A man of Asian origin! He was standing in the bucket of the crane, looking through a telescopic gun, aiming at a target. Let. Clottey immediately knew what that target was. He also knew in a few seconds, the man would pull the trigger and assassinate the Vice-President. Quickly, he whisked out his pistol, aimed it at the back of the man’s head and then pulled the trigger.
Phan Xuan will never know what or who killed him. His hand was on the trigger of the telescopic gun and he had the forehead of the Vice-President as his target. He was about to pull the trigger when the bullet hit him in the head. The rifle fell from his hands, dropping into the buck of the crane. He crumbled into it, a bloody mess, his head split. Thanks to the silencer, the shot produced no noise. Lt. Clottey sighed in relief.
Far out in the distance, Acting President Gertrude Mensah was introducing her guests to some Ministers of State. Standing by them at vantage points were security personnel; none of them knew that an attempt at assassinating the Acting President had been foiled.
Lt. Clottey walked over to the bucket of the crane which stood very close to the floor he was on. He stretched his neck and looked inside it; what he saw made him feel sick. Phan Chuan was lying in a lake of blood, a gaping wound at the back of his head. He was still staring at the bloody mess when he heard the voice of someone in the bucket by the body of the Vietnamese. His eyes searched around and saw a Motorola by the body. A male voice kept repeating ‘Hello’ ‘Hello! Can you hear me, buddy? Do you need some assistance?” the voice kept coming through. Lt. Clottey listened with rapt attention.
“Hey buddy, can you hear me? Why haven’t you struck? Kruger speaking! Can you hear me! If I don’t get your reply in the next few minutes, I will drive away!”
Lt Clottey immediately guessed that whoever was trying to call the man he had just killed was an accomplice and was in the vicinity, in a car, probably, at the car park. Quickly, he left the bucket of the crane, walked back to the stairs and started running down the stairs. If he could reach downstairs in time, he could probably get the accomplice of the assassin.
He took the stairs, two at a time or three at a time and was soon on the ground floor. He walked out of the building and sprinted to the car park just in time to see a red Golf-4 pulling out among the many cars parked there. He ran towards the car, got to the driver’s side and signalled him to roll the side glass down. The driver complied. Lt. Clottey went cold immediately the glass went down; he found himself staring at Kruger. He did not know his name but he remembered the face clearly; he was one of the three men who walked into the James Town Police station and rained bullets on everyone present. But for the fact that he had sensed trouble and took cover before the shooting began, he would have been dead too in that mass murder.
Immediately, he reached for his gun but Kruger was faster than him. The gangster who already had his gun by his side in the car shot at Lt. Clottey while speeding away from him. A bullet caught the soldier in the arm, hurling him backwards. Another missed his head. While screaming in pain, he fired back and then ran after the red Golf. Kruger swore as he drove away, cursing angrily because he had been unable to get Lt. Clottey where he had aimed at; his head.
As he sped away, he checked in the rear view mirror and saw the soldier clutching painfully at his right arm where he had been shot. He laughed gleefully, happy to see that he had at least hurt the lieutenant. How he would love to pump bullets into his head.
He sped away from the bleeding soldier, wondering where Phan Xuan was and what he was doing. It was obvious to him that the Vietnamese had not been able to shoot the Vice-President, now acting President. Did he shoot and miss?
Ahead of him, Kruger saw the military cum police barriers. They had been closed. He recognized that it would be easier for him to go through the eye of a needle than escape through the barriers with Lt. Clottey still running after him. He immediately reduced the speed of his car as he approached the first barrier.