AncilThe room grew quiet. It took a while before anyone said anything but the Minister of National Security, Cornell Warren stood up. “The government has done everything in its power to fight this threat by the Midnight Robber. This country is at war and we are very well aware of this but there is nothing we can do.”
“You could fight back. Call a state of emergency. Send the army,” I said.
“What army?” Cornell asked. “Our army of ten, twenty men. That army? Can’t be that army. The Midnight Robber attacked our army bases first and killed off the majority of our soldiers. All we have now is ten recruits who can’t tell the difference between their head and their toe. We can’t send them out there. They will surely die.”
“Why not just ask for help?” Megan added.
The elephant in the room grew even bigger. Minister Cornell scoffed, sat down and didn’t even attempt to answer the question.
“The Twin Republic does not seek help from other nations,” the Prime Minister said. “We haven’t sought help in years and we don’t intend to ask anytime soon. Our country has been doing quite fine all by itself.”
“Fine?! Fine you say? When last did you take a walk down the streets?” Megan asked. “When last did you walk along the Uriah Butler Bridge or take a canoe ride around San Fernando? When last did you see people you grew up with lying on the floor dead?” The emotions in her voice were heard louder than her voice. Her eyes watered and sprinkled down her cheeks as she continued. “When last did you have to hear your little sister ask where’s mommy and not have an answer? Never. You need to come outside and see what’s happening out there because it’s definitely not fine. It’s obvious you don’t have a clue what’s happening out there. The fact that you could muster up some nerve to stand there and say that the country is doing fine is not only an insult to me but to every single soul that was lost in the massacre.”
The elephant was so big now that it was stifling everyone.
The Prime Minister broke the silence. “Expend all the available resources that the country has to defend against the Midnight Robber. If all else fails…. pray that all else doesn’t fail. That is the most that I could do right now. The country will just to have to fend for i………” The metal ball then abruptly shut off and fell to the ground. The Prime Minister was gone before he was able to finish his sentence. Suddenly a loud screeching noise similar to the one that went off in San Fernando went through the air. Everyone held their ears tightly as it went off. The screeching noise finally shut off and the large television in the middle of the room turned on all by itself. On the screen was a timer counting down from twelve seconds. As it hit zero the Midnight Robber appeared on the screen with his hands over the Prime Minister’s mouth in a hotel room. The Prime Minister’s eyes were wide with fear and pangs of anxiety sweat gushed from his foreheard. He may have even peed his pants a little bit. The Midnight Robber eyed everyone for a few seconds with a menacing gaze that could have turned water to stone. I tried to stay out of sight by hiding behind a plant that was on the ground but I still could have seen the screen. Megan followed after.
“Look who I find,” the Midnight Robber laughed. “This man really feel he could hide from me in Jamaica? This man don’t know that it have no hiding from or no escaping the Midnight Robber? Let me tell allyuh a little story. Allyuh know why the Prime Minister in Jamaica right now? He here because he frightened. He scared that I woulda find him. I made a deal with the people of San Fernando. I tell them if the Prime Minister don’t give up heself to me then they would face the same fate as the central areas of the Twin Republic. But to me it seems that the Prime Minister had no intentions of giving up heself. Watch this coward nah. He don’t care about he country at all.”
“We still have three more….” Cornell started but he was interrupted by a gunshot that emanated from the television screen. The Midnight Robber had placed a gun to the Prime Minister’s head and blew his brains out from Jamaica to New York. The entire display was covered in blood and brain matter. I turned away from the screen because I couldn’t stand to watch the grim state of the Prime Minister. Agony overtook everyone who was in the meeting especially the First Lady who sat completely still looking at the screen trying to come to terms with what had happened. Her husband was dead. The Midnight Robber took out a cloth, casually wiped off the blood from the display and continued. “The Prime Minister has failed us all. From today he will be removed from duty.”
“Why you don’t come out that TV screen and come face we like a man? You is the coward!!” Cornell threatened, throwing away his proper ministerial voice and bringing out his street dialect. “Let’s see how tough you really is.”
“Be careful what you wish for minister,” the Midnight Robber said. “You might just get it. But I will excuse your outburst for now. You speak out of ignorance. You have yet to face the fire so you unaware of how it feels. But trust me, you will feel the burn. At the stroke of midnight I come.”
The television then shut off. The group of politicians then erupted into chaotic dispute. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I was eagerly awaiting that moment when I would have just awoken from the nightmare but it never happened. It just kept getting worse and worse. I looked at Megan and she didn’t seem to be doing very well. She sat on the floor with her head down and dejected like a person who gave up on life. Her mind didn’t seem to be here anymore, shuffling through a million thoughts and possibilities. Was everything getting too much for her? I couldn’t find anything to say to her so I just embraced her and we both silently and peacefully made our home on the floor while everyone else in the meeting room raged on in panic and chaos.
The First Lady then came up to us and said with a stern face, “Come with me.” We followed her and it seemed as though the ten soldiers were following her as well. She led us through the red house for a few minutes and into a dark room and told us to wait. After a while the lights flashed on and I realized that we were in the artillery room.
“You have my permission to kill the Midnight Robber,” the First Lady said, anger laced in her voice
“No matter how much artillery we have, it’s still only ten of us here,” Roy James said.
“Twelve if these two are joining in,” the First Lady said referring to Megan and I.
“What experience do they have to fight a war?” Roy James asked.
“You don’t need experience to fight a war,” the First Lady said. “All you need is the will to fight. Numbers win battles, but the war is won by those who have the will to fight on when the battle is lost.”
Megan and I said nothing about joining the army. We had no intention to actually, but we were going to die anyway, why not go down kicking?
“What’s your names again?” The First Lady asked.
We told her our names and she then asked us if we were in or not.
I stopped to think.
“This is no time to think soldier!” My father’s voice in my head said. “Always take care of the people under your charge. Never let them down. That is your duty as a man. That is your duty as my son. I failed to do it myself for your little sister. I wasn’t there to protect her from that ugly force of nature. I wasn’t there for your mother. And I wasn’t there for the people of Arima. But you can do it. You can take care of the people in your charge. That girl, her little sister, the people of San Fernando. You need to fight for them. Or die trying.”
I didn’t argue with my father’s voice in my head. I agreed. My father’s voice in my head and my thoughts were now becoming synonymous.
“I’m in!” I affirmed.
Megan took a second to converse with her inner monologue as well but she eventually came on board.
The First Lady smiled then went on to tell us the plan. She started, “We can’t attack the Midnight Robber while he’s on the move, we have to attack him when he’s stationery, when he’s immobile. We have to attack him in his own home and we have Intel of where he lives. He and his men reside in Tobago. We have to go in there and kill him as stealthily as possible, try not to make a scene. The idea is to kill the leader. In any game of chess once you corner the king the game is over. Let’s go in there and shove a pawn up his ass. The best time to leave will be tomorrow afternoon. He’s probably on his way back to the Twin Republic right now. Stay out of sight and kill him when the time comes. Don’t attack, the numbers are too small. Stay out of sight. Am I clear?” The ten soldiers, Megan and I nodded.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked.
“Get some sleep, you have a long day ahead,” the First Lady answered.
