ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 118
Sylvester in the company of Ngozi
and his two bitter rivals, Clement
and Mike all walked into Mr Ayo
Okorie’s residence.
“Welcome Agent Sylvester.”
Leuitenant James said. Sylvester took James
hand in his
and turned to face a smiling Ngozi
who was eager to enter the main
house and uncover the mystery
behind the underground. Clement
kept a straight face with a bloodshot eyes
because at the end
of their meeting with the
commissioner, he was blamed and
asked to work on Sylvester’s
orders.
“Here is Mike and Ngozi, I reckon you’ve met
before. Right here is…”
Sylvester was saying when James
cut him short.
“Inspector Clement. The source of
inspiration to the security agencies
in the state. Always ready to serve. Its a
pleasure meeting you.” James
said extending his hand for a
handshake.
Clement smiled and took his hand
in his.
“Gentlemen, lets go in.” James said leading
the search party.
“The is a gentle woman here o.”
Ngozi announced nudging Mike
and Clement to cheer up and
pretend as if everything was well.
One deadly look from Mike told her to keep
her mouth shut. Even
though she wasn’t happy with the
latest development, she was eager
to work with Sylvester if that’s the
only way she could get to the
underground. “We’ve been searching around
since we came around this
morning and we found some really
interesting things.” James said to
Clement who by now was walking
beside him. “So do you think, another day
searching this mansion could lead
us somewhere?” Clement asked.
“I don’t know anything about that
sir. You know I am a soldier and
we have no idea of how to string things
together to form a scenario.
But thank God you are here with
us, then we can bank on your
wealth of experience.” James said
solemly with respect.
Sylvester’s jaw twitched in anger. He was the
boss, he led them here
and now he was being sidelined.
“Ngozi, you said a thing about a
laptop right?” Clement asked.
“Its in here with me.” Ngozi said
pointing to the bag she was holding.
“Good, you’ll work on the laptop,
get their files and transfer them to
our system. I believe his secrets are
well store in there.” Clement said.
The five officers walked into the living room
where Hassan was
admiring an aquarium which stood
on a table beside the broken
television.
After a series of introduction,
Clement gave out instruction, much to
Sylvester’s anger. He wanted to
talk, but there is no one to save
him here. He was lucky to have the
backing of the commissioner and
his goons at the station, and
therefore, he can misbehave. But once they are
out of the station’s
premises, he is expected to
comport himself and behave.
“Sylvester and Mike should look for
every paper works in this house.
They may have their secrets hidden on paper
and not on the
computer.” Clement said. Much to
Mike’s joy. He prayed that Sylvester
made a mistake, then he’ll kill him
and hide his corpse.
“James and I will work freely. If any of you
needs our help, you can
call on us.”
Everyone dispersed. Ngozi
switched on the laptop computer
with Hassan seated beside her,
Mike and Sylvester walked out of the living
room. Clement and James
were doing light searches in every
room that they come accross.
“Do you still have the map?”
Hassan asked.
“Yes. Its with me.” “Give it to me.” Hassan
said to
Ngozi and she handed the folded
paper to him.
“I have gotten the underground
spot. Keep working on the
computer, I’ll be back.” He said and left the
living room.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Habeeb resumed for the afternoon
shift when his phone rang and on
checking the caller, it was Ngozi.
“Hello Ngo.” He said mimicking Clement’s
voice.
This is not a time for jokes.
“If you are in the office, I am
sending some files to the
computer. Recieve them and
convert it to a suitable format.” Ngozi said.
“But if you are not, you
can call one of those girls that you
run after.” She said and hung up.
Habeeb hurried into the ICT facility,
a large hall which was painted in
sky blue with over twenty computers. He
switched on the
giant desktop which serve as a
control to the other computers.
The file flew in and when he
opened it, he saw in it detail of
every member of Mr Ayo’s team and the
connection with the khal
corp. He knew himself as the
intermediary. He smiled wickedly
and deleted all the files without
thinking twice.
He switched off the computer system,
mumured some greetings
to the few ladies seated behind a
desk and walked out.
Rachel sneaked up on Onome at in
the kitchen.
“You scared me.” Onome said
breathing hard.
Rachel bursted into laughter. “what are you
doing?” She asked.
“Doing the dishes.” Onome replied.
“Aren’t you tired of doing the
dishes and cooking. You are
always in the kitchen all day.” She
complained. “Tired of what I am being paid
for?
No way!” Onome replied.
“I understand, but a little bit of rest
will help. Won’t it?”
“See who is talking. Who needs
rest between you and I?” Onome asked
arraging the plates in their
rack.
Rachel eyed her feigning
annoyance.
“You all make it look like I am
weak and I need to be on bed all day. I know
i’ll be free from this
very soon.” She said.
Rachel sat on a stool as she
watched Onome do her thing, they
chatted as she washed. Despite her
insistence to help, she refused to be helped.
“Chief is in?” Rachel asked.
“Actually, am not sure. But I
haven’t seen him today, I called his
line upstairs but he isn’t picking
up.” Onome replied. The means of
communication
between Chief Patrick and her maid
is wired. All he need to do was pick
up the wired telephone and press
‘1’ it connects with the line inside
the kitchen which was very close to her room.
He pressed ‘2’ when
he needed to speak to his security
aides outside.
Onome has adjusted to that lifesyle.
She calls pick when food is ready
to be served. But sometimes, she forgot to use
the line.
“I’ll be right back.” Rachel strolled
out of the kitchen.
She glanced back inside the
kitchen and saw that Onome has
her back turned to the doorway. She smiled as
she hurried towards
the staircase and ascended
towards Her father-in-law’s study.
As she approached the study, she
started hearing sounds like
someone was watching a movie. The sound
was unmistakably
coming from Kelvin’s room. She
forgot the reason she was at that
particular part of the house and
walked towards Kelvin’s door.
She peered through the key hole and saw a
masked man talking.
She couldn’t make out the face of
the man, therefore, she assumed
he wore a mask.
“Kelvin doesn’t watch film, or does
he?” She asked herself. Just then her knee
touched the door and it
gave a sound.
Kelvin quickly packed up his
laptop and hid it.
“Who is that?” He asked rudely,
thinking it was Onome. Rachel tip-toed
through the
corridor praying that Kelvin
doesn’t come to check who
knocked the door.
She heaved a sigh of relief on
getting to the stairs. Just then she came face
to face with her most
dreaded enemy. Chief Obi Patrick
stood at the landing a newspaper
in hand.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Abdul Maleek was addressing his team of
soldiers with confidence.
“We’ve gotten over with the first
lap of our newest investigation. We
now know where Clement lives
with his wife, same with Sylvester.
Clement is currently out of reach, we’ll have to
switch on to Sylvester
first, then wrap thing up with
Clement’s wife.” Maleek began.
He suddenly stopped talking and
his eyes darted towards a set of
light blinking at the top of the hall. Three
green lights stood side by
side. One of them had turned red
and it was blinking.
The silence that enveloped the
room was defeaning.
“Danger-kelv has been disconnected. Find out
why.” He
said to no one in particular.
Every proceedings came to a halt
as one of the men seated on the
chairs that stood opposite Maleek’s
throne. A young soldier walked towards a
laptop that stood on a
table on the west of the hall.
“Danger-kelv is back.” He said to
them. They all heaved a sigh of
relief.
“Why was he disconnected in the first place?”
Maleek asked.
“He gave no reason, but he is back
now.”
Mike strolled into Mr Ayo Okorie’s
living room smiling triumphantly.
He walked towards Ngozi
unnoticed and cleared his throat to
gain her attention. “What are you doing here?”
She
asked closing the laptop before
her.
Ignoring her question he placed
his leg on the stool before her
pored deep into her heart with his eyes.
“Why are you looking at me like
that?” She asked.
He still ignored her question. She
concluded maybe today is just a
day that all her questions would go
unanswered.
“Where is your partner?” Mike
asked.
That was when the realisation hit
her that Hassan hasn’t returned
since he left about thirty minutes ago.
“He went to the restroom.” She lied.
“Oh! I see.”
Ngozi gave him a “what are you
looking for?” look but a blank
stare from him told her all she needed to
know.
“How are you coping with
Sylvester?” She asked.
“He is somewhere there.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve hit him
again.” She said. “What do you take me for? A
hitter?” He asked playfully.
She laughed heartily, if only Mike
can be this playful and humorous
everytime. But the percentage
representation of his humour and seriousness
is 30-70.
“Are you doing what you are
asked to do?” A voice asked as it
approached the door.
Mike stood still waiting for the
owner of the voice to show up while Ngozi
pleaded with her eyes,
so that Mike won’t do something
funny.
Sylvester came into view with a
large file in his hand. He froze
immediately he saw Mike and fear was visibly
written on his face.
“Ngozi, I want you to go through
this file. Take down the names of
the every member of the khal corp.
How far have you gone with the
laptop?” Mike said. “You know, part of the
screen is
broken, but I saw some things
relating to the Khal corp. Pictures,
footages, sponsors and other
inportant informations. I couldn’t
check the contents of the folder because it
was locked. I already
sent them to the computers in the
station.” Ngozi explained.
“That’s very good. You know…” He
was saying when the laptop which
stood on the stool before Ngozi gave a
cracking sound, flames
started coming out from the
openings around it.
“What’s going on?” Sylvester
asked.
Ngozi pressed a key on the keyboard but
nothing worked.
The screen remained blank and
impossible to work on.
“I think, they have the whole
system under control. They want to
roast the informations stored on it.” Ngozi
guessed.
Sylvester looked at Mike, then
Ngozi. “Remove the hard disc or
hardrive. Where do they store
informations on computer?” Mike
asked. “Is there anything you can do to
prevent the iminent attack on the
informations on it?”
The laptop gave a loud bank and
its part flew all over the room
burning in the process. Ngozi bent down to
examine a
part of the laptop that didn’t burn.
Maybe because it wasn’t made
from plastic.
“Someone is looking at us.” Ngozi
said. Mike gave her a look of “are you
out of your mind?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Where are you coming from?”
Chief Patrick asked her daughter-
in-law. Rachel kept quiet counting the tiles
on the stairs.
“I believe I am talking to
someone.” Chief Patrick barked.
“Are you telling me, my movement
inside my Father-in-law’s house is restricted?
Can’t I move freely
anymore? Are you saying I should
spend the whole day in the
bedroom or living room?” She
asked.
Chief Patrick didn’t speak for a minute.
“You still haven’t answered my
question.” He said.
This time Onome had left the
kitchen to know whatever it is that
is going on. “Sir, what’s going on?” She asked.
A look from her employer said it.
“Get back to work.” He said.
Rachel watched Onome walk back
into the kitchen.
“Now, answer my question.” “I was strolling
around the house.
Then I decided to do the stairs,
climb up and climb down.” She lied.
“Can’t you do your strolling
outside?” Chief Patrick asked
moving close to her. She backed.
“Its hot outside.” She replied
quickly glancing at the window in
the living room.
Chief Patrick stood a few inches
aways from her and whispered. “I am not
conviced, but I have to
let it go.”
She gave him the space to pass and
he almost pushed her to the
ground in the process.
****
Frank was pushing a wheeled
trolley around the large
supermarket. A young lady in her
early twenties was beside him
picking the wares on display and dropping
them in the trolley. She
occassionally brought out her
phone and snaps pictures of them.
“Don’t you see we look
compatible?” The lady asked.
“Yeah, we do.” Frank replied uninterested as
he pushed the
trolley towards the section where
perfumes and fragrances are
arranged.
“What’s wrong with you darling?”
The lady asked. He wished he could just say it
to
her face that he doesn’t feel a thing
for her. He decided to date her
when the lady that made his heart
throb left. When the desired
becomes unavailable, the available becomes
the desired they say.
When the person he loved left, had
to settle for the girl closest to him
with the aim of learning to love her
in the process.
“There is no problem. Am just not feeling
fine.” He lied.
“Baby not today. Remember you
said we’ll be visiting aunty Sandra.
Please, I can’t wait to meet her.”
The lady said.
He would have called her a gold digger, but
her father was a former
law maker in the country, she
possibly can’t be after his money.
Its not like he is rich.
But the way she was clamouring to
meet the famous model, Sandra Oselu is a
cause for him to be
concerned and worried.
“Once we drop these things at
home, we’ll drive over to her place
at lunch.” He said pointing to the
goods in the trolley. They continued with their
shopping in silence except the
sounds emanating from the LCD
screens at every compartment in
the supermarket. The hooting
sound of the air conditions that stood ten
feets apart around the
hall.
Then his eyes caught something.
He wanted to screem but he kept
his cool and left the trolley to go
and confirm what he just saw. “Sweety, where
are you going to?”
she asked.
“Continue picking the things you
think we’ll need. I’ll be back.” He
said as he hurried towards a
young lady whose back was facing him.
“Excuse me.” He said.
The lady turned to face him and
yes, his predictions were right
afterall.
“Frank.” Janet called. “Jane, what are you
doing here?”
He asked.
The best reply for him would have
been “I came to sell.” Because
every right thinking human being
knows what they do in a supermarket.
“I came to pick up some things for
my apartment.” She replied smiling.
“Oh! I see.” He said foolishly.
He kept mute and wasn’t saying
anything, he was admiring her dressing, how
richly dressed she
was. How lives change overnight.
He wanted to ask how she did it,
but on a second thought, he knew
that could earn him a slap. Isn’t
that a car key in her hand? Its a mercedez. A
voice screamed in his
head. He could see the logo of the
car manufacting company
‘Mercedez.’
“I’ll see you around.” She said and
turned to face the things she was picking into
her basket.
“Let me help you.” He said as he
collected the basket in her hand.
That was the straw that broke the
camel’s back.
“Frank, what the hell do you think you are
doing?” The initial girl he
was shopping with before he
spotted Janet asked.
“Isabella, calm down. Meet Janet.”
Frank said like the perfect
gentleman he was. “Meet who? Is she a
goddess? Who
the hell is she?” Isabella screamed
her lungs out attracting the
attention of other shoppers.
Janet ignored them and continued
picking her things and dropped them inside
the basket which was
held by Frank.
“We both came here to shop and
you left me to come and meet this
thing.” Isabella said trying to get
on Janet’s nerves. Janet smiled.
“Excuse me Aunty. Frank here is
my friend and I don’t see anything
bad in talking to a friend. I am
disappointed wit what I just
witnessed. So this is the Isabella you always
talk about? I used to
think she is a very responsible
lady.” Janet said collecting the
basket from him and walking
away.
See this useless girl, have I ever talked about
Isabella before? Was
the question that popped up in his
mind.
“You should have told me she is a
friend.” Isabella said to him feeling
bad for her actions. “You have to apologise to
her.” He
said dragging her out of the
compartment towards the edible
and snacks department.
Twenty minutes later, they all came
out of the supermarket. Isabella suggested
that they take pictures.
After the photo session, they
exchanged contacts and Janet
walked towards her Mercedez
benz while Frank led his girlfriend
towards his car. They drove off in convoy,
Frank’s car leading and
Janet’s car following closely behind
until they got to the junction where
they go their seperate ways.
—–
Victoria put on her sunshade and wound up
her glassed.
“I just saw your cousin Frank with
that girl name Janet.” She said to
the receiver and dropped her
phone. She drove off too.
–to be continued– Am sure we all
remembered Frank?
Sandra’s cousin and finance
adviser/manager.
ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 119
A few minutes after Mike had left
with Sylvester and Hassan was not
yet back. She stood up and
decided to go in search of him. But
where would she go? She tried to picture the
map in her mind and
she could see somethings that she
believed were right, provided her
mind was not playing tricks on her.
She remembered there was an
inner chamber within the house which
according to the map leads
to the underground. She held her
gun real tight and walked towards
the end of the living room where a
door which everyone of them
believed led to the kitchen but according to
the map, leads to the
inner chamber.
She pushed the door opened and
dry blood on the tiled floor. The
blood seemed to belong to an
animal, maybe a man since no animal lived in
the house. The
blood formed to trail on the floor
and she made no mistake, she
followed the trail until she got to
the opening to a staircase.
But the blood doesn’t belong to Hassan. The
blood is dried and
almost turning black, so its
impossible for the blood to belong
to Hassan because its not up to an
hour that he left.
She removed a torch from her back pocket and
pointed it at where the
stairs led to. She could see another
torchlight shinning just at the
landing of the steps.
She knew at once that something is
wrong. Hassan left with a torch light too and
the torchlight looked
exactly like her own, only the
colours were different. There was
an inscription on her own bearing
the name of the Nigerian Army but
as a result of the distance, she couldn’t see
what was inscribed on
the torchlight lying on the floor.
She wanted to go back and call for
help but thought against it. Unless
everything begins to work against
her, she won’t inform her colleagues.
She mumured some words of
prayer, then she put her left leg on
the step and decended the stairs
carefully pointing her torchlight to
every nook and cranny of the small room.
Then her eyes saw it, a big cylinder
covered the ground and there
seemed to be a lock attached to it
from beneathe the earth surface.
She wanted to scream for joy immediately she
discovered the
underground but the thought of
alerting the others kept her mouth
shut. Her eyes travelled to the end
of the room, then she saw it,
Hassan was sprawled to the ground, lifeless
and cold. There
were no traces of blood gushing
out of him, neither was there a
trace of gunshot. The map stood
on the floor beside him.
She landed at the base of the stairs and
proceeded to walk towards
Hassan to check if he was still
breadthing and to get the map off
him. The moment she stepped on
the cylindrical lid covering the
floor, a sensation surged through her and she
was smashed against
the stair case.
She screamed painfully. It was a
near death experience, then the
realisation hit her, she has been
electrocuted. This certainly was what killed
Hassan. Maybe he was
a bit unlucky as he was smashed
against the wall, maybe he hit his
head on the tiled wall.
She tried standing up, but couldn’t
feel her legs. She had hit her back on the
pointed edge of the
staircase.
Then she head footsteps
approaching. The person was
trying to locate where the scream
had come from. She just hoped it wasn’t
Sylvester, because he would
be quick to accuse her of working
for the terrorists. Either of Mike and
Clement would be understanding,
but the former is unpredictable.
“Who is there?” The person had finally located
the staircase but was
scared of coming down.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Benson drove into the compound
just when his phone beeped. A
new message. He hurriedly clicked on the
‘open
message’ icon and got the shocker
of his life.
The message reads;
“Transfer a sum of three million
naira in the account details after this cut.” He
scrolled down and
saw the transfer details.
“Who could this be?” He asked
fearing the worst. His wife was
already approaching him for a
welcome hug. Just then another message flew
in.
He opened it, hoping to see the
reason for the requested
transaction. He was shocked to the
marrow when he saw another
picture of him half unclad sleeping and
international model, Sandra
Oselu lying on his chest, half unclad
too.
Beads of sweat began to form on
his forehead. His wife stopped
immediately she saw the change in his
countenance.
“Aren’t you happy to be home?”
She asked eyeing him.
“Its not that. I forgot a case file at
the office. I need to go pick it up
now.” He said igniting the car engine.
“You could tell your secretary to
keep them for you or bring it
home. Don’t stress yourself.” His
wife said, concern written all over
her face. “I need to go over it all night. I am
defending it tomorrow” He said.
“But I thought you said you have
no case to defend tomorrow. Why
the change?” She asked.
“Change in schedule.” He said tapping the
honk thrice.
The gateman opened the gate and
he drove off without another word
to his wife.
Clement descended the stairs
immediately he heard Ngozi’s sob.
“What’s wrong with you?” He
asked trying to lift her up.
Ngozi couldn’t speak, she was just sobbing as
the pain in her back
region increased.
“Did you fall down?” Clement
asked groaning as he lifed her
unto his two hands and proceeded
upstairs. He proceeded to the living room
running and assuring her she’ll be
fine.
“Someone should open this door.”
He shouted kicking the front door
from within. He could only open the door if
his hands were free,
and there was no way he could put
her down, she’ll experience the
pains some more. Her weight was
another reason why he was
shouting. A soldier came around and opened
the door for him.
“Get the gate.” He said to no one in
particular. And by the time he
reached the pedestrian gate, it was
opened already. Mike quickly ran to meet him
and
they both succeeded in dropping
Ngozi at the backseat where Mike
sat putting her head on his laps.
“Lets get out of her Sly.” Clement
said settling down on the passenger seat.
Sylvester chosed that time to ask
Leuitenant James another
question. And the later took his
time replying the question.
“Man, don’t let me open this door.” Mike
threatened but it did little to
frighten Sylvester.
Mike seeing threats wouldn’t work
opened the door and walked up to
them.
“James, if you’ll excuse him, he has to go.”
Mike said holding
Sylvester’s hand and walking him
to the car.
James was suprised a junior officer
such as Mike could be so bold to
call him by his name without adding his title.
Sylvester drove off angrily. He was
angry because, he seemed to have
been overpowered by Mike. Every
little thing, he was always being
bullied. “Sorry dear. You’ll be fine.” Clement
said as Sylvester pulled up at St
Batthaihas private hospital.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sylvester
spoke for the first time.
“Its written on the dashboard. Why not check
it out.” Clement replied
as he got down and assisted Mike
in carrying Ngozi into the hospital.
“See how they are looking at me.
Have you forgotten what you are
employed to do?” Mike screamed at a group of
nurses who were
seated behind the counter.
At once, three out of four sprang
up as if they were waiting for
someone to criticise them. Ngozi
was stretchered into a ward very close to the
reception.
“I have a doctor friend here. Let me
go and see him. You can talk to the
nurse.” Clement whispered to Mike
as he walked towards the
staircase. Mike approached the counter his
hands inside his pocket.
“But seriously, Aunty nurse, you
are full of yourself. If you were the
only one sitting here when a
patient was brought in, will you sit down and
not do a thing?” Mike
said.
“And thank God I wasn’t the only
one here.” The nurse replied
rudely.
“B!tch.” He muttered. “What are the
neccessary things to do?” He
asked.
“Purchase admission card, one
thousand naira. And you deposit.”
She replied.
“Deposit wetin? You are yet to tell us how
much the bill is and you are
talking about deposit. For your
information, she is a police and if
taken to the government hospital it
will be free of charge. But we
decided to try your hospital because the
government hospital
may be too far.” Mike said flashing
his ID card.
He gave her a single monetery note
of one thousand naira. “We’ll pay
up once the bill is ready.” He said. “Okay sir.”
She replied respectfully
for the first time.
Footsteps could be heard
descending the staircase.
“Don’t worry Mr Clement, she’l be
fine.” Doctor Rapheal assured. “I trust you.”
Clement said.
Just then the telephone on the
counter rang. The nurse picked the
call and after a few seconds, she
hung up.
“Sir, I learnt there is a man outside fighting
with the security man. He
parked his car in the wrong place.”
The nurse said to Rapheal.
At once, Mike and Clement knew
the man in question was Sylvester
because he parked the car in the area
reserved for Ambulances.
“Oh! The man? He is our driver. I’ll
talk to him.” Mike said.
“Problem solved.” Rapheal said
shaking hands with Clement and
Mike. “My regards to Rachel.” Rapheal
said to their retreating figure.
“Definitely.” Clement replied.
Darasimi was almost sleeping off
when Dolapo walked into the
room shouting. Tola ran out of the
store turned kitchen to know what
the noise was all about. “What’s the matter?”
Darasimi
asked as Tola walked into the
room and leaned on the wall.
“My exam on Tuesday has been
postponed.” She said hapilly.
“I swear to God. You are mad.” Tolani said
and walked away.
This same Dolapo recieved the
news of the forthcoming exam
with total indifference like she does
not care, like she wasn’t afraid. So
why is she happy to see the exam called off?
“So when are you writing it?”
Darasimi asked.
“Friday.” She replied.
“Meaning, you’ll write three papers
on Friday. How do you intend to do that?”
Darasimi asked.
“Help me ask her o.” Tolani said
from the kitchen.
“My second paper ends 2pm and
the third paper starts by 2:30pm.
I’ll finish before two o’clock and rush down for
my second last
paper.” She replied.
“Well thought. You know, you can
even call Stephanie to come and
pick you up. Or what do you thin?”
“Thank you jare my friend. I’ll do just that.”
“But my friend, what if your second
paper take you by suprise and you
find it difficult and time consuming.
How will you do it? I mean, you
want to finish the exam before two o’clock,
and we both know some
exams can make you use extra
time.” Tolani said walking into the
room with two plates of rice. She
dropped one before Darasimi and
the other on her own bed. “Abeg forget about
my exams.
Where is my food?” Dolapo asked.
“I wasn’t expecting you now. So I
didn’t prepare your own food.”
Tola replied.
“You must be joking.” Dolapo said laughing.
“I don’t joke on Fridays.” Tola said
emphatically.
“Are you serious?” Dolapo asked.
Tola nodded her head affirmatively
with seriousness written all over her face.
“You can come and have mine, I’ll
get something else to eat outside.”
Darasimi volunteered.
“No, you can eat.”
she walked out of the room towards the
kitchen to confirm her
fears.
“Tola you dey mad o.” She shouted
from the kitchen.
Tolani bursted into laughter.
“Did you prepare her own?” Darasimi asked.
“You should trust me now. She is
my kid sister, so I have to take care
of her.” Tolani replied.
“When it comes to food, you are
the eldest, but believe me, you beg me today.”
Dolapo said as she
walked into the room with a plate
of rice and a pack of fruit juice and
two glass cups.
“Where did you see this?” Tola
asked, smile disappearing from her face.
Dolapo ignored her as she filled the
two glass cups and gave one to
Darasimi and she took one herself.
“Am not gonna carry last. Let me
get my own cup.” Tola said dashing out of the
room.
“And you’ll be taken by suprise
because your glass will only be
filled with water.”
She still felt the urge to tell her
friend about the letter she recieved in the
lecture hall a few hours ago,
but she wasn’t sure and doesn’t
seem to trust Darsimi.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lunch has been going on smoothly
even though Sandra was trying hard to
contain her anger. She still
managed to engage her cousin’s
girlfriend in conversation.
Frank was all smiles as she
watched the two ladies talk about
fashion and other things that he considered as
boring, but for the
sake of the present situation, he
had to play along.
“You two will really fit as sisters.”
Frank chipped in.
“I won’t mind having Isabell as the sister I
don’t have.” Sandra replied
smiling.
“Me too. Or what do you think big
sis?” Isabella asked and they all
bursted into laughter.
“You are a very funny girl.” Sandra said.
“Just like Janet when she was
here.” Frank added.
And his reply or addition was was
the last straw that broke the
camel’s back. “What did you just say?” Sandra
asked hitting the table with her fist,
causing the drinking glasses to
spill.
“I said she is as humorous as
Janet.” Frank replied foolishly. And before he
could get a grip of
himself, his elder cousin was
already ranting angrily.
It was then he remembered that
Janet left his cousin’s house on a
very bad note. “I knew it, you guys were
working
together. No wonder you said
nothing when I told you she
duped me of eight million naira.
You have to tell me where she lives
because I knew all about your celebrating your
victory against
me. You met today right? And you
took pictures.”
“Aunty please take it easy.”
Isabella said but her vision soon
went blank after she realised that Sandra had
slapped her hard
accross the face.
“Sandy, I don’t understand what
you are talking about.” Frank said.
“You understand when am
through with you. Now you two get out of my
house.” Sandra
screamed at them.
It was a little after the hour of six
when Clement decided to check on
Ngozi at the hospital. He walked
into the waiting room and a nurse
urshered him into Ngozi’s ward. He pushed
the door open and
walked into the room, Tobiloba
seated by her bedside.
“Mr Clement, you are welcome.”
Tobiloba said.
“Good evening sir.” Clement said shaking
hands with him.
“Sit down.” Tobi said vacating his
seat for him.
“No no no. Please sit, I only
stopped by to know how she is
feeling.” Clement replied. Meanwhile, Ngozi
laid down on the
bed watching the drama being
performed by the two men with
total indifference.
“How are you feeling now?”
Clement asked holding her hand. Ngozi
nodded her head weakly,
which Clement interpreted as
getting better.
“When is she getting discharged?”
He asked her fiancee.
“For now, the doctors want to monitor her
response to treatment.
But am sure she’ll be out in few
days. Not much damage was done
to her spinal cord according to the
x-ray result. But the shock has
caused increase in her blood pressure.”
Tobiloba explained.
This guy would have made a good
doctor.
“The Supritendent asked me to
give you this letter.” Clement said
dropping an envelope beside her. “What’s
inside?” She asked weakly.
Tobiloba had already picked up
the envelope and was tearing it off.
“According to the meeting we had
today, you have been suspended.”
He said. “But why?” Ngozi asked.
“No one was willing to talk about
your offence but I think you
overstepped your boundaries.
They said you boycotted existing
protocol and acted on your own.” Clement
replied.
“Was that what I did?” She asked.
“Actually, I don’t think there is
anything bad in what you did, I am
suspecting Sylvester as the brain
behind your suspension.” Clement explained
further.
“My suspension is until when?” She
asked facing her fiancee.
Tobiloba who had the letter in his
hands was no longer interested in
reading the content of the letter since he had
heard all from
Clement.
“Its indefinite. Even Mike has a
hearing tomorrow.” Clement
continued.
Ngozi inhaled deeply, this was not what she
envisaged when she
discovered the underground. Her
dream was to unravel whatever
mystery, whatever secret that dwell
in the inderground. But now,
everything seems impossible and those
dreams looked unreal and
impossible. Will I give up? No.
“Mike has a hearing? Abuja I
suppose?” She asked, this time all
weakness in her had vanished and
she looked strong again. “No, Ibadan.”
Clement replied.
“Just take your time to recupperate
and you’ll be fine. I’ll talk to the
commissioner and believe me, as
soon as your are out of here, you
are back to work.” Ngozi nodded and went
into deep
thought.
“Clement, there is something I
want to tell you.” She said.
Clement urged her to go on with
whatever she wants to tell him. “You see, that
room where you met
me leads to an underground.” She
stopped to see his reaction.
Satisfied that she got his attention.
“I’ll want you to explore the
underground and make the most of it. Try and
get past the electric
security that is in place. It could
lead us somewhere you know.”
She continued.
“So, you later went on to enter the
underground? That’s ridiculous. Thank God
something was able to
stop you.” Tobiloba shouted.
“Mr Tobiloba, keep your voice
down. So you knew there was an
underground and you refused to
tell anyone about it?” Clement asked.
“Hassan knew about it.” She
replied.
“Who the hell is Hassan? You knew
Hassan is a soldier, and millitary
men are always power hungry, he’ll support
you not breadthing it
to anyone so that he can have a
fair share of the commendation.”
He continued.
“You need to see how she reacted
when I asked her not to go on with
investigating the
underground. She stopped talking
to me.” Tobiloba added.
“Tobi please. Save it.” She said
cutting him short.
“So where is that Hassan now? Because I
remembered we were
looking for the two of you then.”
He asked.
“Hassan is dead. He was lying dead
when I entered the room.” She
replied. “Do you know what that means?
Automatic dismissal from the force
if they ever found out Hassan is
dead.”
Fear gripped her. Even though she
planned resigning from the force immediately
after her marriage, she
was not a fan of leaving a job
unceremoniously.
“Just do something concerning the
underground.” She said and
turned her back to the two men.
ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 118
#OpraDre
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