Chapter 2

IT HAD been five years since I was recruited for BIRD but no matter how many years passed by, I still felt proud each time I walked through the massive doors. The building was massive. Taller than most buildings in this part of California. It had over 100 storeys up and about 10 storeys below ground. Standing at almost 2,600ft made it one of the tallest buildings in the world.

BIRD was a non governmental Organisation. We specialised in intelligence, and counterterrorism.  And occasionally rescue missions like the Becky White Op.

A couple of people called out greetings as I passed by the lobby which was a massive room. Almost as big as the warehouse. The ceilings were automated screens. They projected the image that overhead was the sky. Complete with the clouds, Sun and birds. They even changed weather. It was very impressive.

I grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffee stand as I moved along. I loved coffee. I was addicted to it. I walked to an elevator. Only a few people knew the building had underground storeys and only fewer still had gone to the last level. But that was where I was headed. I swiped my ID card on the scanner and the elevator opened. I stepped in.

Unlike normal elevators, those in this building had their panels written  in roman numerals. I pressed the buttons CLX. This number didn't exist but it was the combination to go to the lowest level of the building. And it was also the initials of the founder of the organisation. Coincidence. Or not. The air pressure changed as I went down.

Looking at my reflection, I didn't recognize who was staring back. I was black. And tall. Taller than most people. 6 feet 4. That was about the height of superman. It seemed I looked older. I hadn't really looked at myself in the mirror for a long while. Since I caught Whitney in bed with my next door neighbour. She was my long term fiancée. That was 2 years ago. I was planning our 6 months vacation somewhere in Spain. Madrid. I hadn't seen her or the guy since then. I hoped I never did. I might just break his spiny little neck.

Still observing my reflection, I spotted a nick in my chin. Probably while I shaved. I didn't use a mirror while shaving.

The door slid open and I stepped out into a well lit passage way. The clock in my head said the time should be about 8.50 am. I checked the watch on my wrist. 8.58. I wasn't late.

I walked through the door and into a conference room. The room had a long chrome-lined glass table with seven chairs. Three in each side and one at the head. There was a projector screen on the wall behind the head chair. The windows had the same design as the ceiling of the lobby. But right now they were reflecting a dim golden glow.

The chairs were occupied except one. As the door to the conference room slid open, all head turned to look at me. Talk of an entrance.

I glanced at the over head clock. 9.00. Top of the hour. No need for an apology. I sat down at me seat. From the door, it was the left side. Middle. I nodded in acknowledgement to the man at the head chair.

Charles Long Xavier. Founder of BIRD. Computer scientist. Physicist. IQ off the charts. He was relatively young. Not much older than me. Average height. Average weight. Forgettable face. He was a plain featured man. The only thing that gave you reason to remember him were his eyes. They were grey and the twinkled with a burning energy. Intelligence.

To his right, my left, sat the only woman in the room. Sofia Fedorov. Russian. She looked like who came from a generation of amazons. Standing at 6 feet 2, she was accustomed to being the tallest woman in a room. She was pretty in a stern sort of way. She had served in the military few years before me.

Opposite Sofia was Chen Xiao. My director of office. In the army, he would have been my commanding officer. He was a small man. 5"8. Lean with a close cropped hair and chinky eyes. He didn't speak much but he spoke English perfectly. He had a military background sure. Most of us here did. He was with the CIA some years back.

To Xiao's left, directly across the table from me was Darius Todd. A man with a greedy sort of face. He had a big belly. He was almost broader than he was tall. I saw no reason he was here.

At Darius's left was Baker Cage. Now that was a man that should be here. He had a highly analytical mind. Extremely intelligent. He had the face of a veteran soldier. He talked like a soldier. He dressed like a soldier. He stood like a soldier. He walked like a soldier.

To my right was Jaden Anderson. Fresh out of Havard. Still a kid, basically.  Smooth jaw. Very smart. He was a beautiful boy with long lashes and pink lips. He was the type of kid that would make a straight man turn gay. He was the last person in the room

"Senator White was very appreciative of you ,Clay. You did real good." Charles said, looking at me. "and fortunately, Cameron won't die."

I heaved a sigh of relief. I hadn't noticed how heavy it had weighed my mind down till now.

"What else have you got?" Darius asked me.

I brought out chipped-tooth's phone from my jacket pocket and slid it to Jaden. Their eyes followed the phone.

"I picked it from the warehouse."

"And you didn't feel it important to bring it to our notice sooner?" Sofia asked.

"I don't call the meeting. Charlie does."

"That's Mr. Charles to you, boy." Darius snapped.

Jaden had picked up the iPhone and plugged it to a large tablet. A cord connected them both as he operated the tab.

"Have you gone through the phone?" Charles asked me.

"No. It was locked with a password. " No need to tell them my little secret.

"I'm in." Jaden said.

"What did you find?" Darius's greedy voice asked. I was hating the man more and more.

"He's still searching." I answered.

He kept quiet. I caught a tiny smile on Chen's face

"I found something." Jaden said. He tapped a button on the tablet and the projector behind Charlie's seat shone to life.

"I found a couple of messages from some people. They were always talking about some kind of packages. Just a few names have been mentioned. But they were careful not to mention what the packages were. It could be drugs or guns or both"

"What names?" I asked, although I knew them already. I had gone through every parts of the phone -email, gallery, cloud. I even deleted somethings they would not want to see in the meeting.

The projector screen showed some names

Joe Amadi

Victor Ogbu

Samuel Daniels

Senator Frederick White.

Emeka Johnson. This was chipped tooth's name.

"What sort of name is Emeka?" Darius asked

"Its African. Like Amadi." I said. They all looked at me. Darius's eyes were suspicious.

"I'm African. Incase you've not noticed."

That seemed to satisfy them. Truth was that I had researched those names on Google a day before.

"I found those in the iMessage. I'm going through the mail and trash and I'm seeing some weird mails here too." Jaden said.

The projector showed an email

Packages received. Need some more.

Another showed

Not satisfied. Low Quality.

A mail sent from the iPhone read:

Packages sent. Have you seen it?

"Is a way you can track down where the mails came from?" Chen's quiet voice asked

"Yes. But they used some location privacy software. I'll need some time. But I know for certain that this owner replied most of the mails from Nigeria, Africa."

"Didn't we just see a message concerning Nigeria few minutes ago?" Baker asked.

Jaden opened the message from Sam, telling Emeka to fly to Nigeria ASAP.

"That's it. We have no business there anymore." Charles said, clapping his hands. Finality.

"Aren't you atleast curious as to what those packages are?" I asked.

"I am. But we have more work to do."

I was not hearing any of that.

"I'm taking my long overdue vacation." I told him.

"And I take it you're going to Nigeria." He said. His eyes twinkling.

If one thing was my weakness, it was my curiosity. I started a job that opened a can of worms. I must finish it. Kill the worms. Clean the can and close it again.

"Yes. I need to find out. Just a month, if I find nothing, I'll be back. I promise. A month's vacation?" I asked. I knew he could not refuse me. This vacation was long over due.

"Okay. Okay." He said in resignation. "You spend one month there. Don't hesitate to for backup when you need."

"Charlie, you can't be serious." Darius said, his tiny eyes darting from me to Charles. "You can't let him do this. Send him to vacation somewhere else. Hawaii maybe." He cheeky face turning red.

"I'm not sending him to vacation, Darius. I'm giving him his free time off. He can spend it wherever he wants doing whatever he wants with whoever he wants. Free will."

Darius looked ready to explode with rage. I smiled inwardly.

"I'll have someone waiting for you in an international Airport in Nigeria. This meeting is over."