Sphinx set off for the police station. His pistol tucked away and he tried to look calm.
Inside the police station, a sergeant who had been the only one on duty when Nii Kotey came in had finished taking his statement. He had been fast asleep when Nii came in and woke him up. This had made him angry. As a result, he started being very rude to the angler. Moreover, when Nii Kotey said he had come to inform him about a plot to assassinate the Vice-President, he thought Nii Kotey was mad.
“Okay, tell me about this plot,” he sneered. However, as Nii Kotey began to narrate the story, the sergeant did not only sit up but also told the angler to pause while he phoned the Officer in Charge of the police station to tell him there was an emergency.
The Station Officer, in the company of another police Officer, soon walked briskly into the station, looking concerned. They took Nii Kotey into an office and questioned him.
“This is serious,” the Station Office, Inspector Daniel Ofoe, said after listening to Nii Kotey. Then he directed the Sergeant on duty to take down Nii Kotey’s statement.
Nii was glad his report was receiving the necessary attention. He heard the Sergeant call somebody and told him to report immediately to the station.
He smiled to himself. He has beaten those thugs to it. He had done his part; now, he wanted everything done quickly so he could go back home to his wife. He tried to phone her once more after the line went dead while he was speaking to her but his efforts proved futile; he wanted therefore to finish quickly and get back home.
The Station Officer tried calling the District Police Commander. This was a serious case, which the hierarchy of the police service had to be aware of very quickly. However, his call was not getting through. The District Commander’s phone was off. He tried phoning the Deputy District Police Commander. His phone rang several times but was not answered; he was fast asleep, recovering from a serious bout of malaria.
Finding himself in a fix, Inspector Ofoe decided to make a move. There was no time to waste. Nii Kotey had said the men were at the beach. If he delays and they leave before he and his men get there, he may never find them again. He decided to assemble his own men, dash there, arrest and bring the plotters to the police station.
Within five minutes, six police officers in bulletproof vests arrived in a police jeep. The Sergeant on duty was briefing them about the emergency at hand when Sphinx walked in casually. He said he had come to report a noisy neighbour.
“Mr. Man, please sit down here and wait. I will be with you in a minute,” the Sergeant told him. Sphinx sat down to wait, observing what was going on. He had seen Nii Kotey immediately when he entered the Charge Office of the police station. He had a beard all right and the tribal mark was visible. Soon, it became apparent to Sphinx that Nii Kotey, who was standing just a couple of yards away from him, had briefed the police about the assassination plot. He observed the six police officers getting ready to leave the police station.
“I’ll go and come back in the morning,” he suddenly told the Sergeant, getting up.
“Are you sure?” the Sergeant asked.
“Yes, officer” Sphinx replied before he left the place, walking briskly back to where Kruger and Tiger were impatiently waiting. When he got to them, he quickly briefed them about the situation inside the police station.
“Hmmm, we have no time to spare. Unfortunately, all those in there know about the case so they have to die. We will walk casually in there and then begin firing. Everybody in there must die. No one must escape. Screw silencers to your pistol so we will make no noise and attract no attention to the place as we gun them down,” Kruger said. Quickly, Tiger and Sphinx dashed to their vehicles to retrieve the silencers of their pistol. Then they re-joined Kruger. The three began to walk casually towards the police station, as death was uncertain.
A few seconds after Sphinx left the police station to report to Kruger the situation in the police station, a Military Intelligence officer, Lt. Victor Clottey walked into the station.
Lt. Clottey had been on his way back home from a meeting at the Headquarters of Military Intelligence at Korle Gonor when he passed by a man molesting a woman. He stopped, reversed his car to where the couple were, he got down and intervened. It turned out that the man was attempting to rape the woman. He arrested the man and had now brought him to James Town police station together with the woman.
He handed over the would-be rapist to the police who locked him up immediately. The woman was told to sit down. Her statement as they took her statement.
Lt. Victor Clottey did not fail to notice the feverish preparation going on by the six police officers who were getting ready to leave the police station for the beach. Curious, he enquired what was going on. The Sergeant on duty told him about the assassination plot, pointing Nii Kotey out to him. The Sergeant was still telling Lt. Clottey about Nii Kotey’s report when Kruger and his men walked in.