My Nemesis

Downtown in a bar, skimpily dressed ladies danced to the loud upbeat music coming from the speakers.

Smokes from cigarettes, smells from alcohol and dried sweat saturated the whole atmosphere producing a pungent odor .

Young waiters in see-through blouses and heavy makeup, ambled their way across the bar, serving drinks with bewitching smiles.

At the far end of the bar, a dark skinned burly man walked in from the back door where he had just gone to receive a call.

"Who was it that called boss?" yelled his companion over the deafening sound.

Spider's expression turned despondent as he answered in an equally loud, but throaty voice, "My nemesis."

The neon lights rotating from the stage cast different shades of colours on their faces.

"Boss, is it that evil woman that called you last week?" As far as he knew, the lady from the Beazell group was the only person that could make his boss react this way.

Judging from the silence he got from Spider, he knew he had guessed correctly. "What does she want this time?"

Spider gritted his teeth, causing the muscles in his jaw to twitch. "What else but to clean up her family mess."

"Who is her target this time around?"

Spider slid his phone across the table to Drake after pressing some buttons on it.

Displayed on the screen was the picture of the most beautiful woman Drake had ever seen. He was drawn in by the deep gaze from her purple eyes which exuded a powerful force that seemed to draw out the very depth of someone's soul.

He shook himself from the spell of those eyes. "This person doesn't seem to be ordinary."

"You think so too?"

"What! Did you also notice there's something off about her?" There was a sparkle in Drake's eyes.

"Mm- hmm"

They were both silent for some time, each immersed in their respective thoughts.

The music broke in, on their thoughts .

"Come, let's leave." Spider gulped down the rest of his drink and stood up. " We need somewhere quiet to think."

"So what are you going to do?" Drake said the moment they exited the bar.

The quiet street was a huge contrast to the noise from the bar which was now far behind them. The cool breeze blowing through the almost deserted street had a calming effect on Spider's taut nerves. He tilted his face upward and slowly inhaled the fresh air.

"I'm waiting for her to send the information about the girl in the picture before we can take action."

They walked to where their car was parked down the road.

"I hope you'll not allow her to drag you by the nose again."

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for things to fall in place and I'll do what I have to do."

As they spoke a ding sound announced a new message on his phone.

"Kathleen Crawford, 28 years, orphaned and divorced. Worked in a pharmaceutical company but as a junior staff. Little knowledge of martial arts but not a professional, currently resides in Baltimore. Only friend, Lauren Holmes."

By the time he finished reading the message a call came in.

"Mrs Beazell," Spider suppressed the irritation from his voice and answered calmly.

"I believe you got my message. I need the job done before the weekend. Five hundred grand has been wired into your account. You'll receive the balance as soon as I get your good news."

Mrs Beazell ordered in a dead voice as if she was giving an autopsy report. "Remember, no traces must be left behind."

The beeping sound from the earpiece signaled the end of the call.

Looking at the dark screen, Spider's chest rose and fell from rapid breathing. His clenched fist landed on the hood of the car with a loud bang.

"Bloody b***h. She thinks she has me wrapped around her fingers. We will see when the time comes." The veins around his neck throbbed.

"Calm down boss. What did she say?"

"She wants us to eliminate the person in that picture before the end of this week"

...…

Kathleen took the day off and went with Cheryl to check out some kindergarten she'd searched out on the internet.

The children have been back for more than a month now and were yet to be enrolled into any school.

Although both her children could be considered geniuses, considering their alarmingly high IQ score, and could solve complex problems and read fluently before the age of three, they still needed to mingle with children their age to fully develop their EQ.

Hence, she specifically searched and identified schools that incorporated the social-emotional learning approach into their school curriculum.

They went to about five schools from the list she had and finally settled on one.

It was located not too far from the Hudson Group, to her utter dismay. If not that it met almost all of the requirements she was looking for, she would have opted for another.

In the future she would just have to be careful in order to avoid any interactions with the Hudsons.

The Head teacher led them on a tour round the school, while filling them in on some basic information.

Kathleen was satisfied with the school which could be described as a "home away from home" with the aesthetic ambience of the environment, tastefully furnished classrooms, fully equipped laboratories, state of the art playground, nature corner and other indoor and outdoor facilities.

Most importantly, their curriculum was tailored to incorporate the social, emotional, creative and physical growth of the child and not just entered on their cognitive development which most schools do nowadays.

After finalizing the admission process with the director, they decided to go back to the Wyatt's mansion at Fairview Villa.

"Kathleen, have you noticed a black Jeep has been following us since we left Roland Park?" Cheryl, who had a keen eyesight pointed out to Kathleen who was sitting beside her."

"I did, but didn't think much about it." She instructed the driver to take the next turn which was out of their route to confirm their suspicions.

After driving for about three minutes ahead, they saw the black jeep behind them.

"Can you lose it without alerting the other party?"

"Sit tight Madam," the driver floored the accelerator and shot off like an arrow, leaving a trail of dust behind.