Bloodlust Three: Chapter One – Deadweight

The whole room was dead silent; my thoughts were so loud I feared the others could somehow hear them. All eyes were on me. Time seemed to slow down as I tried to catch my breath; shock was written all over my face. Slowly and gently, like an elderly man, I walked over to Abisola with Angie right behind me. The look on Ahmed’s face was exactly the one he wore when I ran out of the car yesterday. Abisola handed me the phone.

“Hello,” I said, my voice trembling.

By now, Angie had let go of me and taken a seat beside Ahmed. I overhead them whispering.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked. “What’s wrong with my baby?”

“I don’t know,” He replied, sounding less worried than her. “But there is another issue at hand.”

“What?” She asked. “What could be worse than this? It should wait.”

Ahmed shrugged his shoulders.

“This is Alfred,” I continued.

The deep voice on the other end laughed. It was too deep to be normal. I knew the person had to be masking their voice.

“Why are you scared, Alfred?” He asked. “It seems like Abisola delivered our message.”

I said nothing, too scared to talk.

“Cat got your tongue, Alfred?” the voice asked. “No one is above the law.”

“I do not know what you’re talking about,” I replied, barely sounding confident.

“Let’s not play games,” The voice replied. “I don’t have the time. Rather, Mr. Jones doesn’t have the time.

There was another laugh again.

“What do you want from me?” I shouted. “Let him go.”

“What do I want from you? Now you are talking, Alfred.”

From my receiver, I heard a clap.

“I want you to pay,” the voice continued. “I bet you know what I am talking about. Or do you want me to help joggle your memory? What you did to the…”

My face was as white as snow; he had got me and he knew it. The battle had not yet begun and I was already losing. Everyone in the room had their eyes on me and as much as I tried to compose myself, I knew the jig was up. They could all sense I was on edge. As I was about to accept my defeat and give in to his demands, Ahmed quickly grabbed the phone out of my hand.

“We are going to catch you,” Ahmed yelled.

“Yes, maybe, after the old man is dead,” the voice replied. “Tell Alfred we will be in touch.”

The line went dead after that.

“He hung up,” Ahmed said, handing the phone back to me.

“What did he say?” Abisola asked, staring at me.

I sat down looking at the ground.

“How…does he know? How?” I whispered under my breath.

“Alfred! Talk to me!” Abisola cried, tugging my hands.

“How?” I asked myself.

“Why won’t you answer me?” She asked, and burst out crying in my hands. “Alfred, please.”

“Alfred,” Ahmed called. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Seeing I wasn’t interested with what he had to say he continued.

Angie’s face had the biggest question mark on it. Her eyes glanced from me to Ahmed and back to me with so much confusion.

“What is he talking about, baby?” She asked.

Abisola’s head still rested in my hands, so I attempted to lift my hands as a cue for her to get off. As I limped away, Angie kept calling my name and I kept on ignoring her. I had to make sure she wouldn’t find out this was happening because of me. It hurt me seeing her go through so much pain because of me. James is dead because of me; I wasn’t there when he needed me. I couldn’t have her father share the same fate on my account.

When I had put a considerable distance between myself and Abisola and Angie, I signaled for Ahmed.

“What’s the 411?” I asked.

“The Chief is doing his best to help you but everyone wants your head.”

I sighed heavily.

“I had him. How on earth did I let him go?” I asked, angrily.

“That should be the least of your problems now.”

I sighed again.

“You, Angie and the kids should make a run for it,” He continued

“Are you mad?” I yelled.

“I see you think it’s better to let your daughters to grow up without a father,” He replied.

“I am not listening to you,” I replied. “It’s me taking your advice that put me where I am now.

“I only said you should get your revenge and not kill innocent people.”

“Really Ahmed, Really?”

“I was just saying. It’s what I would have done,” He replied. ’Take Angie and the girls, run and never come back.”

He left me to stew in the words of advice he had given me. Deep down I knew he was right. If I ended up in prison so many things could go wrong. I made a vow not to be absent in the lives of my kids. With the witty,psychotic man still on the loose, they weren’t safe, but I couldn’t let Abisola’s father pay for my sins.

I was awoken from my stream of thoughts by loud bangs on the door. Angie walked over to the door and opened. It was the Chief.

“Where’s Alfred?” He asked.

‘Here, sir,” I replied.

“Ahmed I see you’re here too. I need to have a word with both of you,” He said.

I nodded and joined him outside. Ahmed followed.

“I’m pretty sure Ahmed has briefed you,” The Chief said.

I nodded my head.

“This just had to happen at the wrong time. With everything that’s going on, everybody wants to make an example out of you,” he paused for a while to observe my body language and continued.

“People are irritated with how officers think they’re above the law. I’m sorry but you’re going to have to take the fall for every single one of them.”

“So what will happen to Abisola’s father?” I asked.

“I’ll handle it,” Ahmed replied.

“It’s not that simple,” I said.

“I don’t understand,” Ahmed said.

“What’s going on?” The Chief asked.

“Sir, you remember James’, Alfred’s friend who was murdered few months ago?” Ahmed asked the Chief.

“Of course,” He answered, sadly nodding his head.

“His father was kidnapped,” He replied. “That’s his sister inside with Angie.“

“Tragic but don’t worry, we will handle it, Alfred,” The Chief said, touching my hand in form of assurance.

“Like I said, it’s not that simple,” I continued. “There’s no ransom.”

“Then why contact us,” Ahmed asked, confused.

I took in a deep breath

“They want me,” I replied.

“You aren’t making any sense. Why would they want you?” Ahmed asked.

“I did something bad when a couple of years ago Something really bad that should stay buried,” I paused and stared at the Chief.

“Oh my God!” He gasped, “You don’t mean that…”

I nodded my head in despair.

“I thought that was buried,” The Chief said. “How did anyone find out?”

“That’s the question I have been asking myself too,” I replied.

“Buried what? Did something bad? Loop me in,” Ahmed begged.

I stared at the Chief and he nodded his head.

“It happened years ago when I was a rookie cop. James and I…”

Edited by: Gbadebo (@Oaa148 ) / Angel (@angelokwuosa ) / Olamide  (@Miss_Ola_D)