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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CH56: LEDGER AND WILL
Hearing Korede reloading behind the car, the guards saw it as an opportunity for one of them to flank him. They kept on firing their guns to suppress Korede under cover, giving enough time for the guard to flank him. Alas, they made a mistake.
Korede changed his rate of fire from Full-Auto to Semi-Auto and equipped a suppressor on his weapon. As soon as the guard, moving to flank him, left the line of sight of the other guards, Korede shot him in the head from an inconceivable angle. The other guards didn't realise their comrade had been shot. The sound of their gunfire had masked Korede's shot. Also, they didn't think he could make a shot from that tight angle under the rain of the bullets. Unfortunately, they had underestimated their foe as he did just that.
Korede stealthily changed positions to another car without the guards realising, using the cover of darkness. They continued firing on his previous position waiting for the guard that went to flank him to make his move.
From his new position, Korede had a good line of sight of the guards. He aimed and shot the two guards carrying AKs in centre mass in quick succession. Before the remaining two guards could react, he had shot another one in the head. The last guard, however, was able to rush into the house before Korede could shoot him.
Korede carefully made his way towards the guards he had just shot and confirmed the kills with another round of headshots before kicking their guns away.
He moved on and was about to enter the door when his intuition sent off alarm bells. He quickly rolled to the side of the door, just in time for bullets to riddle his previous position. The guard that ran into the house had picked up an Ak47 rifle.
Both of them exchanged fire repeatedly with both of them ducking and shooting. This went on for a few rounds until Korede played a trick on the guard. This time, instead of strafing to the side while standing, Korede crouched before he strafed.
Thus, the guard shot above him while he had a good line of sight of the guard. He didn't miss the opportunity and shot the guard in the head.
He stood up and cleared the house room by room before making his way to the master bedroom where Adeshina was hiding. Though his enhanced senses from {Sense Boost} made him aware that there was no one else in the house, Korede did this to be absolutely certain and make sure he wouldn't miss anything important.
He kicked open the door to find Adeshina cowering at the side of the bed. Korede ignored him and cleared the other doors in the room.
When Korede came back to him, the man begged, "Please, don't kill me."
Korede strapped the ACR behind him and equipped his Beretta M9 sidearm from the back of his waist. He caught hold of Adeshina with one hand and pointed the pistol at him with the other.
"If you don't want to die, give me your accounting ledger. Don't play pranks with me, you know the ledger I want." Korede said.
Korede had been to Adeshina's office in the afternoon to search for the ledger. It was because he didn't find it there that he decided to attack the man's home like this.
Adeshina was hesitating. He knew if he gave up the ledger, he was a dead man. The Duke would almost definitely kill him if this person didn't.
"Are you fearing what the Duke would do to you?" Korede said what was on Adeshina's mind. "You should be more worried about what I'm going to do to you. You WILL give me the ledger one way or another. The easy way or the hard way. That's up to you."
The man's face lost colour. Adeshina didn't want to be tortured. Even if he was going to die, he didn't want to die an agonizing death. He decided to give up the ledger. At least, he would have a chance to live for another day.
"Ok! Ok!! I'll give you the ledger. It's in my safe." He said hurriedly.
"You better not play any tricks or else you'll die." Korede threatened.
His captive nodded his head as he made his way to the other side of the bed. He removed a floor tile and a small safe was exposed.
Korede was surprised because he had thought Adeshina was talking about the safe hidden behind a portrait on the wall. He hadn't noticed there was another safe in the floor.
'That's a good thing to take note of for the future.' Korede made a mental note.
The safe was top quality. It required a code, fingerprint, and retina scan to open. Adeshina quickly opened the safe and handed over its only content to Korede.
Korede skimmed through it and confirmed it was what he was after, The NDz accounting ledger.
"You don't need to be worried about the Duke. His days are numbered while yours are yet to be determined." Korede said.
"What do you…?" Before the man could complete his question, Korede hit him in the head with the bottom of his pistol, knocking him out.
Korede shook his head before heading outside. He examined the scene before saying,
"Let's get to work."
First, Korede removed any evidence that could be traced back to him. Then, he altered the scene to make it look like multiple assailants were involved instead of just one. Finally, for the finishing touches, he added tell-tale signs usually left behind by the Saints and A4s after committing their crimes. All these were relatively easy for Korede to accomplish with his experience on crime scene analysis while working as a consultant for the DSS.
[Medicine, Psychology, Chemistry, now Crime Scene Analysis. It feels like you are using all your knowledge to break the law.]
'I'm not breaking the law, I'm merely operating in its grey areas.'
[Doing bad things for a good reason.]
'Exactly.'
Korede went back into the house. He took a zip-tie from the duffel bag he was carrying and bound Adeshina's limbs. He carried the man over his shoulder before dumping him in the boot of his Corolla parked just outside the house. He wasn't concerned about being seen because he knew he was well concealed by the darkness of the night. He drove around for a bit to confirm he wasn't being followed before making his way to a rendezvous point. It was a shed hidden on a deserted field.
Upon getting there, Korede chuckled. 'A deserted field. Just the way the NDI likes it.'
As he approached the shed, Special Agent Ndike got out.
"Did you get him?" He asked.
"Of course," Korede responded.
He walked to the boot of the car and opened it for Special Agent Ndike to see.
"Leave him there. You'll also leave the car. It may have been compromised after you've been using it this last couple of days. Take my car when you leave."
The two swapped keys. The new car was a Chevrolet sedan.
"So, anything I should know?" Korede asked.
"Not really." Special Agent Ndike replied. "Your plan is working. We've confirmed the A4s and Saints are likely to go to war against the NDz"
"Good. Once they make their move, it might even give the DSS the excuse to wrap up the two gangs. It would be a nice bonus along with taking down the NDz." Korede said.
"True." Special Agent Ndike agreed. "Anyway, good luck and happy hunting."
Special Agent Ndike got into the corolla and drove off.
Korede also got into the Chevrolet.
As for what happens to Adeshina Owolabi, Korede didn't care. He had done his job by handing him over. He had also achieved his aim of putting the blame on the A4 and Saints. Anything else was irrelevant.
[Why are you so fixated on causing a gang war?]
'The NDz is the largest gang in the country in terms of the sheer number of gang members. A lot of that is concentrated in Onitsha. I can't go after the Duke directly until I destabilize his organisation. Currently, if I attack, the Duke can hide behind large numbers.'
[So, you want to use the gang war to spread thin the NDz, thereby reducing the number of men around the Duke as well as make it easier for you to cause your other mischiefs.]
'Exactly, that's the overview of my plan.'
[Alright.]
The greatest strengths and allies of a commando are guerilla tactics and stealth. Without these, a Commando would be in trouble.
Meanwhile.
Nigerian Military Hospital, Dodan Base, Lagos
In one of the hospital wards, five patients were gathered around one of the two beds. They all had distraught looks on their faces. Both Fatima and Mary were sitting on the bed while Temitope, Abdul-Lateef and Champion were standing around the bed.
"What the hell is going on?" Mary asked. "First, people seem to ignore me even if I'm standing beside them, then now everyone seems to focus on me wherever I go. I don't understand."
"You're not the only one. It's like I can feel people's emotions whenever they pass by me. Being in a hospital makes it worse. All that sadness, anger, tiredness. Almost every negative emotion is being transmitted to me. It's sickening." Temitope said.
Fatima was shaking a little. "It seems animals are attracted to me. When it was just the pigeons and other birds that fly around, I didn't think much of it. I might have even liked it. But then, insect started appearing. If it was one, two, even ten, I wouldn't mind but they were so many." She shivered as she said, "I had to run away. I can still see the look the hospital staff were giving me."
Abdul-Lateef and Champion were quiet. Temitope looked at them and said, "What about you guys? Don't tell us nothing happened to you. I can feel your emotions remember."
Champion looked at Abdul-Lateef who nodded. He said, "It looks like I can tap into network signals. GSMs, Base's secure network. I think any electronic network. I don't know how I'm doing it but it looks like the more secure the network the harder it is. I had a very bad headache when I… ehm… hacked, yeah should be the word. When I hacked into the Base's comms."
He pointed at Abdul-Lateef before continuing, "As for him, his senses gets heightened. It has been a different sense in the past three days. First, it was enhanced eyesight. Yesterday was enhanced sense of touch. Today is enhanced hearing. That's why he hasn't been talking. His hearing is fluctuating so he can't control the volume of his speech."
"We are in the same room why didn't you tell me?" Temitope said, annoyed.
"Hey. Two days ago, when you went to the roof, I came to look for you but you shouted for whoever was there to please leave. I figured me staying to find out what was wrong was probably doing you more harm than good seeing the way you were trying to open the distance. You also spent half of yesterday in the same condition. You three seemed really bothered and wanted to be alone. I thought it best not to burden you with ours when yours seemed to be more serious." Champion explained.
Fatima, Mary and Temitope looked at each other somewhat frustratedly as a bitter smile appeared on their faces. Abdul-Lateef nudged Champion who seemed to understand what he was telling him.
"You guys are making me digress. That's not the most important thing right now." Champion said as his voice reduced to a whisper. "Both Lateef and I intercepted a secured communication between the base and NDI HQ in Abuja. It seems like the Eagle squad sent an Operator to destroy the NDz in conjunction with the NDI. I'm sure we can all guess who that Operator is."
"Korede." Temitope said.
"Colonel is ballsy. He actually sent his brother out alone to face the largest gang in the country." Fatima said.
"I can't believe this guy is getting revenge without us." Mary said.
"It's not that I'm ballsy, I'm just that confident in his abilities." Said a voice.
The team turned to face the door. They saw Colonel Kola Balogun standing there. They quickly stood up and performed a salute.
"At ease, soldiers. This is a social visit. I'm just here to check up on you guys." Colonel Balogun said.
[A.N: Please, don't forget to leave a review of the work to encourage me. Your opinion matters to me.]