Unedited
Jennifer who watched as Florence held Samantha’s neck realized that they had no chance against the woman. She decided to pick a gun and end the fight immediately.
She rushed to the spot where they had kept their pistols and picked one of them. Before turning to point the gun, Florence had also brought out a gun hidden behind her.
Jennifer had yet to pull the trigger when the bullet from Florence hit her.
“Noooooooo!” Samantha screamed and quickly pulled out the gun she hid behind her.
But Florence was quick enough to turn and fire first at her. The bullet hit Samantha and got her crashing against the wall again.
Florence glanced at Jennifer’s body before walking closer to Samantha. She had fired her gun so quickly that she wasn’t sure where the bullet hit.
A devilish smile appeared on her face as she confirmed that Samantha was still alive. She pointed her pistol straight to Samantha’s head.
“You cheated,” Samantha spat out in desperation.
“Your partner cheated first,” Florence replied. “She went to pick the gun.”
“You had a spare gun with you and asked us to drop all our guns.”
“You also had a spare gun hidden behind. I always knew you were wiser and sharper than your partner. It’s just a pity that you two are going together,” Florence let out an evil grin.
___
“Stop playing hanky panky, Mr Mensah. We know you’re there. Why not just step out and make things easier for all of us?” One of the assassins spoke in an attempt to get Mensah to talk and confirm if he was hiding directly behind the door.
Mensah seemed to understand what he was trying to do and stayed quiet. He tried to peep from the space between the door and the wall to see where they were standing. But they weren’t close to where he could aim at even if he could sh00t through the door.
He was still thinking of the next step to take when a bullet hit the door. He stared at the door in shock and stepped back slowly. A bullet hit it the second time. He noticed it was the same spot the shooter was targeting.
It was a steel door, so the first and second bullets did not penetrate. However, Mensah knew that a hole would soon be created at the spot as long as the shooter keeps aiming there. He knew they were trying to get him to step out.
He continued stepping back till he got to the wall. He took out the phone Henry borrowed from him and opened the call register quickly. His eyes remained fixed to the door and his gun raised.
Apart from the FOX number he’d called, there was only one additional number. He instantly knew it was the one with which he spoke to Mark earlier. He dialled it, hoping he will be able to connect to Carl or his team members.
–
The two men were still outside, trying to make the right time to get in. One of them was shooting at the door while the other stood at the entrance, waiting to get in.
The shooter fired the fourth shot and it created the desired hole on the door surface. The men exchange glances and made non-verbal signals. At the fifth shot, the one at the entrance will be stepping in.
He finally fired the fifth time but two gunshots sounded immediately. The shooter was surprised to see his partner going down. A bullet had gotten in through his back. He turned with his gun to the direction where the bullet came from. Before he could pull the trigger, a bullet ran into his chest.
Henry proceeded quickly to the entrance of Paul’s room and stopped to confirm if both men were dead. He fired a bullet each into their bodies to prevent experiencing an unexpected resurrection.
“Are you okay?” He asked Mensah as he proceeded into the room.
Mensah heaved a sigh of relief and lowered his gun. “Yeah, I’m fine. What’s happening?”
“I’ve got some men outside keeping the Red Wolves backup from gaining access into the hotel building, but they’ll be leaving now since your FOX men have arrived,” Henry replied and then stretched out his hand to collect the phone.
“It could still be useful for me,” Mensah protested, wanting to keep the device.
“No, it won’t be. Your men are close to the hotel gate already. That means the Red Wolves would retreat.”
Mensah reluctantly handed the phone to him. “What about the other executives, are they safe?”
“We only know about Agent Mark, two of my men have gone to get him to safety,” Henry replied. “The rest of your men did not follow our instructions. They’re most likely dead already.”
“We need to confirm and help them if need be,” Mensah argued.
“No, it’s too late to help anyone now,” Henry replied. “You need to come with me now or stay here and expect more killers to come for you.”
Henry proceeded to the door and Mensah followed quickly. He stopped briefly on hearing Maxwell’s voice.
“Dave and Evelyn have gotten away, the surviving Red Wolves member are trying to escape too. The FOX has arrived at the gate,” Maxwell reported.
“What’s the progress with Sam and Jenny? Ask them and let me know?” Henry said after turning on his mouthpiece briefly. He turned and signalled to Mensah. “Let’s go.”
Henry and Mensah stepped out of the room and advanced towards the stairs. Henry was on the half landing of the stairs when Maxwell reported.
“Can’t reach the two girls, their mouthpieces are off but they’re still both connected.”
“When last did you hear from them?” Henry asked and continued down the stairs.
“About four minutes ago before they got into the room,” Maxwell replied.
Henry stopped again to think. If they’d gotten to the room four minutes ago and still couldn’t respond to Maxwell, that could mean they were in trouble.
He heaved a sigh and looked at Mensah’s face. For a second, he wasn’t sure of what to instruct Mensah. Then, he remembered that Mensah wasn’t just an ordinary man he was trying to protect, he was the FOX chairman. He took out an extra pistol and handed it to him.
“We need to go check out Agent Mark now.”
__ ______
Hutton, Kahn, and Chanda were still wide awake at their end, monitoring the progress of their men.
Kahn was now sitting in front of the laptop, watching the live feeds from the hotel area. Hutton was standing behind him. He had a wired headset covering his ears and a microphone close to his lips.
“Retreat, guys. The FOX has arrived at the hotel already,” Hutton said into the microphone.
“Damn!” Kahn cursed and clapped his hands angrily. He got up from the seat. “I told you before that we’re f***ed. You seem to depend on luck so much.”
“There ain’t luck here, man,” Hutton replied to Kahn, looking unbothered. He sat on the seat Kahn had just gotten up from. “We’re facing a crazy opponent. We don’t expect things to go so easily.”
“If Carl Winston himself is in that building, how are we sure Florence Brown and her men can ki*ll him?” Chanda dropped the cigar he was smoking at the corner and approached them.
“Florence was sent to either conclude the mission or hurt Carl Winston’s team, not to ki*ll him,” Hutton answered.
“What greater hurt can she do to his team than killing him?” Chanda squinted at Hutton’s face.
“You’re right about that,” Hutton turned to him for a second. “But giving her instructions to ki*ll him would have been giving her a heavy task which she might end up failing.”
“I f***ing hope she would just ki*ll him!” Kahn yelled. “He needs to stop getting in our way.”
__
“Enjoy hell, b*tch,” Florence was about to fire the shot when Agent Mark struck her from the back with the glass footstool. She let out a loud groan but her finger pulled the trigger nonetheless. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground weakly. Samantha was lucky as the bullet narrowly missed her forehead.
Mark watched Florence crash to the ground and quickly rushed to pick one of the guns at the entrance. But two bullets flew past his front and he stopped to take cover behind the small refrigerator instead. He peeped to see that Florence had managed to sit up quickly, even though she was still in pain.
“Carl Winston and Chairman Mensah on your way,” a communicator sounded loud on Florence’s body. “They killed Agents Xavier and Broderick.”
“Damn! Those two motherf***ers!” Florence cursed under her breath. Even though she had longed to meet with Carl, the time was no longer right. She knew it would be game over for her if he met her there. She was not only outnumbered but now weak. “I’m coming now,” she tapped a button on her walkie talkie and spoke into it.
___
“I’ve got video coverage back,” Maxwell announced as Henry and Mensah got down the stairs and rushed into the floor where Mark’s room was.
“What do you see?” Henry asked.
“Nothing,” Maxwell replied. “The cameras only cover the hallway. I can’t see what’s going on in the room but I can tell that the door is opened. There are guns on the floor too. Oh! I can see you and Chairman Mensah now.”
“Keep your eyes open,” Henry replied and then slowed down as they got closer to the open room.
He signalled to Mensah to cover up for him before he quickly walked past the door to the other side. He saw the guns on the floor and also someone he suspected to be his team member on the floor. His heart skipped a beat. He nodded as a signal for them to go in and Mensah stepped in first. Henry followed. They got in to see Agent Mark at the window shooting a gun.
“Jesus Christ!” Henry exclaimed on seeing Jennifer on the floor. He rushed to her and placed a knee on the ground to access the injury. The bullet had gone into her belly.
Mark turned with his gun immediately he noticed people had entered the room. He heaved a sigh of relief on seeing Mensah.
“Thank God you’re here,” Mark gasped. “She just got out through the window. There was a rope here all the while. I guess they positioned it here earlier to enhance their escape.”
“Don’t give in, Jennifer,” Henry voiced as he covered the bleeding place with his palm. He looked away for a second to find Samantha. He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw her. She also looked hurt but not as bad as
“She needs an ambulance. I need your phone to make the call and we’ll have them here in 20 minutes,” Mensah offered.
“There’s no need for that, we’ve got first aid equipment here,” Henry refused the offer.
“She’s bleeding badly, she needs a doctor,” Mensah insisted.
“And I said we’ve got first aid equipment to treat her here,” Henry rebuffed, staring at the Mensah’s face with a firm gaze. “I’m not handing any of my men to the FOX.”
Mensah heaved a sigh and stepped back. He could understand why Henry was rejecting his help.
“Holy sh*t!” Mark cursed as he saw Henry’s face closely for the first time. He turned to Mensah with his eyes widened in surprise. “What the f*** is happening here and who is this?” He asked and then turned again to stare at Henry’s face.
“Just stay calm, Jenny,” Henry said to her as he carried her in his arms and rose to his feet. Jennifer’s eyes were open but she felt too weak to talk. Samantha was already approaching them with her hand covering her shoulder wound. “Are you okay, Sam?” Henry asked.
“Uhm… At least I’m better than Jennifer,” Samantha replied. “We need to get help for her right away.”
Henry turned to leave the room but Mensah blocked his way.
“You need to let us help you, Carl. You need to come to the FOX and let’s follow the due process,” Mensah prayed.
“The FOX has never gotten the due process, Mr Mensah. Please, step aside,” Henry replied.
Mensah stepped aside and let Henry walk past with Samantha.
“What the heck is happening here?” Mark grabbed Mensah and stared at his face. “Is that not Carl Winston?”
Mensah seemed hesitant to reply for a while. “Yes, he is.”
“What the f***! How is he f***ing alive?”
“I don’t know man. Apparently, he’s been alive all this while and has been going after the Red Wolves. He’s been working with Agent Evelyn Alexandra,” Mensah explained.
“And why in the world didn’t she tell us?”
“He must have asked her not to,” Mensah answered. “Paul Edwards must have also known that he was alive, that was the secret between him and Evelyn.”
“Damn!” Mark ran his fingers through his hair and puffed out air from his mouth. “Things are getting more confusing.”
“I don’t understand everything yet but we’ll find out,” Mensah placed a hand on Mark’s shoulder and then peeped into the corridor. “We’ve got to leave here first before anyone comes trying to ki*ll us again.”
Mensah proceeded out of the room but stopped when he noticed that Mark wasn’t following him.
“What about that woman? She was here to ki*ll me but those ladies came in timely,” Mark questioned. “She only left after getting information that you and Carl were on your way here.”
“We’ll find her later, man. We’ve got to go now,” he nodded forward for them to move and Mark finally followed.
___
Maxwell got up from his seat quickly to take out the first aid box immediately after receiving the instruction from Henry. He began to take out the equipment he knew they would need.
Three minutes later, Henry and Jennifer got into the room. Jennifer was already unconscious.
Henry placed her on the floor quickly and then applied pressure with both palms on the hole.
“Jennifer, are you with me?” He asked when he noticed she was unconscious.
“She’s still breathing,” Samantha answered after checking.
“Get me the tourniquet,” Henry instructed as he placed Jennifer on her left side and bent the left leg at a right angle.
___
Mensah and Mark got to the hotel reception seven minutes later, holding guns in their hands. The receptionist quickly hid behind the desk while the five security officials at the hotel came out surrounding them with guns.
Mensah and Mark raised their hands in surrender. “My name is Mensah Agyeman. I’m the FOX chairman,” he introduced.
The security guards began to lower their guns one after the other as they recognized him. But they all looked surprised to see him in the hotel. One of the security guards who seemed to be their leader walked up to Mensah.
“Why are the doors locked?” Mensah asked the security guard.
“Some of your men asked us to lock all exits,” the guard answered.
“Open up the exits now,” Mensah instructed. “We have FOX men outside the premises and we want them in.”
Mensah then turned to the receptionist who was now on her seat again. “Where’s the manager of this place?”
“There,” the receptionist pointed to the security stand.
Mensah turned to see a man already walking towards him. “Have you used the alarms today?”
“Yes, we instructed everyone to stay indoors, no matter what happens,” the manager replied.
“Now, you’re gonna use the alarms again and instruct everyone to get down here in ten minutes maximum. We got some members of the Red Wolves in this hotel and we’ve got to fish them out.” Mensah ordered. “Activate the lifts to make movements easy.”
“Understood, sir,” the manager answered and went on to carry out the instruction.
Mark moved closer to Mensah. “What are you trying to do?” He whispered. “Get Carl to come down.”
“Something like that,” Mensah whispered back to him and turned again to the receptionist. “I need a phone.”
The receptionist quickly took out a phone and handed it to him. Mensah and Mark proceeded towards the door as all the exits had now been unlocked.
“Here’s Mensah Agyeman,” he voiced into the phone and also mentioned his code number to confirm his identity. “Connect me to the Agent in charge of the operation at Venig Hotel.”
“Right away, sir,” the voice replied and the line went silent for about fifteen seconds.
“Mr Chairman, Agent Steve in charge of the operations,”
“Oh, Steve! Great,” Mensah exclaimed. “What’s the situation out there?”
“We arrived to meet more than 25 dead bodies. Some men were at the entrance and tried to exchange gunshots with us. We brought every one of them down. All of our men are unharmed. We’ve been waiting for your orders.”
“Good job, Steve. We need men to get in here right now. We’re going to comb the whole of the hotel. I think we’ve got some Red Wolves men on the premises. We’ve also got Evelyn’s men in the building, we should take them in for questioning.”
“Coming in with the men, sir,” Steve replied.
Mensah turned his gaze to Mark and found him staring in confusion.
“Still yet to grasp what the heck is happening here?” Mark gasped. “Some people just tried to ki*ll us and some unknown people appeared to help us. Now, Carl Winston is also suddenly back from the dead.”
“That’s exactly why we need to bring in Carl Winston for questioning. That’s the only way we’re gonna get the answers we need.”
___
“Boss, they’ve just unlocked all the exits. I think they’re planning to come in,” Maxwell said to Henry who was still busy with Jennifer. He turned back to his computer and switched the cameras. “The FOX officials outside are using their helmets and shields as expected.”
He took his attention off Jennifer for a moment. At first, he seemed lost but was eventually able to gather his thoughts together.
“How is your shoulder, does it hurt?” He asked Samantha who was trying to fix up herself.
“Yeah, it hurts but I can manage,” she replied.
“Get on the FOX uniform right away,” Henry ordered and then turned to Maxwell. “Connect with Evelyn and Dave, and place it on loudspeakers.”
“Right away, boss,” Maxwell acted on the instructions immediately. He got them connected in ten seconds.
“Evelyn, Dave, can you hear me?” Maxwell asked.
“Yeah, we’ve changed into the FOX wears and with the other FOX officials outside. Chairman Paul Edwards is here with us,” Dave’s voice came in reply.
Maxwell glanced at Henry and saw him busy attending to Jennifer.
“Just hold on, the boss is gonna speak to you in a moment,” Maxwell said to stall them.
“Dave,” Henry called in a loud voice after some seconds.
“I’m listening to you boss,” Dave replied from the other end.
“We’re making some changes to escape plan 2,” Henry got up briefly to concentrate on the call. “It looks like the FOX is gonna conduct a search operation in the hotel…”
The hotel alarm went off at that moment, distracting Henry. The landline in the hotel also began to ring.
Henry looked back to check Samantha and found her still dressing. She seemed to be struggling because of the injury.
“Answer that,” Henry nodded to Maxwell. “Hold on, Dave.”
Maxwell picked the receiver and placed it close to his ears without saying anything. He dropped it five seconds later after listening to a prerecorded voice asking all hotel guests to proceed to the reception.
“They want everyone out now,” Maxwell gasped, his eyes full of fear as he stared at Henry.
“Dave,” Henry continued with the call. “Agent Mensah will be looking out for us downstairs and he’s gonna ask them to conduct a search if he doesn’t find us among the guests that step out…”
“I thought we agreed that Maxwell was going to step out if anything of such happens,” Dave interjected. “As long as he steps out they won’t have any reason to search that room.”
“If they don’t find us, they’re gonna search, Dave.”
“What about the FOX overalls we brought along?” Dave asked.
“Things have changed, Dave,” Henry sighed and glanced at unconscious. “Jennifer has got a bullet in her belly. She can’t get dressed and I can’t too.”
“Damn!” They heard Dave and Evelyn both curse together.
“You need us to come in and be the ones to search your rooms, isn’t it?” Evelyn asked.
“Yes, if you two are the agents that search our rooms, I can stay here with Jennifer till we’re able to get out.”
“Is there anything else you need us to do?” Evelyn asked.
“Keep your communicators on always,” Henry concluded and then walked back to Jennifer.
“Will she survive this?” Samantha questioned, staring down at Jennifer.
“We need to get out of here and get her medical attention quickly,” Henry replied.
____
25 Minutes later
The hotel reception was filled with almost 250 people. They had over 150 guests, and the rest security guards and other workers of the hotel. Among the guests were married couples and their kids, unmarried couples, and other visitors. About 50 FOX agents were at the entrance.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for having to disturb your night. But you must have heard the sounds of gunshots that have been on for more than an hour. Unfortunately, we have members of the Red Wolves lodging in here tonight and we need to fish them out. For this reason, I’ll ask that you submit the keys to your rooms to the FOX agents closer to you. We’ll have to search every available room in this hotel,” Mensah announced. “We promise that everything in your room will remain intact, except if we find anyone hiding there or other suspicious elements.”
Immediately, the FOX agents stepped in and began to demand the keys from each guest. The murmurings
“What are you doing, Chairman?” Mark whispered again.
“Carl Winston isn’t here with the guests. I’m sure he’s not going to listen to the sound of that alarm. We need to check all the rooms if we want to find him,” Mensah explained to Mark. He turned to the manager. “You have 91 rooms out of 150 booked right?”
“Yes,” the manager nodded.
“We also need to search the unbooked rooms, prepare the keys,” Mensah demanded.
“Sir, this is a violation of the privacy of our guests, we can’t…” the manager tried to argue but Mensah shut him up.
“Red Wolves agents are in your hotel, man. You want an explosion here or do you want us to violate their privacy?”
The manager heaved a sigh of frustration and walked away to get the order done.
“Do you remember that Carl has got someone dying on his team?” Mark again came to whisper to Mensah.
“Then, he should stop being stubborn and allow her to take her in our ambulance,” Mensah replied adamantly. “This is our chance of getting to know whatever is happening with the Wolves and fixing it. We’re not leaving here except Carl goes with us. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. We just have to be patient, he’s gonna come out soon to save the life of that girl.”
Maxwell was also in the reception hall with the guests. His heart had begun to beat faster since the FOX chairman made his announcement. He had expected that the FOX agents will search them first before proceeding to the rooms. But they were going straight to search the rooms instead.
He knew that Evelyn and Dave were among the FOX agents but his challenge was identifying them since all of them had protective helmets on.
“Can I have your keys?”
The moment Maxwell dreaded finally came. He had the keys in his pocket but pretended not to hear the agent standing in front of him.
“Can I have your keys?” the FOX agent reiterated but Maxwell stood firmly without responding.
“We’ve got someone resisting here?” The FOX agent announced loudly.
TBC
