Chapter 3

It's been months now and everywhere looks calm and serene,no crime was recorded in the past months and some of the citizens started making suggestions that maybe the drug dealers and other gangsters terrorizing the city have migrated or better still they've decided to turn a good leaf,James was not left out of the shock it's over three months now and Jason has not tracked him down or come running after him for his money,maybe he has decided to let go of the money James said to himself one hot afternoon as he was walking down the street taking a nap.

Rose and Smith attends the same school,their school bell rang 3 hours ago and the other students have gone home.They waited patiently for their mum to show up but it seems she's not,they later decided to start trekking home when their mother failed to pick them up after school hours,school was few metres journey down to their house so they decided to walk on foot down home,they were discussing while walking on the road.

They are already few metres away from home when a van suddenly parked beside them and two masked man alighted from the van and they dragged both Rose and Smith into the van roughly before driving off at high speed.

Michelle called her children's school to confirm if they are still around or they have gone home,she was informed immediately that her kids have decided to go home all by themselves.

Michelle dropped her phone and felt relieved when she heard her children has gone home,she have so many things to take care of at work,she kept working on and on until something strange struck her mind,she doesn't like the feeling so she decided to call her husband but she changed her mind."Rose is no longer a kid so she should be able to take care of herself and Smith".Michelle said brushing off the feeling she had.

James was sitting right in front of their house waiting for his wife to return with the kids.

"What's taking them so long".James who was becoming uncomfortable checked his wristwatch the second time.He decided to make a call to know what's keeping them but his phone rang before he could do that,the number is a strange number but he decided to pick it.

"Hello,Good afternoon yes this is James on the line,how may I help you?".James asked the unknown caller.

"So you think you can elude with my money and go scot-free?".The voice at the other end of the line said.

"Jason".James shouted now recognizing the owner of the voice.

"Well it's nice hearing your voice again,I've got something nice for you here".Jason said passing the cell phone to Rose.

"Daddy please come and save us".Rose said sobbing.Jason collected the phone back from her and started laughing sarcastically.

"What do you want Jason".James asked.

"I think you know exactly what I want,why don't we play a game James.I'm gonna give you fifteen minutes to show up with my money or else I'll shoot her skull out".Jason said with a serious tone.

"I'll get you your money but don't you dare touch my kids".James who knows what Jason is capable of doing threatened.

"You have just 15 minutes to return my money in your custody back to me,you know the exact place to locate me and don't even try and involve the cops,you know what I'm capable of doing".Jason said and hangs the call.

"Fuck! I saw this coming,if only Michelle had listened to me when I told her we should elope from the state this wouldn't have happened,James knew it's dawn on him he started thinking of a way out of the mess he got himself into without involving his wife.

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Michelle returned from work a little bit late today,it was really an hectic day for her at work,she forgot she hasn't eaten anything it was when her stomach started complaining she remembered that she has not eaten,she parked her car right in front of her apartment but was surprised to see everywhere dark.

"Why is everywhere so dark?".Michelle said asking no one in particular.

She entered the house and discovered that no one is at home.

"Where could they have gone to without informing me".She asked again.

She dipped her hand into her bag and brought her phone out,she dialed James number but he wasn't picking his calls,she tried the number again several times but he still wasn't picking up,so she decided to give up thinking they might be having fun wherever they are.

She later entered the kitchen where she got herself a glass of water and gulped it all at once,she opened her freezer looking for what to eat.She saw the burger she ordered for which she was unable to eat and microwaved it,she pour herself a glass of juice before heading back to the sitting room with the burger.

After eating she sat down on one of the couch in the sitting room waiting for them to return but being so tired with the stress she went through at the office,she slept off almost immediately she sat on the couch.

           *                         *                        *

James drove past Stanley Bank Plc where his misfortune all began,he placed the gun his friend gave him months ago to protect himself due to the illegal job he's doing beside him in the car.

He has made up his mind to kill Jason if he try to hurt his kids,although he knows quite alright that he has failed his wife and kids by engaging in an illegal business but he can't bear to endanger their life through the same illegal business.

James phone kept ringing but he ignored all the calls,his phone started ringing again,he checked the caller and discovered it was Michelle.She's been calling for a long time but he kept ignoring her calls because he doesn't want her to suspect something's wrong with the kids.

He suddenly stopped his car by the roadside and started hitting his steering wheel.

"This is bullshit,what the hell have I got myself into?".He said placing his fore head on the steering wheel.

He checked his time again and discovered the fifteen minutes Jason gave him is almost up,he ignite his car engine again and zoomed off in high speed overtaking all the cars on the road.