Maya was absent the following morning and Sis Dolly was the one who brought in breakfast and bath water for Angelo. He prepared himself for work after having his bowl of porridge. He was at the mine by 0700hrs and worked away in his office until noon.
The noon sun was scorching hot when Angelo stepped out of the office and headed home for lunch. However, his plans were changed when he saw a growd in front of the Suds and Grill, the most upmarket bar in town. He hurried over when he noticed everyone talking excitedly.
The was a person lying on the ground outside the bar covered with a blanket. His mind went all ovet the place at the speed of light as the first person he thought of was Maya.
He pushed through the growd to get a better look and was relieved when he saw boot-glad legs sticking out of the blanket. His focus shifted to the growd to get an idea of what was going on. Russell, who had been part of the growd sent an ominous look his way and slipped away. He couldn't make heads or tails of what it was that made Russell act in such a way but he pushed it to the back of his mind as the owners of the Suds and Grill came out and tried to clear the growd so that they could remove the body. A dead body on their front door was definitely not good for business.
Angelo got bits and pieces of he conversation from the town folks and was slowly able to piece together what happened here. This being a small town people were very protective of their folk and so it was that the dead man had been lurking around the Eagle's Beak the previous night and had been told to move on ftom here but he had obviously not heeded the advise. What was surprising was no one knew where he went ater leaving town because he had apparently reappeared around 100hrs with wounds all over his body and just happened to drop dead in front of the Sufs and Grill.
He watched the man being loaded onto a truck and driven away to the next town where there was the sherrif's offices and mortuary.
Angelo headed back to the board house and had his lunch. When it was time to head back to the mine, he met Russell at the door.
"Can I have a quick word with you boss" Russell said. They stepped into the office. "I am concerned about your safety here, this incident was not just some random thing. It has got everything to do with you".
"How so?" Angelo said.
"The dead man was found with binoculars, high resolution lenses, a camera and sniper rifle and some tools that suggests he was up to no good " Russell said.
"Why woukd you associate him with my safety? he could have been aftet anyone in this town" Angelo said.
"Thats not what the evidence suggests. He had been stalking you and taking pictures of you in different places " Russell said.
Angel felt the air in the office turning chilly. What had been the last thing on his mind, that he could be in danger, was not occupying centre stage.
What brought the most fear was the fact that he couldn't figure out why anyone would have anything against him. it was true that he was from a rich family, but he had nothing personally so he never even once suspected that he could become a target. It dawned on him that trouble was lurking right here next to him.
Russell suggested that he shoukd spend the restof the afternoon in the board house and get in touch with headquarters and report the incident.
Angelo went straight to bed. The conversation with Russell had shaken him more than he thought. In the evening he placed a call to his mom nd told her briefly about the incident. She didn't sound surprised and told him that she would send someone to assist within security. She also ordered him to resume production as soon as possible.
That night he slept terribly and was up by 0400hrs. An hour later there was a sound of a helicopter in the distance. The sound grew until he could feel the helicopter pass over the board house. It landed in the mine compound and two men disembarked and hurried to the board house. Russell found Angelo putting on his shoes when he came knocking on his door. Thy went into the office where the two men were waiting.
Russell dispensed with the introductionsand got down to business. The men indicated that they were here to bolster the security of the manager and the town in general. They were also sent to make sure that production resumed.
Angelo looked from one man to the other, before ubruptly standing up and leaving the room. The three we left in awe and were speechless for a while before Russell finally stoop up and told the men to follow him so that he could show them to their rooms
Back in his room, Angelo was havinga heated argument with his mother over the arrival of thebtwo men in the othee room. He told his mom toget rid of them because he didn't need babysitters. He was not about to be told how to conduct his business and he would finish what he started. He was also not going to resume production just because one stranger died in town.
It occured to him that this whole thing might be a plan concocted by his mother to get him to open the mine. He resolved to do what was necessary and not get derailed frombhis path.
The fist step was to make use of the helicopter at his disposal to fly to the nearest WHO office and get some virologists and biologists to come have a look at the situation in his mine. He could see he didn't have as much time as he thought. He took his jacket and left. On arrival he ordered the pilot to get ready for another flight.
Fifteen minutes later he was flying over the vast expanse of the Northen Atlantic towards Bermuda and later home.