THE POWER PLAY

THE RESCUE

Paul felt the gentle shake of his mother, early in the morning. He got to realise that he had wetted his mother's bed. Believe you me, it was a tense situation, he couldn't exactly explain how he felt, but he was certain he didn't want to feel that way.

"Go and change," the mother whispered, he went to bath . By the time he had finished, his clothes were already washed and hang to dry. He felt good, seeing the mother's love, but bad at the same time imagining the life he lived;the result of the mixture of such contrasting emotions was tears, which he quickly wiped off,lest his mother saw her.

He went on to his room. He saw the phone there, on his improvised study table, a wooden board painted white, nailed onto to a corner with wooden supports. He watched it for a while, before plugging it in. He was surprised to find it at full charge . He turned it on, and the first thing he saw was the text:

FORGET ABOUT LAST NIGHT , FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR LIFE AND YOUR FAMILY.

That message was good and bad at the same time. Good because he could get his normal life back, and bad because they still had Ashley,he was torn between helping Ashley, and keeping his family safe. He sat down on the bed, covered his face and sobbed bitterly, who would he choose? Who did he love more? His mother called him, asking him to help get the mattress outside to the sun.

After getting the mattress outside, the sat at the couch, silent for a while, neither of them wanted to talk about what happened the previous night, but the mother had to know what happened. She took a deep breath, and just when she was about to utter her first word, her phone rang. It was right there on the white and black wooden table. 'Mama Ashley Airtel'. She picked up the phone and excused herself before heading outside. Paul was freaking out by now, had they called because of Ashley? Did they know he knew what happened? His thoughts were disrupted by the wailing of her mother she got out only to meet her a the door, her face wet with tears. She hugged him and rested her face on his chest, then quietly whispered, "George, George akua"(kikuyu for George's is dead) Paul had never felt the way he felt, he held to his mother as he weeped painfully.

The death of George, Ashley's father, was not unexpected, having to play around with guns to protect his country, it was almost certain that one day, he would be on the wrong side of it. However , he didn't die on the battlefield, many questions so rounded his death, questions people didn't want to ask ;not because they didn't notice, but because they didn't want to be the next to be buried. George's dead body was dropped of the same night of the kidnap, by the very same people who kidnapped Ashley, the cctvs saw it, Mama Ashley saw it,every neighbour who had come out early enough saw the blue probox but all were silent, weak, afraid.

Paul and her mother attended the burial. Being the first burial Paul ever attended, he was overwhelmed, especially considering the fact that he knew where the killers were hiding. Once the burial was done, his mother went to spend some time with her deceased friend, to comfort her. Meanwhile, guilt was choking Paul more and more by the second. What if Ashley was dead? What if they came back? And if they decided to kill more people? All the innocent blood they would shed would be on his hands, because he had what was needed to burst them. "Enough," he said before starting to walk to where Mama Ashley was. He had a note, with the approximate coordinates of where Ashley was. He wanted to slip it to Mama Ashley's purse, but couldn't, but by good chance he met with the detective handling the case.

" You don't know how helpful this is, thank you very much..."

"I never gave you anything, we never met, and I have nothing to do with this, you hear me?"

"Paul, I know I understand your state but..."

"I will not be involved! Period."Paul immediately went for his mother they emwere leaving. She wasn't quite pleased about it, but she tried to understand. She thought it was because Ashley wasn't there.

" So, Ashley alikuwa wapi? "Paul asked as they were on their way home, he did this to find out how much his mother knew.

" She couldn't bear it, alitoka before tufike, "she answered. Paul was relieved, he was glad Mama Ashley did not want to involve them in any of this, but why? Or maybe it was true, may be Ashley was back home . He decided to ask the detective who he met, she had left him her number. He bought some bundles and when he opened his w******p, the first message he saw was from Ashley, which aroused many questions many questions, a document, which was encrypted.The second message traumatized him, it was from the kidnappers, somehow they had found out what he did.

"We warned you," the text read, "don't blame us for what will happens next!" Suddenly, he got drowned in this ocean of stress and anxiety, he was no longer conscious of his sorrounding. The matatu stopped, his mother shouted his name several times before she could reach him. His mother dragged by his hand as they walked down the road back home. Paul could see them, he could see the man, waiting for them in the living room, with a gun and two bodybags, the black probox standing outside their gate, but it was only him who saw them. His mother was scolding him as she opened the first door then the second. His eyes widened, his heart stopped, his ears became attentive, waiting to hear a gunshot, but none came. He scrubbed his eyes and looked, again, there was no one but his mother sitted at the couch looking at her as she pleaded with him to come in. He came back to reality. He didn't know how he was still alive but he was. He entered and sat down.

"kaa hapo nakuja," his mother said before heading to her room. How they were still alive he did not know, but he was certain they wouldn't live till the next day. They would probably kill them when they slept. He had to end this, and he had to end it now He took the padlock and it's keys, he also took the keys to the back door's padlock. He locked his mother inside and himself outside. He threw the keys at the garden,before calling detective Halima.

"how far are you?"

"We are arriving at Mama Ashley's home."

"So 15 minutes away."

"From where you are? Wait ni nini inaendelea?"

"I want to help you, but it must be now, I'm heading there now!"

"what!, Paul you..." he hanged up.

"Paul!" he had his mother call out, she was looking at him through the window. He only gave him a smile before walking out the gate.He stood out there, waiting for Halima to come. He set a timer, 15 minutes, if she wouldn't come, he would go there himself! He would be left with no other choice;besides, it was better to die trying. He could hear his mother shouting, calling his name. As he stood there, he remembered the words of his father before he left , "Linda mum, you're now the only man in the house." The mother called, he answered, lied that he was only going for a walk.

"Basi umeweka wapi vifunguo?"

"sijachukua,"

"Are you sure uko sawa peke yako ningohe nikupeleke?"

"ee mum, tulia."

He saw a black subaru forester pull up close to him, it was Halima, together with Mama Ashley, both sitting at the front, he sat at the back.

"Thank you so much," Mama Ashley said as she turned to face her. He looked away, feeling unworthy of the praise she gave her.

"So, here's the plan," Halima started, "you two will go first, then our squad will follow."

"Hey, munatuhitaji mbona, I thought it was only showing you the way?" Mama Ashley asked

"These are criminals, we need to lure them with familiar faces, so that they don't escape.

" Turn right, Paul interrupted,"he had a cold tone which matched with the face he wore.

" Where is your squad? "Mama Ashley asked, they are not far from here, they will probably have arrived by the time we get there."

"You are almost there," the GPS voice of the car alerted, she had input the coordinates Paul gave him.

Halima sighed then said, "All we need to do is to make sure that they are here, that's your only job, you're just the bait. Do not play hero, okay?"

"Okay," both of them said simultaneously. Halima then talked with the squad on the radio, they were in position.

The two got out and walked to the the location, the car was parked a little far away to prevent them from being spotted

"I hope she is still alive," mama Ashley said, her tone expressed little faith, how could she hope for that when she wasn't even sure of her own life?

"It's okay," Paul said,he tried as much as possible to hide his fear, "tumezungukwa na polisi." she didn't seem to be buying the lie, the man could shoot them both before the police got there, only that again she would take any chance, no matter how risky, to save her child. They hoped that they would be taken as hostages, that way, they would at least buy some time.

They reached at the turn and as expected, fortunately, they were taken captive. They were locked up they were taken to the same room Ashley was ;an old kitchen with earthen walls and a three stone jiko. It was hard to look at the poor girl, the scars, the wounds, she looked like she would be better off dead. Paul blamed himself, if only he had reported to the police earlier.

Suddenly, a tall muscular man walked in with a candle on one hand, and a gun on the other.

"No! No! No!..." Ashley shouted as he pointed the gun to her mother. Paul's heart skipped a little, however he wasn't worried, the police would burst them out of there any second. The death of mama Ashley was unexpected,especially to Paul;he couldn't believe it when the trigger was pulled, when she saw mama Ashley fall to the ground. It was as if time stopped, a pin drop silence engulfed the atmosphere, all he heard was his heavy breathing. The man let out a devilish grin, as if he could feel the pain he had caused to us, and drew pleasure from it. Ashley was frozen, no sound or expression on her face. The sorrow she felt was unfathomable, how could one cope with the loss of both parents at such a close time interval? It was unfortunate. The man pointed the gun to Paul,as he looked through the barrel of the gun which had become clear despite the darkness, he felt as if he was staring at death itself.

"You better start speaking Ashley,"

"I don't know anything! Please! Please don't hurt..." the sound of a gunshot interrupted her pleas.

"wewe,forithi mookete!"the warning came from his partner. They fled to the forest, and somehow managed to escape the hundreds of bullets that were being shot at them.

The next day, after being cleared from the hospital, they went and wrote their statements after which Paul's mother came for them. It was agreed thay Ashley would stay with them for the time.

Silence dominated at the home. The mother was just from knowing the truth, everybody was just overwhelmed, too overwhelmed to speak. The mother prepared a quick meal,bread fried eggs and coffee.Ashley barely ate, it was as if she had only wanted to taste the food,she then went to my room, which was now our room, and sat there, on my brother's bed, doing nothing, expressing nothing, just staring at the wall.

Paul came to sit beside her. "It would be good to cry," Paul started, ha wasn't sure he started it right,so he qualified his statement ;"it's good to let it out. "she leaned on his shoulder, Paul wrapped him around his arm, allowing her to weep on his chest. She cried for very long, but at least felt a little better after that.

H h h h u h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h u h h h h h h h h h hch h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h. H h h h h h h h h g h. Gg hhggvv h h h hh h hhh h h h h h h h h. H u h u h