Kiss and Strategy

After her short nap, Volga sat up on her bed and stretched out before she walked toward the door and left her room. In the hallway of that small house, as she was heading to the kitchen, with a glimpse at her right, she noticed Jamal who was sitting on the balustrade, staring away with a sense of absence. She stopped and changed her direction.

" Are you alright? " she asked as she was reaching him.

The man turned his head gently accompanied with a sweet smile, " it's the fifth time you're asking me this since we arrived ".

" That's because I feel like something is wrong with you ". She went to place herself just in front of him, "something is bothering you, I know it, but after all my efforts you still don't want to share it with me, does it mean... "

Jamal landed gently his hand on her shoulder to stop her before she finished, " believe me, you are the person I trust the most in this journey, so I will ask you to trust me back. I'm not lying when I'm saying that I'm totally fine ".

They stared at each other silently for a long moment before she finally gave up, with a sigh she said " alright I will trust you once again, but don't forget to tell me whenever the situation turns bad, " he nodded and accompanied her to the kitchen.

Later Carla entered in and saw the two of them sitting around the table nibbling chocolate bars with bottles of water in their hands. When she opened the fridge she found two more portions of chocolate and water, seemed like Konny was not lying when she said that they had few provisions. She took her part and went to sit and after that, Nelson came to complete the number. They were quietly chewing their bars and drinking water from time to time until they finished without anyone pronouncing a word.

Carla was the first one to break the silence, something was occupying her mind and it seemed that she couldn't hold her questions for herself anymore. " Didn't you notice that lately, Sania has been acting very strangely? "

" I see what you mean, that's true that she has been unusually calm, " Volga nodded while making the remark.

" Not only that, " the young woman shook her head, " I noticed that she has been very kind with people... take this example, this morning while I and the other guys were loading the goods before we leave, she saw a man next to her struggling with the pack he was carrying. For the few I knew about her I was expecting her to just ignore him, but she surprisingly went to give him a hand ".

" Maybe she just was in a good mood this morning, " Nelson said while making efforts to look disinterested by the discussion.

" That's what I thought too, but after that, I again observed a strange scene. Some men were joking, very loudly, together very near to where she was sitting, usually, she would have stood up and yelled at them to shut up, am I right? " she gazed at the tiny audience while they were nodding slowly, " but she didn't, she just... let them be and the weirdest moment was when one of the guys got pushed by his friends and accidentally stepped on Sania's foot, she would have normally exploded and started insulting them with all kinds of names, am I right? " she asked very concerned while people before her glanced at each other before nodding to her again, she then shouted excitedly, " but she didn't! She just stood up and walked away while the others were apologizing. And they're not the only weird scenes of her I have seen. Not talking about how awkwardly kind she was this morning when Jamal entered in the room na... " she couldn't finish this claim as she couldn't help but feeling embarrassed when she recalled that spectacle he offered them. While struggling to hide her blushing face, she carried on, " at such a moment, she would have tried to enjoy the frame as much as she could, or even doing some indecent propositions but she just moved to give him a bathrobe ".

Everyone was wondering about what she said when she added, " it looks like she has experienced a kind of... transformation, don't you think? "

At that moment, Nelson had a movement backward that only Jamal seemed to have noticed, but preferred to just overlook it.

" Well, let's just wait to ask her directly what happened " Volga proposed.

Right after that, someone knocked on the door, Nelson was the first one to stand up and when he went to check what was it, he came back a few moments later, accompanied by a man from Konny's army. " Guys, it seems like their chief is calling for us, " Nelson said while patting the man's shoulder.

Jamal jumped out of his chair, " finally! " he exclaimed before he turned to the man and told him, " please bring us to her ".

The latter nodded firmly and turned around while making to the four people a sign to follow him. When they came out of the house and they found five quad bikes waiting for them on the sidewalk. They didn't try to figure out how one guy brought those many vehicles there but they directly got on and let the man lead the way to Konny's residence.

While they were rolling, Jamal noticed many groups of people walking in the same direction and he inferred that she had sent her men to go call the entire army for the grand reunion.

They finally arrived before a big mansion, the only different residence in the whole neighborhood, starting from its size to the design and its color. It counted only three levels and though it was not surrounded by any barrier, many people were guarding it. There were stairs which were leading to the entrance of the residence but when the group went up they were stopped by two guards.

" Wait here, I have to go announce you first, " the man who was accompanying informed them.

" But that's just ridiculous, it's your commander who summoned us here. Why should we wait here to be announced first? " Carla protested, but the man didn't pay attention to what she was saying and just walked inside before he came back a few minutes later to tell them that they could finally enter. They walked for quite a moment, passing from a hallway to another, to finally penetrate in a huge circular hall with the roof as high as the height of the whole house, it was lit with many light bulbs hanging all along the wall, which put a theatrical effect to the actual scene presented before them.

" There are guards all around us, " Volga approached Jamal and told him with a low voice while taking a careful look at the men standing still in front of the wall while forming a sort of huge circle, " I didn't want to admit it but Carla was right, Konny is acting as if she was... "

" A queen, indeed, " Jamal completed while raising his head to look at the mistress of everything they could see around them.

Elevated by a small stage at one meter from the floor, she was sitting on a magnificent chair covered with tiny jewels with pillows on each side what made it looked like a throne more than a chair. Even though until there, the group was already enough surprised what, they saw once they got on the stage ended up to completely stunned them.

Sitting on Konny's lap, her slander and naked legs resting on the arm of the throne, Sania had her arms around Konny's neck and was kissing her excitedly without even noticing her comrades approaching. Konny raised her hand as to tell them to wait and then pushed gently Sania away, while whispering in her ear to hold on as her friends just came in, and with a bright smile she drove her attention to them.

" Please excuse me for... this " she started while pointing to Sania who was now sensually kissing her neck, " I didn't expect you to come so early and even though my men did announce your arrival, I still wasn't able to restrain her. As you can see Sania has difficulties to contain her passion ". She was talking to them while at the same, was stroking gently Sania's waist.

Everybody there was speechless but Jamal noticed that, on contrary to the others, Nelson was more angry than shocked.

As no one was able to talk Jamal took the lead and stepped forward and to tell her, " I see that you got along very well and at an astonishing very short time ".

Konny shrugged, " what can I say? Love is something inexplicable and unpredictable, " she turned Sania's head while holding it by her chin and whispered to her " don't you think? " The latter smiled and continued to kiss her.

" Love? Stop this bullshit and... "

Jamal raised his hand on Nelson's chest to restrain his anger while telling him, " calm yourself, analyze the situation and try to figure out what is going on before letting out your frustration ".

" Oh? Seems like I have judged a bit you too fast. You have indeed some qualities of a leader after all, " Konny acknowledged.

" Thank you. But now, may you please explain to us what... " before Jamal could finish Nelson stepped forward and shouted " hey Sania! What's going on in here? What are you doing with her? Why didn't you say a word to us or even turn your head to look at us, a single time, since we have arrived? Hey, look at me at least? "

The latter slowly turned her head and looked at him, her eyes half opened, " what is going on in here, huh? Do you remember when I told you that I was sick of being single? Guess what, I just found my soulmate. And concerning why I didn't pronounce a single word to you... it is because I don't have anything to tell you, as simple as that. Why should I force myself ".

Nelson became, once again, silent, he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Maybe the two women behind him couldn't get it but Jamal, who was just next to him, could see clearly through his face how hurt he was.

He thought that there was no need to try to draw out responses from Sania and thus, he decided to change the topic, " well, at least it's a very clear explanation so let's move on, I think we have wasted enough time. Let's put those things aside and focus on the reason why we are here. The war ".

" But still so impatient, huh? I see, this short time of meditation I have offered you was useless, " Konny replied before she raised her hand to admit his point, " but I have to accept that, here, you're right, these things are not important now ". She pushed Sania's leg so that she could stand up, " and we can discuss all this later. Let's head out, you comrades must have already come ".

As she had already got rid of her mask the nice and gentle woman, Konny passed next to the group accompanied by Sania who was holding her hand tight, and together, they got off from the stage. The group took a short moment observing them as they were getting farther away from them.

" I think I was wrong earlier. She didn't change at all, I was a fool to believe that she could, " Carla said without getting off her sight from the two women.

" Hmmm, let's go, " Volga just said before they all got down from the stage and followed the couple out of the hall.

They reached another big hall but not circular with a lower roof this time. It was full of chairs placed in a manner of facing in the same direction, and the seats were already occupied by the members of the army. However, there were four free seats, probably prepared for them, on the first row. Konny made them a sign toward those empty chairs and they executed themselves and went to have their seats.

Konny went to stand up in front of them with Sania on her side and two other men behind her. She cleared her voice and waited for a short moment before she began to speak, " first of all, I want to thank all of you for having made this journey and, despite the difficulties, still came here to help me with this war which is threatening my people, " after a short wave of applause she continued, " now, let me explain to you our current situation ".

She made a sign of the head and one of her men came in front with a square board on which was hanging the portrait of a black man of about forty years old. Konny pointed to him and with a tone which was difficultly hiding her loathing for that man, she said " this man is Phil Langston the actual leader of the rebels. Since last year he had created a group of outlaws who didn't stop growing as time passed. They firstly started by stealing and frightening people, before they began to kidnap innocent women to rape them. Since I created this organization to fight against them, they turned their attention away as they started to come often to bomb this neighborhood causing more victims every time, " she paused, " our mission is to find him and to kill him ".

Jamal raised his hand to demand her permission to ask a question. Konny had a short moment of hesitation before she nodded and told him to go ahead, " you seem to target him particularly, does it mean that the members of his gang don't represent a big threat? "

She didn't respond right after, but rather took her time to formulate a satisfying answer, " it is not that they don't represent a threat or anything but the reason I said why I have said that, is because this man constitutes the only head of their gang and thus once we would have chopped him off they would become less dangerous ".

Jamal nodded and asked another question right after, " do we know any precise information about their location or how they proceed during their attacks? "

The woman shook her head negatively, " none of those things, Phil is too careful and knows how to erase their presence, for quite a long time, I used to think that they were everywhere and nowhere at the same time but fortunately at the price of many efforts I finally got a hint of where they are ".

The same man of earlier came with the board containing the map of the city. With a marker he handed to her, Konny surrounded a large zone on the map, " my researches indicate that his group is located in this area ". She raised her voice, " I propose to start an expedition there. Even though I don't know their real number I'm pretty confident that we are superior to them, once one group will figure their exact position we will all rush there to crush them in one strong attack ".

" That seems to not be a good idea though, " Jamal replied to the wave of enthusiasm that was growing in the crowd.

" Excuse me? " Konny landed on him a sight full of pressure but it was not enough to intimidate him.

" Your plan is completely destined to fail, " he repeated, more clearly this time, while standing her glare. The silence around and the fact that everyone was staring at him, indicated that they were all waiting for him to give them the reason for his claim, Jamal calmly lifted one finger and he pronounced only two words, " first mistake... "

" ...the area you have highlighted is too big, " Volga continued on his behalf, as if they had prepared that before they arrived, " the pieces of information are too imprecise, your men couldn't spot them in a precise place what means that whether they have a way to circulate in the city very quickly without you noticing them, or they are spread in all over that area. But the latter proposition seems more plausible. "

" Do you even have an idea of the number of my soldiers I have lost to get this information? " Konny spat while creaking her teeth. She was conscious that she shouldn't respond too emotionally and thus she did her best to hide her irritation while cooling her head little by little.

" We're not saying that the information has no value, to be honest, that's the opposite " Jamal corrected her, " we are just saying that you should not put all your strength in an uncompleted intelligence, put your feelings aside and use your wisdom instead ".

He then lifted a second finger and Volga carried on, " even if we suppose that they are, indeed, in one specific located place it still won't change the outcome. You said being confident that our current number is superior, but that doesn't mean that they are few. If we follow your plan so blindly, and we split our army, the situation will be the inverse and their number will be bigger than ours ".

" But I said that once one team would get the location of the enemy it will call the others for help, " Konny protested firmly.

" But did you think about the time it will take? " Jamal replied in a calm voice " as Volga had made the remark, the zone surrounded is quite large, at the moment the other groups would respond to the call and arrive at the indicated place to help, how many of our soldiers would have we lost? Many. Don't forget also that the enemies are still able to change their position whenever they want and so it may just be a useless move ".

Now, Konny didn't have anything to reply and so Jamal ended by lifting the third finger, letting Volga finish their arguments, " finally, we have to consider that if Phil can pass completely invisible from your sights, and at the same time, can bomb you wherever and whenever he wants, means that he has mastered the entire city better than you did and knows every corner of this city like the palm of his hand. One more reason to act very carefully ".

Konny crossed her arms below her breasts, her face closed, and said, with a slight tone of irritation, " well, seems like you two know everything better than I do, so what are you suggesting? "

The two friends glanced at each other and Jamal responded, " our plan is that we should create a group of our greatest warriors, a small group of 5 to 6 people maximum, which would be capable to contain the army of Phil or respond to their attack, without seeking the help of any group other groups. Which in other words means that that group would particularly be able to escape whenever the situation takes a wrong turn, which would have also the task of identifying their exact location, and finally, the capacity to determine the ways they would take in case they want to flee and so that they will be able to communicate that to the other groups who will intercept them and finish them off.