22. The Agenda
Nico obediently sinks into the soft cushions of the sofa next to Alex without saying a word watching Jack carefully. Jack sits down on a wooden chair and hides the pistol under his left arm. He directs Billy to another wooden chair. Billy sits down straight up.
Amazed Alex shakes his head. “Jack, are you mad? It is a huge transgression to aim a weapon at an officer of the law.”
Sarcastically Jack smiles. “Servants of the law? You both acknowledged that you tried to fool us and we don’t know who your bosses are and I have a family to protect. That ID of yours now means nothing to me. It could be counterfeit, for all we know.”
Alex tries again: “Nico is part ...”
Nico looks aggressive and irritated. “Alex, shut up! You’ve already done too much damage. You can conduct your police duties later on. This is a very sensitive issue. Let me handle it, okay?”
Alex looks at him like a guilty boy who acknowledges that he messed up badly and only nods his head. “Once again, Nico, sorry. We thought we had everything under control.”
Nico nods his head affirmatively. “Yes, if you only contacted us immediately, we would have now been on a good wicket and in control of everything. But now we are sitting in shit-street! These people are like ghosts. It was a golden opportunity for my team to make sure we don’t lose them again, and then you messed up.”
Nico looks at Jack and points with his eyes at Alex. “Everyone at Alex’s section had the order to contact us immediately if anything occurred in connection with this case. When Kadin’s friend contacted them, they knew that it was connected to this case, yet they thought they could arrest these people on their own. Why they did that, he can’t explain even up to now! The only explanation is that his boys wanted to play hero because they were curious to know what is going on and wanted to interrogate the villains to know what is going on.”
Alex shakes his head despondently. “What can I say? Sorry, my mate, it was a major mistake.” He then looks straight at Jack: “Please Jack, do what this man says. This thing is international and even the president jumps to attention if Nico’s bosses speak.”
Alex points with his eyes to Nico that indignantly looks at Alex. “Are you finished, Alex? I thought you are going to keep your mouth shut.”
Nico looks at Jack. “Jack, I respect your situation but this thing is extremely sensitive and on a knife’s edge. Very important people’s lives are dependent on secrecy and I may not divulge sensitive information to anyone except in very special circumstances and when absolutely necessary. I propose that Kadin and Billy tell us everything they know. I will then bring you up to date as far as possible but it is of utmost importance that I know what they and their friends found out.”
Billy sees Jack nods while he aggressively stares at Nico but then he looks at Billy respectfully and empathetically when he smiles at him: “Come here, Billy, and hold your ear against my mouth.”
Billy comes nearer and Jack whispers softly in his ear: “Go and get them. Knock three times three knocks and when they come out tell the aunty to go and sit on the stool next to the silent alarm’s panic button in the sitting room. Let Kadin sit next to you. Tell them to keep their distance from them at first and don’t worry. I’m just milking them for information. We’ll soon see whether they are trustworthy or not.”
Billy nods and Jack winks at him friendly. Billy disappears to call them and he is amazed at Kadin’s father. It is as if he has two personalities. The one moment he is the softest man on earth and the next moment it is as if a heartless devil that could do unimaginable things awakes in him.
Nico speaks when Billy leaves. “Where were you involved in the bush war, Jack?”
“Who says I was?”
“Tell me, and I will enlighten you a little about myself. You want to understand me better, not so?”
Jack hesitates. “32 Battalion.”
Amazed Alex's eyes widen. “The Terrible Ones ...!”
Nico doesn’t look amazed but asks: “In which operations were you involved?”
“I was mainly part of Southern Cross, Alpha Centauri and mostly Moduler.”
“Moduler? Then you were involved in Cuito Cuanavale?”
“It was tough, but I am still here and now it is your turn.”
“Recce-4”
“I had that feeling and my greatest respect but many of you ended up where the money talks the loudest, doesn’t matter who pays.”
“So had many of your men.”
“My family is everything and it looks to me that you have funny interests and it makes me wonder. The war is a thing of the past and I wonder who’s dirty work are you doing now and what type of dirty work it is.”
“I don’t dirty the world, Jack, I clean up those that do dirty work.”
“I hope so, Nico.”
“Let’s see what Kadin and Billy can tell us. I hope I will be able to get you in a better mood, Jack.”
“I sincerely hope so. I definitely don’t want to be your enemy. The war is in the distant past and we were at that time on the same side. Just sit there when my wife and the children come in. I don’t want to point the gun at you in front of them.”
Billy comes in with Kadin and Rene following him and Jack introduces them. “Come in and sit down quickly. This is detective Alex at the left and Nico of the Humewood Police; my wife Rene and my daughter Kadin. They are looking for assistance so that they can catch the villains and detain them.”
Kadin and Rene greet them courteously with nodding their heads and everyone takes their places.
Immediately Alex asks: “Kadin, please tell us absolutely everything that happened and, Billy, fill in if she forgets something.”
Kadin starts relating and Billy now and then adds something, but when they come to the part where they came out of the trance, Kadin stops and surprised she looks at Alex.
“I remember you now, Uncle. You seemed familiar to me. You were the first to enter the library this morning and when we awoke you were on your way out.”
Alex smiles. “We followed you from your home all the way to the library and protected you, Kadin, and I was following that funny man on my way out.”
Kadin’s face brightens. “I was so worried about the black van that seemed to follow me.”
“We were in that van. My men waited in Govan Mbeki for my instructions. I would follow the villains from the library and at the right time, I would give instructions with my hand free radio. We wanted to follow them until they were together and then arrest them.”
“What went wrong? How did they escape?”
Alex looks uneasy while Nico menacingly looks at Alex. “Kadin, it was similar to the experience you had when the man caught you with his eyes. I followed him out of the library and he walked straight to the queen and stood in front of the statue as if he was admiring it. I could not stand behind him for it would have looked suspicious. I joined him and stood next to him as if I was admiring it too and said: ‘It is a lovely statue, isn’t it.’”
“He turned to me and those strange eyes caught mine like magnets and everything disappeared and I floated through the air in the darkness and he said: ‘Let’s visit your men.’ The next moment I was with my men waiting in the van in front of the library and when I awoke, I was standing in front of the statue and staring at the entrance. I hadn’t even had time to take out my earplug when he was gone. He was alone when he came to the library with Billy and we wanted to follow him to his men.”
Despondently Nico shakes his head and looks at Kadin. “I’m very impressed with you all. Billy, you are soldier material. I shall any time join you in war, my mate. Kadin, you were so unselfish and brave to willingly get yourself captured because you wanted to save Billy from them.”
“In reality, I shouldn’t tell you anything, but you’ve already made the correct deductions, so I’ll confirm what you know. Your friend, Michael, was spot on, very much thank you, Kadin. You did the right thing by faking the code. I am the secret contact of the professor that tossed the booklet away. He was captured by those people. I was warning him on that same place in the park when they contacted him and manipulated him to willfully surrender to them.
“He couldn’t take a tracer with him and we lost him before we could follow him. He made a quick plan and gave me the code with the plan to leave the information on the same spot. I would go there regularly to see if he succeeded to leave a message for me. I was hoping that he would tell me where he was detained and what the plans of his capturers are.
“Should he leave a normal message and was caught out, these people would have been informed of me. That is the reason for the code. Our only ace is that they are unaware of me and also are unaware of the special task team that is hot on their heels.”
Kadin is curious. “What’s the meaning of the words in Sanskrit ‘Put me back before the world comes to an end.’?”
A silence follows while Nico carefully considers his words before he answers: “What I am now going to tell you must remain a secret amongst the six of us. Do not tell anyone about it!”