Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (13 page)

Alex smiled and made a mental note that
Alhaji Usman’s connections didn’t extend deeply into the
intelligence community. “I see your lofty military contacts didn’t
know that one at all, eh? Well, that information is kind of
classified. Only a handful of top guns in the intelligence
community know of it”

The two men stared at Alex.

“I assume you already have a plan” said
Samuel.

“I always have a plan” said Alex simply.

“What is the plan?” asked Rufai.

“The plan is to act without trust for any
terrorist under any circumstance, and do what they least expect. We
go in but at our own time and definitely not through their front
door where they will be looking” Alex picked out a marker from the
cupful on the desk as he stood up and went over to the wall map. He
began to point out positions and travel routes. “We go down the
Maiduguri-Bama road and once over the Yedzaeam river, we’re in the
outskirts of Bama. We bypass this road, there’s a bank just here,
we’ll take this road next to it” Alex put red dots on the map.
“We’ll make our way through this maze of back roads and exit the
town at this point” Alex put another dot on the map and placed a
fingertip by it. “It’s not a well-known road or exit point so we
shouldn’t encounter much trouble there if any. The road will take
us directly due east and once we get well clear of the town we’ll
cut across the open countryside, heading south until we get to this
point” Alex put an ‘X’ on the map with the marker. “It’s not
visible on the map but there should be a small Fulani herdsmen
settlement right there, it’s more like a camp than a village.
Heading two miles directly west of there will have us intercept
this road coming right out of Bama and heading south, the
zangare-kure boundary road, and we are directly south of Bama. The
NNPC station is just a few minutes’ drive up from there”

“Seems like you know this entire state very
well” remarked Samuel.

“He should” said Rufai. “He spent over two
years up here and in Adamawa state”

Alex continued. “Since the fighting is
centered mainly in the town itself, we shouldn’t encounter too much
hostility to the east and south of it, probably none at all because
we’ll be keeping well away from all the roads, villages and
settlement as we move on. The layout of the entire countryside to
the east of the town is flat open grassland so we will see any
trouble coming at us from miles away and have ample time to decide
whether to evade or engage. We will be prepared for anything”

Samuel was nodding his head in agreement, he
looked at Rufai. “Sounds perfect to me”

“Yes” agreed Rufai thoughtfully.

The front door opened and Sergeant Efosa
entered. He saluted and began his report.

“The two vehicles are very good, sirs” he
said. “The highlander Jeep is fine but the Mitsubishi bus is also
very good”

“The Jeep is ideal for off-road travel which
we will be doing most of the way” said Rufai. “Since it has three
rows of seats and air-conditioning, it will be more comfortable for
all five of us. We are better off with it”

“Not exactly, sir” said Efosa. The Mitsubishi
bus is the original Jeep-build model and its clearance from the
ground is even higher than that of the highlander. It has a very
powerful special kind of engine and power steering too, which makes
it a sweet piece of cake to on super bad roads. It’s really very
strong and dependable, much better for rugged terrain. The seats
are executive and extremely comfortably, a few touches and the
air-conditioning will be perfect too. It a sweet ride, the only
issue is that it wacks more fuel than the Jeep but there are
several extra gallons of fuel at hand”

“What he’s saying in so many upside-down
words is that the older model bus is slightly less fuel efficient
but generally stronger and more dependable than the Jeep on rugged
off-road road terrains. It also has a modified engine and a few of
other important technical factors that makes it even faster and
easier to handle than the jeep can be on any terrain” explained
Samuel. “Personally, I think the bus is best for us since it is
more spacious but less flamboyant looking. We are not looking to
attract too much attention in a poverty ravaged region, are
we?”

“No, we aren’t” agreed Alex and looked at the
sergeant. “Does the bus look well used, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir” said Efosa. “The Jeep is too neat
and too recent in model but the bus is clearly well used but still
in very good shape, and it even has a few dents and scratches
too”

“We’ll take the bus then” said Alex with
finality.

“When do we move?” asked the Sergeant.

“We’ve not fixed a specific timeline yet but
it will definitely be before dawn tomorrow” replied Alex.

“Take the bus for a little spin and listen to
the engine” said Samuel. “I don’t want to get stranded in the
middle of nowhere with armed terrorists taking shots at me because
some stupid mechanic overlooked something”

“Yes, sir” Efosa saluted again, turned on his
heels and left.

Rufai looked at Alex. “What time exactly have
you in mind as departure time for tomorrow morning?”

“0400 hours” said Alex. “Up here day breaks
pretty quick and the drive down south will take us about two hours.
Darkness will provide us with more cover as we travel though enemy
territory and we need to be within the vicinity of that station by
sunrise in order to check out the layout of the area. We need all
the strategic advantage we can get since we are going so deep into
enemy territory”

“He’s completely correct” agreed Samuel.

“Right” said Rufai, nodding. “Alarms all set
for 0300 hours. We must be suited up and seated here to breakfast
by 0310 hours tomorrow morning. We gear up together at 0330 hours
and be on the move before 0400 hours. Nice work so far, gentlemen.
I think I’ll get some much needed rest now, I’m very tired”

“Yes, go ahead” said Samuel. “We’ll be
turning in soon ourselves”

Rufai was already on his feet. “Have a good
night, gentlemen”

“Good night” said Samuel.

“Night” said Alex, thinking idly of what it
would be like to work directly for Rufai. The guy was obviously a
control freak.

Rufai walked over to the other door, got it
open and went out, closing it again behind him.

Samuel and Alex sat quietly for a minute and
then Samuel abruptly stood up.

“Care for a drink?” he asked Alex, gesturing
at the cupboard.

Alex nodded. “A little whiskey will do, thank
you”

Samuel went over to the furniture cupboard
against the wall, opened the glass panel and examined the half a
dozen bottles there. He selected one bottle, got two glasses and
came back to the table.

“Premium whiskey” he said and shook his head
as he placed the bottle and glasses on the table. “It’s really good
to be rich”

Alex smiled but said nothing.

Samuel worked the new bottle carefully open
and poured out the drinks. He pushed one glass towards Alex.

“Thank you” said Alex, accepting the
glass.

“You are welcome” said Samuel with a nod and
a friendly smile. He put the bottle aside and sat down with his own
drink in the chair directly across the table from Alex, the chair
which Rufai had just vacated.

The two men relaxed and drank in silence for
a minutes as they watched each other.

“So you were really one of the elusive black
beret Special Forces” said Samuel quietly.

Alex looked across at him, liking him. “Yeah,
I was”

“Your accent, the way you talk. You were one
of the few trained by the Americans, right? The originals?”

Alex took a drink. “Yeah”

“I heard the training program in general is
pure hell”

“You heard right” said Alex simply.

“I bet you did incredibly good in yours”

“I passed like everyone else”

Samuel smiled. “A modest man, eh?”

Alex drank his whiskey and said nothing.

“When did you get booted out of the Army?”
asked Samuel abruptly.

Alex glanced at him again. “Six, seven months
ago”

“What happened?”

Alex sighed. “It’s a long story… a
complicated one”

Samuel waited but it didn’t look like Alex
was going to tell the long story.

“Mind sharing?” he asked finally.

Alex took a deep breath and let it out then
stared into his glass for a moment.

“The killing” Alex made a vague gesture and
looked directly at Samuel. “All the senseless killing of innocent
people over here particularly helpless women and children, the
horrible way they’re killed, it kind of gets to you no matter how
highly trained or how prepared you think you are for it. I fought
the mental kickbacks for a year but then one day, at the sight of
an entire village massacred by terrorists because of the stupidity
of just one man who gave the wrong order at the wrong time, I just
snapped. I beat that man to a pulp that day but unfortunately, not
only was he my direct commanding officer, he was also the son of a
retired Major-General”

“Shit”

“Yeah, it was that but it could have been
much worse. I spent nearly a month in jail before anyone remembered
I had a right to a trial, and then it was a closed door affair that
even I wasn’t allowed to attend sometimes. More charges I didn’t
even understand were piled on and just when I was beginning to
think I would never see daylight again, a doctor I had been seeing
for treatments stepped forward and gave evidence. I have no idea
what he said till today but it was enough to turn things around.
Some powerful top brass interceded and the heat began to cool on
me. An example still had to be made, nonetheless, and there was a
Major-General to be appeased so I got kicked out”

“You black beret Special Forces types either
work directly for Defense or some top secret Intelligence
department. Everything about you guys are always classified,
apparently your court martials are classified too” Samuel shook his
head. “It must have been very hard for you”

“It was terrible” agreed Alex. “But it turned
out that all I really need to get back to top form was a long, long
rest away from the war. I hadn’t had any such thing in two full
years. I was fine within three months but, of course, it was
already too late to do anything” he shrugged. “I just got a
civilian job and moved on with life until this job popped up”

The two men fell silent for a few
moments.

“Do you have a family, Alex?” said Samuel
after a minute.

“Just my mother, a sister and younger
brother, I’m not yet married”

“I have those too and more, but I also have a
sweet little daughter by my fiancée who I plan to marry this year.
I took this job because I needed the money to build a home for my
new family” Samuel stared Alex in the eyes. “I want to walk out of
this hell hole alive, Alex, and I think so do you too. We will need
to trust each other well enough to work together as a team in order
to achieve that, you and me. Agreed?”

Alex nodded. “Agreed”

Samuel held out his hand across the table and
Alex leaned forward to take it in a firm handshake. The two men sat
back again and drank quietly for a while until the sound of a
vehicle entering the compound reached them.

“Your man, Efosa, he seems very good with
vehicles and engines” noted Alex.

“He’s an engineer, he’s very good with
everything mechanical except women. Set a trap with anything in a
skirt and it will catch him, arms, legs and body”

Alex laughed and Samuel joined in.

The Sergeants soon came in to give their
report.

“It’s all very good, sir” said Garko.

“Better than good” put in Efosa with the easy
tone of an expert who knew exactly what he was talking about. “The
more I listen to the engine, the more I like it. The engine was
recently serviced and the vehicle is definitely in superb
condition. I’ll need to touch up the air conditioning a bit to make
it cooler, and then everything will be perfect”

“Well, do it now or forget about it
completely” said Samuel. “We move out at 0400 hours tomorrow
morning, wake-up time, 0300 hours and you two got the kitchen
duty”

“We’ll fix it right away then” said
Efosa.

As the two men went out again Alex glanced at
his watch, five minutes past six. He drained his glass and put it
aside, getting to his feet and picking up the phone from the
table.

“I need to get some rest” he said.

“No problems” said Samuel. “As soon as the
men secure the compound and come in I’ll get some rest myself, have
a good nigh”

“You too, man”

Alex went off to the kitchen first and
checked the fridge. He chooses a pack of ice-cold rice and chicken,
warmed it up quickly in the microwave and settled down to eat with
a cold bottle of orange juice. When he finished eating the food, he
dropped the leftovers in the waste bin in the corner, got a bottle
of water and a glass cup from the fridge and went off to his
room.

Once inside the room with the door securely
locked, Alex put the water and glass aside, took off his shirt, and
then the vest. He fished out a nylon-like casing from a pocket of
the vest, got out the folded thin paper maps inside, unfolded and
spread them out on the floor. The maps weren’t large and there were
only four of them, each a perfect square of ten by ten inches. Alex
studied each one of them carefully before putting them away again
in the nylon casing which went back into the pocket slot on the
vest. Next, Alex went for his suitcase in the wardrobe and took the
GX-2 phone out from it. The phone was in a compact casing along
with its charger. Alex got them out and hooked up to a power socket
in the wall, it had been nearly three months since he last used or
charged the phone so the battery was down. He had a different phone
for personal use and it was back in his hotel suite in Abuja where
he’d left it, he never went into combat with personal items like a
phone which could lead malicious enemies straight to one’s family
and home if they got their hands on it.