Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (18 page)

All battle tested men, thought Alex grimly
and jerked his head quickly at the Sergeants. “Check the street out
back and the road out of town”

The Sergeants hurried to the other windows
and Alex continued his watch on the rapidly approaching
vehicles.

“Clear” called Garko, looking up the empty
road towards Bama.

Efosa took a minute longer as his sharp eyes
scanned the houses along the street to the back of the church. He
thought he saw some movement somewhere far up the street but then
it was gone and didn’t occur again.

“Clear over here too” he called finally.

The Sergeants moved back to join Alex.

“It’s them, isn’t it?” asked Efosa.

“Don’t know for sure but it will be very
clear soon enough” said Alex watching the vehicles approach.

The two Jeeps came racing up the road at top
speed, swung into the filling station and came to a halt a short
distance in front the low building.

“It’s definitely them” said Garko.

“Yes” said Efosa.

Alex said noting as he kept watching the
vehicles in the distant filling station through the powerful lens
of binoculars.

The armed men leaped down from the Helix
Pickup Jeep and spread out around the Cherokee in good military
formation, fourteen of them. A powerfully built big man who had
leaped out of the front passenger seat of the Helix seemed to be in
charge, shouting out orders left and right. Two armed men hurried
for the low building and as they disappeared inside, the rear
right-side passenger door of the Cherokee opened and an impressive
figure climbed easily out.

This man was tall and well built, almost the
same size as the big man. He wore a neat military camouflage
uniform and shiny black boots but no mask, the red cloth that was
the mask was tied loosely around his neck, and his only armament
was a pistol in a side hostler. He had on dark sunglasses and his
features, his curly hair and the high yellow color of his skin,
gave him away as an Arab.

Holding the binoculars to his eyes and
watching closely, Alex smiled a hard smile.

“And there you are finally, my elusive
friend” he said softly under his breath.

The two men reemerged from the low building
and the one of them shouted something and made a vigorous ‘no’
gesture with his arm towards the big man now standing with the Arab
by the Cherokee.

The Arab’s hand dived into his pocket, got
out a phone and began to dial.

In a second the phone in Alex’s pocket
rang.

Holding the binoculars to his eyes with one
hand, Alex got out the phone with the other hand and put it to his
ear.

“Yeah?” he answered calmly, watching El
Soldat carefully through the binoculars. It was a very rare sight
which he found very pleasing indeed.

“Is this some kind of a bad joke?” yelled El
Soldat angrily, waving his arm around. “You are not at the filling
station”

“No, I’m not. I chose a more secure location
to do the waiting so as to avoid meeting anyone else but you. We
are in the burnt out cathedral a few hundred yards up the road, the
white cloth we came in with will be waved in a window of the tower
now. Please do come and take your money off my hands, we’ve been
protecting it long enough”

Alex saw El Soldat jerk around and look in
their direction. He nodded at Garko who held the white cloth at the
ready as pre-planned. Garko thrust his arm out and waved the cloth
vigorously.

The line went dead at once as El Soldat cut
the call and got back into the Cherokee. His armed personal
bodyguard who had gotten out of the front passenger seat of the
Cherokee got quickly back in too and the big man hurried for the
Helix even as he shouted commands around.

His men were already running for the Pickup
Jeep.

Alex threw the binoculars over to Garko who
caught it perfectly.

“Keep watch, particularly up the road
towards the town but stay out of sight at all times” he said and
gestured to Efosa as he hurried for the stairs. “Come with me”

The two Jeeps pulled quickly out of the
filling station and came racing up the road to the desolate church.
They swung in through the wide open gates, drove right up to the
burnt out cathedral and came to a halt in a small cloud of
dust.

The big metal double doors of the cathedral
were intact and they stood wide open like the main gates. The
entire compound was dead quiet, no one was in sight and nothing
moved anywhere except for the handful of vultures that had been
lazily feeding on the decaying corpse of slain priest to one side
of the compound. Frightened by the abrupt arrival of the two jeeps,
the ugly birds had taken swiftly to the air, rising high into the
sky and away.

The armed men leaped out of the Helix Pickup
Jeep with their Ak-47 rifles at the ready and spread out
protectively around the Cherokee Jeep. Two men hurried for the
cathedral, ran up the sweeping stairs and went through the open
double doors. They took one look at the four armed men inside and
hurried back out to report.

“They are here. Four of them in plain sight
but there could be more” reported one of the men in fluent Arabic
to their commander.

The commander was the big man and his name
was Tariq, aka the Executioner. He was El Soldat’s right-hand man
and second-in-command. A big powerfully built man in his thirties
who enjoyed a good beheading anytime, Tariq could hack off two
heads swiftly with just one blow of his big machete and never
missed an opportunity to show off these skills, he did it at least
once a week.

Tariq steeped over to the rear door of the
Cherokee and got it open. El Soldat climbed out into the early
morning sun and adjusted his neat uniform as he looked around.

“There are four of them in plain sight inside
the church but there could be more” reported Tariq.

El Soldat grunted as his anger increased. He
glanced over at his bodyguard standing on the other side of the
jeep, having got out of the front passenger seat again.

“Bring the girl" he snapped at the man and
strode off for the open doors of the church.

The armed men surrounded him protectively at
once, following.

The bodyguard slung his rifle over his
shoulder as he stepped over to the rear door of the Jeep on his
side and jerked it open. He reached in and dragged out a hooded
figure in a long green robe.

The figure was clearly a woman and her hands
were bound together in front of her.

The well-built bodyguard, dragging her
roughly by arm, went after El Soldat. More armed men surround them
protectively.

*******

The long golden fingers of early morning
sunlight were filtering into the cathedral through the broken
windows and open roof but the atmosphere within the big church was
still cool.

Surrounded closely by his men, El Soldat
walked slowly in through the big double doors into the cathedral.
He stopped a short distance from the doors and took off his dark
glasses, folding and putting them away in a breast pocket as he
looked around the place carefully. His men formed themselves up
even more protectively around him, all of them well armed and
watchful, AK-47 rifles at the ready.

Unarmed, except for the pistol in a side
hostler at his belt, and completely unbothered, El Soldat took his
time looking the whole place over and the destruction pleased him
greatly. His eyes soon fell on the four armed men standing across
on the opposite side the big hall and the pleasure evaporated.

One was right in the alter area, one each by
the side doors close to the alter area and the fourth man who
carried the briefcase that surely had his money, stood in the
middle area before the alter itself. El Soldat took notice of the
way he stood, the way they all stood, their military stance and
well placed positions. They didn’t look afraid at all and they were
not packed up together like fools instead they were spread well out
so that it was impossible to kill all at once with a single burst
of gunfire. They looked sharp and ready for action in a way that
screamed ‘serious military training’ particularly this one with the
briefcase. The arrogance in his face, yes, he was definitely the
leader.

It all added up, thought El Soldat bitterly
as he stared hard at the man with the briefcase. Whoever heard of
negotiators coming hours ahead of schedule, then picking a
different meeting place and asking the hostage takers to follow!
The audacity of it! One way or another, by Allah’s help, he would
surely redeem his reputation this very day before the sun was high
in the sky else he would be the laughing stock of the whole Islamic
army long before nightfall. How in heaven’s name had they even
gotten this far south without being spotted? He would surely find
out and then some stupid heads would fall off their shoulders.

El Soldat looked around the upper levels of
the big cathedral but saw no one yet he was very sure that these
four men putting themselves on display so fearlessly in plain sight
were not the only ones here. The communications devices he was
seeing attached to their ears were surely proof of that. He cursed
bitterly in his mind, wishing he knew how many they really were,
how many more were up there.

Only if he knew, he would take them right
here and now. He’d had enough of this nonsense.

The man with the briefcase suddenly moved
and El Soldat’s eyes jerked back to him at once. He saw the man
throw his rifle carelessly aside on the floor and start walking
forward unarmed.

Alex stopped in the middle of the church and
placed the briefcase flat on the iron offering box he had set up
there only minutes ago then stood and waited quietly for El Soldat
to make his move.

El Soldat held up a hand for his men to stay
put then walked forward to meet the man. He stopped ten feet away
from him and the two men stared at each other for a long
minute.

No one in the cathedral spoke or moved but
the tension was intense.

El Soldat gestured at the briefcase and spoke
calmly. “I take it that’s my money”

“Not until I have the girl in my possession”
replied Alex equally.

El Soldat made a mocking sound in his throat.
“Is it complete?”

“One million dollars. Not a cent less”

El Soldat jerked his head. “Open it”

Alex shook his head firmly. “You need to have
the girl with you and she has to be completely unharmed before we
can proceed any further, that’s the deal”

El Soldat stared hard at him and Alex held
his eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, El Soldat
dropped his gaze to the briefcase on the box between them then he
turned and waved a hand towards his men.

“Bring her here” he barked out.

At once, one of the terrorist emerged from
behind the group at the door, dragging a hooded figure roughly
along by the arm as he came forward. Alex saw at once that the
figure was clearly a woman and her hands were bound together in
front of her.

El Soldat received the prisoner from the man
and turned back to face Alex. The man moved back to the group.

“Here is your girl, safe and unharmed, you
may ask her yourself” said El Soldat mockingly and tore the black
hood off the head. “She was improperly dressed when we got her so I
had our women cloth her up rightly and they looked after her
properly too”

Alex stared hard at the woman. It was her
alright. She was even more lovely than in her picture despite being
without any makeup. She was as tall as her captor which was close
to six feet in height and the shapeless floor-length robe she wore,
despite being so loose, couldn’t quite hide the impressive curves
and endowments of her body. Both the robe and hajib were of a nice
green material and they covered up all her body except her face and
hands. It was exactly the way Muslim women dressed in this region…
but something was not right.

The girl looked terrified and a bit tired but
the light in her eyes was still there. They hadn’t harmed or broken
her in any way and she looked completely fine… too fine. The alarms
in Alex brain were suddenly ringing. He noted the way El Soldat had
his arm around the girl’s waist, and then he knew.

“Open the briefcase” said El Soldat.

Alex tore his eyes off the girl and looked at
El Soldat then turned to the briefcase and keyed up the number
lock. The briefcase snapped open and he turned it around to face El
Soldat.

“The number key is 555”

El Soldat stared at the piles of hard
currency in the open briefcase. They were neat but clearly used
dollar bills like he had instructed. He pushed the girl roughly
towards Alex as he moved forward to take the briefcase.

Alex caught the girl and pulled her several
steps backwards with him, pushed her protectively in behind him and
stood his grounds facing El Soldat. He didn’t take his eyes off
him.

El Soldat closed the briefcase and smiled
twistedly at Alex as he picked it to leave.

“Enjoy thy life while it still lasts,
infidel” said El Soldat in Arabic then turned on his heels and
walked away, heading back towards his men.

Alex stood perfectly still and watched him go
but all the alarm bells in his brain were now ringing even
louder.

The armed men opened up for El Soldat to get
through, closed around him again and followed as he went back out
through the big doors.

The five soldiers kept careful watch from
their various positions in cathedral as the terrorists went out to
their vehicles and began to get quickly in. The two jeeps started
up, made swiftly U-turns and sped off back towards the gates.

Only then did Alex move.

He turned quickly to the girl standing behind
him.

“Did they harm you in any way?” he asked at
once.