Episode 45 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.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 21:36:12 +0000