Working Cases - Episode 16

 

Things had been going too swimmingly. Sure, we had been hungry most of the past day, and lost, and without much hope, but we had encountered little difficulty. We hadn’t been attacked, and we had kept out of the attackers’ way. Today was different.
I had been taking the last watch at about three AM, perched up in a tree, eating leftover squirrel, when I spotted something off. The men had formed a loose ring around our camp and were converging on us. 
“Collins! Gabe! Get up . They’re coming.” They had discovered we weren’t one of them. We were boxed in. We needed to get out before their ring got too tight.
They were up immediately. Collins quickly scaled the tree to have a look. He climbed down moments later. “Let’s get our weapons,” he strode to the small bundle of two semiautomatics and ammunition we had under a tree, he pointed east, “the ring is thinnest over there. We can only attack a few of them so we can’t afford to let the ring thicken.” He handed me one and a few clips.
“Gabe, keep close and behind us.” I said, checking the chamber and loading a round.
We ran east for a few minutes, weaving behind the trees to avoid them spotting us immediately. The ring was still thin

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. We would be head to head with six men. If we broke through, the rest would come running behind us. We would try to lose them in the trees and then use my phone to get us back on track. My battery had died last night. We needed to get out today, or Collins’ battery would die too, and staying on track would get a lot harder.
Collins held out a hand, signaling us to stop. “They’re just outside that clearing, Nick,” he nodded at me, “on your mark. Let’s take out all six as fast as we can before they can return fire.”
I nodded. He held out three fingers, then two, then one. He got to zero, and we opened fire, running as we did.
Luckily for us, we put down five of the six in our way before they could react. The sixth, however, was quicker. Doubling over on the ground, he chambered his double-barrel shotgun on a roll, coming up to his knees and firing.
The bullets hit the tree just behind us and my heart caught in my throat. Thank God for Collins! Swiftly changing direction, he slammed his heavy frame into the shooter, planting him in the dirt and knocking his shotgun out of his hand. I picked the gun and flung it far into the trees.
We kept running. The sound of heavy footsteps and gunfire was coming from behind us now. We turned every now and then to dispatch a man that was coming too close. We kept turning, pausing, and doubling back until finally, we lost them. We must have been going for more than an hour.
They seemed to realize this and splintered into groups moving in every direction. We quickly checked our improvised compass and made off in the prescribed direction. 
We went for hours, until finally, the end of the forest was in sight. It was around four-thirty in the afternoon when we saw the final line of trees marking the end of the forest. There were over thirty heavily-armed men waiting. This was it. Behind us, all the groups that had ventured into the forest with us were converging. In front of us, our welcoming party was getting ready to pump us full of bullets should we attempt to escape. Talk about being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Gabe spoke first. “Uncle Nick, how are we going to get out?” his eyes were tired, yet hopeful. I could tell he had realized we had made it this far with all the odds stacked against us. It was ‘do or die’ or even ‘do and die’. 
“It’ll be almost impossible to get through this alive.” Collins whispered. Then he rose and stepped forward. 
I looked at him, confused. “What are you doing, Collins?”
He chuckled. “When I say go,” he emptied his clip and chambered a new round in his semiautomatic, “you both run. Don’t look back. Don’t stop for anything.”
Was he crazy? “No, Collins. We can’t–––”
He ignored me and continued. “Don’t stop until you're well within the city. Then get a cab to the court,” he looked me in the eye, a strong determination burning in his, “and get the power to take down this son of a bitch.”
He sprinted about a hundred yards away from us, turned to us in a silent salute and a sad smile. Then he broke the tree line, the men converged on him and the sound of dozens of machine guns rattled at once, along with a very distinct call. Collins screamed, “Go!”
And we went.

Reaching the court was easy. Gabe’s testimony, the ambush and series of shootouts all over the news, and the facts I collected were more than enough.
The evidence held up, a warrant was issued for Duncan Ajayi’s arrest, and a taskforce approved to bring him in. He was charged with the murder of thirteen police officers, the attempted murder of a key witness, and a police detective, the premeditated murders of several people including Lanre Abidemi, drug trafficking, and a barrage of several other crimes, and he was to be tried and sentenced whenever we managed to apprehend him. And my brother, Bashir, was cleared of all wrongdoing.
The man in the shadows was no longer a myth. His existence had been proven in court, and we had all the legal backing to take him down. We made it. But with a lot of casualties along the way. Collins had sacrificed himself. Our entire convoy had been brutally murdered. Natalie had lost her life. My father had died. But we had got him beat at his own game.
But it wasn’t over yet. We still had to catch the bastard. And we were going to. 
I was going to.