PULL MY HEARTSTRINGS (COMPLETE)

16

                               

“I told you, chommie. I told you they would pull something like this.”
     
Kgomotso wasn’t in the mood for the ‘I told you’ speech she was so frazzled after her encounter with Jack, she collected Hazel from her office after sending the necessary documents and they drove to Rosebank. It was far enough from Bedfordview to stop them from worrying about going back to the office once their absence was noticed. She thought it odd that Patrice hadn’t tried to contact them to find out about their whereabouts, but was too tipsy to care.
     
“Eish, Hazel, stop it with the ‘I told you so’ speech, please. I’m trying to think,” she said after a loud burp.
     
She could barely sit straight, thinking about what this new development meant for their future in the company and the wine wasn’t helping with her nerves but that didn’t stop her from indulging every time Hazel refilled her glass. Not lodging a complaint when they had knowledge of what was going on would prove they were also complicit in hiding the truth.
     
“Do you have a plan?” Hazel sounded way too sober for someone who was three bottles deep into their impromptu drunken fest.
     
A plan? Her best plan so far was coming here to get drunk, she didn’t know what was going to happen beyond this moment there was a lot to consider and she hated Jack for putting them in this predicament.
     
She shrugged, trying hard not to cry. “Not yet, but I did copy those documents on a USB before I sent them to Jack.”
     
“We have to do something.” Hazel insisted. “You’re too smart to make any kind of mistake with such a big account, which is why I asked for your help to confirm my suspicions. If this comes out before we expose them we’re in deep shit, they’ll make sure we take the fall for it.”
     
“Maybe we need to resign and leave this alone.”
     
Hazel frowned, clearly not impressed with Kgomotso’s answer. “Never! Not after that pervert threatened you, we have to fight this.”
     
“Let’s tell Petersen senior, I’m sure he doesn’t know what his son gets up to since he left him in charge.”
    
“No, that won’t work, chommie. I’m sure that old geezer knows exactly what is going on, Jack may be the boss but his father still calls the shots even though he is retired.”
     
“Do you think they are dangerous?” Kgomotso was worried.
     
“Like mafia style?”
     
“Yes, I don’t want to end up in an unmarked grave in an unknown location.”
     
Hazel’s eyes widened, sending the alarm bells in Kgomotso’s head into a frenzy and she sobered up immediately at the sudden fear in her friends eyes.
     
“I just remembered that Mr Dlamini used to be a taxi owner, well he still is but prefers to be the CEO of their trucking business and his eldest son oversees their taxi operation, and he’s known to keep hitmen on retainer.”
     
“No, Hazel, are you serious about the hitmen business?” Kgomotso asked, fanning her face. “But would they kill us?”
     
“They kill for taxi routes, imagine what they would do if they found out we were trying to bring down the Dlamini empire.”
     
“But Jack doesn’t know I have copies.”
     
“And I hope it stays that way.”
     
“Yho, what are we going to do?” Kgomotso’s loud sigh was loaded with frustration. She hated this because it was part of her job to find a solution when there was a problem. This was a fucking nightmare and she didn’t see a way out.
     
“We need more wine,” said Hazel already flagging down a waiter.
     
“And how is that going to help us.”
     
“Calm down.” She instructed, sternly. “Losing your cool now will definitely not help us.”
     
This bitch can’t be serious Kgomotso thought, why would she tell her about hitmen and expect her to act like they weren’t dealing with dangerous people who wouldn’t hesitate to send gunmen to blow their brains if they ever caught wind of their plan to expose them.
     
“We need someone powerful on our side, someone influential enough to shake the likes of Dlamini and Petersen.”
     
Where would they even find such a person? Hazel was crazy, she might have sounded sober but clearly she was thinking like a typical drunk.
     
“Anesu is calling?” she said before answering.
     
“Hi, baby.”
     
“Hey!” she shrieked into the receiver, she was going for normal but sounded like she was high on coke instead. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hi.”
     
That was better, she smiled.
     
“Are you okay?”
     
“Yes. Yes, yes, I am. Ja, I am. I’m okay.”
     
Hazel paused from taking a sip of wine and stared at Kgomotso, frowning. Kgomotso wasn’t imagining it she did sound like she was having a stroke.
     
“Are you sure?”
     
“Yes, hawu, Anesu.”
     
“Okay. I’m outside your office building.”
     
“Now?” she asked, checking her watch.
     
“Yes, is there a problem? I’m here to take you home, you still want to go back to your place right?”
     
He was hoping she would change her mind, he wasn’t looking forward to spending the night alone now that his dreams of Tinashe were becoming a constant nightmare he couldn’t escape. And he was more annoyed by his father, giving him instructions beyond the grave like he doesn’t see him trying with Tinashe and his mother wasn’t making it easy on top of that. He already dreaded her impending visit because she was already convinced he wasn’t doing enough to find his brother.
     
“Yes, I do.”
     
After the day she had she wouldn’t be good company anyway, it was best to spend the night in solitude.
     
He sighed already feeling the sting of that awful smell and he was close to begging her but his pride took over.