FicStorm's The Chase

Chapter Eight

“When your guys at Zyberdine made Labyrinth, you thought it was a dream come true but you had no idea your nightmare had just begun. You see, I had plans of stealing Labyrinth. As a matter of fact, I made an attempt. On the night you guys were celebrating a work well done, I had some men sneak in to get what your team had labored for, but it seems someone beat them to it. Someone got there before them and stole it.” His captor said in his foreign accent.

“And you kidnapped me thinking it was I that stole it.” Ezekiel chipped in. The fact that they had cooperated by sending his note to his wife made him feel a lot better. He had been worried that she was going to get sick with grief if she didn’t hear from him.

“Exactly, but soon we came up with a better plan.”

“You wanted me to make a new one.”

“Yes, I knew you worked on Labyrinth so I thought it would be easy for you, but then you said you couldn’t do it on your own.”

“And I also reminded you that it took my team at Zyberdine more than a year.”

“That still bothers me. It took your team at Zyberdine that long because you guys weren’t sure of what you were doing at first. Now that you have finally succeeded, why is it so hard to do it again?”

“Maybe we got lucky.”

“Then why promote something you got by luck?” The captor asked and at this, Ezekiel kept mute.

“You see, Ezekiel, I know who stole what you and your team labored so hard to achieve. But you wouldn’t believe me if I tell you.”

“Who stole it?”

“It was one of you. Sarah Boyle. She’s dead now.”

Ezekiel flinched.

“She was supposed to sell it to some secret organization, my best guess is DSA, but she didn’t. She kept it for herself and you see I’m not the only one who wants this so badly. There’s someone out there who wants it as badly as I do. Someone who would kill for it”

“The DSA has been pressing us hard for Labyrinth. So also has the military, but why does it matter? They both belong to the same side of the coin which is the Nigerian government. You quite seem to be on the other side of the coin. What do you want with Labyrinth?”

“Why did you make Labyrinth?”

“To achieve the future of technology; enhanced weapons, artificial intelligence and all of that. A gun that never misses a target, a computer that processes commands at the speed of lightning. The list is long. Labyrinth was made to work with almost everything including vehicles.”

“You ignored one thing, doctor.”

“What’s that?”

“All of you at Zyberdine didn’t think about how Labyrinth would work perfectly well with the human brain. Well, except for Dr. Sarah Boyle. May her soul rest in peace.”

Through the bars of his cell, Ezekiel could see a smirk on his captor’s ugly face.

“What do you mean?”

“If you can attach Labyrinth to…” The captor started but Ezekiel cut in.

“…to the cerebellum of the human brain, you get a smart human with greater intelligence even more than super computers, a human who can communicate with computers and satellite and any machine.” It had just dawned on him and he had gushed it out in one breath. “Christ! A higher version of the homo sapien.”

“What I call homo efflorescence.”

“How could she have known that?”

“She was a genius. Let’s give her that.”

Ezekiel stomped his foot hard.

***

12:58

Ann Oghosa, a crime reporter with The Spring Updates newspaper sat at her cubicle preparing a story about the scientist that was murdered earlier in the morning. She had gotten very little from the detective at the crime scene. The pompous detective-in-charge known as Chase was never willing to talk to a reporter and so she had to chase the story on her own.

Ann, 36 years old, five feet five looked smart in the white shirt and blue jeans she wore with a peach jacket. A single piece of jewelry hung loosely around her neck. She had just been moved from business section to crime and she liked it there. Her hair was packed to the back with a little of it falling in front of her face like a curtain. She didn’t have to put too much effort to look good. All it took was a smile, but right now, she wasn’t smiling. The detective she had met at the crime scene was really getting on her nerves even now. She transferred the aggression on her keyboard. The keyboard made no noise as she typed furiously for it was just neon lights fixed to the lead crystal desk and the monitor hovered lightly above the desk because of a magnet in place.

“Hello, Ann.” Someone called. Ann looked up and saw Olamide approaching. He was among the men in her working place that had tried wooing her unsuccessfully. But he was the only one that had refused to give up. Olamide was once covering crime but now he was covering politics. People like him were referred to as ‘the big boys’ He had given Ann a few reliable sources in the crime world just in case she needed information and she felt she owed him for that, so she managed to smile as she greeted him.

“Hey.” She said.

“I’m going to get lunch, why don’t you join me?”

“I’ve got my hands full right now. Maybe some other time.” Ann said even though she didn’t mean it.

“Okay.” Olamide said and made to leave but she called him back and rose to her feet.

“Hey. Do you know this guy called Chase?”

“The detective?”

Ann nodded.

“That guy is one bleeding…” He caught himself. “I was going to swear right there.”

“Yeah. He has that effect on me too. Say no more. His name provokes me alone.”

Olamide laughed and was about to leave again when his eyes caught a newspaper on her desk. He picked it up. “This one’s two weeks old and has been on your desk for a while, don’t you think?”

“That’s right. I’d just have one last look at it and toss it somewhere.” She said and collected the paper from him. He gave her a onceover and allowed his eyes to stay on her hips for a while longer, then he beamed, gave a slight nod and walked away.

“Prude.” Ann said under her breath as the smile faded slowly away from her face. She took her seat and read the headline on the newspaper.”

RENOWNED SCIENTIST GOES MISSING AFTER HUGE SUCCESS.

The paper had been on her desk for a while because it was the first story she had covered when she got the crime beat and because it made cover page. That was two weeks ago. She read the story again and she really appreciated her work, but something struck her while she was reading. ‘Zyberdine’, the missing doctor was an employee of Zyberdine.

Ann locked at the monitor. The story she was typing on display. She browsed the contents and found what she was looking for. The doctor that was murdered in the morning once worked for the same company. She quickly got up and picked up her bag. She needed to have a little chat with the detective. She was not happy about it, but it had to be done. She hurried out of the office through its revolving doors with the two weeks old newspaper in her hand.