Present Day…
“What is this?” Zandile asks waving a piece of paper at Realeboha.
“I don’t know. Let me see,” Realeboha skims through the paper. “Babe, I can explain,”
“I bet you can.”
“I have been receiving these threats lately,” Realeboha explains. “There is this person who has been sending me emails anonymously, saying they want to serve some cold revenge,”
“And you didn’t tell me? Your wife?” Zandile enquires.
“I didn’t want to stress you. Plus, it’s been a week since the threats came,” he sits on a sofa. Zandile is standing with her hands on her waist.
“So why would this person send you threats. What did you do?”
“I don’t know,” he lies.
*****
“The best day to get him and his family would be on Friday,” she smirks. Lerato has been keeping tabs on her next target.
She realises that they are all busy except on Fridays and weekends. So to wrap up, she has to first catch her prey, torture it and end it. By Sunday her life will be back to normal. At least that’s what she hopes for.
It’s Thursday now, Lerato has been lurking around her prey’s house. And things are going according to plan. She can’t afford any slip ups like the last mission. This has to be quick and silent like with MaDlamini, she thinks.
*****
“So, how is Mpho holding up?” Zandile is concerned.
“He is recovering, wa tseba. The doctors said he can speak a few sentences.”
“The police haven’t arrested anyone, babe? I think they are lazy. We are not safe on these roads, people drive like they don’t care about their lives. And worse, the law enforcers take bribes,” Zandile is fuming with anger.
“Eish, it’s heartbreaking,” he takes his keys on the table. “Tshepi!” he calls to his daughter. “I’m going to the mall? Is there anything you need?”
Ntshepi shouts from her bedroom that she is fine and there is nothing she needs. After school, she likes to lock herself in her room and chat with her boyfriend.
“See you when I return, Moratuwa,” he kisses his wife who is reading a magazine on the sofa.
*****
It’s been thirty minutes since Realeboha went to the mall. Ntshepi is in her room listening to music on her huge headphones while her mother Zandile, has dozed off on the sofa in the living room.
Zandile feels a tap on her shoulder.
“Oh baby, you are back. I forgot to ask you to…” Zandile can’t believe what her two eyes are showing her. A gun is pointing to her head. She sits up on the sofa and the magazine falls to the floor.
“Shh shhh,” a face that is hidden by a balaclava is instructing the scared Zandile. “Don’t do anything stupid, or I’ll blow your brains out.”
Both Lerato and Zandile are strapped to chairs. A beep is heard and the kidnapper picks up the phone and reads the text message. After reading it, she throws it on the sofa.
“It’s your husband. He says he’ll be home by eight. He is caught up somewhere after leaving the mall,” the kidnapper tells the two crying people.
“Please let us go. If you want money we can give it to you,” Zandile pleads. “Just name your number and I’ll transfer it to you now. Just let us go, please, I am begging you,”
In anger, the kidnapper yells at Zandile’s face.
“You think this is about money? You think I want your money. Well, you are wrong. This is about revenge. It’s about revenge, something you are about to understand soon.”
***
Tell us: Do you think the truth will finally come out?