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Episode 48

The Colonel laughed gently as he sat on the
roof of the UBA building in Obalende. When he
hit Sean a few minutes before, he had dropped
a tiny note in his pocket. The note had a bug
on it. There was no way Sean would handle
the tiny paper that he would not get the
transmitter onto himself. It was a tracking
device which would allow The Colonel monitor
Sean’s movement. He knew he had won Sean
over to his side, but he was not completely
certain that it would remain that way. He just
had this gut feeling that just as Sean agreed
to work with him, he could easily decide to
switch sides again.

However, he knew Sean was very smart. Even
though he did not know the exact degree of
Sean’s intelligence, putting the bug on the
tiny note was the perfect test. And to his
chagrin, Sean passed perfectly. That was the
reason for The Colonel’s laugh. The Colonel
had been looking at his hybrid wristwatch
which was configured to act as a monitor for
the tracking device. For five minutes, the red
dot on his wrist watch was static, unmoving.

It was just blinking a few meters from the
location he had hit Sean. Sean definitely did
not have the bug on him.

The Colonel had half expected this. He had
concluded that if Sean failed to detect the
bug, he would not be involved in the bust to
take down GhostCorp. But now not only did
Sean detect the bug, he had suddenly
disappeared from view. He was nowhere to be
found. The Colonel searched the whole of the
Obalende axis with his powerful custom made
binoculars, looking for Sean at every angle.

This was his backup plan. He had thought he
would be able to catch a glimpse of Sean if
the tracking stunt failed.

As he looked behind him, peering down
through his binoculars 45 degrees South East,
he saw Sean slowly snaking his way behind
the red BRT buses that were parked and
waiting for passengers.

“Gotchya!” The Colonel said to himself.

He pressed a button on the right panel of his
binoculars to activate X-ray Detection Mode.

The view changed, wiping every other element
off and displaying just the image of Sean. He
was coming back the same way he just went
and was now crossing over to the other side of
the road.

“You can run friend, but you can’t hide.”

The Colonel said softly again.

Sean crossed the road and waited. The
Colonel wondered what was keeping Sean.

Could he be waiting for someone? He
activated Face Detection and zoomed in on
Sean’s face. Sean looked completely
indifferent. Totally unreadable. He did not look
anxious, scared or worried. He just looked
sideways a few times as if he was waiting to
cross the road. The Colonel had tracked down
a lot of very good spies. He was very good at
it. But at one point or the other, they always
gave themselves away especially when he
used his binoculars and gauged their facial
expression. No one had ever escaped him. But
now, he could not read Sean’s countenance.

“What is on your mind boy? What are you
trying to do?” The Colonel asked himself.

A commercial bus was calling for passengers
and stopped just where Sean stood. Sean
waited a while and then entered just as the
bus began to move. The Colonel saw this. He
took the registration plates of the bus and
typed it into his palm sized satellite computer.
As the bus moved just about 100 meters, a
truck carrying fuel crossed the road causing
traffic to build up. Sean got down from the
bus with other passengers and mixed himself
with the crowd. He went to the side of the
truck and entered through the passenger door.

People were looking at Sean. The Colonel was
watching everything with keen interest. His
view of Sean was blocked by the rising number
of people that were now trying to move the
truck away from the road. He could only see a
little part of Sean’s body in the truck. Another
man entered the driver’s seat of the truck and
attempted to start the truck. It refused to
move.

The man got down from the truck and opened
the front compartment of the truck’s engine
chamber. Sean was no longer in the truck. It
was just a few seconds. How did Sean get out
of his sight? He quickly scanned the whole
area, imprinting faces and looking for Sean.

The results were negative. Sean was not in the
vicinity. Two minutes later while the
binoculars was still scanning, the driver of the
truck got back into the truck and started the
engine. It revved to life, emitting thick black
smoke from the exhaust pipe. The truck
reversed and gradually got off the road,
parking on a safe part of the busy commercial
axis. Still, Sean was no longer in view.

When the truck driver got out and got out his
phone, The Colonel had a sudden brainwave.

Zooming his powerful binoculars on the
driver’s phone, he took several pictures of the
phone’s screen until the driver put it back into
his pocket and began to walk away from the
truck.

The Colonel transferred the pictures onto his
Ipad 7 Unlimited and zoomed in on the
pictures. The first picture showed the menu of
the truck driver’s phone. He continued his
scrutiny of the pictures till he got to the
seventh one. It was a message from an
unknown number.

“Thank you.”

The Colonel continued to scroll. The remaining
pictures showed the truck driver deleting the
message and exiting the screen to the main
menu. A truck came out of nowhere, blocked
the road, granted Sean entrance and allowed
him disappear. The truck which had seemed
totally bad suddenly got working and was able
to leave the road. And barely a minute after
Sean’s disappearance off the radar, the truck
driver got a text showing appreciation.

The coincidence was too true to be ignored.

The truck driver had been Sean’s diversion
and means of escape. The Colonel nodded his
head and smiled. He was impressed. Sean had
outwitted him and totally knocked him off his
trail. Nobody had ever done that. He shut
down his devices and packed them in a small
briefcase. He headed for the fire escape and
proceeded to exit the UBA building. He had
made up his mind. Sean was definitely going
to be his right hand man.


The General got into the Visitors lounge,

shutting the door behind him. He scanned the
walls and corners, looking for any form of
surveillance or hidden bugs. After less than a
minute of scrutiny, he brought out two
wireless ear plugs and inserted them in his
ears. Once they were in his ears, they started
blinking purple – a sign that they were
activated.

He listened intently, hoping to hear whispers
or any form of activity in the room. He only
heard the sound of rushing water. He waited
for seven minutes. He was beginning to get
worried. The shower or whatever it was had
begun to take too long. Besides, seven
minutes was too long a period to wash off
Ambrose’s wounds and bring him back to the
sitting room. Even at that, there still had to be
some form of communication or small talk. So
far he had not gotten anything and that
worried him. He pressed the earpiece deeper
into his ears. Still nothing.

Just as he was about to leave the lounge, he
heard voices.

“How do you feel now?” The General heard
Sophia say.

“Much better. Thanks a lot for the injection.”

Ambrose replied.

“So what really happened back there?”

Sophia asked
“It all happened so fast. I do not even recall
all right now. Still looks hazy at the moment.

But I think I need to rest.” Ambrose said.

“Okay then. A room has been prepared
upstairs for you. I will ask someone to lead
you there. What do I tell the General? He
would need information.” Sophia asked
“The General scares me. I fear he may shoot
me himself if he doesn’t get anything out of
me.” Ambrose replied.

When the General heard that, he smiled. He
was glad he had not lost the fear factor he
had on his lieutenants. Sophia inclusive. He
had heard enough. He walked out of the
lounge, taking out the buds in his ears as he
approached the sitting room. He opened the
door as a steward was leading Ambrose
upstairs to the room that had been prepared
for him.

“Where is he going?” The General asked Sophia who didn’t seem the least startled at his intrusion.

He was beginning to lose his power on Sophia
and they both knew it. But he had no choice.

He had lost his most intelligent Lieutenants.

He had only Sophia now. She was the calmest
and the most calculating. She worked best
under pressure. She always delivered. She was
his only hope if he was to come out of his
brewing war with The Colonel. He had no
doubts whatsoever that Sophia knew that she
was his only powerhouse in this ensuing
battle. He also knew she was cunning and
could snake him. Tawo and Shina were dead.
Ambrose was temporarily out and he had only
Sophia. So he would stick with her till this
was over and take her out. He had thought
about rendering her inactive, deploying her to
a remote island or taking her away to a
different section of GhostCorp. But with every
thought he always came to the same
conclusion: She had become too comfortable
and it was not healthy for him. She had to die.

He preferred his enigma status and if Sophia
did not feel threatened by him, she could
influence others to feel the same. And then, he
would no longer be The General that everyone
really feared and got trembled at.

“He is going to his room. He needs to rest.”

Sophia replied.

“Has he said anything?” The General asked.
“Nothing yet. His thoughts seem unclear at
the moment, nothing a good rest will not
solve.” Sophia replied.

“Where are we with Sean and Eva?” The
General asked.

Sophia was shocked. She hadn’t expected that
the General would have known so soon. It had
been barely 48 hours and she was hoping she
would get concrete information by the end of
day. She had no idea where they were.

“I have everything under control. They are
ready for their part. We just need to get a way
to blend them into the new scheme now that
Ambrose has been compromised.” Sophia
replied.

“Where are they?” The General asked, walking to the water dispenser and helping himself with a cup of cold water. He drank the water,
keeping his gaze on Sophia as he waited for
her reply.

Sophia was quiet.

“Ahhhhhhhhh. Refreshing!” The General
exclaimed as he set the cup down and licked
his lips.

“I asked a question S. Where is the location of
Sean and Eva?”
“My best guess is that they are now working
with the Colonel. They were visited by the
Colonel in their hotel suite and have gone
rogue since then. We got know this from the
surveillance footage in the hotel. He
intentionally let himself get captured by the
cameras. They have been spotted around the
city but successfully shaken off all our best
trackers. I have taken over supervision of
finding them and I will get something soon. I
think they will let themselves be found when
they are ready. We trained them too well.”

Sophia explained.

“Are you giving me excuses lieutenant?” The
General said raising his voice angrily.

Sophia was unmoved.

“I would never give excuses sir. I am just
saying that we have studied the Colonel. He
wants revenge. He is blinded by his current
bloodlust. We can use it to our advantage. If
we wait him out, pretend to be unaware of him
and his vices, he would be forced to act. Then
we would nail him. We have the upper hand
sir. We need to gather our resources, stock
pile our strategies and expect an attack. Then
we’ll counter in such a way he never saw
coming.” Sophia explained sitting down and
crossing her legs, staring straight into her
Guardian’s eyes.

“Let me know when Ambrose comes to. If he
has nothing concrete to present, you will have
to kill him. Use him as bait, smoke him,
anything. He is now a liability. You have
twenty hours to find the missing love birds.”

The General said and walked out of the room.

He did not wait for a reply. Sophia had none
to give. She had plans of her own.

As the General shut the door behind him, she
got up and headed for Ambrose’s room.


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