Restless – Episode 94

Restless – Episode 94

® 18+ SNVL
© Oyinloye Oluwatosin Emmanuel

Unedited episode

20:45PM
Paul Edwards’ Residence,
Bexford, Bethanna

“Your phone has been ringing sir,” the maid said to him as he handed over the phone to the man.

“Thank you,” Paul Edwards replied and collected the phone from her. He closed the door and walked back to his bed, checking the missed call notification. He had just finished taking his bath in his room and was dressed in his night wear. He had been hearing the knock at the door while he was taking his bath but he took his time to enjoy his bath.

He had left one of his phones in the living room, the phone which he used for personal communication with his family and friends. His official phone was always with him and he never allowed anyone gain access to it.

The missed call was from an unsaved number, he dialed it back as he sat at the edge of his bed but the call did not connect. He dialed the second time and it gave him the same response, he dropped the phone and was about to get up when his official line began to ring. He shifted close to the headboard where the phone was placed. He checked the caller and it was from the office.

“Good evening Agent,” he responded to the greeting from the other end.

“Ten minutes ago, we got and anonymous mail and a phone call to the office, telling us there would be three bomb attacks tomorrow and that we should make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Paul frowned his face. “Have you tracked the location the mail and phone call was from?”

“It was anonymous, we can’t find the location yet but we are still on it.” the person replied.

“Be quick with it,” Paul said as he got up to his feet and began to pace gently around. “What other information did you get from the caller?”

“She said the bomb attacks were being planned by the Wolves and that they would be using innocent victims to trigger the explosions.”

“It was a woman?”

“Yes, it was.”

“Did she give any personal information at all?”

“No, she didn’t.”

Paul was silent for a few seconds. “Make sure you find the location where the call was made from and also pick out her voice from the stored recording and screen voices of female criminals on Our list to get a match.”

“We’d do that sir,” the voice replied.

“Thank you,” Paul said and ended the call.

He sat on one of the sofas and opened his contact list to pick a number. He selected Agent Steve’s number and dialed it.

“Good evening sir,” Steve said immediately the call was answered.

“A call was received at the office few minutes ago, telling us about three bomb attacks which would happen tomorrow. Do you have any information regarding that?”

“Ermm… Nothing of such sir,” Steve replied.

“Get to work man, whether true or not, we must find the location from which the information about the threats came and we must also uncover every possible ploy to cause havoc in any area.”

“Yes sir, right away.”

Paul ended his call and got up from the sofa. He walked straight to the wardrobe and took off his night wears. He turned back quickly as something came to his mind and reached for his phone, he dialed the number that had called him before he called Steve.

“Agent, give orders for all agents to report back to the office immediately.” Paul commanded.

“Right away sir,” the man replied.

“Call me back in five minutes after you do this.”

Paul cut the call and located another number in his contact lists.

“Hey Man,” Paul said into the phone.

“Good day Chairman, it’s been a long while.”

“Yeah truly, we do have a lot of catching up to do later. Now, I’ve got something important you need to do for me right away.”

“Okay, I’m all ears.”

“I need every broadcasting radio stations and television stations airing in the nation to send out information to residents in all parts of the country especially those in Bethanna. They should ask everyone to be careful and watchful, any suspicious activity should be reported immediately. The number they need to call is 811,” Paul instructed.

“Uhm, I’ll do that but I hope there’s no serious problem.” The man questioned.

“We are doing this to avoid a serious problem,” Paul stated. “Please, give instructions for the information not to be relayed in a way that would cause panic all over the nation. It should just be an information to make people watchful and vigilant.”

“I’ll spread the instructions right away.”

“Thank you,” Paul ended the call again. Immediately the call from the office was returned.

“I just finished instructing everyone to return,” the man said.

“I’ll be calling the Inspector of Police and Army General in a minute from now, the forces would have to combine and cover all road blocks for tonight including major entrances and exits from Bexford. Every vehicle passing has to be checked well and there must be Bomb disposal technicians close to every unit.”

“Okay sir, I’ll start organizing the men right away.”

“Good, I’ll join you in the office soon.”

____

“The emails have been read and delivered,” Jenny said and got up from the seat. She turned to Henry who was sitting on the footstool and facing the laptop on the bed. He glanced at her.

“In the next few minutes, we’d be on our way to Bethanna.” Henry said to her.

“Any luck with the building’s owner information?” Jenny asked.

“No, the real owner died twelve years ago and his next of kin died five years after, the villagers said it was sold to the people currently using it but the owner’s information in the land registration online hasn’t changed.”

“So, what do we do?” Jenny asked.

“We forget about it,” he said as he moved the cursor to the computer start button. He clicked on it and selected “shut down”. “The important thing now is getting Samantha and Wilson.”

“How do we do that?”

Henry stared at her face for a moment. He didn’t have the answer to her question, but he knew it had to happen somehow. He didn’t have the FOX team agents to give instructions or give orders to, neither did he or his team have access to the sophisticated facilities available in the FOX offices which would have been useful in searching out the possible locations of the bomb threats issued by the Wolves and that was why he had sent messages to the FOX to get them to use their facilities.

His phone rang and distracted him from his thoughts and also the tension to give Jenny a reply, he reached for his phone and answered the call.

“Hey Dave,” he said into the mouthpiece.

“Boss, we have to stay somewhere in Oreo.”

“Why? That’s not far enough from Bexford,” Henry questioned.

“Yes but the doctor has said we should not go too far because of Rex’s state of health. The vehicle movement is not good for him and we already had a long journey earlier today,” Cole explained.

“Okay, how safe is where you are now?”

“It’s safe enough and very far from the team’s previous location in Vincil,” Cole replied.

“Please be careful,” Henry said before hanging up.

He dropped the phone and looked up to see Jenny still staring at him, he remembered she asked him a question but he was still unprepared for the answer.

He packed up the laptop and got up to his feet. “We need to leave now, we’ll talk about that later.”

___

Vincil, Bethanna.

Dave and Cole walked into the room where Sophia had been placed in a bed. Her legs and hands were tied tightly and her mouth was covered with a tape. Dave moved closer and tried to help her take off the tape but she began to struggle with him and tried to kick him off the bed with her feet. He however overpowered her and took the tape off her mouth.

“You need to stop misbehaving girl, we’re trying to keep you safe here and you’re making things difficult.” Dave complained.

“I don’t want to stay here, let me go home.” Sophia shouted in frustration.

Cole let out a chuckle, her way she spoke seemed a bit funny to him.

“I explained to you that your brother is in danger and we are trying to keep you from danger,” Dave replied her.

“I don’t want to stay here with you, I can go to the police or other security officials if I need to be safe.”

“The police can’t save you girl, now just shut up and let me take the ropes off you.” Dave said and motioned forward. She restricted and hit him in the chest with her feet.

“You people are kidnappers, I and my brother has no money to pay for ransom. Please let me go,” she shouted.

Dave got out of the bed frustrated. “I can’t deal with this girl,” he said to Cole, shaking his head and walking out of the room.

Cole smiled lightly and stared until Dave closed the door behind. He stepped forward slowly and sat at the bed.

She stared at him from where she was. His face was new. She had just seen him earlier that day and he seemed to her less cruel than Dave.

“Sophia, can I talk to you?” Cole asked calmly.

“I don’t want to talk, I want to be alone.” she sulked.

“Okay then, let me help you take off the ropes so that you can be free to eat this night.”

“No, I want to remain like this until you let me go,” she protested. “You tied me like an animal and brought me here like this, let me remain this way.”

Cole smiled lightly and turned to wards her in the bed, he moved both legs in the bed and moved closer to her in her lying position.

She stared up at his face, wondering what he was doing. She had been tied when they wanted to leave Bethanna. She tried to shout for help immediately she was allowed to step out of the building and the team had no choice than to find a way to keep her silent.

“I apologize for the way we treated you, I’m sorry. Would you let me untie you so we can talk about why you are here?”

Sophia took in a deep breath. Her mind was softened a bit by the calmness of Cole’s voice. He had also promised to tell her why she was been kept, which was what she had been requesting to be told. She stared at him for a while before she nodded for him to go untie her.

It took him two minutes to untie her and she sat at the other edge of the bed on the same side where he was sitting.

“I’m sorry again for having you tied throughout our journey here, we had to do so because we were instructed to leave that location urgently but you were not cooperating.” Cole explained and glanced at her face. She was quiet. “I was told you were taken forcefully from your house…”

“Why am I here?” she interrupted him.

“To keep you safe,” Cole replied.

She stared at his face. “How the hell am I in danger?”

“You may not know but we know,” he stared back at her.

“You’re not making any sense,” she slammed angrily.

“Do you know where your brother is?”

She stared at him silently for a moment and then looked away. “He went in search for someone.”

“He went with a friend in search of Morris,” Cole stated. She looked at his face. He turned back to her. “Do you know where Morris is?”

Her look changed from that of anger to a confused one. She wondered how Cole knew Morris.

“Where?” She raised a brow. “I don’t know, Wilson and Morris’ friend went to look for him.”

Cole stared at her silently for some seconds. “Morris is right here with us.”

She stared at him with disbelieving eyes.

“We came with him to Bexford, he was in the bus and you would have seen him if you had cooperated with us.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “If Morris is here, then where is Wilson and the man who went in search of him?”

“That’s why we are here, those who are after Morris’ life are also after Henry his friend and now after Wilson, the reason we have taken you away is to keep you in safety.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head again. It was not yet making sense to her. “So, can I see Morris now?”

“Yes, let’s go.” Cole said and got up to his feet.

She stared at his face for a while and also got up.

___

El Deols, Anthanna

Adrian holding his phone in his hand dialed Sheila’s number for the fifth time, that night. He placed it on loudspeakers and listened. It rang again like it had done for the first four occasions but the call wasn’t answered.

He sighed. He couldn’t understand what had happened to Sheila. She had walked in after seeing her Dad off and without saying anything to him, walked to her room. He had thought she would return to the living room after few minutes but she did not. He sent one of the maids to check for her but the maid had returned saying Sheila was not opening the door nor answering her. He stayed and tried for some more hours to reach her but she refused to step out of the room. He had no other choice than to leave for his home. He concluded that her Dad had told her something that got her very angry and she was reacting badly to it.

He dialed her number once again as he reached for the cup of water on the footstool in front of him. It rang in it’s usual pattern and ended up not being answered. He dropped the phone on the arm of the sofa and gulped down the content.

______

Unknown Location

Bexford, Bethanna.

After many hours of Samantha being alone in the room, the door flung open and three men walked in, the first one holding a tray of food and the second a small table.

The table was placed in front of Samantha and the tray was placed on it. The third man walked to the back of the chair Samantha was sitting on and began to untie her. It took him about five minutes to complete the process and he carefully folded the ropes aside.

Samantha felt some freedom and was able to stretch a little even though her wrists and ankles were still cuffed. The man who untied her took out a key from his pocket and stepped in front of her, he held her hands up and put the key into the hole, he moved her hands closer to her left side before turning the key to unlock the manacles. He released her right hand and cuffed the second part to the arm of the chair, putting her left hand still in bondage.

“I need to ease myself first,” Samantha objected.

The man raised his gaze and stared at her face with a suspicious look. He took in a breath before uncuffing her other hand from the chair. He stepped back and stared at her.

“Your legs are still cuffed, I hope you’re wise enough not to try any stupid move.” The man said in a warning tone
Samantha stared at him and only shook her head in response.

“That’s the toilet,” he pointed a door close to the back end of the room. She glanced back at the place before getting up. The manacles on her legs had a length of twenty centimetres, so it gave her room to walk without so much discomfort.

As she walked there, she thought about how possible it would be for her to make any move with her feet still cuffed. The men in the room with her and the other men she had seen earlier did not look like men that would be easy for her to beat. And even if she was going to make a move, she needed to know where the key to the manacles binding her feet was first.

She got out the toilet ten minutes after going in. She looked refreshed and less heavier as she walked back to the seat. She wiped her wet hands on her clothes to make them dry. The men had their eyes on her even as she settled on the seat.

She stared at the man who untied her, expecting that he would come back to cuff her hand to the chair but he remained where he was.

“After you finish eating,” he said to her when he noticed she was expecting him to do so.

She took the cover off the food and placed it gently under the plate. The aroma was inviting as usual and it made her belly let out a cry for food. She stared at it for a while, still contemplating whether to eat or not. Hutton’s threat had been on her mind since she heard him make the call and she wasn’t able to figure out in her mind what his plans could be. After about a minute, she decided on eating. She would need enough strength for the next day.

She looked up at the faces of the men who were still surrounding her, feeling uncomfortable with their closeness to her.

“I’m not going to disappear into the food, am I? she frowned at the man who untied her.

He signalled to the rest and they all stepped back, giving her enough space. She ate slowly, still having a lot in her mind. Hutton’s words keep echoing in her head and she couldn’t imagine being labelled a suicide bomber or a terrorist. She believed whatever Hutton’s plan was, she needed to fight it.

A thought came to her mind after eating the food halfway. She wondered what Henry and the rest of the team were doing to get them out. There have been no signs of their efforts and she couldn’t tell if they were making any. She thought it was stupid to remain loyal to a team that had probably dismissed her as dead already.

She looked up suddenly and signalled to the man who untied her. She tried to say something but a cough came out instead. She paused to take water.

“I need to see your boss,” she said after clearing her throat.

‘What for?”

“Tell him I have something important to tell him,” she said.

The man squinted at her questioningly.

“Tell him now,” she said.

The man took out a phone and dialed Hutton’s number.

___

Kala – Bexford Expressway,

“Isn’t there anyway Cole could help us get the location of the call?” Jenny asked Henry who was sitting at the right side of the vehicle while she drove.

He glanced at her.

“No,” Henry replied her. “Those guys use a high security system just like us, we can only locate them if there’s a breach from an insider there.”

They were on their way to Bexford, both of them having changed their clothes and being slightly disguised. They had also emptied the vehicle of all the guns which were previously in it.

Henry knew after his tip to the FOX that they would take measures to detect security threats even on the roads and now that they were on their way to Bexford, they could be delayed by the security officers if weapons were found in their car.

His mind was filled with questions on how to get Samantha and Wilson but it seemed like a dead end. He had tried to contact “The Boss” who told him about the planned bomb attacks but the line had been unreachable since then. He only hoped now that the man would call him back again and let out more information.

He wasn’t sure of what step to take but he knew he could not afford to fail Samantha. If Samantha was allowed to die, it would mean he had also failed the whole team and failed himself. He had to get her out some way and somehow.

___

Unknown Location,

Bethanna.

“You called for me,” Hutton said as he marched slowly towards her.

“I’ll tell you all you need to know about Carl Winston,” she said.

Hutton squinted at her, he suspected she was planning something fishy.

“Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

“I don’t know what you plan to do, but I’d rather give out information about Carl Winston than let three hundred people die through my hands.”

Hutton chuckled.

To be continued.