ALL IN A DAY

CHAPTER SEVEN - Information.

#Information #Chapter7 #Livemeeting

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Time: 10:15:02AM

Location: Federal Bureau of Investigation

The office buzzed with the usual activity, people glued to their screens or wandering about, lost in their thoughts. Hakeem rushed into the building, his heart pounding. He navigated through security and made his way toward the cortex, clutching a white coffee cup in one hand and a stack of paperwork in the other. His brown handbag dangled from his shoulder.

Hakeem has the look of a typical Lagos boy, but he hailed from Katsina state, much like a Canadian actress with roots in Pakistan.

As he approached the entrance to the cortex, he noticed there was no guard on duty. In a hurry, he pushed the glass door with his shoulder, spilling some coffee in the process. He quickened his pace to his desk, hoping to avoid Bill's scrutiny. But fate had other plans; he accidentally bumped into Nick, who was heading to a meeting.

Coffee splashed; papers scattered. "Woah! Watch it, Hakeem!" Nick exclaimed, bending down to help pick up the fallen papers.

"I'm so sorry, buddy. I'm just a bit tense," Hakeem apologized as they both scrambled to retrieve the papers.

Nick gave a fake smile. "I can tell. That's why you're late...again."

Hakeem hastily gathered his papers into a makeshift file. "Actually, it was the traffic, and I heard about some attack on the news just a while ago."

Nick's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. Reading a message, he casually mentioned, "Yeah, we've got AbdulMuiz in custody."

Hakeem's eyes widened in shock. "You say what now?"

"I said we have Muiz in custody" Nick replied, his attention on his phone. He left Hakeem in disbelief and hurried ahead.

"When did that happen? How? Why?" Hakeem stammered, quickly catching up to Nick. He rephrased his question, realizing he knew the reason for Muiz's capture. "Oh, sorry, I meant what happened?"

Nick sighed deeply before pocketing his phone. He looked at Hakeem with a faint smile. "If you had arrived early, you would have known. Anyway, we got a lead on Muiz. Ben and his team swooped in on his location and took out his men. Muiz got injured, and his son escaped with some kind of virus."

Hakeem's brow furrowed. "What kind of virus?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. That's what we're about to find out."

They entered the conference room, where Kendra, Bill, and other coworkers were already seated. Hakeem, avoiding eye contact with Bill, took a seat near Kendra. He cleared his throat nervously. "Morning, Mr. Williams. I'm deeply sorry for being late. I was held up by..."

Bill cut him off curtly. "Keep your excuses to yourself and focus on why we're here. I'm sure Nick briefed you on the situation."

Hakeem nodded. "Yes, sir," and then pulled out his laptop from his bag.

Bill got up and walked over to Kendra, who was typing furiously on her keyboard. "Kendra, how's the feed going?"

Kendra looked up briefly, a faint smile on her face, and never taking her eyes off the screen. "We're ready to go live with the President."

"Good," Bill nodded slowly. He stretched and pressed a button on the round telephone on the large table. "Ben, are you getting this?"

A voice crackled from the telephone, and Ben, still at the radiography warehouse, answered, "Yes, Bill." With that, a connection was established, and both ends were now in a live meeting with the President through the TV on the wall.

"Hello, Mr. President. It's great to hear from you," Bill greeted, a warm smile on his face that revealed his missing upper tooth.

"The feeling is mutual," Mr. President replied, his tone friendly. "I'm joined here by the Vice President, my Chief of Staff, Yakubu Musa, my Permanent Secretary, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Governor of Lagos State, who is with us live," he introduced his cabinet members to Bill.

Bill decided to reciprocate the introduction. He cleared his throat before speaking, "Thank you, Mr. President. Over here, I have my team of data analysts – Kendra Daniels, Nick Aaron, Hakeem Jimad, and Christabel Wilson. We also have Ben John, our Head of Field Ops, joining us over the phone."

"Hello, Mr. President," Ben greeted over the phone, and Mr. President's face lit up with recognition. They had a close connection dating back to when Mr. President was running for office. Ben had been assigned as his bodyguard and had saved Mr. President from an assassination attempt. However, they had lost touch due to Mr. President's busy schedule after his election.

"Let's get down to business. What do you have for us?" the Chief of Staff interjected, eager to begin.

Bill adjusted his glasses and began, "Mr. President, I have both good news and bad news. Let's start with the good news. We've apprehended the leader of the terrorists who attacked Shoprite last week."

His statement left everyone in the room pleasantly surprised, exchanging smiles and glances.

"That is indeed good news. Who is this individual?" the Vice President inquired after adjusting his tie.

Nick quickly shared the details from his laptop, "His name is Abdulganiu AbdulMuiz, a big-time arms dealer who once worked under the regime of Bala."

At the mention of Bala, Mr. President narrowed his eyes. "Bala? I thought Bala was arrested by the FBI."

"Yes, Mr. President, but his associate, Muiz, managed to escape and establish his own empire. But from the look of things, it appears that he's working for someone else now," Bill explained while absentmindedly playing with a pen in his hand. His gaze was fixed on the TV screen.

"What do you mean?" the Governor of Lagos, who was participating via Zoom, chimed in.

Bill placed his pen down and continued, "During our investigation, we discovered that Muiz is planning something big in our city."

Mr. President's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to know who Muiz was working for and what exactly they were planning.

"What is it?" Mr. President asked.

Ben, still at the radiograph warehouse, took over the conversation. "During today's attack, we saw Muiz and his son, Jakeem, attempting to flee. While we captured Muiz, Jakeem managed to escape. During the interrogation, Muiz mentioned a virus."

Before anyone could respond, the Chief of Staff exclaimed, his head tilted to the side, "A virus?"

"Mr. John," the Chief of Army Staff, Saka, added, leaning forward with his fingers interlocked on the table, "what kind of virus are we talking about, and where is it?"

"Possibly in the hands of Muiz's son, who is trying to deliver it to a man named Dando Ayew," Ben replied.

Kendra, in the FBI conference room, continued, reading from her laptop, "Our database doesn't have much on Dando, except for a family connection with a notorious terrorist in Ghana."

Mr. President was puzzled. "What does Dando have to do with the virus?"

"We believe, Mr. President, that Dando is planning to release the virus throughout the city," Bill calmly explained as he stood up and began to pace around the office, his eyes fixed on the TV.

The Chief of Army Staff pressed Ben for more details. "Mr. John, you haven't told us what kind of virus we're dealing with."

Ben sighed before responding, "Sir, I'm afraid we're dealing with something we all know as the..."

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A/N: This is getting more interesting. A virus? I hope this is not what I'm thinking but you guys can drop your thoughts or better still what do you think Ben is about to say?