ALL FOR MONEY

All I thought of doing was getting my children to safety, that's every mother's first instinct and even though I had panicked, i knew there was no other way because what I heard from the other end did not sound like a threat and again, having seen the gun and what they were capable of doing, I knew our lives were in danger.. I hurriedly walked towards Liam and gently grabbed his arm and lead him upstairs as i carried Jayden in the other arm, I had put my index finger on my mouth to give Liam a sign that he should not utter a single word. All this time, I was still on the phone with the stranger listening to him threatening to come in guns blazing if I didn't let them in. what did they really want?... * On Fridays my husband Richard, two kids and I normally have a family day whereby we help with their homework, have dinner and watch movies together before Richard and I tuck them in bed. I don't have a house help as I prefer to raise my kids on my own. Liam is 6 years while Jayden is 2 years. From school, Liam is dropped by the school bus at the gate at around 4:30 pm. He gets the key from under the door mat, changes into his home clothes then have some snacks as he watches cartoons until Jayden and i get back from work thirty to forty five minutes later. I leave the boutique at exactly 4pm so that am home by 5pm to attend to my kids. the boys do sleep early and especially Liam because of the playing in school and interruction with the other kids, he comes home so exhausted that sometimes he ends up dozing off on the couch before dinner and so to avoid that, i have to make sure they are fed early enough so that they can retire to bed early. that evening, I was already done preparing dinner and was helping Liam with his homework as i fed Jayden just in case he fell asleep as we also waited for their dad to get home. Richard was unpredictable sometimes but he promised to be home early because a couple of days that week, he came home when the kids were already asleep and they never got to see each other because he left early in the name of being behind schedule for some deadline he needed to meet. * That day he was late again and even though I tried calling him severally I could not reach him and so I assumed it was one of those days that his phone went off for lack of battery charge or maybe the work load had become overwhelming yet he still had to meet deadlines. i was a good wife and never doubted Richard because he had never given me a reason to doubt him and so if he said he was working late, then he ought to have been working late. A few minutes later a call came through my phone and it was from a strange number. Now, am always hesitant to pick calls with unidentified numbers but this day I did pick it thinking it could have been Richard. I thought that maybe he could not use his phone and that he was reaching out with a different phone to tell me what had happened to him just to hear a strange Voice on the other end. I showed Liam what to do in the next page as I excused myself to pick the call. Me: hello? Voice: am I speaking to Linda? Me: yes, who is this please? Voice: that's not important. Listen, Your husband has something that belongs to us and we are here to get it. he was that straight to the point and when i heard those words, i felt blood rush in my body. i stopped feeding Jayden and concentrated on the call. Me: Who is this "us" and what is it that he has, my husband is not even here. voice: yes we know that because we have him and if you don't co-operate, I will kill him then kill you and any other thing we find breathing in that house. Me: what house, do you really know who you are talking to?.. Voice: look outside the window. I did pull the curtain slightly and took a look out the window and there was a van with two men standing outside it. one man was holding Richards arm as they had tied his hands and the other pointing a gun to his head. I could see the guard down and my guess was that they had shot him dead. I have never been so shocked my whole life. In the past, I had always heard of people raiding homes, attacking and killing but this, this was now me living the reality of something i had only seen in movies. Richard was not in a good condition as his white shirt had been soaked in blood while his head was still bleeding from something that looked like a thorough beating he had gotten from them. Voice: So where is it? Me: where is what? Voice: the money Me: what money? i asked still confused because Richard had not brought any money home and why would he even tell them I had money that he never gave?.. We got upstairs entered the kid's bedroom and I pushed Liam inside the closet and put Jayden close to him. I told them to be quiet as I closed the closet and quickly headed back to the kitchen. voice: the money that your husband told you to hide. Your husband owes us thirty million Kenyan shillings and we need it now. Are we getting the money or not? Me: I have no idea of what you are talking about. My husband.......... And before I could finish that sentence i saw one of the guy who had a gun to Richards head shoot him in the head and he dropped on the ground then immediately i heard the c*****g sound of a gun then watched them hurriedly walk towards the house. I grabbed one of the sharpest knives on the knife stand ready for war but as I rushed back up stairs to protect my babies, the door was kicked and they started spraying bullets as i could hear glasses shuttering. In the verge of running, I realized that I had dropped the phone After the shock that came about when I saw what had happened to Richard and so I couldn't call any one for help leave alone the police to come to my rescue. I got up stairs and ran into my room right opposite my babies room. I was really hoping Jayden wouldn't cry because the closet was dark and I didn't know where else to hide them. Liam is a bright boy, so he must have sensed danger and all I could do was count on him to keep both him and Jayden safe.... I knew they were very scared, but so was I..