THE AFTERMATH

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

KAEM

0400 HOURS

I am pacing aimlessly up and down the corridors. I am sweating profusely and refuse to be calmed down. This has been one hell of a night and I swear to God let there be no one who dies today. In fact let it be me because I can't live to watch or learn that something remotely happened to Alina and there was nothing I could do to help. I am going to kill someone tonight. She better be okay.

Fifteen minutes later I find myself in the gym room at the end of the hallway in the loft of the briefing room. I am naked chest up with the exception of the boxing gloves tightly fitting my clenching fists. I continuously and forcefully land punches on the punching dummy until the sweat is drenching down my naked body dripping and wetting my shorts to the core.

If it wasn't for my perfectly muscle toned body, I would have said that this sweat is a representation of fat screaming and weeping as it burns away from my body. I swap and set sprinting speed on the treadmill. I am giving myself time to think and make a plan about Alina. There is no way I am just going to sit and relax in the hope that she will come back alive.

The hell it has already been an hour since she was abducted. No one knows where they went to. Our team was swamped and overwhelmed when the gangsters showed up at the pickup point so they couldn't follow the Range rover that took her. How did they know where and when to be in the first place? I wonder.

I barely hear Chad shouting at me as I continue running my sorrows away on the treadmill. I shout at him when he forcefully aborts the program and the treadmill comes to a halt in less than a few minutes.

Me: What the hell man!

Chad: Stop it Kaem! Think man. You are no use to her when you are like this. Come on, the chopper just arrived. Michael is here.

I literally jump from the machine as I hurriedly make my way to the interrogation room. I feel anger blushing through my face distracting my breathing movements. The bile and corrosive acids inside my stomach are boiling and rising ferociously as I continue forcing them down before I vomit the wrath in me. Chad tries to pull me back to drill some sense into my stubborn head but he fails.

Never try stopping a man in love!

I bang the door to the room forcing it to open widely to its maximum capacity.

No one dares to stop me this time. I slow down my pace and constantly wipe down the sweat that is still forming on my forehead. Everything is slowed down to a standstill as I come face to face with Michael.

I breath and find myself involuntarily spitting to the ground. When I move an inch closer to him, he looks damn scared and confused. I don't wait to hear what he wants to say when he opens his mouth as I punch him to the face repetitively for what I could count to be four ruthless blows.

When two of our guys manage to pull me back, I look down and sadly watch Michael crawled up on the floor partying with his dam of tears and pee I guess.

"That is for putting Alina in danger!" I swiftly make my way out of the room as I go to my office.

I fail to make it to my leather chair so I just pool down to the floor right behind my closed door. Hugging my flexed knees which are supporting my now heavy chin and head, I let out a loud cry and for what last to be a few minutes, I allow myself to feel scared. I am afraid, I taste vulnerability for the first time and my tongue feels burnt by the touch of it.

This is what it feels like to deeply care for someone, I am intrigued at the realization. I grieve for the loss of my wife as I also let her go for good. I welcome tears of care as the new overwhelming feeling of loving Alina engulfs me to a deeper end which I don't want to come out from.

I am going to find her!

*** *** ***

To say things didn't go as planned will be an understatement. One minute we were celebrating as our IT crew managed to trace the call made by Alina to Michael in time to point his exact location. The next minute, our crew on the ground reported an ambush.

In as much as it is the least of my concerns now, the good thing is after a thorough interrogation by our specialist psychologist, Michael gave us tonnes of information that could help the agency to make some arrests and put some Drug Lords out of the streets.

After fine contemplation we figured out that Joe and his crew had planted a bug in John who worked under cover with them. It means they had busted him so all this while they listened in to all our conversations and plans. That is why they were way ahead of us and right on time.

The fingerprints from Alina's place matched most of Joe's crew members. They thought they would catch her in time but I guess they were late. One most important finding from Michael's recorded video is also positive identification of the Gauteng police commissioner which implicates him with the murder of the minister of state.

Our team managed to grab him around 6 am when he was still sleeping at his home. Joe was busted shortly before his private jet had taken off or otherwise we would have missed him. Several other arrests of the crew members have been successful.

1600 HOURS

Joe is still in our custody as we primarily are demanding for release of Alina and Chael. Joe is literally taking his chances because he seems to be proposing a negotiation. He wants an exchange. He is proposing that one life for another. This in simpler terms means that Alina and Chael can be released in exchange of him and Michael.

The reason why he wants Michael is obviously not to resume their relationship or to make amends. He wants to kill him since he has of late become a state witness against him.

My boss, Chad and other three top ranking agents including me are deliberating on this proposition. For everyone else it is as simple as rejecting his offer since it has taken us forever to gain enough solid evidence to put him away as we have right now.

On the contrary, I am suggesting a whole lot different approach. Seeing that our efforts to locate Alina has been unfruitful for the past nine or more hours in the least, we should gamble on his offer. I have a feeling we can still grab him and help Michael in the process. We argue and argue endlessly. Our aggregate attention is drawn by Michael's voice from the door.

"I can do it" He sounds so firm and sure.

Everyone's attention is focused on him and I finally break the silence

"Do you understand what you are talking about Michael?"

It seems he swallows some saliva and clears his dry throat

"I understand that it could mean I die in the process. I don't mind losing my life in the same process that Alina and my son gain a better future. Those are the two most important people in my life. Why would I want to be saved if they are crawling in danger and darkness? Make the trade if there is a slightest chance that the two of them can come out of this alive."

In the midst of all this uneasiness I had still managed to find time to sit down with Michael prior. We discussed about his son and I also apologized for punching him earlier on. He took it lightly than I imagined. In his words he said, 'I am glad someone beat me for it. I was still going to hit myself at some point too'.

The rest of the day, everyone prepares thoroughly for the exchange scheduled at 2200hours tonight.