₦airaland Forum

CHAPTER TWO


Buboy had just finished his six sachet of alcohol before he squeezed himself alongside melee and jane in the back seat ; I had hope jane would seat this one out but buboy two days after I had proceeded to tell them we had just one final big pay , he had divulged the information to his sister who was disappointed a bit of my refusal to bring her in on the job

I made one last effort to convince her to stay behind ; not that I was ever going to succeed once she made her mind up. I called her out and took her to the side of the two room which we shared .

“you really don’t have to come , you know that” I said calmly ; jane wasn’t just a member and a sister of one of the gang , she was one of us and the very first of the bunch I met, a neighbor with a huge fancy for me which I was grateful of having no means of possible survivor once I was fresh out of cash my mom had left for me , jane was there for me , a hooker who got me connected with her brother buboy and soon I was able to get her to join us, it turns out she and her brother had ran away from home at the earliest years of their life having suffered abuses from both father and their step mom , jane was strong as she always was supporting and providing for her and her brother in the big city, she got me completely out of the drug use and made me value life at the point where I had given up.

“I told you , we go out together , you and I no matter what” she said cheerfully as I smiled calmly somehow I could tell she wasn’t really in on it , she was an expecting mother of course ; the very condtion that set our retirement plans into motion three weeks before.

“I know its just that , you shouldn’t be doing this now you are…”

“oh please lets go ,salem will be waiting for us at the airport plus we still don’t know if Candy has accepted to help us get to his clearing agent at the airport ,come on lets go” she urged as we walked back.

I had completely forgotten the one hurdle in this deal , The man who has majority of the agents within the air transport in his pay roll; Candy .

Its no easy task been a smuggler infact you are only as good of a smuggler as your connections , while I thrive better at sea ports and land borders , candy thrived at the air transport , faster and somewhat pays more especially when we are dealing with narcotics but make no mistake, we are no friends .

Our journey was smooth to the airport , once outside the airport , I tried to get in contact with salem who had left for the airport earlier on .

“ he wants to speak me directly ?” I paused for awhile , salem had reported candy wanted to speak to me directly before he was going to agree to anything , that bastard probably wanted to trade something for his agent’s help; he never did anything for free and when he did, you best be afraid of what free is.

“stay inside and watch out , melee lets go to his agent ,candy probably wants some trade for his help” I said , melee was by far the youngest of our crew but ambitious like anyone who wanted to succeed , once a pick pocket his close experience to been lynched , he turned smuggler as soon as he got out of jail , he is the quiet one and most hardworking .

We made our way into the busy airport , the clearance agent candy needed us to talk to had waved to us before walking into the rest room.
“call salem and find him , he should be with the package ehmm” I said as melee left me to attend to candy’s agent.

I walked into the rest room and locked the door behind , his agent said nothing but handed me his phone which was already on call ; candy.

“I just want to know first of all , what you are taking out of the airport ,am sure you can tell me that” candy said.

“I cant tell you that,sorry” I said , first rule of engagement ; never tell the opposition what you are delivering , its bad for you , your package and your contractor and there is one person you don’t want to know what you are delivery and that’s candy.

“oh come on , this is my terrain without my concepet you wont get anything from this airport or another , I owe this sh*t you know that” he urged me.

“I cant tell you , we all know what happens to people who tell you about their package , they either end up dead or they end up with their heads and of course their packages gone as well so no candy, I cant tell you but I can offer you something else “ I paused I needed him to know I was in charge here the minute he felt my desperation would mean I get nothing from the deal.

“hmmm I see well what do you have for me aamir?” he replied .

“I can offer you my contacts to the gordha border pass , I know its been hard for you and your boys to move anything pass that spot …”

“who told you that ?” he asked.

“oh come on we all know the three trailer load of people from chad where yours and the expired drugs you tried bringing into the country , I can offer you my contacts now I am getting off the business finally” I said calmly , it was not a second thought offer , I knew he would bite .

“hmmm let me think about it ,give the phone to my boy” I starred at his agent who seem to have all the time in the world as he starred casually at me before I handed over the phone to him , they talked for awhile before he got off the phone.

“get your boy over to the A section for luggage clearance , I will be waiting “ he said before he left , I got in call with salem and melee , salem had already secured the package and soon afterwards we were outside once more, I couldn’t say I was impressed for the said package ; a small metallic suitcase that looked like some laboratory apparatus or a little ladies’ pulse .

“is that it?” jane asked as I tossed it over at the back seat obviously she too was disappointed .

“what is this one self , so we are getting paid four times for a small suitcase hah” Buboy said he wasn’t the one to hide his displeasure .

I made the call to pascal as soon as we all got in and headed home , pascal was been evasive with his contractor ‘s details again as I wondered if anything he had said so far was true , the guy would deny his parents for the right price .

“boss , did you know the suitcase has a timer on it” Salem said as he starred at the it again.

“a timer ?” I asked trying hard to keep my mind on the steering wheel as we got on the mainland bridge.

“yes,yes, see…” Salem pointed it at me , my eyes caught a little timer just between the handles actively counting in seconds and minutes .

“can you open it?” jane said .

“rules,people you know how we do this , we never open the package ,its none of our business “ I reminded them.

“yes but what if this is a bomb or something “ jane added ,something I myself had thought about but seemed not to make any sense .

“well even if we wanted to, this suitcase cant be opened manually ,it has…”

“got it !” melee said as he produced a vial of blue liquid from the case .

“keep that back , now you know its not bomb just a well protected suitcase “ I said again.

“yeah , hmm this Americans are funny with the packaging and all “ melee added .

“hmmm wait let me see that one more time “ I said as melee stretched it from the back seat at me and just one minute I had turned my attention from the wheel , I heard the impact and the smear of the liquid against my face, tumbling and somersaulting , we had been hit by a trailer ,we veered off right out of the road with another into the sea.


THE END.

THE HOOD BEGINS.


CHAPTER ONE
I grinned heavily as I saw pascal’s number on my phone , madam kuro and the sales girls were entertaining as best as they could by keeping the drinks on a steady flow, the night was calm and a bit windy but madam’s kuro bar never lacked constant flow of customers , it was the only spacious bar that could contain the lot and afford the low lives the creek could offer plus one out of the few that still currently sold on credit.

I took my leave while the gang and jane enjoyed their night in order to answer pascal’s call but was stopped by Faith; a sales girl of madam kuro who I had helped pay her son’s school fees the previous day although I hadn’t told her but her smile meant she knew already.

“good evening teacher aamir sir…” she paused with a dull smile on her face as we meant.

“mama Cyril good evening “ I said quite eager to pick the call now and return to the gang.

“my son..my boy told him you gave him money to pay for his fees , I wanted to say thank you very much” she said sincerely happy at the moment.

“it wasn’t that much plus Cyril is a very intelligent , you are welcome “ I said as I quickly took my leave and made way for the back door , once outside I picked the call .

The name is Aamir Hassan and six years ago I had everything , I wasn’t born poor and wretched, my dad was a supreme judge and my mom an accountant, one of the best so to say , i and my brother were born into a life of luxury , I was destined to be my father’s successor , a straight A student and just the amount of passion anyone needed to become a successful lawyer but everyman has his weakness and with the luxury I and my brother was getting , my weakness merely found an easy opening to ruin and make me the man I am today.


“Hello to what do I owe this call tonight?” I asked frankly ; apparently the only time pascal called was when he had a job , he was a middle man for majority of smuggling syndicates in and outside the country and knew much about the majority of the smuggling network within the country but while he was the middle man what he really did was connect the right smuggling syndicate to the right smugglers something of a property agent while I and my gang act as was the courier within the country if you say.

“hey , hah Bros aamir are you still hungry over what happened last time?”

“of course I am still angry , we almost got busted , if they had found out we were trafficking people alongside the container , my guys at the border wouldn’t have spared us , drugs is one thing but people is another and you knew that , my only rule is no human trafficking and you tried to get me to traffic people so yes I still have enough reason to be upset with you” I said angrily but still way still cautious to keep my voice down.

“listen am sorry even I didn’t know…”

“oh please don’t lie to me , I can tell when people lie come on what am I , a newbie who doesn’t know how this game works? , listen I only picked because I know you would probably call till I pick that’s why I am answering…”

“okay , okay listen I want to make it up to you , you and your gang are one of the most compete and reliable even trustworthy smuggling gang out there please we have been in business for a year and a half and I know you too well to have tried to gain a bit extra from that deal at the expense of you and your gang so here is my offer..”

“I am not interested man for real besides didn’t you hear I was pulling out of the smuggling business , I thought I sent a clear message around…”

“relax bro, relax and listen to me first of all, this deal is at least four times bigger than anything you have ever scored on any of your trip, I mean we are talking off major money in the bank in fact you want to pull out of the smuggling chain , consider this as your perfect retirement package “
I paused a bit , it sounded suspiciously easy and with such a big cash in I feared something was wrong somewhere, pascal wasn’t telling me the whole story and I wasn’t going to fall for his tricks again.

“pascal what are you not telling , if you lie and I find out , you are going to get hot from me this time around,so tell me whats the catch “

He paused for a bit as I waited for his reply , I wasn’t in any hurry to get the truth of him mainly because a part of me was still thinking of taking the deal or not ,I wasn’t worried about the gang tonight we were supposed to celebrate our retirement , each of them already had a plan to help them settle , buboy was heading out to Ghana, Salem had got a job at his auntie’s place in Abuja , Melee was going to start his own smuggling gang and jane and I were hoping to start a family together .

“Okay see the thing is eh I am honestly not sure about the deal myself, see the contractor is from USA , some sorta pharmaceutical company been investigated for experimental drug test on human subjects okay , there latest product has caught the eyes of system which is supposed to be some sort of the next level cocaine except the drugs killed its first twenty human subjects , one of those killed happen to be a somebody and you know how the system behaves now there is a heavy clap down on the company , staffs are been arrested and made to spill what they know about the companies activities , our contractor has been his path to reduce his sentence , the guy is in so much trouble already , all traces of this new drug has been destroyed over there except for one small problem….” He paused letting me wonder where my services where needed.

“ the thing is he was contracted to supply a shipment of the experimental drugs to Libya ..”

“let me guess he decided to cut his loss as soon as he realized the drugs were deadly and carried out the contract?” I asked.

“hah Aamir you read my mind well the federal agents know this and have passed notice to the Kenya government to be ready to intercept the goods as soon as they arrive their now this is where you come in, my contractor has been able to pass valid information to the pilot who was to drop the shipment in south africa for reason I don’t know from where it would arrive in Libya by sea but there is a new plan and …”

“.. he wants to drop the shipment here in Nigeria hmmm but what makes you think I want any part of this , I mean this are killer drugs you know” I said.

“he doesn’t want them destroyed , he says this are the only known remaining products and would like to study them…”

I chuckled a bit as I wondered what balls he had to want to study his product , Americans I said to myself .

“..so what he needs is just somewhere he can hide his product luckily Nigeria is one big trash can where you can probably hide anything , its just till he gets out of himself sorted out over there , he is willingly to make payment upfront …”

“oh cut the bull’s crap pascal he has paid you already hmmm ….” I stood there for a minute , jane would be so mad at me for wanting to work one last deal but the boys really wouldn’t mind plus there was no delivery really since I only needed to hoard them also a four time pay would really help me achieve my little dreams .

You see I wasn’t any of this , I had a dream I was passionate about not because my dad happen to be a judge , a supreme judge at that , I just wanted to contribute to the society as best as I could by helping put away the bad guys for good but a man is only as strong as his weakness would allow him , I was addicted to drug use , it became a heavy problem my mom constantly shielded away from my father until one night something terrible happened , I killed a hawker returning back from the market while under the influence of drugs and alcohol , the police upon arrival while I was attempting to escape the mob found evidences of highly contraband drugs in my car ; talk about a very bad you would think.

The media made a mess of the story and my dad disowned me and my institution rusticated me my dad forbade his family from having anything to do with me apparently he was trying to savage what was left of his hard earned reputation not that I blamed him , i served four out of my thirty five years to life sentence thanks to my mom who was able to buy my way into the governor’s pardon list.

Once out I found out my brother was no longer in the country with the little money my mom could help me with , I was able to get a place but then what seem like a redemption arc for me turned sour when my mom was diagnosed of cancer ,she died soon after and then reality set in.

Friends went side ways while I tried to survive in this new harsh environment I found myself in, no help was coming from anywhere , I couldn’t even get a teaching job due to my dented image and so I crawled back to my addiction ; this time a seller nor a buyer and then months turned a year and I found a smuggling crew which I ran by night but by day I was teacher Aamir by the neighborhood , a friendly lively everyday struggler not that they didn’t know my other businesses but somehow in the creeks no one really cared , while I tutored the kids in the environment in various subjects for free daily ; in hopes of that I can redeem my past mistakes and perhaps give the street kids a chance at education which I took for granted .

“so what do you say?” pascal said somehow I guessed he knew my reply , the deal was a good bait that no one wouldn’t take .

“ am in send me the details when you can” I said finally as I could hear buboy ‘s drunk gibberish in side the bar , I rushed back in quickly , who knows how many bottles the gang had consumed already

Somewhere in the city , Okoye Moses was going through serious paperwork in the dead of the night , he had a big case to prepare for in two days time , perhaps his streak of bad luck would finally end , a public defendant lawyer whose notoriety for taking up the cases of corrupt and crime related prosecution for victims who couldn’t afford the high cost of legal actions like the case of the girl who was violated by the son of a mogul during his birthday party some days ago , he had the assault claim confirmed by the hospital just the kind of evidence to put another corrupt individual behind bars for life or at least some years .

He went through his paperwork carefully taking notes of original statements made and other incriminating evidence he could come up with a smile on his face ,everything seem to check out at the moment he told himself one more time before his phone rang, it was his client , he quickly picked up having not heard from her for a day now.

“Hello , hey I have been trying to get to you but to no avail what happened , do you realize you have a case soon , I mean..”

“ehm sir , I called because of the case sir”

“what is it , do you have any other thing you need to add to the case , I mean evidence or a witness we …”

“sir , I have decided not to take the matter to court again, am terribly sorry for…”

“no,no,no,no listen I thought we agreed on this , listen this guy has to pay for what he did to you , no one deserves such treatment , he violated you and should be made to face the music and I can …”

“sir , am sorry sir I just want nothing to do with the case again , I have made another statement to the police exempting…”

“oh my god why would you do that , we had him for Christ sake , why would you do that…” okoye paused for a minute , he had been in the game to understand what was happening.

“…how much did he give uhm , how much was he worth tell me?” he said angrily as he got no reply form the other side.

“..its people like you that make this so called high and untouchable of the society feel they are above the justice system , this guy is going to violate more people thanks to you because you have succeeded in telling him that his money is all…” he stopped ass soon as he realized the call had already been cut from the other side.

“Sh*t,sh*t,sh*t!” okoye screamed angrily flinging his phone along with the paper works on the desk away , he had a very solid case , he would have made the stupid boy pay dearly for his crimes by now he would have been fully released as soon as his client gave her newest statement which seals his case automatically .

He walked around angrily in his two bedroom flat as his mind went to and fro over the said case , he was disappointed really but somehow he couldn’t blame her ; somewhere some how the media would paint her a LovePeddler , somehow somewhere Mister rich boy would be freed without serving the entirety of his jail term thanks to the corrupt justice system , somehow she could even end up been killed before the trail began, all this was how majority of the cases he had taken ended up but he was relentless perhaps another day he would bring the corrupt who use their powers , money and connection to oppress the poor to justice.

THE END

Hardes:
Following.



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I Think Amir isn't dead at least not yet.

thanks for the comment be rest assured Aamir will make his debut once more in his first chapter tonight .

Devilpen:
Let's be guided o, is it THE END or TO BE CONTINUED

thanks for the comments.


THE GREEN HOOD IS GETTING A REWRITE, I INITIALLY FELT MY BOSS WAS GOING TO GET HIS STORY BACK BUT HE HAS GIVEN ME THE FULL LITERAL RIGHTS TO THE GREEN VIGILANTE HENCE I INTEND TO GIVE THE STORY MY LONG TERM IDEA FOR A NIGERIA SUPERHEROIC GENRE STORY ,this is my first and I hope to put such a fight for this one till the end.

JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED COLD.