An Evening With Eva

Episode 11

Detective Ahmed opened his
small gate and entered his house.

He was wearing a Manchester
United Jersey and joggers. He
was sweating lightly as he had
just finished a 40minute jog. This
had been the psychologist’s
prescription as a way to get
some of his memories back. It
had been four days since he was
discharged from the hospital. He
was angry for his inability to
recall events from the past five
weeks. He had a terrible feeling
that it was not as a result of the
accident as the doctors were
trying to make him believe.

They told him he was suffering from
partial amnesia. What bugged
him most was the fact that it was
only five weeks of memory loss
he suffered. Why not more? Why
not total amnesia? He was not
satisfied with the mere fact that
his past five weeks were blank.

No matter how hard he tried to
recollect, he simply did not find
any headway. This to him was
more annoying than being alive.

The jogging cleared his head.

Made him think.

He sat down on his long couch
and closed his eyes. He felt good.

He was getting back in shape
and he was feeling alive again.

He was almost drifting into sleep
when his phone beeped. It was a
text message. He did not know
the number.

“We want to thank everyone
who was present at the burial of
our beloved sister, friend, aunty
and daughter Miss Mercy Etiebet.

May God continue to guide and
protect you and your family.

Thank you. Felix Etiebet for the
family.”

He could not believe his eyes. He
read the message again. His own
Agent Mercy? She was in an
undercover assignment. He
spoke to her a few days ago.

What was happening? He called
his Boss. She did not pick. He was
very distressed. What was the
cause of death? What other thing
happened in his absence? He had
to find out. He had a quick
shower and change of clothes.

He got his keys and got into his
black Toyota Corolla. He was
going to the office. He needed
answers and he had to find out.

His instincts were never wrong
and he had a very strong feeling
that something was just not
right.

A ‘red cab’ taxi was parked two
houses away from Ahmed’s
residence. Brenda and Iyke were
on duty this time. They had
watched him every day since his
discharge from the hospital.

They always came in different cars to
avoid suspicion and never parked at the same spot twice.

Ahmed’s whole house had been
bugged. Every sound coming
from his house could be heard.

His phones were bugged too.

They listened in on every
conversation and saw every text
message and email. They knew
when he got the condolence text
message. They were supposed to
keep an eye on him and report
anything unusual to Shina.

They were aware that he tried to
reach his Boss but was not
successful. So when he got in his
car and drove off, they followed
him making sure they were far
behind not to be noticed and
close enough to monitor him.

When Ahmed slowed down and
turned to enter his office at
Osborne Foreshore Ikoyi, the red
cab sped off, the two agents
inside acting out a heated
discussion at the back while the
driver acted uninterested. Ahmed
did not suspect a thing.

When they got on Third Mainland
Bridge, Iyke called Shina and
informed him about all the things
that happened that evening.

Ahmed was at his office on a
Sunday and was acting weird. He
was also freaked out by the
news of his ward’s death.

Shina called Ambrose. Ambrose
did not pick.

He sent an encrypted text:
“The mouse is in the hole. Your
move.”

Ahmed put on his computer. He
entered his password and
another window opened. He
typed his special code and was
granted access. He clicked on
Agent Mercy’s profile. A red
branded mark appeared on her
profile “DEACTIVATED”. He could
not believe his eyes. He clicked on
the cause of death. He saw his
own report on the page.

The picture of the bullet and the
finger print reports submitted by
Tunde. All that information was
too much for him to handle. He
quickly shut down his computer
and rested his head on the table.

He was not emotionally and
mentally ready for this. He got his
keys and left the building. He
promised himself he was going
to get to the b0ttom of this early
Monday morning. He got in his
car and headed home.

Ambrose was at a bar drinking
when Shina was calling. He was
not in the mood for any work. He
just wanted to drink, and drink
and get a babe and go home. So
he ignored the calls. He was
already on his third bottle of beer
and already eyeing a dark
skinned plump girl when the text
got in. He opened the message, it
was encrypted. He decoded it
and read the content. He was
fuming. His fun had been cut
short. He exited the message and
his phone reset itself to factory
settings. He was prepared for
this. He had his plans already
mapped out. The file under his
pillow had given him just one
simple message:

“Be prepared to wipe out the
Intelligence Operation”. Since
then he had always carried his
kit in the trunk of his car. And
now, the time had come. It was
his time to move.

He left the bar and got to his car.

He drove to Bar Beach and
parked. The ‘rude boys’charged
him 200naira as parking fee. He
paid 500. He changed into his full
black ninja costume and wore a
hat. He reversed and faced the
freeway heading towards The
Intelligence Operations Head
Quarters in Osbourne. He parked
five minutes away from the
entrance of the office. He got out
his briefcase and crossed the
road. He walked to a restaurant
that stood directly opposite the
Intelligence headquarters.

There was a building undergoing
construction. He took the steps
to the 6th floor of the unfinished
building and placed his briefcase
on the floor beside him. He got
out his binoculars and scanned
the Intelligence Premises.

There was a guard just outside the
gate. He was not armed and was
half asleep. Easy to take out.

There was an armed guard
parading the open space just
inside the premises. He would be
the tricky one. He noticed that
the armed guard went out of
sight for 15seconds before
appearing again. He was
probably on patrol, checking out
the other parts of the open
space. The guard spent another
50 seconds before he was out of
sight again. He turned on the
thermal view of the binoculars.

He scanned the whole three
floors of the building. Not a
single soul was in. It was going
to be an easy job.

He took off his black ninja
costume and wore a tight black
shirt, black jeans and black
gloves. His army boots were still
on. He reset his stop watch. He
calculated his movements
carefully. Once the guard went
out of sight he initiated his stop
watch. He got off the 6th floor of
the uncompleted building and
walked quickly down the steps.

He crossed the road. 15 seconds
gone. The guard was now in the
compound. He waited and
watched his stop watch. After 50
seconds, he moved fast. He
walked in the shadows till he got
to the sleeping guard outside. He
put his hands around the guard’s
head and snapped. There wasn’t
a sound. The guard was dead.

10seconds. He carefully dragged
the guard’s body to the side of
the building and put him in a
sitting position. 55 seconds. He
made it back to the gate in time
to see the armed guard moving
to the other part of the
compound. He opened the gate
silently and stepped in. He hid in
the shadows, following the route
he had already memorized from
the plan of the building he
already had.

He got to the server room and
entered inside. He inserted a USB
drive and copied all the
information according to Tawo’s
instruction. He removed it and
put another USB drive. He left
that USB inside the main server.

It contained a deadly virus.

He left the server room and went
upstairs to Ahmed’s office. He
opened his computer and
yanked out the hard drive. He put
it in his sling bag. It was time to
evacuate. His stopwatch read 20
seconds. The guard was still in
the open space. He had to wait
10 more seconds. He was relaxed
and calm. 10, 9, 8…

He was counting. Suddenly an
alarm went off in the server
room. And there was only one
entrance! He had no weapons!

He heard footsteps. He backed
himself up on the wall. There was
nothing he could do. Once the
guard turned he would see him.

The armed guard saw him and
corked his rifle.

“Put your hands up. Who are
you?” He said looking at
Ambrose suspiciously, especially
his black gloves.

“I am the new IT person. I was
just leaving.” Ambrose said.

“Show me your ID card!” the
guard yelled.

“It’s in my bag. Can I get it?”

Ambrose asked
“Okay. But don’t try anything
funny.” He said pointing the gun
threateningly at Ambrose.

Ambrose took off the sling bag
and pretended to search for his
ID. Suddenly he threw the bag at
the guard’s face, at the same
time moving very quickly to the
side. The bag hit the guard’s face
as he screamed and shot at
Ambrose. Ambrose moved away
just in time to avoid the shot. The
gunshot pierced the night air.

Ambrose was fast. He moved very
fast behind the guard and kicked
his ball5 from behind. The guard
dropped his gun as the pain tore
through his whole body.

Ambrose kicked the gun away
from him and twisted the
guard’s neck.

He dragged the guard behind to
the back and left him there, his
gun on his body. He picked up
his sling bag, confirmed the
contents and hung it on his neck.

He got out of the compound,
shut the gate behind him and
walked to the other side of the
road.

He got to his car and called Tawo.

He picked at the first ring.

“I’m done. Pick the exhibits at the
mansion.”

He pulled off his gloves and
started the ignition. As he got
onto the expressway he began
to whistle
“Oh happy day…”.