Chapter 7: The Man

Jones J. Johnson was sitting on his patio, relaxing and enjoying the cool afternoon breeze. His job was really paying well. He was enjoying a lot of the clientele's patronage. In fact his market had reached beyond the borders of Ghana. The TV was on, tuned to GTV, not because he wanted to watch but because he wanted to drown out the noise that the workers were making as they were installing a new jacuzzi beside his bathtub.

The program that was on was immediately interrupted by some sort of evening news but he didn't give a damn about that. He just wanted to relax and get these damn workers to finish the jacuzzi before Angela came over. He smiled and remembered their first shagging. It was epic, but this will definitely be better.

In the middle of his daydreaming he heard a name that immediately brought a frown to his face. It sounded familiar, so he turned in the direction of the TV and what he saw shook him to his bone.  Mr. Charles Takyi, the guy running for president had been in an accident.

He didn't particularly care about his well-being, but it was memories of a deal he did 9 months ago that began to resurface. The deal that rocketed his 'career' in the black market and into the pockets of many politicians. If he remembered correctly the event that took place that day.

It was a Thursday afternoon and it was rare to see a Ghanaian smoking in the middle of a busy street as 'early' as 12 noon. With all the heat wave that obliterated any wish for a cool breeze. But he had to, it was both an addiction and a signal to his newest customer.

Standing at the entrance of the Makola market, facing the Law School. That stance too was an identification mark. He was very cautious of how he moved around, how he did his business. He had moved into this bloody country not too long ago, 6 years to be exact but it took him quite some time to acclimatize to this freaking heat. For crying out it was like being stuck in an oven even during night time.

He looked at his $5,000 Aviator wrist watch under semi-dirty shirt nervously. This particular client, he could feel was a big fish. Looking at all the trouble he/she was going through to make sure that everything was on point.

A minute after checking the time, a figure, smallish in nature compared to him but average compared to the multitude of Ghanaians walking around. Two nods from the person facing  him and tapping his left shoulder told him that that was the client; biiiiiig fish.

As arranged, the client was wearing a oversized  double-breasted suit which he had left open. He walked towards the waiting man as if he knew him from Adam and hadn't seen him in a while. With a holler and a wave he crossed the road and gave him a 'brother's' handshake. Immediately they hugged, his right hand slipped into the coat and felt the envelope in the left inner pocket. He took it out and slipped it into his top pocket. The process was quick and no one would have detected it even if they were standing an inch away from the two of them.

They exchanged a few words and they parted ways. He sprinted back to where he was standing before his client came. When he turned around his client was gone. He was that good, not a trace, not even a distant image of him.

He rushed back to his car down in the parking lot under the Makola market and opened the envelope. As arranged $10,000 in $100 bills along with the details of the person he was supposed to deal with was in there. He took another look at the detail and he realized he knew the person but he was of another name. It was not his place to question his clients desires but with this particular one, there were warning bells ringing. It was a picture of one of the most elusive criminals in the States. Well not so elusive as he was caught by the CIA and been in jail for the past two years.

This guy was a mystery and only few knew about his origin; he was one of the few. He knew that this criminal was originally from Ghana and moved to the States when he was 15 with his family before he disappeared into gang life and crime. What he didn't know was that he was a twin.

He shook his head and smiled. "Me of all people, I'm supposed to erase this guy from existence. Hm, me against Mr. Tek himself. This should be fun."

Now things began to make sense. The guy who wanted Mr. Tek wiped out of existence did it because the big men didn't want any link between Mr. Takyi and Tek. This was huge; only he and whoever orchestrated the deal knew about this. He could make a shitload of money on this if he played his cards right. He began to shake with excitement.

Suddenly Jones realized that though there was still noise coming from the bathroom he wasn't hearing any human voices. Had they taken a break or were they also listening to the news? He got up and went to the living room to turn down the volume of the TV. His phone began to ring and he picked up. He immediately recognized the voice. The only guy who actually had dirt on him. He was a blessing and a curse. Jones couldn't hear the person on the other end of the line clearly because the noise was just too much so he turned off the TV. Immediately the screen went black he saw a figure reflecting on the screen, standing behind him. Danger, danger, danger, his instints began to ring

He turned quickly to grab something to use in defense but he was too slow. The pain was sharp and his vision began to blur but he could make out the structure and face of the person before everything went black. It was the double breasted suite guy from 9 mo0nths ago. He looked meaner, quieter, sinister, without emotion. Just cold dead eyes looking right at him. The man was......

Chapter 5: I know him

James had his head in his hands, struggling to convince his imaginary watchers that he was ok and could wait for Kwasi to come out of the operation room. He James wasn't hurt that bad, the airbag just gave him a 'slightly' heavy knock to the head that almost rendered him unconscious. Kwasi on the other hand wasn't so lucky. A big piece of the windscreen got into his right arm as he had used it to shield his face.

Everything happened so fast. Just when they had crossed the traffic light at Spinal junction opposite the Accra mall he got a 'driver's itch' immediately he put on his seatbelt and Kwasi being his best friend immediately knew something was up. He never doubted James' instincts when it came to the road and cars.

Just at the bottom of the rise in the road James saw why the itch had started. Kwasi saw it too and said in a low tone "James?" and he replied "Yeah". That was a 30 minute conversation compressed into 3 seconds. There was a truck in front of them which looked like it couldn't stop in time and was trying to dodge something. That something was a man in the middle of the road. Kwasi didn't know how but he knew James was going to save the man. Even James didn't know how he was going to do it. Everything just happened so quickly and on its own. The next thing both of them knew was that they were at the hospital and Kwasi was getting stitched up.

A nurse walked by not giving him any attention, which he was glad for. He was in no mood for any scrutiny save news that Kwasi was ok. A few minutes out walked the nurse, followed by Kwasi with a broad grin on his face. The grin that said, I have got another one. That was the look he always had whenever he came back from the club with a 'story' to tell. Right on queue the nurse turned around and flashed Kwasi a smile. As she was turning back around she bumped into a man who was also a bit distracted. She excused herself and attempted to walk away but the man stopped her and started a conversation with her.

The boys immediately exchanged glances and began to laugh silently. Just as James was good with cars, Kwasi was good with the ladies. He had bedded two out of three of the girls he had come across and always had the third hooked just in case. James admired him for that and since he didn't have that flair he just stuck with his cars. This nurse too had become a victim.

"Chale, are you ok?" James asked him.

"Oh yeeeeah, I'm cool. With a girl like that as my nurse, all the pain from the stitches was worth it" Kwasi replied with a smirk on his face. "Look at that booty, whoa!!! she's one hot tamale I can't wait to hit."

James shook his head in amazement and was about saying something when he noticed that the guy the nurse had bumped into coming towards them. He tapped Kwasi who immediately went into 'hurt mode'.

The man walked directly at them without a break in his stride. As soon as he got there he asked

"So who's the hero?"

James and Kwasi exchanged glances again but this time it was a confused one. The guy stood there as if waiting a to deliver a punch line. It took a few seconds for it to register that the men in front of him were as confused as to who 'the hero' was.

"Ok, who was the driver of the truck that saved Mr. Takyi?" He tried again.

Still they were standing there with a blank look as if they had been zombied by lack of information. He tried a third time.

"The man that was in the middle of the road. The one that was almost hit by a truck, well, hit by a car afterwards actually. Which one of you was driving the truck that rammed into the other one?"

"Ooh, you mean the idiot who was standing in the middle of the road." Kwasi finally got it.

He pointed at James. He was just standing there smiling like he had heard a not so funny joke and was trying to be courteous by giving a smile. The man immediately zoned in on him and began to study him. He then asked " What's your name sir?"

"Who's asking?" replied James.

"Oh sorry. My name is Daniel Baffoe Barimah. I am the news presenter on GTV's Breaking News on the Go." The man started smiling and puffing out his chest like he had just declared that he was the ruler of the universe."

"Hmmm, I don't think I've ever seen you on TV" replied James, which was half true considering the fact that he rarely watched TV let alone GTV for that matter.

That very moment, James heard a voice that he did recognize. Not because he knew the person personally but because he had heard it over and over again.

"Where is he? How is he? Someone talk else trouble will become my middle name. I want answers NOW!" That was the voice of the running mate of the NDP party; William Kyekyeku. They say Takyi is the face that will win the next elections but William was the brains behind it all. Though he didn't have charisma like his mate, he was definitely one coy person you should rather have on your side than against you.

James knew all of this because he had known him since his high school days in Mfantsipim School. Kyekyeku hated the limelight. He could have been school prefect but rather chose to run mass. He could have been football captain but rather chose to help the school coach with the training. What James didn't know was that he was 'the' William Kyekyeku that the news had been talking about for the past year.

James stood there astounded, but Daniel, being the news person that he was flew straight towards the newcomer as if the guys he was talking to initially were a curse he had to run away from.  In that very moment, the nurse who had attended to Kwasi earlier came rushing out of nowhere to qualm the raging beast. In her attempt, she almost saw the back-hand of one of the security detail accompanying Mr. Kyekyeku.

They then walked right past both Daniel and James without even a hint of attention to their presence. The only thing any of them could hear was "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It wasn't,  it wasn't."

What wasn't supposed to happen? What was he talking about? James was surprised to see such a countenance on a man who for the 4 years he had known him never ever exhibited any sign of worry or fear, just a cool calculative head and perceptive eyes. James glanced around and realized that the news presenter was also confused at the rambling of William Kyekyeku. What the hell is going on?

Chapter 4 : The News

10, 9,8,7....breathe Dan, breathe, 3,2,1. The place went deadly silent as the theme music came on queue. The lights came on and the signal was on.

"And we have a breaking news at this moment. We understand that the NDP candidate running for presidency, Mr.  Charles K. Takyi,  was in a road accident this afternoon. The incident happened at the Shangri-La traffic light, on the Liberty road. No one has been able to determine or explain how he got there and what he was doing there without his entourage. Witnesses say all they saw was someone pushing forward to beat the traffic light but before they realized he was in the middle of the road.

Because of the strange circumstances surrounding the incident many did not readily identify him to be the NDP candidate running for presidency save one lady by the name of Alberta Nti-Amoah who called in the ambulance. Further reports on his well-being  has been unclear as this has become a matter of national security. Any further news will be reported here so please make it a point to stay tuned. My name is Daniel Baffoe Barimah, and this has been Breaking News on the Go".

It was like this every time. Dan had been doing the breaking news for almost 2 years now but every single time his nerves got to him before he went on. The world of journalism out on the field was more invigorating but the desk job paid much better  plus he got to be famous through news delivery.

Because they had so little time for the breaking news to be read, not all the report on the accident was presented. He held the papers in his hand and started scanning through again, just to get a feel of how it would have been like to be there when it happened. It was one thrilling read with the account that the witnesses gave especially the collision of the trucks. It made him almost miss the field work.

That was it. He had made up his mind. After work, he was going to pass by the accident scene and see for himself the aftermath of the whole show. Knowing the Ghana police, they weren't going to clean up any time soon.

With that, the day went by pretty fast as mundane as it was. By 5 o'clock Dan was driving in the direction of the accident from GBC. Once he got there he parked at the hotel and crossed the street to the other side where the second truck that everyone was talking about had been lodged comfortably into the wall, the hero's truck, he called it.

5 years as a field reporter gave him the ability to visualize from report how things happen but being there, at the accident scene, he just couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to it. Obviously, how Mr. Takyi landed there was indeed a mystery and why no further reports were being given to the press was even more. It is politics after all but this 'politricks' really stank of something fishy.

Once he had had enough of the view Dan went back into his car. He sat in there pondering over what he had seen for almost 20 minutes before starting the vehicle. Before he even came to himself he found himself driving towards the 37 military hospital where Mr. Takyi had been taken. Yep, his field instincts had taken over.