The Angel And The Fugitive – Chapter Twelve Part A
THE ANGEL AND THE FUGITIVE – CHAPTER TWELVE PART A
© Reginald Obetta
Uneasiness and unnerved feelings began to encroach to the lives of the government and the people , so much that the news of huge numbers of sacked workers in the 8 am news was appalling. So much attention had been given to the defense sector and other security agencies, so much that other sectors began to dilapidate. Monthly allocations, going to other sectors was continually cut on order to fund the allocation for the defense and security that occupied about 65% of the monthly allocations, thus prompting the retrenchment of workers across various sectors in the mini economic crisis.
The president was amazed by the latest fiasco of a caricature, he was made of by the Al-hida group leader, jumping into their snare when he himself thought he had nabbed them by the truce he had with him. He blamed himself for taking the rational decision, if only he didn’t allow the feelings, he had for his daughter overwhelm his judgements and cloud his thinking but he mutually acted what anyone could have done in his shoes, irrespective of anything. If there was an iota of chance for her to be saved, he would have indulged in it. That was exactly the same feelings of regrets the Defense Chief had for the dead soldiers. If only he wasn’t insensitive to what the dead troops had told him about it being a trap and blinded by what was there, while it wasn’t, his troops would have been saved. If only he wasn’t blinded by the “big picture” of the praise of men in rescuing Evelyn Williams and capturing the leader, Bin-Ahmed, then he would have become a somewhat happy man instead of thinking of the numerous blood she’d of his men in his hands. It was a false decision undoubtedly, he had made and even when told he made a good decision and took a great risk, he yelled at them and said it was all false and Bluff.
“I lost some good number of innocent men there as a result of my misled calculations. “, he would say. He grew increasingly vexed, infuriated and enraged each time, he remembered the deed. Each time, they were made to believe they had come up with a plan that was considered a winning formula but at the end, it became the opposite. They weren’t winning the war against terror but instead, lost more resources and human capital.
The Security Chiefs were all seated in the meeting room silently. They were expecting some good news about the whereabouts of Evelyn Williams. He had ordered every troop in every state to embark on a mission in stopping two vehicles with the number plates;31884 and 31553 respectively. Those were the two vehicles they hijacked from hafsat street. They silence became ruptured by the call they got from the military base in Moguil State.
Bin-Ahmed and his men rode in absolute silence as they journeyed to Moguil State. His men there had prepared a secret spot where the hostage could be kept, different from their hideout. The road was unsurprisingly, devoid of any checkpoints, and Bin-Ahmed started to feel giddy about it. He expected the same numerous checkpoints as before. Perhaps, nothing was eureka after all, but most times, his instincts was always his messiah. He sat in the second vehicle, along with Evelyn and Rogers took the steering wheel. Evelyn was still tied, but not which chains anymore but with a thick rope to allow some form of freedom. She looked worn out by everything and constantly, gazed at the Savage Bin-Ahmed who was wiping the dust of his gun and refilling it with bullets. She began to ponder in her mind why he became so dangerous. In her theory of life, human beings weren’t born to ki*ll or murder fellow humans, instead something tragic must have triggered the bad side of them and transformed them into this. That was what she thought about Bin-Ahmed, someone who had a purpose but lost it due to the he tragic factors, one who was in a straight path before diverting to a crooked road. She could fathom all these in his eyes even when it wasn’t obvious to see.
“Why did you kidnap me? Why do you have me as your hostage? “, she asked while still gazing at his cleaning.
“Am not obliged to tell you anything and you just keep your mouth shut”, Bin-Ahmed replied bluntly.
“My father has done nothing to deserve this maltreatment. He is a good man, a kind-hearted leader”
“Question him about that. He is not any of those but an egocentric moron, with predators and scavengers in his cabinet. Why all these irrelevant statements when you are meant to start saying your final prayers”
“Am not going to be dead, if that’s what you presume. God doesn’t forsake the righteous “
“Oh, you of little faith, I have been in that hopelessness of hope once. I was born a believer and believe you me, He is deaf to your prayers, blind to your faith “
“He isn’t and you all will account for it someday. He is hoping to wipe you from the surface of the earth if you don’t all surrender to the government and then, to God”
“Shut up”, he raised his dagger to hit her in petrification, but restrained himself.
“I was instructed to keep you alive. I can see you have the audacity and effrontery to exhibit your baseless faith in some kind of force, people believe put forward the existence of this world. You think He can save you from our clubs and tortures “
A huge bump, like something hitting them sounded from the back, causing disorderliness and imbalance among them. Bin-Ahmed looked ahead and saw they were close to a guarded checkpoints, shooting them mercilessly. This was what his instincts had told him earlier and the day he decided to disobey it and trust his ammunition and entourage of men, he fell into their arms. The armoured regiments behind continued bumping into them and the men in the front continued shooting. They knew they were under an attack. Infantrymen shot at them with their rifles.
“Don’t sh00t anymore, the hostage maybe be wounded in one of those vehicles “, the leader, had ordered them, in order to get Evelyn safe. They weren’t sure the vehicle she was inside and that accounted for the order. Their plan was to get Bin-Ahmed and his men to that checkpoint, surround them and get Evelyn out from them but they were wrong and when they stopped shooting from the front, Bin-Ahmed ordered Kamal, Binani and the rest of them to start cease fire. They knew the soldiers wouldn’t sh00t because of the hostage and the plan to clear them at the checkpoint, drive the soldiers at the back into their hideout where the rest of Al-hida members where and start another cease fire. Bin-Ahmed ordered them ahead of him to sideline the vehicle, get their guns and launchers, pick a good spot and sh00t. The soldiers at the checkpoint were all cleared out, so as four of Bin-Ahmed’s men too. The vehicle was somewhat damaged bit could still move a considerable amount of distance. The remaining survivors of Al-hida, then focused their shooting at the ones at the back, Bin-Ahmed’s opened the door of his own vehicle, told Rogers to cover for him while he led Evelyn to the other vehicle in front. Rogers was slightly wounded but Evelyn was safe in the second vehicle, which was the most paramount. Bin-Ahmed returned to continue exchanging fire with them while he ordered Kamal to lead Rogers and the rest away to the other vehicle and get away from the vicinity.
“That is suicide, you can’t win alone against them, they must have ordered for more backup”
“I was trained for this Kamal. Someone has got to hold them back and that should be me. You don’t get to decide for me”
“No, am not crazy they should go. I have ordered for more of our men to come”
“Are you in charge here or me? Who gave you the order to order for more? Let me not remind you the consequences of disobedience and lack of proper conduct. Go, go and tell them not come”, Kamal obeyed and drove off while Bin-Ahmed held the soldiers with his perfect shooting. There was no point of losing more men, Bin-Ahmed had calculated that the soldiers will request for more and his men wouldn’t stand up against a regiment. Bin-Ahmed went on till he ran out of cartridges, he then opted to run to his left, where a bush was but shot in the leg twice. He managed to crawl but was late, the soldiers caught up with him, dragged his body along the soil when they saw he wasn’t dead yet.
“Don’t sh00t him anymore”, restraining the soldiers from further shooting”
“We need him alive”
“Why don’t you just ki*ll me at once and let the whole case be at bay”
“No, you must answer for the war you have put this country to”
“You bastards, I was giving you the easiest of all options and now, you want to try me in court. You are not going to get hold of me for long. I swear that”
“We shall see about that”, they stripped him of the knives at his possession, dragged him into one of the tanker, the backup they had requested and left. The others went into the hunt for the second vehicle, containing Evelyn.
