THE MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
CHAPTER 3
I fired at the guy who had just got in through the main door of the hotel because I saw him with a drawn gun. It was a clean shot and he fell back and died instantly, with a bullet in his heart. The guy who had been chasing me through the corridor and down the stairs pulled out his gun, aimed at me and fired. I ducked just in time as he rained more bullets on me. I hid behind a standing air conditioner and tried to judge his position from the sound of his gun. He seemed to have runout of bullets and wanted to reload. That was my opportunity. Peeping from my place of cover, I fired a bullet at him, but it missed. I tried to fire again but realized I was out of bullets too. By then, he had finished loading his gun. He fired at me, but I ran towards the receptionist as he kept firing. The bullet missed me and went through the wooden counter of the receptionist area, killing one clerk and wounding two.
I ran up the stairs to get the money. My cover had been blown. I had to leave the hotel. However, the shooter was meant to kill me at all costs, and he followed me up the stairs. I had no to reload my gun, so, I hid behind a pillar that stood in the middle of the hallway that led to the third-floor corridor. The shooter came into the hallway and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. He came close to the pillar but didn’t see me because I had shifted to the other side. Convinced that I was not in the hallway, he put his gun back in its holster and moved towards the corridor. That was my opportunity. I took a big clay flowerpot and hit on his head. He fell on the ground, and I took his gun and fired two shots into his head.
I knew the police would be here soon. I had to act fast. I now knew there were many men looking for me. The police would start looking for me too. I got into the hotel room, opened the safe, grabbed the bag containing the money and ran back outside. I didn’t see anyone. I went down the stairs and out of the hotel. I stopped a passing taxi and got in. As I was leaving, I saw a police car stopping in front of the hotel.
At the back seat of the taxi, I started analyzing the situation. How did the guys know that I lived at Dreamland Hotel? There could only be one reason. I had been followed on my way back from the hospital. I had seen four of them at the hospital premises waiting for me. However, it was now evident that there were more of them than I had anticipated. Some of them had spotted me and followed me back to my hotel. What was I going to do? The cursed money had brought me more harm than good. What was the use of having money this much, but you couldn’t spend it. I decided to call my wife and find out how she was doing.
“Hello babe.”
“Hello love” She replied. Her voice was so sweet. For about two days now, I hadn’t been able to spend time with her, and it bothered me. I missed her terribly. I wondered if I would ever be able to have her in my arms again.
“How are you feeling today?” I asked.
“I am better today. Where are you? Where have you been hiding. Those people who came to the house said you have their money. What is going on? How come you are associated with that kind of mean looking people?” She was asking too many questions.
“Don’t worry, babe. I will explain everything to you when I have the time. Right now, I don’t have any tine for explanations. I just want to tell you that, when you leave the hospital, don’t go back home. Tell Derick to take you to my mother. I will see you there later.”
“Babe please, I am scared. What is happening to you? Please tell me.” She was really afraid for me.
“Don’t worry, I am fine. I will explain everything later, Ok? No matter what happens, know that you are always in my heart. I love you.”
“Love you too, babe.”
“Bye”
“Ok, bye”
As soon as I dropped, my phone rang. It was my boss at the railway construction.
“Hello, boss”
“Young man. You haven’t been showing up for work. What is happening?”
“I am sorry, Sir. I am really caught up with something now. It’s so important and I can’t show up for work now until I have put everything right.”
“What can be more important than your job, young man?” The boss asked. “Anyway, I want you to know that your salary would be reduced proportionately to the number of the days you will be away. Do you understand?
“Yes, Sir.”
“And next time you are going to be away from work, better let people know on time. There was a shootout here the other day, and we came in the morning and met corpses. Then, we waited on you, and you didn’t show up to work. We were all scared that you might have been killed.”
“It’s alright, boss. I am fine. I have to go now.”
“No, wait….”
I dropped the call and turned my attention to the taxi driver. He was getting worried because I hadn’t told him my destination.
“Sir, you haven’t told me where you are going to.” He said.
Did I even know where I was going to? I was going to nowhere in particular. However, I had to get off the taxi before the driver started suspecting me. But we were in the middle of nowhere now and I couldn’t drop in the middle of nowhere.
“Please, just go for a few minutes and I will drop.” I told him.
As soon as I said that I regretted immediately. We had come upon a police checkpoint. I cursed under my breath at this mishap. What if the police decided to search my bag? They would definitely find the money. What was I going to tell them I got the money from? I was very tense, afraid and angry.
The driver was asked to pull over. He did. A young policeman approached the car.
“Good afternoon, Officer.”
“Good afternoon. Where are you off to?” The policeman asked, peering inside the car.
“I am going to drop this passenger, Sir. Work is tight today oh, things are not moving.” The driver told him.
“Are you saying this is the only passenger you have transported since morning?”
“Yes, Sir. Work is slow today.”
“You are saying there is nothing for us?” The policeman asked.
“Nothing for now, Officer. Perhaps on my way back, I will drop something, trust me.”
“Alright” The policeman agreed. “But remember to keep to your promise.”
The policeman cleared us to leave. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. That was close. What if the policeman had become curious and searched me? But that was highly unlikely. Most of the policemen on that road only cared about money and bribes. They didn’t even check car documents or trunks of cars. That explained why guns could move freely through the city. It was thanks to the corrupt nature of some policemen. For example, if the car had been searched, they would have arrested me because I had my gun and the money with me.
It was about 6:30 PM now. Back at the hospital premises, the bearded guy with the shades had heard about the shooting at Dreamland Hotel. He had also heard that I had killed both of his men. He now knew I was no ordinary adversary. He now believed I was going to give them a very hard time. He called their boss and intimated him about the recent developments.
Back at the hotel, the police were still doing their investigations. The hotel had no security cameras. Therefore no one was able to know about the mysterious shooter that was me. All the police could get was verbal descriptions of me. An ambulance had been called, and the bodies of the two killers and the receptionist were taken to the morgue. It was a good thing I didn’t book the hotel with any ID of mine. Few hotels if any, would allow you to get a room without some form of ID. In my case, I had bribed the receptionist and lied to her that I was going to bring my ID the next day. That was going to make the work of the police difficult. I smiled at the thought of that.
I asked the taxi driver to drop me around the premises of another hotel. This one was called White House Hotel. I approached the hotel cautiously from the side and got to the reception area without any incident.
“Hello” I said to the receptionist.
“Welcome, Sir. Do you want a room?”
“Yes, beautiful, do you have any for me?” I asked the beautiful receptionist.
“Yes, Sir. We have very nice and comfortable rooms, and our rates are very moderate.
I got a room on the second floor of the hotel. The room overlooked the main road. So, I could watch any activity happening down there without anyone noticing. I put the money under the bed, put the gun on the nightstand and went into the bath. I had just finished freshening up when I heard a knock on my door.
“Who is there?” I asked but there was no response. With only a towel around my waist, I took my gun and cautiously approached the door.
TO BE CONTINUED…
