This is a passion work. So, I would really appreciate it if you leave behind a review when you're done reading.
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CH46: RESPONSIBILITIES OF A LEADER
Much to Korede's annoyance, the thugs attacked him. He thought if he offered them money, they would have told him what he wanted.
Alas, he didn't account for their fear and greed.
The thugs feared the Okafor brothers. They had seen what the Okafor brothers were capable of while they knew nothing about Korede. They would definitely not want to get on the wrong side of the brothers for someone they didn't know or some pocket change they might not even get to spend.
Also, the leader of the thugs grew greedy. He thought with the numbers on his side, it would be easy to rob Korede of everything he had on him before handing him over to the brothers, thereby killing two birds with one stone.
The thugs ganged up on Korede. Punches were thrown at him which he dodged effortlessly.
'These guys are slow. They are getting in each other's way and not taking advantage of their numbers. Most of them don't have fighting experience at all. They're just throwing wild attacks.'
[Of course, they won't give you a challenge, they can barely even be classified as Novices. You, on the other hand, are an experienced Master. If they gave you a challenge, you're better off committing suicide because you won't be able to survive what's coming anyway.]
Korede had spent the last six months sparring with Hattori and Miyako Hanzo. He had also spent almost a decade sparring with them and himself in the {Training Space}. So, being used to fighting at least Master-lever combatants, there was no way these barely Novice-level thugs could pose a difficulty.
He easily dodged their attacks one after the other. He, however, was getting annoyed. Even though he could wipe the floor with these thugs within a minute, he didn't do so because he was a soldier.
Soldiers weren't allowed to fight the civilians they were supposed to be protecting. Every trained soldier is basically a weapon in their own right. If a soldier fought a civilian, so many things could go wrong, leading to death. Hence, soldiers were forbidden to fight civilians unless their lives were threatened.
Currently, Korede was not under any threat from these thugs. Hence, his frustration as his pride as a soldier wouldn't let him attack them even if one could argue that it would be within the rules for him to strike back at this point.
As the situation progress, Korede started to dodge and parry the thugs' punches in such a way that they ended up attacking each other.
The ringleader raged.
17 v 1. Yet, they couldn't land a hit on the opponent. His guys were attacking each other or being used as a shield to prevent others from attacking. Giving in to his rage, he ordered,
"Go get your weapons. Let see him dodge those."
Immediately, the thugs broke off and got the nearest thing they could find to used as a weapon. Most of them picked up planks and sticks, some picked up plastic pipes which were lying discarded by a building on the closed street. Two found metal rods while the ringleader actually brought out a cutlass.
Seeing this, Korede frowned.
'Things are escalating. Nothing I say now would stop them anymore.'
Korede quickly shot forward and disarmed the two holding rods and five more holding planks. He, however, didn't hurt them and just threw the weapons away.
A fact that didn't escape the thugs' notice.
Korede did this believing that seeing the ease at which he disarmed them, the thugs would wake up and see the difference in their strength. Alas, things still didn't go as he wished. Seeing Korede not hurting anyone, the ringleader said,
"Attack. Keep attacking him. This fool won't hurt us."
The thugs recovered their morale. The disarmed thugs picked up their weapons and were ready to attack Korede again.
Korede was stunned.
He concluded that this guy was the most stupid person he had ever met. Sighing he said,
"Indeed the saying is true. Humans are so foolish that we do not regret it until we are at death's door. You are so stupid that you mistake my mercy as weakness. Very well then."
He had come to a decision. He had to end this quickly before this situation escalated any further and these guys end up permanently hurting themselves. He put aside his inhibitions about them and dashed forward.
Within a minute, Korede had disarmed all the thugs and broken the arm they were holding the weapons with. All the thugs were now on the floor rolling in pain. All except the ringleader who was now looking at him with fear.
As Korede walked up to him one step after the other, the fear increased.
However, in this important moment of flight or fight response, the man chose to fight.
He tightened the grip on the cutlass handle.
Korede's gaze grew colder as he walked up to the man. He said,
"These guys handed their lives to you when you became their leader. Don't you realise that? Because of your greed, here they are lying in pain. Yet, you do not see the error of your ways. You do not see that you could have led them to their deaths."
With that said, Korede arrived in front of the man. He attacked him sixteen times, each strike for each man the man 'led astray'.
One attack to disarm him.
Seven fast punches to his torso caused him to move towards the thugs lying on the floor.
Three punches to the face disoriented him.
Two kicks to the back of each knee brought him to his knees.
A knee to the face that sent him to the floor.
Two stumps to his dominant limbs. One dislocated his right arm at the shoulder socket while the other broke his left knee.
The man couldn't respond as everything happened very fast. Before he knew it, he was on the floor and squirming in pain.
Of course, Korede measured his strike to a level the man's body could withstand. If not, a punch from Korede would have killed the man instantly.
Korede walked up to him and placed a knee on the man's torso. He brought out his M9 pistol held hidden behind him by his belt and pointed it in the man's face.
"Let this be a lesson to you. As a leader, you have your follower's livelihood, careers, lives, and fates in your hands. Think very carefully before you make a decision that affects them. Don't make decisions out of misguided emotions. In this case, in your rage, you stupidly thought I wouldn't hesitate to harm you. You took my mercy as weakness.
Know this well. To me, you guys are pieces of trash, human garbage. That's why I didn't want to sully my hands with your blood. I had a gun with me so I could have killed you guys any time I wanted. Well, I don't actually need a gun to kill you all."
At this time, though still in pain, the man's eyes had cleared. All of the greed and rage he previously had were gone. What replaced it was fear and regret.
Korede put his hand in his jeans pocket and brought out a roll of money and put it on the ground in front of the man.
"This is ten thousand Naira. That was how much I would have given you for any information on the Okafor brothers. Now, even if you get the money, you can only use it for the hospital bills.
You have a choice to make. Are you going to tell me where the Okafors stay or not? Are you going to choose the money or the bullet?"
"Please, I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything you want to know."
The thug leader told Korede the location of the hideout and all he knew about the place. As he promised, Korede left the money behind and walked away.
By then, the thugs had picked themselves up. Two of them helped the leader up as well. Though Korede broke their arms, he had done so cleanly. The thugs suffered only dislocations that could easily be rectified by any competent medical practitioner. Let's not forget Korede was a medical graduate himself.
Korede once again hid his gun behind him by his waist. He was walking towards the location he had been given. His expression was a little dark. Aon couldn't help but wonder if the words he said to the ringleader were for the man or for himself…
[...or for both] Aon murmured
'Did you say something Aon?' Korede asked.
[I was wondering what you're planning to do. You heard that thug. The hideout has more than ten armed men there. You only have the 15 bullets in your pistol.]
'Well, I don't plan on walking through the front door. Unlike those thugs, these guys are affiliated with the NDz which makes them enemy combatants. I can attack them as I see fit.'
As they spoke, Korede arrived at the location. It was an abandoned school building.
The school had relocated to another location leaving behind the building without any occupants. This group decided to make it a hideout until the building was finally demolished.
The school building was a simple bungalow with a small field in front of it and a fence around it. There were six classrooms in the block.
Formerly a place of learning, the current inhabitants now use it as a place to smoke weed and get high on other hard drugs as well as other criminal activities.
Korede snuck onto the property by jumping the fence. He identified all the hostiles from the files of known NDz affiliate that was in the NDI briefing. More than half of them are suspected of one felony or the other. Hence, Korede had no qualms using lethal action against them if he had to. (1)
From Korede's vantage point, there are ten people in the different classrooms.
One of the classrooms was locked but he could still make out two people in it. One of whom he confirmed was the younger brother, Nnamdi Okafor. Two people were standing guard close to the entrance.
Korede decided to take down these two first.
He stealthily made his way behind them. Once behind them, he whistled. One of the gang members turned around to look only to receive a punch to the temple, knocking him out instantly. The other was slow to react and found himself in a chokehold before he knew it.
He was left unconscious.
Korede pulled out his gun and made for the classroom.
Luck was on his side as five gang members were totally high in the first classroom. Korede didn't have to do much. He just pretended to be one of them till he got close enough to attack and knock all of them unconscious.
He found a rope in the room, so he tied them up for good measure before taking their guns away.
He circled around the building and arrived at the room he saw Nnamdi Okafor in. When he was close enough, he confirmed that the two people inside were indeed the two brothers Nnamdi and Eze Okafor.
He knocked on the door and heard someone making their way over. Immediately the door opened inwards, Korede kicked the door hard, sending the person who opened it flying. Before the other person could react, he rushed in quickly and delivered a roundhouse kick to the person sending him numb to the floor. He quickly brought out his gun and shot the three gang members who had come to check the source of the loud noise. One died while the remaining two were left mortally injured.
Korede got back to the brothers who were still squirming in pain and knocked them out with his gun. He carried the two out and dumped them in the boot of a Honda Accord parked on the field and got in the driver's seat before driving off.
He didn't want to take any chances. People were living in the surrounding areas. He didn't know if someone had heard the gunshot and called the police. Since he believed the NDz had a mole in the local police, Korede didn't want to have any run-ins with them. Once he was far enough away from the school, he called Special Agent Ndike.
"Hello. I sent you two locations. Send the clean-up crew to the first and get someone to recover my issued car at the second one. Also, if it's possible, try to interfere with the local police and prevent them from going to the first location. There might be useful intel there. I call you later."
"Alright."
Korede drove carefully, making sure to avoid as many major roads as he could as well as any police checkpoint. Soon, he got to his location. It was the abandoned warehouse he had been to earlier.
He drove the car into the warehouse and closed the doors. He found two seats and placed them away from each other but still within visible range. He went back to the car and got the brothers. After placing them on the chairs, he woke them up and said to them,
"Good afternoon gentlemen. Fear not. I only brought you here to play a game.
The game is called 'Lie and Die'."
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion matters to me.]
AUTHOR'S NOTE/RAMBLINGS
1 With how much the MC jumps fences, I'm starting to think fences are useless.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion matters to me.]