GHOST (The Shadow in the Dark)

Part Forty

"No, I am not through" I protested.
"Not through with what?"
He was laughing, my face must be looking funny.
"I'm not true with the video."
"But that's the end now."
"What's wrong with Jason?"
"There is nothing wrong with him, he is abnormal like us."
"Okay what is abnormal about him?"
"He is partially autistic."
"He doesn't look like one. There is a way they look. I've watched many autistic films."
"That's is why he is autism is partial. He just doesn't look like them, that was why his parents, even though both were doctors could not figure out why he always screamed."
"Were?"
"They are late."
"But not all have contact issue."
"That is what I said before. But he has contact issue, he hates bright colors and noise."
"But he is married."
"Yeah, somehow he found the one threaded to him. He is better now. He can talk unlike before when he spoke once in months and just a word. As long as his miracle, Cindy is around, he can talk but not touch. He can also hold his twins without feeling the wrong sensation but that was all till AI was born. At first, he believed Wolf and held Hadiya's hand. Next thing, we saw him grabbing Cindy. Cindy had to use her hand to rub the hand he used to contact Hadiya. His case is very rare, and his group hardly have a normal life but Major made him into a lethal weapon. He met him when he paid a visit to his school in search of computer gurus. He was able to convince him to join the military when he discovered Jason could easily hit a target. He subjected him to a lot."
"What of Geoffrey?"
"Another weird and rare case. Normally autism according to researches, shows itself from around eighteen months, some two years, some later than that and it is not heredity. But you know medicine sometimes is a scam. Medicine cannot explain me or Mark who can stay underwater for long without coming to the surface."
I remembered what he had done at the river.
"Wolf is hyper alert, that is, his sixth sense is overdrive. He senses danger from afar, he can sense emotions and use it to read what your mouth will never say. His father already started calling him Wolf even before he joined the military. Then his daughter has same thing. Fast is unique in his way. Nobody taught him how to drive anything including a helicopter. When we went for training in USA, he flew their fighter jet they said required years of training to fly."
"You are serious?"
I just had to pause him there.
"Have you heard of calendar brain?"
I shook my head.
"At least that one is a bit known. Medicine also has no explanation. It's rare but some people are born with the ability to tell you a date without checking the Calendar. Like if you mention any date from any year, they can tell you the day. Major has that but he did not transfer to Sabrina, don't know why. Major developed it to his strength. His brain is a diary and he hardly talks because he is observing, recording and saving. That's what prompted him to develop a team like him. As for Sabrina, she is just skilled with reflex and acrobat, then she is very balanced. She can land from a high place and won't move an inch."
"I had a glimpsed, with heels."
He chuckled.
"Is that the death dance?"
"Nope. That was a child's play."
I really did not want to know the death dance.
"Beast is very strong. It is legendary to his family, traced back to his three great grandfather. No female was also recorded but they were immersed with natural strength and they hunted deadly animals, Beast is the first to hunt humans. The rock he moved during his set's USA training is still unmoved by anyone. Wild is in a world of his own. I can't explain him so don't ask me. Just know he can make you feel what he wants you to feel and he uses your mind to decide what to do with you. Let's just skip him please. You already know my own. That's is my world Ella. My family and my world."
I understood what he meant by giving me a weapon I could use against him. But I still had questions.
"You have not yet explained Geoffrey, he is already on gloves."
"I said his case is super rare. Jason was very ready to handle it in case any of the twins took after him. It is not supposed to be hereditary but from the day he was born, he cried a lot and it became worse as he grew. Jason made anyone carrying him to wear gloves and that was how he stopped crying. They are now two years and AI is a year plus. George can talk and you will hear him clearly but Geoffrey does not talk except with his dad and it's non-verbal communication. I named it autistic language. He can communicate with figures using a tab and he loves solving puzzles and numbers attract him. You won't believe but that dude can communicate with numbers. You know some computer languages are in numbers."
I nodded. They gave me headaches. My laptop once started showing numbers when I'd switched it own. I could not understand anything. I had to take it to be fixed and the guy said I pressed escape key while switching it on.
"Just take something like that, place it before him, especially if the programming is not in order. He will rearrange it for you in minutes and God help you if the rearrangement will harm or destroy something. He crashed Fast's computer because Fast wanted to test him. He also recovered Wolf's files by reordering the numbers in his system. Jason found a way to get to him through that. He teaches him and he understands because he uses puzzle to teach him."
"So he is like his dad?"
"Or worse because Jason was not even that good at ten. Wild believes Jason is the influence here."
"And he can't talk."
"No he can talk, just doesn't. We were worried until AI fell and Geoffrey said sorry and asked her if she was feeling pain. I thought they switched their band but George also spoke. He just doesn't want to talk. They always act like AI big protective brother. You won't be allowed to touch AI except they give you a pass."
I started laughing.
"I can just ignore them if I fail their screening."
"They will fight you."
He was serious.
"They are just two."
He took the tab from me.
"Watch the last video I wanted to show you about my world."
I took the tab from him.
"This is from yesterday. We have eyes everywhere in the compound, to monitor them. This is a typical morning in our second fortress. Our first is in Abuja. That's where I have been but our second fortress is like our reality show house because every morning they lighten up our day, no matter where we are, we just connect and watch them life."

It was true, the compound I dreamt about. Two houses, one bigger than the other, a swimming pool, a mini gym."
"The orchard is behind the small house" he whispered to my ears sending heat to my body.
"And the tunnel?"
"You can't see it now, it's behind the mini boxing ring. It leads to Wolf's house. The smaller house is Beast's house the other one is Jason's house." But the both houses were big just that Jason's house was bigger than Beast's house.
The twins were running out of the bigger house. There were so many children cars. They climbed one each and started driving but stopped when they saw AI running out from the other house door, there was no one with her. She was so cute, fair like her dad but she did not resemble him nor her mum.
"She took after her grandmother" Ghost answered my unasked question.
She was not slim, not fat, not chubby but potty cheeks with that big beautiful clear eyes. Her hairs were packed into three balls. She ran to them. They hugged her pecking her cheek.
"How are you cutie?"
"George" Ghost and I said at the same time.
He was rubbing her hair. His voice was too sharp for a two year old. A huge dog was following her. It almost looked like a wolf.
"That's a wolf dog known as Siberian husky."
I nodded.
"GG, AI."
It was Pearl.
"She is ten."
I nodded.
They all ran towards her except Geoffrey who was rubbing his face on the dog's face. The dog was very excited.
"Puppy and Geoffrey" Pearl shouted after pecking George and AI.
The dog's name should be puppy. They both ran to receive their hugs but Pearl was careful of where she touched Geoffrey. There was so much love that I could feel it but most especially, I wanted to carry AI.
"Are you ready?"
Only George shouted yes but all followed Pearl including the dog. It did not take long to know what Pearl was asking about. They followed her to a field. It was as if the camera was following them. I wanted to ask about their parents but kept quiet. I could not believe what I was seeing. They were practicing karate and screaming along with Pearl, only Geoffrey was not screaming. It was both funny and scary because they were good, although AI was making me laugh. AI was really following along with her cute white and pink pajamas and very balanced. But Pearl was something else. She reminded me of one film I watched, Karate kid acted by Will Smith's son. The camera moved away from them and I saw the adults working on the garden. I could glimpse the orchard although not fully. There was a gate leading to a vast yam farm. Beast, Jason, Wolf and one elderly lady were clearing weeds from the ridges. There was also melon, beans and groundnut plants.
"That's Beast second mother."
"I did not see her at the hospital."
"She was preparing food for Beast's wife. Beast loves farming especially yam and the garden is not big enough so Jason had to release more lands. Before you ask, his parents left vast amount of land. There is so much to do every morning."