"What are you saying Sir?" This was Veronica asking Ken. Ken who had already adjusted himself on the seat he was occupying stared right into her eyes before he said, "You need to pay attention to what I have to say to you right now concerning our boss; he went on a mission and that mission is becoming something of a concern. We the heads in the office are beginning to think something must have gone wrong with him and it is only right and okay that we go ahead and do what we are supposed to do. We are not supposed to take our eyes off him knowing it is possible he could be in danger. We had a meeting after boss left for he had gone in search of Jude and his lover Shanty in order to stop them from what they want to do against the company. You see but since he left he has not been able to reach us and that has also been our own problem. So we already decided amongst ourselves that it will be okay to get someone who can go in search of boss, someone who boss trusts, someone that has a record we can believe in. When we had had this meeting we concluded that that person who will need to go for us is you we then made a move and in that move we were able to come to a point where we are made to understand why things work the way that they do. You see, boss will be so much happy to see that we did not waste any further time to come for his rescue, ofcourse that is if he ever agrees that he needs help. This is what brought me to this place" When he was done Veronica stood up from her seat and said, "Maybe you should wait for me outside while I dress up" Ken did delay, he stood up and went outside at once. After he had gone outside Veronica sat there for while , thinking aloud until after a while she dressed up and walked outside. She saw that Ken was standing near the kitchen which also was a small hut outside the main building. She kept looking at him and wondering what he was admiring about the dirty and smocked up kitchen. She cleared her throat and just then Ken turned to look at her and he smiled.
"What are you doing here?" she kept asking. Ken put both hands inside his pocket and sighed. "I mean" Veronica continued, "I signed off. I wanted out and I was out. I am still not comprehending why you came. I hide here in this village, this hometown of mine and I do everything humanly possible to stay this way" she said.
"I can understand and I know too that boss himself allowed you to go. He had nothing against you while he was still around and we are not going to be the ones who have something against you so here is the thing; we are hoping that since you were very close to the boss and now he is danger, if you were able to go to avenge the death of a friend and kill a cartel in the process then you can also do same or even more for someone like Charles" said Ken.
"I don't want to get involved with anyone that has anything to do with the company..I don't want to do anything else but just to stay in this village and be happy, and be contended, not wanting anything, not desiring anything, just stay low-key and managing my feelings, contemplating the past, the present and what the future holds for me. You are here asking me to get back to that life, that life that nearly took me. Here is where I belong, I was born here, bred here and this is where my father would have wanted me to be. I am sorry I'm sounding like this"
"No, no, no, it's alright, you have every right to be the way you are. surely i can feel your pain from a distance" he said and smiled.
"Can I ask you something?" she was asking.
"Go ahead" he said.
"Have you ever been in love before?" she was asking. Ken sighed deeply and looked up at her face.
"I am currently in love. Now I don't know why you are asking but then it is what it is if I am meant to come straight to what I need to be. Meanwhile there are many things happening at the same time which the only thing I need is to gain myself a way out of it. You have always wanted to do the best for me and believe me that is the most beautiful thing I have ever come to see and believe in. I have just discovered that love is a beautiful thing no matter how we try to make it look. Love in itself has a way of making people believe in themselves. I have so much confidence and most times it is just about me and how I feel. Now if you would not mind, why do you ask?"
"Nothing, it's just I want to understand what Boss, sorry, what Mr Charles thinks of love as well. I'm from this village and like I said I don't want to leave it again, the first time I did I was taken to the city to be part of a strange family and because Anita called it family I knew it as that. You see there is nothing anyone can do about it. I just have the confidence that the major line has been drawn" said Veronica. Ken kept quite and watched her and for a while he thought he was just trying to take it all out her heart and thanks to God she was able to find someone with whom she could share her burden but one thing Ken knew she did not know was that he himself was from the same village as her.
"I know that you have alot to tell but there is not time to waste. If boss is in danger he needs our help" said Ken.
"How sure are we that he is in danger?" asked Veronica.
"We will never know until we know" said Ken.
"So what do you want from me Sir?" asked Veronica.
"I want you to be there for the one who was there for you when you had nothing" said Ken.
"Do I have anything now? What is the difference between now and the time I hadn't gone to the city? Nothing except that I put myself in trouble by being in the city in the first place. If I am ever going to engage myself with the affairs of the family then it will be because of Boss and nothing else" she said.
"The boss is the family and the family is the boss. We all want the family to be in good shape" said Ken.
"I am not sure if I am making the right decision by believing all that you have said and I don't know if it is the right decision if I choose to follow you back to the city, the city that I already abandoned" she shook her head.
"I am not here to deceive you and the boss didn't send me to do this but I am doing this only to save his life. He going out there in search of Jude and Shanty is not only risky on him but is putting the whole family under jeopardy. We are loosing clients and we are also loosing the business proposals that we have been getting and this is why we need the boss back home as soon as possible" When Ken had said this Veronica knew already that he was not lying and she was not accusing him of lying though because she knew that the empire Mr Charles built was built under the foundation of lies.
"I don't have anything against you Sir. I have accepted to go back to the city with you and also I hope this will help us in making the right decision. Since it is what it is there is nothing else I am going to say. You lead the way while I follow" she said and the man smiled.
Moments later they left the village. Same day they left the village Edu was notified by one of his friends on how they saw Veronica leave with a strange man in his car and it seemed she was not going to return any moment soon.
*****
Entering the village was hard for him but now that he had Jude and Shanty in his custody he has tried his best while inside the forest not to listen to the things Jude was saying but the more he said those things the more he stood there and listened to him. At a point he stopped and waited to see if the things he had been saying had entered the mind of Charles but Charles pretended he did not listen to any of those sermons he had been preaching to him. When he had paused a bit Shanty watched to see what would happen next. Charles got up and said, "I have been trying really hard not to kill you both before the time is right but if you are not careful your mouths will put you both in trouble. I personally know what it means to kill someone that was once loyal but I won't hesitate to kill you if you keep on trying to make me appear evil whereas you are the one who is conscious of your actions, your desires to eliminate this land. I hate it with passion when I remember what you did Jude" He the sprang up to his feet, took out his gun but suddenly began to hear some noise in the forest. He paused and listened attentively.
"Something is out here" said Jude. At this point Shanty showed her fear.
"What could that be?" That was from Shanty.
"I don't know, maybe you should allow things to happen the way that they supposed to happen since already we brought ourselves to the point whereby we need to answer for our crimes" said Charles.
"Sir there is something out here and if you would keep still for some seconds you will see just what is at stake" Said Jude and when Charles listened attentively he too began to hear the same noise and then and just then it downed on him, it occurred to him that Jude wasn't lying and that truly there was something out there. At this point Shanty was so afraid that sweat began to come out of her body. She did not know what to do but she would have preferred it if she and Jude were not tied to the trees, at least they would be able to run if they were chased by any unexpected person or thing. Just when she was about to beg Charles to untie them she too began to hear the noise and this time the noise was coming so terrible. She did not know what to do but to keep looking from Charles's face to Jude's face, wondering what both men were preparing to do about the situation on ground.
"This is not safe" said Jude.
"Just keep your mouth shut" said Charles as he was trying to know from where exactly the noise was coming from so as to know where to head when things go uncontrollable.
"Please Sir, we know you want us dead but even if you are going to let us die please do that while giving us the freedom to do so" these words were coming from Shanty but Mr Charles was not ready to pay attention to that because already he had started to see the shadows of people.