Looming war
Tensions are running high at the Taxi owners meeting where levels of trust have never ever been this low. All the gentlemen in the room are keeping a strong eye on each other as things look like they could get out of hand any time now. Zikode had convened an urgent meeting, much to everyone's surprise as no one had prepared for it. He wanted to discuss the volatile situation the association is finding itself in regarding the recent shootings that have since claimed lives of two taxi drivers."Alright gentlemen, please calm down. That is the reason why we are all here, isn't it? We are here to find out what happened." Zikode says as he tries to calm the situation down in this tension-filled room at a local school hall. This seems to calm everyone down for a moment.
"Look guys, we may have a lead on this. We may soon find out who killed Njenje or Fezile or if these two murders are linked" Zikode says to what seems to start another commotion in the room. While everyone seems to demand more explanation from Zikode, it is a little different for Mthoko who seems to immediately go into panic mode as he looks around the room. He is worried if Bhekani has been discovered in this. He looks at Zikode in the eyes to try and read if he knows something. It doesn't look like it helps as Zikode isn't giving much away. He must play poker with a face like that.
"Who is the suspect Zikode?" one man shouts from the back, but before he could respond, another voice echoes, "Yes, we'd like to know who is that? Is it anyone from amongst us here?" it shouts. This leads to an awkward silence from Zikode who thinks for a second what to say.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa gentlemen" he says as he motions with his hands. "At this present moment I cannot reveal that information as things aren't as certain as yet. But I promise that we are doing anything we can to swiftly deal with this matter" as he looks across the hall, to which everyone suddenly becomes calm. "Who are you working with on this matter Zikode? The police?" Mthoko asks with a rather anxious voice. What he is hoping for is that Zikode doesn't read his eyes that have suddenly opened wide. He would love to know what his colleague knows because his life depends on in.
"Unfortunately, I can't tell you either, Sibisi" Zikode says as he looks at Mthoko with a straight face that doesn't give much away. Another awkward silence passes as the two gentlemen try to read each other. It's difficult to know what each man is thinking at the moment.
"Another matter we have to deal with is the issue of the police" Morena says as he breaks the silence to which Mthoko gives him a look as if to say Did you have to bring that up? But Morena gets the vote of approval as most men in the room nod in agreement? "Issue of the police? What do you mean?" Mthoko asks as he tries too desperately to hide the nerves. "I mean we must find out about who tells the police that this is a turf war between owners. Clearly someone is deliberately trying to throw the public off the trail here, Sibisi" Morena says to the resounding approval of the people. That suddenly sends Mthoko quiet. He doesn't want to get people suspicious.
"I agree with Morena" Zikode says as he motions with his hand up. "We need to know where the police get that information from. Clearly there's more to this story than meet the eye, right?" as he looks across the room of men who nod in agreement with him.
"I suppose you are right" Mthoko says as he jumps in. "We need to find out from Fezile and Njenje's friends if they knew anything. We need to know if they had any enemies or something like that. We all agree that this isn't about turf wars, right? In that case then it could have been something personal. We need to know if these two were killed for something unrelated to the industry...if maybe they did some other business with dangerous people. We need to know if they had something with them that these people wanted" he says as he looks at Zikode, who seems be caught off guard by that.
He is now hoping that this statement didn't give too much away, but he's pleased to see the discomfort it caused Zikode whose face changed to be a little tense. He is also hoping that now this will make him stop pursuing this issue any further, as doing so may just expose the operation he has with Faroukh.
For a moment there, Zikode doesn't seem to know how to respond to what Mthoko is saying as he fixes his eyes on him. But he is rescued by Morena who says, "Yes, Sibisi is right" with a loud voice. "If indeed these killings weren't taxi related, they must have been personal. Njenje was with some Pakistani guy we don't know. It seems to me that there was something going on there. Whether that incident is related to the Fezile one, we don't know but we must find out. We must find out if they were involved in some shady dealings so that we know whether it's something that can affect the industry or not. Remember gentlemen, all eyes are on us as it is." he says, much to the resounding approval across the room.
At that, Zikode has no any other choice but to also nod in agreement. This seems to give the worry-faced Mthoko a much needed breather as he gives a smile of approval while pulling away from eye contact on a discouraged Zikode. The meeting goes on for about another hour as the owners continue to engage on this matter
***
Meanwhile, Faroukh is meeting some mysterious people in a very secret location, to discuss the business transaction he'll be facilitating soon. This place is in the underground bunker at a privately owned golf estate. This resort is where very important people come and make business deals while pretending to play golf. But very few of these rich people have been in this banker. It is very mysterious in a sense that there's this weird atmosphere about it. You can tell it is for secret meetings with people who don't want to be known.
It is a large room, well furnished with beautiful couches, a beautiful glass table, a mini wine cellar, and a mini bar. It is almost like a living room except that it doesn't have a TV or pictures on the wall. But what you can see is few weird paintings and a huge fish tank. It is completely sound proof and has no signal, so you can't make or receive any calls from inside. If that isn't spooky, what is?
The three gentlemen themselves who are meeting Faroukh are mysterious with black suits. One man has a beard and is tall. He looks like an ex soldier or something. The one in the middle is a little short and is bald. He carries a briefcase with him, not clear what could be in there. The third guy is wearing glasses and has a very serious face about him. There is an ash trey next to him with a smoking cigar. They look very important. They sit there with drinks on their hands but have a poker face it's hard to read which side they are leaning towards in this conversation their having. From reading Faroukh's face, he is having a very nervy moment in there.
"So Faroukh you asked to come and meet us, I hope you have good news because the boss has been waiting for you to make good on your promise. Yes?" the bald guy says as he lifts his glass slowly and drinks while fixing his eyes on a nervously looking Faroukh. "Where is he? I told him it's he that I wanted to talk to, alright?" he says with a nervous voice not knowing how the gentlemen would react to his protest. "Don't worry about the boss. He sent us here to hear what you have to say. So what do you have for us?" another man with glasses on says as he looks at Faroukh dead in the eyes. He is showing no emotion at all.
"Look guys, I know I had delayed the meeting with my delegates, I just had a little hiccup that I had to take care of here and..." Faroukh says with a low voice but he doesn't finish as one man interrupts him, "A little hiccup, you say?" the man asks with a raised voice sounding upset.
"Faroukh, dealing with your associates getting killed and merchandise worth millions isn't a small hiccup now, is it?" as he looks at a terrified looking Faroukh who seems to be lost for words. "You think we don't know what's been going on down there in South Coast Faroukh?" another man asks. "We know that your recklessness may end up jeopardizing this deal we are trying to tie down with your people, do you understand that?" as he raises his glass slowly to finish whatever was left in the glass. He looks really upset at Faroukh as his eyes are beginning to turn dark.
"Look I know what is at stake okay?" Faroukh says as he gathers courage to look at the men in the eyes. "The deal is still on. I just need to take care of this little problem here and then we will set the date with my people to fly over. Tell your boss that nothing has change alright?" he says as he downs whatever was left on his glass.
"Look Faroukh, we don't care about this side business you have going on there in South Coast. But if your business keeps showing up in the news it will eventually put us in the spotlight too and we don't like that, you understand?" the man with the glasses asks fiercely. "Yes, yes, yes I understand" Faroukh says as he rolls his eyes, seemingly annoyed. "Quit the attitude okay?" the bald guy says. "Or you want the whole world to know, including law enforcement what you are really up to in South Coast with Taxi business?" he says, much to Faroukh's dread. He seems a little caught off guard by that as he becomes wide-eyed.
"No, come on. No need for that okay? So please calm down" he says as he motions with his hands but the three just look at him without showing any emotion. He lets out a little smile to try and break the ice but it doesn’t seem to work. The last thing he wants is to be on the bad books of these people.
"Uhmm, while we are on that...do you think you can find out who killed my men and who is feeding misinformation to the media?" he asks with a nervous smile hoping for a little favor but the man simultaneously stand up, to which Faroukh himself is forced to stand with them. "Look Faroukh, that's not our business and that's definitely not our job, alright? We can't help you on this one, sorry" the beard man says as the other one leads Faroukh out of the room while they all follow him out.
***
At the police station police officers Mxolisi Zwane and Thoko Ximba who are investigating the Fezile case find themselves with their hands full as the murder of a taxi driver Njenje is added to this. These two detectives have a descent experience within the police service as Mxolisi joined the force 14 years ago at the age of 24 and has been a detective for 6 years now. He is not married but has a son who is 11.
His partner Thoko on the other hand joined in 12 years ago, 2 years after Mxolisi. She was 22 years then and has been detective for 5 years. She is married, for 8 years already and has two kids- a daughter who is 8 and a son who is 4. She and Mxolisi have been work partners for 3 and half years now. From the look of things they are both very dedicated to their job and work extra hours to try and solve cases. But this one is their hardest yet as evidence is hard to come by and they seem to struggle with getting all the information they need from their superiors to solve this case.
"Look, so what do you think?" Thoko asks as she stands next to the storyboard where she seems to have written a few names around a circle and has put question marks on all of them. They are in a small debrief room, not the same as the one where the commissioner met Captain Dube the other day.
"Uhmm, well this Mrs. Ximba, tells me that we have nothing okay?" Mxolisi says as he sits on top of the desk looking at what his partner had put up on the board. "Yeah I know okay?" Thoko says as she sighs, looking at the board again. "It doesn't help that we haven't been able to link the murder of Fezile to this latest one, Njenje. No one is talking and we are being restricted to dig deeper" as she looks frustrated. "Yeah I know hey" Mxolisi jumps in. "The captain says he's also trying to dig but he keeps on bumping into walls" as he shrugs his shoulders and drinks his coffee they bought on their way back to the station.
"But why is there such a mystery around this case?" Thoko asks curiously as she looks to the ceiling. "It's as if some people don't want us to find anything hey" she scratches her head. "Yeah look, we just have to keep trying okay? We can't give up now" Mxolisi says as he comes to stand next to Thoko, looking at the board.
"So we can't link any of these people to these murders?" he says as he looks closely at the names on the board. "No, not really." Thoko says with a low disappointed voice. She really looks exhausted from all this. "You heard for yourself from most of these people. Fezile's friends told us what they know or what they say they only know about him and his work as a taxi driver. Same thing with this guy, Njenje. His friends say they have no idea about any other business other than that he drove taxis, you know" as she sips on her coffee. She goes and sits on top of the front desk and looks at the names from a distance.
"And this Nazeel guy, did the..." Mxolisi says but he doesn't finish as Thoko cuts him off, "Oh yeah Home Affairs came back to me." she says. "Nazeel was a Pakistani national, his papers were fake" as she moves from the desk to come closer to a shocked Mxolisi.
"So you say he was in this country illegally?" he asks as he takes a closer look at the names. "Oh yeah" Thoko gives a quick response. "But apparently he had a family here. Home Affairs is still checking them out so we are waiting. It could be that they are not his real family as well. But why he got shot and how is he linked to a South African taxi driver, that's just a mystery for now" as she goes back to sit on the desk. "Yeah, this doesn't feel right" Mxolisi says as he brushes his lower lip. "Clearly something really big is going on here. Njenje, from what we gathered from his friends and family he didn't know any Pakistani national or atleast he never mentioned him.
If he doesn't mention him it may mean he was doing some shady business with that guy and we must find out what it is, okay?" he says looking at the intensely on the board. "Yeah you are right" Thoko says as she jumps in. "Maybe we should go see that reporter, what's her name?" she says as he goes over the board to read a name.
But before she could say it, Mxolisi cuts her off, "Are you insane?" he raises his voice. "We can't do that and..." he doesn't finish as Thoko cuts him off, "What do you mean we can't do that?" she says. "Can't we question her to see if she knows something we don't?" as she looks at the ceiling as if she's thinking deep. "Look, she won't tell us who her source is okay?" Mxolisi says as if he's whispering. "Well, it won't hurt to try now, will it?" Thoko says as she looks to the ceiling again. "Look, I was thinking...What if the Captain and this journalist, Phuthuma share a source? Wouldn't that be interesting?" as she looks at the board again.
"Oh come on" Mxolisi jumps in. "You heard the Captain. He didn't say there is a source, he just said the police's preliminary thinking is that this could be linked to taxi turf wars, that's all" as he comes to sit on the desk again. "Well, look at the time" he says as he looks at his watch. "I have a kid that is waiting for me at home, it's late. And you have a family waiting for you at home too the last time I checked" as he grabs his jacket and keys. "Damnit, yeah hey. I really do" Thoko says as she shrugs her shoulders before she grabs her keys as well and they both walk out the door.
***
Few days later Mthoko is at relaxing home in the early Saturday evening with his family, something he hasn't done in a little while. The past few weeks around these hours he'd normally be attending back to back meetings and arriving home late to a sleepy house. Today he had decided that he really needs to touch base with all his kids to see how everyone is doing.
"Sweetheart, how was outing with your friends?" Mthoko asks his daughter Londiwe as she sits on the far end couch busy on the phone. His wife Lindiwe is in the kitchen preparing supper. Mbali who is sitting next to him is also on her phone, no one is really watching what's playing on TV. This is one thing that Mthoko doesn't like, people with phones during supper but since he hasn't been around much lately, he decides to not reign in on his children lest he brings unnecessary tension into the room.
"It was okay dad, thank you" Londiwe says as she continues to look at her phone with interest. "Oh that's good, I'm happy that you had a great time princess" Mthoko says with a smile but still noticing that he's not being given the attention. He thinks for a second if he wants to continue with this discussion.
"I was beginning to worry that you spend way too much time on at work and forget to take a break a little to have time for your friends and relax" he says to which it suddenly raises interest with his daughter, who puts the phone down and looks at her father. "Yeah dad, I needed the break a bit plus I had done most of the work last night so that I can free up space for my friends. I enjoyed seeing them actually" Londiwe says with a smile as she looks at her father who smiles back. This is the kind of ice breaker he was looking for, he thinks to himself.
"Okay that's good sweetheart" he says. "And you little lady. How is school?" as he turns to his younger daughter Mbali who was busy on the phone all along. "School is okay dad" she says as she also puts her phone down. "I'm on a netball team now and last week we won the regional tournament. Parents should have been there but hey what can we do?" as she shrugs her shoulders while looking at the TV.
This catches Mthoko off guard as he tries to think a minute, "Wait, when did you join the..." he asks but doesn't finish as Mbali cuts him off, "Does it matter now dad? We played and won, so let's move on from that" she says as she seems annoyed by her father. "No sweetheart, I'm mean, Uhmm..." Mthoko is lost for words as he sees the disappointment in his daughter's face but he is interrupted by his wife who comes through with a trey of food. "Baby, did you know that Mbali had joined the netball team and that she played at the tournament and won?" he asks his wife who almost trips over with the trey at the question. she feels put on the spot.
"Uhmm yeah, I mean she told me about it but I..." Lindiwe says but she seems lost for words there for a second, not knowing how to respond to that question. But before she could go any further they are interrupted by their son Thula, "Dad, bhuti Bhekani is here" he says turns around to go to outside to the yard to be with his friends.
"Hey young man, where do you think you are going?" Lindiwe shouts. "Say your goodbyes to your friends, it's time for supper and I won't be negotiating that" as she puts Mthoko's food down and looks at her husband who seems a little distracted. "Are you okay?" she asks curiously. "Yeah I'm okay babe" Mthoko says as he looks at the door to which it doesn't look like his wife appreciates. "Baby, it's supper time, with your family" she says with a very serious look. "Can't whatever Bhekani had to say wait till the morning?" she asks with a soft voice. Mthoko looks into her eyes and feels bad but his mind seems to already have been made up.
"Look baby, I will be really quick okay" he says as she he brushes his wife's shoulder. Lindiwe sighs as she looks at her husband with eyes of defeat as if to say, It's not like I have any say in this matter, do I? "Alright I'll just put your food in the warmer for you okay?" she says as she turns around and leaves. "Thanks sweetheart" Mthoko says with a smile as he rushes downstairs to the basement office.
***
"So Bhekani, what do you have for me?" Mthoko says immediately as he gets in the study and shuts the door. He finds Bhekani sitting on the couch with a glass of whiskey in his hand. Next to him is a huge black bag that zipped. He himself looks very uneasy and anxious as he stands up when he sees Mthoko coming through.
Without saying a word he takes the seemingly heavy bag and puts it on top of the table. "What's this?" Mthoko asks as he comes a little closer to have a look. "Well, boss this is the loot from that Pakistani shop" Bhekani answers as he unzips the black bag. At that Mthoko looks shocked at what he's sees in there. "What the hell?" he exclaims wide-eyed as the first thing he takes out of the bag is about 4 tons of C4. After that he pulls out a transparent plastic bag of cash that must have about R200,000 of 200 notes. As they are both shocked at this, he pulls out a few small fire arms of 9mm, two AK47 and three assault rifles. Lastly, he pulls out 4 kilos of coke.
"Whoa, man this is crazy" Bhekani says as he raises his voice a little bit. "No wonder this bag was so heavy" as he looks closely at what's before him. "Keep your voice down man" Mthoko whispers as he looks towards the door as if to check if no one is listening.
"So what about the target? Any other causalities?" he asks as he picks up one gun small fire arm to check if it has any bullet in the chamber. "No, no other casualties. It's just him. He was closing at that time, there were not witnesses so I wasn’t made" Bhekani says as he fixes he picks one assault riffle and checks it out. "Okay good, you did great man" Mthoko says with a sigh as he goes over to the side table to pour himself and Bhekani a drink. They lift their glasses in the air toast to a successful job. "So this won't come back to us, right?" Mthoko asks with a concerned face. "Because I don't want police coming knocking at my door and end up making me a lose end with the agency.
"No man, you can relax. It was a clean job and I took care of the body as well. So yeah, we are good." Bhekani says with a certain level of confidence. They both down their drinks in one go to calm themselves down a little bit. Then Mthoko goes to the safe and pulls a brown envelop.
"Well, this is for you man" he says as he gives it to Bhekani who receives it graciously. "Well, I know that you have your own arrangement with the guys you work with so..." Mthoko says but he doesn't finish as Bhekani cuts him off, "No, I worked alone this time" he says as he looks down. "Oh really? Why is that?" asks Mthoko who is taken aback with that. "Well, for starters I just couldn't get these two idiots on the phone for the whole week before this job so I had to go ahead with the planning and recon without them. You said this job was time sensitive, so I couldn't postponing it" Bhekani says as he sits on the couch, wondering if Mthoko is upset over that.
"I could have assembled another team but after what you told us I thought...maybe..." he is lost for words for a minute there but Mthoko cuts him off, "No look, you did great man" he says. "You are right, having a new team right now will just risk everything" as he comes to sit next to Bhekani. Suddenly he has this worried face about him.
"I'm worried about Mandla and Nsizwa bro. This isn't like them to disappear just like that, they know they are on call" Bhekani says with a low voice. "And to not be available at the same time? It doesn't sound right man" he is worried for sure. "Yeah man, it doesn't sit well with me man and I think I might know what happened" Mthoko says to which Bheki’s eyes suddenly lighten up as he becomes curious. "What do you mean?" he asks anxiously. This leads to leads to a little uneasy silence as Mthoko gets up to go and pour for them once again. "Look, at the taxi owners meeting, Zikode said he has a lead on who might have carried out a hit on Fezile" he says as he comes back to sit down.
This suddenly sends Bhekani's heart racing. "Did he say who?" he asks anxiously. "No man, he didn't" Mthoko says as he gives Bhekani a glass. "But my guess is that he probably has these guys and probably interrogating them as we speak" he says as he sighs deeply. Suddenly the mood changes in the room as both men wear concerned faces.
"So what do we do now man?" Bhekani asks curiously. This question leads to Mthoko to think a little bit. "Look, we have to find them first and then find out what happened. And then we will take things from there" he says as he downs his double in one go. Bhekani does the same as both men sit there for a while trying to figure things out.
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