RESTLESS
Restless-Episode 34
Story By
Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel.
"Stand aside now, everyone stand…” Dave was saying as he stepped into the hallway with a gun kissing the side of Richard’s head but he couldn’t complete his statement as what he saw in the hallway was contrary to what he expected. He had expected to see more men combating Henry but instead, there were over ten men on the floor and one in Henry’s hand close to the entrance of the hallway being held to the wall by the neck.
Henry on hearing his voice flashed a look towards the direction and then turned back to slam the man in his hand on the floor. He bent quickly beside him and broke his neck. He got up and put the gun back in his side. He hurried towards Dave who was also approaching him.
“You get the car ready for us,” Henry said as he collected the gun from Dave and grabbed Richard by the collar from the back. He waited for the ladies who were behind to level up with them.
“Drop your weapons everyone, don’t make this terrible for you and Richard.” Henry announced loudly as he stepped out of the main building with Samantha and Jenny flanging him and watching around for him with guns in their hands.
More security men had assembled at the entrance of the building with their guns and watched in awe as they saw Richard held helplessly by Henry and being led away.
“Drop your weapons,” Henry repeated in a harsher and louder voice and cocked the gun for them to see his seriousness.
The men dropped their weapons and began to move back as Henry proceeded with the man. Dave picked some of the guns in front as he hurried to the car.
Henry and the others stopped close to the area where the car was parked and waited for Dave to get it out from the parking space.
“Do not follow us!” Henry sounded a warning to Richard’s men. “We’d throw him out of the moving car if you do.”
Dave drove out the car and stopped beside them. Henry signalled for Jenny to get into the front seat while he sat behind with their hostage and Samantha.
Henry turned his neck back to look as the men gathered together and watched them while Dave drove the car towards the entrance. He turned again to look at the entrance gate and saw that it was already busy. Cole had been instructed to plant a small explosive at the other side of the road to distract the men at the gate.
Dave was allowed to drive out of the compound without questions from the busy men. They also noticed outside that police officers had also arrived the explosive scene and were checking it out.
“Take off Dave,” Henry said after noticing Dave was taking time to observe the explosion scene. “These guys won’t leave Richard to us, they’re coming for him.”
Dave heeded to the instruction and sped off immediately. It was already late in the night and the roads were free.
Henry who still had his hand in Richard’s collar and the gun on the side of his head, looked his hostage in the eye and made a face.
Richard stared back at him with cold eyes. He had never thought this kind of day would come: a day that he would be easily whisked away such as this. He had put this trust in his security and didn’t see the loophole until now. This group of kidnappers or whatever they were had taken time to study when the security was easily penetrable. If it had been an hour or two after, when the midnight was approaching, it would have been more difficult for them to defeat all those men in the hallway because they would have settled and prepared for night duty.
Henry stared intently into Richard’s eyes for over a minute and he could tell that the man was not one that would give him the needed information easily. He chuckled and looked away, he knew exactly what would make the man give him what he wanted.
Richard squinted at Henry’s face as the hand on his collar and the gun was taken away. Henry was now staring forward like someone who was planning something else for him. Richard took in a deep breath and began to search his mind thoroughly, hoping to discover who could be behind this abduction. He knew none of the people in the vehicle with him and they had not mentioned why they abducted him or who sent them. He believed he was going to find out soon even as he believed that it would be impossible for his abductors to get him to their destination because his trusted security men would ensure he was rescued that night. Little did he know that his personal security officer who he trusted to lead the rest had been already been taken down.
As expected, some cars began to show up behind them in pursuit. Richard tried to conceal his smile. He was sure that his abductors were going nowhere, the deadliest thing they could do was to kill him and also get killed by his security men. He turned to glance at the vehicles coming behind but as he tried to turn his neck back, he met Henry’s hand already on his shoulder. He looked and saw Henry with a syringe close to his neck. Before he could do or say anything, Henry injected the contents into his neck and he fell asleep in seconds.
“The police has joined them in pursuit,” Henry announced to the rest of the team even though he was aware they could already see it. “We won’t shoot here, until we get somewhere no other vehicles are on the road, I don’t want to get much people hurt, especially the harmless citizens that could be on the road.”
“So, how do we get them off her track? What if they shoot at us?” Jenny asked, looking into the mirror at her side.
“They won’t shoot at us,” Dave replied her. “We’ve got their man here and they would not want anything to happen to him.”
“Cole is ready for us,” Henry announced after a minute of silence. The vehicles coming after them had now increased up to seven – three police vehicles and four security vehicles from the Richard’s facility but their vehicle was still ahead with a good gap between them.
“We’re sticking to the plan?” Dave asked, staring into the side mirror. He could see the police vehicle behind them and the man shouting out with a megaphone for them to stop.
“Yes, we stick to the plan.” Henry answered him after fixing an earpiece in his ear and mouthpiece close to his neck at the tip of his shirt.
“Three more minutes to the roundabout,” Dave announced loudly, he looked into the rearview mirror to see Henry’s face.
“Cole, are you with us? We’re very close,” Henry said into the mouthpiece.
“I’m following, you’re two minutes and twenty three seconds close.” Cole voice sounded in Henry’s earpiece.
“Okay,” Henry replied and turned off the mouthpiece.
He turned back to look at the men chasing after them, one of them was still shouting into his megaphone for them to stop.
“Sam, do you need an extra gun?” Henry asked as he raised up the one he took from Dave and also took out his own.
“Yes, ” Samantha answered and pulled out hers.
“We’ve got to distract them now a little,” Henry said and then cocked his gun. “Be careful not to shoot a vehicle that isn’t after us,” he quickly added before he rose and then positioned his body halfway out of the vehicle. He fired two quick shots at the vehicle coming behind them and moved back in.
The driver swerved in a bid to dodge the bullets but he was only able to dodge the second as the first bullet pierced the front glass but hit no one. The officers in the car quickly brought out their guns and tried to aim at the vehicle but were reluctant to shoot since Henry had moved his body back into the car. They kept watching, expecting him to attempt to shoot again, instead someone else fired another two shots from the other side of the car and this time both bullets hit the glass and left it shattering, the second bullet pierced through into the top of the shoulder of one of the men sitting at the backseat of the car.
“Good one,” Henry said to Samantha when she got back into the car after shooting twice. He turned to look at the car which the bullet hit, it had pulled over by the side of the road. “We don’t have to shoot at them anymore, we have enough space between us and the second car.”
Henry balanced back in his seat and kept the gun. He took out his phone to check the time.
“Roundabout now in clear view,” Dave said as he changed the gear of the vehicle.
They were approaching a rotary intersection and they could see a truck approaching at a slow speed from the left traffic. The traffic light showed red, a signal for them to stop but Dave was not ready to pull the brakes.
“How are we gonna do?” Jenny in front asked Dave when she noticed he wasn’t reducing the speed.
“We’re going through, fasten your seatbelt.” Dave warned
“What the bleep! You’re going to get us killed.” Jenny shone her eyes widely at Dave. She looked towards the roundabout again and could see the truck still on its slow speed and yet to reach the roundabout. From her calculation, their car would collide into the truck if Dave refused to stop. Jenny turned to look at Henry but he wasn’t saying anything. She looked at Samantha’s face also and saw a look of uncertainty. She looked once again at Henry and concluded that he must have had a prior knowledge of Dave’s plan not to stop.
They had already gotten so close to the roundabout by the time she looked forward again. The truck was also close by and about entering. Jenny closed her eyes and held her breath as Dave increased the vehicle’s speed to the highest and sped past the roundabout, narrowly missing the truck. She widened her eyes and let out a deep breath as Dave continued on his high speed. She looked back to check, even the driver of the truck was shaken by the near collision and had held the brake the very last second, blocking the road totally.
“Good job Dave, ” Henry was heard, saying. He had a smile on his face. “Good job Cole,” he added after turning on his mouthpiece.
“That was so dangerous,” Jenny commented after Dave reduced the speed by few metres per seconds.
Samantha was sitting quietly and she looked indifferent.
“The dangerous life is an interesting one,” Henry said with a chuckle. “It looks so dangerous that no one would suspect we planned the truck’s movement,” he added to explain better.
The vehicles following after Richard’s abductors all got to the round about skidding and swerving to avoid collision with the truck. Luckily for them, there was none. The vehicles on the road at that time were very little and only one small car was using the roundabout at the same time as the truck and it was about twenty metres behind the truck.
The truck driver after recovering from the shock drove away from the entrance of the lane and went on his own way, followed by the car behind it. The vehicles in pursuit readjusted themselves and continued in the same direction. A uniform police officer in one of the security vehicles called some other policemen at a check point along the way and described the vehicle they were pursuing, asking them to stop such vehicle when it was seen. They continued on that land until they got to a Tee intersection, the vehicles split into two groups and each group continued in one direction each.
The vehicles that continued in the straight direction were soon to locate the car they were after. It had been dumped by the roadside with no signs of where the occupants had gone. All the doors were opened widely and the tail lights were left on.
Thirty Eight Minutes Later.
Dave dropped the unconscious body of Richard Brad which he had carried from the car on the floor in room. He closed all the windows and turned off the lights before stepping out of the room. He took out his phone and dialed at the entrance before moving.
“Hey Cole! Where are you?”
_________________________
10AM, The Next Day.
Richard Brad still lay on the floor sleeping, the effect of the drug used on him by Henry was still active. He stirred when the door was opened when he continued his sleep.
Henry walked into the room and closely following him was Samantha. Henry had on a camouflage shirt of the Bethanna Military Service with white shorts and a black sneakers. Samantha was also on white shorts and black sneakers but had a black tight fitted shirt on instead.
They walked to the center and stopped where Richard was. Henry kicked Richard on the knee twice and he began to stir again. After some seconds, his eyes opened and he stared up blankly.
For a moment, his vision was blurry and he wasn’t sure if he was in his room or not. The hardness of where he laid finally suggested to him that he wasn’t anywhere in his home. Then he remembered in an instant how he was abducted and the last thing he saw before he passed out.
He looked up, his vision was getting clearer and he could see two faces standing above him. He took in a very deep breath and closed his eyes again.
“That’s enough man,” Henry bent and pulled him up by the shoulder. “You’ve had enough rest, now is the time to talk to me.”
Henry signalled for Samantha to bring closer the chair at the corner of the room. He pulled Richard and placed him on it.
Richard remained quiet even though he did not struggle as Henry moved his body. His mind had for a moment totally wandered away. He recalled seeing the vehicles of his security officials already after his abductors’ vehicle but he was surprised to still be in the abductors’ captivity. He never thought it would possible for them to escape with him. He realized that these people must be specialists of some sort, being able not only to abduct him but also to escape being caught by even the national security officers.
“Look here man, do you know me?” Henry asked, tilting his head up with a finger under his chin.
Richard squinted at his face. The man looked like the same one who guarded him from the corridor to the vehicle in the compound but this was without beards and moustache. He widened his eyes and slowly squinted them again. This man looked like someone so familiar, who it was he couldn’t just tell exactly. He struggled for a moment to remember who the man standing before him was but it proved difficult.
It however dawned on him that what happened was more than mere abduction, and that there wasn’t going to be any request for ransom, it seemed to be something more personal.
“You don’t know me?” Henry asked again.
Richard squinted again. He considered the military camouflage Henry was putting on and wondered if Henry was a man in the army but then, he had never had a clash with anyone in the army. His eyes caught a badge close to Henry’s breast but he couldn’t see what was written on it clearly.
“So, it’s nice that you don’t know me but it’ll be nicer if you answer all questions I ask you quickly.” Henry continued when it seemed that Richard did not know who he was.
They had not had any previous encounter even before Carl Winston was declared dead but Henry had expected that Richard who seemed like a top member of the terrorist group would have seen his picture before and most likely recognize him.
“So tell me something man, how long have you been working with the Red Wolves?” Henry asked.
Richard flashed a quick look at his face, shocked by the question. He remained mute.
“Talk to me man, don’t let’s go the hard way.” Henry urged, tapping him on his cheek.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Richard replied.
Henry raised his brows quickly. “Come on man, don’t give me this nonsense. Don’t make this difficult for the two of us.”
“Who the hell are you? You took me from my residence and you brought me here to ask silly questions,” Richard slammed in a loud voice. He had looked around and saw no sign that it was a facility of the Bethanna Military Service or any other National Security Agency.
Henry looked sharply at his face. He chuckled and then bent over, bringing his face closer to Richard’s face. “I’m your nightmare Richard, you need to start talking before the nightmare gets scarier than it should.”
“Damn whoever you are, do whatever you want to do to me and quit asking me stupid questions.”
Henry stood back straight. “Are you sure you’re ready to die after joining the Red Wolves to kill thousands of people?”
“Damn you! What the hell are you talking about?”
Henry bent forward again. “I’m talking about how you and your brothers in the Red Wolves take the lives of several people,” Henry replied and rose up, he took two steps back and put this hands in his pocket. “I’m talking about how you Richard Brad organized for the murder of FOX Agents Carl and Rex.”
Richard widened his eyes and slowly turned his gaze to the ground. He remembered Eddy instantly. He recalled how he had gotten news of Eddy’s sudden abduction by a gambling partner from his clubhouse and how he was found dead several days after. He hadn’t taken more than a minute to feel sorry about Eddy’s death and he in no way thought it could be connected to him.
He wondered now if Henry was one of the men who worked with Eddy in killing the two Agents. He flashed a look again at Henry’s face and racked his brain to remember who he is. Suddenly like a flash through his mind, he remembered having seen the face displayed on a large screen several times, the last time being during the search, for confirmation of Carl Winston’s death.
He raised his head back slowly and stared at Henry’s face. He knew indeed that there was trouble and there was no way he was going to get out of it. Carl Winston was back just like Hutton envisaged.
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