The Waiting Game

chapter nineteen

Nafisat Khalid was a very strange woman. Most times Amina didn't think there was anything remotely human about the woman that raised her. Nobody that knew her could say she had one maternal bone in her body. At thirty seven, she retired from being The Orion Project's head assassin and turned down all offers from the organization to head the espionage department. Nafisat all but disappeared from the spotlight only to return a year later as a new mother to a toddler.

Nafisat had made it clear to Amina as early as she could understand that she would never be a mother that coddled or befriended their child. Everyone who knew Nafisat knew she'd adopted not out of the goodness of her mind but with the sole desire to raise a clone. At five years old— unlike other girls playing with Barbies and Legos — Amina had begun martial arts training, first in Judo and then Karate. At twelve, she had black belts in both martial arts and was beginning her training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her childhood had never been a matter of what she wanted, only what Nafisat had wanted her to be.

Their relationship had been mother and daughter in name and paper but in reality, it was a master-protege relationship. Nafisat had trained Amina herself, coming out of retirement to craft the perfect killing machine. She'd been set to become Orion's leader — something Nafisat had never been able to achieve because of Remilekun Phillips. But then the same man came and ruined her chances again. Just a few weeks before Amina's final Orion examination, she'd been attacked and left in brutal shape and Joshua had become leader instead.

Nobody had been gladder when Remilekun was killed by said son than Nafisat. It was then that Amina knew that she was nothing more than a pawn to Nafisat and it was far too late to do anything about it. Being a pawn was far easier than late soul searching to discover what she really wanted to be.

She knew better now. Knew more than anything that she wanted to be Orion's leader. It was just a coincidence that it happened to be Nafisat's dream too. Even if she was a bit skeptical about their odds.

"Let me get this straight, Habibti, you're planning to run for leadership after that Phillips boy fails evaluation." Nafisat asked. She sounded more amused that anything, as if she thought Amina was a silly child explaining how the world worked.

Amina lifted her chin, one day she looked forward to the day she could tell Nafisat Khalid to go fuck herself but today wasn't that day and she happened to need her help. "It's not as outrageous as you think, mother." It didn't matter that Amina had said the words a thousand times before, addressing Nafisat as her mother would always feel clumsy on her tongue. "The other competition worth noting is Ahmed Giwa and I'm sure there will be something in his past that'll turn Orion's favor from him."

For the first time that afternoon, Nafisat looked contemplative. Amina held her breath. "Giwa, he's always been Artemis, you can bet that he's been bidding his time since forever. He'll have been careful."

"You don't think there will be anything in his past to dig up?" Amina asked, drawling the words almost mockingly. It was a subtle taunt at her mother. Nafisat prided herself on being Orion's secrets vault, assassins always knew the most.

Nafisat threw her an amused look, she knew what kind of game her daughter was playing. "I'm not revealing anything to you, Habibti. Not until I'm sure I can bank on your chances. I came out of retirement for Remilekun and it was the wrong call, seeing as he died so foolishly in the end."

Amina tried to buy herself time, she took a long sip of her tea, looking out the gazebo they were seated in. The sunflowers were in bloom, she noted. It was odd, almost mundane that in her free time Nafisat liked to garden— there was no denying that the older woman was good at it. The spacious garden was a burst of colors; purple hibiscus, sunflowers, dandelions and peonies. Nafisat liked to have afternoon tea in the gazebo in the middle of the garden, no matter how busy she was, afternoon tea was a daily ritual. While Amina had been younger, afternoon tea was spent going over her training weaknesses. Even though Nafisat spent each afternoon berating her daughter, Amina only had good memories of being here.