Mrs Alice Bassey walked into the dark room that was her study grinning to herself in pleasure. She glanced at her wristwatch that had a luminous dial allowing her to see the time in the dark; it was fifteen minutes to one.
The assassins she had sent to kill her husband had said it would be done by midnight. That meant by this time, the vile, repulsive human being that was her husband, was dead.
She resisted the urge to break out in singing and dancing at the thought but she was truly ecstatic. This was probably the happiest night of her life. Not only was she rid of him, but she also note had access to all his property.
'Unless...' an inner voice of fear and doubt spoke in her head,' what if the assassins had failed? What if he had bought them over? What if... No, that was inconceivable because if that happened, then she would be in deep deep...' She shook her hand dispelling the thought, none of that was going to happen, at least she hoped so.
Affiliating her negative thoughts with the darkness in the room, she searched for the light switch and turned it on.
She shrieked in fright as the light illuminated two figures in the room. They were both girls, one distinctly older than the other. The older one was sitting on her seat, her legs propped on her table, The other stood by the window looking outside.
"How did you get in here?"she asked, finally finding her voice.
"The job is done. Your husband is dead." the older one said, completely ignoring her question. "Now, on to the matter of payment."
"Y-yes of course."she stammered then hurried out of the room.
While she was gone, I looked around the room now able to see clearly. The study was small but well furnished with a well stocked bookshelf to my left and a filling cabinet to my right. The table in front of me was covered with files, a laptop, a calendar and a desk lamp. The table itself was positioned directly facing the door.
A minute later, she walked in holding two big briefcases. She placed them in front of me and stepped back. It was obvious she was afraid of me. I liked it that way.
I signalled to my sister and she came forward and grabbed the cases. I rose to my feet and we started to leave.
"Pleasure doing business with you." I said.
"Wait..."she said stopping us at the door," Aren't you going to even confirm it?"
"No need for that." I said with a smile, "We trust you." The smile vanished as I added, "Besides, if you double-cross us, we'll just have to come back and kill you."
The look of fright on her face was truly heart-warming.
"Have a good night, Mrs Bassey." i said as we walked out.
"You didn't tell her someone's coming for her." I mentioned when we were out of the building.
It has started to rain again; a light drizzle but it was gradually increasing. I was grateful for the protection my jacket offered even though the cold didn't bother me. The familiar weight of my twin machetes strapped to my sides was even more comforting.
We passed the gate, leaving the compound and went around to the side where my motorcycle was parked.
"Well, there's why." she said gesturing in front of us.
It was then that I looked ahead and saw about a dozen figures standing around my motorcycle; they were waiting for us.
"She sent them." It was more of a conclusion than a question but Jessie nodded in reply.
"When she left to get the briefcases, I read her mind."
"You boys had better not put so much as a scratch on my bike." I said loud enough so they could hear me,"The bloody thing cost me a fortune. A lot more than you guys are worth."
"You no go need am where you dey go." one of them replied in pidgin English.
Now I felt insulted. These were common street thugs. Lowlifes with little to no actual training, driven solely a desire to get rich quick. They were the easiest prey for crime bosses, politicians, basically anyone with enough money in need of their services.
The rest cheered him on as the one who had spoken retrieved two combat knives from his belt and advanced.
"You know i could just knock them out. We don't have to kill them. We gain nothing."
I didn't look at Jessie as I replied," I know, but where's the fun in that?"
The sound of millions of raindrops hitting the tarmac was punctuated by the heavy footsteps of the attacker and the splashing water underfoot.
Within striking distance, he brought his left foot down and pivoted taking a swing at me mid-spin, aiming for my carotid artery. I stepped back and his blades cleaved through thin air. He reversed his grip on the knives and jabbed at my midsection but again he missed as I jumped back.
He dashed forward and stabbed twice but I twisted left and right, dodging effectively. He aimed a high kick at my head but his attack was cut short as I caught his leg.
I gripped firmly while he hopped on the other foot trying to remain upright.
Quick as a flash, I went low. My leg shot out in a wide arc as I swept him off his feet with a powerful kick.
His head met the floor with a horrid crack and I pounced on him immediately. I grabbed his right arm, still wielding a blade and turned it around till the blade was pointed at his neck and drove it forward. He offered resistance but it wasn't enough. His arm buckled as I added pressure and the knife buried up to the hilt in his neck.
The wound spouted blood like a broken pipe as his carotid artery was severed, splashing across my face and upper body. My eyes widened in heightened pleasure; who knew the sight and feel of blood could be such a turn on. I was definitely getting drunk or high after this. Or both.
I rose slowly to my feet, pulling out the knife absentmindedly, my eyes locked in a predatory gaze on the remaining attackers. The now lifeless body lay motionless next to my feet. The blood from his neck was slowly being washed away by the heavy rain, his eyes were blank.
"We don't have to do this." I heard Jessie say behind me. She sounded a bit timid. I knew even she was afraid of me when I got into a frenzy like this.
"Oh, but I want to. " I replied. She knew better than anyone that I wasn't going to stop till each and everyone of them lay dead on the ground, bleeding their guts out.
I caught my next victim by the wrist as he lunged at me with a crudely shaped axe. Using his own force against him, I twirled, dragging him along and flung him back in the direction he had come, right into the path of another. Overbalanced and unable to stop, he impaled himself on the other's knife.
While he was shocked and occupied by the weight of his fallen comrade, I struck. I thrust my blade through the one who has been impaled, the tip of my machete burst forth through his chest and stabbed the one who held the knife, right through the heart.
I felt a tingling sensation at the back of my head and ducked, letting go of my machete still buried hilt deep in the bodies, just in time to keep my head attached to my body as one of them wielding an old rusty machete took a swing from my left. He kept me from retrieving my machete with series of follow-up strikes which I managed to stay out of reach of.
The others surrounded me, attacking from every direction trying to blindside me. The thug directly behind me lunged forward, knife in hand. I waited until the last second before I sidestepped then darted around to his back and grabbed him in a tight headlock.
He hit me in the stomach repeatedly with his elbow repeatedly but my grip around his throat did not lessen. I used him as a human shield, retreating slowly towards the pile of bodies where my machete was. The other three kept pace with me but did not attack.
A few metres away from my weapon, I snapped his neck, killing him instantly. Then I turned and ran. They gave chase but I was faster. I got to my machete before they could get to me and pulled it out from the two thugs I had impaled together.
I turned to face them and they halted abruptly. Their fear was palpable as I twirled the machete idly, taking slow measured steps backward, waiting for the poor soul that would attack first.
As it turned out, two poor souls attacked at once, but I didn't have to defend as the one on the left accidentally knocked the other one's dagger out of his hand as he attempted to hit me with his machete. Teamwork really wasn't easy and they were finding that out the hard way.
"What the f-"
He never got to finish his sentence as I slit both their throats with a clean swing. They dropped forward to the ground in unison clutching their throats, leaving behind the last man standing.
"And there was one." I drawled lazily as I advanced, slowly dragging the tip of my blade across the hard ground.
He fell over backwards propelling himself away with both legs and a hand while the other hand held out a spiked club in front of him.
"Hold still so I can kill you." I said raising my weapon high above my head. "Come on, let me hear you scream.
Jessie sat in silence on an armchair in the living room of their apartment, staring unblinkingly at the only source of light in the room; a kerosene lamp, completely zoned out from the world around her. She had just witnessed her sister viciously murder a dozen men, cutting them down like animals. It was a sight she was used to but that didn't make her any more comfortable with it.
Killing someone they were paid to kill she could understand, but killing for the fun of it was a whole new level of madness. Jessie certainly did not consider herself a martyr but she only killed when it was necessary. Her sister on the other hand seemed to relish not just wanton killing but also the cruelty of the method.
Her sister had not always been like this. Something had changed and it was not just the crisis of twelve months ago when Aso Rock, the seat of power of Nigeria was destroyed in a missile attack that claimed the life of the President and all the thirty-six governors and put the country in a state of almost absolute anarchy.
Where the missile came from, no one knows but it was definitely but launched from anywhere in Nigeria; Africa even. The United Nations had carried out investigations in world powers like the United States and Russia but they couldn't trace the assault back to any of them.
After the attack, it was discovered that certain people had started developing strange abilities.
Jessie had found herself able to read minds and communicate telepathically. She did not know for sure if her sister had any such abilities, but once, she had tried to read her mind without permission and had ended up in a coma for three days. No one else had ever been able to block her out mentally much less use her own telepathy against her. But her sister could and, Jessie had to admit, it scared her.
But Shiva had been an assassin even before the crisis and she hadn't always been like this. Or had she? Was it possible that she hadn't noticed it?
She was brought back to the present when something hard flew across the room and hit her head. She bent and picked it. It was a thick wad of one thousand naira notes. Her sister, who had thrown it at her, sat across from her gently setting down a tray of boiled cocoyams and sauce. She had showered and changed into a sleeveless top with a wrapper tied around her waist.
She was still staring at the money, estimating it to be above a hundred grand when her sister explained,
"That's your share for the month. If you want more, you know where I keep it."
Money had never been an issue between them. Not just because she trusted Jessie and Jessie was indeed trustworthy, but also because they had a lot of it. Besides the hidden stash in her sister's room, there was still a larger chunk of money that she could not account for and only her sister knew where she kept it.
"Thanks." she muttered, placing the bundle on the table.
Her sister regarded her for a moment then spoke again, "You know, it'd probably be better if you just say it out."
Sometimes Jessie wondered who the telepath was between the two of them because her sister was always able to discern her thoughts. She paused for a second, pondering on where to start.
"Why?" she asked. There was no point beating about the bush.
"Vhy vhat?" she responded with a mouth full of cocoyam.
"Adiaha, don't play dumb with me! Why all the unnecessary killing. Why do you enjoy it? Why?"
She sat back in her chair licking her oily fingers before she spoke again.
"What do you call 'unnecessary killing?'"
"We had one job. Just one. To kill one man. You killed thirteen men. Thirteen!"
"There's no point yelling, I can hear you just fine." she said in a bored tone.
"You killed them because it was what? Fun?"
"Because it was necessary. Whether you believe it or not. I will not lie that I did not derive pleasure in killing them because I did. Do you know why? Because each and every one of them deserved it."
"And who made you the judge, jury and executioner? You could have killed the target and left without his bodyguard knowing. I could have knocked out those goons and probably even wiped their memories but no, you had to kill them because-"
"Because they did deserve it! Each and every one of them deserved to die-"
"And you don't?" The words flew right out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
Her sister's face hardened into a cold emotionless mask. Then she smiled, an evil bone chilling smile.
"Well, if anyone, yourself included, believes that I do not deserve my life... they are welcome to come try take it from me."
"You don't care about the life of anyone but yourself, do you? No one else matters." Her sister's eyes flashed with anger for the briefest of seconds but it was enough to douse Jessie's annoyance replacing it with a hint of fear. "Tread very carefully, Jessica."
Jessie flinched at the use of her full name. She had definitely struck a nerve, but she wasn't about to stop now. "You weren't always like this, Arewa." Her sister's face grew darker at the mention of the name she hated, the name she once bore. "Don't call me that." she said in a low growl.
Jessie was afraid she had gone to far now but before she could lose her courage she added. "What changed you?"
Her expression softened, "We've both had a long day... and night. Why don't you go to bed?" she said with a sigh. It wasn't a command, but Jessie knew that to continue this conversation would end in a catastrophic result.
As Jessie left for her room, countless thoughts filled her head. She had known that whatever had led to her sister's bloodthirsty nature was deep but she was worried now that it might be too deep to save her. Maybe she was beyond redemption.
She wasn't going to give up though. She was going to start by finding out what her sister loved more than herself; if such a thing or person existed.
Jessie was sure of one thing though, her sister was not a pet lover. Once, she had bought her sister a puppy, a cute little German Shepherd with thick fur: golden brown with black patches. The dog was definitely the cutest four-legged creature she had ever seen.
And then the next day, she went out and came back in the evening to meet a pot of some weird-looking meat. It was after she had shoved a huge chunk of said meat in her mouth that her sister had announced with an innocent smile that it was in fact dog meat. She ended up puking right into the pot much to her sister's dismay. It took her a few days to recover physically but she never really recovered mentally from the event.
Even as Jessie curled up under her blanket, a cold shiver ran down her spine at the horrifying memory. She forced the images out of her head as she prepared to sleep. They had a busy day ahead.
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