The Maid 15

Ngozi drove furiously towards the hotel. She had to get to Shade and remove her from that room to another location where she could easily carry out her plans. She never wanted to hurt Shade, just get her out of the way. But Shade refused to walk away and forget Gbenga. She wanted to confess to Gbenga that she was pregnant, not for him, but for another man. That was never going to happen. The stakes were too high and no woman will stand in her way. By tonight, if everything went according to plan, the maid would be eliminated and she could proceed without interruptions.
“Get out of the road!” a trucker yelled at her.
She swung back into her lane and concentrated on the road.
She got to the hotel, parked her car and entered the elevator. A few people joined her on the ride up.
“Good morning,” a short man greeted her.
She forced a smile but didn’t reply. She was in no mood for chit-chats.
She got off on the 10th floor, walked to the room, brought out the electronic key and opened the door.
The first thing she noticed was that the bed was made with new sheets. The dinning table had been cleared and the plates and cups she used for breakfast had been removed. She walked around the bed, but Shade wasn’t where she left her. She entered the bathroom, came out, looked under the bed and the wardrobe, but she wasn’t there. Her bags, shoes and clothing were gone. Ngozi sat down slowly on the bed. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Shade had disappeared!
**************
Sadique brought out two knives from a bag hidden under the bed. One was large and long, like a butcher’s knife. The other was short and had a jagged edge. He kept the knives on the bed, stood up and began pacing his small room.
He didn’t want to do this but he had to. He didn’t particularly like the maid, but he didn’t hate her either. She was a creature who existed in the same vicinity as himself. He had never paid her much attention to warrant a friendship. He did his job and avoided her whenever he could. That was the reason why eliminating her wasn’t going to be difficult. He was emotionally detached from the subject, that was the best way to do this job.
Sadique picked up the long knife and held it up to the sunlight streaming into the room through the open curtains. He examined it like a doctor examining the X-ray films of a patient with a broken femur. He weighed the weapon on his palm and felt a rush of adrenaline like he hadn’t felt in a long time. He dropped the knife on the bed, rummaged through the bag on the floor and brought out an old army uniform and smiled. He reminisced about the days he was in the Congo, part of the UN peace keeping mission. What the world did not know was that the peace keepers fought against rebel groups who wanted them out of the country. He longed for action, like in the old days. He picked up the small knife, stood up, and thrust savagely at an invisible adversary before him. He followed it with a kick to the solar plexus of the imaginary adversary. “Kiyeh!” he shouted and in his mind’s eye imagined the adversary fall helpless to the ground.
“Sadique, is everything okay in there?” It was the maid.
He had forgotten where he was, carried away by memories of the war front. He quickly put the knives in the bag, squeezed in the uniform and kicked the bag under the bed.
The door opened. “Sadique, is everything okay?” The maid peeked into the room. Sadique sat on the bed, holding his prayer beads.
“I was just concluding my prayers,” he lied.
Yemi stepped inside the room and looked around, searching for the source of the vicious sound she heard earlier. That didn’t sound like noise made during prayers.
“May I help you?” Sadique asked, stroking his beard.
“I wanted to let you know that I am stepping out for a bit. I will be back soon.”
She turned around to leave. Sadique looked at her slim neck and thought about how fast he could send her to the great beyond to unite with her ancestors with a small Karate blow to the base of her skull. Ngozi would be pleased and pay him handsomely if he did it now and disposed her body before the evening prayers. He moved from the bed with uncanny agility and speed for a man of his size, like a savage beast stalking its prey and stood behind Yemi. He raised his right hand in the air, poised like a cobra to deliver the fatal blow that would terminate the maid, and if by any stroke of luck she survived it, she would be a worthless vegetable, paralysed from the neck down.
Yemi felt a strange sensation in her body. The hair at the nape of her neck stood up like young plant tendrils stirring to life by the gentle caress of the sun. She turned around and found Sadique standing behind her with a murderous look in his eyes, like a hungry lion staring at his lunch. She was scared and wanted to scream but the sound wouldn’t come out. A dark cloud descended on her and in that moment she felt a fear in her soul that she had never felt before. It was the fear of death.
In the fraction of a second, Sadique made a decision. As he looked into her eyes, he knew that he could never hurt the maid. He wouldn’t do it no matter how much Ngozi paid him. This wasn’t a worthy adversary. Killing her would bring him no satisfaction. He didn’t particularly like the maid but you don’t go around around killing everyone you don’t like, he reasoned.
“Do enjoy yourself and have a good time,” his dark face creased into a forced smile.
“Thank you,” Yemi said with relief and hurried towards the gate.
Sadique brought out his phone and dialled a number.
“I can’t do it.”
“You can’t do what?” said an angry female voice on the other end of the call.
“I won’t touch the maid. You will have to find someone else to do that for you.”
“That girl knows too much. She has my secrets in her hands.”
“I warned you not to tell her why you needed her but you wouldn’t listen to me. Now she’s a threat to your plans. You made a mistake, you will fix it yourself,” Sadique said.
“How dare you, after all I have done for you?” the angry voice said.
“I appreciate all you’ve done for me, but I cannot take that girl’s life. She is innocent.”
“Innocent?” the angry voice shouted. “I will tell you who is innocent and who isn’t. I want you to eliminate her by tonight. If you don’t, I will make sure you lose your job.”
“You didn’t hire me as an assassin. You said I could do some odd jobs for you because of my military skills. But I will not eliminate the maid,” Sadique insisted.
“Then if you won’t eliminate her, you will lose your job,” the voice threatened.
“You can do whatever you like. Don’t ask me about the maid again,”Sadique said.
“How dare you talk to…”
Sadique cut off the call and sat down on his bed. How he wished he could silence her, the way he had cut off the call: permanently.

To be continued.