Previously on Aisha.
Anna and Duke return to New York but plan on delivering the crown the next day. Duke gets to his apartment only to find a total stranger in his room. It appears to be the thief.

Chapter 12

"I've been waiting for you." Says the strange lady again without looking back at him.

He quickly draws out his gun, pointing it directly at the feminine figure.
"Who are you? And what are you doing in my apartment??"
He asks.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, I can't. Now if you'll be so kind to hand me my case, I'll be on my way."
She finally turns to face Duke. Her face still hidden behind a black mask and her dark hair, tied into a ponytail.

"So it's you. You're the thief." Duke says with a feeling of amusement.
"I think I prefer being known as the international collector. It's much more suitable. Don't you think?"

"The only thing I'm thinking right now is locking you up in a prison cell." Duke says.
"I'd like to see you try." She says.

"I've had enough. Get down on your knees and put your hands where I can see them." He commands, still aiming the gun directly at her.

"Make me!" She says.
Duke slowly moves closer to her. He still can't make out the structure of her face behind that mask.

"I said ge..." he is cut off as she grabs the mouth of the gun, yanks away his hand from the hilt of the gun and pulls him towards her into a tight choke.

Duke struggles to break free but she has him in a pretty tight strangle.

He suddenly lets his body sit loosely to the ground, causing the lady to loose hold of him, and immediately performs a leg sweep which sweeps her off her feet, unto the floor with a thud.

He quickly gets up and gets into an attacking position.

The face of the lady is still covered by the dark shadow as she also gets into a fighting position.

"Don't make me hurt you." Duke warns. Clearly it's not appropriate to be fighting a woman. Although she has a pretty good fighting chance.

"Hurt me? You're far from hurting me.
"You have no idea what you're up against."

"You go about stealing priceless items to sell? I think I have a pretty good idea."

"You're unbearably naive." She says.
"It will be wise for you to surrender now."

"I don't think so." She dashes towards him with a low and high kick respectively.

Duke blocks the first but isn't fast enough to avoid the second as the kick twists his head to the right with force.

A roundhouse kick follows, causing him to fall with a spin.

He wipes blood off his lips with the back of his hand and narrows his eyes at the lady who just caused him to bleed.

"You think you're tough?" Duke says as he rests his hands on a nearby table with a vase on it.

"Don't flatter me. Now we could do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Hard way it is." He says as he sends the vase souring through the air towards her. Unfortunately she sees it coming and crosses her hands in front of her to block the vase, that smashes to pieces the moment it makes contact.

Duke doesn't waste time at all. He charges towards her and spears her down as she recovers from the attack.
She lands backwards with a big thud and Duke immediately holds both her arms apart, causing him to lean over her.

"Ready to surrender now?" He asks.
"Well, I considered it but then I came to a decision. She lifts her head as high as she can."never." She whispers.

She suddenly crosses both legs around dukes neck and throws him backwards. With the space she has been able to make, she quickly rises to her feet as Duke does the same.

Duke makes a hard right punch which she blocks with her left arm and with her free right arm, sends duke bowing with a hard punch to the stomach, followed by a knee kick right to his face. He stumbles backwards but quickly regains balance.

Dazed by the kick, he flings himself at her once again but is sent flying about three metres back by a high kick right to the chest. He lands on his back with a crack and he can't tell whether it's a rib or a back bone. But that doesn't stop him.

With adrenaline flowing through him, he quickly gets back to his feet, grabs another nearby vase and this time, throws it upwards.

This causes the lady thief to look upwards. With this chance he kicks her hard in the stomach, causing her to bend, grabs the now falling vase and brings it down behind her head with a heavy smash. She falls unconsciously to the ground, face first.

"I may not know karate.......but I'm smart enough......to do that." He says between breaths. He could feel his back ache. It's definitely a back bone.

He quickly grabs a four legged chair and sits her on it. She's kinda light weighted. He quickly moves to the bathroom and comes back a while later, with a rope.

He ties her arms and legs to the chair and stands back, wondering whether or not to call Anna. Nerh. He can't have her share in his glory. Early the next morning he's going to turn her in. He could already see himself being praised by his colleagues.

The whole nation will know of him. He would be rich, and famous.

Surely the Queen of England has to honor him.And like they do in the movies, he's going to gain a very huge and priceless reward.

Perhaps he could even be the queens personal security. Now wouldn't that be nice.

Oh imagine the prestige. Head security of England. His luck has just shined.
Now all he has to do is wait for morning and his journey to fame and wealth, would begin.

He sits back in the couch as he ponders on all that he could achieve.

But he suddenly switches his thoughts. What if he interrogated her into telling him who she sells these artefacts to.

Then with back-up, he could round them all up.

His thoughts of possibilities is interrupted by a slight groan from the now conscious captive. She looks around her and struggles to get out of the bondage. Duke walks up slowly to her and looks her in the eye as she looks back at him with eyes full of hatred.

"Time to find out the woman behind the mask. It reminded him about scooby-doo. Where they capture the monster and take off its mask, revealing a familiar face. But with her, he's not so sure she's familiar. He grabs the mask from underneath her chin, and slowly takes it off.

He is stunned by what he sees behind the mask.

A light-skinned black lady, probably in her mid twenties, with perfectly curved rose red lips,a precise moulded nose and golden-brown eyes with dark silky hair and a smooth face.

He stares at her in awe. The world around him, seems to have disappeared. What he now sees in front of him is the face of a goddess.

.........

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