Chapter 16: Trust No Uniform
The moment Kgosi saw the video frame of his dad, something inside him snapped.
Not just confusion. Not just betrayal. It was like someone ripped open a wound he didn't know was still bleeding.
"How could he be alive?" Naledi whispered.
Lethabo shook his head. "Nah, maybe it's old footage. Could be deepfake. Maybe…"
"No," Kgosi interrupted. "That bracelet... he only got it a week before he 'died'. I remember. It had my name on it."
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A New Plan
Kgosi stood, pacing the room like a general preparing for war.
"We can't sit back anymore. We don't just wait for answers — we take them."
Naledi raised her eyebrows. "And how do we do that? Break into the base? Interrogate Red Wire himself?"
"We go to the one person who always knew more than she let on," Kgosi said.
Lethabo frowned. "Who?"
Kgosi looked up. "My mom."
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The Mother Knows
Later that evening, the three of them sat in Kgosi's living room.
His mom was folding laundry, as if her son's whole world wasn't falling apart.
Kgosi couldn't take it anymore.
"Ma," he said quietly. "Was Dad part of something... something illegal?"
She stopped folding. Her shoulders tensed.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw him. In a video. Recently. He's alive. And working with the same people who—"
"I told him to leave!" she shouted suddenly, voice cracking. "I told him to get out before it swallowed him whole."
Naledi reached for Kgosi's hand. His mom sat down, defeated.
"Your father... he wasn't just a mechanic. He was a driver. For them. Deliveries. Cash. Crates. Guns. Whatever they needed. He kept it from you. From everyone. But when he tried to leave... that's when things got dangerous."
Kgosi's throat was dry. "So he faked his death to escape?"
"No." She looked at him with glassy eyes. "He faked his death... to protect you."
---
Shadow in the Yard
That night, Kgosi sat outside, alone, headphones in, music off.
Just breathing.
Trying to understand.
That's when he saw it — a figure in the shadows. Watching.
"Lethabo?" he called.
No answer.
The figure stepped forward slightly. Enough for the moonlight to catch his face.
It was the new kid — Rethabile.
Again.
Only this time, his hoodie was unzipped, revealing something beneath: a Metro Police badge.
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Double Agent
The next day, Rethabile didn't show up at school.
Naledi hacked into a school records portal. The file was empty. No school history. No ID copy.
"He's not a learner," she whispered.
"He's a ghost," Kgosi muttered. "Placed here."
"For us."
"To watch. Or... recruit."
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The Hidden Message
In Kgosi's locker that afternoon, a new note appeared.
Same handwriting as before.
> "You think you're ready for the truth. But bloodlines are never clean.
– R."
He turned the paper around.
A second message in tiny writing:
> "Tonight. Warehouse 12. Bring no one."
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End of Chapter 16