STACCATO

SAGA 2

The pear-shaped tear colluded with the salty sweat in rapid succession, as the dark fabric creased against the simmering skin. The pangs of his heartbeat ricocheted against his chest simultaneously. He wished his cell phone would suddenly ring or something, or the swaths of a stray car’s headlights would wash against the faded crimson fence

The bitter night was too quiet for his super bowl of a brain. He needed a crank but that could wait. The cold sweat in his palm made the Beretta handle a little greasier than usual. His countenance as stiff black as the pistol’s sinister silencer. A crate of raw vodka couldn’t unknot the rock in his heart.

Through the dew-laden windshield, he glanced once more at the house they were parked against. Himself and Tony.

Tony wasn’t nervous at all, just impatient. His wife was in labor and it was giving “c-session vibes” when his sister had called some five minutes ago. He was also the one who got the tip-off about who murdered Kola. They had only gotten an address and assured that the owner was the hit caller. Besides, It was high time someone died who wasn’t an Adelove.

Whoever it was, must be coming after the BGM empire and businesses and they meant business. Well, they could eat pure dirt after tonight, Tony thought icily. No one f****d with the BGM and survives to feel the pain, not anyone in his thirty-something years as the Chief Security Officer.

The aroma of revenge was all Kareem could smell as he sniffed repeatedly from a suddenly wet nose. Whoever comes in that house was their target as he stays alone, with no staff in waiting, he would pull up in a white vehicle, according to the info.

In just about eight seconds later, the powerful LED beams of a Rolls Royce dawn convertible swathed some light on the same walls Kareem had wished on earlier. He turned left to Tony and the other as if in mechanical order followed suit with a nod.

As the sport of a vehicle ambled towards the automatic gates, the driver spotted them and paused abruptly, a little earlier than expected, giving him some good distance away from their position abreast the east fence.

When time came to act, Tony did first, he grabbed the RPG from the back seat and handed it to Kareem who would have killed him with his bare hands if he attempted to execute his brother’s killer on his behalf.

The driver somehow anticipated this and suddenly pulled into reverse, skidding over a boulder as he attempted to shoot around the curve in low-gear acceleration. The car buckled sideways to a quaint 90* angle and that slowed him down.

Tony knelt on the rocky driveway with the RPG on his shoulder as he took aim. There wasn’t enough time to aim though, as a single gunshot rang out with a quick flash through the mid-winter night. There was also no time to investigate where it came from.

He refocused and prepared to fire at the white vessel, but his finger failed, next were his knees and as they buckled over, he saw some blood flow from beneath his shorts and he felt too numb to touch it to see if it was fresh. His eyes gave way next as they dimmed with intense purpose while he gradually realized that he had been shot. In the belly.

Kareem recovered quickly and heaved the heavy weapon away from the dying man’s arms. He didn’t try to aim, he fired with a general estimation of the car’s direction, causing some fireworks that lit up the Rolls Royce.

A burning Tyre wheezed past his shoulder as he tried to regain balance forcefully.

He did and also anticipated the second shot. The shooter must be hit because it never came. He moved in stealth toward the inferno after having dumped the RPG for his silver-plated Beretta.

He wasn’t fooled to think the driver was dead yet, but his confidence grew as the smash of his boots against the gravel was all that accompanied that of his pounding chest. He hoped the guy wasn’t burned to ashes yet though, seeing his face had been a ritualized prize in his head since he had witnessed Kola's brain burst apart from the remote-detonated bomb under the church pulpit.

To have planted that device in such a high-profile location meant to have serious connections and he needed to know who could have pulled such weight.

As he closed the space between himself and the bellowing flames, he could see that there was a glass shrapnel from the windshield protruding out of the Driver’s chest and Kareem smiled for the first time that night. Things were finally going his way, he wished Kola or their father were there to witness the proven fact that he too could handle things. If it were some ages past, he would be severing this guy’s head right now to be brandished as a trophy for the gallant defender of the family’s pride.

He always knew there would come a time when his talents would be seen as more than just a playboy or radiant rascal.

He emptied the entire twelve slugs of his pistol on the dead man’s face as his smile transformed into a growl that grew into a shrill cry that was hard to discern.

A new Kareem was born, the last surviving male of the BGM dynasty.

He didn’t have to wait for anyone to sanction the hit, which would have been the case, were BGM and K still alive. They would have breathed down his neck and say a lot of stuff that wont even matter to him. And now they were dead. So much for being meticulous, he chuckled with his thoughts.

Ade-ola on the other end will of course have no other choice but to acquiesce to his new imperial status in no time. He planned to rule with as steel a fist as BGM did. Power was about to create unprecedented chasms, and he would be its ultimate wielder. Everyone would have no choice but to respect him now. Besides, no one liked the idea of being RPG’d back to last Christmas, and that was a credible threat.

Those who knew or have heard of him, also know he was the best shot in the family, hardly ever missed a fired bullet.

Now that the picture was taking a more sinister shape in his mind, he interpreted it as clarity and as he made the calls for the backup team to come extract Tony’s corpse, he thought of how best to relate his demise to his freshly delivered Primigravida. Compassion or sympathies were not his strongest suits and he wasn’t sorry for that. Maybe Ade-ola could help, if she could manage to extract her head out of her ass, he scoffed. He just wished the night would as swiftly roll over and give room for celebrations.

Speaking of celebrations, BGM’s funeral reception was annulled because of Kola’s death. His own interment had been sped up in hushed tones. That doubles the needed reception parties in Kareem’s calculation and it wasn’t even the weekend yet.

Lest he forgot, there was now Tony, who come to think of it had been the only one with the tip source. His demise meant he might never find out who the real enemy was. Their target tonight had also been a good shot, meeting expectations. He had been described as a “wealthy mystery”. Indeed.

The way he clipped Tony with a single shot while still in the driver’s seat was nothing short of US Navy seal precision. The element of surprise had failed. The plan had been to off him, while the former was supposed to confirm his identity.

That was no longer possible, they didn’t even have a name, leaving a question mark…