The two soldiers who were coming from behind him stopped on seeing him whisk out his gun and cocked it. They quickly dived onto the ground, taking cover. Then they aimed their guns at him, ready to shoot back if he opened fire on them.
“This man must be stupid to think he can out-gun us with that pistol in his hand. He should simply surrender,” Cpl Iddrisu said. His colleague nodded.
Kruger held the gun tightly in hand, the mouth pointing at the ground. He looked around to see if there was any other means of escape; there was none. From behind, the two who had been after him had their rifles directed at him. In front, about six soldiers all armed to the teeth had their guns aimed at him. Above, a helicopter hovered, a sniper in the doorway, his gun aimed at him.
In the few seconds before he raised the gun and pointed at his head, he wondered where the Deputy National Security Coordinator, Rex Yamoah, who had recruited him to assist in assassinating the Vice-President was. The security capo had told them to meet him at the Ada Beach at 6:30 pm if the Vice-President is successfully assassinated. If the assassination attempt failed, they were to phone a number he gave them. That number belonged to Rev Noel Obuobisa of the The Blood of Jesus International Church who the security capo had quietly recruited but had not told anybody until that afternoon. He would hide them in his church and later assist them to leave the country. Phan Xuan had said that would not be necessary, confident that he would be able to assassinate the Vice-President from the hide-out they had chosen just less than an hour before the Russian President arrived in Ghana. But alas, the assassination had not taken place. Kruger could not tell what went wrong but after his call to Phan Xuan went unanswered, he knew things had gone wrong.
His thoughts also went to all the money he would have earned if the assassination of the Vice-President had taken place successfully. Now, that money and the good life that was within his grasp a few minutes ago would never be.
He lifted the pistol and pointed it at his head. The soldiers, who were all lying on the ground, their guns aiming at the gangster, understood immediately that Kruger did not intend to take them on. He intended to commit suicide. Some of them stared at him in shock. Suddenly, a shot rang out! Kruger fell onto the ground, the pistol he had been wielding falling from his hand.
“He’s killed himself.” One of the soldiers exclaimed! It took a few seconds for him and his colleagues on the ground to realize what had happened.
Kruger was not able to pull the trigger the marksman in the helicopter, realizing Kruger’s intentions had taken aim at the gangster’s hand which was wielding the gun and shot it before the gangster could pull the trigger of his own pistol.
“Fellas! He is not dead! Eddie shot him” the voice of the pilot of the helicopter came over the Motorola set of one of the soldiers on the ground. Quickly, he relayed the information to his colleagues. Immediately, they got up and ran towards Kruger who was on the ground writhing in pain.
He had not expected to be shot. In fact when he heard the gunshot, he momentarily thought he had pulled the trigger. But after he fell to the ground, he realized after a few seconds that he was not dead. He felt the pain in his hand, took a look at it and realized he had been shot. Then before he could understand what had happened, eight soldiers were all around him, with four grabbing him and hurling him up.
He became angry with himself, realizing he had not shot himself but had been shot in the hand. Now, he had been captured alive, the last thing he wanted. Blood oozed from the gaping hole in his hand as they led him towards the helicopter which had landed on the field. A few seconds later, he was hulled aboard the helicopter. Aboard were five soldiers, including the pilot. The helicopter lifted off back into the air, turned and zoomed away. Soon, it flew over Lt. Clottey who was seated by the side of the road, bleeding and smiling.