by Tope Oluwole
"But what does a local champion from New Lagos want with a researcher from Maiduguri?" Ibrahim asked.
"Someone hired him," Morefishco said.
"Who?" Ibrahim asked.
"That's what we are going to find out, but you're not going to like it," Morefishco said.
"Why?" Ibrahim asked.
"Because I have a feeling it's not going to end like one of those cartoon mysteries were nobody gets shot," Morefishco said. "That means a lot of net-paper work."
"I don't like net-paper work," Ibrahim said.
When the University of Maiduguri driver opened up the booth of the hover-car, he found himself on the business end of a submachine gun.
Omoaiye waved the driver back with the muzzle of the submachine gun. The driver smiled, and then lunged for Omoaiye.
At the sound of the shot, Larry, Ingrid, and Fatima all flinched and cowered. After Ingrid and Fatima prodded Larry numerous times, he crept out of the hover-car to see Omoaiye behind the driver, with a gun to his head. Omoaiye led the driver toward the shrubbery at the side of the road.
"Oh God!" Larry screamed. Omoaiye spun the driver around, and used him as a shield between himself and Larry.
When Ingrid and Fatima got out of the hover-car, Fatima gasped. "Please, don't kill him," Ingrid screamed. "What do you want?"
Omoaiye kicked the driver in the back of his knees, toppling him to the dirt, and then leveled the submachine gun down on him.
"Don't do it!" Ingrid said.
"He won't kill him," Fatima said. "He is just a boy."
Ingrid and Larry stared at her. Larry connected the dots. That was the man in the black mask.
Omoaiye moved deftly behind the driver and put the base of the submachine gun to his head. After forcing the driver to get up, Omoaiye rammed the submachine gun into the driver's gut, causing him to tumble into a shallow ditch. Omoaiye continued the rub the driver's face into the gravel until his face began to bleed.
Larry watched in silence, while Ingrid and Fatima pleaded for Omoaiye to stop.
Omoaiye then put his knee in the driver's back, and began peeling the skin from the driver's face. Eventually, Omoaiye had so much skin in his grasp that the driver head seem to just come off. Ingrid looked down at the driver, and stared, and stared, until Fatima blurted out, "José!" Larry gaped in awe.
Omoaiye tossed the mask of skin to Ingrid's feet, then pulled José back up to his knees. Fatima and Ingrid saw that although José's head was shaved and his sunglasses were missing, it was the same mercenary that was supposed to have been their meguard.
"Who are you working for?" Ingrid asked José.
José said nothing, but sputtered and coughed.
"Did you kill my husband?" Fatima asked.
José smiled and then spit out a mouthpiece along with some blood and phlegm. "Why don't you ask your friend." José looked to Larry and then began to twitch.
Fatima and Ingrid turned to Larry in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Larry finally asked. "Who sent you?"
"Your boss, Larry," José said.
"How does he know your name?" Fatima asked.
Suddenly, a red dot appeared on José's right temple. A shot shrieked through the air. José slumped to the dirt in a bloody mess.
Omoaiye quickly tossed a battery of smoke grenades behind Larry, Fatima, and Ingrid, camouflaging them in smoke. With a sprint, Omoaiye scurried around the driver's side of the hover-car, and slid into the seat. Fatima, Ingrid, and Larry had the good sense to scramble into the hover-car.
Omoaiye stared the hover-car and nothing happened.
"No power," Larry said.
Omoaiye fumbled around the dashboard control, until he found a button that read AUX. He punch it. The hover-car started on Omoaiye second try, and sped off.
One of the military-grade robots pursued the hover-car, and managed to attach itself to the rear. Out of nowhere, a blast obliterated the robot. The hover-car zig-zagged across the motorway, before straightening out and zipping forward. Moments later, Morefishco and Ibrahim stood over the robot. Morefishco lowered an EMP grenade launcher, and tapped the robot's head with its barrel.
"All the players are together," Ibrahim said.
Morefishco compared the robot's remains with the image on his PDA. "Game time."
CHAPTER 30
The Road Home
"Who, who are you?" Fatima asked Omoaiye. Omoaiye shook his head, but kept his eyes on the road. At about sundown, he pulled over to the shoulder of the road, and got out.
Fatima, Ingrid and Larry followed. Omoaiye signaled Ingrid with a sharp curve of his hand, and then descended into some bushes down the side, that eventually led to a mammoth water drainage canal.
Omoaiye waited for Ingrid, after which he brought out his PDA and then brought up a map. It was a map of savannah with an artificial water way, and an access road running parallel. At the center was a green dot. Omoaiye pointed to a red dot on the northeast quadrant of the map, and then motioned in a circle with his finger, to the group.
"We are red?" Fatima asked.
Omoaiye nodded.
"Is that what you wanted from me?" Ingrid asked.
Omoaiye looked at Ingrid for a few moments, then nodded and waved them forward. Out of his secret pocket Omoaiye pulled a cutlass, and began blazing a trail through the bush. As the last blades of sun disappeared, Omoaiye passed Ingrid a stick of a compound that smelled to her as if it could wake the dead.
Ingrid smacked Omoaiye's hand away. Omoaiye motioned with the stick up and down, just above his arms and legs. He then passed it back to Ingrid who stared at the stick for a moment, held her breath, and then ran it over her arms and legs as well. When Ingrid finished, she passed the stick back to Larry. Once he was done, Larry passed it to Fatima.
The shrill of crickets and the growls, chirps, and caws of other creatures of the night filled the air.
Fatima broke the silence. "What did he mean by that, Larry? Your boss?"
"Ah, I don't know. I haven't seen that man before today," Larry said.
The sky was black now, and the only thing that lit the way were the moon and the fireflies. The night vision mode of Omoaiye's goggles were what really helped them make time though the bush. Although, Omoaiye didn't need them. Most days of his life, once he had the Epitome virus, were spent in dark places.
Branches smacked against Ingrid and Fatima when they weren't careful behind Omoaiye. Larry buckled to his knees, as if his body refused to go further. A few meters later, they emerged at a clearing with a drainage tunnel to their left, and a high and massive border fence stenciled, Borno State Park.
"Which way now?" Fatima asked Omoaiye
Omoaiye pointed straight into the tunnel where visibility from the moonlight ended only after a couple of meters.
"Are you mad?" Larry said to Omoaiye.
"There's no way I'm going in there," Ingrid said.
Omoaiye went down the embankment and into the ankle-deep, standing water of the drainage tunnel, and waded towards the darkness. Fatima followed. Omoaiye looked back to Fatima and Larry, and waved them down.
"Are you really going in there?" Larry asked. "This boy assaulted you twice didn't he? How can you trust him?"
"I seem to trust flawed men lately," Ingrid said. "I'm just waiting for the skeleton to fall out of your closet."
Fatima stood there behind Omoaiye staring into the dark of the tunnel. She wondered if all this was worth finding out who killed Marc. After all, she had three boys to think about. Out of the pitch black, a spotlight shone on them.
"Put up your hands!" An amplified voice bellowed at them. In seconds they were surrounded by armed men.
CHAPTER 31
Prisoners
Inspector Morefisho pulled the police cruiser to the side of the road when he noticed the hover-taxi they had been pursuing in the breakdown lane. Its booth stood open.
Chief Ibrahim followed Morefishco onto the side of the road behind the h
over-taxi. He flashed a light over the hover-taxi, and noticed the contrast in layers of dust left in a hand imprint on driver's door handle. "They have been gone for some time," Ibrahim said.
"I'd shut that off from here on out," Morefishco said. "It's just you and me out here against God knows what out there." Morefishco put on his Visionaries, and activated night vision mode. He then followed the break in the brush down into thicker vegetation, with Ibrahim in tow.
Morefishco stopped when he reached a clearing. Once Ibrahim caught up with him, Morefishco pointed down to multiple footprint in the soft earth. Morefishco and Ibrahim tracked the footprints up to the canal. They crossed and climbed upwards toward a fence stenciled, Borno State Park. At the base on the fence, Morefishco saw the tracks disappear into the bush on the other side of the fence.
"What now Inspector?" Ibrahim asked. "We just cannot ring the bell to be let in."
Morefishco looked to Ibrahim and grinned.
CHAPTER 32
The Militia
STARTHERE "Wake up!" Fatima felt a slap sting her face. She snapped awake to find herself in a cage made of branches, and a man in para-military gear wearing a smirk across his face.
He was tan, thin, and muscular. Behind him Fatima saw an older and well fed man in native attire, wearing a dress cap and gold-framed sunglasses. The big man sat on a cane-stool, beneath a golf umbrella held by one of the militia men flanking him.
"It is a shame for you and your friends, that you found your way here," he said. "Most unfortunate."
"I..." Fatima started.
"SHUT UP!!!" the big man's voice boomed through and beyond Fatima. She could now see massive scabbed sores on his neck. "I have no way of knowing what Professor Blanc may have shared with his assistant or yourself before his untimely demise. So to protect my interests, I have no choice but to cut my losses."
"You killed my husband," Fatima asked?
"He reneged on our contract," the big man said. "Exclusivity to harvest, market, and distribute the active ingredient, in exchange for generous consideration."
"Only a madman would destroy a cure for a disease!" Ingrid said.
"No one reneges on me," the big man growled. "When I allowed Professor Blanc to hire an assistant, I had no idea it would affect him to the point of developing a conscience. Seeing you in person, I forgive him, a little." The big man stepped toward Ingrid, and reached for her face. Ingrid recoiled. "A lethal combination for Mister Blanc in the end."
Fatima glanced around her prison, and saw Larry in a clump on the floor.
The big man looked to Fatima and smiled. "Larry developed a conscience as well. I must have you to thank for that." With that the big man waved his militia men out of the cage of sticks. One of three military-grade robots locked the door behind them once the big man and his militia men exited the cage. Out of each robot's arm came a flamethrower, from which they began setting the surrounding vegetation of giant vines aflame. The fires started out small, but pretty soon, the scores of vines began to burn adding to the early morning heat.
Fatima took a step towards the door. Immediately a single spout of flame erupted from the weapon in the arm of the robot left guarding the cage. Flames soon engulfed their prison of sticks.
"Fatima!" Ingrid screamed waking Fatima out of her trance with the robot.
Fatima turned around to see Ingrid beating flames off Larry.
"Yepa!" Fatima screamed and joined Ingrid patting the flames out from a still unconscious Larry. They managed to drag Larry to the center of the burning cage of sticks, hacking and coughing as the flames and smoke enveloped them.
Fatima tried to look ahead and could still see the robot standing outside the door of the cage. As vines blazed in the distance, Fatima saw a huge mass hurtling towards the cage amidst the smoke. A horn blared and Fatima saw what turned out to be a lorry hustling towards their prison.
Just then Fatima felt someone grab her from behind and pulled her to the ground, where she then felt a body on top of hers. The lorry roared forward and took half the cage of sticks and the robot guard with it.
Once the smoke began to thin out, Fatima and Ingrid helped Larry up, and out of the pile of burnt sticks. They watched as the lorry turned around and stopped in front of them. Omoaiye jumped out and motioned to them to follow him. Fatima and Ingrid headed toward the lorry with Larry between them. A rain of bullets thundered between Omoaiye and Fatima and Ingrid, halting them in their tracks.
"No!" Fatima cried out, and saw Omoaiye dive to the ground. Ingrid looked toward the source of the shots to see two robots firing from about thirty meters away. They froze and watched the robots level their cannons on them. Then before their eyes, the robots exploded in a huge fireball. Ingrid saw a squad of NPF men with heavy weapons led by an oyinbo man wearing a cowboy hat. When Ingrid looked back to the lorry, Omoaiye was gone.
From above, helicopters with rescue markings showered the surrounding bush with water, extinguishing the flames.
Inspector Morefishco ran towards Ingrid, with Chief Ibrahim, Dockery, and Churchwell at his sides. "Were is Omoaiye?" Morefischo asked, looking about.
"Ashes, for all I care," Ingrid said.
"You should have told me you wanted to be a hero. It would have saved me a lot of trouble," Morefishco said to Fatima, and then waved to the Dockery and Churchwell to take Larry. As Fatima followed Dockery and Churchwell, Morefishco uttered, "I figured out who killed your husband!"
Fatima stopped. "So did I," Fatima replied. "So what are you going to do about it Inspector?"
CHAPTER 33
Last Call
Inspector Morefishco burst into Dejure Bakery with Dockery and Churchwell a step behind. The Monday afternoon crowd of the restaurant came to a halt as Morefishco weaved his way through the patrons.
The big man sat at a table with three other men in military dress uniform; multiple dishes set before them. Morefishco tossed a net-paper of New Lagos Times on top of the big man's plate of fried fish. The headline read, "Unknown Source Leaks Epitome Virus Vaccine Discovery."
"Governor Lagbaja, you are under arrest for the murder of Marc Blanc, attempted murder, fraud, and destruction of a natural preserve." Churchwell held up the net-paper warrant.
"A natural what?" Governor Lagbaja dropped his fork. Dockery and Churchwell lifted the Governor of New Lagos out of his chair, and hand-cuffed him. The military men looked stunned, but did not interfere.
"Get him out of my sight," Morefishco said. As Dockery and Churchwell lead the Governor Lagbaja out of Dejure Backery, Morefishco looked to Natasha Plechenko leaning over the front counter. "Thanks."
Natasha shrugged and grinned. "He was a lousy tipper."
"Does this means we're friends again," Morefishco asked.
Natasha stopped smiling. "No."
Morefishco laughed.
CHAPTER 34
Afterglow
"How's Larry?" Ingrid asked Fatima as they sat over suya and ice-cold Chapmans at Café Okada.
"He is better. They said he will be discharged from hospital tomorrow," Fatima said with a smile. "Inspector Morefishco told me Larry had been cooperating with his investigation, so the charges will probably be dropped."
"What about you?" Fatima asked.
"I'm going back to the university," Ingrid replied. "The government gave me a grant to synthesize the vaccine samples found in the governor's deep freezer. So, your husband didn't die for nothing."
After the meal, Ingrid strolled to New Lagos Terminus to catch the last train to Maiduguri. When Ingrid rounded the corner onto the road to the terminus, she walked into hundreds of New Lagosians facing the road amidst a candle-light vigil. They all wore dark googles or sunglasses. Ingrid looked across the road and noticed a billboard vandalized with phosphorescent graffiti. It read, "Do not gloat over me my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise."
THE END
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