CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

"Alright Sheriff, go ahead, input the password, we are waiting for you", the governor voiced out after what seemed like eternity. Sheriff was in no rush, he had a plan and delay was definitely part of the process.

"Dad", Stein tapped his dad softly and whispered, "I believe in you!"

That seemed to be the only encouragement Sheriff needed. Immediately, he sprang to action. He inputted the passcode and everyone stood watching, Stein could see Shrike brandishing his pistol already, he was just waiting for the confirmation of the codes before he eliminated the two of them. The next action displayed on the laptop got everyone in the corridor agitated....'INCORRECT PASSCODE...YOU HAVE TWO MORE TRIALS...'. Immediately, several guns cocked around Sheriff and Stein.

"Relax boys", the governor assured, "no guns, I thought I said no bloodshed, he can't probably mess with us. He's pretty outnumbered. Sheriff, as you can see these men are blood-thirsty and do not appreciate being toyed with so if you like yourself and your son, don't try to activate the fail-safe. Alright guys, let's do it this way, he messes with us one last time, you can have his son's head and I keep the drive hidden far away from plain sight, agreed?, now give him a little space and let him do his work...and lower your weapons guys, you can't expect him to work well with guns pointed to his brain!"

The mercs backed off and reluctantly lowered their weapons, they were going to have their way after all, just a matter of minutes before they get to use their guns again. They obviously did not enjoy the governor's style of working, left to them, Sheriff and Stein would have been total goners!.

Sheriff maintained his cool, if he was getting out of here alive, he had to pay the price. He made to attempt the second time but this time he typed very slowly, each character costing him few seconds. He was about to input the last character when he decided it was go time!. Observing that Sheriff was deliberately wasting time, Shrike got angry and closed in on him, that's when the action began!. When Shrike was close enough, Sheriff threw his bottle of spirit at him and followed it up with the cigarette lighter, immediately, it acted like a grenade and Shrike clothes and face caught on fire, bullets flew across the room directed towards Sheriff and his son but fortunately, they were fast enough and had cowered behind the table the laptop had being operated on which was fairly strong to withstand few shots from hand guns and a number of automatic rifles. Sheriff dragged Stein by the hand and led him out of the corridor with the drive and the laptop in his other hand. The laptop was already damage as it had taken bullets shots from the angry mercs as they escaped from their clutches once again but luckily, the drive was still intact. They ran speedily across the corridor searching for escape routes, they haven't gone far when an alarm sound began to pierce the silence in the City Mafia's headquarters.

"What's that sound dad?", Stein asked as they entered into a room full of boxes and crates.

"That's the warning sound they are giving each checkpoint alarming them that we are on the loose. They are going to put everywhere on lockdown and pinch us in. We have some minutes to ready up", Sheriff uncovered a metal crate, "this is their weapons room, we take what we need. You know how to use a hand gun huh?"

"Not really dad but I'll try. Desperate times, desperate measure!"

"That's my son, now here...", Sherrif threw Stein a glock, "it's loaded, use it carefully and aim for the head. Most of them wear bulletproof vest so aiming for the chest would do no good",Sheriff equipped himself with one M-16 rifle which was his main gun, an AK rifle was hung around his neck, he dug two pistols into his pockets then he took a backpack and loaded hand grenades into it. They were about to move when Sheriff noticed something, Stein was much more still vulnerable so he gave a bulletproof vest which proved to be slightly heavy for him but it was necessary he wore it, he wasn't losing anyone again!.

They waited silently in the room awaiting the mercs who had began the combing of the whole fortress. The door dragged open slowly, one of the mercs walked in, gun in hand and looked around, he moved to where Sheriff and Stein stood and immediately, Sheriff proved quick and shot him down.

"He was unfortunate, he had no vest on. We have to do something about the gunshot noise, check the crates Frank for something metallic and cylindrical, it has a tiny hole in its middle, they call it a silencer, it would reduce the noise and it would be harder for them to track our location if we take silenced shots, you gerrit?". Stein looked around, uncovering each crates, he knew what a silencer looked like and his father didn't need to explain in details.

"Drop your weapon", another merc entered into the room and pointed a gun at Sheriff, "if not for the governor's insistence to keep you alive, I would have blown your head off long ago. Now drop your weapon and throw the drive over here. If you hesitate, I wouldn't hesistate to kill you from my side here!".

The Sheriff lowered his pistol slowly to the ground and hesitated, there was no way that drive was leaving him again.

"Alright Sheriff, you chose to hesitate, well, hesitation is not in my dictionary!..", a shot was fired in the room, a silenced one, the merc didn't use a silencer on his rifle!. The merc dropped dead instantly, Stein was the one that took the shot!.

"Nice one son, I see you learn quickly, you should get a badge for your first kill. Buckle up, more incoming", Sheriff picked up his gun and retrieved a silencer from Stein, the newest stone cold killer!. Sheriff set a trap bomb on the door in such a way that if anyone opened the door, shrapnels would be the next things in their cold bodies and they escaped through the window using the tall grasses as cover. Another merc sighted them and as he tried raising an alarm, Stein shot him down. Two kills!. They hid near a tall tree as three merc passed the normal footpath.

"See those guys son", Sheriff spoke silently, "you take one out, I take out the other two. Aim for the head, it looks like these ones appreciate their vests. On the count of three, we shoot. One, two, three....". Three bodies thudded the ground instantly. Three kills for Stein!.

"Nice one kid, you're doing well, let's keep on moving". They reached the main gargantuan gate and from a distance, they could see armed guys already in position, ready to shot at anything that came near.

"That place is too hot to pass, I could have taken them out but I did not bring a sniper along so what we do is we pass another route, the river passage is still the safest route, they have boats on the bank and we can use it to escape into the city".

"What about Shrike dad?"

"Right now, Shrike is currently the least of our problem for now, let's move!"

"And the governor and his men?"

"They would be fine, he should be out of here in minutes, he can't take tooo much violence, his men won't allow it. He struck a deal with the devil, what did he expect as profit?"

They passed though the bush avoiding mercs that walked in group but took out those ones that walked alone. Stein already had six kills, for young boy like him, he already had war-like instincts just like his dad. They did that until they almost reached the river bank when they heard hushed voices conversing by the boats. Sheriff took count, they were five armed men but they were at a disadvantage because they couldn't see Sheriff and his son.

"Alright boy, see that green motor boat, that's our ride out of here. This is what we do, we can't take them all out as we did to their unlucky mates, they are too much and if we engage, they might overpower us and signal the headquarters that they've found us and we don't what that, do we?".

Stein shaked his head sideways. Nobody wanted that.

"And you know if we are caught again, they would have to implement plan B which would involve keeping the drive somewhere safe permanently, maybe the would bury it or keep it in a bank vault after which we are completely useless to them and you know what it means to be useless to these terrorists. So let's do this, you crawl over to the green boat and loose it from the port or better still, take..", he handed Stein a sharp knife, "use it to cut the rope while I try to distract them one after the other after which I join you there. Take no shots, only if necessary until you see that I've done a little subtraction and they are reduced to three then we repeat what we did earlier, you take out one guy and I wrap things up, got it?, move out!"

Stein dragged his body on the damp forest floor as he crawled slowly towards the boat. Sheriff on his own side picked up a stone and threw it on a large stump right beside him.

"Did you hear that sound?, we have to check, it could be them!", one of the merc said.

A man that seemed to be the leader of this group of mercs gave the order, "Alright men, stay on guard, the Sheriff is a dangerous man but we are more dangerous, let's leave it that way...you..", he pointed to the merc that had earlier noticed the sound, "go and check, what's going on there!".

The merc went close and close farther from where the group stood until he got to where Sheriff hid oblivious of the danger that was to behold him. In a split second, Sheriff slit his throat and dropped him on the floor silently. Who's next?.

"What's keeping him?", the leader quizzed after a minute, "he should be back now!, Ahmed!, Ahmed!, you...", he pointed to another merc who was visibly shaken by the sudden disappearance of his mate, "go and check what's keeping him...fast!". He scurried off as he got to where Ahmed laid, Sheriff shot him dead at close range and supported his body gently to the forest ground, nobody heard anything, the shots taken were muffled. Who's next?.

The leader became worried, two of his men had just vanished into the forest!. They were three left, himself and two scared men.

"Sir", one of them advised, "I suggest we stay here or better still call for backup, we can't lose anyone again!".

"No!, we stay here, we can't just assume it was Sheriff that got our guys, what if he wasn't the one taking our guys and we bring the whole army here only to get them dissapointed and you wouldn't want to dissapoint Shrike, in annoyance and frustration, he could send you to hell instantly and worse of all, if you bring the whole calvary here, that would give Sheriff the perfect opportunity to escape through another route, we lose on every ways, so think smart, if we are going to die, we are going to defend this fortress dying!", the leader encouraged them. Stein had the boat floating and ready, he was waiting for his dad to join him, what's keeping him?.

The sound of moving water alerted the group, "Sir...", one of the mercs tapped their leader, "the boat, it's moving!". Instantly, they all rushed to the boat and Sheriff chased them, his son was far more important than any drive!. Before any merc could think, the one that gave the shout went down, Stein's handiwork, seven kills for him, the last merc and the leader had Stein surrounded but before they could make the call, both of them hit the floor almost at the same time, that was how accurate and sharp the Sheriff skills were.

"You had me worried Frank, I said you should wait for me!"

'I tried, the boat was too heavy, my grip loosened, I couldn't hold it any longer, I'm sorry...I almost got myself killed!"

"No worries, that was a brave thing you did there. You were composed even in the sight of death, how many kills do you have now?"

"Seven"

"Whoa!, seven kills for my little soldier, when I started policing and went for my first mission, I didn't even have up to seven kill!, nice job, you would do well in my place. Now let's go, check the fuel tank, do you know where it is?, there should be enough fuel to get us out of here and into the city".

The motor boat was in good condition, the emerald green colour was still intact, the interior was still comfortable, the wheel still shining and the body work still strong, it looked like it belonged to Big Chief himself, fortunately, the fuel in the tank was more than enough to get them somewhere safe. Stein got on board and switched on the engine while Sheriff stayed on the edge of the bank trying to push the boat out of the port and into the river when a loud noise sent shrills all over Stein, the supposed-to-be-dead leader of the merc Sheriff had earlier shot wasn't totally dead, Sheriff hadn't aimed for the head and now, he had retaliated by taking a last shot at the middle region of the Sheriff!. Sheriff dropped slowly to the floor holding his abdomen region, blood was gushing out of the bullet wound and he was dying. Sheriff emptied the contents of the pistol into the merc leader and kneeled down on the forest floor right beside the leader. The bullet sounds had attracted the rest of the team and one could already see touch light flashes from a distance.

"Dad, you can make it!..", Stein said tearfully as he tried turning the boat backwards, "I'm not leaving you here!, get up dad!, please!", more tears made their way down Stein's face.

"Don't worry about me Frank, I'll be fine, go, leave me here, I'm no use save yourself,..", Sheriff dug his hand into his pocket and brought out the drive, "here..", he threw it towards Frank, "keep it with your life, don't let anyone take it from you, one day, we will see again to unlock the drive and expose these terrorists, the motor boat isn't rocket science son, it's just like driving a car just simpler, you should do well, just keep the wheel at the center and focus on the water way and avoid obstructions, you should be fine, it's far easier than taking out seven armed terrorists!". The footsteps were getting closer and the lights were very visible now.

"Dad, I'm not leaving without you, get up dad!, these guys are ruthless, they won't hesitate to kill you!"

"Go Frank, don't worry about me, I know you can figure out the password yourself and expose these bastards, just follow the clues.." The mercs were already closing in on Sheriff, "go boy, I'm proud of you, we will definitely see again!, I love you Frank!"

Tears in his eyes, Stein accelerated the engine boat as the mercs got to the Sheriff, firing few shots at Frank but missing by a fraction. The mercs surrounded Sheriff and as Frank took one last tearful look at him before he focused on the way, he wasn't going to watch his father die in the hands of these heartless terrorists. He heard two loud rapid shots, that was it he thought, he swore he was going to wipe out the whole City Mafia group when it was time, that was a promise he made to himself!.

The mercs decided they weren't done with Stein, they took the two other motor boats in the port and started in hot pursuit. Stein who was new to this kind of action tried his best manoeuvring the boat while dodging bullets shots from his pursuers. The engine boat suffered damage to its sides and a few to its engine, in a moment, the engine caught on fire.

"No!,no!, not fire!, stay with me please!", Stein murmured, he looked back, one boat was closing in on him, he picked his gun and as taught, he aimed for the driver's head, in a spilt second, the boat lost control and headed straight into the other boat causing a chain-reaction crash, eleven kills in total!.

"Yeah!..", Stein exclaimed triumphantly, "that's for Sheriff!". He turned to face front but it was too late, his boat crashed into a barrier and exploded, lifting him into the sea.... unconscious.

~Lagos State Teaching Hospital.

"Yeah, he's fine, just some minor casualties, no damage to the bones or internal organs, I must say, he's very lucky, the boat however didn't make it, it was taken to the scrapyard, that's its fate now" that was coming from a nurse who conversed with a middle-aged woman that seemed to take interest in Stein. Where was he?, the last thing he remembered before everything went blank was his body hitting the salt water. He tried straightening himself on the bed by lifting his head from the fluffy pillow. He felt a stinging pain in his hands

"Hey!, relax,..", the middle-aged kind woman stepped forward, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Take your time to rest. I am Mrs Elizabeth, what's your name?"

"Frank"

"Okay Frank, doctor said you were involved in a boat mishap. He said you were driving a speedboat yourself, that's pretty outrageous and interesting for a young kid like you, I can't imagine myself on the wheels of a speedboat. Lifeguards helped you out of the wreck when your boat hit a barrier, experts said you had a faulty engine and a leaky fuel tank which upon impact caused the explosion. You are a pretty lucky boy, most people don't survive those kind of accident. We are just happy you are alive"

We?, who were the 'we'?

"So Frank, how did you get in that speedboat, the lifeguards said they found two other similar boats near the vicinity of the crash and found the bodies of two men that have been identified as wanted members of the notorious City Mafia. Eyewitness revealed those guys in the other boats were chasing you then something happened which they really did not see and the two boats crashed into each other before you lost control and crashed too. Police investigation have begun and an uplink revealed you are the son of the famous head of Police Department known as Sheriff and coincidentally, the Sheriff's house was attacked earlier this week by members of the City Mafia. If I may ask, where's your dad?"

"He...he was killed by the same men that were pursuing me. We had something they wanted so bad and we got kidnapped to their hideout, we devised an escape plan but unfortunately, my dad didn't make it out"

"Oh!, I'm so sorry about that, my condolences. The poilce would appreciate this piece of information for a headstart. The police also said they found a drive on you, tried to access it but it was passworded, they said it might contain something personal so they won't add it as evidence, so here..", she dug her hands into her jean pocket and handed the drive to Stein, "I guess this belongs to you"

"Thanks..", he collected the drive from her and clutched it tightly, it wasn't leaving him again, "it was my dad's, but now, I guess it belongs to me"

"Do you have any idea of what's inside?, not that I'm curious but the police wanted to know the data contained in it whether it could by chance have anything to do with the crash"

"As you earlier said, it contains personal family information, nothing to be worried about, just tell the police it's contains nothing that had to do with the crash and unfortunately, I can't even access it, I will just keep it as a remembrance of him"

"So, let's talk about your welfare, have you any relatives that you may stay with?, any guardian?, family friends?"

"No, none that I know of, my dad lived a quiet life after my mom's passing"

"Okay, right now, your security is utmost priority. The City Mafia would want you so bad too so you have to relocate to somewhere safe, far from where all these happended. We want those terrorists to believe you did not survive the crash. I'm offering you a home with the United For Christ Ophranage, it's not the typical orphanage you might have stereotyped in your mind, it's a home on its own and it's far better than any other place you might choose to be right now and we would do our best to make you forget this bitter experience, you would like it there, so what's your take Frank?"

Right now, Stein needed a home, he figured he could do with her benevolent offer. He took some seconds to weigh his options, well considering his present predicament, he had no other options!.

"Well,..", Stein shrugged, "I could do with a new house and some new friends"

"Alright Frank, welcome to the UFC..."