Helen, Lt. Clottey’s sister, sliced the onions into the oil on the fire. Her fiancé, Lt. Ken Badoo was doing the eggs. They were getting breakfast ready.
“This is so unlike your brother…the Victor I knew will never spend even a night outside his home unless it is very important. If it is a woman who has captured him, then really, that woman must be something else,” Lt. Badoo said, laughing.
“Come on honey, you know Victor very well. I am very sure something other than a woman is keeping him away from…”
“Ssssssshhhhhhh!” Lt. Badoo suddenly said, signaling to his girlfriend to quit talking. Then he gestured to her to indicate someone had entered the house. Helen was confused. If somebody had entered the house, as far as she was concerned, it could only be her brother, Lt. Clottey. However, what Lt. Badoo’s had heard was not somebody entering the house; it was of somebody breaking into the house.
He signalled Helen to crouch. Helen complied. The soldier pulled out the pistol that he strapped to his right leg, covered by his socks. He was calm, as he trained to be, in the face of adversity. Some of the rules of engagement he had learnt from being a soldier came to mind. Understand your enemy, know his strengths and weaknesses, appear very far away from him when in fact you are actually near, never be in a position he can hit you.
Like a tiger stalking his prey and about to jump on it, the soldier, on his knees, moved stealthily, inch by inch by the wall and on the floor, heading towards the nearest window. His hand, as it held the pistol, and his finger, as it coiled around the trigger, was steady. He was ready to open fire in split seconds.
The noise of another person jumping into the house came again. This time, Helen too heard it. She gasped softly as fear gripped her. Crawling on the floor, Lt. Badoo told her to hide behind the freezer and stay put. She nodded and quickly crawled there. Now alone, Lt. Badoo got up and peeped through the window. He saw a man with his back to him, a rifle in hand ready to fire towards the living room. Lt. Badoo raised his pistol, aimed at the man’s back and pulled the trigger.
Tiger stood no chance. The bullets caught him in the back, smashing his spinal cord. He screamed out in pain as he let go off the AK 47 Assault rifle he was holding and crumbled to the ground.
“He’s shot me! He’s killed me!” he screamed out in pain. Kruger and Sphinx who were at the other side of the building heard the sound of gunshots and the screams of Tiger. They both froze in their tracks, unable to determine what to do next because they did not know the hideout of their adversary or how many people they were contending with.
“Tiger, Where are you? Tiger,” Kruger shouted. He heard Tiger shout back. His voice indicated he was in extreme pain.
“I am here! I am here! Kruger! Help me! Help me, I beg you!” Tiger continued to scream out as life slowly ebbed out of his body.
Standing back to back so they could watch each other’s back and with rifles alert, Kruger and Sphinx made their way slowly towards where Tiger was. Sphinx was sweating profusely.
“We don’t know where the Tiger is hiding. He had an advantage. He can probably see us but we cannot see him. It is best we leave and come back later,” he whispered to Kruger.
“Shut up and concentrate!” Kruger hissed at him as they inched by the wall towards where Tiger was. When they got to the corner, Kruger saw Tiger lying in a pool of blood, his rifle by his side.
“Kruger! Krugerrrrrr!” he shouted again but this time his voice was hoarse and weak.
“Tiger, where is he hiding?” Kruger shouted.
“I don’t… I don't know. He hit…me….me…me in the back! I beg …you take me….out of…here!” Tiger pleaded.