16 Massacre

Food is one of the things that brings people together, some see food as their break time, some have enough to give away while some are stuck in the memory of eating, I am grateful for eating, but what of the one's that are not that fortunate as we are? Hunger is one of the biggest motives that compels people to do things that they are not supposed to do, at least in their right minds.

In my case, I don't find myself to be hungry. Poverty has already done its damage to my innocent conscience.

I find myself in the place where they say he likes to eat. How can a targeted man eat in a public place such as this? This is the most crowded junction in this part of town and a hit can come from anywhere. He has the men but not the founds, not yet. He just arrived with some of his men but it's kind of hard to identify the target. But not for the likes of me.

They came in two sets, the first was about five guys, one among them dressed to impress, most likely to draw attention to them while the other was the target and two other guys. All three were the same size and height so it's hard to know the target. They sat in a local food trade.

Like Spaco use to say, the street talks, that's if you know where you throw your money. I've been here in Ovwian for the past ten hours gathering information and what I found out was not what I expected at all. Now I've been asking myself, if he knows he is a target why come to a place like this, and frequently? It's either he didn't know he is a target or the seller must be someone close to him.

From what I found out he served time for twelve years and he got released three years ago. He was arrest for highway robbery but, from what was said in the street he stopped all that about two years ago before he was arrested for the crime. He later got released due to lack of evidence.

First, he was arrested, then he was released but by who? The target has no one to pull that amount of strings to get him out of jail not unless he was involved in something else but, it is clear it's not the "Order".

It is clear he has a reputation here but this guy is not a professional hitman, no way. If ranked he won't be qualified for a level twenty executioner.

He has been cursing conflicts because I believe he was paid to do so, after all, that is what he was known for.

This guy is no threat but he appears to be a loose end of one of the dealings with the Order that's why they want him dead but for some reason, they gave him reason to fight. He was the best candidate to create chaos, a distraction for the police. False leads to pursue to bye time to clean their mistake.

If he kills the big boss then it will be a win-win for them, if the boss kills him as I believe they expect, it is also a deviation for the police. Another win-win case for the Order.

Sometimes I wonder how deep and big the Order is, how high it goes and who runs it? They plan years before they acted. If ever am right, If this mission goes as quiet as the last and does not draw the attention of the police, then eventually they will come for me, at this point my survival depends on my next move.

I've never been the guy that goes on to face death head-on when I know there are more efficient and safe ways to proceed, but at this point, I have to do things with brute force. That happens to be the only way forward at this point.

I've already arranged for men and guns for the mission and they are all spread everywhere around the junction. This is one of the parts about this job I don't like. If a shootout breaks, there will be a lot of innocent casualties, but at this point this fight is inevitable, the longer I wait the harder it will become.

It is now or never, I gave the signal to the guys on the other side of the road. They were the first to shoot. As expected the target also had guns, they started shooting back almost immediately, I've stationed men in all their possible escape routes, the only option they have is to fight. We came better prepared than them, our weapons were far too superior to theirs. It was total chaos for we could nearly see the target from my side but the guys on the other side can. People are getting wounded and some people died in the process, including some of the guys I hired.

It didn't take long before we killed the target. Everything took about five minutes then it was over. Seven men along with the target died, four men from my side also died. We've already made arrangements for our escape so we left immediately after all the kills were confirmed.

From my experience, it takes the police about two or three hours to answer an emergency call, if it's a shootout, they will never come in time to catch the criminal instead, they wait for things to calm down then, they just start arresting whoever they see close to the crime scene. At least that's what I know in this part of the country, the police and the criminals such as myself are one and the same, the only difference between the both of us is they have license from the government to do what they want.

I've got blood in my hands but I don't know who's blood it was. Once the eyes sees blood it never forgets, not really, your imagination sometimes plays with you. It makes you feel dirty even if you wash the blood off, they are still visible to your eyes. If you look at things like that, it is true. They stick just long enough to torture you.

Some guys just love to kill and I happen to be surrounded by these types of men. We are on our way to our side of town inside a cooling can. It has enough space to contain all of us and it was less suspicious. Have never seen many of the guys here before, some of them came all the way from Benin City ( Edo State) judging from their accents. Tage has some family in Benin and he often goes there during the holidays as of the time we were still in secondary school, it appears he was also involved in some shady dealings as of that time, most of us here are not that involved in criminal activities but some, like Tage knows nothing else.

We've been riding for over forty-five minutes and I can feel the van slowing down. We must have reached our destination, the van stopped in another public junction, we can all find our way home from there, it's safe that way. We can't know each other home so there will be no loose ends just in case of an investigation. If I am correct, and this was indeed a distraction then there be an investigation for sure. We also dished the van cause it was stolen.

I took a public bus going to my area. It took another ten minutes before I got to my street junction and another ten minutes till I arrived home. I took my bath as usual and rested for some time before I decided to call the big boss. It was already 12 past 10 in the night but like myself, I believe there is no rest for the wicked so he must be awake.

The phone didn't ring long before he answered.

Is it done, was the first word he said.

Yes, it is.

Good job. I want you here now.

I thought we were over this, or do you think I trust that you won't kill me the minutes I show my face at your compound?

You and I know there is no trust in this line of work but, I need to know everything you know before tomorrow, he said.

Why do you believe there are things I know that you don't? And besides what's going to happen tomorrow?

We can't discuss all that on the phone and you know that and besides I know you are dying to share your thoughts with someone who can relate, in that way you are like your mother.

Don't even go there, you and I have some serious pending issues to resolve. I'll be there in ten. I hang up the phone.