₦airaland Forum

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Ted Jordan opened his eyes after what seemed like ages of deep sleep. A sound had awoken him and he stirred groggily as the sound from the TV blared in the air. The sound from the TV had actually woken him. He looked around the ward and no one was around; but all he could see from the ward's window were nurses perambulating the corridor as a woman's voice instantly came on the TV in his room, drawing his attention to the Breaking News:

"FRESH NEWS REACHING US SAYS RUSSIA HAS DECLARED HER INTEREST IN AIDING THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH KOREA TAKE THE DMZ. THIS MOVE WHICH IS JUST COMING IN, AMID THE STRAINED DIPLOMATIC TIES BETWEEN THE WEST AND SWEDEN, WAS HOWEVER MADE POSSIBLE BY THE THE ASIAN TIGER, CHINA WHO IS ALSO A KEY MEMBER IN THE TRIDENT ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA. IT HAS BEEN SPECULATED THAT......" and Ted took his attention away from the TV as he sighted his regular doctor walk through the doorway with a pretty nurse behind him, bearing a silver tray.

"Hi Mr. Jordan", the doctor said and Ted smiled. "Your wife was here earlier today, but she's gone home"

"To be back when?", Ted asked

"Well, i don't know" the doctor replied picking from the silver tray a syringe similar to the one Doctor Darmien had used, and Ted spoke up instantly.

"I think i just had that recently", Ted said and the doctor looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, a so called Doctor Darmien administered it".

"When was that?" the doctor asked

"I can't really remember because i slept off afterwards".

Then the doctor explained to him that sleeping off was actually an effect of the drug. It was supposed to calm his nerves and mind and thereby sending him into a relaxed state of slumber.

"But how come Doctor Darmien didn't let me know about it?" the doctor asked turning to look at the nurse who shrugged indifferently as he put back the mechanized syringe back in the tray. "I think i have to see him at once" he said walking away.



**************

The agitation by the New Norse Movement (NNM) in Sweden was beginning to get to a maximum security level. The radical group had demanded for the deportation of all Americans and citizens of member countries of the Alliance of Nations. And a wide spread campaign of an impending third world war was at the brink in as much as the defunct United Nations had tried to avert it from the start. Sweden's membership in the Trident Power was a catalyst to the agitations for a war. And despite how much the Americans have tried to exonerate themselves from the murder of the Swedish President, the Swedes and the NNM have turned a deaf ear to their plea owing majorly to the fact that the Swedish president was assassinated on American soil on his last visit to Washington, to strengthen the two country's ailing diplomatic ties.

The whole crisis began when the US had first accused the Swedes of espionage and this had led to an uprising within the corridors of the White House and Political Caucus of Stockholm. And then came the murder of the Swede president a few months later. To the New Norse Movement, the murder of the Swedish president was more than an incursion and was seen as a challenge to war. Based on that effect, the radical group had all western Embassies burnt down as the affected western states extracted their ambassadors before the situation claimed their lives. With the Swedes calling America's bluff by pulling out of the Alliance, and the communist powers' undaunted withdrawal from the same Alliance, the fear and respect for 'Uncle Sam' had waned drastically as smaller nations in Africa began to agitate for their seperation while the Nigerian government did its best to preserve the African unity within the Alliance of Nations. And as all these incidents unfolded gradually, Russia and China waited patiently for the due time to strike the West where it mattered most.

Down at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the tension was getting to its peak as the South Koreans faced an imminent attack by North Korea's one million man standing army and the combined forces of the Russian and Chinese military. Already the North Korean army was at the border awaiting orders from Pyongyang to unleash hell, while the United States Naval Feet on the Pacific sea alongside the U.S 82nd Air Assault at the east coast, bade their time to engage the North Koreans if they happend to breach the DMZ.



****************


The skies were grey and heavy with snow when Roxanne arrived the hospital that particular evening. She had a cheerful look on her face when she walked into Ted's ward and sat beside him.

"So what did the doctor say?" Ted querried.

"He says you're gonna be discharged tomorrow", Roxanne replied with glee in her voice. "I just can't wait for you to come back home baby".

"Yeah..." Ted heaved

"What's it Teddy? You don't sound happy you're going home".

"I wish i knew what home was or even looked like", he said bitterly. "You don't know how it feels to be so void and empty".

"I thought we had settled this earlier honey. I'm here for you and I'll help you with the recuperating process. The doctor has told me how to go about it".

And Ted turned to look into the face of the beautiful brunette he now knew as a wife. Only if he could remember how they met and how they both started their relationship. Such memories needed to be cherished throughout ones entire life. And here he was with the possibility that he may never recover those cherished moments he might have had with her.

"Tell me how we met", he said to Roxanne. The questioin seemed to have taken Roxanne by sudden and she cleared her throat and chuckled nervously.

"Okay....that was four years ago in Baltimore, Maryland". she began. "We met in a park on New Year's eve 2017....and you accidentally stepped on my left foot", She giggled. "I was harsh at first but you were so gentle and apologetic"

"Was I?" Ted asked. And Roxanne smiled caressing his face

"Yes you were, my love. And i fell in love with you instantly".

So Roxanne recounted all that transpired during their relationship and how they finally got married in the presence of her parents. Her last statement made Ted ask her about his own parents; and she told him he was an orphan who grew in an orphanage. Ted found it hard to digest the fact he was an orphan. But since he had been able to live with that fact in his past life, he didn't let the issue bother him that much as he listened to all his wife had to say. By the time she was done with her story, Ted was already feeling sleepy and worn out, and Roxanne stroked him tenderly. "Sleep Ted...sleep my love", she mumbled.

Shekstatari:
Nice one doc. *takes a sit at the forefront*

Welcome bro. Thanks a lot

Epluribusunom:
This work is WOW! Keep it flooding!!!

Thanks bro! You're welcome to the world of thrills

Chapter One - Obscurity
----------------

WINTER OF JANUARY, 2020 - Somewhere around the Alps, Austria.

Beethoven's sympohony was playing aloud in the ears of one of the Special agents who sat within the corridors of the Classified Research and Development Facility located hundreds of feets underground, inside a snowy mountain. The facility was a development site for the Krypto virus, a bio-chemical based weapon, under the Alliance of Nations' Project Erebus. On the agent's chest was a name plate inscribed 'Stan Hornbill'. The chubby agent still sat in his chair, engrossed in the melodious tune blaring from his earpiece, as two other agents walked passed him, and he didn't hear one of them say "Hi Stan" as they shook their heads at his indulgence and stepped into the elevator. The two agents who had walked passed were heading above, to the snowy earth surface for the normal routine reconnaissance. They had now reached the surface and stepped onto the snowy ground as the snow flakes floated down, hitting them with an unfriendly cold air; and one of the agents pressed on his earpiece, "Eagle eye can you read me?" he said, looking towards the mountains where the snipers were stationed. There was a static sound before one of the snipers voice came up through the earpiece:

"Yeah Agent Wood, I can read you. Perimeter secure...All clear".

Having been sure all was clear and good, Agent Wood brought out a pack of cigarette and turned back to offer one to his colleague but couldn't find him anymore.

"Tobias!", Agent Wood called out to his colleague in perplexity, looking around frantically as his breath puffed out the frosty air. Then he tried to contact the snipers, but there was no response. Suddenly, there was a shuffling movement behind him and he spun backwards (and gasped) as a blow hit him in the face and he blacked out. Then more movements came from the nearby woods and a lanky man wearing a chinchilla, accompanied by some tough looking men, stepped forward. The men were mercenaries.

"Well done Agent Tobias", The lanky man said to the rogue agent who had brought down his colleague. Agent Tobias smiled in accomplishment, looking at Agent Wood who lay motionless on the ground with blood oozing out from his head. Then the lanky man held up his radio receiver, "The snipers are down. All units at the ready, on my command". And with that, the rogue agent led the men down the elevator, into the facility, and soon the sounds of muffled gun shots rent the air.



The chubby agent Stan was the first to be gunned down immediately the mercenaries infiltrated the facility. And a code red was instantly sounded as the red light began to beam, with the alarm blaring an alert of unauthorized entry.

"Find the Krypto Capsules!" the lanky man who was the leader yelled, as his tough looking men scurried in sperate ways into the varioius labs of the facility. And the lanky man picked up his radio reciever once more. "It's time to unleash hell", he spoke into the receiver and immediately, there were loud sounds of shelling amidst the whirring of helicopters, which shook the whole mountains, cutting the sattelite communication gadgets of the facility. Expertly, the mecenaries took out all the agents and lab technicians one after the other. And after what seemed like a fifteen minute onslaught and combing of the entire Facility, a stocky and fierce looking lad walked out of the biggest and most secure lab and came to stand before the lanky man.

"Sir, the capsules are gone!", the stocky lad reported. "It's no where within the facility".

"Find it!" the lanky leader snapped. "Comb the surface, the mountains, and the woods. Whoever has it has not gone far".

Then the lanky leader walked away, followed by his men and the rogue agent, Tobias, as they soon came up to the earth surface, heading towards the waiting helicopters and passed by the unconscious Agent Wood. Suddenly, they heard a gunshot from behind as Agent Tobias fell to his knees and face down to the ground, lifeless. The men turned back to see the injured Agent Wood crawling weakly on the icy ground with a smoking pistol in his grasp, and face covered in blood, as he gasped into his comm device: "This is to Command and Control...Erebus has been breached! I repeat Erebus has been breached!!". Then Agent Wood weakly raised his gun to shoot again, but the lanky mecenary leader swiftly took a shot at him, hitting him in his right hand as his weapon fell off his grasp. He cried out in agony where he lay writhing on the ground. Then the lanky man walked up to him pointing down his pistol to his head. With a dispairing look, the injured Agent Wood looked up into the face of the man who was about to take his life and he gasped, "It's you, Frank Cristo...." Those were the last words he muttered before the shot rang out and he fell into an everalsting darkness.



*** 3 Weeks later ***

The beeping sound from the EKG machine continued as the nurses perambulated the ward, and slowly the dark skin guy on the bed blinked his eyes, moving his left index finger faintly as he regained a hint of his consciousness. He had been slipping in and out of coma for the past 3 weeks. He was almost left for dead when he was rushed into the Emergency Room on that fateful evening and could barely remember anything when he came out of his first coma, before slipping into another phase of unconsciuosness, owing to the shock he had. He tried to move his head but his neck hurt deeply as a tender hand held him down by his right.

"Hey, easy babe", a soft female voice said to him while the nurse came to adjust the pillow under his head. And the owner of the soft voice brought her face to his view. She was a pale skinned beautiful brunette, probably in her early 30s. And she cast him a sweet smile as he stared into her face from below. "You can't move your neck for now", she said. "Its still bad". Then the guy looked quizically into her face

"Who're you?" he asked in a slightly thick African accent. "And where am I?"

"Relax baby", the brunette woman replied. "My name is Roxanne and i'm your wife. Your name is Ted...Ted Jordan, and you're in Vienna. We live here actually".

The young man looked from the nurses' face to the soft spoken lady and couldn't make any sense out of what she was saying and he shook his head in confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about and I can't seem to remember you or anything"

"It's okay Ted. That's because you have an amnesia. You managed to survive the auto crash".

"What crash?" Ted asked

The nurse exchanged pitiful glances with Roxanne as Roxanne came closer to cuddle Ted. "You were involved in an auto crash, and that's why you're here", said Roxanne with teary eyes. "Actually we had a little argument concerning your excessive smoking and you left the house in anger. I never should have let you drive off in that state", she sobbed. The nurse came close to tap Roxanne on the shoulder before walking out of the ward.

"We had an argument?" Ted asked

And Roxanne replied, "Yes baby". Ted blinked vaguely not knowing what to say without or how to begin, since he couldn't remember any part of the incident. But the distraught state of the woman beside him melted his heart.

"Was I a bad husband?" he asked her.

"No honey", replied Roxanne, trying to conceal her sadness. "You're the best thing that can ever happen to a woman. I just wasn't happy with your smoking habit, that's all".

Ted sniffed repeatedly, "I can't remember anything", Ted sobbed. "I just feel so blank....so damn empty!"

"Hey, don't beat yourself baby", said Roxanne. "The doctor says you'll come around soon; it's only temporary. But for the meantime I'll be your guide in whatever you do". And she bent over and kissed him as he felt the unfamiliar feeling of her lips.

Ted spent the next one week in the private ward of the Antionne Specilaist Hospital, and was visited regularly by his beautiful wife who never left his side. He began to wonder what his life looked like before the unfortunate incident which robbed him of his memeory. And he concluded he must have had a splendid marriage, judging from the down to earth nature of his brunette wife and must be very rich, since his wife could afford such an expensive hospital for his treatment. But despite all this, he still felt enstranged around Roxanne as he yearned for more answers concerning his life. Earlier, the doctor had come in to advice him on his smoking habit, (which confirmed what Roxanne had said earlier) and had adviced him to loosen his frigidity towards his caring wife, because most times love was a very big medicine to solving the issue of amnesia. Though that sounded quite difficult based on the fact he had no memory of who she was, he decided to give it a try and focus on living a normal life, absent the anxiety of getting back his memory.

For the past one week after he regained full consciousness, Roxanne had been a true source of support to him and he was grateful he had someone like her in his life. Sometimes he would wake up to notice she had slept off beside him and he would smile lousily. Of a truth he was beginning to get used to her and that did a lot to ease the tension within him. He no longer asked incessant questions concerning his identity and was more co-operative with Roxanne and that seemed to elate her as she would cuddle and kiss him tenderly. "Don't you worry Teddy", Roxanne would always say to him. "You'll get every answer about yourself once you get back home". Just as the doctor had previously told him, his home would rekindle the connection between his past and present; and he couldn't just wait to leave the confines of the white room where he lay. Most times when he was alone in the ward, he wondered in the emptiness of his mind, what his home would look like and if it would rekindle any form of memory from his past. He had this paranoia that everything in his past life might not come back to hIm again. What if he had a permanent amnesia, and the doctors were wrong when they said it was only temporary. Well, only time would tell, he thought.

Ted was already fast asleep when he felt a hand graze his left wrist and he flicked his eyes open to see a strange doctor beside him, who cast him a defiant smile as he held something which looked like a syringe; but it was more mechanical and complex than the former.

"Goodevening Mr. Ted", the doctor said with a hint of German accent as Ted's eyes fell on the object in the doctor's hand.

"What about my regular doctor?" Ted asked.

Immediately the now familiar voice of his wife came from the doorway, "He's not available for now sweety", Roxanne said walking in and coming to sit beside him. "Doctor Darmien is here to cover for him".

Ted turned to see the doctor smiling at him, and the doctor spoke up, "Sorry i had to startle you awake", he said as he brought the mechanical syringe close to Ted's left wrist and Ted withdrew his arm (the doctor stared intently at him)

"Hey Ted, just relax", Roxanne purred.

"What's that you got in your hands?" Ted indicated at the pistol-shaped syringe.

"Its a sedative", the doctor replied.

"And why would i be needing it? The other doctor never used it on me".

"Oh c'mon Teddy", Roxanne chided. "You're at it again with the arguments. Just allow the doctor do his job. Moreover your regular doctor was the one who recommended the shot".

"Yeah, it's going to help your amnesia a lot", the doctor added.

Ted didn't want to look defiant, most especially not as his wife had brought up the issue of his stubbornness which he had learnt was what had landed him in his present condition. So he reluctantly gave out his arm to the waitng doctor who held his wrist frimly and inserted the needle of the device into him as he felt something lodge into his bloodstream and gradually he drifted into a swirling slumber.



***************

Meanwhile, miles away in far away Washignton, D.C , the silhouette of a huge man sat facing the fire place in a dimly lit room. It was night time and his face could hardly be seen owing to the partial darkness as the flames from the fireplace crimsoned with a reflecting light on the bottle of whiskey he held on his lap. The huge man took a gulp of the spirited drink and continued rasping into the phone in Russian.

"Listen Dmitri, i want the balance of my money as soon as possible and tell the Kremlin i said so", he spoke coldly.

"Mr Yuri you just have to be patient with us please", the other Russian spoke from the other end. "Moscow at the moment is unstable and things have to be put in order first. Moreover North Korea seeks our aid in taking over the DMZ. They intend on invading South Korea. So you see we got a lot on our hands".

"So for how long do i wait?" the huge man asked

"Maybe for a week", the other replied. "I'll do what i can to make sure your money is wired into your safe account".

"Then you better be fast"

"Yes i will", was the reply before the line went dead. And the huge man smiled sinsiterly clutching the glistening bottle in his grasp.

This work is pure fiction and written out of the authour's love for Espionage stories. Any resemblance to real life event or persons is purely coincidenatal.

WARNING!!: THIS WORK IS NOT TO BE DUPLICATED OR COPIED WITHOUT THE AUTHOUR'S PERMISSION. GOING CONTRARY TO THIS WARNING WILL ATTRACT SEVERE PENALTY BY THE LAW



Erebus - The Evil At Heart

©Copyright Goodheart
All Rights Reserved.


Prologue

The Year 2020



The Third World war has been successfully averted after the assasination of the Swedish President, Glenn Holdorsson, on US soil as the Swede's accuse the U.S who deny the allegations and the two nations almost took to arms. Within the United Nations, the issue was resolved by the other powers, and the UN was reformed to the Alliance of Nations in order to prevent future wars or disagreement. However, the Swede's were no longer interested in any further alliance with the west due to the new lack of trust, and so pulled out of the Alliance, and cutting all diplomatic ties, thereby making the third world war impending. Nigeria as an African leader did all they could to keep the other African nations within the Alliance amidst the developing trust issues.

As events unfold, owing to several sanctions, the communist powers of China and Russia seized the opportunity to retaliate against the West by forming the Trident Power with Sweden. Seeing this as a move to finally instigate the anticipated third world war (which had been previously averted), the West and Nigeria began working on a deadly and highly classified Bio-Chemical Weapons project called Project Erebus...Only specially trained agents were allowed to supervise the Project in which Somto, a CIA and Mossad trained Nigerian Agent was one of them. But things finally got messy.

Meanwhile amongst the enraged Swedish populace, a terrorist group called the New Norse Movement had arisen, to fight the Western Incursion. And they would fight to the last drop of their blood.

Pseudonym: Goodheart Marcel

Location: Lagos state

Blog: Non Yet

Email: charles.marcel@yahoo.com

Genre: Spy Thriller/Horror/Erotic

Books: Erebus, Whispers on Xmas Night, My Distraction 1&2

Coming Soon!!