RESTLESS
Restless-Episode 47
Story By
Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
A smile appeared on Sheila’s face unconsciously as she heard Henry’s voice from the other end of the call. She let out a breath before speaking again.
“How are you doing Henry?” Sheila asked as she got into the bed and sat resting her back against the headboard.
“I’m fine, how about you?” Henry asked back.
“I’m doing well,” Sheila replied.
“Sheila, I’m very sorry for not calling you as often as I promised.” Henry apologized to her.
“No no Henry, we communicate almost everyday. It’s okay, I know how busy you are.” Sheila replied.
“Thanks Sheila, so how is your project coming through?”
“Great Henry, I don’t need to ask about yours again. I follow the news and I know what’s your work when I hear it.”
Henry chuckled. “We’d get to talk about it properly soon.”
“Well, I have something urgent to see you for.” Sheila stated.
“Oh! What’s that?”
“We need to meet and talk about it,” Sheila replied him. “Can we see tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, how? It’s too late to book for a flight right now, and even if I could, I already have things scheduled for tomorrow.”
“We can make out time to meet tomorrow, just an hour and we’d be done.”
“What are you talking about Sheila?”
“I’m in Bexford,” Sheila stated.
“What?” Henry expressed his surprise. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be here.”
“I didn’t, that’s because we didn’t talk yesterday,” Sheila replied.
“Oh! I’m sorry I couldn’t reply your missed call, I don’t go about with my personal phone.”
“I know and understand perfectly well Henry,” Sheila replied.
“But what are you doing in Bexford?”
“I’m here to see you.”
“Here to see me?” Henry’s utmost shock was expressed in his voice. “But you know you shouldn’t be here.”
Sheila was silent.
“But why didn’t you tell me you were planning to be in Bexford?”
“I didn’t because I know you would disagree with me and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you I was coming to see you.”
“You know this is not safe Sheila, I promised I was going to come to El Deols at the right time.”
“Henry, I have something very important to show you, how do we meet tomorrow?”
Henry’s huge sigh could be heard over the phone. “Where are you?” Henry asked. “And I hope no one else knows you are here to see me.”
“No one knows Henry, I’ll be having a business meeting by one o’clock tomorrow. I’m in Rither Hotel,” Sheila answered him.
“Okay, I’ll call or send you a text anytime tomorrow and tell you where to meet me.” Henry said to her.
“Alright Henry, I’d be expecting your call.”
________________________
07:45AM
Tam had been left alone in the room all night and could barely sleep in the chair he was tied to. He couldn’t remember how he got to the place but he remembered having entered into the surveillance control room of the hotel and being pointed a gun by the woman. All he felt after that was a slight sting on his neck. He knew it was the medicine used to sedate him.
He could tell it was morning by the little ray of light which was allowed to pass through the window curtains. He had been awake for more than an hour before he began to hear other sounds outside the room. He soon began to hear footsteps approaching slowly to the door, he heard the sound of the knob turning and he drew in a breath in anticipation of whatever was coming for him.
The door soon opened and he could see people walking in and coming in his direction. The lack of lights in the room made it impossible for him to see their faces in the darkness. Two people were already coming in his direction when a third man walked in and tapped the switches of the bulb. The bulbs turned on and the room was brightened. Tam could now see the faces of the men who were now standing in front of him.
At the first look, the two faces in front of him seemed unfamiliar to him but as he turned his gaze to the face of the man now coming to join the other two, something struck his mind and he looked again at the face of the man standing by the left.
He felt struck by extreme fear as he looked at the man’s face again. He couldn’t tell if it was the hugeness of the man’s body or something else about him that sent the panic through his body.
“Take the ropes off his hands,” Henry ordered in a calm voice to Dave who was standing beside him.
Dave stepped forward and quickly began to untie him.
“I’m sorry Tam, I know you don’t deserve to be treated this way. You were only carrying out your job.” Henry said while Dave continued to untie him.
Tam stared for a little while longer before he realized who was standing before him. His mouth opened wide in shock and his eyes in disbelief.
“Agent Tam, we’ve only worked together once and for a short period of barely twenty hours. I knew we would meet and work again, but never thought it would be under this condition.”
Henry paused for a little while as Dave turned to Tam’s front to take off the remaining part of the ropes.
Tam kept his eyes on Henry’s face, his lips were shaking and his hands trembling even after being freed from the shackles. It was difficult to believe the sight before him. He had always heard stories of reincarnation which he considered as only myths but he never heard of people being able to come back in the same body after being dead.
“You are dead Agent Carl, this can’t be true.” Tam said with trembling lips and he cleaned his eyes with his palms.
Henry chuckled and took a step closer to Tam. He stretched out his hand to offer Tam a handshake.
“Shake me Tam, I’m flesh and blood, not a ghost.” Henry said temptingly with a light smile.
Tam stared at his face for a while before he stretched out his hand to take the handshake. He shivered as his hand met with Henry’s hands and almost let go out of fear but Henry held him tight and refused to let go off his palm.
“Tam, you’re a senior Agent, even ghost shouldn’t scare you this much.” Henry said in a lighter mode.
A brief smile appeared on Tam’s face but it disappeared so quickly and was replaced by a confused look. He kept staring at Henry’s face and wondered how it was possible for the Agent to remain alive. He remembered having attended the last honours organized by the FOX for Agents Carl and Rex, it was just so impossible for the same Agents to be alive.
“How come you are alive? We watched you being shot thrice and let into the Bexford sea.” Tam asked.
“Yeah, I have the scars.” Henry answered, pointing to his belly with the other palm. He let go off Tam’s hand and took a step back. “But I’m here alive,” he added with a brief smile. “Rex did not escape death but I’m here to make sure those who killed us face justice.”
“The FOX got every of those men who attacked you that night,” Tam said.
“That’s a lie Tam, that is what Paul Edwards and other executives have made the world believe.” Henry said to him. “None of those men were killed, a lot of them are living and fully well.”
Tam squinted at Henry’s face in confusion. “I don’t understand you.”
Henry chuckled. “Just accept this as true, or haven’t you thought about how Paul’s grandson escaped the death at the hostel?”
Tam made his gaze narrower at Henry. “I never knew Paul’s grandson was alive until yesterday and he called it a classified information whose explanation he was going to make later.”
“The explanation is obvious, Paul knew about the explosion before the day, he took his grandson out of the place and feigned his death to draw sympathy.” Henry said to him.
Tam still stared at Henry in disbelief of all he was hearing. It was hard to believe that Paul Edwards could ever compromise and also here was one of the world greatest Agents, having come back from the dead, accusing Paul of being evil.
He closed his eyes as he let out a chuckle and shook his head. “This cannot be real,” he said, continuously shaking his head. “All this cannot be real.”
“This is real Tam, Paul Edwards is a criminal behind the mask of the FOX and that’s why most of his activities are done secretly.”
Tam opened his eyes and let out a sigh, it was still difficult to believe.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
“I want you to help me, help me solve the mystery of the Red Wolves with which we would also have to solve the mystery of Paul Edwards.”
“How do I come in?”
“What you need to do first is give us the names of other FOX executives who are also like Paul Edwards. We can’t get to Paul easily but we can get to the other Agents easier.”
“But I don’t have that information,” Tam frowned.
“You do Tam, all you need to do is tell us other executives who are aware that Austin Edwards is still alive, you are also going to help us get to them.”
Tam closed his eyes briefly in thoughts and opened them again. “I only know of Agent Elkim and Agent Samuel.”
“So, can you help us get to them easily?”
Tam sighed. It was a difficult request. He wasn’t sure of Agent Carl’s allegation against them yet and he couldn’t just act without confirming the accusations.
“I don’t know, I do …”
“Oh! Sorry, you’ve been like this since yesterday. I think what you’ve got to do now is freshen up and have some food.” Henry said with a voice showing his concern. He turned around to look at Cole. “Please lead him to the living room to have his breakfast,” Henry said to Cole.
He turned back again to Tam and lend him a hand to help him up. Tam took his hand and Henry helped pull him to his feet.
Henry smiled as he let go of his hand and stepped away for him to follow Cole. Henry stayed behind with Dave and watched while Cole led Tam away.
Dave turned to Henry after they were out of sight.
“Boss, can we really trust this man enough to work with him?” he asked, with raised eyebrows and a confused look.
Henry smiled at him. “Good question Dave but I’ll leave the answer till later, for now we’ve got two Agents in our options, Elkim and Samuel. Elkim is more difficult to get to but we have to go after him as I believe he would have better information than Samuel.”
They got into the living room and met Tam at the dining table with Jenny already serving him breakfast. Henry signalled to Dave, Cole and Samantha and they followed him from the living room into the control room of the building.
“Hey! Listen up guys,” Henry began but took a brief pause to check his time. “We’re going after Samuel Alfred today, he’s a difficult man and we might not be able to get or abduct him alive but we can get him and take things from him which would lead us to finding deeper details.”
He watched the faces of the three who were listening to him intently.
“I’ll give you some time to make research on Samuel Alfred while I go out to make some preparation. I’ll be communicating to you while I’m out, but you should be prepared to move once I return back here. Okay?”
“Alright boss,” the three replied in unison.
Henry nodded once and smiled briefly. He was about to turn when Cole asked him a question.
“What are we going to do with that Agent at the dining table?”
Henry moved his gaze to Samantha. “Did you put the mixture in his food?”
“Yes, it was added to his food and water.”
Henry turned his gaze back to Cole. “Agent Tam would fall sick in thirty minutes thereabout and would lose his memory after a deep sleep.”
______________________
“Hey Sheila, meet me at the Rither Hotel Restaurant by nine o’clock.” Henry said into his phone as he walked into his room to have a change of clothes.
_______________________
08:55AM
Sheila walked straight to an empty table as she stepped into the restaurant. She checked her wristwatch before settling into the seat. It was only five minutes to the time Henry told her.
She took a moment to look around the place. It was as clean and orderly as expected. A waiter soon walked to her to request for her order but she kindly told the waiter that someone was coming to join her.
Her phone rang at five minutes to nine and she checked to see Henry as the caller.
“Hello,” she said into the mouthpiece, hoping he was not calling to tell her he couldn’t make it.
“Hi Sheila, I’ll be there soon, but please do not be surprised when you see me.” Henry said in low tones.
“Ermm…” Sheila thought of asking questions but changed her mind. “It’s okay.”
Soon, it was nine o’clock and she fixed her eyes at the entrance expecting to see Henry walk in. Her eyes were still fixed there when she noticed someone walking towards her from the left. The man had been sitting alone at another table in the restaurant. She glanced at him briefly and looked back towards the entrance. She turned her face suddenly back to him when she realized it was Henry walking to her.
She was surprised and wanted to get up to her feet but she remembered the call and managed to keep herself calm.
“Hi,” Henry greeted as he took the seat in front of her. He was putting on a sky blue collared shirt on blue jeans and a black face cap covering his head.
“Hey Henry, so you’ve been here all the while?”
“Yeah, been waiting for you.” He replied. “I want it to look like we’re just meeting here.”
Sheila stretched her hands forth on the table to reach out to him.
“It’s really nice to see you Henry,” she said with smiles.
“It’s nice to see you too,” Henry replied, smiling very briefly. He looked at her hands and knew she wanted to hold his hands but refused to join his with hers. “Sorry Sheila, we can’t hold hands here, it’s public.”
Sheila paused a breath and looked around briefly, she felt a bit disappointed and slowly withdrew her hands.
“So, Sheila, why are you here to see me?” Henry asked.
She frowned at him, he was sounding so unwelcoming.
“Henry, aren’t you happy to see me?” She asked with raised eyebrows.
“I am but I just need to know why you’re here.”
Sheila took in a breath. She was already feeling hurt by his attitude.
She closed her eyes for a second and opened it again. “I need to show you something but I would have loved to meet you somewhere private so you can view it on my laptop, but I also have it on my phone.”
“Can I have a look?” Henry asked.
She took out her phone from the bag and unlocked it before handing it over.
“Open the Farse Application, you might find something interesting there.”
Henry collected the phone and followed her instructions. It took him about three minutes before he spoke again.
“This is good Sheila but you shouldn’t have come to look for me here.”
Sheila’s jaw dropped in surprise, taken aback by how ungrateful Henry was.
“Yeah Sheila, I see no reason for you to come here and I think you should round up with other things you’re here for and go back to El Deols as soon as possible.”
Tears formed in Sheila’s eyes. Henry had never spoken to her that way. She felt more than heartbreak, she felt her heart totally shredded to pieces.
To be continued
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