Restless – Episode 213

Restless – Episode 213
® 18+ SNVL
© Oluwatosin Emmanuel Oyinloye
The FOX Corporation,
Bexford, Bethanna

UNEDITED

12: 48 PM

“I’ll call you when I’m ready for you,” Mensah said to a junior agent before he continued towards his office.
He had just finished with his first press conference as the FOX Chairman. It wasn’t an easy experience for him as many of the journalists continued to throw him difficult questions, which he had no answers to. They all wanted to get details of how the former FOX chairman was a Red Wolves member all the while. They also want to know how he had managed to escape after the FOX captured him.
Mensah was unable to answer the questions accurately. In the end, he only announced that the FOX had begun a manhunt for Paul Edwards and that anyone who had information about him should contact the FOX.
Mensah got into his office to meet a shock. A lady was sitting in one of his visitor’s seats.
“Welcome, sir,” Evelyn turned the swivel 180 degrees and then got up to salute immediately.
“What the bleep! What are you doing in my office and how did you get here?” Mensah furrowed his eyebrows at her.
“If I let you know how I did it, I may not be able to do it a second time,” Evelyn replied, in a confident tone.
“What the f***!” Mensah cursed under his breath and narrowed his gaze at her face. He had heard her response before from someone else, the same words. “Are you crazy? I asked you a question and I need an answer or I make you face the penalty for trespassing, ” he said aloud to her.
“I got your key from your secretary when she got up from her seat,” Evelyn finally replied.
“How is that possible?” He squinted at her. “She couldn’t have left her seat for long without taking the keys with her.”
“Not when she doesn’t know she’ll be away for long,” she replied.
Mensah moved closer to her with a furious look on his face. “And even if she left her seat, what gave you the damn boldness to get into my office without being asked to?”
“I know you, Agent Mensah. You wouldn’t listen if I come through the right process,” Evelyn replied again.
Mensah was taken aback by her response again. He stepped back slowly and closed his eyes, trying to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He had heard those words too, exactly the same way she replied to him.
“I have something important to discuss with you, sir,” Evelyn spoke up after a few seconds of silence.
“I thought I asked you to remain in your office until I call for you,” Mensah arched his brows.
“Some of the things Steve said to you are true, sir,” Evelyn continued, disregarding his remarks. “But he’s got a lot of things wrong because he is being misled,” she paused for a little while and looked at his face. She had gotten his listening ears now, so she let out the next truth. “You and the whole of the FOX are being misled too.”
He remained quiet for a while, staring at her face in suspense. Her claims were bold and he wanted to hear the reasons behind them.
“Would you go straight to the point and stop speaking in parables?”
“Ernest Daysman only told Steve what he was instructed to tell him,” Evelyn continued. “It was all a part of the Red Wolves plan for you to meet Paul Edwards at that location.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I know the former Chairman isn’t a terrorist.”
Mensah chuckled. “Something must be wrong with you, Evelyn. You broke into my office to tell me this hogwash?”
Evelyn remained quiet for a while, waiting for the man to vent out his thoughts.
“I think you should get out of my office before I change my mind,” he said, pointing her to the door.
“They just finished with Chairman Paul Edwards and they’re coming for you too, Mr Mensah,” Evelyn stated without moving an inch.
Mensah frowned. He was feeling a mix of confusion and anger together. She sounded so confident to be saying hogwash.
“I can prove to you that Daysman only told Steve what he was instructed to tell him,” Evelyn added.
“How are you going to do that?”
“He’s got a contraband phone in his cell, we need to get it.
“How is that going to prove it, you could have planted the phone there,” Mensah retorted.
“The phone is not the proof,” Evelyn replied. “It will help us get the proof.”
Mensah stared thinly at her face for a while, considering whether or not to take her seriously. He finally proceeded to his table and picked his landline to make a call.
“No, don’t call the Marshalls to do the search,” Evelyn stopped him. “One of them must have transferred the phone to him. We need to go there and stay while they search him.”
Mensah dropped the landline receiver and stared at her face again. “And what if you don’t give me any solid proof if we do this?”
“You have my word, sir. I’m going to make Daysman admit it himself,” Evelyn answered confidently.
“I need to have some of the executives with us,” Mensah finally agreed and picked his receiver again.
___
_ Unspecified Location, Bethanna _
Hutton had just finished dressing in his room and was about to head out when his phone rang. He took it out of his suit jacket and looked at the screen. The caller was from one of the Red Wolves agents in the FOX prison.
“Hey, been trying to reach you. What’s been happening with you?” He said after answering his call.
“I need to put off the phone to reserve battery,” the man replied. “What happened? My target was supposed to arrive last night. I don’t have eyes on him yet.”
“Yeah, he didn’t get to the prison,” Hutton replied.
“He’s been killed out there already?”
“No, he was hijacked from the FOX by another group. So they couldn’t bring him to the prison.”
“So, how do I complete my mission if my target is not coming here? Or is he going to be brought in soon?”
“I don’t think so,” Hutton replied. “We might have to finish him off outside.”
“So, how do I get out of here?”
“Not yet, there is someone else there we need to take out.”
“The Marshall? It will be quite difficult to do that as an inmate.”
“No, not the Marshall. It’s an inmate. His name is Ernest Daysman.”
“Who do I make the move on him?”
“Very soon, I’ll call you when you need to make the move.”
“I will be expecting.”
With that, the call ended and Hutton returned the phone into his pocket. At that moment, Kahn opened the door and peeped in to check Hutton.
“Hey, not ready yet?”
“I am,” Hutton replied and proceeded towards the door. “I got delayed by a call.”
Hutton joined Kahn outside the room and both began to walk down the hallway.
“I can’t believe that the b**chy agent is not yet behind bars,” Kahn gasped as they walked on.
“That b**chy agent is on Carl Winston’s side, man. You don’t expect her to go down so easily,” Hutton remarked.
“What are we going to do about her?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet.”
“We need to take her out quickly, to prevent anything from disturbing our task tomorrow.”
“Carl is probably still trying to know what G63 means. As far as he doesn’t know, nothing’s gonna stop our plans,” Hutton said confidently.
They continued in silence until they got to a hall where five men were waiting for them. All the men were dressed in black suits and ties.
“Gentlemen,” Hutton called their attention as he got in. They all gathered around and fixed their eyes on him. “The stage is set now and you’ll be taking down your targets tomorrow. We have a great plan already and we need to have it executed neatly tomorrow.”
___
The FOX detention centre
Bexford, Bethanna

“What in the world is happening here?” Daysman complained bitterly as two officers began to ransack his cell.
He sighed and looked at the agents standing outside. Evelyn, Mensah, Tom, and Sylvester were watching.
“We found a phone,” one of the junior officers announced, holding the device up in his hand.
“Let’s have a look,” Agent Tom ordered the officer.
“That damn phone is not mine. I don’t know how it got in here,” Daysman immediately began to deny even before being asked.
Tom and Mensah took a look at the phone for a second and then turned to Evelyn as if to ask what’s next. They were not impressed with the phone found as they still believed Evelyn could have hidden it there herself.
“Take him to the interrogation room,” Evelyn instructed the two junior officers who obeyed her instructions immediately. She turned to talk to the executives. “Please, I want you to watch while I interrogate him.”
They all made their way to the interrogation room. The executives stood outside the room and were watching while Evelyn was left to do the interrogation. with the two younger officers standing behind her.
For like a minute after she settled down, she kept looking at the man’s face without saying anything.
“Since when have you had it with you?” Evelyn asked.
“I don’t know how or when that phone got there. I’ve never used a phone since I got here, except through my lawyer,” Daysman defended himself.
Tom and Mensah outside the room exchanged glances.
“We don’t have to waste our time here, Mr Ernest Daysman. We know the whole truth already. How Hutton Ryker called to tell you what to say to Agent Steve.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daysman insisted.
Evelyn drew in a breath and rested her back. “You’ve broken our deal, Mr Daysman. We have the right to no longer hold your family in protection,” she stated and then leaned forward, placing her arms on the table. “And guess what’s going to happen after we let them out into the real world. Hutton Ryker is going to come for them. He must have known already at this moment that we discovered the phone in your cell. And you know what’s gonna happen, man. He’s not only going to wipe out your family but also tries to ki*ll you too.”
Daysman seemed a bit moved by Evelyn’s words but he still didn’t know how to react yet. The executives outside kept watching and listening.
“Why didn’t you report to us that he was trying to reach you, instead of running errands for him?” Evelyn asked but the man kept quiet. He didn’t look like he was ready to speak. “You’re about to break our deal with your silence, Daysman. And once it’s broken, you will receive the maximum sentence and probably hear the news of your family’s brutal murders too.”
“F***!” Daysman cursed and rubbed his palm on his head. “He said he knew where my family were. He knew where you guys have been hiding them. And when Hutton talks, he doesn’t bluff, he says the truth. I had no choice but to do what he asked me to do.”
The men outside glanced at each other again. The looks on their faces now changed as they discovered that Evelyn was right all along.
“You had a choice, Daysman. You had a choice to tell us the truth…”
“Tell you the truth and have my family killed?”
“No, we could have moved your family to somewhere safer.”
“Somewhere safer?” Daysman scoffed. “If he got to know the location you’re keeping them presently. How the heck isn’t he going to know where you’re taking them to?”
“Because we now know his mole,” Evelyn replied. “We know who he works with in the FOX and we’re not going to let him know the new location.”
Daysman sighed.
“Apart from what to tell Steve, what else did he tell you?” Evelyn questioned.
“Nothing, he asked me to call him on a different date. I’ve yet to.”
“Which of the Marshalls gave the phone to you?”
Daysman closed his eyes and took in a breath, wondering if revealing the Marshall’s name won’t be trouble for him.
“You should let us know whom the Marshall is,” Evelyn urged as if she could read his thoughts. “Whether or not you reveal the name, you’re in Hutton’s trouble already.”

* Twenty Minutes later *
Evelyn stepped out to join the Chairman and executives outside the interrogation after she was done with the culprit. She could see from their eyes that they had questions for her.
“That went well, Evelyn,” the Chairman commended first after she stepped out. She gave a wry smile in response. “How long have you known he has a contraband phone?”
“I didn’t know he had a contraband phone. I only figured out that if he gave Steve the information that led to the arrest of Mr Paul Edwards, he must have gotten the instruction from Hutton. That’s why I asked that his cell was searched,” she replied.
“And you mentioned that we now know his mole,” Tom noted. “Was that a ploy to get him to talk or there’s a mole you truly know.”
Evelyn was quiet for a few seconds. “Senior Agent Michael,” she mentioned and paused to look at the reaction on their faces. They all looked confused. “He must have told Hutton Ryker the location of Daysman’s family.”
“Do you understand the weights of your allegation?” Mensah asked, his eyebrows raised and lines formed on his forehead. “If you’re accusing an executive, you must be able to prove it.”
“Yeah, I do understand perfectly,” Evelyn sounded confident.
“I don’t think she understands what she’s talking about,” Agent Sylvester joined. “Daysman was recently kidnapped by the Red Wolves. They could have killed him if he didn’t escape.”
“Agent Michael is hiding the truth from you people,” Evelyn continued boldly. “He wasn’t kidnapped by the Red Wolves. He is a member of the Red Wolves.”
Tom chuckled. “I think you’re beginning to mess up the opportunity we’ve given you to talk. How the hell do you make these claims without having any proof?”
“There’s no time to prove everything to you, sirs. But from my source, I know that Agent Michael was abducted by the same people who took Paul Edwards from you last night.”
The executives exchanged glances with themselves and then returned their focus to her.
“I think we’ve heard enough gibberish from you today,” Tom gasped. “Of course, the same people who kidnapped Michael helped Paul Edwards escape. It’s the Red Wolves.”
Evelyn shook her head in disagreement.
“Okay, how the hell do you know who kidnapped Agent Michael?” Sylvester questioned.
“My source,” Evelyn replied briefly.
“The same source that Steve accused you of having? You denied that you had anyone,” Tom slammed.
“Yes, Steve said some truths but he misunderstands a lot of things. I had to deny it to save your lives.”
The executives glanced at each other again, with their mouths ajar. They were surprised at the boldness with which she talked.
“And how the heck are you saving our lives?” Tom queried.
“If I had agreed to Steve’s accusation, you would have put me behind bars. I needed time to get more information from my source,” she replied. “If I was behind bars, I would have no time to tell you what I’m telling you now.”
“You’re saving our lives from what exactly?” Mensah looked eager to know.
“From death,” she replied boldly and the men glanced at each other once again. “Hutton Ryker plans to take you all out the same way he tried with Paul Edwards.”
“Paul Edwards is working with the terrorist, Hutton Ryker. We f***ing caught him with the explosives,” Sylvester chimed.
“You caught him because Hutton wanted you to,” Evelyn replied. “Or why else would Hutton tell Daysman to give Steve that information if Paul was working with him?”
The executives all kept quiet now. They could now see the possibility that Hutton was playing a game with them.
“You tell us, Evelyn. Why did Hutton lead us to the place?” Mensah questioned.
“Because he was setting up Paul for that trap,” Evelyn replied. “Why do you think Paul resigned all of a sudden? You didn’t realize that he was under some form of pressure?”
The executives remained silent.
“If you had brought Paul Edwards into the detention centre last night, he would have been murdered,” she added.
“Huh?” They stared at her in shock. “What are you talking about?” Mensah asked.
“Hutton has a killer in our prison. I don’t know whom it is, but that person had the task of killing Paul Edwards last night.”
“Come on, this sounds preposterous!” Tom remarked. “You don’t just expect us to believe all these things.”
“We will find the killer very soon,” Evelyn stated.
“How?” Mensah asked.
“Word must have gotten to Hutton on how Daysman was busted and they’re going to try to make a move on him soon. We must set up a trap to nab Hutton’s agent.”
The executives remained in silence for a while.
“Evelyn, do you know where Paul Edwards is?” Tom asked.
Evelyn stayed quiet for a few seconds, keeping them in suspense.
“No, but my source knows.”
“Who the heck is this your source?” Mensah asked and Evelyn turned to look at him.
“That’s not important for now, Chairman,” Evelyn replied. “Hutton plans to make a move on you all tomorrow and we need to stop him.”
“When you say ‘you all’, how many people are you talking about?” Mensah questioned.
“The three of you here, with Agents Stan and Gregory.”
Mensah and Tom glanced at each other and then laughed.
“You really think it’s easy to ki*ll an executive FOX member, right?” Tom jeered.
“It seems like we no longer remember how Agent Elkim was killed,” Evelyn stated, unmoved by the ridiculous looks on their faces. “Agent Michael’s house was attacked and he was kidnapped. He could have been killed immediately if his abductors wanted him to die.”
The men’s facial expressions turned into frowns as her words hit them.
“Are you saying that the one who abducted Michael is trying to ki*ll us?” Tom asked.
“No, I’m saying that Hutton Ryker has plans to ki*ll all five of you and he’s been working with agent Michael for a while. They’re gonna make the move on you tomorrow.”
“Tell us everything you know,” Mensah stated. It sounded more like an order. “How do they plan to make the move on us?”
The men all stared at her face inquisitively.
“I don’t know how they plan to,” she replied, disappointing all of them. “But I can find out if you can only give me something I need.”
“What’s that?” Mensah asked.
“Your ticket to tomorrow secret party.”
“What!” The men exclaimed and glanced at each other’s faces.
They stayed quiet for a while before Tom signalled for three of them to step aside to discuss.
“The little girl is trying to play a game with our heads,” Tom whispered as they joined heads together. “It’s obvious she knows where Paul Edwards is. He must have given her this information.”
“You’re right,” Sylvester agreed. “Only Paul could have told her about the meeting.”
“If she doesn’t let us know where Paul Edwards was taken, she should be locked up and treated like a criminal until she speaks,” Tom suggested.
They all agreed and turned back to continue with her.
“If you keep me in prison, you’re only going to be helping Hutton Ryker fulfil his mission of killing you,” Evelyn stated as if she knew what they discussed.
The men were taken aback by the boldness with which she spoke but decided to act unmoved.
“I think the first thing you should do now is to tell us where Paul Edwards is,” Mensah said to her, ignoring her remarks.
“The important…”
“Shut the heck up and tell us where he is,” Tom slammed at her.
“I don’t know,” she voiced softly.
“Only Paul could have given you information about the secret conference,” Mensah stated. “So, I’ll give you just one last chance to answer the question. Where was Paul Edwards taken to?”
“I don’t know,” she replied again.
Mensah sighed and Tom stepped forward.
“Then, you’re gonna cool off in prison where you ought to be,” Tom said, looking straight into her eyes.
Sylvester beckoned the two junior officers who had taken Daysman back to his cell.
“Agent Evelyn has gone rogue, and she’ll henceforth be treated as a criminal,” Tom said to the officers. “Strip her of every FOX material.”
“You’re about to make a big mistake, Mr Chairman,” Evelyn cried out to Mensah. “You’re keeping your most dangerous weapon while heading for a war.”
“Shut the heck up!” Tom slammed at her.
The junior officers got closer and began to do their job. They began by seizing her FOX ID card.
____
Unknown location
“What have you got now?” Henry asked Maxwell as he walked into the control room.
Maxwell sighed and looked up. “Nothing yet. There’s no form of information concerning the foreign delegates. I guess the man must have done the invitation personally. We may have to work with the names of the national delegates.”
“I think that’s still good enough,” Paul Edwards who was also in the same room remarked.
“Well, identifying the delegates is good. But what matters most at this moment is Evelyn’s success in convincing Mensah. If she fails, I don’t think there’s anything else we can do.”

To be continued