Unknown Location,
Bethanna.
“You called for me,” Hutton said as he marched slowly towards her.
“I’ll tell you all you need to know about Carl Winston,” she said.
Hutton squinted at her, he suspected she was planning something fishy.
“Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
“I don’t know what you plan to do, but I’d rather give out information about Carl Winston that letting three hundred people die through my hands.”
Hutton chuckled.
There was a long silence. Hutton kept a mischievous smile on his face while keeping his eyes still on her face.
“So,” he chuckled again and took a step forward. He pulled the empty chair and sat in front of her. “How foolish do you think I am?” he asked with a devilish smile.
She squinted at him.
“You suddenly changed your mind few hours to an intended bomb attack which you are supposed to carry out, and you expect me to believe you, you now want to give me the information I have.”
“I ain’t trying to deceive you,” she replied him calmly. “I’ll give you all information I have about Carl Winston.”
“Come on,” he shook his head. “Carl Winston isn’t stupid and I ain’t stupid either. You’ve been abducted for three days and you think you still have enough information about Carl?”
He paused and chuckled. He shifted his knees and leaned forward. “Don’t be stupid. Right now you no longer have useful knowledge about Carl Winston anymore, he must have changed everything you know.” he said and leaned back again. “I needed you to tell me that first day but you refused, now you are useless both to me and Carl Winston, and that’s why I’ve decided to use you to kill three hundred people tomorrow.”
Samantha let out a breath in frustration, leaving her mouth slightly gapped in frustration. She was baffled and the look on Hutton’s face made her confusion even worse. He had answered her intelligently contrary to the response she was hoping to get from him.
“But I can still help you to get him?”
Hutton raised his brows at her, he had a mocking smile on his face. “How?”
“I can contact him and make him come to your desired location,” Samantha replied.
Hutton stared at her and then burst into brief laughter. “Come on, you look intelligent to me but you’re sounding so dull already. I guess you’re being affected by the time spent in solitude.”
“I’m serious, I can come up with a good plan that’ll bring Carl Winston to you.”
The smile on Hutton’s face slowly vanished. “You sound serious,” he cleared his throat. “You really wanna do this?”
“Yes, if you’d give me till tomorrow morning. I’ll come up with a plan that would bring Carl Winston to you,” Samantha said enthusiastically, feeling relieved that he was taking her more seriously now.
He stared down for a while but kept taking glances at her, he seemed to be considering her offer. He fixed his eyes on her face again and a mocking smile began to slowly form on his face.
“It’s too late dear, even if you’ve got the best plan, it’s too late.”
She stared at his face, wondering why he thought it was too late.
Hutton raised his hand and checked the time on his wristwatch. He looked sideways to one of the men there. “When did she eat?”
The man also checked his time. “About ten minutes ago,” he replied.
Hutton turned back to Samantha and made a devilish grin. “It’s too late,” he said and blinked.
“What do you mean?” She squinted at him and then glanced at the face of the man standing at the right hand side. At the same moment, she began to feel some signs of dizziness. “What did you put in the food?”
“Oh! Nothing was put in the food,” Hutton answered. “I thought you probably would not like to take the food, so I asked them not to put anything into the food but into the water.”
Samantha widened her eyes at him. Her vision began to get blurry but she struggled to keep her eyes open.
She could still see him faintly smiling and shaking his head slowly.
“Never mind, you ain’t going to die yet, until tomorrow and the whole world would know you as a terrorist.”
She heard his voice sound like echoes from a distant as her eyes closed forcefully. Her head fell backwards.”
“Get ready, we move very soon.” Hutton said to the men after getting up from his seat. He turned and walked out of the room.
___
FOX Underground Facility,
EPA Hill, Bexford.
“I asked him to transmit the data he has already but I don’t think there’s anything he has that can be useful for tonight.” Steve said to Evelyn as they walked hurriedly side by side through the large office filled with people.
The office that night was busy as the day time and even busier. All the FOX officials at the headquarters that had closed from the day had been called back to return to the office including the ones on leave and the ones off duty that day. Some of the agents were sitting in their seats and busy with their computer while the others had been deployed to specific areas and points in town for proper security. A group of men had already left minutes ago and others were rushing to the arsenal to equip themselves before leaving.
“We might find something if we are able to locate where Mr Daysman went in that vehicle during the day.” Evelyn replied Steve.
“We need to be sure of making a useful move tonight, else it could be concluded that our team is ineffective.” Steve said as they got to the door of their investigation room. He unlocked the door with his access card and allowed Evelyn step in first before he followed.
Agents Sandra Agent Rhoda and other agents were in the investigation room already. Rhoda and two male agents were sitting around the investigation table and busy on their laptops while Sandra and the third male were searching through the records book and the shelves.
“Agent Rhoda, please tell me you guys have got valuable lead already.” Evelyn said as she walked to the investigation table. Agent Steve walked to the computer at the corner of the entrance wall to pick a device he had kept in the drawer.
“We’ve got something,” Rhoda replied Evelyn. “We traced Mr Daysman’s movement seven times in two weeks to a particular building in Newland Estate.”
“Have you pulled out information concerning the building?” Evelyn asked.
“We are on it,” Rhoda replied.
Evelyn stopped beside one of the male Agents and looked into his computer for a second before asking him to leave the seat for her. The agent obeyed and Evelyn sat on the stool.
“Share with me the data and every detail,” Evelyn said to Rhoda as she minimized the current application on the laptop to open the network sharing center.
“It’s being shared already,” Rhoda replied her.
“What have they got?” Steve asked Evelyn on getting to the table, his right hand fingers so busy on the tablet device on his left palm.
“We have the location Mr Daysman secretly visits,” Evelyn answered.
“And where is that?” He asked without looking up, his eyes still fixed on the device.
“A building in Newland estate.”
Steve looked up sharply on hearing her reply. “What building in Newland estate?” he asked and slowly walked closer to her.
It took her about thirty seconds to show him the pictures of the building gotten from the investigation.
Steve stared at the pictures for a second, he then looked up and located Sandra where she was. “Come over, Agent Sandra,” he beckoned.
Sandra stared at him from where she was and saw he was no longer looking in her direction but focused on the computer screen. She dropped the paper in her hand on the shelf and walked to the investigation table.
“Isn’t it the same location you traced Antonio Carlos and Vincent Shawn’s movements to?” He asked, looking to her face as she got close.
She took her time to check the pictures displayed on the screen as Evelyn changed from one to another.
“This is located in Newland estate?” Sandra asked Evelyn, being able to identify the picture.
“Yes,” Evelyn glanced at her.
“It’s also the same building Stanley went into after escaping from the police,” Steve added.
Evelyn glanced at his face and they exchanged a knowing look. It was a pointer that the team’s effort had been producing and they were making progress even though it looked slow.
“Why haven’t we ransacked the place?” Evelyn asked.
“Sandra here has been keeping tabs on the building,” Steve answered. “We are yet to find any suspicious activity going on there, all we see is the inflow and outflow of vehicles.”
“But we have never found out what those vehicles contain,” Evelyn put in. “Who knows what items the vehicles have been transporting?”
“We’re not the police, we can not raid places based on suspicions,” Steve answered her. “When we suspect a place, we keep tabs or send an undercover into the place.”
“That’s true, but there’s no way an undercover can get there this night and even if that can happen, it would be impossible for the undercover to stop explosions planned for tomorrow. We can’t tell, it could just be the explosions for tomorrow that has been planned.” Evelyn retorted.
Steve did not answer, he stared up for a moment and then glanced at Sandra’s face.
“Did you notice movements in and out of the place this evening?” He asked Sandra.
“Nothing unusual,” Sandra replied, she turned her face to the second man who was sitting at the other side of the table. He was looking at them and listening to the conversation. “Has there been anything unusual?” She asked him.
“No,” he shook his head. “Only few vehicles got in or out of the place through out today.”
Steve and Sandra’s gaze met briefly before he turned his face to Evelyn.
“You could be right Agent Evelyn, I also think the planning for the explosions go on in there but I don’t think anything more than planning happens there. There must be another location where execution of their plans begin.”
Steve took two steps back and looked towards Rhoda. “Agent Rhoda, where did Mr Daysman drive to after leaving Newland estate?”
“He drove back to the car park, changed his car and drove straight home.” Rhoda answered him.
‘Have you checked where he moves to for the seven other days?”
“The same routine, he goes home from there.”
“And is there anything notable he does when he gets to the building anytime he visits?”
“Nothing special, he gets to the gate in his tainted vehicle and honks twice. The gate opens and he drives in.”
Steve stepped back to think and remained silent for a while. After a minute, he spoke again.
“I and Agent Evelyn would go right to Newland estate and get into that building to get more information,” Steve announced his conclusion.
“Sir, do you have a plan for us to get in?” Evelyn asked, looking seriously concerned.
“Yeah, we’d go in the same car Mr Daysman goes in,” Steve replied. “He left the car at the park and we would get it from there.”
___
One Hour Later
The journey was fast that night as very few vehicles were on the way. There had been total silence between them with lots of thoughts running through their minds.
Jenny in her mind wondered what Henry planned to do. She hoped he would really come up with a plan. She couldn’t think of loosing Samantha so soon after they just met. They had become closer than friends and were like sisters already.
“Reduce your speed,” Henry said, after noticing a group of security officials somewhere at the front.
She obeyed and pulled out her driving documents as they approached the men. She reduced the speed gradually until she came to a halt at the road block.
“Good evening ma’am, where are you coming from?” The security official who was pointing a torchlight at them stepped forward and asked. He was fully kitted in a black khaki and had a helmet covering his head. He had a long gun on his face and covering his chest was a bullet proofed vest.
“From Eris,” Jenny replied.
The man bent to look inside the car, especially to see the face of the man sitting at the right hand side. He stared at Henry’s face for a while before he straightened up.
“Where’s your driving license and your vehicle documents?” the man asked Jenny.
She arranged them in order and gave them to the officer.
Henry noticed on a closer look that the man was a FOX official. Some of the other officers at the road block also stepped closer to the sides of the vehicles and began to scrutinize with their eyes, checking for suspicious items and weapons. Henry’s eyes met with one of the men and the man stopped to stare at him for a while.
“Are you guys a couple?” he asked Henry.
“Yeah,” Henry replied in a sharp tone. “She’s my girlfriend.”
The man nodded gently and slowly, he stared at Jenny for a second before moving on.
The other officer checking the documents returned them to Jenny after confirming.
“Can we take a look into your boot ma’am?” he requested.
“Yeah, sure.” She turned off the car engine immediately and removed the car keys from the keyhole. She opened the door and stepped out. Henry also stepped out of the vehicle with her. They both proceeded to the back of the car with three officers. Two of the officers stayed behind while one stayed beside Jenny as she opened the boot.
The officer pointed in the torchlight and checked every corner of the boot. There were only two bags at the center.
“Can we see what you have in the bags?” the officer requested.
Jenny pulled up one of the bags and opened it. She took out the items one after the other while the officer watched, she repeated the same procedure for the second bag.
“It’s clear,” the officer reported to his colleagues and they all stepped back.
“You can get back into your car and leave,” the officer said. He waited for her to close the boot and get to the front door before he walked closer.
She had just inserted the key and turned it when she noticed he was close again. She turned to him.
“Sorry for the delay ma’am but we are just trying to tighten the security,” he apologized. She nodded and made a wry smile. “Please, if you see or notice anything suspicious along the way or you notice any suspicious person that carries threats of harm, do not hesitate to call 811.”
“Okay, thank you.” she said and pulled on her seatbelt immediately.
“Have a safe trip,” he smiled back and stepped back to allow her drive away.
Two other vehicles were in sight coming towards the road block. The officers got back to their positions.
Henry had just pulled on the seatbelt after they left the road block when a phone began to ring. He picked it from beside the gear and stared at the screen. “The Boss” was the caller.
He answered it and placed it close to his ear without saying anything.
“I thought you were back and strong Carl, I never knew you’ve gone petty too. I thought you’d try to stop the explosions yourself but it doesn’t look like you are confident enough to stop us, that’s why you had to inform the FOX.”
“As a good citizen, I should report any threats against her security to the security agencies. That’s what I did,” Henry replied.
“Well, no one can stop the explosions tomorrow, nothing less than six hundred people would die.”
“You’re crazy, why don’t you allow us talk and resolve this?”
___
Unknown Road,
Bethanna.
“Why should we resolve anything?”
He was sitting at the backseat of the Mercedez benz on one side and sleeping Samantha at the other end. Samantha was still dressed in her previous clothes but she didn’t look dirty. Her hair had been neatly arranged and she was placed in a way that made her look innocently asleep.
“We don’t have to involve other people in this, you don’t have to kill over six hundred people when you can just get me.” Henry replied from the other end.
Hutton chuckled. “It looks like you have just forgotten that this is not about you, the Wolves is not after Carl Winston. The Wolves is out on a mission, you just happen to be one person trying to obstruct the mission but the death of seven hundred people tomorrow would prove to you that you cannot stop us.”
“Please, let’s talk about this. You do not need to prove anything to me, you can send me your location and I’ll come to meet you.” Henry pleaded.
Hutton giggled shortly. “The explosions would take place as planned tomorrow, the first would go up by twelve noon, the second by fifteen o’clock and the third by eighteen o’clock.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Henry pleaded.
“Please, do enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“Hey! Give a minute before…”
Hutton ended the call without listening to Carl and turned off the phone immediately.
___
“D–n it! He has turned off the phone again,” Henry cursed after trying to dial back the number.
Jenny glanced at him.
Henry took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He clenched his teeth and fists for some seconds before releasing them.
“Pull over,” he instructed.
Jenny glanced at him with a raised brow to confirm if he really meant what he said. He however wasn’t looking at her, so she shrugged and pulled over.
He picked out a phone and dialed a number into the dial pad. He faced Jenny. “You have to speak with Paul Edwards now, tell him the explosions are planned for twelve noon, three o’clock and six o’clock in the afternoon.”
She frowned at him, wondering why she had to do so but she collected the phone from him and dialed the number already typed in.
“Is the voice tweak on?” she asked as she placed it close to her ear.
“Yes, your voice cannot be recognized.” He replied her.
Henry picked another device and opened the email application while she made the call.
The call was answered three seconds after it began to rang. Jenny remained quiet, waiting for the call receiver to speak first.
“Good evening, who’s on the line?” A baritone voice came through. Jenny recognized it as Paul Edwards’ voice immediately. He had heard the voice several times of television.
“Mr Paul Edwards, all three explosions tomorrow would take place by twelve noon, three pm and six pm respectively.”
“What? Who are…”
She ended the call without letting him speak. She placed the phone on flight mode and also turned it off. She glanced towards Henry and noticed he was composing an email.
“Why did we have to do this? Wouldn’t it get Samantha into the hands of the FOX if they stop the explosion? And how are we sure they can stop the explosion?”
“If anyone is to get to Samantha, we would get to Samantha first before the FOX.” Henry replied her. “And we aren’t sure the FOX can do anything to stop the Wolves.”
“So why did I have to give those details to Paul Edwards?” She questioned.
“Please, start driving now, staying here for long will cause suspicions.” Henry ordered.
She started the car engine and pulled back into the road. She continued glancing at him from time to time expecting him to answer her question but he was silent, she decided to wait until he finished with the email before she asked again.
It took him a minute more to finish and send the email.
“If we aren’t sure of the FOX’s ability to stop the explosions, why do we have to give Paul Edwards the details and why did you have to send that mail to them?” She asked impatiently.
“To make things difficult for the Wolves and easier for us,” Henry answered her, taking out another phone as he spoke. He opened the contact list, he located Dave’s number in three seconds and dialed it. He glanced at Jenny’s face and saw the confusion written all over. He decided he would explain more after the call.
“Good evening Boss,” Dave voice sounded in Henry’s speaker.
“Hey Dave , how’s it over there?”
“Everything is in control, Cole has been able to get Sophia to be more cooperative and he seems to be taking charge well here.”
“Oh! Since Cole is handling them well, I’ll need you to meet me in Bexford as soon as you can.”
“As soon as I can?” Dave sounded unsure of what Henry meant. “You mean I should leave here first thing tomorrow morning?”
“No, you would leave there right now. Let Cole know you are coming to me,” Henry answered.
“Oh! Alright boss.”
“There are FOX and security officials at junctions and every point in Bexford and routes leading to Bexford, do not come with any gun with you and do not put any in your car. You can keep small knives around,” Henry warned.
“Okay, I’ll take heed.”
“Good, let me know as soon as you get close to Bexford.”
Henry ended the call and locked the phone. He dipped it into his pocket and glanced at Jenny. He could still see that she was confused even though her eyes were focused on the road and she wasn’t looking at him.
“The information we just gave to the FOX would make them send out their men and other security officials in large numbers around the city tomorrow, and calling Paul personally could also make him think asking the President to declare a curfew in the capital tomorrow. This would reduce movements in the city and enable us to easily detect any strange movement around town. The Wolves would need to make use of vehicles to go to their locations for execution of their plans and because of the curfew, it would be easy to locate them moving.” Henry explained to her.
She glanced at him and took in a breath. She felt some hope for the first time since Henry told her about the Wolves’ plan to kill three hundred people through Samantha.
Another thought came to her mind. “The curfew,” she raised her brows at him. “Wouldn’t it hinder us from moving too?”
“Yeah, it should but it won’t. I know the way the FOX patrols, we would move like one of them, like FOX agents on patrol.” Henry answered.
“And how do we locate the Wolves’ movement.”
“Through the CCTV cameras,” Henry replied.
“What if it is hacked As we always do?”
“That’s almost impossible, it’s one of the reasons we let the FOX know about the Wolves’ plans.” Henry made a wry smile. “The FOX has efficient men in place, they would keep the CCTV servers up and restore the servers in less than two minutes even if it gets hacked.”
Jenny let out a slight smile. The plan looked like a good one. All she hoped for was for the curfew to be truly placed and for the Wolves to be caught moving around like Henry expected.
___
“Boss, Boss,” One of Hutton’s men sitting at the front of the vehicle called him frantically.
“What’s it?” he asked in a calm voice.
“We are approaching a road block, if they search our vehicle, they could stop us because of the unconscious girl at the backseat with you.” the man said.
Hutton turned his face to Samantha who was at the other side of the backseat, he narrowed his gaze on her face. His man had really spoken the truth, there could be trouble ahead of them.
Tbc
