Charles had taken the two of them; Shanty and Jude and tied them on a tree inside the forest of the village where he had taken them. When he was done tying them he received a call but there was no signal. He went from one point to another until the signal cut off entirely. He sat and began to check his bag to get water. When he had gotten his water he began to drink, all the while stealing a glance at the two whom he had tied to the tree.
"Boss" it was Jude who called him and Shanty wondered what he wanted to say. Charles looked up from where he was seated but did not say a word in reply. "Boss we are sorry" came the voice of Jude once again. Charles looked up, dropped the bottle of water he was holding and then walked up to the both of them and standing infront of them he made a statement which they did not expect.
"Were you both about to reveal the secret of the organization?" When Charles had asked this the two were shocked and they looked at one another. "I don't believe I have water in my mouth as I spoke. I am asking again, what exactly has both of you got to do with what you know about me, not just about me but about the company?" The both of them were quite. "You see, both of you fell in love and became fools and in your foolishness Jude you forgot your family and followed a prostitute. Now I am wondering why you and not Ken. You have always felt Ken would outsmart you, yes, Ken would outsmart you because Ken is not a mad lover like you. You would be shocked to know that he is now in a romantic relationship with Rose but he has not allowed them interfer with his dedication and loyalty to the family. You on the other hand allowed it to be your downfall and when I look at you I wonder what it is she must have given to you that made you become such a fool"
"Boss" Jude wanted to defend himself but Charles was speaking again.
"Allow me to finish before you go about spewing rubbish just as you know how to; then I went to bed and wondered, if I could loose you who else am not going to be able to loose?. You see Jude, I wanted Ken to kill you immediately you return because I knew you had compromised but in your wisdom and in your further schemes and deception you chose to run with your lover, your lover whose interest is to ensure that you go about doing evil. I am not moved by the fact that there are many things to do. You allowed loved to destroy what you have built with me all these years and you want me to be happy with you and to just say I forgive you?" He shook his head and began to march. At some point he stopped and turned to look at them and added, "I bet if it had been another person and not you Jude that did what you did it would have been better, it would have been easier for me to bear but it is you, you that did this and you expect me to just walk away with "I have forgiven you" wave of hand?" he chuckled wickedly and walked passed them. He was holding his gun by now, the pistol he had hid behind him and when he got to the bag once again he brought out a tool that looked like an electrocuted iron and took it to stand before them once again. He showed it to Jude and said, "You know what this means right?"
"Boss please" Jude pleaded for he knew what the iron tool was meant for and he wouldn't want Charles to use it on them. It was Shanty who did not know much about it. He then dropped the took infront of them and said, "I am going to bend down in the next thirty seconds in order to pick this. You see, if I bend down to pick it and I don't get a hold of the truth from you I am going to ensure that I get a hold of this and I am going to use it against you to the extent you tell me exactly what I want to hear. So here is the thing; I am going to ask you a question and ofcourse I want an answer from you; Where has your information reached? What have you shared with others and who?" He waited and Jude said knowing that if he did not talk he would be killed said, "There is a truth I must confess and it is nothing but the truth and the only thing that I know; when I came to a certain village and there found my love Shanty she was working on something, a document she intended to show to the security agency. I had to retrieve it from her and destroyed it. It is true that I wanted out of the organisation and this was not only because of my anger of how you had already chosen Ken above me but because I found love in a woman that suddenly became a threat to what we were enjoying as a family, but the truth is that I never intended to expose the company, I never intended to expose it and this is the truth. I beg of you and I am seriously begging, please do not kill us because I have nothing else to prove to you that I know not of anyone who have gotten access to any information that might be harmful to our company" said Jude.
"I believe you Jude and I trust you are telling me the truth. What I do want to know right now is why all of a sudden you no longer have what it takes to make the right choice. I have been given several reasons to kill you but I have not made that move because I always felt you could do better and that one day you would. You meeting Ken at your height must have triggered jealousy in you but why would I not make Ken ascend to that level that you attended when I already began to notice that your love life was interfering in what we stood for as a family. Now that you have said this and I trust your confession, let us come down to you wanting to leave the company and in this manner. How did you think I was going to trust you again knowing if you are no longer part of us, if you are no longer with us it can only mean you are against us. You know quite alright what I do to those that are against us, you know exactly what we do to those that are against what we stand for. You did not know before now that there are things we intended to do. Ken is taking care of the company and surely I do not need you anymore Jude"
"This is insane, Jude helped build the same company you are now kicking him out of and in this manner" said Shanty.
"Shut your mouth Shanty" Jude blasted her to her surprise.
"You small lady have no fear in you. You speak to me as you would a boy from the street but you have forgotten the man standing infront of you" Turning to Jude he added, "You see the woman you brought into the family, the way she talks. You brought this upon yourself Jude and I am not going to seek sorry for you when infact I know you deserve what has come to you" said Charles.
"Jude is not a coward. It is you whose cowardice found an opportunity to take hold of us, knowing that we were bound in the palace of the Chief" Shanty bragged.
"And what would you have done differently if I were to take my eyes of what has been used to bound your hands?" asked Charles.
"If you unbound him then you will see" boasted Shanty.
"Shanty I told you to shut your mouth" said Jude before he turned to Charles. "Boss, do not listen to her and do not be troubled by her words. She says what she says and she is saying those things out of ignorance. No one has ever faced you in a single combat and defeated you before now. I won't risk my life to prove the unprovable" said Jude and Shanty could not believe her ears.
"Would you want to try?" Charles asked Shanty. "Would you want to try and see if you could beat me?" he the went behind her and untied her hands, saying, "You are free now and so you can free yourself by killing me, that is if you can" Shanty on hearing this did not know what to say, she looked at Jude and Jude shook his head, meaning she should not try anything funny but it seemed Shanty thought it wouldn't hurt if she took her chances. She rushed towards Charles to hit him but he was like a snake who dodged the blow and instead the hitter fell in place of the one targeted to be hit. When she found herself on the ground which ofcourse she wasn't aware how she got there she stood up and began to search for Charles. Then suddenly she saw him emanating from a nearby tree and she wondered how on earth she was able to get there so quickly.
"You disappearing wizard" she called out and ran towards him once again. At this point Jude shouted at her and commanded her to stop at once but she would not hear as she kept rushing towards him in order to hit him. At that moment Charles put his leg infront of her, dodging the rest of his body to prevent himself from waging her from her fatal fall. When she fell she broke one of her fingers and held it as she cried out in pain while on he ground. Charles stood there and then looked at Jude, "I did not touch your woman. She fell"
"I'm sorry boss, please pardon her ignorance" begged Jude.
"Why beg on her behalf when she is here and she can beg for herself?" Charles asked before he dragged her up and forced her to stand on her feet and then he stepped away a bit from her and spoke to her, "You will beg for your life else you will be in much more pain than you already in" When she heard this she sat on the ground, still holding her finger which had gotten broken and she said sorry to him many times, crying as she did.
"Please she is sorry boss" begged Jude. Charles marched up to him and held him by the chest and squeezed it so hard that his neck began to ache.
"You coward, you thought you could double-cross me without my noticing your movement? Now I will show you of how hard I have worked to ensure that things worked the way that they are supposed to work. Ken will take care of the company and the family with Emeka and his wife and the rest of others who are dedicated to the things we do, the things we do to survive, to remain rich like this. Here is the thing, I can't spare your life because you know too much Jude, you know more than you should and me leaving you alive is just as much as shaking an enemy and signing a death warrant meant for me. You will die and maybe after your death your woman will contemplate on the choices she had had to make all these while she had been against me and the company"