TEN YEARS AGO
“Oh my God, you’re good! I am your prey. Finish me! Spend me! Yes! End ME! YESSSS!!!!!”
Carol had zero control over herself whatsoever, and she could not care less. The cold wall behind her had been the perfect balance for the heat this man had bathed her in, which made her climb enjoyable and her climax all the more satisfying.
Her man was about to pull away, but she held on to him. “Carol, we’re going to get caught if we don’t dress up.”
“Speak for yourself, I just need to button up and pull my skirt down.”
“Tell that to your hair, you insatiable tigress.”
“Oh, now you’re just asking for another round.”
“Hell no, girl. Someone’s going to be here any minute and I’m not about to get caught with my pants down.”
“Bruh, did no one tell you not to curse in church? Now I have a higher chance of being sent to hell on account of your blasphemy.”
When she said that, Caris gave her the most confused look he could muster in the moment, and they both burst into laughter. She finally let him go, and they quickly put their clothes on, each one doing everything in their power not to backslide yet again. They’d already spent most of the afternoon ‘communing’ with each other in the main temple, and service was due to start in about an hour. Another round would be a bad idea.
Once Carol finally got her hair together, she took another look at the sanctuary. It looked like an old-school Catholic church, with the high ceilings and the beautiful art on the stained glass. There was a cross placed high on the wall behind the pulpit, right above the spot of their just-ended ‘communion.’ The natural light did wonders for the view, and the echo of her voice through the empty room made it sound like they were being cheered on in their tryst. It’s like she once heard in the Archbishop’s sermon on faith: “A great cloud of witnesses.”
Those biblical figures may not have approved, but she loved living on the edge, and she made sure to find that thrill in everything. In Caris, she’d found the perfect partner. He was barely tall and without a muscular build, but he had a babyface and his features were naturally attractive. He was also super freaky and a daredevil yet unusual in that he still had some morality about him. That complicated things, but love made it possible for them to figure it out. He was her balance and she was his.
“I love you, Caris. I truly do.”
“I love you too, Carol.”
“No, you don’t get it. I love the hell out of you. If we don’t make it, I can’t be with anyone else.”
“Carol, I’m neither the best lay you’ve had in your life, nor the richest. I’m sure there’s someone who matches with you better than I do.”
“They may be a better match, but they will never be you.”
Caris just stared at her. This woman, this delectable woman with the beautiful mind he admired and the craziness that complemented his. This woman was telling him the same thing he’d felt for her since their first encounter. But how could he make her his with the father that he had? Only those who dealt with girls like her knew her true occupation, but his father had a way of knowing things about people, especially things they didn’t want known. How could he sneak her extracurricular activities past him and get him to approve her?
As he wondered all these things, the look in her eyes and the touch of her palm on his chest settled him down. When they got there, they’d figure it out.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby. You have me. If you can find a way out, I’ll find a way past dad.”
Carol beamed at him and leaned in for a kiss when her phone beeped. She looked and saw the text, “Meet up at Marvel Mansion. Boss has a job.”
Her face fell and Caris knew what that meant. “Where?”
“His house.”
“Okay. I’ll drive you.”
“No, baby, it’s fine. Take me home, I’ll drive myself.”
She saw the look of hurt in his eyes, the same hurt she’d felt every time she had to sleep with a client since the day she fell for Caris. “It won’t be much longer, love. I’m this close to figuring out my exit. Soon, it’ll all be over.”
“I know, darling, but you tell me you’re one of his favorite girls. How can you escape from under a man this powerful and live to tell the tale?”
Carol looked at him like she was figuring out an angle of attack, and then swarmed his lips with hers, almost sending them into a full backslide but catching herself right before she’d fully sparked them both up, then she said, “I have all the motivation I need right here.”
A barely breathing Caris mustered up just enough strength to smile and shake his head as he recovered while trying not to lose control yet again. “Let’s get out of here before we leave this plan stillborn before it was ever conceived. Jesus died on the cross, our plans don’t have to die under it on account of you being an absolute devil!”
Carol briefly entertained the thought of another tryst, but then Caris got a text: “COME HOME THIS MINUTE!”
Carol tried not to laugh as Caris looked at her, irritated that she found it funny. She gave him a peck on his closed lips and said, “Godspeed, love.”
*****
When Caris walked into the house that evening, everything seemed normal. The text he’d gotten was from his sister, and she’d sounded like the roof was on fire. “This girl paa. How do you text in all caps for nothing? I will get her eh.”
He walked past the kitchen on his way to his room, but then a voice called out of the kitchen, “Caris, come here. I’m in the kitchen.”
Caris turned and walked into the kitchen to meet his father. “Good afternoon, Dad.”
“Sit down, boy.”
Caris pulled a stool and sat.
“Caris, I was preparing for church service when I got the most curious revelation. The Lord asked me to cancel service tonight, and then go to the chapel with the warriors at midnight. Not only that, He instructed that I anoint the altar and the area around it, stretching all the way to the back wall.”
“That’s a very curious revelation, dad,” Caris said as he focused all his strength on not squirming in his seat.
The Archbishop continued, “Before you left home earlier, you told your sister you were headed to the chapel. Is that correct?”
“Yes, dad.”
“Did you actually go there?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Would you happen to know anything about the Lord’s directive? Why he would need me to anoint basically the entire stage out of nowhere like that?”
“Nope, not a clue.”
“Okay. You can go.”
Caris heaved such a huge sigh of relief in his head as he got up, and he was sure he’d gotten away with his lying, but then, “Son.”
Whatever dread Caris had sighed away returned instantly. His father continued, “You may persist in treading down the wrong path you’ve been on since the day I caught you watching perverted, unsavory videos in your room, but it will only result in a cursed life and a very unfortunate end. It’s one thing to be immoral in your father’s house, and it’s another thing entirely to be immoral in The Father’s house. I’ve tried my very best with you, but I cannot make the choice to change on your behalf, and I will not be held responsible for wherever your choices take you. You can go.”
Caris didn’t even know how to act after that. Someone definitely revealed his afternoon activities at the church to his dad. As to whether the source was natural or divine was another matter. His only hope once he left the kitchen was that his dad didn’t know who he was with, cos that could be the difference between eternal joy and perpetual agony for him.
*****
PRESENT DAY
Tembo walked into the old Mazula mosque looking older than he’d looked on the day he’d gotten the news. It had only been four days since his meetup with Goosman, but somehow, he’d aged more in the four days than he had over the last ten years. This motherfucker Kane was dead and had still managed to put all the stress on him, and it was now physically affecting him.
As he made his way to the basement, where he was to meet with Carol, his thought were occupied with Goosman’s candor. The more he thought about it, the more he realized his folly in not quickly dispatching of the stupid fool after their little chit-chat. What he heard was downright unbelievable, but one hundred percent predictable. This was Seth through and through. How could he not have seen this coming?
He was so focused on cursing at himself in his head that his mind failed to acknowledge the pillar that his eyes had seen, and he walked right into it, hard. The slap to his face made a loud, echoing sound inside the mosque, which snapped him out of it, but also saw Carol rushing out of the room behind the pillar to see what was happening. The sight of him with his hand to his head irritated her, and she snapped at him. “Stop clumsying around like a buffoon and get in here!”
The room had a round table with a giant candle in the middle of it. There was a large cross hanging from the ceiling, right above the round table, a testament to the purpose of the building long before it was even a mosque. The main sanctuary used to be a church, but this room in the basement used to be the meeting place for a feared, bloodthirsty cult which had origins in the early catholic church. It was said to have been formed in early colonial times, and this was where they planned their kill or recruit missions. They tended to execute these missions right around the same time the local abrafo used to seek companions for their dead chiefs, so no one ever knew of their existence until the church found out and exposed them.
Carol had discovered this place in her secondary school days when a boy brought her here. Their plan was erotic in nature, but before they could do anything, the leader of the mosque came in. Luckily, they managed to escape before he found them, but she went back there from time to time to think and clear her head when she ran into any big problems. This was where she came ten years ago when she needed to figure out an escape from Kane Glazer’s empire, and it served her well to plan here. She’d hoped it would help her one more time.
“Don’t sit. You don’t get to sit after the foolishness you’ve brought on our heads.”
Tembo didn’t care what Carol said. He was a man, he was older than her, and he was getting tired of her disrespect. He pulled a chair and sat anyway, which angered Carol. She’d deal with him for that later. “What the hell happened, Tembo?”
“I had a chat with Goosman. The plan went as expected from jump. They got the drink to Stella, she gave it to him, and it knocked him out. Then they got him in the car, and Goosman drove him to the spot. The hole was dug, and Goosman was just about to get out of the car, but then someone else was there. Goosman waited quietly, but the person wouldn’t leave. After a long wait, the guy still wouldn’t leave. Goosman figured he could kill the guy, but then that would be two bodies he needed to bury, and he was already halfway drunk.”
Carol was livid at this revelation. “Are you frickin kidding me! This man had a job to do and he was drunk?”
“Seth is a hard guy, but he’s lily-livered when it comes to killing. He’s never done a kill job sober and he’s always been effective, so that one was normal. Anyway, he decided to get out and maybe try to scare the person off so he could get the job done. Turns out it was some small obolo boy, so he was able to shoo him off.”
Tembo then went quiet, knowing full well the hell this next part was going to cause. Carol’s anger only rose with each second of quiet. “And? What the hell happened next?”
Tembo looked at her, a mix of an apologetic look and a plea for mercy written on his face.
Carol was sick of the suspense. “Talk, motherfucker!”
Tembo knew it was time to bite the bullet. “Well, when Seth got back to the car, the body was missing.”
Carol banged the table in disbelief. She got up and had her head in her hands as she paced. “The body went missing?”
“Yeah, seems that way.”
“The body. Kane’s body. Went missing.”
“Yup.”
“A whole human body that had been drugged to sleep and bound at the hands and feet. That body, in that condition, went missing?”
“Yeah.”
Tembo had no clue how, but the next thing he knew, his jaw was in blinding pain and Carol was on top of him, punching his face as though her aim was to give him multiple concussions at once. This less than 170 pound woman had managed to turn all 260 pounds of him into a full bitch. He managed to gain just enough composure to knock her off after taking a flurry of jabs to the face, but didn’t try to attack her cos he knew he deserved it.
“FUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!! How the hell did that happen, Tembo!”
He composed himself, and finished with the tale. “Goosman figured I’d probably kill him if he told me about it. So he panicked and burned the car to make it look like he had to burn the body instead of burying it. Then he texted me and told me it was done.”
“So, Tembo, what you’re telling me is that Goosman never actually killed Kane.”
“That is correct.”
“Then who the fuck’s body was just displayed on national television?!”
Uh wow! So this means… Kane Glazer probably isn’t dead or something? Well! This is tricky… By the way, Caris and Carol are crazy beings! Getting busy on a church altar? Bruh!
