“Come on, Mole, come on!” Kosys hissed under his breath, already irritated to the core. He had called three times already, and his hub of intelligence was not answering. Each unanswered ring twisted the knot of anxiety in his gut tighter. He needed to know if there was any new development.

“Pick up, damn it!” he growled. “Don’t you know we need to hear from you?”

The call ended without an answer. He tossed the phone on to the table next to Lycipus.

“Useless son of a—”

Before he could finish the curse, his phone buzzed on the table. He snatched it up quickly, only for his eyes to narrow in frustration when he saw the name.

“For fucks sake, it’s Rumble. This better be good.”

“What does he want?” Lycipus wondered aloud as he answered and put the phone on speaker.

Rumble’s voice came through, low and gravelly. “Kosys, we have a problem.”

Kosys clenched his jaw. “Of course we do. The stupid idiot Mole won’t answer his calls. Of course there’s a problem.”

“That’s why I’m calling ooo. It’s about him. There’s a reason you can’t reach him.”

Kosys froze. “Why? Wassup?”

There was a pause on the line. Rumble let out a heavy breath before continuing. “The military got him. They found out everything—how he’s been feeding us intel. He’s under arrest.”

Kosys and Lycipus stared at each other in horror. “Shit!” Lycipus gasped.

“Oh, fucking hell!” Kosys groaned. “This is bad. Really bad.”

“Big man, it gets worse.”

Kosys’ hand gripped the phone tighter. “W-what? What else? Spit it out, Rumble.”

“Chale, the Americans aren’t sitting this one out. Looks like the idiot at the top brought them in. They’ve sent in a team—looks like special ops. They’re coming for us, Kosys. Hard.”

The mask concealed how pale Kosys went at the sound of that. He began to tremble. “Ansa-Obiaka sent the US army after us? He sent the fucking US army??!!”

“Yeah. Word just arrived that they’ve already touched down in Takoradi and are on their way right now. Whatever the plan is, we need to change course right now. Sorry, man. We need to move now. The truck is outside. Let me know when you guys get out.”

The line went dead.

Kosys lowered his arm slowly, seemingly still absorbing this new development. Lycipus watched him silently, hands on her head, wondering what he was going to say.

Then he totally flipped out.

“CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE IT! THE STUPID SON OF A BITCH CALLED THE FUCKING US ARMY ON US! WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!”

Kosys was a bundle of raging fury at that moment, looking ready to break any and every thing around. The thought of the president getting one over them deeply outraged him, and he was ready to cause pure damage.

“Kosys! Kosys! Calm down! Calm down, for fuck’s sake!” Lycipus yelled at him. “There’s no point in throwing stupid little tantrums right now. You’re the leader. Think of something!”

His moment of wrath over, he glared at her, then looked down, breathing in and out.

“Look, the tiny bastard has managed to pull wool over our eyes yet again. Catching Mole and sending the US military after us. A real bitch move. But with what’s been said, we need to move quickly. Are we running away? Are we gunning the rest of the fools down? Make a decision! Just say the word and we’ll get it done. Although, I swear to God, if you tell us to run and leave them behind, I will kill you myself…”

She was cut short by a creepy laugh from him.

He looked up and stared at her, the most disquieting of smiles on his face. The level of sinister in his look was so intense, even the usually bloodthirsty Lycipus felt an uncomfortable chill run down her spine.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Lycipus,” he drawled slowly. “I know just what to do. I know exactly what to do. That fool thinks he’s smarter than us? He’ll see. Oh yeah, he’ll see. You wait here, let me get Dephios and Stefeus. Ohh, yeah, we’re going to make a fucking statement. This is gonna be so beautiful.”

As he moved toward the door, he briefly stopped. He turned to look at Lycipus, then at a barely conscious Fidelis.

He nodded at her. “By the way, do as you wish with that son of a bitch,” he declared before disappearing.

A delighted-looking Lycipus immediately sprung towards her rifle, ready to do what she had been longing to do to the man behind her hero’s disgrace.

A few seconds later, and four gunshots signalled the end of Fidelis.

***

The hostages continued to sit in tense silence, wondering what on earth was going to happen next. They had been tossed some bottles of water and bread, so the gnawing gaps in their bellies had been filled a bit. It hadn’t been easy eating, however; the sight of their deceased fellow captives was not a sight that would allow the stomach to keep food down.

With the captors out, they had no idea what was going to happen next. The uncertainty of it all was the biggest source of torment. Was someone else going to die? Who would it be? Would these evil people get what they wanted?

What was going to happen?

These thoughts reverberated around every single mind, along with the fears that they would never see their families again. Already, Max and Francisca had been condemned to that fate, and only time would tell who the next one to fall in that trap would be.

Suddenly, there were sounds of commotion in the hallway—rapid footsteps and angry-sounding voices growing louder.

Before anyone could fully process and react to the sounds, the door burst open, slamming against the wall with a deafening crash.

Kosys stormed in, flanked by the three others, all armed and grim-faced. His eyes were uncharacteristically wild and almost feverish as he looked around. It was almost as if he had suddenly been possessed by an evil spirit.

“Everyone up!” he snarled.

No one moved. Everyone was frozen, almost paralyzed by the manic energy radiating off him. Even without this kind of energy, he was terrifying. This was an addition they did not need at all.

“I said, get up!” he roared, fiercely kicking over a nearby chair.

Terrified out of their skins, everyone scrambled to their feet, nearly tripping over one another in their haste.

Kosys paced in front of them like a caged animal watching its prey. He stopped suddenly and pointed his gun at Joevin Joseph.

“You all think this is a game?” he spat, his voice dropping to a menacing growl. “You think we’re here to play?”

“N-no! no! No,” Joevin stammered, holding up his hands as tears ran down his face.

Looking him up and down with a sneer, Kosys took a step back.

Then he pulled the trigger.

Everyone screamed as Joevin fell to the floor, instantly unalived by those two bullets to the chest.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Immediately, the hostages went silent, trembling as Kosys put a finger on his lips.

He then turned to address the room with a chilling grin. “You know what, people? When I told you to pray to whatever you believe in, I hope you did,” he drawled, his tone mockingly gentle. “Because we’re taking you to meet your Maker.”

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

A collective gasp rippled through the group, followed by chaos.

“Please, no!”

“Have mercy!”

“I have a family!”

“We’ll do anything you want!”

Kosys barely even blinked. He motioned to Dephios, Stefeus and Lycipus, who duly stepped forward and began grabbing the hostages roughly by the arms.

“Move!” Stefeus barked, his hands harshly around Kaiyne Kay.

“No, please!” she wailed, struggling against his grip. “Please, I’ll do anything!”

“Shut up and move!”

Jacob and Thelma held tightly onto each other as they were forced forward by Kosys. “Please, sir, pleeeease,” Jacob pleaded, his voice shaking, “just tell us what you want. We’ll do anything—”

“What I want is for you to shut the fuck up and move!” Kosys snapped, raising his rifle and pointing it directly at Jacob’s head. Thelma screamed, but Jacob squeezed her hand, his face pale but resolute.

“Out!” Kosys commanded, jerking the gun toward the door. “All of you! Now!”

Eventually, the hostages were herded out of the hall like cattle, their cries and pleas falling on deaf ears.

“To the harbour!” Kosys declared once they were out, directing them to the mini-truck where Rumble was. As the other three forced the hostages into the cabin of the truck, he moved over to the driver’s seat, where Rumble sat.

“The harbour it is?” Rumble asked.

Kosys nodded, the psychotic glint still in his eyes. “The harbour it is. We’ll take them there, and we’ll kill them. Each and every one of them. In front of the whole world. On social media. That Ansa-Obiaka fool is gonna regret double-crossing us. He will regret it!”

***

“Secure the perimeter! Alvarez, Dunne, check the lobby. Squad One, sweep the upper floors. Let’s move!”

A convoy of military Humvees parked in the parking lot of Utopia Hotel, armed soldiers emerged from the vehicles and fanned out in obedience to their captain’s orders, ready to save whoever was around.

Captain Matthews remained by the lead Humvee, speaking into his radio. “Command, this is Falcon One. We’ve breached the target location. No sign of the hostages or captors. Continuing search.”

The reply crackled through the static. “Copy that, Falcon. Maintain situational awareness. Hostages’ lives are priority one.”

Moments later, Privates Alvarez and Dunne returned from their sweep of the lobby, their faces grim.

“Sir,” Alvarez reported, shaking his head, “we found four bodies. Three in the main hall. One in another room. Hostages. No sign of the others.”

Matthews closed his eyes briefly, his jaw tightening. “Goddamn it. Cause of death?”

“Gunshots, sir,” Dunne replied, his voice low. “Looks like they were executed by the Dead Eyes.”

Matthews let out a sharp breath. “Shit! Check for IDs. We’ll need to notify the next of kin. Anything else?”

“No, sir,” Alvarez replied. “The sons of bitches cleared out the place in a goddamn hurry.”

Before Matthews could respond, his radio buzzed with an urgent transmission.

“Falcon One, this is Command. We’ve got eyes on the captors. Intel just came in—they’re taking the remaining hostages to the harbour for execution. Satellite imaging confirms vehicle heading in that direction. You need to move now.”

“Roger that, Command,” Matthews replied, already turning toward his team.

“All units, back in the vehicles! We’ve got a location—harbour district! Hostiles intend to execute remaining hostages there! Move, move, move!”

Oh boy! Let’s hope these troops catch them, coz they’ve gone off the deep end now ..