RESTLESS
Restless-Episode 50
Story By
Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Just as he opened the door, he saw his daughter already running towards his room in panic.
“It’s okay baby,” he comforted as he pulled his daughter into a warm embrace. He opened the door and led her in. “Get seated and relax, there’s no cause for alarm,” he said to her in a reassuring voice before he proceeded again to the table where his laptop was. He watched her sit on the bed first before he also sat on the chair. He switched the sources of footages again to find the current location of the assailants. It was still in the hallway and he could see the huge man breaking the bones of his men.
“Stay in here baby, don’t move or leave until I come back for you.” Elkim said to his daughter as he picked up the gun again. He walked to her and kissed her on the forehead before walking out of the room. He locked it from outside.
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Henry slammed the man hanging on his back to the wall again and then dragged him with a hand and toppled him over. He lifted him again and slammed him heavily to the wall, making him drop to the ground on the head, in the process breaking his neck.
The hallway was about fifteen metres long and three metres wide. It lead into six rooms in total, three each at both sides, all being rooms for the security men in the house who were mostly junior FOX agents.
Another man tried to hold him by the shoulder but Henry grabbed both hands and twisted them, he landed a kick on the chest and left the man to fall to the ground. He then quickly raised his gun and fired at another one that had just come out from the last room. He fired a bullet into the man on the floor before him before he proceeded forward quickly.
Henry caught another man who came out of the left room at the center. He grabbed him by the arm which a gun wa held and redirected his aim up, making the bullet run into the ceiling. He hit him in the belly with his elbow and then fired a shot with his own gun into another man coming out from the opposite end. He pulled the man behind him forward again and turned to give him three quick punches. He turned around immediately again to fire another shot at another man coming out from the third room.
He spotted Samantha with the side eye stepping into the hallway from the entrance and at the same time, spotted another man coming out from the last door by the right.
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“I’m yet to understand what’s happening,” Agent Elkim asked the computer operator as he entered the control room. He had tried to call the operator but the absence of signals had not permitted it.
“Sir, I don’t know where these men are from. I’ve tried to trace them with the street surveillance cameras but I can’t find footages,” the computer operator answered him.
“Have you contacted the police or FOX to report?” Agent Elkim asked, staring at the large screen adjacent to the computer the operator was siting behind. He could see the huge uniformed man and the uniformed lady in the hallway.
“No sir, the network is down, I can’t contact anybody. It’s not even connecting within the house or the compound, ” the operator answered him.
“Are you serious?” Elkim widened his eyes in shock, now getting disturbed about the whole thing. He took out a phone from his pocket and checked again, there was still no signal. He realized that these assailants, whoever they were, had something to do with the network signals disappearance. He turned back to the screen again and watched how the assailants, both the male and female combated his men in the hallway and brought them down. From what he could see in the footage, about seven of the FOX men in the house were down already. He had just about fifteen men staying in the building with him while close to thirty of other men lived in the other buildings outside but in the same compound. “Why aren’t the other men coming in to help?” Elkim asked and looked at the operator’s face.
The operator quickly switched the source of footage being shown, after switching between several sources, he finally stopped at the footage showing the main verandah of the building where a uniformed man and the visitor who the police had been invited to arrest were.
“There are two men outside at the verandah, keeping the men busy with a gun war outside.”
“I get it, it was a well planned job.” Agent Elkim said, squinting at the screen as he watched Cole and Dave hide behind the walls and pillars of his building, shooting at and dodging shots from his men. He began to wonder what happened and why the real policemen hadn’t arrived at his building yet. ”
“They’re using tranquilizing guns,” the computer operator said to the Agent.
“Tranquilizing guns?” Elkim raised his brows again, getting more confused. He squinted for a moment, wondering what the intentions of the men were. He was already thinking that the attack was from the men who had kidnapped Brad and Henson but now that they were using only sedative guns, it brought more questions to his heart. Another thought popped up in his mind and he considered again that the attack could be from the men who kidnapped the FOX agent Tam the day before. But could it then be that the kidnappers of Henson and Brad were different from the kidnappers of Agent Tam? He asked himself.
He was unsure of the answer to his question, but he knew one thing for sure. And that was that he or his daughter were the main targets of the visit.
“Return to the hallway,” he said to the computer operator.
The man switched to the footage showing the hallway again and they could now see that the huge uniformed man was no longer there. Only the lady was there and she was in a fist battle with a man.
“Rewind,” Elkim ordered
The footage was rewound and they discovered that Henry had proceeded from the hallway five seconds before they switched the footage. Agent Elkim knew where he was most likely headed towards.
“Pause,” Elkim commanded and the operator obeyed immediately but was three seconds late in pausing. “Take it three seconds back,” Elkim added.
Three seconds back in the footage showed Henry with his right hand lifting a man by the neck and pressing him to the wall in front. Henry’s face was slightly raised in that part.
“Zoom,” Elkim spoke.
The image was zoomed and Elkim squinted at the face again. Henry’s face cap was still partially covering his eyes until when viewed from the side. However, Elkim was unable to recognize who it was due to the beards on the man’s face.
“Take it some seconds back,” Elkim said and watched while it was taken. “Play.”
The footage was played and they watched Henry’s lips move briefly, and the other man’s lip also move forcefully in response before he was dropped to the ground and shot with the tranquilizing bullet.
“This man fights so well and he looks well trained,” Agent Elkim said in a thoughtful tone. “He also seems to know the structure of this house,” Elkim added, considering the way Henry had skipped some doors and chosen to come through the hallway which was a farther route to getting to the master bedroom. It appeared like someone who knew the security structure of the house. If the other way – the stairs – which was closer to Elkim’s room had been taken, it would have easier to trap the intruder with lasers.
Agent Elkim’s mind began to work so fast, trying to detect where the attack could have come from.
“This man’s moves are well calculated,” Elkim said thoughtfully again. “Take it back to the source streaming from outside.”
The computer operator carried out his order quickly. After a minute of Elkim watching how Cole and Dave handled their guns against the men outside the building, Elkim made another comment.
“Both of these men are good one guns, but one of them looks like a trained professional,” he said, referring to Dave as the trained one. “But he’s still totally different from the man inside,” he said with a frown appearing on his face. “Find the huge guy and the girl again.”
It took the operator another twenty seconds to locate Henry and Samantha again. They were now in another hallway, fighting with a different set of men, Henry had five men around him while Sam had just one fighting her.
Elkim stared intently for few seconds. These five men in the new hallway were the last five in the house and after getting through them, the next place the assailants would be headed for is towards his room. He watched Henry for an additional twenty seconds. The expression on his face seemed to change every second from realization back to confusion and back again.
“This man fights like one of us,” Elkim said after considering it carefully. “I need to see his face again.”
The footage was paused and Henry’s face was zoomed again. Elkim moved quickly towards the computer operator and took control of the mouse. He scrolled down slowly to see the body of the man and scrolled back up again.
His heart was gripped with fear as a thought came into his mind. There was none other person that fought so swiftly as this other than late Agents Carl and Rex but the structure of the man in the hallway particularly looked like that of Carl, even though there was a little difference in fat.
He zoomed the facial view again. Carl Winston didn’t have a beard nor moustache but this man had, Carl was also a bit thicker than this man was, Elkim thought to himself. He rotated the view of the man’s face again, the face was a bit darker than Carl Winston’s. Could it be someone else or had Carl Winston changed in the past few months he was believed to have died?
“Play the footage,” he said as he stepped back quickly, realizing that whoever it was, the mission at his house was definitely a deadly one.
He took out his phone quickly and cursed under his breath on seeing that the only number he could still call was emergency. He however still opened his contact list and clicked on Elvis Kahn’s number. He clicked on the text message icon and quickly typed in some words.
“I think Hutton may be right anyway, it seems we’ve got Carl Winston back alive.”
He clicked on end quickly after typing. He watched it fail after the first ten seconds. He decided to use the schedule option and scheduled the message to send two hours after.
He looked up again and saw that Henry had already taken down two of the men without guns.
“Keep trying to reach the FOX for backup,” he said as he picked up his gun and rushed towards the door.
He stopped for a second outside the room after closing the door. He took in a breath and cocked his gun before he proceeded, ready to do whatever he could to make sure his daughter was protected.
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Two of the four men were already sprawling on the floor as they had gotten their backbones broken by Henry. The other two which were still up were having a tough time with Henry as none of their punches and kicks touched him.
A man as huge and tall as Henry was in front of him, his right hand was on Henry’s shoulder weakly and he was bent inwards after suffering a jab in the belly from Henry. Henry dug another kick into his belly, disengaging him totally from himself and making him stagger to the ground. Henry turned quickly to the left to grab the second man’s punch. He squeezed the fist in his and then twisted the whole arm. The man groaned out loud in pain. Henry pulled him closer and sent a punch into his belly, the man leapt unconsciously as the punch totally disorganized his internal organs and system. Henry pulled him closer again and grabbed him by the neck, he pulled him up and slammed against the huge partner who was already charging towards Henry again. He left both of them to fall to the ground and took a quick look at the right hand side to see how Samantha was doing.
He could see she wasn’t finding it so easy to defeat the man, even though she was doing well enough being the first time fighting a FOX Agent.
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Samantha felt an instant headache as her head was slammed against the wall again. The man was pressing her to the wall with his fist grabbing her neck. She felt so weak and tired but the will to remain alive and not disappoint the team kept her alive. It wasn’t her first time of kicking men’s butts, it was what she had grown up doing in the African slum where she lived years ago but this night was totally different. The men even though seemed not to have super strength had super skills enough to dodge her punches and swiftness to attack and hit her like she had never experienced with other men. Even though she had fought and defeated two of the FOX agents already that night, this particular one seemed stronger and more skillful.
As she fought, she remembered Henry had specifically mentioned again while they were in the police vehicle heading for the place that the men in Agent Elkim’s house were majorly FOX men who were well trained even though they were juniors. Henry had told them it wasn’t going to be easy but also reminded them of his two weeks training with them, saying he had thought them some personal secrets which a lot of FOX Agents and even the executives never knew. Henry maintained that the only advantage the junior FOX officials had over them were probably the consistent years of practice.
Samantha felt life oozing out of her already. She could sight Henry with the side of her eyes and was expecting him to come to her rescue when she saw him being attacked again by the men he was fighting.
She looked into the eyes of the man strangling her. He was standing in a slant form against her in a way that she could not reach him with her legs even if she tried to.
She grabbed him by the hand with her two hands, trying to take off his fist but he wouldn’t let go. She struggled harder and left her mouth open as she could no longer breathe. With ever strength she could summon, she pushed herself forward and landed a heavy punch to the man’s left eye.
He left out an uncomfortable groan and his grip on her neck softened for some seconds and she was able to take in a breath. He tried to fasten it harder again but she had gotten on her feet well and was able to raise her right foot to kick him on the chest. He staggered a feet backwards while she dropped to the ground on her butt and managed to drag in some more breaths hastily.
Before she could raise up her head or look up again, he had charged towards her and dragged her up by the neck. He sent in two punches into her belly and was about to land another on her face when a hard blow hit him in his left ribs. He felt the bones shift and he let out a loud groan as he fell sideways. Henry followed up and picked him up quickly, he rammed his back to the wall and let him drop to the floor again. He dragged him up quickly again and rushed him blows in the belly and his chest. Then he grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up, turned swiftly and slammed him to the ground.
He picked him up again and turned with him to the wall, he held his neck and twisted it. He left the unconscious body to drop on the floor and then dusted his palms. He noticed something in the pocket of the man’s shirt, he bent to pick it. It was an ID card, he scanned through it for a second and tossed it away.
He turned slowly to look at Samantha and smiled. He knew she was a good fighter, but one with lack of professional experience and one whose punches and kicks had little weight. Right from the fight on the basketball pitch where he selected Samantha, he had noticed that her punches had less weight and had greater impact only when it met sensitive parts of the body. She was good at targeting and hitting those sensitive parts but today, she had met a FOX Agent who was strong and also good at protecting the sensitive parts, her blows and kicks which met him made very little impact, compared to the heavy one Henry had sent to the man’s ribs.
“You did well,” Henry squatted, looking straight into her eyes. “He was a senior agent, of the same rank as Tam.”
Samantha stared into his eyes briefly and looked away again, still panting heavily and yet to recover from the pains inflicted on her.
“Take out the glucose in your pouch and make use of it,” Henry said as he rose to his feet. He turned his neck and stared intently at the exit of the hallway which was his next direction.”Fill up your guns quickly and stay here for five minutes to recover before you join me,” Henry added before he turned and began to walk towards the exit. He took out his guns and extra bullets from the waist purse as he walked.
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Elkim’s daughter stared at her father’s face as he opened the part in the ceiling for her to get in. He had placed a chair under the place for her to step upon.
Both of them were inside the bathroom in his room and close to the spot the water bulb hung from the ceiling was the secret opening. Elkim had pressed a switch hidden behind the water bath before the ceiling opened.
“Get up and climb into the place girl,” Elkim said with an encouraging look on his face. She glanced at the space in the ceiling and then at his face again.
Reluctantly, she climbed on the chair and jumped to get a hold of the visible roof struts. She had some difficulty climbing up but Elkim got up the chair and helped her get into the room. He handed her two devices after she was in already.
“Keep following the red track there like I told you already, it will lead you to the spot the water tanks are. You hide there behind the tanks and tap the red button on that device, make sure you wait after you touch the button, men of the FOX would be there in no minute to help you. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” the young woman nodded in the ceiling where she was.
“Make sure you wait behind the tanks, don’t take the ladder down until you see me or any of the FOX men, is that clear?” Elkim warned again.
She nodded in response.
He let out a breath. “Now, go baby. Leave now,” he said and then climbed down the chair. He moved the chair away from the spot and quickly walked to the bathtub to tap the switch behind it. The space created in the roof closed back. He waited for a minute, considering how he could have tried to escape with his daughter but he knew that if the huge man was Agent Carl like he suspected, their escape route was bound to be found and followed after. The only way he could delay their reach to his daughter was waiting behind to engage whoever it was in a war.
He picked his gun where he dropped it and walked back into his room. He rushed to the laptop on the table and began to try locate where the intruders were. Before he could locate, he heard a alarm sound and he could tell that it was from his inner control room where he had left the control operator, it meant the intruders had gotten there already. He stopped and turned towards the door with his gun.
To be Continued
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