DOPE Episode 8 by Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor
**The new partnership**
Getting to Florida, Hugo and Andre went back to Jose to seek for his assistance. Meanwhile, as he was tracking the money, Stone and his men were trailing them to find the missing money through any means possible but Hugo was oblivious of this, thinking that he was alone without knowing his real problem was still breathing threats against him. Getting to Veneno Rosa, Jose was really busy attending to his customer’s but seeing his nephew made him stop whatever he was doing and took them into his inner living room.
He noticed that Hugo was entirely worn out and dispirited, making the twenty years old guy hiss at intervals. Jose was really concerned and confused. “How did the trip go?” Jose curiously asked with optimism, holding his nephew by that arms. Hugo was gloomy thinking through how he barely escaped and how he watched Gustavo die right there before him, just the way Ramon did while he watched without having a solution to save their lives.
“Stone has taken over the cartel and claimed full ownership of the business. He already trained some men in hiding and used my absence as the golden opportunity to unleash his evil plans. Even Gustavo, the computer programmer who was my best friend was also killed. Through him, Stone got the information about the missing money. He tortured him until he revealed my mission to Florida to him before he slit his throat brutally,” Jose smiled angrily and felt so embittered while nodding with anger, but he is tension control par excellence that he hardly shakes on hearing any news no matter how bad it may be. He is calm in nature but with strong heart, and has the ability to manage stress and tension, no matter how tough, so he didn’t act as if he was so moved by it, so he cleared his throat and tried his best to encourage the poor boy and help him out too.
“I already knew that the money wasn’t taken by Stone but was trying to communicate to you but my efforts proved abortive,” Jose grunted and clustered his finger into a fist out of anger. “Hugo, you need to act fast because if I know Stone Antonio well, he’d be on his way to Florida, that’s if he’s not in the neighbourhood already,” “That was unexpected because I already knew him well in with his high intelligence negatively and brutally. That’s why I’m here to seek your help. With the GPS tracker, we can still locate the money. I need a computer guru to help me out with that,” he added feeling bad that Gustavo who would always help in this time of need was nowhere to be found. Jose smiled and patted his back gently, smiled again and brought out his computer. “Well, I already know the location,” Jose said and flipped open his palmtop and started operating as if he’d been of great mastery with the computer. “How did you know so much about the computer?” Hugo asked and quailed. With a faint smile as his hands hovered fast above the keyboards as he typed fast, he said: “If your dad ever discussed anything with you about me, the first thing he’d have mentioned is my vast knowledge of computer programming,” “That’s amazing,” Hugo bewilderedly expressed, “but taking a first look at you, no one could say that you know as much as you do except working at the deli and serving food and drinks to customers,” he smiled a bit at that, Jose did too while Andre remained gallant with his hands folded. “That’s because I’ve chosen to disguise myself in a way that the old part of me is entirely erased just for me to enjoy this new life of a street vendor,” going through the coordinates, he pointed straight to the location, “The money is located in a warehouse in Washington Avenue, Miami Beach location. Go now and know who took it but you should be very careful because the government could be involved and you know what it means if you’re captured,” “We need to be careful,” Hugo said and left immediately with Andre. Getting to the exact location, they saw heavily armed US naval soldiers which made it hard for them to penetrate because it seemed they were guarding the money. Hugo and Andre were already armed with guns and other weapons to fight for the money but being that the area was heavily guarded by the guards; they took another entrance and penetrated without being noticed. They sighted the money in the safe but when they tried to check it out, an alarm was triggered which made the naval soldiers to surround them. They remained watching and searchingly looking at the naval soldiers ready for a fight with them but a hefty African American guy of about forty years showed up waving his gun effortlessly, “who do we have here. You look like bandits and drug dealers,” he said and came closer to observe them but Hugo immediately brought out his dagger to pierce his heart but was surprised that the hefty soldier overpowered him notwithstanding his martial arts which made him know that the African American must have been a very strong man. “You should be careful, boy. How old are you?” “What are you doing with my money?” Hugo hollered.
“Your money?” he asked, “Well, I’m Bret McGowen, a former US Navy SEAL. Who’re you, young man?” “I’m Hugo Fuentes,” he answered looking audaciously into Bret’s eyes as he pulsated with anger and taste for more fights. “That name sounds Brazilian,” Bret observantly said and chuckled, “You’re too young to have such money. What kind of business do you do for a living and where are you based, to have such money hidden in such location?” “That’s not your business,” he pigheadedly replied, “I need my money now and I want to go with it,” “I know that a tracker is fixed to the safe, that’s why I mounted guards waiting for someone to show up. From my study and research, the money has stayed long underwater, and judging by your age, I wonder if you were either five or eight when it was hidden. So, it’s better you come clean and be honest or I’ll get you arrested and hand over to the CIA so that you can explain how you came about such amount of money, because judging from the size of the safe, it’s really a huge sum wrapped in American currency,” “I simply need my money and you must hand it over to me forthwith,” Hugo stubbornly maintained without divulging the information Bret sought. “Then, we have no business together,” Bret said and started leaving. “Arrest these intruders,” Hugo wanted to rush at him but the soldiers blocked him and made him stop. Bret left without heeding to Hugo’s request making Hugo shout at him but the strong black guy shook his head and continued walking away. Hugo and Andre were detained and kept in a secluded room but they were not tortured or interrogated but closely monitored. Few guards come and go to monitor them. After a while of watching the young buy pulsate with anger, Andre, even though he was his subordinate still had to talk to him like an adult who had been a guard in such business for long. “I think you should have a dialogue with the soldier, that’s the only way for us to recover this money. We don’t even have soldiers to fight for us anymore; most of them are dead by now, except the ones that pledged their allegiance to Stone as the new boss,” Andre suggested as he hope for positive response and approval by his boss. When one of the guards came around to check on the handcuffed men, Hugo asked him to inform Bret that he was ready to talk. After about thirty minutes, Bret showed up and drew a seat and sat before the prisoners. “I’m here to listen to you, young men,” Bret said and folded his arms. After fighting with his ego and stubbornness, Hugo became sober and submissive. “The money belongs to my father, but he’s now late. We’re drug dealers in Brazil. I inherited the business from my dad who died a couple of years ago because of a betrayal by his best friend who clued the American Drug Enforcement Agency to invade the plantation. Right now, he had taken over the business when I came down to Florida to search for the money. I barely came out alive and here I am.” Hugo was explanatory enough to make Bret understand the full details in a flash. “How am I sure that you’re the owner and not an impostor?” Bret asked. Hugo smilingly looked at him and said; “I have the password to open the safe because no matter how long you keep it, you can’t decipher the code and you can’t destroy it too.
As an experienced soldier, you should know that already,” “Hmmm, well, that’s is true for now but if I’m much interested in carting away the money, I’d have found my way and get it unlocked, no matter how long it takes. So, what do you want from me, young soldier?” “I want to just take my money and go. I can compensate you and your men for keeping guard and watch over the money all these while,” he replied with hope of securing an agreement. “Even if I allow you take the money and go, your enemy, whom I suspect, is stronger than you, will come after you and destroy you, then take the money from you,” Bret called to his mind.
“The amount in the safe may blow your mind. I need your help so that Stone Antonio, the erstwhile personal assistant to my dad, wouldn’t take over the money because I know him well, he’s on his way now to recover the money with heavily armed soldiers from Brazil,” “That wouldn’t be easy because I know that the US securities at the airport are hard nuts to crack. They may not find it easy to come to the US,” “Stone has his ways and I assure you that he’s already here with his gang,” “Then we just don’t need to give you the money to go because they will always be on your trail to hunt you down and kill you. We need to pre-empt his action,” Bret said. “For now, let’s deactivate the chip so that the signal wouldn’t be hacked,” Hugo suggested, “Can you untie me now?” “Of course, I will but don’t ever try something funny because it won’t go down well with you, even though I admire and applaud your fighting skills but you need more exposure and experience with the use of crunching tiger moves,” he added and smiled and then became serious as if he never smiled. “Crunching tiger, hmm,” Hugo said and imagined how good Bret was with martial arts. “I still need your help,” Hugo assuredly answered, “If I can defeat Stone, you have to help me,” “Your partner doesn’t talk?” Bret asked, “You have a name, friend?” he asked as he shifted his glance to Andre who kept staring at him with valour,” “He’s my personal bodyguard and the only survivor among my armies,” he answered, “he’s Andre; he doesn’t speak much; that’s how he was trained. The only language he likes to hear is battle and war,” “That means he’s going to be useful to us?” Bret mumbled.
“Wow, is that supposed to be a yes to my proposal?” Hugo asked, to be sure that he already got Bret and his men to his side. “It’s going to be a covert operation since the government isn’t meant to be informed or involved because if they do, this money becomes the property of the state, no more yours,” Bret expatiated, “and to answer your questions; yes, you have my support. We’ll fight together” “Thanks so much,” Hugo said and tried to hug him but Bret’s unsmiling face made him pause and extend his hand for a handshake, “to close the deal, sir,” he added to make Bret accept his handshake.
Bret shook hands with him and took him to the safe. Hugo immediately unlocked the safe with the code and showed him the magnitude of what they were looking at. Bret was really wowed and imagined how long a single individual made such amount of money. “This is enormous,” Bret said with his mouth agape and eyes wide open and smiled, “I will help you and we’ll secure the money against your arch enemy but you need to be extremely careful.
Stay put lets work on this,” Hugo and Andre was so happy, making Andre to smile for the first time since after seven years when he wedded his Mexican wife.
To be continued…
