The Big 5

20

Sean was in bed with Sussete when his phone rang, “ ignore it babe” said Sean. “ it could be important” she said. He answered “ whats wrong Prince, what , where.” Sean stood up from the bed and continued “ okay okay im on my way. You stay with Dad. I’ll send more men to you. Did you see the f**k’s that did this, okay”. As he hung up he let out a loud cry and Sussete knew something was wrong and hugged him. “ Listen babe , I need you to take the kids to my mother’s house, you stay there too.We might not be safe, I’ll see when I get back” he said as he began to get dressed.

The ambulance came to the office and the paramedics picked up Mr Molefe. “ sir you may not want to be here for this” said the paramedic as she began attending to Mr Molefe. Prince just stood there in shock unable to move or process what just happened. It was only until he saw the paramedics load his father into the ambulance did he move. He got into the back of the ambulance and sat there. He was shocked by what he saw the paramedics were working at a very fast pace as they tried to stop the bleeding. It looked like his father had been shot in head and in the back. There were so many things plugged into him. They arrived and they offloaded him into a hospital gurney. He followed them and he grabbed his father by the hand whilst the paramedic was explaning to the emergency doctor on response what had happened to his father. It was all a blur to Prince at this moment. He couldn’t hear anything be said as he followed his father all the way from the emergency room to the operation table. A nurse ushered him out of the room into the waiting room and said to him “ don’t worry your father is in good hands”. He sat on the hospital bench and waited. Again he didn’t feel anything he was just numb. He then saw his mother rush into the hospital and she asked Prince what had happened. He just hugged his mother and began to cry loudly, “ I failed him! I failed him!” he said as he continued to cry. “ you didn’t fail anybody” said Tom. Prince had not noticed Tom walk in. when he stopped hugging his mother he noticed he was surrounded. He could see Sean,Themba,Brutus and a lot of guards in the hospital. He then started to regain a bit of his composure and pulled Tom to the side “ why did pops get shot” he asked Tom. “ we’ll discuss it later now is not the time bro” replied Tom. He grabbed Tom by the shoulder “ tell me!” Tom then said “ you’re emotions are all over the place. Calm down” they were interrupted by the doctor who walked out. “ ladies and gentlemen could the family of the victim follow me into my office” he said. Tom, Sean , Katlego and Prince followed the doctor into the office. “ before I go on may ask what your relation is to the victim” “ I am the wife and these men are his sons” answered Katlego. “ Okay maam, your husband was shot twice. In the head and in the back.” Katlego,Sean and Prince began to cry out loud. Their cries were so loud that even Themba and Brutus could hear them. Brutus dropped his head and began to sob. “ the bullet to that went into his head missed all the vital organs and straight through. So the brain and eyes are all good. The second bullet hit him in the gluteus maximus well above the gluteus maximus. We managed to remove the bullet and I have to say your husband is a luck man. Both bullets did not cause any damage. However when he fell down he did hit his head hard and we suspect he may suffer from a concussion. Once he heals up we will have to perfom a computed tomography scan to determine that. That being said I expect him to make a full recovery” conculueded the doctor. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and they walked out of the office. They came into the corridor and Tom told Brutus and Themba that his father was okay. “ listen I need you guys to have your men in the hospital at all times” said Tom “ shouldn’t we be looking for the bastards that did this” asked Brutus. Tom shook his head and said “ Sean will focus on that”. The doctor walked past and Katlego asked if she could see him and the doctor said “ only you can see him since you’re his wife but only for 5 minutes” and led her to his room. “ my baba I hate see you like this, I don’t know the last time this happened I was worried but know not so much. Anyway rest up, I’ll be waiting for you at home” she said as she kissed him on the forehead. She came out of the room and they left. Themba spoke to one of the nurses and instructed her that she was responsible for Mr Molefe. Then he left with everyone else.

Everyone arrived home. They all went to their respective rooms. Declan and Chad both raced to their father screaming loudly. Sean picked up both his sons. “ why are we staying at grandmas place” asked Chad “ yeah its not Christmas yet” answered Declan. “ well your granpa is a little bit and well granny is feeling sad so we are here to make her smile” said Sean. Then his cellphone rang, Sean put the twins down and pulled out his phone. He realized it was a call from a south afraican number but he couldn’t tell who it was. He answered “ hello” “ hi there am I speaking to Sean Molefe” asked the caller “ yeah and who’s asking” replied Sean. “well Sean I wanted to extend my utmost sincere apologies about what happened to your father but I call on the matter of business” said the caller. Sean walked from his room and made his way into his father’s study “ I can’t discuss business now and you still haven’t told me who you are” replied Sean. “ well its of utmost importance Sean and well I figured that since your father can’t talk you’re the one calling the shots” “ you still haven’t told me who you are” “its Ray Haines on the phone” the caller said finally. “ f**k you! Ray f**k you! My father gets shot and you wanna discus business. f**k you!” said Sean as he hung up the phone. Tom walked in “ what did Ray want” asked Tom “ he wanted to discuss business, the audacity of these guys”. Tom put his hand on his face and looked at Sean with disappointment before he finally said “ you know that Ray was here the other day asking for funding to expand his drug assortment” “ yeah and your point is Tom” “ do I have to spell it out for you that’s the meeting where you took his side instead of Pop’s. Now isn’t it weird that our dad gets shot and he calls asking to discuss business”. Sean’s eyes were wide and full of tears before he said “ im going to kill that bastard, he’s a dead men” “ calm down we can’t do that just yet, you know he’s the Khosa family’s seller. Going aftrer him will give that hot head Gerry what he wants, we need to be tactical” “f**k that Tom, I’m going to call Brutus and Themba tell them to get the guys ready, and Mark too” “ no Sean we need to think here, we can’t make any moves until Pop’s is back home where we know he is safe, also if Ray is behind this I think he has the backing of the Khosa’s and another family” they were interrupted by Prince who walked in “ sorry if I’m interrupting, I needed a strong drink from daddy’s stash, I can’t sleep” “what happened” asked Tom. “ Looks like it was a hit because the shooter was on another rooftop, and the gun was sort of kinda like silenced” replied Prince “ and you didn’t do anything when they shot your father” shouted Sean. Prince started crying before Tom comforted him and said “ look ignore your brother anything you tell us will be helpful. Okay. Where was Lewis and the rest of the guards”. Prince stopped crying and began to speak again “ Lewis called in sick, and now that I think of it we had a skeleton crew guarding us, they were also s**t at their job because before Daddy got shot they took a while to bring the car around, usually its ready” Sean then proceeded to throw things around in a fit of rage “ it was a f*****g hit and they got our guys f**k f**k s**t!” he said. “ the guys guarding dad at the hospital we can’t be sure they are straight” said Tom. “ s**t you are right and Lewis works for Brutus so he could be in on it”said Sean. “ I will call Themba, and figure out a way to get Brutus and his men to leave the hospital, whilst you try and get a hold Mark” instructed Sean. “ guys another thing I noticed everyone is here but Johnny” said Prince. “ well then try call him” said Tom. Prince dialed johnny but the phone was off. He started crying again “ look buddy maybe you should get some sleep, we’ll handle everything” said Tom. “ Gerry Khosa I wanted to tell you that I’m going to kill that piece of f**k called Ray and you too you son of a b***h” before he hung up.

Ludo and Johnny were in a hotel just outside the city enjoying cuddles. “ I missed you, the past weeks have been hectic with the boxing ,school and the wedding” said Johnny. “ yeah” replied Ludo. He then sat up and looked over at her. “ come on what’s up, talk to me” he said. Ludo also sat up and began to twirl her fingers, then she took a deep breath but before she could say anything her phone began to ring. She picked up “ hi, yeah he is here with me” she handed him the phone “ yeah ,when did this happen, is he okay, did you catch the guys who did this. Okay I’m coming home now” he said as he hung up and gave Ludo her phone back. Johnny then went and locked himself in the bathroom. Ludo felt her stomach turn she felt like something was wrong before she got up and knocked on the bathroom door “ babe open the door, tell me what Sean said” she said. She knocked again and Johnny opended the door. He then sat on the toilet seat and began to cry, she was shocked because Johnny was never really a big crier unless something was wrong. She knew immediately that something was definitely wrong. She hugged him and said “ please tell me what’s wrong” “ I’ve spent most of my life mad at him for the kind of man he is but now the fact that he might die breaks my heart”. She just continued hugging him before he jumped up and said “ we might not be safe” and he began to pack their bags. Ludo looked at him. He seemed scared and it was scaring him too because he never really got scared. They checked out within the next 10 minutes and they were on the road. Johnny was driving like a formula one driver pushing the Jeep to its limits. “ babe please slow down” she pleaded and he finally listened. “ look you don’t have to tell me but please I would like to know what did Sean say to you on the phone”. He gripped the steering wheel hard and tears started to roll down his eyes before he finally said “ it’s my dad,he has been shot” “oh my God I’m so sorry babe” “ you don’t have to apologise you didn’t shoot him” he said. As they were approaching where she lived he said “ look there’s things about my family people say, some of it is true some of it isn’t. Right now I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see you but I’ll call and text you until I feel like it’s safe for you to be with me” “what do you mean johnny, you’re scaring me” she said. “ the people who shot my dad, until we find out who they are I might be in danger along with my family, I’d take you to my house but I don’t think your parents would appreciate that, that being said I’ll make sure you and your family are safe too. By the way you said you wanted to tell me something back at the lodge” he said. “ it can wait” she said. She got out and walked into the house, she wanted to tell him she was pregnant but she realized he needed a clear mind to deal with what was happening to his family. As she locked her door and watched him drive away she had a feeling deep in her gut that she wasn’t going to see him for a long time and this made her sob.