Bruce, Zondo, Musa and Lorna sat around the table. Noone dared say a word except the hushed exchange between Zondo and Lorna as they could be seen exchanging papers and analysing some papers together. Micah sat at the head of the table glancing at his watch twice every minute. Musa was sitting quietly just gazing at the two who were probably exchanging information.
"If he isn't here in thirty minutes time, I'll be certain something has happened. Adrian is never late." Adrian said raising his voice with every word said. Just then the the sound of someone outside the room could be heard. Everyone looked up to the door.
The moment the door opened, Adrian said, "I'm sorry everyone but I had to switch of my phone, the pressure was unbearable it seems those guys are all cowards," he paused then looked at the quiet Bruce and said in a low tone, " I'm sorry Boss"
Bruce just waved his hand, coughed to bring attention to his self then said, "Now that we are all here, Zondo and Lorna I'm sure now is the time to say whatever it is you were discussing fir the last two hours but before that…..," he let his voice fade into the silence as he looked at Adrian then he said, "…but firstly I think it would be safe for Adrian to give a report of how bad it is"
Adrian got up and said, " The press conference issue couldn't go on as the thing is, noone seems to know where they went, all the media has are copies of warrants but they aren't actually warrants because they state that the each guy is wanted for questioning just in relation to a suspected crime syndicate. The only thing we have is our guys being loaded into black SUVs without plates. That is the official information. I have made some calls but everyone keeps saying its international so they are not allowed lawyers and even their location is unknown. Well that's that. Now the other thing is no court acknowledges the judge. Officially, he is on holiday and he is a small time judge from a village down in the Midlands. "
Lorna seeing Adrian winking at her knew the cue to begin her presentation, " The truth is we all know Micah is behind this. He's the only one with a history of recklessness and not fearing the big guys. Reyes and Tavengwa would never pull such a move. The supposed Judge was also brought in when the taskforce was formed as counsel for the taskforce. We never said it because when he was brought in, Micah wasn't here and truthfully, we were sure those two would never make any big arrests."
Bruce chuckled and said, " So what happened to tell me everything. You don't get to judge what is relevant and what is now. Everything matters, we could have dug up a little on the judge and even sold him out before the media even knew who he was. Now with his name public, we can't make a move on him as it'll be like accepting our guys know something."
Bruce glanced at Lorna and waved his hands dismissively and she continued, "Also there has been recent turf wars intensifying and Thabo and the Nigerians have requested at meeting. I quote the letter 'all in the name of peace before your kingdom collapses' and he had threatened to give a few locations of our warehouses to Micah of we don't do the meeting. He proposed a day and said we have got to provide the meeting place. He said that is if you agree," she put emphasis on AGREE, " he said if you agree, other conditions will be discussed."
Zondo added, " Recently his guys have been reckless. I'm still investigating how but it seems they managed to get in a shipment of guns. Also, that intel on how Thabo managed to get those Nigerians to work for him, it seems he is just a middleman, his boss is a Nigerian who wanted someone local to manage his assets and when Thabo sent his resume, he won the post. And now in the name of pleasing the boss, he is trying to expand market and territory."
Bruce kept quiet and said, "Fine lets meet him." He glanced at Musa and said, " Organise a fine place for a meet, clear, no near buildings. The last thing I want is a sniper aiming at my head or a reporter with a clear shot of me surrounded by goons and guns. He doesn't know about our surveillance we installed on the North side, choose a place somewhere there. And I suppose, of course you'll be my ride of course, organise it to be in 2 days. "
"Now, what is the way forward. How shall we counter Micah. Any ideas."
Lorna glanced cowardly and said, " Well Boss, I think Micah may be the least of our problems for now."
"Oh Jesus, what again."
"For one we have managed to know that it's an international taskforce but why would they target us? We are just small-time, but of course the biggest issue is Micah wasn't sent by UN, Zim requested him and that means someone is after your head. My intel says it wasn't Tavengwa so it must be a higher up force. I think someone up there nolonger wants to play dog to you or there is a new force in town."
Zondo quickly added as Lorna was sitting down, " Of course this is still just a theory and you may have actually caught UN's attention."
"I don't think UN has that time to waste. It is the Empire they are aiming for and here in Zim, very few people have the power to pull strings to getvthe UN to send manpower here. There are rumours the FBI is becoming a muscle for hire, that means you may be right but like you said, its still a theory." After saying this, Bruce kept quiet and nodded at Adrian to wrap up the meeting as he(Bruce) was in deep thought.
"So now guys we try to live through the storm. Lorna I'll send you names about guys that need more persuasion, who are now doubting us because of arrests they even don't know much about. Show them you have more dirt on them, we thought saving them from cases bought loyalty, now blackmail them. Then Zondo, keep digging from your contacts anything about Thabo or this theory of yours about the supposed third party. Musa, I'll need you to use the surveillance to try and track the cars that took the guys. Its a pity the location of the taskforce is in the south side, if the car disappears on the south side, we'll know they are at the taskforce and ask our guy there. On first release, bring them here. Its soon because legally, they can't be kept for more that 24 hours since its just questioning. Now we're done."
That being said, everyone including Bruce took their belongings and left. Noone said anything after that as they all filed out of the room.