Chapter-21 Brazzaville, 4° 16′ 4″ S, 15° 17′ 31″ E WHO Satellite Office

Cecilia and Akiko laid down exhausted on a sofa after hours of flight. They purposely planned their travel route to the WHO office first to disguise their arrival.

The next morning, they would fly to Pointe Noire and continue their journey to the Congo Basin where the Golden Logging Timber Company camps located. The only way to get to the camp was through the river. They had booked a speedboat in Pointe Noire to get there.

They had time today to investigate Fabumi's whereabouts after being arrested by DGSE a while ago. They gathered information that Fabumi was brought by land to Brazzaville and held somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

Akiko reported her plans through X-One to Doctor Aslan. The WHO Director General only answered briefly and said that the security person requested by Cecilia would be waiting at the Pointe Noire port. His name was Andalas. He will find you.

Doctor Aslan also shared the location where Fabumi was held. It was a mansion in the suburbs of Brazzaville owned by a famous French conglomerate in Congo named Bastien.

Cecilia shrieked. Just one security person? Did Doctor Aslan hire Superman? Or Hulk?

Akiko just shrugged and was amused with Cecilia's panic reaction.

In the WHO's car, Cecilia and Akiko drove out of the office to the address given earlier. Only to encounter a shocking reality that the mansion's fence had been surrounded by police lines.

When the two talked to several villagers who lived near the mansion, they said that the mansion was attacked by rebel troops. The villagers speculated that the attack was because the owner was the main supporter of the current administration.

11 people were killed and none of the rebels. That was what Cecilia heard when she was looking for information at the metro police station. She enquired whether any of the bodies were Congolese. Police said that none of the 11 people killed were indigenous Congolese. Most of Bastien's company employees were French and Algerian.

It meant that there was a possibility that Fabumi was still alive. But being attacked by rebel troops? Cecilia, who had been traveling for a while in Africa, frowned. Over the past 3 years no such things like active rebellion in Congo occurred. There had been reconciliation efforts, and during that time, there had never been any news of attacks involving former rebels.

Something was not right. Cecilia asked Akiko to contact Doctor Aslan. Maybe through his network, Doctor Aslan could get information about what happened.

Within 10 minutes they got their answer. The attackers were GRU agents who infiltrated the Congo via South Africa and disguised themselves by wearing the clothes and emblems of past rebels.

GRU? Ivan? Of course, who else but Ivan Chenkhov could mastermind such attack. He knew who Fabumi was and also the events in the Congo Basin because Cecilia had been honest at first and got suspicious, then fled from Moscow.

Cecilia could not figure out what Moscow's real interest on the case. They had some big pharmaceutical factories. But companies in Russia would not have access to GRU. The Russian Secret Service was mostly defending political interests and nothing else. There must be other motives behind the attack and kidnapping. Cecilia's mind started playing chess of several scenarios.

Marc might have the answer. But how to play chess against Marc?

Cecilia decided to put everything on GRU stuffs in the back burner. The next day she and Akiko would take an arduous journey to the Congo Basin. Cecilia was certain that Mister Bob and his minions would not be there.

Cathy had been conducting a high-resolution satellite search from Pandora. There had not been any activities in the last few weeks at that dreadful camp. Cecilia was glad she finally had eyes from above the sky that could see everything on earth through Cathy's sophisticated equipment.

Cecilia was fully aware of their condition. They were both female and never had real experience in dealing with violence. Cecilia rejected any acts of violence as long as she could remember, so she never tried any martial arts, unlike some of her friends.

Cecilia glanced at Akiko. She was exactly like her, average built young woman, and nothing tough about that. Alas, they both had to rely on the ability of a single bodyguard named Andalas for a trip to a dangerous location. Doctor Aslan seemed to be joking.

The next morning, upon landing at Pointe Noire, Cecilia and Akiko took chartered vehicle to the port. The rental agency informed that the speedboat that would take them to the interior of Congo was called Anaconda.

This is unbelievable! She felt so tense.

Akiko chuckled seeing Cecilia's visible apprehension. She seemed at ease jumping from boat to boat before finally landing on Anaconda's deck.

Cecilia screamed as she almost fell over when she was about to jump onto the Anaconda. Several men were grinning at them while holding half full bottle of alcoholic drink. Akiko was holding Cecilia who looked so worried about what just happened.

Several men who had been watching them smirked as they drew large knives and moved closer. Realizing the danger they were about to face, Cecilia screamed as loud as she could but the hustle and bustle on the river muffled out her scream. No one was paying any attention to their predicament. There was only one boat operator who looked stupefied behind them.

Just when those men charged forward to attack Cecilia and Akiko, a loud scream came from behind the two doctors. The boat operator pounced on the attackers with agile, lethal moves.

Several muffled screams were heard as the five attackers fell into the water. Three people managed to swim holding on to the edge of the small boat, but two were swept away by the current as their necks were broken.

Cecilia almost screamed again when a pair of arms grabbed her hard to get on Anaconda. Akiko rushed to follow behind the guy.

"Hurry up!" He shouted. "They have friends with guns! I'm Andalas. Doctor Aslan sent me." He twisted the gas lever as hard as he could.

Anaconda sped through the murky Zaire river upstream.

In the distance. The Executor let out a short breath. Using local thugs was a mistake. He should have stepped in right away. He looked at the two snipers behind him in annoyance.