palm and smiled. It was almost over.
President Lange had called him to fix a
meeting and he fully expected the man to
relinquish power to him. Sometimes he
felt pity for the man. No president would
have fared better than he did. Maybe
they would not have handed the portal
over to save a mistress but eventually
they would all have failed.
He did not expect the meeting to last
very long. The plan was very simple;
explain Nigeria’s precarious situation to
the President and give him the only
option – surrender. The question that
could waste time was what ‘surrender’
meant exactly. On this part, Lange had
no idea what was coming – no idea!
His phone vibrated beside him and he
picked it up. It was one of the few human
devices he had truly enjoyed using.
Another was the Mercedes was being
driven in. Humans now lived with so
much luxury he understood why they
could not understand that there was a
place better than earth.
He tapped the answer button.
“Yes?”
“Sir, she escaped!” a trembling voice
whispered.
“Who escaped?” He asked, confused and
then he knew who. ”You stupid fool, how
did she escape? Consider yourself dead!”
“Sir, I am sorry…”
“When did she escape, how long ago?”
“Err…” The man stuttered.
“Talk now or I will tear your head from
your neck with my bare hands!”
“Twenty four hours ago sir.”
“Okay, twenty four hours, okay.” He said
and ended the call.
Idiots! Stupid humans! He punched the
seat in front of him. He could not afford
to lose Oya now. She was part of the
reason he was eager to finish his
mission. He looked at his watch, he had
to finish the meeting with Lange very
fast. How could they let her go? He
punched the seat again.
Calm down!He was about to take over
the world, he would have time to find her
later.
***
Lange stepped out of the chopper and
walked away from it. He could be walking
to his death but he did not mind, it was
nothing less than he deserved. The
chopper would be left running with the
pilot ready to go but he doubted he
would need to run. He had a plan. If it
succeeded, he would return to the
chopper with a smile on his face. If it
failed, there was no escape for him; he
was dead.
He paused and looked around, the
terrorist had insisted on him being on
time, it was a surprise he was going to
have to wait.
“I thought we agreed to come alone!” The
voice came from behind him and he
jumped.
He steadied himself and tried to gain
control of his breathing. He looked up to
see the face of the masked terrorist but
he could not. The terrorist had found a
perfect position to keep his face hidden.
It did not matter, everything would end
soon.
“I came with a pilot. Surely you did not
expect me to fly myself.” Lange said.
“Fair enough, I came with a driver too.
Although I can assure you he will not be
interfering in this.”
“Can we get down to business?” Lange
said, pressing his fingers against his side
to stop them from shaking.
“Here is the deal; surrender the country
to me and I will stop the darkness and
nobody dies.” The voice boomed through
the still night.
“What do you mean by ‘surrender’? You
want me to step down as president?”
“Well, there is that but it’s a little more
complicated. Once you accept to step
down, we will hold a joint press
conference from the presidential villa
declaring that I now have control of the
country. Other things will fall in place
after that.”
Lange sighed and shoved his hands into
the pockets of the large overcoat he had
on. He already knew the terrorist would
make no reasonable request and he had
a plan. His fingers touched it and
grabbed the gun! This was do or die! He
either succeeded in shooting the terrorist
or he would get shot himself. Either way,
everything had to end now!
“So, what do you say Mr President? “
Lange swallowed and pulled out the gun.
The terrorist stepped back in surprise. He
closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. He
opened his eyes as the terrorist
staggered backwards, he moved towards
him and shot him five more times in the
chest.
He dropped the gun on the floor and his
body began to tremble. He had done it!
Tears began to drop from his eyes and
his body shook even more violently. Now
that he had gotten rid of the terrorist, he
just had to find the portal and destroy it.
“This is really funny.”
He heard the voice come from behind
him and he paused. He turned around
slowly and gasped!
“You really thought I was that easy to
kill?” The Masked Terrorist was alive!
He stumbled to his feet and looked down
at his gun on the floor. What had
happened? He was sure the bullets had
hit their target.
“I would normally like to explain what
just happened but not today. You see, I
just got news my lady has escaped –
another long story, so I do not have
time. I think it’s time we accelerated this.
Where is that chopper of yours? It’s time
to go to the Villa, we need to make that
announcement, fast!”
***
Damola opened his eyes and looked up.
A white ceiling fan rolled above him, he
looked around; the walls were also
painted white. It looked like a hospital,
how did he get into a hospital? He
remembered being in Sarkin Aljan’s
building and trying to destroy the portal.
He had felt some resistance but he could
not remember anything that happened
after.
He tried to move but he his back hurt so
much. Where was he?
“Hello?” His voice was very weak, he
doubted anybody heard him.
“I see you are awake.” A voice came from
beside him – Orunmila!
“Where have you been old man? And
where am I?”
“Is that the ‘thank you’ I get? Do you
know what would have happened to you
if Sarkin Aljan was the one who found
you?”
“Where is this? You brought me to a
hospital?”
“Still he refuses to thank me.” The old
man said and chuckled. “This is not a
hospital. I possess more knowledge than
all hospitals in the earth combined.”
“Do I hear bragging? The old wise man
possesses a bit of vanity after all.”
“You seem to have needed losing your
powers to find your wit. I hope it one day
serves you well.”
“Losing my powers?” What was he talking
about? “You think because I’m lying on a
bed and I feel like crying every time I
move a muscle means I lost my power?
Give me a few hours and I will be up
kicking immortal butts.”
The old man looked at him and paused
for a few seconds then burst into
laughter.
“Like I said, you found your wit.”
“Where is this and what are we doing
here by the way?” Damola said.
The old man started to answer but the
sound of a door opening came from
across the house. Damola watched him
walk away. He needed to get up as soon
as he could. He still needed to stop
Sarkin Aljan. He wondered what had
become of Esu and his dear Anne. They
would not know where to find him.
“Sango, I have some visitors here to see
you.” The old man said as he walked
back into the room.
Damola looked behind him. Esu entered
with a stocky man he was sure he had
met somewhere, he could not place him
yet.If Esu was here, what happened to…
His heart seemed to stop as the love of
his life entered – Anne!
She rushed to his bed and hugged him.
She held on to him for what seemed like
eternity. He could not bear to think of
the horrors she must have gone through
but that was story for another day. She
cupped his face between her palms and
stared at him without saying a word.
“I am happy for you both but we have
more pressing matters to talk about.”
Orunmila said, back to his no-nonsense
self.
“Who is he?” Damola asked, nodding at
the man who entered with Esu.
“This is Ogun! He was sent to earth with
you.”
“Why is he just showing his face? Where
were you all along?”
“Remember that day when someone or
something rescued you from Sarkin
Aljan?” Ogun asked. “Yes, that was me.
This war was and is none of my business
and I’m only here as a courtesy to
Orunmila.”
“Now that we are introduced, we or you –
Sango do have a problem.”
Damola looked at the old man, what was
he talking about?
“After spoiling Sarkin Aljan’s plan for
Asaba, he anticipated your attempt at
doing the same thing again. So he made
some preventive measures – a magnetic
field that could repel your powers.”
“That was the invisible wall that stopped
me from reaching the portal!”
“Unfortunately, the magnetic field did
more than prevent you from reaching the
portal.”
Damola looked at every one in the room;
their eyes were on Orunmila. He shifted
his attention back to him.
“Sango, you can no longer stop the
portal” He paused and sighed. “Because
you have lost all your powers!”
***
Lange sank into the chair and turned
away from them. He was still in shock at
what he had just experienced. He could
swear that all the bullets landed on
Sarkin Aljan, how then was he still alive?
He was puzzled and now he was afraid.
He had tried to kill the terrorist so now
he was at his mercy.
They had arrived at the presidential villa
together in the chopper. The masked
terrorist had come with three of his men,
all dressed up in suits. With his
cooperation they had all made it into the
villa. He had considered alerting the
soldiers but it would only have led to his
death. He was not sure exactly what the
terrorists were after but his mind was
made up; he would die rather than give
in to their demands.
He had taken them to a private room, he
did not anticipate any interruption.
The masked terrorist pulled a chair and
sat opposite him. “Now that we here,
let’s get down to business.”
“What do you want?”
“You see Mr President, way back before
Nigeria got her independence while the
British were here, a secret transmitting
device was built. Do you know about it?”
Lange swallowed and kept quiet. He
knew about the device and so did every
president before him. According to what
the British Prime Minister told him at his
first commonwealth meeting as
president, only the president was
supposed to know about the device. How
did the terrorists know about it?
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’!” The terrorist
said. “Do you know what it does?”
Of course he knew. It had access to
already weaponized nukes scattered
around the world belonging to the
commonwealth. So this was the plan?
Kill enough Nigerians till he handed it
over them?
“I’ll take that as another ‘yes’. So I guess
by now, if you are as smart as you look,
you already know what I want.”
“I think I do Mr Terrorist! But you are
going to have three problems”
“Yeah? Enlighten me Mr President, what
are they?”
“First, you need three codes to get it
activated. One is carried by the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom. You are
never going to get that!”
“Let’s just say we have a way around
that. What’s the second problem?”
“The second code was given to a random
Nigerian and he doesn’t even know what
it’s for. You will not find that person.”
The terrorist chuckled. “You have no idea
what money can do. We have the guy
already. Please move on to your next
problem.”
He paused, there was no way they had
the second code. It had been given to
one of his most trusted friends. Had he
been betrayed?
“The third code is in my brain and the
only way you are getting it out is if you
cut my head open and manually copy it
out of my brain.”
The terrorist looked at his men and they
burst into laughter.
“Mr President, you have a great sense of
humour. I will miss that when you are
gone.”
“So all of this was about getting your
hands on nuclear weapons?” Lange
asked. It made no sense. He already had
a chemical weapon that already had the
world scared.
“Nuclear weapons? You think I will kill so
many of your people for nuclear
weapons? Oh, I see. You think I want the
transmission device for the nuclear
weapon it controls?”
“That’s what it’s looking like to me.”
“Okay, let me educate you on what is
going on here. You see, my target is not
Nigeria, you are just the conduit. My
target is the whole world and from here, I
can get there. That device is much more
than a weapons activator, it is a
transmission system that can get me into
every country of the world. Imagine the
darkness spreading, not over Minna or
Asaba but over Brazil and New Zealand
and Portugal, all over the world. Even
you have to admit that it was worth
killing a few Nigerians over.”
Lange dropped lower in his chair. He
thought about the darkness spreading all
over the world and he shuddered. There
was no way he would let that happen.
“I know you are making some stupid
decisions right now not to give me your
code. Well, I just want to tell you that I
will get it out of you even if, like you
said, I have to dig it out of your brain.”
“Good luck with that.” Lange said with all
the courage he could muster.
“About that second code you mentioned, I
think it’s time you met one of my main
men. He has helped me stay one step
ahead of you always. He helped me get
rid of that eccentric Professor who for
some reason knew more that he should.
He told me about the tracking device too,
although I should have known that
myself.”
One of men with him went to the door
and opened it. Lange held his breath as
he heard footsteps approach.
“Good day Mr President.”
Adigwe!
“Why Chukwudi? We have been friends
for years and I always treated you right. I
gave you that code because you were the
person I trusted the most.”
“I’m sorry Johnson, it was not personal,
it was just the smart thing to do.”
Lange looked at the Masked Terrorist. “I
swear on the life of my wife, I will not
give you that code.”
“Hmm, okay then, let the torture begin.”
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued
