SAMPLE.... One The skies had suddenly become overcast. Within minutes, the late evening showers of early December had encompassed the dam’s surface into a shimmering beauty. Six bodies swayed afloat the water like buoyant markers. From a distance, the dam seemed peaceful in the rain, but the young man was quick to distin-guish what was and wasn’t normal. His day was just starting to get ugly with the engine of his car having overheated. He had chosen to take a shorter route in an effort to arrive on time for his date. Now he understood why nobody used the route at night. It was full of wicked potholes and the dam looked like a deserted waterfront in a lost town. As he looked more closely, the young man could clearly make out that what he had thought to be logs floating in the dam were actually human bodies. Horrified, he cried out to them. He got no response. Are they six? He counted them, trying hard to cover his face from the rain. He counted them twice and made out six figures. He shouted again, but still no response came. The area was totally deserted that crying out for help was pretty much useless. He gazed around thinking hard. The rain was now pouring hard. He ran back to his car and sheltered himself inside. He thought of many things at once. It was al-most eight o’clock in the evening and his date was waiting. His car was dead and what could be weirder, he was seeing bodies floating in dams. The young man wondered if the pressure of wanting to be punctual for a date he had spent the last year trying to get and finally succeeded was making him see things. Had he truly seen bodies in the dam? Five minutes passed as he quizzed it over. He finally ended up grudgingly getting out of the car back into the rain and dashed to the dam’s bridge. They were still there and now he could make out that they were possibly all male wearing some kind of uniform. The bodies had their faces down and judging from the fact that they were floating, there was no way they were still alive. He rushed back to the car and wished that he hadn’t been in a hurry to forget his cellphone at his apartment. All he had to do was to wait and hope that someone was going to use the route before dawn. Not less than three hundred kilometres away, dead leaves, twigs, few scrapes of paper and less identifi-able detritus whirled and tumbled along a wide tarred road. The road was presumably the only means of getting in touch with the outside world. As asserted by the country’s geologists, the vast holdings were one of the few regions in the coun-try that comprised of a population density of less than one person per square kilometre. At first, there were strong misgivings, hints of sadness, which anybody might have felt when passing through this area. It was overpopulated with long dry ornamental grasses, huge baobab trees, and with the exception of a few birds of the sky, no additional animal genus could be readily seen in this region. It was rarely possible to sense that out of sight there was any form of activity on these vast pieces of terra firma. From time to time, only birds could be seen flying by within the horizon. Below the Earth’s surface, all was phenomenal. An additional variety of life existed. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere. The place resembled nothing other than unrivalled contemporary technology. An effortless glimpse of the state of the art machinery, the neatly dressed technicians and scientists wandering about, would have certainly deceived one into assessing that this was some kind of Advanced Medical Institute. A man wearing a dark purple uniform abruptly emerged from an elevator and the electrical sliding door clogged swiftly behind him. The man was tall and muscular, with strong shoulders. His thick brown hair looked as if it had not been cut in months and he looked like he needed a shave. His features were ruggedly perfect yet sensitive. At the age of forty, King was still in an excellent shape than he had anticipated. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the huge gap below hoping to get a glimpse of at least one of them. Not even one was in sight. All he saw were the busy Unicorns ambling in every direction pursuing on with their duties. ‘They must all be there already. Oh bother.’ he whispered to himself, making his way along the space. The Unicorns seemed to be highly mobile that day. The Main Access Hall was bustling more than usual. Maybe its anxiety taking its toll, King thought. That week had really been a busy one. He knew he had to get control of himself to keep his cool. He had never lost control and did not want to lose it now. What more could anybody do? Results were badly needed and he was currently at level zero of achieving something productive. King strode across the hall, everyone giving him way as he passed. With him were six essential-looking green files, each stamped with the organi-zation’s insignia on the front cover. He tugged his jacket. He had just discovered a silver dollar sized splotch of coffee on the left hand side pocket. Uneasily, King shifted the files to hide the stain. Finally, he reached one of the silver doors. As he approached, the door slowly hissed open for him and gratefully, he stepped into an empty elevator. He let out a sigh of fatigue as the door clicked shut before him. He stood still, recapturing his thoughts and took a deep breath as the elevator hissed to stop at the fifth subterranean level of the underground structure. The conference room was only a minute away. King gazed at his wristwatch and broke off into a brisk walk along the corridor. For a start, he needed to endure this meeting. The elaborately designed electrical door sepa-rated noiselessly producing four quarters that slid into the corners of the sidewall as he approached the room. Everyone at the desk was already respectfully up on his or her feet. King threw the files onto the long elongated conference desk and plunged himself into his superior high backed leather armchair. There were twelve people in the room, exclud-ing King. Of the twelve, seven were male whilst the rest female. They were all wearing beautiful white-cream uniforms that made them look more like a navy crew. They could all sense the weakening tension that filled the atmosphere. Everything at the moment was ailing. Nobody in the room had had uninterrupted rest for the past two days. They were all at the present moment experiencing the painful stress that came with the job. ‘Should I say good afternoon?’ King said after they had resumed their seats. ‘Anybody got any good news for me today?’ Nobody had any. They could sense a faint trace of exasperation in his tone. All they did was to stare at the organisation’s logo screensavers floating on their tablet screens. ‘Not good, I can’t take this,’ King frowned, not at all amused by the silence. ‘What the hell is the matter with you Xperts? I need results people, I want results.’ Silence was the answer. One thing they had learnt over the years was that their leader did not believe in excuses. Neither was he given to showing any emotion apart from now. ‘Two damn days wasted and all you got for me is absolutely nothing but hands?’ King continued with a tinge of frustration. The Xperts could do nothing but continue glaring at their tablet screens. ‘You are all aware of the complex nature of this situation we are facing, are you not?’ Nobody felt the urge to utter a single breath. The situation was beyond doubt critical and they were well aware of that despite the leader’s com-plains. At first, they had estimated the whole ordeal as just one of those minor here goes, but now it had twisted up to be something far-off severe than major. These were some of those days when they wished that they weren’t holding such key posi-tions at the organisation. Being supreme in the firm required far greater commitment, dexterity, and to go along with these, the ability to deal with the soaring intensities of frightful stress under pressure. One slight slip-up would pilot to everlast-ing disaster. Nothing called a weak decision existed as it was either perfect or dreadful. One had to be on their toes at all times. The benefits of being Motif League Xperts; simply Xperts as they were called, getting all the respect, achieving high esteem and the huge benefits to be drawn were not really something that one ever had the time to enjoy for there never seemed to be any to do so. Once you were desig-nated as one of the top thirteen, it was all about formulating strategies and tactics, nothing else. The intelligence capacity of the brain increased daily, but sometimes the strain was overwhelming. What was more disconcerting about the cur-rent particular case was the fact that one slight slip, either minor or major, would develop far rippling effects. Everybody in the firm and the world at large would suffer equally and there wouldn’t be any time to mourn or regret having made a bad decision because by then all of them would proba-bly be dead to experience the painful part of it. In simpler terms, decision-making at this stage was a nightmare. ‘Mr Krienkes.’ ‘Sir,’ was the prompt reply. It came from a gen-tleman who was sitting at the end of the left row. He was thirty years old, but looked younger. Unfortunately, for him, it always transpired that at all the important meetings ever held, if nobody was ready to speak out willingly, he was the first person to be called up to say something. Saying things that made sense there and then under pressure wasn’t actually that kind of an undemanding obligation for him, particularly when everybody was staring expecting him to produce something somewhat resourceful. This always ended up in humiliation. ‘What’s the status with your undisclosed dele-gates?’ the leader asked in a throaty voice. ‘Well, ahhh sir,’ Mr Krienkes paused for a while gathering his bearings. ‘The authorities aren’t being forthcoming. My delegates and I also haven’t had enough time to convince them to cooperate in detail. I sense that they are holding something back. Last time when I was personally in the process of investigating the Royal Building explosions camouflaged as a private detective, they threatened to have me arrested if I didn’t beat it.’ ‘Did you give them reason?’ ‘No Sir, I was very careful in my actions. They alleged I was trespassing on private property, thus meddling with police business without any appro-priate authorisation. I decided to stay low to preserve my cover and conveyed in someone else to do the job.’ ‘And what about the Pious Stalwarts assign-ment? Did they acquire those files containing the corporation’s financial data?’ King asked, his eyes partly closed. ‘Oh, that sir, Goodman Shia’s people removed the entire records worth looking at from all their branches and they are being kept under tight encryption security systems at the Headquarters for indefinite reasons. I speculate that they some-how discovered that someone was looking around. I don’t think we will find much on them to aid our analysis.’ ‘In other words, that means you have nothing?’ King sighed deeply and got up. He started pacing around the room slowly like a caged tiger. ‘The Tanzanian Sector must have dealt with this prob-lem long back. They are on the verge of making life more difficult for us. They tend to take things very lightly. It seems as if they have no idea what we are facing. You know what this means, don’t you Mr Krienkes?’ ‘Certainly sir, I am fully aware of the implica-tions. I wouldn’t worry about it sir. I have some intelligent undercover Unicorns on it at this second. We will get those files soon. It’s just a matter of time. I promise you that by tomorrow they will be available, I will make sure.’ The leader grimaced at this reassuring remark. He knew Krienkes lived up to his word, but there were some echoes of doubt in his voice. Mr Krien-kes, personally, wasn’t self-confident about what he had just said, all remained to be seen. ‘These measures, I hope aren’t simply a placebo and will deal with the matters at hand with effi-ciency. Time is definitely not on our side, so I suggest we thrust up the rate of our operations.’ King paced some more whilst Mr Krienkes wildly ran his fingers on his tablet’s touchpad. Mr Krienkes knew he had to get something tangible from his delegates whom he had put all his faith on. He couldn’t afford to be disappointed after all that he had told them, which was virtually ade-quate to derive something solid. His neck was now on the line. If they didn’t have anything concrete by dawn, the leader was really going to chew his head off. Mr Krienkes needed nobody to tell him that. ‘Mrs Machena, what about the post mortem reports on those six security officials found buoy-ant in the Hale Dam on Monday?’ King focused his attention elsewhere. A bulky light complexioned lady who was sit-ting next to Mr Krienkes procrastinated for a few seconds, groping for the right words to say. She was in her late thirties and possessed a lovely mane of white hair. Using her elbows as stabilisers, she swivelled her huge frame around her seat and explained soothingly. ‘The reports from the local coroner’s office in-dicate that there was nothing extraordinary about the cause of death. They claim that they all drowned to death owing to the presence of the soggy water that was found in their lungs, asphyxi-ation amongst other things. The autopsies also suggest that there wasn’t any use of artillery, knockout gases or anything of that nature.’ ‘Did our own forensic team have a go at them, possibly the Nocturnal Panthers?’ ‘We haven’t been given the chance to do so Sir,’ Mrs Machena replied, punching a few keys on her tablet. ‘Since our people will mainly be mas-querading and operating as private detectives, the authorities in charge won’t let us get our hands on the bodies.’ ‘And you mean to actually say that that is stop-ping us?’ King groaned. His voice was becoming wavier; his throat was a little raw now. ‘What happened to our silky touch? We are half effective as we used to be.’ He stopped pacing around and planted himself back in his seat. Those sitting close to him could smell the mixed whiff of perfume and whiskey coming from his highly frequent sweating body. ‘Correct me if I am wrong Mrs Machena, but this autopsy thing was supposed to have been executed before yesterday nightfall with or without anyone’s approval. Don’t tell me that we don’t have the intelligence to easily jump protocol to get what we need. Until we deal with these small things, can we be able to progress to another level. When are we going to start realising that if we don’t work ably we will keep on stagnating at nothing? I promise all of you, if we don’t get all our heads cranking and itching with good, and I mean excellent ideas, I am sure going to go lunatic.’ Mrs Machena couldn’t believe it. The leader was indirectly blaming her for the setbacks they were experiencing. Her insides bloated with anger. She bit back a groan and was ready to give the leader her piece of mind. ‘With all due respect Sir, I think you aren’t be-ing fair,’ interjected a wide-eyed young lady with a blond mane wafting to and from her face. She was just around the twenty-second year old mark. She was sitting at the direct opposite of Mrs Machena and, knowing very well how effortlessly offended Mrs Machena could get she hurried to say some-thing before Mrs Machena brewed up some nasty sentiment to bounce back at the leader, something that would have led to tempers flaring. ‘We are all doing our best although it is not good enough,’ she assessed in a cool tone. ‘This problem is undeniably huge, more so we didn’t even know that such a thing existed until four days ago when the other party slipped on their intel. As for myself, I still can’t believe that such a thing can be possible, but I can’t keep on luxuriating on that thought because it sure the hell can, or precisely, is going to be if Pipe Feza gets hold of the resources to create it. I will be frank about this. The way I see it, I think it will be best if we were to get somebody who can get hold of proceedings on the outside, especially at the Castle. Someone skilled, wise and cool headed enough to handle any circumstance and someone capable of easily transmitting info between them and us. The person must be given the power to make decisions personally and should be accountable for their actions. Otherwise, if we don’t take a step in that direction we will never get anywhere.’ Silence accordingly jammed the room. ‘Couldn’t have said it better myself Ms West. I see that you have been thinking lately,’ King said with a smirk. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. ‘So what do you suggest we do? Send you out there as one of our Special Agents?’ ‘I wouldn’t mind if it was possible Sir, as long as I will be where the action is. I will be helping the cause by doing something about this fix that has gotten you helplessly on your knees, Sir,’ Ms West responded with a grin. ‘In fact, I will be flattered.’ ‘Ahhhh, that could do something to inflate my spirits,’ King chuckled. He couldn’t help smiling at the blushing young lady. ‘Who do we have that can be that person, the best at the moment I mean?’ Xpert West put her thumb on her chin think-ing. ‘The best Agent we have at the moment is Unicorn Sinclair, but he is currently under an operation in Dubai.’ ‘You and Xpert De Beers, you deal with that issue. Find someone,’ King said. ‘Mr Karima, I have been thinking about this a great deal and the notion Ms West brought about has convinced me to pursue with the idea. I think it’s about time we bring in the six.’ A young man of twenty was startled by this sudden request. ‘I beg your pardon Sir,’ he said anxiously. ‘You don’t exactly mean like now, do you?’ ‘Am i speaking Latin Mr Karima?’ retorted the leader. ‘Yes, of course I mean now.’ ‘But Sir, I beg to differ,’ the young sir protested boldly. ‘What I mean Sir, is that I haven’t as yet put them on the trials there are supposed to have to verify if there are eligible enough to fit such positions. Besides, I already have my doubts on them, as before.’ ‘What?’ King stared at him. ‘I thought when you said a fortnight ago that they were all okay, you meant okay as for okay, but not “to be okay” after being tested, tried or whatever. I trust that there are all old enough now, aren’t they?’ ‘Yes Sir but, but …’ ‘But what Mr Karima, what’s the point of con-tradicting yourself now?’ the leader asked, running his hands over his sweat covered forehead. ‘You aren’t by any chance getting personally involved with anyone of them, are you? Because from what I have seen, three of them have remarkable resumes and also have characteristics that any lad of your age would find rather amusing if not breath-taking.’ ‘I don’t understand Sir, you mean the ladies?’ ‘I didn’t say that, did I?’ King asked the others who were trying hard not to laugh. ‘Asi vakaku-ramba vese?’ he added in a teasing tone that made everybody erupt with laughter. ‘It’s not like that Sir,’ Mr Karima shrugged helplessly. He couldn’t accommodate the embar-rassment of being laughed at lightly. He started fidgeting with his hair, a nervous habit that he always performed when he was humiliated in front of a crowd. ‘I wouldn’t even dream about it Sir. They are not my type of eggs.’ Everybody roared with laughter once again. This helped lessen the tension in the room. It was all smiles for a while. ‘Besides that Sir, getting involved with externals will be risking exposure. They are truly appealing characters Sir, but they can’t even move an inch of a muscle on me. I can swear on that Sir, business is top priority as you always say.’ the Mr Karima said confidently. He felt a whole lot better as the others continued to giggle and snicker. ‘Is that so? So what is the problem if I may ask?’ ‘Err, you see Sir, I am not convinced about their capabilities. They may appear all great and such, but what we do here is different. It’s not normal.’ Mr Karima explained to the leader. ‘The training procedure will absolutely kill them. I won’t give any names, but some don’t even seem to meet the requirements of the great man himself although there are the ones destined to be.’ Although no one noticed it, King flinched lightly. This statement had caught him unawares. Some of what Mr Karima had said was to a lesser extent true. ‘That does not matter now. This isn’t the time to criticise their attitudes, abilities, what have you. They will learn as time goes on, discovering their inborn potentials as well as being acquainted to the organisation’s environment.’ he said. He pointed at the files he had brought with him and Mr Karima collected them without protest. ‘As far as I am concerned, they are all what they are supposed to be if these files are precise. Since you and Xpert Nduva personally updated all the info in them, I don’t think we should worry about their authenticity. I also presume that everybody in here, provided that all of us seriously read these files, will agree with me that these people are pieces of one great puzzle that needs to be fit together.’ He looked at his wristwatch and continued. ‘Please do not dally on this issue. I need to meet them as soon as possible. Is that clear Xpert Karima?’ ‘All heard and ready to be done Sir,’ Mr Kari-ma agreed softly. He didn’t know how in the world he was going to convince the six into coming to this isolated place far away from their homes to meet a couple of strangers. ‘Good! Mrs Machena, please try by all means to get some tangible info about those corpses. If you can’t think of any possible cleaner way of circumventing the authorities without raising any attention, send in the Nocturnal Panthers. We need our own personnel to get a look on them before we conclude our analysis. Mr Swift, let’s meet in my office during the next hour. We need to discuss about how we are going to handle the S.GAR issue. Does anybody have anything they want to say before I wrap it up?’ King asked, looking at his wristwatch once more. ‘Ms West, any superfluities? Perhaps one of your famous Westerly quotes?’ ‘No Sir.’ Xpert West grinned. ‘Meeting adjourned then. Good night Xperts.’ They all sauntered out of the room with their spiritual osmosis heightened. This was just one of those things, the outset of some persistent rather vile days to come. Inevitably, life went on.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:02:15 +0000
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