Restless – Episode 162

Restless � Episode 162

� 18+ SNVL

� Oluwatosin Emmanuel Oyinloye

 

08:05 PM

Evelyn�s Residence, Bexford

�

�Evelyn!� Mrs. Alexandra called out from the living room to her daughter who was in her room. �Your food is already cold and I�m not going to heat it for you.�

�I�m coming, Mum,� Evelyn shouted back from her room which was close to the parlor.

�That�s what you�ve been saying for the past forty minutes,� the mother yelled back.

True to her words this time, Evelyn stepped out of her room two minutes later. She had taken a shower and changed into a short dress.

�Always tell me when you�re not ready to eat so that I would serve at the right time.�

�Never knew I was going to stay for long inside, Mom. I just had to do some things before stepping out again,� she replied to her mother.

�Don�t tell me you�re still working at home this night,� Mrs. Alex flashed a look at her daughter who just settled on a chair in the dining area.

�No, not work,� Evelyn answered. �Just some personal things.�

�Personal things?� Evelyn seemed to have spiked the interest of her mom. �When did you start dealing with personal things you don�t let me know about?� the woman asked.

�Mom!� Evelyn stared at the woman in surprise. �I�m not a kid anymore, you don�t expect me to tell you everything you do always.�

�No, it�s not compulsory you tell me, darling. But you always mention personal things to me whenever we talk, the only things you don�t discuss with me are details of your work.�

�Mom, we�ve not had time to talk much of recent and it�s not my fault. I�ve been so busy at work.�

�Yeah!� the woman got up from her seat and walked to join Evelyn in the dining area. She pulled a chair out and sat. �And when are you taking your annual leave this year?�

�Mom, leave?� Evelyn stared at the woman in surprise. �You know I can�t take a leave now. We�re yet to make any headway in the Red Wolves case.�

�It�s a terrorism case, Evelyn. Countries spend years and some decades to battle terrorist groups,� the woman replied. �What if this lingers for more than ten years, won�t you take a leave?�

�Mom! We shouldn�t be discussing this now,� Evelyn sighed. �I�m trying to have dinner and besides I don�t think I�m ready for this discussion at the moment.�

�Be careful girl, don�t get yourself hurt. You need to rest.�

Evelyn only gazed at her mum but did not reply to the warning. The woman eventually got up and walked to the sitting area to join the little girl watching TV there.

�Mom! Is Evelyn in danger?� the girl asked.

�No, dear. I�m only telling her to be careful,� the old woman replied and then flashed a look at Evelyn who had also heard the girl�s question and was staring at them.

She continued eating silently until her phone vibrated. She took it up to check. It was a WhatsApp message from Agent Steve.

�Hi! Hope you�re feeling better already?�

She tapped the message box and began to type a reply.

�Yeah! I�m better, Agent Steve. Thanks for checking up on me,� She typed and tapped the reply button.

A few seconds later, another WhatsApp message popped. �Great! You should stay back home tomorrow to get yourself treated. I�ll let the office know you weren�t feeling well and I permitted you to stay home.�

�There will be no need for that, sir. I�m better now and I can come to the office tomorrow.�

�I�m not advising you, I�m giving you an order, Evelyn. You shouldn�t be at the office tomorrow.�

She was about to start typing a reply when a new SMS from an unknown number popped in.

I saw you the night you walked in to wipe off the fingerprints from the exhibits. I�ve got proof to show the Chairman tomorrow. Why don�t you meet me at the restaurant by 17:20 tomorrow for a deal or I walk straight to the Chairman�s office with my proof?

She stared at the message for a second, wondering who it could be. Then, she realized that it couldn�t be the same person who dropped the note on her table. The message was like a repetition of what had been sent to her before. It could only be from Henry.

She lost her appetite at that moment and got up from the seat. She began to search for the number Henry had called her with as she headed for her room.

�Evelyn, are you done eating?� Mrs. Alex called as she noticed the younger woman walking back to her room.

Evelyn did not wait to reply but got into her room and locked the door behind. Right beside the door, she leaned on the wall and dialed Henry�s number immediately. It began to ring and after some seconds and stopped without being answered. She dialed for the second time and it still wasn�t answered.

She took in a deep breath and walked to sit on her bed. A call from a different Anthannan number came in before she could dial the number again.

�Hey! Eve,� Henry�s voice sounded sharply from the other end.

�Hi! Henry, I just got a text message and I�m not so sure what it means.�

�Relax, Eve. I was going to call you to explain. It�s a part of my plan.�

�You should explain this plan better.�

�I told you I would, you don�t trust me?� Henry asked. There was no reply.�

�I trust you, but��

�Listen to me, Eve,� Henry interrupted. �You�re going to dial Steve�s number now and tell him about the message you received. You talk to him like you don�t know anything about it. Whatever he says to you, make sure you get to the office very early tomorrow.�

�I was chatting with Steve some minutes ago and he told me to stay off tomorrow,� Evelyn replied.

�Stay off? Why?�

�He�s been seeing me frequenting the restroom and he thinks I�m unwell, he told me to stay home and rest tomorrow.�

�Okay, I understand. But you need to be careful not to cause suspicions,� Henry said and was quiet for a couple of seconds. �You still have to go to the office tomorrow. For now, delete the message I sent you now.�

�Why do you want me to report to Steve?�

�Because he would receive three similar reports tomorrow,�

�What the heck? You�re sending it to the other ladies too?�

�If you do that, you�re going to be putting me in danger,� Evelyn said, sounding a bit tensed.

�Why do you think so?�

�Even if what you do causes confusion in the office, it would still get me into trouble. They would start investigating us secretly once we talk about the text messages.�

�And they can�t find anything on you if they do,� Henry replied.

�What are you talking about? Of course, they would find a lot on me. A look into my call records will make them get so much against me.�

�Have you made other anti-FOX calls with any other person? My calls with you are not in the records. I always phone you from private networks.�

Evelyn took a deep breath.

�So, they�re only going to catch you if you don�t clear the call records from your phone or if you have called someone else. The only record that you should take to the office is the text I will send by morning tomorrow.�

�I clear the records always, they�ll find nothing on my phone.�

�Good! Tomorrow, I want you to put up a good act,� Henry continued.

�A good act, how?�

_____>>>>>

July 26

08:55 AM

The FOX, Corporation

EPA Hill, Bexford.

�

�Good morning, Agent Steve,� Evelyn greeted as she walked into the office. She was dressed in a grey trouser suit with a white inner shirt.

Steve who was arranging something on his table and turned towards the wall turned to look at her. He shone his eyes at her in surprise.

�What are you doing here, Evelyn?� I told you to take a rest today,� Steve folded his arms and gave her a stern gaze.

�I had to come to the office today, Agent. I received a text message from an unknown number an hour ago,� Evelyn said to him.

�What text message?� He squinted at her.

She took out her phone from her jacket and unlocked it before handing it over to him.

�What the heck!� He cursed under his breath after reading the text. He kept his gaze on her face as he handed back the phone. �Agents Sandra and Lydia also got the same text messages.�

�What?� Evelyn stared at him with shock on her face.

�Yeah,� he affirmed, looking deep in thoughts. �You�ll have to excuse, I need to see the Chairman about this now. �

�Okay, I�ll be at my table.� She said and watched him walk out before she followed.

Twenty minutes later, Steve returned to meet Evelyn already working on her table.

�Agent Steve,� she was first to speak as she saw him approaching. �What did he say?�

�I�m sorry, Evelyn. I don�t have a choice but to keep you here today,� he apologized.

�That�s not a problem,� she replied. �What are we supposed to do now?�

�I talked to the chairman about it,� Steve answered. �He said you guys will be questioned at the executives� meeting today, that�s why you have to wait.�

Evelyn let out a breath. �What time is the meeting?�

�1 PM, I believe,� Steve replied.

�Okay, I think I should continue with work then. I gone through the results from yesterday and discovered that the bleeping man lied during the interrogation yesterday. I need to speak to him,� Evelyn explained.

�I�ve gone through them too, we�ll go together,� Steve replied.

�Huh?� She raised her brows.

�Yea,� Steve nodded. �Our results are similar and we�ve also narrowed down the number of suspects to interrogate to three before you arrived this morning. So, we�ll do it together and we�ll start with Daysman first.�

�Alright then, let me know when it�s time.�

Steve raised his wrist to check the time. �I�ll be ready in ten minutes,� he said to her and then turned away.

Evelyn watched him go and let out another breath. It was going the way Henry told her it would. She knew they would be invited to the executives’ meeting for questioning. Henry had given her specific instructions on how to answer the questions and what else to do.

 

Twenty minutes later

In the interrogation room, Steve and Evelyn were sitting on one side of the table. Daysman�s lawyer was sitting at the other side and there was an empty seat for Daysman beside the lawyer. A few seconds later,� Daysman was ushered by a warder with his hands cuffed. The warder took the cuffs off his wrists before he was made to sit.

�Good morning, Mr. Daysman,� Steve greeted.

Daysman only glanced at Steve but fixed his gaze on Evelyn�s face. He had a mischievous smile on his face.

Steve on seeing that the man refused to answer decided to introduce his colleague and proceed with the interrogation. �Here is my colleague, Agent��

�Agent Evelyn,� Daysman cut in and glanced at Steve�s face. �I know Agent Evelyn, I saw you at the farm months ago. Never knew you were an undercover agent.�

Steve glanced at Evelyn.

She smiled lightly at the suspect. �It�s my pleasure to meet you, Mr. Daysman.�

�I wish I could say I�m glad to see you but you arrested me. The truth is I don�t like to see your face.�

�That�s sad, sir. Whether you like to see my face or not. I�m sorry, you�ll just have to see it.�

�Mr. Daysman, we want to help you�� Steve continued.

Daysman laughed. �Help me? I�ve never seen the FOX helping people. They only put people in jail.�

�We won�t like to see you in jail even though I won�t deny that it�s very unlikely for you to escape it,� Steve continued in a calm voice.

�Then, what the heck am I doing in this room if I can�t escape jail? I prefer to be in my cell,� Daysman flared up.

�You need to speak to your client, Mr. Josh. His attitude would make things more difficult for himself,� Steve turned and said to the lawyer.

�You need to answer their questions, Daysman,� the lawyer intervened.

Daysman stared at his lawyer for a while and then nod his head as he turned to Steve.

�What do you want me to tell you?�

�You don�t work alone, Mr. Daysman. Like I asked you yesterday, we need you to tell us the names of everyone that works with you,� Steve requested.

�I told you I don�t have their names, I only speak with them on phone and they pay me for helping them move things.�

�You don�t expect us to believe that,� Steve retorted. �A man with your kind of knowledge and influence would not just work for faceless and nameless people.�

�He told me to call him the Strategist, that�s all I know about him,� Daysman said.

�That�s not a real name, we can�t find him with that.�

�I�m sorry, I can�t help you with more.�

�Mr. Daysman,� Evelyn joined in. �We�re sincerely here to help if you tell us what we need. We can help you reduce your jail term. We know you may not be one of the top leaders in the Wolves but if you don�t help us catch them, you�ll be facing the death penalty or even up to 50 years in prison. You don�t deserve the death sentences, only those sons of the devil deserves it. If you help us, we can also drop some charges against you and help you reduce your sentence to 5 years. Before you know it, you�ll be a free man and will be reintegrated into society to join your family.�

Daysman chuckled loudly. �Do you think I would become a free man?� He asked and leaned forward. �I�ll be most likely dead the next day after leaving here.�

�That won�t happen if you help us catch the real culprits,� Evelyn pushed.

Daysman was silent for a moment as if he was pondering on her words. He leaned forward after the moment of silence. �I don�t have any information to give you but you can find all the numbers I�ve called on my phone. They only talk to me on phone.�

�We have your call records,� Evelyn said and took out some stapled papers together and dropped it on the table. She pushed it towards him. �Your call records all negate the answers you gave to us.�

She waited for a while for the lawyer to look through the document.

�Please, open to the last page,� she said and waited for the lawyer to do so. �Those are the call records for Sunday and Monday. From the details, you received a call from Kum Town at 9:35 PM on Sunday. The call was from Benuit. At exactly 8:04 on Monday morning, you arrived that same location where the Sunday call came from. The satellites picked your phone�s signal. From that location, you made a call to Kane around 11:20 AM. Is that right?�

Daysman was quiet. It was obvious all the agents said to him were right.

Evelyn continued when he refused to reply. �This means that you received a call to meet with one of Wolves leaders in Benuit on Sunday when you were in Kum. You arrived at the meeting place around eight o�clock on Monday morning and you called Kane to finalize your plans after the meeting.�

�You�re making too many baseless assumptions, Agents,� the lawyer interrupted.

�Our assumptions are not baseless, you have the call records with you,� Steve fired at him.

�I need some minutes with my client, please,� the lawyer requested.

�You have all the time, Barrister,� Steve said and got up to his feet immediately.

Evelyn also got up and they both walked out.

�Why the f*** did you not tell me all these?� The lawyer fired at Daysman after the Agents stepped out.

____

2: 14 PM

Eight of the executives were sitting in the board room with Evelyn standing in front of them for questioning. Paul Edwards had already explained Steve�s report to the rest of the men and they already interrogated the other two ladies briefly. Evelyn was the last one to be called in.

As she stood in front of them, Henry�s words from the conversation she had with him the previous night continued to ring in her mind.

It�ll be like a poker game between you and the executives. The only difference would be that only you will be playing against all of them from the beginning. You have to maintain the poker face. Don�t let them read your feelings and don�t get intimidated when they bluff.

�Agent Evelyn, when exactly did you start receiving those text messages?� the first question was thrown by Agent Tom.

�This morning,� she replied.

�Have you ever got a similar text or call?�

�No, it�s the first.�

�We understand that you were in charge of identifying who broke into the forensics that night and it was dropped because there was nothing to identify the culprit. Do you think any of those suspended Agents could be the ones behind the text messages?�

�I�m not sure sir, I have no idea where the texts could be from.�

�The text looks like it is from a person who is passionate about finding who broke in, and if anyone is passionate about it, that person should be you.�

�Of a truth, I�m passionate about discovering who it was but I don�t resort to unethical ways to carry out my investigations.�

�Agent Evelyn, we have some information on how you led the team without permission of the leader at a certain time. If you could do that, why shouldn�t we think you�re behind this?�

�That was an urgent situation,� Evelyn replied. �If I did not take that step, we all could have died in that mission. I had to save lives then, but here is a different situation.�

The Agents were quiet for a while and they began to talk to each other quietly.

That was the exact moment Evelyn was waiting for. She remembered Carl�s words clearly.

After a moment, you�ll discover the real opponent you have amongs them. You would catch this single player at the moment all attention is supposed to be away from you. While everyone would take their eyes off, your real opponent will keep his eyes on the game. He�ll be trying to read you but instead, you�ll be reading him.

True to Henry�s words, all Agents turned as the Chairman began to whisper something to them, but one turned his face back to her and their eyes locked.

After their deliberations, they asked some more questions from her and let her go.

 

30 Minutes later

Somewhere in Bethanna

Hutton was sitting at the verandah of a building and staring blankly at the garden in front of him when his phone vibrated. He took it out to check the notification and saw a text message from Agent Samuel.

She messed up the whole plan. We can�t go ahead with it anymore. And I think she suspects me with the way she looked at me in the meeting hall.

Hutton took in a deep breath after reading the text. He began to type a reply.

Do you think she has any proof that you dropped the note on her table?

Three minutes later, the reply came in: No, I just noticed the way she stared at me.

Hutton locked his phone and was about to return it into his pocket when it began to ring. Kahn was calling. He hesitated for a while before answering the call.

�Hello Kahn,� he said in soft tones.

�Your plan got messed up again,� Kahn�s fired in a gruff voice. �I�m doing it my way this time. I�m sending men to eliminate her. They�ll ki*ll her on her way home or right inside her house tonight.�

Hutton only sighed and couldn�t say anything. He dropped the phone slowly from his ear.

____

The FOX Corporation

�Are you sure he�s the one?�

Another message from Carl popped in.

�Yes, it is Agent Michael.� She replied.

�Did you think he noticed you were looking at him?�

�Our eyes met but I don�t think he would be suspicious that I know he is the one.�

�Okay, it�s unlikely that they would want to ki*ll you. Hutton would need you alive rather than dead. But you still need to be very careful. Stay safe then and no messages to me from now on.�

�You too.�

She deleted all the messages quickly and dropped the phone to return to her work. The phone began to ring. She checked it and her mother was the caller. She picked it up and answered.

�Hello baby,� Mrs. Alex�s voice rang in.

�Hi, Mum.�

�I know you must be busy at work, I just wanted to remind you it�s your baby sister�s birthday tomorrow. You should get us some items from the grocery store. I�ll send you a list in a moment.�

�All right, Mom.�

She ended the call and placed it on the phone on the table.

�We�ll resume interrogation in thirty minutes’ time,� Steve said to her from the door.

 

5:45 PM

�You�re leaving the office early today, Eve. Have some other plans for today?� Steve asked as he saw Evelyn on her way out.

�Well, I just need to get some items before the grocery stores are closed.�

�I see,� Steve replied. �Would you like me to come with you? I want to get some groceries too.�

�Oh! You don�t look ready to leave yet, I�m not sure I can wait.�

�I�ll be ready in thirty minutes.�

She chuckled. �That�s a long time, I can�t wait. My mom is expecting me early. It�s my sister�s birthday tomorrow.�

�Okay, then.� Steve shrugged. �Would you take a break tomorrow?�

�No, I�ll be at the office. Take care, Agent Steve.�

�See you tomorrow, Evelyn.�

Steve watched her walk into the leave before he resumed what he was doing.

 

30 Minutes later

In the mall, Evelyn had the shopping basket held in her arm and was walking through the aisle, picking food items. She was at the center of the aisle and stood upright after bending to pick something from the lower shelf. She stepped back and looked around to see the other items she needed. Then, she spotted some packs of chocolate just beside her and bent to pick two.

As she got up again to continue shopping, her eyes caught someone coming from the left. He was dressed in all blacks and had a face cap covering his head and eyes partially. He was coming towards her. She decided to discard her suspicions as she realized it could just be any other shopper but as she looked right, she saw two other people; a man and a woman dressed in the same way. But these two others had pistols held in their hands.

She turned back quickly and saw that the first man she saw taken out his gun too. It was then she realized they were there for her. She had been caught unawares and was also outnumbered. It would be a total waste of effort to try to take her gun out at that moment.

She noticed that no one else was in the aisle with them and realized they were more than three and the others must have stopped other shoppers from moving into that aisle.

Her heart was beating so fast as the man closed in on her. The three guns were pointed at her at the same time, targeting different areas on her body. She took in a deep breath and then closed her eyes in anticipation for the worst.

Three gunshots were released successively and each bullet pierced into the parts of the body it was targeted to.

 

To be continued.