Alice 9

“Alice, are you ok?” A tall lanky man said and carried her. Alice smiled and nodded. “You are her Uncle?” I asked. He hesitated and nodded. “Well not really. My ex-wife is her auntie. I’m Jack.” He finally said. “Oh ok. I guess you are the only family she has got now.” I shrugged. “So what are you going to do? It looks like this little girl isn’t safe here.” Rodney said. Jack nodded and replied. “Yes that is clear. I’m taking her to Namibia, I have family there. They could take care of her. I just wish my ex-wife was here. She is very good with her.” I felt sorry for him because I knew his ex-wife was definitely not coming back. “The Police are searching for her so once we find her; she can be with Alice again.” He added. Rodney looked at me, he knew I wanted to tell him the truth but I got the message and just nodded.

He signed all the papers he needed to and walked out with us. “Thank you for everything. I’m truly grateful. Our flight is in about two hours so we have to leave now. Thank you again.” He said at the car park. I waved at Alice and she run to me and gave me a hug. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked. I smiled at her and bent down to hug her properly. “I will come later but I need to go and get some stuff first so you two go, I’ll come visit you later ok?” I lied. She smiled and hugged me again. They got into Jack’s car and we waved at them as they drove off.

 I could see Rodney was relieved. “So, you didn’t see anything weird ok? End of story.” He said when we got into the car. I rolled my eyes. “It’s kind of chilly tonight isn’t it?” I said and reached for my jacket at the back seat. “Oh, it seems a little cold but it’s not bad.” Rodney said driving off. Then I noticed the jacket we bought for Alice was still in our car. “Hurry Rodney, follow Jack.” I ordered. He turned to look at me sharply. “What, why?!” He asked with a frown. “Alice left her jacket.” I replied. “Come on Doreen. Jack can buy her a new one.” He complained. I could tell he wanted to be as far away from her as possible. The reason was quiet obvious. “Look, the man is just two cars away. Just catch up with him and flash your lights.” I shot back. Rodney had no choice. He did as I said and after driving a while we saw him pull over next to an overpass. I saw them both get out of the car and walk under the overpass. That was a bit odd. “Park here. I’ll just go alone and drop it off quickly.” I ordered and got out of the car with the jacket. 

“Jack!” I called, but he didn’t hear me. The cars passing were too loud. I was quiet close now so I decided not to call anymore. His car wasn’t locked so I figured they would be back soon. I leaned on the car to wait but they weren’t coming to I decided to go towards the bridge. What were they possibly doing in that dark place? As I got closer I heard some voices. I couldn’t make out what they were saying though. I took two more steps closer. I could see two men. My heart pounded when I recognized one of them. He was the one who shot Alice’s aunty in the head, the assassin. I gasped and moved behind the wall quickly. I was confused. 

Then I saw Jack rush off with a brief case. Alice wasn’t with him. He would have seen me if he just turned around. He opened the door, threw the case into the passenger seat and rushed into his own seat. When he sparked his car I thanked God he didn’t see me, things were beginning to make sense. But before I could calm down fully, there was a loud explosion and his car went up in flames. My body shook almost immediately as I watched the car burn and car parts lying around, everywhere. He was dead, just like that. Just like his ex-wife. I managed to gather some courage to run away and I thought about Alice. I turned around to see if she was ok and saw a gun in my face! I looked up to see who it was, shivering. “We meet again. What a small world.” The assassin said with a grin on his face. 

To be continued....