The Dark Knight

4. Vendetta

‘Kelani the job starts today, find them, put a trace on them, I will tell you when to make the hit’ Bosco said over the phone as he sat in his room in his hideout cave

‘Okay Bosco,.. how about p*****t?’ Kelani asked in a low voice. Everyone knew their empire was crumbled and funds were scarce. Not many knew Bosco was not in the tavern at the night of the hit, so many thought he was also dead. Kelani had been surprised when he got his call but he still wanted to be sure he would get paid on this job

‘It will come, you will be paid, I am sorting out stuff’ Bosco said quickly

‘Okay man… the juice makes the mission active’ Kelani insisted

‘Okay you will hear from me’ Bosco said, sighing heavily

‘Ok’ Kelani replied cutting the line

Bosco clenched his fists as he stared out the window, their business empire had crumbled just after the hit from Jerry and now the world as he knew it was upside down, funds were scarce. He shuddered as he thought about what he must do now to protect his Boss’s empire and build the remains

‘Jerry Jx..you started a war…. and unlike you when I get to you I will tie up all loose ends. No matter how long it takes. I am coming for you’ he said out loud, his voice echoing back to him

     ----Five Years Later -----

Jerry entered the house tired from last night’s expedition to the hood;his kids run to him, hugging his legs and asking for a donkey ride on his back, he smiled widely obliging them and all three of them soon fell on the sofa laughing

‘Easy boys’ Lucy came sauntering in from the kitchen where she had been making dinner

‘Hi baby’ Jerry whispered, grabbing unto her arm and pulling her down to fall on his chest, the kids squealing and laughing as he did that

‘Oh honey’ Lucy protested, then smiled receiving his kiss as he leaned in

Lucy and Jerry were together since he rescued her from Big Joe and they now have two kids, aged 3 years and 1 year. With the arrival of the kids, Jerry decided to beat his life of mercenary crime and focus more on helping others with his robin-hood style vigilante work, taking from the rich and distributing to his street gangs and needy communities.

After his onslaught on Big Joe’s business and his demise, Ken and Dan declared themselves enemies of Jerry and plotted to get him back for his vigilante expeditions against their illegal businesses when they suspected he was the robin they had learnt was responsible for their downfall.

Jerry was however elusive and they teamed up with Bosco, Big Joe’s former right hand man who ordered a hit and trace on Jerry and his family. Jerry had begun receiving threat letters for a year but he was a people’s man and always got heads up each time an attack was planned, the plans foiled each time but he knew he had to take steps to protect his new and growing family

His three teams working with him in business had thinned out to two teams after Julian had a clash with the popular Pastor Richard and came out worse for wear. It led to him changing Julian to his faith and making him unable to carry out Jerry’s dark jobs anymore. Jerry smiled as he recalled how miffed he was when he stormed Richard’s chapel a year ago demanding why he was changing his men. Richard had only smiled and asked him to also have a change of heart to which he snorted and stormed out

On getting home, he had a change of heart seeing Lucy praying for him that night, he reached out to her and she gets him born again and that’s how come he changed focus to become a clean business man and put Julian in charge of that, but every so once in a while he activated his remaining teams for his risky vigilante activities, that’s how he maintained his enviable wealth so he was stubborn to let that part of him go.

As they all troop to the dining table for dinner, Jerry looked on at Lucy with love shining through his eyes. He was still smitten by her after all these years and she had given him such lovely babies too. He had insisted she stop her exotic dancing and escort job after that eventful kidnap night and for her protection took her into his home. They explained to Meredith and Katie the situation and they reluctantly agreed to the arrangement but insisted it was to be only for a year until Bosco and his sentinels lost trace of her.

Lucy had become pregnant a year after they were together and the kids kept coming not allowing a proper wedding. Her Aunt had insisted after the second baby was born that they meet her Pastor Richard, for a marriage blessing and water baptism for the children. Lucy agreed, gets born again and does water baptism, rechristens her name to Favour, saying Lucy was her past dirty life that she wanted a clean break from. Then she asked Pastor Richard to get them properly married and they got married with a marriage blessing and a nonchalant Jerry in attendance

After dinner, the kids went to the den to play until bed time, leaving Jerry and Lucy on the table, talking.

‘Lucy,’ Jerry started, then saw her cold glare and he smiled ‘Favour,… whatever name you please, as long as you are Mrs Jerry Dombaco, it’s all that matters to me.’ He drew her seat closer and kissed her, smiling then he sits up and tells her with seriousness ‘I am getting you a bodyguard baby’

‘I have been getting funny threat letters for a while now but had traced it to no one, so we have to keep our guard up’ he said, watching as her eyes grew wide

He didn’t give Lucy the details though but with his two kids growing up, he knew he had to keep a tight hold on them ‘In this business you don’t know who is a friend or fiend; an ally or enemy, it could turn south anytime so you’ve got to be alert when you are out and about okay?’ Jerry warns her

Lucy nods afraid...will loving him entail having a troubled life? She shuddered, the first few months after he took her into hiding after the attack on Big Joe were miserable for her. she couldn't go out to anywhere or do anything without a bunch of Jerry's men surrounding her. 

She had slowly become invisible until a couple of years back when he called them off her detail after life seemed to have settled into a normal peaceful one. So she wasn't looking forward to another season of bodyguards but she knew it was for their own good and now she felt a sudden fear creeping up

He notices her fear then draws her closer ‘Hey you love me don’t you?’ he asked

‘Yes….’ She answered, nodding her head with a smile playing on her lips

‘You trust me too right?’ he continued. She nodded. He kissed her ‘Then don’t worry sweetness, I will make sure nothing happens to you okay? you are my world, my life’ he said lovingly

‘Okay.’ she answered and they hug

Leaving Lucy to clear up and put away the dishes, he gets up and kisses his kids and tucks them in bed in their room, tells them goodnight then he goes into his room and calls Diesel

‘Boss’ Diesel greeted him

‘Yeah. Get Vince and put him on 24hour watch, nothing happens to Lucy or he ceases to live’ he said sternly

‘Yes boss’ Diesel replied and cut the call

Because of his past life of crime, Jerry knew that these threat letters were not to be toyed with so he hired a skilled and tested bodyguard, Vince, to accompany Lucy everywhere, especially when he was not within reach due to his busy work and clandestine activities

------------------

Bosco was seated in the bar, overlooking the guests in his executive corner. It had been five years running Big Joe’s left over businesses and had stabilized it to a level thanks to Dan and Ken. But the incessant vigilante strikes made it impossible to break even most months and seething with rage, he masterminded a vendetta against the 25 year old gangster responsible for his woes, the one they called JX Dark-Knight on the streets, Jerry Dombaco

Bosco laughed sinisterly at his thoughts of Jerry as he is seated with two men smoking cigarette and gambling at the table. He recalled with a murderous look in his eyes, the events from the fateful night his boss Big Joe was rounded up by Jerry and his tavern torched. Their business had gone down the drain and only Gary their potbelly friend and business mogul was their lifeline the first one year before Bosco was crowned successor and began reclaiming Joe's businesses for him. Now with business running well again and alliances with Ken and Dan going smoothly, he felt it was payback time for Jerry.

Cursing himself for being absent that night of the attack due to another assignment he was given, he had searched high and low for Jerry or the girl Lucy but they had remained elusive. He hit his hand on the table in anger, startling his two friends seated with him. Sparing them no glance, he continued his reverie, thinking how he should have tied up the loose ends when he had the chance

‘So Bosco, word has it he runs a robin hood scheme’ one of the men with him, Kelani said

‘Hmm the one that had been stealing from the underground?’ the other man asked

‘Yeah...and building shelters and distributing food and money downtown and to shelter communities

‘Well if he is the one, his torment just began because Ken is really closing in on whoever it is and will have his head in the runners soon’ Bosco said, laughing eerily

Yeah well, so what do you want to do to avenge the wrong done to Big Joe by the Jerry kid’ Kelani prodded

‘Not so much a kid again…he took a wife you know’ Bosco said

‘Yeah...been trailing them for the past four years as you asked’ Kelani replied, sipping his drink

‘So do you have their exact locations?’ Bosco asked, drawing him close to prevent the other men at the table listening in this time

‘Yes Bosco’ Kelani replied in a low tone

‘Good...it’s been five years, time to hit them when they think no one is after them’ Bosco whispered ‘I hear they have two kids now right?’ Bosco asked, sitting up straight and taking a drag from his cigarette

‘Yes boss,’ Kelani said, grinning, guessing the direction of this hit

‘Let’s start with them’ Bosco said with an evil glint in his eye then he muttered ‘Jerry JX…your life just became a living hell’