… now hers to keep.
Silvanna entered the jet flanked by four bodyguards. The door was closed and the jet took off. To New York City …
Kane Diamond Mine
Witswaterand, Orange Free State
South Africa
Just 120 miles ago, the truck was at Kimberly and now the destination had finally been reached; Kane Diamond Mine. The external view was fabulous; the guy White had put in charge had really done a good job.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Makazi” White said, still not used to saying that name.
“Oh, well, I could work in your mines” he said, smiling. His wife came down a minute later. White had promised they wouldn’t need to go back to the remote village, so she came along.
The mine was a big one, with a string fierce fortress built around it. it was a little far away from the normal dwelling and an estate built not too far from it to house special clients and employees.
“Who are you? This place is not open to public viewing” a man with a blue overall and a black beret on his head said, from a security house erected just close to the gate’s entry.
“Please can we see the director in charge of this place?” White spoke out annoyingly.
“For what? Who do you think you are?” the security man asked, with a raised tone.
“Just tell your boss that Daniels White wants to see him” Jack blurted.
Daniels White. He had heard the name before. “I’m coming” he said, running off.
The uniformed man came out some minutes later and hastily looked for the remote control, he pressed a button and then the steel corrugated heavy doors swung open inviting Makazi’s truck into the mine. Makazi was led by another uniformed man- this time with a purple shirt, black heavy boots and black suspenders, to park his car in a provided parking lot.
Daniels White was the first to down from the car followed by his assistant; Jack and then the others followed suit, each shutting the door with force having being used to the drama. They were led into a hall- not the mine and this time it was a man in suit.
The hall was quite big; a height of about 20-feet and decorated by glass pane windows. The man in suit who later introduced himself as the secretary to the director, led them to an elevator which lay almost close to the end of a big hall with offices at the end.
Daniels White looked around and nodded his head in approval at what had been done around here; though he’d really never been here before.
“It’s a delight and honor to see you here, sir” Jim Sal Tonga, the secretary said smiling.
“My pleasure. Your boss has done quite a good job here” White finally remarked.
“Sure” he said. “With about a thousand miners and two hundred office workers, the mine has moved quite a record-”
“May we continue, please?” White interrupted, signaling to the elevator which had been opened for a while.
“I’m sorry, sir. This way please” Jim directed into the elevator. They reached the floor. Then came out and continued walking.
He stopped only when he reached a door at the end of the hallway. He knocked gently and entered without waiting for a response.
Kane Baker would have queried Jim for entering without waiting for a reply but reconsidered his decision as soon as he saw his guests. It was Daniels White; a man he had only heard of and seen on television, but gosh, did he look ragged?
“Good day, sir” Jim said, leading the guests into a thickly carpeted large office with brightly-shining chandeliers hung just above Kane. Kane stood up and went over to Daniels White.
“You are welcome, sir. This is an awesome privilege” he remarked. “Please have a seat” he said gesturing.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Kane” White said, Jim had told him the name on their way here. “But I’m here for some urgent reasons”
“And what could those be, sir?” he said, offering him a can drink and sitting beside him. Jim served the other guests and stood at a corner of the office.
“Okay” Daniels White started and then told him the rest of the story; from New York to the slums of South Africa and why he had come here.
“Also, I need you to get these helpers a well-paying job” he concluded.
“That wouldn’t be a problem, sir. I’m really sorry for what you’ve gone through” he said, apologetic. “the office has a private jet at the airport that you can use”
“That’s nice. Thank you.” White said.
“I’ll also advice you fly to Atlanta” Kane said, getting up.
“Why Atlanta?” White asked with a raised tone.
“Well, we can’t risk an early discovery, unless you’ll have trails on you” he promptly responded. “Your change of clothes would be ready at the airport”
“Thanks. I’m really grateful” White said
“It’s a privilege, sir”
Pluto Aviation Company
New York
McCarthy Silvanna sat in an armchair, directly opposite to the interviewer who hosted shows on famous American Ladies. Silva had granted the opportunity since she was free for the day.
“So how do you feel about your new position in the Black’s Corporation?” Gray Rexy asked.
“Well” she started. “I feel bad and terrible about the demise of my boss and owner of the company. But on the other hand, it’s really a wonderful position”
Thirty minutes had gone past and Gray Rexy ended the interview and walked out with the other people that followed her. Gray smiled as she walked along and entered the car. She made a call to someone in South Africa … She’s in New York…
And then she drove away, nothing had been recorded in the interview … nothing. The meeting was too short to do everything she had to do; do the interview well, put a tracking device on her, get to know what her plans were and her aim … she gave it all out.
Silva sat down in her chair and looked at the wrist watch on her hand; it was a gift from one of her bosses. She couldn’t remember which…
She stood up and went to the restroom. She put it into the toilet and flushed it. Gray; the lady that came to interview her had exchanged it with an exact type for some reason.
She knew because she had seen her; she wasn’t good even for starters… she thought to herself as she went to her table. She took the glass of wine that lay on the tray and gulped down its contents. She felt something in her throat but swallowed it because of the shock received from someone badging into her office.
“Damn!” she exclaimed, standing up. She already knew who it was. “Don’t you have any manners?” she turned to her fiancé; Delaney.
“You ready?” Delaney asked, moving closer to Silva.
“Gee, you scared me” she said, after settling down.
“I’m sorry, okay” he apologized.
“So you ready?” he asked again, taking her hand.
“Yeah, this is an office, Delaney” she trailed and left the office.
She completely forgot about what she’d swallowed. It was another tracking device; one she could not remove or destroy….
Johannesburg International Airport
Daniels White wore a blue jean trousers and a red inner long-sleeved shirt covered by a hoody to prevent his face from showing. Mr. Kane had made sure it all went well.
Jack was right behind him and together they entered the jet and in some minutes, they were up in the skies. Daniels White removed the hoody. It’s really been a long day… he thought to himself and dozed off.
Compton’s International Airport
Georgia, Atlanta.
The plane touched down at the tarmac of the airport and after a few minutes came to a halt. The door was opened and some men carried out a bed to an ambulance which wasn’t too far from the jet.
Jake sat there smiling at the unfolding drama. Daniels had talked to him earlier about the plan; the one to be carried out before he was to head for New York to have a little talk with Miss Silvanna … this time he was prepared…
A Day Earlier ...
Dr. Earl Kimberly arrived late from work today. She looked at her watch, 9:47 PM. She had just won the Nobel last year for her outstanding performance in the areas of plastic surgery and neurosurgery. She was therefore a leading personality in Atlanta.
Daniels- the Game of Mayhem Page 4