An Evening With Eva

Episode 44

The Colonel paced the Hotel room, deep in
thought. He was upset, angry but not
disoriented. His original impulse was to react
immediately. Follow the trail Ahmed had la!d
down and eventually catch up with the
abductors. He had seriously been
contemplating taking rash action when he got
a delivery. It was a small pocket sized
package with no posting address.

“Who sent this?” The Colonel asked the
delivery boy.

“I have no idea. My job is to deliver what I am
given. Please sign here sir.” The delivery boy
replied.

The Colonel acknowledged receipt and locked
the door as the boy left. He scrutinized the
parcel wrapped in a pretty blue foil. He was
wary. He did not know what it was. Could it
be a bomb? He held the package close to his
ears, expecting the ticking sound of a
countdown timer. He heard nothing. As he
turned the parcel around trying to ascertain
the contents, something caught his eye.

He saw a very faint black ink. It looked like
some form of hurriedly scribbled words. Or
carefully concealed information. He got his
magnifying glasses and read the scribbled
information on the bottom right of the parcel:
“ отмщению ”
“Payback” in Russian.

Only one person knew ever used that with him,
The General. Immediately, he feared the worst.

He quickly tore the parcel open. What he saw
broke his heart into a million shreds. The toes,
eyes and heart of Ahmed were neatly arranged
inside the parcel. He fell on the chair, holding
the parcel in his hands. He could not believe
his eyes. Ahmed was dead. He felt like
opening fire on the Corporation. He had had
enough. First it was his only son. And now,
the just took Ahmed. He was done running. He
was done playing nice. He was done being the
victim. He made up his mind. They had taken
too much from him. Marcus was going to pay.

As he remembered all the loss he had suffered
from the hands of the Corporation, anger got
the better of him. He dropped the parcel on
the table in front of him, got up suddenly and
screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!”
With clenched fist and his teeth gnashing, he
walked forwards and punched the concrete
walls until his fists bled and the pain became
unbearable. Tears fell freely from his eyes.

Breathing heavily, his chest heaving, he
walked dejectedly back to the couch and sat.

He held his head in his bloodied hands. He
had to do something. He knew the General
was expecting a reaction from him. The
General knew everything about him. The
General taught him many of the things he
knew. There would eventually be a face-off but
when? He continued to think, raking his brain
for any possible subtlety that Marcus would
not see coming.

He found it hard to think. Anger, pain and
sadness made it difficult for him to plan a
proper course of action. He decided to take a
nap. As he lay on the couch, his eyes fell on
Ahmed’s newspaper clippings on the wall. He
began to feel bad all over again. He turned on
the couch, facing the west wall away from the
newspaper clippings.

Suddenly, there was a glint in his eyes. He
had a brain wave. The sadness in his eyes
immediately disappeared and was replaced by
excitement and anticipation.

He got up from the chair and went to the
newspaper clippings on the wall. He had never
given much thought about Ahmed’s obsession
with finding a mystery killer. For all he cared,
The Colonel believed that the slain political
officers were greedy criminals who deserved
their fate. But now, as he studied the clippings
he came to a shocking realization. Ahmed’s
work was actually his ticket to finishing off the
Corporation. He studied the patterns Ahmed
had drawn, improved on the inferences already
suggested and connected the dots Ahmed had
failed to see. He made calls and begged old
friends for favors and access into surveillance
archives. The Colonel traced calls, decrypted
emails and intercepted a few.

With each passing hour, he got closer and
closer to finding the target. He worked like a
maniac, working the phones, asking for favors,
eliminating possibilities. He followed up on
past leads and made reasonable progress.

Ten hours later, he was done. Cans of Coca-
Cola littered the room. He now had eight
different images on the screen of the computer
that he had been working with . One of the
images in the mix shocked him. He could not
believe what he saw.

He took his phone and dialed a number.

“Frankenstein. Its Da Vinci.” The Colonel said.

“You promised never to contact me again.”

Frankenstein replied with a cold voice from
the end of the line.

“Frank, you know I would never come to you if
it was not a matter of immediate attention.

My nephew is dead.” The Colonel said.

“What can I do?” Frank asked
“Remember those blueprints of the Ghosts
organization I gave you six years ago?” The
Colonel asked
“What about it?” Frank said
“I know what a curious mind you have my
friend. I intentionally sparked your curiosity
when I handed you that chip years ago. I gave
you very skinny details just to whet your
appetite. Although you showed no signs, I was
very sure you would dig. I know you have done
extensive work on that Chip. I want to collect
Frank.” The Colonel said.

Seconds went by. Silence. No reply from the
other end. This was a battle of wits. Whoever
speaks first concedes defeat.

Thirteen seconds later, Frank spoke.

“You had me bugged?”
“No my good friend. I had my chip bugged. I
need to collect immediately. How do I get it?”
The Colonel asked impatiently.

“I am going to deliver the Chip to you tonight.

Here is your passkey. Alpha Alpha Singleton
Open Zigabyte zero”

“Thanks Frank. Now we are even.” The Colonel said.

“If you contact me again Da Vinci, the next
time you wake up will be in hell.” Frank replied
And the line went dead. The Colonel knew that
Frankenstein did not threaten. He promised.

He copied out the passkey that he had just
been given ALPHA ALPHA SINGLETON OPEN ZIGABYTE ZERO.

He scribbled the passkey and transcribed:
A A 1 O Z 0.

The Zero meant he had to take the passkey
from the back so he re wrote the key 0 Z O 1 A A.

He folded the paper he wrote the key on,
putting it in the inner pocket of his jean. He
took one last look at his laptop and shook his
head.

The pictures of Eva, Sean, Bruno, Sophia,
Tawo, Shina, Ambrose and the General starred
him in the face. He typed a code to initiate the
self-destruct option to permanently wipe away
all the contents of his computer. When that
was done he took down the newspaper
clippings, burning them in a small tray. He
had everything he needed. He carried his
knapsack and stepped out the hotel.

---

Eva and Sean sat on the Veranda of the
penthouse. They had been talking the whole
day. They spoke about their missions, their
fears, what they had been through, how they
felt about the killings. They bonded. They took
a break in the afternoon to have lunch and go
at each other again. It was more explosive
this time as they now had more intensity
between them.

Eva’s head was on Sean’s chest. Her fingers
were picking the smooth hair on his chest. He
caressed the hair on her head. None of them
spoke but the chemistry between them was
evident. Sean wondered why he was so
comfortable with her.

“when do you think all this would end?” Eva
asked out of the blues.

“When would what end?” Sean asked feigning innocence.

“Go jor. You know what I am talking about.

The Corporation. Will we work for them
forever? I don’t know about you but I think I
am tired of killing people. It used to be fun.

But now, I’m not just into it anymore.” Eva
lamented.

“It is what we signed up for. We have no
choice. Are you ready to live the rest of your
life on the run? Constantly watching your
back? Afraid of even your shadow? The food
you eat? The next person beside you? Is that
what you want? Sean asked.

“I don’t know. I just…” Eva started but was
interrupted by the doorbell.

“Did you call for room service?” Eva asked as
the ringing continued.

“No I didn’t. Let me see what they want.”

Sean said, kissing Eva lightly on the forehead.

Dressed in only his boxer shorts, Sean walked
to the door and peeped in the keyhole. He saw
a man in his early forties looking away from
the door. He wondered what the man wanted.

He looked very harmless.

Sean opened the door.

“Yes, is there something I can help you with?”
Sean asked.

The Colonel launched a fierce and powerful
kick to Sean’s ribcage. Sean spiraled to the
floor, holding his stomach. He was not
expecting such.

Eva heard the crash and ran into the sitting
room. As she entered, the Colonel brought out
two .45 semi-automatic silenced pistols from
his hip and pointed them, one at Eva and one
at Sean on the floor.

“Dad?” Eva said recognizing the man whom
she had only seen in pictures.

“Hello Eva. Our family reunion is long
overdue.”