Ex Gratia (#1 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 29

“What?!”

Akoma covered her mouth. ‘So it has come to this?’ she thought. She remembered her nightmares and feared she might be asked to kill Gracefield, but she questioned that thought and wondered how killing Gracefield would have anything to do with returning to her ex.

“Unless Ender knows Gracefield and wants to harm her,” she said out loud. She thought about it for a moment and remembered Lawyer Jake talking about Rich ditching her in order to save his own life from a possible peril. Was it possible that Gracefield had something to do with Rich leaving her? She thought of calling Rich but hesitated, wondering the extent that would go in creating more suspicion that someone had assigned her to take some contacts from his phone to mess some things up.

“The contacts – what were they doing on his phone?” she asked herself. She remembered the premise of their first meeting on Facebook. It was for his sister’s wedding. The fashion designer must have gotten her the gown and the caterer and décor might have taken care of the food and decorations. Was Ender paying them back for something they had done to her or the members of the syndicate? Was Rich going to be affected by any of these things she had done to the service providers?

She stooped over and picked up the handgun, and as she weighed it in her hand, she thought, ‘Who is going to die tomorrow? How fast can I get to Gracefield’s wedding to warn her against any problems at her wedding? Was it possible that Ender was the same person going to make Gracefield’s wedding messy?'

When Ender called, she was seated on the floor staring down at the gun in her hand. “I perceive that you have opened the last pack to unlock your final assignment,” she said in a menacing voice. “Once you have seen this, there is no turning back. Because of the temptation to abort it, someone will be stationed at the location you will be sent to ensure that the assignment is completed anyway. Be sure that you evade capture. No witnesses. There is more remuneration for this level. Your new clothes are in the wardrobe. No need to try it on. It fits.” Akoma was quiet, and she could not breathe properly. “Hey! Are you listening to me?”

Akoma sighed. “God punish you, Ender,” she squeaked. “I will not murder anyone in the name of an ex gratia. Do it yourself.”

“Good. I can see you want to suffer more losses because of your stubbornness. It is so.”

There was a knock on her door and she rose to go and open it. “I don’t care what you want to do to – “, Akoma started to say, but she hesitated as soon as she was done unlocking the door and wondered why she had rather not received a phone call from reception informing her of this visit. Unfortunately, she was not fast enough for what followed – the door burst open, and someone walked in to cover her mouth from behind. The person edged towards the door, pushed it shut and locked it with a free hand. Akoma was pushed onto the floor, and as she turned to look up, her throat constricted. “Ender?” she gasped.

Ender wore a pitch black wig with thick fringe hiding her eyebrows, and a pair of large shades covered her eyes. The lower half of her face was covered with a black scarf, and she was dressed in a long coat over a black tank top and black trousers and boots. She pulled out a gun from her back and pointed it at Akoma, who stared at it with a terrified look on her face.

“You are really making me angry with you,” she whispered. “Do you think that I don’t have anything profitable doing with my life than order you around only to have you disrespect me?”

Akoma shook her head and scowled. “Look who is talking about disrespect,” she hissed. “You took my life from me and gave me this – prison – and now you want me to kill someone?”

Ender shrugged and replied, “I will kill you if you refuse. If you are a woman like me, say you won’t.”

Akoma blinked. “I am not a woman like you. Truth be told,” she started calmly, and then she shouted, “But you will not touch me again!” she pulled out the handgun she had been hiding behind her back all along, shut her eyes and squeezed the trigger.

Ender cleared her throat. Akoma opened her eyes and realized the gun was probably not loaded. Ender dashed towards her, kicked the gun out of her hand, grabbed her throat, pulled her up in a strong wrench and slammed her back into the wardrobe. Ender slapped her with the back of her hand across the face and sent her tumbling to the floor. Akoma seized one of her shoes and swung it hard at Ender, where the heel collided into Ender’s arm while trying to block it. The pain made her grunt, and she ducked just in time to evade the shoe Akoma had hurled at her. Akoma tried to crawl towards her handbag, opened it and pulled out a pepper spray, but Ender clubbed her in the back with the gun, causing her to cry out and let go off the spray. Ender grabbed her legs and started to pull her away from the bag. Akoma freed on of her legs and kicked Ender’s jaw, and Ender dropped her quickly to massage her jaw. Akoma lay there panting, and Ender stepped backwards from her and glared back. Akoma took advantage of the gap between them and reached for a hairdryer lying in the opened wardrobe. She swiped it at Ender threateningly and brandished at her.

“My gun is loaded,” Ender said and put it away. “Don’t think I am putting it away because I fear. I am being wise.” In a flash, she whipped out a dagger and darted it with all her might, and Akoma felt it whiz past her ear, and a sharp pain on her earlobe announced that the blade had cut her on its trip into the wall behind her. Akoma turned to look at the dagger pinned into the wall and back to Ender, but she was knocked off her feet by a push that sent her bumping into the wall few inches from the dagger. She slid to the floor and coughed. Ender went to pull the dagger out of the wall and crouched close to Akoma. “You’re bleeding,” she muttered. Akoma touched her left earlobe and saw blood. “I can kill you. Now get me that gun.” Akoma crawled hurriedly towards the gun lying in a corner and returned it with trembling hands. Ender loaded it and handed it back to her. “I will show you who it will be when the time is right. Stay connected. Good luck.” She rose to her feet and walked briskly towards the door, but stopped when she heard a click. She turned around to see Akoma holding the gun at her. She smiled and stepped out of the room. Akoma stood there for some seconds trembling with tears pouring down her face, and she hurried to the door to open it. The corridor was empty.

Ender was gone.