Unedited
8:02 PM
Maria gets to her apartment to find the door opened. At first, she was surprised but then she remembered that Steve had mentioned on the phone that he would be coming over to discuss with her that night. It had to be Steve who got into her apartment already.
She picked the bags from the grocery store and pushed the door opened. Contrary to her expectation, the living room was dark and it seemed like no one was in the house. She turned on the lights and dropped the bags on the centre table.
“Steve,” she called out as she proceeded into the bedroom.
A hand touched her shoulder just as she reached for the switch on the wall.
“Steve! What the heck have…” she turned on the light and turned back to meet a surprise. It wasn’t Steve but someone else who looked familiar. “Who the f*** are you?”
She tried to fight him but he pinned her to the wall with his left arm on her shoulder region. He had his pistol kissing her belly.
“Hey, little agent,” Dave smirked, looking closely into her eyes. “Don’t recognize me?”
“Who the hell are you?” Maria scoffed.
“Will do you the honour of helping you remember,” Dave cleared his throat. “You’ve been running some checks on me recently. I and my late friend from Anthanna,” Dave paused as the expression on her face changed. “Remember me now?”
Maria stared at his face in disbelief. She now recognized him as the man whom Steve had asked to profile.
“Who the hell are you working for?” Dave questioned. He was quite sure she recognized him now.
“What do you want?” Maria questioned back, ignoring his question.
“I said whom the hell are you working for?”
“Let me go,” Maria tried to push him again but Dave’s arm kept her still. “You’re messing with the wrong person, dude. You can’t escape the death punishment if you ki*ll a FOX agent.”
“I don’t plan to ki*ll you, ma’am,” Dave fired back. “At least not yet. But I can make you bedridden for life with bullets in your legs.”
Maria forced in a deep breath. “Tell me what you want?”
“Tell me who the heck you work for and why you’re profiling me.”
“I work for the FOX, damn you.”
Dave smirked. “FOX agents don’t profile people illegally.”
“What?”
“What case are you profiling me for?”
“No case, I was helping a friend with an investigation,” she cried.
“And sending the profiles to a third party, right?”
Maria squeezed her face as her lips parted. “What third party?”
“Why the heck does Michael have my profile?”
A confused look appeared on Maria’s face.
“Will you f***ing answer me or I run a bullet into your leg?”
“He’s my superior and he’s got the authority to request information from me,” she replied. “I’m only giving him information that he requests.”
“That’s not what you’re doing, woman. You’re spying on another agent for him,” Dave slammed at her.
Maria looked stupefied. “Who the hell are you?”
“I thought you read my profile, how the hell are you asking me that?” Dave raised his pistol to her forehead. “Now, you’re gonna answer my question or not?”
Maria squinted at his face for a moment, debating within herself what next to do. She could see that his finger wasn’t so close to the trigger and she decided to take advantage of the situation. With all the strength she could muster, she pushed him away and tried to reach for her bag.
Unfortunately for Maria, Dave was also trained as her and wasn’t ready to let her go. Before she could reach her bag, he dragged her back and pushed her once again to the wall, following with two punches on her face.
“Arrgh!” She winced in pain as he returned her to the previous position.
“I don’t want to go rough with you, ma’am. Don’t force me to hit you again,” Dave warned.
“What the f*** do you want?” she yelled out of frustration.
“Let me know who the heck you work for?”
“I don’t work for anyone apart from the FOX. Agent Michael is blackmailing me with a secret and that’s why I’m giving him information concerning Steve’s requests,” she cried out.
Dave stared at her face for a while as if trying to read if she was saying the truth or not. After a few seconds, he released and stepped back.
Maria winced in pain and touched her nose with her palm to see if it was bleeding.
“Have you ever wondered why he wants to keep a record of Steve requests?” Dave questioned. He still had his pistol in his hand but was no longer pointing it at her.
“I don’t know,” she raised her face, still writhing in pain.
“It never occurred to you that Steve began to fail in his operations when you began to sell him out to Michael?”
Maria squinted at his face, wondering what he was talking about.
“You cloned Steve’s phone and he failed in a well-planned operation against the Red Wolves,” Dave explained. “He lost a bulk of his men and almost got killed himself. And that was because you helped Michael gain unnecessary access to his conversations.”
Maria was looking very confused now as she pondered on his words. She remembered how Steve had failed woefully in that mission. For the first time, she felt guilty about her actions. Her body became weak as she dropped slowly to the floor.
Dave moved nearer and squatted before her. “Who else did you send the profiles to, except for Michael and Steve.”
She shook her head. “No other person.”
“Maria,” a voice sounded at the entrance door after a knock. It was Steve’s voice.
“Look here,” Dave turned her face to him. “Make sure you don’t tell Steve about what you’ve done with Agent Michael.”
She stared at his face without replying
“Maria,” Steve’s voice sounded closer.
Dave looked towards the living room and then turned to her again. He whispered some more things to her before he got up to his feet. He uncocked his gun as he took back steps towards the window.
Maria raised her brows as she realized that he already planned his escape through the window.
– –
Steve called Maria’s name the second time and still didn’t get a response. He called her a third time as he proceeded slowly to the room.
He got in a few seconds later and found her sitting on the ground with her back against the wall.
“Maria!” he called in surprise as he placed a knee on the ground. “What happened to you?” He noticed the bruise from the punch on her face. He quickly looked around the room to see if there was something amiss but he couldn’t see anything. “Tell me what happened,” he urged.
“He was here,” Maria mouthed weakly.
“Who was here?” Steve squinted at her face. He turned around the room to check for signs of anyone but noticed nothing again.
“The guy, Dave Patrick,” she replied.
“What the f***!” Steve got up and pulled out his gun. He took another quick look around and that was when he noticed the window. He rushed to the place and noticed that it was opened. “He just left?” Steve rushed back to her.
She didn’t give an audible response but he could still tell that Dave must have just left. He rushed out of the house immediately and walked out through the gate immediately. However, he saw nothing except a car speeding off crazily. There was no way he could ascertain if it was Dave or not.
Maria was still sitting in the same position when he got back in. He pulled her up and helped her to the bed.
“Hey! We’re going to make him pay, alright?” he whispered to her.
Maria was silent.
“Hey,” he shook her gently. “Did he touch you anywhere else?”
She shook her head.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close. He had come there to question her and complain about how Evelyn got to know about the profiles she sent him. But knowing that Dave had come to attack her made him have a rethink. He began to wonder how else Evelyn could have found out.
Maria’s silence wasn’t helping matters. He needed to ask her what Dave said to her. But with her responses, it didn’t seem like she would give him the answers he needed. However, he decided to try.
“Did he say anything to you?” he whispered after a few minutes of hugging her closely.
She remained silent until he released her and stared closely at her face.
“Nothing,” she shook her head. She wished she could apologize to him about her alliance with Agent Michael but she remembered Dave had warned her not to in his final words to her. Besides, she couldn’t predict how Steve was going to react if she told him the truth.
“Nothing?” Steve stared at her face with a doubtful look.
“He wanted to know why you’re digging up his profile and he asked me not to give you information about him anymore,” she voiced.
“That’s all?” Steve’s eyebrows gathered together.
“He mentioned that he’s going to get me exposed for working with you if I continued,” she turned to stare at his face.
“How the hell is he going to do that?” Steve frowned.
“I don’t know,” she muttered.
“Oh, Evelyn!” Steve suddenly remembered and ran his fingers through his hair.
Maria frowned at him. “What does Evelyn have to do with this?”
He shook his head. “Nothing really. But she also found out that you dug out the profiles for me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know,” Steve shrugged. “I was actually hoping to question you about it today.”
She frowned harder. “Don’t tell me all this is about Evelyn. You’re still going after her?”
“No,” he shook his head. “That’s not it. Dave is Evelyn’s boyfriend and that’s what makes all these complicated.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“I don’t understand what’s going on here,” the corners of her eyes crinkled.
“Hey! Don’t bother about that for now,” he pulled her into a warm embrace. “You need to rest now.”
_____
09: 05 PM
Unknown Location
“Why the heck do we have to meet here?” Michael blurted out as he walked into a large open space with Seedorf by his side.
Hutton Ryker and Elvis Kahn were sitting at the centre of the open space with about ten men around them. There were two chairs placed in front of Hutton and Elvis, meant for Seedorf and Michael.
“Where were you expecting us to meet, Michael?” Hutton answered him. “You just escaped from Lion’s den and you want us to meet straight up at my powerhouse?”
“You think Carl Winston could have placed a bug on us?” Michael quizzed as they got closer.
“We’re going to confirm that by all means,” Hutton replied and then signalled to the men around them.
Four of the men stepped forward, two of them holding metal detectors with them.
“Do we really have to do this?” Michael scoffed as the men approached them. He and Seedorf stopped for the men to search them.
It took the men two minutes to search them. They found nothing like metals around them.
“We got away from Carl Winston, Hutton,” Michael remarked as they proceeded further.
Hutton signalled for them to sit on the chairs in front of them. “Tell us how it happened.”
“Seedorf has been captured there since last night,” Michael began. “So the ropes they used to tie him was already loose. He…”
“Tell us how it happened,” Hutton interrupted, turning his face to Seedorf.
“The ropes they used on me got weak. I was able to break free after struggling. I also set him free. We had them talking in a room when we escaped. They seemed to be too busy to check on us,” Seedorf explained.
Hutton turned to Michael with raised brows to confirm if Seedorf’s story was true. Michael shook his head.
“Why the bleep would you two think I would believe that,” Hutton slammed in anger and pulled out his pistol. He pointed it at Seedorf who raised both hands in the air in fright.
“I’m saying the truth, boss. That’s all that happened,” Seedorf pleaded.
“He’s saying the truth, Hutton,” Michael supported.
Hutton turned his gun to Michael who sighed and also raised his hands.
“There’s no way you could have gotten out of Carl Winston’s captivity without having been compromised or without a chip in your body,” Hutton insisted.
“Come on, there’s no chip in our body. They will have to put us to sleep for very long not to notice that a chip was implanted,” Michael defended himself.
“That’s true, Hutton,” Kahn put in calmly. “Carl did not have enough time to implant a chip into them.”
“Then, they must have been compromised,” Hutton glanced at Kahn.
“We are not compromised, Hutton. I have so much at stake already, why do you think I’ll turn to work against you?” Michael argued.
“You tell me, Michael,” Hutton narrowed his gaze on him. “Tell me what he promised you or what he threatened you with.”
“Nothing of such, Hutton. Believe me,” Michael insisted.
Hutton cocked his gun.
“You can’t ki*ll him, Hutton. We need him to complete the tasks,” Kahn tried to calm his friend.
“We’re almost done with our tasks and we can get Maria to do the rest,” Hutton replied to Kahn. “He doesn’t have any major part to play.”
“What? So you just gonna ki*ll me after everything I’ve done,” Michael let out his frustration.
An evil smile appeared on Hutton’s face.
—-
09:08 PM
“We really need a permanent place, guys,” Maxwell let out another complaint. “It’s quite tedious to change operation centres every time.”
They were in the sleeper bus again, moving to a different location after the escape of their captives. They were all awake, except for Evelyn who was fast asleep at a corner.
“We can’t have a permanent operation centre until we get done with our mission, Maxwell. That’s the sad truth,” Henry replied him. He paused to check the time on his wristwatch. “By this time, Hutton Ryker is probably wondering if we’re setting him up with his men or they really escaped. We made the escape difficult for them, so it’s going to be difficult for him to determine if it was an escape or we let them go.”
“I doubt he’s going to think we let them go,” Samantha put in.
“You can never tell, Sam. Hutton Ryker is an intelligent motherf***er.”
“Hey, we need to pick someone at the next junction,” Maxwell announced loudly for the driver to hear.
“Dave is close?” Samantha questioned him.
“Yeah,” Maxwell replied.
Henry took in a deep breath and exhaled. “In the next couple of days, Hutton Ryker would try to rush up his activities like never before. But we’re about to stop his moves even before they start.”
___
09:10 PM
El Deols, Anthanna
“Hey, babe. Are you sure everything is alright?” Adrian asked for the umpteenth time that night. She had her head resting on his laps in the three-seater sofa. He was gently caressing her cheeks as they discussed.
“I’m fine,” Sheila replied with a sigh.
“That doesn’t sound like you’re fine,” Adrian noted. “You know you can always talk to me, right?”
Sheila finally sat up and turned to face him. “I really need to get out of here. I feel like I’m imprisoned every day. There are so many tasks I need to do and can’t really get them done because I’m here. But my Dad never wants to understand.”
Adrian drew closer to her and grabbed her palms. “You know your Dad is only trying to keep you safe. And he won’t mind setting up everything you need here just to please you. Why not let him know what you need and he’ll set them up.”
“That’s going to take a long time and require so many people, Adrian. He doesn’t want that for me,” she complained.
Adrian sighed.
“There are times I need to visit government facilities but I can’t because the goddamn guards have been given a list of restricted areas I mustn’t get to,” Sheila continued. “It’s slowing down my life.”
“Isn’t it better to be slowed down than to die?” Adrian squinted at her. She hissed and turned away but he held her back. “That’s exactly what your Dad is trying to do. He doesn’t want to slow you down. He just wants to keep you safe.”
She turned away from him and continued to sulk.
“Hey! You know what? I think I’m going to try to talk to Mr Emery. Maybe he could let you visit some of those places with heavy security,” Adrian suggested.
Sheila turned immediately to him. “You’re really going to do that?”
“Yes,” he put on a light smile.
A smile appeared on her face but it quickly faded away. “I just hope he listens to you.”
“I’ll try my best to convince him,” Adrian reassured and pulled her closer for an embrace.
—
09:12 PM
Hutton finally uncocked the gun and returned to his seat. Both Michael and Seedorf sighed in relief.
“I won’t ki*ll you now, Michael. Until I confirm that you’ve been compromised.”
“I haven’t,” Michael retorted. “So, there’s nothing to find out.”
Hutton turned to Seedorf.
“I’m clean, boss,” Seedorf stated.
“I hope so,” Hutton faked a smile. “Now, let’s get back to what happened while you were there.”
He turned his eyes to Seedorf who began to explain how they questioned him. He mentioned details of how he was threatened with his baby mama and son but hid details of what he said to them. Hutton paid less attention to his explanation as Seedorf had very little information about their plans.
“What about you, Mike?” He turned to the FOX agent.
“Carl and his team have been able to decode some of the texts in those documents. But they are not certain about what the terms mean. They know about G63 but do not know the purpose or plan. He wanted me to tell them and he threatened to go after my kids but I found a way to distract him,” Michael began to explain his ordeal. “I told him how I got to make his car faulty to drive him home that night. I also lied to him that I installed cameras in his house. He lost it when I mentioned that we watched his wife scream his name loud while masturbating in the bathroom. He punched me hard and broke my nose,” he paused to touch his wounded face.
Hutton chuckled.
“I think he’s going to try to confirm if cameras were truly installed in the house,” Kahn put in.
“He’s definitely going to do that,” Hutton joined. “But I wonder what his reaction will be when he finds out that the cameras were installed by the one he trusts the most.”
There was silence for a couple of seconds.
“Carl knows at this time that I will want to go faster in my plans,” Hutton broke the silence. “Taking it slow isn’t an option because that would destroy our timetable. The only way to get it done is to take it faster than he expects. So, by tomorrow, we will set G6 in action.”
“Is there any chance that he will decode the meanings of the texts some other way?” Kahn asked.
“The only way is if he got something from our friend here,” Hutton replied and glanced at Michael.
“I just said I didn’t tell him anything,” Michael scoffed.
“I didn’t say you told him anything,” Hutton remarked. “But Carl Winston is intelligent. He gets the message even when you are not talking to him. That’s why it’s no longer safe to keep you two alive.”
Hutton took out his pistol again to the shock of everyone. He cocked it and fired a bullet into Seedorf’s chest before Kahn could protest. Then, he uncocked it and returned the gun into his pocket.
“That dude f***ing spoke to Carl Winston about what he knows,” Hutton said and got up to his feet. He turned to the men around and made a signal for them to clear the dead body. He then turned to Michael again. “You’re going back to the FOX tomorrow. You have an agenda to fulfil. Don’t mess it up.”
TBC