An Evening With Eva

Episode 39

The Colonel was asleep when he heard the
sound of the doorbell. He woke up startled.

Who was at his door at this time of the night?
He let the ringing continue for a while. When it
did not stop, he grudgingly got up and went
to the door.

“Who is it?” The Colonel asked pressing a
button which enabled the microphone.

“Maintenance.” A voice replied from the other end.

The Colonel peered through the tiny glass
visualizer on the door. He saw a man holding
a tool box and looking round the corridor. He
was wearing a dark blue janitor’s apparel
which had the hotel logo on the b—m
pocket. He also wore a blue cap which
covered part of his face.

“Sorry, I did not call for any maintenance.

Wrong room.” The Colonel said and left the
door.

As the Colonel was going back to sit, Ahmed
came out of the bedroom.

“Hi Uncle. Who was that?” he asked.

“One maintenance guy, He probably got the
wrong room. How do you feel now?” The
Colonel asked.

“I feel better than I was before. I am ready to
go in the morning.” Ahmed replied.

Just then the doorbell rang again.

“Ahmed, please see what that guy wants. I am
so angry right now; I fear I may blow his head
off.” The Colonel said closing his eyes.

Ahmed approached the door and looked into
the glass hole. He saw no one. He shrugged.

He left the door and was half way across the
room, when he heard the doorbell again. He
was furious. He stormed to the door and keyed
in the 4-digit pin to open the door.

All the while the Colonel was in deep thought.

Why was the so called maintenance person
not at the door? Why did the reception not
call to inform him before hand? Why was he
being persistent after he had clearly been told
to go away? As he pondered this things,
Ahmed was already at the door inserting the
pin code to open the door.

“Noooo!!! Don’t!!! Stop boy!!!” The Colonel
screamed at Ahmed, getting up from the
couch.

It was too late.

In his enraged state, Ahmed flung the door
open and made to scream at the intruder from
maintenance when a heavy punch hit him by
the side of his face. Before he could
understand what was happening, a kick hit
him on his chest, sending him sprawling on
the floor back inside the house. The Colonel
took just one quick look at Ahmed who was
clutching his ribs. Ahmed grimaced, turning in
pain.

The Colonel’s sharp eyes darted immediately
back to the door. He almost knew who it was.

He became alert. Very alert. He did not rush
to the door like Ahmed did. He waited for
almost a minute to see what it was that
knocked Ahmed off his feet.

The General walked majestically into the room
through the open door with a grim look on his
face. He walked past the Colonel, sitting on
the chair that he occupied a few minutes ago.

Tawo came in after the General. However, he
did not follow his father to the chair. He
slammed the door shut and folded his arms
across his chest, relaxing his heavy frame on
the metal door.

The Colonel did not take his eyes of Tawo. His
subconscious sensed the General behind him,
watching him, trying to predict his move.

Ahmed who was groaning on the floor earlier
sat on the ground, surprised at the effrontery
of the intrusion of these two men. Ahmed
looked at his Uncle and what he saw scared
him. There was a particular look he saw on
the Colonel’s face. He knew that look. It was
a look of rage and blood. His Uncle was now
angry beyond reason yet calculating and
careful. Ahmed shifted away from his Uncle,
resting his back on the wall leading to the
bedroom. He did not want to be caught in the
cross fire. The Colonel’s eyes did not move.

He continued to glare at Tawo.

Tawo had killed his only son albeit indirectly.

Tawo and the Colonel’s son Abbey attended
the same Spy Academy. Tawo was two years
ahead and had achieved the status of
Chameleon Prime. He was now responsible for
recruiting younger members of the academy
and training them into Chameleon Spies. The
Chameleon Spies were members of the Spy
Academy who had performed excellently over
their first three years. The Colonel’s son had a
fantastic record. He was always topping every
category. By his third year in the Spy
Academy, he had rubbished every record that
Tawo had set. Twice Abbey was heavily
recommended to partner Tawo in his missions.

Tawo had declined. He had not met the boy
but he already hated him.

So when Tawo met Abbey for the first time
during the Chameleon Recruits Orientation, he
made up his to do everything in his power to
wreck Abbey’s career.

He engaged Abbey in all kinds of mini-
missions too high for his level of clearance,
but Abbey scaled them all excellently. All the
while The Colonel continued to encourage his
son, telling him that Tawo meant him more of
good than harm.

However, Tawo had had enough. Abbey’s
success appalled him. He was no longer
comfortable because he saw Abbey as a threat
to his supremacy. In the second year of
Abbey’s training, Tawo sent Abbey on a
deadly infiltration mission, deliberately
including fake extraction details. Abbey
finished the subtle infiltration superbly and
was ready for evacuation. The radio link he
was given to call came back as static. No
response on the other end. Abbey had no
choice but to find his own escape route. He
had not been trained to that degree. He fell
into enemy hands and was killed.

During the debriefing, it was discovered that
Tawo had provided incorrect extraction
details. The penalty was dismissal and death
if found guilty by the Spy Court. The General
had intervened and shielded his son from
justice. He made Tawo disappear and swept
the case under the rug.

The Colonel however was undaunted. He dug
relentlessly into the family of the General in
his attempt to unravel the location of Tawo.

He was not ready to let his son’s death go by
without justice being served. The General
found out the Colonel was digging too deep
into his privacy and had the West African
Intelligence force send him undercover to
infiltrate and bring down the Marine Cartel.

The General hoped he would not come out
alive.

All these thoughts flashed through the
Colonel’s mind in seconds. He sq££zed his
fingers into a fist. He had been looking for
this opportunity for a long time. Tawo had to
pay for taking the life of his son. He had to
die.

“Giwa, I know what you feel. I know how you
feel. No one has to die tonight.” The General
said in his cold, baritone voice.

The Colonel did not look back.

“Marcus, I am not sure you know how I feel.

My son was murdered. Yours is still alive. You
know what I think? I think you would
understand how I feel when your son is dead.”

The Colonel replied.

His eyes were still on Tawo. His eyeballs were
fiery red. Tawo felt uneasy. His fingers
caressed the .43 automatic that was inside
the janitor overall he wore. He felt the need to
use it but his father’s warning replayed in his
mind.

The Colonel saw the tiny movement of Tawo’s
fingers inside the overall. His instincts took
over. He ran towards Tawo in a zigzag
motion. The Colonel’s action took him by
surprise. As Tawo saw the Colonel
approaching him, he quickly brought out the
pistol, aiming at the Colonel. He was not
quick enough as the Colonel was in front of
him in a flash. He landed a huge right to
Tawo’s cheek while simultaneously giving a
powerful left punch to his lower bicep. The
pistol went off Tawo’s hand falling on the
ground.

With his rage and anger, the Colonel rained
punch after punch at every part of Tawo’s
body. Tawo tried to ward off some of the
Colonel’s punches but the Colonel was too
fast for him. Tawo held up his arms to block
the Colonel’s punches. The Colonel threw a
strong swinging right punch to the side of
Tawo’s face. Tawo fell on the ground
disoriented.

Just then, the General got up. He took out a
gun from his hips and aimed at the Colonel.

The Colonel turned, facing the General. He was
panting strongly, his countenance still filled
with rage and anger.

“I did not intend for this to end this way.

Obviously you are not ready to be sensible.

Bye Giwa.” The General said, turning off the
safety of the gun.

A gunshot was fired.

The General fell on the couch holding his
chest.

The Colonel turned.

Ahmed was holding the gun that fell from
Tawo’s hand. Ahmed looked scared. The
Colonel went to his nephew, helping him up
from the ground.

Instinctively, the Colonel had this strong
feeling to look back. As he did, he saw Tawo
pulling out a gun from his hips. The Colonel
immediately grabbed the gun from Ahmed and
pushed him away from the line of fire. Ahmed
stumbled to the side of the room, almost
hitting his head on the wall.

The Colonel bent on one knee and fired two
shots at Tawo. The bullets hit him on the
chest. Tawo fell, surrounded in the pool of his
own blood.

“Let’s get out of here” The Colonel said,
helping Ahmed up.

They took their belongings and hurriedly left
the hotel room.

---

Thirty minutes later, the General stirred. He
came to slowly, touching his chest. There was
a little blood stain on his shirt. He took off
his shirt and took off the bullet proof vest he
wore. He threw it aside and assessed his
chest. The bullet had pierced the vest but did
not really get into his body. It grazed his skin
and had caused him to bleed. He got up
slowly, looking around the room.

Just then, he saw his son lifeless in a pool of
his own blood.