Unedited
El Deols, Anthanna
Staying in the house all day was becoming so tiring for Sheila but she had no choice than to stay until the police came up with reasonable facts from their investigation. She was sitting alone in the living room. The Television was on but she wasn’t paying any attention to it. She had her android phone in her hand and was playing a game on it, but her mind was still far away from the game.
The interrogation session she had with the FOX men the day before had been short and straight to the point. The FOX men had asked more questions concerning other products related to the one the late Frank had come for and also few more questions about Henry. She was prepared for them and it wasn’t difficult to provide quick and convincing answers.
Her mind had since then been occupied with Henry and thoughts of if they could ever be together again. She unconsciously expected him to return her calls all through the day but got no call. She stopped expecting late at night when she got to watch the world news and saw reports of the bomb blast in Bexford and also how the FOX stopped two other explosions. That day at noon, she also got updates on the matter and watched the FOX chairman speaking to the press and asking anyone who had information about the Red Wolves or planned explosions to always open up to the FOX boldly. The chairman also encouraged any person who is being held by compulsion or threatened to carry out activities for the Red Wolves to step out boldly to inform the FOX. He promised maximum protection for such person and the family.
The phone in her hand began to ring and it distracted her from her thoughts for a moment. The caller was Adrian, it was his first time of calling her that day and since they had spoken the day before.
“Hey Adrian,” Sheila answered the call.
“Hi Sheila, how are you doing today?” Adrian asked her.
“I’m fine, how are you?”
“I’m doing fine also,” Adrian answered. “Hope you are not feeling too bored staying home alone.”
“I must confess Adrian, it’s tiring but what can I do?” Sheila replied.
“Sorry dear,” Adrian’s voice sounded compassionate. “Can I come over later to keep you company? I have a movie I’ll like us to see together.”
“Ermm,” Sheila let out a deep breath. She felt having Adrian closer to her was not the best but she couldn’t keep pushing him away because of Henry whom she was not sure of ever being with again. “Well, I’ll call you later. I just feel like being alone for now,” she finally replied.
“It’s okay,” Adrian sounded somewhat disappointed. “I’ll be expecting your call.”
Sheila breathed out deeply again after the call ended. She sat up and put on the slippers on the floor. She held her phone tight in her hand and then stared at the television screen for a while. She then unlocked her phone and opened the call history, she scrolled to Henry’s number and dialed it.
It rang for a couple pof seconds but did not get answered. She dialed for the second time and it was answered shortly.
She placed the phone close to her ear and she suddenly grew dumb.
“Hey!” Henry’s voice sounded sharp through the phone’s speaker and it felt like something had pierced her heart.
She tried to open her mouth to speak but no word came out.
“Hello,” Henry spoke again.
She let out a breath but did not say anything. She suddenly did not know what to say to him again. She felt like ending the call but his voice came through again.
“I know you are there Sheila,” he began. “I don’t know why you’re calling but for whatever reason it is, you have to stop calling me, it’s getting moe dangerous and I can’t have you distracting me now.”
Sheila was dumbfounded and it felt like her heart was broken into pieces.
“Well, I hope you are doing very fine. I’ll call you whenever it’s safe to call you. For now, please don’t call again.” Henry added.
The call ended even before she could think of anything to say. Tears formed rapidly in her eyes.
___
Bexford, Bethanna.
Henry locked the phone and got up from the bed quickly. He put the phone into his pocket as he headed towards the door. He stepped out of the room to meet Jennifer who was already waiting for him. Together, they walked to the room where they had kept their captive.
Hannah Kelvin was sitting in the room alone. Tied to the wooden chair with her mouth gagged, she made no attempts to set herself free or make any sound. Her eyes clung to them as they walked in and moved closer to her. Jennifer took off the gag from her mouth and loosened her hands before she stepped back away from her at the same distance Henry was.
“Good afternoon Hannah,” Henry greeted.
She nodded slowly in response instead of replying with words.
Henry collected a phone from Jennifer.
“You have eleven missed call notifications, three from your husband, two from a contact named Mary and three from Mr Bright, one from an unknown number and two from the contact saved as ‘The Strategist’.” Henry said to her. “Well, I’m a bit more concerned about the call from the Strategist, he seems to be the man I’m looking for.”
Hannah Kelvin stared at him in silence even as he took a pause and stared into her eyes. He took a short step forward.
“Well, we’ve traced all of the numbers that called you and all except for the Strategist’s contact led us to a real person. Mr Bright, Mary and the unknown number seem to be your colleagues at the University of Bexford security office. What I need from you now is to call The Strategist and tell him you’re fine and that you ran away because the police are after you. Tell him you are in Bexford, and if he questions further, Dexter Hotel”
Hannah raised her gaze to his face and spoke up. “He’s gonna find it difficult to believe, people saw me leaving the staff quarters with you yesterday.”
“Yeah, tell him you arranged it since you knew the FOX would soon come after you. Tell him you arranged with Agent Simon of the FOX to come pick you yesterday since you knew the FOX might be coming soon after you after the failure of the explosion.”
“He’s still not going to believe,” she argued. “He’s got connections and can call or reach Agent Simon to confirm.”
“That’s true, and that’s why I have Agent Simon’s calls forwarding to us and we also have him being tracked.” Henry replied.
“That’s only going to get me into trouble,” she frowned her face bitterly. “He’s going to get Simon who will have no option than to confess to him.”
“Well, I’m going to get to Agent Simon before he reaches him, that’s why we are tracking him already.”
She heaved a sigh of frustration and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t do it. It would put my family into trouble.”
“What greater trouble can your family be than the one they’re in already?”
She squinted at his face in confusion. “what are you talking about?”
Henry chuckled. He took out his phone and dialed.
“Hey Dave, are you at the place?” he said into the phone and got a response. “Connect via video call and let’s see what you’ve got.”
He took down the phone and stared at Hannah’s face with a crooked smile on his face. “We’re about to pay you in your own coin,” he said tauntingly. “You kill people by setting up bombs where they are, and that’s why we’ve also one to your parent’s house to set a bomb there.”
Hannah widened her eyes and mouth in shock.
Henry’s phone began to ring and he answered the video call. He looked at the screen for a moment before moving closer and turning it to her.
She was filled with extreme horror and she recognized the places being seen in the video. She also saw the bomb installed and recognized the type it was.
“Thank you Dave,” Henry said two minutes later before ending the video call. He looked at her face and made a crooked smile again. “We’ve decided not to set off the bomb immediately even if you don’t cooperate with us. We found out that your younger siblings are visiting them tonight. It would be a very good moment to let the house go in flames.”
Hannah opened her eyes and mouth wide in shock again. She couldn’t believe Carl Winston was the one before her threatening to kill her family members. She had not expected Carl would go as far as threatening her with them, she had thought the only people whose lives she could be threatened with were her husband and her kids whom the FOX already had their eyes on and would be difficult for Carl to reach.
“You can’t do that,” she stammered, almost inaudible as her lips and hands were vibrating.
“Come on, you don’t think I’m the same Carl Winston that you knew a year ago, do you?” He chuckled. “The Carl you see here is a man who was betrayed and had his loved ones killed before his own eyes. I’m not back for peace or justice, I’m back to kill everyone and anyone who was involved in causing me pain. And I can go any length to get what I’m back for, including destroying the families of any member of the Wolves.”
Hannah swallowed hard. She was in a difficult situation and she never thought it would get so tough.
“Please, leave my parents, I’ll make the call.” she finally agreed, with trembling lips and tears formed in her eyes.
“You’re not only going to make the call but do everything else I asked you before,” Henry said.
She nodded slowly in agreement.
He stepped closer to her again and was about to hand her phone to her but withdrew his hand. “You seem a bit disturbed now, but you have to calm down to speak with the Strategist so that he doesn’t notice anything.”
She sniffed in and nodded. He handed the phone to her and signaled with his hand for her to hold on.
He stepped back and stared at her for close to a minute before asking her to go ahead with the call.
She unlocked her phone and switched to the call history. She dialed the Strategist’s number.
“Hello boss,” she said immediately the call was answered.
“Where are you?” Hutton replied from the other end.
She looked up to Henry’s face as if to direct the question to him.
“I’m somewhere in Bexford, the police are after me now.” she replied.
“I found out some minutes ago that you left the staff quarters with a FOX official.”
“Yes, that was Simon. I arranged for him to come pick me, so I could get out safely.”
“Who is Simon?”
“He’s an agent of the FOX but he’s my friend,” she answered.
“Does he know about us?”
“No, but he would have found out now that I used him to escape arrest.”
“What his FOX code?”
“I’m not sure I remember, but his name is Simon Perry and he’s a middle ranked FOX official.”
“Where exactly in Bexford are you now?”
“I’m in Dexter Hotel,” she replied.
“Okay, I’ll call you back in few minutes.”
She ended the call and stretched the phone back to Henry. He did not take it but took out another phone instead. He dialed Dave.
“Dave, follow Simon.” he instructed and ended the call immediately.
____
Nexus, Bethanna
“We need to know the FOX agent named Simon Perry,” Hutton said to Kahn a he walked into the living room where Kahn was sitting.
Kahn turned to him, expecting more explanation.
“I got a call from Hannah Kelvin a minute ago and she said Simon Perry got her out,” Hutton explained.
“Our FOX source said the man who took her out looked like the same man who deactivated the bomb,” Kahn replied.
“That’s why I need to know who Simon Perry is,” Hutton said. “I don’t expect Hannah to tell me a stupid lie.”
“Should we get him?”
“No, that’s not important. I only need to know who he is and how he looks.”
“Okay, I’ll make a call through to the Agent and ask him to fetch details.”
“Thank you,” Hutton said and turned back.
___
Bexford, Bethanna
“While we wait for him to call back, why don’t you give me the list I asked for,” Henry said as he took out a pen from his breast pocket. He stretched his hand to Jennifer and she placed a jotter on it. He flipped the jotter open and stepped forward, he handed both to Hannah and stepped back again.
Hannah’s hand began to tremble with the pen in it. She was sweating profusely and her heart was beating so fast from fear. It took her a while but she managed to write a list of names, one each on six different lines. She stretched them back to Henry and he stepped forward to take it.
He stepped back and stared at the list she gave him. He read all the names to himself one after the other.
Topping the list was the name Elvis Kahn, and the five following lines contained the names of five other people Hannah knew to be executives of the FOX.
To be continued….