Jamaica

Chapter 45

The phone rang, halting the silence that had developed between Jamaica and her uncle. For her it was a relief that finally, she could leave the office. Her plan was to go and see the man whose name was on the card.

"Okay, you can go." Duke had no intentions of delaying her, seeing his phone was ringing. He was still looking forward to receiving updates on the Port-Harcourt Job and felt that the call would be an important one.

As Jamaica left and he headed toward his office, a strange idea crept into his mind. He could use the Port Harcourt job to get rid of her. It was a diabolic thought but one that sounded like a good plan.

Once the go-ahead was given, Jamaica would travel down to Port-Harcourt but would not make the return journey. As he picked up the call,  he seemed to be perfecting the plan already in his mind. He was so focused that he didn't hear his name being called out.

"Duke?" His brother-in-law was calling out his name, but Duke could only hear his own voice mapping out the strategies he would use to get rid of Jamaica. "Duke!" At the second call, Duke jolted and responded.

"Yeah, ehm, what can I do for you?" His brother-in-law was angry at him for ignoring him.

"Duke, I now know why information is easily stolen from under your nose." Duke aware of his own mistake, wasn't happy that his brother-in-law was addressing him like that.

"Did you call just to insult me, or what?"
"No, but when you are absent-minded on the phone, I begin to worry."

"Really? And what is it that worries you?"
"I see that you are not fit to handle any operation. Your absent-mindedness is something we can't accept." Duke felt a weakness he had never felt before. It was quite shocking for him to hear his brother-in-law talk like that. This was too much insult for him, something he couldn't accept.

"Mr. Benjamin, if you have a good reason for calling me, then tell me without insulting me. I don't deserve the insults you are hurling at me."

Silence fell between them as his brother-in-law tried to fight back the anger that was building up inside him. He felt that Duke was arrogant and wondered if he realized the mess he had created by his negligence.

"Duke, we are doing a very delicate job here. A job which requires no distraction..."

"Mr. Benjamin I do not like insults, okay? Now how do I make you understand this?" He interrupted.

"Duke, do you want me to tell you what is going on? Do you want me to lay it bare for you what your niece has been doing?"

"Is that why you called? To tell me about her? Then get straight to the point and stop with the insults, okay?"

" I hate them too, okay? And besides, I gave you this job, so have some respect for me."

"Yes, because you are helping me feed your sister, abi?" Mr. Benjamin shook his head in disbelief. He was fed up with Duke telling him that he was given the job just to feed his sister.

"Duke I never gave you the job because I wanted to help you feed my sister. You had your contracting license revoked, okay?"

"But it's obvious, isn't it? My license was revoked and fearing your sister would run back to you begging for money..."
"Duke!" He shouted, Duke, felt the intensity of the shout shut him down.
"Do you think I joke with my job? Do you think this job was given to you for that purpose? No! I only made it possible seeing the severity of the case that was building up around the license, okay?"

He stopped to take a pause, waiting to hear how Duke would respond to him. But all he got was silence. Duke had still not recovered from the shock of hearing his brother-in-law shout at him. On top of that, he was just given a revelation about the license. A case was building up around it. This was something no one had ever told him, before. He wondered if Alex even knew about it.