Ex Officio (#3 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 6

The Vice President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Asafo Agyei Woode, opened his eyes at the sound of his phone buzzing in the breast pocket of his shirt. He sat up slowly and answered the call without caring to check who it was. This was a sign of confidence based on his smart move of securing a secret phone number and phone while overseas on a vacation with only his personal aide, who doubled as his bodyguard too. He had called in sick and requested for immediate flight to the United Kingdom for medical attention not long after his daughter had gone missing with an 'Ex Gratia' agent disguised as an Ex Vivo Boo. Somehow, he succeeded in keeping his wife from following him to where he was going, and this was something that mattered to him because the sick call was a detour to get him some private time with his new found love.

He did not feel any inappropriateness about having his sorrows drowned by the sights and sounds of Dubai, the beautiful scenery of Barj Al Arab Hotel at a distance from his spot on Umm Suqeim Beach where he had fallen asleep. He was basking ecstatically under the Dubai sun as though it could change his DNA, and his pot belly was bare to allow some ventilation. He did not remember the last time he had brooded over the tension between his wife and him over their lost daughter. There were even times that he found himself goofing over the thought that he was even a leader of his country, seeing that all the administration and executive decisions had really chained him from having a good life beyond the shores of his suffering nation.

Who would want to sit in a hot office sweating under the pressure of dealing with a spiking public debt of over one hundred and eighty billion Ghana Cedis, a crumbling economy, grade D minus national security and witch hunts when they had a bodyguard with a beautiful body with them on a secret vacation at one of Dubai's finest beaches? He was definitely in a heaven that was certainly not anything like any presidential luxury in his homeland.

What about the president? The President? President George Kyei-Mensah was probably eating noodles at a meeting with the Chinese President over immigration issues, so the Chief Justice was surely doing a good job filling in for both of them in their absence.

The Vice President took off his shades and sighed with a wide smile on his face, and then he remembered that he had picked the call and had not spoken. "Hello?" he said.

"Good day, sir." It was one of the pilots of his private jet. The Vice President cleared his throat and listened. "Your Excellency – um – the plane's all set to return to Ghan – "

"Do you want me to fire you?" the Vice President hissed and clenched a fist. The mention of the name of his country suddenly made him feel malaise all over. "Huh? What is the meaning of all this?"

"Um – Your Excellency, we discussed this two days ago. Perhaps you must have forgot – "

"Are you insinuating that I have short-term memory? I think I should fire you!"

The pilot tried to protest but hesitated and only made a soft sound in his throat, and then he sighed. "My apologies, Your Excellency. I am ready whenever you are."

"We will go back only when my personal aide says so! Until then, I don't have any business in that country." The Vice President ended the call abruptly and turned the phone off to avoid any further disturbances. The thought of returning seemed to have dishevelled him so severely that he could not find peace within himself for the next few minutes. He found himself hyperventilating and started looking around him wildly as though suffering a panic attack.

"Relax, my king," came the soothing voice of the only woman who was powerful enough to make the Vice President do anything she wanted. The Vice President shut his eyes and anticipated her touch, and it did not disappoint. Her hands slid over his shoulders from behind, over his chest, her slender fingers brushed over his nipples and then rested on his belly as she breathed upon his neck and kissed his cheek. He could smell her fragrance so closely and this started to calm him down. "All is well," she whispered and chuckled. The Vice President smiled and held her right hand firmly. "Having a good time?" she asked. He nodded. "Good boy. Nobody's going to take your happiness away from you. OK?" He nodded childishly. The lady stroked him on the right cheek and walked around the beach chair to sit on his laps.