Chapter 12 - THE DAY I LEARNED MY BROTHER WAS RIGHTMOTSUMI
When I woke up, my hands were tied behind a chair.
My head felt as though someone had driven a hammer through my skull.
The room smelled of oil, dust, and cold metal.
I could hear machinery somewhere outside.
For a moment, I couldn't remember what had happened.
Then everything returned.
The apartment.
The hidden folder.
The smoke.
The men who had dragged me away.
I opened my eyes.
An older man sat across from me.
He wore a faded work jacket.
His face was lined with age and exhaustion.
"You're awake," he said.
I stared at him.
"Who are you?"
"Sello."
"Where am I?"
"At the old quarry."
I tried moving my hands.
The rope cut into my wrists.
He watched me quietly.
"You're Matla's younger brother."
I didn't answer.
"I knew your father."
My chest tightened.
"Then you know he was murdered."
The man closed his eyes.
"Yes."
I leaned forward.
"Tell me what happened."
Sello looked toward the door.
"Radebe paid me to move construction barriers onto the service road that night."
My entire body went cold.
"What?"
"I was told the road needed to be closed for emergency repairs. They said no vehicles would use it."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
He lowered his head.
"I moved the barriers and left. The next morning, I heard about the accident."
I stared at him.
"You helped kill my parents."
Tears filled his eyes.
"I did something that made their deaths possible. I've lived with that knowledge every day."
Anger surged through me.
My wolf pushed against my skin.
I wanted to tear the ropes apart.
I wanted to make him feel even a fraction of what our family had suffered.
Then I remembered the letter I had found.
Your worth was never measured by how much danger you could survive.
And something Matla had told me many years earlier.
A strong man knows when to stop himself.
I took a shaking breath.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Radebe is about to kill people again."
Sello leaned closer.
"They're using the old quarry tunnels to reach the underground water system."
"Why?"
"To force the water into a new channel. If the flooding damages the surrounding villages, he'll argue that the land needs emergency redevelopment."
I stared at him.
"He'll hurt thousands of people just to get the property?"
Sello nodded.
"He doesn't see the villages as homes. He sees them as obstacles."
I looked toward the door.
"Then untie me."
He hesitated.
"If they catch us—"
"They'll kill us anyway."
He studied me.
Then he reached behind my chair and loosened the rope.
My hands came free.
I rubbed my wrists.
"How do we get out?"
"There's a drainage tunnel behind the old maintenance room."
"Take me there."
We moved through the building cautiously.
Outside, the quarry spread beneath the pale morning sky.
Enormous machines stood beside abandoned excavation pits.
Several workers moved between trucks.
A security vehicle patrolled the main road.
I could smell fuel.
Wet stone.
Freshly disturbed earth.
And something else.
Explosive material.
My heart sank.
They weren't simply digging.
They were preparing to destroy part of the underground barrier.
Sello led me toward a narrow passage.
"Your father was a good man," he whispered.
I stopped.
"Then why didn't you help him?"
He looked at me.
"Because I was afraid of losing everything."
I stared at him.
"And what did your fear buy you?"
His eyes filled.
"Nothing worth keeping."
We continued.
The tunnel was dark and narrow.
Water ran along the bottom.
I heard voices behind us.
Someone had discovered my empty chair.
"Move!" Sello whispered.
We ran.
My body ached.
My head throbbed.
But adrenaline pushed me forward.
Halfway through the tunnel, Sello stumbled.
He cried out.
I turned.
His leg was trapped beneath a fallen metal grate.
"Go!" he shouted.
I hesitated.
"Go, boy! They'll find us!"
I looked toward the distant tunnel exit.
Freedom.
One run.
One jump.
And I could escape.
Then I looked back at the old man.
He had done something terrible.
Something unforgivable in its consequences.
But he was also trying to prevent another tragedy.
I knelt beside him.
"Lift your leg."
"Leave me!"
"Not happening."
I gripped the metal grate.
My muscles tightened.
I could feel the change beginning beneath my skin.
Not enough to reveal my entire form.
Just enough strength to move the weight.
With a roar, I lifted the grate.
Sello dragged his leg free.
He stared at me in disbelief.
"What are you?"
I lowered the metal.
"Someone who's tired of watching people die."
We reached the tunnel exit just as alarms began sounding behind us.
I helped Sello climb the embankment.
Then I found a security phone inside an abandoned control shelter.
It still worked.
I called Matla.
He answered immediately.
"Motsumi!"
For the first time since my kidnapping, I nearly cried.
"Abuti."
"Where are you?"
"At the quarry. I escaped."
"Are you hurt?"
"Nothing serious."
"Stay where you are. I'm coming."
"Matla, listen. They're trying to redirect the water."
"We know."
"There's more."
I looked through the dusty control-room window.
Below us, several machines surrounded a concrete structure.
A warning panel flashed beside a series of heavy valves.
Three red lights blinked above a digital display.
"Matla, they've armed something."
"What?"
"I think it's an explosive charge."
Sello limped toward me.
When he saw the display, he grabbed the edge of the desk.
"Oh, no."
"What?" I asked.
He pointed toward the numbers.
"That isn't a routine equipment timer."
The display changed.
00:59:59.
00:59:58.
00:59:57.
I lifted the phone.
"Abuti?"
"I'm listening."
May you like
I looked toward the villages beyond the hills.
"We've got less than an hour before they blow open the water barrier."
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