The Angel And The Fugitive – Chapter Eleven Part A
THE ANGEL AND THE FUGITIVE – CHAPTER ELEVEN PART A
© Reginald Obetta
Miss Evelyn Williams was a beautiful young woman of vision, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist seeking for the betterment of women, widows and orphaned children. Her foundation, Hope Foundation has given countless number of children, the hope to be educated, empowered many women and widows with physical cash and loan with repayable and flexible non-interest rate payment and indulged in charitable works. She was in her late twenties and taunted as the mother of the homeless. Her scheduled conference at the town hall was to raise some donations from kind women and men to fund the completion of her Specialist Oncology Center, for the treatment of cancerous women and children and a free Medical Diagnostic Center.
Due to her arousing charms and beauty, many wondered why she was still single. On numerous disclosed interviews, she noted that vividly, she hasn’t found her companion, a match that she would say yes to and spend the rest of her life with.
“Love isn’t so easy to come by, but noticeable when it comes. You just know you have found the right person and that was her statement. Oftentimes, doubts and conclusions were made that she wasn’t ready yet to be walked down the aisle because she was so devoted to her philanthropic activities that she would turn down any man who wasn’t supportive of it. She rebuked those doubts and stated the reasons were that it wasn’t her that was the problem, she instead, had tried but it always ended up been a disaster. The relationships never lasted because no man was able to cope with the load on her head and withdrew automatically. It was clear she placed so much values on her work more than anything.
The conference was attended by powerful men and politicians. Security was the tightest and prior to the day of the conference, every invitee had an ID specially made for them since, it wasn’t a conference to be attended by all, those invited had that ID that must be submitted before allowed entrance, and then re taken when prepared to leave. Every car parked was properly scrutinized to avoid any attachment of explosives driven into the premises. The hall was getting filled as people continued to troop in black and brown suits. Few minutes later, it began with the MC, welcoming all that was present except with some surprised absentees that didn’t indicate their presence. It barely went for a few minutes extra when the lights went off in a sudden manner, raising a few murmurs but they were calm when told it was a slight power shortage. The sound of a bomb explosion in quick succession caused a whole new level of commotion. They were told by the security personnel to evacuate the premises through the second exit that it had been compromised. It was the same exit that three security personnel lead Miss Evelyn out from, few minutes before they were trailed by the rest.
Outside was covered in a thick cloud of smoke. It looked impossible to take a glance across the street. Evelyn pointed to the direction her car was parked when she saw they headed otherwise but instead, they continued silently.
“Where are you men taking me to? “, she asked and when it was obvious to her that it looked more like a kidnap than rescue, she tried to restrain from their grip but she couldn’t and was hit on the head by one of their fists when they couldn’t put up with her questioning. She collapsed in their hands, along they took her into the van, parked two streets across and sped off.
“4159,I repeat 4159 a bomb blast has just occurred in the town hall, I repeat a bomb blast has just occurred, hostages down,” the security officials communicated through their walkie-talkie. The fire service team rushed in through their heavy painted red truck, together with the National Emergency Unit team to rescue trapped hostages. It continued that way till the rescue was concluded. Not Everybody wasn’t alive, some were already dead by the time help met them. To the security officials astonishment, Miss Evelyn’s SUV was still parked, the same way it had been when it halted. Pandemonium broke out after their discovery, no one was inside the car. NEU workers immediately were contacted to identify the rescued hostages to see if Miss Evelyn was amongst them, but they concluded otherwise, her body was missing.
“What? She never left the vicinity, her car is still parked over there. Keep searching, she must have been trapped under somewhere “, one of her real security guard who was pulled out of the scene before the blast happened retorted. After about thirty minutes of extra search, NEU workers verified that her body wasn’t found. It occurred to them that only one thing could be possible, the perpetrators of the blast has abducted her and that accounted for her disappearance. They needed to verify though if she reached her home, the Apex house. It was contacted and then, their assumptions were discredited, they verified that she never came home. The police Chief of Abuja Police Department was contacted about the missing lady and he grew furious over the phone ;
“What? You were meant to always be by her side. Where the hell were you at?
“Sir, we were called out from our duty to a checkpoint on the instructions that there was a bomb scare”
“Who made that call? “
“Our men at raleck checkpoint. The called for backup but we saw no one”
“Damn, it was a setup, a trap to lure you all out of your duty post. All road blocks should be checked, every corner of the street, buildings should be properly scrutinized” “Yes sir”.
The Police Chief took his keys from the table and his gun and walked out of the office. He needed to head to the Apex house to conduct a little investigation.
Mrs Williams had dialed the number of her daughter for the third time and each time, it was disconnected and this made her worrisome. She had heard the news of the explosion and wanted to know if her only daughter was safe. Prior to the calls, she tried reaching out to find out how her fund raising conference went. Evelyn had told her that it would take about four hours but it was way more than that now. Everything contributed to her panic and distress and she became increasingly disturbed and paced in the façade of her gargantuan sitting room scarily, till the tall Police Chief met her.
“Good day Her Excellency”
“Officer Timi. How are you and work at the police”
“Fine Madame. You look distressed “
“It’s nothing. Just that I have been trying to contact my daughter and it always disconnected. To what do I owe this visit”
“It’s your daughter I have come to ask if you have spoken to her but since you have already stated the current state, I will just go ahead and tell you the news. “
“What is the news about? Is it about my daughter? “
“Madame, we are of a very strong conviction that she is missing as we speak. Her body wasn’t found among the hostages rescued by the NEU”
“That’s impossible “, she said in disbelief. She took up her phone once more and dialed the number, each time again repeatedly, it gave the same answer of disconnection. She dialed the number of the NEU to confirm herself. Then, she understood the police chief wasn’t fabricating.
“What? My daughter is missing. Missing among a plethora of armed men. “
“Madame, everything is under control”
“Nothing is under control here. Everything is in chaos. Now, my daughter is the latest victim of your security mishap. They have her there, those monsters of Al-hida have her”, said the troublesome tumultuous chubby woman in despondent, like every mother should be when their child is in danger.
“Madame, I just came here personally, knowing how you will feel about her disappearance, to feed you about our commitment and our relentless efforts to bringing her safely to you. I would want you to hear from me and the police and not from the press, that will broadcast the news any moment from now. She will be fine, I assure you “
“And what if I don’t get the chance to see her? What if she ends up dead before your team shows up”
“No Madame, you have to be optimistic. The Al-hida group don’t have the history of killing their captives instantly. That will give us time to search the perimeters of the state and possibly the country to find her”
“You better do find her before my husband gets back in the country from his visit. And I want the military involved in this one”
“Yes Madame but the severity has not gotten to the point of involving the Military ”
“I want everyone on this case or I call the chief of army unit personally “
“Yes Madame. Have a good day”, he left for his car and got a call from one of his men along.
“Any update”
“The abductors left in a blue van. The NIU were able to track through their system but was unable to find any other thing about their route”
“Okay, all of you should keep tabs on every blue van you see around the state. They shouldn’t have outside the shores of the state. Get your heads together and find those bastards”, he hung up.
TO BE CONTINUED…
