Chapter Five

Back at the underground drug factory, maestro seemed to be having quite a lot of fun interrogating the man on the chair. He had even adopted a new method of interrogation besides the use of the bat club he originally started with. He had with him a gallon filled with gasoline and a light match on his hands.

The man on the chair had been beaten up so badly , it was hard to tell if what he had atop his neck was his true face or some Halloween mask. His eyes were badly bruised so much that one of them couldn’t bear to lift its eyelids anymore. His lips were severed so much he could hardly speak; it was a wonder how he was expected to give out any speech with such a mouth let alone, a relevant information. Parts of his skin were already burnt severely . The damage level on this young mans body was an overkill. Maestro had outdone himself with this one. A real work of art ; he thought to himself.

 whatever information was asked of charlie boy who was now at the brink of death could never have been worth all of this harm being brought to him. And frankly, it was a great wonder why he hadn’t given it up by now considering the beatings and burns he just received and even still is threatened with more .

“are you gonna talk now Charlie boy?” maestro continued . his face now looking more desperate than before but Charlie boy didn’t seem to be in no mood to comply still. This would come as no surprise seeing how medically impaired maestro had left him from the burns.

Maestro had drawn a lot of blood from the young man; the blood stains scattered on his white vest could testify to that.

“who paid you to sabotage my delivery charlie!” he continued “ I mean, was money even the problem? I was good to you. I treated you right. Like family you know. So I’m Suprised you'll bdonme like this . More so , i'm sure money was never your problem. So what was it.” Maestro now drew his face closer to that of Charlie who was seated almost lifeless on the chair. The mask that coated maestro’s breath as he spoke reminded poor old Charlie how dangerous the figure before him could get. he knew maestro all too well to know he was going to die anyways.

“ whats the point maestro” Charlie began “ If I tell you or not, I’ll still be dead anyways”

“that’s true my friend . but how about this; if you tell me what I need to know, I promise to give you a quick death.” Maetro took a glance at his watch , in attempt to insinuate that he had no more time to tolerate charlie’s lack of co-operation. “ you have till the count of ten before It comes raining more fire on your skin Charlie. Here we go one , two , three , eight nine ten.” Just before he ended the illogical countdown, maestro spilled a little more fuel from the gasoline gallon unto Charlie's legs, just around the region of his balls and just as he was about to lit a match on it , Charlie immediately jumped back to life as he realized what was about to happen and how unprepared he was for such level of torture “ okay! Okay! Okay maestro! Goddamn it!” Charlie shouted “ It was madinni okay”

“madinni?” maestro took a step back trying to comprehend just how unbelieveable what he just heard was. 

“yes madinni. She had been gunning for your turf ever since she got a seat at the table and she felt sabotaging your products delivery would leave you distracted. She had my sis and blackmailed me to tell her the routes you use so she could give the cops an anonymous tip.” Charlie began sobbing from what was left of his eyes “ she had my sister man. that’s why I flipped maestro. You know I’ve always been a true soldier to you. She just had me at a tight spot man. I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry maestro.” Charlie’s sobbing began to intensify as moments passed , so much so it became unbearable to maestro.

“ thank you for your co-operation Charlie. You may now rest in peace.” He turned reached his fore arm, for the back of his waist and as the fore arm resurfaced to Charlie’s view, it was no surprise that it was now in the possession of a 9 millimeter pistol. Maestro aimed the weapon at Charlie's face and the sobbing which grew louder only irritated maestro all the more , giving him more motivation for his next action

Maestro pulled the trigger and a bullet sprung out from the firearm , moving right through charlie’s forehead in a straight-lined projectile.  

Maestro strechted out his arm with the weaopon in hand and one of the men in the room rushed from the shadows to grab it from him.

“ madinni huh?” maestro spoke “ that bitch. I want each and every one of you on alert henceforth. I’ll call for a meeting tonight”

“ okay boss.” The voice of the man who received the pistol replied

“boss” zeke called out rushing to maestro with a phone in his hand again “ another call for you” 

maestro looked at the caller id written on the phone screen and his eyelids widened in disbelief of the caller . there had never been a more inappropriate time to receive this call but he knew he had to do so all the same. He quickly grabbed the phone from zeke and left the room with it . He stepped out to a corner and once he was sure he had gained enough silence and privacy for the call , he tapped the answer button and raised the phone up to hiis ears to speak “ hello mi amor” he now raised the mask up to his nose so his voice would be audible “ how are you doing. I have been expecting your call all day.”

“ I am fine dear” the voice from the phone began “ I wanted to know how my baby is doing”

“I am okay”

“where are you now?” the voice asked

“I’m at the workshop.”

“ okay. I missed you dear” 

“you have no Idea babe. I was actually just thinking about you just now. When exactly would you be back from this trip?” 

“soon baby. Soon”

“okay honey. I’ll be right here waiting when you do. I hope Abuja is treating you well”

“yes dear. Its fine”

“okay dear. I’ll call you when I get home so we can talk at length. I have some shit I need to attend to now”

“okay dear. Bye danny. Love you”

“Bye Nena. Love you more” with that, he raised the phone off from his ear and ended the call. The mask he raised up allowed for the smile he had on his face to be very visible now. The smile of a mastermind whose plot seems to be going as planned.