THE NEXT TWO DAYS

Part Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     There was no traffic on the way and with the way he drove, he got to Onitsha in less than twenty minutes. He had made one stop at a house a bit far from the underground house. There he switched to another car. Wild had once used the place as a hide out. Wild had given George and him the location in case they needed it. He had left after the drug took over. He knew she would be furious but he had to drug her because he did not trust her to keep to her words. He was at Nkissi because that was where their underground house was.
Once inside, he brought out his smaller tool box. It was now two hours since he left Tamed and from his calculation, Tamed needed three to four more hours and he knew Nick must be searching for him on that route and he was not willing to risk Tamed being discovered. Just before the long distance cut off his tracking of the documents, which was few minutes ago, Tamed had not been attacked. He knew because there had not been any stop. There were so many ways of revealing his location but he had only one option. He was dealing with highly trained and intelligent people and if he were to reveal his location by switching on his mobile and internet, they would know something was up. The best way was to use his small tool box and attempt hacking into the company’s website hoping it would backfire. With that, his location would be revealed. He also needed to find out who was at the other side. He had not gotten any time to test the skills of the other hacker. He knew from the very first time he attempted sending the documents that it was mainly the document that had the issue not just the fact that all the Circle Team’s phone were hacked. He had downloaded what George sent and did not bother to open it, he had just sent it to Major Ahmed when his email was hacked. The document looked like an encrypted file. Normally, a file like that could not be opened except the original file was inserted in the system but this one was a big puzzle for him. The kind of encryption it had was connected to the internet. It could be transferred but would not open. Even knowing no one could open the document without using the original flash drive, this hacker still hacked all their Emails and somehow knew their IMEI. The information was Nick’s doing but how he was able to do what he did in less than thirty minutes was not yet resolved. That was why he could not find a straight answer for Cindy because he did not have some of the answers himself. He only knew that Major Ahmed was attacked the moment he went online. Was Nick trying to eliminate his biggest threat?
       First, he located the domain the attack on his email came from, then he attempted logging into the BlueAI Company’s website using codes as one of their worker. He failed with the first attempt and that was enough. They would try to backtrack to where the attack came from and his location would be discovered. He did not even wait long, his screen changed from green to red. Some codes started appearing. The guy was trying to hack into his tool box. He watched closely, looking at the format the hacker was using and saving it in his memory for later use. It took less than thirty seconds and his tool box was no longer his. The hacker was good, too good. The hacker's programming language was better than Python which was the best programming language for hacking. With the hacker gaining control of his tool box, they would know he was the one trying to gain access to their company because his photo and George’s photo and some other information were there. He watched his screen being operated. First, the hacker opened his document with the name classified, and then he opened another file that had Biafra inside. The whole file was wiped off. He left the hacker to continue with what he was doing. He now knew how he worked. He would just take everything back using a reverse method and not just the control of his tool box. Knowing that Tamed would not get any distraction, he picked their secured phone from his big bag. The phone was like a Nokia touch phone. It was too limited but helpful. That was the phone he used to send the areas they should search for the bombs. He needed to find out if they had succeeded in defusing at least one of the bombs. Even though the line was supposed to be secured, he could not risk contacting Wild. He was with Major Ahmed. He was very sure Nick was behind the compromise and he was not going to risk exposing Major Ahmed’s location. For all he knew, their secured line must have been compromised by now knowing Nick must have revealed more about the Special Force. Apart from Nick, there were others that were working for the BlueAI Company but he was very sure none of them belong to his team The Circle. Out of all his Circle colleagues, he knew the right person he could risk contacting. He switched on his phone. The network was back. He could not check to find out how long it took the hacker to restore network but he was sure it was not up to an hour.
‘Hey Ghost, find the bomb?’ he wrote the words backward. That was their simple method of communication.
He waited to see if Ghost would receive the message. The message changed from one good sign to two. He was right to contact Ghost. He just knew that among the few who would still have their secured line on, Ghost would be one of them. He did not wait long to get a response.
‘Nah, we’ve combed the locations you sent but nothing, that company is a bomb in concealing weapons. Glad to know you guys are safe.’
That sent a piercing pain to his chest. None of them, apart from Major Ahmed and Wild, knew George was dead.
‘I’m on plan B. You know this line is probably not secured anymore and some killers may be on their way to you now.’
‘You mean I will soon be sending some guest to the Underworld can’t wait.’   
‘Stay safe’ he sent his last message and switched off the phone.
He had the information he needed. As for Ghost, he was exactly his name. He was a former pick pocket. None of them in Circle Team have ever found Ghost, Ghost always found them. If you saw Ghost it meant he wanted you to see him.
He had now confirmed what he had earlier believed. Those bombs were BlueAI’s best. They had never been tested before and it looked like Nigeria was their testing ground. If all their equipment could not lead them to the exact location of the bomb without a direct map, then Nigeria was in big trouble.
              He went back to check his small tool box. It was off. He tried switching it on but nothing happened. The hacker had crashed his small tool box. There was no time to analyze what the hacker did, he needed to get out the underground house fast. He gathered back all the things he removed from his bag including his real tool box. He left the fake one that was just crashed.
He drove to the Main Market, his temporal destination. He had to plan his form of attack and also he needed rest. He was already tired and worn out, and if he was going to carry out his planned attack he would need all his strength. He drove into an old bungalow located at the middle of Bida Road area which only he and George knew the location. Major Ahmed had once taught them that the best place to hide is within the crowd. They had stacked up weapons inside knowing there would be a battle. When they were fully investigating, they went to their temporally camp at Obosi where George died, sometimes they went to Akwukwa. When they were not investigating, they lived like human beings. There was no furniture, it was a two bedroom flat. Underneath the two rooms were weapons they had modified. The sitting room had their bed and clothes. George’s bag was still hanging on the wall. He ignored the pain in his chest and went straight for a shower.
He ate some sandwich he had prepared at the underground house in Asaba. That reminded him of Cindy, not that she had ever left his mind. He checked his wristwatch, there was no movement, she was still sleeping. He wore his spectacle and switched to Flight 10. After monitoring his environment and finding nothing suspicious, he brought out his tool box. When this was over, he was going to wipe that company out of the internet. But he was not going to do that now. He had so many plans to lay out. He needed to know the current location of the faceless leader. He was at Obosi but that was all he and George knew. That was after they had succeeded in infiltrating their last meeting. They had no knowledge of his exact hideout and he must find it. If he could eliminate the faceless leader, the war would never happen. From what he and George gathered, the man was with the phone and the phone was programmed with voice command. He was the only one that could operate the phone. Killing him meant killing a large army. He was always and heavily protected. The only weapon he knew would do the work would be Tracking Point.  Once he knew his location, he would get to a high point and with Tracking Point he would send a targeted missile which he was already setting using his tool box. Now was not the time to go out in search of the faceless leader’s location, they must be looking for him now. He was too tired to fight and he knew from henceforth, he would not be fighting amateurs. He would be fighting the Biafran Forces and the BlueAI company men. Probably people trained like him.
After finishing his set up, he went to confirm the weapons. They were still there. The most important thing he needed at that point was a long rest.
  He woke up the next day by 7:30AM. He felt refreshed and strengthened. He dug out the weapons he needed and started installing them. He was through within an hour. He carried everything he needed to another car, which was parked at the back of the house.
After one hour search, he had not yet located Faceless. He had wanted to contact Ghost again to find out how things were going on over there, but he changed his mind. It was too risky. They would be busy trying to defuse those bombs and fighting those placed to protect it. He had a huge doubt they would be successful before the time ran out.
So far, he had sighted many Biafran soldiers and also some of the company’s mercenaries but Flight 10 had not been able to locate his target. After another thirty minutes search, he changed direction. He was now sure the man he was looking for was not there after Flight 10 sent him an image of the known leader. He had one more place to check. That was Akwukwa at Ndemili South. He could get there in less than thirty minutes if he drove fast. He got there at exactly 10:30AM. He saw some of the Biafran soldiers. He was still on track, he tried circulating discretely to try find his target’s location before Flight 10 met up with him. After a long survey, avoiding the attention of the soldiers, his wristwatch made a sound diverting his attention. He clicked on the button making the sound. It was coming from Asaba. There was someone at the underground house. He was sure it was Nick. After some time, Cindy’s location was no longer static. She was on the move. Fear he never knew existed gripped him.
“Please, don’t open” he said in his mind.
But something told him, it was not an ordinary soldier that was there. It was Nick the strategist. He had once witnessed Nick convince a kidnapper to kill himself in one of the missions they were sent together. Nick knew he must have left Cindy there and he must have changed the password, yet he still went there. There could be only one reason. He had a plan, a plan that would make Cindy open the door for him. For the first time in his twenty six years on earth he wished he was wrong, he wished nothing would make Cindy open the door, and most importantly, he wished it was not Nick, but the more he wished, the more his fear increased.