The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 74

4 years ago

The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 74

The director general of the Metro police force was an elderly man who was on the thin line between slightly over weight and obese. It didn’t help that he hardly got up from his chair, his phone was always glued to his ear 24/7 and judging by the disaster that had happened in Benue few hours ago, he now had two phones glued to both ears. He watched Detective Dagnet with a frown as she entered his office and gestured for her to sit down.

He was mostly silent and Dagnet could hear whoever was on the other end of both lines shouting like a mad person.

He held his mobile phone away when he spoke into the landline and vice versa “Sir I can assure you heads will roll….I wasn’t even aware….. Sir?….yes sir….I mean No….Its not like that sir……”

Dagnet sat quietly looking everywhere but at her superior. She could feel his angry glare on her face and feared the temperamental director would do more than bark at her this time. She feared a suspension because now more than ever she needed to crack this case. Not because of her perfect record but for the valant men who had lost their lives by following her orders.

The director returned his the landline to its craddle and focused on his mobile. His eyes never left Dagnet.

“Yessir……yessir…..would do that immediately….I would get back to you sir….yesssir…thank yo-” he sighed in disgust as the line went off, cutting him in mid sentence.

He placed the phone on the table then placed his chin on his hands. “Detective what the hell happened?” His voice was suprisingly calm.

“Sir I received a lead concerning the hotel murder and a related kidnapping case, but it was in Benue and time was already against us, so I reached out to the middle belt strike team to make the arrest”
“And what happened?”
“Well….sir, unfortunately it appears it was all a setup sir….”

“And who did you discuss with before sending my men out on a suicide mission?”
She glanced down “no one sir….”
He tapped the landline “that was the governor…..the freaking governor and..” he raised his cell phone “that was the Inspector general of police…the bleeping IG!”
His voice was getting louder now and Dagnet strangely found that more reassuring than his calm and controlled voice.

“You know what…” his mobile rang interrupting him

“hello, yes honey….okay dear….no don’t stress yourself to pound the yam just mix the powdered one….or maybe semo, okay honey love you”

Dagnet’s eyes almost popped out of her head when the director’s voice changed from loud and harsh to sweet and romantic. But then he cut the call and his trademark voice was back. “Dagnet drop your gun and badge”

“Please sir….I understand the repercussion of my rash actions and I’m fully ready to take responsibility, but please sir don’t suspend me….I need to personally avenge the death of our agents and I need the power of my badge to apprehend the killer” The director opened his mouth and she rushed on “sir I’m willing to go on without pay for the duration of the suspension but please sir, let me still work this case”
“Who told you you were being suspended?” The director asked in a baffled tone “detective you’re fired…..dishonourably discharged! As from this minute you’re no longer a recognised officer of the MPD”

Dagnet’s heart sunk to her knees and her knees sunk to the floor “please sir….please….this job is all I have….don’t take it from me”
“Look here detective….that was a direct request from the IG himself…the ‘transmission’ of his message was very clear”

“Please sir…..there has to be something you can do to help me”

He looked at her considering and his eyes took a look it never did when he looked at her before. He stood up and wobbled his fat self to her side. “Let me see how good your mouth is, if it is only giving orders you’re good at” He unzipped his trouser, brought out his member (which was like the last finger on a new born baby’s hand) then placed his hands on his hips expectantly.
At first Dagnet was confused, then it slowly dawned on her what her superior wanted from her. The same man that had spoken lovingly to his wife just moments ago! She had heard rumours but never believed them. Now she did.
Slowly she got to her feet, unhooked her gun holster from her hip and placed it on the table. She removed her badge and dropped it also and without a word walked out of the office and out the Metro police department building.

::::::::::::::::::::

When Andy arrived at the BROTA agency everywhere was like a ghost town. It was almost empty apart from two or three agents running about with staplers and A4 sheets. He couldn’t even see his own assistant although to be fair he hardly needed assisting with anything.

Well now he needed assistance with climbing the stairs. He was still in pain and it seemed the pain killer just made him hyper active and his eyes to shine like torchlight without really numbing the pain.

As he stood observing the stairs, Jimoh, Rex’s assistant came rushing down.
“Hey Jimoh…what were you doing upstairs? You know its out of bounds”
“Yes sir, but I just got a call from agent Tonye to head to the hospital and keep an eye on Rex and Agent Bami so I had to go to his office to check the-”
“Woa….back up….Rex and Bami are in the hospital?”

“Yes sir, I’m on my way there right now”
“Well lets go….let’s go!”
Andy followed Jimoh out of the building hoping it wasn’t a female again that put his brothers in the hospital. That was a manhood killer indeed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Oh….your daughter is so beautiful, what’s her name?” The woman seated next to her asked as she ‘ooooh’ and ‘aaaaaaahd’ over the sleeping baby.
“Erm…….” where was a handy name when you needed one? “Cynthia” she thought of Rex’s eldest sister and gave her name.
“What a lovely name….how old is she?”
What the hell was wrong with this woman? This was how people died carelessly for not minding their business.

Still she managed to reply the woman “she’s about a year plus”
“Oh…lovely, just lovely, where in Lagos is your destination?”

That was it! Enough was enough. She turned harshly on the woman “Look here miss, if you don’t have a million naira to give me then stop asking questions like Frank Edoho!”
That shut the woman up. She busied herself with her phone and didn’t say another word the rest of the trip.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tonye had only felt the kind of anger she was feeling now once in her life. And that was when she thought Bami had been killed and she saw scores of widows trembling in fear with their freedom, dignity and hope stripped from them. As she watched the shadow raise his mop stick with the dagger tip to kill Rex who lay helplessly on the floor, a rage had taken over her and she had let the killer in her loose.

Now as she stood looking at her friend, the closest thing to a sister she ever had, she could feel the anger again bubbling beneath the surface, struggling to get out.
She had never known Fome personally, only heard about her from Bami and Rex but one thing she was sure of, as long as her name was Tonye and she was the child of her parents, whoever was behind this was going to pay dearly!

“Buzz good job….I want you to remain here…guard the door with your life, I’d head over to the family house and check on Clyde”
“Yes ma!”
“Kirsten lets go”
They headed to the taxi which they had booked for the whole day much to the pleasure of the driver.
“I’m sorry ma, I know you two were close” her assistant said as they settled in the backseat.
“No Kirsten…..don’t be sorry, be angry!”

::::::::::::::::;;;

Thomas Bigelow was 37 years, a staff sergeant with the Nigerian Army, The Beta Calvary offensive squad division which the soldiers in the unit jokingly referred to as ‘the better squad’ (‘better’ with the pidgin intonation)
He had been at the very forefront of the war against the terrorists plaguing Nothern Nigeria. Because like their squad name implied, they were the calvalry, the very tip of the spear of the armed forces of Nigeria.
Three months ago he had been with his unit investigating a terrorist sighting in a small village. Their convoy consisted of two trucks containing about 40 soldiers and a pickup truck with a 50 caliber SAW machine gun attached on the roof. Bigelow and his partner and friend a fellow soldier called Abdul were manning the gun.

The convoy usually moved at a snail’s pace of about 20km/h and Bigelow was so pressed he had jumped down to relieve himself in the nearby bush. He was just zipping his trouser when disaster struck. The bomb came from nowhere and till today he didn’t know if it was a grenade, an RPG aka ‘shakabulla’ or if they made contact with land mines the enemy had set on the road. The next thing Bigelow could remember was the loud noise, then the immense heat, then the gun fire that went on and on. The explosion flung his body into the bush and maybe that was what saved his life as he was hidden from the enemy’s line of sight or maybe it was because he was so bloodied that the terrorist assumed him dead.

However one of the soldiers managed to radio for help and in less than an hour, the army was there in full force, with armour tanks foot soldiers and Air force captains providing air support with fighter jets.
Thomas Bigelow regained consciousness 48 hours later in a hospital in Abuja. He was given a medal from the Chief of army staff himself and instructed he was off the active combat squad. Only a dozen soldiers had survived the attack and only two of them still had complete limbs. Although there was fear his spinal cord had been damaged because of the amount of shrapnel they pulled out of his back. But he would walk again although with a bad limp because a metal screw had been inserted in his knee cap to keep both femur and shin bone in place. He couldn’t go to the bank without tripping of metal detector alarms and couldn’t pass through the airport detector even if he was Unclad without the alarm going off.

Thomas Bigelow was a fighter not a quitter and he was gradually working himself back to fitness with the hope that he would be recalled to the better squad and if they didn’t he would retire. Screw the pension, he wasn’t made for a desk job or to be guarding one general or his family, no he was made for the battle field. He craved the action like a baby craved breastmilk. He had lost countless relationships because of this. He was married to the battlefront and it was better this way. If the worse should happen, he won’t be leaving a widow behind or a child fatherless or his parents heart broken (they were both dead) The only family he had was his brother and he loved him more than anything in the whole world.
If he had killed for his country, he would slaughter for his brother.

Ryan Bigelow watched his brother remove a half Unclad picture of a female singer from the wall. He chuckled as his brother handled the poster like an egg and placed it gently on the bed.

He returned to the wall were the poster had hidden a rectangular safe with a combination code. He punched in the digits and the latch popped open. Tom pulled out a metal tray, then another, then another, then another. There were five trays he pulled out and each of them had about six guns each except for one that had just three rifles: a sniper and two machine guns.

Bigelow got to his knees then rubbed his hands excitedly as he observed the guns “Ehen….hope you have a snack or something someone can chew in this house”
“I have cookies….you’ve not eaten?”
“Actually I’ve eaten about 8 pieces of pizza today but you know now” Bigelow picked a Sig Sauer 9mm, he tested the weight then closed one eye testing the aim.
“Hahahaha….you can eat for Nigeria I swear…its a miracle you’re not fat”
“I have to eat as much as I can, I have a feeling I won’t have the chance again very soon”

Tom Stopped laughing and frowned “bro, what exactly is the matter….what have you gotten yourself into, who is this assassin that is after you?”

“He’s a very dangerous man bro believe me”

“Well I’m also a very dangerous man myself…we’ll just have to get him first”
“I have a better idea….we go for the person who hired him”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

I was still in the hospital, lying like an invalid unaware of the recent events. I felt totally helpless and the worse thing was I couldn’t help my helplessness. Tears streamed down my cheeks freely but it wasn’t from the pain in my torso, or head or anywhere….no, my heart was in incredible pain.

:::::::::::::::::::::::