Born Bad…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
BORN BAD
A ChrisEffe Thriller
CHAPTER 8
Chris’ gun is pointed unerringly at Steve, and his face is a mask of rage.
“You fucking bastards! I knew you would try something like this! I told you she is no danger! But now you have to go and make it a danger, you idiots.”
Steve’s gun is now pointed at Chris too.
He is sweating inside the mask and he licks his lips.
“You fucked up this time, Chris!” Steve hisses furiously. “Or you fucked up big time! You’re gonna die, you know that? What the hell does this bitch have over you, anyway? You want to risk it all for her?”
Effe, still lying on the floor, sees with horror that Chris is bleeding profusely in the right shoulder where one of Steve’s bullets has obviously hit him.
Chris keeps his eyes and his gun on Steve as he speaks to Effe.
“Miss, I’m going to take off my hand from your mouth. Please don’t scream. Do you understand?”
Effe nods her head.
Chris removes his hand, and gets slowly to his feet.
Steve chuckles and shakes his head.
“You fucking fuck! You’re bleeding! You took a bullet for her.”
Effe sits up slowly, shaking with distress and deep shock.
She knows that if it hadn’t been for Chris, she would’ve been a dead woman by now.
Chris is walking towards Steve.
“Call the Eagle. Now!”
“Fuck you! Fuck you, man! Fuck you!” Steve hisses with obvious distress and fury.
Without warning Chris lashes out his right foot at Steve’s groin, chopping down with his gun barrel at the same time on Steve’s wrist.
His boot sinks into Steve’s balls, and the man in black lets out a grunt of sheer pain, and the gun barrel also lashes him on his wrist painfully, and he drops his gun.
He crashes to the floor in a heap of pain, grabbing his balls.
He tries to reach for his gun again, but Chris steps on his wrist, and Steve moans with fresh pain.
“Move, fucker, and I’ll blow your bloody brains away.”
“You’re dead, you motherfucker! Do you hear me? You’re fucking dead!” Steve says through his pain.
“Call the Eagle, now, or I swear to God I’m gonna shoot your kneecaps off right now!” Chris says dangerously.
Steve curses again as he takes out his phone and dials.
“Fucking stupid –”
Chris kicks him in the back, and Steve grunts with pain, and Effe shudders.
“Put it on speaker, arsehole!”
Effe, who has only seen violence occasionally on television, and only been close to real terror in the attack on the bullion van, now looks on with terror gripping her whole body!
She has never been this scared in her life. She sees that the right side of Chris’ shirt is now filled with blood. He is losing too much blood, and if he is not attended to, he will pass out in a few minutes.
The phone is answered by a deep, gruff voice.
“Mr. Condor. Is the knot tied?” Wailer asks calmly.
“No, sir,” Steve says painfully. “Chris showed up and botched it!”
“I see,” Wailer says calmly. “Mr. Stone, I take it you’re there now?”
“I’m here,” Chris replies coldly.
“You understand The Big Boss will take exception to this, don’t you? You’re aware there will be repercussions?”
“Repercussions? Repercussions, you idiot? I told you the girl is settled, that she is no danger to you, and you still put a Contract on her?”
“You’re now wading into dangerous waters, Mr. Stone. I’ll advice you –”
Chris suddenly drops on one knee.
“Fuck your advice! Did you even think about this? If you kill the girl, the cops will pick me up, because she identified me, so I’ll be the prime suspect. Nowadays, they have drugs that loosen a man’s tongue, arsehole, and if the cops get me after you kill her, they are gonna use those stinking drugs on me, and I’m gonna say things I wouldn’t breathe out even if I’m tortured! And they will come after you and The Big Boss. Is that what you fucking want?”
There is a pause for a while, and Chris knows that Wailer is conferring with The Big Boss.
Finally, Wailer spoke calmly.
“Is the Condor mobile?”
“He can walk,” Chris replies.
“Good. Let him get out of there. I presume you can gag the woman?”
“I’ll talk to her. She’ll understand. Take the contract off her. If you kill her, then you have to kill me too. But if you kill me, that’ll be a mistake because I’ve taken precautions if I were to die in ways other than through natural ways.”
“Do I perceive a threat, Mr. Stone?”
“Yes, you do,” Chris says coldly.
There is another long silence.
“Get the Condor out. Gag the girl. The contract is off, depending on how effective you’re with this… with this talk.”
The phone goes dead.
Chris takes Steve’s gun and puts it in his pocket.
“Get the fuck outta here, worm!”
Steve struggles to his feet and then he turns and stumbles frantically towards the back door.
Chris keeps his gun pointed at him until he is gone, and then he looks at the shell-shocked Effe.
“Sorry, ma’am.”
He turns towards the back door too, and finally Effe shakes off the panic and races after him.
“Stop! Please stop! You’re bleeding. Let me attend to you.”
He shrugs free from her, his face now showing signs of the acute pain he is suffering.
“I’m fine. Don’t bother calling the police, please.”
She looks at him with incredulity!
He thinks she is going to call the police on him.
“You’re bleeding too much. You go out there and you won’t get far. You’ll either bleed to death, or pass out there, and the police will get you. Please, get into the bathroom and let me see to your wound, then you can leave, Mr. Chris Bawa, and I’ll be damn glad if I never set eyes on you again!”
He looks at her searchingly out of that incredibly handsome face, and then he relaxes.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
“Follow me, if you can,” Effe says tremulously.
She leads him to the bathroom and helps him get into the bath.
And then he passes out immediately.
She quickly cuts off his shirt, and then she stands back with a cry of horror.
The bullet is in his right shoulder, and it is still pumping blood. The shirt had been holding the wound covered somehow, but now that it is off, the blood is simply pouring.
Effe runs to the bedroom and picks up the telephone, dialling Aku Norvisi’s extension.
She came on, a bit sleepy.
“Effe? Are you okay?” Norvisi asked with a worried voice.
“Please come quickly, with your medical kit, please. It is Chris. He’s been shot!”
She drops the phone and rushes back to him.
She bunches up a clean towel and presses it hard against the wound.
Shortly afterwards the doorbell rings.
Effe runs to the front door and opens it.
She takes Aku to the bathroom.
“Goodness me! What happened?” she asks with shock.
“One of his gang members came to kill me. Chris came and saved my life. Took one of the bullets meant for me!”
“Come, let’s get him fixed up!”
By the time Aku finishes with taking out the bullet and stitching up the wound, Effe has also finished cleaning up the living-room.
Aku uses bandages to secure his arm to his body.
She carries out the whole operation in the bath.
The man comes awake shortly after the last stitch, and they help him to Effe’s bed, covering him with sheets.
Effe calls Rupert and tells him she might be a bit late to the hospital.
Aku returns to her bungalow to get ready, and then passes through on her way to the hospital.
“He’s a strong lad. He’ll be fit to move in a couple of hours. The Transport Manager is bringing your car this morning. If it wouldn’t be a bother, bring Chris on your way in.”
“Yes, I’ll do that,” Effe says with a shudder.
“I’ll alert the Security Manager to send a couple of his guys down here to keep an eye on the house,” Norvisi said, still distressed.
Effe smiles ruefully and shakes her head.
“I think we’re gonna be fine. I heard their conversation. He saved my life, Aku! I hated him so much, and wanted to kill him yesterday, and today I find myself indebted to him. But I want the locks of the doors changed, please, especially the back door. I want it fortified, with an iron bar, if you don’t mind.”
Aku smiles and hugs Effe.
“Yes, sure, I was thinking of the same thing. I’ll alert the Estate Manager. Don’t worry, Effe. The Chris I know doesn’t collect debts.”
“How can you be so into him, Aku? The boy is a criminal! He just confirmed it! I should turn him over to the police right now, but somehow, I don’t think I can. The earlier he leaves my room, the better I’ll be.”
“He’s a troubled boy, Effe. He hasn’t had it easy in life. He needs a few doses of kindness now and then. I’ll call his brother to bring him some clothes.”
“He’s a criminal, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise, Aku. He was born bad.”
“What?” Norvisi asks, shocked.
Effe shrugs.
“Oh, nothing. Just something the policeman said. He told me Chris is rotten to the core, you know, born bad!”
For several seconds Aku is lost for words, her face troubled, and then she turns away without another word and enters her car.
Effe goes back inside and locks the door.
She goes to the room and watches him.
He is sleeping.
The cloth is off him, and he is wearing only his boxers.
Sleeping as he is now, his face is devoid of its usual calculating coldness, and his features are relaxed. She notices afresh how incredibly good-looking he is. His long dark lashes lying snugly against his cheeks are almost feminine.
Her eyes trace the masculine frame, with its fine spread of dark hairs, and she tells herself that under different circumstances, this Chris Bawa rogue might have been a very special kind of man.
But he is not.
He is a bad one, born bad, and she does not want anything to do with him.
She returns to the kitchen to fix breakfast.
She prepared oats and toast bread with baked beans and corned beef filling.
She eats hers slowly, and when she is done she goes to the bathroom and takes a long bath.
She is wearing a white belted morning robe when she enters the bedroom. She looks at him, and sees that he is still sleeping.
She takes her undies to the bathroom and shirks the morning robe. She slips into white lacy panties, and has just picked up her brassiere when the door opens and he comes in.
Effe gasps and covers her beautiful breasts with her hands.
She sees that he is looking at her with sudden and frank admiration, and that fact, more than anything else, erupts her ire.
She shouts at him.
“Get the hell out! Get out, damn you! Get out!”
He looks at her enraged face, and then he looks down.
He speaks softly.
“Sorry. Didn’t know you were in here.”
He turns and goes out.
Effe breathes deeply as it dawns on her that he is the first man to ever see her in a state of undress.
This spikes her anger, and she wears her underwear quickly, and slips back into the robe.
When she enters the bedroom, he is not there.
She rushes to the living-room, and sees him opening the back door.
She calls him in exasperation.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
He turns and looks at her, his brow slightly furrowed.
“To take a leak.”
“A leak. A leak?”
“I wanna piss.”
She sighs and speaks disdainfully.
“You’re so uncouth! So unpolished, so crude!”
For a brief moment his eyes are filled with fire as he tosses his rasta hair out of his face.
“You done? Can I go out and piss now?”
Effe points to the door that leads to the guest room.
“Go in there. Use the guest bathroom.”
She waits until he walks slowly to the door and opens it. He is in obvious pain, because every step he takes causes him to grit his teeth.
She takes a deep breath and tries to calm down as she enters her bedroom to dress up.
She puts on a gorgeous dark-blue skirt suit with a white inner.
She sits at the dressing-table and applies light make-up, and then she goes back to the living-room.
He is sitting in a chair, and he looks up at her with his beautiful shaded eyes.
She stares unblinkingly at him.
He speaks softly.
“You’re very beautiful.”
And this makes her unreasonably angry again, and her hands ball up into tiny fists at her sides as she glares at him.
“I don’t need compliments from you, Mr. Bawa!”
He chuckles and shakes his head with wonder.
“Wow. You must hate me very much.”
She replies furiously.
“More than you can ever imagine! More than I can ever express to you!”
He smiles, and it is a very beautiful smile indeed.
“That’s a first. Never met a girl yet who didn’t swoon at my smooth charm.”
Effe gasps, and takes swift steps towards him. She is trembling with unrestrained fury, and for a moment she almost hits out at him, and then she sees the twinkle in his eyes, and realizes that he is baiting her, goading her, teasing her.
She fights for control and takes a great shuddering breath.
“I’m not going to waste any emotions on you, Chris Bawa. First, I want to thank you for coming to help me, and saving my life. Also, I’m sorry you got hurt. Now, do you want some breakfast?”
“Yep. I feel absolutely famished. You don’t look like a girl who knows how to cook, so I wonder if you’re really in a position to give me some chow.”
Effe is so livid with the depths of her feelings that she almost stamps her foot. She turns from him with a sudden angry movement and walks towards the kitchen.
She hears him chuckling behind her, and it takes all her willpower not to turn round and slap his face.
She takes a tray laden with his breakfast to the dining-room adjoining the living-room.
“Breakfast is served.”
He gets up and goes to the dining-room.
He draws the bowl of oats near and scoops sugar into it, stirring vigorously.
He looks up at her.
“Join me, please.”
“I’ve already taken my breakfast.”
“Keep me company then.”
She looks coldly at him and sighs with fury.
“The day I keep you company is the day I’ll cut off my own head and roast it!”
He bursts into laughter then.
It is not a wild laughter. It isn’t even loud. It is a deep, vibrating emission of male melody that rumbles out of him, and brings dimples to his cheeks, and transforms that cold face into a thing of sublime beauty.
He points a spoon at her.
“Really? Don’t be so extreme, Doctor. You might live to regret those words when you fall hopelessly in love with me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself! You have nothing I desire!”
He pours milk into the oats porridge and looks at her, his eyes crinkling at the sides.
“Do you have pea nuts? I like pea nuts in my oats.”
Effe gapes at him, and then, much against her will, she begins to smile, and then she laughs gently and shakes her head.
“No, Mr. Chris Bawa, I don’t have nuts. You can refuse to eat it. I wouldn’t really mind.”
He says nothing and begins to eat.
She turns to leave him, and then she turns back and sits down on a chair facing him.
He looks at her with his eyebrows raised.
“Thought you weren’t going to keep me company.”
“I’m not. There’s something I want to know, and then I’ll be done with you.”
“Shoot. I’m listening.”
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A Mother" />
Zac 29-Episode 1" />
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