CHAPTER 23

     

              Sunday led the way, opening the door into a slightly smaller room when compared to the others, Alice stared jaw dropped at what had possibly been the most sophisticated pieces of modern technology packed in one place that she had ever seen, the screens, five of them to be exact hung from the wall of the room, running with numbers and codes that she couldn't understand, it reminded her of something she saw from the matrix the way the numbers kept on rushing through.   

                   She recognized Susan, who stood merely inches away from the young man that kept on clicking and clacking away at the keyboard, that figure of her's was almost impossible to miss despite the fact that she stood with her back facing the door, she held a glass of champagne in her hand, and still had that revolver tucked in her back pocket, as intimidating as ever, Alice equally recognized Reuben, who had been in the dinning room earlier, he too had his attention fixed on whatever it was the tech guy was doing, shutting the door with a tiny clack Sunday advanced towards the other three, his eyes equally starring at the monitor. 

                   Sunday was the first to speak,

                " Could you access it ? " he questioned as he leaned forward holding the back of the tech guy's seat with one hand and peering into the screen.

                " If you mean whether I could access one of the most secure data pieces with firewalls hard enough to give you whiplash ? " the tech guy questioned almost sarcastically, without shifting his gaze from the screen, just then a sentence finally popped up that made him pause the clicking, and leaned back, turned to face Sunday,  before responding...

                 " Let's find out, shall we ? " he said and led the cursor to the sentence and then clicked, immediately he did it, it showed access granted on the screen and they all seemed to breath out a sigh of relief.

                " Well... I guess we got in " the tech guy responded with a more than confident smile etched on his lips. 

                " You did good David, real good, " Sunday praised him, rubbing both palms at his shoulders.

               " Ok, so what do we have here ? records, deals...." David said scrolling up the details that appeared on the screen, and then took a pause as something that looked like a list of names came up, then turned to look at Sunday who completed his statement.

               " Clients. "

               " So from this we know that your guy is having a drop this week Friday, that's tommorow " David confirmed, finally spinning his seat around to look at all who stood in the room.

               " Yes but where ? and with whom ? " Susan cut in, moving across to stand beside Sunday, as Alice trailed her every move.

               " Hold on mama, I got this, " David responded confidently with a smirk, " I see you're enjoying my champagne  ? " he added slyly and shot a cunning look at Susan, a look that appeared like he could eat her for dinner. 

               " It's tasty " she responded, her expression stoic.

               " I'm sure it is " he said, widening the smile.

               " So where is the drop happening ? and who is the client ? " Sunday questioned.

                 Spinning the seat around again such that he faced the monitor, he clicked and a name popped up, 

               " A guy named George Achademsi, obviously an alias, but he's no geek in the game, George is a full time cocaine dealer and from what we have here, this isn't the first time they'll be doing business, " David responded.

                " So George could lead us to Fasting ? " Reuben questioned

                " He could, but he could also lead you to your death " the tech guy interrupted, and spotting the confiused look on their faces he continued, " George has his team of special CC's, they're called casualty check, they're his eyes and ears, assassin's so to speak, with them around it's going to be practically impossible for anyone to tail him, yet alone touch him, not even you three could handle that much gun power. "

               " So he's got big guns ? " Reuben questioned.

               " No... He's got big men...with big guns " David answered.

              " Well maybe we don't need to tail him, " Sunday said, causing each of them to cast a puzzled look at one another.

              " But that's the only way he will lead us to Fasting " Susan cut in, trying to understand Sunday's sudden change of decision and the reason behind it.

              " We won't need to tail him, George won't be making the deal, we will, " he replied, one that made the look on their face even more puzzled.

              " Look, dude, I know how courageous and brave you can get, but last I checked there's only three of you and besides, Fasting will pick up your scent from a mile away, he will know he's being fooled, " the tech guy responded, trying to make him see reason.

              " Not if we wear masks, we go there as George and his CC's, we get the package, trap fasting and alert the CSS, we will have more than enough fire power. " Sunday continued.

                But their protests at his plan cut in before he could finish, 

             " Woah, woah, woah, last I checked the CSS is after us, " Reuben said, emphasizing on the 'us', " all three of us, they're not going to believe a word you say, and what makes you so sure that you will be able to fool Fasting long enough for the CSS to get there without him being suspicious. ? " Reuben questioned.

             " They'll believe because we won't be calling them as agents, I know they're after us, but we can make it look like we made a mistake, plant a bug in the system, they'll follow it and they'll get there, all in good time to arrest Fasting, it's perfect, " he concluded, and they couldn't agree more.

            " Ok... let's do this, " David responded, clapping both hands and spinning his seat round that he faced the monitor, " the drop will be at The wheat baker, sweet hotel though, it's at No 4 onitolo Lawrence road, it's a grand 5 star, you can't miss it, you'll each have bugs on you, so you got to be careful, Fasting maybe an old friend of George, but I bet he'll still make his men check you out "  he cautioned. 

           " How do we stop them from sensing the bugs ? " Susan questioned.

           " The bugs you'll be wearing have specially designed wave sensors, they only respond to counter waves which means they won't be spotted, plus they're microscopic, as small as your sweat pores, but they work just fine, you'll each have one on your wrists, tap on it to activate and that's all, I'll take care of the digitals, work you through the system if you need anything else, " David finally concluded.

           " Thanks David, I really appreciate it " Sunday said shaking the tech guy's hand. " Alright we're all set, let's do this ".

           " I'm coming too, " Alice cut in, more surprised at her own words than they were, "

          " Alice this isn't a game, it's real and it's dangerous, forget getting hurt, you could get killed " Sunday replied. " It's not your fight, you stay here and you stay safe " he continued and turned away from her 

         " You don't need to tell me what is and what isn't a game, " she replied with a tone that showed she was fed up of hiding and running all the time, " i realized that, the moment Mike took his last breath on my arms, " she responded looking at him in the eyes, " you and your so called agents are the reason my life is as screwed up as it is, I know my life wasn't perfect before I met you, but it was way better than this, so no more telling me what I can and cannot do, I'm coming with you and that's final, " she concluded with finality in her tone.

       " it's better than staying here like a sitting duck anyways, " she responded, bending her head such that she barely looked at Sunday in the eyes, if she had she would have seen that he was at  that moment utterly and completely overcome with guilt, not because of what she said, but because of the fact that her words were true, and he couldn't stand being guilty for any other innocent death.

       " Well...that was honest, " Susan said sounding indifferent as she took a sip out of her glass.

.        The silence in the room became worse than before as everyone waited for what Sunday would do next. It almost stopped her breath the way he yanked her close to himself and the pulled her out of the room .

       " You're hurting me, " she complained, as soon as they were out of the room 

       " Really ? well this isn't close to what might happen to you if you come with us, " he shouted, making her melt with his commanding voice.

      " These are criminals Alice, they won't care if you're hurt or if you're in pain, they pull the trigger and that's it, you have your whole life ahead of you, think about your family, Mike risked his life to save yours, don't make his sacrifice be in vain " he spoke, ending the statement with a softer tone.

         He could see her melt at his words, her will breaking at the thought of Mike's sacrifice, the possibility of never seeing her parents or siblings again, she sank into a chair by the wall and held her hands out on her laps, her palms opened under her face.   

         Looking down at them, she pictured Mike's cold body, his blood on her hands, and then a wet feeling, as delicate as a soft dew started on her palm, then again and again it dropped, she was crying, and her tears kept on dropping on her open palm, she couldn't do anything to save her life, heck she couldn't even fight to save it, nothing was sure anymore, anything could happen the next minute, and then it would be all over.

         The pain intensified in her chest, until a sob escaped her lips, she was truly and entirely hopeless, she felt the rush of tears as they slithered down her cheeks, soaking her eye lashes as she tried to make them stop but to no avail, she finally placed her wet palms against her teary eyes and cried into them, fear and weakness washing over her completely.

         Squatting down, he knelt on one knee, and gently pushed a hand from her right eye, she didn't protest or try to stop him, then he slowly removed her other hand, and she dropped her hands on her lap with her face still facing the ground, he let out a sigh and looked away, then reached into his back pocket and brought out an handkerchief and handed it to her, she looked at him and then back at the napkin before accepting it and wiping her face.

       " Crying won't solve anything, it's best if you stay here, hopefully if everything goes down like we want, you'll get your life back and soon all this will be history, I promised Mike I'd protect you, at least let me keep that promise, " he pleaded.   

         His voice, soft and saddled with sincerity, she finally lifted her head up and looked at him, he was really concerned about her, and she could tell he meant every single thing he said, but he was wrong about one thing, she didn't know for sure what or why she felt she had to be jealous whenever he was close to Susan, it didn't make sense, even though she had come to depend on him most times to protect her, that still wasn't enough to make her fall for him, but on second thought, these past days had made her more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her entire life, maybe that was what was happening to her, she had felt safe with him and somehow that feeling had turned into something else, it was possible, also it could have been because of just how tall he was, how perfectly chiseled his face was, how his brown eyes peered into hers that made her lose every sense of fear, maybe that was why she wanted to come, being so close to him had made her forget her fears, but now he was leaving, and she would be alone, it could be because she was too frightened by the idea of being left alone, while he left to face the threat all on his own, but she doubted he was right about everything being history once this was all over, if they succeed.

         Lost in her own thoughts and flooding with emotions, she threw her hands around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder .

       " Please be safe, " she whispered.

         Struggling to hide his surprise, he slowly closed his arms around her back and muttered a reply.

       " I will " 

       " Hmmm, hmmm, " the sound infamous for it's ability to call attention, they both pull away from each other and find Susan standing in by the door.

       " Sorry to break up your little moment, but tommorow isn't going to sit and wait for us, we don't have much time " she finished.

          He pushed aside the few strands of hair that had fallen over her eyes and tucked them behind her ear, then reached for his back pocket and held her hand, opening it gently he dropped something in it, and folded her palm before she even looked at it.

         " Keep it " Sunday said with a reassuring smile that it would be okay, and stood up, walked towards Susan, but then stopped and looked back at Alice before going out the door with Susan.