Chapter 21

Chris was holding a little rectangular device in his hand and pressed it three times, and it reset the security protocols of the Audi immediately. The doors clicked to indicate they were now unlocked. He opened the passenger door, and Stanley Adu got into the seat. Chris banged the door shut and moved to the driver's seat, sat in and started up the powerful car.

The alarms were still blaring shrilly as he drove up the embankment and moved up towards the intersection at the top.

"Prodigal, you're going to kill us both!" Stanley screamed with terror. "The entrance is locked down! There'll be no way through! If you force it the barricades would explode! SPF Teams would be converging already on all sides, Chris! They'll shoot to kill! Stop this and just talk to me! Talk to me, boy! Only death awaits you if you pursue this senseless folly!"

Chris spun the wheel as he roared up the embankment, and then he spun the wheel at the top and took the lane that led to Level One.

"Chris, what are you doing?" Stanley asked with sudden unease as Chris headed into the relatively darker confines of the Level One corridors reserved for the royal family. "There are no exits on level one, Chris, only a bloody stone wall! You'll be hemmed in and killed!"

Chris Bawa paid no attention to him as he descended to the garage at Level One, spun the wheel expertly and brought the car to a shuddering halt behind the three limousines reserved for the royal family.

"Get out of the car," he said curtly as he moved out.

Already he could see the elevator numbers changing rapidly.

SPF kill squads were on the way down already with orders to shoot to kill!

"I made the call for backup, Prodigal!" Stanley said as he looked at the grim man with fear. "There's no way out of here! You're going to die, Chris! Just talk to me, man, let me help you! Anything you wanna know, just ask me, Chris, ask me!"

Chris had moved around the car, and without pausing, he grabbed the director's shoulder and pulled him out, spun him and slammed him into the car face first. Stanley groaned and rebounded off the car, but Chris steadied him and pushed him towards the brick wall at the back of the garage.

"Move!"

"What are you going to do, Chris?" Stanley asked, his terror increasing because he thought Chris would push him against the blank wall and shoot him.

Chris put a booted foot into Stanley's back and kicked him forward. The director put up a hand to steady himself against the wall. He watched with confused eyes as Chris put his hand on a section of the white wall and tapped twice, checking for a faint hollow sound. Suddenly, he smashed a fist into the wall, and there was the sound of a low thud as a small rectangular portion of the wall fell in, revealing a secret panel beyond.

Stanley's eyes widened with shock.

The panel lit up with a light green luminescence depicting the outline of a palm. Chris put his right palm into the image, and there was a vibrating sound as the whole screen lit up to display a number pad and strange Thai characters.

Chris punched in numbers and characters rapidly and stepped back.

There was a green checked mark on the screen, and suddenly the whole wall vibrated making Stanley step back with a little cry of alarm. He watched with mounting fear when the wall in front of the limousine slid to one side to reveal an entrance that led to ledge-like landing beyond the garage.

"Jesus!" Stanley whispered, his face sagging with shock at the secret passage, but before he could speak another word, Chris shoved him through the entrance to the ledge.,

"H-h-how did th-th-this get here?" Stanley croaked. "How… how did you know, Prodigal?"

Beyond the ledge was a pool of water through a broader underground channel that stretched into the inky darkness beyond. A small, sleek speedboat was moored just under the ledge, accessible by a short flight of steps.

"Goodness me!" Stanley croaked. "Where does the channel lead to?"

Chris looked grimly at Stanley.

"You forgot I designed the security protocols," he said grimly. "I didn't tell you about all of them, sir, for security reasons! Only the king knows the code for this area, and of its existence. Neat, yeah?"

As Stanley stood watching with dazed terror, Chris crashed a vicious fist into the man's jaw. Stanley keeled over, and Chris caught him before he fell. He swung the huge man across his shoulder and quickly walked to the landing and pressed a button on the retracted wall, and it slowly slid back into place, sealing off the secret area. He descended the steps quickly to the speedboat and lowered the director of field operations to the deck.

Chris moved quickly to the steering, started the speedboat, and gunned it down the channel, opening the throttle and boosting it into instant speed. The channel took a wide gentle curve before bursting out of a broad window and descending straight into the sea.

***

Less than two minutes later, the elevator doors dinged open on Level One and SPF tactical agents spilt to the level one garage! Many more poured down the staircase, and others came down the car ramp.

They fired smoke grenades into the garage and came in wearing protective masks and special horn glasses against the thick smoke. They held their tall bulletproof shields and powerful guns sweeping the garage for any sign of movement.

Slowly, they lowered their powerful guns and looked around with perplexed expressions behind their masks. Thick dark smoke billowed everywhere, but there was no trace of Chris and the director.

"Where the fuck is he?" they kept asking.

Their leader touched a small knob on his headpiece and spoke harshly.

"Command post! Did you see them here?"

"Yes, sir," came the unsteady voice of Chidi from the panel room. "He… seems he disappeared into the wall, sir, just behind the middle limousine!" 

The team leader moved to the wall and squinted at it, noting the defaced area and the secret panel with the blinking control asking them to input their fingerprints first before the code.

"Shit, damn it!" he hissed furiously. "Call it in, Control. Inform the President of SPF that Prodigal has taken the Director of Field Operations."

"Sir…" Chidi began.

"Do it now!" the leader shouted.

***

They were on the beautiful terminal where about ten sleek and powerful helicopters were standing in a pleasant, precise, array when there was a shout behind them, and three agents waving wildly began running towards them.

Sir Lance, Paul, Carl and Effe paused and looked at them.

Sir Lance glanced impatiently at his watch.

"Now what?" he asked irritably.

The flustered agents caught up with them, and one spoke in a rush.

"Sir, Prodigal took the DFO at the airport!"

"Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" Sir Lance said in anguish. "How is that even remotely possible? I warned you, idiots! Who was in charge of field detail on Stanley? Damn it to hell!"

"Oh, shit!" Paul Blankson said in a dry voice. "I detailed them, sir! Sent seven over for a snatch and report… how could this happen?"

"What's the status?" Carl Acquah asked coldly. "Has the Director activated his BT?"

"No, sir!" the agent cried. "No signal yet, sir. Apparently, Prodigal took him to the Level One garage where there was a secret passage through the wall, sir!"

"Damn it!" Sir Lance shouted furiously. "I work with fools, idiots! Paul, you should have known better! Seven agents? Seven? Prodigal is a tactical bastard, you idiot! And what were the officers in the control room doing? Fuck it, get them for me! I want a personal report from them, bastards!"

Effe looked at Paul.

"BT?" she queried softly, still looking at how agitated Sir Lance was.

"Body Tracker, Effe, a safety protocol we implemented shortly after Prodigal was jailed," Paul explained. "Sensor planted just below the skin on the arm or the inside of the elbow. Gives location coordinates after a ten-second pressure has been applied on it. The director was supposed to activate his BT immediately. We should have had a feed on it by now."

"And why the hell hasn't he used his BT?" Sir Lance screamed. "Has Prodigal killed him already?"

"Maybe he's unconscious," Carl Acquah supplied.

"Could Chris be aware of the BT?" Effe asked. "Maybe he immobilized it like he immobilized my signals earlier."

"Damn it to hell!" Sir Lance screamed. "This asshole must be taken down! I've had enough of Prodigal!"

"He just activated!" one of the agents shouted and turned his screen towards them.

"Get into the damn choppers!" Sir Lance instructed. "Beam the coordinates to us, together with the airport footage, if you have it. I want agents in cars and on motorbikes and in speedboats! I want two of the armed helicopters in the air! Send the signals! Kill that son-of-a-bitch if you get a direct line on him!"

They hurried to the luxurious helicopter, and a moment later they were soaring into the serene skies of the Kingdom of Eden.