THE COMPLETE ASSASIN PART 24 Sensei watched his wife drive away in the car with Steven and Stella. He was almost tempted to go along with them but he knew no good was going to come out of it. He had to stay back and sort out issues with James, perform a thorough clean up and obliterate every trace of his wife’s presence in the room. He looked at James. “Have you made the call?” Sensei asked. “I just got off the phone with Detective Samson. He did not seem the least happy that I have been incommunicado. I guess I am yet to get used to his erratic outbursts. He was on his way to the Police HQ but has turned around and changed course. He should be here soon.” James replied. “Good.” Sensei said, walking away from James and into the house. He went to the dining table, looking at the contents on the table. The sight of homemade food, especially one prepared by AuntVic brought back feelings of nostalgia. He shrugged away the feeling and moved away. He went back to where he sat, relaxing his heavy frame on the seat. “I hope you know what you are getting into James.” Sensei Marcus said, waving at him to take the seat opposite him. “I think I have an idea what it entails. We are the small team that intends to bring down the bad guys.” James replied with a smile on his face. “ShadowCorp is the most feared, most ruthless and the most brutal underground organization in the world. Usurping them is not a task for the fainthearted. Have you considered that you may not get out alive? Are you willing to lose your life for this cause?” Sensei asked. “I have no plans of dying anytime soon sir. I intend to see this to the end and with people like Steven, James, Stella and you, I am very sure that good will prevail.” James finished, crossing his legs. Sensei Marcus let out a soft, short cackle. “There is no good here James, just two evils the lesser trying to rid the greater. What we have done, what we have dipped our hands into is so great that this step can be likened to taking a small tip from the iceberg of injustice and corruption that has eaten deep into the fabrics of every sector of government. This path is not an easy one. Brace yourself.” Sensei said with a tone of finality. James began to worry slightly. What was Sensei Marcus all about? Why was he stressing so much about the sacrifice and consequences of going against ShadowCorp? Did he know something that the others did not? Was he just trying to scare him away from doing his bit? All these questions took root and began to grow branches as the minutes wore on. Exactly twenty minutes later, the sound of a jeep was heard in the distance, crushing the gravel laden road on its way to the beach house. James got up from his seat, and moved to the window taking a peek at the incoming vehicle. “It’s the detective. He is almost here.” James said, not taking his eyes off the window. “Good. Let’s wrap this up and get it over with.” Sensei Marcus replied, getting up and straightening his Italian tailored jacket. The jeep parked just in front of the beach house gate and three men got down. Two of them got off first from the back seat, wearing police uniforms and looking very smart but aggressive. Then Detective Samson came down next from the passenger side. He still had the same look of sarcasm he had come to be identified with. He paused for a few seconds, took out his sunglasses and wore it. He was like that; very weird and unpredictable. The driver remained in the jeep. With the detective leading the way, they walked into the compound of the beach house and then entered the already half open door. Stepping into the house the detective scanned the whole room. He took off his glasses and put them in his bosom pocket. He took two steps forward and waited. James left the window and approached the detective. When he was within three meters of the detective, he stopped. “Good morning sir. This is Mr. Marcus. He was the one who gave me an anonymous tip about this place and warned that I come quickly. I was so eager and interested in what the man had to say that it did not cross my mind to inform you sir. I got so engrossed in the details and was completely overwhelmed in the amount of information I was given that I completely forgot to contact you. It was when I remembered that I called you sir.” James explained to the detective. “Oh, I see.” The detective replied, keeping a straight face. He was apparently unmoved by the explanation that James just gave. He needed something stronger to convince him that coming here was worth it. Sensei Marcus sat on the sofa, his legs crossed and his composure relaxed. He did not seem intimidated by the presence of the most revered detective in the whole South West District. Detective James was used to people cowering at his presence, avoiding his gaze, murmuring words to him. Here sat a man who was clearly unperturbed by his presence. Maybe he did not know who he was. “Hello Mr. Marcus, I am Detective Samson. District Detective and Principal Head of Investigations of the Nigerian Intelligence Bureau, South West District. How are you doing?” The detective greeted stretching his hands towards Sensei Marcus for a handshake. “I am doing great thank you. Can I see your ID?” Sensei Marcus asked, shaking the detective. The detective brought out a black wallet from the pocket of his jacket, revealing a gold plated badge with NIB crested boldly on it and his name carved in beautiful calligraphy below the crest. Marcus nodded his approval and the detective sat on the empty sofa beside him. “So, what is this huge intel that you have that you think is so important to keep my staff away from work and get me dragged half way across the state to come here?” The detective asked, with menace in his voice. “I have already told James everything. I think he should explain to you.” Marcus said. The detective smirked. He took out a piece of Cuban cigar from his bosom pocket, cut of the tip and put it in his mouth. He was doing all this very slowly and deliberately, making sure that every move he made registered with Marcus. It was psychological torture, a skill he had harnessed over the years and that has served him well whenever he needed to use it. He brought out a lighter, slowly took it to his face, and lit up the cigar. An action that would normally have taken less than ten seconds, he spent two minutes executing. In those two minutes, there was silence in the room. He took a long drag of the cigar and blew the smoke in Marcus’ face. “I am not a fan of recounted stories Mr. Marcus. If I wanted to hear James’ story, I would have asked him to report at the office for debriefing. I want to hear from the horse’s mouth. You know who the horse is? You, Mr. Marcus. You are the horse. Now, I ask again. What is the information you have?” The detective asked threateningly. Marcus coughed softly. The smoke from the cigar seemed to choke him. After he had regained his composure, he sighed. “I think there are killers living here.” Marcus said. “Quit wasting my time Mr. and get on with it! I have a very important meeting to get to and I am already behind schedule.” The detective barked. Marcus went on to tell a tale of how he was trying some new surveillance hacking codes, and how he was tracking random coordinates when he stumbled on high amounts of data packets being downloaded through an uplink and rerouted through a backdoor gateway. It seemed to fascinate him so he tried to attach himself to the data transmission but he kept getting cut off by a high tech firewall. This triggered his curiosity the more and he tried everything he could to get into the transmission. When he finally did, he discovered that a super computer was downloading updates and patches for its back up sequence and had a huge database consisting of files, mp3s, .avis and other packaged data. He confessed to how he could not resist the urge to ‘peep’ into the database and what he found was too much for him to handle. However he needed someone who was police but could also speak computer language. He knew it would be difficult explaining to a layman, so he sought out James and called him. “What did you find in the database?” The detective queried. Marcus paused. He seemed hesitant and did not know how to proceed. He looked at James as if asking for reassurance that things would be fine. James nodded at him, a sign that he could go on. “Answer me, goddamnit!!!! What was in the database?” The Detective shouted. “The reason for the large amount of data upload and back up was that the supercomputer was erasing its database and backing it up in a remote cloud server where it would be totally inaccessible. By the time I finished battling the firewalls and encrypted Trojans, there was not much left in the database because most of the files had been erased from its drive and transferred to the cloud server. However, I was able to attach a recycle program to the final part of the upload without attracting the computer’s attention. While the data was erasing from the supercomputer’s drive, the recycle program automatically forwarded those files to me. It contains just one video and some incomplete codes that had been abandoned. The video is where the intel is.” “What is in the video?” The detective asked growing impatient. “I have to show you.” Marcus said, bringing out his handheld tablet. He navigated to the video folder and selected a video file. He played it and handed it over to the detective. It was an eight minute video showing how the STK team had infiltrated the beach house, had tried to take out a target in the room, showed where a grenade had exploded and where the commander of the STK team had been killed. The face of the target was not really clear and the killer of the STK team was not visible in the footage. The detective played it over and over again, trying to digest the contents, look for loop holes, and find any sort of clue that could help him decipher what the video could be leading him to. He needed time. “James, what can you say about this footage?” The detective asked, watching the video for an umpteenth time. “I have seen the video sir, and I am as confused as you are right now sir. I checked out all his claims and they were true. I hacked into the Cloud Server directory as active in the past 72 hours and all of them were accessible except one. I have a feeling that could be our honeypot. It would take me a long time to crack her open. But it is not impossible. However I still need to take the video to base to carry out other tests.” James replied. The detective handed the tablet to James. “Get to the office right away. Work on this footage till your freaking butt can no longer stay on the chair. I need answers today. Am I clear?” The detective said, making to walk out of the room. “But detective, that is my tablet!” Marcus said, almost in tears. The detective turned and looked at Marcus. He was tempted to smack his face to the ground. “As of now, that tablet ceases to be yours and is now a piece of evidence in a murder investigation. James will take you to the Base where you will write a statement and recount your story.” The detective said. Looking at one of the men who came with him he continued, “Musa! Escort them to the base. If he misbehaves, give him a bloody lip.” The man nodded. The detective entered his jeep and drove off. James got a taxi and sat with Marcus at the back while Musa sat in front with the driver. After the had left the island and were heading towards base, James said in a whisper such that only Marcus could hear. “That was fantastic acting. How did you get that idea?” Sensei Marcus just looked at James and smiled. A wicked, knowing smile. He leaned sideways towards James and replied, “This is a journey where the end is uncertain. We have just begun.” WATCH OUT FOR PART 25
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:48:55 +0000
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