FATAL DISCOVERY

Episode 5

The Prime Minister considered the businessman’s proposal for a while and then shook his head in disagreement.
 “IB, I don’t agree with you. Whatever network you have cannot be bigger than mine. I have state apparatus at my disposal. The thing to do is for us to activate our various networks to fish this young lady out” he said. IB did not disagree. He nodded his head in agreement and then started making calls. The Prime Minister said the most important thing was the camera or the photographs that will be in the young woman’s custody.
“If those pictures appear in the media or fall into the wrong hands, then I am finished, or should I say, we both are finished” the Prime Minister warned. Then he called in the bodyguards and asked for a camera. Perry went out to one of the cars parked at the back of the building, retrieved a camera from it and came to hand it over to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister then took close shots of Armanda on the CCTV and then handed it over to the bodyguards with the instruction that they first find out if Armanda works with any of the media houses. They were to start immediately and go about the assignment discreetly.
 “I hope you will use your brains. If you make her suspect that we are after her, she will simply give the pictures to a third party. So, be careful” the Prime Minister cautioned the two guards. Seidu and Perry left immediately to the back of the house where their car, a Chevrolet, was parked. Inside the car, they quickly changed into suits and putting on reading glasses, drove out of the yard.
“We surely messed this up” Perry said, cursing that somebody actually did come to the hideout in the rain when they thought it was all safe.
 “Yeah. But, if I ever lay hands on that girl, I’II beat the living day light out of her” Seidu swore.
“The boss says to use our heads. Get it? Stop using your heart” Perry warned his partner. The two, aware that a media house was just about a mile to the east of the hideout decided to start their search there.
It was a lucky break for them because their first point of call happened to be the offices of the ‘Daily Tribune’, the media house where Armanda works. It was getting dark when the two arrived there. All the workers at the office, save the editor, Mr. Quaye, had closed for the day and left for their respective homes. Seidu and Perry, were met at the gate by a watchman.
 “We are looking for a young lady. We believe she is a journalist. She left this camera in a friend’s house. She even has a picture of herself on the camera. Take a look ... do you know her?” Sediu asked the watchman, a tall gangling man in his mid-sixties. He got closer, took a look at the picture of the young lady on the screen of the camera and immediately and excitedly said he knew her.
 “That is Armanda. She works here. She closed long ago. I can take the camera and give it to her tomorrow. It is safe with me” the unsuspecting watchman offered. The two guard exchanged glances. Though excited that their first point of call had yielded fruits, they hid their emotions.
 “We will like to take it to her ourselves. You understand these things. If you show us her house, we shall be on our way there immediately,” Seidu said. The watchman hesitated, and then tried to remember where Armanda lives. Initially, memory failed him. Finally, however, he remembered. The two guards listened carefully as he gave them the directions to Armanda’s house.
 When he was done, and they were confident they can locate her house easily, they thanked him and quickly got back into their car.
”God is on our side. This is turning out to be easier than I thought. Within an hour, hopefully, we should be retrieving the camera and all the pictures from the lady. Then we shall think of what to do with her,” Seidu said.
 “Think of what do with her? You must be kidding if you think the boss will let her go scot free. Dead men don’t talk so he’ll definitely ask us to waste her” Perry said as he stepped on the accelerator and sped towards Hill View Estates.
Standing behind a window inside his office, the Editor of the ‘Daily Tribune’, Mr. Quaye had seen the two men approached the watchman. He had seen them show him a camera and seen him nod after taking a peek at something on the camera. His suspicion had been aroused immediately but he stayed calm behind the curtain of the window in his office. Threats on his life and on that of his colleague journalists were an occupational hazard they were all used to. In-so far as they publish news items about people, places and events, they will continue to incur the wrath of people especially since negative news is what really sells. So, seeing two men come to make enquiries did not give him the creeps. It only made him curious.