SIX HOURS TO THE OPERATION.
Munachimso Onuoha had an eventful day in the office. Returning from work by this time, he was eager to rest his tired body.
He attended to over one and a half dozen new clients and delivered five completed products to eleven of his old clients. And even though it was past his closing hours, he knew that the day was far from over for him.
There was a lot of work for him to do in so little time, and Munachimso was well known for delivering his product and services prior to the deadline no matter how inconvenient the due date was. And he would rather decline the offer for the business if he knew he couldn’t beat the deadline than to disappoint.
Over the years, he'd built himself a reputation of punctuality and five-star excellence. This had earned him the trust and respect of his clients. Because of this, fully satisfied clients told their business partners and associates about him. When these referees tried him and got satisfactory results, they also told others, who told others, who continued to spread the news and became unsolicited marketers for him. Word of mouth was really a helpful tool that promoted his business far beyond his reach.
That was why, he surmised, his clients were increasing instead of dwindling. Thus regardless of the low economic situation, Munachimso was one of those whose business thrived in the country.
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At the rate his enterprise was progressing, he was grateful that he had employed a handful of computer geeks who had been doing the major chunk of the work. On his own, he would have collapsed under the strain of the workload. Even though all the products went through a final check by him, most of the groundwork was done by his employees.
These days, there were more clients to attend to and both he and his employees were fast becoming overwhelmed. Next Monday, he will put out a notice for job vacancies.
He entered his three bedroom apartment and made straight for the master bedroom. He immediately stripped down to only his boxer shorts, grabbed his towel and entered the bathroom. He turned on the shower after taking off his boxer. He made himself comfortable in his bathtub as the cool shower relaxed his muscles and freshened him up from the stress of the day.
When he finished with his bathroom duties, he dried off the globs of water on his skin and made for his closet where he dressed up in a green t-shirt and white shorts.
After a brief contemplation of what to do next, he decided against napping in his bedroom and went instead to his living room where he relaxed on one of his couches and ordered food from a nearby restaurant.
Munachimso was one of the few African men who enjoyed cooking and took it as one of their hobbies, but he wasn't feeling up to cooking today. He would give himself a special treat whenever he felt like it.
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As he waited for the arrival of the food he ordered, he gazed blankly at his 48 inches plasma TV that hung on the wall directly opposite him. He used his remote control to channel-surf but there was nothing of interest that caught his attention. He hated watching movies. He would rather play games on his computer, learn how to do something new, or go out for sporting activities rather than to sit down, watching a boring movie for over two hours.
It was a little too late to go out and play football, and he wasn't in the mood to learn something new, so he powered up his laptop and began playing one of his favorite online games with some of his internet friends who were also computer geeks.
---
FOUR HOURS TO THE OPERATION.
Ayanate, having successfully battled the depressing feeling that clouded her, was feeling much better. She decided not to leave it at that, though. She thought it best to take her time to offer thanksgiving to God the best way she knew how to. And she would do it with the worship and praises that would flow freely from her heart to her lips.
As she set out to do just that, she remembered the conversation she had with her elder brother two weeks ago.
He'd promised to return home in a fortnight, and even though she knew it might be a little too late, she still held out her expectation of seeing him that night.
After expecting his arrival and not seeing him, thirty minutes later, she decided to call him to know why he had yet to arrive and if he was okay.
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Her brother picked up after the third ring. "Hello, ba—"
Before he could finish his cheerful greeting, she interrupted him with a barrage of questions.
"Where are you? Why are you not home by this time? Haven't you closed from work? Is there traffic on-the-road?"
---
THREE AND A HALF HOURS TO THE OPERATION.
Savior was the first to arrive at the hideout location where all the gang members for tonight's operation were supposed to converge before dispersing to their specific operation places.
As usual, he carefully approached the hideout and unholstered his Glock 9 mm, and carefully inspected the place to be sure that they were not being ambushed by the police or any agency. In this line of work, trust was a high commodity, one ought to be meticulously wary because one could be betrayed by a Judas in John’s clothing.
Satisfied that the place was free of men in police uniforms or any videoing or tracking device, he relaxed and holstered his Glock-9 pistol before concealing it with his jacket.
The concealed weapon was for his own personal use. No one had ever seen him with it and no one knew that he had it. Alpha Shadows was mostly known for using an AR-15 to carry out any operation or attack. Thus, no
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one had ever suspected what Savior was up to. Whenever the police released a report about the death of an Alpha Shadows member, the report would always turn out to be that the gunshot wound they died from was from a Glock 9 mm.
The Glock-9 was his favorite and personal baby, it was what he used in meting out justice and vengeance on the bad guys. And that was what he was going to use tonight.
Smirking slowly, he took a seat near the entrance and watched as the rest of the gang members started arriving at the designated location with their AR-15s casually slung on their shoulders.
---
THREE AND A HALF HOURS TO THE OPERATION.
"Is that how to greet your elder brother?" Preye asked after his sister finished asking her torrent of questions.
"Don't change the topic."
"What are you saying?"
"I asked where are you, big brother?"
"Ha ha... Is that why you want to bite my head off? I want to flex. I wanna chill with the big boys."
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"That's not funny." But she laughed anyway.
"You scam! You were supposed to be at home by this time, but mum and I haven't even seen your brake light."
"Oh, tell me more," he quipped.
Her brother was such a douche bag. Ayanate, now annoyed, said, "You specifically told me, promised me, two weeks ago, that you would return. And now, you're pretending you don't know what I'm talking about?"
Preye cackled in that irritating tone of his. "I think you misunderstood me."
"I misunderstood nothing. Unless you are using a different calendar."
"I can assure you that my calendar is accurate, my dear."
"So why are you not here by this time?" she asked in triumph.
"Umm, I actually meant to say that I will be returning home this weekend. I'm so sorry you misunderstood me, baby."
"Don't call me that!"
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"Don't call you what?"
"Don't call me baby. It's annoying."
"I love you too, baby. And yes, I'll buy your favorite pizza when I'm returning home."
"And a box of chocolates."
"A box of chocolates?"
"Yes, of course. Don't you dare forget the box of chocolates."
---
11:00 P.M.
THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE THE OPERATION.
The armed robbers loaded their AR-15s and each of them holstered three extra mags just in case of any unexpected firefight with the police.
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Before they hooded their faces, Savior looked each of the six designated gang members straight in the eyes and admonished them.
"You all know the drill?” They all nodded their heads slowly before he continued.
"I don't have to remind you all that you must not mess this up." Savior used foul language.
"But let me just remind you that I will personally mess up anyone who messes this up," he warned fiercely.
Satisfied that his message had been received, he gave them the go-ahead to continue with their preparations.
Ready and all dressed in black, it was time to move out. And so, Savior and the rest of the gang members began filing into the car. When everyone was comfortably seated, the driver, who was a twenty-two-year-old undergraduate by the name Ibrahim, revved the engine and drove to their designated location. Just as expected, the armed robbers didn't encounter any traffic at that time of the night.
And so, they arrived at the location right on time.
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