Triangle

Chapter 23: Moment of Truth

As Buhle opens her eyes she notices that everything looks blurry. Her head is heavy and is very pounding. What the hell? she thinks to herself. What's going on here. I got to stand up, she contemplates but immediately realizes that she's tied into the chair she's sitting on. Now she regains her senses as she begins to see clearly. She turns to her left side and sees her friend Lerato who is also tied into the chair and unconscious. When she turns into her right, she sees Lindiwe, also tied into her chair and unconscious. "Guys, wake up" she raises her voice as she tries to untie herself in vain. "Lerato, Lindi" she screams, albeit not loud enough.
She looks around to try and see if she knows where they are, but realizes the hall looks like an old warehouse. She doesn't really recognize it as when she looks up, the windows are painted black so she can't see outside. She can't even tell if it's day or night, in fact she doesn't really know much.
Oh God, how did we get here? What really happened? she asks herself but she has no answers. She is relieved as she sees Lerato moving. "Lerato, babe are you okay?" she shouts. They are half a meter apart. "God, what happened?" Lerato asks with a faint voice, clearly still disorientated. "Where are we?" she asks as her voice begins to be audable but before Buhle could answer that question they are interrupted by Lindiwe who just woke up as well, "Hmmm, my head" she says with a faint voice as well. She turns to her left and sees her friend Buhle who is tied to a chair. That's when she realizes
that she's also tied into a chair. She suddenly regains her mind as she tries to free herself but the rope is too tight on her hands.
"Oh God, Buhle, what's going in here?" she raises her voice which is coming back. "Oh thank God.
Are you okay?" Buhle says with a sigh of relief as she looks at her terrified looking friend. That's when Lindiwe notices that on Buhle's left there's Lerato who looks just as terrified as her. "Lerato..." she calls out, to which Lerato nods.
"Oh my God Buhle what's really going on here?" Lindiwe shouts. "I don't know Lindi, I don't know" Buhle says with a nervous. Taking a minute to think as she looks up, Lindiwe asks, "Where are we? What's really going on here? What time is it? And who were the people at your place?" she probes in panic but in vain as no one seems to have an answer. "Oh my God...Are we abducted?" Lindiwe continues to ask as she looks at her friends who are trying to figure things out themselves. "Lindi I don't know okay?" Buhle cuts in, "I mean why would anyone take us? What did we do?" as she tries
to calm her friend down. "Oh my God, they are going to kill us. They are going to kill us guys" Lindiwe says with a trembling voice. Suddenly it dawns on all of them, they are going to kill us!!!
***


Somewhere far away from the drama, Lumka is on the plane that's just about to take off to France for a fashion week show. This time she isn't working but vacating, which is one of the job's packs. She really loves what she does, even though it doesn't give her enough time to spend with her friends and family. But she really can't complain about the money.
While she goes through her phone she is interrupted by someone greeting her. The voice is definately familiar. When she turns pn her left, it's the person she really isn't thrilled to see- Bheki who comes and sits next to her. Ever since they stopped seeing each other they haven't been in

contact. In fact, Bheki tried to call Lumka a number of times but she ignored him until he got the message. While she really enjoyed the thrilling moments she had with this married man, she realized she can't really be with him. Having him was just a fantasy, a great distraction. She began to see more and more of value in herself that it suddenly didn't feel right to date married men. And the fact she felt used by Bheki didn't help the situation.
"How are you Bheki?" she says with a very reluctant voice bordering on being annoyed. "I'm okay miss Xhonywa, how are you?" Bheki says with a smile that seeks to charm her, but she's unmoved. "I'm okay thank you" she says, still no smile. What follows after is a very awkward and uncomfortable silence between them.
"So, where are we headed?" Bheki says as he attempts to break the ice. "Uhmm, where the plane ends, I guess" Lumka says with a little sigh, looking annoyed. "Business or pleasure?" Bheki probes. "Pleasure" Lumka reluctantly responds.
"Oh cool. Well, it's business for me" Bheki says with a smile, even though he can tell the lady just doesn't want to entertain him. "Maybe we can meet up for drinks some time while we are there" he insists. "No thanks, I don't think I will have time over there. My schedule is a little tight" Lumka says as she looks outside the window but now Bheki is becoming a little irritated with the cold shoulder he's being given, so he says "Look Luh, I know you and I didn't end things on a good note, alright?
But I think it something we can talk about and seeing that it's a long flight we can at least try to be civil with one another, don’t you think?" as his face turn a little serious this time.
Lumka knows that Bheki might be right but she is not in the mood for small talk. She decided to take this little vacation because she wanted to clear her mind and perhaps do a little shopping as well, something for her friend Grace who is getting married. The last thing she wants is being reminded of how things ended between the two of them.
"Look Bheki, I just don't want to talk about what happened between us and how it ended, please" she says as she takes a sigh. Her mind is trying hard to fight the memories coming in about the times they spent together, she has to fight that thought. "Look, we don't have to talk about that, okay?" Bheki jumps in. "I mean we can talk about anything else. You can tell me about your job and what you've been up lately. I actually saw that you yet again made it to another magazine cover? So you must be doing really well, huh?" he says as he gives irresistible smile. At that, Lumka sighs again as she smiles back at him. She is defeated in the end. The flight is long, so she might as well indulge him.
"Well, let's start with you" she says with a reluctant smile. "You have been on the news lately. You are getting divorced?" as she looks through the window to try and avoid eye contact, she knows it's a sensitive subject, for everyone.
Seeing how Bheki took a deep sigh over that, she jumps in, "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to be forward. Let's talk about something else" she is embarrassed but Bheki jumps in, "Oh no, it's okay" he says. "Yes I am in the process of divorce but you know, it's a sensitive matter at this stage so I can't..." he doesn't finish as Lumka cuts him off, "Oh no, you don't really have to explain okay? We can definitely talk about something else" as she smiles reluctantly. "I really feel bad about all that, you know? Cause I definitely know that I'm partly responsible for all that and I don't..." she says Bheki cuts her off, "Shhhh, let's not talk about any of that okay?" he says. "Let's just try and make it an enjoyable flight, alright?" as he smiles to Lumka who returns it.
***
Back at the dodgy warehouse, the ladies are still tied into their chairs. It's now been a few hours since regained consciousness but no one has come to see them just yet. They fear for their lives at

this moment because they don't even know why they are here. There's nothing to use as weapon in this hall incase they have to fight their way out of here.
"What do these people really want with us guys?" Lindiwe asks with a trembling voice but she doesn't get an answer as her friends are busy trying to free themselves. "Uhmmm, do you think this could be Bheki? Maybe a payback for asking a divorce, you know?" Buhle reluctantly asks as she
looks down to avoid eye contact with Lindiwe because she knows how she might take this. "Buhle, how can you even ask me something like that? You know Bheki would never do something like this. Why would you suggest something like that?" Lindiwe asks as she raises her voice, visibly irritated by this. This suddenly threatens to bring tension in this filthy hall.
"No friend, I mean I was just thinking that..." Buhle says as she jumps in but she's trying to find right words. "I mean, I remember you said he wasn't happy with you asking for divorce and all that. And I remember you saying that he was threatening to take part of your business so I was thinking that maybe..." but she doesn't finish as her upset friend cuts her off, "Yes but it doesn't mean he is capable of doing something like this, come on" Lindiwe says, to which a moment of awkward silence sets in.
" Look, all I'm saying that, with the circle of friends he has as a politician we can't say he isn't capable of this babe" Buhle says politely but Lindiwe cuts her off once again, "Well, I could say the same
about Sbu, Buhle right?" she says to which Buhle becomes wide-eyed but Lindiwe continues, "This could be his business rivals trying to get back at him by taking you but it happened that we were all
there. Isn't that possible?" as she raises her voice once more. Even though Buhle wants to protest this, she knows she needs to take a second and think about what her friend is saying. "I mean, someone tried to kill him some months ago remember, the accident? That definitely wasn't Bheki, Buhle alright?" Lindiwe continues to raise her voice.
Seeing how this threatens to get out of control, Lerato interjects, "Hey ladies maybe we should calm down a little bit, alright? We can't be fighting amongst ourselves right now okay? Can we please keep it together?" she says as she looks at both of her upset friends who don't seem to like that tone.
"Wait, is there not a chance that these are the same people who attacked your boyfriend a while ago?" Buhle says as she looks at Lerato in the eyes. She really didn't expect this question but
suddenly it gets her mind racing. What are the chances that it is actually true what Buhle is asking?
she asks herself. What if these people are searching for Ndoda and they want to use me to get to him? her heart begins to race. It is pounding fast and hard. Buhle and Lindiwe can notice something is wrong with their friend. "Lera, what's going on? Do you know something?" Lindiwe asks curiously as she notices panic in Lerato's eyes and that suddenly makes her anxious.
"Lerato, if you know something you better tell us right now" Buhle says as she also is now anxious because she can see that something is definately up with her friend. At that very moment Lerato thinks to herself, I have never told them about Ndoda and what he actually does for a living! Is this not the right time to do it?
"Guys, there's something I need to tell you" she says with a low voice, looking down to avoid eye contact. But under such cercumstances as these ladies find themselves in, no one wants to hear these words. "Oh God Lerato, what did you do?" Buhle asks in panic but Lerato can't lift her head up to look at her frends. "Speak out Lerato, what the hell is going on?" Lindiwe shouts in panic. Lerato takes a huge sigh, knowing that it's now or never. She has to tell them. But as she attempts to open her mouth she is interrupted by the sound of keys as someone opens the steel door. Suddenly all the girls panic, thinking this is it, this is the moment they die.

They wait in anxiousness to see the face of death as the door opens wide. From where they are tied it's hard to see the three men who are coming through the door. The light gets dimmer as you move away from where they are going towards the door. These men would have to be a little closer for the girls to identify them. Their hearts begin to race as the men get closer and closer towards them.
Oh God, what did we do to deserve this? they think to themselves.
Finally the men reach them and to say they are shocked at who they are seeing amongst the men is an understatement. "Uhmm, good day ladies. I hope you have been comfortable" MEC Tendai Lebese says with a smirk on his face. He seems impressed with himself really. "Oh I knew it, I knew it.
You bastard" Lerato shouts. "Oh well, yeah of course" is all Tendai is prepared to say as he continues to have that smirk on his face. "Mr MEC, what the hell? Aren't you my husband's friend? Does he know you are doing this?" Lindiwe jumps in as well, as she's in shock at what she sees. "Well, soon to be ex-husband as I understand. Oh and your husband knows a lot of things actually" Tendai says as he looks up the ceiling as if he's thinking about something.
"Hello darling, I really missed you" he says as he turns his attention to Buhle who was quiet out of shock. She can't believe what she's seeing with her eyes. This can't be it. It can't be the Tendai I know, she thinks to herself. She looks at him in the eyes to try and show him how disappointed she is but it doesn't look like it is helping.
"How could you do this Tendai, huh? To me, of all people?" she says as her voice begins to tremble and sound sad but Tendai ignores that as he turns around before saying, "These men brought you food, you must be hungry" as he looks in the direction of the two men who are carrying plates in
their hands. "They will free your hands but please do me a favor, don't try anything stupid because that won't end well for you" as he turns around to look at the shocked girls. The men put the plates of food down and come over to free the girls' hands. They then put the three plates of in front of
them. The girls look at each other in wonder, not because they aren't hungry, not at all-they are
starving. But they are surprised that the three plates aren't the same. Each has a diffrent meal, clearly everyone has their favorite meal in there.
Buhle's plate has her favorite meal, prawns, chilli rice and chips as a side. Lindiwe's favorite is mutton curry, rice and Greek salad as a side. Lerato on the other hand loves chicken curry, rice and Greek salad as a side. But perhaps what's more puzzling than this is the fact that all these dishes are cooked exactly the way the ladies love it. They don't know if this is creepy or sick. Clearly this man researched them very well and he probably knows more about them than their favorite meals.
Does this mean this is our last meal? they ask themselves. What else can it be? Why would someone cook us our favorite meals the way we love them if it's not to kill us? they think curiously. Maybe the food is poisoned? Oh God, Is he trying to poison us? they think in panic but how would that help?
They are starving to death anyways, so they might as well dig in and enjoy their favorite meal, even if it's their last.
***


Somewhere else Sbu is on the phone with Jabu. The three friends don't get time to hang out a lot these days, their respective jobs keep them busy plus both of their personal lives aren't necessarily in good shape so they are trying to fix that.
Sbu: "So how is daddy life been man? hahaha"
Jabu: " Eish man, that thing is still really new so too early to tell I think, hahaha. But it's not helped by the fact that Katli is in Cape town so..."

Sbu: "Don't worry man, you will figure things out. Everything will work out in the end"
Jabu: "Yeah I hope you're right man. I am working on taking a break from work and go visit them in Cape Town. But I just need to deal with this case of Lindiwe Khuzwayo"
Sbu: "Lindiwe? Buhle's friend? What? Is she in trouble or something?"
Jabu: "Oh no man, she's not in trouble or anythimng like that. It's a divorce settlement case" Sbu: "Oh yeah, that must be hectic hey"
Jabu: "Yeah but enough about me. What's going on between you and Buhle? Are you sorted yet?
When is she moving back in? She and Naledi must be missing home hey?"
Sbu: "Well, I'm not sure when she's moving back in but we are trying to fix things man. It will take a little bit of time as you can imagine. A lot needs fixing in our marriage. We both did sh*t and hurt each other bad. So I'm not expecting things to get back to normal in a rush"
Jabu: "Yeah man, I really get you hey. I do"
Sbu: "But you know, I actually went there this morning to return Naledi because that's what we agreed on. But she wasn't there. I tried calling but her phone was off. So I tried calling Lindiwe to check if she's with her but her phone was off too. But you know what's strange?"
Jabu: "What?"
Sbu: "I tried to call Lerato as well but her phone was off too. Don't you find that strange, especially seeing that Buhle was expecting me to bring Naledi back?"
Jabu: "Oh come on man, maybe they went to a spa or something. You know how women are, they love their 'me time'. So I wouldn't worry too much about that"
Sbu: "Yeah maybe you're right. Look man I got to run, this little princess needs my attention. I will talk to you later"
Jabu: "Sure man, later"
***


Back at the warehouse, after about an hour since Tendai brought food the ladies have been quiet. It seems as if each is in deep thought, wondering about what's been happening. They are no longer tied to their chairs none have tried to see if they can escape. Tendai's warning must have really sunk in.
"Guys aren't we going to talk about what Tendai said earlier?" Buhle asks curiously with a low voice, not really looking at her friends. "I mean my friend, what did he mean that your husband knows everything? Is he part of this?" she asks as she turns to Lindiwe, who looks annoyed at that question. "Oh Buhle, not this again, alright?" she says as she raises her voice a little bit. "I mean, I told you that Bheki isn't like that so why do you want to paint him so bad?" now she sounds upset, but Buhle jumps right back in, "No babe I'm not trying to paint him bad but guys you both heard what Tendai said, right?" she says as she looks at Lerato seemingly look for back up but she looks down.
"Alright, fine" Lindiwe cuts in. "Look, I have files of Bheki's shady dealings. Documents, video files and stuff" she says. "What do mean? What kind of shady deals?" Lerato jumps in anxiously. "Look, Bheki and MEC Tendai are business partners. They do business together on many levels. They also

have other business partners, powerful people. Some of these deals aren't really what you call 'above board' so I have proof as insurance in a safe somewhere" she says as she looks down.
"How did you get your hands on those?" Buhle asks curiously but Lindiwe cuts her off immediately as she shouts, "Does it matter?" but she realizes that perhaps raising her voice isn't a good idea right now. "Look, I know people okay?" she says calmly this time. "I needed an insurance. When Bheki started cheating on me I knew that this moment will one day come" she says with a low voice but when she realizes that her friends are wide eyed, she quickly jumps in, "Oh no guys I meant the moment when we'd divorce" she says, much to her friends' relief. "It was either he'd end up divorcing me and go for younger, sexy models or I'd eventually get tired of his cheating and divorce him. Knowing how men like those are, I had to be prepared and have insurance.
I knew he'd want part of my business, business that i worked hard to build. I couldn't have that, so as I suspected he threatened to take what built away. So the file that I have on him gives me leverage during the divorce settlement. If he goes after my business, I destroy him." she says with a little bit of confidence this time.
"Wow, that's really bad ass girl I give you that?" Lerato says as she looks like she's thinking about it. "You think your husband if part of what is happening here?" Buhle asks as she jumps back in but this seems to annoy Lindiwe a little bit as she says, "I really don't know guys but enough about me. What was that all about?" as she looks at Buhle. "That thing with the MEC? Why was he calling you 'darling' and why was he smiling at you like that?" she asks curiously which draws Lerato's attention as well as she waits for answer. But when they see Buhle looks down, they realize there must really be a story to tell over this. "Uhmm, is there something you need to tell us?" Lerato probes anxiously.
"Uhmm guys" Buhle says with a low voice as she takes a deep breath. "Do you remember the guy I cheated on Sbu with? Well, it was MEC Tendai" she says looking down in embarrassment. Her friends are absolutely shocked at this. This is the last thing they expected from her.
"What?" Lindiwe shouts in shock but Buhle is so embarrassed she can't even look at them. "How did this happen friend? He is your husband's business rival; did you forget that?" Lindiwe continues to shout. But Buhle doesn't have time to answer as Lerato jumps right in, "So what is this? Crime of passion?" she also raises her voice. "Is he doing this to try and get back at you because you went back to your husband? So he actually wanted you but Lerato and myself happened to be at your place and now we are here in this mess?" she looks really upset but Buhle can't take it anymore as she cuts her off, "Okay, that's enough alright?" she shouts. "You think I'd deliberately do something
to harm you? You think I'm that messed up?" now Buhle is really sad over this.
But Lerato decides to calm her down as she says, "Look, I didn't mean to upset okay? It's just that..." she doesn't finish as Buhle cuts her off, "What about you Lerato, huh?" she shouts, "What about you? Didn't you have something to tell us before Tendai interrupted us earlier? Well, since it looks like we are all sharing our secrets, why don't you share us yours?" as she looks at her in the eyes.
"Oh yeah, friend...you actually were going to tell us something but got interrupted" Lindiwe says calmly trying to not cause more tension in the room. "So what is it? I'm sure it can't be worse than what we've already heard here now, right?" she says with a nervous smile while looking at the upset Buhle. Suddenly Lerato has this face that looks overwhelmed with guilt and regret, which her friends can notice. Suddenly they are also now anxious about it, clearly this is something really big. Lerato looks up for a second and takes a deep breath before exhaling it. It looks like she's trying to find words for her anxious friends. But this is long overdue, it is now or never.
"Uhmm guys, I got something to tell you" she says looking down. "I don't know where to begin with this guys. But uhmm..." her voice starts to tremble a little bit. "Sweetheart, what is it? You know you

can talk to us, right?" Lindiwe says with a soft voice as she pulls her chair closer to Lerato's, to which Buhle does the same.
"Uhmm, Lindi" Lerato says softly with a tear coming down her face. "Uhmm Ndoda is the one that shot Tsego Rabadi and almost killed you?" with that tears start to come down as she is overwhelmed with guilt and grief. But this comes as an absolute shock to Lindiwe who is immediately pale at hearing this. "What? But I don't understand, why would he do something like that?" Buhle asks as she jumps in as shocked as she is as well. "Uhmm guys. Uhmm..." words are hard to come out. "Ndoda is a government hitman" she let it out. "Uhmm, yeah he is a hitman. He killed Tsego that night you were with him at the Hotel" she says as she looks at the stone-faced Lindiwe.
"I mean, but why Lerato? Why would he do that?" Buhle asks curiously, trying to understand this. "The hit was ordered MEC Tendai Lebese" Lerato says as she jumps in quickly to cut off her friend. "Tendai ordered the murder of Tsego. Apparently it was about the story that Tsego was doing and..." but she doesn't finish as Lindiwe cuts her off, "How could you do something like this to me Lerato?"
she says with a sobbing voice as she begins to cry.
"Oh no, Lindi I really didn't know about it then. I didn't know about his job at that time. I thought he was businessman; I promise" Lerato says as she is now also teary. "So when you found out you just kept this from me? What friend does that, Lerato?" the sad and crying Lindiwe asks. But before
Lerato who is also crying could answer, Buhle jumps in, "Is he the one who tried to kill my husband, Lerato?" she asks anxiously. "He assured me that he didn't" Lerato jumps right back in it. "Ndoda says Tendai offered him a contract to kill your husband but he refused. So we assume Tendai found someone else to do it." she says desperately. "Look, Ndoda assured me that after the Tsego job, he quit because he met me and..." she doesn't finish as Lindiwe cuts her off, "And you believed him?
You believed a word of an assassin?" she asks with a voice that seems defeated.
"I know it's hard believe but yes, Lindiwe I believed him. I believe him. I believe meeting me changed him and he quit that job. I'm really sorry about keeping this from you guys and..." she doesn't finish as Lindiwe cuts her off, "You didn't just keep this from us but you kept it from the police as well" she says.
"Do you know what this mean? It means you are complicit to murder Lerato." Lindiwe is inconsolable over this. "Where is friendship over this?" as she looks at both her friends. "Both of your boyfriends almost killed me. They are criminals, do you guys even realize that?" she is raising her voice once again as she's really upset. After that, the hall goes quiet as the three friends' relationship is tested once again. Will they survive the breakdown in trust towards one another this time around?