My Third Cycle

13. The wait

Bayo

Bayo and Lola walked into air Raven's headquarters. Their ride down to the HQ had been the most pleasant time the two had shared in a very long time. They had discussed different possibilities and theories, Lola had
also expressed her fascination with his father. claiming to have multiple
questions that needed answers, awed at the fact he had lived three cycles on this earth, and had been unusually talkative. Bayo began to remember how much fun she had been back in the days. He’d found her irresistible, and he smiled to himself as he realized he still did.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked, as she'd turned to find a smile on his face.

He smiled even harder, exposing his white teeth. “I find you irresistible that’s all.”

“Oh! Flirtation.” She responded, narrowing her eyes. “You keep that up and I’m going to find it irresistible
to violently wipe off your smile.”

Just when they found a rhythm, the cab driver informed them they had reached their destination.

At the headquarters, Bayo and Lola walked straight to the receptionist and flashed their reporters’ passes. The receptionist directed them to the manager. The manager --a slim, tall, elderly, aristocratic-looking man--warmly welcomed them into his mildly furnished office claiming to be an ardent fan of Lola's show. He offered them coffee which they declined and went straight to business.

Bayo allowed Lola do the talking, she had a way with elderly men. She explained why they were there and how important the investigation was. While she questioned him, Bayo’s busy eyes fell on the cartons of pagers arranged on a shelf.

Bayo immediately interrupted, “That's quite a lot of pagers.”

“Well yes,” he replied, picking at his well groomed beards “Every member of our staff is assigned one. They are to carry it at all times.”

“If a pager is on, is the signal traceable?”

The manager was quiet for a couple of seconds “Yes, I believe each pager emits its own special frequency, if the pager is on, we can search for its frequency by sending it messages. If we find its frequency, we can trace it to its source.”

Bayo stamped his feet in excitement and regarded Lola with an  "I-can't-believe-you're-going-to-steal-all-my-hard-work" expression.

“ A Deal's a deal.” She shrugged smugly, correctly reading the look on his face.

They turned to the manager, “how do we trace it?”

“A radio scanner. I have one here, all you need is the ID of the pager you are searching for”. He opened his drawer and handed us a list showing the Pager ID of each member of his staff.

Lola drew a little closer to him, “Can we borrow the machine and the list,I promise we'll return it as soon as we're through.” she pleaded, widening her beautiful already wide eyes, and fluttering her lashes a couple times.

“Of course.” Mr Abiola responded. Looking a little dazed, he handed the box containing the radio scanner to Lola and she gave it to Bayo. They thanked the manager and departed.

******

  June 23rd, 7pm

Bayo and Lola returned to the apartment with renewed vigor. Bayo explained that they had gotten a new lead. The airline assigned each member of the staff a pager with a unique ID and a signal that could be traced. If Zaleka/Ola was with hers, we could trace it, searching for its frequency after sending it a message. I was glad we finally got a lead, my son was truly brilliant. I’d had enough brandy while waiting anxiously with Lisa and at this point, we were a bit tipsy and famished.