Luke saw the Camry overtake him but he didn't notice that everybody in the car stared at him and his partner with hate in their eyes as the car did a double overtake.
"What is that fool doing?" Luke said as he pointed at the vehicle that was speeding away crazily. "He is lucky we are on a special assignment I would have gone after him." Luke said looking crazily behind the seeding car.
"Well I think I would grant him pardon for not completing the overtaking right between the Ghost and us." Obinna said pushing the matter aside like bad meet.
"We still have the traffic law, this lane is a small one and two vehicles have to share the both side as they ply to and fro." Luke spat angrily.
"It is called a dual road." Obinna teased his partner who was taking the matter too personal when they were distracted by yet another Camry that sped pass them like a rocket on a double overtaking almost running the oncoming vehicle into the pedestrians' way.
"Are these drivers crazy?" Obinna said, as suspicion began to creep into his thoughts. This couldn't be a déjà vu he was sure he saw just the same registration numbers on the Camry the Ghost rode in, in the vehicle speeding away.
"Hey!", "did you see that?" Obinna asked his partner who was gaping at him like he had lost his mind.
"Did I see what, Obinna?" Luke shot back at him. "You are beginning to act weird and it is beginning to freak me out. Calm down." Luke said with some finality in his tone.
"The Camry that just sped past us has the same license plate number with the one in front of us." Obinna said still stunned at the discovery.
"What are you saying? Are you sure you are okay Obinna?"
"Yes am sure. I mean, I thought I saw BF379KSF Lagos state registration plates" Obinna answered with wide eyes.
"You thought you saw it but you didn't, relax."
***********************
By the time Angela showed up with the orders Zina was just getting off the phone.
"DMFB just called, they are expecting us in 30mins. I guess we should hurry up and leave here in the next 15mins so we can finalize with them on the disbursement and the follow up of the next session of women empowerment in Kano." Zina told Angela as she approached her table and resumed the exercise of serving the meals.
"That is understandable Zina. We could make it right on time if we leave soon, your meal is served."
They ate in silence as Angela took the time to ponder about her relationship. How could Chubby disappear from her life without a reason or notice and re-appear at will whenever he chooses? She has tried countless times to build a wall between the two of them but each time she beholds him those walls come crushing down in a dusty heap. Where has he been all this time, how long had it been, six months? Who does he think he is, showing up in her life when she has decided to move on with her life without him in it?
She pushed the thought aside and focused on the meeting she and Zina would be attending in a few minutes from now.
Angela finished her meal in about ten minutes and waited patiently on Zina. She stared at the rich wife of one of the top echelon in the Republic as she took her time to eat her meal. Angela has worked in a couple of places before, but she has never felt much at home in those places like she felt working with Zina. Her previous Boss Mr. Chuks Okoh, the MD of CrossPet and Gas was extremely bossy. He had been so demanding and less encouraging. At one point he started being flirty and wanted to have sex with her right there on his desk. She had gone through numerous terrible things in the hands of her bosses. But looking at her present boss, she saw humility and tenderness, personified. Zina is never pompous like most women in her cadre always appear to be, she takes business serious but not dead or alive. She recalled the first lesson she learnt on day she resumed duty as the personal assistant to the Senators wife, 'call me Zina.' what boss would say that to her staff? When she described her boss to her mom, there were no better words to use; she just said my boss is nice because that was the exact word to qualify Zina. Nice.
"Angie get of that thought let's get going." Zina brought her back to the present. "Who is he?" Zina asked her with expectation in her smiles.
"Who is who, Zina?" She asked politely as she obviously had no idea what Zina meant.
"The guy you where thinking about." Zina said as she got out of her sit and straightened her coffee brown suit. "Those faint smiles I saw a while ago could only be forged out of the sweet thoughts of the opposite sex, dear." Zina added as she took the papers she had left on the corner of the table.
"No, Zina. I wasn't thinking of any of such things." She smiles back at her boss as they worked towards the stair case.
"If you say so dear, but you do have a guy who makes you smile lustfully don't you?" Zina enquired with great interest.
"Yes, but we have some issues, so I can't say for sure that we still have anything together." She replied with the pains obviously draining her. The words made Zina stopped walking and face her lovely Personal Assistant.
"Was that what the call at the Hotel was all about? I wanted to ask you when I got the chance if all was okay because anybody who saw you receiving that call would know something was definitely wrong."
"He called me after staying away for so long without any reason." She caught herself. She must not cry on Zina's shoulders.
"Oh, I am sorry dear; I didn't mean to prey into your private issues. But I am here whenever you need someone to talk to, okay?" Zina told Angela as they stood staring at each other by the edge of the stairs. "Just take your time before making certain decisions when it concerns matters of the heart. No rush. Ok?" Zina enquired as she waited patiently for a response.
"Thank you Zina." Angel replied.
"Now let us go, duty calls. Any call from Julius about the reporter yet?" Zina became official again as she climbed down the flights of stairs and walked towards the exit of the eatery with Angela right behind her.
"Thank you for coming Ma'am." The guard at the door said as he pushed the door open for her to pass through.
"Thank you Mr."
*************************
Umar had been invisible during the tailing. They had been taught during their training that patience is the key to getting out of any situation as well as solving any problem. Your ability to wait will make your efforts not come to waste. Rashid had made sure Umar was not too far away from the Jeep to lose it and at the same time he was particular about remaining invisible to the passengers of the Jeep, especially the trained police officer. They were friends since childhood and had always been together even in the face of death.
Rashid had watched both of the women go into the eatery; it did not take him too long to figure out a plan to divert the duo that remained in the vehicle after the ladies when into the eatery.
The driver and the mobile police officer where engulfed in something that seemed so funny that anyone who looked towards the jeep would notice that they laughed absent. He had watched the vehicle through his binoculars for about 7 minutes before he had sent Ismail to flatten the tyre of the jeep and the mission was carried out perfectly as it was evident from the look of the tyre from the lens of the binocular. Flattening the tyre was not much of a hard work as the distraction from inside the jeep did most of the work. It had gone well as both the driver and the MOPOL did not see him deflect the tyre.
It did not take the ladies more than 20minutes to finish their meal; Rashid and his men had borrowed about 8minutes of that time to disarm the MOPOL and tied him up, the driver too inside the waiting van which drew up beside the jeep after they had disarmed the MOPOL as they were abducted.
It was easy and going as expected so far, Rashid taught. This would have been pulled off by a rookie from the unit of brothers that were just inducted into the fold. He was lost in his taught when he suddenly saw the Senators wife and her aid come out of the eatery into the blazing sun of the north. The Senators wife wore a black sun shed to protect her eyes from the harsh sun but the young assistant held a hand over her eyes to get a better vision of where she was going to. Seconds later, Jabir also came out of the eatery where he had been stationed to watch the ladies from inside. Unknown to the ladies, someone armed and dangerous was casually escorting them towards the waiting car.
Zina did not notice anything amiss as she walked elegantly towards her jeep. Usually her personal security would have been out of the car standing by to let her into the back sit but she didn't notice the absence of that courtesy. She got within distance from the Jeep and the van when She taught she had Angela say something and as she turned to look at her personal assistant, she saw a hug man with beards that rolled from his head through to his cheek and connecting with his jaw, holding a gun to the side of Angela and nudging her forward between the jeep and the van.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Echezina Uche." She had from behind her as she turned again towards the direction of the voice. She saw a well dress man in his mid thirties standing by the entrance of the van.
"Sorry for being rude my name is Rashid Abdurrahman and I was asked by my boss to accompany you to his house for a brief meeting. Your security officer and driver are okay, they are right there in the boot of the jeep and would soon be discovered by someone but unfortunately you would join us in our vehicle as we begin our journey." Rashid spoke in good English, making his tune not too harsh in other not to startle the beautiful woman in front of him.
"Please, Mr. Rashid let the girl go and I will come with you." Zina spoke with a wavering voice.
"Am sorry Echezina, you are not in any position to bargain. I will not want to be hard on you. So please, get into the van." Rashid commanded her with a tune that was neither harsh nor polite. Jabir nudged Angela with the nuzzle of his gun and she started walking towards her employer who obeyed the instructions as she saw the gun pointed at Angela side.