Chapter Four: The presence in the dark

Chapter Four 

The presence in the dark 

"But you look so weak," she said. 

It was actually now he took proper notice of her for she had cleaned up pretty good. She was a fair beauty with delicate features, brown eyes and brown hair. Her sight was attractive enough to make a man miss his step. 

"Yeah. You can't really tell from the looks, aye," Grey said. 

"How come you didn't put up much fight with those guys who wanted to rape me?" 

Grey laughed, then shrugged. "I know what you would think, but I'm not a violent man." 

"Assassins are violent. Why else would they kill people if they weren't violent?" 

A valid question Grey quickly thought an answer to. "The job, I guess." 

The lady looked at him awkwardly, gave him the silencer, then moved to the opposite seat, and returned her gaze on him. 

Grey placed the silencer on the stool by his side, then thought to ask since the lady had started it. "What were you doing with those guys? You know, the ones who wanted to—" he made certain hand gestures.

The lady wore a grin. "I was out with a friend. She said to meet her other friends, so I did. They drugged me, I became drowsy but, somehow, I could spot Tatenda and now she was leaving the club with a smile. Next time I woke up, my clothes and undies were being removed. Then you came." 

"Any idea why she did that?" 

She looked at him, then folded her lips before saying, "A job, I leave for you." 

Grey couldn't believe this lady. "What? You want me to kill her?" 

"Maybe. You're an assassin, you could definitely do the work of a detective too." 

"No. No. See, frankly, I don't know you, and I can't just start doing jobs for you cause I told you what I am."

"My name is Helen Walker. What's yours?" 

Grey observed her for a moment, then said, "Grey Garrett." 

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, stretching her hand. 

Grey took it in a mild shake, then returned back to his seat. 

"So, would you find out?" Helen asked. 

"No. I am new to the job. Frankly, I've just been lucky most of the time. I don't know what I am doing." 

"Even if I pay you?" 

Grey shook his head. He was placing himself in harm's way by just revealing this to Helen. What if she told someone. What if she wasn't really in trouble? This was probably all some made up thing. 

"I'm sorry. I can't help you." Grey stood with the silencer, then walked out of the parlour. 

Grey could feel Helen's eyes on his back till he was out of sight. He would be in the office by this time next week. Grey thought to get some rest, see if there was a chance he would continue to be a stranger to all these, or adjust to it. 

He woke up, walked into the bathroom, had a long shower before he stepped out. Somehow, a letter had found its way into the room. Grey was still in a white towel when he picked up the letter to read. 

Dear Mr. Garrett, 

You're to go to the West View Side club, and wait for a lady with a red tinted afro, and pink attire. Go with the phone book, and the cell phone. When you find her, turn to page two of the phone book…dial the number one contact. 

Yours faithfully,

The Secret. 

He wondered what this was about for it was almost dark. Helen had prepared something for herself in the kitchen, and Grey didn't know why she was even staying with him. Should he ask The Secret if she was supposed to be here? Oh drat, he wasn't permitted to speak to the watch.

Grey dressed up, fixed his earpiece and wore the watch, got into the Range Rover downstairs as instructed without a word to Helen who was dancing in the kitchen...left for the road, the gate closing behind him, he aimed for the West view side club. 

Grey arrived, drove into the parking lot, walked towards the club, he heard the car lock itself with a quick sound. When Grey got inside, he went up to an empty table upstairs, a waiter gave him a list of what they had, Grey placed his order, the waiter went to fetch what he had marked.

Grey kept looking at the entrance from his position which was clearer, ready to spot anyone with red hair, and a pink dress.

He was served by the waiter, then he ate...took some water, later began sipping on his drink, still watching the entrance. 

The club began to grow empty. Grey checked the time, he had been sitting here for three hours. Maybe he had missed the lady, or she hadn't come from food poisoning or something. Maybe she had died on the road. He saw a group of men in black speaking by the corner, they were ten in number. They kept ordering more bottles, It seemed they too were waiting for someone. 

Just then, a lady with a red tinted afro and a short pink gown walked in. One of the men stood to greet her. They kissed on the cheek, then began talking. Grey opened the phone book to page two, it was titled; Investigator. Grey dialed number one, someone picked, then immediately cut the call. 

Grey shrugged, that was their custom after all. This one didn't even let him say a damn thing. He closed the book, then watched. The lady finished talking to the man who kissed her cheek one last time, then returned to the table, she turned to leave. 

Grey left some money on his table, and took to his feet. He walked out the bar to his Range—he was beginning to get accustomed to the fact it was now his. Grey started it, then left for home. 

Helen was already asleep when he arrived. She had covered something for Grey, he tasted it, then ate it only because of how delicious it was for he was already full, then he went to bed.

The next day, a letter was delivered to him. This one had arrived through Helen who said, "The mailman said to leave this with one mister Grey." 

Grey took it, examined the letter, it was from them. He went upstairs, locked the door of his room, opened the letter: 

Dear Mr. Garrett, 

You have two assignments tonight. First, you would arrive at the University of Port City, and await instructions from your watch. Secondly, you'll head to the Government Residential Area. 

Yours faithfully,

The Secret. 

Grey kept the letter aside. He best go early to Uniport, so he can have some time to converse with his brother. 

By evening, he was already speeding in the Range Rover through the East-west road for the University of Port City. He called his brother who directed him to his hostel… Grey picked him up when he arrived, both then went out to discuss how things were with home and school.

Something seemed to be bugging his brother, but the brother wasn't brave enough to say what, so Grey thought not to press on with the subject. 

They talked about school, boring classes, hectic assignments, girls, and the stress that accompanied with just thinking of school alone. When it was time, Grey heard the voice of The Secret telling him to move to his area of assignment. Grey told his brother he would be leaving now.

Grey gave him a huge amount of money, drove him back to his hostel ignoring all questions of work the brother had been asking with smiles and silly comments...dropped his brother off, then moved into the university as directed. 

Grey walked to the faculty of science, a square three storey building. He got up to the last floor, and there he saw a sophisticated sniper rifle with some documents by it. The wristwatch told him to go through the documents, Grey sat on the floor, then did as told with his phone torch. 

There was a particular face of a rather angry kid pointing guns at certain young people with his gang behind him, watching. One showed him burying a body, in another, he held a severed head with a bloody cutlass in hand—smiling, and the last was a collage of him and the lady. It seemed he had just raped her, then a process of how he shot her. 

There was a note attached behind, Grey looked at it with a torch. 

The rifle has a night vision lens. The target has been uploaded to its system. It's currently in his direction. Once you find an opening, you're to kill him. A headshot only. 

The Secret. 

Grey laid down, put his eyes through the lens, he could see clearly in the dark. He moved it a bit to get the view of other places, it was perfect. He returned it to its position...not exactly the point it had been set, then waited. Several guys arrived at a particular spot...a conversation began, the rifle scope locked on a target and said hundred percent march description. 

"Target locked," the wristwatch said. 

Grey took a deep breath, moved the rifle to aim for the boys head, placed his finger on the trigger, then waited. 

"Fire," came the voice in his ear. 

He pulled the trigger, the rifle shook a little, through the lens, a boy's head exploded as his body fell to the floor, those standing with him took to their heels. 

"Move to your next location, Grey Garrett."

Grey stood, went downstairs to his Range, then drove for GRA. 

On his way, he passed a group of people arguing by the side of the road, stopped at a certain junction for an old man to cross. When the old man did, he couldn't miss his wave from his side mirror.  

Grey arrived GRA, waited by the road side, then got the instruction to move forward a bit. He did as told, stopped before a tall building, walked to the roof, there was another sniper rifle…no letter or file attached to this one, but there was a headset. 

Grey peered through the lens, looked around then the voice came. "The single lady you see by a window of the tenth floor in the Twins hotel, shoot her."

Why? Grey asked in his head. What if he saw five or more ladies standing by the window on the tenth floor? He knew he would blame the outcome on The Secret but, it would have been his hand that did it. 

Grey watched carefully, he saw a little girl stand by the window—probably admiring the view. Her mom joined her later...Grey moved his finger to the trigger, then her husband joined her...he removed his finger. 

She wasn't his target. He was focused on the tenth floor, when a car pulled off in front of the hotel. Grey noticed a lady get out of the cab with a man, then walk into the hotel. Still with the headset on, the first thing that caught his interest was the sound of an open door, then the closing of it. He heard kisses, then adjusted the rifle to view it all in a room on that floor. The lady undressed the man, he did so with her. They began having sex moments later after so much foreplay he couldn't miss. Grey had to remove the headset to take a moment's pause. He had an erection. 

He closed his eyes, shook his head, then put the headset back on. Both of them were screaming loudly now, then suddenly, it all stopped. Grey looked through the scope of the rifle, moved it through the tenth floor—there was a lady standing by her window now, but the conversation of these other couples caught his interest, and just why was his comms wired to their room? He kept focus on the lady for a moment. He heard the faint voice of The Secret say, "Fire!" then he pulled the trigger.

The lady fell backwards, he took to his feet when he heard it. 

"Where do you think Helen is now?" the man asked the lady. 

"I don't know, really." 

"Do you think she's left the state?" 

"Nah. Chic has no one here or anywhere. I'm all she's got." 

"I need to find her." 

“Find her?" 

"My guys told me some ninja saved the girl from them. Though, their story seemed absurd because Emeka died."

The lady gasped. 

"I know. I sent a group to the boy's hotel to go fetch both of them cause it seemed she was still in there. It turns out, no one knows where they are right now." 

"What? How is that even possible?" 

"I don't know. But when I do find Helen, she would know she can't escape me." 

"You scared her at the hotel," the lady said. 

The man laughed. 

"Seriously, you should have just slit her throat first before she even had the chance to run. That way it would have been easy. You guys lost me valuable market." 

"Well, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you when I do find her, I promise." 

"When is Ahmed coming back to Nigeria?" the lady asked. 

"I don't know," the man said, then laughed. "We have things held good on the ground for him. I really don't think it would be necessary for him to come though."

A phone rang, the man picked up. "Hello, sir."

Grey could pick up the words of the caller. 

"Jamal! What's good?" 

"Everything is great, sir." 

"Well, fill me in." 

Grey heard Jamal cough, then continue. "We have the girls. We've killed twenty and buried their bodies. We have their blood." 

"They were supposed to be twenty-three. What happened?" 

"Three of them escaped, sir." 

"Escaped? How could you be that careless Jamal? What am I paying you for? You were supposed to have them all killed. What are your plans on finding them." 

"The police are working with us, sir." 

"Which of the divisions?" 

"The ninth division." 

Grey knew them, they were a corrupt lot.

"Good. I don't trust others. They could rat us out, and we have to remain discreet." 

"Understood, sir." 

"Best leave that Helen girl. But if you find her, get me her blood." 

"I will. Thank you, sir." 

"Don't do anything that would make me come down there myself. Find a new batch, I'll be sending the payment for them." 

"Sure sir." 

"Take care." 

Grey heard the line go dead, then he adjusted a little.

"Ahmed wants more girls." 

"Not again. I'm tired," the lady said. 

"Come on. He has already paid for this batch we lost...he is about to pay for this new lot. Think about all the cash we could have." 

Both of them walked naked to the window. The lady was ahead of the guy while he held her behind. 

"We could fuck in front of that much blood. I know you would like the sight of it." 

Grey could spot a smile on the lady's face as the man fondled her breast. 

"I would do it. But first, we need to kill Helen. She knows too much. She is too smart, and I hate to say this but somehow, she's dangerous." 

"Fine, I'll keep searching for her. I'll tell Oscar and the boys to do some nasty things soon. You, prepare those twenty-three new girls for Ahmed. You know I love you, Solarin Tatenda?" 

Grey saw the lady's lips bend up in a smile. "Yes, Jamal Abiha. I know you love me. And I love you also." 

Grey wanted to pull the trigger. As far as he knew sniper rifles, one bullet was enough to take out two people nestled together. What if one survived? He couldn't risk being discovered. Grey stayed to see if he would get further information, something he would use to his advantage. 

"When would you be showing me to your mom?" Tatenda asked. 

"Ha, that old crow. I guess soon."

"I miss her shouting."

They both laughed. 

"Remember when we killed ten chickens without her permission. The woman wanted to faint seeing us chew on it like dogs to meat," Tatenda said. 

Nothing said further was of interest, or advantage to Grey. The only thing he heard was, “We would meet again on Friday. Same time,” it was Tatenda that said it.

Today was Wednesday. That would do it. He stood from the rifle, dropped the headset, and was about to leave when he noticed someone backing him in the dark. Grey wanted to do something about it. What if the guy had seen him? Was it even a guy? From that standing position, and black outfit, Grey couldn't see a single thing but the dark outline of a human. He walked to the stairs, the being just stood rooted on the spot. Grey increased his footsteps to his car, got in, started it, then left for home.

Within the protective walls of his home, he saw Helen watching a Soap Opera. Grey preferred proper action series to this kind. He sat down, she welcomed him. 

"Look! I'm sorry I've been with you this long. It's because I trust you, and I have nowhere to go." 

Grey gave a wave gesture. "It doesn't matter." She tried to speak further, he shook his head. "Really, don't bother." 

She returned focus to the flat screen, then Grey thought for a moment, before he asked. "Do you know Jamal Abiha?" 

Helen looked at him, then shook her head.

"What about Tatenda Solarin?" 

She straightened up a bit. "You found her?" 

"I more than found her." 

"But you said you weren't going to do the job."

Grey shrugged. "What did you do to them? Deadly the thoughts of those two for you."

“Wait, how did you find this all out?" 

"Well, I have certain resources. So are you going to tell me or not?" 

Helen removed her focus from Grey, nodded her head, then said, "She's one of my best friends."

Grey gave a slight head gesture. 

She continued, "I—I—I can't talk about it tonight. But I promise, I will tomorrow. How was she?" 

"She looked fine to me." 

"Keep looking into her. I'm sure you would find so much more than you could even realise." 

Grey nodded, walked back to his room, there was a letter on his bed. He wasn't getting surprised how these letters found their way into the house anymore. Grey opened it, and read. 

Dear Mr. Garrett, 

Congratulations on a successful mission. You've killed three people linked to a particular organisation with a bounty on their head. Each kill cost thirty million. Ninety million has been wired to your account. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Yours faithfully,

The Secret. 

A call came in from his brother, he picked. 

"Hey bro!" 

"What's up, Roy? " 

"That thing that bugged me this evening—” 

“Yeah?” 

“It's dead. Shot in the head. Still fresh news."

Grey wondered if he was referring to his target in the university.