Must Read: Before She Dies

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Before She Dies

Senator Williams strode lackadaisically down the stairs. He was wearing a blue dotted white polo shirt on brown trousers. His handsome face looked unhappy. He got to the sitting room and moved toward the TV.



Since Tanzanki left his apartment some hours ago, the senator had been excited. He had had his eyes on the TV and with the remote had been surfing the channels intermittently for over two hours, but no station was saying what he wanted to hear. When he remembered he hadn’t asked Tanzanki to strike that day but the following day, he gritted his teeth at his miscalculation and went to bed. Very early the following morning, he was up, watching the television again. He scanned through the channels until he tuned into Genna Television Broadcast. He watched for a while but was not interested in what he was seeing. The station was televising a quiz competition among three primary schools in the country’s capital. He hissed and tuned to BCC World Service, then, Press TV, followed by CNN. He saw that none of them was showing what he wanted and he became restless and went on fiddling the remote control. When he got tired of staring at the television, he switched it off and rose from the couch. He hastened upstairs. Alone in his room, he dialed Tanzanki,
“I’ve kept in touch with the TV as you said but nothing interesting has happened.” His voice was nervous.


Tanzanki said calmly, “You don’t have to get panicky. The boys are already airborne. Around two hours time or thereabout, go back to the television and you’ll hear what you want. My boys have never failed and they won’t fail in this one.” There was this note of certainty in his voice that calmed the senator and he smiled,
“I was just wondering and becoming nervous.



In that case, goodbye.” He hung up and lay on the bed. After two hours, he left the room and went downstairs.


The senator got to the TV, switched it on and glanced at his watch. The time was 10:15AM.



He picked the remote and moved to a couch.


He sat, tuned to CNN and that instant; he was staring at a newscaster as she aired what all this while he had been craving for. He relaxed quickly and began to savour with smiles every word the newscaster was uttering.
‘‘Tragedy simultaneously struck the capitals of Ghana and Kenya at exactly 10 o’clock this morning, as suicide bombers blew up Stanny bank in Roman Ridge and Elite Secondary School in Lavington. Security agents and firefighters have already stormed the vicinities and investigations have commenced. At the moment, the official death toll in Roman Ridge is 500 while that of Lavington is over 800.’ As the live coverage of the burnt buildings, the blazing human beings and the curious crowd and mean-looking security agents that clustered around the vicinities were shown; the senator started laughing and increased the volume. The newscaster spoke on, ‘On a similar case, a suicide bomber was arrested within the premises of St. Thomas Catholic Church Gwagwalada in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, at exactly 10:00AM, the same time the suicide bombers targeted the capitals of Ghana and Kenya. When he was questioned by the security agents, he claimed the bombers that struck Roman Ridge and Lavington, including himself, were sent by Paulinus Wilfred, the Gennanian president.’ The senator smiled as he felt a sudden wave of excitement run through him. He shifted forward and crossed one leg over the other, “Idiot.” He said and listened on, ‘The arrested suicide bomber gave his name as Musalam and claimed President Paulinus Wilfred sent them to the three African countries for the president believes the countries were connected with the murder of President Williams Bruno. The spokesman for the Nigerian president on security matters said that investigations are being intensified to verify the authenticity of the claims of the suicide bomber. Meanwhile, the stunned Gennanian president when contacted on the phone vehemently denied the allegation.’ The senator breathed, “I’ve not started with you yet. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll not only be limping, but will be confined to a wheelchair. That’s if you even get lucky of having a life.” He smiled and went on listening, ‘The Gennanian president has approved that extradition proceedings be commenced and has expressed his country’s preparedness to liaise with Nigeria and the other two countries affected to ensure that the truth is discovered. He_’