Freetown, Sierra Leone
Nicholas, 24
"I will right your wrongs"
CniDaria was fast asleep on the far side of the bed. She looked like an angel, asleep wrapped in pure white sheets, head resting on a pure white cloud. Nine years I've dreamt of this night, when I finally would make love to her. The mutual love we had for each other made it ten times better than I could ever imagine. I couldn't sleep so I sat here on this hotel balcony watching her and thinking.
"I love you CniDaria and I always will." Even after I said it aloud she didn't stir. I've never told her how much I loved her before. She knew I cared for her deeply because of how I treated her, but I never used that four-letter word that meant so much.
These past couple of months have been the hardest to deal with. The Secretary General of the United Nations being murdered while his head investigator was fast asleep was not a good look at all. It brought eyes of suspicions from my superiors that I didn't need. If it wasn't for the Deputy Secretary General the investigation would have been shut down, I would have been out of a job, and the real culprits would be scot free. Even though the details were unknown to her she didn't feel the need to suspend our efforts. She cited:
'I don't know the circumstances of why our elected leader was assassinated. I don't know if it was due to your work or just another act of terrorism. Either way our former Secretary General was an incredibly intelligent individual with a strong purpose of making our world the best possible place to live in. So, I give you the reigns to this investigation believing it is of the upmost importance and that you want to fulfill the faith that our late great leader once put in you. Don't let me regret my decision.'
Betray the faith they both put in me? I had no intention. I worked non-stop, leaving 4 hours for sleep. I reviewed every piece of evidence and data we had more than ten times. No matter where we started from we always got stuck connecting events to certain individuals or organizations. The world war wasn't over. There was no official end to hostilities. No peace treaties were signed. Countries simply fell back from various front lines across the world. With it the borders started to close. Countries were more centralized than ever before. Governments were on lockdown. Getting information had become exceedingly difficult. The act of trading between countries were at an all-time low. Governments were in defense mode, amassing strength anyway they could. Using discreet ways to keep tabs on enemy countries. Governments with the most natural resources were the ones benefitting the most. Not much of a need to trade for raw materials and expounding the price on exports to countries they were only willing to trade with. All this made my job ridiculously difficult. It was an ordeal getting into countries let alone investigate money flow, search various buildings, or inspect businesses. It wasn't until I finally encrypted the USB that I was given by my late boss that I started to make at least some headway.
On the USB was a stock list of weapons and ammunition sold the past month. There were only a handful of transactions that were made the week of his assassination, fewer that included ranged weapons that would have kept the shooter out of the blast radius. Once I got that far only one Transaction stood out to me. CheyTac Intervention-American, the weapon that has one of the farthest kills recorded in history. A sniper rifle that wasn't really needed for the situation, the cleanest shot available around the crime scene was a max 1000 yards. The person must have been the most comfortable with this, there was no other plausible ranged weapon on the list. It takes skill and experience to operate a gun like that with precision. A powerful gun like that couldn't possibly go unnoticed or unheard. However, looking at the size of the bullets that were left scorched from the destroyed SUV, it proved that the weapon must have been modified. My first lead.
I turned from watching CniDaria as she slept, to the time on my phone screen. It was almost one in the morning; I then turned to the city below. The city was still alive. I heard music in the distance, cars going off, and different types of voices. I've been all over the world, seen and spoken to various types of people. Every single voice to me seemed to be on edge like their peace was in danger. Constantly in danger. When will the inevitable happen and their home becomes a war zone? What a hell to live in. Every terrorist attack, shooting, or grizzly murder location over the past eight years I visited and thoroughly investigated. Talking to the people and gathering information; this was always the overwhelming feeling I always got from them. Looking back at my notes from every location, the type of bullets that were used in Johannesburg weren't ever used before at the crime scenes but ammo from a CheyTac were used in incidents that occurred in order from most recent; Cartegena, Rio, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Tokyo, Paris, London twice, D.C, and numerous times in Miami, my hometown. In Tokyo I concluded that those bullets were from the minor guerilla unit that I already outed as an American intelligence front so that really didn't help. The Americans have been doing that for decades and I really didn't care about reasons for it. Just a last-ditch effort to manipulate a foreign government in which they failed. No reason to go further into it. In D.C and Miami the most notorious criminal in history has been known to be in those places. So, it wouldn't be farfetched that Lucius was the one that used this ammo. That's easy, but it doesn't explain all the incidents after his death. If he even was dead, that's certainly something to consider. The London incidents were the most peculiar. Within a couple weeks a whole family was killed, the royal family at that. No foul play was ever suspected because the deaths were natural or because of sickness. However, there were car accidents that were caused by flat tires. When I looked at the pictures of the wreck I was amazed to see that no one noticed that were bullet holes in the tires. Although with it being years later there was no evidence of a physical wreck to prove it. Unfortunately, there was no photos or video of it ever happening, just nothing there.
I put fingers up to my face and started to rub my eye lids. The frustration I experienced this past month has taken its toll on me. I've put so much energy into cracking this case and the truth of it has taken double the amount out of me. I turned back to look at the angel that I've been pursuing for so long. Instinctively my body tried to smile and experience joy at the sight I've been longing for a long time. Except this time instead of a smile all I could muster was a look of sadness. CniDaria finally stirred and looked back at me with a seductive smile that would make any man fall to his knees.
"Baby, what are you doing? Come back to bed, I'm cold without you." She called out to me in her cute baby voice. I forced a smile.
"In a minute, I just had a lot on my mind and thought I would clear it by looking at the city." She started to study my face and little by little her smile faded. She sat up pulling the covers over her chest.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly keen on doing that, no." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Her annoyance started to surface.
"OK." She tore off the covers and got up with nothing on but a thong and stomped towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. All I could hear was the sound of running water now. I seemed to have offended her. "You know Nicholas I figured that since we were so close that we would be able to talk more freely than we have. I've barely heard from you in months. I know that your boss that I met passed away but that doesn't mean you had to shut me out completely like you did. You can always talk to me." I was half listening to her calling to me from behind the closed bathroom door, I was unlocking the door and rummaging in my bag the whole time. The bathroom door opened again, and she stepped back in the doorway with a t-shirt and some gym shorts I had left in the bathroom previously. "Are you listening to me-" I expect the scene she saw before her had her speechless. I had let in three of my best agents and all four of us had our guns pointed at her. She slowly put her hands up and looked around the room and finally looked at me. Giving me a look of terror. "What in the world is going on?"