CHAPTER 4

THE ULTIMATE TAKEOVER.

CHAPTER 4.

Bruce wasn't Steven's hitman for no reason. He had proved himself by conducting many errands for him, making quite a fortune in the process.

Steven ran a drug peddling side business that wasn't quite profitable because most of his clients didn't pay up in time.

Time and again he would send Bruce to enforce payment and the methods used for this would be brutal.

At one point Bruce's enforcement led to a fatality but they were both lucky no one linked them to it.

Under Steven, Bruce still enjoyed a salary from MORRISON INTERNATIONAL as a security operative.

All the other workers didn't know his other side but the ever hawk eyed Jeanne knew everything and she even told her boss Andrew about it, backed by a big file that contained a report from a private investigator she had hired to spy on Bruce.

Andrew had read the file and summoned her to his office. He had told her not to say a word about it until the right time came. But that time didn't come and when Andrew died the first thing to be fed to the shredder was that file.

Bruce was very brutal and now he was on a trail to find Brenda and kill her. Steven had told him to make it look like an accident but he had no such time.

Having received a down payment, he jumped into his vintage car and drove off to Brenda's school, getting there a few minutes after lesson's time.

As he debated upon himself the kind of lies he'd peddle to the school adminstration while seated inside his car, he saw Jeanne leaving with Brenda. This was going to be easy. He was going to take them out both.

Once they left the school in a taxi he trailed them from a safe distance and when he was satisfied that they were going to Jeanne's house he slowed down.

Thirty minutes of slow driving got him to Jeanne's house and he waited in the trees for darkness to fall.

The woman had planted so many trees along the wall, making his entry unnoticed.

He took out his binoculars and surveyed the compound.

The house had massive glass windows with no metal grilles. A simple action of breaking the glass would gain him access to the house.

He was well armed, a pistol and knife were enough for now.

This woman Jeanne hated him, and for that she was going to die too, collateral damage, this was a good time to exact revenge.

Looking at the house through the glass windows he could see the two women inside. Too bad they didn't know what awaited them. The house was well illuminated but she had forgotten a very important security aspect, there were no security lights either by neglect or sheer ignorance.

Whichever the case she was going to pay very dearly for that.

With their eyes accustomed to light he was sure that they couldn't see him as he crouched nearer and nearer to the house, positioning himself at the sitting room's window and decided to lie low and listen.

The two ladies continued talking, discussing the recent events, the death of Mr Andrew.

Thirty minutes passed as he listened and he was shocked by what he heard. The ladies knew that he was after them, hence the need to move with speed.

In his surveillance he had seen where the mains supply was and he crouched further towards it.

Rising from his crouching position he picked the lock to the power supply box and opened it up, then using a medium sized stone he hit the fuse box, disabling it completely.

Sparks emanated from the box as darkness engulfed the whole building.

He retraced his steps to the sitting room window, the stone still in his hands and drew out his flashlight and switched it on.

Shining his flashlight on the house he saw the ladies ascending the stairs and lost them as they reached the first landing.

Then he gathered all his strength and hurled the stone at the window and immediately drew out his gun.

Something he did not expect happened.

Instead of the glass shattering, the stone bounced off and fell, inflicting no damage.

He had clearly underestimated the strength of the glass.

He holstered his weapon and roamed around, looking for a bigger stone and finding none.

His fury multiplied by leaps and bounds as the mission he thought would take him a few minutes was now threatening to get out of control.

The ladies could be escaping as he looked for stones to haul at the window, and he decided to change tact.

He moved towards the main door, retrieving various lock picks from his trench coat.

The door was locked from inside but after toying around with his lock picks it gave way. But there was a deadbolt in place so he moved back a few steps and aimed at the lock with his gun and fired.

The powerful shot hit squarely at the lock forcing the deadbolt out of place.

The door swung open and he walked inside, his flashlight on one hand and gun in the other.

His mission was simple, spot the two ladies, identify them positively, then shoot and exit the building.

It had already taken him a lot of time and he was boiling with rage.

He shone the flashlight on the sitting room, nothing. But that was expected, he'd seen them running upstairs and he headed to the stairway to go after them.

Another surprise awaited him. He had clearly seen them going up the stairway but now there was none, then reality dawned on him, the stairway was retrievable and upon going up the ladies had taken it up with them.

Brilliant, he thought, but he had to get them.

Shining the flashlight on the room again he saw a table, probably used for ironing.

He pushed it to the point where the staircase was and positioned it properly. Then he climbed atop it and jumped, grasped the rails on the first landing then hauled himself up and jumped. He was now in a long hallway leading to some rooms .

The ladies must be in one of the three rooms and he decided to look at each of them.

All the doors were wooden and he was sure that he would be through with the task quickly.

He started with the door nearest to him, turning the door knob with the same hand with the flashlight while he held his gun on the other, his finger on the trigger.

The door opened easily, nothing, the room was empty, not even furniture or anything else. He wondered why she didn't use the room as he moved to the next.

He used the same means to open it up.

This one was a bedroom, well furnished and painted with warm colours.

The bed was undisturbed, meaning that no one had been there.

He shone the flashlight under the bed and found nothing.

He was now getting a bit frustrated and he wondered whether he was ever going to find them.

Only one room remained unchecked.

That was where they were hiding and he was going to flush them out.

He walked towards it, his flashlight held between his teeth and a hunting knife on the hand that held the flashlight before.

Approaching it with caution he turned the knob.

He expected it to be locked but it swung open, exposing a larger bedroom.

Expensive cabinets adorned the walls and a heavy wall to wall furry carpet covered the floor.

Jeanne's photos hung all around the wall and a large photo of MORRISON INTERNATIONAL building completed the picture.

This no doubt was the elderly woman's bedroom, but where was she?

He shone the flashlight everywhere but there was nobody, even under the bed or the expensive looking washing room.

The two ladies were nowhere, they had outwitted him.

Then on her bedside he noticed a laptop that was still on and he decided to take a look.

The screen was on saver mode and a word kept on popping around, bouncing from corner to corner. It was the word “IDIOT".

This Jeanne woman was very clever and this popping word had been left there on purpose, for him to see it and read it.

His anger intensified and he took up the laptop and smashed it on the floor, shards of glass and plastic spewing all over.

He stepped on the wreck on his way out and they cracked under his boots.

He muttered a curse, that he would break her skull the same way.

Back on the hallway he saw a door leading to the balcony and walked over.

The door was wide open and he accessed the vast balcony, then saw a ladder leading to the grass lawn downstairs.

Evidently the ladies had used the ladder to escape while he searched for them.

He shone the flashlight around and saw them.

About twenty meters away was the perimeter fence, and amidst the trees he managed to see the ladies trying to scale the wall.

He needed to act fast before they fled because once they were over the wall there was no chance of getting them.

What that meant was that Steven would exact strict repercussions. Steven never condoned failure.

A bigger problem would occur because he had already used some of the money he'd been paid so a refund would be quite difficult. He had to kill them.

The flashlight beam still on them he took out his gun and as he took aim he heard sirens approaching the house from the opposite side. Someone, probably a nosy neighbor had contacted the police.

He wasn't going to be distracted by the police cars, and he concentrated on his target.

The girl jumped off to the other side and Jeanne was now on top of the wall. He aimed properly and shot.

His flashlight fell off and a loud bang from his gun augmented the sirens now on the front door.

He had to be sure that he hit his target before leaving.

Taking back his flashlight he aimed the beam at the wall again and watched in horror as the lady jumped off.

He had clearly missed her.

“Police. Drop your weapon. You're surrounded." A megaphone shouted from below.