Taking care of business

DUTY AND DESIRE.
STORY BY BELLA ROYALTY.
P2/17.

[NKOSINATHI ZUNGU, MR PRESIDENT]
It's been 10+ years ever since I took office and became the president of this great nation, I will be honest, it hasn't been easy, I have been tested in this office but not more than I have been today.

Usually when a day starts badly you have hope that at least it won't end the same way it started, the Gods clearly aren't in my favour today, it went from bad to worse, my head is spinning, I feel like I'm losing my mind, more than anything as a president, today I am being tested.

There's this whole live public execution situation that I have to address, my people are starting to panic and rightfully so, what they witnessed today was gruesome, that was someone's husband, father, son, brother that was shot at the back of his head for the whole country to witness, an innocent man, whose fault was executing his president's order which was to drive a bus to the border, that was his crime.

Secondly, when you take office, you're told about the possibility of your family and loved ones being used as a target to get to you as the president, in the past 10+ years, we've never faced a threat that would go as far as targeting my family and loved ones to get to me, today was the first time and the ordeal has left the entire nation and party seething, if Aphiwe and her team been a minute early to the cars, they would have died.

I was told the only reason they seemed to have stalled was because an old man who had requested to speak to Aphiwe, thank God for her heart because she actually gave the old man a chance to speak, and just as they were approaching the cars, the bomb exploded.

It has been made clear to me that these people mean business, serious business to a point whereby I'm even considering of buckling under pressure and giving them what the want, which is for me to admit that I had a hand in 200 people's death and that I will be stepping down as the president, this is to keep the 24 people held hostage alive as well as Aphiwe because I don't know what they are planning next and only God knows if they will be successful this time or not, as the president and as a man, I cannot risk it.

Currently, the office is in chaos, the PR Team is trying to write a statement for me, calming down the people of South Africa, the military is here to come up with solutions to this national threat and I am just watching everyone running around like headless chickens.

Bonnie comes to me and whispers that the Bhengu family has arrived, I nod in response and then slip away from the table.

This is not the way I had hoped we'd meet each other.
Bonnie: Sir, this is the Bhengu family, Mr and Mrs Bhengu Snr and this is…
Andile: It's an honor to meet you Mr President, I'm Andile, Aphiwe's older brother and this is Nolwazi, my wife.
Me: Pleasure to finally meet you all, I'm sorry that it had to be under these circumstances.
Mr Bhengu: Don't apologise ndodana, I hope you're not blaming yourself for this.
Me: I can't help but feel responsible sir, it was my duty to protect her.
Mrs Bhengu: Oh you poor child, you don't get it do you? Our daughter is alive and she escaped with minor injuries all because of your team who sacrificed themselves in order to save her, we will forever be grateful.

I nod as we enter where Aphiwe was being treated.
Mrs Bhengu: Aphiwe!
Aphiwe: Mom! Dad! What are you guys doing here?
Mrs Bhengu: We heard what happened! What do you mean what are we doing here?
Aphiwe: Oh my God I'm fine!
Andile: We had to be sure, someone took a video of the explosion, initially they were taking a video of you since you're famous now, they didn't expect to capture something like that.
Aphiwe: I was so scared…

I decided to give them space as a family, so I bumped into Melusi.
Melusi: Sir.
Me: Melusi.
Melusi: Your presence is needed at the U.R, the O.B is here.
Me: Hopefully they have something useful, these people have gone way too far Melusi.
Melusi: I agree.

We walked inside the office and the 5 agents were there, the table was filled with pictures.
Me: Gentlemen?
Agent 01: Mr President.
Me: What do we have here?
Agent 03: Here, we have the whole Hounds of Justice team.
Melusi: You've got to be kidding me, how did you manage to get all of this information?
Agent 04: We got their arms supplier, he was able to identify two of them and from there we just worked with that.

I looked at the pictures, I couldn't even recognize one person.
Agent 05: It gets interesting, we figured the old man who stalled Dr Aphiwe must have known what was up and he tried to save her life so we looked him up, he is related to this one.
Me: So they are all working together? They look South African, I thought we were dealing with Zimbabweans here?
Agent 01: The whole team is South African Sir.
Melusi: What? That doesn't make any sense then why are they after the president? Is this even about justice for the fallen 200?

One of their phones rang and he answered the call.
Agent 01: We have the location of where the 200 are being kept.
Me(shocked): What the hell is going on here Agent 01? The 200 is still alive?
Agent 02: It appears so, Mr President, we have to go and retrieve the 200 and then we will continue with this brief.
Me: Make sure you bring them home safe Agent 02, no mistakes.

They nodded.
Agent 01: In the meantime please try and see if there's anyone you recognize from this list.
Melusi: Goodluck gentlemen.

They walked out and Melusi and I looked at each other.
Melusi: We are getting closer Sir.
Me: We have the faces of the men that are trying to ruin us Melusi, do you recognize any of them?
Melusi: This one seems familiar, doesn't he look like Mr Bhengu?

I took the picture and inspected it, I mean there was a bit of resemblance.
Me: Bring Mr Bhengu here, Melusi.
Melusi: Yes sir.

He walked out, there were no names, just faces of them, the two looked familiar, what the hell was going on here?

________

Melusi came back with Mr Bhengu and I was seated on the table with the two pictures in hand.
Mr Bhengu: Mr President.
Me: Mr Bhengu, out of courtesy for my relationship with your daughter, I asked that you be brought here, however I should have had you detained and sent to the interrogation room, please tell me that I didn't make a mistake by doing that and that you'll tell me what the hell is going on.

He swallowed, he looked over at Melusi and saw that he meant business, he knows what's happening, if that's the case, why didn't he alert me sooner?

Mr Bhengu: Can I have a seat?
Me: Please sit.

He took a deep breath.
Mr Bhengu: I have 3 siblings, a sister and two brothers, the two brothers joined the military, one as an airforce sergeant and the other as a grounds operator, however the airforce operator had to return after being in an accident which forced him to retire, we didn't get along very much because when he retired, he ventured into something else, he used his connections to sell illegal military weapons and he recruited the other brother who was still serving, unfortunately the one who was still serving was caught and arrested, he never gave up the other brother's name, he took the fall while the other one continued building his profile as a kingpin, I was against his lifestyle and we clashed a lot.

He kept quiet for a while and I raised the two pictures for him.
Me: Is it them?
Mr Bhengu: That's Bangizwe and Khathaza.
Me: Who is the kingpin?
Mr Bhengu: Khathaza.
Me: Carry on.

Mr Bhengu: We fell for the same woman unfortunately, Aphiwe's mother, and for a while she was confused as well, she didn't know who she wanted, the bad boy or the good boy, eventually I won, or so I thought, we got married, we had Andile, I got a job as a truck driver and I was out of the province a lot, one day I came home unannounced and found my brother and wife intimate.

I closed my eyes.
Mr Bhengu: We sent him to jail for rape.

Excuse me?
Melusi: Mr Bhengu, did I hear you correctly?

Mr Bhengu: He didn't rape her, they were in a relationship, she told me she was inlove with the both of us, what is that? I loved my wife, so I forced her to choose, she chose me and I forced her to open a case against Khathaza, to say he assaulted her, that is how spent almost 28 years in jail.

Melusi couldn't believe this, heck neither could I, what? Wait a damn minute!
Mr Bhengu: A few months later, we found out that my wife was pregnant, DNA tests were done, I wasn't the father of the child, my brother was but I raised the child as mine.
Me: Aphiwe?
Mr Bhengu: Yes.
Melusi: Jesus!
Me: So why the hell is he coming after me? Why is he trying to kill his own daughter? Does he not know that Aphiwe is his daughter?

Mr Bhengu: He knows, he knows Aphiwe is his daughter, as for why he's doing all of this I don't know, I would have expected all of this to be happening to us, I expected him to seek revenge for falsely accusing him of rape against my wife, I promise you sir, I don't know why he is doing this or even why he's trying to kill Aphiwe.

I exhaled.
Me: We need to find out why he's attacking the government, as for Aphiwe, he knows how much you love her, and he knows that you think because she's his child, he'd never hurt her and he's proving you wrong, he doesn't care about Aphiwe, prison might have changed him, is there a way that we can find him or Bangizwe?

Mr Bhengu: When we pressed charges, the family was divided, they didn't think we took the right decision by sending him to jail, they believed we could have sorted this issue as a family seeing that both my wife and Khathaza had history, as a result we weren't even informed of his release.

I nodded.
Me: Melusi, we need more information on Bangizwe and Khathaza, their connection to Zimbabwe.
Melusi: Yes sir.

He took the pictures and walked out and I was left with Mr Bhengu.
Mr Bhengu: I'm sorry Mr President, I know that I shouldn't have lied to the authorities or forced my wife to lie, but it was the only way I could stop my brother from ruining this country with drugs and illegal military weapons, I understand that I may have created a monster out of him, the decision I took back then wasn't just about who he was but it was out of pain and jealousy, I sent my own brother to jail because I wanted him far away from my wife.

Me: I could have you locked up, you know that right?
Mr Bhengu: I know.
Me: But I won't, this conversation never happened.

He looked at me shocked.
Me: However, Aphiwe needs to know the truth.
Mr Bhengu: I understand, thank you, you're a good man Nkosinathi and my daughter is lucky to have you.

I nodded.

[MELUSI SHOZI, CHIEF OF STAFF]
The research team finally had something to report, Nkosinathi also joined us as they were about to tell us their findings.

Me: You good sir?
Nkosinathi: I'm good Melusi, thank you.

He wasn't okay and nobody could blame him, today has been a lot.
Melusi: Sebastian, we may begin.

Sebastian: 28 years ago, Khathazamadoda was arrested for sexual assault against Patricia Bhengu, his brother's wife after the brother, Bhekumuzi Bhengu walked in on the ordeal, he was trialed and found guilty and sentenced to 60 years in jail with a possibility of a parole after half of the sentence had been served.

We nodded.
Sebastian: These were the people in charge of the case, from the policeman that was called to the scene, to the judge who issued the ruling.
Nkosinathi: Wait…that's my father.

Indeed, his father was a policeman before he ventured into politics.

Sebastian: What you'll notice about all of these people is that they are all dead, everyone that was part of this man's arrest.
Nkosinathi: My father died of a heart attack.

Sebastian: We have reason to believe that all these killings weren't a coincidence, we believe that Khathaza had been planning his revenge on everyone who was working on his case at the time.

This is deep.
Sebastian: We would like to believe that he's coming after the president because he's the son of the policeman that arrived on the scene and put handcuffs on him that night since he couldn't get to the President's father since he died of a heart attack.

Nkosinathi: You've got to be kidding me, instead of going after the people that lied, he's coming after the justice system?

Sebastian: It doesn't end there sir, he's been bought to bring this current administration down, look who has been visiting him in the past couple of months.

We looked at the list.
Me: I will be damned! Minister of Finance?
Sebastian: Guess what? His wife is from Zimbabwe and who's her cousin?
Nkosinathi and I: The president of Zim.

I clapped my hands in disbelief.
Me: What?! What is Thabo trying to achieve? We literally handed him that position and this is the thanks we get?

Agent 05 walked in.
Agent 05: I believe that's not all, Thabo is the founder of the new party, but of course he's behind the scenes and guess who is the funder?
Me: Zimbabwean government?

Nkosinathi: This is big Melusi, they found the perfect candidate for the job, someone who already had a bone to pick with me, all he needed was motivation, as for Thabo? I'm disappointed, I expected something like this from the Deputy President or something, not a damn minister! Not someone who won't even become the president should I step down.

Me: We have to handle this discreetly, we shouldn't raise suspicion, they shouldn't know that we know what they are up to.
Sebastian: Is the President of Zim still coming here?
Me: Yes he is.
Nkosinathi: We have to be careful about how we deal with this, what we've just discussed cannot be repeated outside of these walls.

We nodded.
Nkosinathi: Agent 05, how did the extraction go?
Agent 05: Package is on its way sir.
Nkosinathi: I fear it will raise suspicion.
Me: I agree, once they notice that they are gone, they might retaliate.
Nkosinathi: We need a plan, urgently.

We stood up.
Me: Who are you handling?
Nkosinathi: Leave the president of Zim to me, handle the Minister and his wife.
Me: Do you still remember where your Sunday outfit is?

We laughed.
Nkosinathi: It's probably gathering dust somewhere, don't worry about me, make sure you make it painful as possible and he must know who sent you.
Me(smiles): Be careful sir with the President.
Nkosinathi: I have a trip to Zim that I have to take, see you soon old friend.

He turned the other way, they've pissed the wrong man, I fear for that Zim President, our President is a retired special black operations officer, his agent name was Silent killer, that's where we met actually, undercover.