₦airaland Forum

paafin:
Nawa o, Oga soul..

Lool bros! Just to bush up one one or two research o...by tomorrow surely

Thanks for the call bro....
Hmmm.....

If I were the king I would send for BROTA immediately Lol

That reminds me...I don't know where Jos came from o, its supposed to Benue..Rex family lives in Benue not Jos.


Previous post was too long here's the concluding part;

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Christie Savanna Noel, that's her full name" Dr Rasheed said after several sounds of flipping pages.

"Splendid...thanks doc" Tonye said thinking short Sam would have a field day when she told him the middlename too.

"hold on...what of Rex? i've been calling him but he's not picking" the doctor asked

"......errm...Rex is...not here" she said guardedly.
"well if you see him tel him I've run an inventory of the damaged equipment and everything would total up to 1.2 million"

she whistled "I'll be sure to pass your message along doc"

She started dialing Short Sam's number but then she stopped. She was tired of speaking over the phone...she didn't feel like anymore. So she opened her message and sent the three names to Short Sam.

Dedication: Quenitee warfibabe joislim phoenixchap oroolorun paafin pweetygiftofGod dimssy ann2012 silvertrinity charminee Joshnes raingirl boffinjay yemike princessadeola honourable356 hazardman fatherjp mekonglobal helenbee evaristomonarch eberechi24 .....

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Bulky's job was to decide who went past the stairs and who didn't. In a day he refused about a dozen people, most of them genuinely thought a lawyer practiced in the building and wanted legal advice. While some were either clueless or up to mischief. Like the ex agent who had come two days ago, Bulky could see the mischief in his messed up eyes.
Bulky was a quiet guy, he didn't speak much and most times didn't need to. He was built like a tank and his physique always made a statement and discouraged even the toughest men from facing him.

He was sitting on the step behind the gate as he always did when the man came through the revolving door. Bulky recognized him but remained impassive as the man approached.

"I'm here to sign my annullment papers" the man said
Bulky nodded and stood up. Without a word he opened the gate and let the man through.
"Thanks man"
Bulky didn't reply.

::
Ryan Bigelow ascended the stairs glancing over his shoulder frequently. The man just wasn't the kind of person you turned your back fully on. His large hands could easily snap a neck like a tree branch plus he never smiled!
Bigelow was a paranoid man and he had every reason to be. He had seen some horrible things in his 38 years on earth.
He climbed the stairs with his hands in his pockets and a serious frown on his face. One didn't smile carelessly in this place.
Upstairs was made up of a dozen cubicles demarcated with ply wood. Each cubicle had a desktop computer and heaps of papers and folders on the desk. They were all occupied, young men and women sat pecking away at keyboards with their eyes glued to the monitor. None of them paid him any attention and Bigelow strolled past them to the inner office. This room wasn't spacious but half a dozen computers more powerful/modern than the ones outside were lined on the desk with each space demarcated like a library to afford privacy.
There were two agents using the systems. They glanced at him but said nothing. One of them nodded in greeting and Bigelow nodded back. He chose a work station as far from the two men as possible and fired up the computer. He cracked his knuckles while the system booted hoping his plan would be successful. He logged on to the website of the National Intelligence agency. It was like a normal website with the generic info; about us, vision, and the rest.
However the trick was to double click the words: founded, courageous, fearless and lastly email.
The word 'founded' was under the 'about us' window, courageous and fearless were found under the 'Our vision' option and email was in the last window, under the 'contact us' option.
The website also had an option to view the most wanted criminals in the country. Bigelow didn't bother to check, Fome's name had been removed since two years ago and moved to the 'deceased' file.
After double clicking the last code word 'email,' a dialogue box opened with space to input login i.d and password.
His fingers danced over the keyboard and he was immediately directed to a different database with the words 'welcome agent ryan B displayed boldly once the screen.'
He spent about ten minutes looking up data on a recent bomb attack in the North that claimed dozens of lives. Finally he accessed the agency's archive and searched for the file on Fome.
The file was sealed! It had alpha status which meant he didn't have the security clearance to access the file.
"shit!" he slapped the table in dissapointment

:::::::::::::::
Tonye was worried when she couldn't reach Bami or Rex. She wanted to tell them not to bother about making contact with the agency again, all they had to do was wait for Bigelow to dig out the information, he was good at such things.
But as the phone rang without reply she couldn't help thinking they had already gone to the agency and instigated a face off which could only end in a situation her brain was not permitted to consider.
She swore and cut the call to Bami's phone when the voice announced the number was 'not reachable at the moment'
She tried Rex again and the phone rang and rang and she wasn't expecting him to pick up, so when the words 'in call' appeared on the screen, she hurriedly placed the phone to her ear.

"hello....Rex?"
A lady's voice came over the line. "hello, this is detective Dagnet from metro police department. I'm calling you from Apapa general hospital"
"oh my God...what happened?"
"what is your relationship with the owner of this phone?"
"he's...he's my friend but he was supposed to be with my husband...both of them were together when we spoke earlier"
"i think you better come to the hospital" the detective said
" what happened....you need to tell me something detective ...I'm dying here!"
"okay...the two of them were attacked and beaten badly they're in the hospital now and they look really horrible"
"oh my God....i'm on my way"

::::::::::::::::::
Have you ever felt a kind of pain that was too painful you didn't feel it again? As in, it was too much for your senses and your brain to fathom that you stopped responding to stimuli completely?
Maybe the spot became numb or maybe it was the brain that froze but the only option was to black out because the pain was incomprehensible. That was how I felt when i opened my eyes or eye rather...since one was swollen shut. The ceiling looked far away and white like the clouds and for a split second I wondered how there got to be spider webs in the clouds.
But then I remembered what happened, remembered the pain and I tried to sit up but I couldn't even move my neck. My head was too damn heavy.
I tried to run a check list of my injured body parts but my brain was still too fuzzy. Suddenly I remembered my flight, remembered the reason I was rushing to Benue. Emma!
I had to head for the airport immediately! As soon as I could control my joints.
Someone groaned in pain to my right and I managed to turn my head until I could see the source. It was Bami, his head was rapped in bandages and resembled a sultan's turban and I wondered if that was my case too. I tried to call out his name but I could not speak. My throat hurt too much not to talk of my chest and abdomen.
What was the time...I had to get to the airport...I couldn't miss my flight. With great effort I managed to lift my body few inches off the bed but the pain that shot through my body was unbelievable. I blacked out again before my body touched the bed.

::::::::::::::::
Tonye couldn't believe the agency had dealt with Rex and Bami in such a gruesome manner. She stood between the twin beds dumbfounded as she looked from one unconscious man to another. Both faces were puffy and purple, eyes swollen shut, nose crooked and lips split open. She felt the anger boil her blood as she imagined the pain they had gone through and were still going through right now.
She left the room with fire in her eyes and ran into the doctor in the hallway. He was talking to the detective and as Tonye approached she heard him say ".....two fractured ribs and a dislocated shoulder....its crazy that exactly the same damage was done to the both of them. This attack was carried out with precision. whoever the assailant was he had all the time in the world....I better go check on them"
"thank you doctor"
The doctor smiled sympathetically at Tonye as he hurried to the ward.

::
"I'm sorry about what happened" Dagnet said

"How did it happen?" Tonye asked

"they were driving when they were attacked...eye witness says they were about ten of them heavily armed. They blocked the road and dumped them on the side after beating them"

"Any idea who is behind this?" she asked. She was beginning to think the state service wasn't behind the attack. It just wasn't their style...instead of tracking them to a busy highway, they wouldn't allowed them leave the building in the first place, or a bomb would go off when the ignition was switched on, or maybe the breaks would have been cut. The agency liked to be innovative with their methods.

"There are no suspects yet but my people are on it as we speak" the detective assured her. "It doesn't look like a robbery as nothing was taking and its just too personal...this had to be someone they pissed off.

Tonye checked her watch remembering Rex's journey. "Rex is supposed to be on a flight to Benue 30 minutes from now"
"He needs to forget travelling for now...the doctor said the both of them need a lot of rest so he can observe them for signs of internal bleeding or any other thing"

Tonye robbed her eyes in confusion. Everything was falling apart!
Her secure line went off breaking her out of her dilemma. The Last four digits were farmiliar. It was Bigelow.
"Excuse me detective...I need to take this" she moved out of earshot from the detective who was watching her curiously.
"Hello...is the catcher in the rye?" She asked
"What.....see forget all these code words...I already left the counselor...everything is sealed...what's more, the moment I tried to access the file I was summoned by counselor Mark himself" Bigelow whined over the line.
"Woa.....this is some deep business, what did he say?"
"I don't know...I freaked out and got out of there immediately"
"Ryan why...you shouldn't have....."
"Look I know I owe you but this is some very shady business....do you know how many field agents have higher security clearance than me? That's right almost none? For it to be out of reach for me.....its an executive thing...let it go"
'"Big, Bami and Rex are in the hospital...they were beaten within an inch of their life moments ago....I can't let it go!"
There was silence for almost a minute and Tonye was about to cut the call thinking the line had gone dead already when she heard Bigelow sigh tiredly "Ok...what do you want me to do?"
"I'l need you to go back Big....but hold on I have to call someone"
She ended the call and strolled through her contact list. She dialled a number under the 'S' field.

"Hello darling what's hanging!" Short Sam sounded happy as he answered the call.
"S.s I need your help....I need you to hack into the state service network and unseal a confidential file"
"Woa.....arrrrrgh what you're asking for is not easy o, no be beans...."
"Can you do it or not?" Tonye knew just the right buttons to push..
Short Sam took offense immediately "There's no system on this Earth that I can not hack!.....however the firewalls and security would make it almost impossible...except there's a way I can download my backdoor program on the system."
"I have a man on the inside" Tonye said immediately
"Splendid! I have the program here...let me copy it in a flash drive...once its in, I'd be able to enter the system remotely and do anything from there"
"Okay...I'd come pick it up right now" she ended the call then turned to detective Dagnet "Detective I'd be right back....If Rex should wake, tell him I'd take care of everything" Tonye said and rushed out of the hospital.

::::::::::
It was few minutes to 12. Rex should have touched down by now.
She lay stretched on the recliner. Her feet in a bowl of hot water, a facial scrub cream slathered all over her face. And two round pieces of cocumber over her eyelids.
She purred in pleasure and smiled totally relaxed. She would send the message to him soon but now she would relax.
The baby cried out suddenly making her sit up and remove the fruit from her eyes. She was expecting the baby to be up at least by evening when the drug lost its effect ...but it seemed little Emma was a real child of her father.
She took her time, strolling comfortably to the room where she found the baby half sleeping, half tossing about. The child kept on touching the bed around her and not finding anyone, started crying but the sleep was just too strong for a little discomfort to wake her so she slept on and whispered at the same time.

She watched the child for some minutes then she took a pillow and placed it beside her. The baby stopped crying immediately her hand touched the pillow.
She went to the kitchen, pissed off at the baby for ruining her relaxing mood. Just one more thing the father was going to pay for.
She proof read the message she had composed during breakfast. It consisted of an address in Markurdi with the time 4pm and the instruction; BE THERE!
Satisfied, she hit the send button.

:::::::::::
Thankfully Short Sam made her journey easier by driving down to Iyana iba. He parked infront of the university at first (LASU) but one of the police men assigned to the gate drove him off and even mentioned a parking fine.
S.s drove off immediately and pulled over at the side of the road. At least he could handle the Traffic management officers better than the hungry and wicked men in black.

::
It still took Tonye almost an hour to get there. At a point she had to come down from the bus she entered and take a bike. The traffic was that bad.
"S.s thank you for coming here on such short notice" she said gratefully as she settled in the air conditioned car.
He winced when she said 'short notice' but nodded "Heey...I'm short Sam, I do short notice"
He opened the pigeon hole and gave her a flash drive that was quite small and more like a wireless bluetooth.
"Tell your guy to just copy and paste the program onto the desktop and I'd do the rest"

:::::::::::
So the three men in BROTA were nursing some kind of broken rib or the other and currently sedated.
DrRasheed was currently looking after Andy at the Teaching hospital, adjusting the valve of the drip he was receiving. While miles away Rex and Bami were being nursed back to health in the general hospital, Apapa.
It was a bad day to be a BROTA agent.

:::::::::::::
Tonye was the last agent standing and as she waited for Bigelow to show up in the same pizza hut they met earlier she glanced through the specials. She was far from hungry...anything she ate now would be tasteless in her mouth. Seeing Bami and Rex in that horrible state had left a sour taste in her mouth. So she ordered a canned drink instead and fixed her eyes on the music video in the corner. Although the only thing she could see was the horrible way Bami and Rex had looked two hours ago.

::::::::::
"Detective, one of them just received a message on his phone"
Dagnet perked her ears up immediately. She turned to the young police man. "Let me see"
The constable handed her the phone they had retrieved from the unconscious man.
"Where is this address?" She asked reading the message over and over again.
"Its in Markurdi...a place called downtown"
"Hmmmm...."
"Should I contact the Benue police force to check it out?" The officer asked eagerly
"Okay...but it says 4'oclock....so hold on first"

::::::::::::::
"So I copy the program to the desktop?" Bigelow asked for the hundredth time.
"Yes Big....that's all you have to dο"
"Hmmm....well hope it can't be traced back to me or anything?"
"Believe me...our guy knows what he's doing" Tonye assured him.
Bigelow sighed and took a piece of pizza. He had single handedly eaten more than half. Tonye wasn't hungry but was apparently very thirsty.
"I wonder how you're not fat with the way you eat." She said
He smiled "my metabolism rate is something else...for example the pizza we had earlier has long been burnt out....the tension alone in my body is enough to burn any fat"
"Big..thank you for helping out ...you should start going now"
He looked at her then grudgingly stood up on second thought he carried the pizza box under his arm. "My metabolism..." he said at her questioning glance. Then he was gone.
There were so many things to do and only one Tonye to do them. She remained in the booth, swirling her drink and staring into space. Should she go to Benue herself now that Rex wasn't capable....Olivia would need her, the family would need her, little Emma needs her....But there were still so many lose ends over here as well. Like the student doctor, where exactly did she fit in everything? Dr Rasheed claimed the DNA from the grave matched Fome but forensic expert Terry said it didn't. Which one of them was lying?
And there was the agency. Just how involved in the Fome case was the Government and what exactly was the 'Fome case' to begin with.
The first rule in detecting is to ask questions...no matter how dumb the questions are or no matter how strange, you ask anyway. then the next step was to try and answer each question. Take actions that would help make the mystery clearer. She had tons of questions, what she needed was answers.
She called Short Sam again.
"Sam I need your help"
"I've not even gotten home, I'm still sitting in traffic and you're disturbing me" he complained.
She ignored him "There's this student doctor that fought Andy, she was attached to a doctor here but there's every indication that she's a spy. Her name is Christie, I want you to dig up on her"
"At least give me a surname now!"
" Christie is all I have"
"I'm not a magician! I only work with the resources available to me"
"Wait let me try the doctor if he can help with a surname." She said raising her voice over the loud horning coming from her phone receiver. "Is the traffic that bad?" She asked
"A container fell and blocked the good side of the road...you can imagine the ruckus going on here right now"
"I'd call you later.....how would you know when the program has been installed?"
He laughed confidently "Is it not my program? I'l know the minute he even plugs the flash in"

::::::::::::::::
However It wasn't going to be soo easy for Bigelow.
He arrived at the office for the second time in four hours. This time Bulky didn't open the door. Not even after he said the 'I forgot my signed annulment' code. Instead Bulky stood up and without a word headed up the stairs leaving a nervous Bigelow on the other side of the gate.
He returned two minutes later and without a word opened the gate for Bigelow.
Bigelow headed up the stairs thinking he would get a computer, plug in the flashdrive and leave immediately.
No one still paid him any attention in the cube shaped offices, and he was grateful for that. He walked briskly to the inner room, planning to plug the flash in the same system he used earlier.
He froze in his tracks immediately he barged into the room. hunched over the computer he had vacated barely two hours ago was the counselor himself. The most senior agent. the man in charge of the State secret service Lagos North zone. He was called Mark or rather barrister mark or simply The counselor. It was his name on the wall downstairs. He filtered orders to the agents in his zone. He was the liason between the field agents and the deputy directors.
He was the one who had instructed Bami to go after the Fome lady two years ago.
"Agent Ryan...just the man I wanted to see" the counselor said looking Bigelow over. His voice was like granite.
"Yes sir...how can I be of assistance?" Bigelow replied innocently
"You tried to access a confidential file earlier...can you tell me why?"
"errrm.....hmmmm.....errrm..." The only thing Bigelow could feel or think at that moment was the fact that the flash was in his pocket and the System he was meant to insert it in was just few feet away.

Yemike:
Professor Soul please give us something (I mean lengthy update) to start the new week with.

Njare.

paafin:
Soul, wetin happen na?

EVARISTOMONARCH:
Broda Soul so nothing for us today to help relax our Sunday ?


Abeg even if na just one only one update is OK.

Brosses na just based on one or two o...but updating in a jiffy

boffinjay:
update o

Yes boss!

honourable356:
....The mention alert didnt give me any notifications. i had to stumble upon this myself.

Welcome back Souloho19.

Same way Rex have not eaten, so do i.
Let me gladly pass out too for a moment...

I will get back in fully flow when i recover.

I have almost practically run out of adjectives to describe your brilliance.

LITERATURE LOVERS ARE UNDOUBTEDLY PROUD OF YOU AND MAJORITY OF THEM DOESN'T HAVE THE REQUIRES EXPERTISE TO PUT IT DOWN IN WRITING.

Continue the good work!

Thanks boss Jah bless you plenty

Jazmiynne:
And that's how I didn't get a mention o @souloho19
In any case, #WeDonShow

oya welcome

DonnaD warfibabe queenitee Godwinfury silvertrinity oroolorun ladidacanon mekonglobal paafin sussybae Wizsolzy mynet11 preshb explosive04 helenbee ekopsparoayara charminee rchilee phoenixchap

::::::::::::::::


Ryan Bigelow was a spy. That was the best word to describe him. Little wonder his life had needed saving on more than one occasion and there were still about one or two other people he owed 'big time'

He had been asignend to the counterterrorism unit and had been part of the squad that had operated in Egypt in the late 90s.

During the time of the Ikeja bomb blast in 2002, A young cleric who attended prayers fervently in a small mosque in a village in North Cairo happened to gather intelligence from nereby charter about a possible strike on the 'cantonment'

The cleric had immediately radioed the information to his superior. Agent Bigelow.

Bigelow had been momentarily confused, was it an attack on Egyptian soil or what? Cantonment....was that some kind of code word or...

The next day which was the second day in January, the news shocked the world that one of Nigeria's largest military cantonment had suffered an 'amoury explosion'

A large stock of military explosives stored in the baracks had 'accidentaly' went off as a result of a fire that started in the street market next to the base, or as a result of careless handling or as a result of an itentional act. Whatever the cause, it was a disaster

Over a thousand people had been killed and over 20,000 had been rendered homeless and severely wounded.

Bigelow never forgave himself.

So when years later, the cleric had given him information he intercepted once again about this time about 'severing the North from south'...Bigelow had immediately reached out to a senior agent.

A race against time and frantic investigation led the agents to the Niger bridge. Bomb sniffing dogs were deployed and a stop and search had been set up immediately. Bigelow himself had flown to Lagos and he and the senior agent who was officially called 'agent John' but whose real name was Bami oversaw the stop and search themselves.

The traffic they caused stretched for miles and Bigelow was begining to think they had misinterpreted the information when suddenly a young pregnant woman came running towards the bridge from her vehicle which was stuck in traffic miles from the bridge.

One of the agents cautioned her to stop but she ignored. At the time Bigelow was searching a transport bus and about to wave it on when he glanced up and saw the woman running towards him with madness in her eyes and he thought; this is it.....

But suddenly her body was lifted from the floor and she landed with a violent thud as the life left her eyes.

She had been shot, right between her eyes....a perfect head shot.
Agent Bami stood behind his smoking gun and warned the agents to keep away. Then he and Bigelow (who had 'almost' lost control of his bladder) approached the body and found out the bump beneath her dress was not a pregnancy but about ten kilos of c4 taped to her stomach. The timer showed they had less than two minutes before detonation.

Bami instructed every agent to bring their handcuffs and in a matter of seconds the dead bomber had been handcuffed up to her elbows and down to her knees. Even the handcuffs were handcuffed.

Then she was thrown over the bridge into the river. The weight of the explosive plus the added weight of the handcuffs sent her to the bottom immediately. The bomb went off 30 seconds later and the vibration shook the bridge, threatening to collapse it. But that was all. The civil engineers would need to go under water and have a look at the foundation of the pillars but the important thing was no life had been lost.

A month later, a bomb went of in the mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Killing about a dozen men who had gathered for a secret meeting.

Bigelow could never forget that day, the day Bami had saved his life. He owed the man and if there was one thing Ryan Bigelow never failed to do, it was pay his debt.

So he took the task Tonye had given him very seriously. It was bad enough Bami was blacklisted as a defector but to start digging into the hierarchy of the agency was simply a death wish.
So as he drove to the counselor's office he cracked his mind on ways he could get the information without rousing suspicion.


:::::::::::::::::::


I looked at the self satisfied smirk on the Chief's face and I felt an intense hatred for the man. Over an hour had been wasted on him and I hadn't learnt anything useful and my flight was in less than 3 hours.

"Maybe we should visit your wife...coming to you was a mistake, I'm sure your wife would be more cooperative" I said.

He scoffed "good luck with that" but there was an edge in his voice.

"How do you intend to leave this room anyway?" the warden said angrily. "The door can only be opened from outside and this empty head already shut it" he jabbed his finger at Bami.

"Then radio for help" I said

I shook my head in disgust when the mad man looked at the chief for confirmation.

"Yeah, go on....I'd like some fruit also...I don't know if my visitors would like a bite, they look hungry" the chief said heartily.

"Bleep you' Bami hissed.

Barely 5 minutes later there was a beep from the other side of the door and it was pushed open. An armed prison guard escorted a warden who had a bowl full of oranges, water melon, banana, cuccumbers.......

The armed guard who held his rifle at the ready oscillated to and fro, looking from Bami to me and Bami again.

It was time to leave.

"Chief know this....if I find out you have something to do with all that is happening....I'd be back to feed that murderous rage you talked about earlier. Goodwill aside."

He smiled "you have nothing to worry about, I'm just living my life one day at a time and learning so much in here....the outside world has nothing to offer me. For now anyway"

We left the cell or should I say we left the suite or villa, grateful to be away from the jumpy guard with the itching trigger finger.

Bami bent down and returned the gun to his ankle holster under his baggy jeans. The guards had treated us with respect not giving us a pat down so they were unaware Bami had a second gun.

Breakfast was ongoing and in the many cells we passed no one paid attention to us or insulted us as was their culture mouths were too busy chewing food.



"Heey....Rex you bastard!" A angry voice suddenly shouted as we passed an overcrowded cell.

I stopped immediately. Who knew my name?
"Who said that?" I asked.

"I did....what are you going to do?" A smallish man stepped foward and gripped the cell bars.

He looked vaguely familiar and as I searched my memory I noticed his head was bent to one side. As if his neck had been twisted.
I remembered him immediately. He was Jumbo, one of the men who had been sent to kill me. I remember slamming him into my room window and trapping his head between the buglary. I also remembered slamming his head from behind into the wall again while he still had a neck brace from before. It seemed I had left a permanent damage. His head wobbled in all directions like it was balanced on a spring instead of a neck.

I moved on without a word and he rained curses after me.

When we got to the main lobby we were given our phones and Bami's gun was returned to him.

Once we were outside heading to our truck, Bami looked at me "what do we do about the chief....he's not in a prison...he's in a palace!"

I waited for him to open the door, watching a guard in the watch tower who studied us through the scope of his sniper.

The central lock clicked open and I hurried inside the truck and fastened my seatbelt. "The first step is to get the hell out of here first"

Once we were out the main gate of the prison I breathed easily again. "The chief is the real head warden of that prison...reminds me of Pablo Escobar who built the prison he was sentenced to..."

"We have to be able to do something....him living like that, that's not justice!" Bami said as he slowed down at an intersection.

"I have a feeling anyone we go to isn't going to do anything about it" I said.

"Then we go to the press" Bami replied.

I thought about it for a second then nodded slowly. I thought of the reporter who had ripped me apart in her article. "I think I know just the right kind of press for this"

I glanced at my watch. It was few minutes to 8. "In the meantime should we go check out the chief's wife or head straight to the counselor's office?" I asked him.
Bami didn't even think about it "Let's find out what Mrs. Benita knows"

I knew he was having second thoughts about following the counselor plan up and to be honest I wasn't excited with the idea but I was desperate enough to do anything for my family.

:::::::::::::::


Buzz kept watch over Olivia. Standing guard outside the intensive care unit not even going to relieve himself when his bladder threatened to burst.

When the doctor came hurrying out he held him back
"doctor how is she?" He asked worriedly

The physician scratched his goatee as if considering what to divulge and what to keep to himself. Finally he made up his mind "well... the bullet passed clean through her right knee but we had to remove it from the other...its badly shattered and we need to reconstruct the knee if she's ever going to walk again, but right now the priority is keeping her stable cause she lost a lot of blood....wait are you the husband?"

"Yes I am"

"Then I'd advice you to pray...hope and pray"


::::::::::::::::::::::::


Clyde scrubbed the blood off the floor with a vengeance. It was a lot of blood and he couldn't believe it came from one person. Even his latex gloves were no longer white but a dark shade of crimson.

Some of the blood had found its way under the bed and he stretched fully trying to mop the blood up. He didn't want the family to see the blood when thery woke up or Rex for that matter when he arrived. It would drive him mad.

He felt something stuck in the napkin as he rinsed the blood off the rag in a bowl.

He unfolded the napkin carefully and saw the cylindrical metal same size with his smallest finger. He held it up trying to guess the type of gun the shell casing had come from. He stood up, noticing with irritation that his trouser was stained red.


::::::::::::::::::


She munched her french toast as she composed the message she would send to Rex once he touched down. She gulped her coffee then studied the little girl who was still asleep. She was well prepared...baby food and enough diapers to last for a week. Although she didn't plan for them to remain in Jos for up to a week.


:::::::::::::::::


Bami brought my attention to the car. I was replaying the conversation with the chief in my mind and I glanced at the side mirror when he pointed it out. Sure enough there was a Toyota space bus a little distance away.

There was nothing but the open road with bush and trees on either side so shaking the tail was out of the question. "Are you sure...it looks like a transport vehicle, you know this is a travel route"

"I noticed it few minutes after we left the prison, I tried some subtle evasion techniques including the fuel I bought however the car keeps following. They're tailing us"

I shook my head in a 'not again' gesture. "Who do you think it is...?"

"I don't know...my guess is its the the chief, I don't think he wants us questioning his wife"

I frowned "but if he doesn't want us questioning his wife, tailing us can't stop us now..."

The words were barely out of my mouth when a jeep swerved from the lane of cars going in the opposite direction directly infront of us. Bami hit the breaks immediately causing a screeching sound as the tires marked the highway.

The doors opened and four men in face masks got out. Each of them had a deadly looking assault rifle aimed at us.

I hit the central lock while my heart began moving like a yo-yo.

Bami had drawn his gun but he sat paralyzed as the muzzles aimed at us drew nearer.

"Throw your weapons out the window...very slowly, do it now!" One of them barked and I raised both hands immediately.

Bami's gun remained in his lap.

"I'm going to say it one more time...throw your weapons out the window or we will shoot!"

"Bami for God's sake do it!" I cried out when he still hesitated.

He lowered his window then slowly threw his gun out.
"Leave your hands outside and step out of the car" the gunman ordered.
"Bami step on the break..." I whispered without moving my lips. He complied and I pressed the button on the gear then moved it from D to the last R.
"Now accelerate....as hard as you can"

Bami complied and the car shot backwards. I had bent as low as possible expecting the men to open fire on us but they didn't.
I soon knew why they didn't bother when the hilux ran into the sienna which had been parked sideways to block the road. Again the seatbelt saved me from flying through the windshield. Four men had also highlighted from the vehicle and we were trapped on the highway between 8 armed men.
One of them signalled Bami to unlock the door but without waiting for a reply he slammed the butt of his gun into the window, smashing it then with his weapon still trained on Bami, another of hid 'colleague' pulled Bami out the window roughly.
I opened my door and stepped out with my hands up "hold on...hold on...let's take a second and calm down..."
"Get on your knees!"
"Oh...God...." I knelt down thinking I was going to be killed before I could rescue my daughter.
Bami was also held in a kneeling position and the dog who barked the orders. Gave his rifle to one of his men. He removed something from his pocket and I gave a sigh of relief when I saw what it was. Brass knuckles, they didn't plan to kill us but they were going to beat the living day light out of us.

The man started with Bami's stomach, taking his time delivering blow after blow to Bami's midsection while another didn't even let him double over from the pain but held him upright.
"No...please stop..." I cried
"Wait your turn" someone slapped me from behind.

The road was blocked on both sides now and drivers were blasting their horns impatiently.
One of the gunmen released a spurt of bullets to the sky and the noise stopped immediately. I heard doors slamming amidst frightened screams.
Cars were being abandoned.

Bami coughed up blood and it was horrible to see the brass knuckle connect with his lips splitting it open and splattering blood on the road.
The man holding him released him and Bami fell to the ground unconscious. They rolled him like a sack of garri to the side of the road.
The brass knuckled man approached me.
I tried to stand up but hands held me in place.
"Don't be a coward...face me like a man, show me your face!"
"Bring the gift, lets give him now because I think he would be unconscious very soon" The sienna's door opened and closed and a gunman stood before me with a nylon bag.
He emptied the contents before me and I looked at the half eaten fish with a kaleidoscope of emotions flashing through me.
"Didn't your mama teach you not to interrupt someone's meal?!"

The first blow landed in my stomach, it felt like my intestines had been tied in a knot. It was so painful I gladly passed out before the second punch landed.

Warfibabe:
maybe it's just me ... but I don't think it's fome. very sure bodies were switched in the coffin, but fome might still be dead. I am almost positive it's Mona, she 'died' in the explosion with her pregnancy, and the unknown suspect reminisced about her pregnancy that she lost in the fire, while she watched Rex's sleeping baby...
Having read his other 2 works, with souloho we will guess till eternity!
Nice one!

this is strong o.... in fact you're not just thinking outside the box you're sitting on the box....nice one ma'am

@ emboldened Fome was the one who 'died' in the explosion Mona was shot by Bami's people , that was when she managed to tell him about the widows initiative before dying .

Dedication: helenbee quenitee Godwinfury phoenixchap preshb joshnes paafin cindy1000 ekopsparoayara pweetygiftofGod silvertrinity oroolorun evaristomonarch kaycee9242 raingirl mekonglobal ann2012 emperorblog I hrt you guys big time!




:::::::::::::::


Now before you judge me for my next actions, take a minute and try and understand where I'm coming from....I mean where I'm really coming from;

Two years ago I came within an inch of losing every one who meant more than a shoelace to me. It was a horrible period to be me and the cause of it all was Chief Amunike. J.

Lives had been lost (Fumi came to mind) and also deaths had been faked (Fome' came to mind) the root cause of it all was chief Amunike. J

Not to talk of the countless families that had been scattered or destroyed over the past decades all thanks to one chief Amunike J.

But finally lady justice had the last laugh and the very bad chief Amunike had been put away, to pay for the many atrocities he had commited.

Everything was alright with the world again.

I moved on, started a family.

Now my wife was in the hospital.

My child had been taken.

And whose name should pop up but the same chief Amunike J.

The same chief that was suffering in the maximum security prison, struggling everyday not to 'drop the soap'?

Now here he was, this evil man living like a king. In his robe that was probably 100% cotton, devouring the kind of fish that my family of 5 ate on rare occasions with our meal during my childhood and here I was, I hadn't even eaten anything since the roadside beans and bread Andy and I had the previous morning on our way to exhume the body.

Suddenly it was too much to take in and I snapped. I grabbed the tray of fish from the table and flung it across the room and I gripped the chief by his robe and pulled him roughly to his feet.

I noticed with disgust that the once slender chief was now quite heavy in the middle. The man was getting fat in prison!

"Rex, snap out of it! what's come over you?" he cried out in suprise as I forced him against the wall.

The warden protested and from the corner of my eye I saw Bami raise his hand prepared to hold him off.

"I want my daughter back....where are you holding her?!" I barked

He looked suprised and was speechless so I repeated my question and tightened my grip.

"hey you can't do that!" the warden said

The chief stammered "your daughter....Rex I didn't even know you had a daughter"

He seemed sincere but I did't believe the deceitful old fox.

"how long have you known Fome was alive?" I shouted

His eyes widened "Fome is alive?"

I sighed in frustration and fought down the urge to slap him. "don't play games with me"

"okay that's enough!" the warden decided and started forward but Bami held up his hand in a 'halt' gesture and placed his other hand on his hip just very close to his unholstered weapon. That stopped the man in his tracks.

"No maybe you shouldn't play games with me" the chief said and his eyes hardened "you come to my place, reject my hospitality, assault me then accuse me of playing games? does this look like a game I'm enjoying?" he asked angrily.

"Why did you order the hit on Fome two years ago" I asked him

The question came out of nowhere and he was disoriented for some seconds. "w-what?"

"that's it I'm radioing for back up, this is unlawful" the chief warden said and unhooked his walkie talkie from his belt.

The chief shook his head as if to clear it. "Maxwell don't worry, that wouldn't be necessary" he shrugged my hands away then strolled to a drawer beside the bed. He removed a packet of menthol cigarettes and a gold lighter. "A new habit of mine...." he said as he lit the stick. He blew the smoke in Bami's direction before facing me. "Rex i thought we agreed to let sleeping dogs lie"

"There was no such agreement and no sleeping dogs for that matter" I replied with clenched teeth.

"ooooh.....but its in the past my boy, its all in the past"

"No its not....Fome is still alive and she has my daughter and I'm sure its only a matter of time before she comes after you herself"

"frankly I don't care if she's alive or dead, I'm sorry she has your daughter, and as for her coming after me...." he smiled confidently "i'd like to see her try"

And he was right....wether we liked it or not he had built some kind of fortress for himself in prison. There was no way we could give him the same treatment we had given the hotel manager earlier. We'd just end up being the ones dangling from the balcony.


"Look chief, please your'e a parent....I know how much you love your daughter...try to imagine how I'm feeling...how would you feel if you lost her." I said pleadingly

He laughed "you mean the same Ada my daughter whom you put in grave danger?"

I scratched my head remembering how close she had been to joining the unfortunate people six feet under whose only crime had been knowing me.

"you're just so full of double standards aren't you.." he smiled and settled in his chair and took a long drink from his juice.

"what was Fome and Mona after the night you came?" I asked again although i was getting frustrated with the lack of control I had over the situation.

"face it Rex...the world may see you as the people's defender...as the defender of the universe" he said mockingly "but you and I both know who you really are....a misguided soul whose heart is as dark as mine...even darker"

"what are you even saying for God's sake?!"

"I'm saying you're a murderous sociopath hiding behind the flag of goodwill to carry out your fantasies"

"would you answer the question....all these comfort that is deceiving you can be taken away in the blink of an eye...and I can make that happen" Bami said with chagrin.

The chief held my gaze before he turned slowly to Bami. "you know I seriously doubt that"

"Look here you cocky bastard" I kicked the half eaten fish on the floor in his direction Leaving a trail of fish bits all over the floor. "you're right about one thing....I'm feeling very murderous right now and i could just act without thinking"

"Now you resort to threats....you see what i say about double standards...one minute you're begging the next you're bragging....forgetting that YOU made yourself my foe....you could have been my right hand man, but you had to get self righteous with me!"

Bami looked at me with intent. He stepped back, not taking his eyes off the warden then locked the door.

I looked around and saw the remote on the bed. I picked it up and increased the television just a little. My intention was clear, and the chief's speaker would frown any sound effectively.

"I'm going to ask you for the last time...what was Fome after that night...and why did you put the hit on her?"

The chief sighed, crossed his legs on his table and blew the poisonous smoke in my direction.
"Don't think I'm telling you what I'm about to tell you because of your theatrics..." he looked at Bami "If Rex is deceived by his rare victory two years ago...you should know better. At least you've seen me in action...I'm not the kind of man you threaten"

He looked at me "my boy...I never knew Fome was aware of what the widows initiative was really about..but apparently she was aware all along same with her sister, your friend's LovePeddler of a wife or wife of a LovePeddler" he laughed merrily.

"Anyway" he resumed when his cackling had died down "when your greedy self stole the money from me she went beserk and demanded I remove you from my carefully spun web of strategies that would have made you a very rich man by the way. And when I refused, she threatened to expose the widows initiative" he took another long pull from his drink " And like I said earlier...I don't respond well to threats"

He slammed the half empty juice box on the table and belched loudly. "there you have it....you know the rest"

"So what did they want that night?" Bami asked.

The chief rolled his eyes at Bami and crushed the cigarrete which had been smoked to the filter in the ash tray.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? try and keep up okay....she managed to turn the hit I put on her around and she came for the money...she had been a poor church rat most of her life so the idea of 250 million was just too great...."

"What else where they after? you're hiding something chief....what were you trying to protect that night?"

"I was trying to protect my daughter!"

I rubbed my tired eyes slowly. "chief something else was going on...they were not just after money, please tell me anything you know...please"

The chief warden cleared his throat "ehem...i believe that's enough for now"

"you stay out of it...you're already in enough trouble for running this place like a hotel" I snapped at him.

I focused on the chief whose focus was now on the news cnn was currently breaking on the Tv.

"okay, why did you give the contract to an outsider when you had the effective sunset shadows under your employ?" I asked him

he didn't look away from the television but I saw the disgust run over his features and he couldn't keep it out of his voice when he replied. "I gave the job to the top shadow himself, but I don't know how she did it but she seduced the idiot and he abandoned his duties and even helped her evade capture so many times from the ever incompetent agent Bami" he said with biting sarcasm.
"that was why you were able to take out the most elite and effective strike team this country has ever seen....they were without a leader and tasked with the successful...err...emigration of our widow friends" he said indignantly.


"There was something else in the house that night....something you wanted safe at all cost, something i'm guessing fome wanted to have" I said

"There you go spinning tales again as if you didn't know I had coke worth millions in the house" he shook his head "stop searching for what isn't there, it can't be found"

"are you aware their father...the man you murdered years ago survived and was bent on having revenge on your family?"

His eyes widened and for the first time he didn't seem so comfortable "but you stopped him, saved everyone that attended my crowning as the man of the year for my efforts and philantropy." he smiled, remembering the irony of the award "I must admit I'm upset he couldn't even take the time to visit an old friend in prison"

I rubbed my head as the pounding ache resumed. This man was impossible and it was already past 7am....we were wasting time without getting anything done.

"Chief I believe your children are in danger...mortal danger...you'd be helping them by telling me what I need to know"

He scoffed "please, unlike you I know how to protect my family"

"there's only so much you can do from a prison far away" Bami said irritatedly. He seemed really pissed off with the chief and his voice didn't hide it.

"It matters not...all I need is to make a call" he made a telephone gesture with his thumb and last finger. "ring ring, hello two men are in my place...they interrupted my breakfast and are getting on my nerves...take care of them when they leave the prison" he put his imaginary phone in his pocket and smiled "Just like that and you're gone....all for throwing my fish on the floor"

I was dumbfounded. I hadn't expected to meet the chief in such comfort still with his connections and still very much in charge more or less. I turned and glared at the chief warden who was shuffling his feet restlessly.

"can't you hear this?!" I shouted "Its just like he was never locked up..your actions put him back in power and lives are in danger because of you"

"Oh calm your tits my boy...no one is in danger, I'm just serving my hundred year jail term in peace and quiet, thats all" the chief replied

"with or without your help, I'd find out what I need to know" I narrowed my eyes. "And don't call me your boy"



::::::::::::::::::::


Tonye was earlier than early. She had showered in the office then rushed home for a change of clothes and headed straight to the rendevouz point.

Now she was there, sitted in a lone booth watching the door intently. her stomach growled in hunger and she decided she might as well have breakfast so she ordered a pizza - large (for his sake) and garlic bread.

She glanced round as she waited for her order. She spent the time glancing repeatedly at her wrist watch and watching the entrance. The pizza arrived and she nibbled on the garlic bread, enjoying the way the cheese melted in her mouth.

Finally she saw Bigelow enter the eatery and she checked the time. It was barely ten minutes past 8 and she had been waiting for over 30 minutes. His eyes scanned the faces slowly until they settled on her. He was a light skinned middle aged man with a full head of hair and a shaved jaw.

He made his way to the table and without a word worked open the box of pizza and took a slice. Only after he had swallowed the first bite did he look at her. "Tonye....what do I owe this pleasure...you know you have no right to contact us again, you're not one of us anymore" he said in a low voice that could only be heard by Tonye although the nearest tables were unoccupied.

" please spare me the sermon Big" she said "I need a favour"

He took another bite "I was afraid of that" he said softly "tell me, what is it?"

"I need you to find out who was responsible for the nation wide A.P.B on Fome about two years ago and put her in the most wanted."

She took a slice although her half eaten garlic bread remained in the box as Bigelow stumbled about for a word to say.

Finally he said. "That's a serious offence you want me to commit...and frankly, its way above my pay grade....yours too"

"I don't have a choice....my husband is in danger my friend also-"

"That reminds me...I heard you got married"

"Yes.....to agent Bami"

"Woa...the senior agent?" Bigelow asked downing his fifth or sixth piece.

"Yes"

"You know I owe that man my life....he saved me once during the suicide bomber fiasco five years ago....I never had the chance to pay him back...." his voice trailed off as he remembered the event he spoke about.

"Until now" Tonye said

"Hun?"

"Now you have the chance to save his life"

"Oh....and I'd do that gladly Tonye but-"

"Ah ah ah.....no buts...you owe me big, and now you owe Bami too...you don't have a choice you need to help us"

Actually he had a choice. He could stand up and leave but she was counting on the fact that he was fiercely loyal and her gamble paid of because Bigelow sighed "shit! I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass."


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She hummed as she stood over the camp gas, making sure the flame was on low heat so as not to burn the french toast she was making.

She had checked all available flights to jos and she had an idea what time to expect Rex.
She was going to make sure he hit the ground running.

emperorblog helenbee cindy1000 oroolorun ekopsparoayara Godwinfury ann2012 preshb mitchelljnr itsandi silvertrinity eberechi24 queenitee alarmednigerian pweetygiftofGod paafin ladidacanon joislim dview001 chisiudeh iamloyalty rapfrick bimberry1307. I appreciate your comments big time



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I was considering the odds in succesfully cheating my body off sleep when my phone rang.

The ringtone jerked Bami awake and he sat up blinking sleepily "who, what, where,.......Rex...."

I smiled as I studied the number. It was an unknown number and I couldn't help wondering if it was Fome.

I sobered up immediately "hello"

"Rex....everything its a disaster, never do anything like this again you hear me?!"

"Woa....calm down doctor Rasheed....whats happ-"

"It's doctor Rilwan to you and never leave any of your agents in my office again....in fact you are not welcome here! I'll need my keys now"

"What happened doctor?"

"To start with, I'm locked inside my office... Andy is out cold in the lab...he had the shit kicked out of him by my shy and meek Christina and the lab is in a terrible mess!!!"

I had to pull the phone inches from my ear as he shouted. His voice still filled the car like the loudspeaker was on. I imagined the river l shaped vein that ran from his forehead to his temple popping out and threatening to implode as it did whenever he was upset.

"Are you serious! Andy is unconscious?" I couldn't believe it.

"No, no I'm joking...we're playing hide and seek!!" He retorted

"Just keep calm doc, we're on our way"



"What happened to Andy?" Bami asked as I made a U-turn.

"He got in a fight with the student doctor and he's knocked out"

"Really....that slim girl....she beat him?" Bami said in amazed wonder "interesting"

"Yeah...apparently she was just like Mona" I remembered his fight with her and how it had ended. Infact I had live ammo for making fun at both their expense.

"You know what....its not so interesting after all" Bami said.


"So this Christie girl where does she fit? He asked as we neared the hospital.

"Maybe through Fome or Shadow or maybe she isn't really affiliated with any of them but was recently paid to spy on the doctor but her ability to fight says otherwise."

"Hmmmm........another thing, this doctor Rasheed guy was he aware that it was the wrong body he buried or what?" Bami asked

"I don't know..I had the impression he thinks she's really dead, anyway we'll find out everything we need....just like we did with that Sylvanus guy"

"But the doctor is a friend...an ally" Bami said.

"Bami......my wife has been hospitalized, my daughter is missing....at ths point everyone is hostile"



::::::::::::::::::::::


Olivia

She was drifting through the stars...she felt so weightless yet she could see the surgeons with nosemasks and head covers as they hovered around her like satellites and space ships.

It was like watching them through a giant Tv screen with the highest definition. She tried to raise her hand to the screen but she couldn't. She couldn't even feel her arms not to talk of raise them.

Damn the sweet Morphine, she hated the way it made her feel. But she loved to feel like this.




:::::::::::::::::


Tonye lay fast asleep in the camp bed she left in her office and seldom used. She tossed about roughly as she obviously dreamt of something disturbing.
She mumbled in her sleep then turned her head left and right with her lips glued together like she was being forced to take a spoon of medicine.

She cried out suddenly "Oh Emma....." then lay still and stopped thrashing.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.



:::::::::::::::::::

The diagnostic center was empty and quiet. The heavy set nurse who had been in the reception and given me directions two days ago was nowhere to be found. The Tv on the wall was still on although it was muted. The only audience however were fast asleep. An elderly woman in a cleaner's overall and a middle aged man. Both lay sprawled on the bench.

I walked down the corridor hurriedly with Bami just ahead of me. He still had his gun out and this time I didn't mind.

The door to the lab was slightly ajar and he burst into the lab sweeping every angle with his gun then he holstered his gun. "Clear" he called out to me.


Andy was sitting on the floor looking dazed. He had his right hand pressed against the side of his head and a thin trail of blood tickled through his fingers.

"My God Andy..." I hurried to his side and knelt down. "Bami he's bleeding....we'll need the first aid kit in the car"

Bami had been trying the door to the inner office to no avail and for the second time in less than three hours, he kicked in the door. Doctor Rasheed rushed out immediately. He cried out in dismay as he studied the damage that had been done to his lab.
"Oh my God....who is going to pay for all these? Oh no....this is Government property....Oh, I'm finished...."

"Doctor over here...I think Andy has a concussion" I called out. But he just stood rooted to the spot looking round his precious lab which looked like a bomb had gone off inside.

I tossed Bami the car key and he hurried out to get the first aid kit from the truck while I shook Andy who stared into space unblinking. "Andy, Andy can you hear me....?" I glanced helplessly at the doctor "doctor you have to do something...he's bleeding"

But doctor Rasheed had a concussion of his own. He looked round the lab feeling defeated. "This is a nightmare" he muttered.

"Doctor, I promise you... BROTA would take responsibility for any damage and would replace them...you have my word"

That seemed to break the spell and he blinked. He looked at me finally as his eyes refocussed. "You'd do that?"
"You have my word doctor...now I need you to have a look at Andy"


The doctor shone his pen light into Andy's dilapidated eyes, down his throat, then listened to his heartbeat with a stethoscope.
"His knuckles are scraped and bloody, so atleast he dished out some" He observed solemnly

He poked Andy in the ribs and my static friend jerked back and cried out in pain. He blinked then glanced at me without any hint of recognition.

"One broken rib...maybe two, a black eye and a split lip" Dr. Rasheed continued.

Finally he removed Andy's hand gently and studied the head wound.

"Hmmm....let's see, blunt force trauma to the head...by an object with a rough surface which split open the epidermis on impact....skull still intact and brain should be unaffected...."

Bami burst into the room with the box in his hand. "I got antiseptic and bandages" he announced.

"Good, good....but first i need to run some tests, get the full diagnosis, you know right now he has delayed diagnosis"

"Would you please stop saying that?" I said exasperatedly. The phrase was all that I heard recently and I was sick of it.

"I have to run a complete test first...that's how I work" the doctor said then he sighed as if just remembering his lab was a mess. "Its not like i can even run any tests right now"

"let me stop the head wound then prepare some painkillers" He took the kit from Bami and began rummaging through the items.

"you saw the fight?" Bami asked

"yea...most of it.....I tell you I still can't believe little Christie took down someone as tall as Andy."

"she's obviously a pro" Bami said.

"did you see what she used to hit him on the head?" I asked.

He shook his head as he began dabbing gently around the wound with a cotton wool soaked in antiseptic. "no...most of the time the fight moved out of my view...the lab is quite big as you can see"

Andy made a sound in his throat as the cotton wool mopped up the blood.

"no need to fear...Andy's fine...once I tend to his injuries, i'd sedate him and he should be okay when he wakes" he told me as my brow creased with worry.
I nodded then stood up. a quick glance at my wrist told me the time was 03:57am

"doctor...please look after him, I have to get to kirikiri prison right away..."

"don't worry he's in safe hands....my assistant will.....errm i'll send you the bill for the damages later today"

"okay no problem.." i looked at Bami "hope you don't mind looking after Andy"

"i do mind...i'm not letting you go see the chief alone and besides Andy is safe here....what needs to be done is being done, nothing else to do"

I didn't bother to argue "okay but call Tonye to send someone here at the crack of dawn"
"roger" he offered me the car key as we left the lab but i shook my head "no you drive....i think i'll doze a little"


:::::::::::::::::::


The kirikiri maximum prison has an official capacity for 1,056 persons. However the number of souls crammed into the prison has always been tripple the number. And the most recent study showed it was home to approximately 5,000 prisoners, of which over half of the inmates were still awaiting trial.

The first and last time I had been there to see the chief, he had been in a terrible state, had lost weight and had a terrible cough. He was bitter then and had to be physically restrained by two wardens as he tried to attack me.
"This isn't over...this isn't over..it's not over!" He had shouted as he was led back to his cell

"Actually, I think it is" I had replied arrogantly.

But here I was going back...after over a year and I wondered the pitiful state I would find him.

"We should be in the prison by 6" Bami announced interrupting my thoughts.

I sat up straight, glancing at the dashboard. "that's fifteen minutes away"

"Yup....men I need a cup of coffee so bad"

"me too" I removed the paper the hotel manager had given us. The sky was not bright enough to read yet and I couldn't make out the words. I switched on the inner light and squinted at the pages.

"he has a nice writing....okay. he has her name here...it says Monique Jessar-ravvani"

Bami glanced at me "what kind of name is that?"

I shook my head "My brother the matter weak me"
I scanned the rest of the documents. "implants!" I said suddenly

"im- what?"

"breast implants....she also had breast enlargement done....no wonder the clerk made that bigger than the sun joke"

"hmmm....when was this done?"

"Let me see.....its all a bunch of mumbo jumbo....okay the surgery date was set for..." I turned the paper to read what was written on the other side. "November 3rd...2016"
"about 16 months ago..." Bami said
"And about two months after the fire" I added.

I scanned the rest of the contents.

"The forward address to the plastic surgeon's clinic is here....its in Abuja"

"I'll have Clyde or Buzz check it out. Since they're in Jos already its more easier"

"You better leave them where they are...my family needs protection" I said.

I balled the paper and lowered my window but on second thought I put the paper in the cup holder.

"Everything points to Fome, apart from the name of course which was a terrible alias, but I guess the fact that no one could recognize her beneath the 2nd and 3rd degree burns was security enough" I said.

"This keeps getting stranger and stranger.." Bami muttered. "At least we made it in good time"

True enough the Prison high fence had come into view and I could see the heavy gate up ahead. The time was 06:01am.



::::::::::::::::::


Tonye had been up since 4am, less than four hours sleep was an indulgence in these circumstances. Not when her best friend was fighting for her life and her god daughter was kidnapped. And the worst thing was, she had a bad dream....a very bad dream but she couldn't remember it....just hazy flashes that disappeared before she could even grasp it. But it left her with a dreadful feeling.


And then there was her husband, and Rex...planning to go charging into a secure location, asking questions. There was every possibility that such a scenerio wouldn't end well.

An hour of pacing back and forth made up her mind for her. She used her special key to open the last drawer in her table then flipped through a small notebook. When she saw what she was looking for, she brought out her phone and copied a number from the jotter and dialed.

She tapped her foot restlessly as the phone rang.
After what seemed like eternity a gruff voice came over the line "What is it?"

"Bigelow....this is your service provider. Please visit our nearest branch by 8 o'clock to partake in the customer feedback service and stand a chance to win a generator, Ps4 and lots of other prizes......its very important." And she cut the call. The line wasn't secure, the truth was no line was secure so during her days in the state service, The code had been used to arrange meetings between agents on high risk mission to avoid detection. The 'nearest branch' was always a location that had been prearranged between the agents. Maybe a restaurant or bus park, in some cases cinemas. Basically any place that was suitable for the free flow of information exchange.

In Tonye's case, she and her former partner Bigelow had handpicked a pizza hut for their meetings. mainly cause Bigelow was a foodie and loved pizza.

She wondered if he would show up. He did owe her after all, she had once saved his life and he had been extremely grateful. she hoped he would be grateful enough to show up now that she needed a favour.




:::::::::::::::::

Bami and I moved about restlessly in the waiting area while one of the wardens had gone to retrieve the inmate. That was the word he had used 'retrieve'

The second one stayed with us and after continually insisting we have a seat, he gave up and focused on a sports newspaper that had been well thumbed the pages looked weak.

"what's taking them so long....its been almost thirty minutes!" Bami protested

"he'll be here, there's a lot of time wasting procedure to go through...for every cell block gate he passes, he'd have to fill a form and the inmate has to Sign also." The warden explained folding his newspaper.
We continued pacing, glancing at the door and our wrist anxiously.

The warden returned by 06:44am followed by an older man in a suit. He wasn't the chief.

"What took you so long? And where is the prisoner?" I asked the uniformed warden.

The older man interrupted us. "My name is Francis Otello, I'm the chief warden of this prison" he thrust his hand in our face and we each shook him. "I understand you're looking for the inmate Amunike...?" He glanced from me to Bami..
"Yes...where is he?"

He has been informed you're around and has agreed to see you....if you'll just follow me."

The chief warden spun on his heels and Bami and I followed him.

"So are there any prisoners on death row?" Bami asked

"Of course......a lot of them, some of them awaiting appeal...which is just a method to buy a little time. In my opinion"

We followed the chief warden aka Francis Otello through a series of unending bending corridors, which led to a court yard. The equipment were suprisingly in good shape, not how i remembered it from the last time I had been there.

The floor had been painted with yellow arcs and lines, and the board, rim and net were brand new......... The lawn tennis net had also been changed and the court outlined boldly once again.

"woa....the government tried....this place was horiblbe before" I said to no one in particular as i looked around

"you're right it was an eyesore" The warden replied with a good natured laugh. he led us to a door then slid his key card into the lock. The red light blinked green and he opened the door.

"These is the prison proper"
He led us past cell blocks stopping every now and then to slide his key card into the lock.

"Why is everywhere so quiet?" I asked as I remembered the level of noise during my previous visit.

"Oh...They'd still be sleeping by now...our inmates are much different now...they cohabitate in peace and we haven't even had a fight for months"

"woa...that's impressive...what did you do?"

"me....nothing much"

We passed through some intricate corridors, and I saw some places that had definitely not been there the day before. There was the 'Gym' for instance fully equipped when not so long ago a couple of dried cement in 5 litre buckets out in the yard had been all the Gym comprised of.

Most interesting of all was the kitchen and the aroma of fried akara coming from the open window.

I shook my head in disbelief "just how much did the Government spend on all these renovations?"

"oh...it wasn't the Government....the very man you seek is behind everything

"Amunike?" Bami was shocked.

"yes, for the first time there is more than enough food in here...believe me, the inmates don't want to leave. One of them who was released sometime ago came back barely a week later on his own accord." the warden said.

He led us to the peculiar door once more and after his key card had gotten us across, we walked down a narrow passage. There were cells on either side, all of them occupied there were empty styrofoam plates filled with bones and left over rice and even empty beer cans in a corner of the cell. The warden stopped at the last door and opened the gate.

Bami and i entered slowly, our mouth hanging open as we studied the cell. It was tiled with marbles,

A flower patterned blue wall paper ran across the wall and a comfortable looking bed lay in a corner along with a table and which had a computer with internet access on it. There was a 40 inch plasma Tv with a dstv decoder, CNN was on and Larry King was interviewing some kind of diplomat

There was a standing split unit. blasting cold air and chilling the room. There was also a table top fridge in the corner. But the clincher was the batthub in the center of the cell. On second inspection i noticed it was not a bathtub but a jaccuzzi. I wondered how he had been able to set this up in a maximum prison but I guess with money one could do almost anything in this Nigeria.

There was a big tray of a full roasted fish lined with tomatoes, onions, cucumber and a carton of fruit juice on a small table before the chief who was about to dig in.

He looked up with a frown to see the intruders but he smilled in suprise when he saw me and bami.

"Ah Rex....i thought you'd forgotten all about your old man...how's life treating you, please do join me for breakfast...this fish was out of the grill barely ten minutes ago...its really exquisite! you remember Ndidi don't you...well she's simply the best..just the best!" he said all these with a sly smile on his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. But i didn't care for his mind games just yet so i said firmly "you're not my old man....just another old man and we'll be asking the questions here"

He sighed then dropped the Bleep and knife he had been holding. he attacked the fish with his hands and the aroma played with our noses.

PWEETYWIZZY:
souloho where v u been, wen wil u write anoda story

i guess you didn't get the mention...here is the link to the recent story: https://www.nairaland.com/4378813/hole-wall
gracias, hope you enjoy

Bleeze2:
Souloho19, you are one of the best brains i av seen in a while
And bro u av forgotten i am one of ur big fans, u dnt even mention my name when u started this, if not tgat it qas in d front page i wouldn't av known
Kudos bro

Forgive the omission bro, its great to have you here man welcome

hazardman Godwinfury quenitee eberechi24 vickyluvspices paafin Preshbann2012 kpakogin yemike donkelz joshnes kaycee9242 charminee donkelz ekopsparoAyara bleeze2 oroolorun silvertrinity helenbee buffinjay dimssy Jah bless




:::::::::::::::::::::



Every inch of the house had been swept with a magnifying glass but the duo of Clyde and Buzz didn't find any fresh evidence. Apart from the note that had been taped to the fridge, the sign of struggle, the blood and the family that was still sound asleep, not to mention the woman fighting for her life in the hospital And the baby that was missing. They only found what the attacker wanted them to find.

"Buzz....Bami just messaged me, we're to split up....keep an eye on Olivia at the hospital and look after the family here...Rex would be here in the morning."
"I'd head on to the hospital then" Buzz said.
"Yeah....you should take the car"
"How did something like this happen and we didn't hear a thing?" Buzz said confused.
"Heck, I was asleep, I should be asking you!"
"Well whoever it was knows what he's doing"
"For sure....but we'll catch him" Clyde said confidently.


b]:::::::::::::::::::[/b]

Tonye paced up and down her office pondering what Bami had told her. He and Rex were going to the 'office'. To see the counselor.

That was foolishness, and she had said as much to Bami. They couldn't just stroll there and expect the secret service to just answer whatever question they had. Especially when the question was to identify the high ranking official who had given the order to blacklist Fome as a threat to National Security.
They were taking it too far, letting emotions cloud their judgement. One didn't just wake up and go after the department of state service.

But her husband had just laughed and said "don't worry honey we haven't even slept"
She didn't have any reply because the only thing she could think of was that he had called her honey.

But now she was worried and as she paced around the office she decided to call Andy.

He picked the call before it could even ring.
"Hello"
"Andy! What did you mean when you said you knew what happened?"
"Errrm....I can't really talk now, let's just say there was a slight mix up at this end, but I'm on top of it..........look I'd call you back"
"Wait....Bami and Rex might need our help in the morning, be ready"
"No problem....we got each other's backs that's the motto right?"
He ended the call in a hurry and Tonye frowned as she wondered what was going on in the doctor's lab.


::::::::::::


Doctor Rasheed had decided to spend the night catching up on his paperwork much to his annoyance, but he just couldn't work well with Andy in the lab, interrupting and talking and the young man couldn't take a hint to leave or a straightforward request to get the hell out for that matter. He sighed, shaking his big head slowly. His ears perked up when he heard a thump from the lab outside. He sighed in frustration then went to the window and parted the blinds.

Andy and his student Christie were having some kind of face off. Christie seemed too want to leave the lab but Andy blocked her path.
"What in God's name are these kids up to now" Dr Rasheed sighed. "Hey, you two...whatever you want to do take it outside, there are equipments worth millions here"
Even as he said it his mild mannered Christie shoved Andy back roughly. He hit the door but bounced back and she pushed him to the side. He hit one end of the table and a test tube smashed on the ground. "No no no no no no no....." Dr Rasheed cried in dismay then rushed out of his small office.
Or that was his intention, instead he jerked the door but it didn't open, he pulled and pulled but it was locked. He was locked in. He glanced round the room suddenly feeling a drowning sensation. His keys were nowhere to be found.



:::::::::::::

When they were alone, Andy didn't look at her, his eyes were fixed on the poster of the human anatomy. The tension in the room was so heavy that one could actually breathe it in. Finally Andy looked at her "so are you going to tell me the truth or you're waiting for me to ask you?"

She paused. She had been writing or transferring notes she jotted down into a much bigger book. She looked at him "What do you mean?"
"Oh...you prefer me to ask you then, I'm very much obliged! Where is the DNA you switched and what was your purpose, and who are you working for?!"
She stood up swiftly. "I don't know what has come over you but I have to go" she closed her books, put them in a small bag and put the bag in one of the cupboards.
"I can't let you go until you explain your actions" Andy said softly. He almost sounded apologetic.
She stared at him or glared at him for a full ten seconds then she stomped to the doctor's office. But when she reached the door she stopped and changed her mind.
"Look Bami, i like you, you're nice but I have to go now i'm staying somewhere very far" she turned and began walking slowly.
"Then answer my questions.....why did you switch the DNA and who sent you?"
"What is your proof that I did this thing you say...." her voice had change, her walk had changed, she batted her eyelashes. "It weakens my heart that you would think so" she put her halm on her chest and Andy's eyes followed the movement. Her shirt had two....nope three buttons popped open and the curve of cleavage was wonderful and inviting.
It took a lot of will power to maintain eye contact especially since the law of gravity seemed to be affecting his eyes.
"Christie cut the crap okay, I know you lied i want to know why"
She kept her voice husky, so intent on seducing him she moved closer and ran her index finger round his jaw line. "And what if I don't tell you?"

"Then you're not going anywhere surely...." Andy said firmly. He shook his head. A stupid part of him wanted to be seduced so bad, even if it was just a ruse, a set up.

She shook her head "i can't do that..."
before she could react he had twisted her arm and forced her to her knees then on the floor. he sat astride her while he struggled to unhook his handcuffs. He decided his pocket was too heavy and removed his phone which took up all the space. why did they make the screens on these phones so big anyway?

The phone rang in reply and he picked immediately.
"Hello"
".........." It was Tonye, asking him about something he had said earlier.
"Errrm....I can't really talk now, let's just say there was a slight mix up at this end, but I'm on top of it..........look I'd call you back" and he was literally 'ontop'
"..........No problem....we got each other's backs that's the motto right?"
He cut the call hurriedly then forced it to his back pocket.

"Okay okay....my hand hurts...I'll tell you whatever you need to know" Christie cried out.
"I'm listening"
"Andy let me up and we'd talk, I have feelings for you and i'm in pain here"
He stood up grudgingly and offered to help her to her feet.
"Oh Andy...." she pushed him back suddenly and he hit the door with enough force to sting his back muscles. But he regained his balance and folded his arms, an unconscious art of self defence. It was better to have both hands closer wasn't it?

"Look I don't want to fight you okay, lets be civilized" he said reasonably
"civilized you say, then let me go in a civilized manner..."
His eyes hardened "I said I can't do that...have you ever heard the saying; the truth will set you free? This is a situation it applies"
She shoved him roughly again and as he bounced back she pushed him to the side and out of the way at the same time Dr Rasheed yelled "Hey, you two...whatever you want to do take it outside, there are equipments worth millions here"
Immediately a glass tube fell and broke into a million pieces.

Christie's hand was almost at the door when Andy grabbed her and pulled her back. She turned and threw a punch which he blocked easily. He had been afraid she'd turn out to be a ninjah or something but as he watched her take a stance that left her face vulnerable he guessed she was definitely not a fighter.
He could hear Dr Rasheed pounding his door shouting to be let out.

"running is a bad idea....i might not take it easy on you next-" she cut the words of with a powerful kick to the groin. lucky for him his hands had been in his pocket, trying to control the errrr....excitement.
So it was his hand that took the majority of what was definitely a ball buster. he howled in exaggerated pain and let his knees buckle.
"Lesson one make your enemy underestimate you but never underestimate your enemy, lesson two: when I ask you to let me go, you stay the Bleep out of my way!" she turned to leave, targetting a glorius exit but Andy rammed into her from behind before she could reach for the door handle. She bounced of the wall, her bones vibrating from the force and they were at each other.
The chemistry they both shared moments earlier had now become inorganic. But one thing was right, Andy mused as he leaned back, dodging a well placed right hook, she was a fighter, sharp on her feet with quick hands.

He threw a combination punch and she dodged, parried but the third sent her staggering into the table. Something else fell and broke.
Dr Rasheed yelled from his office "Aaaaaaaaaaargh!"


:::::::::::::::::::::

I killed the lights and Bami and I hopped down from the truck. As we made our way towards the entrance, the security guard dozing in his chair didn't so much as bat an eyelid. Not even when we passed him and the door creaked when we entered.
"Why won't the shadow have fun with them, their security is totally none existent" Bami complained "This place is just a picnic to him."
The clerk was at his desk as usual, doing what he did best- sleeping.
"No need waking him...last floor is where he stays...." I reminded Bami
"How do you know....you've been here before?" he asked
"Oh....." I remembered Bami hadn't been around during our trip to the 'living quaters' as the man had called it. "yea the day of the murder....is that really necessary" i said when he pulled out his gun and began to ascend the stairs slowly.
"Of course its necessary if you've been here before, I wouldn't mind you telling me"
"I was talking about that...the gun, is it really necessary?"
His smile was full of mischief "Yea i knew what you meant..."
I gave him directions while he went ahead 'clearing' the way.

When we got to the fifth and last floor finally and the manager's living quaters I was convinced the hotel had taken a huge hit in business since the murder. No one wanted to pay money to stay where someone had been killed.
The door was locked from inside when I tried the handle. I looked at Bami and nodded. Two powerful kicks from him and the door swung open. I hit the switch and the overhead flourescent came on washing the room with white light. Mr. Sylvanus was scrambling across the bed with his eyes half closed. "You again....I'll sue you! the both of you, i'll sue you for illegal entry...breaking and entry.....tresspassing." it seems he was back in lawyer mode
"You're saying the same thing in different ways...you know one who is his own's lawyer has a fool for a client." I said
"Screw you....let's see how funny you get when I put you on the stand in court"
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and straight into Bami's waiting arms.

"You know what I can't stand? Pompous,, obnoxious egotistic men like you.."
Heey that's defamation of my character!" The manager shouted
"Sue me"
" 'Bami how about we test the balcony....i bet you 5k that this fool's head would split open" I said catching their attention.
"You're on...his head remains intact" Bami said.
"Wait a minute, whose head are you talking about?' The manager said as he tried to relax the grip Bami had on him

"Why yours of course" i said good naturedly "unless you wanna tell us about the money you received from Mr Kehinde" i asked him
"Wh-what money ' HE STAMMERED
"Suite yourself....Bami lets go check out the balcony
We dragged the unwilling manager to the balcony. Bami and I were already sweating. it had been quite a struggle to get the man outside as he literally dug in his heels; and held on to furniture. His room was on the fifth floor and as I stared down into the darkness, I felt the manager shiver beside me.

"You're going down there if you don't tell us what we need to know" I said. "Now for the last time, what is with you and mr Kehinde, the money he transferred into your account was for what?"
"honestly you need to believe me, he only came here to pass the night sometimes and he let the bill pile up so he cleared it once"
"So it piled up to 750k? You must think I'm foolish. Bami lets send this fool down.

The manager bent down so we won't be able to carry him but i swept his legs from underneath him and Bami caught him and placed him horizontal.
"No.....no....please!" He shrieked as Bami and I gripped one of his legs and began to lower him down.
"We're gonna let go now" i called out.
"Oh please no....I don't want to die......mercy!" The tough lawyer was out the window, now and he was terrified, frightened, petrified.
"This is your last chance? What was the money for?"
We lowered him slowly, bearing the strain on our arms but we were extra careful, this was risky business.
"Stop stop stop stop....I'll tell you...."
"Go on" i prompted
"Aren't you gonna let me up?"
Bami sighed and lowered Sylvanus down until we had to stretch over the balcony to
Hold the manager still.
"Okay okay okay.....i'll tell you everything! Kehinde stopped visiting the hotel for a while then he shows up one night and instructs me to oversee something for him...." he sneered "Before my eyes this man puts my account number in ...I don't know how he knew my account number. And before I can say Jack Robinson, there's 750k sitting in my account." He lowered his eyes "At the time the hotel was in debt so it was a big deal."

"So what did he want you to watch for him...do you have it here?" Bami asked.
"No...it was a she not an 'it' a lady had been involved in a nasty accident and I was to arrange for her to meet a plastic surgeon"
"Plastic surgeon hmm.....the injuries from the accident must have been really bad then"
"It was horrible... she tried to cover it with a scarf and dark shades but the burn marks were too visible"

"excuse me...did you say burn marks?" I asked
"yes....the accident was domestic I think gas leak or faulty wiring was the cause."
"When was this?"
"errm...I can't really say unless I check my calender pad inside I have all the information"

Bami and I glanced at each other then nodded. We pulled the manager completely. "So which plastic surgeon did you link her with?" I asked Mr Sylvanus while he gasped for breath and hit his head with his palm repeatedly. His feet were still shaky and not completely under him yet so he leaned on the railing.
"There's a specialist who runs his practice in Abuja, he was the one that performed the surgery"
I looked at Bami. There was irrevocably no doubt that Fome had escaped the fire two years ago. How had she been able to pull it off? Cause i could still hear the loud explosion and see the roof shoot into the air and the fire burn with fury. How did one walk away from such. I imagined the pain she had gone through....the scars on her soul as a result of my brash actions.
"Do you have any picture of her?" I finally said
The manager shook his head "my job was to connect both of them and settle whatever initial debts that will arise...I tried my best to distance myself as far as i could whenever I could...so I have no picture....but i can give you my diary, it contains all the details of the surgery which isn't much so don't get your hopes up...but it has some useful info"
"Okay we'd appreciate that" Bami said and the manager opened the sliding glass and hurried into the room.
"Strange how a near death experience made him very co-operative" I muttered and we watched the manager rush back out, he held two sheets of paper and he handed them to me.

"This is your diary?" Bami asked in bewilderment
"Oh...no....but these are the pages you want. I told you it wasn't much"
"but why tear it...there was no need for that" I said as i studied the paper at least the writing was neat.
"oh comeon....that's my diary.."
we looked at him blankly our expression saying So?
The manager's eyes grew large as though he couldn't believe we had no problem reading someone else's diary.
"I'm not going to give you my diary.....its personal" Mr Sylvanus said firmly.

i caught Bami's eyes and tilted my head, our cue to leave.

"All right sir, thanks for your co-operation" I said and stood up.
"I didn't have any choice did I...not with the both of you dangling me like a piece of carrot from the last floor of a 5 story building. He stared at the wall for some seconds then sighed. "infact i'm going to pen down a complaint and send to your supervisors maybe with the media, so they can see the unconventional methods you use"

Bami and I left the room before he could fully transform to 'Mr. Lawyer' for us.
I started the truck once we were settled in the car.
"So what do you think?"
Bami looked at me "his information was incredible. Its offering a better understanding of the events and now we just have to connect more dots from the chief then We'll have clarity"
"So what do we know so far?" I slowed down at a red light.
"We know Fome is alive, we know she was connected to the last shadow...probably lovers.....its highly possible she killed him after a disagreement"
"We know Fome has my daughter...put my wife in intensive care...we know she's going to contact me in the next 48 hours...what we don't know is which state the operation is running from...is it Lagos, maybe Jos was just a decoy or maybe it was Jos....maybe Fome was so familiar with Jos that she knew where to hide a kidnapped baby?"

We had spent over an hour at the hotel because when i glanced at the dashboard the time was 01:44am.

I did a mental calculation then stepped on the gas....the chief and I had a reunion to attend.



::::::::::::::::

She was suprised that they hadn't called the cops. Although she had warned them not to, still......
She yawned and took a sip from the mug in her hands. The bug was still transmitting clearly and she could hear their voice clearly. Even hear the faint sound of snoring.
She listened to the plan to split up and watch over Olivia in the hospital. When all was silent and only the snoring that no doubt originated from Alli no joy. She removed her head set then hit some keys on her laptop activating the recording that would kick in and save any conversation that went on in the house.

She swivelled the chair completely and studied the baby. She was beautiful and her features were so much like her father's. She rubbed her own stomach remembering the secret baby she had been carrying and the pain when she had lost the baby in the fire.

Her eyes grew dark with anger and hatred until her phone rang. The ice cream tune was her alert tone for her special line, not everyone had the number or to be precise...only a select few had the number.

"Yes"
"Just checking in....how is things over there?"
"Under control...any new development?"
"Well...Rex is flying in tomorrow from Lagos"
"Good...be attentive when he arrives so you'll update me on the going ons...infact just try and get them to the house when they want to discuss anything at all"
"Got it"
"One more thing......be careful"

Bibi294:
I am using this medium to plead with everyone who has been following this story...
Due to some circumstances, I'll have to stop posting this story...
I wish the Mod can help close this thread...
Thanks

Bibi r u ok? I lost ur contact wld have reached out...no matter what happens, you can stop posting but don't stop writing

joshnes raingirl phoenixchap paafin mcjesuspikin beetunez44 smhart1 kaycee9242 sussybae helenbee leesah light4life bimberry1307 charminee godwinfury silvertrinity dimssy oroolorun
gracito hazardman evaristomonarch






ANDY AND TONYE
07:00pm
Countdown to kidnpping: 02:32:16


"Its getting dark, that's it i'm calling Bami" Tonye stood up and dug into her pocket for her phone.
"No need to disturb them....why don't we catch a cab to the office instead?"
Andy said.
"yes that would be best" Dr Rasheed chipped in hurriedly. He didn't bother to hide the fact that he wanted them gone.
To think his lab now had four stools and 3 of them were occupied! He needed his space, this was his fotress of solitude, his lab. And no one was allowed here....well unless the person had delayed diagnosis. he smiled cheekily at his humour.

"At least i have to call and tell them." Tonye looked at Andy as if to say 'what's the matter with you?' but Andy was already looking at the young student.
"So we'll drop you off....if you're done here?"
"Oh....no" she glanced up as Dr Rasheed retired to his office. The man was quite antisocial. "most of the heavy work starts at night....that's when they put on the gen that runs over night."
"hmmmmm.....well...." he glanced at Tonye who had her phone glued to her ear. "You know what, we should split up....I'll stay here in case they come and you can head on back"
Tonye didn't say anything but listened to the phone ring. His case was simply what happened when a heterosexual Stays celibate for 24 months then a girl catches his fancy. The floodgates of testosterone would break open and in other words he would be one hörny devil. Pun intended.

Bami didn't pick the call after 3 attempts and she was beginning to agree with Andy cause she was simply sick of the lab.
Her phone vibrated signalling an incoming message. It was from Bami.

Can't pick now , still in the lab. Would call you soon.

For a minute she mused on the straightforwardness of the letter. She and Bami hardly exchanged any endearments...didn't have nicknames or say 'dear, love , sweet, honey, sugar...'
She smiled as she imagined if it were Rex and Olivia. The message would definitely enter 2 pages.

"Bami says they're still in the lab"
she announced
Andy sat up "really? that's how many hours now....its taking too long, does that kid really know what he's doing"
"What kid?" Christie asked
"No kid" Tonye snapped. She had changed her mind, she didn't like the girl after all.
"Andy can i see you outside" she said through clenched teeth.

Once they were outside she turned on her heels "What is the matter with you? you're not watching what you say...divulging information carelessly, its unprofessional, tiresome and very annoying"

Andy looked suprised. "Woa.....woa.....take it easy, you know what, you stay....i'll head on to the office"
"No....there's some work i have to do" she softened her voice. "Andy its okay, but you shouldn't be so attracted to someone to the extent that you give up classified data...there has to be a line."
"I'm not attracted to her" it sounded false in his own ears. "You know what, whatever...." he stomped back into the lab and Tonye shook her head.



Time: 08:06: 44pm
Countdown to abduction: 01:26:16

Tonye

She greeted the guard as she was let through the gates. She wasn't suprised to see lights on in the building. Everyone seemed to be living there now adays....

She climbed the stairs thinking about food. She was hungry although she had quite a large lunch earlier.
She passed her assistant's office, the door was wide open and she poked her head in and saw Kristen sleeping with her head on the table.

She thought of waking her to go home but decided to leave her alone. However she helped her slide the door shut.

She had taken precisely 4 steps when the door opened and her assistant called out. "I've been waiting for you ma, I have something I think you should see." She ducked into her office and came out with a file. This time it was slim- thankfully.

"Kristen what happened to the soft copy sharing I told you about" she took the file from her and leafed through it.
"I did....your mail.....your whats app every social platform i could think of"
"Oh......" Tonye smiled guiltily. "My bad....today was really hectic. Give me a run down of the data"

I tried to retrace the steps of any one of them from the point the report stopped. But there was no such luck, So I contacted Sam and asked him to dig into the accounts-"
"Woa....you contacted Sam? That's a breech....you don't do something like that without consulting me first, in short you don't contact Sam or anyone for that matter, are we clear?" Tonye said.

Kristen nodded, she seemed disoriented for a second and must have lost track of what she had been saying before.

"So, did Short Sam Find anything of interest.?"
Tonye asked
"He found things of interest, first of all Mr. Kehinde has a little over 11 million in his account and he hardly moved around with cash. Most of the charges are done from his atm card or mobile banking. There were a couple of accounts that came up...they'r all detailed in the file...page 4. But there was no red flag until Sam...errr mister Sam dug up one account that received 750 thousand naira from him early last year and another 750 by december"
"woa....who does the account belong to?" Tonye asked she flipped the pages hurriedly.
"One mr silver something...I've forgotten his surname, but its all in there"

Tonye saw the picture and studied the face, it was a passport photograph that had been enlarged and printed. The quality wasn't the best to say the least. Underneath the picture was the name 'Sylvanus ukuriah'
48 years old, brown eyes 85kg, AS, O-.....

"Sylvanus ukuriah....at least we have an ID"
she was impressed, the girl was proving to be an asset indeed.
"yes i already ran it.....he's the manager of serenity suites"
"Serenity suites....why does that sound familiar...."
"That's the name of the hotel the murder occured"
"Woa....so he was on the pay role, that would explain why there was no evidence of the fight the deceased man witnessed from his balcony in your former report"
"yes ma"
"Kristen, this is top notch...excellent work, keep it up"
Kristen beamed "thank you ma"
"you didn't have to stay late waiting for me, you should have left it till tomorrow"
"Its no bother, ehen another thing....the other account however...the one belonging to the female has been dormant for years....it still has the 91,000 since 2011"
"Hmmm...." Tonye mulled it over. "Good job Kristen"
She headed up the stairs to her office. Tomorrow morning she'd be paying the hotel manager a visit.


Time: 9:30:28
Countdown to abduction: In progress


Andy

Dr Rasheed looked up from the microscope his eye had been glued to for the last half hour. "My throat is parched...I'm so thirsty"


"I'd get you water doctor" Christie said helpfully and hurried out of the office as if the thirst was life threatening.

Doctor Rasheed resumed his deep study of one organism or an other, or maybe cells...that field was quite vague to Andy.He hadn't been a science student, what he had been was a banker working customer care.

"So doctor, what about the other guy....Betran?"
Andy asked.

Rasheed looked up exasperatedly:"Andy for the last time I don't talk while working....its too easy to make mistakes during procedure so I don't want any distraction"

"Okay doctor strange" Andy muttered. Rex and Bami were yet to call about the DNA result although they all knew it was going to be a positive match.

After some seconds the doctor sighed out in frustration "Where is the water now...the tuck shop is on this floor, how many hours would it take her to get me water for God's sake."

Actually she had been gone less than two minutes but Andy didn't want to 'distract' the doctor so he kept the information to himself.

Dr Rasheed looked into the microscope again then shook his head and stood up. "I have to get water....let me check my office i think there's half satchet of pure water on my desk."
He entered his office and came out with a full satchet of water.
He closed the door behind him then touched his pockets, "oh no..."
"What is it?" Andy asked
'My keys...I think i locked them in the office"
"Christie says you do that a lot, anyway its no big deal, just get the spare key and you're good to go"

Doctor Rasheed frowned "what spare key?"




:::::::::::::::::::::


I was going to drive myself crazy if I wasn't careful. All these 'what if' scenerios weren't working at all. So i focused on the here and now. First, I had to plan my movement.

I battled with my phone trying to book the flight myself but after a while the network still timed out. It was quater past twelve and I wasn't a fan of disturbing people that were asleep. God knows I'd breathe fire if I were the one.
But this was an emergency. I dialed my assistant's number and was informed it wasn't reachable. I ended the call and tried again and it rang.

"Hello" he said sleepily.
"Sorry to rouse you from your sleep...I need you to book me the earliest flight to Jos"
" yes boss..." his voice was clearer now "anything else?"
"No that's all....send the details to my box, thanks"

Bami was still on the phone. He had stepped outside so our voice wouldn't disturb each other while we were on the phone. I drummed my fingers on the steering and thought of my next move.....the chief. But that could only be determined by the take off time of my flight.

The message from Clyde was already committed to memory and I repeated it. No cops, no friends....prepare for contact, and the note had been signed miss X.

"Okay....keep me posted" Bami entered the car and let out a tired sigh.
"Who was that, Andy?" I asked
"No Tonye....they did some digging and found out huge sums of money were paid into one account, they ID'd the owner and it belongs to the manager of the hotel.
"That bastard...." I started the truck
"Woa...what are you doing?" Bami asked in suprise
"I have little time to spend in Lagos and too many leads, I'm not wasting it"
"But its 12:30" Bami protested
"Exactly, he would be in his living quaters"
"How about the people in the station?"
"What about them? Dagnet is busy, if Terry needs me he'll call."

Bami became agreeable. "Alright then, I never liked the man anyway."


::::::::::::::::::::


Along the way Jumbo called me to tell me he had booked the flight.
"I've sent it to your box...take off is by 10:45"
"Okay thanks..." i ended the call. "I think its going to be a busy morning.
"Roger" Bami agreed.



::::::::::::::::::

Andy was confused.

He sat on the stool at the far side of the wall and watched Christie as she worked.
It turned out Dr. Rasheed had forgotten his key in the lab so when Christie showed up with the bottled water he was in his office as if nothing happened.

So why did she tell him that utter balderdash About there being a spare key. The doctor certainly wasn't aware. And when he checked the shelf she had put the key, it wasn't there.

He studied her with growing suspicion and she glanced at him and smiled. He smiled back.

It was like Mona all of a sudden, the secrecy, the double personality she slipped on and off, one part a loving wife and expectant mom and the other hand, a violent lady with cazy skills in hand to hand combat.
...there had always been something off then.....and this time he could sense it again.

What had she been up to in the doctor's office? he could bet on it that she wasn't meant to be in there and he could find out.
He stood up and stretched "yo...doc amma head inside and catch a quick nap in your office"
"I'm sorry but no one apart from me is allowed in there"
the doctor replied testily.

"But the other day-"
"The other day was an exception, I hadn't seen you guys for over a year and I made a split decision for privacy"

But Andy had heard what he wanted. He glanced at the student who was watching him with unreadable eyes.
It was just his luck. Too bad he always fell for the crazy ones.

Then he thought about the DNA, what if she had somehow altered it......when he went to the toilet and the result had been influenced?

He was thinking of confronting her when his phone rang. Caller ID showed Tonye.

"Andy.....Emma has been kidnapped"


He sat down slowly. "what happened? How come? What of the security detail we attached to her" he lowered his voice. Dr Rasheed didn't pay him any attention still looking through his microscope and scribling observations in a notepad.Christie however hung on to every word....

"Any leads?" Andy asked
"yea a few" Tonye said " first thing first....the result was negative from the other lab... so we need to find out which one of these geniuses bleeped up."

"I think i know what happened. " Andy said
"Really, what is it........Andy?"

But he had already hung up.

He studied the young doctor and she glanced up and smiled at him. But this time he didn't smile back.



:::::::::::::::::::

"This super agent you talked about, what's his story?" I asked Bami as we drew closer to the hotel.

"The chancellor? He's head of the federal crimes unit in Lagos. He's a tough bastard and its almost impossible to get inside the office if they don't let you up"

I frowned "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry you'd understand when we get there"

It was 12:53 and a thought occured to me "would anybody be there?"

"Trust me, if its the same chancellor that I know he's in his office right now compiling reports and memo's." Bami assured me
"Okay....so from the lawyer's office we head to kirikiri." I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

Bami opened the large compartment underneath the dashboard.
He removed a gun and handed it to me

I shook my head "i'm not in the frame of mind to hold a weapon trust me"

"You never know"

"I'll pass Bami"

He put a gun on his belt then returned the gun I rejected but on second thought he took it again and attached it to his ankle holster.

The night was silent, the rain had stopped since but the weather was windy. Bami and I walked up to the entrance, looking at the useless cameras with distaste.

Whatever information the manager had, he would talk. That one was a must .

Bami was still on the phone. He had stepped outside so our voice wouldn

Dedicated to: joshnes paafin hazardman Godwinfury oroolorun horladstar dimssy charminee helenbee yemike light4life raingirl evaristomonarch. Thanks for not ghosting Jah bless y'all. It's not yet 12 so consider this a sunday bonus as requested


:::::::::::::::::::::::

"Rex!.....Rex what is it? What's going on.....Rex, Rex Rex REX......"

That's what Bami had to be saying because his lips were moving but I couldn't hear anything but the buzzing in my head.

Emma was stolen! Kidnapped! My Emma, gone.

Olivia was weeping hysterically over the phone and I noticed her voice was weak and faint.
"Olivia, where is everybody, are you okay? Where are you? How did it happen? Are you hurt?"

She didn't reply but continued wailing. I guess she was hearing her own buzz in her head.


I tried to get a grip on myself. Control was needed now, I didn't know what had happened or how it had happened but it had happened and now I had to deal with it.

"Olivia.....honey, its going to be ok, I'll get her back I promise" and I meant it. "Now just hold on, I'd call someone to come and check on you right now"

"The blood.....so much blood....." She stammered and the line went dead.

In my young life, I've had the misfortune of going through situations when time stopped still, I have stared death in the eye countless times, been plagued by fear and worry, paranoia and regret. But never in my life and I mean never, had I felt the way I felt that minute when the line got disconnected. The worst of my worst fears, fears I didn't know I had was happening. The fear that I had lost it all.
"Olivia.....Olivia....!" I shouted into the phone
phone.

Still no reply.

I snapped myself out of it and glared at Bami.
"Where are the agents we attached to Olivia for security?!"

"Clyde and Buzz? They are still there, although the status dropped from red hot when the shadow was murdered"

"Jesus Christ! This is my fucking family.... if anything happens to my wife or daughter I'd kill you all!" I shouted like a mad man.

"What happened-"

"Tell them to get their asses to my house, Emma has been kidnapped!"

"My God!" Bami gasped but he was already whipping out his phone. "Where are you? What! are you people mad! Get in there immediately the baby has been kidnapped, under your noses...it just happened, find out what's happening and find her!" He yelled into the phone.

Terry rushed out "What's going on?"

No one answered him, infact no one heard him. Bami was still yelling into the phone and I was listening to Olivia's phone ring without reply.

My heart was in my throat. It tasted salty.
Oh, that was the tears flowing from my eyes. I didn't even know I had been crying.

I tried my Mum next, my dad, my sister- nothing! No reply.

My body began to shake.

I punched the wall with so much force, it scrapped my knuckles. I punched it again and again and again until Bami held me.
I broke down. I was a broken man.

"Rex take it easy, we'll find her....Buzz and john are just down the street they're going in now"

"My God your knuckles are bleeding" Terry said.

"Give me your keys" I said to Bami standing straight and pushing him away.
"Where are you going"
"My family needs me and your'e asking where I'm going? Give me the keys!"
He raised his hands "I don't know where it is...you drove here"

He was right, i touched my pocket and sure enough there it was.

"It makes no sense to start driving to Jos by 10 in the night, its a twelve hour journey from here, it would make more sense to fly there early tomorrow."

"Nothing makes sense anymore" I said and hurried out of the lab.



Everything was a blur, The stairs, the hallway, the curious looks cops sent my way. IT Was colourless, it was grey and it didn't matter. There was too many things occupying my grey matter. Next thing I knew I was in the hilux. I managed to start the engine before I rested my head on the steering and cried like a baby.

After a while, Bami appeared. He tapped the glass signalling I unlock the door. I had pinned the central lock.

It took me forever to push the button. I stared straight ahead looking into the darkness while he kept on tapping the glass.

When I finally unlocked the car, Bami didn't enter immediately. He stood staring at me through the window for some minutes before he entered the truck.

He joined me in staring into the darkness without a word. My eyes were closed but beneath My eyelids, a projector displaying a slideshow of my family was running.

Finally he said. "Rex....after you left Clyde called me, they found Olivia...."

I looked at him weakly expecting the worst.

"She lost a lot of blood but she's in the hospital now....the bastard shot her kneecaps men, she went through a hell of a pain" Bami said with his voice coated with emotion.

I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine Olivia going through that kind of pain. Not again. That was wicked, plain wicked.

When I spoke up however, my voice was calm. "And my parents?"

"They're fine....they are all sleeping, it seems they were drugged because they refused to wake up, every one of them"

"Jesus"

"But Clyde said the doctor adviced to let them sleep it off"

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. How had things gotten to this point?

It began to drizzle.
The soft patter on the roof of the car was the only sound as Bami and I wallowed in silence.

Finally I looked at him. "Fome is behind this, she's the mystery woman and she wants revenge"

"Revenge? What exactly did you do...its not like you did anything to her"

"Really? How about causing the death of her sister and whoever the old crooner was to her." It was evident they cared for each other. I frowned at Bami "And you and your trigger happy thugs finished it. You didn't even call for them to surrender you just assasinated them!"

Bami was quiet. "They were both armed" he said weakly.

"And how about releasing the gas that blew her up, that's More than enough reason to hate me."
" I thought we agreed that she fired her gun, besides she didn't die"
he said more weakly.

"Bami," I frowned at him "what do we do?"

"We'll get her back, I promise"

Those were the same words I said to Olivia earlier while she was bleeding and lying in
a pool of her own blood. I shuddered as the image was projected beneath my eyelids.
"How?" I asked again.

"something happened two years ago, like I told you there was enormous pressure from up to catch Fome' she was tagged a threat to National security. I admit I was really blinded by the promotion I was sure to get if I brought her in." He shook his head.
"and when she kept getting away I became a little obsessed. I wasn't inside the house but you were there Rex think back, there might be something important that happened that you didn't notice.

I buried my face in my hands and when my head pushed against the steering and blasted the horn I didn't jump like before instead I shut my eyes and tried to remember the fateful night. Or unfateful night if such a word exists.

"I had buried and suppressed the memory under blankets of shame, regret, self loath, and finally hope when I met Olivia. Now to dig out the memory I had to uncover each blanket.

The hope was now despair, Fear for my wife and daughter, I loathed myself because I was the cause of it, the one who put them in danger.

I regreted my actions that night, from the gas trick to pointing the gun at her later upstairs.

And I was ashamed, ashamed that I couldn't do anything to help but had run like a coward while the chief was chilling in an airconditioned jeep watching the house burn.

Finally I retraced my steps to the moment I had taken control of the gun. When the Chief's son Emenike had delivered a yoko gerri type karate kick on the old crooner's wrists.

I replayed the events from the night that seemed like decades ago.

At the time I had thought it was just about the 250 million, that Fome and the old crooner had linked up to get the money, 250 mil was more than enough to sway an assasin who was contracted 500k. But that was before I found out about the coordinates but the sisters had wanted something, the coordinates? sure but something else? Fome had threatened him asking for 'the documents' if I remember correctly.

Later on after Mona put me on the widows initiative track with her dying breath, I concluded whatever their mission had been that night had been related to to the initiative but what if there'd been something else.

I had been on a wild goose chase then, believing I was being hunted by terrorist groups and a strike team from the isreali intelligence agency also known as mossad.

"Are you getting anything?" Bami asked.

I ignored him and shut my eyes tighter.

I remembered the night clearly, At a point the chief had said 'you know why I've been lowering my voice all along? because this house is bugged'

On reflecting the events later, I dismissed it as a ruse to get me worked up as he scared me with threats about the efficiency of both killing parties, warning me of the danger from both sides. Something like the devil and the blue sea and yours truly had been stuck in the middle.

But what if he had been serious then? what if the house had been bugged? The question is by who?

I opened my eyes and looked at Bami. i couldn't see a thing, my eyes tried to adjust but there was nothing to asjust to.
"Did you bug the chief's house, the operations house?"
"No.....I was close enough to him as his personal body guard...there was no need for that"
"hmmm...." I shut my eyes again.

Another memory popped out from nowhere. The Chief had been dying to find the coordinates which was in Mr X's possession so he didn't have it in the house yet when I mentioned the gas, he was the most vocal. fearing a gunshot not so much for his life but for his daughter and his important documents"

And......one more thing, he had asked his son something about 'red letters'. Told him to secure the red letters. That Had been his immediate reaction when he became aware of the gas.

What else happened? Mona came in and we had a tense stand off till she surrendered her weapon. Then the frag grenades had come sailing through the windows.

I opened my eyes.

Bami had switched the interior light on and he was studying me intently. "Did you recall anything?"

I shrugged "We need to pay the chief a visit....and also we need to trace whoever wanted Fome' dead in the secret service, cause I'm sure even if she was arrested she would have been murdered in her cell...."

"its probably the chief....have you forgotten he had a lot of clout, he probably called in a favour with the director or deputy director or any high ranking agent with sufficient clearance For that matter and it was done....and the agent might not even know the person or have any interest"

"Well it is probable, but.....now that I think of it, the Chief wanted Fome' dead, he hired a killer to do the job he wouldn't have done that if he was expecting a more effective strike from the agency."

"Hmm...." Bami said mulling it over.

"Another thing......" I sighed as I remembered this particular memory. "I buried all these muddy business long ago without thinking of it......riding on the hunt for the widows initiative and basking in the euphoria of success, but it was a foolish thing to do, to avoid the past. remember my mechanic, Sule....what was the connection? you brought him to take my car that night and that was the last time I ever saw him until he was killed in the general hospital"

Bami sighed. "whoever ordered Fome's capture and put her in the most wanted list...is behind this...there was the vague idea that your mechanic knew something about Fome's whereabout although when I interviewed him he swore not to know anything about Fome'"

"We need to climb the agency ladder till we get to this man, We'll start with your handler"
I said in a gloomy voice.

"I know where someone higher than my handler runs an intelligence outfit in this lagos, its a law office to the normal eye but it's actually a unit. The agent in charge was the one who filtered the orders down, he would definitely know the source....although I could be wrong but I don't think he acted out on his own....or has the power to put her in a Nation wide most wanted list"

"Well you need to pay him a visit"

"I did that two days ago but no luck at all, I'm seen as a defector, I'm not welcome at the agency."
"Well you'll have to make them welcome you then"
I persisted.
"Its dangerous"
"then go with Andy...."
"How about you?" he asked
asked worriedly
"my daughter is kidnapped for God's sake! I'm heading to Jos first thing in the morning...she needs me, my wife needs me"
"What of the chief?"
he asked again

I shrugged "it depends on the time of the flight, if I can squeeze in time to see him first fine..if not its up to you to make him talk"
"I'll make him sing" Bami said confidently.

"Put Clyde on the phone...how's Olivia doing? any update? Any clue? Any evidence? my God how can Fome do something like this"

"Well she was a tough one, so many times I thought I had her cornered but she always managed to slip away like a bar of soap. And her sister fought like a freaking ninja" Bami said
I remembered the fight in the restaurant. When Bami had engaged Mona in combat or vice versa. The next time I saw him, his eyes were almost swollen shut.
And I remembered the way Fome had shocked me with a stun gun- both literally and figuratively when she thought I was the gateman, she had been soo...cold.
Fome who previously couldn't hurt a fly, who jumped on the chair if she saw a rat. She had been someone else that night.

"How did she manage to drug everyone? How?"
I asked

Bami had no reply to that.


::::::::::::::::::::



Clyde was exactly 6 foot, he worked out 6 times a week apart from sundays as he was a staunch catholic and never missed morning mass. He had a brown belt in karate and was in good physical condition. He considered himself alert and sharp, yet as he moved round the house he wondered how they hadn't heard a thing when they had been parked in front of the neighbour's house. And they hadn't seen a thing too. Although he had fallen asleep but Buzz had been awake and he would have surely buzzed him if he had noticed anything strange.

"Heey Clyde....I found something" Buzz called out from the kitchen.

"I'm coming" he stared at the woman and three children on the bed fast asleep for some seconds. The boys were restless sleepers- a sign of too much play he thought. They had each hand and leg in a different continent so that their mother lay on her side at the very edge of the bed. It didn't look like a comfortable position but still she slept on.

He found Buzz in the kitchen reading a note pinned to the refridgerator. Buzz was about the same height as he but not quite as muscular. But he was tough, a former staff segeant in the Army and deadly with the gun. Any gun be it rifle or a side arm or a sniper even.

"What's that?" Clyde said as he moved closer to get a better view.

He frowned. "we need to call Bami and let them know about this..." he pulled out his phone and studied the note as he redialled the last number in the call log.

Prepare for contact, no cops no friends.
-Miss X




::::::::::::::::

She detached her gun and oiled it, polished it and checked the spring before assembling the weapon back once more. She always did this every time she used the gun and sometimes when she didn't use it.

She watched the baby sleeping on the flat mattress as she cleaned the weapon, replaying the events from earlier and pleased with the way she had handled the bitch Olivia.

Now the real work would begin.

Holadstar dimssy light4life phoenixchap helenbee oroolorun paafin opeade 939 ekopsparoayara kaycee942 charminee joshnes



::::::::::::::::::::


I hadn't spoken to Olivia all day and I badly needed to hear her voice. I was about dialling her number when my phone rang. I checked the caller ID and it was Tonye.

"Tonye, whats up"
"Rex, how is the test going on?" she asked
"Its going smoothly" I checked my watch, it was 7:10pm "we've been here for more than three hours but Terry says it would be over very soon"
"Oh....."
"How about you, how's it going?"
"Doctor Rasheed is through, the result is ready"

I sat up immediately even though I was standing. "What is it, the result what is it?"
"Its....." she hesitated
"What?" I persisted
"Its positive, its the same body. Fome' is the one buried, I'm sorry"

This time I went round the desk and sat in the chair. "Don't be, its better this way...better to....let the past stay buried"
She was silent.
"Wait, is he sure....hope he didn't make any mistake" I asked.
"No, that's the result....he ran multiple tests to make sure"
Now I was silent.
"How did her print get on the scene?" She asked.
"I don't know.....it has to be some kind of mistake" I concluded.

There was a knock on the door and I snatched myself from my mini trance. "I gotta go, I'd call you when Terry is done"
"Alright.....hey we're here for you, don't forget that"

I opened the door to find a uniform officer. He held a manilla envelope which I knew contained the photograph Dagnet had requested.

"I have something for detective Dagnet" he said gruffly.

"Its alright, you can give it to me"

He scoffed. "In your dreams buddy, you can walk around with a badge and a gun but you're just an amateur, you think crime fighting is show business?"

"What- I don't even have a gun and badge" I gestured to my belt, no badge, no gun. Not even an empty holster.

"Cause You're not a real detective, you're just the fancy boy who receives the accolades after WE do the real work!"
"Men i'm sick of your bullshit. Hand me the file now"
"Or what?" He sneered
"Or i'll kick your ass" I took a threatening step forward
"I'd like to see you try"
I studied my chances and his stout frame. The police uniform was stretched over his biceps and he had very broad shoulders, two buttons were popped open, impossible to close due to the extra width of his chest . I carefully took a step back.

"Somto hand him the file" Dagnet said from behind me. It seems she was fond of popping up behind people.
I wondered when she had entered the room and how long she had watched my challenge with this mannerless gorilla.

Somto handed the file to me. Or pushed it in my face is more appropriate and without a word he left the office.

"Well he's a ray of sunshine" I said as I opened the envelope and removed the picture.

The face was young and beautiful and it took me back to my university days, when I had met Fome' and fallen crazily in love with her. She was still much younger here maybe twelve or thirteen but it was her, there was no mistaking it.

I sat on the desk.

"I sent a uniform to the hotel with the picture to talk with the clerk and the couple who saw her...I didn't know you'd bring DNA then" Dagnet said

"There has to be some kind of mistake in the fingerprint...it wasn't her"
"There can't be a mistake, no stolen identity...at one point or another she touched the hole in the wall and given that the hole wasn't there previously, that makes her the number one suspect"
"It wasn't her" I said weakly
"And how do you know?"
"The DNA result from another lab just came out....she's still buried."
"Whaat....how can that be possible?"
"Believe me, if there's one thing I've learnt in my short detecting career, its that impossible is nothing"


::::::::::::::::::::::


?? ??


She strolled at a leisure pace, she had all the time in the world. And although the sky was pitch black, it wasn't dark enough.

She had her hand in her purse and she stroked the cold metal of her gun. She began to sing "Bullet proof, fire away....fire away.."


::::::::::::::::::::::


Alli no Joy jerked awake once again when his chin touched his chest. He gripped the remote and increased the volume. The 8 o'clock news had started and he never missed it.

"Goodevening, now a recap of our headlines....The house of assembly yesterday issued a statement...."

His eyes jerked open "Recap?" He glanced above the Tv at the wall clock. It was 9 pm already.
He struggled to catch the major headlines but he was too dizzy, it seemed the newscaster was speaking gibberish and he couldn't decipher a word.
He didn't know when his eyes closed and he resumed snoring. This time however, he stretched fully on the 3 seater.


:::::::::::::::::


Olivia couldn't shake the feeling off. She couldn't even place a finger on the feeling but it didn't feel nice. She closed the romance novel she had been reading then watched Emma as her daughter slept.

She couldn't help but worry, especially when her father in law had fallen asleep suddenly while they were talking.

She suddenly needed to speak to her husband. She had been so busy through out that they hadn't spoken at all. And he hadn't called her which was odd. He must also be very busy. She tried not to imagine what he was busy doing. She got up from the bed to retrieve her phone from the dresser then stopped and frowned at her daughter. Emma would always, as in always cry out whenever she left the bed, either to go pee in the night or in the morning when she was the first one to wake. Now she was sleeping apparently undisturbed.
Olivia nearly had an urge to put her fingers underneath Emma's nostrils to be sure she was still breathing. But the rise and fall of her chest was visible.
She dismissed the disturbing thoughts from her mind and picked up her phone. Once she heard Rex's voice she'd feel better. She knew it.

She was drawing her screen unlock pattern when she heard the noise.
A sharp metallic clang followed by rustling and a strange noise which was strangely familiar.

"Alli?" She called out. The sound had come from outside and she reasoned it was him taking out the trash like he did every night. But then, if he was taking the garbage out she would have heard the gate leading outside open. And more convincing was the faint snoring coming from the parlour.


:::::::::::::::


Dagnet came back and met me how she had left me. And she had been gone for almost an hour. She held two cups of coffee in her hands and placed them on the table.

"For you and your partner"
"Thanks" Bami hadn't come out since we went in, he was glued to the proceedure and Terry was gladly teaching his audience. Maybe that was why the test was going so slow, Dr. rasheed had already finished his two hours ago and he started later than Terry. Although to be fair, he probably had more knowledge and experience than the young man.

"I've told Terry to beep me when the result is out...I have a lot of paperwork downstairs" Dagnet said and headed for the door.

Before she could open it, the adjoining door swung open and Bami hurried out or should I say hurried in.

"The test is out" he said breathlessly
"And...?" I held my breath waiting to hear the confirmation that Fome' was indeed 6 feet under.
"The DNA doesn't match....she's not the one"

"well at least we can cross her off the su- wait....what did you say?"

She's not the one...the DNA found at the crime scene doesn't match the body....someone else is buried in her grave"
"What?.....but doctor Rasheed said......wait, so who is the Jane Doe in the grave?"
"Terry is jumping from database to database trying to figure it out right now"
"This is getting too complicated Dagnet said warily"

I sighed as the confliction arose within me. Fome' was dead. Fome was alive. Dr. Rasheed vs Terry.

Hmmmmm..... There were so many questions to ask if Fome where dead and even more questions if she were alive.

"Rex" Bami said rather loudly, drawing my eyes to him. "Your phone is ringing"

I heard the Lucky Dube song that was my ringing tune.

I brought out my phone sluggishly but when I saw Olivia's number my head cleared immediately.

"Hello...."

My face suddenly turned white and ashen and a severe chill passed through my body.



:::::::::::::::


Opening the padlock was easy, she had since created a spare key earlier in the week and it seemed to work more than the original.

The padlock slipped from her hand and hit the gate causing a loud clang. She froze for some seconds then reminded herself everyone was supposed to be knocked out snoring. Apart from the bitch that is, but she was not going to be a problem.

She worked the gate open noiselessly and moved softly and slowly to the house. The moon was nowhere to be found, even the stars too. There was the threat of rain because the night was windy and there were cumulonimbous clouds in the sky.
Still she stayed in the shadows.

It was good the Obasi's didn't have any dog she thought drily.

Suddenly she heard a strange sound.
"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh"
There was a ram at the other end of the compound. It must have come out from the shed. She guessed it must have been knocked out from the competition bacause she hadn't seen it before. And she'd been to the house a couple of times lately.

The ram, dubbed 'rambo Junior' but not fierce and strong enough to fill the boots of its predecessor charged at her, head bent and gleaming curved horns coming for her.

She didn't move, instead she let her purse fall to the floor then removed something from her jacket pocket. She began to fasten it to the muzzle of her gun as the animal drew closer. She looked calm and didn't move back or get out of the way although her wrist moved very fast.

The ram was few feet from her and ready to 'ram' her into the wall.
She heard the click of the silencer meaning it was in place, she chambered a round and shot the animal between the eyes.
It collapsed immediately, dead before it hit the floor.

She picked up her purse and replaced the gun then she got out a pouch containing lock picks. She decided to go through the rear, through the kitchen entrance, it wasn't as secure as the main entrance.


:::::::::::::::::::


Olivia heard the ram followed by the running steps then she heard a loud thump then nothing.
Her heart was pounding. She tiptoed to the window and peeked out. She could make out the ram on the floor but there was no one there and infact the way the ram was positioned was really akward. She suddenly began to feel cold. There was somebody in the compound!

Then she heard the creak of the kitchen door and gasped. There was someone in the house!

The one thought that entered her mind was her daughter. She would die protecting her.

:::::::::::::::


?? ??


She held the gun in her hand as she crept into the kitchen, there was nothing she could do about the creaking noise except wince.

She knew what room she was going to, she didn't plan to waste time. She walked the corridor slowly, her gun pointed infront of her.

She could hear some serious snoring coming from the parlour. Alli must have consumed a lot of soup and hence a lot of drugs which was the best because he was the biggest threat to her mission. The old man was a tough bastard.

She reached the room and turned the handle softly but it wouldn't open, she jerked the handle furiously but it wouldn't budge. It was locked from inside.

It was a key lock and she knew she could use her lock pick and get it open in a minute. she retrieved her pouch then on second thought put it back. She aimed the gun at the lock and fired four silenced shots at the lock. One massive kick and the door swung open.

:::::::::::::::

The closest thing to a weapon Olivia had found in the room was a toy car that had a sharp end. It was modelled after the formula one cars and she reckoned with enough speed it could gouge someone's eyes out.

But when the muffled shots rang out and holes appeared in the door, she began to lose her nerve to fear. But then she glanced at her daughter and the fear was converted to anger and determination.

The moment the door swung open, she threw herself at the figure.

::::::::::::::::



?? ??

She was unprepared for the attack and just managed to step back in time. The toy missed her eyes and scraped her cheek drawing blood and causing a sharp stinging pain.

She was prepared for the return swing this time and parried it with her hand. She side stepped and swung out a kick. She purposely didn't aim high but let her heel bury itself in the bitch's stomach.

Olivia gasped and stumbled back. The pain was unbelievable and her knees were suddenly magneted to the floor. She struggled to remain on her feet, clutching her stomach and looking at her attacker. The person wore a ski mask but it was a woman. In the formula fitting jump suit there was no disguising the curves. Deadly curves.

She stepped forward and Olivia noticed the gun she held for the first time. She tried to recall the moves she had been taught in her self defence classes and the technique of disarming someone that Tonye had showed her but they were all out the window.

"Who are you, what do you want?" She asked finally

"I'm the avenging angel....I've come for what is mine" she looked at the baby sleeping on the bed.

Olivia went mad with rage. "Stay away from my baby....." She threw the toy car with all her strength and charged at the intruder.

The car struck her on her head. It was painful and for a second she considered giving the bitch a solid beating but time was of the essence. One thing she learnt was never to waste time on a mission, no matter how carefully planned there was always something that could go wrong. The unkonown factor. She had learnt that lesson the hard way.

So as Olivia charged at her, she raised her gun and fired once.

The bullet hit Olivia in the knee. One second she was running and the next she was on the floor. The pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced before, save for child birth but even that was a beautiful pain. This was nasty.

She struggled to stand but the minute she put a little strain on her right foot she collapsed and cried out in pain.

" I hear you used to be a cripple before....well let me reunite you with your wheelchair" The voice was bitter and she bent over Olivia, placed the muzzle of the gun on her left knee and fired again.

Olivia cried out in pain, but the pain was nothing compared to the heart ache she felt when the woman stood over Emma and picked her up.

She carried the baby and headed for the door without a word. When she got to the door she felt something pull at her leg.

Olivia had somehow managed to crawl on her belly and held her by the trousers. The grip was very weak.

"please don't do this....she's just a child, i'd do whatever you want anything"

The woman looked down at her for some seconds. Then suddenly gave her a viscious kick to the head which knocked her out temporarily.



:::

When she came to, they were gone. The woman had taken her baby. Her baby was stolen!

Hysteria threatened to spill over but the unbelievable pain in both legs kept it in check. She glanced down and saw the trail of blood she had spread when she belly crawled. It was a lot of blood.

She saw her phone under the bed where it must have fallen during the struggle. With agonizing pain she moved slowly, inch by painful inch until her hand could reach the phone.

She called her husband, struggling to stay conscious. She feared if she passed out, she would pass on.

"Hello"
"Emma....Emma has been taken!" she began sobbing as the hysteria broke loose. Her heart was broken in a billion pieces.

On the other end of the call, Rex had gone as white as snow and still like a statue.