Guilty Eye

Chapter 13

My hair rose on its end as I willed myself to melt into the metal of the truck so as to create the longest possible distance between the gun behind me and my cringing neck.

My mind was still blank from shock and fear when hands from  under the truck grabbed my legs and pulled. I crumbled to the ground just as Portia slid out on her back, a gun in each hand and both weapons pointed at my erstwhile captor. She rose in one fluid movement and poked the muzzle of one gun at the other woman's forehead.

I looked up from my awkward sitting position as Portia spoke.

"So you're one of them, huh, Inspector Tsono?"

The cop saw that Portia was not in a joking mood and holstered her firearm. "No I'm not one of them, Mrs Saka."

"Then why did you slam me onto the freaking truck?" I asked, getting on my feet. "It's not coated in foam rubber you know."

Inspector Tsono shook her head and said nothing.

Portia put more pressure on the gun at the cop's forehead and spoke curtly. "Speak!"

"OK, okay," Tsono winced. "I got a call from Mr Cat, he said his agent had lost you. I tracked you to Real Giant before following you here. I'm sorry I shoved against the truck but I was trying to stop you from doing anything stupid. Now can you please lower your weapons? You are making me nervous."

"I don't trust people who point guns at my family," my wife stated, holstering one pistol. "What do you want?"

"I want to help you find the children and rescue them safely."

Portia was suspicious of the other woman but in the end they came to a compromise where as Portia would go into the alley behind the house, while Tsono and I would approach through the front gate. We parted and went our separate ways.

Inspector Tsono took the lead while I followed closely behind with my hand hanging close to the gun. When we reached the gate she pressed the buzzer.

I was watching the curtained French window and I saw the curtain move.

"Get down!" I yelled when I saw a muzzle flash and heard a loud bang.

But it was to late as the cop in front of me fell backwards with cough. By that time I was already flat on my belly. I crawled over to her.

"Stay down, Mr Saka," she said amid blood-spitting coughs when another shot sent a bullet whizzing above my heard.

Despite having been shot in the stomach, Tsono raised her gun and fired two shots at the window and one at the gate key. The key fell to the ground.

"Go...go get your kids, Mr Saka," she said and laid back on the ground.

I looked at the window - no more gunshots were coming. I paused to glance at the comatose cop beside me. Then I pulled out my gun and took off running to the house.

I entered through the broken window and saw a man flung backwards over a red leather couch. Blood was seeping out from his back onto the leather and I guessed Tsono's shots had found their target.

I moved further into the house and moments later I heard a single gunshot. Portia.

When I exited from the sitting room I found myself in a small passage with a closed door to the left. My footsteps were quiet on the carpeted floor as I made way to the door. I took a deep breath and tried it. It opened into an empty bedroom which had a single bed and a dresser. I peered under the bed - nothing. I went back into the passage and made way to the open double doors at its end.

The moment I set foot the large kitchen-cum-dining room, I found myself trembling in a mixture of anger and worry. Chipo was there, sitting on a chair on the other side of the dinner table, Grace and Blessed on her lap, both their mouths duct tapped. Chipo's left hand held the twins while her right hand held a large kitchen knife to Grace's throat.

I could see the fear written all over my children's faces. They squirmed, wriggled and kicked in Chipo's lap but she held them easily.

She smirked at me. "Took you long enough to get here."

"Let them go, please," I begged her. "Take me instead, let the kids go, please."

"Oh, I intend to, once I am out of the country. Put your gun on the ground."

I did as she said without hesitation lest she felt compelled to demonstrate her power by harming the kids. I slid the gun under the table as per her instruction before turning around and getting to my knees with my hands on my head.

Once she was assured that I was unarmed, I heard her let go of the twins and make way to me. I heaved a sigh of relief that the kids were no longer in danger, but the next moment I froze as she cocked a gun.

"You know I don't see why it's so difficult to kill you," she said.

I groped for words as a thought crossed my mind: where is Portia?

"But why would you kill me? The police already know about you and Pfumo Dzvuku, you know." I said, trying to buy time.

"Well, killing you is completing my mission."

"But I don't have to die!"

"Yes you do!" Chipo shouted, her voice shrill with anger. "If it weren't for you, my plan would have worked. The British government would have believed the ambassador's wife was killed by Zimbabwean security agents. The Brits would have stopped giving financial and medical aid to Zimbabwe and the whole country would have risen against the government. And we would have ascended into power." She was panting at the end of her passionate speech.

She kicked me and said, "But you! You ruined it all. I'm going to execute you here and now. You're guilty!"

"Of what? What did I do?"

"You have a guilty eye, mkwasha." She stated in a very calm voice. "Blessed, Grace close your eyes, now."

"Wait...!"

BAANG!!!

I twisted around and saw my would-be executioner fall to the ground, her head a mangled mess of blood and bone.

And  hanging upside down from a trapdoor in the ceiling, was Portia a smoking revolver in her hand.

________________________________________________________________________