TurfWars-Criminal Underworld

Loyalty

Only the footsteps of brave lone souls could be heard in the now quiet streets Imbali. These staids are accompanied by echoes of dogs barking in the distant. The nights events seem to not have seeped those these parts of town, the residents sleep away for it was late and time, a significant time had passed since the shooting at chiliza.

The silence of the street is disturbed by a lone car slowly cruising through the road. The car's lights switched off as it approached a house, it's tinted windows make it hard to seem who is inside.. It turns into a driveway. The driveway gate is opened immediately, someone had been expecting our driver, even at this late hour.

The car stops short of going in. It is almost 23:30. The car cars window rolls down slowly, Hlubi’s face is illuminated by the street lights, she looks around as a figure walks out the previously opened gate and approaches the car. “What is all this about, Makhado?” She asks as Spanner stares up and down the road. “You know, we used to feel safe in these streets, now we gotta watch our backs in our own yard” says Spanner as he scans the road again. “Mlungisi Spanners Lackey steps out the yard where the gate opened previously, with a gun in his hand. “Really  Makhado.” Says Hlubi as she notices the gun. “Haven’t you heard, it is not safe out here anymore.” says Spanner. “why don’t you come in a take a seat.” adds the gangster as he walks back inside the yard he stepped out off.

Hlubi sat in her car for a while as she contemplated her moves, she turned to her side piece and put it in her glove box, taking another gun in a glove box and strapping it on her ankle, covering it with her pants. She drove the car in, stopping  at the entrance of the yard leaving the car packed in a way that blocked the gate from closing. Stepping out of the car, the she walked into what looked like a car-ported front yard turned into a garage.

A table a chairs had been set up for the meeting. Mlungisi approached the detective, which made Hlubi step back in defence. “I hope you will forgive us detective, you see, it has been hard trusting people lately, I know we have been through a lot”. Spanner says this as he pulled out his gun and put it on the table next to him. Detective Hlubi pulled up her shirt to show that she was not wearing her service piece. “I have no time for games Makhado, why am I here?” asked Hlubi. “Take a seat”. A reluctant Hlubi approached the seat as her eyes wandered from Mlungisi to Spanner. "Next time don’t call me like you did, I am not one of your lap dog." Said Hlubi angry. As both sat down Spanner got straight to the point. “Okay, do you know anything about the boss’ death?”

“I told you I am not on that case” answered Hlubi. “Come on Hlubs, the Madam needs answers, I know getting information is your expertise” said Spanner with urgency in his voice. “Who ordered the shootout at Chiliza earlier?” The silence was loud. “my men did not do that, yet I hear one of my own is part of the casualty." said Hlubi. Spanner looked down.

“you might have moles in your gang” said Hlubi as he stared at Spanner. This news made him erect up. “It did cross my mind” said Spanner. “Toolkit was rat that got killed at Chiliza's ti's evening” said Hlubi. Spanner punched the table in anger, looking straight at Hlubi he asked “What did he say?”

 “The detective working on the case has not given up the details, My Captain might know, but I doubt that fat man will tell me anything” said Hlubi. “We need to know what he said, He might know who killed the boss, he might be the person that killed the boss”

“I doubt it, only thing James has said about Toolkit is that he had information on the killer” Spanner clinched his fists. “Good thing he is dead”

“What I don’t understand is why he didn’t come to you with that information?” asked Hlubi. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you losing your grip on your men Makhado” added Hlubi. The comment did not sit well with Spanner.

“My men listen to me, I just need to root out a few disobedient one, we are going some change in leadership and I might need you by my side soon” Hlubi understood what Spanner meant. He was starting to collect allies, guess he was ready to go to war with whoever was scaring him. “You planning a war Makhado?” asked Hlubi. Silence filled the car ported front yard. “We are under attack Hlubs, shouldn’t we be preparing one?” Asked Spanner. “If you are, count me out, from all this”

“What makes you think that you have a choice?”. The question had a message behind it, she could feel it, she crossed her legs and undid the strap holding the gun she had on her ankle. Leaning forward to disguise her movements she said. “A word of advice my Makhado, I’ve I’ve seen this movie before, it doesn't end well. You are not Smiles, they won’t fear you, let alone respect you, get out now, when you have the chance.” Spanner looked at Mlungisi and then back at Hlubi. She had a point, he has not really instilled fear and respect to all his men, he only trusts one and the rest will probably pledge loyalty to Mandisa. “I see, so who are you loyal to?” asked Spanner as his hands gripped the gun on the table. Hlubi’s eyes followed the hand as it took hold of the gun on the table.“I am done Makhado, maybe it was a good thing the boss died,” said Hlubi “Smiles dies and all forget what loyalty means, detective, so I’ll ask again, who are you loyal to?” asked Spanner as he stood up angry pointing the gun to Hlubi. “You don’t want to kill an officer Makhado, we both know that is a dumb move” Hlubi said, as she held her own piece under the table, Mlungisi had drawn out his. Two guns pointed at her, the odds were against her, Hlubi thought of this as she placed her finger on the trigger. Her eyes moved back and forth from Mlungisi to Spanner. “Why don’t you sit down and let us talk about this” said Hlubi as she noticed Mlungisi’s hands start shaking. “Don’t let you boy make a mess Makhado, look at him, he is shaking.” Spanner foolishly turned to look at Mlungisi who was standing behind him, that was all  Hlubi needed to push Spanner's gun out the way and lay a bullet into Mlungisi. The shoulder holding the gun was where Hlubi hit, disarming Mlungisi at once. The sudden move stunned Spanner that his gun flew off his hand. As senses returned, Hlubi was already half way to her car. Reaching for the gun, Spanner took aim at the detective and let the bullet fly, hitting the car as the experienced Hlubi used it for cover while opening the door and dropping in.  The engine roared to life as the occupant stayed low. Pulling the gear in reverse the car moved, while taking fire. All this happened in what felt like a split second. For the second time that night, the silent streets of Imbali were disturbed by gun fire, the noise echoed through the road, tires screaming as if in agony could be heard. Hlubi turned the car into the road and sat up, firing back at Spanner who ran out of the car ported yard with confidence, that all faded away when he saw bullets flying towards him. Running back for cover he heard the tires burn again, this time as the car took off. All Spanner could do was fire at a car running away.