Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (16 page)

“Thank you” said Samuel. “You’ve been most
helpful”

The lieutenant nodded, stepped back from the
bus and saluted.

Rufai and Samuel both returned the salute,
Efosa gunned the engine and drove forward.

As the bus neared the roadblock, it turned
off all its lights and increased speed rapidly. In a second it
vanished completely into the darkness beyond.

The lieutenant stood there in the middle of
the road, watching until all traces of the bus vanished into the
night and the blockading vehicles moved back into position on the
road. He listened carefully for several minutes but not a single
shot was fired by the hostiles.

The Sergeant-Major stepped up to his side.
“Unbelievable, not a single shot fired at them! Those bloody
terrorists must be sleeping late into the morning”

“Or in a special prayer session” said the
Lieutenant. “Those bastards never sleep”

“Shouldn’t we have called it in first before
letting them pass?”

“No” the lieutenant shook his head firmly. He
was a sharp fellow who knew how things worked. “Those documents
were from Defense headquarters and the signature on them was two
star. The orders superseded ours by a full mile and they were very
clear. We could have gotten into trouble just by delaying them long
enough to make phone calls to confirm anything”

The Sergeant-Major’s eyebrows shot right up
into his helmet and he whistled softly. “And now they are going
into enemy territory. What do you think they are even going to do
out there?”

The lieutenant shrugged. “I don’t know but it
can’t be far from the obvious. Did you notice the white cloth on
their wiper? That wasn’t there by mistake, they are negotiators
going in to meet with Boko Haram’s top commanders. Someone or some
people very important to a big shot must have been kidnapped by the
terrorists”

“Kai!” the Sergeant-Major looked shocked.
“Have you heard or seen such before, because I haven’t. We are not
supposed to be negotiating with terrorists, particularly not with
these criminals”

“I’ve heard and seen it before in Gwoza” said
the lieutenant calmly. “A team of three soldiers in a Helix just
came up through our front lines and went right through theirs
without a single shot being fired at them. They had the white cloth
tied up and all their light were flashing like crazy, the
terrorists actually cleared a way for them to get through. Two
hours later, the Helix come right back across the lines with a
woman and two children. I didn’t know who they were but from the
amount of security involved and the respectful way they were being
treated, it was easy to figure out that they were the family of a
big shot”

The forty-nine-year-old Sergeant-Major
suddenly looked angry. “If it was my own family that was trapped in
enemy territory right now, they wouldn’t even give me a day’s leave
to go and give them transport money to take the next available bus
out, talk less of launching a special rescue mission!”

“With your harem of wives and over population
of children, I’m sure you wouldn’t notice the loss of a few” The
young lieutenant eyed the older man unimpressed. “Get the morning
patrol on the move and stop dreaming. There is no leave for anyone
of us until this bloody war is over”

The lieutenant turned on his heels and walked
off towards his post without a backward glance.

*******

The road was very bad. In places it was none
existent, just a muddy stretch. Efosa drove carefully, picking the
way in the darkness ahead and keeping up a good speed.

It was almost five thirty now and the sky was
already lighting up on the eastern horizon.

About two miles from the town, the powerful
headlamps of the bus picked out a wide cattle trail cutting across
the road as it headed directly south across the open flat
grassland.

Efosa slowed the bus down to a crawl as they
approached, and then stooped. Alex checked out the trail quickly
with his sharp eyes then looked in the direction it went.

“This should be fine” said Alex with a nod.
“Take it”

Efosa swung the wheels at once and the bus
made the swift right turn off the road onto the trail.

The going instantly became terrible as the
rains had turned the trail into a muddy wallow with large bodies of
water in places. The bus soon got bogged down in a large pond-like
area and refused to budge. Efosa shifted down a gear and engaged
the four-wheel drive, the sound of the powerful engine deepened to
a low growl and, tires spinning, the bus clawed its way out.

They drove on for a long while, a lone
vehicle ploughing its way slowly but steadily through a muddy trail
in the vast savannah. The sky became lighter, the golden rays of
the sun torched the eastern horizon with the promise a sunny day
and the bus no longer needed its headlamps. The grass plains were
heavily water-logged and Alex knew the likely dangers of trying to
drive across them in that condition so they stayed on the already
trodden trail, it was the best opinion.

Twisting and turning, the trail took them
well clear of the few villages and minor settlements dotting the
countryside as it kept heading directly southward. After they had
been going for about thirty minutes, Alex got out the maps provided
by Mr. Danjumma and started checking it, cross-referencing with the
compass on his watch as he scanned the countryside with the
binoculars.

“The going is slow but we should be clear to
the south of Bama in a few minutes” he finally declared.

“What about the Fulani settlement you talked
about?” asked Samuel from the back seat.

“We should come across it soon” replied
Alex.

“Will it be along this trail?” asked
Samuel.

“No, we’re a bit off course” replied Alex.
“It will be somewhere further to the east”

The bus kept moving on and five minutes
later, scanning the countryside through the binoculars, Alex picked
out the Fulani herdsmen’s camp far in the distance to their
left.

He passed the binoculars over to Samuel and
pointed. “The settlement is over that way in the distance, check it
out. It’s been burnt down to the ground and the smoke still rising
from it indicates it was done not too long ago”

Samuel put the binocular to his eyes, focused
and took a good look.

The Fulani settlement which used to be a
cluster of a handful of mud huts and tents was now a blackened ruin
from which smoke was rising. The place was completely desolate.
There wasn’t a soul in sight either there or anywhere else in the
vicinity. They hadn’t seen either man or beast since leaving
Bama.

“Yes, it can’t have been done more than a day
or two ago” agreed Samuel. He moved the binoculars around and
adjusted its vision to take a closer look at the immediate area of
the settlement. “Both man, beast and fowl have fled the area”

“Yeah” agreed Alex. “All this entire area you
see used to be full of gazing animals that roam to and fro, between
here, Bauchi and Adamawa states. The herdsmen had comps all around
that village and complete freedom of the area. Those terrorists are
definitely in firm control of this area and we should be coming
across them soon. Everyone needs to keep a sharp lookout from here
on” Alex turned to Efosa. “Sergeant, just after that anthill up
ahead, make a turn and head directly west. The land is higher and
drier from there on”

“Yes, sir”

“Isn’t it yet time to turn on all the
lights?” asked Rufai a bit uneasily.

“Not just yet” said Alex, not missing the
hint of fear in the man’s voice. “This deep into their territory,
and at a distance, the bus can easily pass as one of their own. We
are safe for now”

Samuel passed the binoculars over to Rufai to
take a look too.

About five hundred yards up ahead was a large
red anthill, the height of a man. When the bus got to that point,
Efosa made the turn off the trail and headed west over rolling
grassland.

They soon intercepted the zangare-kure
boundary road which led south out of Bama, crossed it and continued
on west over flat grassland.

Alex pointed to some building in the distance
far to their right. “That’s Bama, we are directly to the south of
it now. This area is actually north Masteri, a different local
government area entirely”

“There’s still no one in sight” said Samuel
looking at a cluster of deserted low buildings about two hundred
yards away to their left. “No sign of the terrorists anywhere
either”

“The people have obviously all fled but the
terrorists are just busy elsewhere for now” said Alex and gestured
out the window at the tormented town in the distance. “They are
obviously throwing all what they’ve got at the Army in a bid to
capture the town, but don’t worry, once they figure out we’re down
here with a million dollars, they’ll come crawling out from every
corner and every hole in their numbers”

“Shit” cursed Samuel.

Rufai sat quietly and said nothing. His heart
was beating rapidly now and he there was cold sweat in his armpits.
The tension was beginning to build rapidly within him and he hated
to think of it as fear.

They drove on in silence for several minutes,
the bus picking its way over flat open grassland. They soon cut
across the last road running south out of Bama and in a minute had
the parallel Maiduguri-Bama road in sight again.

Efosa slowed the bus almost to a crawl as
they approached the road and Alex, siting up in the front seat next
to him, scanned the entire vicinity rapidly through the binoculars.
They were all keeping a sharp lookout now.

“Turn on the lights and hit the road” ordered
Alex.

All lights blazing, the bus shot forward,
covering the last fifty yards to the Maiduguri-Bama road swiftly,
made the right turn onto it and drove northwards, back towards
Bama.

“Slow down” ordered Alex without taking the
binoculars from his eyes.

The bus slowed almost to a crawl.

It was just past six o’clock now and
completely daylight. The flat open countryside laid out all around
was devoid of life and the closest structures was a burnt out kiosk
a hundred yards up ahead by the roadside. Far up in the distance,
about a mile and a half up the road was the beginning of the
southern outskirts of Bama. There were several buildings along both
sides of the road up there and one of them was a big NNPC filling
station comprising of a large low building with about a dozen pump
terminals spread out front under a large red and yellow high metal
roof. Most of the other buildings had been destroyed by the
terrorists to some extent, some had been razed to the ground, but
the filling station still looked firm and fine.

Alex adjusted the settings of the binoculars
and the station jumped closer into view. He saw at once that all
the show glass windows and the doors of the low building had been
vandalized and the place had been looted but the structure itself,
the filling station as a whole, still looked in good condition.

“That’s the NNPC station up there, isn’t it?”
asked Rufai.

Both he and Samuel were leaning forward in
their seats to stare out ahead through the windshield. Both men had
excellent sharp eyes which was a standard requirement for all
Nigerian Army recruits.

“Yes, that’s it” said Alex without lowering
the binoculars. He kept scanning the filling station and its
immediate surrounding through the powerful lens for several minute
but saw no sign of movement.

“Stop right here, Sergeant”

About a mile from the outskirts of the town,
Efosa brought the bus to a halt in the middle of the empty
road.

“Sound the horn shortly three times” ordered
Alex.

“
Christ Jesus
!” exclaimed Samuel
nervously. “We’re sitting docks in the middle of a fucking dead
flat land. We will be heard and seen for miles around”

“Yes, we are far too exposed here” agreed
Rufai quickly.

“That’s the idea” said Alex unworriedly,
keeping his eyes fixed on the filling station through the
binoculars. “It’s time to show ourselves plainly and see who’s
home. We’re well out of weapons range so we’re safe”

In the dead silence prevailing over the
entire area, the loud horn of the bus was like the sound of a huge
trumpet, reaching far and out all around, three short blasts of
it.

Several silent minute followed and they all
kept close watch on the filling station and its immediate vicinity
far up ahead in the distance.

Nothing moved anywhere.

“I don’t think anyone is in that filling
station or anywhere around here” said Efosa, staring fixed ahead at
the object in question.

“I don’t think so either” said Samuel
glancing all around the area, and then behind at Garko seated in
the back and keeping a sharp look out to their rear.

“There isn’t” said Alex simply. He already
had the binoculars focused on another building beyond the filling
station.

“Well, you had it all planned out” said
Samuel with grudging respect and glanced at his digital
wrist-watch. “The place is clearly just a meeting point and we are
a clean three and half hours ahead of schedule. I doubt El Soldat
has even taken his morning bath yet much less started thinking of
coming down here”

“Yes, about El Soldat” said Rufai. “Isn’t it
time to call him yet?”

“In a minute” said Alex wishing they would
shut up and let his mind work. He kept looking through the
binoculars at the buildings up ahead, working things out fast in
his mind.

There was silence in the bus for a few
minutes and they all kept watch.

“I don’t like the look of that filling
station” said Samuel finally, uneasily. “It’s too open, not much by
way of solid cover anywhere. If any shooting starts, we are cooked
goose”