Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (14 page)

Alex spent several long minutes with the
other phone just staring at the pictures of the girl he was going
to rescue one after the other. He stared at her lovely face then at
her body and back to her face again. Her liquid dark eyes held him
captive for several long minutes… the quiet fire in them, it
suggested a woman of inner strength and spirit. He felt the
powerful desire to possess her grow rapidly within him but stronger
even was the desire to protect her. The thought of her, all alone
in some cold dark hut, tied up and frightened by the terrible armed
men around, it upset him strangely. He hoped to God they hadn’t
hurt or broken her in any way, heads would literally roll if they
had, but still it would be most unfortunate.

Alex stared fixedly at one of the pictures
that showed the full length of the girl’s fabulous curvy body. It
was a lovely photo of her dressed in a blue and white blouse top,
smooth fitting blue jeans trousers and calf high black boots,
standing by a red Porsche sports car parked in an open square that
was obviously in an advanced foreign country which looked very much
like the United States. Her long black hair blew freely in the wind
and the lovely smile on her gorgeous face was both wonderful and
infectious.

Yes, he thought. He would definitely find her
and bring her home safely even if it was the last thing he did in
this world, even if he had to pursue El Soldat right into Sambisa
forest or hell itself. He would make her safe, he promised himself
again as he stared at the beautiful angelic face smiling
wonderfully at him in the digital photo, stared into those lovely
dark eyes for a long time.

With a heavy sigh, Alex finally switched off
the phone and hooked it up to charge as well then put all the rest
of his things away in the wardrobe, the suitcase and the vest, his
discarded clothes went on hangers. Dressed only in boxers’ shorts,
Alex went through some special exercise routines before heading
into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

His body felt much lighter and fitter now but
Alex know he was still far below the one hundred percent that was
full combat fitness level. The energy pills would certainly help
for sure.

Out of the bathroom, all fresh and toweled
dry, Alex checked the time on his watch. It was ten minutes to
eight. He took one of the energy pills from a thin sachet in
another pocket of the vest, gulped it down with some water and lay
down on the thin mattress to sleep.

In a minute the drug knocked him out and he
went into deep sleep.

*******

Alex slept like a dead man for six hours, and
then, like an inbuilt alarm clock, the drug kick started his brain,
bringing him instantly and fully awake at two-fifteen a.m. in the
early hours of the morning.

Feeling completely fit and full of energy,
his mind very clear, Alex got out of the bed at once and went over
to the wardrobe. He got his trousers and put it back on then got
the bulletproof vest next. He took out the necessary items from
secure pockets of the vest, a miniature roll-up universal tool kit,
a small tube of glue, a pencil flashlight, the tiny tracker, the
miniature detonator and the two small blocks of C-4 plastic
explosives. He put them all in the pockets of the trousers then got
the glass cup he’d brought in from the kitchen last night and
half-filled it with water from the plastic bottle.

Barefoot and shirtless, glass of water in one
hand, Alex stepped out of his room into the brightly lit hallway,
closed the door quietly behind him and stood listening.

The sound of the big generator chiming out
the electricity to the back of the house reached his ears but there
was no sign of anyone about.

Quickly and noiselessly, Alex went down the
hallway to the storeroom door. It wasn’t locked. He opened it and
went in quickly, closing it again behind him.

The lights were off and the room was in
complete darkness.

Alex got out the thin torch and flashed its
powerful white beam of white light around to make sure no one was
there as he crossed quickly over to the safe. He knelt down by the
safe and carefully placed the glass of water on a particular spot
atop it. Alex waited patiently for the water to settle down
completely in the glass cup before trying the knob of the safe
which had a numerically calibrated rim. He watched the water level
in the glass very carefully as he turned the knob very slowly
around several time. Each time the water moved in the glass, ever
so slightly, he memorized the corresponding number on the knob
facing the small red arrow target mark.

Alex had the numbers in less than ten
minutes, dialed them in sequence and the safe popped open at once.
He got out the briefcase quickly, unlocked it easily and emptied
the wads of dollar bills out onto the floor to one side then
studied the design of the briefcase carefully, inside and out. Once
sure of what was to be done, he took out the items from his pocket,
laid them out on the floor and went to work swiftly.

The interior of the briefcase was black so
Alex left on the black casings on the two small blocks of plastic
explosives. They fit in perfectly at the bottom corners of the
briefcase and he glued them firmly into place at opposite angles.
He set the detonator in place, wired everything up with thin black
wires and glued them all firmly down. Lastly, he inserted the
tracker into a tiny slot, glued the slot closed and he was
done.

Alex surveyed his handwork carefully to make
sure nothing was out of place then repacked all the money again,
arranging the wads of dollar bills well. The money completely coved
every trace of the explosive devices at the bottom of the
briefcase.

Completely satisfied with everything, Alex
relocked the briefcase and put it back in the safe then relocked
the safe securely again. Quickly, he gathered up all the items he
had worked with from the floor and put them in his pocket. Flashing
the torch around to make sure he hadn’t overlooked anything, Alex
stood up and picked up the glass of water from atop the safe. He
moved quickly back to the door and stood there for several moments,
listening for sounds of movement out beyond in the hallway but
heard nothing.

Alex opened the door abruptly and walked
casually out into the hallway, taking a drink from the glass of
water like he had been up to the most normal thing in the
world.

The hallway was empty.

Alex walked quickly back to the door of his
room and went in. He put the glass of water away fast and went for
the phones. They were both fully charged now, he disconnected them,
put the other phone aside and turned on GX-2 as he went over to sit
down on the white plastic chair that was the only furniture in the
bare room.

The ultra slim GX-2 could have passed for an
expensive android phone with a large screen but its heavier weight
gave it away as something more. The things the phone could do were
better imagined than explained and one of those was that, even
without sims, it could fully utilize the signals of any of the six
major commercial telecommunications networks in the country. It
could also loop into any signal that was well outside normal phone
range, secure Wi-Fi networks were a piece of cake, military
networks were a given. As a civilian without the necessary military
access codes, Alex hadn’t been able to access the device’s deeper
features which was one of the reasons he packed it up soon after
leaving the military service. The other two reasons were the
phone’s weight and the danger of being caught carrying around a
high-tech device that could intercept encrypted military
communications.

The phone took less than a minute to powered
up and decrypt but it took Alex much longer to send the series of
codes and text messages that looped it into the servers at Military
Intelligence headquarters, Abuja.

As he waited for the response, a knock came
at his door.

“Are you awake yet, sir” came Garko’s voice
from outside.

“Yeah” answered Alex.

“Gear up in thirty minutes, meals on the
table for officers in ten”

“Got that, Sergeant”

Alex checked the time on the phone again as
he heard Garko walk away from the door. It was nearly three o’clock
now. The damned response was taking too long, he thought
impatiently, checked the network settings and realized his mistake
immediately.

The GX-2 had the ability to automatically
scan the signals in any area and lock onto the strongest, and that
was where the trouble lay for a civilian using it. If the phone got
within one thousand yards of any security sensitive military
facility, it would immediately try to loop into their signals and
without the proper access codes, trigger all kinds of intruder
alarms leading to the user’s arrest. To solve the problem as a
civilian, Alex had the phone locked on a particular commercial
network and all had been fine until he eventually packed the phone
up.

The phone was still locked on that particular
network now and the signal strength of the network up here was not
quite right. Alex restored the phone’s network setting to the
automatic mode, permitted it to boost and it instantly locked onto
a strong military grade signal, suppling his access codes
automatically to stall any alarms. Within seconds the response from
the Military Intelligence servers came and then the tracker’s
signal was live, right on top of his which was actually the phone’s
own GPS signal. Alex checked the GPS coordinates and a few other
important things then switched off the phone and tossed it down on
the bed.

He hurried for the bathroom.

Several minutes later, all dressed up in the
familiar Army camouflage uniform and shiny new black boots,
complete with his old Special Forces issue black hand gloves, Alex
headed for the living room. He found Rufai and Samuel already there
when he walked in. Both men, in full military combat uniform, sat
at the table eating their breakfast and there was an extra plate of
food for Alex.

“Morning” greeted Alex as he went over to
take his seat.

“Morning” answered both men.

The food was rice, noodles and fired meats
with a carton of fruit juice. Alex dug in enthusiastically.

The three men ate quickly and once done,
stood up together and headed for the storeroom. The Sergeants
joined them in the hallway from the kitchen and they all moved into
the storeroom together to gear up for action.

There were four tables and one had six
pistols on it, five new Glock semi-automatics and two big
revolvers. The Glock pistols had high accuracy and fired 9mm ammo
so there were thirteen rounds per magazine. Alex chose a Glock,
checked it well and put it away in his waist hostler. He picked up
five extra magazines for the gun from an open box on the table, put
them in his ammo pouch and moved on to the next table. He noticed
that Rufai, who was next up to the pistol table. choose one of the
big revolvers without hesitation.

The new table had the banana shaped magazines
for Ak-47s rifles spread out on it and the five new rifles were on
a rack close by, one rifle for each man. Alex took a rifle and got
five extra chips for it, some loose bullets too, he put everything
in his ammo pouch along with two grenades from the small pile in a
box on another table. He got a wonderful commando knife with an
extra saw edge, got a digital wrist-watch, pocketed a ski mask and
a new hand towel, got one of the new radio communication devices, a
very light ear-piece with an extended microphone to the mouth, and
he was ready.

Rufai handed Alex a pair of binoculars along
with the briefcase and they were all set.

In the military documents and by the insignia
on their uniforms, the Sergeants and Samuel retained their ranks,
Alex was a lieutenant again and Rufai a captain.

“Alright people, listen up” began Alex in an
authoritative voice, looking around at the four hard men standing
with him in the room, all armed and eager to move. “We’ve got a big
date with some very bad guys we can’t afford to keep waiting. The
express purpose of this mission is to pay them their ransom demand
and get our girl back safe and unharmed” Alex held up the phone
with the girl’s photo for all to see particularly the Sergeants who
hadn’t seen it before. “These guys are very bad but we are worse.
We are not going there to start any trouble, we are not here to
join the bloody war but if they bring the trouble then we have no
choice than to feed it back to them and get the girl back the hard
way. Whichever way this goes our priority still remains the same,
the girl” Alex paused significantly, holding the phone up again for
them to see. He glanced around at the men again then abruptly
looked at his watch., “0400 hours it is, people, let’s move it”

“
On the way
!” yelled Garko and Efosa
in unison and headed purposefully for the door.

Having locked the house securely and turned
off the generators, the men piled into the bus. Sargent Efosa got
in behind the wheels while Alex took the front passenger seat next
to him. Rufai and Samuel got in the back, taking the first row of
back seats directly behind the front seats. Sergeant Garko got the
gates open and the bus drove out of the compound then stooped on
the dark street outside to wait as he relocked the gates, ran up
and jumped in.

Efosa eased the accelerator down and the
powerful engine made a deep purring sound in the dead quiet of the
night as the bus moved off down the empty road.

*******

The new curfew hours within the metropolis of
Maiduguri covered the entire period of darkness. It stretched from
7-30 p.m. in the evenings to 6 a.m. in the mornings.

The total blackout lay like a heavy blanket
over entire city which was dead quiet and completely deserted at
four o’clock that early morning as the Mitsubishi bus made its way
through the dark side streets towards the major roads which would
in turn lead to the main highway that ran through the city, heading
directly due south, the single lane Maiduguri-Bama road.