UNTAMED

Part Four

       He was on his pickup in less than ten seconds and was at Asaba within an hour. He drove as fast as he could. He had left the Hausa man to fate. He started gathering his weapons as soon as he entered his house. He could not explain what he was feeling, he had not felt for long and the emotions he was having was confusing but it felt like anger. As he packed his weapons, he tried running through the information he had gotten. The boy was definitely not crazy. No insane person would carve that word with a steel wire. Then could it be true that Chief was gay and not just that, but one with a twisted mind? There was always a truth in every rumor and if the second rumor was true, then that boy had been abused for more than fourteen years. He needed to hurry.
      There were few things he was already sure of. First, Chief was going to increase security, and second, he would try to move the boy because the people he had sent to kill him had not come back, and by now, news of the people he had killed must have spread to Ologbo and to Chief. If Chief increased security while thinking of a way to move the boy, it meant he needed help. If it was just an extermination mission, he would go himself but this was a rescue mission and there was no way he could handle it on his own.
He had left the The Circle after Abigail’s death and had threatened to shoot the next Circle member who would dare visit him again to convince him to come back, but Jason had been bold. First, he had asked for his help in delivering a document to stop another civil war. Then later, Jason had visited to invite him to his wedding. He had also come with a huge bag full of weapons as a gift for saving his Cindy who was now his wife. He did not attend the wedding neither did he check what was in the bag. Wild had also tried convincing him after the war was over, that was before he went back to Asaba. He had made him know although his name was no longer in The Circle classified file, he was still a member because Major Ahmed had not officially accepted his resignation and that explained while he was still being paid. Right now, he needed their help. He looked for his Circle android phone and switched it on. The other members’ phone  were recently hacked except his own but they now had new ones and The Circle was now totally independent of The Special Force. It was no longer a sub-unit. He got to know through Jason.  This was because the defectors who had worked with the enemy were Special Force soldiers.  The Circle were a team of Special Force soldiers known as the best of the best. They were very few in number because the criteria for becoming a member were very difficult. First, the Special Force soldier must be able to beat up to thirteen soldiers in face to face combat, then must be able to beat up to six U.S marines also in face to face combat. Then he or she must have ninety percent and above score in any training, then they were made to perfect what they were naturally good at. Most importantly, they must pass the character test. Many Special Force soldiers failed in the character test even after passing all the other criteria. So they were not accepted by Wild, the Circle team leader. Some of them had shown their anger by defecting during the fight to stop another civil war. He remembered his face to face combat with U.S marines. He was among the first ever Circle team. One had told him that size didn’t matter and he found it ridiculous that he was told to fight a Nigerian soldier with five others.  But the soldier had forgotten that five among the best U.S marines were black men and some of the best boxers in the world were also black men. He had believed they had the upper hand because of their training. Unfortunately for the six marines he had to fight, he was marking his mum’s death anniversary that day. He had beaten the number to ten and was later offered a chance to become a U.S citizen.
        Immediately the phone powered up, he saw many texts from Wild. He had messaged him with his new line.
‘The Circle will never give up on you’ Wild
‘I won’t give up on you Tamed’ Wild
‘If you need me for any crazy activity, I’m available’ Wild
‘Why are you taking all our show, that’s not fair’ Ghost
‘You know you are a good man’ Major
‘Gosh I still need to learn more about cars from you’ Fast
‘Contact me if you need help on the weapons I sent’ Jason
He stopped reading. He switched on the internet, logged in into their Chat app, ‘CIRCLE.’ Jason had installed it the day he visited with his wedding card and weapons. He had to switch on his android phone to talk with Jason. That was how Jason wanted to communicate that day. You never know with Jason. Some days he could mutter a few words, some days he used sign language while on other days he insisted on using chats. He had gotten to know about the new change in The Circle that day. The app demanded for his finger print and a code known only to the Circle as username. He just had to spell the Circle backwards with his code name following it after a space. He was in after two seconds.
‘I need help’ he wrote and waited for a response which he got almost immediately.
‘What can the Circle do for you?’ Wild replied.
‘Like seriously? Is this Tamed or have we been hacked again? Jason say something?’ Ghost wrote.
‘Except someone killed him and used his finger print after forcing him to say the code’ Jason wrote.
‘What do you need?’ Finally Major answered.
‘A backup. I’m going on a rescue mission.’
‘You’ve never asked for backup with all the fun you took from us’ Doc wrote.
‘You know backup means making it official and we can’t make it official except mission has been cleared’ Wild wrote.
‘I don’t have time. I need an unofficial back up. You need to trust me that the mission is legit.’
‘Tamed what the heck did you get yourself involved in?’ Mark wrote.
‘Okay brief us’ Major wrote
One thing with Circle was truth. It was a code they valued more than any rule.  He did not keep anything out, he told them about all the events that led to that particular moment. They all knew him and his native pot so he did not need to explain the story of his mother and the native pot.
‘Now I’m operating with time. If I don’t get to that boy, either Chief will kill him or he will transfer him. I need to carry out this final mission before I join Abigail’ he wrote his last explanation.
‘Let’s talk about your suicide later. What do you guys think? It’s the mission valid. Remember we are dealing with house of rep member here. And Jason is it same Chief?’ Major Ahmed wrote.
‘Definitely’ Jason responded.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘I have been on the trail of some arms dealers whose network spread to both Delta and Edo state. The second leader’s trail is always leading me back to a certain Chief Esigie who is now House of Rep Member’ Jason answered.
‘Then there is no need for approval. Since the mission had already been approved’ Fast wrote.
‘We have not been approved to exterminate and neutralize’ Doc wrote.
‘There is no time to get approval, we can never be caught. We can state it as emergency after the operation just like the last time we stopped the war. The President is still happy with what happened’ Wild wrote.
‘We may face soldiers since the man is house of rep’ Mark wrote.
‘No, he has personal guards guarding the house and we all know the reason.’
‘Major your call’ Wild wrote.
‘I will get approval while you guys can be on the move. It’s a hostage situation and the president don’t need to know who is involved. It’s going to be an undercover rescue because Chief will not officially report the truth. So we must be unknown but there is a condition Tamed’ Major wrote
‘I will come back.’
‘What a wrong math Major, he is on the verge of suicide and he won’t come back’ Jason wrote.
‘Then let him die a Circle member’ Wild wrote.
‘Wild?’ Major wrote.
‘Apart from Jason in Benin, Doc and Mark in Lagos, we are in Abuja. Ghost is already on a mission. So Jason is closest to you and he will be your back-up. Wild you are now officially Jason’s partner on the arms dealer case. My guess is Chief will report it as attempted kidnapping or robbery. Jason pick up the rescue Van at the underground house. Tamed will meet up with you there.  Jason look up everything about Honorable Esegie. Let’s know him more’ Wild wrote.
‘There is another issue. Tamed has been declared wanted. I was going to report it in our 11: pm meeting’ Jason wrote.
‘Explain’ he wrote.
‘Three days ago, you killed an armed robber linked up with Ojogolo, the arms dealers I’m trailing. Your identity had been described for the first time’ Jason wrote.
‘Tamed did you spare someone?’ Major wrote.
‘No. She is the wife of the armed robber. Although she was aware of her husband activities, it was not enough for extermination according to the rules she is still an innocent’ he wrote.
‘If these dealers are intelligent enough, you will be their number one suspect after killing Chief’s men. From your story, that second man would be able to give a description of you which will fit with the woman’s description even though you were not on hood and glasses’ Jason wrote
‘I’m not going to ask how you knew about the activities of three days ago but I will need update of everything you’ve done and discovered’ he wrote.
‘Roger that’ Jason wrote.
‘So right now, there is a possibility that Chief Esigie is an arms dealer. Keep that in mind. Mark will be in the control room. You and Jason will be carrying out an open mission. Tamed you have to be careful. Do you copy?’
‘Copy. I need to move now because we need to do a survey’ he wrote.
‘Do that and send us the numbers or expected numbers’ Major wrote
‘Jason?’’ Wild wrote.
‘I will be there waiting for Tamed’ Jason replied.
‘Wait, what of the aftermath of the rescue mission? The boy must stay hidden until mission is complete’ Doc wrote.
‘I have a plan?’ Wild wrote.
‘I’m off’ he wrote
He left the chat room immediately but left his phone on. Jason had said he was declared wanted by the arms dealers and it was making him excited. He was feeling the thrill and he struggled to curtail the beast in him. One thing that he had discovered that was common among the Circle team was they liked going on the offensive. They didn’t wait for someone, they would rather go after their targets. He would never allow himself to be hunted, he was the predator and not the prey. He would hold his beast down until the rescue mission was over. Then he would hunt down the Ojogolos one by one. He would join Abigail after that.
       He searched his Circle bag and brought out his hand band. He switched it on. They could now track his location. He carried everything he needed to the passenger seat of his pickup van, including the bag Jason brought. Few minutes later, he was on his way to Benin to meet up with Jason.