₦airaland Forum

“Jesus Christ…”
Eric took his seat a bit agitated and excited as he returned joseph’s phone back to him.
“…I don’t believe this”
Eric said with both hands on his head as he starred at Joseph who seemed more calm now.

“It’s him, Eric , he is the same person, I have checked ,searched and made some findings , the pictures and even the video are still intact on my phone , its either he has an exact twin brother or he has a clone , eric I can assure you this is the man”
Joseph replied.
“No wonder it was so easy for him to dish that much to us and not worry over it , and to think we were asking pennies from him when we could have asked for more hah ….”

Eric paused for a moment , everything happened so fast that night and he hadn’t had a proper thought about it since but knowing what he knows now he felt somewhat angry and pained to have missed on an opportunity such as that.

“you know….we can still get more”
Joseph said hesitatingly as Eric’s eyes lit up once more with excitement.

“How ,what do you mean we can still…”

Eric paused as his mind did the calculation, they still had the photos and video which are strong evidences pointing Bishop to be the prime suspect , such evidence which cannot be easily discredited by any authority ,such that was perfect for a blackmail.
“..are you suggesting we …."

“we blackmail him for some cash ,just a little and after then we are done with him, just a little cash as you can see this man has a lot of money and I am sure a few millions won’t do him no harm besides he has a lot to lost if this information leaks out , think about it , one thing I know for such is that people like this try as much as possible to stay away from the eyes of the public and the media , he may not be scarred of the police but I bet the media will ruin him as a business man , now I think about it , this could only be the reason why such a high and mighty of the society would want to take a girl to an hotel that isn’t all fancy or glaring like my work place, the thing is I cant do this alone , you and I helped this man dispose of her and its only right we two get to work this out together”

Joseph countered letting Eric think about it for a while.

“..hmmm I see you have thought through everything but I have to know something before I give my answer , why are you doing this because the Joseph I know might sell illegal performance drugs and be willing to assist help some stranger dispose of something he doesn’t want to but you actually trying to convince me on this , feels strange because I consider you to be a good guy maybe not so good but you are a lot better than I and a lot of the crazy people out there in the streets , so what made you think this through?”

Eric asked, never in his mind had he thought of Joseph trying to convince him on doing something criminal or illegal as this ; something he admired in secret about his friend.
“hmmm…”

Joseph hesitated for a minute or two , while his friend was indeed telling the truth he wondered if he should reply in kind or make something up.

“..it’s my mother Eric, she is dying gradually and I don’t want her to at least not this way , you know me and how things have been really rough for me, my siblings and my mom, I had to pull out of school as did my siblings , if crime is the only way out for me to change the lives of my siblings and help my mother recover then I am willingly to do it , I don’t care about the consequences plus its guys like this in the society that makes everything hard for us down the food chain , cost of living , job opportunity ,everything is on a hike because of them so why should I care about them it is not like if I ever ask him to give me 2million if one day I happen to see he would so why not I use this opportunity to take it from him, its just a one deal thing , after its done I delete the pictures and the video and we are done , so don’t see it as a black mail cause its not a job , just this once , you can have a enough to start a business or do whatever you want likewise myself”

Joseph concluded as his friend nodded his head quite impressed by his explanation.
“I believe you joseph and I am with you on this plus I am very pained right now all I could ask for was 200 hundred thousand naira, so how much are we asking for?”
Eric asked letting his friend to think for some minutes about the perfect ransom.

“I will say let’s ask for 20 Million naira, we each get 10 million when its done plus its merger compared to the cost of his latest acquisition worth over 1.2 billion naira”
Joseph replied.

“hmmm I think its very fair and safe for a ransom, so when do we call him or wait a minute how do we even contact him in the first lace , its not like we have his number somewhere we can use”
Eric asked.

“I still have her cell phones and her purse with me...”
“..you didn’t dispose of it too?”
“..i thought I could make a quick sale after I found out the phones were quite expensive”
“Joseph that’s stupid of you , do you know that phone or the purse could be tracked back to you at some point , anyway where are they now?”

“..Am sorry I was hoping I would do that at some point , the purse and the phones are still at my place , I will switched them on and see if I can get the number if I cant get it I will dispose of everything and see if I can get it online maybe the social media channels can also help too”
Joseph replied.

“Please do get rid of those items soon , trust me you don’t want the police or anyone finding those stuff with you , that will completely turn everything around ,okay?”

Eric said clearly worried about his friend’s inability to pull through his original plans for those items.

“I understand I will do that as soon as I get home then you can come see me at the hotel later on say 10: 00 pm tonight to pass our demands to him, is that okay?”

Joseph replied before both friends took their leave from the bar.

“Sir we are done , the body has been evacuated off the scene”
An officer came up to him under the shade where he stood at.
“When did you say the first call was passed through concerning the body?”

He managed to say once he got his car keys out.
“Ehn that would be around 9:00 am in the morning yesterday , from what a few people were willing to tell us ,some said they did see the body much earlier say 6:00 am same yesterday”

The police replied promptly, getting a nod from the detective.
“I see , okay let’s go back to the station , once I turn in my findings I will be off , I don’t think this is connected to the case the state criminal investigation department was tasked with investigating”

The detective said , truly he had hoped the case was somewhat connected to the existing investigation of a series of murders that were rocking the state at that time ; something he had been sent down from the headquarter to check out once the nearest division registered the emergency call ,from the looks of things his job was done and wondered how the Division would handle the case from there on wards without a proper investigator , she was quite beautiful and wondered how pained and hurt her family would be once the news eventually get them, perhaps he could buy more time and at least see where this case would lead him ,though this was never his primary assignment but he had convinced himself to stay on it and find out how she died and find who or whatever ever was responsible for her death.

He made his way to the division just in time to find the deputy police officer about to leave , managing to find a parking space he got in touch with the man and introduced himself as the detective that had been sent down to check out the body the division had called in earlier.
“Oh I see , that’s good but I thought you were supposed to wait for the body here at the station , I have been waiting for you for quite some time now and then the police called in saying you had arrived at the scene instead”

The DPO said quite unhappy about the detective ‘s choice of action.
“I am very sorry about that sir, you see most times its important we take a first person view of the scene of the crime before anything else , thankfully the traffic wasn’t much so I got in touch with the corresponding police3 officer over here who directed me to the scene, am very sorry for keeping you waiting”
Detective Ahmed said calmly.

“Well its okay, my job here is to keep this division running , your job is to investigate cases like this so I would say you know better on such grounds …”
He paused and stared at the patrol van which his men had got off and were now attempting to take down the body.

“..I see that’s the body , well I take it your job was to observe the body and see if its somehow connected to the others and so have you been able to establish such connection?”
He asked the detective who nodded negatively.

“ I don’t think so sir , there are no evidence to support the claims but sir I was hoping I could talk to you about it, you see I would like to investigate this case to be exact I cant say if it is for sure or not and if I can get a week or so I can connect the dots and even find answers and bring the culprits to justice once the autopsies confirms it’s a murder , from what I know and have read this is the second murder case your division has recorded am sure you would like to get it solved , wont you?”

The detective asked hoping the DPO see through his offer, he himself couldn’t extend his stay nor take the case except the DPO put the call through on his behalf requesting for the assistance of a detective in the matter.
“Erhmm well …”

The DPO seemed a bit reluctant to yield once he paused but this was something he was used to and have had to deal with in the past plus he always made sure to get what he wanted.

“..you can relax about my welfare which is to be provided for by the division, I will take care of my welfare and if you want I can share an office with anyone, it’s just a week tops plus this might not even be a murder but an health complication so I think you should be okay with our agreement this way”
Detective Ahmed added , this was an offer on a platter of gold for the DPO not to take , it did worked in the past but only on very big cases he wanted which did give him a boost in his career now he wondered if this would do same for him.

“okay that’s fine by me, I will make the necessary call and by the end of today you will get a confirmation response from me but we have a deal here , just one week as you can see this is a very small set up here , we hardly get the attention of the authority in terms of man power and finance and all that however I will try and make sure you are provided with everything you will need for the investigation if it demands one after all”

The DPO said with a warm smile before releasing his number to the detective and driving off the station.

In his four and a half years as a detective, he always had a good nose for the cases he picked, whilst everything looked set he hoped he hadn’t make a mistake on this one.

At 5:00 PM Joseph made for the Manner Bar down his street thankfully he still had time to roam around before heading to the hotel, once he managed to take a seat, he made more research on Bishop , hoping to know more about the multi-billionaire who they had helped cover a possible murder.

“you said we needed to discuss?”
Eric said as he approached joseph who offered him is phone.
“take a look and tell me what you think”

Joseph said just in time to catch the Eric’s attention flare up almost immediately once he too realize who he was starring at on the phone.

‘personally from what your sister have been able to explain to me on your efforts to raise the needed money for her operation, I have been impressed , I know they have not been as successful as you would want but I must say I am impressed but you need to do more , your mother’s life depends on that and am sorry the management may be forced to withdrawn their services from the patients and may ask you to come carry our mother soon…”

“what, why, why would they want to do such a thing?”
Joseph interrupted the doctor alarmed by his words.

“..listen many a times people have been admitted here , I am talking about cases that are far gone and forcing the responsibilities on us , you must understand an hospital where deaths are occurring is no hospital anyone wants to go by the directions of the management , each patient is on a strict surveillance , if your mother case is considered as one which…”

“doctor , how long does she have then?”
Joseph asked with reddish eyes , he knew where the doctor was heading to now and hoped to find something encouraging to hold on to.
“…hmmmm , I cant really say your mother is a very strong woman like I said but if i will give three weeks from now before it goes critical after which I will be forced to report her condition to the management”
The doctor concluded as silence ensured between the two of them for a while letting the tv set to come to life.

“....the new purchase is considered an aggressive takeover strategy by Specto Oil and Gas Manufacturing industries own President Mr. Macaulay .K. Bishop as he prepares to launch the companies off shore exploration campaign this coming month which is estimated to be about around 1.2 billion naira …”

“hah the rich and the mighty in the society , they have no idea how lucky they are sometimes to be able to afford the things they afford”
The doctor said taking his stare away from the TV and breaking the silence between them, Joseph was far deep in thoughts when he heard the doctor’s voice and realized he hadn’t spoken a word since, he managed a dull smile and took a look at the TV , his surprise expression got the doctor curious.
“Are you okay , hmm is there anything the matter?”
The doctor asked.

“Erhmm no, nothing , nothing at all , I must take my leave now”
Joseph said quickly before exiting the doctor’s office, once out he stood there for a minute and tried to comprehend what he had just seen on the TV, no it couldn’t possibly be, his mind must have been playing a trick or two on him, he made for his phone and decided to clarify his suspicions and after a minute or two on the internet , he was suddenly left dazed and confused.

Two nights ago had seen him lodge a strange man with a girl who happened to have dead mysteriously in his bed on the grounds of been accused and fingered as the killers , he and his Eric had decided to get rid of the body and evidence , letting the man go free after he did part with some money , now he realized who the strange man was, it was indeed clear as crystal to realize this same man who was televised some just seconds ago was no other than one of Lagos’s multi-billionaire and business tycoon , how could he have missed that one detail , of course he hadn’t seen him in appearance before two nights ago but he had seen him on various media outlets from news to entertainment gist, how could he have missed such , he asked himself again as he shook his head bitterly , he decided to go get the drugs for his mother first and pass a call through to Eric to tell him the news , he wondered what scrupulous idea or plan Eric would think of it but whatever it was , he knew he wanted to be a part of it this time .

Miles away from the hospital , Detective Ahmed squeezed the butt of his cigar before flinging it away, his face was sweaty and the sun was high up above the open skies, he wondered why the patrol team was finding it difficult to evacuate the body off the scene, could the latest body be associated to others that have for a month now been found dumped at strategic locations within the state or was this another random case, he wondered while this was not an official investigation , he was however bent on finding some answers though he wondered why hadn’t the police responded to the emergency hotlines when a body had been reported to have been dumped at the popular Ole junction where another body some weeks prior was also dumped at, though nothing out of the ordinary was found on her , she was still on her red gown and shoes to match except for a bag which he knew she would have with her , the body showed no sign of violence nor a struggle to make a case for a murder except for the thick foam in her mouth which could be as a result of many things including poison and various health conditions unlike the other cases reported which without a doubt were cases of murder.

Chapter Two


Joseph arrived at the Buchi Teaching Hospital where his mother has been admitted for three months and a half now, a case of kidney failure with need for surgery to sustain her life was needed, with Nneka and Jeffrey , his siblings all out of school and trying to make a living doing one thing or another , it has been however hard for him the senior to do much , many a times he had tried to get publicity and donations but scrupulous elements down the pipeline of such efforts ensured nothing realistic ever came out to meet the 2million price tag for the surgery , thankfully she was a strong woman who would never give up that easily and has held on to life this long.

He made his way through the ward when a message entered his phone ,upon glancing through the message , he gave a dull smile at the confirmation of his landlord receiving his house rent which he had successfully paid in full once Eric had gave him an equal share of the money they got from what he still felt was an unfortunate incident a day ago but Eric had assured him it was the right thing to do and to be honest that money did come in handy , today he had bought some snacks from a nearby eatery for his sister who stayed with his mother most of the times and had a little more for some drugs his mother needed.

“brother hah you came early today”
Nneka said with excitement as she found a chair for him to sit on close to his mother who was fast asleep.

“this is for you nneka , try not to eat everything at once eh”
Joseph said with a smile handing the little pack to her which she collected happily.
“how is mommy, how is she doing?”

Joseph continued seeing how worn out is mother was as she slept , he felt pained to see her like this often but having left university half way through due to financial problems , getting a job that could pay for her upkeep from time to time was impossible, he noticed how cold Nneka had become once he asked her about their mother and felt nervous about it.

“Nneka , I said how is mama doing?”
He asked again.

“Brother hmm , brother , mama hasn’t been doing well recently, her condition was been deteriorating almost every day now and her medicines have long been utilized , she has been off her medications for a long time now because there isn’t much money to get more but the doctor was around to check on her just yesterday and asked for you to see him when I told him you said you were going to be around today, he said its very important he speaks with you”

Nneka replied before her brother nodded, reviewed his mother’s case file which was on the cabinet by his side to identify the doctor’s name in charge of her and the list of drugs his mother needed then stood to take his leave.

“Please eh take care of mama while I go see the doctor and pay for more drugs , Jeffrey will be done at the mechanic workshop by afternoon so he will come help you watch her while you go home to prepare some food , here take this so you can go to the market once Jeffrey comes”

Joseph said handing over some money to her before he walked out of the ward, it took ten minutes before he could locate the office of the doctor luckily he was around and willingly to see him.
“Good Afternoon Sir, I take it your sister was able to get to you?”

The doctor asked as he stared blankly at Joseph who nodded calmly.
“That’s very good now let’s talk about your mother who I would say is one of the strongest patient we have had so far who is struggling with a critical kidney failure, listen I won’t mince words with you your mother is in dire need of that surgery, her system can’t keep up again and the drugs haven’t been steady too….”

The doctor paused for awhile, exhaled sharply and then removed his glasses, truly he did feel sad about the patient’s condition.

“I have seen it , that’s very good huh okay here is what we are going to do…” he paused and stared at his phone to get an idea of time for the first time ever since he woke up to the incident.

“..its 3:45am now , we don’t have much time now , Oga we will need to gather her belongings first , there must be no property of hers left in this room, anything that can be traced right back to her must be disposed of immediately “
Eric said.

“she ….she only came with a bag, her phones and everything else is in there , it seems she was preparing to leave when she …”
Again the words were a bit hard for the man to pronounce now , he still couldn’t believe this wasn’t a nightmare of some kind.
“..she died”

He managed to say taking a bag from the floor and presenting it to Eric.
“Give my friend that one , we will dispose of it ,first we have to move this body , go down to your car and drive close to the entrance door …”
Eric paused seeing how nervous the man was again once he had produced his keys from his pocket.

“..if you try to escape or run away , remember we have information that can always point back at you , do as I say and we all can go our separate ways and forget about this night, is that okay?”
Eric warned as the man nodded positively.
“I don’t trust that man”

Joseph said finally taking a look at the man as he made his way out to the stairs.

“Relax, he is not a fool we have him where we want okay, we even have 200 hundred thousand naira ,can you imagine that ?”
Eric said.

“hmm what do we do now?”
Joseph asked hesitatingly.

“come help me with the body now”

Eric said before both guys were able to drag and body off the bed and right into the shoulders of Eric.

“Don’t think this i8s something I have done before with the way you are looking at me , she is dead and gone , there is nothing we can do for her but there is something she could do for us who are still alive and in need of that money, you will have to go down and switch off the lights at the junction box which will help me get across the hallway without been noticed accidentally by anyone, is that okay?”

Eric added before joseph walked out of the room hurriedly , he could feel his heart thump faster , to be sincere he had never seen a lifeless body nor talk less of putting one on his shoulders but he was prepared to do whatever he could to make something out of this for him and his friend , he waited for some more minutes and was now wondering what was keeping his friend waiting before the lights went off , a few murmur could be heard from some of the rooms before they went silent again, though he would have preferred to just run down the stairs but he was a bit surprised how heavy the body was, finally getting out of the room , he descended down the stairs slowly in the darkness until his feet felt the floor of the lobby, he heaved a sigh of relief when he met joseph with a torch light ,once out of the lobby they were able to get the body in immediately drove out of sight right into the darkness in top speed.

“listen , see let me tell you , this man is desperate I bet if we asked him for his life right now he will give us , he has made us an offer ,what’s so wrong about taking it , besides I am not ready to do anything without getting something out of it neither should you , listen its better this way than the police like I have explain, get your phone , we will take a few pictures as a collateral and demand some money , besides you and I could use some of it , or aren’t you tired of been poor , you know your mom’s condition and your sister , this is a good opportunity to earn something good I tell you”

Eric pressed on his views on the matter.
“I don’t know about this , I really don’t know about this but…”
Joseph paused for a second and took a stare at his friend who seem confident about his plans.

“..but I trust you ,yes I trust you on this”

Joseph concluded shaking his head as both guys then walked back to the room, once inside the room they found the man still shaken up by the scene and was still trying to check for a sign on the body.
“you didn’t call the police did you? , please tell me you didn’t call the police , I swear..”

“It’s okay ehnnn Joseph take the pictures “

Eric said with a straight face much to the confusion of the man, joseph had gotten some good ones and had started recording the scene when the man again began to panic sensing danger of some kind.
“what, what is this, what are you guys trying to do, why are you recording ,what are you trying to do…”

“..listen Mr. man, listen carefully first of all what my friend is doing right now is called collateral okay, I know the likes of you , you can easily sweep this sort of things under the carpet and get others to take the blame for it and even if we help you ,you might come back and start threatening us but now we have proof of what really happened here which we can anytime turn to the public and the police, secondly we are going to help you with the body , I mean we can help you dispose of it but on one condition, we will need some money from you, you give us what we want and you can walk down that door and forget about all this ,you can go on with your normal life then”

Eric replied passing a stare at his friend who seemed unsure about whatever was happening right now.

The man seem to have calm down a bit more having thought through what he had been told.

“you mean you will help me dispose of her, what will you do to Mirah, what will you do to her body?”
He asked still.

“Mirah is that what you call her, nothing we will ride out and look for a place to put the body where she can be found easily and identified that’s all after then you are going to drop us right here and then move on with your life”

Eric concluded, indeed he had thought of the whole plan, he thought to himself.
“hmmm….”

The man paused for a minute as if to think and then stared at Joseph who felt a bit uncomfortable about it.
“..is your friend going to help us too?”
He asked Eric.

“We want 100, no we want 200 hundred thousand naira right here right now , if you don’t have it , we will call the police and you can forget all I have just told you”

Eric said ignoring the man’s question.
“I don’t ..i don’t have that …”

“..then forget it , joseph go use the telephone to call the..”
“..i mean I don’t have that much in cash, I can...”

The man paused for a minute , a bit saddened and sullen as he took another long look at mirah who was still sprawled on the bed lifeless.
“..I can make a transfer if you have an account number here with you”
He said wiping off some hot beads of sweat from his head, he had been sweating so much he didn’t even realize the air conditioner in the room was working, eric offered his account by which the transfer was done upon confirmation of the transfer , Eric passed a dull smile at Joseph.

Joseph asked Eric.

“reduce your voice a bit ,wait we cant do this..we cant do this like this…”
Eric paused for a minute and took a good stare at the body and then the man , he exhaled sharply and shook his head as if to clear a thought before he continued.

“…come with me , I want us to talk about something now”
Eric concluded as he beckoned on joseph to follow him outside ,shutting the door behind the man and the body in the room, once he was able to drag joseph to a good distance from the room , he made his intentions clear.

“Joseph I don’t think the man is responsible”
Eric opened up to his friend.

“And so what, there is a dead girl in his room, if he is innocent then its the job of the police to find that out not us , what we have to do now is to go report the matter now,do you know what would have happened if he had escaped and left the body in that room, I bet you and I would be the suspects of the police”

Joseph replied clearly having none of what is friend was saying, it wasn’t even something to discuss , the consequences of not reporting the case to the police was very serious.

“what if..what if there is another way out ,what if we don’t have to report to the police and we still can sort this out”
Eric replied again.

“what?, what are you talking about ,how on earth ae we supposed to sort this out , we have a body , a lifeless human being in a hotel room where I work ,how do I sort that out eric?”
Joseph asked angrily.

“okay, okay we cant just sort it out but just listen to me , joseph that man is stinking rich, like I can see it in his eyes that he is swimming in money , listen ,listen call me crazy …”
“.you are crazy eric…”

“..wait joseph please hear me out, you are not thinking this straight , if the police come hear ,first of all , they are going to sweep us all to the station, then the hotel is going to be locked indefinitely putting you out of a jo and probably beat the statements out of us , this man is a wealthy man I can feel that , if he is willing to offer us money do you think he wouldn’t also offer the police money and when they do accept, who do you think will take the blame for the murder or have you forgotten you also sell illegal performance drugs here, this people can easily manufacture one story and force you to sign it as a statement and once that’s done , who would want to listen to what we have to say then eh?”

Eric said and a for some minutes Joseph thought hard of what his best friend had said ,truly this was a good and likely scenario , in a country where even judges could be bribed what chance does he , a nobody in the society without money have against someone like this, he didn’t like the outcome and wondered why he hadn’t thought about the implications on his path.

“But you know that’s not true, we had nothing to do with the girl , you know that”

Joseph replied dully and quite nervous now.
“listen the worst comes to the worst , the police can charge us even as accomplice to the murder if that’s what really happened, there is no way we are getting off this easily Joseph but I have a plan and you are going to trust me on this if it’s to work and I promise you dear friend if you do we might end up been rich”

Eric said unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.
“okay,what do we do then?”
Joseph replied.
“good, listen we are going to demand some money from him…”
“what,why ….”
“just listen like I said this man has money, joseph I can get rid of the body , listen…”

He paused to see the shock on his friend’s face once he said that.
“listen I know of a place not far from here where a body was discovered last three weeks , its just a road side junction , at this hour I bet no one will be there , see we are going to take some pictures of the man and the body just in case this man tries to act funny with us in the near future , demand some money from him and let him go”

Eric said , he was in fact good with making up plans for whatever situation he needed to handle, a small time burglar and a onetime car thief , it wasn’t hard for him to think of something out of the situation.
“but why do we have to ask money from him , it feels a bit wrong for me”

Joseph said again.

Why was he acting all weird and strange , Joseph wondered as the man began to tip toe towards the door , alarm bells suddenly went off in his head before he jumped out of the toilet to catch the man unawares as the man tried to force his way through the locked lobby doors.
“Hello, sir is there anything the matter “

Joseph asked , he could see the fear and confusion on the man’s face once their eyes met.

“Please ,please I swear to you , I didn’t kill her”
The man replied almost going down on his kneels, the sight sent a shock wave down joseph’s spine who found it hard to process what was happening , the slow quiet movement which would have helped him slip through the door without no one knowing , the nervous and scared look in his eyes all made it clear what had happened.
“Eric…Eric!”

Joseph screamed as he gave hard slaps to eric’s back who immediately sprang up a bit agitated and pained by the slaps.
“Oh God what is it now!”
Eric asked as he winced his eyes.

“I think this man may has killed someone”
“I swear , please no it’s not true , I didn’t kill her , I swear on my life”
The man countered on his kneels, sweating profusely and sobbing like a child.

“What, how did this happen ,who, I mean where?”
Eric asked still trying to recover himself fully.
“We have to go call the police now”

Joseph said hurriedly reaching out for his desk phone.
“Please , please, please I am not a killer , I dint kill her you have to believe me , the police will arrest me please ,please..”
“Shut up , ehmm wait Joseph , where is the body ,what if she isn’t dead yet , we could help her , drop the phone first let’s go and check her now”
Eric screamed fully realizing what had happened now.

“yes, please that’s a good idea , please let’s go and check ,she could still be alive , oh God , she could still be…”
“Oga shut up and let’s go check her now”
Eric countered angrily forcing the man up as joseph followed behind shortly ,dropping the phone immediately.

Once all three were up, they went straight for the room and found the lifeless body of the girl right on the bed, foam in mouth, upon a second thorough check by all three , they were able to confirm she was indeed dead.

“Hah, I am finished, I am done for “
The man said in between hot tears once they confirmed she was truly dead.
“Joseph go and call the Police , she is…actually dead”
Eric said quite scarred now.

“you stay here while I go down , let me call others who are still in the hotel so they know whats happening”
Joseph suggested .

“please , please you have to believe I didn’t kill her , I am not a killer , I swear , please ….”

The man hesitated for a moment seeing how little attention the two paid to him before he continued again.
“okay..okay please don’t go yet , I ...I have money , lots of money , I can give you money , anything you want , I swear just don’t call anyone yet please”

He continued again sobbing and crying.
“Are you out of your mind, are you sick or something , there is a dead girl in your hotel room and you want to bribe us ,whats that going to do?”

Joseph replied angrily as he made his way for the door.
“I am sorry…I don’t know what else to say , I don’t want to go to jail , please I am innocent”

The man replied in again in hot tears amidst his confusion and fear.
“Jo…joseph ehm wait first, please wait …”
“Wait what, what are you talking about?”

uneasy about something.

He had wanted to ask her what was the problem but then had waved it off and had decided to just go on with their earlier discussion.
“what is it that you were saying?”
She managed to say.

“Ehmm I wanted to tell you about the side effects of the drug…”
He paused seeing how conscious she had become once he said that.
“..relax its nothing , its just that once the drug wears off , your man will likely fall asleep, it’s really nothing to worry about but if he has some appointment or something to do then you can get him to wake up”
He added.

“Really oh that’s perfect, ehmm just in case I too try to rest a bit and by 12 I am not up please can you ring the room, from the looks of it , your drug could make my man stress me a lot tonight , I have some place to be so can you?”

She asked with a mild smile hanging on her face.
“that’s no problem at all, I will ring up the room by 12”
Joseph said convincingly as he handed it over to her.
“and don’t worry I won’t charge you for this one because it’s your first time here”

Joseph added with a smile as he walked back without waiting for her to reply.

Later on both guys had settled down finally to watch their match and enjoy their meal.

By 2:00am Joseph was forced to wake up and go take a piss when he realized eric was dozing off , curled up in the long chair right, besides the toilet door there in the lobby, he smiled dully and found his way to the bathroom , he was still taking a piss when he heard a creak right in the lobby, he paused for a minute and tried to listen for another which didn’t come , perhaps a rat or something he thought and then again he heard the same creak , this time a bit erring too, was it Eric up to his pranks which he played on him from time to time but listening closely he could hear Eric snore letting him drop that thought dead in its track, he decided to take a look , upon opening the door as slowly as he could , he immediately made out the feet of a someone slowly descending down the steps which were situated right behind his office desk, he held a grin as he waited for the figure to fully reveal himself, definitely it had to be one of the customers who hadn’t paid yet and was hoping to get the jump on him, it did happen in the past a few times so he wasn’t surprised, he passed a glance at Eric who was still dozing and shook his head regrettably , never the less he waited patiently as the feet descended slowly , it was only a minute when the figure had climbed down the stairs totally and was now in the lobby , Joseph realized it was the rich man who had tipped him earlier.

Observing closely before deciding what next to do , he realized how nervous , scarred and sweaty the man was in fact had it not been for his retentive memory he wouldn’t have remembered the face.

She asked much to the surprise of Joseph who passed a stare to Eric and then back to her.
“Okay , we can talk outside the lobby if you want just let me put these down”

Joseph said as she walked outside to wait for him soon afterwards, once at the desk he passed a wink at Eric before returning to entrance of the lobby where the girl was waiting.
“So what is it you want to tell me?”
Joseph asked and for a minute she had kept silent as if thinking if to say something.

“you can tell me anything , if it’s something you need I can get it for you too I don’t mind”

Joseph said hoping to ease her perceived tension and uneasiness to say something.

“I was hoping I could get some….something for the night to help man …”
Joseph chuckled a bit letting her pause for a minute out of curiosity to find out why what she was saying seemed funny.
“…what is it , what is so funny about what I said?”
She protested a bit irritated at Joseph’s attitude.
“Oh no nothing , I am very sorry ,well I may be able to help you with you with that , you know what just wait here , I will be back”

Joseph said before running back into the lobby , it was no secret apart from the fact he was the hotel receptionist , he did personally sell illegal aphrodisiac and performance drugs to customers to make money when the opportunities were there and tonight presented an easy one for him, he searched this private compartment in the desk where he stored his stash of the drugs, picking one of his products he believed was the right one he rushed out to join the girl once more.
“This will do the job ,its in powder form so he can lick it and trust me when he is done , you won’t recognize him any longer, its very powerful and very trust worthy, just a sachet for him is what he needs but there is something I have to tell you about though”

Joseph paused for a minute hoping to let her in on the little side effects of his drug but she hadn’t been able to respond when her phone rang.
“Excuse me , I have to take this please”
She said before talking a few steps away from where they stood although not so much that he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“yes we are at the hotel…”

She paused again and took a hard stare at Joseph before taking a few more steps away not that it did help her as Joseph continued listening .
“..yes I know what to do , am not an idiot you know..why do you want it now I thought….” She paused again seemed to be angry at something before she continued the call.

“..okay ,okay fine , its 5322,baby I have to go now , I will call you when I am done okay?”

She ended the call and returned back to Joseph ,this time a bit

“How long do you intend to stay sir , a night is N3000 here , if you won’t be staying over the night that would N2000 then”
Joseph replied with a set of keys in hand , he had picked out of the key racks

“Just gimme me room alright, here you can keep the change”
The man said producing some wads of sharp 500 naira notes and dropping it on the desk, something Joseph noticed the girl wasn’t particularly happy with but that didn’t stop Joseph from collecting the notes as quickly as he could before producing an entirely different key quickly from the rack which belonged to one of the rooms he himself usually took his time to clear out and was fitted with an air conditioner and a working telephone for his well know customers who tipped him good each time they came around.

“Oga Sir, you can have this one, its for special people sir , I bet you will enjoy the room sir, take the stairs and go up , the last room on your right ,the number is right at the top of the room”
Joseph instructed happily as the man and the girl walked away, once they were out of sight Joseph produced the notes and counted it to find out how much he had been tipped.
“jesus Christ, 4,500!?”

He asked himself with a smile taking N2000 out of it and placing it into the drawer where the sales money are usually kept, He sat there starring at the cash which he drew to his nose to smell , what a nice feeling to be rich and to have enough to throw around he thought , somehow he did envy the girl who accompanied the man because she more than him would be having a whole lot more once they were done.
“Did you see the car , that’s parked out?”
Eric asked as he walked into the lobby with excitement written all over his face.

“It must be the rich man who just lodged in some minutes ago”
Joseph said a bit relived his friend was now around.
“That car looks way too expensive for just a mere rich man , we are talking about lots of cash here, wow some people are just lucky to have everything they want you know”

Eric said before he joined Joseph at the desk and then revealing the content of the small nylon he had brought in.
“here I brought some beans cake and some bread for us , I know you haven’t taken anything since “
Eric continued.

“Thank you very much, you are truly a life saver dear friend, let me go get some water for us before the match starts properly”
Joseph said before he left the lobby and headed out to get some water, a few minutes had passed before he arrived with two sachets of water just in time to see the girl who had accompanied the man upstairs.
“Excuse me , is there anything you want?”
Joseph asked as soon as his sight fell on her.
“Hmmm , can we talk somewhere else?”

Chapter One

It was about 8:13 PM in the Evening at the Sterling Hotel, when Joseph the Hotel Receptionist decided to change the little TV which hung above his desk at a corner for the supposed football match , he and his friend Eric had made plans earlier on to watch although Eric hadn’t arrived yet nor had the match started yet , he felt it wise to tune in the channel early to0 catch up with the preliminaries besides he hadn’t much to do , the Sterling hotel wasn’t what anyone would recommend to anyone for a standard hotel room , it was one of those sketchy set ups with a few rooms , located in the heart of Lagos whose affordability and ease of access made the sales and kept it in afloat. He tried adjusting himself on his chair when he got a message on his phone, barely looking at it his face bore a frown after which he replaced the phone back into his pocket, it was his landlord who had taken his antics a step further by sending him a message warning him of his overdue rent and the possibility of meeting his properties outside if he returned without paying; as if he didn’t have enough debts and overdue payments to make already.

Right now , his concern was finding what to eat before the match started, he hadn’t been lucky with that throughout the day and the thought of sleeping another night with little to nothing in his stomach wasn’t a good idea , he was still trying to figure out what to do when a man probably in his fifties dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts drove in and walked into the lobby with a girl by his side, the man looked a lot older thought he was in pretty good shape and seemed quite decent , in fact if he didn’t know better he would say the man may have lost his way coming to a place like this but again the Sterling Hotel was built for the purpose of all , privacy itself was the key , no questions was ever asked about those who walked in none any asked about their business there except for a lodge book where they customers who felt it necessary to put down their details and payments were always in cash.

“Hello, how much for a room here?”
The man asked as he drew close to Joseph who quickly stood up to answer the waiting customers, he glance at the man and then to the girl who looked quite younger , a lot younger he could consider the girl a daughter to this man , she was fair and a bit skinny but overall she looked beautiful too beautiful to be one of those road sides pick up he had become so familiar with since four months ago he took this job.
“hello, are you listening to me?”

The man asked again with some urgency in his tone making Joseph realize he had been starring longer than was necessary.
“Oh I am sorry sir, What do you say you want?”
Joseph replied with a smile.

“I asked for a room , how much is it here?”
The man replied taking one look at the door soon afterwards as if to check if anyone else was coming in before retuning his attention to Joseph who had began to stare through his key racks to check up on the available rooms.

CHAPTER TWO JOURNEY MERCIES


I checkef my clips and ammo as did andrew and seven others , lietenant hassan our team leader joined us shortly , through the three days of massisve intelligence, training and analysis on our mission prospects he rarely said much unless when he needed to ,whitefield on the other hand well pioneered every intelligence and every joke the white collar offered and those they didnt , somehow i was happy he wasnt field leader

The mission was simple , turns out the entire area where the base black cat was held up was recently worn over by the soldiers from terrorists ,as a former military personel that was a bad news as such a place was and by tactical rules of engagement that place was still a ground zero for attacks , by tactical and geographical stats the white collar team pulled up for us , we had three routes all leading to a single narrow one at half the entire distance .

Three routes was a good one ,each could lead us to the TADHAR BASE and even more we could get drone support , navigation systems worked and tested great with at least two of those routes , thats the good path the main problem comes with the single narrow route, it turns out it was a shit show for a path , last renovated for a road eight years back , it became the perfect hideout and stops for for all types of ill minded people, the armed robbers , kidnappers, cattle rustlers and all , the kind that mades google maps sick in terms of navigation , dubbed the hell way , with surroundings that made up for the animal kingdom ,a damn forest dense and shitty , whitefield scoffed at some point and told us to write our death certificates but he laughed hard at the thought of seeing how scarred we were.

" over twenty two attacks within the last two and half weeks of three different factions of militia groups , three raids whcih left a group of travellers kidnapped and a few of them dead !" whitefield said reading from his files while we listened.

"Cant we use the drones to clear the path for us?" andrew asked ,who i had later found out was the second lucky employee of TADOPT for field assignment atleast in my set .

"yes thats correct except , we would also destroy what is already a highly Inefficient , unstable and one of the worst excuse for narrow road, hell i would gladly take a tunnel than that but its all we got , we start throwing missiles on that damn thing we wont have a road , making a new one isnt in the books , we have to manage what we got boys, am sorry ,your country is one hell of an adventure island !"

Whitefield said , that wasnt an insult for a citizen thats a compliment , Day zero was upon us , whitefield was hysteric about one of the traditions he was used to up in his country .

"you know if you sons of bitch*es are going to get screwed like bullet screwed not that i dont have faith in us but f**k it , it will go south sooner or later and i know your capabilities as a team will be the defining line between a bunch of idiots wielding guns and you guys so tonight at 9 , for all the virgins and non virgins , you are all mandated i mean commanded to be at STAR DARK CLUN HOUSE , hassan knows the drift , he will get the details , you are going to get drunk a bit get laid and if you like one of them you can even get married ,atleast someone other than your family can mourn you "

family , he said , the word rang cold in my ears.


to be continued...

chapter two comes up today

"i know you must be wondering why we called you ,the thing is this two weeks ago after we had reviewed our successful applicants across all sectors in the agency , we came to find out about some corruption scandal involving five police commissioners , a senator and a military general whilst this is not a concern for us , it turns out during interrogation , one of the commissioners spilled information about TADOPT ,this very organization and that is a big problem , if you recall no one is supposed to know you work for this agency nor suspect this agency is nothing more than a waste of building for security intelligence only and this idea is something onky governors and elite military personel should know about , for a police commissioner to know such we knew we had a mole , a leak in the organization and so we began to search and scrutinize the top officials of this organization and thay includes the president himself who came clean as did us all so we knew someone from the new boys was or could be selling active information out " whitefiled said .

he was indeed telling me the truth, i could see it .

"sir , if you think so...why call me i mean i could be the exact mole and now i know about this i could know your next move "

i said .

"It turns out wr had began scrutinizing your guys and currently you came out clean actually spotless clean so we know it couldnt be you but now wd will let you know why you are here , lieutenant hassan please brief the agent on MISSION BLACK CAT " whitefield concluded.

" two days ago , a sting operation in the northern borders of kano , got the military men coming under fire from what they thought were herdsmen coming into the country , two hours of intensive gun Battles got our men capturing NASIR EL ABDUL aka BLACK CAT , they didnt know who they had caught and once they returned to base , the information came in ,BLACK CAT STANDS as the most wanted kidnapper crime boss and the ring leader of one of the most wanted human trafficking syndicate across africa ,europe and asia and yes he is a nigeria , ever read about the 389 illegal immigrants found shot to dead upon a cargo ship up in italy a month ago?"

he asked me ,of course i had had heard about, it was said to be a horror show , decapitated , headless loads of body ranging from kids to the elderly littered the ship on arrival .

"yes sir!" i said.

"good, that was black cat 's work well atleast his command carried out by his men , among the recovered loot by the soldiers were a whooping $28 billion dollars valued gold bars found in two trailer loads , black cat is a dangerous personnel with governors ,military personnel and police men in his pay grade , the facility up in kano so far where he is been kept has already come under attack sixteen times just in those two days and many lives have been lost so far , we far the facility will not stand much longer , the USA , ITALY ,CHINA, BRAZIL AND FRANCE are all over this even the international communities are watching closey , the president feels this is what NADOPT needs to get the private financi backing it needs to keep us afloat , black cat cant be air lifted from base because its not suited for it and the attacks so far have shown our enemies to have missile launching capabilities , a bird goes over the base ,they will bring it down for sure but we have a solution 785km away from the base is a newly constructed military base called TADHAR BASE which is not in use for now with good missile defense system with air lift capability , our mission will be to air drop at TADHAR BASE get to this other base ,take black cat , bring him back to TADHAR BASE and airlift him out of there , the mission will take three days jounrey in total , I personally will spear head the mission once we are cleared for drafting within the next two days , in the mean time we have drones enroute to the base to help them clear the areas for hte next two days and provide them with tactical supports , the reason why we brought you in on this is the fact we dont know how this is going to play out ,if we have a mole in the organization that is bad because balck cat organization has moles in every where our best bet is to watch out , we know you are. dedicated and true to your calling , if things go out badly on this mission , you will be tasked with putting a bullet in balck cats head , we cant afford to lose him ever again , its a direct command from the president ,is that understood?" hassan said.

"yes sir ,you can count on me sir !" i said if only they knew how reluctant i wad in my head ,but i knew what i was getting into before i signed those papers .


THE END.

We were still talking when. my senses picked up another hear beat within reach just thrn the soft knock came on the door.

Lieutenant Djoro hassan stood before us , bulky black and muscles so ripped i wondered about the safety of his uniform , he was seasoned military personel turned DSS agent and now TaDOPT agent , my on field commander as i was later Introduced to by whitefield together both were responsible for the operations regarding the entire on missions, whitefield coordinated a special group of selected personels who i am sure did go through the hell i went through their duties revolved from providing on field intelligence , aerial surveillance and geographical intelligence , tactical guardlines and analysis and more ,the white collar he called them , i still hadng known why i sat before my superiors until whitefield dropped the bomb.

to be continued..

My appointment letter came with my gear and combat suit , the smell was the selling point i was taking about US military grade A combat weapon and gears from assault rifle HK 416 little to no recoil ,portable and deadly ,fire power just rivalled any thing I had ever come across in the army to the desert eagle 50 and the fully body armor delivered with full head gear and mask equipped with night vision lens .

Well I bet this was my second surprise from the fact that my interview two weeks ago had me sitting right in front of white military personnel, I had the fact that I was out of active services for a long time a major talking point even when I aced the physiques test , each was a military genius based on one sector , intelligence, combat , tactics and transportation no wonder I left the intense 2 hour interview feeling I had gone through hell .

my gear were custom made and designed for an active field duties officer but to the world and every other military organization in the country we were nothing more than ghost workers working for a convert security agency directly under the strict supervision of an elite few generals comprising of foreign heads who report directly to the president ,yes the damn head of state.

Pay rivals with that of a military commander so I had no issue with that when I signed my contracts oh and yes we weren't permanently employed for reasons unknown our employment status was bent on a six month review so if in the next six month I was to Bleep up a mission or break one out of the 1,500 codes of conduct and rules of engagement for each field operator it was bye bye and never see you again.

It was damn strict but it was OK, my adrenaline was high up on the 10th floor you can say , I resumed work the next day my combat gears fully placed in. a special case I could move around ,you weren't expecting me all geared up for war ,were you?

I reached for our commander's office Lieutenant Whitefield which I had directed to see by chief secretary , a US gun for hire mercenary who had pledged loyalty of my country for some some well good dough , he had welcomed me into the interview with at least over fifteen questions on military tactics and maneuvers something I excelled so yeah I did impress the fella.

"sergeant Johnson " he said with a dull smile up his cheek as I saluted , my nose caught the smell of nicotine , his heart beat which was healthy for a man I believed was around 50 ,the smell of damp and cold air .

"sir!" I said with a smile.

"sit down and wait for commander Hassan !" he said offering me one out of the two vacant seats in front of him.

We sat and for the next fifteen minutes we talked,cheered anf reminisced about war stories turns out the old chap was a war hero before he had lost his left ear in a combat operation , the army ket him go and he went international serving as a body guard, mercenary and military instructor and tactical off field instructor .

"do you know what i like about your country and why i stayed?!" he asked , i could sense the spike in his andrenaline as he asked .

"is there something to like in this shit hole ?!" i asked.

"oh no it s definitely not a shit hole , trust me i have been on active field operations in 12 different countries around the world i can tell you that your country is not that ugly , its beautiful and the average man isnt all that bad , i stayed because your country has the most resilient and hardworking people ,people who believe theres always a tomorrow , who enjoy life and enjoy good company you know and i like that alot"

he said ,his heart beat wa calm and rythmic as he spoke on ,something that supported the fact he was telling the truth or atleast he believed he was telling the truth.


to be continued.

CHAPTER ONE: RECRUITS




"Is this your first !?" a taller figure sitting directly opposite me finally broke the 30 minute silence that had had me by the throat .

We all looked like models applying for a banker job but sitting right in the newly commissioned security agency THE NIGERIA SECURITY AGENCY FOR TRANSPORTATION AND DISPLACEMENT OF HIGH PROFILED TARGETS TADOPT .

Before this I had been in active service in the military, six years and then I had a bullet after me and my squad members were ambushed coming back from a reconnaissance mission, we had little gear and little ammunition, I survived the massacre , a bullet to the hips and three more lodged in my chest , the bandits wanted to make sure we were all sea putting a bullet into each lifeless body but the army came just two bodies from mine .

I was done serving for real , reports had me that I wouldn't be able to walk again but I came through and at twenty seven I still had something to offer , honestly I would have taken a bank security job but then ,a general who I had worked under passed my papers once I told them I still had something out there to give.

My name is Ajaiye Damola Johnson and today , my fifth interview in a series of interviews which cut the number of applicants from 250 to 15 men and luckily I was still an applicant and if I was lucky I would be one out of two on Field agents who do the dirty jobs of transporting high criminal targets or hits ,you see TADOPT's sole responsibility is mainly transportation of two sets of people , targets marked people who were highly sort out for by criminal elements say witness who testify in high profile cases or hits the so called baddies , the guys who ran the underworld , we are talking about the worst of the worst kinds ,drug Lords ,kingpin's, terrorists name it .

"yes it is my first " I tried to put up a smile , I could read his body language , his heart rate was racing through the ceiling , his hands moved every now and then pacing as much as his eye lids were , saying he was nervous was an under statement , some how his eyes communicated another message, one I couldn't understand yet perhaps I was thinking things hard I mean the sixth applicant just came out of the hot room with eyes red just like the others.

I could tell none had it funny, you see my mother was born blind whilst she didn't give birth to a blind kid I always believed she gave me a gift , heightened sense I guess.
I can tell lies from true just by listening ,I can tell heart rates from each other, I can see emotions just by looking at faces , i can read even the most complicated body expressions you can think of , i also can differentiate and track practically anything from just a scent ,you can say I would give any tracking dog a race for its pay its a gift that has kept me alive and each day I thank God for this gift.

"applicant number 234 please come in"

A female voice came through the intercom stationed on the wall , her voice expressed a level of desperation and fatigue .
I stood up and gave the best smile I could having aced my other interviews, this should be an okay one I told myself.
Then again I heard that odd heart beat from the fellow , it was disturbing yet I had to wave it off.

to be continued...

GENRE
ACTION
SCI-FI
THRILLER

ADVENTURE

SYNOPSIS :

A THREE DAY MISSION TRANSPORTING ONE OF NIGERIA'S GREATEST
ARMED ROBBER AND KIDNAP KINGPIN BETWEEN TWO STATES TURNS
OUT TO BE THE WORST DAY TO START A JOB FOR NEWLY PROMOTED
AGENT AJAIYE JOHNSON .
WHILST A GIFTED MARTIAL ARTIST AND AN IMPECCABLE BODY LANGUAGE ANALYST ,HIS SKILLS ARE ABOUT TO BE PUT TO A THREE DAY TRIP TO HELL .

excepts :

"When did the army start mounting road blocks in the middle of
nowhere? "
"idiot, those are not the army , those are men in army uniforms!? "

watch out for MISSION BLACK CAT


GENRE

ACTION
SCI-FI
THRILLER
SUPER HERO
ADVENTURE


SYNOPSIS :


A THREE DAY MISSION TRANSPORTING ONE OF NIGERIA'S GREATEST ARMED ROBBER AND KIDNAP KINGPIN BETWEEN TWO STATES TURNS OUT TO BE THE WORST DAY TO START A JOB FOR NEWLY PROMOTED AGENT AJAIYE JOHNSON .

WHILST A GIFTED MARTIAL ARTIST WITH AN ALMOST DENORMAL GENE FOR PRECONCEPTIVE MOVEMENTS AND BODY LANGUAGE, THE NEWLY TRAINED IS ABOUT TO BE PUT TO THE GREATEST TEST OF HIS LIFE.


excepts :

"When did the army start mounting road blocks in the middle of nowhere? "

"idiot, those are not the army , those are men in army uniforms!? "