The Lead

Chapter 9

Chico was doing his daily activities, every morning he would go to his restaurant for a cup of coffee and observe the running of the business. He was thinking about expanding his business to other locations, but he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself.

Bk walked in the restaurant. Bk was Chico's trusted man in the organization, Chico and Bk met in prison when Bk saved Chico from an attack by a rival gang. Chico felt indebted to Bk, as he same times think if Bk didn't arrive in time he would've died in that attack. Chico always  looked out for his men especially the ones who show him loyalty and respect.

"Glad you could make it."

Bk sat opposite Chico.

"Bk, we need to be more careful now. I want that recruiter to stop recruiting men for us. I want him gone for good." He said.

Bk seemed unhappy about this move Chico was doing. Bk didn't want to end the recruiter's job. The recruiter was not just a nobody to Bk, it was his cousin. Chico didn't know the recruiter was related to Bk.

"But we need the recruiter for our operation." Bk defended.

Chico shakes his head in disagreement. "He's a liability for us. I don't want him near my operation, I'll will find someone more reliable."

"I think we making a bad move here. This guy has been recruiting for us for many years." Bk justified.

Chico takes a sip on the cup. "Well, good things must come to an end. It time we cut him out of our operations."

Bk felt hurt by Chico's action. He still wanted to keep his cousin on the business, it was the only thing his cousin did to survive.

"Chico, you're making a mistake here."

Chico hits the table with his fist.

"Nonsense! You don't have an idea how his actions affected me.  My relationship with my boss is already in turmoil. I don't need more hiccups. Look what he brought us the last time we went on the job, a coward who got a cold feet that led me to kill that poacher."

"But..."

"No more buts! He needs to go. I don't wanna talk about this anymore." Chico declared.

Captain Khumalo walked in the restaurant, he proceeded to Chico's table. Chico smiled to see Captain Khumalo.

"Ah, Captain Khumalo what a surprise to see you here."

"Well, I hope we met in different situations." Captain Khumalo said as he sat down.

"What's going on?" Chico asks, his voice is full of concern.

"Well, that's my cue to leave." Bk says as he stood and left them.

Captain Khumalo clears his throat. "Chico, I can't protect you anymore, it getting suspicious."

"Captain, you can't drop me now. I've been paying you to drop my rhino poaching cases. And now this."

"Look, I'm not dropping you. It just there is some investigative journalist busy sniffing around murder case of the dead poacher. And I'm starting to panic that this journalist will put two and two together and see that I'm working for you and start to crack the case." Captain Khumalo said.

"An investigative journalist? This is really bad."

"She not just an journalist - she is an award winning journalist." Captain Khumalo informed.

"We have to silence her permanently. I can't have a  journalist sniffing in my business." Chico said in a cold tone.

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