An Evening With Eva

Episode 8

We drove in silence for a while,
navigating bends and going
through bushes. I felt Sophia’s
eyes on me as I looked far ahead
in the distance, eagerly hoping
that we burst into a busy major
road. We turned left for the
umpteenth time and I began to
feel nervous. Where was this
woman taking me? I was sure
that we were going in circles
now. We should have gotten to a
major road by no because we
had been driving close to twenty
minutes. I wanted to question
her but I thought twice about it.

After all if not for her help, the
Macho Man may have caught up
to me and who knows what may
have happened.

“Can I make a phone call on your
phone ma?” I asked
“Sure. Why not?” She replied and
handed me her Samsung S4. I
tried to make a call on the phone
and for some reason the call was
not going through. I complained
to her and she said that it was
because of the environment we
were in, assuring me that once
we got out of the bushes, I
would get better reception. She
asked who I wanted to call. I told
her I wanted to call the police. I
noticed a very brief flicker of fear
in her countenance, but she
quickly hid it. I may have seen
wrong though.

A few minutes later we hit the
freeway. I relaxed a bit. I was
glad that we were on a busy
road and we were at least seeing
other cars. I asked her where we
were. She said we were in
Kubwa, Abuja. She offered to
drop me at a park where I could
board a bus back to Lagos. I
could not thank her enough. We
slowed down suddenly and
parked the car away from traffic.

She turned off the ignition. We
were in the middle of nowhere.

Cars were zooming past us at
light speed. I became
apprehensive. She looked
worried. I was scared. She pulled
a lever beside the steering wheel
and got out of the car. I followed.

She opened the bonnet and
hooked it with the metal to
support it. Everything was
sparkling new. No dirt, dust or
oil. I wondered what could be
wrong. Her arms were akimbo as
she scanned the cars that
zoomed past us. She did not
make any move to stop anyone.

My hands were on the edge of
the bonnet trying to look for a
fault that was invisible.

She walked up to me.

“Did you find anything?” she
asked me.

“Still looking ma’am” I replied,
trying to find the solution. I knew
absolutely nothing about fixing
cars.

I was still looking for the fault
when I heard her say,
“This would only hurt just a
little.”

I tried to turn but it was too late.

She tweaked an artery around
my neck with her thumb and
forefinger in one deft perfect
move.

That was all I could remember.

Detective Ahmed sat in his large,
heavily furnished office, the
blinds drawn. He put the fan at
the highest and made sure the
air condition was blowing at the
lowest temperature. This was the
only way he could think. He was
still shaken at the death of his
most trusted colleague and
friend. He was disturbed. Agent
Mercy was the best undercover
agent the academy had ever
produced. She was recruited into
the Intelligence Operations at 19
and had successfully carried out
4 undercover jobs. Even in the
last one where they thought her
cover would be blown, she had
successfully maneuvered her way
and got out unscathed. She was
under cover as one of the
strippers in the joint owned by a
Mafia Boss. He was wanted for
drug trafficking and child abus3.

There was no single evidence
against him, but the Agency was
sure he was not innocent. So
they sent in Mercy and she did a
wonderful job.

The Ghosts had been a mystery
for many years, even before
Ahmed and Mercy came into the
Agency. However, three years
ago, James an alleged member of
The Ghosts was said to have
come out publicly to say that he
wanted to confess his crimes
and demanded 24-hour police
protection. That was his mistake.

He should have confessed when
he had the chance. He was
murdered in his sleep, in a house
protected by four trained agents
at his bedroom door, other
agents on the roof, in the
opposite holuses and scattered
everywhere around his house,
protecting him. Yet they still got
to him. He was found dead the
next morning.

Mercy’s death meant only one
thing: This was not a matter to
be handled lightly. He logged
onto his computer and entered
the encrypted password. He
clicked on the Mercy file. Her
picture popped up, alongside her
personal details and
achievements. He was not ready
for this. He closed the file and
logged off, shutting down his
computer.

He locked his office door and
pressed the conmbination codes
to permanently lock it. It was
8pm. Rita had called him a
hundred times but he had not
picked. He dialed her number.

“I am coming home. Okay. I am
fine. See you soon.” He finished
He got on his power bike and
sped off towards Ajah. He loved
speed. It helped him clear his
head. He did not notice the blue
truck speeding towards him in
the opposite direction. But he
always had very sharp instincts.

He was a second quicker. He
quickly slowed and jumped off
the bike into the nearby shrubs
before the truck made impact.

The noise was deafening.

Ahmed rolled far away from the
collision into the shrubs. He could
not feel his left leg. He pulled out
his phone and dialed a speed
code. It sent a signal to
headquarters, informing them
that he was in trouble and they
could track his location. A team
was sent to his location
immediately. His eyes were
closing; he barely heard what
was going on around him.

The last thing he heard from the
crowd confirmed his fears, the
driver of the truck was nowhere
to be found.

Sophia’s phone rang. The General
was calling.

“This is code Amber. Gather all
Super Agents and the Tactics
team at the Watch Tower. We
meet at 21:00 hours.”

She panicked. There was trouble.