Must Read: Elvis - Season 1 - Episode 17

7 years ago

Must Read: Elvis - Season 1 - Episode 17

Elvis hurried down the stairs of the building he is overlooking the square from, he had a bad feeling about the kiosk owner ever since he had glared at him suspiciously at his kiosk. He had thought him to be a look-out for Titus in his dark deeds but he had never envisaged him to be a bomber, he had never suspected him to be one at least, alas he was wrong.

“Timi, do you have any idea of what is underneath the podium?” Elvis asked over the earphone.

“Not yet sir, I’m currently working on it, I’ll update you soonest” Timi replied
“Hurry up”
“Sir, it contains the connection of pipes sir”
“Pipes for what” Elvis asked now at the foot of the stairs
“Water sir, the underground of the podium was once used as a water distribution facility in the early 70s to late 80s before it was closed down, large quantity of water from the water distillation facility at the outskirt of the the state are sent down here, where it is distributed in lower quantities to surrounding towns. It has since be closed down”
“What is it used for now?”
“The state governor is planning to rehabilitate it for efficient distribution of drinkable water, something the state is lacking” Timi explained.
“Alright, get the schematics of the building, I’m going in”
“Sir, I think that is dangerous, the schematics of an underground facility constructed long ago, that will be hard sir” Timi said
“What the heck is going on here” the IG barked into the walkie-talkie
“It seems I’ve found our bomber” Elvis replied, now rushing towards the other end of the square.

“What?” the IG said, promptly alerting the other teams “Let’s move in” he added.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea sir, it’ll be too risky for us all, I’ll signal for backup when I’ve secured the bomb” Elvis said approaching the armed men guarding Honorable Titus. He showed them his ID card “It seems we are having a bit of a situation here, I have to pass” he added, the looked at him at loss of what he meant, they let him pass nonetheless.
“Elvis, you can’t go in alone” the IG barked furiously
“Sir, trust me on this”
“Elvis stop now, that’s an order” the IG shouted into his walkie.
Elvis switched his walkie-talkie to a new channel; he pulled out his earpiece and replaced it with another, one only his team members have.
“Sir, this is too dangerous” Timi said concerned through the new earpiece.
“Trust me Timi” Elvis said, pulling out his 9mm pistol from his belt, he cocked it and held it out before him, pointing forward.
“I’ll tell you when to tell others to switch their walkie-talkies to channel 7, right now work on the schematics and tell me what you can bring up, that’s the help you can give me”
“Ben and Dauda, standby for any instruction” Elvis said as he climbed down the stairs. He pushed open the door to the underground and walked in, his pointing finger on the trigger.

The door opened to a dark alley, old rusting pipes connected to each other ran across the roof of the underground, the pipes are ran vertically down at intervals connected to large reservoirs and delivery plants. The ground is wet and greasy, wet from the ever ending drops of water leaking from the rusted pipes, visibility would have been impossible if not for an old fluorescent tube flicking on and off, other lightening tubes have packed up, another fluorescent tube was flickering at a distant, although low, one can see the silhouette of someone far away and the face of someone close by.

He walked in, gently, stepping silently through the messy floor, he heard movement at his right, he turned suddenly to see one of the plumbers doctoring one of the pipes, the plumber gasped on seeing him; wanting to shout, Elvis quickly put his pointing finger on his lip signaling to the man not to shout, he showed him his ID card and collected a torch from him before telling him to get out of the facility immediately.

He continued his movement into the underground facility, walking stealthily, he saw three more plumbers who left immediately after he told them too, and the facility is getting darker as he could see the end of the facility ahead. He wouldn’t have been able to see anything if not for the torch; he switched off his touch as he got towards the end of the facility. It’s very dark, he couldn’t see the lines of his palm, he wouldn’t have switched off the torch but he doesn’t want to announce his presence to the kiosk owner; he’s not among the plumbers that left the facility.

His eyes caught the reflection of an illumination weakly; the rays are reflected to his path but not bright enough to be easily detected. He now walked on his toes, his whole body alert to any movement, his grip on his pistol got tighter as he walked to see the source of the light. He turned to his left and walked gingerly, the light is coming from a point up ahead. he walked quietly towards the light source, the light source is at the end, a connection of pipes forms a half rectangle shape with the wall, the light is coming from the enclosure of the rectangle, he got to the edge and peeped, he saw a man lying on the floor dead and another working furiously at something; something he couldn’t see, the man’s opaque frame is hindering his sight, the man’s bent over something, his hands at work.
Outside the IG is fuming, he hate his order been disobeyed, especially in front of his underlings, no superior likes that thou, he was boiling over after Elvis shut out all connections, he had ordered for all teams to move in, but Dauda had managed to talk him out of it, requesting that 5 minutes should be given to Elvis, he had agreed, just 5 minutes and they are storming the underground facility. He’ll surely have to punish Elvis for his indocile behavior afterwards.

Elvis pointed the gun at the head of the man bending over; he walked to the open space making sure his gun doesn’t deviate from the direction it’s pointing to, the nozzle of the gun directly at the man’s neck.
“Put your hands on your head” Elvis commanded walking closer, but keeping a safe distance. The man stopped what he’s doing obviously shocked.

“Your hands on your head” Elvis said again more affirmatively
The man stood up slowly, his hands slowly been dragged up to his head, his hands now holding his head, but the man still stand with his back facing Elvis.

“Turn around, slowly” Elvis said, his peter’s finger staying lightly on the trigger.
The man did so slowly, Elvis pointed his torch, now switched on towards the man’s face, alas it’s the kiosk owner. Elvis could see the bomb, blinking, beeping as its timer counts down, behind the man. That familiar sense of guilt and responsibility came over him. The countdown looks just like 8years ago.
“I’m an officer of the CIO department, I’ll advice you not to do anything rash” Elvis said still keeping a safe distance, his gun still pointing directly towards the man.
“I am ….”
“Shut up, remember every word you say can and will be used against you in the court of law” Elvis interjected.
Elvis wanted to use his left hand to press the earphone to connect to Timi, the man sensed his lapse in concentration and made to grab something from his trouser.

A shot rang out and the man fell limply to the ground. The shot echoed around the whole facility, all seem to stand still, the timer now comes into full view, blinking as the figures on it keeps reducing with every passing second.

00:07:25 00:07:24 00:07:23

Elvis ran towards the timer, it looks beautiful with the blue light blinking incessantly albeit an apocalyptic device. He turned towards the body of the kiosk owner, he frantically searched the pockets to see if he could find a trigger or something like a detonator to stop the bomb, he found the wallet of the man and decided to go through it.

He was dumfounded by what he saw, his lips went numb, his throat went dry immediately, his head became light, he couldn’t believe what he has done, before him is an NBI (Nigeria Bureau of Investigation) ID card, with the picture of the kiosk owner printed boldly over it with the name Cedrick Nwosu.