27Please respect copyright.PENANAwbffoQEbL1They grabbed my neck and I cried like a bitch begging for mercy.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAp6tVjCNlg9
Harare at 2 AM smells like burnt sadza and diesel from the kombis that never sleep. The alley behind Mbare Musika stank worse. Four of them had me pinned against the corrugated iron Tawanda, Blessing, Chenai, and the quiet one, Tinashe. The crew I’d robbed eighteen months ago outside Bulawayo.
27Please respect copyright.PENANALcOrDP4Q11
The crew I’d convinced to hold “the client’s” fake gold while I walked out the back with the real shipment and a line that went dead the next morning.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAfPwjkCWuoE
Tawanda’s forearm was across my throat. Not enough to cut it off. Enough to make every word come out wet and useless.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAaQJOXOGw1a
“You remember us, Mjay?” he said. His voice was calm in that way that meant he’d already decided.
27Please respect copyright.PENANARvbPvEBiFs
I nodded. Lying would waste time. I’d taught them that lesson, ironically.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAIGK2AQm8NL
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re late.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAqyP0P1yAOV
Blessing drove a knee into my ribs. Not hard enough to break anything. Just enough to remind me he could.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAQSdJvU0ibj
“We waited,” Chenai said. “Zimbabwe’s small when you owe the wrong people.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANA5wuj9lcgrp
Tinashe hadn’t spoken. He was the one who’d taken a round in the leg that night because of my timing. He was just watching me breathe. That was worse.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAGd5bPDDR3r
Mercy wasn’t coming. Not from them. I’d taken their rep, their money, and the one job that would’ve put them clean for good. In their world, that debt gets paid in blood or bone.
27Please respect copyright.PENANApS89LQil2N
So I did the only thing left that was mine to control.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAIwoFJ4R8An
I stopped struggling.
27Please respect copyright.PENANATEVmvboz9u
Tawanda eased up a fraction, confused.
27Please respect copyright.PENANANmllv6PMmX
“I know where the rest of it is,” I said.
27Please respect copyright.PENANA89x1A5uIbB
Blessing laughed. “We checked your places in Mufakose. You’re broke, Mjay.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAbPd9kUyltN
“Not my money,” I said. “Yours. The client never paid. He was laundering through a shell in Mauritius. It got seized six months ago. But the forfeiture records are public now. Case number 22-CV-1847. You file a claim, you get 60%. About 380k USD.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAtzg51R6Sp9
Tinashe finally spoke. Shona, low and rough. “Sei urikutiudza? Why tell us?”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAqZ8uaXD4bZ
“Because if you kill me, you never get it,” I said. “And because I’m tired of running from men I respect.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAz7BlIbHofW
Silence. The kind that happens right before a decision gets made.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAlVMz5MYnVI
Tawanda looked at Blessing. Blessing looked at Tinashe. Tinashe looked at me.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAVkVdbNzCVg
“You lied once,” Tawanda said. “Why not now?”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAWbMwvPLS1k
“Check it,” I said. “Right now. On your phone. If I’m lying, you can finish this at dawn. I’m not going anywhere.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAdOkInxy4GJ
They didn’t let me up. Blessing kept his knee in my back while Tinashe pulled up the docket on his phone. I could see the screen from the angle. Public records. Seizure. Unclaimed claimant funds. My name wasn’t on it. I’d made sure of that.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAGuWqyxUL2z
Thirty seconds passed.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAhdjArpEFCI
Tinashe lowered the phone.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAMrJRvvamLu
“Ichokwadi,” he said. It’s true.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAO90xrYRA4n
Tawanda let go of my neck. I didn’t move. Moving now would look like running.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAORJ0xrl38u
“So what now?” Blessing asked. “We just let you walk?”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAIpn9hn1sjY
“No,” I said. “You keep the money. I work it off. Driving, security, whatever. No cut. No name on anything. Just until it’s even.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANArSwckvlIru
Tawanda stepped back. He spat on the ground.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAn7lU7nCOi5
“Uri bharanzi, Mjay. You’re a coward. But you’re a smart coward.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAbkZvU0fNiO
He turned to go.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAFllk17Gdsn
“Tomorrow. 6 AM. At the terminus. Don’t be late.”
27Please respect copyright.PENANAPvtlf0VR4R
I sat there after they left, hands shaking, throat raw.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAvsszzwD4DW
I didn’t thank them. Gratitude would’ve been another lie.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAHyasNwXQRP
For the first time in three years, I wasn’t running. I was just waiting.
27Please respect copyright.PENANAl6QLZM2VtC
And that felt worse. And better.27Please respect copyright.PENANAKEMMsRfWLM


