For the code of Promise

Jaxon’s POV I was living very happily with my family, but three years after my wedding to Cassie, things started to change—from beautiful moments to something we both didn’t understand. We were living in Tanzania, close to the University of Dodoma, where I had graduated with a degree in Biological Science. We managed to buy a house after Cassie sold my family’s house in Zimbabwe and bought a bigger one in Tanzania. My daughter, Cathy, was growing more mature, and she attended a school close to our house. She was always happy, regardless of the situations we were facing. I was sure she inherited that from my mother. Amanda and Killer were living in a rented apartment after their marriage. They didn’t wait long before having a child. They had a charming little boy who was two years old and named him Keller. Their family was adorable. It surprised me to see Amanda stay in a relationship for more than two years. Without a doubt, Killer was her soulmate. I couldn’t feel happy doing nothing every day, so I began searching for employment. However, it was difficult to find work. Killer tried as well, but we kept getting rejected. Cassie was the only lucky one. She was employed as a secretary by a tree-cutting company that had once employed me years before. Despite this opportunity, she resigned and chose to sit down and reflect on her life. We continued to depend on Cassie’s restaurant and decided to accommodate Amanda and Killer in our house since things had become more difficult for them. They were both unemployed, so they needed our support. Cassie gave them two rooms in our large six-roomed house. We lived together as a family and began cooking together. Life became more interesting, and we started having more picnics. Everything seemed pleasant in Tanzania, and it was what our wives wanted. It kept them happy. Killer and I, however, were having quiet echoes within ourselves—thoughts that occasionally visited our minds. We weren’t fully settled. We kept thinking about the night of the attack. We had lost that battle, and it felt like an insult to us. I believed Jane died on the night of the bombing, and whenever I remembered her last words, my heart crushed. She asked me to take care of her son, but I didn’t know Billy’s whereabouts. I had only spoken to him over the phone when he was with my father, and after that, I never had another chance. My father’s phone was always unreachable. I secretly called Mary, asking about Billy, but she had no idea either. I had to call her secretly because Cassie didn’t want me to dig into that night. She wanted us to forget everything and move on. After failing to find Billy’s whereabouts, I didn’t know what to do. However, Killer convinced me that my father wouldn’t break his promise of taking Billy to his grandparents. Killer seemed to trust my father more than I did, so I tried to stay positive like him. Despite trusting my father, questions kept eating at my mind. I wondered about Drago’s fate. I needed to be certain of his death so I could find peace deep within my heart. If he was still alive, I was prepared to send him to his ancestors, just as I did to Jaha. My anger would have been justified. Those drug lords had killed my mother. Killer used his secret connections to spy on the Scouters. What he discovered shocked us. Stan and Mathew were doing whatever they pleased. They abused the rights of innocent people, toyed with everyone, and operated drug networks. They were no different from Jaha, and no one was stopping them. We suspected that some Scouters’ agents were also involved. The Scouters had betrayed Killer. They didn’t even bother to investigate his death when we were announced killed by the bomb. People in my hometown believed we were dead after trying to push the Scouters to investigate what happened that night, but their efforts were in vain. It was as if our deaths meant nothing to the Scouters. Terrorism had secretly taken over. We knew that one day they would find us, so we prepared ourselves. We prepared for an unknown war—waking up every morning and training in the garden behind our house. Cassie and Amanda joined us after we asked them to, despite Amanda’s pregnancy. We didn’t know what the future held, so we prepared for every possibility. When Amanda was close to giving birth, Cassie suggested they stop training, and we agreed. As time passed, Cassie changed her mind again. She didn’t want us training in the garden because she wanted to plant flowers there, so we moved our training to a nearby river. Killer was more energetic and tactful. He reminded me of my friends who died in the mines. That was our life in Tanzania. We were living like ghosts. No one from our hometown knew we were alive except a few close people, including Mary. She told us everything that was happening in Gwanda town, including news of our funerals, which were held when they believed we were dead. We continued training until Cassie changed her mind once more. She pressured us to stop preparing for war. I tried to make her understand, but she refused to listen. She even burned my father’s letter before I could read it. That gesture clearly showed she wanted me to forget the night of the attack. She forced me to start working, believing it would distract me from thoughts of revenge. She went to the University of Dodoma to seek employment for me. Later, I realized she was right—her restaurant wasn’t making enough money to support everyone in the house. I agreed to start working. After about two weeks, I began working at the university. I got the job after Cassie pleaded with the university president, who gave me an opportunity because I had once been one of the university’s top academic students. With my degree in Biological Science, I worked in the research lab and occasionally taught students. Eventually, I became a tutor. Teaching felt good and helped relieve my troubled thoughts. Killer advised me to change my name since I was working at the university, but Cassie disagreed. Killer didn’t argue with her. I knew he was right—he wanted us to avoid exposure. Cassie, however, insisted that we were far from the Scouters and that no one would find us. Despite my job, Killer and I didn’t stop training in secret. We left the house at random times so our wives wouldn’t notice. Otherwise, we lived happily—but we were ghosts.