The Enemy Of State

Episode 2: THE SEARCH...

A few hours passed, and I had succeeded in finding shelter in an incomplete house a little far from where the shooting took place as I overheard the military assaulting houses and doing searches for me...

The neighborhood was dead silent as everyone had locked up their doors and stayed indoors for fear of being victims of stray bullets. My mobile phone had fallen as I was running away so... I was sure somehow, they would have confiscated it and my identity would have been known already...

Here I was, my life had just changed from a Simple IT Engineer, to a " Red Man " as the resistance is referred to, in less than 24 hours. With me, I just had my laptop inside my bag, and some money. Weary of making any moves, I decided to lay there waiting until the place became dark and worrying about what my family would have heard about me by that time.

A heavy knock hit the door (toc toc). It sounded like it was a complete assault team outside of my house.

"Who's it?" Kizita asked!

"Open up fast unless you want us to break the door". Replied a military officer, the head of the assault team.

Once she opened up, there was a complete battalion of armed forces all over the area and they had sealed the quarter for no entry and exit... A good number of them rushed into the house and began turning it upside down and without even letting their intentions known...

"What is the problem, officer?" Kizita asked in an angry tone.

Pointing a gun straight at her, he said:

"If you really value your life, you should be quiet and speak nothing but the truth from now onwards"

"The truth?" She asked?

"Of course you heard me, Madame," replied the Soldier.

"Where is your husband?" He asked.

"I don't understand what you mean where's my husband... He's traveled since morning and I haven't even heard from him since then. His phone seemed to be switched off and what is the search all for?"

The soldier was a tall dark man with red eyes and a man who seemedn't to take anything for an answer except what he was expecting to hear...

"I repeat!!!... Where is your husband Madame?" He asked again.

This time around, she knew something wasn't right there.

"I've not seen or heard from him since he left the house this morning, I swear" she replied.

"Did you know your husband worked for the resistance? I mean "The Red Men"... Asked the Soldier

"This must be a mistake Officer... You can't be serious... My husband is an honest man who makes a decent living and provides for his family... You can't be joking like this..." Replied Kizita.

"Uhuhhh!! So, you think this is a joke, right..? Soldiers!!! Take her into Custody... If we can't find him here, she'll lead us to him... And Madam, I have done terrible things to people who tell lies. You must understand that before you keep up with your story." He said, looking at her straight into her eyes with little or no emotions at all...

She knew this man was evil and meant business... They then transported my wife in handcuffs, passing through the neighborhood in a military truck to their base as other soldiers were parading my picture in the neighborhood asking if I had been seen by anyone labeling me a resistance force and a Soldier Killer...

Finally arriving at the station, Kizita asked what had been going on and she was given an update by a low ranking Officer who felt sympathy for her... He advised her to give me up if she actually knew where I was to save her and the family...

She still maintained her story of not knowing where I was and that if she knew, she would have tried to help, so I declared my innocence...

When it was mentioned that I had killed a soldier and the pictures shown to her, she burst into tears saying she doubted I could even do that... She was put into an all-white room with lights shinning right into her eyes and spot lights everywhere around her...

The interrogating soldier came in... The same man who took her from the house...

"I will repeat myself this time around and it will be just once... If I don't get what I want, I am going to make sure that your beautiful face disappears tonight.... Am I right Madame..." He said...

"Yes, Officer" she replied,

"Good.... When was the last time you heard from your husband?" asked the Officer.

"Officer, he kissed me goodbye before he traveled and promised to call as soon as he arrived, which I haven't heard from him until now."

"So did you know why he was on that journey?" The Officer asked.

"He works for a Telecom company and he was sent on a mission to fix some network issues. That's all he ever told me..."

"So he didn't tell you he was a Red Man?" The Officer asked.

"Please... Sir, I have no idea what you mean by that... He has never mentioned anything of the sort and has never even associated himself with that... He's my husband, I am with him all the time. I should at least have known... Can't you see that?" furiously replied Kizita.

"Hmmmm.... I see he's a professional for real... Living with him and you don't know anything about his involvement with The Red Men. I can say he's a great recruit... And I'm sure he's been doing their dirty work all over the place here for them and planning their expansion..." Said the Officer...

The interrogations went on for about 2 hours and, realizing Kizita was innocent of anything happening, they finally decided to set her free and put guards around the house to monitor just in case I pulled up...