Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Do you know who you’re messing with” He growled at her once he recognized her voice as that of the same girl he had met earlier for what was now obviously a sham meeting. He saw three guys standing quietly with one holding an AK 47 rifle, (the type given to him by politicians during the last election), the other held a pistol and the last a machete. They all had a mask except her.
Jade pulled a stool and sat opposite him as he looked angrily at her. “Yes I do. You’re name is Kodo. Leader of the XYZ fraternity in Calabar. Your reign has seen your gang metamorphose into a criminal gang involved in much of the drug trade and related violence that has plagued this city for some time now. You lost out to Milady for a position with the Greenhorns but with an extensive network of foot soldiers was able to quickly switch allegiance when crack and pills replaced marijuana as the favorite drug choice by doing business with us”.



She paused and looked into his eyes through her glasses as he tried so had to see if he could recognize her. But with the wig, fringe, her glasses and the way she talked, she knew he wouldn’t even come close. Not even her boys could perfectly identify her if she got rid if her disguise. After looking into his blood shot eyes without betraying any emotion, she continued “Now Mr Kodo, the question should be, do you know who you messed with?” She waited for a reply and when he said nothing, continued talking.
“I give it to you, you’ve been very successful in being elusive repeatedly from the several people wanting your head. But the effort that was put in getting you to sit before me like this is the pointer you need to know you overestimated yourself when you decided to withhold my boss’s money”. With that she picked the pistol from the table and cocked it. At that instant, Kodo tried to feel if his rings were still on his fingers.
“Don’t worry, while you slept, We took them off, so when I point this gun to your head and pull the trigger, the bullet would go right in and come out through the back” She said interrupting his thoughts. Those rings made him immune from bullet wounds, axe and machete cuts. This where the common weapon used in the cultism business. And as common with such powers, they were rules in their usage. One of the rules was never to take the rings off. So for the first time in a long while, Kodo became genuinely afraid to his roots.



“Who are you?” He asked defeated
“I’m the Goddaughter” She said before adding “Don’t bother asking how we got you to sleep or why your failed to sense and respond to signs. It all has to do with our difference from your other business associates” She suddenly said faking a smile.
“Now back to the main reason why you’re tired up here. You see Kodo, My Boss and myself have little or no worry about the police. Instead, we’re weary of crooks like you who can bolt with our money or drug at any time. Hence we’re most times at the mercy of being ripped off by scoundrels like you because we can’t report to the police. So you see, when you held back the one million naira, a small amount actually, we couldn’t just get you arrested because we’ll also have serious explanations to do. So how then do we get what is ours back and prevent further occurrences and arm twisting from ambitious felons like you? Simple, we play to the gallery, give you what you want, get what is ours back and then make example out of them. I’m very glad to tell you that, you’ll be that example”


******



Done talking to a visibility scared Kodo, she snapped her fingers and two of the guys came forward and held Kodo firmly in place in his sit. His hands were then unbound from behind him and then tired firmly to the arm rest of the chair by the third who then proceeded to stuff his mouth. She on her own part, stood up and went closer to the table where she dropped the gun and picked up forceps which were part of her dad’s first aid kit back at home. She made sure he saw what she picked as she brought it up close to her face and examined it closely before addressing him
“There was this book a was reading just the other day about how witches were punished in the medieval times. Denailing them used to be the least form of punishment when being asked to confess. Of course you’re a final year student, actually you’re supposed to have graduated by now, so you definitely don’t need me to explain what denailing means right? Oh, sorry, you can’t answer right now, but you know you can nod” She said sarcastically with a smile
Putting on safety gloves, she continued “I can assure you that without any form of anesthesia, this is a very effective torture method. But don’t worry, the wound would heal quickly”. As she said this grabbed his left index finger while the boys held him firmly as he struggled and said incoherent words with stuffed mouth.




Jade forcefully pulled out the finger nail using the forceps. The screams of agony that kodo gave would have been enough to make birds fly away from their perch in a forest, but unfortunately for him his mouth was stuffed with a rag before the torture session begun. It took her only twenty minutes to get rid of all the fingers in his hands.



Blood was everywhere and even the boys holding kodo were somewhat scared of Jade at that point. Well, it all worked to her favour because even as a rookie, she knew the importance of being feared which was an important factor in this drug business if one desires success.



Picking up bottle of methylated spirit, she opened the bottle an emptied most of the contents on fresh wounds. The pain kodo felt and his subsequent reaction can be safely compared to that a pig feels when a red hot rod is driven into it’s heart before it is eventually killed.
“That would make the wound heel quickly” She mocked him as she closed the bottle, placed it back on the table and got rid of her safety gloves.




Then she picked up her pistol and faced him as his breathing became heavier.
“Do you love history Kodo?” She asked him and answered the question herself. “Nah.. I bet you don’t. Have you finished reading your lecture notes to talk about reading history books? In fact you don’t even read at all” She mocked him while deep down his heart, he was swearing to kill her whole family should he survive this.
“Well, during the 60s, Northern Ireland experienced certain political unrest and crisis across the country with different paramilitary groups considering themselves law enforcers in their own regions. I somehow stumbled upon an article about these law enforcers and their operational methods. Kneecapping was their favorite method of punishment for criminals like you and certain kind of people whose behaviour they considered to be unacceptable. Since we deem your actions as unacceptable, I was mandated to kneecap you. But hey, don’t worry orthopedics are now very good at putting knees back together” As soon as she said that she fired a shot in his left knee.




Kodo screamed and fell on the floor with the chair behind him as he groaned in pains. Somehow Jade remained calm and added “Kodo, your reign of terror has gone on long enough, in fact so long you never saw this coming. Actually I was mandated to retrieve my boss’s money before doing what ever I want to do with you. And for the package you received earlier, we’ll also get them back latest tomorrow morning”.
“Now I need your help on something I’m working on, can you help me kodo?” She asked him in a surprisingly pleading voice while squatting next to his head.
“Hmmmmm” He nodded in agreement but she removed the gag saying “Sorry, i forgot you got this in your mouth”
“Please.. Goddaughter, I’ll do whatever you want” He said, begging for his life.
“Thanks. I just wanted you to give me permission to take your life” With that she stood up and fired the second shot of the night into his forehead as he looked up to her in shock.




Because of the closeness of the gun from his head, the bullet ripped open his skull behind, spilling grey matter and blood.



The room remained dead silent as the guys were shocked to their marrow. Why on God’s good earth will someone ask for her victims permission to end his life they all wondered silently. She on her part went back to the table, picked up her bag and brought out bundles of naira notes totaling N300k and gave to the three boys with the instructions of where to dump his body. That amount was from her own account


******


The next morning students and residents woke up to see the body of the most violent and dreaded cultist in a while lying lifeless on the road leading to the main gate of the University of Calabar.
“Jew” Students, rival cultist and the city’s residents generally heaved sighs of relief and were thankful to whoever eventually succeeded in killing him after many failed attempts. But his gang mourned and began digging for his murderers and who ordered the hit. Grapevine sources began to spread rumors that Milady ordered/carried out the successful hit.




Though the news was shocking to (Milady) Vibangs herself, she made no effort to deny having anything to do with it but was was more than happy to take the credit for the murder.



*****



Two weeks later, a top ranking member of the Greenhorns was arrested at home when a team of drugs agents invaded his residence and found different hard of drugs.



Another top member was gunned down when he pull out a pistol from his bedside and aimed at the first officer who entered his room later that same night.




Both were top men living in Calabar and their arrest and death respectively put a lid (temporarily) over Kodo’s death in the underworld.