Previously,
Room 39| Chapter 24
So, when Chika arrived at Room 39, her aim was to search for whatever evidence that shows who killed Chukwuma and why. Then, she’d exit immediately. But that was never going to happen, no, at least not as fast as she had imagined. There were several hurdles to cross, and they won’t be as easy as she had imagined.
The first thing to take care of is the presence of anyone inside that Room. The second hurdle would be to find the evidence that shows who killed Chukwuma and why. The third would be to exit the room before Ola, Ejike and Kachi come in. And the fourth would be the security guards in and around the building. It’ll be daytime when she leaves the Room, so it’s a lot more complicated to handle. But first things first, reconnoitre.
Chika still feared that the killer of Chukwuma was still inside the room since the killer hasn’t been found. Maybe he’s trapped inside searching for a way of escape, or he could be inside for the same reason Chika came in – the evidence. Chika was unable to hear what Mbe, Ejike and Ola discussed at the university playground, so she couldn’t tell if one of them was the killer or they were planning on how to get the killer out of Room 39.
She must, first, get acquainted with the new unpredictable environment. She has observed that the colour as she entered was blue, but once she drew her gun it turned red, so she figured out in some way that the Room’s lightning changes are based on movements or actions or something else, but it never remains the same except you’re calm. She thought about turning off that setting but decided not to focus on that now until she’s sure someone else isn’t lurking by the corner to kill her.
She slowly moves around all the rooms not minding the colours that were going bizarre at each turn. Going from one Room to the other, she observes that it felt warmer than her office upstairs, and the source of the heat isn’t from the data storage centre located in one of the cubicles in Room 39. When she got into the Data Centre, the place was very cool. Presumably, because of the work that those devices in that cubicle would be doing, an internal and external cooling system was installed to maintain a certain temperature for optimal performance of the devices.
What convinced her the most about the presence of a living organism in Room 39 was when she touched one of the sofas in the sitting room and perceived that the temperature differed from that of the sofa a few metres away; it was warm. That was when her blood cortisol level rose; her fears that the killer could be inside the Room was founded after all, and she did well to come in with her armoury.
As the next door slid open, Chika was met with a projectile aimed at her forehead. Someone had aimed a round object at her that arrived at such a speed that she couldn’t dodge the bullet. In the process of falling from the impact of the apple fruit that hit her, a bullet mistakenly left the barrel of her pistol. Yes, fortunately, it was an apple fruit that met the forehead of Chika although the impact was much given the short-range.
Chika quickly stood to her feet and hid behind the wall in the adjacent room. When she looked around and saw the object that hit her, she was shocked. ‘How would someone who assassinated Chukwuma be fighting with an apple fruit? Or is it that the assassin has exhausted his bullets and so resorted to a more rudimentary arsenal?’ Chika thought to herself. Anyway, she resolved to be more careful this time. After all, David killed Goliath with a sling and a stone.
As she rose to enter the same room again, another object got fired at her, this time it was a glass cup, which missed its target because Chika was ready this time. As she dodged the glass cup, she was able to see the source of these bizarre weapons and fired a shot in that direction. Her shot missed its target as well. And just before she could fire a second, she heard someone scream, ‘Please stop, please I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry; I’m sorry, I’m innocent. I’m just a young lady, please I’m sorry.’
As Chika drew near to see who it was, she was shocked. Never in her wildest imagination could she have thought that the person in front of her would be found in that room …ever. There was no way she could be there for whatever reason in the entire universe. But there she was, staring at her, in tears, gripped by fear of what her fate will be.
For five seconds Chika didn’t know how to initiate the conversation, she was completely lost. The only thing that could come out of her mouth was, ‘what are you doing here, Jane?’ And obviously, Jane couldn’t answer because she was still in tears. ‘How did you get in here? Is there anyone with you? Anyone holding you captive?’ Chika quizzed further.
‘No, there’s no one with me. I was afraid when I heard the noise of someone in the apartment and I felt it was the man that killed my father. So, I ran into the kitchen to hide.’ Jane says, her voice quavering from days of crying.
‘It’s okay dear. It’s alright. There’s no one else, just the two of us… just the two of us. It’s alright dear.’ Chika embraces Jane, trying to console her. Jane continues to sob as Chika wipes her eyes while looking around the corners of the Room to be sure that no one else was in there with her prior to her arrival.
‘You said that there’s no one here with you, right? ‘ Chika asked
‘Yeah, there’s no one. I’ve been alone for several days here. Maybe up to one week. I can’t even tell anymore.’ Jane responds.
‘One week? How did you get in here in the first place and why haven’t you left?’ Chika asked further.
‘I got in here the night my father was killed’ Jane said.
‘Really? I’ve been calling you since that night until last night, but your phone wasn’t going through.’ Chika says.
‘Yeah. I turned my phone off because I felt that the people that killed my dad would locate me. I’m afraid they’d come after me to kill me just like they killed my dad.’ Jane replies.
‘It’s alright now. No one will find us. It’s OK dear. I’ll protect you.’ Chika cuddles her, assuring her protection from whoever committed such gruesome murder against her dad.
‘Have you eaten something or were the apples your meal?’ Chika asks, smiling.
‘ Yeah, I have eaten although there are not many options in this place.’ Jane says.
‘I see. Alright dear, I brought something that you can eat so you’ll gain some strength. Afterwards, we’ll leave this place.’ Chika draws her bag and pulls out a big hamburger with cheese and hands it over to Jane.
‘But this is junk’ Jane said.
‘Well, you don’t carry jollof rice and fried turkey when you’re preparing for war. If you have time to cook that and package it, then you aren’t ready for battle.’ Chika interrupted.
‘Now munch on this while I check around this apartment. I had thought that this was a room, but this is just an apartment and a large one at that.’ Chika hands over the burger to Jane as she stands up to make sure there was no one in the apartment.
***
When Chika mistakenly fired the shot at Jane, a second alert from Room 39 was sent to the various security agencies. Although the guard monitoring the cameras responded that everything was ok, Mbe wasn’t convinced. He had asked one of his men to monitor every movement within and outside the building. So, when the second alert came, Mbe knew that someone was inside the room although he couldn’t tell who. Together with his colleagues, they decided to check if Chika was in or outside the building. They knew that she had been suspended from the DNI, but her constant questioning and nosing around could threaten their plans.
Mbe sent two members of his team to Chika’s house to verify if she was at home. It was now around 6am, but the people that were sent couldn’t find Chika’s cars. And after waiting for 30 minutes without observing any movements around the house, they decided to knock on the door. When there was no response, they broke in to discover that no one was at home. Everything seemed normal in the house, apart from the absence of a living soul. There was an exception, a written note on the dining table. On the paper was written, ‘I know you’ll come after me too after you killed my colleague. But you know what? I’m ready for you whenever you decide to play seriously. Yours truly, Chika.’
The CCTV cameras that Chika and Dede had installed recorded them as they exited the house to tell Mbe what they observed. Chika didn’t know precisely who killed her colleague cum source, although she placed Mbe at the topmost of her list of suspects. When Mbe learnt of Chika’s note, he knew that Chika was convinced that he was responsible for the death of her colleague. So, he decided to play seriously just as Chika had desired.
The truth however is that Mbe wasn’t responsible for the death of Chika’s colleague, someone else was. Someone who isn’t responsible for the death of Chukwuma, but who is happy with his death anyway. But who cares? Mbe already had much blood on his hands, and He wouldn’t have any opportunity to explain that to Chika if they ever met. After this, Mbe was fully convinced that Chika had gotten into Room 39 or at least is in that building to unravel who killed Chukwuma.
The next thing to do is to bite Chika where it’d pain her most. So, Mbe decided to find where Chika was hiding Ebuka, her son since he wasn’t in the house. He asked some of his team members to be stationed outside the new building while monitoring the device they had attached to Chika’s jacket. The other team will go in search of Ebuka and Dede.
***
As Chika searched all the rooms in Room 39, she saw that the place was a well-furnished apartment. Aside from the sitting room, it had kitchens, dining halls, bathrooms, a sauna, a meeting hall, and a very wide room called the Data Centre. All these disguised the fact that the topmost security secrets of the nation are stored here. If you walked into the room from the main entrance, you’d think that it’s a presidential suite and nothing more. The security details could as well be found in the best hotels around the world, but if you looked closely, you’d observe that there is so much more than meets the eyes.
As Chika walked around the apartment, her aim was also to find out where CODE RED is and see what the killer may have been looking for. As she searched and searched without finding anything suspicious, she came back and asked Jane if there was anything suspicious that she saw in the Room when she came in. Jane said no that everything inside seemed normal. Chika was rather confused and disappointed that her hypothesis wasn’t finding any substrate to work with. Jane noticed this but kept calm.
After some minutes, Chika came back and saw that Jane was done eating. She looked restless and in deep thoughts. Jane on the other hand wondered why she was preoccupied. ‘Can we leave now?’ Jane asks.
‘No! I mean, we can leave but not yet.’ Chika answered. ‘There must be something here… No, there must be something. It’s not possible. There’s certainly something in here.’ Chika muttered as she thought of areas of the Room she hadn’t quite explored properly.
The more Chika talked to herself; the more Jane grew suspicious of her. ‘What does she want? The drugs and documents or something else? Could she be an accomplice to the man who killed my dad? Why is she not in a haste to leave? How did she get in here and what’s her mission? The night she had dinner with my dad, I noticed that she was unusually calm. What happened when my dad asked me and Ebuka to leave them to discuss?’ Jane thought to herself. As these questions flooded Jane’s mind, her assurance of safety in the hands of Chika soon turned into fear for what Chika may do to her. It was as these thoughts ran through her mind that she decided to keep the things she knew about the Room secret.
After some moments of talking to herself, Chika decided to know how and why Jane was in Room 39. It’s not a place one would expect to find her, moreover, this should be the most secure place in the country – the famous Room 39 in the Antiterrorism Unit’s building. Jane decided to narrate what happened and how she came into Room 39, but she purposely omitted some details regarding CODE RED because she sensed that was what Chika was after.
And she was right. Although Chika wants to save Jane and unravel the reason and person behind Chukwuma’s death, she was mostly interested in seeing how that vital information could help her unravel what was most important to her – the death or whereabouts of her dearly beloved husband Ikem. Her unofficial interactions with Chukwuma were all geared towards getting leads. So, even though getting Jane out of that room alive was important to her, the most important thing was finding any evidence that could help with resolving the case of Ike’s death. Jane decided to tell her the story of his father’s murder anyway but carefully omitting some vital pieces of information.
Maybe I need to hire a marketing expert to help me advertise this book. In the meantime, suffice you to know that ROOM 39 tastes so good I’m loving it more than my necessary vanilla yoghurt 😂
Room 39 is now available on Amazon.
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God willing, I shall see you tomorrow with Chapter 25.
