Colour gunned down his Volkswagen beetle coolly along the security fortified Central Bank building. He slowed down deliberately to allow his thoughtful looking passenger to take in the beauty of the structure; and as expected, she unconsciously turned around on her seat and inspected the marble and glass building with admiration. He stole a glance at her and then grin. He accelerated and drove towards a major road leading towards Metro Plaza, then headed towards the National Privatization Agency.
They had drove around town after escaping a long hold up along Jabi by Kado estate. Colour had professionally lost the jeep through one of the numerous short-cuts along the busy industrial area of Utako. He had smiled triumphantly at her as he headed towards the National Stadium and finally made his way confidently through the capital. They stole occasional glances at each other and he admitted to himself that she was seductively beautiful with a fancy breaded hair. Her head wore one of the most articulate breaded hairstyles he had ever seen on a woman which was perfectly in line with her shape, radiating a true African woman. Another captivating thing about her was her slim figure which perfectly fitted her glowing African attire.

Colour preferred women with this shape, and this particular one beside him was one of the most captivating slim shapes he had ever come across. Slim with pointed boobs and big captivating eyes. She had almost everything he loved in a woman. Although he had a very important appointment at the moment but he was willing to sacrifice his time and day to take her anywhere she was going. His appointment could wait for another time. He was not ready to let-go a beautiful catch like this. He concluded with a cheerful smile. He was curious about her and wanted to know what her mission to the NPA was all about. He had failed to extract the information from her and noticed that she was smart, alert and suspicious and had cleverly declined to give him the information he wanted. Instead, she had smiled up at him and confidently gave her name as Franca, from the South-South part of the country. To which he had smiled up at her and told her it does not really matter to him from what part of the country she was as long as she was a Nigerian and most importantly a human being. She giggled at this and laughed out loudly when he told her his name.

‘’You mean Colour, as in colour of things? She asked in-between laughter.

‘’ Yes, Colour, I am all colours, black, white, green, blue, yellow, pink, brown or whatever. Any colour at all. I blend easily like the Chameleon,’’ He told her proudly.

He then went further to explained that he was a Freelance Journalist and runs an NGO that encourages fraternity among all the geo-political zones and languages across the country, irrespective of tribe, religion, gender or class. She stared thoughtfully at him, opened her big expensive bag and fetched out a pack of Orbit chewing gum, unwrapped one, dropped it into her mouth, and then chewed seductively away, her big eyes silently scrutinizing his face with a smile.

“Hmmm…that is very thoughtful of you” she finally said as she unwrap another gum for him. He smiled and also dropped the gum into his mouth, then chewed thoughtfully.

“Hmmm – really – well, that is a nice thing to say – hope you are not flattering me sha, but I appreciate it anyway” he said, then smiled back at her.

He invited her to join his NGO if she was interested. She smiled at him, giggled and declined his invitation with a smile. Instead, she changed the station on the car stereo and the music of 2Face ‘For Instant’ filtered through the speakers and cut off their conversation. The track played on, followed by different tracks from various Nigerian artists. He noted that she was up to date on the latest music in town and a loyal fan of the Nigerian artists and their Naija flavor. So he allowed her to enjoy the music while he engaged himself carefully on the roads, negotiating cars and cutting any available short-cut along the various busy roads in the federal capital. His mind was absolved with the thought of the beautiful female passenger beside him as he pressed down his beetle that afternoon towards the NPA with his curious mind pondering over her real mission at the popular agency.

They drove on in silence as the beautiful looking passenger stared thoughtfully at the tall structure of Radio House, her mind silently debating on her mission at the agency in the next couple of minutes. She stole a glance at the relaxed face of her driver. The guy appears relaxed as he whistled happily away to Majek Fashek’s ‘promised land’ tune playing on the car stereo. She noted and then hide a grin as she try to imagine his reaction if she were to tell him her real mission inside the agency that day. Men! – What won’t they do just to have a bite of the sacred fruit? She thought and deliberately glanced at her wristwatch to provoke his curiosity the more and he actually fell for her bait. For, he glanced at her, smiled and suddenly accelerated faster and swept past three cars in front of them. He beat the next traffic light by inch, cut between two other cars, smiled up at her again, then twisted into a corner with a sharp screech and suddenly headed straight towards a small gathering of street hawkers by the sharp bend. The people all panicked and scampered towards different direction – men, women and children. They all took off for their dear lives as the beetle suddenly lost control and headed towards them.

Colour not expecting to meet a gathering at the bend, panicked and quickly stepped hard on the break which at that moment failed him. He watched horribly as the panicked crowd scattered frightfully towards different direction. He half glanced at his passenger who was struggling with her seat belt, she looked panic and was loudly muttering “Jesus! Oh! –Jesus…”

Colour pulled back his reflexes and tried to control the car. He suddenly pulled on the handbrake and at the same time spinning the wheel in a three sixty stunts. The car obeyed and came to a stop few inches away from a wide street sewage, surprising everyone around, including himself. His passenger quickly disembarked and ran away as fast as possible from the crowd. Her large eyes now stared at the smoking beetle with a bewildered look as if she was just seeing the car for the first time. Few among the panicked crowd who had recovered from their shock suddenly make their way angrily towards the car as Colour who was now out of his seat belt and look composed stepped out of the smoking car with a broad smile.

“ Shege!” someone shouted angrily from the crowd.

“ Oloshi!” another added loudly

“ Oyin hara” Chipped in another in a husky voice, and they all matched angrily towards him.

Colour, sensing their grievances, hurried away from the car and confronted their leaders.

“ I beg make una no vex – na break fail me…I swear na break…” He pleaded with his two hands, pausing few distance away from them.

“ Break – which kind yeye break?” Someone from the crowd shouted. “ You wan kill us? abi dem send you come? God punish your mouth,
Which kind yeye break be that?” Another shouted angrily

“ Yes – dem send una come? – you and your woman? where she dey self?” A broad shouldered thug shouted angrily and made for the smoking car.

The crowd suddenly turned towards where Lizzy had been standing. They were all shocked when none of them saw her slim frame there again – she was gone.

*******

Mr. Alfred Richmond, a middle-aged Briton in his early 60s stared admiringly at the beautiful city of Abuja from the comfortable leather seat of the black Prado Jeep that conveyed him from the Azikwe International Airport into the capital city that afternoon. Seated beside him with a beaming smile was Victor, smartly dressed in a black suite, white shirt and a multi colour tie. On the wheel was Jerome Gamuka another member of the syndicate in neat blue chauffeur uniform and a cap to match. It was a sunny day and the air-condition in the car relaxed any worry on the minds of the passengers and cool the sweat and heat on the expensive blue suit and blue shirt on Alfred Richmond’s fat frame.

He was actually delighted to be in Nigeria and more excited that he was about to seal the final deal with his Nigerian partners and then finally he could lay claim to owing one of the most lucrative energy distribution companies in the country. He was glad to have wisely invested in the country’s privatized power sector and he consciously believe that he could ripe off millions from his investment in the next couple of years or even months depending on his strategy and plans to rebrand and reorganize the management and the company itself. All these ran through his mind as he admired the fast moving traffic and the crowded city.

‘’ So we go straight to the office to finalize the deal and then back to the hotel to celebrate,’’ Victor assured him with his broad smile.

‘’ Yes, yes, I think we should do that, work first, then merry later,’’ Alfred responded excitedly, his eyes roving around the Central Bank Building and other high rise structures around.

‘’ Beautiful city, never knew Nigeria is such a rich, big city,’’ he added.

‘’ Really, you’ve seen nothing yet, Mr. Alfred, the boss has a surprise for you at the gala night later,’’ Victor informed him as their car make a u-turn and headed towards the National Privatization Agency with their excited prey smiling broadly all the way to their trap.


*******
The National Privatization Agency sits within one of the properly arranged districts of Abuja, with its striking tall elongated structure dominating almost all the other rich structures within the high brow business district. It is therefore not mere saying that hundreds of corporate deals pass through most of the tastefully furnished offices in the building on a daily bases; deals worth billions of naira. From the enticing banking sector, lucrative oil deals, genuine telecommunication businesses and down to the fast rising printing and publishing sector of the Nigerian economy.
Few cars with bored and excited looking passengers drove in a row in and out of the heavily guarded gates. Parked few meters from the gate was a black police patrol van with four heavily armed uniformed policemen with alert suspicious eyes. A navy blue 506 Peugeot with two passengers suddenly approached them. The two young looking passengers in mufti dropped and smiled up to the team.

“Good morning officer and gentlemen, how is work?” one of them, a tall slim guy around thirty one or two greeted them. His colleague a stocky looking youth in his late twenties with a short bead and a set of thick arms and broad chest trailed after him calmly. They were both smartly dressed in Chinos and blazers, dark sunglasses, with Blue-tooth hanging from their ears.

“We are fine here,” the senior officer among the policemen, a clean shaved Inspector answered with grumble, and then shook the young men extended hands reluctantly. How he hated these young boys in mufti and their different security gadgets like the one hanging down from their ears and their expensive coats and blazers. He thought silently, his eyes betraying no emotion. If not for education, the political corruption and bureaucracy in almost all the government establishments in the country; boys like this two were supposed to be his ‘boys’ with full authority to shout at them and order them to salute him respectfully. If not, he would have no alternative than to witch-hunt them out of the force; something many of his subordinates and colleagues knew him well with. He told himself and then stared suspiciously at the two young men and wondered what they were doing at the place this morning, outside their jurisdiction which was supposed to be inside the NPA building, not outside as they were presently doing.

“Hope no problem?” he finally asked suspiciously, unable to cancel his curiosity any longer, his eyes searched for a clue from the smiling detective in mufti known as Mai-Coins.
Mai-Coins ignored his question; he stared at the other policemen instead, a bored looking sergeant and two excited looking young constables who both yawned at the same time and carried on with their boring sentry duty.

“ No problem Inspector. We are just on routine check and to put you on alert in case something went wrong with one of our operations that might likely commence soon.” Mai-Coins finally answered.

The Inspector shifted his bulky frame and then stared curiously at the two young men. He suddenly hated them more, including their over propagated agency. He hated their impromptu plans, their overpaid salaries and worst of all their pampering from both the government and the general public.

“What do you mean by something going wrong? And what kind of operation is that?” he demanded from the two men, his eyes still cancelling his emotion.

Mai-Coins grinned thoughtfully at him, glanced at his colleague and then gently shook his head. “Strictly confidential for now Oga Inspector, but we would inform you on what to do immediately we are certain our suspects are here. Just relax and be on the alert – they are smart and very cunning.” He told the gathering, nodded to his colleague and they both sauntered back to their car. He abruptly paused, turned and returned to the patrol team. “Sorry Inspector, before I forget.” He apologized, fetched out a photograph from the inner pocket of his blazer, smiled down on the female face on the photograph, and then passed it over to the curious Inspector.

“We want to believe that this is the female member of the gang. So be careful and watch out for her” he told the gathering, turned and sauntered back to their car and then drove away.

The Inspector glared cruelly at the photo and his shaved wrinkled face screwed into suspicious. He lifted his shaved head and stared more apprehensively at every passerby on foot and inside the various cars around.