Strong disclaimer: NAIRALAND is completely disconnected from any misrepresentation that may arise from this book. The book is the author's imagination or creation wholly meant to entertain or educate.

An Epic End-to-End Thriller, a movie in a book.

Book Description


!
!


When Prisca Bender, a business executive, mysteriously disappears in a five-star hotel in Washington DC, special agent Mary Greenwood of the FBI, inadvertently cuts open the links of terrorists and criminals on the investigation track, connecting Rod Jimmy to Adaz Obot.

She gets into murky waters as she grinds the tough path to pin down the 'Big Fish" behind the missing of the business executive, and she hits a brick wall. She is hunted down.

Reynold Westley, the CIA finest, and Michael Bending, the FBI mult-talented agent, join force to advance the investigation following a special call from the United States President.

It's not long afterwards that the duo get slammed with a great historic shocker on the crime tracking lane, to Zurich, Switzerland, at a venue in Dietikon.

World Leaders that have gathered in Dietikon for a world summit are on the brink of implosion from the world most deadly biochemical "virus" ever known; as Bob Newman unleashes the greatest hitman in the world on the heels of the bioengineer that holds the key to reverse the situation of the Heads of Staten in Zurich, to shield the FBI and the CIA from coming through, thereby helping the course of the terror lord - Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir - in Iraq.

The FBI and the CIA must breakthrough the rings of the die-hard criminals and terrorists and open a clear way, for the US Army, US Airforce, US Navy and allied forces to go to war, while they watch the actions on the edges of their seats in the Central Intelligence Unit.

Prisca Bender stepped out of the elevator to the 31st floor of the Heathrow Bing Tower in Washington DC in a red flowing gown, radiating class and elegance, as she walked to room 23 where Bob Newman had been expecting her. She rang the bell and the door was thrown open.

"You're late", Bob Newman said as he looked away from a plasma screen.

"I almost didn't make it, I was in the middle of a meeting when you called me'.

'I see".

'Why am I here?"

"Not so fast Prisca?"

"I have a plane to catch, straight to the point Bob, please!"

"It's okay, if that's how you want it".

"Oh please!"

"It's been weeks since the take off date, of the signed contract between Strobotics and Fairbrain rolled by".

"Yeah, I know Bob".

"What's stalling?"

Prisca Bender rehashed her well rehearsed lines, "The management is pruning some branches for a smooth roll out of the project at our end".

"I' was thinking it's struck out", Bob Newman said before he dialed the bar and spoke sharply into the phone, "Bring a bottle of Ruchidra wine to room 23 on the 31st floor".

"I'm in a hurry Bob, I've said that".

"I insist that you drink, even if it's just a sip".

"You're funny", Prisca Bender said as she stood up.

"Fairbrain has already packed the first batch of the neural chips, and we're expecting you to honor your end of the deal", Bob Newman said as Prisca Bender took a step to come out of the room.

"You would hear from Stronotics", she replied with no conviction in her voice.

The bar man announced himself outside as Prisca Bender drew close to the door. Bob Newman pushed the door open to usher the bar man in and blocked her way. A man in his late thirties, wearing a white hand gloves and a black jacket on a white shirt, came in with a tray, raised to his shoulder level. The tray contained two empty fancy wine glasses and a bottle of wine. He placed the tray on the table and adjusted his black french tie.

Bob Newman gestured to him to remove the cover and the wine cork. He professionally discharged the cork and poured the wine into the two glasses, each half filled. Bob Newman picked one of the glasses and emptied the content in one gulp.
Prisca Bender wanted to decline to drink, but at the same time, did not want to make it obvious that the contract was not going to fly. She picked the glass of wine for a taste.

"It's a good wine!" Bob Newman urged her on to drink all. "The best breed of wine from Israel!!"

She raised the glass again to take another sip and felt a tingling in her body, followed by a seizure. She dropped the wine glass as she felt dizzy with a spinning sensation at the same time..

"It's working fast!" Bob Newman said as he turned to look at her face.

He left the room and signaled to the bar man outside to finish the job. The man oame in and saw Prisca Bender writhing on the floor. She had fallen almost unconscious. He got very close and traced every curve on her body with his eyes. He felt pity for her and wondered what would make anyone to want to take the life of an angel. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

He crouched near her and touched her soft skin, Prisca Bender managed to look at him. Her skin was smooth like a glass surface. Lust seized his eyes all of a sudden, and he felt a burning sensation around his groin. The gentleman in the bar man vanished at once, giving way to the beast in the ruthless Oscar Averes to be unbriddled. He pulled down the zip on his trousers with frenzy and overturned Prisca Bender on her stomach, with a brute force. He yanked up her gown and flung her legs asunder. He tore her underwear to shreds and began to rape her.

He finished with her and plucked away the diamond chain on her neck, and opened a black body bag.There was still some life in her. He lifted her on a chair and used a short rope to go round her neck and pulled the ends of the rope with a sudden force. He lifted the dead body and shoved it into the open body bag and zipped it up. He punched some buttons on his mobile phone and made a call as he walked to a wall. He pulled a cover from the wall and a fresh wind from the outside blew in. He took a hard long rope from the floor and tied the body bag with one end of the rope that had been formed into a noose. Suddenly, the door burst open and the bodyguards of Bob Newman moved in.

The two men raised the body bag and passed it through the hole on the wall to the outside. They began lowering the bag to the ground down the side of Heathrow Bing Tower with poor lighting. As soon as the body hit the ground, one of the bodyguards left to take the elevator down. Oscar Averes filled the hole and replaced the wall cover neatly. He brought a paint to spray the marks on the wall and Prisca Bender disappeared with the hole!







No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, or without the legal consent or prior written permission of the publisher, except for academic purposes in accordance to copyright law.

Copyright © 2023 by Dublyn G. Horris. All rights Reserved.



Follow the author https://twitter.com/DublynGhorris








One







Rod Jimmy, the Chief of Programming in Netfluz, looked ruffled, seething in anger as he marched across the first floor to where all the programmers surrounded Adaz Obot.. He had heard an explosive sound that sent spiral shock wave through the building. He cut through the gathering to see the Principal Engineer, Reek Powel, receiving instructions from Adaz Obot on how to revive other plants.
"What's going on here?" Rod Jimmy asked suppressing his anger.

"The giant dead plant at the ground floor just came alive", Reek Powell replied him.

"Who authorized this session?" The Chief Programmer asked with a blazing temper.

"The Director of Programming is aware".

"How could this happen without my knowledge?"

"Look Rod! I expect you to ask how the systems came ON", Reek Powell said with emphasis.

"At the expense of order?"

"What order Rod?"

'Who's in charge on this floor Powell?"

"I guess the management can answer your question, but what's order when things aren't working the way they should?"

Shocked by Reek Powell's response, Rod Jimmy turned around and quietly walked away. He had been the ''god'' of programming in Netfluz. He could feel his influence in the scheme of things, dwindling fast. He was officially responsible for all recruitment into the programming floor, but the company's hierarchy had maneuvered Adaz Obot into Netfluz. That move alone had caused him anguish. He felt he would be sidelined and kicked out if things continued this way. He must do something to restore his authority and relevance. He remembered Oscar Averes, who had a strong link to Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir.

Oscar Averes was born to his Mexican father by a Saudi Arabian mother. He was taken to Saudi Arabia after the marriage of his parents had crashed. He grew up in Saudi Arabia, where he was islamized and radicalized into Al Ja'amah, and his name was changed to Mutalab Azeez. Rod Jimmy had helped him to smuggle drugs into the United States through the Mexican-US border and had also helped him to smuggle materials for the production of weapons of mass destructions (WMDs), out of the US, to Iraq, where Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir had established the operational base of Al Jama'ah. Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir had sent him to Mexico, not to actually advance his drug business, but to make an incursion into the United States, to unshackle terror.

Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir narrowly escaped the Syria and ISIS war, where he had lost most of his jihadists. ISIS had fallen back on Al Ja'amah to supply jihadists to advance its course both in Yemen and Syria.

His heart was wrenched away when the news got to him, that his wife, three of his children, his brother and his bosom friend, Jaheed Sahid, had died in the American airstrikes in Yemen. He had vowed to shake the foundation of the world, the way the first nuclear bomb had destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War to revenge the death of his loved ones. He desperately needed an American citizen that would spy on the White House.

Oscar Averes was in a gym in Mexico when his mobile phone went off. He moved to a quiet corner and pulled it out, thinking it was Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir that usually called at the hour for updates, he was wrong, it was Rod Jimmy of Netfluz.

"Hello Jimmy! What's good?"

"I need your help".

"Here in Mexico?"

"Nope, here in DC".

"I make plans before crawling out, you know".

"You won't spend time on it".

"How do you need it?"

"I want a boy out of my way in Netfluz.

"You haven't said anything".

"I want a hit and I want it now!"

"I just carried out an operation on a business executive, for a drug lord in Heathrow Bing Tower, a few miles away from Netfluz".

"What's your point Averes?"

"I don't strike close".

"Is there no way you can make this happen?" Rod Jimmy asked like a baby about to cry.

"Of course", Oscar Averes said as the need of Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir and Al Ja'amah flashed in his mind.

"When should I expect you?"

"I'm going to hire for you the world greatest sniper. He could sniff out life from a moving train miles away".

"What will it cost?"

"Not a thing, but a condition is attached".

"Spell it!"

"You will have to become a spy for Al Ja'amah".

"What and where is Al Ja'amah?"

"It's an organization based in Iraq".

"But I'm not quitting Netfluz".

"You don't have to, it doesn't need you to. You can call it a freelance spy operation and you get paid really good".

"I'm going to consider it and get back".
"It's your best bet Jimmy", Oscar Averes said and the link went down.

Rod Jimmy had not slept well for days. He was increasingly losing his place in Netfluz since the miracle of the first floor. The programmers that used to hold him to a high esteem, no longer showed him regard. The company's executives now considered him a nuisance due to his coldness toward Adaz Obot. He desperately wanted to be the "god" of Netfluz again. He had practically created the soul of the company from its foundation with his hands. He needed to retain his status and explore the loopholes he had created to siphon funds. He picked up his phone and decided to contact Osca Averes again as he paced about in the balcony of his house.

"Hello", Oscar Averes answered sharply.

"I'm in for it", Rod Jimmy said with a strong voice.

"Good boy!"

"When is it going to happen Averes?"
"Not so fast, I need you to take an oath that you will become a spy for Al Ja'amah after delivering the hit".

"You have my words".

"I don't need your words, you would need you to swear on record, to release the sniper for the operation".

"Alright, let's go".

"Ready"

"I swear this day, that I will serve Al Ja'amah as a spy, when the sniper has finished my job and I seal this deal with my life".

"Not bad".

"So, what's next?"

"First of, what's the name of the target?"

"It's Adaz Obot".

I would need you to send his pictures and his residential address".

"I can supply the information right now".
"Hold it, you would also describe his lifestyle, you can send them to the mail address you would get now!"

"Sure!"

"You can toast to it", Oscar Averes said and laughed dryly before he disconnected the line.

The Chief Programmer lived in Netfluz guest quarter as Adaz Obot, and had come to know that Adaz Obot would usually leave his house in the middle of the night; when the city had gone to sleep, to study at the balcony of his house. He gleaned other information about the young man and sent them to his friend in Mexico. Oscar Averes studied the information and decided where the target could be hit from before he forwarded the details to Rito Birdman.

In a clear blue sky, the executive killer, Rito Birdman, flew his private jet into Washington DC, and checked into the hotel room with a wall opposite Adaz Obot's balcony. As the time for the hit was drawing close, he took the elevator down from the 21st floor and hopped into a Bugatti Veron and cruised away into the city. He drove round Netfluz guest quarter as he studied the pictures sent to him. He expertly pulled up in between some vehicles in a car park and stepped out to get his tools from his jet. He brought out a long black bag that contained his MAD-666L riffle and zipped it open. The night was closing in very fast and he removed his sunglasses to wear a black face cap. He began to decouple the rifle in the bag. Darkness had fully covered the city by the time he stepped down from the jet with the bag hanging on his hand. He slipped into the driver's seat of the Bugatti Veron and disappeared into the night.

He drew up at the five star hotel's parking lot and got out with the bag. He was a rounded professional, as he searched for hit points for his target, he also planned his escape route and mode. He had carefully planned for this hit, knowing that the FBI was hot on his heels, over his crimes in the US, particularly for his most recent,, when he took out Ted Flemming, the founder of Fairbrain in Alaska. Had Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir not thrown his weight behind this gig, he would not have accepted to strike out the target. He was now inside the elevator about to push the button to the 21st floor, when a smartly dressed woman in her early forties stopped the elevator from closing and hurried inside.

"What floor are you going to Sir?" She asked smiling at him.

"You may lift to your floor ma'am", Rito Birdman sounded so gentlemanly.

She punched 31 on the buttons and they flew up. As the elevator door opened, she pushed a button on her suit as she walked out. The elevator door closed and Rito Birdman went to 21st floor. As soon as he pinned down the door to his hotel room, he looked at his wristwatch; the time for the hit was four hours away. He put down his bag and zipped it open. He took his drilling tool and went to work. He drilled three holes in a triangular shape on the wall facing Adaz Obot's balcony. He peered through each hole with one eye closed, to view the balcony with the aid of binoculars. The young engineer had already heaped some books on his reading desk. Rito Birdman licked his teeth with his tongue and began to couple his riffle.

He lifted the MAD-666L rifle and tried to pass the muzzle through each of the three holes to determine the best snipping position. He chose the hole on the left base of the triangle and dropped the rifle. He picked the drilling tool to drill another hole for the rifle lens. He looked at the time again, it was fifteen minutes away, time like a tide, and he let out a wicked grin. He looked around the room for awhile and decided to view again, Adaz Obot had come out and was now studying. He made a sign of cross on his chest and picked up the rifle. As he raised the machine, he heard a knock on his door, followed by a female voice, this must be a mistake, he had not ordered for anything. He dropped the riffle in the bag and tiptoed to the door and looked through the key hole. He saw a young lady, flanked by two uniformed men, with FBI bagdes.

Mary Greenwood had come to the hotel to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Prisca Bender. She was about to get the key to room 23 on the 31st floor, when she had looked outside and seen through the transparent window of the reception office, how Rito Birdman had used his left hand to steer his Bugatti Vernon to an abrupt stop, sending dust particles into the air, before switching off the headlights. She had immediately marked him worthy of note. She had followed him with her eyes into the elevator and joined him. When she was leaving the elevator at the 31st floor, she had captured the face of the hitman with a hidden camera at the back of her suit collar. She had quickly powered up the computer on the center of her table and sent his photo to be run through the FBI suspect data, in the Central Intelligence Unit.

She was one of the most brilliant minds in the FBI. She had unlocked quite a number of mysterious cases in the United States, using her sharp intuition. Her dedication to duties and her sharp senses had earned a promotion to the rank of Assistant Special agent in-charge and she was in love with her job.

The FBI search had matched the face of the most wanted man in the United States, and she had placed a call through to the Supervisory Special Agent that she needed two back up field agents at the first floor of the Heathrow Bing Tower. She had gone to the bathroom for a quick shower while waiting for the agents. She had slipped into a well fitting combat outfit and secured her short gun on her waist belt as she got out of her hotel room. The two FBI agents had come into the first floor of the hotel just as the elevator had exposed her. She had waved them to come around as she hurried towards the reception office where she had extracted the floor and room number of the hitman.
She signaled to agent Bradley Stevens to break in as Rito Birdman was taking his time to open the door. Bradley took five steps backwards and dashed forward to march the door open. It didn't open in the first attempt. He took five steps backwards again, and the hitman said, "I'm coming!" It sounded like he was far away. She signed to agent Bradley to hold on for a minute but he ignored her signal. He moved backwards and marched the door open in the second attempt.

Agent Morgan swiftly wielded his AK-47 two sixty degrees as he entered the room cautiously. Agent Bradley Stevens could not see the sign of the hitman in the room. He moved quickly but carefully to check the bathroom with his short gun. No sign of the sniper around. He had escaped! Mary Greenwood could not believe her eyes. She got lost into her mind as to how the hitman had disappeared. Questions unanswered flushed through her as she moved from the bathroom to the bedroom. She swore to find out how people vanish from the hotel. Agent Bradley returned to the bedroom and saw her looking closely at a picture in her hand. The picture was that of a young black man probably in his late twenties. A red cross was drawn across the picture.

"It's him!" Agent Bradley said the moment he saw the picture.

"How did you know?"

"That cross drawn across the picture of the young man".

"For real?"

"That's Rito Birdman's signature".

"What happened to him here?"

"They say he can move with the air".

"Stop fooling around!"

"How else can you explain it?"

"I swear, I'll see the end of this!" Mary Greenwood said through clenched teeth with hands fisted.

Agent Bradley Stevens phone went off, the FBI management needed him and agent Morgan Howard for another operation. Mary Greenwood followed them outside the room.The elevator lowered them to the first floor and agent Bradley and Morgan left for a crime scene nearby as Mary Greenwood walked to where Rito Birdman had parked his car, the Bugatti Veron was gone. She walked back to the reception to see the receptionist.
"Did you see the man that checked into room 13 on the 21st floor come out with the elevator?" Mary Greenwood asked with astonishment.

"No ma'am, he could still be in the building".

"He's not; he has left with his car".

She turned around to go to the office of the Managing Director of the Heathrow Bing Tower. She had been there before to see the CCTV feeds of the four men that had entered and exited room 23 on the 31st floor, where Prisca Bender had disappeared from. She needed to know who the young man in the picture was and why Rito Birdman was with it. She considered him to be the next target of the hitman. Her headache was how she would prove it. She walked through to the office of the Managing Director with the picture in her hand, deep in thought. She had been a regular visitor since Prisca Bender got missing. She pushed the office door wide open and walked in.

"How can I help you this time?" The Managing Director of the Heathrow Bing Tower asked loudly.

"I need to see the CCTV feeds in and around the 21st floor".

"But Prisca Bender only appeared on the 31st floor".

"Yeah, I know".

"What period do you like to see?"

"The last thirty minutes, and I want to see all the angles".

"It's this also connected to Prisca Bender?"

"It's classified".

"Come into the control room, agent", the Managing Director said looking uncomfortable with her.

"By the way, can you recognize the young man in this picture?" She asked, showing Adaz Obot's photo.

"I've never seen him".

Mary Greenwood began to watch the footage with magnetic concentration. She had only seen a few seconds when her cellphone began buzzing. She picked it up while her eyes were still glued to the CCTV. It was Michael Bending, the multi-talented FBI agent.

"Hello", she answered said with little interest.

"My analysis reveals that Prisca Bender never left the Heathrow Bing Tower alive.

"I'll zero in on that Mike".

"Very well".

"I've directed the Houston Department of Police to conduct a comprehensive autopsy on her".

"I don't have that update".

"She's been found buried in a shallow grave with her hands sticking out, along the Houston Texas-Mexico border".

"How's the forensic coming in the hotel?"

"I'm on it".

"Prisca Bender was killed in the hotel and her dead body was moved".

"Thank you again Mike for the analysis, I'd key in", Mary Greenwood said and asked that the CCTV feed be replayed.

She took in every detail but could not see anything tangible. She felt strongly that the hitman's disappearance would connect to how Prisca Bender's dead body was removed from the hotel. She suspected the hotel's management might have some sort of connivance with the crime perpetuators, otherwise, nothing would make sense to her. She decided to go back to room 13 on the 21st floor.

She got to the room and slipped her hands into two hand gloves and dropped the photograph of the young man in a bag. She went into the bathroom and examined the walls closely. She came out to rub her hands all over the walls of the bedroom. She finished and switched over to the other side, and froze! She raised the curtains covering the wall and saw three large holes bored into the wall through to the outside, but the holes were not big enough for Rito Birdman to have escaped through. This was not even the first floor; he would not have survived. She concluded that the holes were meant for a different thing. She would start unraveling the mystery between the red cross on the picture of the young man and the triangle of holes.

Two







Mary Greenwood was at home and she sat in her bath tub, full of warm soothing water, absorbed in thought. She would not stop seeing the disappearance of Rito Birdman under her nose as direct affront. She transfigured into another realm, deep in reasoning. She perceived that the sniper was about to hit the young man in the picture through the triangle of holes in the Heathrow Bing Tower. She at once sprang up from the tub, exposing her complete nude, before grabbing a towel to wrap her chest down.
She made her way to her study and flipped on the light switch. She settled on a chair and took a sheet of paper and a pencil from a bag on the floor. She shut her eyes for a minute and went to work. She drew a triangle that connected the three edges of holes. The target of the hitman was inside the triangle and the target's picture was crossed with a red ink. She penetrated the wall with the triangle of holes with her eyes, and could see the target out there, with no Identity. She rolled up her thought along critical reasoning, but all she could see was blurred lines.

She exhausted all her investigative witchcraft and admitted to herself that she would need help. It was almost in the middle of the night. She wobbled to her bed and fell into a deep sleep. Not long after, she drifted into dreams. She found herself in the room 13 of 21st floor of the Heathrow Bing Tower. She saw a hand writing on the wall of the triangle of holes. The hand measured the angle that Rito Birdman was going to position his rifle to hit the target and it marked it as "Target Angle". She was going to ask a question about the angle and the hand disappeared.

She woke up early in the morning and went to her study. The dream was still fresh in her mind. She labeled the target of Rito Birdman as the "Keyface" and considered unveiling it, was imperative to making a headway. The hand had only measured the target angle and did not show how it was arrived at. She visualized Rito Birdman hitting his target from any of the holes of the triangle. It gave her the idea of projecting the holes through the walls to meet outside. She arrived at a prism with a triangular base of holes. She drew a cross across the base of the triangular prism, and drew a line from the center of the cross to meet the pointed edge of the prism outside the wall of the hotel room, facing Adaz Obot's balcony, and straigthened up to measure the angle that the hand in her dream had measured last night. She got excited with what stared at her, smiling broadly, giving the impression of "I've finally figured it out".

She sauntered to another table with a desktop computer and took a seat and powered on a computer. She clicked open a drawing application and began to make a 3D re-presentation of her sketch. She finished and measured the target angle to the "Keyface". It deviated only by one degree this time. She inserted a usb stick in the computer to save the work. She finished and left to get a shower and prepare to leave for the office.
Her whole life revolved around her work since day one that she had started working for the FBI. When the management had granted her vacation time, Mary Greenwood would still report at the office. The management had to literally force her to go on vacation in South Africa after she had cracked open a case that had begun seven years ago. She had brought the untouchables in America to their knees and ensured that they were locked behind bars.

The same management that had forced her to go on vacation, had cut it short. The disappearance of Prisca Bender had brought so much pressure to the FBI's hierarchy. She was playing with her baby on a sandy beach in Durban, when she got a call on her private phone. The message was simple and it came from one of the top Directors of the FBI:
"We have our hands full. Knotty cases that need to be cut open. Be on the next flight to Washington DC".

Mary Greenwood waited until her daughter's nanny had arrived before she left home for her office. She tried to separate the Prisca Bender's case from that of Rito Birdman, but something within made her feel strongly that the two cases were inextricably connected. Her focus was on the "Keyface and she hoped her approach would culminate to finding those behind the death of Prisca Bender. She knew the FBI management wouldn not sanction the direction she had taken without some conviction, however, every fiber of her reasoning power pointed her that way.
She arrived at the office to see a kind of chaotic movement. Everyone seemed under some kind of pressure. The management was breathing down the neck of everybody to get results. For certain field agents, the management had set ultimatum for them to deliver. Mary Greenwood did not do much in the office. She sat down and sent update on the Prisca Bender's case. Her phone went off and she picked it up. A very stubborn reporter in CNN was on the line.

"Hello Mitchell!" Mary Greenwood answered her suspiciously.

"Can I ask for a favor Greenwood?"

"It depends on what you are going to ask for".
"I've understood that you're leading the investigation into the disappearance of Rito Birdman from the Heathrow Bing Tower".

"How did you know that?"

"You know I have got eyes everywhere".

"So what about it?"

"I'd like to be part of your team, we're producing a series of documentary in CNN and we're dedicating it to the elusive sniper".

"Look here, this is delicate, we're only building the momentum to go full swing, when we reach a point, of course, you would be invited".

"This is really important to me and my organization, let me in on this one, please!"
"I've given you my last word on it Mitchell".

"Just this time!"

"You will get the juice of the story. Standby and watch out for it, period!"

Mitchell Bannes was still insistent and Mary Greenwood slammed the office phone into its socket. She was formerly of the BBC before she ported to CNN. She had the reputation of setting off breaking news of hot cases involving crimes around the globe and was a darling in CNN. She would want every action relayed live with her camera at the Heathrow Bing Tower. Agent Bradley Stevens had leaked the latest development on the Rito Birdman's case to her. They were in some kind of an undefined relationship. Mary Greenwood turned to agent Morgan Howard in the office, and he accorded her attention.
"Tomorrow morning we'll be going to Heathrow Bing Tower. I need you to make arrangement for an air-to-surface surveyor to sweep down", she said with a strong face.
"Copied!" Morgan Howard acknowledged.

She pulled out all the records of the sniper and looked through the files of his past crimes. She scanned them for anything that could connect to the way he had broken free from the Heathrow Bing Tower. She had reasoned that it would be rash to conclude that the management of the hotel connived with criminals at this time. She would wait for the result of her findings into the target of the hitman in the hotel. She took her mobile phone from her bag and punched in the phone number of the Managing Director of Heathrow Bing Tower, to inform him that the FBI would be there the following day.

The CNN reporter was already at the Heathrow Bing Tower the next morning and was waiting for the FBI team with her camera man. Agent Morgan Howard and the air-to-surface surveyor arrived later. He was taken aback to find Mitchell Bannes at the hotel. She got up to meet him before he could step into the elevator.

"Where is Mary Greenwood?" She asked, Morgan did not get it and she added, "I spoke with her yesterday and I told her I would be part of her team on the case.

"Well, something came up in the office that required her attention. She would join in later"

He assumed Mary Greenwood had approved the coverage of the investigation by the CNN reporter. He thought it was premature to feed the public with anything yet, but who was he to challenge the all-knowing Mary Greenwood? He did not stop her from joining him. Mitchell Bannes gave the thumps up sign to her camera man and he hastily lifted his equipment to join them in the elevator. Room 13 on 21st floor was already opened but sealed by the FBI.

Agent Morgan cut the tape and he entered with Martins Squilla. Mitchell Bannes gave another thumps up sign to the camera man as agent Morgan squeezed and pulled the curtain that covered the wall with the triangle of holes to his right hand side. The cameras were now rolling from different angles; one camera was on agent Morgan Howard as he pulled his laptop from his backpack. He powered on the laptop and opened up the computer re-presentation of the room that Mary Greenwood had designed. He waved at the surveyor to come around. Martins Squilla knew exactly what to do, he began to mount his instrument on a base near the wall of holes. Good

"What is the Hit Angle again?" The surveyor asked.

Morgan looked at the laptop and replied, "73 degrees to the midline".

The surveyor drew a straight line across the middle of the triangle of holes on the wall, and used a divider to cross check the hit angle. He took a drilling tool and drilled a hole through the midpoint through to the outside and pulled up an instrument tucked on the frame of the stand. He passed it through the midpoint to the outside of the hotel wal and picked a handheld device. At the edge of the instrument outside, was a stylus carrying a lens. He pushed a button labelled, "Set'' on the handheld device, that connected to the lens outside, and the lens carrier stretched out from the stylus to one meter horizontally. He pressed another button and the lens carrier folded backward ninety degrees vertically. He punched a button labeled, 'Rotate to Coil', and instantly the lens outside began sweeping three sixty degrees parabolically.

The lens carrier gradually withdrew into the stylus as it continued sweeping to coil. The surveyor could see the movement of the lens inside the room on the screen of the device. He stopped the recording when the camera had withdrawn completely into the stylus. He pressed a button on the device to get the record transferred to a memory stick. He inserted the storage device into his laptop and opened an application. He typed, Narrow vision from 73 degrees" in a window that popped up in the laptop and scrolled to the bottom of the window and hit the ''Go'' button. The window vanished for six seconds and returned a captured image of a bungalow. He enlarged the photo of the bungalow and clicked the print button on the application. The captured image came out neat from the printer.

Mitchell Bannes signed to the camera man to stop action. The surveyor's professionalism had been called by the FBI many times. Morgan Howard stood up and shook hands with him before they gathered their equipment and went down to find the bungalow. As agent Morgan got into the FBI SUV and was going to close the door, Mitchell Bannes held the door from slamming shut. "This is as far you can go Mitchell", agent Morgan Howard said. He waved at the driver to drive on while she still held the SUV door. Mitchell nearly tripped when the SUV accelerated with some fury.

Agent Morgan headed for the bungalow with the surveyor, who had opened up his laptop and plugged in a GPS. The surveyor directed the turns after turns as he looked at the GPS application on his computer. The driver finally pulled the SUV up inside an estate of bungalows. The surveyor alighted with his laptop on his two palms and walked a few distance into the estate. It did not take him long to locate the right bungalow. He walked around to face room 13 on the 21st floor of the Heathrow Bing Tower and balanced binoculars on his eyes and traced the holes on the wall. He found the holes and took the coordinates of the bungalow position. He keyed the coordinates in the open application and obtained the ''Hit Distance".

"The Hit Distance is four and a half miles",
Martins Squilla said over his shoulder.

"Rito is a hell of a sniper!" Agent Morgan Howard whispered.

Mary Greenwood was free now to join him and the surveyor at the Heathrow Bing Tower. She looked at the wall clock in her office, the official closing hour had passed. She would have loved to head to the hotel. A new case had just developed, that would have taken her attention off Rito Birdman. She opened her purse to get her cellphone and pulled a call to agent Morgan.

"What's the update Howard?"

"It's completely done. Ill send the full package to you shortly.

Mary Greenwood suppressed a laughter and replied, "Roger that".

"The next move?" Morgan asked anticipating.

"Go home and kiss your monkey. See you tomorrow”, Mary Greenwood said with a chuckle.

She cleared her table and closed shop as a message dropped in her phone from agent Morgan. She would soon add another feather and award to an already filled cabinet.

Three







The Chief Executive Terminator was midway in the air, between Iran and Iraq flying to Baghdad, boiling with rage. In his twenty three years of killing career, he had not come so close to being trapped like the incidence that led to the last failed operation in the Heathrow Bing Tower. He concluded in his head that Oscar Averes had set him up. It was him that passed the information about the location for the target, the time and the room 13 on the 21st floor of the hotel. He could not put the cards together on how the FBI had tracked him down and got the floor, the room number and the time. He was flying to see Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir, It was him that personally contacted and contracted him with a phone call for the operation.

The airstrip of Al Ja'amah in Iraq opened into three well secured gates. The gates funneled into a cave that led into an underground mansion. The pass at each gate was different, if a visitor passed the first gate with a code and failed the entrance code of the second gate, he was executed summarily. The gates passes had to be correct for the visitor to reach the mouth of the cave, where a signal would be sent to Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir to acknowledge your mission, before you were guarded from the cave gate by heavily equipped men to see him.

He was a man with strange abilities, he could feel the presence of strangers within a one mile radius and decipher intentions. He was fittingly called the demon by his loyalists. His eyeballs were like tiny shiny beads in a very big skull. No hair strand had grown on his head since his birth. His long white goatee gave a sharp contrast to his hairless head. He was squatting in the inner most chamber of his ringed mansion, making some religious incantations as he floated in and out of trance. Some of the remaining members of his terror organization were scattered about and around the building, mostly in groups. A clattering noise occasionally drifted into the mansion from a distance.

The LED device on the mat of the great one started blinking. He picked it up with his left hand and flipped it up with his left thumb. A message had dropped in. He spied the message with his left eye and raised the device in his right hand to switch on a screen that hanged on a chord from the ceiling. The screen came on and he pressed a button on the device to open the surveillance camera that watched the front of the cave, and he saw the sniper. Rito Birdman had not come to the underground more than two times for the twenty years he had been converted to become a fringe member of the terror organization. He had grown into a full bearded man. His uncommon skill of leaving no trace or tracks after a hit, had endeared him to Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir. He pressed "Pass" on his device and fiercely looking giants led him to the second in command, Abdul Taheem.

"Look at you now! You're all grown up", Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir said the moment Rito Birdman appeared before him.

"Good to see you my lord".

"You don't look cheerful Birdman".

"There's a problem".

"We fix things here".

"The operation failed, the FBI aborted it".

"You're the greatest, how could it happen?"

"Oscar set me up!"

"You know that's not possible".

"There's no other way to interpret how the FBI had stopped me".

"I swear to this, Azeez doesn't know a thing about it. It's Al Ja'amah that he's working for, he couldn't turn around and thwart his own effort".

"I would like him to defend himself my lord".

"Shut this issue down!"

"Ok my lord".

"I trust you didn't leave a print for the FBI".

"You know my craft my lord".

"Take your rest, we'd discuss some important matters later".

Rito Birdman spent a day with Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir in Iraq and got himself ready to leave. He hoped the dust raised by the foiled operation in the Heathrow Bing Towel had settled. As he moved out of his room into the living room of the underground mansion with his bags, the evil doctor could see that he still nurtured a monstrous grudge with a smouldering temper. He signalled him to join him on a mat where he had squatted and tried to reason with him again.

"I have known Oscar Averes for more than twenty five years and I am dead sure he wouldn't do such a thing".

"But how could the FBI have exactly known the time and place where I was going to carry out the hit?"

"Honestly, I am a little bit confused".

"It's obvious, he was behind it".

"I know he's loyal to death for the course of Al Jama'ah. He had no reason to trap you. Don't forget, the operation was meant to get an American spy on board".

"But how do you explain this my lord".

"I'm going to speak with him about it, but I already know he didn't do it. He is committed to the course and he knew how much Al Ja'amah needed you to come through".

"Time will settle it".

"Very well".

"I must go now my lord".

"Just a few minutes, I will be back here Birdman".

As the demon rose up from the mat, his Deputy, Abdul Taheem, suddenly flung open the door to the living room and breezed in to switch ON the plasma TV screen that was hanging from the ceiling. A news headline flashed up in Al Jazeera Cable News, showing the face of Rito Birdman wearing a black face cap in an elevator. He switched to BBC, the same news was breaking and then to CNN. He left it on CNN as the reporter, Mitchell Bannes, gave details:

"On your TV screen is the face of the world most wanted killer", Mitchell Bannes looked straight and continued, "He has carried high profile assassinations around the world. His latest operation was neutralized by the FBI in the Heathrow Bing Tower in Washington DC." The hotel came on the TV screen and pushed Mitchell Bannes to a corner. It showed Rito Birdman in the elevator with a black face cap and another enlarged photograph of him without the cap. Mitchell Bannes went on: "He was to perform a hit through the wall of room 13 on 21st floor. He had drilled three holes in shape of a triangle on the hotel room wall. The FBI at the moment is tracking him, as other detectives try to unveil who was his target at the Heathrow Bing Tower........" Abdul Taheem switched off the TV as she went on.

Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir stood up from the mat as if a spring had released him and walked away as the TV went OFF. He used his eyes to sign to his Deputy to meet him in a different room. Instantly his color changed. He pulled Abdul Taheem's head towards him and whispered:

"Expend Rito Birdman now! The FBI could track him down here. He could reveal our schemes under torture when the FBI gets hold of him".

"He's a time bomb waiting to explode!" Abdul Taheem justified.

"Shoot him in the head right now!"

Abdul raised his garment to expose the short gun on his belt to indicate the job would be done on the spot. Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir assumed a friendly mood as he opened the door to meet the hitman in the living room. All of a sudden, the terror lord roared like a lion in a great distress.The hitman was missing, he turned around and barked!

"Get everyone and everything to bring him down! Now!! Now!!!

!
Abdul chased the sniper all the way down to the cave's tunnel, screaming “Kill him! Kill him!! Kill!!!”

The terrorists in the mansion sprinted in hot chase from the underground to the mouth of the cave through different channels. Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir switched on the hanging screen and pulled out the surveillance camera securing the entrance of the cave, and saw the footage of Rito Birdman. He immediately punched the call code of the men at the three gates leading into and out of the cave and screamed at them, "Shoot him! Shoot him down!!" He pulled another camera and watched the guards spraying bullets at him. Rito Birdman was about hopping into his private jet when a bullet grazed his head. He managed to switch on the instruments inside the jet as bullets rained on the body of the jet. He took off with the speed of light as the foot soldiers of the evil doctor advanced. Abdul Taheem saw Rito Birdman flying from the ground as he popped his head out of the cave. He took a device from his pocket and spoke into it.

"My lord, he's gone, heading towards Baghdad".

"Then fail over to B!" Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir yelled and smashed the device on his hand to pieces on the floor. His men had failed him.
General Mahmud Hussein was dragging a long local cigarette pipe, made with assorted dried leaves and was puffing the smoke into the air through his mouth and nostrils as he stood on the top of Al Ja'amahs airbase tank and looking on as the cigarette smoke from the tiny wood pipe coiled into the air, when a junior officer called him from the control room with a tone of urgency. Abdul Taheem was on the phone waiting to speak to the general. Mahmud could tell that something was wrong somewhere. The Deputy scarcely called the base except when Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir wanted an air operation.
He breezed into the control and said "Hello" nto the table phone.

Abdul Taheem thundered from the other end saying, "Bring down the jet flying from the airspace now! Now! Now!! No mistakes!
Mahmud immediately instructed the terror officers in charge of the airspace scanning systems to bring the satellites up. He was trained by the US Airforce but was not absorbed into the force when he did not come clean with his profile. Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir had thrown some carrots at him back in the United States and he agreed to join the air unit of Al Jama'ah. He was a brilliant engineer in aeronautics that held a master's degree in Space Technology from Stanford University in California. When the evil doctor had come calling, the decision was made already for him. He had single-handedly put together most of the systems in the control of the airbase. He had successfully designed a new radar system on the desert airfield and had taken air tracking systems to another level.

He decided to bring the jet down by himself since no mistakes would be tolerated from the demon. The airspace scanners stood in the middle of a very spacious room inside the airbase, close to the control. The outside of the base was littered with ground-to-space satellites. All the systems were now ready. He pushed a button on the control and a metal cover blew out from the top of the airbase tank, exposing a warhead carrying SA-77 missile. This was a long range missile capable of delivering death to distant corners of the earth. He pushed another button and the missile system rolled on to the top of the tank on wheels. He moved to the airspace scanning systems and picked out a satellite that was overlooking the airspace from space. He punched a button on the airspace scanner and raised his head to see the satellite rotate three sixty degrees spatially on the screen.

He spotted the enemy jet flying away from the airspace with a mind-boggling speed. He zoomed it up and estimated an altitude of forty three thousand feet. He went back to the control system and tapped a button to download the data from the scanner into the missile guide. The guide now had the position and the changing sequence of the jet. He bent forward and pushed another button on the control to transfer the data to the warhead. The missile guide started radiating radio waves to track the jet. He hit a button on the control to spin the warhead on the base and positioned it for the radio waves to give the sharpest reply. He received an echo beep on the control and moved over to confirm the target on the airspace scanning system.

The red arrow was now resting on the body of the jet and he could see it on the control screen. He let out a devilish grin and picked up his local cigarette that was burning away on a tray. He took a long hard drag on it before hitting the button marked ''Blow Up!'' in the control. The warhead flew from the base with a deafening hissing noise skyward and he pressed a button on the scanning system to start recording the destruction.

Rito Birdman had read the mind of the demon while Mitchell Bannes was still on the TV. He continued to make the sign of cross on his chest as he flew away with the maximum configured speed in the jet plane. The warning system in the jet jolted him from a deep thought. The system had just picked a radio signal tracking the jet and he knew what it meant. He shot himself into the air just before the jet was blasted to pieces by Al Ja'amah's missile.

He had strapped the belt of a parachute around his trunk as soon as he had taken off from the airstrip. The parachute did not spread until he had fallen down some distance away from the scattering jet. It lowered him gently into a deep blue sea separating Iraq from Iran. He hoped to swim the distance to shore, but the strapped parachute posed a real challenge. He tried to unfasten the belt but could not.The parachute sappef away his energy as he made attempts to swim on. He let go the idea of swimming with the parachute and he figured out a way to cut it off. He dipped his right hand into his pocket and brought out his key holder and used his teeth to pull out a knife. He cut himself free and breathed relief. He began to swim from the middle of the sea towards the shore with breaststroke.

He noticed a movement under the water and he prayed it was not a predator. He was hoping that the air unit of Al Ja'amah had not seen him as he jumped out of the jet. He exhausted his energy just before he could reach the shore and he sank slowly into the water and took his first gulp; and as if the water in gut had renewed his energy, he raised his head out and changed to a backstroke. He continued to swim forward but weakly. He kept muttering to himself:
"You cannot die in a strange land, and in the water. You are the Birdman, keep flying, keep flying".

It worked! He finally hauled himself on the seashore and laid flat on his back as the hot sun of the day scorched him. He still bled from the corner of his head where the bullet of one of the guards of Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir had scraped. He believed now that Oscar Averes had not set him up, but what continued to prick his thought was how his photo was taken in Washington DC. No one had held a camera to snap him in the elevator inside the Heathrow Bing Tower. He remembered a smartly dressed young woman that had stopped the door of the elevator from closing before she joined him. What preoccupied his mind was how to get to safety from the demon.

Four






Special agent Mary Greenwood could not set her mind on anything else in her office, as she got agent Michael Bending to join her in the chase of Rito Birdman. She now preferred her new company since agents Morgan Howard and Bradley Stevens had let Mitchell Bannes of the CNN in, on the tracing and tracking of the hitman. She left the FBI's premises with her official FBI SUV in high hopes, knowing that they were just few inches away from unveiling the identity of Rito Birdman's target in the Heathrow Bing Tower. She had implicit trust in the work of Martins Squiilla

They arrived the estate of bungalows and quickly extracted the address of the owner of the estate at the gate. They headed to 31st Street Downtown DC. She pulled out the captured image of the target's bungalow and studied it as if she was seeing it for the first time, as Michael Bending pulled the FBI SUV near the company. They finally arrived Netfluz and agent Bending stopped at the parking lot. They moved together to the reception office where they asked to see the CEO of the company, but were directed to the office of Raymond Dean, the Chief Operating Officer. They walked into an open office on the last floor of the skyscraper.

"You're welcome to Netfluz", Raymond Dean said as they moved into a very spacious room.

"Thank you", Mary Greenwood said as she settled directly opposite him, on an executive chair.

"How much do I owe the law?" Raymond Dean asked looking away.

"We haven't come here to collect tax".

"Am I in some trouble?"

"We're going to be straight through", Mary Greenwood said and positioned the captured bungalow image before him. "We have come here to see your staff that lives in this bungalow".

"Its currently not occupied, you can see, it's indicated".

"Who lived there?"

"It's there any problem?"
"Just answer my question Sir".

"It's a young man that's currently not working in Netfluz".

She pulled the picture crossed with red ink by Rito Birdman and asked, "Can you recognize this face?"

"That's him, that's the young man".
"Very well, what's his name?"

"Adaz Obot".

"Where can I find him?"

"He has returned to school".

"I'd like to get his phone number".

"You haven't told me what this is all about, is he a suspect or what?"

"You will know what this is about once we get it done".

"It's alright".

"Can I get the contact now?"

"Sure", Raymond Dean said and tossed a card at her.

"We're very grateful, we'll be back again for more answers".

"Hoping I can provide them".

Raymond Dean watched the two FBI agents through the window of his office as they headed towards the parking ground. Mary Greenwood got into the SUV and pullied a call across to Adaz Obot. The young man's phone went off in a library in the faculty of Bioengineering in Harvard, and he rushed outside. He looked at the screen and found an incoming call from an unknown contact. He moved to a corner and flipped up his cellphone to answer the call.

"Hello", the young man said into the phone.

"This is Mary Greenwood of the FBI. I want to ask you a few questions with respect to the role that you played in Netfluz before you left the company".

"Ok detective. What do you want to know?”

"What was your job description in Netfluz?

"I was hired to work in the capacity of a hardware programming engineer. I sneaked into embedded softwares to correct bugs among other things.

"Who was your direct boss?

"The Chief of Programming”.

"What's his name?

"Rod Jimmy"

"And your name?"

"Adaz Obot".

Did you have any misunderstanding with anybody while you were in Netfluz?

Not at all.

"Did you have any fracas with anyone recently or in the past among friends or business associates".

"I can't remember any".

"I need honest answers".

"May I know what this is all about ma'am?"

"Not yet".

"I really can't point out any quarrel with anyone".

Where was your office?”

"I shared the same office with the Director of Programming".

What was the last job you did for Netfluz?

"I helped to eliminate some bugs in the softwares that were loaded into some systems for field engineers.

Thanks for your time.

Youre welcome maam.

Mary Greenwood returned to Netfluz to continue her investigation with Michael Bending. Michael Bending was the FBI systems communication expert but he knew a little bit of everything. Raymond Dean was a about to leave his office when the reception announced the presence of the FBI agents. Mary Greenwood decided to meet Raymond Dean alone leaving Michael Bending behind in the reception.The office door split open as she got near.

"You're here again".

"I keep my promise".

"I'm afraid, I don't have much time up my sleeve".

"I'm not going to crack nuts here Sir".

"Right away please".

"In what capacity did Adaz Obot work in Netfluz?"

"He was a programming engineer".

"Did he have any issue with anyone here?"

"I don't know of any".

"Where was his office".

"All the programmers share the engineering floor".

"But he shared the same office with the Director of Programming".

"I didn't know about that".

"Can I speak with him?"

"Of course", Raymond Dean said and dialed the number of Angelo Blaze and spoke up as he picked, "Hello Blaze, a lady FBI agent is here to ask you some questions".

"Put her on the phone", Angelo Blazed said and adjusted himself.

"This is Mary Greenwood of the FBI".

"How can I help you?"

"I understand that you shared the same office with Adaz Obot when he was here, was there any reason why he wasn't there with other programmers on the engineering floor?"

"We needed space".

"Was this cool with the Chief Programmer".

"He never complained".

'Can I see the engineering floor?"

"Of course".

Angelo Blaze popped in within seconds and took her to the second floor. Mary Greenwood could actually see that the floor was cramped, but could also see another office in the middle of the floor with some space, constructed with only glasses. She finished her inspection and asked to see the office that Adaz Obot had shared. Angelo Blaze opened the door to his office and pointed at a table.

"That's where Adaz Obot had his office", he said.

"There's one office in the middle of the engineering floor, why didn't Adaz Obot work there?" Mary Greenwood asked.

"That's the office of the Chief Programmer, he likes to be alone in the office".

"Was he a team player?"

"Who?"

"Of course, Adaz Obot".

"All his colleagues eulogized him the short time he spent here".

"Thank you very much for your time".

"You're welcome".

Mary Greenwood left the building tossing up things in her head. She could not piece together why Angelo Blaze would create space in his office for Adaz Obot, when the Chief Programmer had more in his office, and yet claimed all was fine. She suspected an unhealthy rivalry among the programmers. She decided to place all the twenty persons on the engineering floor including the Chief Programmer and the Director of Programming on watch. Rod Jimmy came top in her watch list.

She joined Michael Bending at the reception hall and they walked out of Netfluz into the unofficial FBI vehicle that brought them. They quietly and patiently waited for Rod Jimmy to get out. He finally came out and headed to the parking lot to pull out his car. He reversed expertly and hit the homeward road. Michael Bending engaged the FBI car and tailed him into the city. The Chief Programmer looked at the side mirror of his vehicle and saw the same car that had followed him since he left Netfluz. He did not read any meaning to it until he snaked through corners and veered here and there to lose it. The car kept on coming behind. He knew he was being followed.

At once, he twisted the steering to slue his car onto a narrow road that opened into a six - lane road in Western District and dashed the car unto the third lane, causing vehicles to screech, collide and stop on the road. Michael Bending followed him; he diverted onto the narrow road and came out to see the six - lane road. Rod Jimmy had lost them and had mixed into the mass of cars surging forward on the left side, and backward on the right side.

"Wow! Rod Jimmy like James Bond!!" Mary Greenwood screamed.

She directed Michael Bending to turn the car around to face Netfluz. The suspect had displayed interesting tendencies and she liked it. She could still see the commotion that he had caused on the road, where he had mixed up with other cars. Some road officials were pulling wrecks of vehicles that had collided on the road as they faced the way to Netfluz.

Rod Jimmy sped through the gate of Netfluz guest quarter to the astonishment of the gate keepers. He swerved into a corner and into his bungalow. He applied the brake even as the car was still maintaining a high speed. He abruptly pulled up in his garage, causing a screak. He popped out of the car and sneaked into his house, breathing heavily and searching his head for who could be behind this. The only thing that came to his mind was the operation to eliminate Adaz Obot. He had not been seeing the young engineer around and he assumed he must have fallen, but at the same time he was a little confused, since no death had been reported in Netfluz.

He smartly moved to the window side of his bungalow, overlooking the gate of the estate, to see if a strange car would pass. Oscar Averes had promised to get him update about the operation but had not, he decided to hear from him. It occurred to him that he had not removed his bag from his car. His phone and laptop were there. He ran outside to grab his bag and dashed in. He moved to the window side again and began to dial Oscar Averes.

"Hey Jimmy!" Oscat Averes answered in the first tone.

"What's going on?"

"I was going to call you Rod".

"I've been waiting!

"Something happened".

"I'm all ears Oscar".

"The operation was aborted by the FBI and Rito Birdman is at large".

"Damn!"

"I've not heard personally from the hitman though".

"How did you know this?"

"It was the leader of Al Ja'amah in Iraq that told me".

"I'm worried Oscar".

"Over what?"

"I was followed today, and I am beginning to think someone might be on my trail".

"Why the worry? Did you commit a crime?"

"It might be over the failed operation".

"It's not possible".

"Why?"

"It's one out of a million chances for anyone to know that you were involved'.

"Who could be behind it?"

"It may just be a coincidence".

"I doubt it".

"You know what?"

"Tell me what".

"Watch it, if the incidence plays out again, you have a genuine reason to be worried Rod".
"Ok".

"I'm going to improvise to get the target down for you".

"That's no longer important to me".

"Why?"

"He has left Netfluz".

"I'll talk to you again", Oscar Averes said in shock.

"Alright", Rod Jimmy said and exhaled.

The following day Mary Greenwood and Michael Bending stood some distance away from the gate of Netfluz guest quarter, to watch Rod Jimmy come out. He was on time as usual to resume duty in his office. Mary Greenwood and Michael Bending moved into the estate of bungalows to find the address to his house. She had gone to Netfluz to extract the address after he had lost them. It did not take long before they located the house inside the quarter.

Michael Bending went round the bungalow to find where he could sneak into the house, to install eavesdropping devices. He finally penetrated through a window after he had removed the louvres neatly. He was rounding off with the installations in strategic places in the house, when he saw a desktop computer in the corner of the house. He moved to power on the computer to copy the content of the hard disk and extract the Internet protocol address. He looked at his wristwatch and realized that he had been in the house for nearly half an hour. He had to go now. He moved briskly to the window through which he had come in. As he tried to come outside, a car pulled up at Rod Jimmy's garage. He left through the window hurriedly to see who just drove in.

He raised his head to look in the direction where Mary Greenwood had been waiting before he had slipped into the house and did not see her. She appeared from the front of the house and his nerves calmed down. She had gone to drive the unofficial FBI vehicle in. He returned to fix the louvres that he had taken down. He made sure everything was intact and joined her. The two agents got into the car and drove off. Mary Greenwood spoke out first in the car.

"Did you find anything of interest in there?"

"I have the content of the files in a desktop computer".

"Very well, I need you to sift for any connection to Rito Birdman".

"Copy that".

They returned to the Central Intelligence Until and Mary Greenwood found a note requesting urgent update on the Prisca Bender's case. It was very obvious that someone high up in the corridor of power was pushing it. She sat thoughtfully and sent her report.

She maintained that Rito Birdman might not be the prime suspect for the murder of Prisca Bender, but a key to knowing how her body had disappeared. She would never slow down on the chase to pin down the hitman. She had tracked down criminals that were more slippery with much darker backgrounds and smoked them out of their holes.

Wow this dope

Five








Mary Greenwood and Michael Bending walked straight to the end of the FBI office where the eavesdropping devices's receiver, installed in the house of Rod Jimmy, had just given off a crack sound. They could hear footsteps coming from the other end. They knew that he had come home. Michael Bending ensured that the receiving system was recording. Rod Jimmy punched a number on his cell phone to make a phone call.

"Hello, Rod Jimmy spoke softy, 'I am home now".

"Did the car follow you today?" The person at the other end asked as Mary Greenwood and Michael Bending looked at each other satisfactorily.

"No car followed me".

"I told you that it was a mere coincidence".

"I was really scared, I was messing with the thought that the FBI was tracking me".

"It's not possible".

"I wasn't thinking clearly".

"Rito Birdman had escaped from the FBI".

"I haven't heard that part".

"You know now".

"Thank you Oscar".

"It's alright".

Rod Jimmy ended the call and breathed a sigh of relief. A major cover had just been blown open. Michael Bending had traced the call as it routed down to Mexico, with another system attached to the eavesdropping devices and extracted the subscriber's identifier. Mary Greenwood had come to know that there was another link to Rito Birdman. She felt like a heavy load just fell off her shoulder. She smiled and turned to face Michael Bending in the office.

"Mike!"

"Yeah".

"You must leave for Mexico at once to interface with the federales, to uncover the other end".

"Roger that".

"Let them know how crucial this is to the FBI and the American government".
"Sure that", Michael Bending said as he straightened up to travel to Mexico.
Oscar Averes had not been himself since Rod Jimmy had said he no longer wanted the operation to terminate Adaz Obot. He would have to try other means to get an American spy for Al Ja'amah. He had just returned home from distributing substances to clients in Puebla, when Rod Jimmy had called. Not long ago he had received a reminder of the deadline set to deploy the bombs in their possession into the United States, from Dr. Omar Bin Lahmir. He walked to the back of his appartment and sat on the top of a tank and lit up a cigarette to meditate.


Beloved readers, I like to inform you that NAIRALAND in its wisdom is strictly moderating this book, therefore updates aren't coming as you expect; please you can get the book from the source;

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL78XXYR
OR
Chat me on Whatsapp : 09124239332 to get a copy.