Broken

*8*

The music was playing at a low volume in the background as the truck got out of the town of Mafeteng. Moshe was talking about his family and Mo could tell very much that he loved and cared about them which was why he had been willing to side-step Mo when he was offered a handsome amount of money to get the car shipment through the border.

"...and Ntsheiseng my eldest , she's doing her form 5 and if it wasn't for your kindness with the Christmas bonus, I doubt she would have made it that far." Moshe looked at her. "Why are you so nice to me after all that I put you through, Ms M?"

"You're real with me, Ntate Moshe. Most of the staff ass-lick if you know what I mean."

Moshe laughed. "I want my eldest to become like you one day. All some women nowadays know how to do is sleep around with men who have money and expect to be rich at the end of the day. You're a special one, Ms M."

"That's the first time I've heard you compliment me," Mo laughed as she looked at the dark road ahead. She increased the brightness of the front lights since the area as far as she could see was blanketed in darkness due to the new moon. "So...now we are about to get into some trouble...I suggest you grab the gun under your seat."

"You have a gun?!" Moshe exclaimed as he searched under his seat and exhumed a small pistol. He examined it. "Nice. Why do you have a gun though, Ms M?"

Mo opened her glove compartment and in it were a shotgun and boxes of bullets. "For occasions like these. These are for our protection if we don't make it to the 'safety zone'." She switched off the light above them and continued driving at the acceptable speed.

"I think we should drive faster," Moshe said as he looked around in the darkness but he could see nothing even with the aid of the front lights. The night was so still and silent. He was getting nervous and Mo only nodded.

When she first started in this business, she drove the trucks herself and many thieves had tried to get one up on her. She had landed in hospital a couple of times but with time and more trips, she had learned how to defend herself as well as the merchandise.

Then out of nowhere, a police car flashed it's lights and Mo pulled to the side of the road. She realised that she had seen no cars pass by on this route and there were just kilometers and kilometers of fields or forest on either side of them. The plan was for them to get off these fields so that they would get to the 'safety zone'.

A man dressed in police garb came over and knocked on the window of the truck. "Get down," Mo whispered to Moshe then stared at the officer for a while before slowly winding the window down. "Good evening, sir, " she said with a smile as her hand reached for the shotgun on her lap.

"Ma'am can you put on the light so that I can see your face. And I need your licence and registration."

"Yes, sir." She used her left hand to grab the papers and gave them over to the officer who used a flashlight to look them over. Mo noticed that his garb was missing the Lesotho Mounted Police badge over the left breast and she held on tight to her gun, heart racing. "Isn't it awfully late for a check, officer ? It's almost 9:30pm and you should be at home with your wife and children."

The man only gave her a slight look then went back to the paperwork. "What are you shipping? Open up the back. Your papers say you're shipping cars. So late and alone? Are they illegal?"

Mo laughed a little. "If my papers say I'm shipping cars then I'm shipping cars, officer. Tell me, does Captain Moleko still work you guys hard when you're out here at this time?"

"Yeah. He still works us hard and I still need you to open the container for me."

Mo nodded. "Let me just get out of the truck-if you could kindly get out of the way, officer." She held the door to open it and pushed it so hard it slammed into the man and knocked him off the truck into the road. Mo started the truck and sped off into the dark. Several cars came out of the forest and gave chase.