SHADOWCORP Episode 6 by kayemjay

SHADOWCORP Episode 6 by kayemjay

Mr Raymond Onuoha woke to water splashed on his face.  He opened his eyes gradually, taking in the features of where he was. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness in the room, he realized that his hands were tied to the arms of the chair he was sat in. His eyes met with a lady who stood with a small bucket in her hands. She was light skinned, average height and heavily tattooed. She wore a crop top and a short skirt, leaving very little to imagination. He looked around the place where he was held captive. It looked like some kind of abandoned storage room. It had just one window and no sort of ventilation, making the foul stench in the room more unbearable. The only source of light came from the open window and that was enough for him to know that he was in deep trouble.

“Welcome back Mr Investigator.” The lady said, dropping the bucket on the floor. “Get ready to be transported. If you tell us what we need and give us the correct information, you will be home in time for dinner. With your family. We really do not take delight in torturing you this way.” She finished, dropping to a squat in front of him.

“What do you want from me?” Raymond asked.

“All we want is a very tiny bit of information: the identity and location of the people who broke you out of the docks. Think carefully before you lie to me Mr Raymond. I am not known for my patience but for my actions.” She said nodding sideways.

Raymond followed the direction of her head and saw a pair of ears in the far corner of the room, ants battling over the dead flesh. He pushed back the nausea that swelled from his gut and closed his eyes. He thought about his predicament. He was confident in Stella’s ability as previously demonstrated when she singlehandedly broke him out from the docks. He knew that she could do it again only if she found him in time. The problem was that he did not know if he had time. How could he be sure that Shadowcorp would not just kill him or worse once they had the information they needed? His family was also in danger. Should he trust that Stella and his brother would find him? Or hope that his captors would keep their end of the deal if he spilled?

“I want to speak to my family. I want assurance that they are safe and unharmed.”  Raymond requested.

“And when this is done, you will give us the information you need?” The lady asked.

Raymond nodded. The lady scrutinized his face for what seemed an eternity, and then decided to release his hands and feet. She got up and moved towards the door.

“After you sir.” She said.

Getting up, he opened the door and moved ahead of the lady into a long corridor, lit only by light from the open roof of the building. He had done his best to buy himself and Stella a small amount of time. He hoped for a miracle else he feared that the worst would happen.

**********

Steven dialed his sister’s number for the fourth time. It rang continuously without reply. He knew she was avoiding him but he just had to speak with her. Seeing that she was not ready to take his calls, he sent her a message:

“I am going for Geronimo. I am flying blind and will need cover. I hope I can get to explain why I did what I did dear sister, but time is of the essence. I have my tracker on. You know what to do. If you love your brother, don’t let me die today1.”

He dropped his phone, wore a packed knapsack and then added a snapback.  Walking with is bare feet in the beach sand, he walked briskly away from his beach house towards the sea. It was still dawn and everywhere was dark but he knew his way to the harbour. He got to his speed boat by the bank of the sea and threw the bag into the boat. Freeing the boat from its harbour, he got in, started the engine and sped away from sight.

Two hours later Steven brought the boat to a stop in what looked like the middle of nowhere. He looked at his watch. It was a few minutes past seven in the morning. The sun was yet rising but he had enough time before it would be totally bright. He took his bag and pulled out an electronic compass and a flash drive. The flash drive had the details of the tracker that was in Geronimo’s bloodstream. Plugging the flash drive to the compass, he pressed a few buttons on its keypad and waited. Seconds later there were two distinct beeps and the tracker gave the coordinates of a location. He pulled up a 3D imagery of the location from the compass and could see a glowing blue dot in a room in one of the houses by the shore west of him. He took out multispectral binoculars from the bag and tried to find entry points from where he was. The buildings were ancient and had no entry from the sea. He had to get to shore and then drive for an hour to get back to this point. He didn’t have time for all that. He activated the xray view of the binoculars and looked into the sea as far as the zoom could allow. He found a latch just a few meters below the sea. Upon inspection, he realized that it was an old sewer tunnel that had been abandoned in years. It would be easy to get in. He had solved one problem but a bigger one stared him in the face. How was he going to get out of the place? Every mission is as good as its extraction plan. If extraction fails, the whole mission fails. He needed backup. His sister was cross with him and had refused to help.  James hated hom and would not even listen to him let alone help. He was on his own.

“I am Shadow Prime. I will figure out a way. I have to.” Steven said to himself.

He took out his twin silverballers, checked the safety, and counted the number of rounds it would go. Hopefully, he would not need to use it. He planned to go in dark and come out unnoticed. He took out a few other items from the back pack, stuffing them into the pockets of his commando uniform. He tied the other end of the boat’s anchor on his leg and dived into the sea. The water was cold and harsh. He swam deeper, moving closer to the sewage tunnel. It was protected by iron bars that were rusty but still held strong. He took out a small can from his ankle pocket and sprayed the contents on the iron bars. Within seconds, the bars melted away like they were never there. He brought out a torch from his other ankle pocket and examined the tunnel. He could crouch through without much difficulty. He checked for booby traps and unlikely patches in the tunnel. Satisfied with his examination, he tied the rope from the anchor to the remaining part of the iron bars that were not affected by the spray and went into the tunnel.

After scraping and crawling, he soon found his way to the end of the long straight tunnel. The tunnel had similar iron bars protecting its entrance. Before applying the spray, he checked to see if there was any danger. The sewer opened onto the bottom of  some kind of manhole. There was a metal lid with the same circumference as the sewer opening lying just by the wall. Pipes of different sizes scattered around the tiny space.

“This place has not been in use in ages.”  Steven said as he surveyed the area.

He sprayed the contents of the can onto the railing again and gained entry into the manhole He took out the compass and checked how far or close he was to his target. He had to get out of the manhole and then head west. He was within two hundred meters of Geronimo. Two hundred yards of uncertainty, of success or of death. He had to get out of the man hole without being seen and had no one to give him a hint of what he would see once he got out of the hole. The hole was four feet deep and covered lazily with plywood. There were spaces in between the plywood and from his crouching position, he could see that there was a building immediately north of him. He needed to move.

If he took out the plywood slowly, he could draw attention and all guns would come blazing in his direction. He would be stuck in the hole and he could never survive that. Another option was to blast his way through and then fight off as many guns as he could. At least he would be on the same level ground and would know how many hostiles he was up against. However, his plan would be dead on arrival as the sound of gun battle would alert Geronimo’s captors and they would either kill him or flee with him to another location. Just then he had an idea.

He raised himself up, standing such that his head touched the plywood. With his silverballers silenced and ready for action, he carefully extended his height. As he did, the plywood also lifted a little. He stopped when he just about had a tiny view of what lay above the manhole. To his north was a wall, and to his west was another wall. They were probably walls of a building. He bent low, settling the plywood noiselessly and then turned eastward. He raised himself slowly again, trying to get a view. There was a guard standing idly, a gun strapped to his back. He stood with his back to Steven, watching the big black gate in front of him and smoking a cigarette. He had a plan in sight. Get out of the manhole. Immobilize the guard. Find Geronimo and escape. He hoped he could get out as quietly as he came in. With his gaze firmly on the guard, he took out one of the plywood and got out of the manhole. Walking slowly, he moved towards the building where the guard stood. The was a wall seven meters from where he stood so Steven quickly backed up against the wall and waited. He noticed that the guard was smoking marijuana and that he took loud drags at intervals. Steven waited for the next drag. Immediately he heard it, he took three quick steps and he was behind the guard. The guard felt Steven’s presence but before he could react, Steven’s strong arms were already round his neck. The guard kicked and scratched as he went down but Steven was too strong for him. As the guard stopped struggling, Steven snapped his neck.

He dragged the guard back to the man hole and changed into his clothes.

He was ready to go in for Geronimo.

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