The List. (A short story)

All rights reserved.

The following is entirely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead, or any event real or imagined is entirely a coincidence.

This is my first story on Nairaland. Am looking forward to constructive criticism.

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Part One
The general stood looking out the window of his office on the third floor of the Nigeria Intelligence Service headquarters dubbed the Tower. Two years ago when he had assumed office as the Director of the Nigerian Intelligence Service, he had looked out the same window with a spirit of determination to deliver results to the Oga as quickly as possible. That seemed like a very long time ago. The sheet of paper he held in hand was a proof of the hard work he had done in his two years as director. But the information contained in the paper made it feel so heavy he contemplated tearing it to shreds and calling the Oga to give him some more time. He had known there was corruption in the land, but he had no idea that it was this deep. Oga had called him some days ago, a habit the old man had grown into since he appointed him as director. He thought it was just a friendly call, but midway into the conversation, he was beginning to suspect there was more to it. And he was right. Oga was getting impatient. He wanted results that very week. He did not even mind if the results were incomplete. He had no choice but to schedule a meeting with him for the next Monday. If the old man wanted results, he would get one. But as he looked at the paper once more, he was seriously beginning to think if he had made a mistake taking the job in the first place. Not that he had no protested. But from his friendship with the Oga even before he became the president, he knew that when he wanted something, he always got it. Age had done nothing to reduce that particular talent of his. So he had taken the job, but not before warning Oga. No, telling Oga that the results might not please him. Who was he to warn the president, he mused.

There was a knock at the door.
“Come in”
His ADC came and saluted.
“We are ready sir.”
“Ok. Give me a few minutes”
“Yes sir” the man saluted and left.
His mind drifted to the discussion he had with his wife the night before. She had brought his attention to the newspaper headlines of the Sunday edition daily paper. One of the headlines screamed, “The Mafia will soon be exposed” and his name was written in front of it. He had made the statement at an award dinner the previous night in which he was a guest of honour. It had been part of his security assurance speech that he was expected to give at any gathering in order to put the people’s mind at ease and make them know that the security personnel were not resting. He had used the line once before and did not understand why his wife seemed worried.
“You should not be saying things like this in public”
“I need to reassure the people”
“If there is a mafia, do you think they would be happy for you to expose them. Think of the safety of our family.....”
And off she went again. He had been feeling tired and wasn’t ready for any argument.
“Okay. I would try to be more careful next time. You know I wont bring harm on my own family.”
It was the part where she doubted the existence of a mafia that kept playing in his head. If only she knew.
Women, he thought. When he was first appointed and the pay check increased with titles and honours flying in from everywhere, she was quite happy with it. Carrying herself with pride and showcasing herself as the wife of the director of NIS. But now that she feared things might go south, she was preaching safety. He had taken a lot of precautions to ensure his safety and that of his family, but he also knew that by submitting that paper to Oga, he would be treading on very powerful toes. Yet he took her advice seriously. He remembered a part of a conversation that his men had eavesdropped on during the investigation. He could hear one top echelon of the Mafia telling the other “Anyone can have an accident, but it takes a real genius to cause an accident”. He felt there and then that just as he had suspected, that the Nigerian Mafia was made up of dumb old men. He had expected them to be at least as smarter than their American and Italian comrades in crime, but they had not even met his expectation not to talk of beating it. He fondly remembered the days when he was still young and hot blooded, battling rebels in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Those were the good old days. This democracy had made a mess of everything. He shook his head in pity as he put the paper in his briefcase which also contained documents complimenting the information on the paper. He closed the briefcase it and set the combination.

He stepped out of his office and the ADC moved to collect the briefcase from him. He politely waved him off and the both moved outside to the waiting convoy of two vehicles. He got into the second car and the convoy moved out. He was going to give his Oga some results.

hope that is not all??

stuff46:
hope that is not all??

not at all sir. Your criticism is need so I can make amends if you dont mind.

Following sharperly..
This is interesting.



Long time off from literature section, this should keep me here.

Olamilekan08:
Following sharperly..
This is interesting.



Long time off from literature section, this should keep me here.

Much obliged. I hope to repay you kindly.

The convoy moved at normal speed through the ever busy capital. He had as a security measure, told his security detail to move with as much discretion as possible. It was the reason why the the convoy was composed of just to cars. The fact that they weren’t using sirens made other commuters reluctant to leave the road. He checked his watch again. He was getting late and hating it. He thought of instructing his men to activate the sirens and clear the road but refrained from doing so and so as not to draw attention to himself. His reason for visiting the villa he had kept secret even from his most trusted aides. He wondered how the president was going to react to the information he was about to deliver. He just hoped it was worth the last two years of the hard work he had been doing. If he had his way, the bastards would be shot out of hand. They were so corrupt, they made Italian and American mafia look like saints. The list of their crimes was inexhaustible. Robbery, trafficking, bunkering, extortion, thuggery, prostitution, money laundering, arms trade, kidnapping, torture, murders, assassinations to mention but a few. They had seem to get off the hook easily. Even then, most of the prosecution had been of small fries. The big fishes always managed to remain hidden. It was when they started to tried to make is Oga bad look that the Service was drawn into the issue. They had become too comfortable and became careless. Even when they reacted to the new clamp down, they were too slow. By the time they became aware of what was going on, the service had gathered a lot of information about them. The information had implicated a lot of top government officials, businessmen and even top officials in the defense and security agencies. The last group had been the hardest to fish out. They knew every loophole and tried to use them. But he had them sniffed out. For these group would have recommended the death penalty. He checked his watch once more.
*****†**************************************************
It took almost forever for the convoy to leave the ever busy traffic that always formed during the rush hour. They were now cruising along the road that lead to the Independence zone, so named because it is the location of the three arms of government. He looked at his watch once more and was relieved to find out that he was just slightly behind schedule.
He still did not know how Oga would react. Heads would definitely roll but to what extent was a mystery. His phone rang.
"Who is it?"
"Mrs Johnson"
"Is it secure"
"No sir"
"Dont pick it"
As an extra measure of security, he asked close members of his family to always use the secured channel when calling him. His sister had not yet adapted as quickly as he had thought and he had told her he was not going to pick her calls again except on the secured channel.
The phone rang again.
"It's now secured sir"
He collected the phone and picked the call.
Her twins had gotten into a fight at school the previous day and the principal had requested to see the parents of the children involved in the fight.
"The principal wants to give two weeks suspension" she said
"Okay. What do you want me do?"
"You can use your influence to make him forgive them"
He sighed, he knew it was where she was headed.
"If you dont let the principal punish them, they wont learn their lesson"
"But it's just fighting. It's not as if they killed anybody"
"If we dont stop them, they might kill somebody one day"
"God forbid that my sons would be muderers"
"I will call you later sister".
"So you are not going to do anything?"
"I will send my boys to come and bring them to my house. Let them serve their suspension with me"
"No. I dont think like that idea"
"Okay. Do as you wish, but am not going to beg for them"
"Goodbye"
"Goodbye"
He sighed and shook his head. She knew that he wasnt one to bend the rules, yet it had not stopped her from trying. The convoy had crested a small hill and further down road to the right, lay the legislative complex. A little further down the road and to the left lay the judiciary complex. And further down the road was the first checkpoint out of eight checkpoints that one must pass through to reach the presidential villa. It was a heavily fortified place with a barracks located just before it that housed the guards brigade. He had, without the knowledge of the president, ordered the installation of more survellance gadgets that ensured a 24 hour montoring of villa. He did not want to get caught unawares.
He could see that some construction work had started in the legislative. They were always renovating.
"Theives". He muttered.
He stretched his hand to his ADC and was handed a file containing a booklet of about four pages. It was the prepared speech that he was to give the next day at a security conference he was invited to.
He quickly browsed through the content to familiarize himself with it. It was full of assurances which even he found unconvincing. He made a mental note to amend some parts of the speech while delivering it. The last page was full of subliminal threats to would be criminal. He actually found this part amusing read it again. He was half way down the page when he instinctively looked up and felt a jolt as he was thrown forward.

elfico:

Much obliged. I hope to repay you kindly.

Thank you, and you are not disappointing me.

Staying glued.

Still waiting patiently..

.

Part Two
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He felt disoriented as the car summersaulted and landed upside down. He felt pain all over his body and could feel warm liquid runnig down his forehead making it hard for him to see. He could hear the smell of petrol and knew that he had to get oit of the car quickly.His neck was under serious pressure from the unnatural position that his body was forced to take. He tried to shift it a little and manage to turn right to find two pairs of eyes wide open and still.
He tried to speak but could only croak.
"Lieutenant !"
There was no response from his ADC.
He still couldn't understand what happened.
He had only briefly caught the sight of a construction truck and the front car before his car went into a summersault.
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One of the guards that manned the gate the led to Legislative section could not believe what he saw. He was very sure that hunger had nothing to do with what he was seeing since he had never witnessed an accident before. It happened so fast that had he not been the one who wished the truck driver farewell barely a minute ago, he would have found it hard to believe. The Assembly was on recess and there wasn't much for them to do save verifying identity of workers that were working for the company that was renovating some parts of the legislative zone. The distance from the drive way to the main road that lead to the Villa was about 250 meter and he had a clear view of the truck. The truck had sped off as he cleared and the guard moved back into his post to join his fellow. He looked down the driveway again and saw just in time, a car spin of the road and into the road side as the truck hit it from the rear. He did not have the time to react before he saw the truck trying to swerve right and it missed a second car which tried to dodge as well but by so doing, hit the first car and summersaulted and its target turned on its side.
He reacted quickly. He brought out his walkie talkie and spoke into it
"Accident on legislative junction, assistance needed immediately".
He saw a car coming from the direction of the Villa stop and four men jumped out.
He jumped out of his post and started running towards the accident scene. While his fellow who stayed behind repeated the distress message.
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Good work.
When you are through with writing, you should try to make corrections, typos especially.

Olamilekan08:
Good work.
When you are through with writing, you should try to make corrections, typos especially.

Thanks alot.

^^
And commas, especially when using compound-complex and multiple sentences.

wow...following

slap1:
^^
And commas, especially when using compound-complex and multiple sentences.

Thanks a lot for the corrections. Would make necessary changes.

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The general tried to make sense of what was going on but failed. He had hoped that his agents from the first car would be out already trying to rescue him, but through the cracked he rear windscreen, he could see that occupants of the first car also needed help. He reached below his belt and winced as he felt warm blood on his abdomen. He searched and for a while and after found the button on his belt and pressed it.
He had just activated his beacon and was confident that help was just a few minutes away even if no one was near. He was glad that he had followed the recommendation of one of his agents and invested in the beacon gadget. The gadget would instantly transmit his location to the control room and agents would swoop down on that location within minutes. If he was just an agent and not the Director, it might take a while. But the priority comes with the privileged position.
He heard a car come to a screeching halt and could hear legs running towards the car.
The beacon was really worth the money invested in it.
He tried calling for help but could only croak.
He didn't have to try any longer as he felt something smash into the window and a hand reached inside the car to unlock it. A few seconds later and the door flew open.
He saw a hand reach inside and he put out his hand but could only watch in horror as the hand went to the brief case beside him.
The man retrieved the briefcase and passed it to another man after which the hand reached for his hand. Another man came around and the two pulled him out. He almost passed out with pain. He looked up and could see twenty persons standing over him. He blinked and they became two.
"Thanks for the gift." One of them said smiling.
"Be quick, somebody is coming". Said the other with urgency.

Everything made sense to him now. The accident. The briefcase. His speeches. His job. The list.
The first man took a step back and swung his boots toward his neck. Just as he helpless watched the boot made its way, he allowed himself a thought and smiled despite the pain. The Nigeria mafia can cause an accident after all.
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The sentry was relieved that he would not be the only security agent at the scene of the accident. While he was running towards the scene of the accident, he could only see the first vehicle that was hit. It had spun out of the road after the second impact and would have rolled further into the foliage had it not been stopped by a tree. He could also see the car that had come from the direction of the villa. As he approached the junction, he could see two men trying to bring out the occupants of the second car while a third stood back. He looked around and saw the fourth man who had previously bend to to take something from the car in which they came. When the man stood, he saw that he held a walkie-talkie in hand and was speaking into it. To his far right, stood the truck. Its door at the driver side was ajar.
The men that he saw were all in suit and had dark glasses. He was sure they were security agents but did not know which. He got to where they were and to his bewilderment, saw that the body that lay still on the ground and over which stood one of the men was that of a soldier. Not just any soldier, but a general.
Without being told, he ran to the other car and smashed into glass to unlock the door.
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By the time he had removed the second body from the car, the place was already swarming with more soldiers. They were soldiers that were on patrol close to the scene of the accident. Some helped to remove the other bodies from the car while one of them shouted down walkie-talkie that they needed an ambulance immediately.
Minutes later, NIS agents joined the already crowded scene, and took over. The soldiers, having done their part, started to leave. Ambulances had arrived and the entire scene was cordoned. In the midst of these activities, no one notice a black car containing four men drive off. The fact that they were dressed like agents and drove the same type of car as agents made their departure go unnoticed.
"*******************************************†*******************
The next day, newspaper headlines screamed
"NIS Director dies in fatal crash"...
The driver of the truck was never found.
And neither was the briefcase or its contents.
The End
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No ooooo!!
This can't be the end!
Any way sha it's interesting.
Looking forward to your next story, if ever you decides to write again.

Olamilekan08:
No ooooo!!
This can't be the end!
Any way sha it's interesting.
Looking forward to your next story, if ever you decides to write again.

lolz...sorry I had to end it that way since it's a short story.
With your encouragement, I will write again.

elfico:

lolz...sorry I had to end it that way since it's a short story.
With your encouragement, I will write again.

Its ok.
I'm looking forward to that.

Its a wonderful piece! Keep it up sir. Pls endeavour to write again, and please no more short stories o! I really wished this did not end like this. Love your detective mind! Double 0 seven!