It was impossible to sleep through the night so I just kept waiting till sunrise. I suddenly fell asleep when it was almost sunrise. The sudden buzz of my phone on the little drawer at my bed side woke me up. My eyes jerked opened immediately. I couldn't believe I had slept off. The buzz continued for a few seconds then it stopped. I slouched on the bed as I stretched and yawned. I moved slowly to sit at the edge of the bed and I stroke the nape of my neck. I had my hand clasped over my head when the buzz started again. I moved closer to pick up my phone.
It was Ella calling. She probably wants me to come over. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to.
"Hey, Ella," I said as I picked the call and placed the receiver on my ear.
"Hey....did I wake you?" said Ella.
"Uhmmm... no no.... I was just lying down," I said still sounding distorted and disoriented. Even a little kid could tell I just woke up.
"Really?" Ella said in disbelief.
She continued, "Anyways, I just called Nene and she told me she was already in school. So I was hoping I could come to spend a couple of days at your place."
"Oh....well I won't be around Ella," I said immediately.
"I am not bringing Yosef you little brick-head. It's just me, okay? Besides, this was Nene's idea," Ella spat back.
"I couldn't care less if you were bringing Yosef because I won't still be around. I was called up," I finally spilled the beans.
"Called up? But you haven't spent up to......." Ella suddenly stopped. I was sure her answer just hit her. She was aware of the protocol as much as I was.
"Oh.....what happened this time?" Ella said with inquiring voice.
"If you must know, it is classified. I was to get my briefing today," I said.
"Classified? So you are leaving today?"
"Yes, Ella. Also, it's offshore but it would be for just a few days apparently since it required quick response. It should be in and out in less than three days," I explained to her more calmly. I was more awake now. I rubbed my eyes continuously for a few seconds.
"So when are you leaving?" she asked.
"Today, by 1400," I replied.
"Oh....that quick, huh?"
She continued, "Have you figured out what you will tell Nene?"
Hearing that, an idea just popped in my head. It was perfect for an excuse.
"Uhmmm.....no but I think I just figured that out."
"Would you mind doing me a small favour?" I didn't wait for her to reply. I just continued instead.
"What if I came over to your place instead of you coming to mine?"
"I have asked you not to ever put me in your lies any longer. I won't be a part of it. Besides, Nene is a smart girl, Adam. What if she wants to speak to you?" Ella said sounding hesitant. Last time I asked her to lie for me, it didn't end so well. Nene suspected I was hiding something from her and accused me of cheating. Well, she was way off point. Sure, I was hiding a lot from her but cheating was never on that list.
"It's simple. You could call me on the burner phone with you and you can put her on speaker. I would call her when I am less busy as well. You know how she is with her studies. She wouldn't call me much."
And that was it. That definitely convinced Ella to join me on my cruise of pretense. Besides, Ella's place was the best excuse I came up with. She was staying more than a hundred and twenty miles away from Nene's school. It was impossible for Nene to just show up. Also, I had no one to help me through these things. Ella wouldn't say it but my relationship has made our jobs harder. I couldn't talk to her about my mission so we just chatted for a few seconds more. Just like always, she wished me good luck on my mission. Ella was my family and I could barely keep anything from her. She practically raised me if I was to express how I felt about our relationship. I hung up the phone few seconds later. I got up and slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything I could eat. I was not going to touch Nene's cookies. She had warned against those so that was definitely a big 'no'. I just picked out a bread and the jam. After I was done eating, I turned to look at the clock and the time was already few minutes past 12. I had less an hour to drive to the stadium and I had a few minutes to prepare. I walked into the shower to take my bath.
Less than twenty minutes later, I was ready to go. I took out my bag and packed up my laptop and another shirt, just in case I stayed longer. Everything we needed for our mission was provided for us sometimes at the safe house located close to where our mission was to take place. As soon as I wore my boots and slung my bag over my shoulder, I walked out of the house and locked the door. I walked towards the estate gate which a long way up. Few minutes later, the cab arrived and I got into it. While the cab was moving, I kept staring at my watch over and over. Fifty minutes later, I was at the stadium. During the drive, I had called Nene to inform her of my movement. I just told her I needed to spend some time in Ella's place. I paid the cab driver and as soon as I alighted the cab, I saw two men dressed in suit approaching me. I pressed my lips with a little frown. I was sure this was the director's idea. I really didn't need bodyguards.
"Agent Adam?" One of the men in suit said as they approached me.
"Who's asking?" I replied confidently.
"Nice to meet you. We were sent by the director to accompany you to the airstrip," the other man said.
"Shall we?" I said as I gestured my hand for them to walk me to the chopper. One of them picked up my bag and I walked behind the two of them in a firm and precise movement with my arms clasped behind my body.
"The chopper is just on the stadium. We were told to avoid the public eye," one of the men said.
He continued, "You will be briefed by one of our superiors inside the chopper. Your jet will take off at exactly 19:00 so we have to get you there in time."
I didn't reply to him till we got inside the stadium. There was a maroon helicopter on the stadium with two people in the cockpit. I walked closer to the door and one of the men opened the door of the passenger's seat. There were two men in there. As soon as I got into the helicopter, the engine started and the rotor blades started to make chirping noises. I greeted the two men in the passenger seat as I sat down opposite them. The men in suits passed my bag to me and shut the door. Few seconds the later, the helicopter lift off the ground. In less than a minute, my journey to the airstrip started. Soon, one of the men in the passenger seat passed me an aviation headset. I placed it on my head and I placed the mic closer to my mouth. It was impossible to talk with the loud noise of the helicopter's blade so it was better to communicate through the headset.
"Nice to meet you, Adam. My name is Mark Henshaw and this is my colleague, Bernard," one of the men spoke into the mic and I could hear him clearly as he pointed to the man sitting next to him.
I just nodded as I smiled at them one after the other.
"We are from the department of covert ops. Director Oyelola told us all about you already," Mark said as he shook my hand.
"I hope they were all nice things," I said jokingly.
"Let just say you are a hero at the department. Your name isn't that hard to come across," Bernard said.
"Oh....well I guess I am more of a celebrity now," I said smiling with my eyebrows waggled.
I continued, "So what's up with this mission? A code blue?"
The two men took a sudden glance at each other. Their smile was suddenly wiped off. One swallowed difficultly while the other's face was contorted. I turned to face Bernard and his eyelids dropped. He pulled out a small tablet out of his bag and gave it to me. I turned it on and a couple of pictures popped up.
Bernard started, "Around 1200 hours on Tuesday, we caught up on an investigation into a group that planned the assassination of Major Sawyer in Liberia. He was just one of those soldiers sent to Liberia to ensure that the peace treaty in Liberia was a success. The civil war had killed thousands of people and it was not coming to a stop."
He continued, "Because of the relationship between Liberia and Nigeria, the government decided to send its troops to Liberia to ensure the peace treaty was a success. Major Sawyer was selected to lead the troops."
I sat upright, leaned forward with my brows furrowed. It wasn't impossible to make out where this was going so I just listened attentively.
Mark continued after Bernard paused, "We don't know how but Major Sawyer ended up becoming a major part of the process. It was impossible to carry out major process without the knowledge of Sawyer."
"Weeks towards finalising the peace treaty, Sawyer was assassinated. In less than 24 hours of his assassination, the peace treaty died off. Riots erupted in different parts of the country," Bernard explained.
I tilt my head with my eyes narrowed, "How does a soldier from another country have such an effect on the peace treaty of another country?"
"Well, we have not been briefed on that either. The high ups however know all about it. The riot however started immediately after the death of the major which means it could've been planned," Mark said.
He continued, "At least that was our suspicion until we caught one of the rebels few days ago. He gave lots of information including how the rebels were supplied with lots of weapons from an organization known as Halo."
"Halo?" I repeated gently.
"It has grounds here in Africa and the peace treaty would have stopped there ammunition supply chain to this part of the continent."
Mark paused then he continued, "Then he told us about their plan to take out a top official of the Nigeria government in France."
Mark gestured me to take a look at the tablet. I saw a couple of people but I had no idea who they were. There was a plump black man dressed in a black suit alongside some foreigners. There was other pictures with the same man shaking the hands of other foreigners,
"That is Nigeria's ambassador in France, Dr. Buhrain Jubril. He is currently working on getting us and the French to work together as one again. If that meeting goes through, our allies will be increased by one major country in the world," Bernard explained.
"Let me guess, Halo wouldn't want that to happen?" I said as I looked at Bernard with my expression hardened.
"If an agreement is reached which it certainly will, Nigeria will have a strong foothold in Africa. It would even be impossible to get illegal weapons or any illegal substance of any kind into Nigeria or any part of its neighbouring countries."
Mark continued, "This meeting will bring us closer to even the big countries."
"And taking out the ambassador will make the job much easier. Years of negotiation will crumble into dust and it would be hard to restart such a process," Bernard said.
I looked at the picture one more time and then swiped the picture away. The picture of a white Arab dressed in an all-white robe popped up.
Mark leaned over my shoulder to look at the image. "And that...... is your target," he said.
I raised my head to look at him. "This guy?"
"Do you know him?" Bernard asked.
"No....what about him?" I inquired.
"That is Prince Salem Hayek. One of the prince of a prominent royal family in the middle-east. He is practically the head of Globoid international, a multi-national oil company," Bernard said with disgust in his tone.
"He is believed to have ties with Halo. His oil company is practically used as a front to transport weapons between regions," Bernard continued.
"It wasn't really a coincidence that he is in France to propose a deal with the French at the same time the ambassador was there. He has been keeping tabs on the ambassador since earlier this month," Mark explained.
"So how am I to take him out?" I asked with my brows furrowed.
"Well, they lodged together at the Continental Swiss hotel in France. We have intel that the ambassador and the prince have been in contact over the last couple of days," Mark explained.
He continued, "We also have information on when the hit will take place. It's in the next 48 hours from now at the hotel."
"Shit...." I said looking amused the two men sitting with me.
"What?" Mark asked.
"You guys really do your job thoroughly I see. You got all of that from a rebel? I wish we could do that back at the institute," I said jokingly.
It took a few seconds before any one of them said anything. They were hesitant to speak at first and Mark jumped in.
"He was a high member of the rebel and he had ties with some prominent member of Halo as well. Besides, you guys do a great job at investigations too. We have a couple of the institute files at the department. You guys are impressive as well," Mark said smiling.
I kept checking the pictures on the tablet for a couple of minutes until I finally hit rock bottom when I saw a disturbing image. It was the image of the director, Oyelola. What the hell is the director's image doing in this file?
"You guys saved a picture of my director too? You guys must really like him that much," I said jokingly.
The immediate glance exchanged between Mark and Bernard was definitely suspicious. Mark just looked away with his eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. Bernard on the other hand, just crossed his arms with somewhat pout on his lips. Immediately, I mentioned the director the atmosphere in the helicopter changed immediately. They just heard their silence until a couple of seconds later.
"Adam?" Mark said.
"Yeah?" I replied as I raised my head high to look at the man sitting opposite me. He had such an unblinking focused eye contact on me as he leaned forward towards me. I wouldn't even smile back. That man looked more serious now and I couldn't help but think it was because I mentioned the director.
"We need to know if you are ready for this mission. This is top priority at this very moment and we wouldn't be getting you involved if it wasn't absolutely necessary. This needs all your full concentration, soldier."
Mark said in a more commanding tone. Something definitely felt suspicious because of the long silence Bernard had maintained for the last couple of minutes while he just stared through the window. His eyes were narrowed as he stroked an imaginary beard. Mark raised his brows while he still maintained a steady eye contact. He was waiting for me to answer him. Of course, he was. Immediately, I stared back with a frown.
"Hey, you guys called me here. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't ready. Besides, this is my job, right? You guys do yours and I will do mine and as you can tell, I am quite effective," I said coldly. It was undeniable the pitch of my voice had increased and it didn't sound friendly.
Mark just smirked as he uttered quite gently, "Of course, you are."
He just leaned back on his seat with his arms crossed on his chest. He wouldn't stop smirking like he had set me right. Just as I raised my head down, a question struggled in my head.
"Why did you say I needed to be in my right mind?" I asked as I raised my brows to Mark.
"Let just say your director seemed to be concerned about your frequent argument with the control centre. You have been a little distinctive in your previous missions that you felt you don't need their help anymore," Mark explained. It was quite hard to make out his reaction towards me while he explained that. He sounded impressed and at the same time, uncertain.
"Let just say I have a few judgement calls I need to make without the help of computers," I spat back angrily.
"You need to focus here. You need to do as you are told on this very mission. The ambassador is the main target. Make sure he is safe and you have to do that by all means necessary," Mark said.
I just nodded in agreement. After a couple of minutes later, the pilot spoke into the headset.
"We are here," he said.
I looked below me and there was a small jet parked on the airstrip. There were only a few people down there. Just three to be precise. I could tell two of them were pilots based on their uniform. I kept the tablet in my bag while I wait for the helicopter to get on the ground. I took a peep at my watch. The journey had taken about two hours. It was impossible to keep track of time when you are in air being briefed about a mission that could help change the way people saw your country. The helicopter landed on the ground gently and the engine started to go off. One of the pilot opened the door of the helicopter while we got off.
"You are here early," said the pilot in such a loud tone. The blades of the helicopter kept making such loud noises that make it unbearable to hear the other person with ease. Mark and Bernard walked alongside the pilot while I walked behind them. As soon as we got to a more quiet distance away from the chirping blades, Mark and others turned to face me.
"Adam, this is Farouk. He will be the main pilot while the other two will accompany you as well."
I nodded at the pilot as I shook his hand.
"I guess we will be leaving early then. I will prep the crew." He turned to leave as soon as he left my hand. Mark and Bernard got closer to me like they wanted to show me something.
"Take this," Bernard gave me a card he pulled out of his suit as he continued to avoid making eye contact with me. I collected the card and it read:
Captain Picard
135 Boulevard Rue de Buci
75029, Paris.
"You will get all you need at that location. Get there quickly. Set your stopwatch to 54 hours countdown starting from now. There is a small back in the box compartment beside one of the seats. You will have your identity and some other things you need including cash. We will keep in touch," Mark explained.
I shook their hands and I walked away towards the thirty-something feet long jet. I was sure this couldn't take more than four to five passengers. Just as I was about to step on the stairs of the plane, Mark called to me and I turned back to look at him.
"Watch out over there. You will need it," Mark said with such a disturbing grin on his face. I couldn't even tell if that was a nice farewell or an aggressive one. I was however sure I wasn't told the whole story about this mission. It wasn't the first time the department had withheld information about a mission. They never tell the entire story because of their numerous ops with such intense secretive nature. Some of which might be illegal or unethical. I just shook my head and I walked into the classic plane with just four seats. I smiled at myself for guessing correctly. I sat down and pulled out the tablet I collected from Mark. I strolled through the images and read a few of the documents as well most of which were redacted. I cursed inwardly as I strolled through so many redacted files.
After about twenty minutes, a middle aged black man and a fair looking lady walked to my seat.
"Sir?" said the light-skinned lady as she smiled at me.
I raised my head and smiled back.
"We are ready for take-off," she said.
"Ready when you are, miss," I said in such a friendly tone. The man walked to the door and pulled it shut. With the way the man was dressed, he definitely was the co-pilot. He walked back into the pilot's cockpit and shut the door behind him. The fair lady came back.
"Is there anything I can get you, sir?" she asked.
"Don't worry. I am okay for now," I replied as I smiled at her. Few minutes later, the engine started and the lady sat down opposite me. Couple of minutes later, the plane started to moved and we took off the ground. I couldn't stop looking at the pictures on the tablet. My mind drifted off to Nene once again. I rest my back proper on my seat. I just couldn't wait to get this over with and be back in her arms. I smiled at the fair lady sitting opposite me as I shut my eyes to get a little sleep I could get. In a couple of hours, we would be in France and I need enough energy. I synced my stopwatch to 52 hours and I started it immediately. The mission has already begun.
APP STORE
GOOGLE PLAY
/0/40948/coverbig.jpg?v=20230608114259)
Aftermath: Inception 
/1/106617/coverbig.jpg?v=571ba8f67115dcdf916489f9acd9fd4f)
/1/106248/coverbig.jpg?v=5684c969e6115dc505ea47082570f78e)
/1/106249/coverbig.jpg?v=8cca9622d357546a1be015d544e8f5bb)
/0/56435/coverbig.jpg?v=6cc1b47085794d6d941ac28cba71faad)
/1/106247/coverbig.jpg?v=c57e069b906f986aaa0b250b4086526e)
/0/78153/coverbig.jpg?v=20260123145619)