As soon as he hung up the phone, Kirigi knew that he had to get moving, there wasn’t much time before people began to hear the news. The Head of State had just died.
They were going to announce that he died of internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a condition he had struggled with for years. Kirigi knew that was all hogwash. The entire doctor’s report that would be publicized about the Head of State having surgery several years ago to prevent a grapefruit-sized aneurysm from rupturing was fake, but it sounded plausible enough for the night.
Kirigi didn’t care about whatever rubbish they fed the people through the media concerning the military ruler’s death, he only really cared about his own safety now. He was there when it happened, he watched as his tall frame crashed to the ground when the bullet from his Mark XIX Desert Eagle pistol pierced through the middle of his forehead.
He knew the risks involved when he agreed to take the job. He knew they wouldn’t let him walk away freely when he was the only person alive that could connect the dictator’s death with the leaders of the Democratic Council Party whom the Head of State had just signed a peace deal with a few months back. He knew he would have to disappear once he was done.
They knew Kirigi would attempt to run after completing the job, that’s why they put an explosive device in the briefcase containing the cash they paid him.
Later that night, an explosion was reported at the international airport in the capital city, an improvised explosive device placed in an empty briefcase that was left in an out-of-order toilet had exploded, there was no casualty.
This story, Kirigi, was originally written and submitted by Iweka Kingsley for the Etisalat Flash Fiction Contest in 2016.
Meanwhile, my 2013 self published novella, DAPPLED THINGS, is now available (new cover and refreshed) on OkadaBooks, do check it out.
