THE NEXT TWO DAYS

Part Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen
     She had been in a dark room for some time and no one had shown up. Faceless had called one of the men named Nnamdi to take her to his room because he had plans for her.
“You only need to be in one piece and that does not mean I can’t have fun” he had said.
She had tried fighting Nnamdi but her handcuff prevented her from doing anything. Nnamdi had pushed her into the dark room and before she could get to the door, it was shut. She had been laced with fear since then. Though she could not see the face of Faceless, she was sure he was pissed off. The room was too dark and she had sat down after kicking a wood. Her leg must be swollen. Jason had said Faceless was not the bad guy but he was wrong. She would never allow Faceless touch her. She made up her mind to provoke him enough for him to kill her. She would rather be dead than to be raped by Faceless.
She could somehow understand Faceless anger. Six of his best men dying in less than a minute in the hands of just one person was enough to piss him off. And also, the fact that she was related to his new enemy was enough motivation to get revenge. She tested the handcuff by pulling her hands but she stopped when she felt a piercing pain like something was cutting into her skin.  She was already feeling pains from Nick’s manhandling. Her foot was not exempted and her back was paining her. Her hands were already strained from being pulled back. She shifted her body backward looking for something solid to rest on. Her hands touched what felt like a wall. She immediately rested her back, but her handcuffed hands prevented her from completely resting her body. She closed her eyes, not that opening it was of any use.
She tried to run through what had happened within the last three hours and wondered what she could have done differently that would have resulted to something better. She should have known that opening the door wouldn’t have saved Osamagbe. She should have listened to Jason. He had told her not to open the door no matter what happened. But she had opened it and Osamagbe still died. She was a captive and Jason was going to put himself in serious danger to come for her. Images of Osamagbe’s lifeless eyes staring at her, clouded her mind. She tightened her eyes hoping to stop the image from invading her mind. It was worse than torture. Even if she survived, how was she going to live her life free from the memories of the past hours?  She tried thinking of Jason, maybe that would stop the images. She let her mind travel back to just the day before, when she had been with Jason in the underground house. She had thought things were complicated then, now she knew better. She wished she could go way back to when she was six, when she just had to rest her head on Jason’s chest and everything would be alright. She remembered after she ran inside crying because Mum and Dad found her composition very funny, Jason had been the only one she opened the door for. Mum and Dad had failed in convincing her to open the door. She had shut the door immediately Jason entered using a stool because her hand could not yet get to the bolt. She had thrown herself on Jason and resumed her crying.
“You will feel headache if you continue crying and it makes me mad if you are in pains” Jason had said wiping her tears with his hands.
He had taken her to the bed and within ten minutes she had slept off, her head on her favorite place. She held on to that memory. She was not ready to face reality, she did not want to think about Jason’s current situation. Nick must have told Faceless to text Jason the location. That meant Jason was coming not knowing there was no plan for any hostage exchange. He was going to walk into Nick’s trap and he would be dead because she could not just listen to one simple instruction. The image of Osamagbe came back but not the lifeless face. It was the face begging her to save her. How could she have ignored that face?
There was a noise somewhere, like a door being opened. The image of Osamagbe immediately disappeared as fear took over. She pushed herself closer to the wall hoping the wall would open up and swallow her. There was a sudden influx of light in the room. Even though her eyes were closed, she knew the room was no longer dark. She did not open her eyes but she waited in trepidation. She remembered the snake episode, how it had turned out to be Jason, maybe another miracle had happened and Jason was the one by the door.
She heard footsteps coming towards her, it was getting close. She could now feel the person’s presence. Her fear must be visible because her body was vibrating.
“Jason. Twenty six years. Good in combat because of his ability to predict opponents moves. Best Circle sniper. Can shoot a target from more than a thousand yards without missing. Jason plus George are time bombs with weapons. They remodel any weapon purchased to suit their taste. They can hack into any database and most of their remodeled weapons can be powered with solar energy. And so on. I’ve read all of them.”
It was Faceless that was in the room. He really studied the files Nick gave him. If her situation was not serious she would have thanked him for the information because she was just hearing those information. She kept her eyes tightly closed.
“If I had not witnessed the death of six of my men, I would have found the information in those files funny you know. I now believe Nick was right. But Cynthia. Who are you?”
That got to her as she opened her eyes to look at Faceless. He was sitting on a bed, covered with white bed sheet. She had been resting her back on the wall close to the bed. The room was painted all white. She did not have time to study the room as she was suddenly lifted up by Faceless. His hands were on her throat and she was almost choking.
“I won’t repeat myself again. Who are you?”
“I don’t understand your question” she responded.
She was pushed further into the wall and her hands were taking most of the pain. Faceless increased the pressure on her neck.
“From the information I have, Jason and the dead George had been on an undercover mission in Onitsha.”
He was quizzing tighter. She could almost not feel any air entering her lungs.
“Please…please…” she begged.
“George must have known who I was and told Jason. I believe Jason sent you here to distract me. The George I knew and the picture I saw was different. That was another of George’s skills, he was the best in camouflage. Good with silicone mask cloning.”
“I don’t un..derst..and” she managed to cough out.
She wondered how long she had before she finally stopped breathing. But it felt weird to die without knowing what she was actually being killed for.
“Don’t lie to me” Faceless thundered.
He pushed her down with force. Her knees hit the tiled floor with momentum that she felt the pain in her head before it registered on her knees. Her throat must be sore. She was in pains, the kind she had never experienced before and it was becoming unbearable. She gasp in air simultaneously to recover from the air she had missed. Faceless did not give her time to assimilate the pain as he was back. He bent down and raised her jaw up. No need for mask, he was really pissed off, it was clear in his eyes. The only thing missing was the reason behind his anger. She was sure of one thing, his anger was not connected to his six dead men.
“So Jason sent you, because George is dead. But how did he do it. The technologies I’m seeing these days are driving me crazy. The BlueAI have once showed me a video of someone cloned to look like another person. All they need is just an image and they can recreate a silicone face of that person, and someone could wear it and look exactly like that person. Was that what Jason did with you?” Faceless asked.
“What?” she asked because she had nothing more to say and she was too shocked with the question.
She had seen it in movies but not heard of it happening in real life.  Faceless dropped his hold on her jaw and started laughing. Things were becoming scarier.
“And they thought they were the only owners of that cloning technology. Nick should have given me that classified file earlier. It was boldly there. The real face of George and the face he used for his undercover. They killed one of BlueAI representatives having the same physical qualities with George. In the last meeting I thought I was discussing with Mr Matthew. Even BlueAI were all fooled. If not for Nick my twenty years plan would have gone into the drain. Now it’s you. George must have taken her picture. But how? No one knows except Ebuka and Nnamdi. I think I’m going crazy” Faceless said moving around the room, his hands on his head.
"I am going crazy” he kept on saying.
He was still moving round the room. It was too much to comprehend at once. Jason had said their cover got blown. Could it be the very day they were attacked? She was almost beginning to believe Jason must have covered her face with the face of the person Faceless was talking about. Maybe that was why he drugged her. She turned around to see if there was any mirror. She needed to see her face to confirm. There was no mirror. Safe for a large wardrobe and a door that should lead to the bathroom, the room was absolutely empty. It was all white, even the tiles were white. The wardrobe and the door were the only brown colours. She heard footsteps approaching her and before she could turn, Faceless was already on her. He raised her up and pushed her to the wall, his hands were back on her throat.
“How does it work? Is it worn or operated on. If I cut your face will it pill off?” he shouted.
Before she could react to Faceless rhetorical questions, she felt a sharp pain on her cheek. Faceless was using his sharp fingernails to cut into her skin with his free hand.
“How do I remove this silicone face?”
“Stop it, please stop it. You are hurting me, please” she said already crying from the pains Faceless was inflicting on her.
She felt liquid dripping from the left side of her cheek, close to her ear. This was getting out of hand.
“Then tell me how to remove her face from you. I don’t want to see it.”
“I wish I understand what you are saying.”
“He even dared to give you her name. How dare you wear her face and answer her name” he said holding her throat tighter.
For a split second all pains were forgotten.
“What do you mean by my name? My name is Cynthia, it had always been Cynthia” she struggled to speak.
“You lie, you are wearing her face and answering her name and I’m going to strangle you if you don’t tell me how to pull it off” He thundered.
Again, all pains were forgotten. She was more than confused. She remembered his reaction when he had first seen her. She also remembered the name Mum had called her mum in her diary.
“Did you know my mum?” she coughed out the first thought that came to her mind.
It worked because he released her immediately.
“I look exactly like my mum. She was my age when she gave birth to me” she quickly added before he changed his mind.
She knew part of what she said might not be true. Mum did not write about her mum’s age but she was guessing based on the picture she had seen. It was as if she was the one in the picture. Faceless moved a step backward. His expression was that of shock. She could not see his face but his body movement was enough.
“It’s not possible, it’s not possible, I confirmed before I completely disappeared. Cynthia is dead and there was no baby.” He was shaking his head as if in denial.
“My mum is dead, she died after giving birth to me” She said, hoping she could understand his relationship to his mum.
“It’s not possible. Cynthia was never pregnant and she died in an accident in the North alongside many of the wives of the dead soldiers.”
If she was confused before, she was more confused with Faceless’ new statement. The person she was right now grateful to, was Jason. Jason had told her little about her parents. Maybe Faceless knew her parents and there was no harm in telling him what Jason said.
“My dad was a soldier, his name was Harrison. He died alongside nine other soldiers but my mum ran away from the North after she discovered the soldier’s wives were mysteriously dying one by one. She ran to Benin and only discovered she was pregnant later. She met Jason’s mum, a doctor at the hospital she was visiting for her antenatal. She too was pregnant but lost her baby. My mum made her take me before she died. I swear I’m not wearing any silicone face. Maybe you knew my mum but I’m telling you the truth. I know this because I’ve seen my real dad and mum’s picture in my mum’s diary” she said very quickly.
She waited, tensed and afraid of his reaction. She expected him to hit her for lying but instead he was pulling off his mask. That never ended well. She knew for certain she was about to die. There was no way he would allow her live after seeing his face. She quickly shut her eyes maybe if she refused to see him, she had a chance of surviving. She felt his palms on both sides of her cheek, it was surprisingly warm, and there was no roughness to it. Her body was feeling relaxed on its own but her mind was not.
“How old are you?”
She did not understand his reasons for asking, but if telling him would delay his attack, then she was okay with it.
“I’m twenty.”
There was a long pause, his palms were still on her cheeks.
“Open your eyes” he said after what felt like one dreadful hour of waiting for him to strike.
His voice was surprisingly calm, too calm. There was something in that voice, emotions she could not place. Gradually she opened her eyes. She was frozen on the spot as soon as she saw who was staring back at her. She knew that face. He was older but the face had not changed.
She opened her mouth to speak but only one word could come out.
“Dad?”
I'm not your dad" he answered.