The Watchers (Episode 1.)

LAG_NIG_06 27’52”N_0003 32’34”E
14|02|2080 05:00:42AM
      “What did I do?....Why did you kill me?.... I’m dead, are you happy now? hahaha...” I jumped with a start and reached for my Glock, looked around but saw no one, yet another nightmare. The nightmares were becoming frequent, voices and faces of people I had killed kept haunting me in my dreams. I sat at the edge of the bed and held my head in my hands, ever since I returned to Nigeria, the nightmares had increased and there was no one I could talk to about it, I mean how would I tell someone “I have nightmares of the people I’ve killed”. I had to clear my head, perhaps my routine early morning walk plus some Kenny G music would work the magic. I stepped out into the cool morning breeze, everywhere was calm and quiet but then again everywhere was always calm and quiet with everyone minding their business and no nosy neighbors poking their nose into one’s affairs, the perks of living in Victoria Garden City. I picked a direction to walk, iPod shuffle clipped to my arm band, earpods in place, dumbbells in hands. As I walked I pondered, something was wrong with me, apart from the nightmares getting frequent, blanking out too was becoming frequent and I had been warned against going outside “Specimen X”(that was the organization I worked for) for help of any sort, this one time I had gone to a hospital, x-rays revealed there was a chip implanted in my brain, few minutes later, some Specimen X operatives were there to get me out, I remember I got a serious reprimand from the Boss for that singular action, so I figured the chip was a sort of homing device because Specimen X always had a way of knowing my exact location. I looked back and noticed I was been followed by two guys, I picked up pace, from a trot to a jog, they did the same. I wasn’t sure whether it was paranoia or alertness, I turned a corner and hid behind a hedge.
      “Where did he go?” One of the guys asked the other.
      “He turned this corner, dude’s way too fast for us, let’s look for another motivator” He replied, as they turned and walked away. Guess I was just being paranoid, but with my kind of job, paranoia was second nature.

05:55:12AM.
I walked back to my apartment, took a shower, had coffee and toast, then went down to the underground bunker. The bunker served as my ops center/control room with super computers, trackers, monitors and armory, the bunker also had an emergency exit that led to the boat house. Sometimes I wondered how life would be in this big house after I retired, I had never been married and that was Specimen X policy because they believed marriage was a big distraction and for my type of assignments, distractions were a big minus. Four more operations and I would be discharged from Specimen X, only then would I regain my freedom to live among human beings like a normal human being, money wasn’t a problem, thanks to Specimen X, but the bad part was I wasn’t free to do anything on my own, every decision I made had to go through Specimen X.
I looked at the screens as I observed live traffic camera feeds all around Lagos while I tuned in to the police radio frequency, nothing serious was happening, I looked at the television screen and saw Dr. Benny McPherson was visiting Lagos in three days, on the surface Dr. Benny was a supposed humanitarian, but beneath that surface, he was an illegal arms dealer and ruthless drug lord, no one had ever been able to nail him, while I was with the F.B.I. in the U.S. I was a hair’s breadth away from getting him when the whole thing turned against me, it was too late before I realized I had been framed. I was tried, found guilty and put on deathroll for crimes I didn’t commit, even our director Eva Coldstone tried all she could to see if she could get me out or reduce my sentence, trust me prison life for a former law enforcement agent was no fun. One day I had a brawl with an inmate and ended up in an isolated cell, I slept and by the time I woke, I found myself somewhere in a Specimen X laboratory. Adapting to the Specimen X life wasn’t easy, man was I drilled in there, tough special ops training, no one told me what I was being trained for and “Don’t Ask Questions” was one of Specimen X’s policy, Specimen X was designed such that no recruit or agent saw or interacted with the other, yeah it was that discreet. I was trained for four years after which I was given my first assignment, only then did I know what I had been trained for.

07:00:00AM.
I received a mail from Specimen X, after decrypting, it read.
      “Agent O, go to Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, book a three day suite at the top floor, be on standby, further instructions will come in at 2300hours.” As usual, the decrypted message expunged itself after a minute. I wondered what my assignment was this time. A suite for three days? Dr. Benny was coming in three days, could he be my target? If it was so, then that would be my chance to get the man that ruined my life and career as an F.B.I. agent and that would be another case I saw through. Seeing cases through to the end, no matter how tough was my specialty, from my days with the Marine Special Ops, an undercover Drug Law Enforcement Agent and as an F.B.I. Agent. That was why Specimen X recruited me, they needed my experience, expertise and doggedness, well to some people I was still on deathroll or dead to others.

07:30:41AM.
I packed my gear into my car and headed out to Four Points Hotel as instructed, I booked a suite on the top floor and settled in.

08:18:20PM.
I went to the lounge for a couple of drinks, I was wondering why there was a red and white theme everywhere, then I noticed there were couples around, perhaps they were celebrating something.
      "Penny for your thoughts Mister" A feminine voice said behind me, judging from the accent, she was a lightskinned black American or she could very well be a Nigerian born and brought up in the States like me.
      "Hello" Was all I said as I made for the bartender to refill my glass with fruit wine.
      "Fruit wine? that's a rather weird choice of drink for a grown man like you though." She said.
      "Weird could pass for normal" I replied.
      "Hey Bartender, dry martinee here please" She called out.
      "So, why's a handsome hunk like you drinking alone on a lovely saint valentine's day?" She asked. So today was valentine, that explained the red and white theme.
      "Same reason, you're alone here" I replied.
      "Mister look at me when we talk, I believe I'm way prettier than your drink you're staring at" She said as she turned my head to face her.
      "Okay, you have my full attention" I said as I adjusted to face her. She was indeed pretty, her face looked vaguely familiar.
      "Good, correction, I'm not alone, I'm with you" She replied.
      "With me. I see"
      "Now answer me, why are you here alone, and by God don't say you're here with me" She said. She seemed like an interesting lady.
      "But I'm her with you" I answered.
      "Oh no, you didnt just...you're so impossible" She said as she rolled her eyes, damn she was beautiful.
      "Stop staring, you're making me uncomfortable" She said.
      "Said the lady that asked me to look at her when we talk" I replied with a smirk. The rest of the evening went very well, I hadnt been this close to a human in years, so it felt really good, she did more of the talking while I did the listening. She said she was in town for a conference, I said I was here on vacation.

10:45:31PM.
She got up to leave, he chauffeur was waiting outside for her, we agreed to meet there again the next day, I went back to my room, thought about the events of the day as I waited for the next instruction from Specimen X.

11:00:00PM
-New Mail.