8.We meet
Angela walked into her building and the headquarters of all her business country wide. She took in the ten bodyguards dressed in suits standing in various positions in the wide lobby. She was met by her head of security Njiru who for some reason looked excited. Njiru was five foot nine tall and bulky especially in the middle. Most people wondered how he became head security in a security firm and the whole of Angela's empire considering his weight and clearly hate of everything exercise. You wouldn't know by his size but he was once Angela's father most trusted bodyguards and now her most trusted bodyguard. "Will I have that silly look on your face after I hear the news you are dying to tell me?" she asked curiously as they walked to the elevators.
"I believe you will offer me a bonus this month after I tell you what we have found," he said smiling. They stopped in front of the elevator that only her and the people she trusts use. Njiru took out his card and placed it on the scanner and the elevator door slid open. Angela, Njiru, Stacey and Sang' walked into the elevator leaving behind the rest of the bodyguards. The doors closed and Stacey pressed ten after scanning her card again and the elevator started moving down past the basement floors until it reached its destination. They stepped out of the elevator and stepped into a dim white hallway. The very edges of the floors were lined with blue lights lighting up the hall giving it a magical feeling. They came upon a bullet proof double glass door. Angela placed her hand on a flashing pad and her handprint was scanned. The glass doors slid open effortlessly and they entered inside. Angela moved to the circular dais in the middle of the room and sat on the throne-like seat set on it. She twirled in the seat to look at the glass spread from one end of the room to another and smiled. She turned to look at the three people who had taken their seats and waited for Njiru to tell her what he had found. "We found him," Njiru said quickly.
"Found who?" Angela asked confused.
"The man you have been looking for the same one who saved your life ten years ago," Njiru replied. Angela sat up looking at him in awe. The man who had saved her life by sacrificing his own had become kind of a fixation for her. He had been young that she could tell but something had fascinated her that night. He had thought that she was shaking because of fear when he had rescued her and tried to talk to her above all the shooting and the shouting. If he only knew she had been shaking with outrage and anger at the audacity of the men who had taken her hostage. He had taken five bullets and after he had asked her if she was alright. She had been shot in the leg so he had carried her bridal style out of the warehouse while he was still injured. She had fainted and when she came to she was at the hospital and the man and his friends had disappeared without a trace. She had searched every military unit in Kenya trying to find him with the only clue she had and that was he was military, the way he walked, carried himself and the weapons he had.
She had asked herself a thousand times why she searched and why a drawn photo of the man was in her bedroom drawer and finally she had realised the truth. No man in her life had ever protected her just because she needed the protection. Her father had protected her because she was his heir and he needed someone from his loins to inherit all that he had built. To her father she had been the legacy he needed to live on. Her husband protected her because he needed her money and power and so were the other men who came before him. The bodyguards protected her because she was their source of livelihood and without her there was no pay cheque at the end of the day. That was all she had known in the span of her short life until that young man had turned her belief upside down. He had taught her that night what it felt like to be protected at all costs without the protector wanting anything in return. "What is his name?" Angela asked.
"Adrian Maliekhe," Njiru said. "Apparently he is former KDF. Not much is known about him. All we know is that he is a soldier and he was discharged from the military two months ago due to medical reasons."
"Have you sent a team to invite him here?" Angela asked.
"Yes we sent the A team. Their orders are to bring him in as politely as possible but if he resists to use minimum force," Njiru said. Angela turned to look at the glass without another word. She was curious about a guy who apparently was a soldier but had the ability to disappear without a trace for ten years. Now that she knew his name then she could find out more about him using her secret weapon, a weapon that the government have been trying to prove she has and confiscate it for their own. "Hallo Pandora," she said to the room at large and a pulse appeared on the glass.
"Hallo Angela," a female voice replied filling the room almost conversationally. Angela smiled at the response. The only thing her father left her of any value was the room called Olympus where Pandora existed. No one could ever accuse her father of being stupid. He had had a genius IQ that had served him very well during his life and that was how he had been able to create Pandora. An artificial intelligence that could access any document and any information as long as it was on the internet. He had wanted a back door into every private and confidential material and information that he could use to maintain his power and ultimately gain more. Pandora was aptly named.
Pandora answered to Angela's voice alone and no one else unless Angela tells her to answer another individual. Her father being the selfish man he was never revealed how he came to create Pandora and never left any records. How he built Pandora the designs, the procedures, process and every other bit of information died with him. It was a technology worth billion but even she could see the benefit of keeping it secret. "Tell me all you can find on Adrian Maliekhe," Angela said and waited for Pandora to search for information. Finally photos of a young Adrian and news clips filled the glass. "Adrian Maliekhe is the son of Brian and Sarah Maliekhe. They died in a car accident when he was five years old. He was raised by his grandparents Hilary and Margaret Maliekhe. Hilary Maliekhe is the former president of this country. He joined Kenya Defence Forces immediately after high school which was surprising considering he got a mean grade of A. By the time he was twenty he had earned himself quite a reputation within the Kenyan military units. After that he disappeared of the grid with ten other men who had performed exceptionally well during their training as KDF soldiers. I am finding holes in the information I am gathering as if someone has deliberately kept the information out of the internet and any online forums. But I have found something interesting. Someone once blogged about Kenya having its very own special forces. The government shut the blog down and a warning was issued. The probability of this information being correct and related to Adrian Maliekhe is 95%. He had a girlfriend of sorts, her name was Elizabeth Gichohi," a photo of the woman appeared on the glass screen. "She was murdered two months ago a few days before Adrian Maliekhe was discharged from the force citing medical reasons. She worked in a company based in Nairobi the owner of the said company is none other than Henry Rao Serro, the Mombasa governor. The public medical and autopsy reports state she died of natural causes but those were not the original reports. The original reports state that she was tortured and then murdered. I have downloaded all the reports for your further deliberation Angela."
"Interesting," Angela said looking at the information on the glass screen. Her contemplation was broken by the sound of alarms going off in the room. "What is happening Pandora?" she asked. The screen cleared and images picked up by CCTV cameras in the building appeared on it. "It seems that Adrian Maliekhe has broken into the building and is now engaging your men in a fight. I believe he is here to see you," Pandora replied. Angela turned to look at Njiru and Sang' her brows raised waiting for their input on their current situation. "The man is probably ex-special forces, the probability of the A team still being alive is beyond zero. Maybe we should have used the peaceful approach with a white flag," Sang' suggested. "And let us not forget he has just learned his girlfriend was tortured and murdered. I believe he is not in a talkative mood."
"Let us go and invite our guest in for a glass of whiskey," Angela said standing up and her entourage followed suit.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped into utter chaos. Most of her men were lying on the floor unconscious and others in pain while the rest were trying to subdue a man who fought like a ghost. He was fast, he was methodical and he was absolutely dangerous. Her men did not stand a chance which was surprising considering how well they were trained. "Stop," she said loudly as she made her way forward and her men stopped immediately they heard her command and made way for her. Adrian turned to look at her suspiciously. "Forgive the overzealous nature of my security. Perhaps if you would have knocked on the front door this awkward misunderstanding would have been avoided," she said stopping in front of him.
"You sent men after me why?" he asked his voice hard and cold.
"I did not send them after you. Their orders were to invite you here for a talk with me," she said amused. She could see he was grieving. His eyes held pain that he could not hide.
"There is this thing called a phone call. You should try it sometime," he said with a sneer. "I am here to deliver a warning if you dare send anyone after me again I will not leave them unconscious again I will kill them and send you their heads. Leave me the hell alone." Adrian turned to walk away.
"Don't you want revenge on the man responsible for your pain?" she asked softly and he stopped suddenly. "For a man like him death is too easy. I can help you make him suffer so badly he will wish he was dead. Isn't that what you want?"
He turned to look at her his face blank, "You don't know me," he said furiously.
"I know you blame yourself for her death," Angela said watching him closely. He moved towards her so fast she didn't have a chance to step away. "Of course, I blame myself. I had one job just one and I failed absolutely at it. So yes I blame myself. I go out there and protect everyone else in this country so they live in peace with their loved ones but I couldn't protect my woman."
"I can give you vengeance on a silver platter. I will load and point the gun and you can pull the trigger all you have to do is come work for me," Angela said moving back. "Think about it and come see me in three days if the answer is yes. I can show you how to make his life hell." Adrian watched the woman walk away from him without another word and he turned to leave the building. He still couldn't believe such a delicate looking woman held most of the politicians in the country by their balls. Her reputation did indeed precede her. He would have preferred not to have anything to do with her but she had the means to make Rao's life a living hell and he needed that means. She was a means to an end.