The teacher got up to welcome him, thinking he was the father of one of her pupils. They shook hands. Then she offered him a chair.
“Welcome sir. How can I help you?”, the teacher asked Lt. Clottey, introducing himself as a Ghanaian businessman who has spent a greater part of his life in Europe but had returned home for good.
“I have been looking for a very good school for my six year old son but I have not found the kind I want for him. Someone directed me here and since my child will be in your class if I decide on this school, I decided to come and talk to you first” Lt. Clottey lied.
As he expected the teacher immediately launched into a monologue, extolling the quality of the school. She asserted, it is the quality of the school that has seen many influential persons in the society bringing their wards there. Then as Lt. Clottey was hoping the teacher would say, she pointed out that even the son of Vice-President Gertrude Mensah attends the school and in fact is a member of her class.
“That is his seat…the second chair on that first row. His bag is the blue one. They are all on break now. Therefore, you can tell how good the school is. If it were not good, I don’t think the Vice-President will bring her son here,” the teacher boasted.
Lt. Clottey asked if he could see the head teacher. As expected, the teacher asked him to wait while she checked if the head teacher was in and wanted to see him. Then she walked out of the classroom. Lt. Cottey was looking for that opportunity. He moved quickly to the bag of the son of the Vice-President, pulled open the zip and then slipped the note in, ensuring it was well at the bottom of the bag. Then he pulled close to the zip and quickly went to sit down. A few seconds later, the teacher returned.
“I am sorry the head-teacher is very busy at the moment. However, I managed to pick Admission Forms for lower primary for you. If you wish, you can fill it and bring it tomorrow. I am confident you will be able to see the head teacher tomorrow,” the teacher said.
Lt. Clottey got up, accepted the Admission Forms, thanked the teacher for her hospitality and then walked out, promising to come early the next morning. His plan has so far worked. Now, all he has to pray for is the Vice-President who will see the note he had written to her.
Once out of the school, he walked briskly towards where he had parked his car. When he got there, he got in, shut the door and drove away, deep in thought. He had taken a gamble and if it did not pay off, it would not be only the Vice-President’s life which would be in danger as well.
That afternoon, at 3:00pm, a black Mercedes Benz arrived at Venus International School while the pupils were at closing assembly. It always arrives there at exactly that time every weekday. A bit far behind the car was a V8, which always accompanied the Mercedes Benz. In it were four members of the Secret Service (SS), the state security agency that is solely responsible for the security of the President and the Vice-President. Two were from the Police Service while the other two were from the Forces Reserve Battalion of the army. The V8 as usual kept a decent distance between themselves and the Vice President’s car, decent enough for them to move in quickly to protect her if need be. However, a casual onlooker will not realize that the V8 was with the Mercedes Benz.
The Vice President’s driver, Paul, was also from the SS. Sitting by him was the Vice President’s personal bodyguard, Sgt. Dan Gaisie, a soldier who also belonged to the SS. The black Mercedes parked at the parking lot like other vehicles. Nobody took particular notice of it. It was just another vehicle parked and waiting for a pupil of the school to turn up. A few minutes later, the pupils of the school emerged, sprinting excitedly to the car park, each pupil heading for the car that had come to pick him or her up.
Nick Mensah, the only son of Vice-President Getrude Mensah dashed towards her mother’s car. Her mother, seated at the back, opened the door for him. She had instructed her bodyguard never to get down, opening the door for the little boy.
“Mummy, good afternoon!” the little boy greeted.
“Good afternoon, Nick. I hope you were a good boy at school today,” the Vice-President said.
“Yes Mummy. I did all my work. The teacher gave me a star in my book. See…” Nick said excitedly as he zipped open his bag and pulled out his exercise book. The note Lt. Clottey sneaked into the bag fell out of the book. The Vice-President picked it up but did not open it immediately. She was more interested in what her son wanted to show her.
Nick opened the book to the page where he had done the exercise. Still excited, he pointed to the star, a small artwork that had pasted in the book. The Vice-President smiled and then kissed her son on the forehead, congratulating him. Then she turned her attention to the piece of paper that had fallen from her son’s book, opened it and began to read what was on it.