Locust Invasion

By CHIKA VICTOR ONYENEZI (Nigeria)

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                                                              CHAPTER 2
                                        LET'S GET HIM

                                                                
STATE SECURITY SERVICE HEADQUARTERS ABUJA   [08:00, 2 NOVEMBER 2010]

Located at 15 Gowon Street, a ten-storey building off the street; the last house in the street. It is a cold morning, with a small, beautiful morning sun. The well-pruned flowers glitter in the morning sun. Agent Ekpo walks into the main compound after the security gate. He always like to wear this smile that says “good morning all,” some years back at the campus, this smile charmed a lady called Chinyere now Mrs. Ekpo; maybe that the more reason he puts it on , he believes its for good luck especially in the morning.  He wore a light black suit that gave him a smart look as an agent, one of those you see on a Hollywood movie. He made his way into the elevator. The Deputy Director of State Security Service Mr. Damian dike joined him. Damian always put on a local Igbo tribe cap with suit, those who have seen his hair say it is as bare as desert. He is a very tough man. He is the toughest guy in the service, always shrinking his lips as if to show his seriousness always, but today he seems to be in a light mood, those shrink lips has some bits of  smile in them,

“Good morning Sir” Ekpo greets.
“Ah! Agent Ekpo how is the day?”
“It’s just beginning Sir.”
“Nice son, nice son,” he says, smiling. He thinks I am smart Ekpo said and smile.

       Ekpo’s office is at the fifth floor, he stays in the office with Okoro (junior to him). Okoro is a good service man. Okoro likes carrying his fufu (a processed cassava food) to the office, maybe he gets them from a food vendor’s place, and fufu has this odor that turns Ekpo’s stomach. Ekpo enters the door; Okoro is busy eating his fufu as usual. Ekpo knows that telling him to stop eating it will be an act of cruelty; Okoro is a hard working agent and also unmarried; he has no wife to prepare his meal; you don’t expect him to be in office early with empty stomach.
“Good Morning Sir,” Okoro said, returning his molded ball of ebba into the bowl, and salutes Ekpo.
“Man has you found a wife yet?” Ekpo asked,
“No sir”
You better be fast, wife is fast disappearing in the market” Ekpo said , the both burst into laughter, this is one of those joke Ekpo throw at him, but at the back of his mind he means, you better get a wife and stop carrying fufu to work.
 “Is the report ready?” Ekpo asked, he walked up to the calendar at the far end of the office and changed the date.
“It’s on your desk, Sir.” Okoro said, moulds another big ball of ebba and throw into his throat.
“Thank you, so how was your trip?” Ekpo asks, walk over to his desk, flipped the file open and glance through them
“Fine, got home around ten O’clock in the night, and still made it here early this morning.”
“Fine Okoro, I must say you are hard-working.” looking anxious, he asks, “Is superior in?”
“Yes Sir.”
Ekpo rearranges the file, changed some grammatical errors. Flip through the pages again, alright. He head to his superiors office.

As he opened the door, His superior faced the other side of wall sitting in an arm chair, with a telephone in his ears, maybe looking at the picture he took with the president.
He speaks into the receiver “we will talk later”, replaced the receiver and turned to Ekpo. Staring at him as though he heard something he is not supposed to hear.
“Good morning Sir,” Ekpo says, saluting.
“Ekpo, you are back.” He replied, as though with a lump of meat in his throat, then hits it head as though his senses are back.
“Yes Sir.” Ekpo replied
“How are you?”
“Fine Sir”
“Okoro sent the file to me this morning.”
“Sir I would like us to go through it.”
“Yes, yes, we have to; we have t-o, Nelson Johnson.” His superior said, as though it is not in his day agenda to look into that file.

He gently taps his finger on his desk periodically; brings a pack of cigarettes from his drawer and Offers Ekpo a cigarette, which he accepts. He can see that his superior’s hair is getting thinner as he bends to light his cigarette. His superior had set a tough record for them to follow by tracking down a Russian KGB agent in 1990 who wanted to inflict another civil war on the country. He could see the pictures then behind his superior’s seat, taking a presidential handshake and receiving a national honor award for saving the country from another civil war. Anytime he comes into this office, it inspires him to work harder.

“For how long did he stay at the airport?” his superior asks, bending to catch a glimpse from his speck.
“He comes at intervals, whenever a plane is landing from Middle East.” Ekpo said, facing the ceiling, as if his future is beyond these ceiling.
“And from your operation, you found out that he takes pictures of passengers.” his superior said, stump the cigarette on an ash tray,
“Yes Sir.” Ekpo said, sounding professional,
“What do you think?” His superior said, looking into the file
“Sir, from what I saw is either they are suspecting us or they are waiting for someone to arrive from Middle East,” Ekpo informed him.
“Do you have any information about the agent?”
“Yes Sir, a file from Israel just reaching us says he has been in Israel for two years. He sighted him around Israel border tracking terrorists, before coming to Nigeria. He was sent to Nigeria by a direct order from United States Department. But the thing that makes it smell fishy is that this guy is trained in tracking terrorists.”

His superior takes another stick of cigarette, put it in-between his teeth – Ekpo light the stick for him
He puffs out smoke from one side of his mouth, taps his fingers harder on the table, studied his fingers as though there is an oracle in it. He looks straight into Ekpo’s eyes, and takes a deep breath. And say “Keep an eye on him and send the file to Deputy Director. It is a very sensitive case and we need more information on Nelson Johnson. The KGB is best to run a patch on him. Call agent Victor right away.”

Ekpo walks back to his desk, the Russian satellite provide a direct contact with the KGB. It was brought in after few diplomatic signings between the two countries to strengthen their relationship. It transmits messages as encrypted codes, making it hard for hackers to attack the information. Ekpo turns on his monitor and sends the message to KGB. His contact at KGB is Agent Viktor; he is permanently there to help the Nigeria State Security Service.