The Filters 10

Of all the footwear, it had to be this, of all the days, it had to be today. Was the only train of thought that ran the tracks of Naomi's mind as she walked toward the now infamous apartment 25. Aside from the clicking of her heels against the floor and the soft rumbling of thunder in the sky there was a very silent murmuring. Her trained ear picked it up even though she was 20feet away from the house. There were definitely still people inside, lifting her skirt, she revealed her thighs and her gun, both concealed weapons, but at the moment she needed one and she slipped her finger over the trigger guard. Closer to the house now she could hear the voices more clearly, it seemed more like a conversation and less like an argument. She kicked off her heels and set her barefoot through the open door and into the living room.

"So what you're saying is, you killed your sister so you could inherit your father's fortune, and you needed to kill the guys who helped you kill her so you got us involved through Hakim."

"That is correct." Tunde said proudly.

Jesse lowered his gun at this, but Seun kept pointing his and took three menacing steps forward.

"How did you know Hakim worked for the filters? How do we know you won't pull something like this again and get us involved in one of your schemes? How do we know Hakim hasn't given you something to use against us? And why shouldn't we kill you anyway?."

Jesse folded his arms as if to say. He's right, answer.

"See Jamb question ooo, wow, um okay. First of all,Hakim told my sister everything, and my sister told me everything. Secondly I have my inheritance now, so I have no use for you guys, hell, even my money is clean.As for your third concern,  I don't really have anything concrete against you guys and even if I did, what do I have to gain?, plus judging from all this, you also have quite a lot against me. And to your final and obviously consequential question. Well, these guys are known Criminals, my sister is known to have had a million dollar necklace that is sitting in Casper's pocket. Story is, this band of criminals killed her trying to steal it, but she didn't have it, so they went to the next probable person her boyfriend, who did have it and they killed him but got double crossed by a faction of their men who would rather have the hundreds of thousands of naira that sat in Hakim's safe rather than...."

"Shut up!just shut up!!, Jesse you don't believe him do you?he set us up, he set Hakim up, he deserves to die!"

Jesse mulled it over for a second, he looked between the two men, one pointing a gun, and the other wearing an expression of ease. He always favoured placidity over tenseness.

"You're right Seun, he deserves to die, anyone sick enough to kill their own family for money does, but he serves us better alive, think about it, they killed Hakim's girl, they killed Hakim, then they ran off with his cash, the double cross thing is a little far fetched but....."

"But I have a guy who would be caught at a bar later today, ready to testify to just that, tying this up with one nice little bow. Killing me however would cause a lot more questions."

 Jesse shrugged a 'his right' and Seun who had never cried a day in his adult life felt the salty waters well up in his eyes.

"What gives you the right!? To sit down somewhere and decide who gets to die?! Who do you think you are? God?" He put the safety off but Jesse caught him before he could pull the trigger.

"Whose she?" Tunde asked casually.

For a second Jesse and Seun stood inanimate staring at him, then they followed his eyes to the person behind them.

"Naomi? What are you doing here?" He concealed his weapon and went to meet her, she looked like she was about to have a break down.

"I..I.eeeeeeee, Seun? What's all this? Those.." she swallowed dry spit. "Those men outside are they, are they?.."

"Shhhhhh, shhhh, shhhh, don't worry about them ok?where are your shoes?why are you here?"

"My shoes, um, I was running, ru...saw your car parked across the road, figured you must be in here."

"Oh Naomi." he engulfed her in his arms and cast a worried look at Jesse, then he whispered in her ear. "You shouldn't be here."

15 minutes later, Tunde was long gone and Seun ensured a melancholic Naomi that everything would be alright, that she should not speak to anyone about what she saw and they would talk later. He put her in a cab and waved her off. Then he returned to Jesse's side, he could feel the rebuke coming.

"You know she's going to be a problem right?in fact letting her go alone was a stupid thing to do, what if she goes straight to a police station?."

"Jesse I don't know how many times I have to tell you, she won't be a problem..."

"I have to call Jude."

"Come on man! Please don't tell him."

He dialed.

Three rings later, Jude's voice bounced into his ears. "You're alive."

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"How'd it go?"

"Well, there were quite a few complications."

"Okay? What kind of complications?"

"We had to let Tunde go."

"Why?"

"Its a long story, i'll tell you later."

"Okay, anything else?"

Jesse looked at Seun who had his hands clasped in silent prayer.

"No, that's it."

"Ok. My sisters coming home today so might not be at work tomorrow, Mr. Stanley too, mumsy's designated it family day."

"Hmm,sounds like fun isn't it the sister you don't like?the one you're always bad mouthing?"

"The very one, and you can only "bad mouth" nice people by the way."

"I hear you. Greet Mr.Stanley for me."

"When his precious little queen is around, I doubt he'll even be able to hear my voice."

"I fought 8 armed men 20 minutes ago and your here spazzin out about some sibling rivalry?"

"What? I can't confide in you because you almost died a couple minutes ago? That's selfish, and insensitive man, goodbye!"

With that Jude was gone and as the phone fell from Jesse's ear, the first drops of rain began to fall to the impermeable ground.