Ex Officio (#3 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 3

The information suddenly weakened Akoma for a few reasons. Firstly, this was not the first time she was getting fired up by the stakes up announcements from the male counterpart in an awkward moment of crisis, and she had surely taken note of some things by then. Secondly, there was a very twisted side to the whole ubiquitous advantage given to these Ex Vivo freaks who seemed to easily blend in and just find their own ways of finding their target, and this totally annoyed Akoma. She had been followed by the dead Poku in a similar way, and Stallion had also done a very amazing job concealing everything unnatural about him until recently. This déjà vu gave her a lump in her throat and a feeling of disinterest in constantly running for her life when she was still not convinced about how Ender had gotten her involved in Ex Gratia at first, and then secondly under Ex Vivo's radar as their favourite co-opted member after the suggestive amalgamation of both of them. It was getting stressful and helpless going through the entire cluelessness and pain all over again, especially with very painful losses like Louisa her close friend and her dear Mama.

Poku raised his eyebrows when he realized she did not seem budged by the information he had just shared. She stared back and blinked in silence. "Aren't you supposed to be panicking?" he asked.

Akoma shrugged and dropped the tank lid of the water closet. "Why should I?"

Poku shrugged too. "You're a lady. Typical, right?"

"That's sexist. I'm not excited about that."

Poku snorted and smacked his lips. "All right. Now - back to reality. We are being followed by Ex Vivo folks and they could be in this building right now."

"This building?" Akoma looked around her and scoffed.

"We're on the top floor of an old building in a neighbourhood at Somanya, Eastern Region - "

"What?!" Akoma screamed so loud that it was too late to stop herself as a long thin beam of red light flashed over them through a crack in the window and the wall from outside. Akoma and Poku exchanged looks briefly and backed away quickly from the bathroom into the dimly lit bedroom. Akoma watched the lights flashing over the wall of the bathroom and wondered what was coming up next. She glanced at Poku and raised her eyebrows expecting some explanation. Poku gestured at her to keep quiet, but she whispered, "Could that be an Ex Vivo freak running a scan or something?" Poku nodded. "Do you think I gave our location away by screaming?" Poku nodded quickly. Akoma frowned with her eyes still fixed on the lights. "Why didn't the lights come when you broke down the door?"

Poku scratched his chin and whispered, "Because Ex Vivo freaks have voice recognition tech in their heads, baby - not door sound detectors. If they've ever heard you speak before, then surely they've got something to run a match with if you're their target. Please don't utter a sound. Try to stay quiet, OK?"

"But don't they know your voice?" Akoma whispered. "You shouted out loud before breaking the door down. Remember?"

Poku shook his head. "No. That - that's lame. They're obviously looking for you, not me."

Akoma scowled. "Why me?"

Poku sighed and reached for the luggage on the bed, unzipped one of its pouches and brought out a small case which he opened to reveal a black storage media that looked like a three-inch cartridge with the Ex Vivo logo on it. Akoma suddenly woke up from her cluelessness and remembered that cyborg Poku had given her that storage media to deliver to someone in Kumasi who would probably help unlock the information on it needed to destroy Ex Vivo. She gasped and cocked her head at Poku, but just when she tried to speak, a high pitched whistle hit the air, causing them to wince and cover their ears, and then it was followed by a shattering blast that shook the old building and knocked them off their feet. They scrambled to their feet to see half of the bathroom blown off to reveal the night sky outside. Both of them stood there wondering what had caused the explosion and who was going to emerge next. After ten seconds, nobody showed up. Akoma frowned.

"So what was all this - ?" she began to say, but she had hardly completed her statement when the floor underneath shook and caved in without warning. Both of them fell down one floor below amidst concrete and dust. Luckily, they only suffered minor contusions from the fall. Just when Poku sat up, something whizzed towards him and narrowly missed his eye if he had not dodged quickly. He glanced at it and saw that it was a dagger in a wooden cupboard standing against the wall. He turned his head quickly to the direction it came from and narrowed his eyes at a gentleman dressed in a grey suit with green shirt and black tie, heavily polished shiny shoes and short curly hair, clean-shaven and very good looking. His eyes had a cold blue colour that gave them a hostile instead of charming touch because of how set his jaw was and the scowl on his face. With his left hand in his pocket and the other cracking its knuckles, he did not appear like the thrower of that dagger at all. Akoma coughed and scrambled to her feet, feeling her backside aching badly.

"I'm Agent D," he said in a booming voice. "You have nowhere else to go. Surrender now or die."

Poku rose to his feet and grabbed Akoma's arm. Akoma looked up and saw another gentleman dressed the same way staring down at them through the hole in the ceiling from the top floor. They could hear the sound of people screaming from other rooms below them. Suddenly, two doors opened on the left and right side of the room, and two more men in suits appeared. At this point, being cornered was an understatement for Akoma and Poku; both of them were defenceless against four obviously stronger cyborgs from Ex Vivo's latest upgrade and could have some surprises up their sleeves.

As Akoma stood back to back with Poku with her hand in his, she still found it hard to believe that Ex Vivo agents had come for her when cyborg Poku had told her in his last message that Felix did not need her anymore until she had found the storage media useful. Was it possible that someone had tipped them off about the storage media?

"What do you want?" Akoma asked, and Poku shushed her. "What?"

Agent D cocked his head and took a few steps closer. "My understanding of your question informs me that there is something that you have that you believe must have brought us to you. I perceive that as your conscience making you hurriedly divulge a secret that will prove useful." He smirked and put out a hand. "Give it to me now."

"What are you talking about?" Akoma asked, and Poku rolled his eyes.

"Goodness. Now they know we have it. Well done," he whispered between gritted teeth without looking at Akoma.

A pair of thin rays of red light began to flash over Akoma and Poku's bodies from above, and they both looked up to see the suited man upstairs scanning them with glowing red eyes. When he was done, his eyes returned to their normal dark and he jumped down the hole to the floor below, causing Akoma and Poku to step away. "They have it," he nodded at Agent D and said.

"Hand it over," Agent D beckoned to them. "Let's not turn this - rickety building into an old slaughterhouse. Please. I respect myself." He tugged at the front of his suit. "Nice and slow. Come on."

Poku glared at him and shook his head. "No," he said.

Agent D shrugged and said, "OK. Kill her. Get rid of him." The agents reacted quickly by closing in on them with their right arms held above their heads. In a series of clicks, Akoma and Poku watched their arms reassemble into long blades.