CHAPTER
FIVE
Director
Dennis Daniel couldn’t bring himself to accept that Alex and Tahir were gone
too less than a week after 4 others under his unit were murdered in a compromised mission.
He was heartbroken and felt like crying if only it would turn back the hands of
time. He cursed himself, cursed the mission, the SS and cursed Mustapha. For
how long will his men continue dying? If the Military wants, let it control the
whole of Africa, he, Dennis, no longer cares; he was fed up.
Director
Malu walked in, interrupting his thoughts
“Dennis,
you look bad”
“This
whole damn operation is over, I’m going to save my boy” he declared
“Keep
you emotions in check, Dennis”
“If
he was your son, you won’t say such a thing”
“He’s
not yours either”
“Don’t
be so insensitive, Malu”
“What
are you going to do now?”
“I’m
calling Calabar as soon as I get a satellite image of his position”
“Against
protocol!”
“To
hell with protocol!”
“Okay,
okay Dennis. I’m going to be in my office, let’s hope you get it right”
“Get
the devil moving out of my office!”
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Ben
ran all the way to the top floor, and then saw the reality- a dead end. There
was no way out now for him. The only way out meant going downstairs whence he
came from but someone was blocking the way. Tired and broken, with bleeding arm and feet, and
without any fire power, he rushed into a corner and collapsed down, his head
almost bursting.
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Director
Mustapha stood watching Felix in horror. He had not intended that, never had he
wanted harming the young man- it was an accident. In fact, everything that day
had gone contrary to plan. What would he say happened to Felix? How was he
going to possibly explain this?
Quickly,
he dragged the young man into the rest room and closed the door. He then began to
go through the bare-check. He was shocked to find out that, indeed, Felix had
seen a lot to suspect something was going wrong.
Damn!
What was he going to do now?
Be careful, you’re not the only
smart guy in here, a voice inside of him warned
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As
he lay down in that corner, Ben was certain his end had come. Without a weapon,
he was defenseless.
Clutching the laptop to his chest, he closed his eyes.
For
the first time in a very long time, Ben shaded tears, not for himself but for
his 2year old daughter and her mother Adeola whom he had abandoned more than a
year ago. He was not even sure what the little girl looked like then neither
was he sure he would ever know. He felt sorry and all the mistakes he had made
in his relationship with people hitting him hard. Tears flowed as he did a
sincere prayer
Oh,
God if you spare me this moment and I live, I’m going back to them. I will
never leave them again.
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Director
Mustapha stood there in the control room debating with himself and cursing.
You are a murderer! A
voice in him said. No, all I did and
doing is for the country, he fired back
He
thought about Hadiza and felt sorry for her. The girl has gone through a lot
today and must be stressed out. She will return to him broken and demanding
answers. He felt certain she would hate him if only she knew his real
intentions.
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The
top floor looked empty and quiet as Hadiza reached. She knew Ben would be there
and smiled when she heard heavy breathing coming from a corner. She moved
slowly, her legs tired too, careful not to fall into a trap. But when she turned
on the corner, Ben was there, wrapped up, helpless, eyes closed and lips
muttering inaudible words. She moved closer and touched him
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At
the DHQ, the cabal of senior officers was all rounded up and agitated. They had
lost signals and communication with Dike, and had begun to suspect something
awful was taking place.
“Captain
Pam!” Major-General Donald Iheancho yelled
“Yes,
sir”
“What’s
going on?”
“Sir,
still no signal, but as soon as I get it back, we will resume negotiation”
“We’re
done negotiating!” Rear Admiral Sule Tanko declared
“Sir!”
“I
want you to move in a team to Calabar tonight!”
“Yes
sir!”
“Take
a special commando unit and bring us that computer!”
“Yes,
sir!”
If
only the Military knew what had taken place that night, they would have dropped
that idea entirely since there was time.
(To be continued)
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