Ex Gratia (#1 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 34

The voice did not speak for about thirty seconds, and Akoma interpreted is as a pause for effect. If she could see the person behind the voice and her hands were free, she would have applauded her and even added a generous standing ovation for succeeding to disturb the rhythm of her heartbeat. She gulped and gripped the armrests firmly. She tried remembering any instance Rich had behaved like someone on assignment or doing anything suspicious, and all she could remember was on their wedding night when he was taking orders. Was he assigned to marry her and divorce her immediately? Why then was he killed, and why was he denying knowledge of the reason behind his actions before he was murdered?

“OK. Continue,” Akoma said calmly.

“I started Ex Gratia with him,” the voice continued. “He was my first recruit – the only one who understood my vision after a painful divorce almost claimed my life. I trained him. I taught him things. We travelled. We made money. We stole. And then he helped me get rid of my ex. I could not deny him access into my life despite my fears, because Rich was so loving and – charming. I know you’ve seen that already, so you’ll understand. He made me feel like a woman. And then he misbehaved. He left me without a word. He started to misuse power. He then interfered with the marriage between his sister and a gentleman called Derrick, and after deceiving Derrick to let go, he married her off to someone else, and that was the wedding that brought both of you together, Akoma.”

“Oh?” Akoma bit her lip. “Why did he do that?”

“I don’t know. We tagged him as a rogue agent and gave him time to repent and turn himself in, but we found out he was just proposing to one woman after the other and simply ditching them moments later after sleeping with them. People were getting hurt. Some were committing suicide and one went mental. He needed to be disciplined. We needed someone scorned by him to make him suffer.”

“And so you chose me?”

“Something like that. You presented yourself exactly where we needed you to be. You were the only one who was in his trap, and so we just felt using you as the lethal bait could help us punish him finally.”

Akoma felt disappointed. “What are you talking about? Did you know he was going to break up with me?”

“Yes, we did. As a matter of fact, we suggested the idea to him, and he did it. It was planted into his mind by the same Derrick he deceived and damaged. Derrick is now an Ex Agent, and Rich was his first successful assignment. He helped you when you failed to kill him.”

“You suggested the idea to him? I don’t understand that part. Why would he follow your orders if he was tagged as an agent gone rogue?” Akoma clenched her jaw when she felt her head beginning to throb. She was very interested in finding the essence of her role in all this, and the purpose her actions and her pain played. She was becoming impatient.

The speaker chuckled, and Akoma recognized it. It sounded like Ender all of a sudden. “Do you know why the devil is so interested in the beings God created, from the angels that fell with him, all the way to the first humans in Eden? I am sure you remember what the Bible teaches. Think about it.”

Akoma blinked. “I don’t know,” she admitted, hoping to hear something worse than what she could guess.

“Poor you,” the voice that sounded like Ender’s growled. “The difference between these beings and animals or robots, the one part of man which I term as the Pandora’s Box that unleashed the horrors of this world and can also turn all things into heaven again – is the gift of free will. The power to choose, and the responsibility that follows. Everyone the devil controls has inadvertently let him hack into their free will.”

Akoma frowned. That was not the answer she thought of, and she was glad about it but for a short time only because she was going to discover the entire scheme of the syndicate, but perhaps painfully.