Thanks for the update.

I still don't believe dz is adnan. Waiting for more updates

They are balling on cloud 9 now

mercyymai:






I don't think so. Dz guy is just faking it, to make naaraih fall for him. How did it do it? He receive adnan call now.


Abeg bro come and update o before u turn person to mad man

I would av agreed with u but not until I just read this update. hope u understand now.

but op, how did naariah receive that call wen adnan was there in the car on their way to the nnaemeka park.... u need to clear us on that. thanks anyways for the update.

Thanks for the update

Speechless..

OP plz comma continue,,


Tanks a lot for the update

oh...

���I think am love sick���

teebee22:
I would av agreed with u but not until I just read this update. hope u understand now.

but op, how did naariah receive that call wen adnan was there in the car on their way to the nnaemeka park.... u need to clear us on that. thanks anyways for the update.

Don't forget Adnan is a great hacker

Adamsmith13:

Don't forget Adnan is a great hacker

With IQ 350

They lay side by side, her head on his chest, tired but satisfied and accomplished. She wished it was darker, but he tried to make her feel at ease. He cracked jokes and talked for a while.

"Remember when I said we were not going to work today?"
Work? Oh, work! Damn! She had forgotten about that completely. Nothing would make any of them go out today. He was only allowed to go to masjid (Mosque).

" I guess Ramat is going to fry your ass. She would tell her dad."

Adnan giggled.

" How would she know that Naanan is the first three letters from your name and the last three form mine?"

"What?" She frowned. NAAirah and adNAN.

"Her father is my stooge. I own the place. We own the place"

She now remembered that she had about one million questions for him. How did he get so rich within a short period of time? And his physical changes.

"You own that place? "

He smiled.

"Now, you have a lot to tell me. First, is Aliyah your real sister, is Alhaji Anas your real father? Where have you been? How did you survive? Who were the people who tried to kill you and why? I am your wife now, I want to know. I don't care about the risk of involving me. I want to be part of whatever trouble it is.....but I trust you"

"You asked about my relationship with Aliyah, Alhaji Anas and the rest.....it is complicated but I will tell you from the scratch. It was complicated and it is still. I met Aaliyah........"








Achimugu had gone for fishing that day when he saw something floating and holding onto a dried log of wood.
At first, he thought it was a dead hippopotamus.. He paddled his canoe towards it and then saw a body that looked lifeless.
SuhanAllah!
He jumped into the river, made a quick swim and touched the body. He was alive but still bleeding. He did not know what happened but he knew this person who happened to be a young man like him needed help.
He moved him to his canoe, put him inside and paddled backwards with a speed that would make some Olympic participants hide in shame. This was a raw hidden talent.

Archimugu paddled to the bank of the river, tied his canoe, and carried Adnan on his shoulder. He was half running as he rushed to their village. It was late in the night. They used to go to the river at night to fish and come back in the morning.
He carried Adnan to his hut and went to his father’s room. The father, Attah, was a hunter and had gone for hunting. Achimugu knew a lot about herbal medicine and local remedies which was part of their family trade. Hunters were also known to have deep knowledge of herbs.
He rushed back to his hut after collecting some herbs. He lit his lantern,and then realized that Adnan was bleeding from the arm. He looked carefully and knew it was a bullet.

Bullet?
Who was he?

He went to a corner of his room and brought two metals. He knew how to do this because he aslo learnt hunting and knew about guns. He sent the metal into Adnan’s arm. Adnan reacted as a stream of pain swept through him.
Achimugu removed the bullet.
What? This was a foreign bullet and not the local one he knew. Hope he was not helping an armed robber?

He went and put the metal in a flame of fire in the his mother’s kitchen. He allowed it get red before he removed it. He went back in a rush, poured some powdered leaves on the wound and then used the hot metal to touch the wound.
Even though Adnan was unconscious, he yelled and wiggled but the strong Igala boy held him tightly and then let him go when he felt it was done. He then mixed some herbs, added honey, opened his mouth and ingested.

He then let him go, watched him for a few minutes, satisfied, he went out after closing the door behind him. He was going back to fishing.
In the early hours of the next morning, he saw about two flying boats with strange men in it. They stopped by his canoe, and asked, “ Please did you see the body of our brother, he fell into the river last night.” They showed him Adnan’s picture.
He almost said yes then something inside him told him not to. They said he fell inside the river but the guy he saw was shot at. The men looked dangerous.

“ No, I didn’t see anybody.”

That single move had saved Adnan because those were the men sent by Dr Abbas to get his body. When Achimugu went back home, he explained everything to his parents and cautioned them to keep it a secret until they knew what was going on.
Miraculously, Adnan became conscious two days later and was able to walk and talk but the wound needed time to heal.

That was how he met Attah Ocholi family. Adnan told them he was attacked by assassins who wanted to kill him because he discovered that they were criminals. He did not tell them the truth. He lived with them and healed within two months.
Meanwhile, the search team organized by Hajiya Fatima kept searching for him but Achimugu thought they were part of the assassins so he never told them anything. By the time Adnan healed, the search had stopped.
Adnan began to follow Achimugu to fish. He became a fisher man but Achimugu told him something that he did not understand.

“ I am a native. We have Ebira, Bassa-Nge (a Nupe tribe), Igala, Ogori and a lot more around here. This river is dangerous. It may not be too friendly with strangers. You have to be Careful. The water knows natives and strangers.”

“ I know how to swim.”

“It is not just about knowing how to swim.”

It did not make much sense to Adnan but he quit that day. He needed a source of income to raise money for logistics. It was now clear that he was a target and there
must be a reason for it. He recognized one of the men to be Gajere’s men. Who was Gajere working for?
He was told that the name of the village was Agedem not too far from Shintaku which overlooked Lokoja with the river dividing them. He saw Ferries transporting people and cars across the river to the other side .

Adnan decided to get a job so he crossed to Lokoja and began searching for a job. He finally got a job at a café . This was not only to earn but have access to a computer and network. He used to cross the river via flying boats every day to get to work.
He did not show his employers that he had exceptional skills when it came to computers but he exhibited proficiency in the conventional aspect of the job to endear him to them. He then offered to program for them. They were astonished to find out that he could program.
While he was doing this which made them allow him spend the night at the café, he used the opportunity to carry on with his mission.
Adnan had the thought of Naairah on his mind at every point of his life. He knew she would be perturbed, and devastated but he could not go to her. They would be watching her and once she knew he was alive, they would know.

That was when he got the chance to start hacking into an account he had worked on as contracted by Bash. He found something fishy about that account.
He accessed his secret file which he hid on a mail called Q- mail. It was inaccessible to hackers. Only he could access it using radio waves.
In that file were some of his most efficient conventional hacking tools which he used before he discovered OFA waves.

He remembered the site, even though Bash tried to mix it up. They did not trust him.
He logged in, from his file, he brought in DFX password cracker and retrieved the password like child’s play. The site was displayed.
Using a packet sniffer, he captured the data packs in order to view data and passwords in the transit networks.

He saw a pack with a file name: AB.
He applied an algorithm which scanned the internal suggestions encrypted in the system and he saw America-Bolivia.
It took no time to find out that the site was handled by Dr Abbas.
Bingo!

His suspicions were correct. Dr Abbas was the one he cracked the site for through Bash and his group.
Adnan opened the data and saw things that sparked his interest. He saw a name : Aminu Saminu.
He recalled that Naairah’s father was called Mukhtar Saminu. But Dr Abbas was Abbas Babangida and they had the same father and mother. Why were they bearing complete different names? It was not unusual that a child might bear his father’s name while his sibling used their grandfather’s name.

Adnan logged into an American file and typed, Aminu Saminu. A lot of faces and profiles popped out but being a computer wizard, he found the face he was looking for within second. The face matched with Dr Abbas’s.
What?
That was the name he used in his American passport. He was said to be a cleaner at Kimber’s Laboratories.
A doctor? How come he was a cleaner? Okay, maybe he was not yet a doctor then. Adnan searched for information about him and realised that he never attended a university for a day. How did he become a doctor? And why Abbas Babangida and not Aminu Saminu?
Adnan went into Bolivia and searched, there was no Saminu Aminu there but there was Dr Abbas Babangida and to his surprise, the face that popped out was Dr Abbas.
What was going on?

Dr Abbas was impersonating someone, a Dr Abbas Babangida. A cleaner up to the time he moved to Bolivia, and record showed that he stayed in Bolivia for just one year, working in a mortuary before he left for Nigeria.
And he returned as a very rich man.
News!

Who was the real Dr Abbas? Why was he named Adnan Abbas and Addy was impersonating him.
Wait!
There was a code he found attached to his name in one of the secret files: Tiger 606.
Tiger 606!
Adnan searched again and found that he left Bolivia with a woman whom he claimed was his wife and a son who was just a few months old. That woman was not Aunty Adama, Addy’s mother. Adnan zoomed the picture and took a good look at the cradle and realised it was his cradle. The logo was unmistaken and it was customized.
He could not see the child clearly but he looked so white and the woman with him was black. Adnan recalled the picture of him being carried by a man in front of a dump site.

He checked his archives and found the picture, he uploaded it and checked it in details. He was shocked to see that the man who held him was someone he did not really notice due to physical changes brought about by age and wealth perhaps.
It was Alhaji Mukhtar, Naairah’s father!

FOURTEEN

Adnan’s discoveries had a limit. He discovered that he was brought into the country by Dr Abbas who was impersonating a Dr Abbas. Adnan felt the real Dr Abbas was his father but there was no record of his mother.
So he backdated his research and looked for Abbas Babangida. The real Abbas Babangida was a University Lecturer and researcher, who was married to an Arabian, both of them were said to have died in a plane crash in Bolivia.
They died with their few months old child.

That was him! These were his parents! He felt tears in his eyes. So he had parents! He had people who loved him. He was not thrown away.
But he did not die as reported, how come Dr Abbas whom he would refer to Aminu from now brought him here to claim he was picked? Why did he give his son a mark which he had? Adnan had no answers to these questions but he was glad with what he just discovered.
He was brought in for a purpose, the blood samples collected and sent abroad, the fact that he was seen as a target made it more confusing.

The journey that led to his current state started one day as he was hacking into one account he saw on Aminu’s site.
Adnan discovered that the account was secured by two hundred security system made by different computer experts and the account underwent constant security upgrading. This made it almost impossible to hack into the account.
Adnan wanted to find out what was there. He did not have his OFA waved PDA so he had to use the radio waves. This was one of the most complicated systems he had ever tried to hack into using conventional system.

He had to use what was called Partitioning Cracking by grouping the security systems and this took him one week.
On that day, he clicked into the account and broke in.
Phew!
What was the account for?
He was yet to begin exploration when he saw someone else click in.
What?
Who was this wizard who also broke into this account? Whoever it was got Adnan scared. This could not be Bas. He had worked with her, he knew she was good but her prowess was not strong enough to hack into this account.

Adnan frowned, his jaw twisting. The person just got in a minute after he did. Okay, he felt jealous now. This was his kill and was not ready to share.
He faced the person. He opened a Thwarting Mode Dispenser and fortified the account walls, then made some manipulations and pressed ‘ tug out’.
The person was pushed out and Adnan quickly used a special root kid program which subverted the control of the person’s operating system.
Done!

He then sent an emoji with a stuck out tongue and one eyes closed.





Detroit, USA

“ I got it!” a young girl, just seventeen years old, said excitedly as she sat behind a computer system. She was very beautiful, with oval face and sharp features.

Within a second, about six men ran towards her. One of the men was a strongly built chubby man they simply called Pappy.
There was excitement, and celebration in the room with sophisticated machines and computers. These men were all computer experts but they all knew the young girl was one of the best in the world.
She was an enigma. Her fingers moved round the keys with an incredible speed while applying complicated applications. After two months of serious work, she cracked and hacked into the account.
Pappy was marvelled. What was this girl? They called her Lena.

Then a minute after the breakthrough, she stopped celebrating and the men who were watching the screen paused.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “Someone got in a minute before me.”

“ Jeez!” One of the men said, his eyes bulging out as they saw the movements.

“ Who the hell is that?” Pappy asked.“ Can you get him out?”

“Sure! He is also hacking.” She said and her magical fingers went into work. She had speed and that was a great advantage.

“ The person has seen me.” She said, “ He is trying to tug me out.”

“ Oh no! You have to beat him to it.”

“I am doing that. I got L-5 root kit in play, transcending with zinoxer cruiser. I guess he is On hyper connecting mode and that means I must fortify the walls then tug.” She said while her fingers did the things she was talking about.“ I am almost there….oh no, he got me! It was a second degree Trojan horse.”

They saw an emoji with a stuck out tongue and a blink.

She was blocked, pulled out and all her months of work turned into a debacle. There was a dead silence in the room.

She felt tears in her eyes. She was angry, confused and tensed up.

“ Get me the coordinate machine quick!”She shouted. She may just be seventeen, but the way she said it, and her skills made the men shook.

A man ran and brought it.

She connected it to the computer.

“I have just thirty seconds to do this! ”she said and set her fingers to work. That did not come handy either. The seconds kept counting down. Damn!

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1……

Click!

She sighed.

“I got it.” she said. “ Latitude is 9.081999 and longitude is 8.675277000000051.”she pushed her chair backwards and got up angrily. “ That is Nigeria! We must find this jerk!” she went out,and then slammed the door before she broke into tears.

There was no one she hated more than the person, whoever it was ,that just disgraced her. She was the best in the world and who the hell was that?

Pappy grunted.

“Who is this person?” He wondered aloud. “ We must find him! We are going to Nigeria! "

This was the beginning of the story of Lena and Adnan and his voyage to becoming Hayat Anas.

Intriguing!!

Wow!!! SK,you got me here.
Please, just few more updates to compensate last night.

This is food for me,thanks

Naairah opened her eyes and wondered where she was. It was not her bed or room, then she remembered. It was her first night with her husband. She was glad it was a Saturday, having skipped work yesterday, and spent the whole day together with Adnan.
He had told her a part of his story before they fell asleep. They needed that sleep.
She was stunned to see him sitting calmly on a chair with folded hands, watching her. He wore a white T-shirt, immaculate and white boxers. He looked so handsome, more handsome than he was before the incidence. He still had to explain how he got some of the physical changes.
But Adnan would not rush his story or ignore chronology, so she agreed to get it bit by bit.

"Good morning Miss Sunshine." He said. " How was your night?"

" Good morning Hayati. I had the best night ever." She said then covered her face with her palms.

" Oh my God, it is ten already."

It was two minutes after 10:00am.

"What kind of married woman sleeps till ten o'clock without thinking of breakfast?" she said.

" The type that is lying on the bed." He said. " But it was her husband's fault."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

" I wanted you to have a good rest, and I can have the chance to watch you sleep, that oasis, and see what the phrase' sleeping beauty means'. I could sit here all day watching you Miss Sunshine. I never get enough of everything about you.
As I watch you sleep, I see that innocence in you that cautions me to be loyal, dedicated, and truthful to you. I see that softness in you that warns me to handle with care. I see that strength that tells me I got an amazon behind me. I see love radiating from you and I am covered with bliss, ease and love. As I watch you sleep Miss Sunshine, I feel the need to appreciate Allah for giving you to me, because you are a divine blessing, a light and a soothing phenomenon.
I pray you are my first and last, and I will take it slow and fast, moulded into the right cast, this love is more explosive than atomic bomb blast. Naairah, I still find it hard to believe, that being with you is real so the fact I try to retrieve, You are to me a sieve, separate me from impurities and make me achieve.
You fell in love with me, not what was with me. You stood your ground, even when you thought I was not around. This love is bound, sound and the greatest thing I ever found. I trust you so all your imperfections I will condole, and accepting my flaws will be a console, I love you whole, my heart you stole, your expressions are like sweetened barcarole, and your smile a parole cause you lifted me out of a deep black hole."

This guy!

" Awwwwwnn Hayati your words slay, I so love you although the day, from May to May, loosing you is a price I can't pay. Your love is straight and no sway; to the land of dreams you pave the way. We lie so close like jay and Kay. Oh my champion you deserve a bay, on you I lay, your name in reality and dreams I say, and when they said to him go I say nay"

Adnan watched her in amusement, the words came out smoothly, and the movement of her lips mesmerized him. Her eyes told a story, and he saw victory.

He got up, moved to her slowly then knelt before her.

"Okay queen, we are going on a little ride." He held her gently, and his touch sent her nervous system into action. They called it response to stimulus. He held her hand and she dropped her legs on the floor. He helped her slip her legs into her flip-flops.
He made sure his moves were gentle, showing care, like a wrong move may break her bones, or cause a lacerate, and his moves gave her that feelings of royalty, importance, and made her felt so special.
He helped her get on her feet, drew her closer to his body, she pressed her soft body against his masculine, brawny body, and welcomed the hardness. He sent his hands moving on her body, with a stealth inclination, as if scared of waking her from a slumber.
She was awake yet asleep.

She did not know if she was sitting or standing, walking or running, all she felt was joy, comfort, serenity, love, love and love.

" Come with me, Miss Sunshine." He said in a low tone.

He led her out of the room, she felt a bit uncomfortable because she in lingerie. It was her second day with a man, and still felt shy but he was bent on sweeping the shyness away and he was making a success if it.

They ascended the stairs, still holding her hand, like a queen alighting a royal cart. They got downstairs and he walked through a corridor and she realised that she had never come to that part of the house.
She did not because she never felt it was her home. She took it as place where she stayed before the return of Adnan. She never knew that it was her home.
They stopped before a steel door and then he opened it. She was dumbfounded. He led her into a very large hall with a mini pool at the middle, the water looked pellucid and blue. The poolside beds and chairs were beautiful.
There was a jumbo aquarium by a wall and she saw the most beautiful aquarium she had ever seen. The white pebbles, water plants, tiny rocks and gold fishes and blue lights gave it a scintillating sight.

On another side of the hall was a large LCD TV, theatre size and home cinema systems below. There was a large refrigerator at a corner, then a fruit preserving machine close to it. The floor was 3D Asian-Vogue and a Jacuzzi was fitted at a far end. The walls were made covered with white expensive tiles.
She loved the place. It was so chic, simple yet sophisticated, and set romantically.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, " I love this place."

"Shhhh..this is Queen Naairah's mine" He said , "where the hidden treasures are kept . We must keep the secret from pirates...."

"And one of the big pirates is Captain Ramat." She said. " She is looking for the queen's treasure desperately." She touched his chest with her fingers. " You are my treasure, with pleasure in no measure."

He grabbed the hand and kissed the back.

"Your majesty, your servant is going to give you a wash." He said and led her to the Jacuzzi. She closed her eyes, as he got her set for a bath, got himself set too and the slowly went into the 5-seat hot tub with cast acrylic shell, supported by a frame structure showing vents for water circulation and massaging.
Like a baby, he bath her, and after summing up courage, she did the same. Marriage! She kept reminding herself that it was not wrong, it was halal, they were even getting rewarded because at a point, she felt as if it was a debauchery.
Come on, this was sunnah!

She let go, flowed and relaxed. She was married to the love of her life and she was going to enjoy every bit of it. Leaving the bath tub, the moved into the mini pool, after he went and brought some fruits and placed on a large floating tray.
She loved the fruits which were romantically set. This guy was killing her softly with his ways. There was cherry, pomegranate, red delicious apples, red grape fruits red grapes. By the pool side was a jug of fruit juice with glasses.

Then he used a remote control to put on the player and she was amazed when the first thing she heard from a sonorous voice singing was, Naairahhhh.

A song made for her?
The voice was melodious, full toned with a feel of compassion.
It was acapella .

Verse one:

How could I breathe without you around me?
It is stuffy when you are far from me
You are magical
The love is mystical
And you words are lyrical
Miss Sunshine, before our hearts met on a star at that level
They were paired from heaven so don't marvel
When we resist the devil
We are married and by His grace will survive
My lost heart you revive
Stashed up love scenes in my archive
I remember hanging out just for food
A lone boy in the hood
And came Miss sunshine and made me good
I believe
You relieve
We achieve

Chorus:
If I would live again in another life
I pray you will still be my wife
Naairah
Naairahhh
If I could live again in another life

I pray you will still be my wife
Nairah
Naaiiiiiiiiiiirahhhhh

And the song went on till the end.
While the song was played, he fed her fruits, and played with her as the lyrics of the sweet song went straight into her heart. It was as if the world belonged to them, and revolved around them as the scene gave her the feelings of complete la dolce vita. But the song got her emotional, with her back against his chest, the warm cosy water sending its sensation, she felt tears in her eyes. Tears of love and joy.
She turned around and wound her hands round his neck. He cupped his palms, fetched water and rinsed her face.

" Hayati," She called, " I will never stop begging you not to leave me."

He gave her a pacifying smile.

" Where else do I have apart from your world?"

" Nothing should take you away again....Who sang this song?"

He widened his smile.

"I never told you that I sing...unprofessionally though but I do just acapella. I did for you honey."

"Whoa! You are a talent. I love it! A song for me from you! A song from your heart to mine. Thank you darling."

They kissed.

" Just doing my duty, Miss Sunshine."

"Hayati..."

"Miss Sunshine."

"Please hold me, I want to feel your heartbeat."

He grabbed her, drew her closer until her wet face was on his chest. She held him tight, saying no word, glad to hear the rhythm of his heart beats.

"Why am I scared?" She whispered. " Why do I feel this is too good to last. I am not being pessimistic but reality scares me. They tried to kill you and I know you are still in hiding. There is a great complication around you, like you against the world. You are being chased, have been chased right from childhood when you knew not your crime.
Now you stopped at the part where you met another computer genius on line. And the fact that my father was the one holding you in front of the dump site scares me. Tell me, is he a criminal? Is Uncle Abbas a criminal?"

"I told you not to get emotional or judge any one yet. I hid many things from you for reasons and what I need you to do now is remain strong. We are in the clear. Your fathers involvement would be explained to you. He is not a criminal but a tool. We don't have to let this spoil our mood. We are stronger than this."

" It is not spoiling the mood. I just want you to assure me that it is all honky dory."

"Yes, Miss Sunshine. It is and be rest assured that we will pull through. The world is just deeper than we think. Insha Allah, I will always be here for you."

" I will always be by you, behind you, in front of you, in you....."

He kissed her again, and then put a grape into her mouth. They shared it.

"What time are we leaving?" She asked.

"Leaving?"

"You are getting old..."

"I am a family man, got to think of school fees,...."

"Shut up, when did you get married that you won't give us space and which children's school fees?"

" Future children."

"You have grown side burns so grow up."

"You don't like it."

"I love it."

"Naughty girl" he chuckled. " I did not have it then, it had not come."

"Yes, you were a baby then."

" We are not of the same generation, mark that."

" With your gazillion seconds older than me stuff."

He laughed.

" So what did I forget?"

"Abba invited us for a family dinner. We have never attended."

"How would we have attended when you were angry you got married to Hayat?"

She laughed.

"I am going to deal with you for taking me on such a long ride ."

Dinner with the Muhktars!

He remembered the last time he was invited. Hmmmm...

" We are leaving in the evening."

"We have a long time ahead."

"Let me continue my story."

"I thought you were not going to offer."

"I am not going to say it then."

She pouted, made a crying sound jokingly. "Hnnnnn, please."

"I want to but my mouth is stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Yes, I don't know what to do. Do you have an idea? "He said and winked.

She eyed him, rolled her eyes.

"You are addled." She said with a smile and then gave him a long, deep kiss.

"Yeahhhh...I am healed. Okay, I was sitting in the café that night when I heard ........."

Thumbs up for a job well done.Be happy.waiting earnestly for another episode.

you are really talented @ op

Kamelot77:
you are really talented @ op

Really

I wish this story would never end

So talented

If this st0ry n0 swEEt Eh ma fall fr0m cArr0t trEE...... m0rE 0r0r0 t0 Ur hEAd

All ye readers of this great piece, I hail una o. I don't know if u r feeling this story like I'm here. It got to a point i cried, as in real tears (when Adnan was beaten and humiliated at Naairah's and when he was telling her d story of his life). I had to hide from hubby and cry sha cos he'll laff at me.
This story made me appreciate what I have (parents). I can't say I can relate to how Adnan felt cos I was never in his shoes.
I just wanna thank d Op for giving us this eye opener that 'some actually have food but can't eat, some can eat and have no food while some can't eat and don't even have d food'. Lemme go and call my parents jere and get an assurance again that I have who to call parents.
Well done, sir.
N:B Vote Sokodobo for this month, pls, let's go do the needful ASAP

Let's vote for SokoDobo for October literature award.

It was a few minutes after midnight, Adnan sat behind the computer trying to figure out more about his parents. On the table, by his right hand side was pop-corn mixed with peanuts, a sachet of water close by.
He would scoop some pop-corn and peanut and ingest, while he worked, and then take a sip of water after a while. It was at this moment he heard a sound. He was alone in the café and Abul, the security man was outside.
He heard the sound again, like the creaking sound of a door.

“Abul.” Adnan said, thinking it was the security man coming to ask him for money to buy cigarette but it was very late. He heard no reply. He got on his feet, then went to the door, he peeped through the keyhole and then saw two men.
One of the men had a completely shaven head, big and looked mean. From his tribal marks, it was obvious that he was an Igala man. Then the second man was a white man, dressed in black jacket. What was going on? They must have used a master key.

White man?
These were probably not armed robbers. Then what? Adnan frowned. Wait! This was not his OFA and it could be traced. Damn!
He rushed back to the computer. He had to log out, his applications were on and it would be very bad to let then see it and the damn thing was not like TV that you switched on and off at once. This would tell you’ please wait, logging off, booting’ and if there was anything he lacked, it was time.
He heard them trying to open the door, he managed to close his applications before they walked in.
The white man held a small electronic box which he must have been using to trace him.

“ I am Whiteman.” The white man said.

“ Oh, I thought you were from Koton-Karfe, you look like an Ebira.”

“ That is my name, Jim Whiteman.”

“Don’t mind me. I love ‘oyibo’ names. Wood, Bush, Brown, Green, Water, Fish, Frog…..”

“ I guess you are the man behind ……”

“We have closed and you just broke into this place. That is trespassing, burglary, and it is a punishable offence in this country.”

“ You must be the man behind the Red zone clash.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Adnan said. “ We do photocopies, type projects, browsing which is mostly used by students checking their results, applicants, but we don’t let all these small boys…like me who come to watch porn…….”

“You know what I am talking about. I came all the way from USA and we traced you all the way from there. It took us two weeks to locate you so there is point of hocus-pocus.”

“I still don’t know what you are talking about but listen to me…” He scooped more popcorn and peanut, and then blundered his shoulder into the Igala man who seemed to be a bigger problem before he dashed outside.

“Get him!” Whiteman ordered. Adnan ran out. He saw A man standing over Abul who was made to sit on the floor. This was not good. Adnan jumped over a bench, and ran down the street.

He escaped that night.

He took the very big risk. He did not leave the vicinity. He was scared of leaving because if the management found out what happened and he was not there, they might report to the police and the last thing he wanted was a clash with the police because that was prone to making them know he was alive.
He hid somewhere then went back to the café at dawn.
The management reported the case to the police and the involvement of Whiteman, and the fact that nothing was stolen made it clear that it was not a robbery. It was opened for investigation. Adnan gave his statement, registering his name as Gambo Sabo.

He resigned the next day, claiming he was traumatised. The management asked him to take a break but should come back after a while. But he knew he was gone for life. He went back to the village to settle in Achimugu’s hut.
He resumed fishing with him which was mostly done at night and he would spent the day in the hut. But he could not remain like this. A second without Naairah was tormenting. He had to do something to get his freedom and the chance of doing that in the café was crushed.
Was Whiteman the computer genius that he tugged out? Who was he? He did not introduce himself as a fed. They must also be hackers because that was unauthorised access they were using. Adnan hid for another one month when he was discovered.

The people did not relent. They were told by locals that the boy who worked in the café used to cross the river to his home. So they spent one month, and a lot of money asking, searching until they discovered where he lived.
They were helped by their Nigerian counterparts.
They watched Adnan for three days and realized that getting him was going to be easy. They went fishing at night.
They caught him at night as they were going to fish. They showed him a gun and took him away. They took him to a Lodge where Whiteman was waiting.

“We meet again.” Whiteman said. “ You did not allow us finish our conversation the other day. We were not going to eat your popcorn. All we wanted was to talk to you.”

Adnan had stood listening.

“What do you want?”

“ You are coming with us to USA.”

“What? You can’t do that! Who are you?”

“We are us.” Whiteman said. “ FBI.”

Adnan felt a frigid feeling crawling up his spine.

FBI? Microchip era? Did they discover him?

“ You can’t come all the way from USA to arrest me without the consent of my country’s authority.”

“That will not be good for you.” He said. “ We have a lot on you.”

“You cannot smuggle me out of the country.”

“No, we can’t but you will have to come with us. We will make papers for you, and you will come along.”

“What if I refuse?”

“We will expose you.”

“What have I done?”

“Hacking, cyber crimes.”

“You do not have anything on me!”

“Try us then. Please do.”

Adnan was not sure if he was telling the truth or not.He could not risk it. That was one of the weaknesses involved with guilt. He knew he had some wrong doings and he could be telling the truth.
Unknown to Adnan, they knew nothing about him apart from the fact that he was a hacker. If he had known this, they would not have taken him away.
That was how Adnan left Nigeria for USA where he was going to meet the things he never expected in his life.
He promised to come back to Naairah, insha Allah. He wanted to be around when she graduated and get married to her. How? He could not tell. He was not even sure what he was going to encounter over there but that zeal, optimism was there. And he was going to pray seriously about it. With Allah, all things were possible.
Naairah, I am going away, so far from you but my heart is right by you. I love you,he said in his heart as the plane left the ground.

FIFTEEN

Detroit was the largest City in the Midwestern state of Michigan. It has a nickname “ Motor city” which was inspired by the city’s tie to auto industry.
It was Adnan’s first time in USA (though he was born there and naturally a citizen) and he felt it would have been nice under another circumstance. He did not know what they were going to do to him.
He was sitting at the backseat of a Ford SUV with Whiteman, while another white guy sat at the front. The Igala man was left in Nigeria.

“That is where Hitsville is located. You know it?” Whiteman said pointing a finger.

“ No.” Adnan replied.

“ Heard of Motown records?”

“ Yes. Who hasn’t?”

“That was the first office. Berry Gordy Jr. bought it in 1959 and the guy is still alive. The record label played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American owned record label that achieved a great success.
They discovered the most successful artiste of all times. Heard of Steve Wonder, the blind Superstar? They discovered him as a kid and signed him, They also discovered Jackson 5 where Micheal Jackson was the youngest. See what Michael Jackson became.
Other big names include Lionel Richie, Brian McKnight ,Marvin Gaye, The Miracles, The Supremes, Eddie Kendricks, Diana Rose who was given the credit of discovering Michael Jackson and his brothers, Johnny Gill, Queen Latifah, Bruce Willis , Akon, Ashanti, Babyface, Ne-yo, Toni Braxton, Drake, and a lot more.”

“That is great.” Adnan said. “ Great for them and their intentions.”

Whiteman did not understand what he meant.

“Yes.” He said.

The car kept moving until they got to a pint where the car stopped. The guy sitting at the front alighted, came and opened the back door.
Whiteman showed Adnan a gun.

“ You will not act funny.”

The other guy hand-cuffed Adnan and his eyes was covered with an opaque eye glasses. They got him out of the car and was put in another car. Whiteman followed him and the car moved for some time before they stopped.
Adnan felt the movement of a boat. They were on water, and after a while, they stopped and alighted and the next thing Adnan knew was being in a helicopter.
The helicopter moved for some time before it came to a stop and another car picked them and it was obvious that the area was quiet.
They alighted then Adnan felt them going down something, then heard sounds of electronic doors before he was finally released from the cuffs and the opaque glasses was removed.
He found himself in a large room . The walls were white and looked like ceramic. There were strange machines fixed at different corners.
There were chairs by the wall, and one at the centre with a chair. Adnan was made to sit down and Whiteman smiled at him. There were three other white men in the room.

“ Okay buddy boy, let us get it straight.” Whiteman began. “ We do not have time to waste. Pappy could be impatient at times. Tell us what you know about Q-Mail.”

“Nothing.”

“You got into it.”

“I only know how to use Microsoft word and CorelDraw and Photostatting machine.”

Whiteman grabbed him by the collar angrily and flung him on the floor.

“Do not fuc* with me!”

One of the white men went and put on a screen and asked Adnan to watch.

"I am very good at making people talk. I don't think you will want me to do the things I do to compel. "

What? Torture?

“ You may go through that now. The place is called Downtown." Whiteman said meanly. “ Take him to Down room.”

Adnan was grabbed forcefully and pulled out. It was at that moment the door opened a girl came in. She was very beautiful, with small beautiful structure. Her pigtail stopped at her waist, very dark but she looked more of a mulatto than a pure white girl. "
She had been dying to see the person whom she hated most in the world. The person who turned her skill into a fiasco, made her cry for weeks. Her technical ego was hurt and she could not wait to see him or her.
Now she set eyes on him. Their eyes met and something happened. Something she never expected.











“ The most logical place for a survivor to go is that way.” Maya said pointing a finger. “Let us go that way.”

They had moved towards the way she had suggested and they met some men. After a lot of enquiries, Carlos’ name popped out. That was done because Don Vasitto was there himself.
They traced Carlos to his restaurant. It was not difficult to point at Dr Mark. No one wanted trouble with Don.
Dr Mark was in his office when he saw Don, Mason and Maya walk into his office. He felt a bang in his heart.
This was what he was trying to avoid. He knew why they were there. They asked and he told them all he knew.

“So he lost his memories?” Mason asked.

“Yes.”

“ Can we see his file?” Maya asked.

“Sure.” He said and used a message box to call Angela and asked for Walter’s file.

“ Walter?” Don asked.

“He could not remember his name so I called him Walter.”

Angela came in with a file. She was smugly jittery. She was in the same room with Don, the man who was looking for her father, and she had what he was looking for. She was also harbouring the man they were searching for.

“Here, sir.”

Don studied.

“What is your name?” He asked.

“ Angela.”

“Angela. What is your surname?”

“ Alexander.” She lied.

Maya looked into the doctor’s eyes at once.

“She is lying.” Maya said.

“What?” Angela said.

“The doctor’s eyes told me that, She is lying.” Maya said assertively.

“Why would I lie?” Angela asked confidently.

Mason went through the file.

“He lost his memory.” He confirmed. “Where is he?”

“I told you he left.”

“Left? Where did he go?” Mason asked.

“I don’t know. After I did all I could do for him, and he was back on his feet, I asked him to leave. He may regain his memory if he is lucky but there is no full assurance.

“So he just left?” Maya asked. “With no money, knows nobody, and he did not come back?”

“I don’t know about that. I can’t say if he knows no one or not. He lost his memory.” The doctor said.

“ I know all the people he knows around here and he did not go them.” Said Don. “I hope you are not hiding anything Doctor. You did a lot of work to become a licensed doctor. Losing your license would not be good.”

“I have no reason to lie, Mr Don Vasitto.”

“Call the nurse.” Maya said.

“When did she walk out?” Mason asked.

“Get her here.” Don said.

Dr Mark called her but there was no response.

Maya was alert already.

“We must find her! She knows something.”Maya said.

Don felt she looked like someone he knew. She did. She was a replica of her father but Don could not relate it then. Maya was sure the nurse knew something.

Angela was out of the hospital running down the street. If they traced her to her home, they would not only find Abbas but the list.
They came out of the office in a rush.

“Where is the nurse?” Maya asked one of the henchmen.

“Down.”

“We must get her fast.”

They went after Angela!

This was not good. Angela was losing her breath,and getting tired. She saw them coming after her. How would she escape these men?

Naairah helped Adnan fix his caftan buttons, then moved back and gave him a glance.

“Did I ever tell you look like a model?” she said. “The type that you see on Gucci catalogue cover?”

“ Now my head is swelling.” He said with a smile. “Thank you honey.”

They were ready for dinner.

“ Did you say Nadia and her husband were also invited?” Adnan asked.

“Yes. She is considered as part of the family. We have been together since primary school.”

“ Whoa! I thought you guys met in secondary school.’

“No. Shall we, remember we have to get Ummi’s bread.”

Adnan laughed.

“What is funny?” she asked.

“ I remember when I said I was entitled to two loafs of bread daily and that was enough to keep us going.”

She chuckled.

“ That is life for you…and as we drive, you are going to keep on with the story. I am so curious.”

“ I will dear. Shall we?” He studied her. “ Talking about models, did I ever tell you that you are a model to models ?”

“ No.”

“Know that today. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever set my eyes on. Beautiful in body , at heart, and soul. I don’t want to ruin your lipstick I would have given you a hot kiss.”

“ You are so considerate.”

“Don’t praise me. I would not always be considerate. This lips of yours cannot make me considerate always. Let just say, you are lucky.”

She held him and smiled.

They walked out and he begged her to drive.

“Why?”

“I love to sit by the side of my wife while she drives…if she wants to.”

“Hmmmm…okay.”

They left the mansion. Nadia called and said they were getting ready to leave their house.
They stopped by the road where Adnan went into Yummies to buy bread. He remembered the days he used to hang here to waylay girls for food.
There were some men near where Naairah parked the car. They were commercial bikers called different names at different places: Okada, Express, acaba, Going, etc.
They sat on their bikes, eyes alert, searching for prospective customers. When they sighted one, they raised their fingers.
One of them looked at Naairah.

“Chai! See this babe inside moto. She fine, the moto fine, all na fine fine. Her bobo fine. Only God know how she use get the moto. All these Abuja girls . Maybe na one minister buy am for am , now she dey use am carry small boy.” He said.

“ How you use know say na runs she take get the car? You dey there?”Another guy said to him.

“I don dey Abuja for years, no be today I start this work.”

“Na him make you go die dey do this work. Instead wey you go pray make your life better, na gossip you dey do. What if nah in husband.”

“How wife go dey drive husband? “

“ Because your wife no dey carry you for this your Boxer machine no mean say big men wife no fit drive them. School wey you no go na wah”

The guy got angry.

“How does you say I am no schoolating? “He said ,changing from broken English. “ Because I spoked pigeon with yous or doesing okada is no means that I am no schoolatimg. It is just humbilty so doesn’t told me bastard vocabulary!”

“No vex.”The second guy said. “ This your English fit knock my engine.”

The rest of the men laughed at him. He got angry the more, started his bike.

“ I doesn’t can stay with illitarated peoples like yous.” He moved his bike and left while they kept laughing.

Adnan came back and got into the car.
He was going to have dinner with the family. He remembered the last time he had dinner with them.

“You promised, darling.” She said.

“What sweetheart?”

“The story…”

“Ohhh, okay. I met the girl behind the computer. She was very young..... "

Sensitivity1254:
Let's vote for SokoDobo for October literature award.

he deserve it

Lena took her eyes off Adnan at once. What was wrong with her?”

“What is going on?” She asked.

“ He needs to be broken.” Whiteman said meanly.

“So it is you?” She asked Adnan, studying him with immense interest. “Leave us alone.”

“ Miss Lena, he is not to be trusted….”

“Leave us alone ,now.” She said with a tone that brooded no argument.

“ Okay.” Whiteman said and shrugged. He nodded and they left the room. He hated taking orders from this little girl who got her position due to that thing in her skull called brain. She was the chief ICT analyst of the organization and that was big.
She graduated from the university at the age of fifteen. Some had cried of nepotism so the top men organized an examination. The matter was settled at once. She beat them all with a distinct mark.

They went out and she closed the door. This was dangerous, she knew it, but her instinct was arbitrarily domineering.

“Sit down,” She said.

Adnan was trying to calm down. When their eyes met, he felt from nowhere a whirl of love sweep through him. He felt like grabbing her and hugging her and the feeling got him astounded. What was wrong with him and who was this young girl who was so authoritative?
It was obvious she had an important position here. And was she making him nervous?

He sat down.

“ I am Lena Coora.” She said. “We met on Q-Mail.”

Damn!

“You are the genius?” He asked.

“No, you are the genius and the image of the emoji still lingers.”

“ I am impressed. Never thought anyone would get over those obstacles and get in.”

“ And do not think I am not the best.”

“You are.”

“Shut up.” She went to a shelf and got two laptops. “ I have Daracle Synthecs on these systems.”

She dropped one in front of him and the other in front of herself.

“ Put it on.” She said.

She connected the laptops to a large screen and then came back and sat down before her laptop.

“ I need us to program a web security code in ten minutes. The first person to finish wins and it will be displayed. After the count of three…three, two, one…go!”

The two geniuses set to action. Program in ten minutes? That had to be the shortest cuts to advanced results.
Their fingers moved on the keys with incredible speeds, the brains hot and vibrant. Unknown to them, they were being watched and heard.

Click!

“Done.” Adnan said. “ Seven minutes. I got a 5 mega anti-cracking code.”

Click!

She did it. He was three minutes faster.

She grimaced.

“ Get into any celebrities E-mail account. Name any.”

“Me.”

“Shut up. Okay, Julian Tim. Get the link yourself. It is part of the game. Go!”

They set to action.

Click.

“Oh my God!” Adnan said. “ She is cheating on her man.”

“You even had time to read before me?” She grimaced. “And don’t read. Respect her privacy.”

“Okay. Hackers got ethics.”

“I am not the type of hacker you think I am.”

“Same here.”

“Now, build a maze frame for animation. Go.”

They set to it, this was a bit longer and the two experts did what they did best,

Click.

“I beat you!” She exclaimed with a smile.

“Ohhhhh! Damn! Okay you got me there.”

“Yes, I did!” But she stopped smiling, and gave him a suspicious stare. She got up, walked round the table then looked at his screen.

“You cheat, you did it before me! You did not display it on the screen and you made me felt like a winner.”

She hit him on the chest slightly. He chuckled.

“I did not want to be mean.”

“I give up.” She said. “I am not the best after all.”

“ You are one of the best.”

“I thought I was the best

“ I am also not the best. We have hidden talents.”

“Yes, but we have the known best. I won three computer competitions. I am the official fastest programmer but there is no competitions for hacking. Lee Chang, a Chinese genius is second. You will beat both of us put together.”

“ Maybe.”

“So, tell me about yourself. I am curious.”

“ What do you want to know?”

“ What you were doing in Q-Mail. That is an unusual site and you crashed my months of trying. How long did it take you to do that?”

“ It took days to discover the account but the main hacking took four days.”

She opened her eyes.

“Four days?”

“ If I was using my PDA, it would take only a few minutes.”

“PDA?”

“Yes, but I lost it.”

“What kind of PDA?”

Wait, why was he telling her this?

“ Who are you people?”

“ We are just a group of concerned citizens of the world trying to make the world a better place.”

“ Why the spooky secrecy? You are not FBI, or a government agency.”

“Why did you use the word ‘spooky’?”

“Because I was blinded by a pair of opaque glasses and driven for about fifteen minutes eight seconds…”

“How did you know the timing?”

“ I have a way of mentally calculating time. And we took three turns to the right within 2 minutes, 4 minutes and 1 minute intervals respectively then a boat was used and from the direction which I deduced from the point at which I was blinded, we went north-west then got into an helicopter which travelled for eight minutes.
It went vertically upwards then did a left turn . Then another car which drove for fifteen minutes but finally stopped at a south direction from the point of take-off. And after a short walk, I felt a wheelless cart move and I guessed this place is underground even though they made it look like a flat fall.
The fall was free and travelled for about eighty seconds. With neglected friction, and rolling down a slope, and using v=I * (alpha),cI>h. 0’ < alpha < 90’. I deduced that height is about sixty meters. We are deep down the earth. Is that not spooky?”
Lena was speechless. Okay, this was the point when she agreed that this guy was not one she would compete with. He was a genius in his class.

Pappy could not take it anymore. He had seen and heard enough.

“What did you call this boy?”

“Gambo Sabo.” Whiteman said.

“ Is that what is on his passport?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“ I want to know more about him.” He said.

“ How, sir?”

“ I will figure it out.”

The door to the room burst open and a woman came in. The stare she gave Adnan scared him. She bore her eyes into him, as if she was going to shoot him down out of anger.
Lena did not like this. The woman seemed not to be happy to see her with Adnan. She was holding a gun.

“ Put your hands in the air.” She said to Adnan.

Lena grimaced.

No! She loved this guy already. There was something between them and this woman was going to ruin it.

Adnan put his hands in the air.

“ Leave us, Lena.”

“Please don’t do this.”

“I said leave and do that now!”

Lena felt tears in her eyes as she walked out. She turned, gave Adnan a glance of affection and love and he did the same. He made it worse by smiling and she saw a guy who needed sympathy. She turned and left feeling dejected.

“ Do not try a wrong move.” The woman said with a stern expression. “ You are going to do exactly as I say!”

“ You said you are Gamba?” The woman asked, still wearing a stern face.

“Gambo.”

“ I need you to tell me your real name, now.”

Adnan looked her face, then saw in her eyes seriousness, fear and impatience.

“ My real name is Adnan…..”

“Raise your shirt up,.”

“What?”

“Raise up your shirt.”

Adnan hesitated. What was wrong with her? What did she want to do with him?

He raised up his shirt and she moved closer, studying him. She grabbed his right hand and checked his back hand.

The gun fell off her hand and she screamed, then grabbed him for a bone crushing embrace.

“Ya Allah!” She was now in tears. “ My son!”

Her what?

Adnan could not understand this. Was that an idiomatic expression?

Pappy rushed into the room, followed by Whiteman and Lena came back. The woman was crying. Not wanting to let Adnan go for any reason.

“ Twenty years looking for you.” She said, “Adnan, Twenty years.”

Then the fact began to dawn on him.

“Aadila.” Pappy who was the real Dr Abbas said, holding her hands. “I told you that Allah would bring him to us insha Allah.” He said moving to tears.

“Are you Dr Abbas?” Adnan asked.

“So you heard about me.” He said. “I am your real father and that is your mother.”

Aadila had to let him go, and Dr Abbas hugged him. It was so surreal to Adnan. He was finding it hard to believe. As he embraced his father, his eyes met Lena’s.
She now understood what she felt for him, the love and affection that swept through her when she saw him. She had been told she had a brother who got missing just months after his birth. And she always wanted a brother, craved for one, and at that moment when they were competing, and he won her but let her feel like she won, and she hit him on the chest slightly, it was the natural bond between them in play.
Adnan released his father to hug Lena. This was the hug he felt like giving her since the first time he saw her. He did not know why, but he felt something for her and he was surprised the way he flowed with her.

Whiteman quickly played a flashback of how he treated Adnan since they met and hoped he would not be in his black book. If this was true, then Adnan was the one they have been looking for and that meant he was going to be in control.

“ Come on, let’s get out of here.” Dr Abbas said.

“ He needs to rest.” Aadila said. “No one is talking to him now.”

Dr Abbas was going to tell the council. The awaited one was around and this was his best day. He had a son and he was back!
There was a lot to ask the boy, a lot to explain but not now.

Tiger 606!
He felt his lips twitching.

“ My real name is Aaliyah.” Lena said as he was being led to a room. “ I love you.” And tears accumulate in her eyes.

He smiled at her.

“ I love you too.”



There was a grand reception that night as dinner was organized from him. He saw people of importance and wondered who his parents were and why he was given so much attention.
There was a lot of emotions when he told them about his history. He told them what he went through in the hands of Aminu who was claiming to be Dr Abbas, the life he lived since he was nine years old and how he was deprived of formal education.
The parents cried, especially Aadila.

Dr Abbas told him how he and his mother went through a lot before they got married. They met in college and he found out that she was not living with her biological parents. She was an orphan and lived with her uncle.
They maltreated her and nearly killed her when they discovered that she was dating him. The uncle wanted to marry her off to a friend of his. It was a tug of war before she finally got married to him. It was at the time of their courtship they discovered each other’s talent.

Aadila was a gifted biologist and she ended up studying medicine and surgery to become a medical doctor. Not just a doctor but a researcher and specialist.
Abbas was a theoretical Mathematician and physicist with exceptional gift. These two was a couple to be reckoned with. These led them to be part of the movement: The bastion of ethics which was an organization formed by young military officers immediately after the second world war.

The pioneers of this group were in what was called ‘The list’. They were men who fought the war and saw the millions of lives claimed, destruction of properties and they saw the hands of despotic oligarchs controlling the world.
These men were talented and started the organisation with a small amount of money. That was before the treasure island was discovered: a place where Germans hid tons of gold, and art works.
That was when they organized to get it. Adnan’s grandfather was part of these men. They went through thick and thin to get the treasures and the beginning of the divide popped up.

Some of these men suggested that the money should be shared among them and only ten per cent should be put into the organization. There was a debate and vote. Majority were for the organization.
This was the incipience of a hidden rift even though they all feigned to be okay with the outcome. One of the men who wanted the money to be shared was David Vasitto. One of the leaders of those who wanted the money to be used for the organization was Haliru Babangida who was Dr Abbas’s father, Diego Sanches Who was Angela’s father, Ford Rickson who was Mason’s father and Haliru’s close friend.
Haliru was a Nigerian who served bravely and settled in USA after the war. Then the man made a list of the original men.

The first Grandpappe , the leader of the group was Haliru, Adnan’s grandfather. He was a man with foresight and exceptional brilliance. He devised a code, and means of communication which made it possible to relate without meeting each other.
There was a central administration which was in charge of disseminating information, given orders, and management. These men were scattered around the world and began a company called BOE.

They never revealed the meaning of the acronyms. It meant Bastion of Ethics. They wanted a world where war was not a means of resolving conflicts, better health and technology. Some of these men were part of the brains behind some great inventions during the world war.
Haliru was a Physicist and regretted his contribution to development of some virulent bombs which were used for the war to destroy lives and properties.
The company flourished and he made a way where the members could make money but it depended on your knowledge. Inventions were and ideas had a lot of monetary value. The organization paid a lot and some of them made a lot of money.
Haliru himself became so rich because he invented six machines for the company. David Vasitto had no talent in this. He was an excellent soldier, brave, fierce and rugged. To calm him, he was made the head of a branch of the company in Brazil.
He embezzled money, gambled, drugs and women.
Diego was not a scientist but an economist. He was sent to Brazil to see the financial affairs. David tried to bribe him but he refused. David was sacked and expelled. So he organized the rebels and they secretly planned to execute the founders suspected to be the ones stopping their success. He was already involved with mafias.

And they got stronger, with their children growing up to join the organization. The Bastions believed in continuity and they trusted their blood more. They trained their children for the course. Don joined, same as Abbas and Mason who was his childhood friend.
Mason had talents. He was a geologist, and played a great role . Don ,unlike his father was good at Government and international politics. They were called the second generation. David and his accomplices instigated some second generation members and formed a secret cabal.

They planned a putsch: to eliminate the ‘enemies’ and take full control of the organization. They succeeded in killing two members but they did not know the rest. That was a result of Haliru’s foresight.
That was when the internal crisis escalated and sinister became more prevalent. Mason became more virulent .
And he began to recruit more men outside BOE and Tiger 606, which was a code name given to Aminu Saminu was part of them. Aminu was a cleaner and Mason noticed his avaricious inclination.

Haliru was born and bred in Nigeria. His father was a wealthy farmer and was very inventive but had no formal education. The colonial masters noticed his prowess and saw the sign of intelligence in the then young Haliru.
They made sure Haliru had formal education after much dabate. The villagers said it was an apostasy to engage in western education and they used to sing a song, reproaching those who went to school.
Yan makarantan bokoko (western education students)
Ba karatu ,ba salla ( no recitation of Qur’an, no prayers)
Sai yawan zagin mallam ( all they do is insult Islamic teachers)

But Haliru went to school before he was drafted into the army. He was very intelligent with a high IQ. It was after the war he settled in USA, got married and had three children. Abbas was the last child and showed more intelligence.
It seemed their lineage had high IQs. Abbas was so brilliant he was inducted into BOE at a very early age. Abbas and Aadila had their first child and just two weeks later, the child was discovered to have an IQ that was dumbfounding.

The word was whispered to the elders.
A meeting was held and a consensus reached. They had to plan against the future and they had found a boy that may have the ability to face the task.

The task.
The big project called ‘The Evolution’.
Adnan was chosen and the time was set at twenty five years. The details of Evolution were kept secret even from members but experts in different fields were put to work.
The first to leak the secret of the idea he had was Dr James Cooper. He got a wind, and being part of the rebels, who called themselves The new world, he laid it on Mason’s lap. Then they begin to look for the blueprint of the project.
To get this, they needed the list to figure out those who had it. Now the list was needed for two reasons: To know the core members and the one with the blueprint.

Adnan was chosen and he was to be kept a secret. He had to be with a custodian. He was to attend a special training and educational system. Adnan was entitled to one million dollars monthly until he was twenty five years old.
His father was to be awarded some major contracts. This was to be kept a secret and the identity of the child would be hidden.
The child’s DNA was taken, same as the father, and he was given the mark they called The seal of life. It was to be on his hand.
Adnan was given the mark and Abbas agreed. He chose to handle Adnan to his cousin who was based in Nigeria to be the custodian. Then they set to go to Nigeria but had to go to Bolivia first to see a friend of his who owns a ranch.
It was there he discovered some things that got him mad.

Mason got a wind of the development and he would not allow Abbas be the father of The Chosen One. He knew Dr Abbas was very principled and if Adnan became the chosen one, their ambition to hijack the project would fail.
The original code for the father of the chosen one was Tiger 606. Mason quickly set Aminu to impersonate Dr Abbas. This was so perfect for him because Aminu’s wife had just put to bed three days before Adnan was born . That prompted the idea of using Aminu's child who he quickly named Adan.

Aminu's wife was based in Nigeria while Aminu worked abroad.
Addy was given the mark and he became the chosen one.
Mason knew a lot because of his position. Dr Abbas trusted him but later discovered his conspiracy.
It was while they were about to leave for Nigeria Aadila told Abbas what she suspected.
The project was being hijacked and it was not going to be good for the kid.
She was a medical doctor and got a wind of it. Abbas decided not to give his son to them.

They were in Bolivia when they found out but he never knew Don was part of it.
They planned to kill him and his wife and then snatch the child.
Mason, in cahoots with Don executed the plan and gave the organization a wrong impression.
The money that was meant for Adnan went to Addy and Aminu got a lot of contracts and became so rich and powerful.
Every member had an Electronic Box Manuscript (EBM) which was used as a store for research data, messenger, and secret information. Each EBM had it's secret code set by its user.

It was also a means of locating members. Dr Abbas had a lot of secrets Mason wanted to know about.
It was late before Abbas realized Mason was the head of the rebels.
The way he survived the Bolivian saga and found his wife was a story for another day.
They gave birth to another child, Aaliyah who they called Lena.

Adnan was going to learn what happened later. He had a lot to go through. This was the beginning of his physical transformation. But the saga wasn't over. It was just taking a new dimension....

Adnan was shocked!

Oh my God.. did u really sit down and think about all this? I wonder how ur brain works..wow. Weldone.

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SIXTEEN

Naairah was shocked and speechless. That meant Adnan was the source of their wealth and power?
He had a home, parents and origin. Men of global importance. And she remembered all the things meted out to him.
What a shame!
What an irony!
What a twist!
She wondered how she was going to act at the dinner with her family members.

Damn!

So Uncle Abbas,....No! Uncle Aminu was a cleaner? And all those times it was Adnan's money!!!!
She wanted to know how he transformed, came back, what he was into, why did they relocate, and what he planned to do next.
But now, they had a dinner with her family members.

" I need you to do me a favour." Adnan said. " You must act normal. I am telling you things I ought not to say. You must not act strangely."

"I am trying, Hayati but remembering what they did to you and knowing it was your money puts me on edge."

"It does not matter." He said. "That was my fate and I had to go through. Maybe it was done so I could meet you. If I had not been hungry, would I have come to you?"

She heard this and smiled.
He bent over and gave her a peck on her cheek.

" You must be strong because you have been under watch for years....since I left."

"What?'

" Yes. They were not fully convinced I was dead. No one saw my dead body and they are too smart to just believe that was the end of me. They questioned you but you never knew it was your uncle who organized it. They know you did not know what happened to me after the incidence. But they kept you on watch because they knew if I was alive, I would definitely come for you.
That is why I took the act to the extreme. If I had revealed myself to you, you could not have been able to pretend enough to convince them. But I was tired of being just Hayat so I deduced a plan.

And the plan was to use a Trojan horse. I knew they were watching you so I took advantage of that to send them away.
My father told me that he was sitting in Angela's room one day when he peeped and saw a gang of men coming with her. They had a gun on her. They chased her from the hospital and caught her. He knew what they wanted so he ran to the basement and put something there. He was a very proactive person. He made a fake list and made it look so real, and had since taken the real list away from the house.
He found her gun and he fired a shot at them. There was fire fracas but he was able to shake them off, and he and Angela escaped. They had not expected the shot.

That incidence brought back some or most of his memories. He saw Mason and remembered a lot of things. He and Angela left Bolivia after surviving a lot of attacks from Don. It was at that time he remembered what they wanted to use his son for.
He later found out that his wife was alive. It was not easy but he traced her and they met and left for good. They moved to Yemen before moving back to USA. They had my sister there."

"What about your elder sisters?"

"They are not biologically related to us. They are part of a fictitious profile." Adnan replied. " I will tell you more about that part. My father did not reconnect with the Bastions at first . Mason was bound to know. He had the list so he began to trace the pioneers.
His father left mysteriously, and the Mr Ford became the Grandpappe. That is Mason's father. No one knows what happened to my grandfather. Mason manipulated things to his wish. So my father got an approval from some of the few pioneers left and a secret wing of the Bastions was formed with the guile of making an relieve team.And the Grandpappe approved it.

Mason and his gang do not know who the men handling the relieve team are. I told you that the whole affairs involve a lot of secrecy. Men of the organization don't know each other. We are lucky the head of EBM Regulatory board has a lot of integrity in him. My father do not know him. He could not locate him even with the list. Some of these men are dead. So Mason wants to find out the faces of the men behind the team, and he wants to know the man behind the EBMs.
It was rumoured that he killed the EBM experts when she discovered that my father was alive. Mason wanted that to be kept a secret and he seriously wanted my father's code so he could hack into his EBM and tap into his projects. They really want to hijack the Evolution. The Evolution is a murky project, with a secrecy that baffles me. We don't know what exactly the project is all about, yet it is in motion.
It is like telling a woman to grind chilli and mix with seasoning, you go somewhere else and tell another woman to fry oil with onions, then tell another to put rice on fire, and so it goes only for you to mix it finally and these women do not know what the other woman is doing or who is doing it. That is how the EBM department works.We don't know how successful Mason has gotten into collecting data. That is what we want to find out and know what exactly is happening. We want to have the organization back and make Mason pay for his sins.

He makes his sins and trackless as sea. His father do not support him and he is beginning to dig into the past. I am the real Chosen One . My parents were astonished to find the knowledge I acquired without formal education but he has not told the elders that he found me and Addy was a fake but Ford is raising some dust.
I was sent to Harvard to study computer science. I got my degree in two years and then a Masters degree in one year...."

"Whoa!"

" I never told anyone this but there was a time in my life I felt I was weird. I felt odd because I realized that I had some abilities that were not common. My memory was almost photographic and eidetic. My abilty to recall things, and mentally calculate things got me scared.
Then I read learnt about Kim Peek, an American savant known as megasavant. Though he experienced social difficulties, he had an exceptional memory. He was the inspiration behind the movie 'Rain Man' featuring Tom Cruise.
Kim remembered almost everything he read, as a child, he could read both pages of an open book at once, one page with one eye and the other with the other eye. He could do this until his death in 2009. He could retain 98% of the information he read. He read thousands of books, encyclopaedias and maps and remember almost everything.
He could read a thick book in an hour and remember almost everything. He was known to be a living encyclopaedia and walking GPS. He could provide driving directions between almost any two cities in the world.
He could also do calendar calculations( 'which day was March 23, 1345?" and remember old baseball scores and a vast amount of musical, historical, and political facts. His had an astounding memory....."

"Ya Allah! For real?"

"Yeah. I also learnt about Daniel Tammet. He is an English essayist, novelist, translator and autistic savant.
This guy was able to learn a new language in one week and granted an interview on a TV program. He has one of the most extraordinary brains on Earth. He has exceptional language and mathematical abilities.
He calculates things with results that end with decimals the calculator cannot contain. He counted the number pi to 22,514 decimal places! And like me, he has no mental disabilities.

Finding these people calmed me down. I had my degree, Masters and PhD in four years. After we met on your graduation, I left to complete my PhD.
I also got my extra training for the task ahead so your husband is a doctor.....and the result I kept for you to see was to make you believe I was Hayat because I realized you had your suspicions. The pictures you saw were not me. Just a younger look alike.
I had to take a new identity just like my father who became Anas and Aaliyah became Lena. I chose the name Hayat and you know why. It was closer to the truth.

I did not undergo any surgery. As a child. I had very curly hair and I did not like it. I felt different from the rest of the kids and I loved African afro hair so as I grew older I used a gel which straightened my hair and gave me the afro you knew me with. That explains the hair.
Then my eyes are lenses as you can see. I am wearing it now, my teeth is faux, and my lips are painted. My voice is faked by a voice changer.

Then my complexion. Okay, I grew up in a very harsh condition and worked in a bakery for years. You don't know what it is like to work with an oven so I got darker. Living a life of luxury in US void of that harsh sunny condition, I got my real complexion back. It is natural.
I am a mulatto. My mum is white , I told you she is in US. She is from Yemen. Then I had a lot of rigorous physical exercise and body building. That explains my brawny body. I covered the mark just like girls cover pimples. That does not need a complex process.
So I told them that I had to come back home. They asked why. I told them I could not exist alone without someone. They wanted me to get married there because continuity is a watch word in the organization. I told them I was coming back to pick up my life and fulfill a promise I made to myself and you.
The timing was good and I knew it was an answered prayer. I set up Naanan a year before then. I was given millions of dollars by my parents. So I came back but as a different person.
We set up a profile to match my claims but my father came along because of the discovery of Aminu. We want to get at Mason through him and I established a relationship with Addy in US. I am stalking him.

They have been watching you, hoping you will lead them to me. So when I came, I tried not to make you recognize me because you may be so emotional. They know you did not love Hayat and you were still hoping to see Adnan.
I know this so I let it play for six months. It was not easy but I had to so we could enjoy ourselves later.
I know you spoke to Adnan while you watched me, and I also spoke to Adnan...myself. It was programmed. The phone was programmed by me with a complex voice algorithm. It is like Google, if you want to search for something and you spell it wrongly, it will bring out the correct spelling and say 'search instead for'. It is algorithm.

I knew the things to say and possible reply. I was not talking to myself but a programmed voice...just to convince you.
They saw us go and search for Adnan and guess what? You saw me coming back from the masjid that day....I was from the garage. I removed my disguise and registered as Adnan.
They had my picture to convince not just you but them that I was there. But there was something else. I boarded a small car for six passengers. All of the other passengers were my boys. The car was reported to have had an accident and the passengers died.
I paid the driver three million naira and a job in USA to do this. He has left the country since. Adnan is officially dead. It is more complicated than I have explained. By this, they stopped watching you. You lost Adnan and fell in love with Hayat and I involved Addy.
He feels his advice got you to love me. I think we should go inside. We have a dinner waiting for us."

Naairah did not know how to respond to this.
Adnan bent and kissed her.

"Kai!"She exclaimed. " What if someone sees you. This is our compound!"

And someone did.

Nadia was just alighting their car with her husband. She saw the love air between the two. There was no doubt Naairah was not pretending.
'I knew it', she thought, ' she would fall for him and forget Adnan.'

Adnan felt he was going to enjoy this dinner. He had a family and a PhD!