DESIRES.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

I slowly took my bloodstained hands off his body and stood up. There was nothing more I could do and I began to walk back towards the car. His last words still rang in my mind and I knew I had to act fast in order to save Clarissa and the Governor. I sat on the driver’s seat and placed both hands on the wheel. The car’s engine was still running and this drowned the noise of the insects outside. I looked up at the road in front of me and held the wheel firmly. With a heavy sigh I began to drive hoping that the night would end well for me. The road he had mentioned was just up ahead and was almost completely unnoticeable during the night. It was a rough road and I could feel the car rocking from side to side.

From a distance I could see a silver metal gate surrounded by tall trees. I slowed down and took a deep breath as my fingers tapped against the steering wheel. Whatever I was about to do was suicidal but I had no choice. The wheels screeched loudly as I pressed my foot on the accelerator and the car zoomed off at lighting speed. Two men appeared at the gate and it was evident that they were well armed. They signaled me to slow down and my hesitation made them attack with their rifles. I immediately lowered myself out of sight as the bullets tore through the car. Before I knew it the car had rammed through the metal gate and I heard a loud thud on top of the car.

The car swerved through the compound and finally came to a halt. For a minute I believed I was long gone until I heard the indicator alarm of the car. The airbag came out from the steering wheel and protected me from further injury due to the impact. I slowly sat up and got out of the car. My eyes moved back to where the gate had been and I could see the metal parts lying on the ground. Next to them were two unconscious bodies and I realized they were the two guards. Nobody else appeared to be on sight which greatly surprised me. There was a large building in front of me as well as several small buildings. I made my way to one of the small buildings which was filled with large barrels and a few machinery. I peered out through the opening of the building and could still see no one despite the light from the full moon. This made me even more nervous.

I hid myself behind a large barrel as I carefully aimed my gun at the door. In my mind I was willing to shoot anything that dared to try and enter the building. It was after a while that I heard loud footsteps moving within the vicinity. At first I couldn’t see them but soon I noticed three shadows pass by. What happened next caught me totally off guard. Lying on top of the barrel was a metal pipe and in an attempt to find a better striking position I accidentally knocked it down. It clattered with a loud noise on the floor and I simply froze.

In a split second shots were being fired all over the place. I crouched behind the barrel in an effort to protect myself. The bullets were being fired nonstop as they tore the building apart. Only God knows how long the shooting lasted but I was glad when it was over. The whole place suddenly grew silent and I held my gun even tighter. It was dangerous for me to move from my hiding spot but I was not much safer if I remained there for long.

No more footsteps were heard and I knew I had to be cautious. Like a stealthy ninja in an action movie I began to proceed towards the door. My gun was well placed in front of me and my eyes scanned the surrounding. In a flash a figure passed right in front and I shot wildly in the air. Whoever had passed ended up falling close to two meters from where I was. He let out a yell and I was sure he had been shot. I moved closer to him and found him lying on the floor with a hand placed firmly on his chest. There was little light in the building and he grew apprehensive at the sight of a figure moving towards him.

I was now standing at his feet and he tried to drag himself away from me. The moonlight managed to enter the place due to a hole on the roof and I could now see the frightened look in his eyes. Even before I thought on what to do next I felt a firm grip on my shoulder and as I turned to look behind came face to face with a hardened fist. An excruciating pain penetrated through my face and there was little I could do as I quickly lost consciousness. I don’t know how long I was knocked out but my body reacted the minute I felt a cold splash of water on my face. Some of it managed to go through my throat and I coughed uncontrollably. As my eyes started to regain their sight I realized that both my hands and feet were tied up in metal shackles. My head felt heavy and my body twitched as another rush of cold water was poured on me. The shackles had been bound against a metal frame which left my feet off the ground.

I nearly choked as I coughed out the water. “Stop it! Stop it! Please!” I heard a voice that was unmistakable. “Clarissa…Clarissa..” I called out her name as I lifted my head. She was lying on the floor at a corner and the governor was right next to her. Tears were flowing down her face and the look in her eyes told me that she wanted to run to me. The governor held her by the shoulders obviously trying to prevent her from overreacting. A tall figure stood by my side and I could see the bucket in his hands.

“I believe our guest here has had enough.” The voice was rough and very much familiar. I tilted my head and my eyes came face to face with that of Leonard. He had a mischievous smile on his lips and he rubbed the palms of his hands together in excitement. “It is a pleasure to meet you again inspector and I’m terribly sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. You’ve caused me a great deal of trouble but instead of killing you I am going to give you an offer to walk out of here alive.”

“There is nothing that you can offer me. I will bring you to justice for your crimes if it’s the last thing I do.” He smirked his lips and moved closer towards me. “Be careful what you wish for inspector. I am not a very patient man.”

“You don’t scare me. I know everything about you and your sinister plot.” At the mention of this he laughed hysterically much to my amazement. “I knew you were smart inspector. So I guess you know the Governor is involved and he isn’t so innocent after all.” I fell silent and his eyes widened a bit. His gaze then shifted towards the Governor.“ Since you know of the Governor’s involvement in this matter then maybe you could convince him to agree to my terms. That way everybody walks out of here happy.” He motioned at one of his men to move towards him. The man had an envelope in his hand and he gladly handed it over to Leonard who opened it immediately. There were some forms in the envelope which he took out and arranged them carefully.

With the forms in one hand he walked towards the Governor. “You know what you have to do now my dear friend. This is the last time I am giving you this chance to end it all. Nobody else has to get hurt because of this.” The Governor looked at the forms as though it was a death sentence. Leonard handed them to him together with a pen which he took out of his trouser pocket. He held the pen and his hand shook as he brought it near the forms. The atmosphere was tense and the cool breeze of the night could be felt.

“Sign them already!” The Governor looked at Leonard and to our surprise threw the forms on his face. “I am not going to sign anything. If I have to die for this then so be it. I cannot bear this any longer.” All our eyes were on the Governor. In annoyance Leonard grabbed the Governor and dragged him towards the center amid protests from Clarissa. He was made to kneel on his two feet with both his arms raised. “Please don’t do this,” I begged.

“I assure you inspector that I don’t want any of this. Kindly support me on this.”

“This can’t go on. Reconsider what you are about to do.”

“I am sorry you don’t see things my way. Maybe with some bit of help you will finally see things my way.” I did not know what he meant until one of his men grabbed a hold of Clarissa and aimed a pistol on her head. “Let her go! Let her go!” my voice was hoarse as I struggled to break the shackles away. Leonard looked at me with a wicked smile. “So I guess I have found your weak spot. Just tell the Governor to sign the papers and I promise not a shred of hair on her head will be touched. I love her too.”

The Governor was speechless all this while. I don’t know what was going through his head but he simply knelt there like a statue. His eyes were facing the ground and his body suddenly began to shake as he cried out aloud. “Leave my daughter out of this. It’s me that you want. If you want to shoot someone then put a bullet through my head. I am not afraid to die.” The whole place grew silent once again. The Governor stood up and faced Leonard. The two of them stared into each others eyes.

“Acting tough won’t save your skin this time. It never would have been this way had you not decided to sideline me. We were partners and together we were going to bring this city on its knees. I need you too…” The Governor cut him off midway. “What this city requires is far much more than you can handle. I do not deny the heinous crimes I have committed but things went too far. Let’s leave all this madness and work things out.” Whether it was going to work or not the Governor decided to try and reason with him. However from what I had learnt so far this was a man who was far away from being reasoned with.

He moved closer to the Governor until they were barely an inch from each other. One hand was behind him and he placed his other hand on the Governor’s shoulder. That same crooked smile was on his lips and in a flash he fished out a dagger and stabbed the Governor in the belly. “Nooo!!” Clarissa yelled as she stood up and ran to her father who fell back and moaned in pain. She was however immediately pulled back by Leonard.

“Jonathan, take her to the car now!” The huge man who had carried her earlier took hold of her once again and lifted her off her feet. She yelled as she threw fists and kicks in the air to no avail. The Governor tried to stop them but he was pushed back onto the floor. I felt defenseless as I tried aimlessly to free myself from the shackles. All this managed to do was to put painful marks on my hands. Leonard looked down at the Governor who held his belly with much difficulty. The dagger was still in his belly and he pulled it out letting a torrent of blood flow to the floor.

He wiped the blood on the dagger on the Governor’s clothes and then left with the three remaining men. It was the most horrid scene I had ever witnessed. My eyes were now on the Governor who’s death was now growing near every passing second. Outside of the building were two vehicles and Clarissa had already been bundled into one of them. Jonathan had been forced to tie her up so as to make sure she behaved. He now stood leaning against the door of the car as his boss approached.

Leonard walked up to him and he stood upright as he awaited further orders.“ I want you to go back there and clear that mess up. Get rid of that inspector once and for all. I am sure I can trust you with that task. We will wait for you out here.” Jonathan flexed his muscles and without a word walked back into the building.

To my amazement the Governor rolled himself until he was under my feet. With a lot of effort he lifted himself with one hand while the other pressed against his wound. I began to feel the shackles on my feet loosening and realized what he was doing. “Save my daughter Harry. She does not deserve to pay for my mistakes. Take her away from that monster. ” His voice was full of pain and anger. He had just managed to loosen the shackles on my hands when I noticed the shadow of a huge figure. None of us were to quick to react and I watched as the Governor was pulled away from me and pushed back onto the floor. It was the same man who had carried Clarissa away. He was now advancing towards the Governor and I quickly freed myself from the shackles. Anger was boiling within me as I charged at this Goliath of a man.

I jumped on his back and threw him off balance. We moved to the side and crashed against the wall. In a fit of rage he grabbed me by the neck and tried to shake me off. My feet were kicking hard against his chest and this drove him mad. As a last resort he pushed his back against the wall and this forced me to loosen my hold on him. My back felt as though it had broken into a million pieces as I glided down the wall. Jonathan now faced me and I thought I heard my jaw break as a fist landed on my left cheek. The blows kept coming and I lifted my hands to defend myself.

The punches he threw my way left me defenseless as I shifted my body from one side to the other. It was then that the Governor took a firm grip of his leg and this distracted him. His focus went back to the Governor who had lost a lot of blood by then. He lifted him up and without mercy placed his huge fingers around his neck and began to strangle him. I looked around frantically and saw the metal shackles on the floor. He hardly noticed as I made for the shackles and the Governor was hanging on for dear life. After getting the shackles I ran towards him and jumped on his back. With the shackles in my hands I encircled it round his neck and squeezed with all my strength.

The Governor was immediately released and he fell back with a thud. Jonathan struggled to remove the shackles while I squeezed even harder. We both fell down and I could hear him trying to breath. The shackles were already tearing his skin but I was not going to stop there. His veins were clearly visible on his skin which was slowly turning to a pale blue. With time he started losing consciousness and he let out a whizzy noise before dying. He instantly became motionless and I heaved a sigh of relief. I lifted him off myself and went to the Governor but it was already too late. Tears began to flow as I knelt beside him. His eyes were still wide open and there was a smile on his lips. His last words hang vividly in my mind and I knew I had to keep that promise.

There was a gun strapped against Jonathan’s waist and I got up and took it from his lifeless body. With a renewed sense of energy I ran down the flight of stairs and was soon outside the building. Two cars were parked outside and Leonard leaned against the door of one of them. He had a phone in his hand which he dropped the minute he saw me. I lifted up the gun and aimed it at him but he did not seem to be very scared. Three men came out from the darkness each wielding a rifle. Leonard comfortably leaned down and picked up his phone.

Somebody was screaming from the car behind him and I knew it was Clarissa. “Put down the gun inspector. Walk away right now and I promise no one else will have to die.” I began to move closer and the men c****d their guns. All they needed was an order and they would fill my body with countless bullets. “Let her go and I will leave you alone. Nobody will know about this. I can’t let you take her. I just can’t.” Tears were hanging on my eyelids and I wiped them off with my free hand.

“Forget about her inspector. Nobody ever expected you to play hero. You could not save the Governor, you could not save your secretary and you won’t be able to save the woman you love.” My mouth fell wide agape as he talked about Gladys. It suddenly occurred to me that he knew about her.

“What have you done to her? Where is she?” He kept quiet. “Tell me now!” Still he kept quiet. He then opened the back door of the car and took Clarissa out of the car. Both her hands and feet were tied up. She saw me and called out my name. I wanted to run to her and to hold her with my hands but the three men stood between me and her. “Put your gun down inspector. Don’t make me do something I will regret. No harm will come to her. I have always loved her.” This sickened me to the pit of my stomach. I wanted to put a bullet through his head but I knew I risked hurting Clarissa.

“If you put the gun down and walk away then I will tell you where your secretary is. If you don’t then I promise I will kill her.” My mind had hit a dead end. Gladys’s life hang by a thread and I knew this monster would harm her if I did not comply. There was great pain in my heart as I looked at Clarissa. She was scared and felt completely defenseless. “Prove to me that she is still alive.” He scrolled through his phone and then threw it at my feet. I picked it up and looked at the pictures on the screen. They showed Gladys lying unconscious with bruises on her body in God knows where.

It saddened me that she had to suffer all because I had dragged her into this mess. I threw the phone back at him but I was not going to lower my gun. “I believe you have seen the proof so if you…”

“I am not going anywhere without Clarissa. You will have to kill me first before you take her.” The tone in my voice was serious and I aimed the pistol on his head. “Harry please don’t do this. I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Shut up! Shut up!” Leonard snapped at her and that is when all hell broke loose. Noises could be heard from everywhere in the compound and we were all confused. In the midst of the commotion the three men shifted their attention from me and without hesitation I fired the pistol at them. Suddenly bullets were flying through the air and surprisingly none of them were aimed at me. I watched as the three men fell from the bullets that tore through their skins. “Harry!” Clarissa yelled as she was being pushed back into the car. I ran to her but a shot came my way and I was forced to take cover. In a matter of seconds the car’s engine was running and the wheels started to turn. With perfect aim I shot both the front wheels of the car and it came to a halt.

I got up and ran to the car again. The door flew open and Clarissa fell down. Just when I had gotten to her another shot rang out and I felt a burning pain through my leg. This pulled me down to the ground and I let go of the pistol as I held it with both hands. Leonard appeared from the back of the car and took possession of the pistol with ease. He looked down at me as I struggled to contain the blood that was flowing out from my leg. Mercilessly he kicked me in the chest severally. He then lifted me up and forced me to support myself on my knees. “You once said you were willing to die for. Let me make your wish come true.”

I’d never given much thought to how my life would come to an end. I had already cheated death before and it seemed my luck had finally run out. “I should have killed you myself a long time ago. “As I knelt there with a gun pointed at me I knew there was little hope that I would survive. I looked at her once more and could see the fear in her eyes. I loved her so much and I knew she loved me too. Fate seemed to have had all that in store for us and when life offers you a dream beyond your wildest expectations, it’s not reasonable to mourn when it comes to an end.

It was at that moment that I longed for one final moment to just hold her in my arms and just feel the touch of her skin. Sadly this was not to be. The savage look given to me by my soon to be killer made sure of that. He c****d up his gun and fired. An earsplitting sound was heard and I fell down as my eyes blurred.