Capital crime episode 12

CAPITAL CRIME EPISODE 12
JERRY
He created new formations. The other three teams had jumped into the compound after maneuvering the barbed wires.
in,side, the bar of the motel was empty. No waiter. No hoodlums. Nobody.
“ Clear!
The voice of very popular black singers sipped coldly into the air waves from a music box nearby . It heightened tension into the men. It gave them cold feet. It came like this “ All black, One Gun man— John Wick / thats a bad man. John Wick ( pow)/ Gun man ( Woooo) / All black , One gun man”
“ Clear!
It seemed like_ no_ it was obvious that all the occup-nts had been tipped off. This large guest house of over fifteen rooms, there wasn’t a single soul around: oddly strange.
In seconds, the wh0le place was saturated with the black Marshall. The house on the tail end of the Avenue of Maitama district was a dead end. A decoy or maybe , according to some conclusions in my mind; a trap.
“ Clear! rancour through out the atmosphere.
My watch showed : Nine zero-zero am.
Another door broke down “ Clear! All clear!
So far my own voice had not reported safety or shootout . Matthew must have been worried. My nerves wrecked like a meaty sh¡p in the bloody oceans of my body.
I could count the beats of my heart as it leaped up and down in my chest like the Brazilian drums in the Amazon forest.
“ John Wick ( Go) One man( huncho)/ Truck load / Ammo/ All black, suite and tie. Dont move in Cammo (cammo) Gloves on/ No even / Trigger Finger , Forever red ( Rrrah)
One man, at the jungle( woooo)
One matchete, turn’d ya to spaghetti(uuuhhh)/ One bullet , One head shot.( pewpeewnn)— the song came again. “… Dont call the cops …. Am yu gunman but I low the Keys/ Quavo superman , Quavo John Wick /
And you don want the two to mix ( Not a’ all) ….When you broke beach/bi3ch then you pay your bills…Am John Wick with dah black teeth/….
I led my team through various long corridors, then one particular corridor from the left wing of the house. Our goal: a lonely door at the end of the hall.
This should be it. My palms were getting too w-t. I expected anything and my mind travelled back to when I was a dangerous thief. Odd and ungodly hours. Hours and hours of evil. How Philip and Ray’s anonymous orders had awoken a demon in me and those other boys. Boys who turned men. Men who never went in with their clear conscience.
Conscience? They had none. Confidence? We had it all. All thanks to hærd drugs.
This case was different. My breathe squeezed. I remembered just now, that I was only human. I came closer to the door, five red pointing lights beamed like Domino’s and crickets from behind me. We were in the darkness of hell’s corridor. No boosters. No enhancers.
Just me and a bunch of agents, the night vision mode of the Tavor rifle and my gut.
When my palms reached for the door, Yetunde offered to break it down. Thank Goodness!
“ On my marks” I said” Proceed at your own discretion”
“ Affirmative!” the men replied.
The door flew open and the hinges were ripped off , right of- from the frame. The wooden door landed on an arm chair nearby in the dimly- lit room.
“ What the_? ” Yetunde choked on his words.
The men were already in,side the room. He obviously had no words.
“ Holy Grail! I said.
I reached for my mask. Sweat evaporated. My hairs spiked, shivers all over.
I adjusted my helmet. The rifle in my hand relaxed from from my grip as the safety mode engaged.
Matt’s voice came.
“ Team Fox… Team Fox… What’s your status?
There, in a pool of her own blood, half unclad and gory in nature , a bottle of whiskey in one hand, a deep wound etched into her forehead.
There , right there, resting on her back, near the bed, was Miss Stella Chaltone and a doze of white substance on her br-asts.
We were too late
“ Status confirmed … ” I began “ Fox to Eagle …It’s complicated … Target located”
Yetunde picked a spec of the white substance and drew it closer to his tongue’s tip.
“ Coke! Full concentration” he said.
I paused to let it all sink in. It was too much for me to bear.
I said“ And she is dead”
*~~~~***~~~
The tiny piece to crack the case of Kelly’s kidnap was gone.
“ Shit! Shit!! Matt cursed into the microphone” Shiiiiiiiiit… No. No… Why why , arrrghhhhHHHH! God why? ” He kicked himself and brooded .
***~~~***
My wrist watch looked rather pale as I glanced at it. The time was nine twenty _eight am. Monday morning.
***~~~~~~~***
The President and the ambassador arrived the Yellow Tower’s emerge-room 01. From Samantha Walsh’s office: the glass office- Madam president, her husband, inspector Alhassan and few trusted military guards watched as an infuriated Mathew tabled his anger upon Aremu Johnson.
The conflict occurred down downstairs and every agent of the headquarters witnessed the drama.
Round a table- a make shift desk- Me , Gerrard Finder, Samantha , Itoro and Mathew Panshark. This wasn’t a prepared- for interrogation but it turned out so.
We had returned from our raid and he had invited the president and Ambassador Green to the emerge- room 01. He had invited the Vice president too. The man however didn’t show up.
He wanted to debrief them on what he had found out so far.
The bells of the elevator had dinged and there; Aremu walked into the large hall, arm bandaged, supported by a rope to his neck , shoulders raised high with pride and comfort, dressed nicely in his suits and nice shoes.
“ Tag this” He said to Itoro” Remember what I told you about those footprints?
Itoro nodded“ You said it’s the hærdest to crack but we will”
” We just did” Matt said and charged for his prey.
Ohhhh! Matt had been so mad. So mad Infact he knew he’d have strangled A.J on the walls near the elevator when he rushed and pegged the crazy motherf-ck-er. If he hadn’t been held back , only if.
Aremu was playing smart while Matt played it cool for old times sake. Trying to solve the mystery without drawing Aremu to the limelight for friendsh¡p sake. Stella Chaltone’s murder was just the limit to Matt’s rage mode. Now , he’d have to fire scratch the truth out of AJ with his detective talons.
He had sighed when Gerrard Finder pulled him away. On the floor was Aremu, nursing his spooked arm.
“ Get that animal away from me-arrrghhh!!
Beast ” AJ had scre-med in defense“ stay away from me”
Had he stayed away? No , Infact, everything led to now. The impromptu interrogation.
Matt tabled his files at AJ’s face. He had served him the cold files as breakfast.
Case One : Law firm jury kidnapped. Mr Mike Adeyinka, presided in many cases as head of Jury.
Sent alot of criminals to jail. Then he was kidnapped. Why? Now we have even more;
Case Two: Court Clerk murdered in cold blood, family executed brutally. Mr Lawani Saraki- signed alot of judgement proclamations. Was notorious for being too eager to do so. Loved his job. Could never be bribed easily. Prolonged or abridged court hearings, while at this, he created a handful of enemies. One came back for him. Who?
Oh, even more:
Case Three: The mysterious Green file. An expatriate kidnapped with three senators on board the same airliner. What a coincidence indeed. All presumed DOA. This happened a day after the Lawani’s. How does this relate to the previous cases and why?
Case Four. He paused as AJ stared blankly at him. Then he continued “ Secretary goes AWOL. Key to unlocking the Green mystery, found dead two days after the kidnap of Miss Kelly, Senators; Tamuno, Danladi and Preye. How come? Who ? Why? So we are right back at where we should have focused all along. Ground Zero”
Matt paused the second time . “ Hint One: S.S agent assaulted during the hijacking of the same plane and individuals he ought to have protected. Somehow, somewhere by the grace of his own God he miraculously survived. Incredible!!!
“ Now my guts is telling me something I’ve been trying to put away, that this man knows more than he is willing to share”
“ Where’s your evidence? A.J said bluntly” I got shot. Almost died serving my Nation. And I’m treated this way? Shame! On you! On everyone of you. On us all.”
He spat out, literally.
A brief silence. It was obvious AJ’s shoulders had suffered a deadly blow. The poor man was only a victim. He almost died.
“ Ho-ho-ho! ” Matt broke the silence with a laughter of mockery “ Almost died ? Almost ? Alm- did you say almost? Oh dear!’ his voice returned to normal “such a drama King ”
Matt told Itoro to pop up the pictures. In seconds, HD photos were displayed on the emergency screen of the agency.
Matt told everyone how those pictures came by. He called them evidence One. They had been taken by an “anonymous blogger” The very day the kidnap happened at Lagos airport”
He told them“ These were taken at the entrance of Sheraton hotel, Ikeja. Lagos”
He turned and asked AJ “ Why Sheraton hotel?
“ And he knew” Matt continued ” very well , that the US consulate was close by at Victoria Island, Lagos.”
`They had all the motive and simple reasoning to drive straight to the U.S consulate. Instead, instead, ” he paused “ this officer in charge of the operation. Mr A.J chose the hotel. Why?
“ It was very late in the Night. The hotel was close by and _”
I scoffed to that theory. It was funny.
“ There were one thousand and one ways to have arrived at the consulate in less than Twenty minutes”.
Matt cut in “ Aremu, you are terrible at lying”.
“ Now tell me, AJ. Who are you working for? Are you a spy? How much did they pay you? Tell me!! ” He raised his voice.
Aremu replied by saying“ that’s a big word coming from you”
” We can save ourselves sometime and focus on more important things” AJ said.
“ Or we go on beating around the bush?
“ Or I go on by taking off your teeth one after the other? Matt replied.
“I’m cool like that”
He seemed unmoved and incredibly calm. Itoro sighed too; Gerrard Finder bit his own l-ips; Up at the glass office, standing near the gallery, Bukky Alakara was indifferent. Matt returned his gaze toward AJ. And so did I when our gaze locked.
“ I was shot” Aremu added violently“ Tied up in a bathroom and left for dead. Obviously, I deserve a kingly- ”
Infuriated, Matt knuckle clouded AJ’s left jaw.
“ I will give you more of those if you don’t start talking sensibly”
AJ quietly spat out blood from his mouth. disgusted. Angered! He hated himself, probably.
**~~~~**~~~~**
At that moment I recognized someone from the pictures. I knew him very well. I did well to acknowledge this fact to Matthew. I also noticed the silver briefcase that Kelly held when she was boarding the car.
“ His name is Fero”
“ Him? Matthew Panshark asked.
( AJ wiped blood off his l-ips)
“ We met each other at an abandoned facility- a year ago”
I lied about the location. It was a forest, somewhere in Edo state.
My eyes caught Bukky Alakara as she smiled. She was happy indeed to have requested my help.
“ You mean- you know this man? ” Matt asked again.
“ Yes. I don’t forget faces. I never do”
“ He is one of our agents”
“ Since when? I asked.
“ Eleven months, now. Right? Samantha opted, trying to remember” He was-”
“ How did you guys meet? Matt interrupted as he queried me.
I was certain yet cautious when I said “ R- Raymond aka “Ray” Omope. He introduced me to Fero”
Silence ruled for a while. Sam Walsh spoke up. She told Matthew to let Aremu breathe giving he was only a victim, barely caught in a web of action and consequences.
She recounted that there was no time for a divided house. No concrete evidence to prove AJ was completely guilty.
“ And if you have issues and need clarification on why Aremu is lucky to still be alive, then you should meet me personally. I’ll be glad to take your petitions to God himself”
“ But Madam-”
Sam would not have it. She immediately told the tech guys to locate the blogger’s site and place a bug on it. They were ordered to get rid of the website.
The tech supervisor said the pictures were posted on Nairaland. “ It’s a forum. The biggest in Africa and west Africa’s largest info hub”
“ Then get him to take them down ASAP. Or contact who ever is in charge of the forum”
“ Seun Osewa?
“ I don’t know him!” she uttered“ well, congrats to him. He just got recognized at international level. Now do something”
“ That can be arranged” the man said.
“ We all know what’s at stake here. As far as we know. Aremu is not the architect of these all” She said. “But Ray and fortunately he is behind bars. Our job is to make sure he remains where he is and don’t get out…..” She turned to Matthew “ Detective, am I communicating?
 
TBC