The Big 5

13

The Kansas and Ray were in yet another meeting. Ray took charge of the meeting and began to tell them about his trip to Gaborone “ I met with Mr. Molefe and well long story short he is not going to fund us, however, I did witness something interesting happen. There seems to be a divide on this issue: the older son is the big one ``'' you mean Sean” said Patrick “ yeah yeah that one he seems interested in taking us on” said Ray. “ So the old man is the one standing in our way huh, well let’s kill him,” said Patrick. “ No!” they all said “ why the f**k not!” asked Patrick “ because it starts a war dumbass,” said Francis. “ Well come up with ideas since killing the guy is out of the picture,” said Patrick who then sat by the window. “ See in my world when someone is in your way, you either take them out or you force them to see your line of thinking, now I hear that this family is bad news but if we are going to get that funding we can't do it while the old man is around,” said Ray. “ So long as Godfrey leads that family we aren’t getting the funding so that’s a dead-end,” said Derrick. “ maybe it doesn’t have to be, let’s go to everyone else and put our hands together surely we could come up with something, besides f**k the Molefes,” said Gerry. “ So we pitched this idea to the other heads, what's to stop them taking over the whole operation?” asked Francis. “ the Colombians and Mexicans will only talk to me” replied Ray who then began to smile.

Ludo's stomach cramps had begun to subside, but they had been substituted by sudden waves of nausea. She had been to the pharmacy and had bought over the counter medication. She was optimistic that she would be feeling better soon. She checked her cycle app and she knew her period could start at any time. The water bottle technique her mother had introduced her to was starting to work. She got up and went and sat at her study desk and began to type her essays that were due. Her father knocked and entered her room and said “ hey baby girl I’m heading to the store you want me to get you anything” “ just some orange juice daddy” she replied. “ okay come to the living room and wait for me till I get back,” he said. She followed him to the living room and watched him drive away. She sat in the living room typing her assignments before she felt thirsty and decided to go into the kitchen to get something to drink. As she opened up the fridge the odor of the Feta cheese in the fridge made her stomach turn, she then ran to the bathroom and began to vomit as soon as she saw the toilet.

Mr. Molefe had Brutus and Themba in his office. They were discussing the issue of Ray Haines. “ so the number one dealer of the Khosa family came to you for a loan. I don’t know boss drug dealers tend to be ruthless sometimes although a small fish like Ray ain’t going to do s**t” said Brutus. “ yeah but he might try something if he has the silent backing of  3 members of the big 5” replied Themba. “ if that’s the case then let’s kill him before he becomes a problem, s**t I’ll fly to Johannesburg and put a bullet in him myself” said Brutus as he did a pistol firing sound “ no that’s not going to work, it will only give Gerry another reason to want a war with us” said Themba. Mr. Molefe watched them go back and forth for a while before he stood up. When he stood up they went silent. “ I want you guys to get some of your men to listen to street chatter about this Ray Haines guy, not only that I want to know who he’s meeting, who he’s f*****g, and also who of the big 5 is on cahoots with this guy. Once we know that then we can decide the best course of action because it seems like he and Gerry might want to become problems. Oh and by the way, Brutus tells Mark to be on standby” 

“ Mr. Khatombela, thank you for meeting me at such short notice,” said Patrick. “ No worries Patrick, the wife wanted to go see Robben island and I figured I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Let's get to it shall we, she thinks I’ve gone to get takeaways.” “ well Mr molefe said we can go well you know excuse my French but he said we can go f**k ourselves and well I have to admit sir Ray and my brother Gerry were thinking about sending him into early retirement”. Mr. Khatombela c****d his head sideways “ why would you want to do that” “ because they are divided on this decision and it’s the old man that stands in his way,” said Patrick. Mr. Khatombela shook his head and said “ if we take a shot at Sean's father trust me all it’s going to do is have him fighting us with everything he's got. Find another option”. Mr. Khatombela put on his glasses and left. Patrick picked up his phone and made a call “ hello Robert the meeting went like how you said it would” before he hung up.

Brutus was sitting at a restaurant enjoying a heavy meal when his phone chimed. It chimed again and again. Finally, Brutus picked it up and opened it, he saw pictures and decided to call Mr. Molefe “ hey Im about to send you a few pictures okay”. Mr. Molefe's phone beeped several times, he then put on his glasses and looked at the pictures Brutus had just sent him. It showed pictures of Mr. Khatombela in the Cape Town meeting with Patrick of the Khosa family. He then went to his office phone and summoned Tom and Sean. They arrived almost instantaneously and he started by speaking in Setswana “ bongwanakgangke yeo” which is Setswana for ‘ my children here is the issue at hand’ and he showed them the pictures. Tom and Sean glanced at each other before Sean said “ send Mark to get info from them about this meeting” “ I agree with Sean pops” said Tom. Mr. Molefe shook his head and said “ no no Mark doesn’t move silently. He leaves the body in his wake.” Sean then said “ so you want them to think we don’t know anything just yet” “ yes I want that. That way they are relaxed and when we strike back they’ll be shocked and the blow will be more fatal” said Tom.

Mr. Jimbo was finishing a lecture when he noticed Derrick waiting outside. As he walked out of the lecture hall Derrick tried to approach him and one of the guards dressed like a university student jumped on him before Harold shook his head and the guard let him go. “ Follow me,” Mr. Jimbo said. “ you coming to my place of work has me flattered. What do I owe the pleasure” asked Mr. Jimbo “ well Harold I thought I should update you. We have the support of Christopher and Francis to meet with Boago to iron out the little details of their arrangement. The Moles however seem divided at this point but it’s the old man against his sons'' said Derrick. Mr. Jimbo then sat back in his chair and put his hands together and said “ I will say this once and only once so listen to me, Derrick. You guys still have my support and protection at street level but I will pull away from this deal if there's any bloodshed, that means whatever you plan on trying to do to get Godfrey to come around it better not include an attempt on his life, because that will only start a war and I don’t want a war because war will interfere with my cash flow and I don’t want that. So you tell your brother and Ray that no one dies in order to keep my protection. Are we clear” “ crystal,” said Derrick? “ Well then Derrick I papers to grade so if that’s all '' Derrick left and Mr. Jimbo began marking.