ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 137
Janet had just woken up, feeling hungry but
she dared not mention it. She still slept in the
store where she had been sleeping since she
was brought into the house. She had on her ,
the cloth she had on when she was conered by
Victoria and the odour emanating from the
cloth has been giving her concern. She hadn’t
taken her bath in two days and hadn’t
changed her cloth, she hadn’t cleaned her
mouth too. She knew its only in a matter of
time before maggot begin to fall from her
body.
She would have asked Don or any of the guys
for help but she knew it must come with a
price, something she knew won’t be fair on her
part. She could be asked to sleep with all the
guys in the house and that will be too much
on her part, considering the face that she had
only had s.ex once. She could be punished
brutally for asking for such favours from these
merciless guys, but she was gonna ask
anybody that comes calling at her temporary
room.
How she wished she had said no to Rahmon’s
advances, because she could remember he
gave her the option to either agree or decline,
but as an intelligent girl who was taught to
pay kind people back in the way they had
treated her. She wanted to say no, but she
knew he could throw her out if she said no, or
better still flare up and call her an ingrate,
which was why she took the job and did it,
but now, everything had bounced on her and
Rahmon is somewhere enjoying the rest of the
money made from the deal at peace. She knew
this victoria of a girl must be an expert at
what she does, but she wasn’t convinced. She
had a loving heart that isn’t devoid of
emotion, she might loose against Rahmon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ngozi was trying the clothes Kelvin got for her
at the boutique accross the street, there was
no point covering her unclothedness, she just
let him have a view of his life as she busied
herself with dressing up.
There were so many strange things about
Kelvin that she just couldn’t phatom. First, it
was his gentleman nature, he looked
gentlemanly from the outside but inside him
was like a outside of a serpent. She never in
her wildest dream thought Kelvin could use
her to satisfy his sexual urge. Even if she felt
something for him and wanted to have a fling
with him, she believed every man should take
the normal proceedure when it comes to sex,
because it takes the feeling of the two parties
involved to have a good sex.
Another strange thing she noticed in the two
nights she spent with him was his underwear,
most especially, his singlet. It was customized
‘D-K,’ even though she didn’t know what it
meant, she still knew it was no brand or
designer and therefore she came to the
conclusion that it was made for him. Her
conclusion was further buttressed by the fact
that his name start with the letter ‘K’ but what
the ‘D’ meant was unknown to her.
She also concluded he was hiding somethings
from her, one, he doesn’t recieve his calls in
her presence and two, his phones are always
locked up in the bedside drawer, and since he
had all the keys with him, she couldn’t check
the drawers, but from what she observed, he
had been using this particular hotel room for
quite a long time now. Another thing she
noticed was a tattoo she saw on his body, just
above his tommy. While he was molesting her
in late last night she dugged her fingernails
into his chest out of the pain she was feeling
and ripped the singlet into two, then, the
tattoo became visible, but he was quick to
stop his act and disappear into the bathroom
where he returned with a new singlet on his
body.
She had the feeling she had seen the tattoo
somewhere, not so long ago, but where she
saw it, she couldn’t say. She knew the tattoo
meant a lot to him, which was why he had
been concealing it. She could see letters
inscribed in the middle of the tattoo which
was circular in shape, but he disapeared so
fast that she couldn’t have read the words
inscribed.
With no other word, she walked out of the
room, thank God he had given her her
transport fare. She had one place in mind,
Tobi’s apartment where she would take her
bath, change and cloth and go to the office
immediately to clear herself. Her clearing
before her fiancee can wait.
She had always wanted to explore his detective skills but he hadn’t gotten the chance to do that. She was still a pretty young female FBI agent, she had always wanted to handle a case that seemed a hard nut to crack, she had always wanted to keep tabs on criminals, but no one believed in her.
When Sylvester called her among the team he’ll be taking to assist the police force in their investigation she was elated and happy at the same time, but she was disappointed when after almost a month of their stay with the police, she wasn’t given the chance to do anything, not even to go out with the rest of the teams, she felt sidelined. And when she was about giving up, Clement’s call came in telling her to keep a twenty four hours surveillance on a certain lady who lived in a duplex, house 25, Anthony cresent, Ajayi estate. She didn’t know the connection between the lady and the insurgency case at hand, but whatever the end may be, she knew she would be praised for all her deeds. All Clement required of her was to keep the twenty four hours surveillance and trail her to wherever she goes and try to get more information about her, but with the situation of things, no one knew not a single thing about her which gave her a feeling that the assignment will be decisive in her future in the agency. She was yet to give Clement feedbacks which was why she had switched off her phone, in a bid to concentrate on the job at hand.
She could remember how Clement spoke to her on phone. “Stop at nothing except the desired result.” He had said that fateful evening, two days ago.
He didn’t know it was quite difficult to ask questions from people living in an estate, most of whom were in the working class and had little or no time in knowing about their next door neighbour or the family occupying the next flat to theirs. They cycled from home to work and work to home on weekdays, and sundays, they go to church and return home to rest. Everyone keeping to himself. She hadn’t seen a estate as silent as this, where she grew up, the owners of the properties in the estate sometimes do community works like cleaning the drainage and the rest but here, they have people taking care of that. Such was the type of estate she was asked to stay and find out more about a suspect.
Clement’s last word kept ringing in her head. “I believe in your abilities, that’s why I am giving you the chance to prove a point.” He had said and hung up.
She wasn’t going to disappoint him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Victoria walked out of the house and headed to the backyard with a polythene bag in her hand and a bottle of kerosene and a matchbox.
She emptied the contents of the bag on the floor. The contents included, several pairs of gloves, face masks to mention a few. They are the equipments she uses as an assassin.
She striked the matchstick against the box and it lit up, only for it to extinguish immediately. With shaky hands, she tried for the second, the third, the fourth time without significant success and on the fifth try, the stick caught fire and she dropped it on the material lying on the ground. She wept as they burnt slowly. It takes the grace of God to make decisions such as this. That moment she felt she had lost a long time comapnion, but she conlcuded that it was all for the good of it.
She could remember the atrocities she had committed as an assasin, she could vividly remember the people she had killed, even though she had lost count of the total number. She had killed poticians, business men, popular individuals to mention a few. She knew if her case file should be revisited by a competent police, she’d face the music. She just can’t wait to travel out of the country to start a new life.
She went on her knees as tears rolled down freely and made the following resolutions;
“I will no longer kill to make money, I will no longer be a source of sadness to some people, I want to spend the rest of my life distributing happiness and joy, which is why I will donate all the money I have made in this business to the charity. So help my good lord.” She said.
“Amen.” A voice said behind her.
She frozed the moment she heard the voice which unmistakably belonged to her mother.
“Mum! What are you doing here? I thought you are still in bed.”
“I came to see what my daughter is up to with that bag.” Madam Alice replied.
“Am sorry mum.” She said as she resumed another round of crying.
“Its no problem. I love your courage.” Her mother said and hugged her tightly. The two women sobbed on each other’s shoulder.
—
Victoria was sitting down in the living room, her head rested on her mother’s laps.
“So what do you intend doing with those guns?” Her mother asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe I will return them to the gang members.” She replied.
“Don’t you think that will be too risky? Considering the fact that they might not want you to leave.”
“Mum, I know how to handle them.” She replied.
Silence enveloped the living room, the two ladies to their own thoughts.
“Mum, I saw Kelvin last week.” She announced.
“Kelvin? Who is Kelvin?”
“Mum! Kelvin Obi Patrick. Your son.” She replied.
Hot tears trickle down Mrs Alice Obi Patrick’s cheeks, her son that has been seperated from her for many years now. She could remember the last time she saw Kelvin was the same day, she packed out of Chief Patrick’s house ten years ago. While Clement still visited her for five years until their father banned them from visiting her.
“How did you recognize him?” Her mother asked.
“Mum, remember he is my brother. We are connected by blood, the moment I saw him, I knew had to be the one.”
“Where did you see him?”
“He is dating this popular model, Sandra Oselu. She told me about him.”
Just then her phone rang, she checked the caller and discovered it was Sandra.
“Hello Sandy.” She said.
“Vicky, please can we meet?” She asked in a matter of urgency.
“Hope no problem?”
“Just meet me at the wine shop in my estate.” She said.
“Okay.” She replied and hung up.
She sat up to face her mother.
“Are you going out again?” Her mother asked.
“Yes mum. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Victoria, be careful.” She warned.
“Mum! Your daughter is now a changed person.”
“Okay o. The car key is somewhere over there.”
Victoria quickly walked into her room and returned a minute later dressed in a white shirt and a black pleated skirt that brought out her curves. She couldn’t remember the last time she wore skirt. She was always in trouser, ready for anything.
She grabbed the car key and exited the house.
“Now I got you.” Matilda muttered immediately she saw Victoria drive out of her mother-s duplex. She followed her immediately.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ngozi dropped from the bike and paid the bikeman. She crossed to the other side of the road and entered the police headquarters. She continued walking towards the building as young officers greeted her and she replied them with her smile, even though she was crying inside.
The first thing she noticed was the absence of Clement’s car or Sylvester’s FBI car. She knew at once that they are both out doing their jobs.
“Welcome detective Ngozi.” A policeman behind the counter greeted.
“Thank you. Did anyone ask of me?” She asked.
“No. Oga Clement was the only one calling you. But I think the ASP asked of you this morning. Oga Clement said you are on an assignment.” He explained.
“Thank you very much.” She said as she picked up the pen and signed on the attendance note. She was the last person to arrive for the day shift. Everyone knew she was not a late comer, as she had never came late to work, but there is always a first time.
She walked towards the office shared with other officers including Mike, Habeeb and Clement to mention a few. The place was a little bit tidy, meaning some of them have not reported for work this morning. She sat on her chair and allowed tears to roll down her cheeks freely.
She felt fed up with life, she wanted to die that moment, but first she had to talk to Tobi, if her forgives her, she’ll live, but if he doesn’t, she’ll commit sucide. But before then Kelvin has to pay the price for molesting her.
She picked up a magazine that lay on Clement’s table and went through it. The first headline got to her,
“PRESIDENCY TO DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LAGOS STATE.”
Her heart started pounding with full force, state of emergency? Meaning all existing structures will be abolished and millitary administrators take over. That will mean the end of their jobs. Its not gonna happen.
She let herself think about life without her job, how will she survive? Tobi’s salary should be enough for the family, but as things were, she thought about life without Tobiloba. Loosing two things at a time was something she never bargained for and will never subscribe to.
Then she remembered her brother, Jay. She stood up at once and proceeded towards the cells in a bid to find him and talk to him.
“Nwankwo.” She called as she approached the cells.
The corridor was dark and so she couldn’t see anything.
“Baby.” A voice called.
She knew it was her brother, she traced the voice and switched on the light with the switch inside the cell. Even though she couldn’t go in, she could see him through the iron bars. And the first thing she saw was a tattoo above his tommy.
ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 138
Sylvester was dishing out instructions to his fellow officers while Clement stood at a distance waiting for them to finish whatever was being discussed.
“Sir, what is my business here?” Edgar, the computer analyst asked.
“You just wait and see.” Clement replied smiling.
“You need to tell me now, so I can prepare my mind. I am still wondering whether we have gone short of men at the station that you had to include me in the team. We all know I deal with computers, and not undergrounds, moreso, I can’t handle a gun, in case things go bloody.”
“Cool down man. We need you computer expertise here and nothing more.” Clement said.
“We are done.” Sylvester announced.
Clement raised his head up to see about ten policemen holding their guns firmly looking ready for action even at the expense of their lives. About ten millitary men led by Leiutenant James were also standing some little distance away.
“Lets go them” Clement said.
“Lead the way sir.” Jame said.
Clement smiled before he pulled Edgar with him towards the underground room.
He entered the link room and descended the stairs into a small room inside which the underground opening was. He covered his nose immediately he go there. Hassan’s dead body was in a sorry case already and it was smelling. He had never beheld such sight all his lfe, all he had seen were two days corpse and fresh corpse, but a week corpse, he had never seen it before.
“Everyone stand back up there, we’ve got not much room here.” He said to the men who all stood back.
He turned to Edgar who was almost dead as a result of the odour.
“Keep it cool man. You see, to get into the underground, we need to disable and electrocuting power connected to the covering there, and without doing that, we can’t open and covering and we can get this body out of here. Can you do it?”
Edgar nodded in affirmation.
“Now get to it.” He said.
Edgar stepped forward towards a small keyboard pinned to the wall, it had a small screen that could let you see what you are typing, the codes you are combining and how it matches with the code used in locking the underground.
Five minutes later, Edgar was still at it, he was olny fifty five percent correct with his combinate, he needed at least seventy five to be able to unlock it, but he seemed to have used all the available combinates in his head, he couldn’t think of any other thing. The odour in the room was affecting him, he could go any further.
“Edgar, any progress?” Clement asked for the uptenth time, even though he knew his reply was going to be positive. He was shocked to the marrow when he replied in the negative.
“How far have you gone?” Sylvester asked as he descended the stairs, his hand on his nose.
Edgar stepped aside for him and he also fumbled for a while, he was able to move it to sixty precent but that was not enough.
“No no no. Don’t click that. It is a dangerous security measure. It will take us back to less than fifty percent.” Edgar shouted but it was too late, Sylvester had already clicked the button.
At first, nothing happened, but a few seconds later, an odour seemed to be emanating from every corner in the room, slowly, the odour was replacing the existing odour in the room.
“What oduor is that?” Sylvester asked.
Then it hit him, it was dangerous gas, similar to the one released a month ago, at the Airport complex.
“Get out of here guys.” Clement screamed. At once, Sylvester took to the staircase and ascended at once.
As a result of his size, Edgar couldn’t run, but Clement pushed him as they both successfully got out of the hole.
A few minutes later, Sylvester was bleeding from the nose, as well as Clement, including Edgar. The standby medical team set to work at once by producing the right antidote for the infection.
“There is a problem guys.” The leader of the medical team said.
“What problem?” James asked.
“We have two doses of the antidote which could be used on two people and as you can see, we have three people here.”
“Meaning?” James asked.
“One of them will have to die.”
“Can’t someone quickly rush to get another dose of the antidote?” James asked.
“Am afraid, they have less than two minutes to live.”
“I will sacrifice.” Edgar said.
At once, the medical team, stablized Clement and Sylvester’s condition while Edgar battled with his life.
“Sly, don’t for a mniute leave my mother alone. You are all she’s got left.” He said to Sylvester who nodded his head with tears in his eyes.
Now it was clear, Edgar was an half caste, as well as Sylvester, they could be relatives.
“I am proud to die while fighting for my country.” He said, not it was evident he will drop dead any moment.
“Clement, I am counting on you to bring insurgency to an end. I know you can do it, do it so I don’t die in vain.” He said and he shook hands with all of them before he breathe his last.
Prepare an ambulance to take Edgar to the motuary.” Clement said a few minutes later when his bleeding nose had returned to normality.
The medical team went about preparing the vehicle who will transport Edgar’s body out of Mr Ayo’s residence.
“Can we enter the underground now?” James asked.
“No, you can’t. The connecting room is currently unsafe for you. We need to clear the air to enable you all have safe breathe down there.” The leader of the medical team replied.
“How long will it take to replace the dangerous gas with Oxygen?” Clement asked.
“An hour sir.” The lady replied.
“We don’t have such time in our belt. In fact, we should be out of here in the next one hour. So waiting for an hour before we do what we have to do is totally impossible. Think of something else.” Clement said.
“There is only one alternative, which is to distribute face mask to everyone.” The lady explained.
“So, you guys have face masks and you are telling me we have to wait for an hour? Where are the masks?”
The lady ordered one of her team members to go and bring the face masks. A minute later, the guy returned with two big cartons, and inside them were about thirty face masks.
“There is a problem sir.” The lady said.
“What problem again?” Clement asked, now confused of her incompetence. They had been working together for many years and she has always been up to the task, why is she making making mistakes now? Maybe because this is the first time they would be fighting insurgence.
“The mask has an inbuilt oxygen that last for thirty minutes, after thirty minutes, the air in the atmosphere begins to penetrate and you know what it means? But we could avoid that, if we carry out our job as expected by refilling the room with oxygen.” She explained.
“No way, we are going in there now or never.” Clement said as he picked a mask for himself and tossed a mask to each of the men in the room.
“Now this is it, I go in there with one of you, we try to break that electric barricade, then two men comes in to carry the dead body in there, the underground becomes opened and we all go in.” He explained.
“Yes sir.” The millitary men replied. The policemen in the team seemed to have withdrawn out of fear, but they dare not say it.
“Remember, we have thirty minutes to do all these, once the oxygen in the mask finishes, run as fast as you can to exit the underground and meet the medical team here, you would be attended to.” He explained.
The men all nodded, they loved the challenge awaiting them. After thirty minutes, it either they die or they make it back into the main house.
“When are they bringing in more antidotes?” Clement asked the medical team leader who was fuming at a corner.
“They should be here in the next twenty minutes.” She replied.
“Good.”
Clement slid the mask on his face and covered his nose and mouth with a tube.
“Remember, don’t switch it on unless it your time to enter the underground. Okay?” He asked.
“Yes sir.” They chorused once again.
“You, come with me. You and you should be ready to dive in as soon as I radio James or Sylvester.” He said and pressed a button on the side of mask and headed towards the staircase that connects with the underground. A soldier was on his chase as they both embarked on a journey that could either make them living heroes or dead heroes.
———–
“Are you in control of the situation?” Clement asked the guy. They are now three minutes into the thirty minutes.
The guy was a computer analyst for the Nigerian Army, so he knew what it entails.
“Its seventy percent already.” The guy replied.
Clement smiled for the first time that day.
“We need just seventy five percent to be able to enter the underground.”
“Clingh!” The metal covering the underground opened at once.
“Good job man.” Clement said patting him on the back.
“The electric barricade has been disabled. We need two men down here to get Hassan’s body out of here. Everyone else can move in afterwards.” Clement radioed.
“Lets go.” He said to the guy who stood rooted to the spot.
“Any problem?” Clement asked.
“Yeah. We have forty minutes before this cover shut again. Ite reading here.” He pointed to the screen where a time was reading.
“No problems, we’ll can do it.” Clement said as he confirmed if his spare mask was still intact.
And with that, he put his leg into the opening, pointed his flashlight.
“There is a ladder around here.” He said, then he started going down, until he was no longer visible.
Ngozi stood outside the cell while Jay sat at the far end with cuffs on his hands and legs.
“Are you ready to release me?” He asked.
“Nwankwo, no one is releasing anybody here. You are guilty of every offece levied against you. You should be lucky that your arrest has not being made public. Its still within few officers around here.” Ngozi replied hotly.
“Are you saying you can’t use you position to influence or effect my release?” He asked.
“I am in no position to help you out. The best I can do is…” She said then looked around to make sure no one is around.
“I’ll try and reduce the security around here. I’ll reduce them to one and you know how you can get him close to yourself. You know what t do afterwards. The counter is always free, one officer at the counter during the day and two at night.” She explained and watched his reaction.
“But for the rest of this week,there will always be a female officer at the counter at night. You can take her out and make you way out. Your first turning by the right connects you to the back of the station, there is an untarred road that connects to the boarder road. If you can make it on foot, then you can sneak out of the country unoticed.” She concluded.
“So when am I moving?” He asked.
“Maybe tomorrow evening. I’ll talk to Clement about reducing the men patrolling this area to one.” She replied.
“Clement?” He asked trying to remember the name.
“Yeah. My boss, the man who came with me to the hospital.” She replied.
“I know.” He snapped.
“Do you know him somewhere?” She asked.
“Tell him to see me, I have a revelation for him.” He replied.
She decided not to drag it any further.
“Nwa?” She called.
He raised his head to have a proper view of her face.
“What’s that mark down there?” She asked.
“Oh! This? I am not permitted to talk about it to an outsider. In case you see Danger-kelv, he has it. I learnt Viktor is in your custody, he has it too.” He replied.
“Who is Danger-Kelv?” She asked.
“Tell Clement to see me. Now get out of here.” He screamed at her.
“Nwa, its me.”
“Get out!” He screamed at the top of his voice.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Victoria was driving carefully along the busy main road, something she hadn’t done in years. She put all her mind into the driving and hummed as the car stereo blared Kendrick Lamar’s poetic justice. She looked into the rear mirror.
“This volkswagen has been on my trail since. What does she want?” She asked herself.
She decided to keep it cool with the girl behind the wheel, now that she was a changed person. If not, she would have done the unexpected.
A few minutes later, she pulled up in front of the tea shop and walked in. She walked towards the vip section where Sandra told her she would be waiting. To her suprise, the volkswagen lady parked a little distance away from the shop and walked the remaining distance to the shop.
While she sat at the centre of the VIP section, the volkswagen lady sat at the entrance to the vip section. She pretended not to notice her and went about her meeting with Sandra.
“You called me?” She said after exchanging pleasantries with the model.
“Yeah. I called you because of Janet and her crew. Do you know of anybody by the name Rahmon?” Sandra dived straight into the point.
“Yeah! I know him.” She replied.
“Good. He sent Janet after me.” Sandra said.
Victoria shifted uncomfortably on her sit.
“I want to get my money off him and I was told you are the right person for the job. I will pay you five million if you do this successfully.” Sandra explained.
“What exactly do you want me to do now?” She asked, the offer seemed enticing. With this, she could fly out of the country with her mother and start a new life. But she promised God of dropping her old habbit a few hours ago.
“You should know better. I want you to strike him hard. Make him regret his actions and get my money off him.” Sandra explained.
“Am sorry, I no longer do that kind of job.” Victoria replied.
“Stop the joke my dear.” Sandra said laughing.
“I am not joking. And I want you out of here now. You see that lady at the entrance, she trailed me here from my estate. I don’t know the party she is working for. She could be a cop, Rahmon’s spy or Don’s spy.” Victoria explained.
Sandra started trembling on her seat.
“I will advice you to stay away from Don and his group, but first, get Janet out of there. Lay low for a while, you don’t know who is after you. And don’t forget, I am done with this job.” Victoria explained.
“How did you know all these?”
“That is not the issue. Get out of here, drive to a friends place. Just don’t go home now.” Victoria added.
“Okay.” Sandra rose up and walked out of the vip section.
The volkswagen lady still remained on her seat. No doubt, she is after me. Victoria concluded.
