THE LAST INSURGENT

Twenty-three

“Mufty is alive.” A man said as he stood before Jahl in his new palace. They had relocated and moved the camp to another part of the Kabari forest. This time, the place was more secured.
Some experts were brought in to fix cameras and detectors around the camp.
“What?”

“The attack was not a military attack. We combed the place today Ya Amir. There was no single sign of any military invasion. It was an inside work. The shattered cabin had the dead bodies of the men that were with you, and three other unidentified me.
I suspect they were the men you sent to kill him. There was no body of a woman in there and……Mufty had a secret safe in the room. It was empty.”

“Hmmm….Are you suggesting that he escaped?”
“Yes, and he was the one who detonated the bombs and killed our men. Mufty may be the man in the mask.”
Jahl got on his feet. This was not good!

“I hope he is not going to talk.”
“No. He is as guilty as us.”
“What if they offer him amnesty? What if they strike a deal with him?”
“That is a possibility.”
“We must find him and kill him. Mufty knows too much! Ya Allah, Mufty is your enemy. Show him to us.”

“I am very interested in the girl.”
“Which girl?”
“His wife. I think we should find out more about her. The press have said little or nothing about her. They are hiding her. She may be with him.”
“Why?”
“We saw a lot of drugs on the ground. Mufty never used to consume the retroviral drugs. I think he was not HIV positive. What do you know about him before he saw the light.”

“He is out of the alight and don’t connect him with the light again. Mufty is in darkness. It was Alarama Saheed who recommended him. I don’t know much about his past. He is from Kano.”
The man, Aloma, smiled. He was the leader of the intelligence squad. He was a dismissed police detective.

“We must dig into his past. I think he had the girl fell in love and she stuck to him. She came back for him. Let us find her. It may be difficult.”
“Allah will help us.”

***********
“Ameen wa alaikum salam.” Leena said with a shaky voice. She was trying to look calm, but her eyes, shaky lips and fake smile gave her away.

“I did not say the salama, Leena. I asked a question.”
“I did not get the question.”
“You told me that you were going to visit Rabi’at. Now, I followed you and Rabi’at happens to be a guy you met at Maidaribe Junction, and went to have lunch with before coming down here. Maybe I did not hear you properly. Did you say Rabi’at or Rabi’u?”
“Adam…”
“I asked a question.”

“It is not what you think. I actually said Rabi’at but I …..okay, I actually lied to you.”
Adam felt his head ringing. His hands still in his pockets but they trembled in anger.
“Why Leena?”
“I was actually going to meet him.”
“That brings us back to the first question I asked. Who is he?”
“He is a friend.” She said.
“You have such a close friend I never knew about?”
“I never said a close friend.”
“You did not have to say that. It is obvious. You are betrothed and you lie to me to meet him, have lunch with him, and come here to sit down. I there was nothing fishy, why did you have to lie to me?”
“Because you will not understand.”

“No. There is nothing complex to understand here. You have been lying to me.”
“But I did not go to his house to meet him. I met him at an open place and it seems you have been stalking me so that substantiates that we did nothing wrong.”
“Following and not stalking.” He said. “I have the right to do that because I have paid your dowry. I have passed the level of introduction and reached the level of a fixed wedding date. From the moment I sought for your hand formally in marriage, it became disallowed for you to engage in another relationship. Yes, I did not see you guys do anything that is haram, or see you in seclusion but you know it is not right.
You can’t tell me that there is nothing going on between you and that guy. I see how you guys talk, smile and the way you look at him.
I think this explains the root of your newly found tauheed.

I am disappointed in you, Leena. Tell me what I did wrong to deserve this.”
“Absolutely nothing Adam.” She said amid tears. “You don’t deserve this and if there is anyone to be blamed, it is me. but Allah knows I never intended to do this. I will never hurt you on purpose.”
“Who is he?”
She paused, crying and her lips shook.
“Manga.”
“Who is Manga? I mean what is he to you?”
“Adam, I am sorry but I don’t want to hurt you…..”

“Could there be anything worse than what you have done already?”
“Okay, Manga is the guy I- I fell in love with.”
Boom!
Even though he saw it, or suspected it, this confirmation from her broke his heart. He stood still and felt as if the ground was vibrating and about to crack. It seemed he was losing friction.

“That is why you have been acting strangely. But I asked you if you had fallen in love with someone else and you lied to me.”

“I could not admit it. I did not want you make a scene. I am sorry Adam. I am such a terrible person.”
“How could you? After everything. Since when has this been going on?”
“We met a few months ago but fell in love not so long ago.”

“Was that when you said you were abducted. Were you even abducted the first time?”
“Adam!”
“Do not Adam me. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Yes, I was abducted and there are proves.”
“So you met him there.”
“No. It was after I escaped.”
“What does he do foe a living.”

“Adam you can’t keep asking me questions like that. I said I am sorry.”
“Sorry? Define sorry. Explain what you mean by you are sorry. Sorry for what you did and plan to go ahead and ,marry him? Or sorry for your goof and you are letting him go at this very moment  and we forget none of this ever happened?”
She wiped off tears from her eyes.
“I am wrong in every aspect and have no reason to do this to you. If you say I should send him away now, I will do it and get married to you but I want you to know this….I did not plan to date him. I fell in love with him and could not get him out of my mind. I love him Adam but I can send him away if you insist. You have paid the dowry and I promised to marry you.

I know I can’t forget him but I also lied to him. It is not his fault. He asked me if I had a formal knot with you and I said no.”
“You said no?”

“Yes. If  I had said yes, he would have gone and I love him Adam. I could not stop loving him. But I pray I forget him. I will go and talk to him right away and never see him again. I am terrible because I am going to hurt him. I should have let him go. Now I am going to destroy him.”
She began to cry.
“Go and talk to him. I am not letting you go!”

"She doesn't have to do that. " Mufty said and appeared from a corner.  " Peace be upon you. I am Muhammad Manga. "
Adam glared at him. The two men looked at each other intensely.
Leena felt another bang in her head as Mufty appeared. He must have heard everything. She covered her face with her palms and cried softly.

"Peace be upon you too. I am Adam Abdulsalam."
Mufty shifted his gave to Leena, and then back at Adam who still had his full gaze on Mufty.
It had to be settled now.

***********     
This is a very short chapter though.

Please there is someone who shares  birthday with me (4th of October). I have forgotten the person's username. Please dm me😏.

Thank you very much.