Thank you for reading.

10 (finale)


Eddy returned in anger. His voice thundered in frustration at the many changes to a house he had only left for forty minutes.

"I won't ask again... What did you do to my brother?" His eyes bore the reflection of a truth he considered could be true.

Ife snapped. "I killed him." She said. Rejoicing in the event of her recent bloodbath.

Eddy couldn't believe his ears. He scattered the table by his side, ripping most of its contents apart trying to ease his frustration. "I'll kill you."

"I don't care!" Ife shouted. "He killed my best friend... took my virginity... How could he think I'll ever love him?"

Eddy pulled himself by the hair, violently, and in all directions. Soon, he crashed to the floor.

"He was a bad man, but he was my brother," his voice had become weaker now, yet he continued. "He was my blood. And you killed him... you killed him, bitch!" He rushed towards her.

Ife flashed the kitchen-knife she had hidden behind her naked body. Eddy took the moment to pause on his steps.

"You think that'll stop me from killing you?"

"No... but your love for me should... We could be together now without any hindrance." Her voice held a taste of fear for her life.

Eddy couldn't believe how naive Ife was at the moment. "I always thought you were the smartest of all of us." He shook his head. Wiped the tears off her eye corners, and looked up with a straight face. "I will kill you, Ife, and make love to your corpse."

He pulled a gun on her - his much priced, never used before (70% silver antique revolver handgun) - It was supposed to be a reminder of the life he never wanted and finally got out off, but the universe kept finding news ways to drag him back in.

A unique form of clarity came over Ife now. She knew where she'd found herself. She wanted adventure, and the past weeks had given her more than she could ever imagine. But now, this was the end of the road for her. Her mind inadvertently flooded through memories, and faces - particularly her mom's, who she hadn't forgiven for unceremoniously leaving her all these years. She knew she was going to die now; though not wanted, she welcomed it. She had avenged her dignity, and was going to die fulfilled.

'I welcome you,' she whispered to herself.


GUNSHOT!!!


***

There possibly couldn't be a sadder man than Barr. Mathews Daniels at the moment. The elder law-man who has invested the greater part of his being alive to the spreading of the law-gospel was on the brink of being tossed away like one who didn't matter; all thanks to messing up with the wrong set of powerful and influential persons.

He held a letter in his hands, as just received from The Ethereal Foundation. The letter served as a reminder that the Foundation owned a large portion of his Firm's shares, hence their ability to merged it with another of the small firms they controlled - Tiffany-Jane's Chamber. Worst part was that he was no longer CEO, in the person of Mr. Patrick (the newly recruited Financial-Lawyer from Lewis Chambers.) Could life be any much unfair to him: losing his family and job at the same time.

He unlocked the safe in his room, and brought out his gun. It had gathered the dusts of yester-years, with no reason to be used in a very long time. He pointed it with shaky hands to the side of head. He closed the safe's frame-cover to look himself in the shiny surface that double served as a mirror. He saw someone behind him and quickly turned.

"Tiwa!" He shouted.

He dropped the gun in his hand, and ran to hug the love of his life ignoring that he hadn't seen her in over three years.

"Hello Matty!... It's so good to see you again." Tiwa greeted with large smiles.

"I can't believe it's you," Barr. Daniels was overwhelmed with emotions; he seemed disoriented, and couldn't tell what he was actually doing again. He put down the gun, and continued panting round the room.

"Ife needs to see you... no... Ife, wants to see you."

Tiwa wiped the tear trying to escape. "I know." She cleared her throat. "And I know where she is."

They heard the gunshot from Enoch's apartment, where Ife was.

Barr. Daniels countenance changed.

"I'm sorry for this, Matty, but they're making me do this."

Barr. Daniels looked stunned. He tried to move, but she pulled a gun at him, and fired before he could reach for his.


***

Ife opened her eyes to see Eddy fall before her. She couldn't see the person who fired the shot; she couldn't see anything because the apartment's light went off.

"Thank you," she said. She used coy to cover her lady-parts.

"Don’t thank me, thank God.” A voice said from the shadows.

Another GUNSHOT was fired. Ife fell.




Thank you for following the story. A sequel is in the works, and will be premiered ASAP.

09


Ife wasn't going to let her dad talk her out of this the same way he'd halted most of her decisions in times past. His recovery was coming faster than anticipated, thanks to a new wonder drug, a wealthy patron of the Pavilion Hospital made available at no extra costs - Ife had her reservations about his benovalent act, but at the moment was happy to have her papa back. Although, Barr. Daniels was wasting no time meddling in her affairs, trying to control her life for her, she could still tell it was from a place of love. The only thing was that she was wasn't the same Ife he remembered before he felll into a coma. Getting Chris out of police custody as soon as possible was all she wanted at the moment, and the best lawyer she'd known most of her life could do it for her without breaking a sweat, because he was that good.

"How did he end up there?" That was all he wanted to know.

Ife ignored the question. "Do this for me, Dad, and I might ignore a lot of your past sins." She walked out of the hospital room.

Barr. Daniels picked up his mobile-phone.

By the time Ife got home Chris was waiting for her. He greeted her with a kiss as soon as she walked through the front-door. Someone anonymously facilitated bail on his behalf, and he was most certain Ife had something to do with it.

"Thank you, Ife."

Before she could respond, Eddy broke off their embrace with his clenched-fist to Chris' jaw.

"You've stolen my woman!" Eddy shouted.

Ife tried helplessly to separate them.

Chris soon got the upper hand, sending Eddy to the ground with well-calculated, destabilizing blows.

"You keep doing this... stealing my women," Eddy said. His voice emotions-laden.

"That's because you're still what you've always been... a closeted gay."

Eddy summoned his anger and dived at Chris, who happened to be prepared for the attack. Chris held his ground, and greeted his brother's back with his elbow. He threw Eddy off him.

"You're very predictable, Eddy." He laughed.

"I'm done... after this job, I'm done."

Chris didn't seem to care. As long as he was concerned, they've been done a long time ago. And Eddy was free to leave for wherever he wanted. As for him, he knew he has found his redemption in Ife-Mathews Daniels, and he was staying here as long as it took him to transform completely for the better, if she'd have him.

***

11:35 p.m.

Senator Morris' limousine and two convoys drove through the quiet-streets of the New-Lagos City. The City where lives and properties were better secured because people had begun to obey Government and traffic rules.

BOOM!!!

An explosion took out the convoy in front from under. The limousine and back-convoy scampered for control and direction.

"Control one... What's your status?" Senator Morris' personal bodyguard with him in the limousine called the blown-convoy, should there be survivors. "I repeat, what's your status?"

Still no reply.

"No response, Sir; they might all be dead," He reported to Senator Morris.

BOOM!!!

Another explosion. The magnitude from Convoy 2 caused the limousine to screech on the slippery road (littered with grease.) The driver struggled to maintain control.

A masked man appeared out of nowhere and stood before with a bazooka over his shoulder. He fired by the side of limousine, causing it to lose balance and bounce off its tires. It landed on its roof.

Two others came from the shadows. All three quickly took care of the driver and destabilized members of the security team still living, including Senator Morris' personal guard. They pulled Senator Morris out and pulled a gun to his forehead.

"You’ve got balls. Whoever you are," Senator Morris said with his weak breath.

"No... I don't." Ife took off her mask to reveal her face.

Senator Morris had a surprise look on his face, but soon replaced it with a demeaning look. "You don't know who you're messing with, child."

"I do," Ife retorted, “But I don’t care,” she said, and pulled the trigger.

Eddy removed his mask. "That concludes our business." He threw his gun to the brother and began to walk away.

***

Ife got to her home, and saw her father in the sitting room. She was surprised to see him, not knowing he'd be released from the hospital so quick, and walking.

"What’s happening?" Ife asked, still gripped with shock. Her focus had moved from worrying he father would nag about her coming back late, all clad in black, to how her father suddenly recovered, almost perfectly within a space of two days. All these had to do with Senator Morris' visit. "What have they done to you, Dad?"

"Nothing... I guess." He responded, unsure if he was giving the right answer. "I feel very fine though."

"You certainly would... that's how it starts... I've watched a lot of movies to know how this works," Ife sounded very distressed.

"Ife!... Ife mi!" He called her repeatedly, without a reply. She continued to walk up the stairs.

"I can't take this anymore... I'm leaving." She said.

***

Ife appeared at her neighbor's door holding a portable traveling bag in hand. One would think it was meaningless leaving an accommodation just for the one at its side, but Ife didn't care; this was where she needed to be.

Chris answered the door. They hugged, deep and long. Still at the door side, locked in each other's embrace. Eddy same by, carrying a large bag of his own; he was leaving his brother, for the first time in ten years since they made a pact to always love and be there for one another. They were splitting now, because of a woman.

Once out, Ife and Chris ravage at each other.

Ife ripped his shirt's buttons, exposing his finely chiseled body, fairer than his already fair-face. She let her fingers pucker his perfect abs to the beauty of the moment. He was a creature of light to her now, and if there was something she had learnt recently, it's how to devour creatures of the dark posing as those of lights.

***

The sound of broken glass filled the quiet space. Eddy helped himself in, careful not to let his skin grace the glass debris all around. He'd been at the front-door for more than ten minutes without any response. He was on his way to leaving the city for good, to begin his healing process; he didn't want to know what sort of thing Ife and his brother were doing at the moment that they couldn't attend to the door.

He went through the kitchen to access the room downstairs, were he remembered he left his other stack of escape-money. He'd almost being successful I'm cutting off the entire apartment, but caught the sight of blood. He retraced his steps by two, and followed the trail that only got larger and more concentrated. He pulled out his pocket knife and walked stealthily towards the ajar-door that welcomed the trail.

"What happened here?"

Ife looked up to him. Her eyes caught his. Tears filled hers as her naked body shook in the blood bath.

Eddy looked at the mouth of her feet, and took a second painful look at his brother's corpse. He squinted his eyes in pain. "What did you do?"

Ife looked up in more pain. "We were attacked."

"LIAR!!!

He quickly turned, saying he was going to look at the house's CCTV.

Ife quietly picked up the bloodied kitchen knife that lay by Chris' corpse, and followed quietly after him.

"Where's the bloody CCTV?"

She heard Eddy ask in frustration. That was very unusual. The knife fell off her hand in panic.

08


Ife sat quietly at the side of the bed her father's head laid. Most of her mental energy were sucked by her consciousness trying to process the activities of the last few hours than listening to the speech of the person before her.

"Ife!" The man called.

She still wasn't paying him attention, until his bodyguard snapped his fingers, bringing her back to reality.

"Yes."

"Did you hear all I said?"

Ife turned to her right, and stared intently at her father's shut eyes. She quickly turned them to the senator awaiting her reply. "Not really." Her voice sunk further. The encounter with the detectives who left about three hours ago still weighed heavily on her mind. The police were out searching for Naomi for her worried family; especially for a mother worried that something terrible had happened to her daughter. What troubled Ife the most was her inability to help the family find an answer even when she had the only answer they'll ever need -

Naomi's dead. And she wasn't coming back. The faster the family knew this, the faster they'll be able to grief and recover.

"Hey!" Senator Morris snapped his fingers at Ife himself. "Stay with me, child."

Ife's eyes opened wider than they've tried to for the past ten minutes this dreamy conversation had dragged on. She saw the body-guard pass an envelope to the Senator - who she hated the instant he walked through the door.

"Accept my condolence with this." He said, and stretched forth his hand holding the envelope to Ife. "Two hundred thousand dollars should be enough to make you happy again.”

The mention of the envelope's content caused Ife to withdraw her hand before it caught up with the Senator's. 'Who was he to put a price tag on her pain?'

"Who are you to put a price on my pain?" Ife wasted no time asking. Her voice bore pain and anger, and frustration.

Senator Morris remained calm. The smile at the closed corners of his mouth refused to depart amidst the brewing commotion.

"I'm Senator Morris... Chairman, Board of Directors, The Ethereal Foundation, dear child," he calmly answered her question.

"Get out!"

The bodyguard wanted to come forward, possibly to quiet the annoyingly loud and obnoxious Ife-Mathews, but was halted by the command of Senator Morris' hand gesture. This show of power and control only angered Ife the more; her voice grew fiercer - it properly conveyed her anger.

The Hospital's Nurses soon gathered, but on seeing that the person at the receiving end of the insults was no other person than Highest Patron and Benefactor, Senator Morris, no one dared raise a voice or finger to assist the distressed Ife.

Ife took matters into her own hands and physically pushed both men out of her father’s room. Her back rested against the door. She lowered herself down gently, letting her hands momentarily covered her face in the process.

Barr. Mathews Daniels left hand twitched. Ife caught it... or she thought she did. Probably it was her mind playing tricks on her.

"Ms. Daniels!" An unexpected voice called from behind. Ife turned to see one of the Police detective duo that came earlier to interrogate her concerning Naomi.

"Not now!" Ife snapped, and turned back to stare at her father.

"I'm afraid you need to come with me... we've found your friend, Naomi."

Ife's mouth came agape for many reasons. She slowly turned to the Detective. "Let's go."


***

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

Chris expressed his facial surprise that Ife would greet him, but not his twin she had more than once explicitly implied she was more comfortable with. Her skill at almost completely differentiating between them at all times through facial expressions and countenances helped her maintain character, especially with her ongoing-grudge against Eddy for depriving her the satisfaction and closure killing Six-Six was supposed to give her.

"Don't read meaning into it." She said; implying that her greeting him was to make Eddy more pained. "Anything to cause him more pain and distress."

Chris liked the idea. He wasted no time in telling her the fastest way to break Eddy's heart totally was by having sex with him. The idea still grossed Ife, but she leisurely played it down. Her eyes caught Eddy's in the distance, and she quickly broke contact.

"The Police found Naomi's body... I suspect they're unto us," Ife said of her second summon to the station.

“Unto my brother and I. Not us,” Chris corrected.

Eddy rushed in. "What did you just say happened?"

Ife stopped talking. She wanted to walk away, but Chris held her back by the arm.

"They know I hang out a lot in this house now, thanks to the street camera... but I took care of the rest,” Ife said as she forced Chris to let go of her arm.

Eddy had his reservation, but thought it best to keep his comments to himself at this time.

Ife walked to the refrigerator and returned with a bottle of iced-tea. The tasty feel caused her to munch her lips more than required. "I have someone I need you guys to help me take care of."

Her statement shocked the twins.

"I think we made a fast-killer out of this one," Chris said to his brother, and laughed.

Ife joined him to laugh a little, and continued. "His name is Senator Morris. He is the leader of The Ethereal Foundation, and I want him dead."

"Does he have anything to do with your biological father's death?" Eddy interrupted.

"I don't care... he pissed me off."

The bottle slipped through her grasp, crashing to the floor.

Eddy didn't like the idea; worse, he didn't like that his brother was leading her on with false ideas of how taking enemies off the playing board was extremely fulfilling. He walked away, further into the house, in frustration.

Ife liked the idea that her actions were eating deep into Eddy’s psych; she wanted to hurt him more. She grabbed Chris the moment Eddy was out of the space but still within earshot. The sounds of their lips locking caught Eddy's attention and causes him to freeze on his steps. Ife's loud moans that followed causes his mind to flash him gruesome images of how much his action that night messed things up everything, and pushed Ife to a downward spiral, messing up her already perfect life.


***

Ife rushed away to the hospital the instant she received the message that her father was out of the coma and was asking for her. Chris didn't really mind her hurriedly leaving, even though he was enjoying their blissful time cuddling from the after effect of their amorous disposition.

She hurried through the hospital's aisle trying to get to her father's room as soon as possible. She arrived the room but was taken aback by the empty bed. She looked around for any staff to offer her distorted mind a little piece of sanity, but saw none; she then recalled that this was the ICU unit: he was out of coma so he wouldn't be here anymore. She doubled back to the floor reception before she was able to find her way. A lot of thoughts flew through her mind while she stood before the door; the truth she had sort for a while and the once she had been avoiding lay at the other side, and for the first time in a long while, the truth of how overwhelming her situation was finally set in.

She finally pushed the door.

"Ife!... Ife mi!" Barr. Daniels called out; his eyes bore signs of one who had just finished crying. "They said I won't be able to use my legs again." He burst into another round of lamentation; pushing the Doctors and Nurses away as he did so.

"O my God!' Ife covered her mouth with her palms.

"No!... that's not it," The Doctor with him spoke up. "I'm Doctor Azeez." He stretched forth his hand to Ife.

Ife was too overwhelmed with shock to properly shake his hands.

"He was shot close to the spinal cord. I only said there was a chance he might not recover the ability to use his legs again... we only need to pray for a perfect miracle of healing," Dr. Azeez said.

The explanation bore better bearing for Ife than the pronouncement her father had shocked her with. She ran over to the bed side to give the man a warm embrace.

"I love you, Dad... legs or no legs."

Dr. Azeez walked out.

"I have a lot to tell you... you must listen," Barr. Daniels began.

He sure did have a lot of confessions to make. He spoke about his actual involvement in Ife's biological father's death. It was Tiwa, Ife's mother's idea to sell Josiah out. This was because he had loved Tiwa for years, and when The Foundation provided a reason to take Josiah out of the playing field because of his stoic and un-budging principles that was getting in the way of The Foundation's secret big plan. Tiwa promised that if Josiah died, she'd marry him and all three of them will live like a happy family. But that never happened, because Tiwa never returned after the events of that day. Her gain in the entire event still remained a mystery to him. He on the other hand, gained a lot of money from The Foundation; he pumped into his Firm, which was only a room apartment prior to all that. He mentioned Senator Morris as a key player in all of these.

"I am sorry, Ife," he pleaded in tears. "I'll understand if you don't want to see me again, but I beg for your forgiveness." His tears became more flooded. "It's been difficult living with myself, and you these past years... my conscience has been my daily judge."

"So... you actually killed him."

Ife tried unsuccessfully to completely wipe her tears away. Her instincts were right from the beginning. The same way her instincts to kill Senator Morris today was right. She had a job to see through.


***

"This is the Police, and we're coming in."

The front door fell with force. Men of the force trooped in, and circulated the entire house within seconds. Two surfaced later with Enoch - their reason for being here.

"You're under arrest Mr. Enoch, as a suspect in the death of Ms. Naomi Hayjay.”

Enoch couldn't believe it. He laughed. "You guys can't be serious."

"We are." A young officer surfaced. "I almost forgot to read you the most interesting part... you're also under arrest for your involvement in the robbery at Highlanders New Generation Bank few weeks back."

Enoch squeezed his face hard.

"I got you right!" The officer laughed. "My name is Charles Obi, and I'm the lead Detective on your matter... I'm the one to make sure your suffer terribly for your crimes."

As the Police left the house with Enoch in tow, Ife watched from a little distance. The moment they left, she ran to the house. Another of the Enoch twins followed shortly behind her.

"Hey!" He greeted first.

"Hey!" Ife responded without looking back. She cringed over fate and its excuse at making karma a pain in everyone's business. "How do we get Chris back?" She asked.

07


The room was calm - silence alone spoke. The atmosphere held the tension of the mood before a tsunami exploit. Ife was trying hard to prove her worth, lest she be sent the same place Naomi now permanently resides.

"He's also tall."

The Enoch twins looked at Ife again, this time with much amazement. Chris in particular marveled at how useless and helpless her information was. "You can't even describe Six-Six. How then do you help us kill him." He said with clear annoyance.

"He always wears a mask... A black one with an orange spot below the left eye."

This piece of information caught them perfectly. Anyone who's ever had an encounter with Six-Six knew he always wore his signature mask at all times, hence his dastard reputation. The only thing any living soul can attest to his facial characteristic are the stern looks both his eyes bore through the mask - whoever was unlucky to see his real face was certainly dead now. Chris remembered that one time a new recruit barged into Six's restroom without invitation, and paid the price for his unwarranted discovery with his life.

"Go on!" Eddy beckoned her. He wanted to hear all she had to say.

"I have a phone to reach him."

"Give it to us." Chris commanded. He was about to go over her position and ransack her if need be, but was stopped by his twin brother. "Let her be," Eddy appealed. Chris would have none of it , even as he shrugged his brother off.

Eddy tried to calm him enough to see reason. “Without Six-Six our lives become better."He said.

"I want him dead," Ife interrupted them. "He killed my biological father... and put my adopted father in the hospital now."

Chris wondered out loud how she knew all these. "Without facts to back up, all her words were mere speculations."

But Ife was already certain about his involvement in her biological father's fate; she knew this through the file she stole from her adopted father's room days ago; all she needed was to confirm his involvement in the house-shooting she and her adopted father had to endure. "This I would know when we capture him," she said.

"What are you waiting for?... make the call," Chris said with a smirk.


***

At the end of the call, the trio were armed with the information of Six-Six’s intended where-about by 8:00 p.m. tonight. He was expecting Ife as an emissary of The Ethereal Foundation as she claimed to be having passed some minor code-tests.

The mobile phone had a secure line which was totally untraceable. She found the entire package in the cabinet where she stole the file from her father's room, this armed her with enough info the act as though she was with The foundation.


***

8:10 p.m.

Six-Six surfaced from the shadows. He crept towards the side of the walk-way that bordered and demarcated the sewer. Ife was momentarily startled. He'd been observing from the shadows to better read the seemingly harmless girl, The Foundation had sent to talk with him on their behalf. Because he came alone, he wanted to be sure she did also. His deduction was an obvious error he discovered almost immediately: The Enoch twins appeared from the same corner he'd been hiding. Apparently, they came earlier than him, and had spent the greater time gathering surveillance.

"I should have known," Six-Six said the moment he saw the twins faces. "It was the both of you behind the call."

They separated, Chris came from his left side and Eddy from the right. "Yes we are," they both chorused. "And you're not leaving here alive today," Eddy quickly added, touching his gunshot injury as a reminder to Six-Six why they were doing this.

Six-Six laughed.

Chris rushed at him first. He threw the first punch, but it did little to slow down the growling monster that was Six-Six. He soon had Chris' neck by his right-hand, and sent him flying feet backward.

Eddy was next - head first he flew. He got the jam he hoped for, but at the prize of his back which was almost broken save for Ife's intervention. She fired at Six-Six. The bullet pierced his left hand. It still did little to stop him - he was very angry now.

He used the same left-hand to pin Eddy to the wall.

Chris quickly rushed back and slammed a baseball bat he brought with him at the back of Six-Six's head.

That was it.

It took roughly ten minutes and a lot of water to wake him up. He was tied really good; bound hands and feet like an animal about to be offered as a burnt offering.

"Tell me what you did to my father?"

Six-Six smirked; he refused to say anything damning, but sort to get into her head and play with her thoughts.

Ife slapped him. She threw the punch, but she felt the pain: that was how ripped Six-Six was.

"You killed him... Say it!"

Six-Six laughed loud again. "Maybe I killed him, maybe I didn’t. I really can’t tell,” he said with his very deep-voice.

Ife was broken emotionally. She turned to the first twin her eyes rested on - Eddy. "Do something. Please!" Her eyes pleaded more than her voice ever could at this moment.

"That's enough." Eddy commanded Six-Six, his laughter was getting louder and crouching on all their nerves.

Six-Six continued laughing.

Eddy got angrier and fired at him.

"No!" Ife turned and screamed. She rushed to Six-Six's body. "Talk to me... who shot at him?... Who called the shot on my father?"

He was already motionless.

She ran towards Eddy, and gifted him a resounding slap. "You killed him!... you were supposed to get him to talk, not kill him." Her tears were overflowing. “He was my only link to answers.”

Chris, stood away laughing: simply because Eddy, the good one, had finally done something wrong.

Ife's attention was turned to Six-Six's body; it just fell into the sewer.


***

The walls of the hospital room had an aura, one Ife was familiar with from her home. She knew it was because of the lilies. Barr. Mathews-Daniels loved the scent of lilies a lot. The lilies might be much at the garden at their home, but the place missed one ingredient that made it perfect - it missed her Dad. Still in a coma, he looked helpless, and under intensive care before her eyes. Ife wished so much to tell him how much she loved him. The many arguments that plagued them recently made her sad now; she wished they could unsay a lot of the things said, but that could only happen with a miracle, and she prayed desperately for one.

A nurse entered the room, to summon her. She saw two perfectly dressed men waiting for her outside.

"Good day Ms. Ife-Mathews Daniel." One greeted. He was light skinned, slightly taller than the other.

"Good day."

"Not to be alarmed, but we're here just to discuss your friend's whereabouts ... Naomi."

The mention of Naomi's name caused Ife's eyes to pop. "She's missing, and we want to know everything that happened the last time you saw her."

06



"He's Eddy, and I'm Chris."

One brother seemed to be finding the events of the day funny - Chris.

Naomi and Ife sat with their hands tied backwards to a metal-pole behind them; both wanted an explanation for what was going on. How exactly were there two Enoch? Naomi was more outspoken about their present condition. Ife observed more than she muttered to herself: she felt she was going crazy. In the midst of her conflict she could tell Eddy was the one with the gun-injury, because of the way he walked with obvious discomfort.

"I really don't understand what's happening," Naomi spoke out: she wasn't really one to be intimidated by anything, especially not by a set of twins trying to play a fast one on her and her best friend.

"You think this is a joke?" Chris asked her. His anger was as fierce as his bold voice.

"You've been kidnapped, and you think it a joke!"

"You think I'm scared of you?" Naomi retorted.

She threw a glance at Ife; but she wouldn't respond with words as she expected.

Chris laughed in a sarcastic manner, the way common to scary movies. He asked if she thought she was safe because they had sex not long ago at the hospital's restroom. Naomi shrugged her shoulders and blinked her eyelids uncontrollably, she thought his reason right. He came closer and knelt before her.

"Not to spoil the mood, but you're wrong." His hands found its way around her neck. They tightened themselves in the delight of the sight of her struggle.

"Leave her alone!" Ife shouted. Chris was still having the time of his life; Naomi gasped desperately for help, her hands shook, unable to move and help fight for her life. "Please... let her go," Ife's pleaded with teary eyes.

Naomi struggled less, till she totally stopped shaking.

Ife's face wore the worst look it had in years since her biological father's death. To make things worse, Chris, still exhilarated from the kill wanted to go another round.

"You’re next," he said, and approached her with threatening steps.

"No!... please!... Don't do this," she pleaded in many words. Chris still approached boldly. "I'll do anything... I can help you with your Six-Six problem."

Chris froze on his track and turned to his brother who was still writhing in minute pain. "You told her!" He accused.

"Of course not. I'm not stupid," Eddy said in his defense. He was also interested in knowing how Ife came to know that name.

Ife was at a crossroad, anything she said determined if she lived or died. Her dream the other day had turned out to be useful, at least in buying her extra moments to figure out how to live another day.

"I know you both are scared of Six-Six... And I have information that'll take care of that problem once and for all." Ife began. She had leverage now, all she had to do was use it right.


***

Eddy and Chris had a good deal to argue. Eddy wanted to take Ife on her deal, probably because of the two he was the one who had spent much time on Ife's case-file over the last six months their mission began. He currently thought her an asset; one willing to help them permanently take care of their Six-Six problem.

"I hope it was worth it," Chris said; sarcasm filled the corner of his mouth.

Eddy had a look of bewilderment all over him. "What was?"

"Sex with her," Chris sharply replied.

Ife looked up to Chris with disgust. Eddy untied her in silence.


***

Ife hurried to the balcony, she needed as much clean air as she could get; one doesn't get this close to sying and still not appreciate life. Naomi's corpse still laid on the center-rug of the living-space, but she couldn't bother herself with that now: she needed to keep playing the game well enough to come out of this alive. She looked across to her house, and remembered her father still in coma. She quickly checked her phone for any message from the hospital, but got nothing.


"Hey!"

Ife was stunned. She quickly turned back.

Eddy stood before her; he appeared unsure of the right thing to say to calm the anger he knew was brewing heavily in her.

"Hey." He greeted again, clearing his voice to make it sound better.

"Hey," Ife finally replied. Faking a smile.

"I'm sorry," Eddy started. He consoled himself by placing a hand on the spot of his injury. He apologized for his inability to quickly save Ife from the claws of his crazy brother, Chris. He appreciated her own effort in saving her life. "He sometimes scares me too." He said of Chris.

"We're twins, he and I."

"I figured." She turned her back to him again.

Eddy narrated their origin to her. How he and Chris always acted as each other's alibi. He told the truth of his most recent tale of how he got shot. It was during a misunderstanding at a bank robbery. His shooter was the mysterious, always-masked Six-Six. He also talked about how Chris usually covers for his shifts at work and even went to clear his name off the misunderstanding that caused the police summon the day of the explosion.

"Chris may be a psycho, but he is my brother, and he is good to me."

Ife couldn't take it anymore: his words were torture to her ears, yet, her body yearned for his. She cursed her hormones, and quickly turned to grab his head and ravage his lips. She had fantasized about this moment in various forms, but none was as unsatisfying as this.

"I want to make the sex worth your while, as your brother accused you." She said. Her blouse buttons came undone as fast as those foods fell off her lips; by his hands; the same hands quickly cupped her moderately sized breasts through her bra.

He lifted her, and gently carried their weights till he rested his back on the edge of the balcony for leverage. This was the hit of the moment, and couldn't have been more perfect, under the exposed stars of the night. Anything, just to stay alive.

"Stop!... Stop!"

Ife couldn't ignore the voice when it was certain it wasn't her conscience telling her to.

"That's not me, Ife!"

Ife could see the twin with only a singlet and boxer-short, staggering and holding on to his bleeding side. She jumped off.

"What is going on here?" Ife asked. Her voice shaky with fear and concern.

The twin she was about riding before the revelation came to light stood up, and let out another sarcastic laughter - they were his favorites. He confessed to this being the biggest prank he'd ever pulled using his brother's identity. He was actually Chris, and had hit his brother unconscious just to confirm if Ife could be trusted by feeding her with enough information and gauging her reactions to them. The sex part was a bonus, simply because she offered it.

"You're a bastard!" Ife cursed. She ran to help Eddy, who's gun-shot injury was bleeding again.

"You should be thanking me," Chris said. "I know you wanted it as much as I did... If Eddy cannot give it to you, you know where to find me."

Ife cursed again. This time she also spat on the floor. “Better to sleep with an animal than with you!" She yelled.

05


Ife paced the aisle on the third floor of The Pavilion Hospital in utter discomfort. Enoch's presence seemed to do little to calm her down, especially since neither the Doctors nor Nurses were yet to tell her if the surgery to extract all the bullets from her father's body was successful. The many piercing eyes from other patients and families of patients alike in the waiting room, coupled with the extras of wailing from other wings of the hospital made it more difficult for her to calm herself down.

‘The Doctor will see you now.’

Those were the magic words she desperately needed to hear, but they weren't forth coming.

Naomi surfaced, bearing a bouquet of roses, and good tidings.

"My baby," she said, and enveloped Ife in her embrace. "Don't cry anymore. Mama is here," she said with happiness written all over her face.

Ife enjoyed the warm yet, false security her friend's embrace gave. If her life was actually under threat, by the mysteriously masked Six-Six or whoever shot at them last night, only Christ and his miracles could protect her.

Naomi broke off the embrace. "Hey!... you'll say you can't see me, right?" She beckoned at Enoch, who was rather oblivious to the importance her presence added.

"Hey!" Enoch coldly replied, with a very obvious fake smile.

Naomi took note of his odd reception as did Ife.

"The Doctor will see you now," a slender-looking Nurse, looking her late twenties announced behind Ife.

Ife immediately raced, not minding the many people’s toes she'd step on doing so. Enoch tried following almost immediately, but was held back by Naomi: she needed them to talk in private.


On her way to the Doctor's office, Ife overheard two Nurses gossiping about a topic of interest - The missing CEO of Lewis Chambers, who died and suddenly came back to life. The tale sounded like fairy-tale. It captivated her, and for a little while she was calm; forgetting her own problems as she eave-dropped on another's.

"Can't you see?... Are you blind?" A lady rained insults on Ife.

Ife ran into her, spilling more coffee into her white dress already soiled with coffee. The lady walked away without listening to Ife's attempt at apology.

"That's Beatrice," the Nurse with Ife said, without being asked.

"Who?" Ife asked. Her curiosity caused her to move slowly as she awaited a reply.

"The dead-to- life CEO's ex-girlfriend," the Nurse replied with a chuckle.

They were at the door to the Doctor's office, all gossips ended. The Nurse left without any ceremony. Ife walked in, uncertain about the kind of news she'd be forced to receive.

"Good day," Ife greeted the Doctor, uncertain about what the next few minutes held for her future.

The fine specimen for a Doctor offered her a seat. She gladly accepted.


***

Naomi and Enoch were all over themselves. The had used the last twenty minutes in exploring each other's body none stop, forgetting the main reason that brought them to the restroom in the first place.


By the time Ife came out of the Doctor's office, she decided to go home without either of them; since she would be returning very soon with supplies for her father.

By the time she got to the entrance of her house memories of the shooting started to come back to her; they flooded her head. She shrugged off the inexplicable fear, and turned the doorknob. Blood greeted her as she walked in, dried, and all over the carpet. She had suddenly forgotten the pool of blood her father swam in before the ambulance arrived. She hurried up the stairs, unable to deal with the heavily flooding memories triggered by her immediate environment. She sat on her bed with her face buried in her sweaty palms - discomfort ran wild. After a while of self-absorption, moved to open to try to clear her head.

Enoch caught her attention. She saw him move about his house, through the usual half-closed curtain of his room's window.

His presence here was very unusual. 'Could he and Naomi have arrived home so fast?' She asked herself. Not waiting for an answer from her logic, she ran down the stairs to catch up to him.

"Hey!" Ife shouted. Enoch was already on the move, and he wouldn't look back.

She ran after him in the heat of daylight.

"Enoch!" She shouted, still behind him.

"Hey, babe!" A familiar voice called to Ife from behind. It was Naomi's. The voice caused Enoch to stop moving as well.

She turned back to see her girlfriend standing with him.

There was an Enoch on both sides of her hands.

The Enoch she was chasing turned, and revealed himself to the others, because he wasn't yet visible to them. Ife remained shaken, even as he passed her side.

"O my God!" Naomi shouted.

Both men held the lady closer to his side, and forcefully dragged her into the house.

donkross1:
Oya let's fire more shots .

Dike Nwanne, Onyeoma.

04


"I'm enjoying this. Please continue," Enoch pleaded.

Ife felt more uncomfortable now. She wondered if Enoch was really into the details of her story or the specifics of how they had sex in her dream. She continued; she had a point to pass across.

"I was on top - cowgirl. My left breast fully cupped by your right palm.”

Enoch could feel his erection fighting to breach the hold of his trouser: The tale only made him crave Ife more than he already did.

"We could rehash it again. Here, if your memory is hazy," Enoch suggested, with a smirk.

He stood, and walked towards the refrigerator, unaided, to Ife's surprise.

"I didn't know you could walk perfectly again," she said with joyous smile.

"Continue your story," Enoch said. He turned to face her, revealing his extreme-sized bulge.

The sight pleased and at the same time scared her - Her fantasies ran wild.

"I rode you. Then you flipped me over," she bit her lips as she continued to recount her guilty pleasures. "Until someone came into the room."

Her countenance changed. It was as though she felt the devil, walk in with the heat of hell’s fury. Her brows got soaked by the action of perspiration.

"And?" Enoch inquired. His face bore excitement laced with disappointment.

"He shot you in the head," Ife said.

Silence crept in.

Enoch tried to say something to quell the awkward mood-spoiler. "That was fun too... I guess." He smiled. "It's all part of the dream."

His bulge unwittingly collapsed, and his mood as well.

"He called himself, Six-Six," Ife said. "Does that mean anything?"

Her eyes matched his. Enoch's forehead's skin turned wrinkled. He was obviously taken aback by the mention of the name.

"What did you say?"

Ife repeated the name, “Six-Six.”

Enoch's phone laid on the refrigerator. He dashed for it, and quickly sent a text to an unsaved number. When he was done, he turned to quell Ife's worries that the name from her dream held no much meaning to him in reality.

"Don't worry, it's nothing," he said. "I'll handle it."

But Ife could tell it wasn't nothing: she watched his bulge die.

"Don't you think it's funny?" he asked in reference that the universe was desperately trying to bring them together even after she had repeatedly refuted his proposal to date for months now.

Ife chuckled. She rose from the bed and walked towards Enoch's position. She kissed him, and he wasted no time in returning it. He held both sides of her face in his hands and ravaged its entirety with deep kisses.

"I want you. For real this time," he said.

Ife placed her hand into his wound. It was unusual: she could feel the fresh skin in its depth, but it wasn't bleeding. He screamed in ecstasy, and pushed her away, further unto the bed. He jumped on her.

The sounds of vanity flared... hormones pushed high... inhibitions ran low. The next fifty minutes brought with them a mixture of sin and pleasure.

Enoch collapsed, his back coupling the mattress the bed. Ife, cuddled up to his side. Both young-adults basked in the warmth of the other's unclothedness. When they were done, something that bothered him during their romp forced him to talk, even if it was going to ruin their moment.

"You never told me you were a virgin?"

"Would it have made any difference?" Ife retorted with a question of her own.

Enoch's reply was interrupted by the sound of Ife's buzzing mobile-phone.

"It's my father," she said as she looked at the caller ID. She dropped the phone.

"Aren't you going to pick it?" Enoch asked.

"No!"

All she wanted to do was ride. She mounted him like she described from her dream. "I want you badly," she said.

"Ife, wait." Enoch protested. But she would have none of it. His repeated protests forced her to take a chill and hear what he had to say.

"I have a confession to make as well," he said.

He got her attention.

"I am sorry, but I ..."

Enoch's words started to break. Ife'ss reality started to fluctuate. Everything started to go dark, until only thing left was pitch-darkness in Ife's consciousness.

She opened her eyes to see Enoch seated on a chair before her; she looked at her body, and discovered she was well clothed.

"Where am I?" She asked. Her head dangled. It hurt he real bad.

"Same place you blacked out after crying and drinking all through last night," Enoch answered. "You slept through the entire day."

Ife sat upright and held her head. "So, it was all a dream!" She sighed. Feeling frustrated didn’t take away the fact that the fantasy did please her. Enoch was right; she wanted him badly. But she wouldn't ask.

The news came on TV; the curfew was officially over. She needed to leave; to see her father; to confront him with her recent findings.


Ife turned the door knob, and walked into the living room without fear or worry. As expected, Barr. Daniels was already seated, waiting for her arrival. He almost had the first word but Ife shunned him.

"I know what you did at that Ethereal Foundation's maiden conference," she said.

Barr. Daniels raised his head sharply. His eyes betrayed the straight look he had on his face.

"What do you know? He asked. His stern look persisted.

"It doesn't matter... I'll tell it to the whole world," she said.

Barr. Daniels perceived her words for a threat. He wasn't one to dance to the tune of parlor tricks, even from his daughter. Yet, he apologized for this. "I'm sorry, but you won’t tell any soul whatever it is you know.”

Ife refused his pride-filled apology, she was going to announce to the world that the man that called himself her father was a murderer.

"You killed him. You killed him... everyone must know why!" she screamed. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Wait!" He exclaimed. "Who did I kill?" He let out a little laugh.

Ife pushed him backwards. "You killed my father! You killed Jonah. He was your best-friend, yet you had him murdered!"

"That's a lie... How could I have killed my only true friend? My brother?" Barr. Daniels fought for his own defense.

A car's headlight suddenly turned on. It shone directly into the house through the window without a curtain. Ife wondered who it was playing such prank this late. She wanted to go peep from the window but he held her back.

"Remain here," he said as he drew her back.

He walked forward, and peeped himself, but couldn't see anything because of the bright light. As he turned his head to Ife, he heard the sound of guns corking.

"Stay down!" He shouted, and jumped to cover Ife.

Bullets pierced an opening through every items they met.

When the dust settled, the police and ambulance were already on ground to tend to the injured Barr. Daniels, terribly riddled with bullets. Ife was lucky, he acted as a shield to save her, all she had to deal with was the trauma of the encounter, and minor bruises from debris, which were more than fair enough.

03


Ife’s eyes lazily fluttered. It was a new morning, and time for her morning-ritual. The flooding thoughts of last night’s argument taunted her zeal to rise; her eyes hung heavier than usual and sagged way below their now-bulgy sockets. In the wallow of her discomfort and inexplicable pain she finally forced herself off the bed to serve her dad his cup of coffee before he left for work.

Barr. Daniels immediately parted his lips from the exquisite mug containing his favorite drink; he put it down on the tray. "Ife!" He called for his daughter with a mild, yet loud voice.

Ife surfaced with a plain face that read, I bear no ill thought over yesterday, but it was faux. "Sir." She announced her presence.

He silently looked up to her position. He had a lot to say, but couldn't decide on the order with which to begin. He had to say something, else they'd both keep staring at the other like lost sheep.

"The coffee's cold... not the way I like it," He finally spoke.

"The coffee-machine is not working well, Sir!" Ife responded almost immediately.

He looked at her again; this time his gaze was firmer, and more piercing. He had more words for her at the moment; they had agreed to stop the use of Sir for him in place of Daddy; all it took was one major argument in three years, and she had begun reverting on all the progress they’ve already made. He decided against the urge to speak further, because it probably would start an angry outburst and end in a heated argument.He stood to take his leave. He picked up his jacket and briefcase, and headed for the door. He stopped momentarily with his hand on the door-knob and looked back at her to make one more sentence.

"When I get back, we'll decide what to do. If it's best you go stay with Aunty Melody, or your Grandma."

He felt she needed the presence of older women around her, especially at a time like this, to better let her feelings out. Perhaps living with a 42 year old, unmarried man wasn't the best choice he had made for her.

Ife didn't say a word, she watched in horror as he left the door. Away from eye shot, she clinched her left-fist and sent it rotating, anti-90°, feet crouched and fist hitting to the floor, the glassware on the shelf beside her. She let out a shout loud enough for the man she called father to hear from across the small street where he sat in his stationary car. On her knees, she thought in silence about what to do. It was paramount she made a decision especially as her father planned on shipping her away to the abode of boring women she wasn't close to. She wanted adventure, and staying with her nagging Aunt wasn't going to get her any of it. A bad idea came to her head, she had always felt Barr. Mathews-Daniels was hiding an important detail about her biological father's death, and that probably was the reason he was sending her away. She knew about his hidden safe, and the secret stash of files he had. The last time she cracked the safe, she couldn't get herself to open her biological father's file because she was afraid of what she might find; now, she had nothing more to lose - Barr. Daniels had just declared he didn't want her as a daughter anymore; he couldn't be trusted anymore.


Ife hurriedly arose and ran up the stairs to her father's room. She smiled when the same pattern she used the last time cracked open the safe. Her hands started to shake: she still feared what she might find within the inks of the pages. She summoned the required strength, and pulled out the stack of files, and quickly located the one with her biological father's initials, J.O.N.

***

"Girlfriend!" Naomi exclaimed. She hurried up, and quickly wrapped Ife in her embrace at the door. Ife suspected something was wrong: The speed with which the door was answered caused her shock. She could literally smell Naomi's anxiety off her. Finally, the embrace broke and they both walked further in, side by side, with Ife stealing momentary glances round the house.

"Hey, you!" Enoch said in greeting to Ife the moment both ladies walked into the room.

"Hey!" Ife responded in like tone. They both chuckled. Naomi smiled, she positioned herself seductively by the door-side, with a direct view to Enoch's bedside; totally obstructed from Ife's.

Ife pushed forward to check Enoch's body temperature. She placed her right hand on his neck and was glad to see his fever had improved. “Better than yesterday,” she commented.

"I already said I’m much better now," Enoch blushed. "Naomi took care of me.”

"I think she took too good care of you," Ife said. The smile Ife wore began to fade when the real picture of things finally got painted in her subconscious. Her countenance fell: she finally figured out the reason Naomi and Enoch had been acting weird since she arrived. The lazily discarded used-condom by the bed side finally gave them up.

Naomi's right hand met her rough hair. It also became clearer to Ife why she looked unkempt. Enoch managed to keep a crooked smile as he adjusted himself to sit upright.

"I think you should go," Ife said to Naomi. While Naomi bought time to delay, Ife thundered. “Now, bitch!” She yelled as hard as her voice let her.

Naomi looked at Ife with the expression that announced she didn't care, and turned towards Enoch to hear his disapproval over Ife's command. No such words were uttered. She angrily picked her hand-bag, and left when it became certain that no such word was forthcoming.

Ife turned to Enoch, her expression was more of bewilderment now than anger or any of the pesky emotions common to the female folk in times like these.

"You feel good now, right?'

"Are you jealous?" Enoch asked. He seemed to be enjoying the moment.

"I have no reason to be," Ife snarled.

"But you are." He let out a little laughter. " I can't seem to fully understand you women." He appeared to be enjoying this: seeing the all-confident Ife at war with her emotions gave him a weird sense of joy and fulfillment.

Ife wanted to say something to her defense, but there was an interruption. At that moment an explosion went off somewhere in the city. The effect of the explosion felt was so great that it almost sent all the glassware falling off their housing-cabinet.

"What is that?" Enoch asked, shocked. The pain from his injury seemed to suddenly resurface, it prevented him from moving, at least to safety.

Ife hurried to put on the TV-set at the other side of the bed. Every station had the same breaking news headline;

'Major explosion somewhere in Lagos.'

Ife quickly used her mobile phone to surf the internet. Her hands started to tremble the moment the caption from a reputable E-gossip site caught her attention;

'Explosion at popular Lagos firm, Lewis Chamber.'

"No!... this can't be," she screamed.

"What is it?" Enoch asked with concern. His stitches had come undone again and he had started to bleed again.

Ife stared at his bleeding side in awe for a while, before her lips finally parted to let her hoarded words out.

"My father has a meeting at Lewis Chambers now.”

It took a little talk from Enoch, who was getting weaker with each passing moment to convince Ife to dial her father's number to confirm or dis-affirm her fears. Ife wouldn't stop ranting about how she was possessed. Even in the most uneasiest of times she had found a way to rope in religion to the conversation. She claimed to have a demon that wanted her to become a complete orphan in all ramifications.

"Hello my baby girl," Barr. Daniels greeted.
This was the sweetest, Ife had heard his voice in a long time.

"Daddy!" Ife called out with joy; her pesky emotions came to play here, tears trickled down her cheek. "I thought you were gone.”

"I'm here baby... I'm here," He responded.

He explained that his scheduled appointment for a possible expansion of his firm through a collaboration with Lewis Chambers' CEO, Mr. Andrew, was postponed at the last minute; he said he was still driving back to his firm when the explosion went off but that he was in the safety of his office now.

"Don't worry, Missy is here with me," Barr. Daniels said. "We're going to weather this curfew together," he said and paused. He had begun to feel emotional. It would be about two days before the Government would allow normal movement following the gravity of the explosion and the chaos it has caused the city. He could feel the full force of Ife's emotions over the phone-line. Who would have known that it'd take Lagos State almost completely burning for he and his Ife to find common ground again.

"Take care of yourself my baby girl," He finally burst into tears, audible enough for Ife and Enoch to hear his sobs.

The line went dead and Ife slowly pulled the phone away from her ear. She was glad her father was safe: it was funny how she couldn't think about life without him. Who would have thought it would take a major explosion for her to completely realize they couldn’t live without one another?

"That's because no matter your quarrel, you're still family." Enoch said. His voice brought her back to reality, she suddenly recognized his blood-soaked bandage; it was as though she was seeing it for the first time since the whole day's problem started with Naomi.


Enoch watched her clean him up for a while before he spoke to break the silence. "Do you like me?" He asked.

Ife smiled. "I don't," she said.

"To think that you were actually jealous that I slept with your friend," Enoch said. He rose up and staggered to the mini-fridge at the other side of his room. "If you want me, I'm all yours," he said. “All you have to do is ask.”

"I wasn't jealous," Ife snapped, though she was enjoying the light exchange of banters.

"Liar!" Enoch called her out bluntly.

"Same way you're lying about your gun-shot injury," she rebutted.

Enoch looked at her, his eyes were tighter now and they pierced through Ife's eyelids; she felt great discomfort through them.

“We all lie. Sometimes, out of necessity,” Ife added.

"What do you think happened to me?" Enoch asked.

"Definitely not a bar fought as you claimed; the gun-wound is too sophisticated for a common bar fight," Ife replied.

Enoch liked her reply. Further talks made him realize Barr. Daniels was an expert at guns; hunting was one of his hobbies, and Ife had picked up a reasonable knowledge of guns, and the injuries they inflict to the flesh. He was enjoying their uninterrupted time together, yet, he maintained his resolve as before. "I was accidentally shot in a bar-fight at the place where I work," he repeated.

His phone at the bedside started to ring. Ife gave him the guilty stare as though she realized the universe was as well calling him out for his persistent lies. Ife went for the phone, because she was closer to it, and answered before Enoch could get to her.

"Hello! Hello!" She sounded repeatedly, to no response.

"Put it on speaker, the mouthpiece is bad," Enoch said. He helped himself to the bed to relax.

"This is The Lagos City, State-Police, calling for Mr. Enoch Mary-Ben." A husky male voice at the other end spoke. "Are we on to him?"

"You may proceed, Sir," Enoch replied.

The State Police were calling to request your presence in two days’ time, at the end of the curfew. They didn't disclose any sensitive detail but requested he come along with his National ID Card, International Passport, or any other means of valid identification.

"What was that?" Ife asked.

"Nothing that should trouble you," Enoch retorted.

"Talk to me... Have I been taking care of a bad man for the past two days, risking my life and safety for someone not worth it?" Ife asked. Her face appeared swollen.

"No." Enoch forced himself off the bed and walked out of the room.

Ife sat on the bed now, confused. Her eyes caught her father's file she came along with, and she remembered all her problems on the home-front and how they outweighed whatever it is Enoch had going for him.


"No!" Ife shouted and burst into tears.

Enoch came rushing as fast as he could. He met Ife on the floor, heavily crying, with the file opened, and lying by her side. He didn't fully understand what he saw even though he took a peak into the case-file. He tried getting Ife to talk; to no avail either.

"He killed him!... He killed him!... He killed my father!" Ife suddenly burst out, still pouring uncontrollable tears.

"My present father …” she looked up to Enoch's eyes, and forced sputum down her dry-throat. She forced herself to continue, “... he killed my former father.”

02


Ife stared at her father, this time more intent than she'd done within the last fifteen minutes she’d been standing before him. Anger in all its glory crept through, and inexplicably circulated round her heart, but worse was the one her father felt.

Barrister Daniels found it hard chalking the situation at hand as a easy case of youthful exuberance – If there was one thing he promised himself when he legally adopted Ife, it was telling himself the truth; he wouldn't be one of those fathers who failed to notice and keep up with the changing tides of their child’s life: the possibility that those changing tides had now arrived and the painful realization that he might actually be incapable of keeping up with them scared him, and not even Ife's panic-driven announcement of her National scholarship at The N.D.I.S.T. was enough to quell his fears on the direction their father-daughter relationship was headed to, amongst other many problems.

They'd been standing close to the entrance door all the while the discussion lingered pass necessary. All Ife had at the fore of her thoughts were worries about how Enoch was holding up in her now-prolonged absence, her joy skyrocketed the instant her father's phone buzzed, even the appearance of rough uneven ridges of worry on his forehead couldn't do much to faze her; she wanted him off her business, at least for this moment. Whatever the content of the text he just received was, it seemed to do exactly that for her.

"We'll continue this discussion when I get back," Barr. Daniels spoke almost incoherently, false traces of worry underlain his words. He moved to leave the house; his footsteps filled with uncertainty - his movement well conflicted.

Ife still stood motionless, and only stepped aside when she regained her senses enough to realize she was the only thing standing in his way. The moment his car was out of sight, she rushed for the medicine cabinet and swerved as much supplies as she could into the bag with her. Her thoughts still bordered the same principles as last night when she made the first-time decision to sleep outside her home, damning her father’s consequences just to to save an innocent man's life.

***

Barr. Daniels hurried out through the entrance door of his Law-Firm – The small, yet fast-growing Law Firm slowly building a reputation for itself like no other in this part of the world, a feat many never thought possible especially with the many big-wig firms currently running things in the city of Lagos. Daniels had a good thing going on for him here, and it made him very happy. He walked pass the beautiful Missy, his secretary, who also doubled as the receptionist of the small firm hoping for a near-expansion. He acknowledged her presence with just the wave of a hand. Missy's attempts to speedily talk him through the programs of the day were greeted with the sound of his office door slammed to ear shot of everyone seated, waiting for his arrival.

Missy gulped her own saliva in meager-shame, re-calibrated her shoulder blade, and put on a fake smile for the two clients waiting for the past thirty minutes.

"What was that text about?" Barr. Daniels asked into the dark-office, to no one in particular. He switched on the light and revealed two men - The older one was seated on his chair, and the other one with a firmer face, stood by his side, back to the door.

"Good morning to you too, Matt." The older one casually greeted.

Barr. Mathews Daniels seemed to know him well, judging from the way they leisurely conversed; but was uncomfortable, judging from how he maintained a reasonable distance between him and his bodyguard. The initial issue at hand was Barr. Daniels annoyance at the content of the text which was an unapologetic summon, but that gave way the moment he understood the reason for the summon.

"No!" Mathews exclaimed. "I can't do that."

"Keep your voice down," He commanded. He, was called, Elias Brunor. And he advised Barr. Daniels to remain calm else his bodyguard might be forced to take actions. Barr. Daniels was compelled to exchanged glances with the third man in the room who had been silent, and appeared to have no chill.

"The funny thing is that, you've got no choice... this is what The Foundation wants, and you'll find a way to get it done, else you kiss your chances of becoming the Chief Justice of Lagos State this year goodbye," Elias said and stood to take his leave. His bodyguard stood almost as he did.

Barr. Daniels stopped to think for a while, and quickly turned to Elias, now at the door, "Can't nothing else be done to him?"

Elias paused and turned to face him. "Nothing... Tamuno must get the death penalty! That is the will of The Foundation," he responded with a large smile. “If you want to succeed in this chosen line, you must learn to ask fewer questions, and carry out orders as they come,” Elias said, and walked out through the door his bodyguard had just opened.


Barr. Mathews-Daniels didn't understand why The Foundation would concern itself with a case as frivolous as whether an obviously innocent man lived or died, he couldn't even fathom how someone could still find it possible to put on a smile, laugh, and even go home to a family when he had just ordered the death of the breadwinner of another family. He found himself temporarily wavering, his conscience troubled him with the thoughts about becoming Chief Justice not equating to sacrificing a human life on the altar of a politics he didn't understand. Missy's bell rang which signaled it was time for the next visitor to enter his office.

"One of many," Mathews smiled to himself as his first client of the day entered.

"You say?" The client asked.

"Not you, Tamuno. I was only talking to myself," Mathews said with a smile, obviously fake. His eye twitched, and so did his conscience, again.

***

Ife returned from the bathroom with a fresh bowl of water to resume dampening Enoch's body to reduce his fever. She was becoming slightly frustrated because of his continued resolve to not visit the hospital for proper treatment for the gun-shot wound, or to call someone for additional help.

She slammed the towel into the bowl, causing water to splash on the both of them.

Enoch slightly chuckled.

"What's funny?" Ife asked, even though she already knew the answer. She too had begun to giggle. Blame it on hormones, stress, or lack of good sleep but she couldn't really fathom why she had the mood swing.

"A bar fight," Enoch said. He raised up his eyes to catch a glimpse of Ife's puzzled face staring down back at him as he laid his head on her laps.

"Did what?" She interjected.

"I got injured in a bar fight," Enoch explained. He sounded as one who experience difficulty in speaking: summoning a great deal of energy for short sentences.

Ife remembered. She recalled Enoch worked at a popular Night club in Lagos: one of the most prestigious actually. She knew this like most others in the estate - through the company's T-shirt he wore almost every weekday to work. She also flashed through one of her popular thoughts then; she used to think him the most well paid bartender (or whatever he did at the Night-club) she had ever come across, to be able to afford the rent of their Housing estate, and his decent, 2013 Honda Accord car. Yet, all these didn't matter to her when he came calling six month ago for an opportunity to sweep her off her feet.

"You remember, right?" Enoch asked.

Ife immediately understood the kind of bait he was trying to set, he was cajoling her into reflecting on all the many things she'd have gained should she have been more receptive to his advances the past months, instead of consoling herself with stalking him every morning from her window.

"I didn't regret saying No to you then, and I won't start now," she tried to sound confident.

Enoch laughed. He wanted to say something, but his laughter persisted. It finally subsided, but the unexpected knock at the door caused him to leap into a frenzy. He forced himself off her laps, much to her surprise.

"Who did you call?" He asked with a stern voice.

"My friend, Naomi," Ife replied casually, and walked to open the door. Enoch watched with rapt attention as the door came open, and was relieved when he saw it was just one person as Ife said.


"Where is he?" Naomi whispered.

"Upstairs," Ife answered.

"Where is he?" Ife asked back.

"Outside," Naomi responded.

"Take good care of him," Ife said and looked up to see Enoch staring back at her in pains, clinging to the safety of the staircases' railings, she gave him a nod and walked out, to his surprise.

"It's just the two of us," Naomi smiled seductively, and made her way for his position.

***

"This is the same as yesterday, young lady!" Barr. Daniels, shouted.

Ife tried to explain: she'd been studying with Naomi for her scholarship qualification exam. She tried to apologize just as she resolved to do when he returned from work, but things were getting far heated that anticipated for even the meekest of person to keep a calm head. She had to lash back.

"You don't get to be frustrated...You don't get to shout at me... You don't get to tell me what to do... you're not my biological father." Regrettable words flew from her parted lips.

Mathews watched in silence as Ife pushed the door aside and walked up the stairs.

Naomi had been watching from the window upstairs Enoch's home. She had a worried look on her face which was quickly replaced with a smirk the moment Ife pushed away from her father, into the house.

'That's my girl,' Naomi remarked.

Her attention was drawn to Enoch's cry for help, she hurried off to attend to his need(s).

"You respond faster than your friend," Enoch teased. A part of his stitched bullet-wound had opened, and he was bleeding again.

Naomi couldn't control help herself from thinking different things, she'd always found Enoch incredibly sexy and irresistible every time she'd seen him through Ife's window; and here she was, with one of the objects of her desires; she wasn't going to let a little blood take away the only opportunity she might have in her lifetime to get down with him.

"You have a fever," Naomi observed as she sensually caressed him. Her hand lingered around the area of the bleeding wound. She was glad to notice his fever didn't affect the function of his most important body-part at this time.

(01)



The lights in the banking hall flickered. It's nothing, so everyone thought; little did they know their lives were about to be changed forever.

The lights flickered, this time with a pattern that caused whoever was familiar with Hollywood movies to become worried. Darkness reigned; and the Devils entered.

"We don't want to hurt persons more than required... all we want is your money and we'll be on our way before you know it."

One of the robbers stood on the counter-table in the main banking hall to announce. It could be said he was new to this, because of the way he spoke with a light, optimistic voice, as though he was convinced that if the hostages obeyed every instruction, no one would die of any unnatural cause today. Two of the remaining three robbers, a male and a female, shot sporadically at the ceiling; bullets freely hit the chandeliers and glass-debris rained heavily. All these to further instill the fear of God in all the hostages already lying face down.

"Who's the manager here?" A deep voice among the robbers asked. He'd been the most quiet of the lot. He was the boss of this operation.

"Take all of it," a male voice responded from the distance. The voice sounded quacky. All the attention naturally drifted to his position. The man had a very protruding belly that elevated him and prevented his lips from properly kissing the tiled-floor on which he graced. He was visibly shaking; fear sipped non-stop and echoed loud throughout his soul.

The other three robbers gave each other a nod of excitement. They all wore scary masks, but could still fathom one another's body language: they were used to working as a team.

"You!" The robber with the deep voice spoke again. He approached the manager with shrewd-confidence while the others followed closely behind.

The manager gave a nod: as though he felt his reply wasn't successfully passed across. He kept nodding and crying profusely, continuously repeating the words, "Yes, I am." He slowly looked up when he felt a presence before him. He turned his head left to right and observed all the robbers, one after the other. Each had a mask more terrifying than its predecessor. He stopped at the one with the terrifying bass voice, the obvious leader of the crew, the only one who had something to say to him.

"Not any more, you're not." The deep voice sounded again; his words this time were followed by the sound of a gunshot without a suppressor.


Wails of religions rioted. Tears flowed freely from all eyes, male and female.

"Where is the Asst. Manager?" Another life threatening question dropped. There was something rhythmic about the assailant's bass voice, something that caused it to unwittingly resonate sweetly to the ears of impending victims, even though they didn’t want to hear him speak.

No one accepted the portfolio.

"Mrs. Ndidiamaka Bello!" He shouted a name, and let out an evil laugh. "Yes, I know who you are... Same way I know the police isn't going to respond to the distress call of the silent-alarm Mister Salami at that corner has been triggering since we got here." He let out another laughter as he looked towards the alarm corner.

One of the robbers picked Mrs. Ndidi from among the crowd she was mixed in. This particular action raised stray thoughts of concern in the minds of most of the hostages. The ongoing robbery was most definitely an inside job.

In silence, she walked forward; hot pee sipped through her legs, imprinting her laps most visible through her pencil skirt. She completed the journey forward in discomfort, pain, and shame.

"I have a son, and a daughter, Sir." She cried. Begging desperately for her life.

"I know... and that's why you're not dying today," The bass-voiced assailant whispered into her ear. "Just open the vault for me. That’s all."



They were done filling the money-bags they brought along with them after five minutes, and it was time to go. The three subordinates hurried out through the corridor leading from the vault to the main banking hall, their twenty minutes window was fast depleting; time was getting out of their favor. They entered back into the banking hall, where fear hadn’t let anyone, though unguarded, try to escape. The goons walked into the spread, into the welcoming hands of their Leader, with the deep voice - the man responsible for the two body counts of this heist.

"Brother!" The deep voice sounded again. He called out to his team mate, who was catching fun on top of the counter earlier on.

"Yes, Six," He replied. He immediately realized his mistake, and withdrew immediately. He stalled in his own steps to apologize.

"I'm sorry, boss," he immediately pleaded.

"Don't be. All things that happen do so for a purpose... Always remember that," Six calmly replied, and let him sink into the illusion that all was forgiven; only to shoot at him the moment he started to walk away.

***

It was 8:50 a.m. Ife's alarm went off into another snooze mode; this was the third time this morning and with it came the auto-on of the clock's inbuilt radio. Just like all moments before this, she sleep-angrily hit the piece which functioned both as a time-piece and as an FM radio, trying hard to turn off the noise; this time she did so harder and the audible sound that her 18th birthday clock had just broken finally worked the magic to wake her. She held the wreckage in her arm and stared at it with a mix of feelings and teary eyes, and just flung it away to make way for her morning rituals.

She unhappily dragged herself off her bed to the already opened window. The fresh, unpolluted breeze of Lagos’ morning air hit her. She inhaled every ounce with joy. Her fixation momentarily turned from her discomfort of how to practice yoga in her present emotional state, across the alley from the side of her home where her room window was, to the partially curtained window opposite hers.
Enoch, her neighbor of a thousand years stood semi-unclad again, half visible, half hidden with the help of his yellow, silky curtain as he'd always done at this same hour in the thousand years since she’d being living here and noticing him. His eyes appeared to match her stare, and momentarily catch her gaze; they were disconnected faster than they locked, and his curtains rolled down - all played out exactly like every other day in the last thousand years since they’ve acknowledged each other's existence.


By 10 a.m. she was already on her way to school - Nigerian Unity College, Lagos, situated on the Island. This was her safe zone, her only escape from all the dramas at home - Her conflicted present made her future appear bleaker with each passing day. Since her biological father, Sir Jonah, as he was fondly called, died, things had never been the same, it was as though a part of her, the part that was known to be bubbly and cheerful, died with him in the accident at the factory. Her father's best friend who was her godfather turned adoptive father, Barr. Mathews Daniels, known by his closest friends in the corporate world of lawyers as Double-S, had always been there for her; she knew and appreciated this, yet, lately, she couldn't stop herself from feeling more distant from him because he had continuously refused to help her get the closure she needed to move on from her dad's murder. She couldn't even think about her mother; three years and no contact, the woman was as good as dead to her, and it was best if Ife could forget about her completely.

All these many problems on the home front, made Ife put in a lot of extra time at school to escape the reality of her family. She was the perfect A-student, and that saddened her, because she already knew what she wanted in life had nothing to do with the direction of school and its grades. She just wants to fix her messed up life.

Ife's personal thoughts and worries were interrupted by the fanfare appearance of her girlfriends, Naomi, Susanna, and Felicia. They came with lots of gossips.

"Did you hear?... The Highlander Bank was robbed this morning." Susanna spoke first.

"You're kidding me," Ife wanted to engage her, but silently appreciated it when Naomi cut them. She loved Susanna but her talks never had a reasonable ending and probably would never, because she always managed to go effortlessly from reality to fantasy.

"This came in for you this morning," Naomi said.

It was a parcel and Ife got excited that someone outside her usual circle might have remembered her birthday this year. The girls opened the parcel and their countenances were risen when they saw the content. Ife let out a sigh. Her reaction came as a surprise to the other girls who felt she merited what they all had just read as the content of the letter - Ife just got awarded a year’s worth of scholarship to intern the coming session at the prestigious Nigerian Dynamic Institute of Science and Technology (N.D.I.S.T.) for her outstanding grade; a honor many other students not up to her capability would die for, as Naomi made her realize again.

The N.D.I.S.T. was well coveted by brilliant students for a chance to be on the next team of scientists with a breakthrough to one of Nigeria's fewer problems. Felicia tried to make Ife see reasons with her. "I hear they can even clone people now."

Everyone didn't buy that line. That was a lie, and even Felicia knew it. They all laughed at the cold joke.


The time read 22:00. Ife's wristwatch beeped again; her father was going to be very furious at her for staying out this late. She dreaded the look he'd have-on should she bump into him at the door step and have to look him face to face, so she followed the back street, the one that opens into the alley beside her house and Enoch's. Though it was dark, unkempt, and extremely quiet, it was the perfect way to escape Mathews Daniels' public wrath at this late hour.

Ife tried to maneuver the space even as her bad vision led her and proved worse because of the almost negligible moon of the night. Her fear spiked the moment she could swear she heard the voice of a man in this lonely space.

"Help me." The voice came again, weaker.

Ife could no longer deny what she heard. She silently cursed why she stayed out so late partying with her girls. It wasn’t her thing but she could feel the alcohol already influencing her thoughts to do so her decision. She wanted to walk away but couldn't, and finally, she approached the figure with a mixture of bravely and fear for her life, because the instinct to save a dying man came out strongly from within her, especially as she always used such times to make up for not being able to save her biological father from his accident and subsequent death. Her expression progressed to full shock the moment she could fully see the figure, and the extent to which his body had been drenched in his own blood. She managed to make a name off him in her state of shock - it was Enoch, her neighbor.

My people.

Soteriahascome, princeOFprince, kongru, qhdr, Fidelismaria, missmossy, cutechicluv, Nmaglit, rmfunky, maximanuel, ped007, lordseb, vlip42, maggdon, humbleamanda, laikas, smartec, donhils, superman10, Fijumokesayo, kikayboss, lacasera14, loisemm, Lolaabokoku, ucheclub, silensa, davespog2, jubizy, faksy, nigelcoop, baxxx, ghostwriter, cutediva87, Venusbetty, maggielovely, slimzy2k16, bibijay123, heskeyw, Shakyroh320, Essyprity, yorhmienerd, BB4u, Maximanuel, Kerr9, callmeomotee33, Queenoma, Remyseyi, Mubarak001, Lexzytee, Holluwaphlexy, Rupeelicious, Wenzi, Mattyboy007, Mindfrick, Katchycouture, oyinprince, donkross1,

More Shots Fired.

(Action Thriller)

PROLOGUE

It was a fine, quiet morning, the atmosphere was tranquil, most people weren't yet out for the day's business, hence, the the streets were still scanty. The time was 8:10 a.m. Inside 'The Highlanders' Bank', no more than five souls had passed through its entrance.

The Highlanders New-generation Bank was well known for its smooth accessibility all around the Ikoyi Banking world; and on a normal week day the banking hall would have been filled as soon as the doors opened for business; but things were playing out differently today.

From the far end of the street (at the right hand side, should one stand outside the Bank's gate) a car's siren blazed very loud, and its tires raced fast. Louder and louder its wail kept increasing till the car roughly halted at the doorstep of the bank, with a mist of dust risen around it.

A freckled man wearing a security-officer's uniform, stepped forward with the buoyancy of a person in his 30's. He walked to the passenger's door of the very dusty, black SUV he assumed to be the Police's, and stood at attention by the tinted glass of the passenger’s door awaiting whoever was inside to wind-down. He remained at that position for about a minute without any action from the vehicle's occupant(s). He soon became apprehensive, and began to stretch his neck continuously, motioning his face in many struggling attempts as he did so, to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was happening beyond the tinted-window.

The window started to unwind slowly, and with each movement, the man's apprehension and inquisitiveness skyrocketed. The cold feel of the metallic end of a suppressor fitted to a 9mm caliber handgun greeted his forehead and without any caveat, his grey matter mixed with his blood recolored the pavement. His lifeless body soon followed suit, and the bullet’s casing also, in no time.

All four doors of the SUV simultaneously flew open, and out came the dare-devils.



NB: This is a Mini-Series, with only ten episodes.
Posting is once a day, for the next ten days.

This story is in the same continuity as my other story, Cracked Sources.

All episodes are already available on www.youngicee.com (http://www.youngicee.com/search/label/More%20Shots%20Fired?m=1)