Chapter 3
It was such a slow day at work, there were a few customers who came in at lunch but other than that nothing exciting. Finally I got the time to relax, it had been a rough few months and days like this didn’t come around very often. I sat at my desk jotting ideas for the house, both relaxed and excited at the same time I was thinking wooden floors, or marble? I had always wondered how much marble costs, probably far out my budget, but I just played with the ideas. Like a kid on Christmas day I was to ecstatic, I couldn’t wait to see her expression, she would be so surprised when she saw the house. I was clawing my way to a successful future and I believed the house would be the base we needed to mark the first mild stone on the way to happy ever after.
Suddenly my train of thought was interrupted by a loud rumbling, I shouted for my busboy to come switch off the dish washer. That raggedy old thing would shake so violently it would have the whole kitchen vibrating. There was no reply so I turned around to call him and realised the dish washer had not been turned on. Another rumbling, this time followed soon after by a shaking sensation throughout the entire kitchen. Oh no, It was happening again. The kitchen violently shook the sound of colliding pots and pans made the experience even more frightening. The white tiled walls started cracking straight down to the floor and then all of a sudden the windows burst throwing jagged glass across the room.
I was glued to my chair, unable to move from the fright which gripped me so tightly. I was soon snapped back to reality once a set of steak knife packed in the top cupboards came plummeting down towards my head. I threw myself to the floor just in time. Instinct took over and I crawled under my desk.
I was gripped with fear, curled up in the fetal position waiting for it to end. Layla! I had to find her; I knew how she broke down during the earthquakes. I had to make sure she as okay. So I tried finding my bearings,
“Okay Cairo breath, just relax its all going to be fine.” I started to count backwards,”6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,”I took another breath so hesitant to move.
My body felt like jelly unresponsive and uncooperative. I had to dig deep within myself and muster up all the courage I possessed. Finally I got out from underneath the desk .I knew what I had to do. She was my responsibility I had to protect her; I had to make sure she was okay so I started running.
The roads where chaotic a sense of desperation layered the city as people fled to the bridges tying t get off the island. In doing so havoc ran rampant as people left their cars abandoned, blocking off the roads, large crowds pushed their way through narrow building exits stamping anyone who fell to death, buildings motor shook loose capsizing the large structures. It was as if the Armageddon had arrived. No matter what chaos surrounded me, I just kept running, past lost children and delirious bystanders, through large crowds, she was my only priority and I was not stopping no matter what hellish sites I came across.
After three blocks I had reached our building, my chest burning and my heart pounding. I sprinted up the staircase screaming her name,” Layla, Layla I’m coming.”
Then it just stopped. Instinctively I stopped as well, my brain in over drive trying to contemplate exactly what the hell was going on around me. I continued to make my way towards her, I knew by now she would have been a wreck, scared and alone. I fumbled for my keys and even though I tried recomposing myself I could not stop my hand from trembling. By the time I reached the door it was already open. Something was odd she never left the door unlocked, and then it hit me she must have run for help. None the less I entered the room I needed to make sure she wasn’t in the flat before I started searching elsewhere.”Layla, Layla where are you?” I ran to the room but standing in the room was not my fiancé. Standing in front of me was the last person I could have imagined to be in my apartment.
“Jacob what are you doing here, were she?””Where’s my wife!”I yelled,
He smiled” “Easy there kimosabi she aint your wife just yet boy.”
I was immediately transported to the day he and Sharif were about to throw down. Honestly he scared the shit out of me. I wondered what he was doing here, was he here helping her? I knew how bad she was last time there was a tremor maybe he was just giving her a hand. But before any I could make sense of the entire situation I found myself with my arms around his collar looking straight into his eyes. This was so uncharacteristic of me, but I could not help myself, I went crazy when every I felt Layla was threatened. I’d lose my shit even if she got into little squabbles.
“I’m not going to ask you again, where is Layla.”Jacob reached his hand around his back,
”Now why you gotta go and do that hey lover boy?”
His Southern demeanour and charm where his tools of persuasion, allowing him to arouse women straight out their panties and scare men out of their skin. Living outside the law like a renegade cowboy he did what he pleased and had not an inkling of compassion within his heart.
As I looked deep into his cold eyes I did not even see it coming, suddenly a sharp pain on my head. With one swift upward motion he drove his 9mm gun handle to the side of my temple. As quick as lighting he had raised his weapon and smashed it to the top of my head, on impact I dropped to the floor unconscious and bleeding profusely. I tried hanging onto my consciousness but slowly, my eyes closed as I lay in a pool of my own blood.
The throbbing in my head awoke me, the pain excruciating. In the corner I heard what seemed to be an argument. What the hell was going on, where was I? Slowly it started coming back to me; I caught glimpses of his gun in the air and winced as if it was happening again. I opened my eyes; all I saw was a haze, not able to make out clear picture just slight shapes surrounded by the bright light from the apartment. But there was something more peculiar than the strange scenario, my entire body felt bound. I tried moving my hand but they where constricted, tied together around what I presumed to be the bed post. Blood trickled down my cheek my head throbbed and I had no idea what was going on.
“21 right, 3 left and 12 right.”” I’m telling you that’s the code”
”If that’s the code why isn’t the damn thing opened!”
”Trust me it can’t be anything else it has to be 21, 2, 12.”
“This damn old ass safe, I mean, who the hell uses this prehistoric piece of shit these days!”
I could make out that there was more than one person in the apartment, but everything was still quite fuzzy. One of the voices was too distinct to miss, I knew Jacobs voice, he was loud, crude and unbarring but what’s worse... He was angry! Eventually my vision cleared and I could see Jacob stood there with his back turned to me and another man by his side as they fiddled with my safe. His partner wore a hood over their head, concealing his identity. Jacob turned looked me dead in the eye and turned back to continue on the safe, he didn’t seem bothered that I saw his face. This scared me even more, usually when men committed crimes with their identity on the line they intended not to leave any witnesses behind.
Jacob approached me, squatted down and we were now face to face, “It seems to me, Mr Cairo you fancy yourself as somewhat of a tough guy?”
”You don’t just go around grabbing men by the collars screaming demands at them, I mean who does that seriously!”
” you know why you don’t do that Mr Cairo?”I did not reply,
” I said do you know why boy!”He turned his palm and struck me with the back side of his hand; his large tacky rings widened the gash on my head, the pain was excruciating.
”Why?” I replied to him with the last ounce of energy I had. I felt I couldn’t afford anymore blows to the head so I played his game.
”Because you just might grab a man like me” he smiled amused at his handy work.
”Now I’m going to ask you one last time Mr Cairo, I’m not as patient as I look so for your own sake please and let me just reiterate just in case it skipped you, Please! Just tell us that damn safe code.”
“I can make this all stop, hell I’ll even untie you boy,
just give me the code.”
I sat in quite protest I had worked so hard, my parents had worked even harder to provide me with my life savings. I could remember how my dad and I would wake up every morning six A.M sharp, by seven we were at the harbour already loading our first crates of fish, day after day. I grinded day in and out for that damn money now he wanted to just walk in and take it, what right did he have? Hell no, I would not succumb to this hoodlum; I was not just about to flush Layla and my future to the toilet.
He wrapped his large hand around my throat with a smirk plastered across his face ’”Oh this is going to be fun!”
“I want the 75K boy, now tell me the code and save yourself an ass whipping.”
Wait how did he know exactly how much I had been saving? Only I knew the exact figure, had he been keeping tabs on me since the beginning? But that was not possible, I mean he every time I came into the apartment the doors were locked, I had never left a window open, so how could he have known?
“I can see by that ridiculous look on your face you trying to puzzle this whole thing together; well Kimosabi, that aint your problem right now.”
“All you have to worry about is giving me what I want.” Still I sat in silent protest. The frustration built up in Jacob I knew he was at snapping point, but I couldn’t