Episode 31 Lydia walked into my apartment by 4pm looking very serious and agitated. “This is bullshit. Gutso must be out of his mind” she breathed fiercely. “seriously this wouldn’t have happened supposing Chika allowed me to finish off Kelvin when i had the chance” i complained with regret. “baby girl think very well. I just saved you from a lot of troubles. Imagine what would have happened supposing you killed that imbecile. Gutso would have demanded 50million” Chika defended. “seriously i never planned on going through all these troubles just to have a little chit-chat with Kelvin. Now i’m also to pay for his freedom and mine” i murmured with regret. “relax dear, we have two days to plan. We aren’t giving Gutso no dime. He is a big fool who is trying to bite the finger that fed him. I have a cousin who is a federal agent. I trust him with my life. I’ll get him track and locate Gutso. He’s a good agent” Lydia said with a reassuring smile while Chika and I gasped speechlessly. “you mean an Agent as in Secret service?. What the hell are you thinking, trying to involve a white collar cop?” i asked with shock. “don’t worry yourself, just give me the money you planned giving Gutso as the balance for his job. The money will be enough to make him do the work” she answered with certainty, leaving me shaking my head with worry. “I hope the whole thing won’t blow out of proportion?” i asked fearfully. “relax dear, i already told you he is my cousin. I trust him with my life” she assured me again, shaking her head with concern. “my dear revenge is always a bitter game. It always ends badly, but I can assure you, that my cousin will hunt Gutso down within a day. All he needs to do is just track the fools phone number. Relax okay” she said seriously but i was far from relaxing. “do you really believe your cousin will risk his career working for us. He is a federal agent for Christ sake” i asked again. “We are in Nigeria, where favours are done every now and then. Don’t fear yet let me talk to him first” she replied, while my phone rang that same moment, drawing our attention. “hello good evening, am i speaking with Stella?” a familiar female voice asked. “yea” i answered curiously. “it’s me Lilian, Kelvin’s colleague” she introduced herself. I kept quiet. “Kelvin was taken from his house by unknown gunmen early this morning. I don’t know who else to call, I saw your number in one of his books. The police are already aware. Do you know any of his close family member here in this city?” she asked, leaving me gasping for breathe with her words. It was very obvious. I was in a big shit. Episode 32 stella’s story continues “jeez! How did it happen?” i shouted as if i was unaware of the development. “seriously i can’t say” Lilian answered calmly. “don’t worry, i’ll see what i can do and get back to you” i promised halfheartedly, ending the call abruptly. “it’s Lilian” i informed my friends coldly. “I have to get going dear. I’ll return with my cousin later in the evening. Don’t panic, i got things under control” Lydia promised and hurried out, leaving Chika and i all alone. I ran to my room and locked myself inside. My heart was filled with pain and regret. Lydia kept her word by showing up with her cousin at exactly 10:15pm. I was extremely delighted and anxious. “This is a very delicate matter, but unlike in most kidnap cases we are dealing with a familiar person, which truly can yield very positive results. All we need do is convince him to give up his location which i know he will easily do because he doesn’t consider you a threat. He knows you will never involve the police due to your involvement in the whole scheme” Lydia’s cousin {the sss operative} wasted no time in addressing us. His words showed how intelligent and good he was. My hopes rose with great speed. “we don’t have much time to start tracking him. The only way is to get him reveal his location. My friends and I will then storm the place and rescue Kelvin” he added seriously. “how do we get Gutso to reveal his location?” i asked curiously. “type out his number and hand me your phone” he answered intelligently. I quickly did as he asked and watched him curiously. “he dialled the number and switched the phone to speak out mode” Gutso answered seconds later. His gruff voice very harsh and rough. “don’t tell me the money is ready madam?” he asked, “good evening Mr man. My name is Francis, madam Stella’s brother. I’m here on her behalf and from now onwards we deal together” the agent said swiftly, sending Gutso speechless for some seconds. “i’m dealing with Madam Stella and nobody else” he barked. “why do you care who you deal with as long as your money gets to you. This is something for men and we are doing this together, unless you want to back out which i really don’t care about, after all you are doing this for money and i can promise you the guy you are holding has no friends nor family who can raise half a million Naira for you. So if you really want to get any money from us you have to deal on my terms” the agent said ruthlessly. “what are your terms?” Gutso asked, “first i need to see that your captive is hale and hearty. I don’t need pictures nor to hear his voice. I just want to see him with my own eyes and secondly, ten million is too much, we will negotiate a better price when i come to see your captive” he answered effortlessly. “you must be crazy. You are playing with me” Gutso barked and hung up, sending fear across my heart. “don’t fear. The man has nothing, he is going to play ball. Relax the night is still young” the agent assured me with a calm nod. Fifteen minutes later my phone rang. It was Gutso calling back. I heaved a sigh of relief. “I hope this isn’t going to be a set up?, because it will end up badly. I have forty strong men, battle ready and vicious. I hope you aren’t trying to play games?” he asked the agent. “of course not. You are aware we are equally deep in this shit to involve the police or play games. All i want is a peaceful understanding and settlement between us. I don’t want my sister to go to jail” the agent answered convincingly. “fine, i’ll send the location. Don’t play games with me” Gutso threatened and hung up, while our guy smiled at me. “you see the fool got nothing up his sleeve. Making a kidnapper lose control of a negotiation is a very cheap way of scoring an easy win. He’s good as busted, all we need do is now plan how to strike and cover the shit up because it’s going to get bloody” the agent said softly… Episode 33 : Stella’s story continues A text message landed in my phone a minute later, bearing the direction to Gutso’s location. The agent licked his lips, transferred the text to his phone and called Gutso with mine. “we will be there by 9am tomorrow. Good night” he informed him, hung up and smiled to me. “i have to go catch some sleep. I’ll be here with my friends as early as 8am” he said and rose to leave. “thanks a lot for bringing out your time to help me. I promise you won’t regret it” i said happily, drew close and hugged him. Lydia coughed and eyed me. “he’s good, and handsome hmmm” Chika who was quiet all along said as soon as the agent left with Lydia. I had a very restless night, thinking of many things. I thought of Kelvin and for the first time felt sorry for him. I equally couldn’t imagine what Lilian was planning. Lydia showed up at my house with the agent and five heavily armed men by 8:15am the next morning. I was impressed by what i saw. “so what’s your plan?” i asked the agent curiously. “we will go in together, survey the place, have a little talk with the kidnapper, before sending in my guys after we are safely out of the building” he said quietly. I nodded with interest. “we will go with your car while my friends will keep a safe distance behind us. You have nothing to worry, we have the training and capability to do this without being detected” he summarized reassuringly. “how about Kelvin. What do you have to say about him?” i asked slowly. “in every rescue attempt, there is always a fifty fifty chance of rescuing or losing the victim. It’s all about gamble, but i thought our priority is silencing Gutso and his gang, thus stopping them from blackmailing and exposing you?” he asked, “yea it is, but Kelvin shouldn’t be harmed” i murmured. “of course, we are going in to save Kelvin. I’m sure nothing will happen to him” he assured me. We left my house at exactly 8:30am, leaving Chika and Lydia behind. The agent drove my SUV while i sat beside him in the passenger’s corner. The second vehicle kept a safe distance behind us. I was a bit nervous but brave. My 9mm gun well concealed in my handbag. I was very ready to face anything. It wasn’t hard locating the isolated compound where Gutso and his gang kept Kelvin. A very quiet hilly community many miles away from Suleja town. “you have to play cool” the agent advised when we got to the compound. I nodded and breathed deeply, together we alighted and walked into the empty house. I couldn’t help but imagine how many invisible rifles were pointing at us that very moment. Gutso soon appeared alone to welcome us. “don’t be decieved, we are surrounded” the agent whispered to me, even though we saw nobody else apart from Gutso in the compound. Episode 34 Stella’s story continues Gutso led us to a small room at the east wing of the building where Kelvin was helplessly blindfolded and tied to a chair. He gave us no chance to at least say hi to Kelvin before leading us back to the entrance door. “you have seen your man huh, now let’s discuss my money” he said seriously, searching us with his eyes. “why are you doing this?” i asked. He scoffed and shook his head. “i’m tired of being an errand boy to old ladies like you who think the world revolves around them. I need good money” he sneered. “so everyone likes taking advantage of me. Okay” i hissed, while the agent pinched my left hand, signalling me to keep quiet. “you are getting only a million from us, because we want this to end peacefully” he addressed Gutso coldly.. “are you serious?” he asked the agent who nodded in affirmative. “if that’s the case, you guys should just go home. I’ll try getting my money somewhere else and if that fails, hmmmm, i’ll simply cut the hostage into pieces and send his body parts all over the city with your name and phone number written over it. You will have a hard time exonerating yourself from the mess i will create. Don’t let it come to that” he threatened me. “fine we got your point. Three million” the agent offered. “five million or forget it” Gutso insisted, drawing a fierce look from the agent who slowly nodded. “fine you will get your money this evening” he said to him. “i feel like detaining one of you. No hard feelings, just as insurance” Gutso said, staring at us with suspicion. “of course you aren’t dumb to think only one of us is raising such a huge amount for you. I’ll withdraw half the money from my bank while my sister does the same from her bank, unless you want us to get the money one after the other, which you know will make this deal spill over to the next day” the agent asked intelligently. “fine you win. Go get me my money” Gutso answered, letting us go and equally signing his downfall with such a decision. Supposing he succeeded in detaining one of us, our plan would have been messed up. As we left the compound and hurried to our car, the agent sent a sharp signal to his colleagues who instantly landed within seconds. A Toyota bus carrying five armed agents pulled up close to my car in a commando fashion. “move in, move in, suspect is armed and alone, watch out for snipers. Hostage identified in the east wing” the agent screamed at his colleagues who were very ready for a show down. But just as they made to move into the compound, a gunshot came from nowhere destroying my car windscreen and sending everyone down. We all took cover, while three more shots from the same direction came flying over. It was obvious Gutso was equally ready for a showdown…
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:42:17 +0000
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