The Big 5

21

“whats the update on Mr Molefe” asked Robert on a video call with Gerry. “ I don’t know Robert I thought you would tell me. Besides I’m working on getting someone in the hospital. I heard it’s filled with Molefe men.” “ get Lewis to do it then” said Robert. “ that isn’t going to work, I just got off the phone with Sean and this might actually blow up in our faces” replied Gerry. “ no no no this was expected, see we need to figure out how we are going to tell Sean that this was purely business nothing personal” Gerry shook his head and said “ it’s going to be personal for Sean, we attempted to kill his father” “ so the way it looks there are a few options here. One the old man kicks the bucket then that means Sean is the new “rrarona” and we will have to convinve him to see our way of thinking or we meet him head on. Or the old man survives and he is going to come at us with everything” said Robert. “ I think a war is coming one way or the other, what we need to do is be prepared to fight. If you stay in Angola and I stay in South Africa we are safe, they can’t touch us in our countries” “ yeah but Mr Molefe has a lot of spies, and people who work for him and they are all over the world” replied Robert. “ well you guys took care of ‘Ghost’so I think we send someone to try get eyes on the hospital and finish off the old man if need be and then we deal with Sean later. If Sean becomes a problem we fight him till he makes a mistake,he isn’t as smart as his father and he won’t listen to Tom not that he knows what to do during a war. The guys we should worry about are Brutus and Themba. And Sean depending on the mood he’ll be in” concluded Gerry. They both agreed and ended the call.

Sean and Katlego were by Mr Molefes bedside when Sean’s phone started ringing, he stepped out to answer the call. “ hello” “ Hello Sean this is Harold Jimbo. I’m sorry to hear about your father I really am but I wanted to let you know I had nothing to do with it”. “ really why should I believe you” “ because you can ask around . I can tell you that it’s the Khatombela,Dambe and Khosa families that may have had something to do with your fathers shooting. Those guys and Ray. See they’ve been pestering me to stand with them on this deal to expand the Khosa empire and I told them if your father was against it then I’m not standing with them. Look I didn’t call to plead my family’s innocence,Tom and Themba know I’m an honourable man. I wanted to let you know that if you want to take vengeance for your father go ahead but leave the Jimbo’s out of it. You go to war I want it to be the war of the 4 families, my family will sit this one out” said Mr Jimbo. “ well if that’s the case you have my word that no one in your family and their associates will be harmed by my people” as he hung up. He then went back to attend his mother and father.

Prince is putting on a black suit as he is preparing himself for the funeral. The house is slowly filling up with guests and mourners coming to pay their last respects. He puts on shades and is ready to face the world. “ those who would like to see our father,friend and uncle one last time can do so. It is time for the viewing of the body” says Themba. Prince goes and takes his seat next to Johnny and the Molefe children. They are waiting for the viewing to end before the funeral can formally start. As everyone is done Prince gets up to go see his father one last time. He walks over to the open coffin and looks over at his father, he can barely contain his tears as he does this. “ guys its time” as Dwayne tells them its time to bring the coffin out. Sean,Tom,Prince,Johnny,Brutus,Themba and Dwayne bring out the coffin to the front of the door. Rita comes and places flowers on top of the coffin. They all take their seats as the program begins. Prince is then called up front to come speak about his dad and the cause of his death. He slowly makes his way to the front and stands next to the coffin on his right with a large picture on his right. He begins to cry before finally composing himself “ My father was a man of the people, he helped everyone. It is a shame that he was taken away from us by cowards” he began to cry. As he was crying Sean yelled “ stop crying you failed to protect him! He’s lying there because of you”. As Prince was standing there he saw what looked like the zombie of his father. He rubbed his eyes and he noticed the coffin open up, there was smoke coming from the coffin thern his father’s arm shot up and he climbed out of the coffin. His father then approached him slowly. He looked at his father, he couldn’t believe his eyes, he had a bullet hole in his head and he looked pale. His father then hit him across the head. When Prince came to he was the one in the coffin and his family were burying him while he was alive. As the sand began to his coffin he began to scream and hit the coffin. He kept hitting the coffin, suddenly Prince woke up drenched in sweat in his bed at home. He looked around and he realized he was at home. He got up and went to the kitchen to fix himself a glass of water, then he went to his parent’s bedroom and took the bottle of antidepressants. He wandered around the empty mansion and wondered where everyone else was. He then looked at the time on the clock in the living room and realized they were all at the hospital. He downed the entire bottle of antidepressants. He took also finished his glass of water. He then proceeded to go upstairs and open water in the bathtub to take a bath. As the water had filled up he closed the water and started to get undressed. When it was time to take off his basketball shorts he felt a bit dizzy. He then realized that the pills were starting to get to work. He tried to get up but he fell facefirst into the bathtub. Johnny pulled up into the driveway. He took his bag out and went into the house and headed for his room. He pulled out his phone and made a call “ hey babe, I got home safe. Yeah but I think everyone went to the hospital, I’ll go see him later” and he hung up the phone. He then made his way to the bathroom. He walks in and finds Prince face down in the bathtub. He lets out a scream before pulling his body out. He lays him flat on his back and tries to wake him up. Prince is unresponsive. He starts crying as he begins pushing on his chest to try revive his brother “ come on Prince please! You can’t do this to me not now, please! Please!” as he cries. Just as he is about to give up Prince starts coughing. He sits up and Johnny looks at him with disappointment. “ Tom I just found Prince facedown in the bathroom” “ what is he okay” “yeah he is fine but I’m heading there now, he seems out of it”. Johnny then struggles to get Prince downstairs and into the car. He drives to the hospital and parks in the emegerncy parking, he then rushes out and tells the nurse that he thinks his brother overdosed on something and that he found him facedown in the bath tub. They get Prince onto a wheelchair and they take him to the emergency room. “ listen bro they are going to flush the s**t out of his system then he’ll be alright okay” said Tom. “ oh hey I didn’t see you there”. They then walk over to where their father is sleeping and the doctor is giving an update. “ well we did the computed tomography scan as and I can assure you that you father suffered no concussion. However the way he fell, he might need hip replacement surgery”. Johnny is extremely stoic when he learns of the update and even more stoic when he looks at his father lying in bed unconscious.

Brutus pulls his phone and makes a call “ Christopher I wanted to let you know that your betrayal means war, so I thought I should extend you the courtesy of knowing that we are coming for you, I am coming for you, you son of a b***h!” before he hung up.

Mr Khatombela sits down and starts to piece everything together. He then realizes that the reason his businesses have been getting attacked is because it was a retalitation for the attempted hit on Mr.Molefe. He then begins to realise that  even the attacks on Khosa drug dealers are a retaliation as well as the raids on the Dambe shipments. He then calls Robert and Obakeng into his study to talk. He is seated by his desk when they both walk in “ close the door” he says “ so I just got of the phone with Brutus and do you know what he said to me”. Obakeng and Robert sat silently.“ he told me that he was going to have my head. So I did some thinking why would Brutus threaten to kill me just after his boss got shot, I mean I have been friends with Godfrey for years, long before you were even born. Then I did even more thinking and the way I see it you guys killed ‘Ghost’ and then you tried to kill Godfrey and you did this all without asking my permission. Behind my back! Behind my back! I expect this from him but not you Robert. Damn and I can’t say it wasn’t you weren’t acting on my orders because if my house looks out of order the big 5 will think I’m weak. Fill me in on exactly what you idoits have done because now I have to fight this war” said a disappointed Mr Khatombela. “ well sir we took out ‘Ghost’ in Namibia. Then we had one of Gerrys friends take out the head of security of Mr Molefe’s security detail so he could, you know takea shot at the old man” said Robert. “ yeah dad and all of this is just a bit of blowback we got everything under control” said Obakeng “ no you don’t. so does Sean know ‘Ghost’ is dead” asked Mr Khatombela. They both shook their heads. “ well then that guy is believed to be invincible by that family so we will send Sean a package soon. However with our businesses under attack they crippled us financially so that means we need to spend on the war but we don’t have anything coming in. we will need to be tactical because we are not out fighting Sean, I noticed the other families have come under fire from Sean so you guys reach out to the Dambe’s and Khosa’s. we will need all the help we can get on this one. Oh and nobody leaves Angola, or this house for that matter. We are at war here” said Mr Khatombela. They both shook their heads. “ you can leave” he said to Obakeng. “ you went behind my back and started a war, I want you to call all the men and tell them that they don’t take orders from you anymore. They only act on my orders and Eileen’s orders. While we are here tell her to come to the study”. Robert left and went to call Eileen. They both came into his study “ leave us” he said to Robert. “ remember the talk we had” “the one about me taking over” “yes that one. The time has arrived. You are going to be following me around as I show you the ropes because well we are at war, and I feel like after the war I may not be here to formally show that process” “ what do you mean dad” she asked with tears in her eyes “ well let me just tell you that the last time there was a war that involved the Molefe family a lot of people died, including my older brother. You know Kalushsha’s death affected me a lot. And I had to do a lot of growing up. Ever since then I told myself I would never put myself or my family in a postion where they had to grow up quickly. Your brother and Robert have poked the beast and the beast is now coming for us.” He hugged her and said “ whatever happens from here on I want you to know that I love you okay” “ I love you too daddy” said Eileen.