Chapter Four

ON BOARD THE PLANE TO NIGERIA

On board the plane were two pilots, a black and a white man; Bonnie was busy watching a video on her phone with her ear pods plugged into her ears, Michael sat alone looking out the window, Lee and John discussed quietly in Chinese, Travis nodded his head to the music playing from his phone plugged to the head set on his head, Lawrence sat beside him playing a war game on his phone.

5 mins later West showed up, he interrogated Lee and John before walking to Michael

"Hey" Lawrence called Travis tapping his shoulder

"Yeah?" Travis took off his headset

"Nigga that Lieutenant is damn pretty" Lawrence said looking at Bonnie who sat some feet away on a chair facing them; the seating arrangement of the first class was different from regular class.

"Yeah she hot" Travis agreed

"No man… not just hot… I mean look at her" Lawrence said to Travis as they stared at Bonnie

"Yeah I'm looking at her" Travis said

"Good… but you're a dumb motherfucker" Lawrence said

"What?" Travis looked at Lawrence

"You ain't got eyes man… when I look at that lady, I see my nuts all over her face and I'm in love" Lawrence said with a serious face

"You know, I think you are the dumb motherfucker… pervert" Travis said

"Come on bro… look at her" Lawrence said smiling; West walked up to Bonnie and sat with her, she took off her ear pods with a smile as they began talking

"You see that?" Travis said to Lawrence

"See what?" he asked with a frown

"Look at them bitch" Travis said

"I am looking motherfucker" Lawrence said

"She was already smiling at West before taking off her ear pod to hear what he saying" Travis said

"And so?" Lawrence said, Travis smiled

"Look at her blushing" Travis said, Lawrence observed

"Dude that girl clearly belongs to Colonel" Travis said

"You kidding?" Lawrence said

"No man, I know you are dumb but not that dumb… look at them" Travis said, Lawrence stared at them

"Colonel been getting that pussy bro… you don't stand a chance" Travis said

"God damn man, you are right… they most probably fucked last night too" Lawrence said

"Nigga I ain't say so" Travis said

"What? You just did" Lawrence said

"No I didn't?" Travis said

"Nigga you fucking did" Lawrence said, their voices rising

"Shut the fuck up bitch, I didn't" Travis said, they argued aloud as the others looked at them…

OWERRI, NIGERIA

4:00AM

After a long 12 hours flight they successfully arrived in Nigeria, getting down from the plane they were met by some soldiers and couple of Journalists with cameras who began taking pictures as they got out the plane

"Morning sir" the soldier saluted West who returned the salute then shook his hand, the other two soldiers behind also saluted, the camera kept flicking.

"I'm Lieutenant Scott"

"Colonel West" he replied

"Welcome to Nigeria" he said

"Thank you"

"Come with me" Scott said, West and his men followed, he led them to a waiting military convoy

"I'm here to bring you to base" Scott said

"Alright then let's go" West said, one of the soldiers opened the door for Scott and West to enter; the others entered other military trucks following behind.

They were taken to the senior staff quarters and allowed to rest for the day before going on the mission tomorrow…

Bonnie was seated outside by evening watching soldiers train in the distance, there was Michael sitting beside her

"It's a fine country" Michael said

"Littered with terrorists and bandits" Bonnie said

"Morning sir" a soldier saluted Michael and Bonnie

"Morning" Michael replied, the soldier looked nervous and worried

"Sorry are you okay?" Michael asked

"Please go back to your country… don't go to Orodo" he said

"Sorry, I don't get you" Michael said, Bonnie just listened

"Go home… you don't… Hey private, get over here" a commanding officer interrupted

"No wait… what are you talking about?" Bonnie got up

"I know you won't go home… but when you come face to face with Njaba make sure you cover yourself in the mud of the earth, it will save you" he ran off

"I don't understand what he just said" Michael said

"I think he was referring to our mission" Bonnie said as she watched the soldier go away

"Hey guys, Colonel has summoned everyone" Lawrence called their attention and left…

In a computer room with some Nigerian military officers, a large screen displays a map

"This is a map of the village" Lieutenant Scott said

"I was told the village was separated from the main lands by an earthquake" West said

"Yes but not completely" Captain Ozil said showing them the display on screen

"Here the village is separated from the main lands by the earthquake leaving only this path" Captain Ozil said

"So that means we got a foot path in" West said

"Not really… it would take three days on foot to enter the village through that path… it's a swamp that stands in the middle of four villages and all four villages believe the swamp forest to be a cursed place full of evil" Scott said; Travis and Lawrence looked at each other and smiled; they didn't believe that

"So we have to go in by air" Bonnie said

"Yes you are going by air through the north" Scott said

"I would have wanted going in on foot to create less awareness but I guess we have to go by air… what else would you like us to know?" West said

"We haven't been able to detect the cause of the earthquake and the geographers say that the lands are not pron to earthquakes anytime soon which makes it even more puzzling" Captain Ozil said

"We sent men through the swamp forest but we have not heard from them till now, all connection was lost, two helicopters went missing after flying into the disaster area, another helicopter went searching, came successfully but found nothing… not even a crash" Scott said

"This is really big" Michael said

"Give us the location of the hospital" West said

"What hospital?" Captain Ozil asked, he looked lost

"Carl Berg" Travis said, Scott and Ozil looked at each other

"It's right here" Ozil pointed

"Michael lock that location on our trackers" West said

"Yes sir" Michael said

"Okay we are going here on the South East but you said all helicopters going in went missing mysteriously" West said

"Yes sir" Scott said

"Then we will change landing position" West looks at the map then points "Where is this?" he asked

"That is actually around the major market" Scott said

"Very well, I need an airplane to take us here, we'll go in on parachutes here" West said, Scott and Ozil looked at each other

"But sir that is risky" Ozil said

"Landing in a zone where helicopters went missing is risky, its all risky… Michael will survey that region through satellite imagery tomorrow, if it's not safe we'll find another fly zone. Landing an helicopter is not an option right now, also we need parachutes"

"No problem sir" Scott replied

West turned to his men

"Alright boys… location is on the South East of the village, we are making a plane jump then we find every American citizen and we taking them home" West said

"Wait a minute… I don't get it, I thought you were here to help us" Scott said

"I'm sorry but those were my orders, get the Americans in there out of Nigeria" West said

"Oh come on… there are thousands that need your help in there" Scott said

"Lieutenant I am sorry those are orders from the US government, I cannot bend protocols" West left the room and retired to his room, leaving Scott and Ozil speechless; about an hour later there was a light knock on the door

"It's Bonnie"

"Come on in" he said and she came in

"You good?" he asked as he examined his desert eagle

"Yeah sure" she sat down beside him

"It's a beautiful piece of art you got there" she said referring to the gun

"Yeah, it's a gift from General Kane" he said

"Really cool" she said then silence, she looked at him then looked away

"Why the silence?" he asked but she remained silent

"I know you want to say something so go ahead" he said

"You know it would be inhuman for us to go in there and pick out only Americans, right?" she said and he was silent

"And besides, we have no idea what is in there" Bonnie said

"We are soldiers and these orders are directly from the president" West said

"West I know but in there it's just us and those innocent people, it's about saving lives not just following orders" Bonnie said, he stared at her

"West" she held his hand "I Know you… and I know that you are not Colonel Krane… let's do this for all not just America" she said, he sighs

"Alright... we'll see what we can do" West said and she smiled, he was about to kiss her when there was a knock on the door, he kissed her still and she laughed

"Come in" West said, Captain Ozil entered

"Sir General Eze would like to speak to you"

"Alright I will be there" West said and he left

"Let's go" he said to Bonnie and they walked out

Back in the room, General Eze stood with Lieutenant Scott

"General Eze" West said

"Colonel West" they shook hands firmly

"Thank you for take the time to be here" General Eze said

"Just doing my job" he said

"We were told that the US military will be coming here to help us not just to rescue American citizens" General Eze said

"Based on the orders I was given our mission is to research and rescue Americans"

"Would you really abandon our people… thousands of people just to save a few?" General Eze asked, West was silent a bit

"General I have been in more complex situation than yours but you have nothing to worry about, I will not abandon your people"

"Thank you… that sounds reliving" General Eze said

"Lieutenant Scott, give them whatever they want for the mission?" General Eze said to Scott

"When do you want to go in?" Scott asked

"Tomorrow 7 hundred" West said

"Yes sir" Scott said

"We will establish communication with the United states Army tomorrow as they have requested to be in communication with you on field of action" General Eze said

"Will be looking forward to that" West shook their hands and left the room with Bonnie.