AN EVENING WITH EVA EPISODE 2

Episode 2

The room was spacious and
wide. Exotic furniture neatly
arranged at the corners of the
huge sitting room. The blinds
were slightly drawn allowing a
trickle of early morning sun into
the room. There was a huge
plasma on the wall and a bar to
its left. The walls were painted
white with an accent of blood
red here and there in the room.
The blinds were red, the couch,
the reclining chair, the little table
and even the bar was painted
red. Every other thing was in
pure white including the ceiling.
Sophia paced uneasily to and fro.
She had a bottle of Baileys on
one hand and a wine cup in the
other. She was restless. She was
worried. Bruno and Marshal
were yet to get back to her. This
was a simple mission. Get the
boy, and bring him to the safe
house. She did not trust those
fools but they had been highly
recommended by Gambo. Now
they were nowhere to be found.
Her phone rang again, it was the
General. She had this strong
desire not to answer the phone.
But the General always knew. She
answered it on the first ring.
“What is the situation on ground,
S?” The General asked. She could
see the wrinkles on his forehead.
The General always knew. She
was sure he already knew what
the situation was. He had spies
everywhere. That was why he
was called the General. Everyone
feared him. No one dared him.
Very few people have met him.
And the General hardly calls.
When he did, there was trouble.
“The situation is under control
sir.” Sophia answered.
“I did not ask if the situation was
under control. I asked WHAT the
situation is. I am going to call you
pretty soon. You had better have
an answer for me.” He said and
hung up.
Typical General. Always the last to
speak and never failing to seize
an opportunity to keep you edgy.
She knew that he knew that the
fools she had sent to bring in the
boy were MIA. This was her first
major assignment. She really did
not want to flop. She originally
wanted to take a subtle measure.
Lure him in with some girl. But
that would take time and there
was a chance he would not fall
for the bait. Force was the only
option.
They had been watching Sean for
three months now, twenty four
hours round the clock. They had
a different agent on him every
six hours. He had been chosen as
the ideal candidate. Perfect
height. Perfect age. Perfect face,
countenance, education and
work orientation. All that
remained was to determine his
lifestyle and how a typical day for
Sean looked like. Sophia spent
hours going over each agent’s
report about Sean. She was
always with her radio; the agents
would phone in to say that Sean
had changed routine or gone
somewhere away from their
jurisdiction. This was where her
leadership came in. She would
order them to follow or let him
be. She had pulled her strings
twice. Sean had made plans to
travel out of the city. He had
bought a ticket to fly to Abuja.
This was going to put a huge
hole in their plans. He had to be
kept in the city at all costs. A call
was made to the General. Sean
was held back at work and
denied leave to travel. Another
time, his office had made plans
for his department to travel for a
refresher course in Kenya. Sophia
was informed. The trip was
terminated. They had contacts
everywhere including the
government. When they wanted
something, they always got it.
They had considered kidnapping
his girlfriend. The General did not
want the silly police force
involved. They would just be
crawling everywhere, impeding
progress. This was going to be a
snatch and grab operation. Very
few witnesses, if any. Sean lived a
reckless life. His mother hardly
monitored him. She believed he
was capable of handling himself.
They sometimes went three
weeks without communicating.
He had no close friends. His
girlfriend was travelling out of
the country. She was the only
worry. A slight worry that could
be easily fixed.
So they had decided to ‘grab’
Sean. They waited patiently for
the opportunity. A black Toyota
Prado was parked across the
street opposite New Inn, the
hotel that Sean and his girlfriend
were in. They waited for five
hours, listening in on their
conversation and their sex. Sean
had been bugged. As usual.
There was a different agent
every day and a different agent
for this purpose. A handshake, a
hug, a collision, whatever
brought physical contact. And
they were good. The microchip
was planted on him. The
transmitter was live. Sean never
suspected anything. They most
times knew of his plans for the
next day. So they had planned
the smash and grab to
perfection. They knew he was
going home to see his mother
that evening. They knew his
girlfriend was going out of the
country. They knew he would
always wait to cross the road
when he got down from the
“keke napep”. That was when
they would strike. They only
hoped that he would not cross
the road too soon or decide not
to go home. If that happened
they would have to hatch
another plan.
A Toyota Camry was at Agric bus
stop waiting for the signal to
know when they would move.
The Toyota Prado trailed the bus
Sean was in. It was easy. Sophia
was listening in the whole time
via radio communication. She
chipped in orders here and there
and monitored the whole
operation. The Toyota Camry
traced the “keke-napep”,
increased speed when Sean got
off and picked him up at the bus
stop. It was done. Mission
accomplished. She called Marshal
to confirm if he had the package.
He was positive. The journey
would take approximately 8
hours. They knew that. All
contingency measures had been
put in place. All possible
loopholes were closed and taken
care of. And if anything else came
up unexpectedly out of the blues,
there was Bruno. He was the
brain. He had the ability of split
second thinking. He was able to
come up with ideas to go past
seemingly impassable hurdles.
But Sophia did not envision any
problems. She had spoken to
Marshal again at 2am when they
were leaving Benin City, Edo
State. All was going smoothly. She
had decided to take a much
needed nap.
She woke at 5am and found 7
missed calls and a message on
her phone. All were from Bruno.
She checked the time of the calls.
3:19 am. She checked the
message:
“Mission in jeopardy. Bees on tail.
Taking precaution.”
She panicked. She called the
number. Switched off. poo! Why
wasn’t she awake? She was
angry with herself. She did not
panic. The ability to keep cool
under life threatening pressure
was one of the abilities required
of the agents at her level of
clearance. She took a bottle of
Baileys from the bar and calmed
her nerves with the creamy
alcohol. She was pacing and
thinking. Then the General called
and almost made her lose her
wits. She was not called The Iron
Lady for nothing. She thought for
a while.
She called Gbenga.
“Gbenga. Yes. Take an SUV.
Government plates. Take the
mission route to Benin, Edo state.
Sniff out Marshal and Bruno.
Keep your eyes open and you
head low. This is a Code Yellow.
And take Mark with you.”
She hung up.
She sat down and crossed her
legs, the bottle in one hand and
the wine glass in the other. She
tried to think of possible
occurences that may have made
Bruno call her. Bruno was
capable. He was one of the
candidates in line to succeed her.
She shrugged. She decided to
ease off. She took the home
theater remote and pressed play.
Yanni’s attraction played from
the speakers. Soulful jazz. It
helped her relax.
Just then the door opened.
Bruno entered, covered in mud
and dirt

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