The Apple Of Distraction

Chapter 4: Dusk

Dusk.

The gang, on their way back saw the corpse. Reo spotted something that belonged to the American, the weapon of murder– the penknife! It was still stuck on the corpse’s neck, and Reo had seen it a couple of times among her medical kits. Panic hit Lordia and she darted off ahead the group.

“You, you and you,” Reo pointed out three prisoners, “-get the body. And the rest of you, move it!!” he bellowed.

As usual, Mr. Rasarani came out of his room to welcome the group at hearing their footsteps, it was then that Lordia bumped into him. Seeing he was safe, she heaved a sigh and hugged him.

“Boss, where’s that doctor?” Reo asked, his hands clenching into fists.

“I think she’ll be in her hut. What happened?” Mr. Rasarani sensed danger just before he caught a glimpse of the dead man.

“One of the prisoners must have tried to escape and he went after her alone without informing us. He ended up...dead,” Reo explained to the boss who instantly became enraged. “-And I think the American has a hand in his death,” he added.

Mr. Rasarani drew in a rage filled breath. “Well, dispatch some men after her at once. I want that b***h dead or alive!” he instructed and headed for the doctor, his woman trailing after him.

Quick, Reo did as instructed before joining his boss. They found the American seated on her bed, asleep. Lordia went out to fetch a pail of water and then emptied it on her.

Startled, Ella sprang up from the bed but before she could recollect herself, she welcomes a fresh punch from Reo and blacks-out.

When she regained herself, she was no longer on the bed but tied to a chair, and those three cold faces still glaring at her.

“Did you kill him? I want nothing but the truth!” Mr. Rasarani started.

Ella swallowed hard. “I have no idea of what you're talking about. I didn't kill anybody.”

“You’re such a beautiful liar, doc.” Lordia took over the interrogation, shuffling across the room to stand before Ella. “How manage did your penknife ended up stuck in his neck?”

The news gave Ella a devastating blow. s**t! How stupid she was to have forgotten the knife at the ‘scene of murder’, how on earth could she possibly be so carried away as not to remember to dispose it off?

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Lordia pestered.

“My penknife? In whose neck?”

Lordia simpered. “Yes, your white penknife. In One Eye's neck!”

“If you saw my penknife, maybe the murderer found access into my kits earlier on,” Ella defended, careful not to mention the s*x of this murderer.

Lordia slapped her. She pulled out her gun, c****d and raised it to Ella’s head.

“-Let her be!” Mr. Rasarani called out in Arabic.

It took a whole lot of grace before Lordia obeyed her man and holstered the weapon. Mr. Rasarani continued in Arabic. “Tomorrow, my treatment will be over and at the same time, we’ll be done with the royal tomb. Only then can we waste them all.”

Ella tried not to panic on hearing the m******e plan. She got relieved when the three men dispatched after Chione reported back with no sign of the girl.

The next day, while she rounded off with the treatment at noon, Reo and Lordia hung around in the room.

“We’re done,” Ella informed with a smile and seized the opportunity to remind them of their vow. “You promised me freedom once we have rounded off.”

“First thing tomorrow, Reo will take you back to Alexandria, I promise.” Mr. Rasarani assured with a smile and waited until she had left the room before turning to Reo, “Kill her tonight. Kill them all.”