RESTLESS : The Hunt For Peace Episode 179

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Edited by Blessing Joy

Dave had his hand wrapped around Hakim’s neck from the back as he crushed his face against the wall, his right hand holding the pistol which kissed Hakim’s head by the side.

“I would ask for the last time and pull the trigger if you don’t talk,” Dave threatened Hakim again. “Where exactly is Hutton Ryker at the moment?”

“Just pull the f***ing trigger right away ‘cos I ain’t saying sh*t,” Hakim blurted out. “Whether you like it or not, Hutton Ryker would get back at you.”

In anger, Dave pulled Hakim back sharply and struck him on the head with the butt of the gun. Hakim scrambled to the floor helplessly.

On the other side was Samantha and Hakim’s girlfriend. Samantha had made the girl lie face flat on the floor and had a foot on her back to press her down. She had also threatened to shoot her if she looked up. Hence, Jane closed her eyes tightly and spread her hands wide as she was instructed.

“ki*ll the motherf****er and let’s leave here,” Samantha took a glance at Dave after she was done with extracting details from Hakim’s phone. She wiped the phone with a handkerchief before dropping it on the sofa just beside her. Then, she looked again to confirm that the girl wasn’t looking at her.

She dipped her hand into her pocket and took out another handkerchief. Then she bent down and placed it on Jane’s nose, forcing her to breathe in the scent until she became unconscious.

Dave cocked the gun and pointed it straight to Hakim’s forehead as the latter was trying to maintain his balance. Hakim had both knees and palms touching the floor.

“Hutton Ryker is closer than you ever think,” Hakim managed to voice out, still making efforts to delay Dave as much as he could. “Right here in Benuit, he would hit you when you least expect it.”

Dave squinted at his face, still pointing the gun at the forehead and yet to sh00t.

“We have to leave here, Dave,” Samantha reminded him again, looking worried that Dave was still delaying.

“He’s trying to say something about Hutton Ryker,” Dave replied and stared at her stubbornly.

****

Back at the hotel

“Hey, boss,” Maxwell greeted as he walked into the operation center.

“Welcome, how did it go?” Henry turned and gazed at Maxwell. He had just returned from the dinner date and was still dressed in his clothes.

“It was perfect,” Maxwell replied. “She promised she’ll take me somewhere better tomorrow.”

“Hmmm, sounds cool,” Henry chuckled, nodding slowly. “And what did you discuss, was she free with you?”

“Yes, she was,” Maxwell answered as he took a seat. Henry also turned back to the system. “But she said nothing that I didn’t know already. She talked about the divorce, her ex, her child, and…”

Maxwell paused as he noticed Henry’s demeanor had changed. He moved closer and peered at the system. “What’s happening with Samantha and Dave?”

Henry delayed for some seconds before he replied. “They’re supposed to have killed Hakim and left already, I don’t know what the heck they’re still doing in the building,” he said with a glance at Maxwell.

^^^^

The men hurried up the stairs, ignoring every distraction on the way and with their minds fixed on getting to the sixth floor. The leader of the group followed behind and only he waited every time he came across anyone on the stairs or noticed anybody on the lower floors. Yet, more of his focus was getting to the sixth floor quickly.

They slowed down on approaching the sixth floor, to reduce the noise made by their footsteps. The leader who had been following from the back stepped forward to lead them to the third apartment.

He pulled out his gun and signaled for two others to take out theirs. They marched slowly until they got to the door and stopped.

Gently, he placed his ears close to the door, trying to note strange sounds from the room. He turned back to his men with a blank gaze as he didn’t hear anything. Then, he nodded sideways towards the door to signal that they were going in.

He turned the knob slowly and the door gave way easily. Swiftly, he pushed the door and entered, pointing his gun around. Two of his men followed suit, with their guns pointed in readiness.

But they saw no one, except for Hakim was sprawled on the floor, after being shot twice in his belly.

Flashback ˞˞ 115 seconds earlier

“We have to leave here, Dave,” Samantha reminded him again, looking worried that Dave was still delaying.

“He’s trying to say something about Hutton Ryker,” Dave replied and stared at her stubbornly.

“You can’t stop Hutton,” Hakim continued breathlessly. It seemed to him that his ploy to delay them was working and he decided to try more. “He’s going to take every city of this goddamn nation and nobody can stop him.”

Dave continued to listen to him with interest while Samantha stared at him viciously. When she saw that Dave was not ready to leave, she pulled out her gun and cocked it. But before she could shoot Hakim, Dave fired two bullets into Hakim’s belly himself.

“You don’t have a f***ng silencer,” Dave slammed at her. “You would have caused a lot of noise.”

“We have to leave here now,” she growled and returned her gun into her pocket after uncocking it.

She stepped out of the room first and he followed immediately. They walked together down the stairs until they got to the fourth floor. They were about to enter the stairs to the third floor when Samantha heard sounds of footsteps and voices. She held Dave’s hand to stop him from proceeding.

“I think we’ve got company,” she cautioned, staring into his eyes.

Dave also paused for a minute and was able to hear the footsteps. He pulled out his gun and dragged Samantha quickly to him to the door of the first apartment. Luckily, the door opened as he turned the knob of the door and there was no need to use the gun. He stepped in and dragged Samantha with him.

They walked in to meet a little girl sitting in the living room and she stared at them in surprise, wondering who they were. Samantha managed to put a smile on and waved at her.

Dave handed his gun to her quickly and took off his shirt. He also unbuckled the belt of his trousers.

“Hide that, I’m getting out now, I’m stepping out now, I’ll tap the door when you should follow.”

With that, Dave stepped out of the apartment shirtless. It was at the same time, the men had climbed up to the floor and were proceeding to the stairs which led to the upper floor. Dave stopped in front of the door like he was in his apartment and took his time to buckle his belt.

The last of the men stopped on the floor for a moment to stare at Dave. He watched him putting on his shirt and took him for an occupant of the house. So he proceeded without a second thought.

Without turning back, Dave tapped the door with his hand to give Samantha the signal. He then began to proceed towards the stairs. He stopped when he got there and confirmed that none of the men had waited. Then he turned back and beckoned on Samantha to join him.

PRESENT

Hakim was still breathing as much as he could, even after being shot twice in his belly. His vision was blurry already but he could still see a face, standing just above him.

“He’s alive,” the leader of the team who had drawn near to Hakim noticed and bent down quickly. He placed a knee to the ground and raised Hakim’s head slightly. Blood spilled out of Hakim’s mouth down his hand. “We’ve got to get you treatment.”

“No,” Hakim coughed out blood. “I can’t survive this,” he coughed more and struggled to hold the guy’s hand. “They just left, a guy and a lady. They couldn’t have left this building yet.”

“Call Doctor Lewis, and let him meet us up with his ambulance,” the man said to one of his partners, without listening to Hakim. By the time, he turned back Hakim was already closing his eyes. “Hold on, Hakim. You can make it, Hakim.”

Hakim’s eyes closed and he breathed his last.

“Shi*t!” The man cursed as he lowered Hakim’s head slowly. “We’ve got to get those motherf***ers!” He said with his fist clenched and his teeth gritted. He cocked his gun and then stormed out of the door, followed by the other men.

“His girlfriend wasn’t killed,” one of the men who had gone further into the living room announced as they rushed towards the stairs. “We’ll come back for her. We can’t let those motherfu***rs get away with Hakim’s murder.”

The men rushed down the stairs quickly. In about a minute they got to the ground floor and rushed towards the gate.

“A guy and a girl just left here now, they killed someone inside,” one of the men stopped to tell the security guards at the gate while the others rushed out.

“What?” The security man exclaimed and stepped out of his cubicle. He remembered seeing Dave and Samantha walking out in a rush a few seconds earlier. “They just left right now, they brought a black car,” he said as he followed them out of the gate to the road.

“What kind of car did they bring with them?” he was asked.

The other men rushed into their car while only one remained to listen to the security guard describing the car.

Without saying thank you, he turned and walked to his car after he got the description.

“Who was killed?” the security man asked but got no answers as the man rushed to join the others.

_

“Hakim died before we got there,” the leader of the men was saying to Hutton on phone as he entered the car. “We’re about to follow the bastards now.”

Just as he finished speaking, sounds of police sirens began to approach. Their car was yet to leave the position.

“Don’t go after them?” He could hear Hutton say.

“F***! The police are here already,” he cursed.

“Don’t follow them, just get back here as soon as possible.”

____

“Seen them following us?” Samantha asked, looking back from where she sat.

“No,” Dave glanced at his side mirror. “But we still got to change this car.”

“I’ve not seen them either,” Samantha asked, as she turned her attention forward. She took a glance at the side mirror by her side as she observed something.

“Did you call the police?” Dave questioned her. He had also heard the police siren.

Samantha glared at him. “How the heck would I have called the police?”

“Then, what the f*** am I hearing?”

“I can hear it too,” Samantha stated. “Maybe Henry did.”

“He’s trying to set us up or what?”

“Why the hell would he set himself up?” Samantha scoffed. “Looks like you’ve not been thinking lately.”

Dave glanced at her.

“He probably called them to distract Hutton’s men,” she guessed aloud.

Dave did not reply.

“And why the heck did you delay killing him? The instruction was to ki*ll him and not listen to anything he had to say about Hutton. He most likely wouldn’t have told us anything true.”

He glared at her. “Of course, I know that. I wanted to give him a sense Of victory.”

“A sense of victory?” Samantha frowned at him.

“Yea, the assh**e was saying nothing in particular. He was just trying to delay us with his long talks, so I made him think it was working.”

“You almost got us into trouble because you wanted to play along with him? There could have been more bloodshed,” Samantha stared at him with unbelieving eyes.

Dave gave a cynic smile. “Sometimes, the adrenaline rush you get from danger is what makes the tasks exciting. Imagine if we had killed him and got out of the place easily. It would have been boring as hell.”

“Damn! You’re unbelievable,” Samantha scoffed.

Dave chuckled and a smile appeared on his face.

“And why did you sh00t in the belly instead of his head?” Samantha questioned again.

“He can’t survive those gunshots,” Dave glanced at her.

“You can never be so sure,” Samantha fired back.

“You know he can’t survive and that’s why you’re so relaxed,” he smirked. “You could have shot him after I did if you thought he had a chance of surviving.”

“Yeah, but shooting him in the head was a better decision.”

“Naah,” Dave shook his head. “If I did that, he would be dead before the men got into the apartment. But leaving him alive would be a form of distraction to them.”

“Oh!”

“Yea,” Dave cleared his throat. “They gonna wonder if they should try to save his life first or come after us. That way, they won’t come after us as fast as they should.”

Samantha sighed and shook her head without saying any other thing. They drove in silence for about five minutes before Dave spoke again.

“Looks like the police officers weren’t coming for us, can’t hear the sirens anymore,” he said, looking into the rearview mirror, then the side mirror.

“Can’t hear them either,” Samantha remarked, putting her earpiece back on.

___

55 Minutes later

Samantha and Dave walked back into the suite in changed clothes. They met Maxwell sitting at the lounge, playing a game with a tablet device while eating plantain chips from a small paper box.

“Hey guys, how did it go?” Maxwell asked them, without taking his eyes off from his device.

“Smooth,” Samantha replied and settled on a sofa beside him. She stretched to take the box of chips from him and he didn’t resist.

“Have you guys had dinner already?”

“I ate dinner before I got back here, but I think the boss ordered something for all of us,” Maxwell replied.

“I need to eat right away,” Dave was about to get up from his seat when Henry walked in.

“Guys, why did you take so long to get out of that building?” Henry asked, staring directly at Samantha before he moved his gaze to Dave. Again, he turned to Samantha and noticed she was staring at Dave.

“Dude was stubborn,” Dave replied. “He hid a gun somewhere and tried to fight us,” he lied.

Henry turned to look at Samantha as if to confirm if Dave was saying the truth.

“Yeah, he was stubborn but he got two bullets in his belly eventually,” Samantha supported.

Henry nodded. “Great job, and hope you ensured nobody followed you?”

“Yeah, no one followed,” Dave answered.

“Good,” Henry remarked and then turned around to sit down. “Now that we’ve been able to distract Hutton by taking down his man, he going to try to make us think he isn’t shaken by it. So we should expect some explosions soon.”

Maxwell chuckled and dropped his device, finally looking up since Dave and Samantha got in.

“But that’s for the FOX to deal with. Our main concern now is tracing Hutton,” Henry paused and looked at Samantha. “Did you get anything from his phone?”

“Yes, I did,” Samantha replied.

“Good, that should give us the next person to work on.”

To be continued.