DON'T GET CAUGHT

DON'T GET CAUGHT EPISODE TWO

We got to the car wash and Kevin told me to wait outside the office as he went in to talk to the owner of the car wash. He wasn't there throughout but we were lucky enough to find him on that particular day and after waiting for a while Kevin and the guy walked out. He was about 5'4 and looked like he was in his fifty's or sixties. He shook my hand and we talked for a while. I was still carrying my bag with me since it was not a guarantee that I would go back to kevin's place for obvious reasons. He called one of his employees and asked him to brief me on the stuff I needed to know and also teach me how to wash inside and outside of a car. The boss was in a hurry to leave so he said we would talk later on when he came back.

I thanked kevin for his effort to get me a job and the agreement was that we would keep in touch as he looked for something even better..

The employee asked me to follow him and I did like a dog following a bone. This was my only hope and i was going to do whatever it took.

"My name is Luke"

He introduced himself as he grabbed the cleaning equipments.

Me: I’m Steve.

Luke: the job is not hard. You will have learned by the end of the day. Our boss is a good man. If you do your work well, you won't have to worry about anything.

Me: good to know.

The day went by real fast. Luke tagged me along Every time he was handling a customer so that I could get the concept.

"That was easy, I can do this." I thought to myself.

We did a few more cars and i even got to clean one under Luke's supervision. Eventually, evening came and the two employees left.The boss didn't come back and I was left washing a client’s car and I was glad they had gone because I didn't want them to know I was homeless at the moment.

There was this car near the gate of the garage that had no tires and didn't look like it could go back on the road anytime soon. We chilled in there during the day when there was no client and I knew for sure that that's where I was going to spend the night, the seats were comfortable enough and it didn't matter because all i needed was a place to lay my head..

I finished with the client and the moment he drove out of the gate I took my bag and walked to the car to hide my bag and see if I could stroll around and find some roasted maize. I didn't have money to buy proper dinner and I couldn't use the money from the car wash either.

As I was strolling down the road I saw a place where a few men were seated having some food. A woman was serving them and so I decided to go there and see what my twenty shillings could get me. When i got to the entrance of the wooden kiosk, the woman looked at me and smiled then ushered me in.

Her: come on in my son, what do I offer you today?

I smiled. She sounded like I had been there before. I was embarrassed with my twenty shillings but I couldn't turn back. I pulled her to the side and showed her the only money I had with me.

Me: I only have with me a twenty shilling coin and am not sure of what that would do for me.

I chucked the twenty shilling coin from my pocket and showed it to her and She smiled again as i embarrassingly looked around to make sure no one else heard our conversation.

Her: Don't be worried my son, for your twenty shillings I will give you two chapatis and a plate of beans.

Chapati was a delicacy made of wheat floor and was eaten with any type of stew.

This was in deed my lucky day. God really knows how to work miracles and answer prayers. You can see it as a small thing but you would understand my Chronicles if you have slept hungry countless nights.

I sat by the table waiting patiently for her to serve me and the people around seemed to be enjoying their meals. The place wasn't Fancy at all but for it to be that full, she ought to have been doing a good job.

The food was nice. I never thought I would eat in such a place but after the roller coaster of a life my dad had put us through I knew better than to act expensive. Swahili women make the best dishes. When I was done eating she gave me some drinking water and I promised to be back every day for my meals.

It was already dark when I got back to the car wash so I locked the gate and settled into the car to catch some sleep but that night I could not sleep. I kept thinking of the things I needed to have achieved by the end of that month, one of them being getting a phone so that I could communicate to mum and check on her knowing the condition I left her in.

This had been my life for the last three weeks and today marked the end of it. I was settled in the car as usual after having dinner at the joint. My mind had been clouded with thoughts so I rested my head on my bag to catch some sleep as usual when I heard a car drive into the compound in a speed that wasn't usual. It was followed by footsteps of people talking in low tones and immediately I knew something was wrong. I raised my head slightly and saw my boss's car parked in front of the office with three men escorting him inside each carrying a gun. I froze for a minute not knowing what to do so I made sure my eyes surveyed the entire compound to make sure those were the only guys before I slowly got out of the car through the back window which had no glass. It must have been smashed when whatever happened to it happened. I didn't want to raise an alarm so I tiptoed to my boss’s car and looked inside but there was no one. They must have left in a hurry because they forgot to lock the door. I looked inside the car to see if I could find a weapon just in case there was need for defense and there was nothing. I remembered Luke telling there was a place in the car where rich people kept their guns.

I checked that place and yes there was indeed a gun. I took it and checked if it was loaded and yes it was. I got out of the car and slowly walked towards the office being very careful not to be seen.

I hid behind the door when I heard footsteps coming towards the exit. The man walked out not seeing me and I knew I could take the two people inside. This was the chance to see if my father's training would bear any fruits. I walked in and the two guys were busy stuffing money in their bags. They didn't look up and so I assumed that they thought I was the other guy who was meant to guard the door. My boss had seen me and was trying to act as calm as possible so I walked towards one of the men and grabbed his neck with my arm and pressed it tightly towards my chest. The other was busy in the drawer with his back turned to me so I shot him twice and he dropped on the Boss' watch. The one whose neck I was holding had already dropped his gun and my boss hurried and picked it up pointing at him but he did not shoot.

The gun shot attracted the attention of the one who was outside and instead of running for his life, we heard footsteps of him coming back to the office so i had my gun aimed at the door because I knew for sure he was going to come running in and when he did I shot him in the head and he dropped dead as well. I let go of the one whose neck I was holding and he dropped down dead too. He must have suffocated from luck breath.

The gun shots had attracted attention from outside and just when we thought we were out of danger, we had gun shots smash all the windows and a bullet made its way to my boss's arm making him drop to the ground.

Me: s**t!

Boss: we are under attack; it wasn't a three men operation.

Me: so what do we do now?

It was hard to think fast with bullets and glass flying all over. This is the day I get to die and just like that I will never make it up to my mum. I thought to myself..

I couldn't tell what was happening because by now I had expected the guys shooting at us to have come inside to finish us. I had to think and fast. I crawled with my belly and got to the store that was not far from where i was.

Inside the store was another door that led to the back of the office. I had found that out when I was cleaning the office earlier in the day so I took the key and slowly opened that door. I was hoping that the door wouldn't make any noise because I would definitely get busted and get ourselves killed.

I checked outside and there was no one. I rushed back to get my boss and he was bleeding. I didn't know how to give him a first aid under such harsh conditions so I grabbed his arm and led him to the store where I had found our escape route.

Just when we were about to get out I saw a man approaching with a gun. I took a step back inside and let my boss sit on a chair behind the door. The man had not seen me so I was waiting for him. I didn't know how I was going to go about it since I couldn't just blow off his brains because that would be a sure death for both me and the boss not knowing how many more were out there.

My boss had lost a lot of blood but I still got comfort in the fact that it's his arm that got shot and not any other delicate part. He looked tired, maybe from the bleeding or he was just afraid to die. I took off my belt and held it in my hand ready for an attack. I stood behind the door with my heart beating so fast as the man slowly pushed the door open. I waited for him to get inside and as he tiptoed towards the door leading to the office I jumped on his neck with the belt and strangled him. I held on to the belt tightly as he struggled to make noise but he couldn't. The belt had cut off air from his system and when his neck snapped, he died. I have never killed anyone before, not until today. I had to do it; God knows I was defending myself against armed men who couldn't give a damn about me. When he dropped at my feet, I kicked him to make sure he was really dead then I heard the other guys inside the office, it seemed like they were looking for something.

I grabbed my boss's arm and dragged him out the door. There was no one outside so we had to move as fast as we could and when we got to his Jeep; I opened the back door and pushed him on the backseat. I ran to get on the driver's seat and the moment I started the car, I saw two men run outside and they started shooting at me, luck was on my side as the Windows were bullet proof. I reversed the car and drove as fast as I could ready to hit anything and anyone that got in my way and when we were far away from the scene I slowed down to check on my boss, he was groaning in pain and I was torn in between taking him to a hospital or going to the police station...