‘Cole! Cole!’
Cole flew out of the bed quickly and reached for his guns on the drawer. He put one of the guns behind his belt and held the other in his right hand, hiding it at his back. He proceeded to the door carefully as the knock continued. He heard his name being called in the same manner again.

‘Who is it?’ he shouted, hiding behind the door.

‘Henry.’ the voice replied.
‘Henry?’ he asked to be sure. The voice was Henry’s voice but there was so much panic heard in it that Cole knew there had to be trouble.

‘Yes, open up.’
‘What’s the matter?’ he asked, not willing to open the door yet.
‘Just open the door first,’ Henry insisted in a strong tone.

Cole stepped to the front of the door and held his gun in readiness as he reached for the lock, he turned it and dragged the door open immediately.

Henry quickly shifted back and raised his hands in the air at the sight of the gun pointed at him. He held a tablet in his right hand.
‘Who’s with you?’ Cole asked, moving carefully to the door. He looked around outside his entrance before dropping the gun. ‘Come in,’ he said to Henry and waited at the entrance.

He closed the door after Henry entered and locked it firmly.

‘What’s with the gun you carrying about?’ Henry asked, a disturbed look on his face.

‘You knocked and called my name as if there was trouble,’ Cole replied, trying to calm himself.

‘Yes, there is trouble.’ Henry said with a shaky voice. He turned on the screen of the device in his hand and typed in the password.
‘What’s the problem?’ Cole asked, with the side of his lips raised in contempt. But it changed as he looked at Henry’s face and noticed the seriousness.

‘I tried to call Omotara already but she’s not answering,’ Henry began with a panicking tone.

‘Just tell me what the matter is.’
‘Here,’ Henry showed him something on the tablet device. ‘Someone has kidnapped my mum.’

‘Huh?’ Cole’s eyes widened in shock and he collected the device from Henry. ‘Is this your mum?’ he asked, staring at the picture.
‘Yes, she was taken this morning. On her way back home.’ Henry said.
‘How did you get this picture?’
‘It was sent to me.’
‘By the kidnappers.’

Cole gave him a suspicious look, ‘How did they get your contact?’
‘They sent it to my public email.’
‘Oh!’

Cole kept his gaze on the floor as he began to ponder on the situation and what the enemy was trying to achieve with the strategy.
‘We have to do something quick,’ Henry said, his voice still full of panic. To him, Cole was being too slow and thinking too much about the matter.

‘Henry, you just have to calm down. We must not do anything in a hurry,’ Cole replied in a warning tone.

‘You say I should calm down?’ Henry widened his eyes at Cole. ‘Just take a look at the message they sent with it.’ He opened the email proper for Cole to see. ‘They’ve given me twenty four hours to meet them or they send pieces of my mother’s body to me in a body bag.’

‘Hmm, Rex…’ Cole said in whispers and let out a sigh.

‘Rex?’
Related Updates – Fola King – Episode 2
‘Yes, Rex. The same threat he made to me.’

‘But he didn’t give you the same twenty four hours deadline.’
‘Yes, he didn’t.’ Cole replied, staring blankly at the wall. His mind was far away, searching for what to do in Tarasha’s absence.

‘Cole, I need to do something fast.’ Henry said, shaking him by the shoulders.
‘Yes, we’ll do something fast. Let’s go to the control room.’ he said and turned back to the bed, he walked to the drawer beside it and returned one of the guns and picked a bunch of keys.

They got into the control room a minute later and they began to boot the computer systems. ‘Do make a call to Tarasha again.’ Cole told Henry.
‘She’s still not answering,’ Henry replied after an attempt.
‘Send a text message telling her of the new development.’

Henry obeyed Cole’s instruction by sending a brief message which communicated what they needed to.
‘Cole, why are we here?’ What exactly are we supposed to do here?’ Henry questioned.
‘Where else should we be?’ Cole asked as he took his seat behind the main system.
‘Did I tell you that I was demanded in the message to send a confirmation of receipt?’
‘You didn’t tell me, I read it in the email myself.’ Cole replied. ‘Take a chill pill, let’s try get their location from here first.’
‘They sent me their address already.’
‘Did they put any phone number you can reach them on?’
‘No, I didn’t see any.’


_______
‘Is this the man?’ Tarasha asked, staring at a man’s picture on the laptop screen.
‘That was him when he was younger,’ Chief Gab replied, swiping across the gallery. ‘These are his family members,’ Chief Gab stopped at a particular picture of a family of six; the Doctor and his wife with their four children- two guys and two ladies, the youngest one amongst them was close to Tarasha’s age. ‘All his kids are grown up.’


‘Are they all living in Nigeria?’ Tarasha asked. She took out her vibrating phone from her pocket and glanced at the screen to check the caller, it was Henry again. She had decided not to answer his calls until she was done with the meeting with Chief Gab, thinking he was just calling to ask of her well-being. She dropped the phone back into her pocket and concentrated on what the man was telling her.
‘I don’t know where all his kids are right now, but I know that none of them studied in Nigeria. The first one graduated as a medical doctor from the united States and the second a Mechanical Engineer. Only the two younger ones studied in other African countries.’
‘I have to get these pictures into my device,’ she said as she took out her phone again. ‘Would you turn on your hotspot?’
‘Yea, sure.’


‘Okay. Do you know if the man is retired or still in service?’
‘I think he is legally retired now but he still works as a consultant for different hospitals.’

A message entered as she swiped down the notification bar to turn on the WiFi. She turned it on before clicking on the message. It read;
‘Omotara, my mother was attacked on the road and kidnapped by unknown men. They’ve asked that I come meet them at a certain location in twenty four hours time or they chop her body into pieces.’
‘Oh F***!’ Tarasha cursed in a loud tone.
Related Updates – Nebuchadnezzar Has Returned (06)

‘What is it?’ Chief Gab who was still marking all the pictures turned to ask her.
She shook her head and let out a short breath. ‘There’s an issue at the base in Abuja.’

‘What issue?’ the Chief asked.
‘Vice President Elvis has another assasin who has been on our trail for sometime now and he’s just pulled a new move.’
‘What move?’

‘Never mind, I’ll take care of it. You just send the details of the Doctor to me. Now, I have to return to Abuja as soon as possible.’
________