“The attacks on the villages has stopped over the past month as military has taken over the entire communities that are being disturbed by terrorists. And ladies and gentlemen, this happened under the reign and command of the President, Mr Adewale Adebayo.” The chief of army staff said to the broadcaster.
“One step at a time, and the country will get there. We will rise again, he said. Okay viewers, this is all we can take from the studio here in Abuja. Do join us tomorrow for more enlightenment on the happenings in and out of the country, till then, bye for now.” The female broadcaster said and Mr Adewale reduced the volume with a smile, he was happy with the progress he was seeing and hearing since last month. Just immediately someone knocked on his office door and he put down his legs from the table and rearranged some things before telling who it was to come in.
“I’m sorry to disturb you Mr President.”
“Oh no, Mike. It’s alright. What is it?” He said.
He rushed to the security room with him, where they watched General Tukur day and night. “I’m guessing he’s going to meet someone this evening.” Mike said and the president looked down at him.
“Call the Vice President’s office, tell him to be here as soon as he can. I’ll be back in a few minutes, let me know when he reaches his destination.” He gave an order and went out quickly.
Some minutes passed and he came back to the room. Sola was there also, they all sat on a chair in front of the big screen as they watched the General’s car parked in some fancy environment. He was meeting one of his co-operators.
“Are you sure it’s safe to talk here?” He asked.
“Yes. It’s very safe. It’ll take two hours for any car to pass here. And the next building is like 100kms away__”
“Alright, where are we on the attack?” The general asked. Then Mr Adewale and Sola glanced at each other.
“Everything is working as planned. The bomb will be set to detonate by 4pm. The exact time his plane will take off.”
“Good. The president won’t know what’s coming.” General Tukur said.
Mike muted the sound and swung his seat back as he looked at the president. “They are going to blow up your plane.” He said, as though the president didn’t hear it himself.
“We have to stop it from happening. You need to cancel your trip to France.” Sola panicked.
“First things first, did you get the recording?” Mr Adewale asked and Mike nodded and handed the disk to him.
“Alright, nobody should know about this. Okay.” He made it perfectly clear.
******
Night fell when general Tukur got to his abode. He was so tired after the two hours thirty minutes drive. So he removed his suit and threw it on one of the cushions and he heard something fell to the ground. He was certain it fell out from his suit. “I don’t put pen in my side pocket. What else could it be.” He said to himself as he searched for it. Without any fuss, he found the little black object and took it off the ground, a little glance at it with his glasses was all it took for him to know what it was. “Samuel, stop the attack. No one should make a move on the president tomorrow. Stop the attack!” He said over the phone and put it inside a glass jar and covered the top.
*****
“This is not good. This is certainly not good,” Mike stammered as he picked up his phone and called the President. “Yes, hello sir. I’m so so sorry for calling you at this hour, I know you must have been asleep by now__
“right, get to the point”
“Sorry. The general knows. Yes sir he knows that we have been listening to his conversations all along, he found the chip.”
“Okay Mike, don’t panic. Just go home and we will figure something out tomorrow.” Mr Adewale said over the phone.
“Ok_okay sir. Goodnight.” He aborted the call after that and packed out of the room.
******
Mr Adewale was sitting in his office the next morning when Jack opened the door a crack. “The president is on line two.” He announced.
“Thank you Jack,” he said and picked up the phone and dialed on it. “Mr President, I’m sorry for the recent changes__” he started.
“No Sir. We can always schedule for another time. The people of France look forward to seeing you next month__ the president of France said.
*****
General Tukur had summoned his guards, he was sited on his couch, glaring at them one after the other. “Kemi. You just stepped on the lion’s tale.” He said looking at the chip.
“Someone was with her.” A guard said.
“Who?” He jumped quickly.
“The presidents escort. This man here.” The guard showed him a picture he took with Jack Mathew.
The general collected the phone and glared at it more with surprise. “This was who brought her here that same night?” He asked and the guard nodded. “Why didn’t you say anything since then?”
“I’m sorry general, I didn’t know what brought them that night and he seemed like a gentleman.” He explained.
“You’re still breathing only because I can’t find a replacement for you.” General Tukur threatened.
“I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again.” He pleaded.
“It has already happened you dumbhead. Our cover has been blown, they now know my agenda, my next move.” He said.
“So what do we do now?” One asked.
“Now,” the general stood up and walked to the door and back. “Now we attack, full force. But first, I’d like a word with him.” He touched Jack’s picture on the phone.
********
“You asked for me sir.” Peter said, standing by the door.
Mr Adewale removed his glasses as he finished writing on a paper. “Yes Peter, please come in.”
“Thank you sir.” He said and entered.
“I want you to arrange a meeting for me with the Chief Justice tomorrow morning by 10am.” He ordered.
“Sure sir. Is there a problem?” He asked.
Mr Adewale laughed at the question and shifted close. “Let’s just say, some bad people are getting locked away for a very very long time.” He said and Peter nodded quickly and left. Mr Adewale brought out the disk and put it inside his small desk drawer and locked it with a key he only had then switched off the lights and went out.
He found the room dark like there was no electricity in the Villa. Then he heard someone sobbing, he quickly switched the lights back on and saw Victoria on the edge of the bed, crying. He wondered what made her cry at such hour and why, so he walked slowly and sat next to her. He tried to reach for her hands but she resisted. Something is wrong somewhere. He thought to himself and asked what was wrong.
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“You lied to me.” She started.
“I lied to you?” He asked.
“Yes. You lied to me.” She repeated.
“Since when did I start lying to you. Remember we agreed on telling each other the truth no matter the cost.”
“Oh, so you remember! And yet you broke that vow,” she stared angrily at him.
“Okay, you’re scaring me Bimpe. What is this all about?” He asked.
“It’s about Gloria__”
“Oh God.” He interrupted.
“Remember I asked if you knew her. And what did you tell me. You plainly denied ever seeing her, just because she was dead. I know you were happy about that too, because your secret will be buried with her forever.”
“What’re you talking about Bimpe!”
“This,” she carried the remote control angrily. “I’m talking about this.” She played him a video on the tv and he shook his head in shame as he put his head down. “You didn’t only lied to me, you broke your marriage vows.”
“Let me explain.” He said.
“What more is there to say? I’m sure you killed her also!”
He quickly placed a hand on her mouth for her to be quiet. “Hey, hey! Will you keep it down. I didn’t kill anyone okay. Please, just hear me out.”
An hour later, she was calm, the temperature was also bearable after he explained everything that transpired between him and Gloria. “I met her on my trip to Turkey. She was a stewardess on the plane I took__” he had narrated.
“How many times?” She asked looking down.
“I promise it wasn’t my doing. I didn’t want to fall for her temptations.”
“You did anyways,” she repeated. “How many times was it?”
“Once!” He jumped. “It was just once. I wanted to tell you.”
“Did you use a protection?” She asked.
He sighed, he didn’t like the turn the questions were taking. “No.” He answered slowly.
“What! You didn’t use a condom! How sure are you that she wasn’t pregnant.”
“Please lower your voice,” he said sweating. “She wasn’t, okay. It was the leverage she had on me,”
“What leverage?”
“That she was pregnant and she threatened to tell the world if I didn’t comply with her demands.”
“So how did you know she wasn’t?”
“I had her tested unknowingly and the result showed negative.” He said.
To be continued
