In the meantime, at the beach, Kruger was in a pensive mood. He had completed one roll of marijuana and was smoking the second.
His other two colleagues were sitting with one of them smoking cigarettes. Kruger had never prayed since his primary school days but he found himself, for the first time since then, praying though he could not tell exactly which God he was praying to.
“If I don’t find whoever was listening into us, I might as well commit suicide before Chairman orders my death…better still, if I don’t find the person by 8:00am, I have to make a run for it; I have to leave this country immediately” he told himself quietly as he inhaled. Just then, they heard voices.
“Ssssssshhhhhh,” he signalled his colleagues. He and his men got up from where they were sitting and quickly hid behind the canoe.
It was still dark, darker than earlier because the clouds had covered the moon. The three men waited with bated breath, their guns ready to shoot if need be. Presently, they saw three men walk up to the canoe.
“But, where is Nii?” one of them asked, adding, “The canoe is empty”.
“Nii, Nii! Nii!” The three men took turns to call out.
“Maybe he has gone to the bush to attend to nature’s call. Let us get the canoe ready. Once he comes, we are off” one of the men said. With that, they began to deposit items they came with into the canoe. It was then that Kruger emerged. His presence startled the three young anglers. Sphinx and Tiger, Kruger’s colleagues also emerged from their hiding place. All three had put their guns away. The anglers stared at them suspiciously.
“Good morning” Kruger greeted
“Good morning” the three anglers responded.
“I am James. These two are my friends. I need your help. This guy you are calling Nii, where does he live? I want one of you to take us to his house,” Kruger said.
“Why should we? We do not know you. Why should we take you to his house?” one of the anglers asked. Without a word, Kruger pulled out a pistol, a Browning 9×19 mm Hi-Power, aimed it at the one who objected to taking them to Nii’s house and shot him in the head. The man fell. A couple of seconds later, he was dead. Even Sphinx and Tiger were startled. The two other anglers stared at Kruger in disbelief.
“Now, will one of you take us to Nii’s house?” he asked, aiming the gun at one of the two young anglers who were now staring at the lifeless body of their colleague on the ground. When they turned to face Kruger, they found his gun staring them in the face with his finger on the trigger.
The shock at seeing their friend shot dead without any warning gave way to fear.
“We will, please. Don’t…don’t…shoo… shoot” one of the two, Ayittey, said.
“Good. Young man, I see you are wise. Sphinx, take care of this one, Tiger and I are going with this one to look for this Nii person. I will call you if there is any development. If you don’t hear from me in twenty minutes, waste him and leave, okay?” Kruger said to his bearded colleague. Then he and Tiger, whose real name was Yaw Donkor, set off with Ayittey.
“What is the name of the one we are looking for?” Kruger asked as they trudged through the sand, heading towards the main road.
“He…he is…is…called Nii…Nii…Nii…Nii Kotey” Ayittey said, stammering badly.
“Where does he live?”
“Just up there in the village…the village is just ahead of us ... .across…acc…accro…across the road…” he struggled to say.
“Okay. As you can see, we have guns. If we reach the village and you try to raise any alarm, we will shoot you in the head. If you value your life, co-operate with us,” Kruger warned.
“Yes sir!” Ayittey responded and he meant it. He had seen how, without much ado, Kruger shot his colleague, Charway, dead. He had no qualms that Kruger will shoot him too if he gives him the cause to do so. Therefore, he decided to co-operate with them fully.
They reached the main road. A car came speeding past them. They waited until it had passed. Then they crossed.
Taking a footpath, Ayittey led the way to the village. He was sweating and his stomach was churning horribly. He felt like attending to nature’s call.
Finally, they got to a building, which Ayittey said was Nii Kotey home. It was a single room house.