UNTAMED

Part Thirty Nine

There was a stick resting on an orange tree, Halima was trying to pluck an orange. Cindy took over and they had a success. Halima picked it up and studied it like a mystery. He could hear her laughter from the sound transmitter. It sounded nice and intoxicating.
“What do you mean Jason?” Mark asked.
“She did not talk to Halima as a psychologist, she was just being herself” Jason answered.
“There is a ripe pawpaw” Halima said running to a pawpaw tree.
Cindy followed suit carrying the stick.
“You try it. Let me hold it, I will give you back” Cindy said giving the stick to her and taking the message.
Her expression changed for some seconds but she was back to smiling as she tried plucking the pawpaw. The pawpaw fell making her laugh.
“I think there is another reason behind Chief’s obsession” Ghost said.
“I just noticed that. Ghost you are talking about what Kung Fu master said” Fast said.
“Yea. I never believed him but she looks like the kind of people he described. They are very few but their spirit is pure and strong and unbreakable, very innocent to the core and tender” Ghost said.
“People have a pull towards them and they bring a sense of peace to troubled minds” Doc said.
“Chief might have been obsessed with that attraction but just did not know how to handle her. Someone with a twisted mind like Chief can see her as a drug, a sense of peace from his troubled mind, and I’m pretty sure he must have told her a lot of evil he had done hoping to find redemption. He kept breaking her to break that purity he can never have” Wild said.
“She will not need much work because the message have done eighty percent of the work” Major said.
“So what is the current status?” he asked.
“Nothing Tamed. We’ve combed all the estates but nothing” Wild said.
“The only addition is just suspicions. Few months before the election, the wife of his party member who was vying for the same position was kidnapped with two of his children, even after paying ten million naira ransom, they were still killed. No arrest is yet to be made by the police. Chief was his biggest supporter” Jason said.
“We might need Halima to help us with that” Mark said.
They had moved over to more orange trees.
“But today is our deadline, can’t she be debriefed now?” he asked.
“No, I’m still searching for something. Though we are out of time, I still need something from her. Tamed try get her to see a picture of Chief if possible add Umaru and tell me her reaction” Wild said.
“Right now the president is on a flight back to Nigeria. He will arrive by 6:PM today. And things have worsened because the Senate and House of Reps have ordered the Chief of Defense Staff to appear before them. Chief is in Abuja right now and will be among the people to welcome the president” Major said.
“But right now, we have a case, even if there is no concrete evidence. Cindy has wiped out fifty percent of our worries. As it is now, we may lose Halima but Tamed will be vindicated by Halima and Chief may be implicated. Just that she will be in danger if she leaves our care” Ghost said.
“Fast how about Umaru?” he asked.
‘Nothing to report. He is carrying out his life like he never knew Chief. During yesterday’s meeting, he never made any speech” Fast said.
“We are going to need another miracle because Chief’s medical report can work against us and Halima. He can even accuse Tamed of doing the brainwashing” Jason said.
“So all I need to do is tell you her reaction to Chief’s picture?” he asked.
“Yes” Wild answered.
“I have a crucial meeting now. Jason please thank Cindy for me. I’m out” Major said.
“I will keep monitoring Umaru” Fast said.
“I will do more research on Chief. As for Ojogolo, there have been two more killings, all connected to rivals. Then there is going to be a delivery of weapons. A big boat will be delivering it at Escravos River. Number of people Ojogolo is expecting to come with the boat is ten. He is sending fifteen to do the exchange” Jason said.
“We will keep that in mind” Wild said.
The transmission stopped. Jason had disconnected. Cindy and Halima were coming towards them. Cindy had a pawpaw fruit in her hand while Halima had two oranges with her. They were talking and laughing but he could no more hear what they were saying.
“Halima, I’m placing the pawpaw in the tomatoes basket. You take the oranges too. We have enough” Cindy said as they got close.
“Okay” she answered looking at the vegetables.
“I never knew this is fun Jason” Cindy said throwing herself on Jason who raised her up.
“Your hands are dirty. Need my help washing?” Jason asked.
He was happy Halima was not watching. She was by the scent leave tree, her nose on the leaves.
“Please take your love affair away from here. I don’t want to be answering another question” he said.
Jason dropped Cindy, bent down and Cindy climbed on his back. They started leaving and he shook his head. No wonder Jason now believed in miracles. Halima was by the small poultry. She carried the small basket of eggs and walked towards him. She dropped the basket close to the basket with the tomatoes, then ran towards him. Before he could ask her where she was running to, she suddenly threw herself on him. Her hands were in his shoulders making her hang up. The zap of electricity was unexpected, he felt it all over his body. His groins came alive and he felt shock at his dead heart, almost like it was beating again.
That was not possible, something was wrong, there was no way his body was supposed to react to the contact. People like Halima were those he saw just once, he never looked twice, he was never attracted to them, even at the moment, his mind was totally against what his body was feeling. He pulled her away.
“What the heck are you doing!” he exclaimed.
“You look shocked. Was I bad? Did I not do it well?” she asked smiling.
He was even feeling her smile and his heart was beating fast against his will.
“Do what well?”
“Hug. That’s how to hug right? I’m supposed to give you hugs. I’ve given you one”
“And who told you that?”
“Cindy. She said I’m supposed to give you hugs” she answered running back to her basket.
“I’m damned” he said holding his heart.
Cindy had to say that.
“Let’s go. I have to cook” she said carrying the baskets and walking back the way they came.
He pulled her back.
“I thought I said I don’t need a cook” he said but her response was laughter making his heart beat faster.
“This is bad”
“Yes it’s bad, you are a bad cook. Who pours everything into the oil that is not yet hot? Let’s go” she said.
There was no atom of fear left in her eyes. He pulled her back.
“This way Halima” he said pulling her towards the kitchen door.
“Wow! short cut” she said entering the kitchen.
“Halima, I don’t think I will eat egg sandwich, I’m tired of it. You cook for yourself. I will find something else to eat” he said hurrying over to the parlor.
He was feeling hot even when the weather was not hot. He pulled off his T-shirt and turned on the AC. He was still hot. He went to switch on the TV and waited for the decoder to boot. African Magic was the station on screen. He started changing channels till a news headline made him stop. It was ITV. They were reporting on what happened during House of Assembly meetings. They were showing the House of Representative and Chief was speaking. The volume was low but as he tried increasing it, Halima screamed from his side. He turned towards her and saw raw fear written all over her face. At first, he thought she was back to fearing him but her eyes were focused on something else. He followed the direction of her eyes and quickly switched off the TV. She ran to him but held him from behind. She was shaking from fear and it was bringing out a sudden rage in him, the rage to kill, like the feeling he always had when his mum was hurt.
“Please don’t take me back to him. I don’t want him to take me again” she said trembling and increasing his rage.
He picked his T-shirt which was close to him and quickly put it on, then pulled her front and allowed her grab his waist, her head resting almost at his chest.
“Sssh. Halima, calm down, your fear is pricking me, please”
“Don’t let Chief get me. Please, I don’t want to go back” she pleaded almost at the brink of tears.
That was what Wild wanted to know. He wanted to find out if she would be afraid of Chief, the kind of fear of being captured again. The table was turning and Chief had no idea.
“You are safe here Halima. Chief cannot and will never touch you again. I won’t let that happen, I promise. Okay?” he said rubbing her back.
“Okay.”
Her vibration stopped instantly calming his rage a bit. He allowed her to hold him because the attraction had stopped which was a welcome development.
“How do I do the second one?” she asked raising her face to look at him.
The feeling was back as soon as their eyes met. He was noticing things he never saw before, her big eyes, her pointed nose and her inviting lips. Gosh he was going crazy, something was really wrong with his brain setting. He would need a brain format.
“How?” she asked.
“What second one?”
“Cindy…”
“Oh no not Cindy again.”
But she laughed and his heartbeat doubled.
“Cindy said I’m supposed to give hugs…”
“You’ve said that. Okay let’s count this as a second hug, it’s now hugs.”
“Not that, another one.”
“What other one?”
“I’m supposed to give you hugs and kisses but I only know how to give hugs”
He quickly pulled her away before he did something stupid.
“Halima, let’s say I’m okay with just the hugs, you can skip the kisses. I really need to talk with Cindy.”
“No, it’s not you, it’s not for you to feel okay. It’s something I must do to feel okay. So will you show me how?”
“Okay, Halima I’m really hungry, please make a lot of egg sandwich for two. I can join you if you want” he said walking towards the kitchen but she held his hand sending another shock to his veins.
“No way. You are a bad cook. Go do something else. I will do everything myself” she said running to the kitchen.
“Good” he said bringing his phone from his pocket and climbing the stairs to his room.
As soon as he entered his room, he dialed Wild’s line.
“What is it?” Wild asked.
“Fear of being captured by Chief, that is what you were looking for. Right?”
“Exactly, we are advancing fast” Wild answered.
“Great, then you should be on your way for the debriefing”
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean by not yet? What else do you want?” he shouted.
“I will know tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow when the president will summon us?”
“Major has promised to delay the summoning.”
“I don’t care about that. She is ready, come pick her up.”
“Obinna, I’ve been your friend for about fourteen years now and I should know you enough. What is it?”
Of course Wild would know something was off.
“Ola, just come and take her, I’ve done my best”
“Talk to me as a friend” Wild said.
“It looks like she has transferred from believing Chief to believing Cindy. Now she wants to do everything Cindy says.”
“It’s normal. Although you physically liberated her, Cindy liberated her mentally.”
“This is bullshit.”
“Obinna I’m still waiting to hear what is getting you agitated.”
“Cindy told her to give me hugs and kisses. She gave me a hug and she is no longer afraid of me.”
“And?”
“She wants to find out how she can give me kisses.”
But the idiot burst into laughter, so much for having a friend.
“Ola, this is not funny.”
“What is wrong with her giving you hugs and kisses? It’s with a clean mind and a show of appreciation and it’s not that it will affect you in anyway. Her type don’t move you now” Wild said still laughing.
“I have self-respect.”
“Okay if you say so, except there is something you are not telling me” Wild spoke in Yoruba.
“Ola what should I do?”
“Kiloshele? Ogbeni show her how to give kisses” Wild said cutting the call.
Even Wild was making fun out his predicament. He threw the phone to the bed.
“Think, if this is a combat situation, how do I handle this? First keep my emotions in check and..”
“Where are you? I can’t open the door. I need to get pumpkin leaf” he heard Halima’s voice interrupting him.
His heart leapt as he heard her voice.
“I’m damned” he said.