RESTLESS
Restless-Episode 61
Story By
Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
“One, two.. Go.”
Stan and his assistant prod half way out through the car window at the end of the count done by Stan, with their guns in their hands aiming at the rider on the motorcycle trailing after them.
The rider began to swerve from side to side to dodge the bullets from them. He reduced his speed gradually and they saw him also pull out a gun. They continued firing against him but he was so swift with the handling of the motorcycle and all the bullets continued to hit the ground instead and he also tried to maintain the position straight to the center of their vehicle as he changed direction everytime their vehicle changed direction.
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Henry cocked the gun in his hand and increased the speed of the motorcycle again, swinging from one side to another as the vehicle moved. He raised his gun and aimed straight at the back window of the vehicle. He took him about forty seconds and two more changes in position before he fired four quick successive shots, the first penetrated in through the window and the second sent it shattering totally. He slowed down after dodging another shot, the space in between them increased to about ten metres. One of the men shooting at him from the side of the vehicle seemed to pull back into the vehicle to reload his gun, the second one followed him seconds after. Henry took advantage of their break and quickly aimed at one of the tires. He followed side to side for three seconds and fired just as one of the first man poke his body out to continue shooting. The bullet burst the left back tire and shook the car. The driver of the vehicle pulled the brakes.
Henry’s motorcycle screeched to a quick halt as swerved to the right side on seeing the car stop. Henry took out more rounds of ammunitions from his pack as he stared, watching what they were trying to do. He loaded the pockets of his jacket with extra rounds as much as they could take.
He loaded his gun with a fresh round of bullets as he noticed the doors of the car opening. He knew the men were stopping right there to open fire at him. He took out a greenade ball as he turned his bike back forward and accelerated with a high speed towards them.
He began to fire heavily at the car, targeting the points through which the man planned to step out from one after the other. His bullet got into the body of the driver who tried to step out and also entered into the body of the man stepping out from the backseat at the left hand side. Henry fired towards the right hand side also but missed Stan who stepped out there but hid himself behind the vehicle’s body.
Henry took the lid off the ball and threw it to the car as he sped past them. He bent his head forward and rode on in a zig zag movement to make it difficult for anyone to easily aim at him.
A loud sound rocked the atmosphere and the vehicle behind went up in flames. Henry took a glance back and then continued in chase of the other vehicle which was now about twenty metres ahead of him.
He looked back again to see if he would notice any movement from the exploded car to confirm if anyone survived the explosion. He saw none and reduced his riding speed again, deciding to hear from his team members again.
“Hey Cole!” he said after turning on his mouthpiece.
“Boss, tried connecting twice already. We’re tracking you already,” Cole replied.
“What’s your distance to me now?” Henry asked.
“We’re about two kilometres away from you,” Cole answered.
“Speed up, find available shortcuts through the maps to get to me. I believe these men are up to something I don’t know, you have to get to us before they execute any of their plans.”
“Okay boss, we’d speed up as much as we can.” Cole replied.
“Get this information across to Dave and Jenny,” Henry ordered before closing the connection.
He took both hands off the motorcycle for a moment to reload his gun again. He then increased his speed to catch up with the vehicle.
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“Can we stay ahead of him?” Antonio asked to Vincent, looking back and watching the bike rider still pursuing them far behind.
“The dude came ready for the job, he came ready to pursue us.” Vincent answered after looking back.
“Yeah, you’re right. He’s got a bike with enough speed and strength for a pursuit,” Antonio agreed. “But this vehicle has only got the strength.”
“Yeah,” Vincent clenched his fists and teeth. “How come we never thought there would be a day we would need to move faster in a car?”
“We’ve been producing here for years, it’s the first time we’ve got someone chasing us, this car has great speed which is quite enough for our normal routine. His bike just happens to be faster because he came ready to pursue,” Antonio put in.
Vincent stared back again. He could see that the distance in between them and the rider was gradually closing in and they were on a long expressway with the next turn and roundabout not less than ten kilometres away. Fifteen minutes had gone already and there were no signs of the backup Kahn promised. He was sure in less than five minutes, the rider would catch up with them.
“We’ve got to stop and face him,” Vincent said, turning back. His eyes met with Antonio’s questioning look. “Yeah, he’s probably got some greenade to throw at us like he did to the vehicle behind.”
“We’ve got about four minutes for the backups to meet with us if we continue at this pace, stopping now will increase their time to get to us.” Antonio complained.
“How are we certain they would catch up with us at exactly four minutes, that guy in less than two minutes will catch up with us.” Vincent said, glancing back again.
“We’ve got to stop really,” Antonio finally agreed.
“Pull over, stop at the center” Vincent ordered the driver and then turned to Antonio. “We’d step out and spread out in opposite directions,” he paused and nodded towards the driver as he continued. “He would stay by the car and wait except a greenade is thrown.”
“Right,” Antonio agreed with him.
The driver applied the brakes and stopped the car right at the center of the road. Vincent and Antonio took out their guns and stepped out at the same time from the different sides. They walked to the different directions, staring towards the coming biker as they walked.
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Henry noticed immediately the vehicle stopped and he reduced his speed. He watched as the man stepped out. One of them walked to the median of the expressway and the other sat on a kerb by the shoulder of the road. A man stepped out thereafter from the driver’s side and leaned against the bonnet of the vehicle.
Henry applied the brakes at exactly twelve metres to the vehicle. He stood the bike firmly on the ground at the center of the road and climbed off the bike.
He stood beside the vehicle staring forward and also taking his time to study the road. There was a pit at the centre of the road, dividing the opposite direction lanes. Supporting the median dividers of the lanes were beams and columns extending to the bottom of the pit. At his right hand side were thick bushes. He detached the purse from where he hung it on the motorcycle handle, he hung it around his waste.
He held his gun at the mouth and raised his hands up to show he was willing for a dialogue.
“Hey guys, can we have a discussion?” He said in a loud voice as he began to step forward slowly.
He moved three more steps forward without hearing a response. He stopped and raised his hands higher.
“Hello, can we have a discussion?” He asked again, remaining on the same spot.
He didn’t get his response immediately until after few seconds.
“Who are you?” Vincent shouted back and rose up from his position. He stepped unto the road and made a signal to the driver for them to switch positions. They passed by each other through the front of the vehicle and Vincent stopped close to the position the driver was previously standing.
“My name is Michael,” Henry shouted. “If you would let me, I’ve got an important proposal for you.”
Vincent took a while before he responded. “Michael, who are you and what do you want?”
Henry drew in a breath. ”Can we talk like gentlemen?” Henry said and began to take slow steps towards him.
He stopped abruptly as he saw Vincent and the other man at the median cock their guns.
“Hey! I really want to talk,” Henry said and bent down slowly, still keeping his eyes on the men and watching as the aim of their guns followed him down. He placed his gun on the floor and pushed it away. Then he rose slowly again with both hands in the air. Their guns remained pointed at him. “I need to talk to you.”
“What do we have to talk about?” Vincent questioned.
“My mission here and why I had to trouble your operations at the factory,” Henry replied.
Vincent began to step forward slowly and paused after taking three more steps away from the boot of the vehicle. He still had his gun raised and pointed at Henry. The distance between them was now about five metres only.
“What’s your mission here?” He asked.
“To offer you something better than what the Red Wolves give,” Henry stated.
Vincent raised his brows. He didn’t feel too surprised that the man who called holding Michael knew what the name of their organization was. “And what could that be?” He asked in a doubting tone.
“I work for a team called the Reconcilation team, we want to stop terrorism and the killing of people unjustly.” Henry began. “I want you to surrender everything you know about the Red Wolves to us and join us stop terrorism and unjust killings. If you work with us, we guarantee that you your freedom after success and a better life.”
Vincent began to laugh as he listened to Henry, he waited until Henry finished before bursting into hysteric laughter.
Seven minutes had passed already and Vincent knew that if the backup which Elvis Kahn promised were truly on the way, they would get to that location in no time.
“So what makes you think the Red Wolves won’t give me a better life than what you’re offering? And what makes you think you can capture me?” Vincent asked and laughed again. “I don’t care whoever you are or whatever team you are from, the Red Wolves are set to take over not just Bethanna but the world as a whole.”
“That’s not true,” Henry said. “I advice you take my offer now.”
Vincent laughed again. “You gotta be kidding me man, whatever you smoke must be so dangerous for you to think you can defeat the Red Wolves army,” he said and shook his head. “I would advice that if you ever have the opportunity again, you should advice your reconciliation team to mind their business and watch the Red Wolves take over, they have no option.”
“It’s your last chance man,” Henry replied confidently. “It’s your last chance to take my offer for you to work with us to make the world better and also gain your freedom.”
“Hahaha!” Vincent laughed. “I’m sorry man, you do have no chance for freedom again.”
Henry wanted to reply but at that time he began to hear sounds of vehicles driving closer to them. He raised his brows. He didn’t know whether to think it was his team members or if it was the police or backups from the Red Wolves.
Before he could speak, he began to see headlights of vehicles coming from behind the men. He saw a smile on Vincent’s face and he knew instantly that more men have arrived from the Red Wolves.
EPISODE 62
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