Episode 1
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Mark Ademola looked through the window of the
plane as it continued its descent. The atmosphere
was clear, it was going to be an uneventful end to an
uneventful flight, which was good. He was back to his
world, the place where he belonged.
Lagos was home; crazy and sometimes frustrating
but home all the same.
He craned his neck to see if he could spot his street
or his house. It was a habit he had that was yet to
yield any results. Though he saw several roads and
several houses, he never saw his own. Leaning back
in his seat, he wondered why he kept trying; it was
never going to happen.
A few minutes later the plane stopped and the ‘fasten
seatbelt’ sign went off.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Lagos.” The Captain announced.
“The time is 9:15am…”
Mark ignored the mumbling Pilot and unfastened his
seatbelt. It was crazy that he still needed to go to the
office after the strenuous week he just had but that
was his life. He stood from his seat and reached for
the overhead cabinet. He opened it and removed his
luggage.
Chop! Chop! Let’s go.
“Could you help me get my bag, please?” A rather
compelling female voice called from behind him.
He looked back to see who the voice belonged to. He
stopped at the sight that faced him. She looked at
him with the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
Standing just a few inches shorter than him, she had
light skin and a face that invited you to know the
owner. Who is this girl? Why wasn’t he ever lucky to
get a seat beside someone like her?
“My bag please?” She said again.
He had been staring. Why on earth did he let himself
get caught staring?
“Whi…which of the…” He started to say.
“The green one please.” She said.
She was Hausa. Or was she British? Her accent was
the loveliest he had ever heard. She had a veil
covering her hair; she had to be Hausa. It was a flight
from Kaduna, it made sense. Get the bag! He reached
for the green bag and dragged it off the cabinet. He
tried his best not to grunt under the weight of the
bag, he had to make a strong first impression. He
handed the bag to her.
“Thank you.” She said.
He nodded and turned back to face his seat. Oh Lord!
He had to see the girl again. He turned around but
she was gone. She couldn’t have disappeared into
thin air. Maybe she had gone back to her seat. Maybe
she is an angel. He looked down the aisle and saw the
green bag a few rows behind him. There she was. Of
course she wasn’t an angel. She was human just like
him, just a higher version of human. He had to talk to
her before they left the airport. He had to do it now.
***
“You were paid what?” Baban looked up from the
newspaper and stood from the chair.
“15 million naira sir.” Dongo replied with a smug
smile on his face. The two men behind him nodding
with approval.
If you wanted things done right, you do it yourself. He
believed that but sometimes you could not do the
things you wanted done. Sometimes you had to send
some of your most trusted men. Sometimes you had
to send men like Dongo. But sometimes they made
you wish you did not send them.
“15 million naira?” He asked, moving closer to Dongo.
“Yes sir, that’s a lot more than…”
“Naira?”
He did not wait for a response. He swung his right
hand and in one swift movement knocked Dongo to
the ground. He rubbed his hands together and
stepped back. The stunned Dongo scrambled to his
feet. Baban rushed back at him and knocked him
back to the ground before he could find his feet. He
spit on him and returned to his seat. He looked at the
two men who stood behind Dongo and he knew they
wished they could come to the aid of their friend. But
he knew and they knew that they could not dare it.
Dongo struggled to his feet, this time slower than
before.
“They paid you in naira and you collected it?” Baban
asked, his voice low and deep.
He could see fury written clearly on Dongo’s swelling
face; He did not mind his men showing their anger in
their expressions, but that was as far as he could let
them go.
Anger was good, insubordination wasn’t.
“Dongo, I’m asking you a question. You collected
naira from them?”
“I collected 15 million naira from them.”
Ahmad stood and clapped his hands together.
“You wanted an applause for collecting 15 million?
There you have it.”
Idiot.
***
Movement ahead of him caught his attention;
passengers were disembarking already. Mark
grabbed his luggage and joined the line. He glanced
behind, he did not see her. He would have to wait for
her at the arrival lounge.
His phone rang, it was his boss. He answered.
“Mark, are you here?”
“Yes sir, we just landed. I will be out of the plane in
ten minutes.” He said.
“Okay, good. I was in Ikeja and I decided to stop by
the airport to pick you instead of sending the driver. I
am waiting for you outside.”
“Okay sir.” He said and ended the call.
No! No! No! This would have been great news some
other time but not today. He wanted to talk to this
beautiful angel from the north but he knew he dared
not keep his boss waiting. What was he supposed to
do now?
“Thank you sir for flying with Nigeria Airways.” A
flight attendant was saying to him.
He nodded at the attendant and tried his best to
smile. His attempt failed woefully and it earned a
frown from the attendant. She was the least of his
concerns however, he needed a plan.
His phone rang again. He looked at his phone, it was
his boss again.
“Hello sir.”
“I thought you said ten minutes.”
“I’m out of the plane already, I’ll be with you very
soon sir.”
He ended the call and got out of the plane. He knew
he could not stop or wait. His best bet was to walk as
slowly as possible and hope the girl would catch up
with him.
It took an eternity of moon-walking, but soon he
knew there was no point trying to delay anymore. It
wasn’t meant to be. Since he was losing the girl, there
was no point getting his boss angry too. He walked
fast and soon was in the arrival lounge. He looked
back one more time but she still wasn’t in sight.
“Sorry boy, no angel for you today.” He whispered to
himself.
He headed for the exit. He knew where his boss
usually parked and he still had to walk a few metres
before he could get there. His boss had no patience
for tardiness, it was a surprise he had not called the
third time.
Six minutes later, he arrived at the car. He looked
inside and his boss was not there.
“Mr Kazim.” He called.
The driver who had dozed off woke up and
scrambled to attention.
“Where is oga?”
“One of him friend meet us for here, they go see
something for back there.” He said pointing
backwards.
“I just came from that direction.”
“Una miss each other be that.”
He felt like punching the car. His boss called and
made him hurry when he was not ready himself?
Maybe it was better to make use of the occasion
instead of complaining. He opened the booth of the
car and placed his luggage in it.
“Mr Kazim.”
“Yes oga?”
“I will be right back, I need to check someone.”
“Ah, Oga Mark, please…”
He ran away before the driver could complete his
protest. He smiled with excitement. This is so meant
to be.
He got to the arrival lounge before he stopped
running. And there she was. She was with two other
girls. If he hadn’t seen her first, he would have called
them beautiful. Not anymore though, their beauty
paled in comparison to hers. For the first time, he
saw her smile. Her face was beautiful without the
smile. With it, it was indescribable.
Time wasn’t his friend, he had to make his approach
now.
What am I going to say?
He froze. He had not considered that. He had been so
excited he’d forgotten how terrible he was at meeting
new people. Girls especially. Maybe that was before.
He was a more exposed and matured guy now. He
was the project manager of a huge Foundation. He
was just returning from a meeting with the Wife of
the president and three Ministers. How difficult could
this be?
He walked towards her and stood in front of the
pretty trio. This is going to be easy.
She noticed him standing there and looked at him.
Their eyes locked and for a few moments the world
froze. He wanted to say something but his mouth
failed him woefully. It wasn’t his mouth at fault
though, it was his brain. It had stopped working.
“What do you want?” One of the friends asked.
He looked at the friend for a second then back to the
Hausa-British Angel; She was staring back at him and
he could tell from her eyes that his period of grace
was almost over. He had to say something.
“What’s your name?” He asked and immediately
wished he could take it back.
‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’, that is good. ‘What’s your name?’ that is
not good!
He felt stupid but he had said it already. He decided it
was better to wait for her reaction before trying to fix
it- if he could.
And for what seemed like an eternity, nothing
happened. She stood and stared at him and he could
not do anything else even if he wanted to. Finally, one
of her friends recovered from whatever spell was
causing the muteness.
“Let’s go.” The friend said.
The three of them pulled their bags and turned away
from him. He stood there for a few seconds and
wished for the world to end. He should have known
better. He never should have approached her without
a plan.
This is what happens to silly boys who think they can
just approach a classy girl in the airport.
He turned around to go but a voice stopped in his
tracks. For the second time that morning, he heard
the angelic voice, she had stopped a few feet away
from him.
“My name is Jumai.” She said walked away.
***
Baban walked over to Dongo and stopped a few
inches from him. He stood almost a full foot above
his henchman. The man put up a very strong front
and he respected him for it but he could see the fear
in his eyes and the slight tremble of his lips.
“Do you know how much a dollar exchanges for in
naira right now?” Baban asked. “I don’t care how
much you get in naira. I want my money in dollars.”
“Dollars?” Dongo asked through clenched teeth and
broken lips.
“Dollars, yes dollars.”
“But they…” Dongo started to say but he silenced him
with a cold stare.
He really wasn’t particular about the dollars. It did
not matter to him what currency his money came in.
But when you need to transfer a large amount of
money and don’t want a large volume of money,
currency begins to matter. It also mattered that his
men did exactly what they were told. He knew how
dangerous his business was.
“15 million naira,” Baban said. “How much did you
send to the doctor?”
Dongo hesitated then said. “We sent everything.”
“Everything?”
“You said that was the most important thing right
now.”
Baban nodded, he was right. Maybe his lash out at
Dongo wasn’t totally called for.
“And when did he say we will get the Kulunix?”
“In two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Baban grabbed a cup and threw it
against the wall. “He told me two weeks a month
ago.”
Dongo looked pleased he was no longer the subject
of Baban’s anger. “He has delayed too long boss. Do
you want me to take of it?”
Baban shook his head. “No, I will do it myself.”
He needed to do the big things himself and dealing
with Doctor Coker was big. A lot of money had gone
into the project, it was time to see results. Maybe the
doctor needed a little motivation.
“Dongo,” Baban called. “On a second thought, do you
know where the good doctor’s family live?”
“You want me to hold his wife till he delivers?”
“Hold? No, shoot one his children.”
“Sir?”
Baban looked up at Dongo and smiled. “What? You
have suddenly grown a heart?”
“His children? The child didn’t…”
“It’s business Dongo. If you can’t do it, I can ask
someone else.”
Dongo frowned, he didn’t seem to like the implication
of his statement.
“Okay then, the Doctor loses a child once every week
till I get my Kulunix.”
***
Jumai!
Mark felt deep joy like he had won the lottery. Better
still, like she had just agreed to marry him. All he had
was a name. It probably won’t do him any good but at
least he had something.
“Mark!”
He knew that voice, it was his boss.
“Yes sir.” He looked in the direction the voice came
from.
“I thought I told you to meet me.”
“Yes sir, I already got to the car but I was told…”
“Yeah, I had to see somebody.”
Mark looked in the direction Jumai walked in and saw
her talking on the phone. If he knew he would have
gotten a response maybe he would have asked for
her phone number.
“Is your phone with you?” His boss’ voice brought
him back from his reverie.
“Yes sir, it is.”
“Do you have the list of benefactors I told you we had
to thank for their partnerships?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, good. It’s time to start making calls.”
Mark sighed. “I was planning to make the calls from
the office sir.”
“Are you busy now?”
Mark wanted to respond but he was not sure what he
would say would be smart. He brought out his phone
and dialled the first number. His boss didn’t care
much for laziness but he didn’t care much for
tiredness either.
“Hello Alhaji.” He said, with a huge smile, like his
boss had taught him. “This is Mark Ademola from
WAAP foundation…”
He knew who he wished he was talking to, he could
only hope that would ever happen.
***
“Once we have the Kulunix we move it to Yobe
immediately. The UNICEF has a group coming in in
two weeks. If we are not in Yobe before then,
everything we have done will be wasted.”
The men nodded. They had heard this so many times.
A lot of money was at stake, they needed to hear it a
million times.
A phone rang on his table. He waved his hand and
Dongo and his boys left his office.
He reached for the phone.
“Hello.” He said.
“This is Mark Ademola from WAAP foundation. I just
want to say I am very glad to make your acquaintance
and I look forward to relating with you more.”
“Oh yeah, Mr Ademola, I believe we can do a lot of
great things together.”
“Thank you very much sir.”
“Take care, I’ll talk to you very soon.”
He ended the call and dropped the phone on the
table.
He rubbed his sore knuckles and smiled. It was great
to have gullible people he could use to achieve his
goals. Well, until he was done with them. When the
time was right, they would all die. Dongo, Doctor
Coker, this Mark Ademola, everyone one of them.
#Jumai continues ...
