An Evening With Eva

Episode 47

PREVIOUSLY ON “AN EVENING WITH EVA”:by kaye.mjay
“Why did Shina have to die?” – Sean
“Shina was compromised. He made contact
with the other side” – Sophia
“Serves him right anyway. I have to go now.

I’m already behind schedule.” – Sean
“Here Lies The Remains of Tawo Marcus
Kushim. Brother, Friend, Son.”

“You had it coming, didn’t you T? But guess
what? Our code still remains. A life for a life”
– The General
“Have you been interviewed?” – HOPS
“I did everything that was presented to me
sir.” – Ambrose
“When you are in the Capitol, call me directly.

Congratulations Peter.” – HOPS
“Shhhhhhhh….It is me. Don’t do anything rash
Eva.” – Sean
“That was for leaving me in a Male Toilet for
hours. Couldn’t you think of somewhere else?”
– Eva
“You are getting desperate sir.” – Sophia
“You underestimate me girl. I don’t do
desperation. Never. I made a mistake with
Giwa once. I never make the same mistake
twice. Let’s just say, I am going to have my
pound of flesh.” – The General
“I thought you said you do not do
desperation. If you kill the boy, is that not
exactly what it is? A desperate act at
revenge?” – Sophia
“I lied.” – The General
“What…wha.. what.. am…i..doing…here. Wh…
who…who…are…you…people?” – Ahmed
“Shhhhhhh. Quiet. The General hates noise.” –
Ope
“Frankenstein. It’s Da Vinci.” – The Colonel
“I am going to deliver the Chip to you tonight.

Here is your passkey.” – Frank
“Thanks Frank. Now we are even.” – The
Colonel
“If you contact me again Da Vinci, the next
time you wake up will be in hell.” – Frank
“Dad? Is this really you?” – Eva
“Stay where you are Eva. We don’t want to
have ourselves a blood bath. I said don’t
fucckking move girl!” – The Colonel
“What do you want?” – Sean
“I will contact you in nine hours Sean. Or is it
Agent Bravo? I think this would be a good
time to call your Sidekick, Bruno. I intercepted
his email.” – The Colonel
“Your father is right. He would not have come
all this way for nothing. Let’s get out of here.”
– Sean
“My name is Special Agent Ken. You just
passed your interview. Time to go.” – Agent
Ken.

“What have I gotten myself into?” – Ambrose
“Code Red. Abort Mission.” – Sophia
“Set up a blockade at the Maitama
intersection. I need eyes in the sky! I want him
dead or alive! I prefer the former. Somebody,
get me that bastarrd!” – Special Agent Ken

The General paced the huge sitting area in the
mansion. He was furious. His face contorted
with rage. He looked at Sophia for the
umpteenth time.

“How the hell was he uncovered?” The General asked.

Sophia was surprisingly calm. She sat on the
single sofa and crossed her legs, with a glass
of champagne in her left hand. She had gotten
used to the General now. He had stayed with
her for days now and the enigma which she
saw him as had gradually worn off. She had
huge respect for him. She still saw him as a
father figure. Even though she no longer
cowered or trembled at his every bark.

She sipped the alcohol slowly and dropped the
glass back on the table beside her.

“It was The Colonel.” Sophia replied after a
few minutes looking straight into the
General’s eyes.

“Giwa Haruna?” The General asked surprised
and continued
“I thought Ambrose’s cover was 100 per cent fail safe. I need a d–n explanation!” The
General screamed hitting the glass center
table with his right fist.

The table broke in pieces with some pieces of
glass lodging in between the General’s
knuckles. He showed no sign of hurt or pain.

He stood straight and carefully picked out the
tiny shreds of glass that his knuckles had
embraced.

“Tell me how it happened” He said, taking out the last two visible shreds of glass.

Sophia was unmoved by his sudden burst of
anger. She knew he was losing it. She had
only seen him this uncontrollable once, when
he was denied autonomy over the South West
Region of the African Conglomerate of
Undercover Operations. Sophia was able to
calm him and help him re-strategize. He later
went on to win the appeal and was the head
of the Conglomerate till date. That was seven
years ago.

She was not ready for all that at the moment.

She had her own demons to take care of,
which included finding Eva and Sean.

“The Colonel left clues. He wanted us to know
he did it. He was able to crack the server
codes and bypass the rigid firewalls. He had
help from a certain Frankenstein. Bee Hive is
finding a hard time tracking Frank. The
Colonel has not made any demands yet but I
am sure he will soon.” Sophia said.

“I should have killed him when I had the
chance!” The General retorted.

“It is not your style. You bit the tiger’s tail
when you smoked Ahmed. You know how
much he cared for the detective. I wonder how
you got desperate and lost control of the calm
and demeanor that made you the most feared
person in all quarters.” Sophia replied.

She had long dropped addressing him as sir.

They had returned to the way they were years
ago when she lived under his roof. He
preferred it that way.

“I needed to stamp my authority! Killing
Ahmed was the only way to send that
message S. Don’t you see?” The General
replied, sitting on a chair opposite his ward.

Sophia felt sorry for him. His hand was
bleeding slowly.

“You need to take care of that.” Sophia said.

“I’ll be fine. What else do I need to know?”
The General asked
“Bee Hive deployed a smoke screen and they
now have the coordinates of The Colonel’s
location. We are looking at a very wide area
and it will take about fifteen agents to flush
him out. It’s too risky and a long shot. I
would not advice it. Besides, something tells
me he would be expecting a barrage of
agents. He has most probably set up b—m
traps and little diversions.” Sophia advised.

“What’s our best course of action?” The
General asked. He took out a handkerchief
from his shirt pocket and bandaged his
bloody knuckles.

“Wait him out. If we rush, we would be playing
directly into his hands. He is on his turf. We
need to draw him into our terrain. We need to
look unconcerned. Act nonchalant. But we
would be vigilant. He is currently out for
blood. He wants to avenge Ahmed as soon as
he can. And he knows he has an advantage.

When he sees that we are not acting, he may
feel that we did not get his message. He
would want to strike again. This time, a little
deeper and harder. And he can’t do that in
hiding or on his turf. He has to come out. And
then, we’ll have him.” Sophia said.

The General pretended to think for a while.

Sophia’s intelligence had always astounded
him. He had initially been thinking about
storming the coordinates Bee Hive had given
and take out The Colonel with brute force. He
had done that before. Three years back, he
had stormed the Gulf Coast south of the
Bakassi when he got intel that Drago was
hiding there. Drago had cloned Bee Hive and
was negotiating with the British to sell the
information. The General had been searching
for Drago for months and when he had finally
gotten his location, he stormed the hideout
and took down Drago, assault style.

He was thinking of taking similar action
against The Colonel but he had doubts. The
Colonel was very smart. He had taught The
Colonel many of the things he now knew and
could use them against him. The Colonel
could predict his moves. He had to do
something he would not normally do under the
circumstances. Sophia had given him the
perfect alternative.

“Where are we with Bee Hive?” The General
asked.

“All data files have been rewritten and coded
with Radeon encryption. All agents’ history
have been wiped and replaced with forged
identities. All missions have been changed.

Our database is safe. If The Colonel were to
present his hacked evidence anywhere, he
would be running a wild goose chase.” Sophia
replied.

“Hmmmm…” The General snorted.

There was a moment of silence between the
two veterans.

After a few minutes, the door to sitting room
opened. Austin came in, supporting Ambrose
on his shoulder. Ambrose was holding his
stomach. His once white starched shirt was
now stained blood red. Sophia got up
instinctively and helped put Ambrose on the
long couch. The General just sat on his chair
looking. He showed no sign of emotion, care
or feeling. He just stared coldly at the events
unfolding in front of him.

“How is he doing?” Sophia asked Bruno,
putting two fingers on his neck to feel his
pulse. She got a weak pulse.

“He’s lost a lot of blood. I tracked his distress call to a toilet in a mall in the outskirts of Lokoja. I could not take him to a hospital. It’s a miracle he is still alive.” Austin replied.

Just then Ambrose groaned. He opened his
mouth but no words came out. The General
got up and walked to where Ambrose lay.

“Lieutenant, how are you feeling? What really
happened?” The General asked.

“He needs to rest sir. I think he’ll come
around. Can I have some time alone with him
sir?” Sophia said, looking at the General and
then Austin. The General folded his arms while
his right arm came up to his jaw. He
scratched his hairless jaw for a few seconds
as if in deep thought. He needed to know what
exactly happened. He needed to be there when
Ambrose came to. However he needed him
alive. He put his hands in his pant pockets.

He felt the tiny but powerful voice transmitter
in the depths of his right pocket.

“Okay. I will be in the Visitor’s lounge. I
demand that he be made available to me
immediately he comes to. And that is an
order.” The General said, walking towards the
door.

“Roger that sir.” Sophia replied.

Austin also got up from the arm of the four-
seat long cushion settee. He looked at
Ambrose, shook his head and went after The
General who was already ahead of him
heading towards the door. The General
brought his right hand from his pocket to
open the door. As he turned the knob, he
released the tiny bean sized bug that was in
his hand, blocking the bug’s landing with his
legs so no one would see. It landed softly on
the Persian rug that filled the wide room.

The General opened the door and stepped out,
turning right towards the visitor’s lounge.

Austin wasn’t any wiser. He had no idea what
had just happened he went out after the
General and turned left heading to the guest
bedroom.

As Austin shut the door behind her, Sophia
smiled.

She had seen the little stunt the General
pulled. Her trained eyes had caught the fall of
the transmitter. He was hiding something and
she had since had her doubts about him. If he
trusted her, why did he want to eavesdrop on
her? She walked to the door and squatted by
the tiny bug. She did not touch it. She
examined it carefully. It was an ultra-powerful
listening device. The NODE-01 Jaguar. It had
the capacity to relay sounds clearly up to 100
meters. She got up, leaving the bug where it
was.

She went back to Ambrose and whispered in
his ears.

“Coast is clear. Meet me in the bathroom
now!”

Ambrose opened one eye. Then the other. He
looked around. Sophia was already headed
towards the bathroom. He got up from the
chair and grimaced. He actually hurt himself
when he jumped on the train. But it was not
as bad as he made it seem to Austin and The
General. He had contacted Sophia when he got
off the train and thanked her for saving his
life. She had asked him how bad the situation
was and he had told her everything he knew.

She advised him to fake being hurt, get some
more blood on himself and contact Austin.

Ambrose had had a tricky moment when
Austin tried to take off his clothes to access
the extent of injury to his stomach area.

Ambrose knew that he could not afford to
have his fake injury found. He had groaned
and screamed terribly and Austin backed off.

Austin felt sorry for him and promised to get
him to the mansion so Sophia could look at
him. He did not attempt to check Ambrose’s
injury again.

When Ambrose got to the bathroom, the tap
attached to the hand wash sink was rushing
at full capacity. The shower was also running.

The sound of rushing water would interfere
with the transmitter’s reception, blocking the
bug from detecting their voices. Sophia sat on
the closed toilet seat and beckoned him to
come close to her. He got in front of her and
sat on the ground, leaning his back on the
bath tub.

She got out her phone and typed a message:
“Did you bring the chip?”
She handed the phone to Austin and he read
it. He cleared the message Sophia typed and
replaced it with his.

“Yes I did.” Ambrose typed.

Ambrose handed the phone back to Sophia.

He got up and walked to the hand washing
sink and bent low before it. He put his ‘peace’
fingers in his mouth, gagged on it, and
vomited in the sink. He put his hand in the
disgusting goo and fished out a black
rectangular micro sim.

He opened the tap, flushing the goo down the
sink and rinsed the micro sim. He walked back
to Sophia and handed it to her.

“How did you get it?” Sophia asked curiously
in a barely audible whisper.

“As we approached the police car that was
supposed to take me to the Capitol, your
message came in. I freed myself from the
agent by hitting him just below the ribs. I
used the opportunity to grab his smartphone
from his side pocket. When I got on the train,
I realized that I was being tracked with the
phone that I had stolen. I took out the sim
and left the phone on in the train. It would be
a while before they realize that they have been
barking up the wrong tree.” Ambrose replied.

“Good job Ambrose. Are you sure you don’t
want anyone to check you out?” Sophia asked,
getting up from the toilet seat and heading for
the door.

“I think I am fine.” Ambrose replied.

“Good. You need to keep up the act a little
while longer. Maybe until after tomorrow.”

Sophia said with a tone of finality.

“Can I get some sugar in my room? It would
really speed up my recovery.” Ambrose asked
with a mischievous smile on his face.

Sophia smiled, turned and walked up to him.

She kissed him deeply and fully on his lips,
sU-Cking his lower lips, her tongues flicking in
and out, teasing the palates of his mouth.

Ambrose sq££zed her br3asts as his essence
stood at attention, raging like a wild bull.

After what seemed like forever, Sophia
detached herself from him, eyeing him
seductively and stepping two steps back.

Ambrose tried to come forwards, attempting to
continue the action.

“Hey tiger. That was just to say thank you.

Will send a hottie into your room in ten
minutes.” Sophia said, putting a hand on his
chest to stop him from coming any closer.

She licked her lips, bit her lower lip and looked
at his gr0in area. His body went up in flames
of desire. She turned her back on him and
wiggled her hips as she shut the door behind
her. Ambrose unbuckled his belt and looked
into his pants. His desire needed to be
satiated. He walked out of the bathroom and
went to his room.

---

It was a very hot afternoon. The sun was
scorching hot and people were sweating as
they walked along the streets. Sean walked
along the busy Obalende road, heading for the
lonely street North of the small roundabout.

He got to a very tiny busy street. He heard
screams of “Yaba!!! Yaba going bus!!!” from
the scores of commercial buses that lined the
streets. As he took a left turn, someone
bumped into him hitting him by the shoulders.

Sean did not look back. He just smiled and
continued moving. The person who hit him
wore a hood which covered his entire head.

He already knew who it was.

He put his hand inside the side pocket of his
blazers and felt the tiny piece of paper that
was not there a few minutes ago. He kept
moving forwards, not knowing exactly where
he was going. When he saw an empty tricycle,
he quickly sat in it. He took out the paper and
read the content:

MEET ME IN IKD TONIGHT.

Tearing the paper to tiny shreds, Sean got out
of the tricycle and tracked back the same way
he came. He walked for a while, turning
corners abruptly, stopping suddenly and
sometimes just turning and heading back the
same way he came. He continued to move
around in circles, making sure that whoever it
was that was tailing him got lost along the
way.

When he was certain that he had lost any
trackers, he moved beside buses, crossed the
road a few times back and forth, and
zigzagged his way until he got to the Barracks
and opened the back seat of a grey G-wagon.

“How did it go?” Eva asked as Sean settled in
beside her in the back seat.

He just looked at her and smiled.

He looked at the rear view mirror and met the
gaze of his driver
“DRIVE!” Sean commanded.