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Chief shook his head stiffly and by that singular motion i took note of his well hidden discomfort. "No. He's my... Second". An unspoken conversation passed between the two men as they stared at each other for some tense seconds that seemed like ages. Before the man smiled patronizingly, more like a reptillian contortion of his face, and got up. Idly, i took note of his expensive looking suit and his neat looking designer shoes. He spoke up again, much softlier than before, "You should bring him around sometime... Introduce him to the family" with that and a merry wave directed at me, he was gone. The study was enveloped in a void-like silence, a silence which i broke by clearing my throat of a nonexistent snot blockage and wordlessly dropping a pouch of white powder on chief's study desk. That seemed to rouse him from his troubled silence and he gave me a wan smile, "Where have you been?"

A muffled sound of affirmation filtered through the aesthetically pleasing oak double doors of the study and i walked in. Chief sat on his chair, nose clean, table clean and the room devoid of its trademark early morning brewery/cigar smell, much to my befuddlement. An unfamiliar figure sat before him and instinctively, my hand went to the waistband of my trousers and hovered over the grip of the concealed weapon underneath. Both chief and the stranger turned to look at me as one, and an unfamiliar expression briefly flitted across chiefs face before he quickly schooled his features. The stranger gave me an appraising once over, turning to chief once he was done, "Your son?"

I fought down the urge to slam my head repeatedly against my steering wheel in frustration amidst the metallic grating sounds of the gate being opened. It was a few minutes past ten in the morning and chances were, chief was either drunk or doped up on his diminishing supply of white powder. I parked and got out of the vehicle, thoughts of chief going off on an intoxicated tirade on me plaguing my thoughts as i crossed the front door and headed up the stairs to chiefs study. Bracing myself, i gave three systematic raps on the door and waited, shoulders squared, jaws set and my face devoid of all traces of the internal nervousness i felt.

Make una no carry vex pour me spit abeg. Incoming update

Daybreak came quickly and suddenly, only the years of discipline gave me the required strength to arise from my unmade mattress and put on my clothes. I had made a silly error last night by not calling Chief last night to inform him on my whereabouts and my battery was dead, i needed to get back to the villa asap. Shutting the door behind me. I knocked on the door opposite mine... No response. Looks like Fortune (my junior brother) was still in school. Putting the thought aside i made my way to my younger sister's room. She opened the door before i could knock. "You're leaving? You just got here nau" needless to say, she didn't sound thrilled at my planned departure. I gave her an apologetic smile (and a few N500 bills just in case), "sorry about that Kate, this wasn't a visit. I just needed a place to crash and i didn't want to spend money on a hotel" i placated. She nodded reluctantly, "Mummy isn't up yet, daddy is in bathroom". I planned my escape route with the provided intel and was off.

CHAPTER FIVE: As i suspected, my final task had seen me stay outdoors till the late hours of past eleven. The drive down to my fathers house wasn't a particularly long one, in a total of 35 minutes i was already knocking on the decorated iron door that served as the central entrance to my father's house. Sometime last year, i had offered to erect a fence around the premises, but he had shot the idea down and i had to settle for changing the wooden doors to iron. It didn't mean that i wouldn't keep pestering him till he caved to my demands. The door swung open a bit and a single eyeball peered at me, before swinging open with full force as i was hugged (more like tackled) by my younger sister. I hushed her excited squeals and bushed a few 500 naira wads to make her more compliant. With a conspiratory smile, she guided me to my old room and giddily bid me goodnight. I silently shut the door, i would deal with the rest of my family in the morning, but for now the allure of sleep was too strong to be ignored.

I kept maintained a speed on the moderately higher side, the day had been as exhausting as it had been fruitful, but i still had one more thing to do. I checked my time, my next assignment would be taking me to the outskirts of town and a tad closer to my village... Maybe if i couldn't make it back today, i could crash at my family home. Lord knows i needed time away from the urban hustle and bustle.

"You don't have to sound so distressed..." my tone was mockingly soothing, "... Chief always keeps his promises, one more installment and you get to walk away from this hole you dug yourself with no further threats". I didn't wait a second longer for a response, in a flash i was in my vehicle and the next i was speeding off to join the highway. The game of blackmail was to sensitive to afford one the pleasure of enjoying his victims emotional turmoil, treating with a detached, matter of fact approach was my preferred system as it was the (statistically) proven method that ensured i got the money without having to exchange bullets with a victim.

I snatched up the bag, not bothering to zip it up, and hurriedly put it in the trunk. I might've been talking tough and blustering with full confidence, but i didn't trust my present company not to put a bullet in the back of my head, detrimental to their situation as that might've been. Spite could be a powerful emotion after all. As i made to leave, the directors baritone voice gave me pause, "How much longer will these 'meetings' of ours have to go on?". I gave him a wide smile (a rare occurence, one i usually reserved for humbling people with threats).

I rolled my eyes at the pathetic attempt to push my off button, i repeated my initial request "Open it". The goon had no problem complying this time around. As the dragging sound of a zipper being pulled reached my ears, the director gave me a serpentine smile, "good to see that your instincts are as sharp as ever" he commended lightly. "And good to see..." i retorted, flicking away the stub of my last cigarette and fixing him with my trademark unimpressed stare, "... That you're enough of an amateur to think i would fall for the classic parcel bomb trick". A vein on his forehead popped up and throbbed in aggravation filling me withe slight satisfaction. A quick glance at the opened bag filled my visual sensory receptors with rows and columns of neatly stacked 500 naira notes and i didn't need to count it to know that it was complete. An amateur he might have been, but even he wouldn't make a mistake like that... Well, at least i hoped he was smart enough not to.

A beat of confused silence descended on them and i hid a smile behind my palms at their beffudled expressions. Shaking off his confusion, the director began to speak, "I expected to see chief...". I didn't let him finish, "Let's be done with this already. Enough with the faux pleasantries, i have things to do and places to be. Do you have the funds?". I could tell that he didn't appreciate being cut off, but he nodded and waved a signal at the vehicle. Another occupant of the vehicle stepped out with a light blue ghana must go bag, covering the distance and dropping the bag in the space between us before walking back to join the trio. The director grunted, "Your price, as agreed". I gave him a pointed stare, feeling more than offended that after all this time, he still thought me a novice in this game, "Open it" my tone was icy, and with an irritated huff, the director nodded at the newcomer. The newcomer gingerly hefted the bag back to the vehicle and placed it in the trunk, he returned with yet another bag.

I couldn't tell the make of the vehicle (i didn't exactly care), the back door swung open cautiously, a dark man on equally dark shades stepped down and swung the door shut. He approached me gingerly, sweeping his head from left to right in an awkwardly stiff motion and i stifled a derisive snort at the silly attempt at a perimeter sweep being put in display before me. The african james bond nodded to himself, before giving an exaggerated signal to the occupants of the vehicle. The director himself stepped out of the tinted vehicle, and even though i didn't hear it i imagined that he grunted in conjuction with his heaving pot belly that jiggled as he stepped out of the vehicle. Another man stepped out of the vehicle, and the trio approached me with hardened expressions on their faces. Sensing an opportunity to irritate them (they had wasted my time after all), i ignored them for a whole minute (i kept count), breaking the ice as i lit another stick of tobacco, "who wears sunglasses by this time of the day?"

CHAPTER FOUR: A passing glance at my wristwatch told me that it was a few minutes to seven and i felt a blood vessel begin to pulse behind my eyelids, a tell tale sign that my irritation was beginning to rise. Just as i was beginning to contemplate moving on to my next assignment, the bright rays of a halogen bulbed headlight came into view from the distance. I guess even the state director of the DSS wasn't above african time. I lit a cigarette, idly noting that i had only four sticks of tobacco left, and lit it. I couldn't afford to lose my cool when dealing with these intelligence agency types, the fact that i held all the cards didn't give me license to get too cocky or flare up at their laxness. The headlights came to a stop a few feet before me...

I apologize for the somewhat unexpected hiatus, an update in a bit.

Alright, this chapter is done and dusted. Any and all feedback will be appreciated.

The Northern looking agent seemed to fumble around with his words a bit before he managed to get them out coherently, "Who are you?!" he retorted hotly. I smiled inwardly at the question, it would be only right to put him out of his curious state of mind.

With an exaggerated suction of breath, I calmly pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket and dabbed away imaginary flecks of saliva from my face.

With another exaggerated motion, I returned the handkerchief to its place and pulled out my trusty pack of cigarettes. I lit it with the miniature flames of my lighter (I had gotten one on my way here) and blew a thick plume of tobacco smoke right at him.

He coughed unexpectedly at the act and one of his subordinates pulled out his pistol (undoubtedly to frighten me for slighting his superior) only to freeze as the sound of at least a dozen firearms being cocked permeated the morning air.

Good to see that the workers in this part of the farm had heeded my instruction to be armed at all times.

The agents, as one, broke into beads of cold sweat as the threat of being killed by multiple gunshot wounds hung over their heads in an ominous silence.

I discarded the stub of my spent cigarette and lit another one.

“I will repeat my question just this once… What seems to be the problem?”

The silence remained as the agents found themselves incapable of accessing the part of their higher brain functions responsible for speech.

I did the next logical thing at that moment… terrify them even more.

“The fact that they are four of you here implies that the higher ups at the office don’t know that you are here, or maybe they’re aware, but it’s off record. The significance of this little tidbit of info, is that I can decide to let these boys soothe those itchy trigger fingers of theirs by discharging their clips to their hearts content until your incompetent bodies are riddled with enough holes to make people mistake you for Swiss cheese…”
One of them burst hurried mumbling of what could only be prayer.

I fished out a number of notes from another pocket and counted it… eighteen thousand naira.
I handed it over to the wide eyed man before me, he flinched at my sudden movement (I stifled a guffaw) before sheepishly taking the offered money.

“Get out of my plantation. Next time, be sure to send a team that I have a history of transactions with.”

The sprawling mass of green provided by the sheer expanse of moringa and cashew plants made for a vibrant sight.

I took a lungful of the crisp, clean and earthy farm air and smiled slightly as the allure of owning a getaway home surrounded by a farm, tucked away in a remote village grew more and more tempting as I contemplated it.

Brushing off the day dreams, I activated the SUV security systems and proceeded to the farm house on foot.

I returned the greeting thrown my way by the already toiling farm hands in the form of an exaggerated wave towards their direction, before coming to a halt at the garage erected beside the farm house.

I fished out my key set with a metallic jingle and opened the lock, my body on auto pilot as my mind drafted plans for my next set of tasks for the day.

Supervising the harvesting and packaging was the least tasking assignment after all.

My eyes fell on a heavy set Sanyang motor cycle, old, but still operational.

I lugged the two wheeled vehicle outside and mounted it. With a strong kick down on the lever, the motor rumbled to life, a few experimental twists of the accelerator later, and I was off to the centre of the plantation, using the pristinely maintained bush path.

Fifteen dull minutes of riding, accentuated by the rumble of the motorcycle engine and the creaks of the shock absorber, saw me arrive at the centre of the plantation.

I was greeted to the sight of matured and ready to harvest cannabis plants… and the presence of a white, semi-rusted NDLEA van.
.
.
.

I felt my eyebrows crinkle as the beginnings of a frown began to subtly etch itself on my face.

Alighting the bike, I began to walk toward the red vested enforcers who seemed invested in irritating me today.

They were four of them, lightly armed, so that meant that they weren’t new to the business.

One of the agents, a tall man with hard set Northern features, was in the process of making a demand of sorts to the foreman, who in turn fixed him with a deadpan stare.
Clearing my throat behind the agents (their frightened swivel almost made me let out a chuckle) I threw out my question.

“What seems to be the problem?”

Sorry guys, I got banned by the anti-spam bot, apparently my back to back posting na war. I'm on my laptop now so I'll try to make this next update a single, but long one to avoid bot wahala