Code Red

CHAPTER 12.

Henry sat on the ground and growled like a wounded lion which he was. Like the proverb said, the exit of the cat made the house fall into the hands of rats. 

He wasn’t different from a beggar who looked up to passers-by for aid. His side and shoulders were stinging madly and it sent a thunderbolt to his brain. He dragged himself to sit by the fence of the hospital after the kidnappers left and later he vacated the environment as a few questioning eyes followed him. 

Thankfully, he still had the drugs the hospital gave to him so he downed a couple of painkillers to relieve himself of the wrenching wedge the hammer of the pain brought on him forcefully on him.

After almost thirty minutes of sweating out the pain, he picked himself up from the ground on which he sat. His head swam a little and he staggered. 

He had to lean on the pillar for support for a few minutes after which he gained his balance and composure. His first few steps made his knees wobble. 

Sheer luck made a cab pass at that particular time; he stopped the cab and got in before telling the driver where he was headed. The driver told him he wasn’t headed in that direction but when he noticed Henry was not going to alight, he charged him double and headed in his direction. 

Henry didn’t argue, he just nodded while the driver drove.

 On their way, Henry laid down on the uncomfortable and smelling back seat. He noticed there was something in his pocket that made him feel uncomfortable, he removed it and found a phone. 

He couldn’t remember how it got there so he decided to switch it on for a clue. A message came in which said you be runs man so no shout.  He remembered that it was those who took Florence that put the phone there. They informed him to keep it quiet since he was a shady person. 

Well, a shady deal required a shady game so he decided to deal with them immediately he regained his strength. He switched off his phone as he arrived at his place, sent for someone to give him money and paid the driver who was in haste.

He ignored the curious eyes of the staff in his house as he walked in and headed straight for his room. He’d missed the room. 

Tracy said she liked the combination of pink and peach so that was the colour of the room. She also bought a beautiful carpet that sat in the middle of the room along with two dove-shaped bedside lamp and a painting on the wall he described as touché. 

She positioned the bed eastwards so they could see the sun as it rose. He lay down on the bed and thought about all that was before him. He knew he couldn’t fight the battle alone so he decided to go for Code Red.

Code Red was what he used to describe a group of street guys who helped him take of his dirty business in a clean way without anyone suspecting. He met them while he was in prison and they just clicked. As he ate the food his cook brought to him, he took more pain killers, drugs and drinks for strength. 

In less than ten minutes, he felt invigorated. After hitting up code red, he switched on the phone. The kidnappers were going to find out what made him survive in prison, what made him ruthless and who he really was.

He switched on the kidnappers phone and a message came in almost immediately. He had an hour and forty-five minutes to meet with in a downtown non-functioning train station. According to the message, he knew he was to come alone and unarmed if he loved himself. 

Henry simply smiled and got into a conference call with Code Red to strategize how the five of them along with Henry was to deal with it.  

One of them downloaded the map that led to the area and studied every hidden spot, every highs and lows that could be a possible hideout, he was also good at combat; another decided to track who owned the phone and find out what he did and other members of the gang 

Henry remembered it was hacking that got him into prison. 

The third man was a classical sniper; he could shoot down the devil in hell while he was in heaven, he was going to work with the man who had the maps and deal with any threat in Henry’s way. 

The forth man was nicknamed Brainiac, he was to make sure they were all wired up so everyone could communicate.  He was a genius, Henry remembered he single handedly planned and strategized a coup that worked out well in his country. Unfortunately, the leader knew the enemy could use him to their advantage so he sent him to prison. With his team in place, Henry set out to the meeting on his power bike.

Due to the speed of the bike, Henry arrived there 10 minutes before the meeting time whereas his team was positioned before he got there. 

He noticed the enemy wasn’t in full position as they were still smoking while he got there. Within a minute, one of them searched him if he had any sort of weapon, they found none and then they hit him on the head and put him in a seat. 

The man who he believed was their leader dragged another chair towards him and started telling a stupid story of a lady and a guy who were in love but a certain man decided to split them up. 

He was the man and the lady and guy were Tracy and Malaki. The man said he would have no peace since he decided to take away the peace from their home. 

He dragged out a crying and shivering Florence by her hair into the room. Henry actually felt sorry for her. He didn’t mean for any of this to happen to her. 

The gang leader told him to tell her why she was with them. When he didn’t answer, the gang leader pressed a knife to her throat and told him to start talking if he didn’t want to see some blood. 

He began to tell Florence everything that happened from the scratch. He ended by apologising. He didn’t mean for such a thing to happen to her but she could be sure she was going to be fine. 

Immediately he said that, the gang leader cut her on her lap and she screamed out in pain. He said it was for what he caused Malaki’s marriage. 

He told him to make his choice was he going to leave Malaki and Tracy or would he rather have Florence swimming in her blood? 

Henry was beginning to get agitated. He wanted to stand up from his seat but a man hit him on his shoulder and he sat back. The man asked Henry the question again and cut Florence’s hand right after. She screamed out and the man drew the knife to her neck as he asked the question once more. 

Before anyone could say Jack Robinson, there was blood splattered everywhere. It was from the gang leader’s head. 

Henry told her to run out as he got into a brawl with the man standing by his side while Sniper continued to take out other armed members of the gang. The guy who was handled the maps carried away a kicking and screaming Florence. Henry’s brawl kept getting worse. 

The man knew Henry’s weak point so he had the upper hand. That was until the man who wired him up told him to position something to weaken the opponent in a painful spot. This he did and the man passed out.

A weak Henry dragged himself out of the train station. As he walked towards his waiting car, he heard a gunshot. 

Someone hit his Sniper. He drew out his gun and more shots were fired. He waited till he had a clear vision and he sent a bullet to the man’s skull. Henry ran to Sniper and he saw that things were bad. 

There was a shot fired to his throat and he was already gasping for air. It was too late.

 The other members of his team sang a dirge, bagged his body and drove off. They threw the body into a lagoon. After administering first-aid to Florence, they dropped her off at a hospital while Henry settled her bills and also got treatment for his wounds as well. 

He stayed with her for a while and told her not to divulge anything he told her about himself and the fight to anyone. He said she was to say she was kidnapped; he saw came after her and rescued her. 

He told her he loved her more than she could imagine and he sealed it with a kiss. He left but told her he would be back.

As Henry stepped out he hissed. He hated getting involved with people because it could be detrimental at the end of the day. 

He didn’t love Florence, he only told her so because he didn’t want her saying anything about him to the Police but he would have to keep her within his reach so she wouldn’t act in an erratic manner. He got into the car and they went back to base. 

They held a one minute silence for him, talked about the good things he did for them and sang their dirge once more. The hacker brought all the information he had about Malaki to the table. Henry said it was unnecessary all they needed to do was make him pay for what happened to Sniper. Finally the war was to begin.