Previously:

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN BIS

CHAPTER EIGHT

The FBI headquarters is the most prominent building on Quib’s avenue. Named after one of the founding fathers of the city, Quib’s avenue was one of the quietest places to live in. But that was before the federal government decided that the peace the residents enjoyed was too much and decided to add a little bit of Chaos to the environment.   

Although the government always argues that the original city plan included having several high rising buildings in the area, the residents have always challenged such a view with documents that prove otherwise. The case had ended in court a few times but was finally resolved with good compensation to the residents. Many of the people relocated and sold their lands and houses over to the government, who then erected some skyscrapers, including the FBI headquarters there. 

Standing tall above other buildings, the FBI headquarters is a structure that many architects, designers and students come to study for its beauty, design and concept. Constructed with the best materials, the building is completely antiseismic.

It was designed by Gima Nakuto, originally from Sink, but naturalised in the country. She had gotten the idea of the building by observing the Mediterranean mussel. That sounds weird but that’s what she said in an interview a few years ago about the inspiration for the building. 

She’s always loved the Mediterranean diet, which by the way is one the healthiest out there. So, on one of her travels to Sicily, she stayed in a very nice hotel. Unfortunately, that evening the restaurant served her a meal that tasted very bad, so she decided to go eat outside instead. It was late, but about 200m away, there was this small but cosy restaurant. It wasn’t as big as the hotel’s restaurant where she had lodged, it had about 50 eating spots, but it was well organised.

Everything looked natural and ancient but clean, polished and very comfortable, not to talk about the dewy perfume and the jazz music that combed the hairs on your ears literally. It was just… how do you say it? Yes, heavenly, immortal.  

When she sat down to eat, she didn’t need the menu. All she just wanted was whatever was cooking in the kitchen. I mean, you can’t have a place like this that smells aphrodisiac and not have meals that match; that would be beyond weird. The waiter didn’t need orders, she knew exactly what Madmoiselle wanted and went for it – a plate of Spaghetti allo scoglio and fresh non-alcoholic wine, home-brewed by Chibyke himself.

Sorry, I forgot to tell you that the restaurant is actually popular around the major Islands of Italy – Ristorante Celeste di Chibyke. It was during that heavenly supper, that Gima had the inspiration to construct a building that is shaped like the shell of a mussel. When she was eventually contacted to design the FBI headquarters, she knew exactly what she wanted to display on the ground and sky of Quib’s Avenue. 

Ike has just arrived at the FBI headquarters to meet with the Director on this urgent call. On his way, he still found time to send a few tantalising messages to his lovely wife. After the celebration tonight, they’ll be travelling to Sicily for a brief weekend vacation. They had booked the trip three months ago and nothing, not even an emergency at work will derail their plans. 

The FBI has been trying for several months to use one of the technologies developed by Ike’s team to track any person, including innocent citizens. This new technology would bypass any congressional approval. It’ll directly infect any device that is connected to the internet. 

Several times in the past when this discussion has been held, Ike has always opposed the idea, saying that it limits the privacy of innocent citizens who want to live their normal lives without being spied on by any agency. 

Spying anyone should be limited to the antiterrorism act passed by congress that allowed tracking any individual that is considered a potential terrorist. Outside of this provision, Ike vehemently opposes tracking anyone. 

The FBI on the other hand wanted to monitor some illegal activities that have been going on around the city for some time now. The perpetrators didn’t quite enter into the description of terrorists because they were involved in the synthesis and sale of hard drugs, as well as prostitution. So, the FBI wanted to use this to track them. Ike’s view is that there were other instruments that could be used to arrest them, which instruments the FBI considers insufficient. 

However, some corrupt FBI agents, captained by Mbe, were against this idea of tracking, not for good reasons like Ike, but because they didn’t want their evil doings exposed. So, when they learnt that Ike was summoned to the headquarters to activate the programme, they quickly plotted to kill him before he’ll be able to do so. 

On reaching the FBI headquarters, Ike was invited to the meeting room, where the FBI Director and the Director of National Intelligence were seated, with their assistants. 

‘Ike we invited you because we think it’s wise to let you in on our main reason for wanting to activate the program. Yes, we wish to track the Collingahs (a name used for the men from Collingah involved in illegal businesses) but the main issue is the internal problem we have.

For some months now, we have observed that some FBI officers are involved in illegal practices in connivance with the Collingahs. We’ve monitored them and identified a few of them, but we want to get to the leader of that group. We can’t continue this way.’

Ike was initially reluctant to comment on this new development. But when he viewed the tapes that have been recorded over the months, he was convinced that the rot was very deep and needed to be eliminated from the root. Even some officers at the National Intelligence agency were involved. It runs deeper than was early thought.

So, Ike agreed that there was a need to internally deploy the program for a limited time and for a limited group of people. There should be no widespread indiscriminate usage. And once the chain of command was unravelled, the program would be terminated. Once these limits were defined, Ike agreed that the program should be deployed. He agreed to return to the office immediately and get the program activated the same night before leaving for his house.  

Based on this agreement, Ike leaves the meeting room and calls his driver to come to the entrance. As they headed back to the office, a black car parked outside the building began to follow them. Ike observed this but didn’t want the driver to panic. So, he asked him to simply drive faster so he could meet his appointment with his wife. 

Close to the office is a bridge of 700m that links both sides of the town; it’s not quite deep, so it’s normal to find fishermen late in the evenings coming around to thrust their nets for a catch. As they drive across the bridge, a police vehicle stops them for a search and asks the driver and Ike to come down. 

The driver opens the door without questions and gets down. Then advances to the back door to open the door where Ike was sitting. Ike was surprised at the speed with which his driver complied. Normally, the driver would have shown his Identity card and would have explained that he was carrying an officer of the National Intelligence. Also, why would he be so quick to come behind to open Ike’s door? Anyway, Ike complied and got out of the car.

He then tries to explain to the police officer that he is a member of the National Intelligence agency and that if he needed any documents, he was willing to provide them. That he is on a national assignment and needs to get to his office immediately.

As he tried to explain, his supposed driver advanced backwards and with speed pulled out a syringe with which to inject him. Ike quickly reads that move and turns around quickly. As they began to struggle, he discovered that the person wasn’t his driver but a person he had never met. He could hear someone shout from the police vehicle, ‘don’t shoot him.’

Some of the corrupt FBI agents had tracked him from the headquarters and disguised themselves as police officers. His driver had been injected with a soporific drug while Ike was meeting with the Director of the FBI and DNI. That’s the same drug this corrupt officer wants to inject Ike with. The plan is to put them to sleep and then cause their car to go off the rail. That way, it’d seem like an accident caused by sleep. 

When the attempt to inject Ike wasn’t working, one of the officers brought out a knife, and in an attempt to stab Ike’s hand, cut his face. As he bled, they quickly had him injected and put him inside the car. Set the car on fire and caused it to run off the rail into the river. The corrupt officers quickly removed any evidence from the scene and drove away. 

When the rescue team arrived, they only found Ike’s driver lifeless. He had been put inside the boot of the car. So, when the car fell into the river, he was still in a temporary coma and couldn’t get out, and drowned in the process. Ike’s body wasn’t found even after an intensive three-day search.

The police investigation uncovered that the driver had issues with insomnia, and had taken pills that night prior to the incident. So, it was concluded that he may have slept off while driving across the bridge and died. The FBI opened an investigation into the incident but no new evidence has emerged since then. And years have rolled by. 

And this is just the beginning of an intriguing story.

READ CHAPTER NINE

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