CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

The Big Screen Mall without mincing words is one of the most outstanding entertainment centers in Abuja, and no doubt among the best in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. Seated on a vast expanse of land, right behind the Shehu Yar’adua centre, the structure with its milk colour painting stood out boldly from the background of another imposing building with blue tinted glasses. It was at this exclusive mall that Colour took Ken Solomon to on Wednesday. They had departed on Monday with an agreement to meet on Wednesdays after Colour might have carried out some background checks on some of the information KS had provided him with a promise to call him the next day to fix were to meet.

They met at the junction of Shehu Yar’adua centre; KS in his rented taxi and Colour inside his trademark beetle and from there they had drove into the big parking space of the Big Screen Entertainment Centre after KS had instructed his driver to take the day off. The sunny afternoon carried along with it a scorching heat and Colour suggested they take a sit at the tidy outdoor bar not far away from the entrance leading into the arcade. KS nodded and they isolated themselves on a table away from the few customers engrossed in different discussions and lunch.

‘’ So what do you have for us?’’ KS asked as they settled down for some drinks. He had declined the glass cup on his table and rather sipped his Guinness Stout straight from the bottle.

‘’ Something encouraging’’ Colour replied filling his cup from a bottle of Night Train Express.

‘’ Really. Then that is good news. A wonderful one since I came.’’ KS replied with an excited look.

‘’ There is someone here we have to see. But it could be tricky, depending on how we played our cards.’’ Colour said, sipping his drink.

‘’ Who is this guy’’

‘’ I don’t know him, but I have a description’’

‘’ So how do we see him? And what is this about carrying some dollar bills?’’ KS asked and lit a cigarette with a curious look.

‘’ We wait here and watch out for him. I will spot him when I see him. Just relax and enjoy your drink. I will make things clearer to you as things unfold’’ Colour assured him with a grin.

‘’ I am all eyes.’’ KS responded with a chuckle.


**********
The meeting of the Free-Hands continued into the next day and it was during their next day meeting that they met Special Agent Hadiza of the EFCC online. Though, they never knew she was part of the crime fighting commission, it was Skinny who as head of the Free-Hands internet activities that met her. The group had agreed and concluded on the need to broaden their horizons business wise and invest in some legitimate business like the fledging Nigeria oil sector and pump in some money into real estate and hotel business. The most important thing on their mind was to ensure that they never gave back a kobo to their victims. Although Skinny had listened attentively to Smoke and the others as they rolled out their ideas about the investments, his mind was silently deliberating on the best way to bring up the issue of splitting the money and let everyone do whatsoever he or she desires to do with his share. However, he knew this was not the right moment to go into the issue again having lost his esteem yesterday. So, he had nodded wryly to their ideas and partly succumbed to their final decision with a self promise to find a way out. The meeting ended and everyone headed to their respective rooms to cool off in their suites.

The way came to Skinny in his hotel room as he smoked a joint and sipped from a bottle of Jonnie Walker, and his smart brain hacked into some unsuspecting rich websites on the internet. With the others now away from him and the sun almost fading out from the sky, succumbing to a breezy evening with a lot of promises, he browsed the internet from his big bed and hacked into few websites, a hobby he cherished doing whenever he had time to practice his skills. He was still browsing an hour later when a blink on his system informed him of a new mail on his box. Skinny never underrates any mail as he was an expert himself on letter writing and business proposal. So, lighting a cigarette, he sipped his drink and clicked on his mail box. The latest mail he noticed was a local mail from Nigeria and he felt disappointed. He always looked forward to mails from abroad. This gives him the opportunity to know some new white men and women to direct his next dubious letters to.

He hissed, and was almost clicking off the new mail when the headline suddenly caught his criminal mind ‘’INTEREST TO BUY SHARES IN NAIJA-PHONES.’’ He sat up curiously and slowly clicked the mail open and then carefully read through the short but concise note. The mail was from a company that called itself Fingers Consultants, a firm in Nigeria representing Clean Mobile, one of American’s biggest mobile phone network companies and one of the most efficient in the world.

The crafty mail read:

Dear Sir,
We write as representative of Clean Mobile Company USA, and seek to have an audience with your representatives to discuss the possibility of our client interest to invest in your mobile company Naija-Phones as soon as possible.
This is in response to your earlier letter of invitation titled: PHONES FOR 100 MILLION PEOPLE. We are delighted to inform you that our client after much consideration and consultation has finally decided to invest in your company through the acquisition of some substantial shares worth millions of dollars.
The budgeted amount we shall disclose after meeting with your representatives to iron out all the necessary agreements. We shall be glad if you can fix a date and the venue of the meeting at your earliest convenience.
Please find below the original copy of your letter of invitation.
Thank you for taking your time through our response and we look forward to a mutual business understanding and partnership with you.
Sincerely Yours,
Cynthia Moses
Head Business Development
Fingers Consultants

Skinny a broad smile on his face, carefully read the letter, his greedy eyes darted quickly to their own letter and he read each paragraph of his letter with relish.
The mail had read:

Dear Sir,
It is our pleasure to inform your honorable firm of our conclusive decision to finally put our esteem telecommunication company NAIJA PHONES up for privatization. We hereby wish to invite you as one of the first bidder for this potential business with a visible and realistic market of providing communication for more than a hundred million subscribers.
It is our delight to invite you to our Homepage on our website www.naijaphones.com for more information.
Thank you for taking time to go through our letter and we hope this will form the basis of a long working business association with you and your amiable company.
Yours sincerely,
Elder Walter Micheal Orosu
For: Naija Phones.

He stared thoughtfully at the screen, his brain could not recollect if he had actually sent out a letter to any company known as Clean Mobile.USA, during his numerous phishing and syndication of scam letters across the internet, neither could he remember if any member of the syndicate had sent out any Whaling mail on their behalf; this was doubtful, because every mail and any correspondence sent out by the Free-Hands had always originated from him and passed through the group mail box, which only him and Smoke had access to. Could Smoke possibly send out a mail without his consent and advice? He tried to reason as he re-read the mail.

He quickly clicked on the sent mailbox and browsed through all the sent mails and was not too surprised when he did not find the original copy of the sent mail to Clean Mobile. Smoke or whoever among them had sent the mail must have deleted the evidence he concluded, and a wry grin suddenly appeared on his face. He knew he had methodically constructed the ‘bait’ letter as they called the letters they sent out to various potentially suckers across the world. However, this time they had decided to focus first on American rich men and women in the United States and the syndicated letters had been the same, but not too much not to keep a copy on their sent box. He reasoned his mind debating on the next step to take.

He sat broadening for some few minutes between five sticks of cigarettes and after almost empting the bottle of Jonnie Walker, he finally came to a decision. He picked his laptop, and resent the mail from Fingers Consultants into his private mailbox and then sat down to compose a quick response to the mail; a self-decision he took without the consent of Smoke and the others. He stared proudly at his creative letter, grinned and clicked the sent button. He waited to make sure the mail had been delivered and then deleted the sent mail and the original letter from the gang mailbox, clearing any evidence of any received mail from Fingers Consultants.


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