THE AFTERMATH

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KAEM

1200 HOURS  

My car is safely parked in the parking bay and I grab my ID, phone and iPad. I notice my cell phone battery needs recharging and it is the first thing I do before I go to Chad's office. Banging into Chad's office without knocking, I growl.

Me: This better be good man, you just disturbed my most needed sleep

Chad: Tell that to the boss.

He laughs and makes fun of me.

Chad: Your eyes are even drooping. What happened last night?

Me: Nothing exciting. Just the usual. You know Emergency room drama. So what have you got?

It takes almost five minutes for Chad to explain to me the information he got. He confirms my suspicions that Chael was indeed Michael's son from an illegitimate affair because he was still with Alina then. Apparently the mother passed away mysteriously three years back. No substantive cause of death was recorded.

According to Chad's Intel, Michael was seen with the woman about four months before she was found dead near her homestead but nothing could be pointed to him or connects him with Roselyn's death. This kid has been putting up with his granny who seems to be struggling with life anyway.

I in turn explain to Chad everything that has been going on especially with the recent turn up of missing events of Michael. My boss calls me in before we get time to discuss this issue further. Besides, Chad suggested that we look at it together with one of is very good friends who is an expert in private investigations.

My meeting with the boss takes longer than I anticipated. It has been two hours already so our lunches have been delivered to us in the briefing room. The reason why I was included in these operations is that hospitals are an easy ground for drug smugglers as they take advantage of flow of pharmaceuticals.

Two years ago, our Pharm Tech was locked up after we busted him with two tonnes of cocaine molded onto pills which he distributed as medicines in the pharmacy. I am very alert and have my ears on the ground when it comes to drug exchanges.

As such, I am actually surprised to hear that within my region of operation, there is a high alert suspicion of medical drugs moving in the underground market. One of our agents is pausing as an underground distributor gathering information.

When he joins us in the meeting, he edifies the skeleton information we already have and adds that something else is going on in the radar but he doesn't know what it is exactly. When he mentions that one of the operation leaders is very distracted to an extent that he jeopardized a distribution because he is looking for a runaway partner who is gay, it catches my attention.

"Do you have a name John?" I interject him

"Joe Huggins, he is colored. The owner of Joy Pub clubs" He explains

"Is Michael Pasi the partner?" I ask

He is surprised but confirms and adds,

"Yes Kaem. Do you have some information on him? I think whatever he has is big to implicate Joe somehow. In fact we need to get to him before the gang does. It could be lucrative and enticing evidence to send away those thugs!"

I am amused and shocked. Of all things I would have never guessed Michael could be involved in drugs.

Everyone's attention is redirected to me so I again explain from the beginning. This meeting ends up involving a lot other people as we try and contemplate on the best way to tackle this. The biggest drawback now is no one knows for sure what Michael is running away from and no one knows where he is for sure. We all agree that our questions can only be answered by hearing from Michael himself so we pull and gather every resource that we can get to try and locate him.

Oh boy! The man knows how to ghosts himself. His credit card was last used three weeks back when he withdrew a large sum of amount from his bank.

2000 HOURS 

Another name with a Pasi pulls on screen showing a transaction done in Pretoria earlier today. It is not Michael, it is Alina's name. I panic and fish for my cell phone in the pocket only to realise that I don't have it. I rush back to my office and pluck it out of the charger. Damn it! Her number is not available. I ask Chad to track her cell phone using her serial number and my forehead starts drooping with sweat droplets as I figure out that she in in transit. With a lot of unanswered questions, I stop thinking and rush to her place in the hope that she is still there and maybe someone else has her phone or something.

2200 HOURS

I am now leaving Alina's place heading back to the office. There has been a sudden and interesting turn out of events from the moment I got here. When I arrived, the gate was wide open and disengaged. The door handle was broken and there was no-one inside. Everything was turned upside down. Clothes and drawers were haphazardly thrown all over the place.

It seems somebody was here and I can bet that they were looking for something. I start to panic thinking that Alina was kidnapped or even worse. With drug dealers anything is possible. The forensic team is still doing their job and fingerprints will be run later at the office but we don't have confirmation yet if Alina was grabbed, from the place. Her car is not in the garage.

I let out a sigh of relief when my other partner at the office calls to say that Alina's car has been spotted at the Beitbridge border. I am now back at the office when I figure out that people have decided to use Alina as bait for Michael. When I was concentrating on the mess at her place, more information came up on Alina.

Apparently she received a call in the afternoon which was welcomed by the team as their biggest clue and break for the case. When the voice recognition test was run, it matched Michael as the caller and since Alina is headed to Zimbabwe, it is obvious to assume that she is meeting him somewhere.

I know where all this is going but I am honestly mad and fuming.

"You can't use her as bait guys. We all know how this ends. Abort this operation now!"

I am even shouting but no one seems to be listening to me.

As I keep making noise about it, another alert comes in from the passport office when Alina pulls a fake passport for Chael. My boss immediately calls and instructs them to let her pass and proceed. We already have the Zimbabwean team on standby to follow her to where she is possible meeting Michael.

"That's it then! I am going to Zimbabwe right now!"

"Pull yourself together Kaem! What is it about this woman?" my boss shouts back at me and forces me to sit down in the chair.

"I love her!"

It barely comes out as a whisper and the room goes dead silent except for the chipping sound coming from the exquisite computers, complex machines and screens on the walls of this underground unit.

Barely a second later have I shouted again, "I love the damn woman! And I will be damned if anything happens to her tonight. I swear to God I will kill people if she even loses a strand of hair doing this!"

My boss starts laughing endlessly as my colleagues join in, he gets up and pats my shoulder as he gloats, "You see the reason why we recruit single men?" He laughs again and excuses himself. Before he close the door behind him, he affirms, "We have got you Kaem! Don't worry"

Time seems to be at a standstill as we continue to track everything happening and continuously get updates from Zimbabwe side. It is good enough that I know where she is every step of the way but bad enough that I don't get to see her face as she goes through this trauma. She must be scared.