Madam Momus and Her Dirty Diaries.

Chapter 21 - Narcos

As soon as I left the bathroom I made a beeline for the back parking lot. Early this evening Michael had sent a text that he was outside but I couldn't find a perfect time to meet with him. Until now. Everyone was busy inside and Wesley...well he wasn't going to look for me any time soon. Just as I had expected Michael was out in the parking lot. He switched his indicators on as soon he spotted me, and I walked as fast as I could in these heels.

Michael was a friend from high school who was now a policeman. He owed me big time, and I called in a favour yesterday. Before I got into the passenger seat I looked around and made sure no one was watching. I banged the door so hard, that the entire car shook.

"Sorry." For banging the door and keeping you waiting. Who knows how long he was waiting out here. My nerves were all over the place today and for once it had nothing to do with the gala.

"I can't hold him for long River. If Dr Sykes doesn't press charges himself, I have to let him go."

Yesterday I reported Daniel for assault. Technically, I was a witness when he punched Dr Sykes at our practice a few weeks back. It was a bit extreme but I knew the only way I could make sure Daniel didn't show up tonight was to make sure he was being held against his will.

"I know..."

"You want to tell me why it was so important I arrest him tonight?"

Not really. I sure as hell didn't want to tell him that Daniel has some information on my boyfriend that could be harmful and he was going to talk to the news about it. I would have to admit that I was playing with the law for my own personal gain.

"Dr Sykes is here tonight and I just wanted to make sure he didn't...get anywhere near him."

I silently prayed that Michael would buy it but the way his eyebrow rose, I knew he didn't. Anyone who knows Wesley can see that Daniel was no threat to him, it was more believable if Daniel was pressing charges against Wesley.

"I smell a rat, Coleman. That kid is sweating so much, that he's fogging up my cell. There's no way a guy like that would even look a guy like Wesley in the eye."

"Oh, you don't know how vile he is. I could get you two other witnesses right now." I wasn't completely being dishonest here, Wesley was assaulted.

Michael narrowed his eyes, still not convinced. "Even if he did assault Wesley. Huge emphasis on if. Wesley wouldn't call the cops on that guy, he'd deal with him himself. So what gives?"

I slumped my shoulders in defeat, I couldn't weasel my way out of this one.

"I told you everything you need to know. You tell him to drop his vendetta against Wesley and no charges will be pressed." I opened the door and got out, if I stayed any longer Michael was going to keep poking holes in my story.

I didn't look back until his headlights came on and he pulled away. When he drove off I was covered in darkness. The cool evening wind reminded me that I should get back inside.

"River!" I heard someone yelp out. and just like in the movie, three figures emerged from the shadows into the light the building was emitting.

I recognised one of them. Dana.

The two other men, I didn't. The one guy was dragging Dana along with a tight grip on her upper arm and the other guy stood casually with his hands in his pockets. He was chewing on something in the corner of his mouth. A shiver ran down my spine, the kind of warning your intuition gives you when you know something is wrong.

Every time Dana tried to pull away, the beefier guy would violently shake her. He was a lot bigger than the second man, who looked quite young. He was a bit shorter than me with two stripes cut into his left eyebrow.

"Dana?"

"I'm sorry River. I had no other choice."

The younger guy pulled a toothpick out of his mouth and pointed it at Dana. "You responsible for her?"

"What?"

"Kyk hier, this is not drama class. Let's skip the theatrics. Between the two of you, someone has to pay."

The only thing that kept me from passing out was the amount of adrenaline my fear-induced brain produced.

"Pay for what?"

The two men looked at each other and laughed. The younger guy stuck the toothpick back in his mouth and chewed it. "My product."

The way he said it told me he wasn't going to elaborate further, nor did I need him to. I looked over at Dana and her eyes were downcasted, she couldn't look me in the eye.

"Drugs?!"

The younger guy pulled out something from his fanny pack, and when the light reflected off the silver weapon I froze.

"If you get any louder, you're gonna force me to silence you." He dusted it off as if he picked it up from a sandy pit. "I don't want to do that, so let's keep this simple."

My eyes shot to Dana, anger curling in my stomach. "This is why you wanted to see Wesley? To bail you out?!"

"He's all I have." she said weakly. I thought she was clean?! It all made sense now, why she'd gotten so pushy. She was on a timeline.

"After all that shit about wanting to reunite with your son? Was any of it real?!" I was starting to get why Wesley wasn't a huge fan of seeing his mother. Maybe I shouldn't have meddled...

"Girly just give us our money so we can be on our way." He took a step toward me and I was too scared to move. "Such a pretty face. It would be a shame for anything to happen to it..."

"How much?" I didn't have anything on me, not right now. I didn't have my clutch on me, I couldn't give my phone or atm card.

"Sixteen grand." How much of drugs was Dana consuming for her to owe these guys R16000?! I shot her a dirty look...

"How the hell did you rack up sixteen thousand rands in debt? For drugs?"

"She was supposed to distribute," The smaller guy answered and shrugged "Turns out she was using up all the products instead of selling them."

Weren't drug dealers supposed to be genius businessmen or something? Who the hell gives a drug addict sixteen thousand rands worth of drugs and expected her not to use it.

"You believed a drug addict? That's not very smart." Sometimes I forget how condescending and judgmental I can sound. Escobar over here titled his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at me.

The beefier guy spoke up for the first time. "You know what isn't smart? Calling the guy holding a gun, dumb."

Fair point. I probably should not be antagonising a guy holding a gun.

"I don't have anything on me but if you could just give me a few hours, we can work something out." My eyes flickered to a very scared Dana. "Just please don't hurt her."

The bulkier guy squeezed on Dana's arm and she yelped out in pain. The ring leader smiled. "You watch too many movies, what would I gain from hurting her? No one cares about her and the bitch is too old to pimp out."

He stepped forward again, closing the space between us. The smell of cigarettes hit me. He reached out and played with one of my loose curls. He had yet to touch me but my skin crawled. "But you? You should be worried about you because you look like someone worth something..."

I don't know what that meant but I was scared, really scared. I was shaking uncontrollably and my vision was getting so blurry the tear drop tattoo under his right eye was starting to look like a circle. 

"Please don't-" I wanted to plead but he stopped me.

"Shhh." He placed the cold pistol against my lips, shushing me like I was a crying baby. "I just want my money and I'm tired of giving people time to pay it back. You either have it for me now, or I'm taking you to work it off."

We all heard some laughter, and that distracted the man in front of me. While he was distracted I tried to run but he was so close and his reflexes were quite fast. He gripped my arm.

"Hello?" A male voice called out and before I could scream for help I felt a cold metal strike me on the temple. I felt myself hit the ground before everything went black.