® 18+ SNVL
© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel
June 1
11:46PM
Upel International Airport,
Benuit, Bethanna.
Pitt Raph walked out of the building with two huge men flanging him. Two other men were behind them, rolling small traveling boxes with them.
Pitt looked smart and younger than his age in his black suit. He had a sky blue inner shirt and a navy blue tie under. The men by his side were also on suits, but they had white inner wears and black ties instead.
Pitt Raph served in the Bethanna police force for more than thirty years of his life, and worked for six years as the police overseer in his state of residence, Benuit. He had no past established criminal or corruption records, his tenure as the police overseer saw the end of many criminal organizations in his state. He was offered to be the police minister of the country after his service to his state but he politely declined the offer, giving the need to pay more attention to his health as his reason.
He was just returning to Benuit after speaking at the security conference in Bexford the previous day and he had a meeting to attend that morning at the state government house. The security conference was about the country and the continent’s state of security and it held in Bexford as that was the center the FOX World Headquarters was located. It had many people from around the continent in attendance, even though not up to half of those who were expected. Many delegates from nations had boycotted the event due to the recent security scares in Bexford. Pitt Raph’s speech was one of the shortest speeches delivered at the conference, as he only talked about general security which wasn’t part of the main focus of the conference.
“You have a call sir, ” the man flanging him by the right said to him as they got close to the garage the vehicles were waiting.
He stopped walking and took the phone from the man’s hand. He checked the caller, it was an unknown number. He answered the call anyway and placed it close to his left ear.
“Hello sir,” he heard a strange gruff voice from the caller’s end.
“Hey! Who is this?” he asked.
“I’m Michael, the man that sent you an email yesterday.” the caller replied.
“Michael?” the man squinted, trying to remember the emails he read the previous day.
“Yes,” the caller responded.
“Oh!” Pitt widened his eyes as he remembered. “The email about the security secret?”
“Yes…”
“How did you get my number? And why can’t you be patient enough for me to read and reply your message?” Pitt asked. He had seen the message at evening the day before. The sender had introduced himself and first complimented him for delivering a good speech at the security conference and then said that he had some secret information about his personal security. He had ignored the message, thinking it was sent by a spammer and wasn’t supposed to be taken serious.
“I knew you read the message but probably did not believe it, that’s why I’m calling you sir, to let you know how serious it is.” the other man replied.
“So, what do you want from me?” Pitt asked.
“We need to see, I have something to show you.”
Pitt shook his head slowly. He felt angry and irritated by the effrontery of the caller.
“I can’t meet with you, tell me whatever it is here or forget it.”
“I can’t tell you on phone, I have to see you.”
“I don’t have such time,” Pitt snapped.
“You can make out time to see me today before your meeting at the state house,” the caller replied.
Pitt was shocked. The meeting at the state house was meant to be a secret close door meeting, he did not even tell his close aides so much about the meeting, he only told them he was going to see the governor.
“How did you get that information?”
“The same way I got the secret information I want to give to you,” the caller replied.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Michael, I’m your friend for now. I only need to get something from you in return for the information I have for you,” the caller answered.
“I’ll pay you any amount you want, just tell me what you need to tell me or send me an email.” Pitt offered.
“Sorry! I do not need money, I’m in need of a favour and only you can grant me. We have to see,” the caller insisted.
“But I can’t make out time to see you, I have a very busy schedule.” Pitt complained
“You can make out time this afternoon, before your meeting at the state house which starts by two o’clock,” the caller offered.
“Oh no! I have to do something else before then,” Pitt answered. “Can we meet later this evening?”
“Oh! Evening? It’s cool enough, just make sure you don’t change your mind.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Pitt looked confused as he ended the call. He looked around the airport for a moment, searching every corner with his eyes to see if someone was watching them.
“Is there any problem sir?” one of his security officers asked him.
“No,” he shook his head slowly. The look on his face showed more than confusion, there was some sorrow in it. He returned the phone to the man who gave him. “Let’s go, we’ll deal with the problem later.”
He proceeded further and the men followed him. They got to the garage where two cars were parked. The men with the boxes went into the car behind while the two men flanging Pitt entered into the same car with him, Pitt sitting at the back alone and they at the front.
_
“He’s about to leave now,” Cole said in soft tones as he stepped out of the airport building. He had an earpiece plugged in his ear and the mouthpiece hanging on his collar.
“Yeah, we’re ready. I was able to distract him for a couple of minutes,” Dave replied from the other end.
“Okay, let’s get it done.” Cole said and the connection went off.
Cole walked quickly to the garage where Samantha was waiting for him in the car. He saw Pitt Raph and his men drive out before he got to the car. The car was a black Corolla, with tinted glasses.
He opened the door and slid into the passenger’s side. He flashed a glance at Samantha at the driver’s side.
“Let’s go,” he whispered.
Samantha kicked on the car engine at once and drove out of the garage.
_
15 minutes after
Sitting at the backseat of the vehicle, Pitt had been able to take off the call from the unknown man temporarily from his mind. He was busy with the tablet device in his hands surfing the pobsonline website.
He could hear one of the two men at the front seats receiving a call but he paid no attention to the conversation until a sentence caught his attention.
“We’d confirm when we make the turn,” the officer said before ending the call.
“What’s happening?” Pitt asked. From the little he heard from the conversation, it seemed like one of the men in the other vehicle had called to report that they were being followed.
“They suspect a black corolla is following their car,” the man replied, flashing a glance at his boss.
“So, how did you tell them to confirm?” Pitt asked.
“We’re taking the turn at the intersection, I asked them to watch if the vehicle follows in our direction before they conclude.”
“Okay, that’s fair enough.” Pitt said, nodding his head. He turned to look back for a moment but he couldn’t notice anything from his position. He turned back and balanced himself well, they were already close to the intersection and they’ll find out if the vehicle was indeed following them.
A minute after, they took a seventy five percent turn about a rotary intersection and entered a straight road. Pitt continued with his tablet device but was conscious that they had gone past the intersection and was expecting the confirmation call. The call came in sixty seconds after.
“They’re following us,” the man in front confirmed to Pitt.
“Who the hell are they?” Pitt asked with a frowned face.
“The car’s got tinted glasses, our men can’t see those in the car.”
“I see,” Pitt cleared his throat. He remembered the just concluded conference he was returning from and how the use of vehicles with tinted glasses had been discussed and a proposal to put into law a restriction for people who can use such vehicles. “Have they called the police?”
“Yes, he should have done that after calling me.” The man replied.
“Okay,” Pitt glanced back again. “What do you think they want from us?”
“I have no idea sir, but it’s obvious someone knows you are in this vehicle and is trying to get to you.”
“But who could that be?” Pitt asked rhetorically. The only suspect he had in his mind was the unknown caller who claimed to be the one who sent him an email the previous day. An idea came to Pitt’s mind. “Are the guys in the other car well armed?”
“Yes, they are.”
“We are approaching a big shopping mall, we should drive in there. It would give time for our men to see if it would pass. If it stops or follows us, our men would have to check who the hell they are.”
The man at the passenger’s seat in front quickly took out his phone and dialed the last number on his caller’s list. He relayed Pitt’s instructions and ended the call after additional explanation.
He took off his seatbelt and took out his gun as they got closer to the shopping mall. The driver drove in through the gate and the second vehicle followed few seconds later.
Pitt looked back for a while and did not notice any black vehicle coming in from behind their second vehicle. He was about to turn back to the front when the black corolla showed up.
“What the bleep!” He cursed under his breath.
The driver in Pitt’s car drove to a point in the garage and parked the car. The other vehicle stopped on the road, and without parking properly, the men in the vehicle backseat and passenger’s side stepped out of the vehicle with their guns and proceeded towards the slowly approaching Corolla.
The Corolla pulled to a halt immediately the driver saw the armed men. It went straight into the reverse mode and the men began to run towards it.
__
Samantha stepped on the brakes quickly as she saw the men step out of the car. Cole who was already expecting such movement had grabbed the seat for balance and wasn’t so affected by the sudden halt.
Samantha pulled the gear back and went backwards as she noticed the men coming closer.
Cole took off his seat belt quickly. He hung to the support at the top of the door and held his gun in the other hand.
__
“Leave the guys to handle them and let’s get out of here,” Pitt said to the guards in front after watching for some seconds. The driver pulled the car out of the parking space and turned into the other roadway which led out of the garage.
__
The men ran after the vehicle and stopped as they watch it try to swerve but crashed instead with the back into the roadway separation where some ornamental shrubs were planted. It damaged the boot of the vehicle and the windscreen.
The four men stopped at the front of the bonnet holding their guns and pointing at the car.
“Step out,” one of the men shouted to them.
A crowd of watchers began to gather around them.
The men stood careful where they were, without moving close to the car. They knew the occupants of the vehicle could have suffered something from the impact of the little crash but knew it wasn’t enough for them not to be able to try to fight or shoot.
No one stepped out of the vehicle for almost one minute and the men began to move closer to the vehicle slowly.
The car zoomed forward unexpectedly, hitting two of the men, one partially and the other one severely. The other ones who were at the sides were not touched by the car.
The window glass of the passenger’s side of the car wind down as the vehicle made a quick swerve again, with the boot side turning in the right direction and the front facing the gate. The right front tyre of the car crushed the body of the man who had been severely hit. The second man who had been hit managed to drag himself away on his butt to escape the vehicle from crushing him during the turn but he now right at the front of the vehicle in it’s new position.
Cole stretched out his gun and fired into the body of the man at his side. The other man who was not hit fired two shots at the car and it hit the windscreen but was repelled as it was bullet resistant, even though not strong enough to take more than four shots.
Samantha zoomed off immediately, hitting again the back of the second man who the car hit the first time as he couldn’t drag himself away fast enough. She sped crazily towards the gate and zoomed out without regarding any obstacle at the gate or any person there.
____
“I heard a gunshot, I hope it’s our men that shot that.” Pitt Raph said, looking back again as the car sped away. He turned back as he could no longer see the gate of the shopping center. “Call the police and ask them to interfere quickly.”
The man at the passenger’s side took out his phone immediately to carry out the order.
“Should we still go straight to the government house?” the driver asked as he glanced at Pitt.
“Yes, we’re so close already. I’ll be able to report to the Governor once we get there.” Pitt replied him.
Pitt Raph looked back again and couldn’t see anything or hear any sound again. He picked out his phone. The first person in his mind to call was Elvis Kahn. He had no idea why anyone would be after him and could only but remember that Hutton had predicted that Carl Winston could come for any of the men. He also now remembered that their FOX informant had reported that Carl Winston used the name “Michael” on the day the two major explosions were stopped.
He looked up as he dialed Kahn’s number. He saw that they were close to the government residential estate and they were just about fifteen minutes to the government house area where there would be full security. If the man after him was indeed the same Michael or Carl Winston, he knew his own men would not be able to hold him down for too long at the shopping center, but he was sure they could hold him long enough for him to get to a place of top security.
Kahn wasn’t answering his calls. He dialed a second time.
“Damn! We have another car following us,” the man at the passenger’s seat announced as they turned into another road.
Pitt glanced back immediately and saw another black vehicle which had just turned with them
Tbc
