*NICHOLAS*

Chapter One . . . . . . . The morning was cold, the leaves were wet, it wasn’t a pleasant time to run. The city was still asleep and it did not look like it would wake up anytime soon. Sweat ran down his face as he ran, his muscles ached, his heart raced but he kept on running. Nicholas wasn’t an athlete but he ran like he was. If he was an athlete, he probably would have stopped running. No athlete needed to run this hard, no athlete needed to run at this time. “Just get home” he said to himself. Home was an old room with rusted roofing sheets. It did not have the clean toilet, the cozy kitchen with the gas cooker and the always cold refrigerator he was used to. It was home nonetheless. And it was the place Nicholas had to get to. As he ran he looked at his now familiar race track. It wasn’t a race track until this morning but it was familiar. It was a bush path, a narrow bush path, rarely used by people. It was one of the reasons he chose the path. The path looked especially lonely that morning but it wasn’t going to set him back, he had to get home. A light shining in the distance caught his attention, judging by the distance it had to be coming from his house. That was strange. He lived alone. He had no friends and he definitely wasn’t expecting anybody. He reduced his pace. A lot of thoughts crowded his mind. He still had to run, but it was not right, a light? He moved closer. There was no doubt, the light was coming his house. In the dark his house looked nice. The old structure had a beautiful silhouette. He had been thinking of putting up window curtains but he had not gotten around to it. So now he could see inside his room. There was nobody inside as far as he could see. He decided it was better to solve the puzzle of how the light got to his room than to stay out in the cold early morning. He was now very close to his house. He slowed to a walk. Everywhere was quiet, no sound came from his room. He could hear his heart beating. He tried to calm himself, but no part of him understood what calm was anymore. His feet kept moving, but every other part of him seemed to be numb. He moved closer to his house, his eyes seemed to have snapped out of their numbness because now they darted in all directions looking for any sign of movement. As he approached his doorway, he noticed his door was open. Now everything was becoming weird. First he thought all he had to do was get home, now it looked like someone had been in his room. He entered the room slowly and quietly, looked around, everything looked fine. The light he had seen came from a candle burning by his bed. It was good he came when he did, his house would have been burnt by morning. He put down the candle and lay on the bed. He had lived a simple uneventful life but no one will describe his life as uneventful now. And he was sure it wasn’t going to be simple anymore either. Then he saw it. It was getting closer. The hair on his neck stood, his palms were getting wet, what was happening to him. It was close now, but he could not move. “Corper” he had a voice call out. Then everything went dark. . . . . To be continued.

Omq......... Anoda suspense filled story here........ride on......

Abeg. Where @khola46 @Anitcham @Tenniebenson @Lollybabe1 @Mray @Stephanie @Dahcutebae @Tonia @Rhennyjay @Wind @Delight @Japhola @InemLove @Pizzaro @Odunboy @GeeAdore @Charliebryn @Charlywizzy @Freelizzy @Adewunmi @Valking1 @Precious @Mohjisolah @Gracy @John Walter @Akorede @Others (I’m sorry I couldn’t remember all the names). Make you all come take a seat before the seat go finish oo..

Thanks Bro..... @DonWalter Interesting...I'm following

Aiit @khola46. Buh I hope its not on dis page so I can drop it. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks

@Donwalter, thanks for d alert. Ah don occupy my seat for dis suspence thrilled tori. Only 1 episode, and enof interest.

@DonWalter Not at all Bro...

@Donwalter next pls @khola46 good p.m.

gracias @donwalter,keep it rollin!

Thanks for the invite... BT I don read am b4...

Well... Tnx 4 keeping my sit... Avn't read it b4..so i'm following u like a twitter handle... I jez hope phcn will make me follow regularly o

Thanks bro

Chapter TWO . . . . . . . . . . Kate loved children, but this afternoon she was in no mood for her students. It was a hot afternoon. The sun seemed to be at war with the earth, and Arandun seemed to be its target at the moment. Arandun was a nice place and Kate loved living there. Its serene village environment suited her. She loved the simplicity of the villagers and their fascination with her vast knowledge. She looked around her, the staff room where she was sitting was small and sparsely furnished. The room like every other room in the school was made with clay bricks.It was roofed with aluminium sheets but it might as well had been open roofed when it rained. Kate rocked her phone with her fingers. It was a pleasant surprise to find a mobile network signal in Arandun. The surprise she received in the early hours of the morning though, wasn’t a pleasant one. It was pleasant at first. Nick never called her, she did not even know he had her number. Most would have thought they would be good friends but they were not. “Kate, look, I’m in trouble. I don’t understand what happened but they might be after me.” “They? Who is they?” “I don’t know. Somebody. And i think Kemi is dead!” “Wait! What?! Nicholas! Are you running? Just stop, i can’t hear you. Hello, hello…Nicholas?” The conversation kept playing in her mind.Who was after him? How could Kemi be dead? What did it have to do with Nick? Why did he call her?So many questions, not a single answer. “Kate, what are you… never mind. The LGI wants to see you.” She had not realised Emeka was standing in the room. He was her friend. At least that was what she believed. He was a good guy. But right now, not even him could take her mind off Nicholas. “You heard me, right?” “Yeah, i did. Sorry.”Why wasn’t there news of Kemi’s death yet? Maybe Nicholas was wrong. Maybe he was mistaken. “Emeka, did you hear anything about Kemi?” “Kemi? No. Why?” She could see he was surprised by her question. Kemi was not her favorite person. “Kate what is happening? You’ve been in this office alone for hours and you are clearly distracted by something.” He turned to face her, blocking the doorway. “It’s nothing. I was just asking.” She wasn’t a good liar. He must have bought this lie though because he moved out of the way. “Whatever you say. Just make sure you see the LGI” “Ok Emeka. I’ll see you at the lodge” She looked around her. It was only a few weeks that she had spent in the Arandun Community College but it was already a big part of her life. She could not imagine harm coming to anyone in Arandun. She was about to lock the door when her phone rang. “Nicholas?” “Nicholas? I sent for you. Didn’t you get my message?” The LGI? Nicholas and the LGI calling her on the same day. Something was definitely happening. “I’m on my way sir. I was just trying to round…” He dropped the call. Strange man. It wasn’t a surprise no one liked him. Her phone rang again. What! She already said she was coming. “Hello sir, I’m on my way” “Kate, don’t go near my house. Somebody is watching the place”Nicholas? “Nicholas? Where are you?” She sounded more agitated than he did. “Just don’t go to my place. Promise me you won’t.” “What are you saying?” “Shhh, someone is coming. Please don’t…” She had received two scary calls from a guy who a few hours ago was just a colleague. He wasn’t even a friend.The LGI. She had forgotten about him. She was not afraid of him right now. She was scared enough already. She had so many questions her head was almost bursting. There was one thing she knew she had to do, one way to get some answers; check Nicholas’ house. * * * The phone by his bedside rang. It rarely did, but when it did he had to answer . “What do you have for me son?” “We have a problem sir. A girl sir.” “Have you taken care of it, the problem?” “No sir. Just wanted to give you the information first sir” “Oh, thank you information officer.” He said with a scoff. “Take care of the problem.” There was only one thing he hated more than unsolved problems, foolish people who had the nerve to tell him about them. * * * Darkness. It was one of the twelve plagues the Egyptians suffered as recorded in the bible. He had always wondered why darkness was considered punishment. Now he understood. It had a certain torture that pushed you to your wit’s end. Nicholas was definitely at his wit’s end. A few more hours in the darkness and he would lose his mind. He wondered how he had not lost it already. Twelve hours ago he was a normal twenty four year old, living a normal life and staying out of trouble. Now, he had woken up on the same bed with a dead girl, put an innocent girl who wasn’t even his friend in trouble, been knocked out cold by something he didn’t still understand and now was in darkness so thick he saw better with his eyes closed. How long was he knocked out for? He could have been out for hours or days, he had no idea. All he could think about was the blackness and darkness that surrounded him. “God, I need light!” he screamed in frustration. “There you go boy” He was momentarily blinded with the sudden light shining on his face. “I have to tell you, I am not God. I just answered your prayer on his behalf” Nicholas couldn’t believe it. Had he been in the room all along? Then he must have heard his call to Kate. “What’s going through your mind boy? You must think I’m a ghost passing through walls right? Well, you probably won’t believe that i opened the door and entered. See I’m very stealth. It’s one of my best qualities.” Nicholas was still lost in thought not paying much attention to the man speaking. “Okay boy, let’s go. The boss wants to speak with you.” Nicholas, still not speaking, stood up. “Are you dumb boy? You’ve got nothing to say to poor old Dele?” He wasn’t a people person. At least that was what he was told. He was here, scared, and poor old Dele was complaining because he wasn’t exchanging Christmas stories with him? “Mr Dele , I’ve got more on my mind right now. I’m really not interested in your qualities. Well except killing is one of them.” Dele chuckled. But he did not reply.”Something I’ll like to discuss with you Dele, is your boss. Who is he?” “So now you wanna talk? Very funny. Well, I’ll let you form your own opinion about my boss. You’ll meet him soon.” And he did not say another word. They walked through a corridor. The walls were painted white. There wasn’t much to see. ‘The boss’ obviously loved darkness. The light available was just enough to aid movement. He had been more relaxed than most would be in his situation but a certain feeling of dread fell on him as thy neared the end of the corridor. He could see three doors. As they moved closer to the doors he stared hearing voices. One of the voices sounded familiar but he could not place it. Dele seemed to have grown very silent. He did not make any sound. Almost as if he was not breathing. He looked behind him and Dele was not there. The guy must really be stealth. It looked like he was supposed to enter through one of the three doors. For some reason he started getting scared again.Just open one of the doorshe told himself. The voices were gone.Just open one of the doors. What door was he supposed to open?Just open a door, damn it! He moved towards the first door. The lock looked newly made.On to the next door, new lock? Obvious trouble. The second door was slightly open.Move to the next door, slightly open is slightly fishy. The third door was normal.This must be it. It is time to meet the boss.The sweaty palms were returning. He steadied his hand on the door handle. The last thing he wanted was to look weak. Slowly, he turned the lock. It didn’t open. Then he heard the voices again.Where were they coming from? He turned suddenly. A sharp pain pierced through his neck. The pain eased and he felt really happy. A smile spread across his face as he dropped to his knees.Lovely! Oh I love you too Mom. His eyes wee closing. He felt like sleeping. As he went to sleep he saw a dark figure. “He’s down sir” What did he mean by down? He just wanted to sleep Wait, Dele? . . . . . To be continued.

Am folowin just keep us updated

Nice one Walter.dont get it twisted but I hv read this story before

Cnt understand dis episode oo

d suspense is thrilling

Well this is such a thrill. Keep it coming cos I've not read it b4.

Uhmmm... Speechless

@Khola46, why re U nt inviting me to a story? U need sack letter abi? Oya let me give U a clue, save all the names U hv in one place so that if U wnt to send invitations, U just do copy and paste. U can save them in ur Message draft or Email even in ur whatsapp, any one U like, so that U will just be updating the names if U hv new names, with that U can easily get everyone Invited get it?, I hope my Idea will be helpful.

wow! nyc 1. bt bro u go kil me wt suspence am evn scared damn!!! ride on....!!

@Mosesmichael That's what I wanted to tell him self.... well it's not easy... Next episode plz..

Wow See Suspence ooooo Present sir@donwalter Buh plz won't u continue demons on church street ni? Ko daa ooooo

Me self i down landed 4 here. Make i go take my sit 4 corner side. Donwalter i dey gbadun u jare

chai suspence toh badt qan

Thnk i cme here ontym. Superb story make nepa gv uz light 2 follow

@lady~Zee. Am not the writer of the story buh I will help you with the link

#Interesting

Following

Thanks.....am here @donwalter Suspense is choping me here

Oga Donwalter... Light no dey???

@tenniebenson. We dey strike for Osun so everytin dey paralyzed. Even food no dey.

Next episode still loading before 12pm God willing. Stay tune

Chapter Three . . . . . . . . . . You don’t get to meet the Local Government Inspector very often. Not outside Omu-Aran, the local government headquarters and definitely not personally. She had been waiting for him outside the town council office. She had been offered a chair and she had politely refused. She was too tensed up to sit. She still could not figure out why the LGI would want to meet with her. And then there was the matter of Nicholas.His house was been watched? By who? What was ….? “Corper” Her thoughts were interrupted.”Get inside the car, I’m leaving for Omu-Aran. I’ll drive you to your lodge, I need to ask you some questions.” What questions?She wondered as she walked towards his car.Wait, is he going to ask me out?She had heard rumours.Oh my God! No! Not me!She entered the car and shut the door. His car was very neat.Very neat people always have something to hide. “Okay Kate, are you friends with Nicholas?”This is about Nicholas? He is not asking me out, thank God! “Not really sir. We teach in the same school though.” It wasn’t a lie. They were not friends.Why the sudden interest in Nicholas? “Okay. Does he have friends here? Fellow corps members or the people of the town?” Her heart was beating faster now.Did he know about Kemi?Nicholas did not have friends but she had seen him with Kemi a few times. Other people must have seen them too. “No sir.” She answered, trying her best to keep a straight face. “He mostly keeps to himself” “Okay” he grunted. They rode in silence for a while. It looked like he was done with his questions.”Your lodge is down that road, right?” He pointed in the wrong direction but she nodded her agreement.”You can come down here” he said stopping the car. She stepped out of the car and he drove away without saying another word. Well, that was weird. How could I think he would ask me out?She was still a long way from her lodge.Nicholas’ house is close though. She walked towards Imoji. It was a part of Arandun she did not visit often. Most of her students did not have parents who could afford properties on that side of town. Nicholas lived very close to the richest people in the town.Surely they will notice any strange person lurking around. Nicholas’ house was closer than she thought. She did not see any strange person lurking in any dark corners so she moved closer. Suddenly she stopped. She could not believe what she saw. Oh my God, who is that? * * * “Sir I don’t understand why you would want us to do that. We can take care of the problem once and for all. My men are already….” “Faruk, listen to me” His voice was always calm. It was one of the reason his men feared him. He never showed his anger. At least not in his voice.”Are you my boss?” “No sir. Oga, I’m sorry, i just don’t understand sir”He obviously wanted some explanation. “Okay Faruk, how about i give you a short explanation. 250,000 Naira every month. You see, that makes me boss. You understand that?” “I understand perfectly sir” “Good” He threw his phone on the table.He doesn’t understand. Foolish boy. * * * Lion King was his favourite cartoon. The story was centered on the Lions; Simba’s Father, Simba then Simba’s son. They were great characters but his favourite character was Timon. He loved the character in a way no adult should. And he was always part of his worst nightmares. He had had many nightmares where he saw a hyena tearing Timon apart. He would wake up from these nightmares scared. He had no idea what the time was or even if he had seen Timon in his dream but he woke up very scared. His eyes were still shut as he tried to figure out where he was. He was lying on something soft, probably a mattress. The scent of the place was really familiar. A grinding machine started in the distance, it sounded just like his neighbour’s machine. He opened his eyes.Am I at home?All windows were closed. But he could still recognise his room even in the dark.How did I get home? Dele? I was going to meet the boss.He opened his windows. Everything looked normal.Who kidnapped me? Why would they return me?Everything was exactly as he left them. He looked outside the window again.Is that… is that Kate? What is she doing here? Oh my God, she is coming here?She already saw him. She was already at his door. “Hi Kate” he said opening the door. “What are you doing here?” She stopped mid step. It looked like she was going to hug him. “I’m sorry, please come in” She came in without saying a word. He kept his eyes on her as she sat down on his reading chair. He knew what must be going through her mind and he had thought about it himself. Why did he call her? He still did not know why. He had called her and here she was. “How did you get back?” That was going to be the first of many questions he assumed. “I have no idea. I just woke up and found myself back in my room.” She still looked confused. He was too. “Nicholas, as you can imagine, i have lots of questions to ask you. I’ll ask only one for now. Why would anyone want to kidnap you?” She had a very serious look on. Why did she care what happened to him? “Of course I’ve had time to think about that. And to be honest I don’t know who will want to kidnap me. My Mom is not rich, I’m obviously not rich. I’m not the only Corper here. By the way the kidnap looked personal” He realised he was talking to himself. “Sorry Kate. I just don’t understand what’s happening.” “Do you have maybe, an uncle or something? Your Dad? You didn’t mention your Dad. Is he… I don’t know, you didn’t mention him” She had a point. Why had he not considered him. “My Dad, wow! Why didn’t I think of him? First, I’ve not seen him in years. I’m kind of an illegitimate son. You can imagine the kind of life I had.” He could see pity on her face. He did not like being pitied. “No, it’s not like that. My Mom took care of me. But the thing is my Dad was rich. He was a politician. A big one” She looked surprised. “Nicholas, you’re saying ‘was’. Why are you talking about him in past tense? Is he… like dead?” She said the last part in a whisper. “Yeah Kate, he is. He’s dead. Recently actually. Three months ago. But that can’t have anything to do with this. I don’t even use his name. Wait what is that?” He moved towards the window. He heard footsteps. They seemed to be running. “Nick, is that Kemi’s Father?” She looked at him. “Oh my God!” Nobody saw me at her place. How did they know? What do I tell them? “Kate, what do I do?” She looked confused. They were close now; Kemi’s Father, one of the town’s chiefs and two men he did not recognise. “Kemi, they’re close” He was really scared now. “CORPER COME OUT O. COME OUT” He had to face them. He had to leave the room, he did not want them to see Kate. He stepped outside, it was time for Timon to face the Hyenas. Thanks for reading this episode. What happens to Nicholas? . . . . . To be continued

Uhmmm... Don d Don.. Na ur own 12 o'clock be dat?... What happened 2 Nicholas... Only u can tell us oooo

Dat d question 4 u 2 answer nw nd make it fast

Na you get the answer o

Oboy dat Lion cartoon is my best cartoon oooo......Simba very innocent younq lion...... Wad's next 4 Nicholas?

We r waiting 2 kw d answer frm u@Donwalter

@tenniebenson. No be mai fault jare. I dey with GEJ throughout yesterday when we dey pack from aso rock

I am here Don Walter, thanks for the invitation cos I've not read it b4... Even if i come a lit late my seat for front still dey... Now, na only u go answer that question wey u ask by urself, with urself and for urself.

Nicholas vs hyenas next pls

Ok thanks Don walter.so what's d link

Question for don to ans

ehm ehm nick? carton nd real life no b same tin oh @khola bcus I no dey wori full page nah make u no gre snd me invit ko. na era of changes ßo çhang 2 tank godß I ßtil meet d story a virgin. bro§ mur palmwiñe to ur keg. fire on 4 d gods remain solomon

All of you that are throwing back this question of Nicholas to be. Hmm hmm hmm. There Is God ooo. There is God in everything we do. Chai

Boss @donwalter no be our fault na you know ahm

I never know am ooo @charliebryn. Buh I will ask my oga @ d top

Chaiiiiiiiiii I don come oh. Una no call my name for Attendance. Nice story bro. @donwalter keep it up. Wetin Nicholas come do naaaaaaa.

@T-DAK. Aiit ooo. Dats the question for u ooo

Nice story I'm glad I met the beginning of Nicholas this is the first time I'm commenting here got interested in this site after reading unfulfilled promise keep it up you are doing a great job

U go tell me na @donwalter as the story goes by.

Owk ooo if una tell me so. @helen I zoom u. Thanks for the comment I hope u will enjoy the story. I will also employ you to read other stories from the stable of donwalter like Demon on the Church Street. and Before The Darkness

I dey wait Bros Hw niCo mara go b slf

Chapter Four . . . . . . . . Kemi’s Family House ARANDUN 5:20 PM 7, July, 2015 Music is art. Fuji music is not. At least that was what Nicholas believed. It was blaring from a small transistor radio sitting on a worn out wooden box. He was sitting in a modest sitting room. The furniture was not expensive but they were neatly arranged. The wall was painted White. It looked freshly painted. Three family portraits hung on the wall. Beside one of the portraits, a golden clock chimed away. A ceiling fan hung far too low from a whitewashed ceiling. And the most notable feature of the room was a plasma Tv which was showing nothing. Nicholas couldn’t care less if the world cup final was showing on the Tv. He had been sitting alone in the room for what looked like 10 hours to him. Nobody had said anything to him. He had been sitting and waiting. Kemi is dead, and now he was sitting in her Parent’s living room, there wasn’t going to be a good ending to all this for him. The curtain that led to what looked like a corridor opened. He stood up. He tried to force a smile as the “jury” walked in. The foreman of the “jury” was Kemi’s father. He was a short man with a slight build. You would not be scared going into a fight with him. Well, except you looked into his eyes. He had one of the meanest stares Nicholas had ever seen. Those eyes were directed at him as he walked in. The forced smile soon disappeared. The “jury” had four other members. They didn’t look too interested in him. One of them sat beside him. He had a week old beard stuck to his sunken cheeks. His eyes were kind though. Nicholas tried to find some comfort in that. “Corper, we don’t mean to trouble you” Kemi’s Father started, quite solemnly too, Nicholas noticed. “But we can not find Kemi”Oh! Thank God! You idiot, thank God? At least they’re not accusing me of killing her.“We thought you had something to do with it, that’s why we came to your place” Sunken cheeks said. “Oh, me? Why would you…?” Nicholas stammered. He had to change the subject. “So, who do you think has her?”Who has her body? That is what I should be asking.“Well, we don’t know. That is why we need your help.” His kind eyes looked like they would pop out of his head. “Look here Corper” Nicholas turned to face the “foreman” “We know you and my daughter spend a lot of time together”Oh my God!“We just want to know if you know anything that will help us. Her sister, Lola, told me she has been keeping to herself lately.” What was he supposed to say? ‘Yes, your daughter is dead’? Or, ‘No, i don’t know what has happened to her’?Who could have killed her? She was a sweet innocent girl.He must have been quiet for long because they were all looking at him. “Sir..” he started. “You don’t have to worry if you know nothing” Kemi’s Father cut him short. “Please, just help us in any way you can.” As he moved down the staircase, he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was. He had thought they were going to accuse him of murder and here they were begging him for help. It was getting dark. The streets were almost empty as Nicholas walked home. Three little girls were dancing, not very far away, around their mother, who was cooking. Nicholas smiled. Everything looked peaceful. He had not experienced the town like he should. Like Kate did. He was not even happy to be there. Kemi was a welcome distraction from his routine boring life. She was pretty, easy to talk to and did not mind that he couldn’t care less for her town. They were different. He was born and brought up in a city. Had attended the best schools and believed the world was a bad place. She called herself a village girl, with pleasure too. She was a first year student at a Teachers Training College. A free Spirit, she did not believe there was anything wrong with the world. ‘Everything happens for a reason’, she would always say. The bark of a dog behind him made him jump. He had already forgotten that he was recently kidnapped himself.A kidnap and a murder with no body in twenty four hours? Something is wrong. * * * Nicholas’ Residence ARANDUN 6:45 PM 7 July 2015 Kate had been waiting for more than three hours. She did not know what to expect. If they had found a connection between Kemi and Nicholas, then he probably wasn’t coming home soon. Nicholas had a nice room. Better than the one she had. It had a few things out of place but it wasn’t untidy. It did not look like he cooked much. His kitchen was far too neat. She looked at her watch for the umpteenth time. She picked a jacket from Nicholas’ closet, wore it and walked out of the house. Like most houses in Arandun, his house had a tree in front of it. She paced under the tree for a while. The night was breezy but she could no longer wait inside. “Kate” she jumped, startled. She had not seen him walk up to her. “I wasn’t expecting to meet you here” “Yeah, i decided to wait. Sorry about your jacket, it was getting cold” “It’s not a problem. Do you want to come back inside or should i walk you home?” She wanted to stay and get more answers but it was getting dark. “I think i should go.” She went inside the house to pick her bag. “I’m ready to go” She started walking and he followed her. “So, what happened? They just let you go?” Of course she was curious. She watched him as he explained everything that happened. He obviously cared for Kemi. She had always wondered how he connected with a girl who did not have much in common with him. He did not seem to interested in any other person.Well he called me when he was in trouble.They walked in silence for a while. Then something occurred to her. “Nicholas, have you told your Mom about your kidnap?” He looked like he was taken aback by the question “No. I’ve not had the time.” He looked lost in thought. She let him be.”I don’t think I’ll tell her” “What?!” She was surprised. She wanted to ask him why but she did not. He did not say why, so they walked on in silence. It was dark now. It always amazed her how beautiful Arandun was at night. The light coming from the houses made a very pretty sight. The town looked at peace. They walked past one of the hot spots of Arandun’s night life. Most of these spots were filled every night. Palm wine was the main attraction of this particular spot. A little distance away from the spot she saw two young men rushing towards a mosque. They had been walking for fifteen minutes when they got her house. It was a lodge for corps members. She lived with three others. She was grateful none of them was outside to see Nicholas. She would have had to explain why he was at her place so late. “Thanks a lot Kate. Sorry i put you through all this trouble.” “No, it’s okay.” She wanted to hug him but his hands were folded across his chest. “Just be careful , okay?” “Alright, I’ll try” he replied with a smile.” Good night” “Good night” She watched him go. “Hey Nicholas.” She called after him. “I think you should tell your Mom. Okay? Take care” He smiled and walked away. * * * Funke’s (Nicholas’ Mother) Office. ILORIN 8:45 PM 8 July 2015 All it takes is a washing machine and a few minutes. She wondered how many of her customers knew that. It was good they didn’t know or didn’t care or she would be out of business. Her laundry was the biggest in town. It was the only one run by a woman too. She had started the business when she got tired of attending interview and hearing the same old statement:”We will get back to you”. She had being on the other side of the interview table now so many times. Being your own boss definitely had its advantages. She was enjoying one at the moment; chatting with your friend at Nine O’clock with your feet on the table. “I don’t understand, Funke. Why would you not attend the funeral?” Being your own boss also had its disadvantages. People ask you silly questions so early in the morning. Something Joy, her friend, was doing now with pleasure. “Why would I? The man died three months ago, i didn’t even shed a tear. What does that tell you?” “You are an emotionless robot?” It was one of Joy’s qualities inappropriate jokes. “He’s the father of my son. That’s all. In fact he was just a sperm donor, he was never a father to Nick” she rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation again. “Joy, why are you disturbing me? You were one of those who advised me to stay away from him when he was alive.” And she had stayed away from him. He wasn’t too eager to see her either. She often wondered how they had stayed together long enough to have a baby. They never agreed on anything. So when she discovered she was pregnant, they did not agree on the next course of action either. “Okay, do whatever you want.” Joy said standing up.”His family doesn’t even know you guys exist. You and Nicholas. I’m going to my shop. Take care of yourself” She had tried to stay as far as possible from Nicholas’ father. Nicholas did not even use his name. She had had more conversations about him in the three months after his death than she had in twenty years before that. Some felt like she needed to introduce Nicholas to the family. She did not have the same opinion. Nicholas was seven when he knew who his real father was. He was young but he had taken the information maturedly. She picked up her phone and started scrolling through her pictures. Like any mother would, she had several pictures of her only son. She looked at the last picture of him she took and smiled. He was returning to his primary place of assignment. He wore his uniform after she had begged him to. She was about to put her phone back in her bag when it rang. It was Nicholas. “Hello Nick, I was just thinking about you.” She answered with a smile. “You’re always thinking about me Mom.” It was true. “How are you?” “I’m fine, Joy just left my office. She asked after you. How’s your village? Hope the girls there have not stolen your heart with their food” He always had a ready answer for her when she joked about him and girls but he hesitated this time. “Mom, do you think Dad’s family know about me?”He never talked about his father.“Do you think they know?” “No, honey, i don’t think they know. Why? Any particular reason why you are asking?” “No. So how’s your business? Hope AquaKlean has not stolen any more of your customers?”He is trying to change the subject?“No, they have not” she decided to play along. “I’ve stepped up my game.” They talked for a few more minutes. Something was wrong she could tell. She knew Nicholas too much, she always knew when he was hiding something from her. Her phone rang. She did not feel like talking.It could be business. You need to make money whether you feel like talking or not.“Hello, good morning.” she tried to sound as pleasant as she could. “Good morning, this is Barrister Thomas. Is this Ms Akorede?” “Yes.”A lawyer? Why would a lawyer be calling me? “How can I help you Barrister?” “You and your son are invited to be at the reading of the Last Will and Testament of late Engr. Babatunde. I will forward the time and address to you. Okay? Thank you.” She couldn’t even say “good bye”. She still held her phone to her ears.This is not a coincidence.She had just been invited to the reading of the will of Nicholas’ father. * * * “Sir, she has been invited to the reading of the will.” Faruk never beat around the bush with news. “She has? I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m not surprised. Just keep me informed.” “Okay Boss”Well, this is getting interesting. . . . To be continued

Hmmmm

Hmmmm,,,, u r highly welcme @helen

Really interesting

hope that will readinq aint a trap oh

Wat nxt,who r d pple traling nick nd his mum?

Hmmmmm

Nw i understand wer it iz heading to

Hmmm

Chapter Five . . . . . . . . . . ARANDUN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ARANDUN 11.10 AM 19, July 2015 ‘No body, no crime’. Every Policeman knows that but he could not wrap his head around this new case he was working. There was no body but his gut told him something was terribly wrong. He had been in Arandun for five years and all he had done was report in the office, greet people properly and keep quiet. He had learnt to keep quiet now. He did not know how, a few years before and he had been taught. Now he was in Arandun, serving his punishment and keeping his head down. And he was doing a great job of keeping his head down until a girl was kidnapped right under his nose. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of his division rarely stayed in Arandun, so he was almost always in charge. And he was in charge when the girl went missing. He was standing in front of the Principal’s office. He had just gotten permission to interview some teachers and a student. The classrooms formed a square round a space he assumed was the assembly ground. The school was quiet. A few students walked towards the staff room. A young female teacher walked behind them. She had a pretty face, but then he had always had a thing for teachers. He walked towards the school gate. He had to wait till recess before he could talk to anybody. Surely that did not include the guard. “Good Morning sir.” he greeted the old guard, bowing as low as he could. He had learnt how important it was to some people. “How’s work today?” “My son, work is the same. Sit down” he pulled a chair. “It’s not every day we see policemen in our school. Hope there is no problem.” It was not right to discuss official investigations but the old man could have information he didn’t. “You know about the girl who is missing, right?” “Yes, I know the girl. Her father is from my mother’s compound” He rubbed his palms together. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something but changed his mind. “Is there something you think I should know?” He needed all the information he could get. He had no idea what he was doing with the investigation. “Do you know that Corper, Nicholas?” he looked hesitant but continued. “They are close.” “Yes, I know him. I will be talking to him today.” There was something he wasn’t saying. “Sir, we need to find the girl. If you know anything, I would want you to tell me.” “Okay. The night before the girl went missing, I saw Nicholas with her. They were in the school premises till six o’clock.”Okay, that doesn’t mean much. ”My son, to my surprise, when I was going home around ten o’clock, I saw Nicholas at her house.” It made sense. The girl’s father travelled a lot. So, Nicholas slept over, they somehow got into a fight, he killed her and ran away.No body, no crime. “Do you think he had anything to do with her kidnap?” the old man looked genuinely concerned. He had no idea what to say. He opened his mouth to say he did not know, but the bell rang and he stood up. He thanked the guard and walked towards the staff room. He got to the door of the room then changed his mind. Talking to the victim’s sister first will give him a background on the victim. Students were scattered everywhere. They did not waste a minute of their temporary freedom. A few of them were crowded under a tree. He assumed that was where snacks were sold. Behind the tree, there was a field where most of the students were either playing soccer or watching. He walked down the senior class corridor. He decided to check her class, it was his best bet. Her class looked empty, but she was there. She was sitting quietly at the back. He had tried talking to her when he visited her parent’s house but she was too upset to talk. “Hello, Lola, right?” She looked up at him and nodded. “Are you okay?” She nodded again. There was no point in small talk, he had to get out of her hair. “I’m Corporal Adam. I was at your house a few days ago. I just want to ask you some questions about your sister.” He pulled a chair and sat. She obviously was not going to say anything except he asked a direct question. “Do you know what happened to her?” That was direct enough. “I don’t know. She had been keeping to herself. My sister was… my sister is a very lively person. The whole town knows when she’s around. But she got really quiet. I don’t know…” “Okay. When did this quietness start?” “I’m not sure. I remember coming back from school a little over two weeks ago and finding the house really quiet. I thought maybe she went out. You see, the house is never quiet when she‘s in. She’s either playing music or singing herself” She said the last part with a smile. “So i was very surprised to meet her in the room. When i entered she was reading a book or something. She never reads.” She folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. She looked away, the interview looked over. He had more information to process than he had before. People don’t just change personalites.Actually girls do, every ten minutes.This did not look like a temporary thing though. He had to talk to that Corper. * * * ARANDUN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ARANDUN 11.50 AM 19, JULY, 2015 “Mr Akorede” Nobody had called him that in a long time. “Can i call you Nicholas?” He nodded “I just want to ask you some questions about Kemi.” He already knew it was just a matter of time before he would have to answer questions about his relationship with Kemi. They were not a couple. He had thought about it, but they were not. He had seen a lot of Hollywood movies about Cops, a few Nollywood movies too. He knew enough about Police interrogations but he could not figure out the Policeman in front of him. Was he here so he could tell his superiors he investigated or was he really interested in solving the case? “People have told me, they’ve seen you and Kemi together, a lot. Are you dating her? Were you at any point?” He was really going straight to the point. “No.” Kate looked at him. She had never asked him but he knew she wanted to know. “We were not dating. We were close, yes. But we were not dating” “Okay.” he expected the Cop to take notes but he didn’t. He rubbed his fingers together and looked outside. “Do you have an idea who did this?” Nicholas asked. “No, not yet. That’s why I’m here. You should know, you were close.” “No sir, i don’t have an idea either.” “I have information you might have slept over at her place the night before she disappeared. She must have mentioned something. Nicholas, you have to give me all the information you have. That’s the only way we can have a chance of finding her alive.” She is dead already.He could not tell them that. That would make him the first and probably the only suspect. “She did not say anything out of order” He tried to sound as sincere as he could. “So, you’re saying it’s true you slept over at her father’s house?”Now it’s her father’s house.Nicholas nodded. In two seconds, a pen and a notepad came out if his pocket. “When did you leave? You left the next day, right?” He looked up at Nicholas. “When did you leave?” Nicholas swallowed. Telling the truth was not an option. No innocent person runs away from a friend’s house at four a.m. He had. “I can’t remember when I left. It was sometime in the morning; early in the morning.” He was not sure the cop bought it. “When you left, she was fine?” He was at a breaking point. He could feel the sweat already. “Okay, let me get this straight.” The cop obviously noticed his discomfort and was going to optimise it. “You slept over, left early in the morning. She was fine when you left. A few hours later she is missing. And you had nothing to do with it. That is correct?” Nicholas opened his mouth and nothing came out. “Answer my question, please!” Then the bell rang.Saved by the bell, how cliche. “That’s the bell.” Kate was the first to react. “We have classes now. We can continue this later, I suppose.” The cop stood up. He looked unhappy. He was having a good time tearing him apart. “Mr. Akorede”he was back to last names. “I’ll be in touch with you. There are questions I need you to answer.” “Okay sir.” Nicholas rose up as he left. He looked at Kate and heaved a sigh of relief. “Nick, you know he’ll be back, right? What are you going to do?” He had no idea. * * * Thomas & Co Chambers Ilorin 11:55 A.M. 20, July, 2015 No one wants to be in a lawyer’s office. She definitely did not want to be in this particular lawyer’s office. It was not personal, but he represented a family she did not want to be associated with. She was sitting in a room. She could not decide if it was a conference room or a waiting room of some sort. The chairs in the room were too casual. Six of them sat on both sides of the room; three on each side. A low glass table was sitting on a beautiful rug. The room was well arranged. Just sitting there she already had many ideas on how to decorate her own office. There was large window opposite the door. She saw the beautiful effect sunlight had on the beautiful flowers on the table. The beauty of the room was welcome distraction from thoughts that crowded her mind. She was so glad the lawyer had been smart enough to separate her from the family of Nicholas’ father. She was alone in the room with Nicholas. Her friends had suggested she take her own lawyer. She did not. She did not want to give the family a wrong impression. She was not there to fight them for anything. Nicholas wanted to come, her friends advised her to, so she came. Nicholas had been pre occupied since he arrived a few hours before their appointment. She had learnt not to pester him. So she asked him once if he was alright, he said yes and that was it. But she could tell. There was something on his mind. The door opened. She recognized him, Barrister Thomas, from the portrait she had seen at the reception. “Madam, Good afternoon.” “Good afternoon Barrister.” She stood up to shake his hand. “This is my son, Nicholas” “Hello sir” “You are welcome.” They shook hands. Then he turned to her .”You did not bring a lawyer?” Do I need a lawyer? “Do I need a lawyer?” “Well, not really.” He shrugged. “Follow me, we are about to start.” Nicholas followed him out of the door and she followed him. They walked down a long corridor. Everywhere in the building seemed to have an overdose of light. They walked past two young lawyers. They seemed to be arguing.Take it to the court kids. At the end of the corridor, they came to a large door. It was slightly open. They entered into a room, this was obviously a conference room. It had a long table. Chairs were set on each side of the table. On one side of the table, four people were sitted. She had never met them but she assumed they were Engineer Babatunde’s family. She could feel their eyes on her as she sat opposite them; a woman she assumed was the wife, two young ladies and a bald middle aged man she assumed was a lawyer. She looked at Nicholas, he seemed to be oblivious to the people sitting opposite him. “Okay, thank you all for coming on time.” The lawyer started. “We all know why we’re here….” His voice faded into the background. He was reading some things. She could not care less about the things he was saying. She just wanted everything over, so she could get away from the awful stare of the woman opposite her. The lawyer had already started reading the will.Why am I here for God’s sake.This house went to the wife and that house to the wife. This house should be sold and the money should be given to this and that charity. It was all a waste of time to her. “Finally,” It was almost over. She looked at the wife, she looked more interested in the final part .”My company, CyberCorp…”CyberCorp? Oh, of course she’s more interested in that.”… should be taken over by my son, Nicholas…”What?!“My daughters are to join the company as soon as they are through with their University Education. My lawyer and personal friend wills see to it that my Will is rightly executed” Her brain froze. She could hear the wife hiss and scream something. She could not make out the words. She looked at the lawyer, his face showed no emotion. She looked at Nicholas, he was staring at the document on the table. It had just changed his life forever. “So, any questions?” . . . . . To be continued

Smelling sometin meaty... Nt fishy again. Getting more and more interesting.

wats apenin i dnt jst undastand,wo could have kidnapped kemi?

Sumtin is really eggy!!

I have question..*raising my finger up*

@charliebryn. What is ur question?

I no understand i dey confuse @donwalter ...

Honestly me and @charliebryn my broda no understand,we dey confuse

What don't u undastand dir. Common ABC una no knw. Be like say u go go back nursery class. Olodosssss

Lol... You no know say i no go school..@donwalter

What's this mystery all about.

Chapter Six . . . . . . . . . . MS AKOREDE’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 3:35 PM 25 July, 2015 Saturdays were usually more boring in July because there was no football. The English Premier League ended in May and a new season was not starting until August. A replay of a match from the previous season was showing. Nicholas stared at the Television. He could not believe Arsenal lost the match. They had outplayed Tottenham but had lost to a late header. He loved football but he could not help himself. His mind was not on the match and he missed most of it. His mind still could not process his new status. His mind went back to the meeting. The daughters did not seem to mind the will, they just kept on texting or chatting or whatever it is they were doing. The wife fumed and cursed before storming out of the room. He was in shock. His Mom was too. They just stared at the lawyer. He knew his father was very rich, he did not know he was also very crazy. You had to be crazy to give your biggest asset to a bastard son you did not care about. You had to be crazy to turn against your family. For the first time he felt like talking to his father. His mother had raised him to live without his Dad without hating him. And he had learnt. But now he could not help but imagine if he was wrong not to have pursued a relationship with his father. He turned off the television and walked towards his room. The house was not large but it held a lot of fond memories for him. None of those memories involved his father. He had never spent an hour in the same room with him. He had tried to see him once. They had not talked for an hour before his mother had stopped the meeting. He walked into his room. His room was big, relative to the house. He tried his best to keep it neat. His best was never enough. His bed was always made though; it was one thing his mother made sure he never forgot. He walked towards his bed but the big binder on his table caught his attention. It had been sitting there since the meeting with the lawyer. The lawyer had Insisted he go through. “It will help you understand who you have just become” he had said. He picked up the binder. CyberCorp was printed on It. CyberCorp; he knew a little about the company. He knew it was big and was one of the few companies that had remained one-man businesses when others of its status went public. He also knew it had strong political ties. He flipped open the first page. It was the company bio. He read a few lines and closed the binder. He was not ready. He had no idea if he would ever be ready. Run a company? It was not on his bucket list. He stretched out on his bed. His mother had made sure that he did not have a television in his room. It takes away family time, she had said. He brought out his phone. No texts, no mentions. It was long time since he had a notification on Facebook. He decided to google CyberCorp. It was the best place to read a company’s bio. CyberCorp was obviously very popular. The search brought up a lot of results. He scrolled down the page. Most of the news covered the death of the company’s owner and CEO. A few talked about his burial. A lot of politicians and government officials had been at the burial so it had been a hot spot for the press. He moved down the page. A few talked about different deals the company had closed with some foreign countries. Then he saw his name. He sat up, it was not a newspaper, it was a blog, a political blog. Blogs held more power and had more readers than newspapers, mostly because they did not have editors and could write anything they wanted. He clicked on the link. A picture of him with him Mother was on top of the page. It was his graduation picture. He looked good. He also looked young, younger than he expected. The title read “CyberCorp’s new CEO?” He had not expected any press attention, mostly because it was not supposed to be public information yet. Bloggers always had their sources. This blogger seemed to be new. He had just a couple of posts uploaded. It was probably why the news had not circulated faster. He scanned through the article. It had a lot of information about him; His educational background, his social adventures: there wasn’t much to talk about there and his total lack of experience in running a business or a corporation. There were a couple of information about his mother and her business. The article ended with a quote from a board member of the company. His name was not mentioned but the blogger noted that he was an important board member. Nicholas shifted on the bed. “The board is in dire straits after hearing that the late CEO has handed the future of this great organization into the hands of a kid. We will try our best to make sure a more suitable person takes over the reins of the company. We once again sympathize with the family…” Nicholas stopped reading. He stood up from the bed, dropped his phone gently on his bedside lamp stand and picked up the company bio. It was time he learnt who he had become. CHIEF ADEYANJU’s RESISDENCE ARANDUN 3:35 PM 25 July, 2015 Police work is not hard work. This was not common knowledge. Most people despised policemen, policemen despised policemen. He had not become a policeman by choice. But he had learnt to do his job. His job was always well defined. ‘Arrest John Doe’, ‘Join this squad and disperse that riot’. His job was always defined in simple terms. He had never had to use his brain to solve anything. That had changed with the case he was working now. He had to use his brain. There was no simple job description here. He was on his way to talk to a chief in the village. He had invited him to his home. When he had first arrived in Arandun, he had expected to spend a few months, so he had stayed away from the people of the town. After spending a year, it became clear he was mistaken; he was in for the long haul. He began to frequent the town meetings. He tried his best when the community needed help and he grew to love most of the people of the town. Chief Adeyanju was an important member of the town. It had taken time to develop a relationship with him, but he had done it eventually after helping him a few times with things that were not his official duty. The chief had a beautiful house, one of the best in the town. It was built with red brick. It was not fenced but it was surrounded with flowers. As he approached the house he saw one of the chief’s wives drawing water from a well close to the house. She kicked at a goat as it tried to drink water from her bucket. He greeted the wife as he moved towards the door. The chief was already waiting for him. “Come in, Adam.” He led him through a corridor, it led them to an exit door. The door led to a garden. The chief seemed to be a florist or he had a wife who was a florist. “You have a lovely house sir.” He meant the compliment. “Oh, thank you.” He looked around with pride. ”It took many years to make it this way. It is one of the reasons I married my second wife. She has a way with plants.” He smiled. Apparently some polygamists were happy. He beckoned to one of his daughters, she brought two plastic chairs and set them at the extreme of the garden where a tree provided shade from the afternoon sun. The chief was not a man for small talk. He had retired as a soldier before retiring as a business man. He now ran the town’s politics and was a very important member of the town’s council of elders. “Adam, you know why you are here?” he nodded. “This town is a peaceful place. The highest crime we have had here in years is theft, mostly of goats or chickens. So as you can imagine we are very disturbed with the kidnap of our daughter.” “Yes sir, I know that. But right now, the only lead I have is the Corper that was seen with her the night before she went missing. And I can’t understand why he would kidnap her and then he will still be here.” He was truly confused. Nicholas looked good for the crime. He was obviously lying about something. And he was probably the last person to see her before she went missing. But his gut told him there was more to the kidnap. “Sir, I would appreciate any help I can get from you.” “You know she is a student of the Teacher’s College in Ilorin?” “The College of Education? Yes, I know.” He had not connected the school with the kidnap. “Yes, that school. I have a daughter who attends the school. She told me something that did not mean anything to me until now.” He called one of the girls who were talking not far from the garden. Another daughter. He asked for a cup of water and continued. “She said she started to notice a man who came to visit Kemi a lot.” A boyfriend, so? “She said she assumed Kemi was dating the man, but she never looked comfortable talking with the man. The relationship did not look very romantic. But she did not think so much of it until the day they returned from school.” The girl brought the cup of water. He took his time to drink the water. He never wasted time but he also never seemed to be in a hurry. “According to my daughter, they were already in the bus getting ready to leave when the man drove into the park. She said she could sense that what Kemi felt at that moment was not love. It was more of fear. The man signaled for her to come down from the bus. She said Kemi had reluctantly gone down from the bus. She could not hear them but it looked really serious. As Kemi returned to the bus, she had heard the man tell her ‘not to disappoint’.” He sighed. ”Adam, I don’t know what Kemi might have gotten herself into but this man might have something to do with her disappearance.” It was a lot of information to process. It opened an entire new angle to the case. He should give his boss this new information but he felt like he needed more information before bothering his boss with any new development in the case. The chief had insisted he had lunch at his house. He had and he was glad he did. He was on his way back to his office. Who is this mysterious man? There was still Nicholas. What role did he have in all this? Did he have any role? He had been told he was out of town. Why was he out of town? He walked faster, there was a lot to do. THE WHITE HOUSE ILORIN 2.00 PM 25 JULY, 2015 He did not like egocentric people but he had to deal with them once every month. They were sitted in front of him. The room was a boardroom, a conference room, an office or even a guest room, depending on what he needed it to be. Every part of the house was painted white. It was called the ‘White House’. He had kept the decoration simple. Decorations were moved in and out depending on who was visiting the house. The house represented power. Decisions he made in the house had a lot of influence, more than most people could believe. The people sitting in front of him all had something important to tell him. Or so they thought. He tried his best to keep a straight face while they told their stories. He considered himself an ‘okay’ boss, some would even say he was nice. But there was something he could not tolerate; people wasting his time. Something Honourable Badmus was doing with impunity. “Badmus, I’ve heard enough of your problems. You have been talking about these problems for so long. I need solutions. You know that. Please sit down.” There was only one reason he still held these monthly meetings; he needed information. That was the way he could maintain his status. And there was one person he wanted to hear from; Faruk. He was a new member of his team. But he had proved more useful than most of his older team members. “Faruk, is there any news?” At least this was news he wanted to hear. “Well, yes sir. The bastard son has been named as C.E.O.” “What?!” He knew Engr. Babatunde was crazy. But there was a limit to which craziness drives a man. An inexperienced kid was crossing the line, even for a crazy person. He tried to maintain a straight face. He always tried not to look agitated in front of his men. “It has not been announced to the press but we have somebody on the inside.” Of course he had somebody on the inside. “So you are telling me, no member of the press knows about this?” “Actually, I leaked the information to a blogger I just started using. He is a new guy who is desperate. I believe we can use him.” He did not like bloggers. They had written so much about him. Any guy with a laptop and internet access could start a blog, but their audiences adored them so they could not be ignored. It was good to have one on their side. But leaking this information was not exactly a smart move. “And you leaked the information, why?” “When the right people get this information, we will be there to see their reaction.” He had a point. “When you told me to release him after we had kidnapped him, I had my doubts, now I see he can be more useful to us alive and out there.” Kidnaping, killing, were dirty work. He did not like getting dirty. He had to, it was an occupational hazard. One he avoided when he could. And in the case of Nicholas he could. “So boss, what do we do?” He had been asked that question more times than he could remember. His answers had varied from ‘Kill him’ to ‘Give his widow a thousand dollars’. What do you do when a twenty four year old kid has just been handed the keys to more power than he could control? “We wait.” . . . . . To be continued

Getting clearer... Kemi and Nicholas issue came up at thesamd time that makes it complicated

wow

Hmmmm... Cant conclude @Donwalter wil always prove us wrong...

Following....

Still observinq.....

Still observing

Lust for money & power....

Just a sperm donor#eyesrolling.Chei Nicholas mom's harsh o"You are an emotionless robot?” It was one of Joy’s qualities inappropriate jokes. “He’s the father of my son. That’s all. In fact he was just a sperm donor, he was never a father to Nick” she rolled her eyes

What will people not do for the acquisition of more power and fame na wa o. This is getting serious Nicholas watch ur back guess u will be framed for Kemi's kidnap to tarnish ur image as new CEO it is well. More episodes pls thanks

I think faruk is the one chief's daughter is talking about as kemi's boyfriend. Nicholas shine ur eye

Chapter seven . . . . . . . . . . COLLEGE OF EDUCATION ILORIN 11 A.M. 29, JULY 2015 School had always intrigued Adam. It was mostly a waste of time, but it was also a great opportunity. You rarely use most of what you learn but you learn a lot from what you rarely pay attention to. He had not spent much time in school himself and he could not help but imagine how different his life would have been if he had stayed in school. He had not and he had learnt to live with that part of him. The school gate was narrow, enough to keep knowledge in and enough to keep miscreants out. He joined a group of students as they walked into the school. He was dressed in street clothes so he drew no attention. He had never felt like he belonged in school, he still did not feel like he did. But he had a mission; find out what really went wrong with Kemi. He had made a few calls and he had a student waiting to meet with him. He headed towards the Fine and Applied Arts department. He had arranged to meet one of Kemi’s friends. He had not told her why he wanted to meet her but she had agreed to meet him without much persuasion. The school was not in session so they would have privacy in the classrooms. He could not help but notice the sculptures in front of the classrooms as he entered the department building. He loved art and could not help but wonder how easy it came to some people when he did not have the slightest clue on how to make anything remotely beautiful. The building had a long corridor. There were flower pots in front of each classroom. Fine art was displayed all over the department. He could see paintings on the walls of each class as he passed by. It was obvious the department had gone out of their way to make the building different from others in the school. He had done a background check on his Contact on Facebook. He was sure no other person in his division would do have done this, so he had not mentioned it to anybody. It was the only way he could know about her; he liked to know people before he met them. He had had to dig through a lot of people with the same name before he found the person he wanted. She was a twenty two year old girl who loved to paint. That was what her profile said. She also loved to teach, so she was in school to learn how to teach others art. He had checked her favourite music and movies. He was not surprised he was not familiar with most of the artists she listed as her favourites. He had googled some of the artists. There was no pattern. They covered a lot of genres. Her favourite movies were not familiar either. Most of them were from before he was born. They were all romantic movies. He was not a fan of romantic movies but he did not mind a lady who was. He had studied her pictures; she seemed to be a very happy person.Well, you don’t take pictures when you are sad.Happy people were easier to interrogate. He entered the studio where she had agreed to meet him. She was sitted with her back to the door. She was wearing blue dungaree overalls. Her hair was tied behind her back in a ponytail. He could see part of the canvas she was working on. He moved closer and coughed slightly. “Hi, you are the guy who called right?” she said without looking back. “Yes, my name is Harry Potter.” He said with a smile. She paused and turned back to look at him. She was wearing a pair of eye glasses. He had not seen those in any of her pictures. “Harry Potter huh?” she smiled. She stood up and rubbed her hands on her overalls. “Well, I don’t see any scar on your head.” “What can I say? Miracles happen.” He moved towards her as she stretched out her hands to shake him. She immediately returned to her work. He could now see she was painting. He had no idea what she was painting but it was still a nice blend of colours. “I didn’t know you would be working.” He said as he pulled a chair up beside her. “Oh, this? I’m not working.” She rubbed a part of the painting with her fingers “Hand me that brush please.” He observed her as she worked. She seemed to do everything with purpose. Every stroke of her brush looked like it meant the world to her. He had tried but he still had no idea what she was painting. “What are you painting exactly?” She paused and looked at him. She looked very serious. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t supposed to ask?” “No no, I just had a thought; this painting can be anything I want it to be, right? I had an idea before but right now I can’t decide what I want it to be.” She placed her brush on the canvas stand and removed her glasses. “How about I leave this painting and we talk about why you are here?” “Okay. We can do that.” “What’s your name anyway, Mr. Harry?” she said eyeing him mockingly. “My name is Anderson. Anderson John. I want some information about somebody you might be familiar with.” He had a cover story. It was not airtight but he was going to pursue it. “What do you want the information for? Are you a spy or something?” Everything was obviously a joke to her. “I’m not a spy. I wish I was.” She smiled. “I am gathering the information for my firm. We always try to investigate our new contractors.” “Contractors? None of my friends are contractors” “He is not really your friend. He is a friend of a friend. He is a friend to Kemi.” She raised an eyebrow when he mentioned Kemi.”We are not asking Kemi because she would not be so honest with us, being his girlfriend.” “Girlfriend? Kemi is nobody’s girlfriend. Are you talking about that guy; Abdul?” she asked with a snort. She obviously did not like Abdul. And now he knew his name and he was now sure the mysterious man was not dating Kemi. “They are not dating? What kind of relationship do they have?” He wanted to ask a lot of questions but he did not want to push her. “He started coming around a few weeks ago. He would offer to take us to lunch. We refused at first, but we caved to the pressure. He was nice, so it wasn’t a big problem. But then he started isolating Kemi. Naturally we thought he wanted to ask her out but he didn’t. Kemi told me he started asking about her hometown and her friends at home.” She stood up from her chair and began to pace. “Guys are crazy, they ask all sorts of questions but even for a crazy guy the questions he asked seemed too specific. She told me about his questions and about how tired she was of seeing him. Then she stopped talking to me about him. Kemi was always on edge. She avoided any question about him. After a while, I just stopped asking.” She stopped suddenly and looked at him. ”What did you say you wanted with him again?” He was trying to process all the information he had just received. He still had no idea who this Abdul character was or what he had to do with her kidnap. He could not understand his interest in her hometown. “We are just trying to know all we can about him. Would you say he looked dangerous? Do you think he can do anything dangerous, like…. uhm, kidnap?” he was pushing his luck and he knew it. “Kidnap? No. He is a northerner, they kill not kidnap.” She found that funny, he didn’t. “But seriously, there is more to the guy than meets the eye.” Adam could not have agreed more. He had more information for his boss. His boss did not like information. It did not mean an arrest had been made. It did not mean he could get his fifteen minutes of fame. “Anderson, I don’t know how good a contractor Abdul is, but as a person, he rubbed me the wrong way. He came here once in an official car. It had CyberCorp on its plate number. That’s the company trying to get the contract, right?” CyberCorp?He did not know that. “Ha… yes. CyberCorp. I have to thank you. You have been of help to us. I hope your painting turns out perfect.” He left the school and wandered about uncertainly. Twenty minutes later he was sitting in a restaurant. He looked out of the window. He had not always enjoyed being a cop but for the first time he felt like he had a purpose. A single purpose; find Kemi’s kidnapper. * * * THE BOSS’ HOUSE ILORIN 9 A.M. 29, JULY 2015 He waited at the doorway. His house, well one of them, was a masterpiece. It was his first house and he had put a lot of effort into it. Even after seeing it for years, the landscape was still breathtaking. He shifted his attention to the gate, he watched as the blue Rover drove in. “Faruk, what do you have for me?” he watched as his new favorite person walk up the stairs. “I might have found a solution.” “Good, you know I’m all about solutions.” “I have somebody on the inside that will help us.” “Oh, good. Very good. Who?” * * * CYBERCORP ILORIN 9 A.M. 30, JULY 2015 Nicholas tried his best to sit comfortably. Sitting comfortably in front of seven men staring at you is easier said than done. He had tried to imagine this meeting. He had not succeeded. He was a Youth Corps member who had become the Chief Executive Officer of a very big company, he had no idea what to expect. The conference room where they were sitting was big. Space was not problem for a company like CyberCorp. The room had two very large windows. They overlooked the city and Nicholas loved the view. The room had a large conference table. The table was the highlight of the room. It had a reflective glass top with golden edges and a black telephone sat on the table. Black marble legs held the table in place. There were five chairs on each side of the table. He was sitting at the head of the table. Six of the chairs around the table were occupied with men with serious faces staring at him. He could sense their disdain. They did not expect much from him and he did not blame them. He had no idea what he was doing. The meeting was the idea of the lawyer. He had told him everything he needed to know about the company. He had done his own research too. He did not want to be embarrassed beyond what was required. He had agreed to the meeting. It was a meeting with all the Vice-Presidents of the company. It was fixed for Nine A.M. One of the Vice-Presidents was running late. They had decided to wait for him. Small talk was not an option. He had no idea what he would talk about. He looked at his watch for the fifth time in seven minutes. He was trying to keep calm but he could not help himself, he still felt agitated. The door opened and the Vice-President in charge of Operations entered. He was a tall man. He had a nice beard; mostly white. He had an air of knowledge about him. He rarely wore a suit he had been told and he was not wearing one as he walked in. His white kaftan was heavily starched and neatly pressed. He was highly respected. He was the best person for the position of C.E.O. according to several bloggers. “You are welcome sir.” He stood up to shake hands with him. He had thought hard about how much respect he should give his subordinates. “We have been waiting for quite a while.” He was fifteen minutes late. “Sorry about that, I got stuck in traffic.” He greeted his colleagues and sat on the chair closest to Nicholas. The meeting was supposed to help him get to know his VPs. He did not expect them to accept him, but the lawyer had agreed with him, it was time he met with the people he would work with. He pushed a button on the telephone on the table and a secretary brought the printed agenda of the meeting. He was going to try his best to make the meeting as professional as he could. The secretary gave each person a copy and left the room. “You are all welcome. I’m glad you all could make it. I will not take so much of your time. The first thing I want to do is to meet everybody, get to know what part each person plays in running this great company.” He had made a good start, he thought. His opening sounded better than it had in his head. “I know your names, but how about you just tell me what you do and what your unit is currently working on. I’ll like Mr. Sanusi to start.” He leaned back in his chair,like any C.E.O. would, and listened. “I’m the V.P. Sales and Marketing. We run all the….” He listened to them talk about how their department was the most important of all the departments in the company and how much progress the departments had made with them as the head. They did not think much of him but they still tried their best to impress him. They all did important work for the company and he was suitably impressed. “Thank you all. I must say I’m very impressed with the work you all do in this company.” He tried his best to make eye contact with every one of them. They all looked at him, they studied him. He had expected this and he was doing his best not to be unnerved by their stares. “Right now, I want to hear about the major partnerships this company has. I think we should start with the foreign ones. Mr. Dosumu?” He spent forty five minutes listening to them speak. He knew most of what they told him so he studied as they spoke. A few did not sound interested in answering to him so they gave short answers. None of them said ‘sir’ or ‘Chairman’ or ‘President’. He did not expect them to. “Okay.” He tried his best to look and talk like a ‘bigshot’ C.E.O. “By the way, none of what is going on in the company is being communicated to the press, right?” They kept quiet and stared at him. A few of them shook their heads. He decided not to pursue the matter. He noticed of the men had a hand raised up. “Yes sir, you want to ask something?” “Yes Mr. Akorede.” He was the first to address him by any name. ”Do you actually plan to run this company?” He was surprised by the question. He thought holding the meeting will convince them he planned to run the company. He could feel their eyes boring into his head as he thought about the best way to answer the question. He decided to keep it short and simple. “Yes, I plan to.” They stirred in their chairs. A few of them smiled and shook their heads. “Is there a problem gentlemen?” Mr. Chukwu, the man in the white kaftan, stood up. He pulled his chair back and walked towards the window overlooking the city. Nicholas followed him with his eyes. It looked like the group were going to allow him do the talking, so he waited for him. “Nicholas, that is your name, right?” he had not expected to be called by his first name, but he nodded. “You know what I see when I look through this windows? I see a city full of people, oblivious to the fact that no matter how many people vote, a few men decide the governor of the state. No matter how hard they work, a few men get all the money.” He turned away from the window and faced the table. “The C.E.O. of this company is one of the few men who make the decisions that will affect the life of the city. He is a powerful man. ”He walked towards his chair, pulled it and sat down. “Mr. Akorede you are not that man.” Nicholas shifted in his chair. “What did you say?” “You are not the man to run this company.” . . . . . To be continued

Followinq.......

That's the boss

Na wa oh.

Because of wat?

wetin e no fit happen...abeg nicholas no agree stand for wat belongs to u

Nicholas u re man enough 2 run ur father's company so dont listen 2 them

Hw ?

Don't be a weakly in wateva he says... Wise up o...

Bt nicholas should hav tink wel be4 say he hav 2 run da company

i am the MAN

Hymmmm , Nicholas i think u should talk to ur mum on everything dat is happening nd u should aslo watch ur back. Coz ur enemies are very close

Who is d man den?

Chapter Eight . . . . . . . . . . POLICE DIVISION HEADQUARTERS ARANDUN 9 A.M. 2, AUGUST 2015 It was a Sunday morning. Adam knew his boss was not a religious man. He was a Christian but he went to church only when there was a celebration; Christmas, weddings, burials. But fixing a meeting for a Sunday morning was going too far even for his boss. Adam was sitting in his boss’ office. The office was not big but the boss did not seem to care as he rarely stayed in it. The table was dusty from lack of use. There were stacks of files on the table next to a desktop computer. The boss had insisted on the computer being on his table. He rarely used it, Adam could not recall a single time he used it but nobody dared suggest removing it. He had a large portrait of himself hanging behind the table. Adam always wondered when the picture was taken. He could not believe his boss once looked that lean and fit. It was hung next to the faded portrait of the State Governor. When you were in Inspector Odudu’s office, you could not mistake who was in charge. Adam stood up as he heard his boss come in. Quiet was not a word you would use to describe him. A hawker seemed to be the object of his loud rebuke that morning. He heard him as he greeted his poor secretary. The young woman had endured everything from sexual harassments to verbal abuse. It was a surprise to Adam how she could still greet the man. The door of the office opened as he stormed in. “Good morning sir!” Adam greeted, saluting. “Adam, how are you?” he looked up and noticed the salute. ”Adam, today is Sunday, and we are alone in the office. And I’m not saluting you, so just sit down.” “Yes sir.” Adam sat down surprised. He had seen an officer receive a tongue lashing for not saluting him. “How are the people of Arandun? It’s been a while since I came around.” His chair was dusty. He did not seem to notice as he sat and set down a newspaper on the table and began to flip through. “They are fine sir.” He answered and kept quiet. Nobody disturbed the boss when he read his paper. “So Adam, what is the update on the missing girl case?” he did not look up from his paper. “There are few leads already on the kidnap sir. A corper…” “Kidnap?” he stopped him, looking up. “How did you conclude on a kidnap? Couldn’t she have run away?” “Oh, I thought I told you. We found duct tape at the scene and an empty bottle of anesthesia.” “And you concluded it was a kidnap?” “Duct tape marks were found on a chair in the room. The assumption is she was taped to the chair and injected with the anesthesia. We also found muddy foot prints in the room that did not belong to the girl sir. For now kidnap seems to be the best case scenario. And that’s what we are working with sir.” “Okay.” He went back to his paper. “How much progress have you made?” “I have two leads I am pursuing right now sir.” He told him all the information he had on the case. He was done with the newspaper. “The man works for Cybercorp? Who was interested in the girl? Was it the man or the company?” “I’m yet to find out sir.” “Didn’t their C.E.O. just die? I have a few friends who knew him. It’s a huge company with really strong political ties. I don’t want you poking around in the wrong place.” “I won’t be poking around. But the company is all I have on this man sir.” “I hear you Adam. Any trouble you get in will definitely bounce on me. So, before you start accusing anybody at CyberCorp, I have to authorize it. Find out who this man is, but that is all you can do. Okay?” “Yes sir.” “This Corper you mentioned, why is he not your main suspect? You said he was hiding something.” “Well, my gut tells me he is not the person I should be looking for.” “Your gut?” he chuckled. “ Your gut. Anyway where is he now?” “I heard he is not town. He has been away for a while sir.” He had almost ruled him out as a suspect. He was already deep into the idea of a kidnap orchestrated by the mystery man from the school. “How can he be away? He is a suspect in a major crime like this and he is out of town? Adam, you should be covering all your bases.” The boss went on to give a twenty minute lecture on criminal investigation. He had admitted several times that he had never investigated a crime even though he studied criminology and had a lot of knowledge. Knowledge he was not willing to put to use but was always ready to share with anyone who cared to listen. His arrogance and lack of respect for superior officers had made sure his degree had no effect on his posting. “Adam, next time I see you, I want concrete information on this boy who I believe has more to do with this kidnap than you are willing to believe.” He said standing up. “Yes sir.” Adam replied as he also stood up. “See you soon Adam” Soon usually meant a month. MS AKOREDE’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 5 PM 2, AUGUST 2015 It was Sunday evening and Funke was sitting on the couch in front of her house. She spent most of her Sunday evenings visiting people. Mostly members of her church, but she did visit some of her friends and relatives who couldn’t care less about her church. She was not visiting anybody this Sunday evening. She had to be close to Nicholas. He had been in his room all weekend, coming out only to eat and to go to church. He had been polite when he spoke to her and she could sense he was hiding a lot of what he felt behind his smile. She had learnt not to bother him at times when he felt like he needed to be alone but it was more difficult now when she had a lot of questions to ask him. She stood up from the couch and walked towards the garden behind the house. She had always loved having a garden but did not always know how to keep one. Now she could afford to pay somebody to keep it for her. She had a flower garden and a vegetable garden growing in her large compound. She had had to sacrifice having a large house to fulfill her dream of having her own garden. Having only one child helped her make the decision without much difficulty. She had grown flowers from different parts of the world. Some of them had survived and some had not but it was all part of what made it a lovely hobby for her. Her phone rang as she stepped into the garden. “Hello, good evening.” “Hello, am I speaking with Ms Akorede?” “Yes, this is she, can I help you?” “I just want you to comment on the information we got that your son may be forced out of CyberCorp.” “A journalist? How did you get my number…? I won’t be commenting on… oh my God.” She dropped the call. “I cannot believe the nerve of this man.” She knew this was going to happen. Her assistant had already told her he saw some journalists lurking around her office. She had spoken to a few who were bold enough to knock on her door. Her answer was always the same to all questions; “It is none of my business and I will not be commenting on this.” She had been able to say it with a smile too. Suddenly she felt sorry for Nicholas. He was the center of a lot of press speculation. A newspaper had dedicated their back page editorial to estimating how fast Nicholas could ground CyberCorp. He definitely was not the best person to run a company the size of CyberCorp, if he was going to do it, he needed help. She had to talk to her son. BARRISTER THOMAS’ CHAMBERS ILORIN 2 PM 3, AUGUST 2015 The weather was hot and he felt it. He was dressed for work in a black suit, white starched shirt and a red tie. The tie hung loose on his chest as he hurried towards the office. He had waited all weekend to have this meeting. This lawyer had a thing with time. He could not stand lateness so Nicholas had arrived at his office twenty minutes early. He had met a secretary who told him the lawyer had an impromptu hearing in court and would be back soon. Soon had turned out to be five hours. The secretary had just announced to him the lawyer was back and ready to see him. He knocked on the door. He heard a grunt from behind the door and he entered. The office was large and full. A giant desk stood opposite the door. Files, books and binders of different colors and sizes gave the desk a busy look. Very close to the desk towards the right was what looked like a library, he did not believe anybody could read all the books on the shelves. He knew he couldn’t. Barrister Thomas stood behind the desk as he walked in. He was dressed in a white shirt with the sleeves folded up to his elbows. He was a stocky man with a rotund belly and a bald head. A rimless pair of glasses hung distinctively on his face which lacked any outstanding features. He had a toothy smile and he beamed one at Nicholas as he entered his office. “You are welcome Mr. Akorede. I’m sorry you had to wait for so long.” He shook his hand as he sat down. “A client of mine needed me in court urgently. It wasn’t planned but I had to be there. I heard the meeting you had with the Vice Presidents didn’t end as planned.” “It didn’t sir. They actually told me I can’t run CyberCorp. Mr. Chukwu who seems to have a lot of influence on the others declared this without mincing words.” The lawyer chuckled. “What did you expect? You are a young man or boy to them. They will not want to take orders from you. Nobody wants to take orders; it gets worse when you have to take it from someone you consider to be a kid.” “I wasn’t expecting them to bow to me or something, but I definitely wasn’t expecting them to tell me out rightly that I wasn’t the man to run the company. And to be honest I don’t know if I’m the man to run CyberCorp.” There was a minute of silence. Barrister Thomas looked lost in thought. He shifted in his chair then stood up. He walked to the door and locked it before walking towards a set of chairs which looked to be for informal occasions. “Come Nicholas, sit beside me.” He tapped on the chair beside him. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about your father. And I don’t blame you or your mother for staying away from him all these years. Now that you want to manage his business empire you should try your best to know him. I believe I know him more than a lot of people, so if you have any questions, I’ll try and give you the best answers I can.” Nicholas had a lot of questions, too many to ask in a day. “Why do you think he left CyberCorp to me?” “That is a question I keep asking myself. And honestly Nicholas, I have no idea why he did that. He was sick for a while before he died so of course we already discussed what would happen to CyberCorp if he died. He was not going to leave it to his wife, she isn’t somebody you want running anything you don’t want dead. Suddenly, one day, he told me he had reached a conclusion; he was going to leave it to you. I asked him why, naturally, but he didn’t say.” “Did he ever mention me at other times, before he became sick? I’m still trying to understand why he thought of me at all.” “I’m sorry to say this but he never talked about you. He did talk about you once. And that was to inform me that you and your mother existed. You see, I asked him to tell me about his family and he mentioned you. That was all.” Nicholas looked up at the beautifully decorated ceiling. Most offices he had visited had simple finishes. Barrister Thomas obviously had other ideas of how an office should look. There were beautiful stones set in the ‘Plaster of Paris’ finished ceiling. Dim light shone from an elegant golden chandelier surrounded by several small, bright lamps. If his father felt he was the best person to hand CyberCorp to then he owed it to him to do his best. “Nicholas, I know a lot must be on your mind right now but you must look to the future. CyberCorp is a big company, easily in the top ten in this country and so your father had enemies. He is dead but CyberCorp still has enemies. And believe me not all of them are outside the company. If you are to run this company like you want to and you should, you have to become wiser than your age.” He stood up to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator close to his desk, and continued. “First thing I think you should do is hire someone who has experience in the industry. You will be the C.E.O. he will be the President. He reports to you but the Vice Presidents report to him. I will help you clear up all the legal part of this arrangement. It will buy you time till you can run CyberCorp by yourself.” It sounded like sound advice. But hiring a person who had experience enough to run CyberCorp was not easy, finding one who will be loyal to him was even more difficult. “Sir, I totally agree. But finding…” he was cut short by his ringing phone. It was Kate. He had totally forgotten about her. He felt guilty. He had not told her about CyberCorp. He had missed several of her calls but he had not gotten around to returning the calls. It was time he talked to her. “Please excuse me sir, I have to take this call.” “Hello Kate. I’m so sorry I have not returned your calls. I have been busy. How are you?” “I’m fine. You have been gone for a while. I understand we are on break but you still need to be here.” “I know Kate, I’ve just been held up here. I’m not sure if I will be coming this week too. Next week, maybe.” “Next week?” she scoffed. “You remember the Cop who asked you questions about Kemi?” Adam had forgotten about Kemi or the questions he had to answer at Arandun. “Yes I remember him.” His heart beat a little faster. “Is there a problem?” “Well, he came to my lodge yesterday with the LGI. They asked a lot of questions. The conclusion is they want you back in Arandun right now. It looks like the NYSC will be involved now” He told her he would be in Arandun the next day and dropped the call. “Nicholas, are you okay? You must not let CyberCorp weigh on you so much.” He looked up at the lawyer. “Right now, CyberCorp is the least of my concerns.” . . . . . To be continued

lets see what happens next

Hmmmmm.........D Boss has spoken!!

Try nd share ur prob wit him, wu knws he mi8 b of help.

Hmmmmmm....... Nicholas has so many problems..... Adam now see's him as the major suspect 4 dy disappearance of Kemi..... Ride on.......

Chaii! Few men decide indeed

Hmmmm

So many problems 4 jst one man

Great make ur mind stronge

Hymmmmmm i hope Nicholas was nt trapped Nxt pls

Wahala dey o

Problems indeed, be wise Nicholas nd dnt let anyone control U on what is urs

Chapter Nine . . . . . . . . . . ILORIN 6 PM 3, AUGUST 2015 Funke did not sleep a lot when she travelled but she wished she could have slept on this one. This journey was not supposed to be happening, it could have stopped months ago. She had wanted Nicholas to serve in Kwara State. He did not have an opinion one way or the other, so she had gone ahead to make the ‘arrangements’. He had been posted to Kwara State for his youth service as planned. What she did not count on was his posting to Arandun. She had met with a few NYSC officials who had assured her he would be posted to Ilorin. “Getting him posted to Kwara State is all you should take care of” they had told her. Well they did not take care of the posting because now he was serving in Arandun and he was in trouble, trouble he would have avoided if he was serving in Ilorin. The car was not going fast, it makes no sense to drive very fast when you are disturbed. And she could see Nicholas was disturbed. Her mind went back to their conversation that afternoon. He had gone to see Barrister Thomas. When he came back, she had seen confusion on his face, he was obviously disturbed. She had expected resistance to her questions but he had told her everything. She could not believe what was happening.There is enough trouble with CyberCorp as it is. CyberCorp could wait, if Nicholas was roped into an investigation or if he was a suspect, and it sounded like he was one, the chances of him going back to run CyberCorp was minimal. She stared out of the window, they were driving up to Oro. The sun was setting, and it was the perfect time to be travelling. Her Silver Honda CRV travelled well on the rough road. The government had patched up the road, the patches were uneven though, giving the road some imbalance. Close to the road, village women displayed their wares. If she was feeling better she would have been tempted by the banana bunches. It would probably have cost her a lot less than she would have to pay in Ilorin too. A stone throw away from the bananas, a boy held up a dead animal. She could not figure out what it was. It was bigger than a squirrel and it was smaller than an antelope. Maybe it was a baby antelope.An antelope in Oro? I don’t think so.Antelope boy was going to make a lot of money on whatever he was holding, he probably hunted for weeks before killing anything worth selling. It is the New Age, the animals are smarter too. “Mom, what do you suggest I buy for my friend? I don’t see anyone selling Bread here.” Nicholas asked her looking at the small road side market. It was strange, everybody and their mother sold bread. “Plantain, that should be okay, right?” “Yeah, that’s okay. Oh, look here is a woman who has some.” He pulled over to the side of the road. She bought the plantain and they continued their journey. They had gone without talking for most of the journey. It was not a problem, they both had a lot to think about. She thought about the little piece of information Nicholas had hidden from the police. It was not little at all, it changed the investigation totally. He had woken up that morning to find out his friend was dead. But he had not told the Police that, so they were investigating a kidnap. They had good reason to too, if they really found what he said they found on the scene. How was he sure the Kemi girl was dead anyway? He had not examined her or anything, he just woke up and was probably drowsy and probably scared out of his wits too. She hoped she was right. A kidnap is better than a murder, one held hope, the other did not. “Nick, you are sure your friend Kemi is dead?” “Mom, I told you already. When I left the house, she was dead.” His voice broke as he said the last part. She did not know what the relationship was between her son and thedeadgirl but it was obvious he cared about her. “I’m not saying you are not right, if you are, it means the person who killed her probably took her body and also staged the kidnap, right?” “Right.” He looked at her as if to ask ‘where are you going with this?’ “Okay, have you considered this angle? What if this same person staged the death for you and he actually kidnapped her? Maybe you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe that is why he has not set you up to take the fall. Maybe that’s why the police don’t have any concrete reason to detain you.” “Mom, I very much wish to believe that Kemi is alive, but that is a whole lot of ‘What ifs’ and ‘Maybes’. What are the chances that actually happened? Who knows what this guy has planned, he might be talking to the cops as we speak.” She did not know how to reply that. They were coming close to Arandun. They had passed Omido, the last village before Arandun. She looked over the metal railings as they crossed a small bridge. A small sign post welcomed them to Arandun. She had been there once, when Nicholas was coming for the first time. He slowed down as they approached the town. The community college was at the entrance of the town, it was one of the first things you noticed as you entered. The grass on the school field looked unkempt, the school was not in session so no one paid attention to it. A few houses stood opposite the school, she wished Nicholas stayed in one of those houses, that way he could get out as fast as possible from the town. They were in the town now. A few people stared at them as they drove by. A large building stood to their left; ‘St Peter’s Anglican Church’ the sign post in front of the church announced. She had never stayed in a small town but she could understand why some preferred it to staying in the big cities. They were getting close to Nicholas’ house. He had insisted he was not going to allow her to sleep in his house, so she was staying in one of the town’s two hotels. “Mom, how about I just drive you to the hotel, I can walk home. I have to see Kate anyway.” He had driven her to the hotel and walked away. The hotel was half decent. It was not Kwara Hotels or Royal Shekina but it was going to do. She dropped her small carry-on bag on the table by the bed, she was hoping she did not have to stay for more than a night. Nicholas did not think her coming would make a difference but she thought she had a better chance of convincing the Police man to let him come back to Ilorin until the Transition going on in CyberCorp was completed. That was another problem, she was not sure telling them about CyberCorp was a good idea. She did not know why but it did not feel right. Well, she had the next twelve hours to figure out the right thing to do. ARANDUN 7:15 PM 3, AUGUST 2015 It was late and he was tired, but he had promised to see Kate that night so he had to go to her house. Nicholas was not a night person, he had a self-imposed curfew of seven pm. The curfew was not a rule, it was more like a guideline, something he had embraced over time. He had broken the curfew a few times, actually he had broken it more than a few times since he came to Arandun. He had broken the curfew mostly because of Kemi, a girl he had forgotten because now he had bigger things to think about. ‘Absolute power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely’, somebody said that, or said something that sounded like that. He was not sure he had power yet, he still had battles to fight before he could wield any of the power CyberCorp gave him, but then he was not sure if he wanted such powers.Kemi was a good friend, how could I forget her.He had forgotten her and it was wrong but he had another person to deal with at the moment; Kate. They had become good friends after his kidnap, talked every day, and he had broken his curfew for her a few times too. But he had gone to Ilorin, CyberCorp had been given to him and he had forgotten about her completely. He was sorry and he planned to apologise but he was not sure it was wise to tell her the reason he had not called. He was not going to lie,my mama taught me better,but telling her the truth did not sound… he was confused. He would have loved to tell her,Hey, guess what Kate, I’m a bigshot CEO now. Well not really, there are lots of battles I might have to fight to run CyberCorp. I’m sure you know what that is, right? Yeah, I know, you can’t believe you know the CEO of CyberCorp, right?He shook the thought off his head, he sounded really silly. His mother had told him to keep the information to himself; “You are a suspect in a kidnap, remember?” she had reminded him. Kate did not live alone, she lived with other Corpers in a lodge. Going to Kate’s house meant seeing and talking to her lodgemates.Lodgemates? Something he was not willing to do. When I get older, I will be stronger, they call me freedom, just like a waving flag…His phone rang. Kemi had told him to change the song several times. “It’s a song from 2010! You have five years’ worth of songs to pick from.” She had told him. He did not care, he liked the song. It was Kate calling. “Hello Kate, I was just going to call you.” “You were? Are you in Arandun yet? It’s kinda late.” “Yeah, I am. I’m not far from your house actually, but I don’t want to come to your place. Can you please meet me at that Mama’s store; the Igbo woman not far from your house?” He had always wondered why an Igbo woman would settle in a Yoruba village. There had to be a story there and he was sure Kate would know. Fifteen minutes later, Nicholas was watching Kate walk towards him. He did not know what to think. “What is your relationship with this Kate?” His Mom had asked him. He had mumbled something about being just friends, him not knowing what she felt, it was obvious he could not categorically define their relationship.Just keep it simple.That was his conclusion. She looked beautiful in her pink turtleneck sweater. He did not understand the colour pink. It looked lame on men, he realized that was probably just his opinion, but he could not help himself, pink just did not work for him. It did for Kate though, she looked splendid. Her hands were buried in the sweater’s pockets. He was so happy she was not wearing her hairnet like she did most nights, he hated the thing. Her hair was brushed back, probably in a hurry. He could not see if she wore make up but she looked like she put an effort into the way she looked.She’s trying to look good for me, thank goodness I don’t look bad myself. “Nicholas!” They hugged like long lost lovers.Long lost lovers don’t hug, they kiss. The hug was going to do. “How are you doing Kate? It’s been a while. Looks like the break is treating you well, you look great.” She looked okay in the moon light, she probably would look great in the morning, the sun is generally more generous than the moon. “You don’t look bad yourself.” She said with a smile. “Ms Akorede has been taking good care of you.” They sat down on Mystery Igbo madam’s bench. She eyed them suspiciously. The bench was reserved for people who bought cigarettes or drinks from her and could not be bothered to take their purchases home. “You know what Kate, since we are sitting here already, I think I’ll just take my dinner here.” She looked lost for a moment. “I’ll just get a bottle of coke and some biscuits. You want anything?” “No, thanks, I already ate.” Madam Igbo woman gave him the bottle and the biscuits, glad they were not using her bench without paying anything. He sat down and looked at Kate, she looked distracted. “Hey, so what’s up Kate, you look… is something wrong?” “Nothing’s wrong. So I told you about the cop coming back right?” he nodded. “He kept asking where you were and why you were not at your PPA. You know I said the LGI came with him, anyway what happened? You said something held you back.” This is the time you say the half-truth. Wait, I don’t have any half-truths, think, think, think… “Nicholas?” he had been quiet for too long. Don’t tell her the truth! “My dead father just made me CEO of his company, CyberCorp.”You big fool, don’t tell her the truth!She did not look surprised. “You don’t look surprised.” “I knew it had to be something that big, you could have told me this on the phone.” He spent thirty minutes explaining it all to her. He tried to keep as much information to himself as possible. He did not succeed, she extracted every tiny information from him. “Have you told your Mom about your own kidnap?” The question took him by surprise. He had completely forgotten about it. Between the kidnap of Kemi and CyberCorp, he had a lot more to deal with. “I haven’t. Does it really matter? I was returned without any harm, no harm no foul, right?” it sounded silly even to him. “Nicholas, I don’t understand why you don’t seem to care about this. Don’t you think it’s possible the same person did it? Kemi was killed the same day you were kidnapped, doesn’t that look like more than a coincidence?” “Right now, I’m not even sure she’s dead. I’m seriously hoping and praying the police is right and she was just kidnapped.” “I thought you said you saw her dead. You don’t think she is?” Now he was confused, kidnapped or murdered, he was still a suspect. He talked with her for ten more minutes before he decided he had broken his curfew enough. He had said a quick good bye with a promise to see her the next day. Fifteen minutes later and he was on his bed, he needed all the rest he could get, he had a tough day of questioning ahead. POLICE STATION ARANDUN 10 AM 4, AUGUST 2015 Adam was happy he had been able to shake off the NYSC man. He was a tad annoying and thought too highly of himself. Adam felt convenient interrogating Nicholas on his own turf, a wooden bench placed outside the police station. He had an office, but he shared it. He was not going to allow any of the pinhead morons get a sniff of what was going on. It was not their fault that they were pinheads, it was their fault that they were morons though, a fact he was not going to ignore. Enough of the details of his investigation had spread to people who had no business knowing because some moron could not keep quiet at the palm wine bar. He had the meeting set for 10 AM, he wanted to get it out of the way. His gut told him the CyberCorp guy was the lead to pursue but his boss had insisted he interrogate Nicholas again. The pressure from the man from the NYSC was not helping either. Nicholas came late, but he came which was good enough. “Where did you disappear to, young man?” Adam asked, after Nicholas had taken his position on the bench opposite him. “Well, I went home, to Ilorin.” “Are you not supposed to be at your PPA always? I thought that was a rule.” “Yeah, it is but my father died.” “Oh, I’m sorry, I did not know that.”That was a great start, now I have to be sensitive. “So, about the kidnap, you know I definitely have more questions.” “Yes, although I have told you all I know.” He still had a feeling Nicholas was lying, but he did not really care, his mind was sold on the other lead. His boss would burst if he heard the next thing he was about to say. “Nicholas, how about I level with you. I have another suspect I’m looking into.” Nicholas looked surprised, he did not blame him, it was not smart what he was doing. “Did Kemi ever mention any man, a boyfriend maybe, from school?” “No she did not have a boyfriend in school.” He seemed to have said it more emphatically than the question warranted. “I thought she was hiding something though.” He squeezed his face, trying to remember something. “There was somebody who kept calling her, she never took this particular call in my presence. I asked her about it of course but she said it was a guy from school who had a crush on her. She’d cut the call and continue our conversation like nothing had happened. I think it happened about three times.” “Okay, did you happen to get the guy’s name?” he had to find out if this guy was the same person he had. “Do you by any chance know his name?” “Hmm…I’m not very sure. It was a Muslim name, Mohammed, Usman… something like that.” “Abdul?” he was at the edge of the bench now. “Yes, Abdul.” “Great!” he said before he could catch himself. Nicholas looked at him surprised. “That’s the other lead I said I have. I don’t have much on him right now though, but I have a lead.” Nicholas looked up, he was obviously happy he was not the main suspect. He was still a suspect though, the Abdul link might turn cold, he needed a plan B; Nicholas. “So, what’s the lead you have? You know where he lives?” Nicholas was asking. “No, not his house, I know where he works. You ever heard of CyberCorp?” Nicholas looked alarmed. He did not understand why he would be alarmed. “You know CyberCorp, right?” “Well, I’ve heard about it.” He whispered. No Nicholas, I think you have more than heard about Cybercorp. Thanks for reading another episode of NICHOLAS. I would also appreciate if you comment ur views on the story. Thanks a lot. Cheers. . . . . . To be continued.

Great one....

A very very tight corner.... Nd when he finds out dat Nicholas is d new ceo??? Uhmmm... It seems Donwalter has a thing 4 d names "Adam" nd "Faruk"

Tight corner

Nice one mr abdul of cybercorp is the suspect

Hmmmmmm nice one.

am waitin for d next bros

Hot seat! Great story Don.

He will be surprise when he finds out he is d ceo.

We r waitin 2c wat happens nxt!

Goodstory keep it coming

Chapter Ten . . . . . . . . . . . RADIANCE HOTEL ARANDUN 4.00 AM 5, AUGUST 2015 It was dark when she opened her eyes. She squinted at the ray of light that filtered in through the window blinds. She felt lost, she normally did not wake up facing the window. The bed felt funny and whatever she felt all over her body was definitely not her cozy blanket. She reached for where her bedside alarm clock had been sitting for five straight years, it was not there. Everything felt different.This definitely isn’t my bedroom. You are in Arandun, remember? You woke up here yesterday, remember that too?Yes she was, she had forgotten. Of course the bed felt funny, it was a small, very inconvenient bed. The word ‘hotel’ had been very misleading. She was not going to spend another night in the place, that much she knew. Spending two nights was more than enough. She dragged her feet off the bed, she felt the coldness run through her feet as they touched the concrete floor. She wrapped her robe round about her and walked to the window. She peeped, it was still dark. She fumbled around in the dark till she found her phone, at least she would know what time it was. It was four a.m.!What on earth am I doing awake at four a.m.? What on earth am I doing in this flea infested dirt bag of a ‘hotel’?It was not flea infested and was not a dirt bag. It was not a three star hotel, maybe not even one star but it was neat. It was obvious what side of the bed she woke up on, it was going to be a long day. Nobody should to be awake at four a.m. She definitely should not be awake at four a.m. but she was sure she was not going back to sleep, her day had started. She groped for the light switch, it was far away, close to the door. The light stung her eyes as she flipped the switch, she shielded her eyes with her arm making her way to the bed. Her morning rituals usually took an hour. She would pray, take a shower and fix herself a hot cup of coffee. Obviously she was not getting any cup of coffee. It was a few minutes after five when she was done. She still had a couple of hours to kill. There was nothing to do. She was sure she could not go back to sleep even if she tried.How boring is this?Thank God for the internet, it was one sure way to avoid boredom. She decided to google CyberCorp and see what came up. She was surprised by the number of results she got. Two hours later she dropped the phone, her eyes were aching, and she could not believe she had just done what she lectured Nicholas about several times. It had been rewarding though, she had read a lot about CyberCorp. She had read a few things about Nicholas too. There was a particular blogger who seemed to know a lot, perhaps too much, about Nicholas and his experiences at CyberCorp. He was new too. He had just two posts up before he started blogging about Nicholas. He had a way of making everything he wrote interesting, he got a lot of comments. She had been tempted to comment herself. It was incredible because he had all his facts right, all of them! She did not understand what his angle was yet. All journalists, including bloggers, had an angle. This guy apparently was not decided yet. She made a mental note to keep checking the blog. She stood up from the bed, she stretched and yawned. She silently prayed that her day was not going to be as boring as the previous day was. She had spent the day doing nothing. Nothing! She had not been that bored since… since forever. Nicholas had met with the cop and had come to see her but he had other things to do and she did not feel it would be fair to insist he stayed with her. The town was waking up. It was time she left the room, she thought. She thought of going for a walk,you wouldn’t make it far, not in those heels.Okay, she was not going to walk, but she still needed to leave the room. She strapped her sandals on,the heels are not too high, they are not too high at all,she ran her hand through her hair, picked up her phone and stepped out of the room. It was cold outside, she wished she had brought a jacket. The garage was empty except for her car, she doubted the garage was frequently occupied. Beside the garage, the hotel guard snored on a chair. It was a good thing her car had its own security. She walked towards the road and looked around. Two boys hurried after their father, they looked like they were headed for the farm. Two houses from the hotel, a woman was feeding her chickens, an impatient hen jumped at her, she promptly smacked it back to its place. A few girls played as they fetched water from a government built water reservoir. It looked like she had stepped into a movie with a village setting, only that this was not a village, and it was not a movie. There seemed to be an air of calm and simplicity about the whole environment. She definitely could use some calm. She loved the hustle and bustle of the city but she got tired of it sometime. She had seen enough, it was time to see Nicholas, it was time to leave this town and its calmness and simplicity. She was about to call him when she heard someone call behind her. “Good morning ma.” She turned back to see a young lady walking towards her. “Kate?” “Yes. You are Nicholas’ mom, right?” she was beaming, apparently she was having a better morning. “Yes, Nicholas is my son. What are you doing here?”Be nice, she might be your future daughter-in-law.“Nicholas did not tell me you were coming.” “Yes, he called me early this morning. He said you were alone yesterday and he wanted me to keep you company, maybe show you around the town.” “He should have called me first. I’m sure you have better things to do.” Nicholas had actually sent somebody to babysit her. “He said you wouldn’t have allowed me come over, and I have nothing doing anyway.” Funke shrugged. Apparently Nicholas was not ready to leave. “Okay, let me get a jacket. We can walk for some time before I come back to have my breakfast.” They walked for two hours before winding up in Kate’s house. Kate was not bad company; she knew a lot and did not hesitate to share. She had received a lecture on the history of the town. It was a subject that would bore her normally, but Kate had kept her from dozing. She had named all the streets as they walked, Funke had promptly forgotten all of them. Kate had offered her breakfast, she knew it would not be worse than the food served at the ‘hotel’ so why not? It was not worse, the food was actually very good. It was good to know she could feel at home with someone her son’s age. “How long have you been friends with Nicholas?” He had not mentioned her until when he came home for the will reading. “Not very long. We teach in the same school, but we became friends, recently.” She replied with a smile. “Okay.”Was Nicholas replacing Kemi?“That’s after Kemi was kidnapped right?” “Yes.” Her smile thinned. It was better to change the subject.Slightly. “Kate, I’ve been wanting to hear another person’s view of this kidnapping thing. Did you know Kemi at all?” “Yes, kind of. She was quite popular around town, she was everywhere. Nicholas doesn’t know it, but a lot of people knew they were spending time together, she was popular.” “You keep saying ‘was’. You believe she’s dead too?” Kate seemed surprised by the question. She apparently did not notice she had used ‘was’. “Well, that’s what Nicholas told me, every other person thinks she was kidnapped, I don’t know really.” Funke could not understand why Nicholas and now Kate had ruled out the possibility of a kidnap. It certainly was a possibility. It was the best possibility. ADAM’S RESIDENCE ARANDUN 10 A.M. 5, AUGUST 2015 Nicholas could not believe himself, but he actually thought this Cop was cool. Their meeting the previous day had not gone as he had planned; bringing up CyberCorp had put him off balance. He had tried to repair the damage by skirting around the truth but Adam, yes he called him by his first name now, was no fool. He had kept on asking the questions until he could no longer lie. He had told him everything. His waking up next to a supposed dead girl, he was not so sure she was dead anymore, his own kidnap, his new position as CyberCorp CEO, everything. Adam in turn had told him about his investigations. He did not fully understand the Adam’s process yet, but he believed finding Kemi was not just a job to him, it was sort of a mission. He was sitting in Adam’s living room, they had agreed to meet before he left for Ilorin. It was a decent house, it was not heavily decorated but it was neat. He was seated on a plastic chair, one of the three chairs in the room. Adam did not seem to entertain very much. There was no television in the room but judging by the stack of DVDs on a wooden shelf sitting in a corner of the room, there was a television in his bedroom. Nicholas browsed through the DVDs as he waited for Adam who was out to buy him a bottle of Coke. The DVDs were mainly Hollywood Series. He had a lot of Detective and Law series.You can’t solve Nigerian crimes the Hollywood way Adam. “See anything you like?” Adam called out as he walked inside the room, clutching two bottles of Coke and five packs of Indomie noodles to his chest. “Yeah, ‘The Mentalist’ is one of my favorite series.” “Patrick Jane is pretty crazy isn’t he?” “Yeah, he is. I can’t wait to know who Red John really is.” He moved to help Adam set down the bottles. “You ever use Jane’s kind of deductive reasoning when solving your crimes?” he asked with a smile. “Oh Nicholas, I wish. Here’s a little known fact about me; this is the first crime I’m solving… provided I solve it.” “Seriously?” Nicholas asked arching an eyebrow. “Well, you’ll get a lot of help from Jane and his crew.” “Or I could just get Dr. Reed and his ‘Criminal Minds’ crew to impact in me their vast knowledge.” The both laughed. Adam spent the next twenty minutes cooking the noodles. They spent another twenty eating and discussing the best episodes of ‘The Mentalist’ they had seen. Nicholas watched Adam clear the table, it was time to face the business of the day. Business was always easier with food in the stomach. “So Nicholas, we are working with the premise that Kemi is alive, right? So we are investigating a kidnap and not a murder. Right?” Adam asked as he plugged in his laptop adaptor into the socket close to where the television should have been. “Yeah, two kidnaps maybe. I have a feeling my kidnap is somehow connected to her kidnap. By the way, we are not investigating, you are investigating. I’m a suspect, remember?” Adam chuckled. “Yes, I remember. They don’t pay people for being suspects anymore, you know.” They both laughed.So much laughing, I’m pretty sure Kemi is not laughing wherever she is.Adam must have heard his thought because he became serious all of a sudden. “Why do you think anybody in CyberCorp would want to kidnap Kemi. Let’s do some ‘Criminal Minding’ of our own. Why?” “I don’t know why they would kidnap her.” He had thought about it and it did not make much sense. “But given what you told me yesterday, they wanted some information from her. The information could be about me. Maybe they knew about me before the reading of the Will.” “Yeah, that makes total sense. Maybe she was not cooperating, maybe she found out something she wasn’t supposed to. Next question; who would want her kidnapped?” Adam asked. “That one is even more difficult. There are lots of people who could want her. This Abdul guy you mentioned, he could be working for himself or he could be working for another person. Or maybe he works in CyberCorp and the person who wants Kemi is from outside the company. There are so many angles from which one can look at this.” “Yeah, the problem is none of the angles makes this any easier.” Adam said with a sigh. “Let’s check the online site of Cybercorp, they have a page showing their employees.” He typed away on his laptop’s keyboard, the CyberCorp site filled the screen, he typed some more and a list of ‘Abduls’ appeared on the screen. Nicholas moved close to the screen, the list was too long. “The list is too long, is there a way we can reduce it?” Nicholas asked. “Yeah, there are filters. I’ll just check for those working in the Ilorin office, hopefully we’ll find our guy.” He filtered the search and a shorter list of three people showed on the screen. “So, one of these guys will lead us to Kemi.” Nicholas said exited. “Yeah, I guess.” Adam looked at the three men keenly. “Which of these three men do you think we… sorry I, should go after first?” “Okay, look at this first guy…” Nicholas said observing the men. “… he is a junior staff member, there’s no way he’d get access to a company car. This other guy, he probably has a company car but no girl will listen to him, talk more of go on a date with him. “That leaves us with this young handsome and very important man.” Adam said, zooming in on his face. “He looks so young… okay here is his bio, he is actually very young, how did he get to that position so fast?” “At least we have our man. So what do you want from me Mr. Abdullahi Faruk?” TOLA’S RESISDENCE ILORIN 7 PM 5, AUGUST 2015 She could not believe the number of comments on her blog. Blogging was the new journalism, daily newspapers could not catch up with the power of the internet. The newspapers reported yesterday’s news. Blogs delivered them as they happened. It was a no win situation for the papers. A few of them had adapted and paid more attention to their online customers, a few could not adapt and were already behind. She was a young girl, a fresh graduate, who wanted to make her voice heard. Sometimes she wondered if she had anything to say that no other person was saying. It was the problem of the blogs, they all reported the same thing, some actually plagiarizing. She had tested the waters with two posts. They were original and addressed key issues that affected her and people like her. She had gotten a moderate reception and a few comments, mostly from her friends on Facebook and Twitter. They did not know who owned the blog, she had published under another name, a masculine name. She knew it was crazy but she believed a man would get more attention than a twenty two year old girl. But it all had changed a few days after her second post. She was contacted by a man who insisted on anonymity, he had given her some exclusive information. He did not seem to notice her voice or did not mind, he had promised her more information and he had kept his promise. Now her blog had a lot of hits, the exclusive information she had released on CyberCorp had been quoted in other blogs and newspapers. They referenced her of course, driving more traffic to her site. Her non CyberCorp posts were getting a lot of attention too. It made sense, if she had access to information others did not, then she was someone to reckon with. Sometimes it was too much for her. Maintaining a front, trying not to lose her relevance and dealing with the people who were trying to contact her about advertising, it was a lot. She had a lot of things going well for her blog and everything was tied to the constant information she was getting about CyberCorp. And there laid her biggest problem. She was hooked to the information like an addict to his vice. She did not know the identity of her informant, all she knew was he, if he was truly a he, knew a lot of things and for some reason wanted them to be leaked to the press. Why me? She had asked him several times and he had always replied with the same thing, giving her an out if she did not want the information. Of course she wanted the information and she got them. She waited, nervously tapping her pen on her laptop. Her mystery informant had sent her a message; he had some more information for her. She had been sitting by her laptop for half an hour waiting for the information. She yawned, she was tired of sitting.Stretch your legs, the message will not disappear from your mail because you stood up.She stood up and walked to her refrigerator. She heard the beep as she opened the refrigerator. She left it open and jumped back to the laptop, she hit her leg on the chair as she tried to open the email.Ouch!The pain would have to wait. The message was taking some time to open.Don’t mess with me right now, this is not the time to mess with me!The message opened, it was short, two lines. A new president will be announced at CyberCorp next week. His name is Abdullahi Faruk. . . . . . To be continued

Followinq......

Following......

Hmmmm,more complicted 4 Nicholas

Interestin

This is getting complicating. An interesting and captivating story,ride on Don.

so abdullahi faruk is the same guy adams and nicholas are investiqating on....my instincts tells me he kidnapped kemi and he has an upper hand in the company.

hmm..next pls

Hmmmm.

Finally landed......... The cop will help Nicholas regain his position, buh someone will surely die......who?

next next next

getting more complicating. Nicolas will get what belongs to him that's sure. NEXTTTTTT.........

Crime stories re alwyz instresting.....

Somebody help,am in love with this story.thumbs up writer!

Chapter Eleven . . . . . . . . . . CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 12 PM 10, AUGUST 2015 Being a C.E.O. had its advantages, it did and Nicholas enjoyed them. His office was one of them. It had been his father’s office. He had been reluctant to take the office, but not taking it would mean wasting good office space and getting another office on another floor. He had made the right decision and he now used one of the best offices he had ever seen. His desk was large enough for computers, beverages and cats. It was a custom made desk. A part of it was height adjustable which made it usable for standing or sitting positions. It was an office on its own and since the C.E.O. had to work on all of a million projects at once, it was always filled. His diligent secretary kept it neat and arranged. The office also had a lounge attached to it, where he had access to a lot. A fully stocked refrigerator, a chef at his beck and call, sleeping quarters and other distractions. He rarely used the lounge. He did not want to be waited on, he might be the C.E.O. but he was still Nicholas. He made it his habit to eat with other staff members in the cafeteria. Every coin has two sides and he seemed to be having the other side of the coin that morning. He had read through the company’s financial report for the last financial year. It was not work for the faint hearted. He set down the files, stood up and stretched. His eyes were sore from too much reading, which did not happen to him very often. He smoothened his suit and was about to leave the office for lunch when he heard a knock on the door. His secretary walked in. “You have a visitor sir.” “I do? I don’t have any appointments right now, do I?” he asked looking at his watch. “No, you don’t but it’s the late C.E.O.’s wife.” Nicholas was shocked. He had not seen or heard from her since the reading of the Will.What does she want? I have enough trouble as it is. “Send her in please.” He said. He straightened his tie and tried to look as confident as possible. He tried his best to smile, he did not want to look like he was not pleased to see her. She walked in elegantly. She was not having any trouble looking confident. “Hello Nicholas.” She said smiling, stretching her hand to shake him. “Hello Ma’am. It’s a nice surprise to have you here.” Her smile made him relax. “I’m sorry I didn’t call to tell you I was coming. I don’t have your number and I’m not sure if you kept my husband’s work number.” “It’s not a problem, I should have called you myself but I’ve been busy.”And scared of you. The woman seemed nicer than Nicholas anticipated. She even indulged him with ten minutes of small talk, then she sat straight, it was time for serious talk. “I heard you are looking to appoint a President, that is correct?” “Yes, it will go a long way to ensure a smooth transition.”Where is she going with this? “You know my husband was C.E.O. and President before he died, now you are C.E.O. and you need a President, I’ve come to request for the position.” Of course, she wants to be President.The president’s role was going to be a very important one; he was going to be a conduit between him and the rest of the company. There was no way he was going to allow a woman who probably had it out for him become the President. It was bad enough that a person he suspected to have kidnapped him was going to be President.The devil you know… “Nicholas!” He realized he had been quiet for a long time. “Yes ma’am, I’m sorry but that position has already been filled. We are yet to make the announcement to the public, we are making it this afternoon at a press conference.” If she was Caucasian, Nicholas was sure she would be going white. “Why didn’t I hear this?” “We are yet to release the information to the public…”You are part of the publicShe apparently was not aware of that. “Ma’am, if I knew you were interested, we would have been able to do something about it.”LIE!”I’m sure we can still find a position in which you can help CyberCorp.” He was making promises he did not want to fulfill even if he could. “You do that Nicholas. I ran CyberCorp with my husband, unofficially of course. I will not be kicked out, okay? I’ll see you next week.” She flashed him a glorious smile, you would think she had just been told she won the lottery. Nicholas stood up as she went out. He was definitely not going out for lunch, he had work to do. He had to find a very important job for the MRS where he would never see her again. CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 3 PM 10, AUGUST 2015 Tola sat among other journalists in CyberCorp’s conference room. It was obviously not the only conference room in the building, but it was the one used for press conferences. A pass had been sent to her house by her mystery informant. It bothered her that this person knew where she lived and obviously knew she was not who she portrayed herself to be on the blog. What bothered her even more was she had no idea who her informant was. They had never met and she could not contact him, he contacted her. He did not reply her emails and his number was never available. She observed the people sitting on the table; they were the big fishes. Nicholas, the C.E.O. the president being announced; Mr. Faruk, the Vice President, Public relations. Maybe one of them was her informant, or maybe it was one of the people who stood at the sidelines observing the press conference. The C.E.O was concluding his speech. “…We are pleased to announce that CyberCorp has made a full transition into this new era. The late C.E.O. did a great job when he was with us and we can only hope to continue the great work. Moving forward, the new president and myself will work together to continue the great work being done by this great company.” She dug into her pocket as her phone vibrated, she had a text message. THANK YOU FOR COMING, I HOPE THIS CONVINCES YOU I CAN BE TRUSTED. He is here.She looked around, no face caught her attention. Trust worthy or not, it was time she found out who her informant was. CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 8 AM 11, AUGUST 2015 Adam stood in front of the tall CyberCorp building. It was a wonder, probably the only wonder in Ilorin. It still surprised many including himself how such a big company could be in Ilorin. Most businesses of CyberCorp’s stature had their headquarters in Lagos or the nation’s capital Abuja, Ilorin was not the best option available but CyberCorp had thrived there. The building was of course the tallest building in the state and its beautiful finish did it no harm. Cars spilled out of the underground garage into the car ports located around the building. Flowers decorated the compound. Water spewed from the feathers of a bronze peacock in the center of the compound, it was the most beautiful fountain Adam had ever seen. A huge blue sign displayed the name of the great building; ‘CyberCorp Tower’. The building stood as magnificent as the Trump Tower stood in New York. The Trump Tower was part of a magnificent New York skyline but the CyberCorp Tower stood on its own. Adam breathed deeply through his mouth and walked into the reception. He tried his best to blend with the early morning crowd hurrying to their offices. Nobody seemed to pay him and his expensive suit- that Nicholas lent him- any mind. He was not an expert in corporate dressing but according to Nicholas, he was dressed as good as anybody he was going to meet in the tower. He was dressed in a dark grey suit, Nicholas had insisted on him wearing a red tie along with his white shirt. His black shoes shone brightly, its blackness was rivaled only his hair; he was dressed for the part. “Hello.” He greeted the receptionist, flashing a toothy smile, she returned the favour. “Hello sir, welcome to CyberCorp tower, how can I help you this morning?” It was obvious she had said that line a lot of times. “Could you point me in the direction of the President’s office?” “Okay. Do you have an appointment sir?” she asked, all the while typing God knows what on her computer. “Yes, I do” She gave him directions and he walked towards the elevator, punched the buttons and entered. The elevator door was about closing when someone stuck a hand in.A beautiful hand.A lady entered, muttered a ‘good morning’. She struggled to balance two big cups of what looked like coffee, a stack of newspapers and her big bag. “What floor?” Adam asked with a smile. “Thirty Second, please.” She replied with an apologetic smile. “I see you are one of the big boys huh? Or should I say big girls? Can I help with you with that, Miss…” he said reaching for the stacks of newspapers. “Ese, my name is Ese. And I’m not one of the big boys, I work for one of the big boys.” She said handing over the papers. “Thank you.” “I’m here to the big boy.” “You should not be going to the thirty second floor if you want to see Mr. Akorede. He is not…” “Nicholas? Isn’t Mr. Faruk the big boy now? Since he got announced as the President… so you think Nicholas is still the top dog?”Stop calling him Nicholas, you are not supposed to know him, remember? “I shouldn’t be saying this as he is my boss, but Mr. Faruk got this position too easily. I’m glad he did, because I’m a top level secretary now, but we all know a lot of politics was involved in his getting that position.” He hmmed and nodded. The conversation was going really great for Adam, he hoped she continued; she did. “This is just a rumour, but it looks like one of the biggest men in this country was behind Faruk’s getting the position.” “One of the biggest men?” “Yes. And the weird part is; this man was not a friend to the late owner and C.E.O. so why is Mr. Faruk close with an enemy of the company?” I should take more elevator rides with more dim witted secretaries who tell total strangers their secrets. “Who is this big man and why was he…?” he could not finish his question, the elevator opened and they stepped out. “Thank you very much Mister…” “Collins, Theodore Collins. And it was a pleasure meeting you.” It indeed was. “I can see you have met my amiable secretary.” Faruk called out walking towards him. “She’s been with me since I got here. Morning Ese.” She nodded and walked towards the office he looked to have come out from. “Welcome to CyberCorp. Please come in.” He walked Adam into an office he could only describe as great. He tried not to show his overwhelming admiration for the office. He was supposed to be from a company as big as CyberCorp, great offices were supposed to be normal. He had arranged the meeting a week before. No President will want to meet with a low ranked Cop whose monthly salary is not as much as his feeding allowance. So he had to come up with a story. He was supposedly representing ‘Saturn’, a real estate company. He was a representative of the Human Resource and Public Relations departments. He was there to talk with the leaders of CyberCorp, so they could have an idea of what they would be working with. CyberCorp was one of the companies they had on their shortlist of consulting firms for a major project. His story was not airtight, the President of a big firm like CyberCorp would have direct access to the C.E.O. of Saturn, and a simple call would have put an end to any chances he had. Mr. Faruk had not made the call as his friend in Saturn – who got him a Saturn ID – had confirmed. “So, is this going to be an interrogation?” Faruk asked with a smile, Adam could see he was a charmer. “Anything I say will be used against me? That kinda stuff?” Adam laughed. “This is not an interrogation, we just want to hear you say all the things we have read and heard about you. I’ll want to get your opinion about other leaders here. In fact, let’s start with that. Tell me a little about your C.E.O. something I’ve not read in the papers.” “Wow! That will be tough, seeing that the media knows more than I know, probably more than Mr. Akorede knows about himself.” He said laughing and leaning back in his chair. “He’s been your boss for a while now, you should know a little more than the media.” Adam watched him for his reaction to Nicholas being called ‘his boss’, he seemed to have taken it in stride. “You are going to have to ask a direct question, Mr. Collins.” “Okay, you have been brought into this position to help him run this company, the last C.E.O. didn’t need a President, do you think maybe Mr. Akorede isn’t competent enough to run CyberCorp?” “I think you will find answers to that on the web, mostly wrong answers though. I wouldn’t say incompetent, inexperienced? Yes, but not incompetent.” Adam asked several other questions but Faruk either was not taking the bait or he did not have anything against Nicholas. “Let’s come to you then, you rose very fast here. There’s got to be a reason for that, right?” “What can I say Mr. Collins, I’m a lucky man. And I kind of do my job very well.” Adam smiled. Faruk was a sleek criminal, if he was in fact a criminal. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m just covering my bases. Somebody mentioned at the office that you have some political ties, that it might have gotten you this position.” Adam watched the smile thin on Faruk’s face. “Look here Mr. Collins, I do my job and I do it very well. Whatever political ties I have or don’t have has nothing to do with me getting this position.” Adam nodded. “Like I said earlier, I’m just covering my bases. I’m sorry if the questions are offensive but I have this last one.” Adam knew he was about to jump off a cliff with a parachute that had not been tested, but he had to do it. “This politician was said to be involved in a kidnap, one that is yet to be solved. You wouldn’t be involved in that, right?” Immediately the words came out of his mouth, Adam knew the interview was over. Of course he got kicked out of the office as politely as possible, but now Adam knew he had his man. Faruk was either the kidnapper or he worked for the kidnapper. . . . . . To be continued

The criminal.... getting interesting...

Intrestinq......

Woah... Dis is it... Kip it coming @Donwalter

Interesting

Keep rolling mah guy

Nice one.

Uhmmm.. Anoda Ese in dis story... We also had one Ese in Church street killer.... Nw we have Adams..Faruk..Ese

I hell u

lost

next pls

Chapter Twelve . . , . . . . . . . THE IMPERIAL ILORIN 2 PM 13, NOVEMBER 2015 He ran his hand through his hair as he stepped into the reception. It had been a frustrating three months for Adam. He had made a case his purpose for living, if the case truly had anything to do with his living, then he was close to suicide. The months had dragged as he tried to solve the case; the first case he had ever tried to solve. He had tried his best, staked out places, followed people, intercepted notes, paid snitches but he just went round and round in a frustratingly small circle. He had spent a lot of time outside of his post; Arandun, but nobody seemed to mind. Or maybe they did not notice. His boss had long stopped asking him for updates. Officially the case was still open- it had to be, you do not close a case without solving it- but nobody talked about it anymore; it was a dead case. He spent most of his time in Ilorin, it was where the case was centered. His only suspect- he had since ruled out Nicholas as a suspect- was living in and working in Ilorin, all investigative works he did was done in Ilorin. He visited Arandun frequently, but that was all he did- visit. He stepped into the lobby. He stopped as he tried to adjust to its dimness. He shuffled through the lobby which led into a corridor, music boomed all over the building as he stepped into the restaurant. He stepped aside as a young couple tried to walk through him.Love indeed is blind.He scanned the restaurant; it was not really a restaurant. It had a bar to left, it was two in the afternoon but already the bar was busy serving half a dozen people. In front of the bar, closer to where he stood, there were sofas. A young man, probably a student, sat on one of these sofas busy on his iPad.Enjoy the free wifi my friend.A couple sat close to him, judging by the number of empty bottles in front of them, Adam assumed they would not be driving. To his right, he noticed a sign that read “VIP”. It was placed above a wooden staircase, he moved towards it. He had always wondered what was different about places marked ‘VIP’ in clubs and restaurant. He moved up the stairs trying to look as ‘VIP’ish as possible. Everyone in the room turned to look at him as he stepped inside. He tried to look as casual as possible.I’ve been here a dozen times, stop staring.‘Everyone’ was just five people and they all turned back to their VIP lives as a Chinese lady walked towards him. He had heard rumours that the Chinese restaurant – or club, as it actually was – had Chinese waitresses. Apparently they were only found in the VIP section. “Huan Ying.” She said smiling. “What?”Did you insult my mother? “You are welcome to the Imperial sir.”So you speak English.”May I escort you to your seat sir.” Another Chinese lady brought him a bottle of water and a pack of Cigars as he sat down. He took the bottle of water and waved away the cigars. He wondered why they offered him the cigars; he was not a smoker and was sure he did not look like one. They both left him as he opened the bottle of water. He felt exposed in the big room. He was the only person sitting alone and he was yet to make an order. Fifteen minutes later and he was feeling nervous. He had caught the waitresses staring and whispering, he could not blame them. He looked at his watch for the umpteenth time, he was losing his cool. He took his phone out of his pocket, he had to keep his hands busy. “Sir, are you waiting for somebody?” he almost jumped, he had not noticed the waitress behind him. “Hey, why did you sneak up on me like that?” a couple of people looked in his direction. He was about to make a stupid excuse when she entered. “She just arrived.” He said, pointing to the doorway. Her name was Helen and she was the only hope he had left, if he was going to solve his case. The waitress nodded, smiled at Helen and walked away. ‘Why meet at the Imperial?’ he had asked her. ‘Meet me at the Imperial’ she replied and that was it. After months of searching without finding anything remotely helpful, he had stumbled on Helen. She had worked with Faruk for a few months before he got promoted. He did not know if she had any information that could help him – she was not the first person who thought they had information – but she was all he had left, the case had already wearied him. “Why didn’t you order anything Adam, you didn’t have to wait for me.” She said crossing her legs. She was beautiful and she knew it. She had the air of someone who always got what she wanted. On another day, Adam would have played her game. “Helen, you know I’m not here to drink or to eat. Why did we have to meet in the VIP section anyway?” “Adam, look at me. Do I look like I eat with regular people?” She looked at him and laughed. “I’m just kidding, I’m meeting someone here later, I don’t want to move around.” “Okay, so the information you said you have for me, what is it?” he was losing patience. “Be patient man! You can’t come here, drink their bottle of water for free, and then walk away. You have to order something.” Adam sighed, threw his hands in the air and obliged her. He stared at her for the next fifteen minutes as she devoured her food. For the first time he understood why some Cops planted evidence. It was the only way to get rid of people like Helen without getting physical. “Now that that is out of the way…” she said wiping her mouth. “I think I’m ready to talk to you.” Adam looked at her without saying a word. “Faruk was my boss for about two years, and he was a fantastic boss. He was very nice to me, of course that was before the day he fired me.”Probably for gluttony.“I worked as a P.A. sort of, I wasn’t hired by CyberCorp, he hired me himself. And no, I wasn’t sleeping with him, I arranged other people to do that plus he cannot afford a gal like me.” Adam smiled. “Listen Adam, before I go on, you have to promise me that there is no way this will come back to haunt me.” “I cross my heart and hope to die.” Adam replied with a smirk, lifting up his hand in mock salute. “Okay, that is good enough for me.” She moved forward on her chair, entwined her fingers and rested her chin on them. “There was this girl he started seeing, not seeing as in dating, she wasn’t his type, but he visited her very often. That went on for a while until one day we visited a hospital and I noticed he was visiting this same girl.” “And you know this girl, how?” “I saw her at the school once during one of his visits.” She answered, waving her hand. “She looked a little different on the hospital bed, but I could tell it was her. I don’t ask questions, that’s part of why Faruk liked me, but I overheard him talking with the doctor, she had been in a coma for a while.” Adam rested back on his chair and let the information sink in. Kemi was alive, and it was a relief. “How long ago was this?” Adam asked. “About three months, I was fired not long after that.” “Okay Helen, got one last thing. May I have the name and address of the hospital?” She smiled as she dug into her bag for a piece of paper. Adam offered her a pen and she wrote the name and address. Adam had a bounce in his steps as he walked away from Helen and her Chinese obsession, the case had just received a breath of fresh air. COOKES BANK PLC ILORIN 6 PM 13, NOVEMBER 2015 ‘Good night’ Kate called out to the last of her colleagues as they left the office. She had been working at the bank for two weeks and she was already a hit among her coworkers. Working in a bank was not exactly her dream come true but she was enjoying the experience. Getting a job was not a problem for her; she had not expected it to be. It was one of the perks of graduating near the top of your class, looking gorgeous and having one of the best personalities available to mankind. When she was employed by the Oriental Bank, she had a chance to pick the city she wanted to work in. Lagos or Abuja were the obvious options, but Nicholas had begged her to stay in Ilorin. He did not have to beg for long, she was already considering it. The last two months of their youth service had flown by. She had put a lot of attention into teaching, it was all she had to do. Nicholas had spent more time in Ilorin than at Arandun. He was slowly getting a grip on the reins of CyberCorp and he needed to be as close as possible to the company. She had gotten involved with his mother too. She was easy to talk to and she never talked about Nicholas or her dating him. She was not dating him – at least not officially – probably because Nicholas still had his mind on Kemi. She pushed the thought aside, she had a pleasant night to look forward to. Nicholas was taking her out on a proper date for the first time. He had asked casually and she told him “no problem”. There was a problem and it was time. They had scheduled and canceled many time; he was busy, she was busy, but that night they finally had time. Kate cleared her desk into her backpack and headed for the bathroom. He was picking her up from work so there was no time for two hours of makeup. She had brought a dress, and her makeup bag and that was all. She came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later looking the best she could in that time. She looked at her watch, it was six twenty. She was going to have to wait for ten minutes. She took her backpack, switched off the lights in the office and walked out. The janitor would lock up later. She was startled as her phone rang. She dug her fingers into the bag and brought out the phone, it was Nicholas. “Hey.” “Hello Kate, I’m sorry for just calling, you remember we are going out this night right?”Are you kidding? “Yes, in ten minutes time. Right?” she tried to sound as cool as possible. “Yeah, wait, are you ready? Oh my God. Good I’ll be in your office in five.” He arrived in eight minutes. Nicholas rarely drove himself, he did not like it, but it came with his position. Kate watched as he came out of the car, he was driving that night, he was wearing a dark grey suit, a white shirt and a maroon bowtie.A bowtie? “Kate…” he said as he hugged. “You look gorgeous.” Kate smiled. “Nick, did you actually wear a bowtie to work?” she said with a teasing smile. “Nah, I dressed up for you. You like?” “Yes, I like. And you look gorgeous yourself.” He opened the door of his black Mercedes C300 4matic, she stepped inside and closed her eyes saying a little prayer. The date could be the beginning of something, she prayed it would be a perfect night. “So where are we going?” she asked when Nicholas entered the car. “You’ll see.” He started the car and they moved. Kate observed the city as they drove in silence. She had not explored the city as much as she would have liked to. It was a beautiful city. They drove in silence until they entered a very quiet and beautiful street. Kate had never been to that part of town. “This is a very nice place. I didn’t know Ilorin had streets this nice.” She could not hide her admiration. “You need to ditch that bank of yours and get out more.” Kate opened her mouth in admiration as they approached the ROMANTICISMO. She had heard a lot about the place even before she came to Kwara state. There were only five in the country. She did not take her eyes off the restaurant as Nicholas parked the car. She did not notice the car had stopped running until a chuckling Nicholas was opening her door. “This is awesome Nick. I heard you have to get a reservation three days before. How did you…?” Then it dawned on her. “Of course you are CyberCorp’s C.E.O.” She looked around as they walked into the restaurant, it looked like she had stepped into a movie, and it was perfect. “Welcome to the Romanticismo.” A waiter said in an Italian accent.A Nigerian with an Italian accent? Awesome!Everything was awesome. A man wearing a suit identified Nicholas from a distance and walked up to them. “This way sir.” He said and led them up a staircase. He opened a door and Kate gasped in astonishment. They were on the roof and they were going to be alone. A single table and two chairs stood in the middle of the roof. Nicholas was apparently enjoying her reaction to the whole night. “Thank you, Mr. Luggi.” The ‘Italian-Nigerian’ man bowed and left. Before she could say anything, two waiters walked towards them with two covered plates. They placed them on the table. “This is your Spaghetti pomodoro and basilico.” One of them said. They both bowed and walked away. “They wanted to serve their five course dinner, but I told them to go straight to the Spaghetti and whatever he just said. It’s late and we still have to go to work tomorrow.” Nicholas explained. “Wow Nick. Being a C.E.O. is not very bad huh?” They both chuckled. Nicholas removed a bottle of wine from inside a bucket filled with ice. “Hope you don’t mind being served by a C.E.O.?” “Oh, I don’t mind at all.” They talked as they ate; it was a perfect dinner if there was one. They continued talking as the waiters came back as soon as they were done to clear the table. “This was nice huh?” Nicholas asked feeling pleased with himself. “Yeah, it was. Like they say; ‘We should do this more often’” she replied with a chuckle. “Thank you very much, it was nice that you did all of this.” She saw Nicholas look at his watch, it was time to leave. She picked up her purse and stood up. Nicholas had not made a commitment to her, but with more nights like the one they just had, it was only a matter of time. 2 AM The six men wore white suits. Nicholas stood facing them, he did not know who they were or why he was there. They looked at him sternly. “What do we do to him?” One of them asked. “Easy, we kill him.” Nicholas’ heart jumped to his mouth. “No, we won’t kill him. What’s the fun in that?” A man answered. He was the youngest among the five, his left eye was slightly closed. Nicholas looked around him, there was no way to escape. The hall was long and dark, there were no windows. He could not identify the source of the light that shone on the men. “So what do you think will be more fun?” Another man answered. His face looked vaguely familiar; he looked like Denzel Washington. “Check this out.” The man with one good eye snapped his fingers and two men came in dragging something in behind them. It was Kate! Her hands and feet were bound together, she was still wearing the beautiful black gown, it was torn. “Oh my God!” Nicholas screamed. “What are you doing with her? This is between you guys and me. Leave her out of this!” he ran towards her. She whimpered as he touched her. “What have you done to her you bastards?” They all laughed. “It’s not polite to insult people older than you, your mother must have taught you that much.” The oldest of the gang said. “How about we ask her for ourselves? Maybe it’s not your fault, maybe she didn’t teach you better. It must be difficult raising a child on your own.” He waved his hands and a huge man came in carrying something on his head.Oh no, not Mom, nooooooo! “Get your hands off my Mother, you idiot.” He left Kate and ran to his mother. “Why are you doing this? You have a problem with me, you come to me, leave my mother or my… leave Kate out of this!” He looked back to where he mother was, she was gone, Kate was gone too. “Is this a joke?” he said boiling with anger. “No, it is not!” He heard a voice behind him, a man walked out of the shadows. He was tall, with a white head of hair.Morgan Freeman?“It is time to end this game.” Morgan Freeman had a gun, Nicholas moved backwards holding his hands up, he had never thought he would die at the hands of a celebrity look alike. He stumbled and fell as he got to where the five men sat, his would-be killer moved closer, his gun trained on his head. He feared he would die from the throbbing vein on his neck before a bullet hit him. He kicked, trying to stand to his feet but the men behind him held him down. He looked at his killer, he was smiling. Nicholas closed his eyes and waited for death. He heard the explosion and jumped up sweating. Music filled the room, he was in his room. “Oh my God, I was dreaming!” He slumped back on to his bed and sighed. . . . . . To be continued

Damn.....some enemies are still anqry over ya position as the C.E.O of cybercorp.....u jex av 2 be careful....... Adam is makinq proqress.....Faruk is the quy jorh....

u knw wah u are d best

adam do somtin quik bfore nick enemies wil attack him,next

i tink dis is a vision for yhu.....BEWARE!!!

Great story

Such an awesome dinner date. Nicholas, dis dream is a revelation. Do something 2 protect ur mummy and Kate bcos dey wld wanna get 2 u thru dem

Hey! Mr Detective, are you sure Kemi is still in that hospital? Kudos Donwalter!

Not only your back oh . but all sides and angles. I know you are going to scale through this

Chapter Thirteen. . . . . . . . . . . THE MOVENPICK HOTEL DUBAI 8 AM 23, NOVEMBER 2015 It was the longest eight hours of his life. Nicholas discovered he was not enjoying flying as much as he thought he would. He had flown locally, one or two hours was okay, but when you have to sit for eight hours you start having second thoughts. The plane landed with a little bump, taxied down the runway and came to stop. Travelling in first class had made the trip easier on him but he still was not looking forward to the return journey. He picked up his suit, nodded his greeting to the gentle man seated next to him and walked towards the exit. Dubai was a beautiful city and he had read a lot about its tall buildings and artificial islands, he definitely had plans to visit the place at some point. One of CyberCorp’s major clients operated out of the United Arab Emirates with their headquarters in Dubai, they had heard about the death of CyberCorp’s C.E.O., attended the burial ceremony and returned to the UAE without a word. A few months later, news got to CyberCorp that they were discussing with a rival company. They had done their best to reassure CyberCorp that they would honour their contract, which really was not something to celebrate because the contract ran out in nine months. Everybody had agreed that the Arabs needed to be reassured that CyberCorp was in good hands and there was no need to switch contractors. Nicholas as the head of the company led the delegation. The President; Faruk, the Vice President – International, the Vice President – HR and the Vice President – PR, were all with him and for some reason that Nicholas did not understand, they all brought their assistants. Thirty minutes after the plane landed, Nicholas and his entourage were in cars on their way to the MOVENPICK hotel. It was going to be a busy day and Nicholas had tried his best to prepare for it. The ride from the International airport to the hotel lasted for ten minutes. Nicholas followed the others as they confirmed their reservations and moved to their rooms. Nicholas looked at his watch, he had only an hour to prepare before he had to be at the Jumeirah for the meeting. He took his clothes off as fast as he could, he had travelled in a suit because his mother had insisted on it, it was good for his appearance she had said. Forty-five minutes later he was sitting in the Jumeirah with other officials of CyberCorp. It was a nice board room suited for the kind of meeting they were about to have. Nicholas sat at the head of the table, he was the one who conveyed the meeting. He reviewed his notes. The plan was to prove to the Arabs that CyberCorp was still the company to deal with in their industry and try not to bring up the late C.E.O. or Nicholas’ credentials or lack of them. Nicholas jumped to his feet as the door opened, he told himself he had no reason to be nervous, but he could not help it, he was nervous. It was his first meeting with any major client and his first outside the country. “You must be Mister Akorede…” The first Arab walked straight to him as he entered. He pronounced the name smoothly to Nicholas’ surprise. “Yes I am, you are welcome Sheikh Al Mubarak.” He had read all their bios and he recognized all their faces. “We are very glad you agreed to meet with us this early.” Three other men walked in and shook hands with Nicholas and his entourage. “Don’t mention Mr. Nicholas, can I call you that?” he did not wait for an answer and continued. “We are just glad you have come here, it shows how much you value us as clients.And we are sorry we are meeting so soon after your flight, this is the only free period we have for a few weeks.” “It is not a problem. We do value you as clients, and we value you as a person Sheikh.” Faruk said, speaking for the first time. “And every one of you.” He said nodding at the three men who came with Al Mubarak, they returned the nod. “Thank you Faruk.” They were obviously knew each other. “Like we said over the phone, we want to assure you that we are going to see out our contract with you, we have no plans of getting off that contract.” “Sheikh Al Mubarak, we are very grateful for that assurance. We trust you, you are an honourable man, we know you will not break your word or the contract. We are here to assure you that we are still as capable as we were a year ago. In fact we are here with a few documents to show you this. Mr. Faruk?” “Wait Mr. Nicholas.” Al Mubarak said, raising his hands to stop Faruk from giving him the documents. “Like I said, we are not breaking off this contract, we do not need to see any document for that. Did you travel all this way to show us these documents?” he looked at Nicholas quizzically. “Well, sir…” Nicholas started. “Well Sheikh…” Faruk cut in “… our C.E.O. here in agreement with the myself and the VPs of course, think maybe you need some reassurance so you can trust us with another contract when this one expires.” Nicholas looked at Faruk, he had not expected him to cut in like that. It was worse because the Arabs looked confused. “Sheikh Al Mubarak, we understand it is not time to negotiate another contract given that the current one still has a few months to go, but we believe it would be a sign of faith in our joint future if we can agree on a pre-contract.” Silence fell on the room and Nicholas feared the worst. They had planned to try and negotiate a pre-contract agreement but they planned to introduce the idea subtly after they had reached a level of understanding. Al Mubarak, pulled his closed brief case towards him, he glanced at his subordinates, Nicholas knew he had to do something. “Sheikh Al Mubarak, can I be honest with you?” Nicholas asked as sincerely as he could, moving forward in his chair. Al Mubarak nodded. “We understand that some of our clients may be disturbed by the death of out late C.E.O. and many may not trust CyberCorp the way they did a few months ago. Sir, you are one of our biggest clients, the last thing we want is one of our biggest clients doubting our ability to deliver.” Nicholas rested his back on the chair, not looking away from Al Mubarak. “Mister Nicholas, that was quite a rousing speech.” Al Mubarak said with a chuckle. It seemed to ease the tension in the room. “We believe in CyberCorp, we do not doubt your ability as a company. I admit we have had our fears but it looks like you might make a good CyberCorp C.E.O. yet.” “Thank you Sheikh…” Nicholas started with a smile. “Thanks for your trust in us and our head.” Faruk cut in again, Nicholas was getting annoyed. “Who would know he has no experience working in a company the size of CyberCorp, talk more of running one.” Al Mubarak and Nicholas opened their mouths at the same time, it was almost as if it was planned. Faruk looked on as if he had not said anything important. It was a fact they had promised to not talk about with any of their clients. A fresh out of school C.E.O. did not inspire confidence in tough, experienced men who had been at their work for years. “As I was saying sir, we are grateful for your confidence…” Nicholas tried to save the situation, but he was cut off, this time by Al Mubarak. “Mr. Akorede, it was nice of you to come here, we will be leaving now.” Nicholas watched the Arab and his silent followers leave without another word, he looked at Faruk, he was staring fixedly at a file. They had come to save a big account, if Arabs were gossips, they probably just lost more than one. HOSPITAL ILORIN 6 PM 24, NOVEMBER 2015 Adam waited in the restaurant. It was not a restaurant, it was what people called a canteen, a place where you ate with your eyes closed. Closed because what your eyes saw could make you throw up the food you had eaten. He had been waiting for three hours, waiting for the hospital to change shifts. He had been in and out of the hospital on three occasions and had learnt when the best time was to visit. The hospital was a private one, it was new and quite standard. It looked like a kind of place you would put your mother if you had a lot of money to spend and did not want her in the hustle or bustle of the city. It was situated in the outskirts of the town, Adam had followed the address and direction given to him by his Chinese loving informant. He had come at different times of the day trying to understand how the hospital worked and the the people who worked there. The receptionist who worked the night shift had liked him on sight, it had been easy to get her to talk to him. He did not mention the fact that he was a police officer or what his mission was, but had convinced her with one of his many stories; he was getting really good at cooking up stories. She had been reluctant when he started asking about other visitors and patients, but Adam’s charm had overcome her weak resolve to do her job rightly. He had even confirmed that a girl matching Kemi’s description was admitted in the hospital. He also learnt from her that she was no longer in a coma. He had decided to wait till she took over the desk before he made his approach to the hospital again, he intended to see if it was Kemi who was hospitalized. It was few minutes after six when the tight-lipped woman who ran the day shift left the hospital. Adam thanked the owner of the restaurant, paid her for the three bottles of coke he had had during his wait. He put his dark shades on and crossed the street towards the hospital. As he moved close to the hospital he noticed a black Mercedes Benz and an ambulance, the two cars were strange. He knew the cars each doctor and other workers drove, but then he did not really expect the any of the doctors to have only one car. He looked around just to be sure there were no new or strange faces staring at him as he entered the hospital, there was none. “Hello Rita.” Adam greeted the receptionist with all charm he could muster, he was going to ask for a big favour. “Frederick, you’re here again.” There was something about the way she talked that caught Adam’s attention. “Yes, I am. You look like you’re not happy to see me.” “Oh, come on, of course I’m happy to see you.” She said with a smile, the smile made Adam relax. “Guess what I brought you…” Adam said, putting a box of chocolate in front of her. She beamed. “Wait, before you have this, remember you promised you would take me to see the girl?” She had not promised, she had barely mentioned that she would not having a problem taking Adam to see the girl he was so interested in. “Frederick, I did not promise. Why do you want to see her so much anyway, can’t you just wait till she is discharged?” “No time for arguments my dear, there is a box of chocolate waiting to be yours, you know what to do.” Adam said with a smile teasing her. He wondered why she looked so serious. “Frederick, why do you want to see her so much?” she looked nervously towards the staircase that led to where Adam believed Kemi was waiting. “I don’t…” Adam had come too far, there was no going back here. “Come on Rita, help me out here. Here’s the chocolate, it’s not about that.” He handed the box to her, she collected it and promptly hid it under her table. “I really need your help, you are the only one who can help me right now.” “Okay, okay. Follow me.” Adam pumped his fist in victory and followed her. She led him up the stairs and stopped. “Okay, I can’t go past this spot. Just follow this corridor, there is a turning to the right at the end, her door is the last door to the left, just before the stairway that leads to the back door.” “Thank you Rita, I’ll be in and out in five minutes, okay?” “Yeah, just be fast.” She said and left quickly. Adam saw the look on her face again, he shook it off and moved in the direction she described. He almost ran as he came near to the door, it was the moment of truth, he stopped short as he came to the door, it was open. He jumped inside without thinking, the room was empty. He ran towards the bed and touched it, it was still warm, somebody just moved her! He ran out of the room and ran down the stairs, he barged through the back door. He was sure the person who took her could not have gone far. As he came out, he was hit on his back, he fell to his knees. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted a man running away with something heaped over his shoulders. He ignored whatever or whoever hit him from behind and ran after the man who was running away from him. The pain on his back throbbed as he ran, he was gaining on the man, the weight of the girl he carried reduced his speed. He stumbled as he was hit from the back again, he struggled to his feet, the man with the girl was getting away, he was about to pick his pace again when he was hit again. The man with the girl was out of sight. Adam struggled to stand up but he could not, he felt pain on his head as he was hit. The darkness was moving closer as Adam tried to get to his feet, he heard the sound of a automobile move close to him, it was an ambulance. Adam struggled to get to his feet, he felt dizzy and nauseous, the man who had hit him ran towards the ambulance as it stopped and jumped in. Adam crawled towards the car, blood dropping from his mouth, the ambulance screeched, spilled sand on his face and went off. Adam fell on his back, the darkness taking over, he tried to keep his eyes open but he had no control over them. He eventually gave up and embraced the darkness as he fell into oblivion. ILORIN 11 AM 25, NOVEMBER 2015 Nobody liked to see the boss angry, his anger was stuff of legends. Faruk had never seen him angry and prayed he would not, but if the shouts he heard from behind the closed door were any indication, his prayer was not answered. He had heard a story of the boss cutting off a man’s tongue because he had said something to the press which had painted the boss in a bad light which had made him very angry. “He would see you now.” A shaken young female secretary announced to him. Faruk opened his palms and said a little prayer, he was not interested in having any part of him cut off. He breathed deeply and opened the door. “Good afternoon sir.” Faruk greeted him with all the humility he could fathom. “Faruk, look at your watch, it is eleven.” Faruk bit his tongue, of all the mistakes he thought could get him killed, he had not expected this. “I’m sorry sir, I was…” “Just sit down Faruk. You have been my best man for a long time, I have bragged about you to others, I have probably made you a few enemies too, but what do you do to repay that trust huh? You almost lose the girl.” It was not the tongue cutting he expected, but the tongue lashing was almost as painful. It was not his fault a staff of the hospital talked to a police officer, it was one of his men who had sighted the man, confirmed he was a cop and took care of the situation. Of course he could not say any of these to the boss. “Are you just going to sit there like a dummy? You have nothing to say to me?” “Sir, one of the staff of the hospital talked too much, it almost got out of hand but it has been taken care of.” “And the cop? You know I don’t kill cops, neither should you.” “He was not killed, but he will not find us anymore.” “If you say so.” It looked like it was over, he had been scared for nothing. “Good work with the job at Dubai, by the way.” “Thank you sir, it wasn’t very difficult.” “I’m sure it wasn’t. I can’t believe Al Mubarak signed a contract with those guys in Port Harcourt already. That’s one major client gone, let’s see how he responds to this.” Faruk heaved a sigh of relief as he left the office, he needed more of victories like he had in Dubai and less of losses. CyberCorp had no idea what was coming. Thanks for reading today’s story . . . . . To be continued

I don land dis tin dey sweet me soote. Were is my crush @tenniebenson

Nxt pls

Following

Nicholas! Ur enemies are nearer than you thought. Be wise & vigilant. May God lead you to victory

Ayam here @dalexy .... *winks* I hope dey wont kill d receptionist..... Adam... U still gat wrks 2 do....its nt easy being a cop.... Faruk is really out 2 destroy cybercorp nd turn its achievements 2 once upon a tym... Nd d most painful tin is... Lots of tinz would av been destroyed b4 d truth comes out.... Nicholas....uhmmm i'm jez pitying u in advance....

Nicholas ur banana dey spoil u talk say in dey ripe hmmmmmm okay I don hear oh.

Am followin d story quite well... kudos Don Walter

hmmmm.....see lyf

Tnx 4 d updating@Donwalter

Enemies of progress

My Queen (@Tenniebenson) You for no do that now..You suppose dey pray for him in advance..

hmmmn, nicolas in a cage, i hope kate wont b involved as kemi is already. Its gonna go well for nicolas at d end. Jst wondering who the boss is

Nicholas, I think you should focus on Faruk with every atom of expertise available at your disposal. You are aware that he's a suspect and now you've just tasted his venom first-hand!! Kudos Donwalter!!!

Hmmmm... Who's d boss

nicholas-faruk. Adam-kemi

Chapter Fourteen . . . . . . . . . CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 2 PM 25, NOVEMBER Nicholas paced in his office, his head was blank! He tried his best, tried to attack the problem from different angles but he was stuck, there did not seem to be a way out. The trip back from Dubai had not been eventful, mainly because he had not returned with the others. He had stayed back, he could not sit anywhere close to Faruk for eight hours, there was a possibility he might lose his cool. He was yet to see Faruk since he returned to Nigeria, he was going to in an hour. He knew he needed a course of action, Faruk had grossly misbehaved and it had cost them a major client. He could not sack him; the press attention was not going to be good for CyberCorp. You don’t fire or demote a company’s President easily, especially when he was recently appointed. Every solution that came to his mind was going to bring a lot of bad press, something he wanted to avoid as much as possible. He had read that Al Mubarak had already signed a pre-contract with another company. The Arabs evidently did not waste time, something he was doing as he paced. His ringing phone caught his attention, he walked towards his table and picked the phone. It was his father’s wife. He could not imagine what she wanted, there was no way he was offering her a job. “Hello ma’am.” He said as he picked the call. “Hello Nicholas, I know you don’t have time for small talk, so I’ll just go straight to the point.” “I appreciate that ma.” “I read in the papers about Al Mubarak signing a pre-contract with another company, you know what that means, right?” Of course he did, there was nothing good about that pre-contract at all. He did not answer. “Well, you know other clients, especially those from outside Nigeria will start panicking. ‘If Al Mubarak could leave, there must be something wrong’ that’s what they would think. You know that, right?” “Yes I know that.” He was irritated with her rubbing his face in the loss. The press did not know why they had lost the clients, there were a lot of speculations, but none of them knew the whole truth. “Why did he leave, by the way? He knows about your inexperience, doesn’t he? That’s always been an issue for him; I know that because I knew him personally” Nicholas was getting even more irritated, he was about to ask if there was any particular reason why she called but she continued. “Look here Nicholas, I know Al Mubarak and he is not one to investigate. I’m sure he did not investigate you when you took over, he values trust and he only cares that you deliver what you promise. So if he knows about your inexperience, somebody leaked that to him. Probably someone from your office.” She did not know the truth too and Nicholas had no plans of enlightening her. “We are looking into that. Thank you for your concern, it was nice of you to call.” He was trying to politely end the call, but she was not going to stop talking. “Have you checked the company your client signed with?” He hadn’t, he had been busy with solving the problem that was Faruk. “I take your silence to mean that you have not, well they’re called Logged-In Incorporated, the name is lame I know, but the press are already calling them the new CyberCorp.” Nicholas felt very silly for not knowing anything about Logged-In, the name was lame, he agreed with that, but he should know all CyberCorp rivals. He kept quiet, still not knowing where she was going with the conversation. “I might have a solution to the problem of Logged-In. That is if you are looking for solutions and you don’t mind it coming from me.” He had nothing against advice, but he knew it would cost him something. “Go ahead, I need all the help I can get.” “Okay, I have a stake in Logged-In. My late husband bought me ten percent of their company, he saw they were going to be big, and it was nice owning part of your rival’s company. “ What was she saying? Where was she going with this? “You’re there Nicholas?” “Yes, I am. Please continue.” He replied quickly. “Okay, this is what I propose, CyberCorp buys my ten percent and you buy more stocks till you own more than the owners. They own just twenty three percent of the company. I’m the second largest owner.” “Okay…” He could see where she was going, he was to stage a hostile take-over. “Who would sell their stake in a company like that though?” “Nicholas, believe it or not, I know people in this industry; people I can convince to sell their stake.” “Well, I cannot say I don’t like this idea. But you would have to come to the office, we need to discuss this more.” Nicholas could not believe was actually inviting her to the office. “You know, there’s going to be a price, right?” She was saying. “We will talk when you come to the office.” His secretary had just entered the office to tell him Faruk was waiting to see him. “Thank you so much for calling, I’ll have my secretary check my schedule and I’ll give you a call.” He signaled the secretary to let Faruk in. Nicholas sat down as Faruk walked in, he was not sure what to say, he would just have to think on his feet. “Sit down please, Mr. Abdullahi.” Nicholas said, motioning him to a chair. “Before you say anything sir, I just want to say that I’m very sorry for what happened in Dubai. I should never have cut you off like I did.” Nicholas looked at him and nodded. He knew Faruk had a nefarious plan, he and Adam had concluded on it. They knew he was the one who kidnapped Kemi, that could only mean he had something evil planned against him. He was on the watch but was caught off guard at Dubai, a mistake he was not going to make anymore. “You know Al Mubarak has signed a pre-contract with Logged-In, right?” “Yes, I read it in the papers.” “Alright, I need you to find out all you can about them, the owners, the way they work, their biggest clients, everything you can find out.” He had decided not to scold Faruk, it was not going to do any good anyway. He hoped that Mrs. Babatunde’s plan would work and then Faruk’s blunder would not be very important. ILORIN 2 PM 25, NOVEMBER 2015 ‘Geeks are the new rock stars’ a poster on the wall read. It was not true of course but such posters are good for your self-esteem. Tola was sitting in her friend’s room, he was a geek; a proud geek. She had been friends with Pete – or Sheldon as she called him – for a long time and he was one of her closest friends. She was sitting in his bedroom. It could pass for an office, a music studio or cyber café, depending on how you looked at the room. Tola believed one of the reasons he still lived with his parents was the fear of having to move all his stuff. “This is the first time you are asking me to help you with anything techie.” Pete said has he entered the room, a steaming plate of noodles in hand. “Are you complaining Shelly?” She asked teasing, knowing how much he hated being called Shelly. “Shelly, really? You know I’m not complaining, I’m surprised, that’s all.” “Okay, you remember the blog I told you about? Of course you remember, I’ve been getting some anonymous tips about the CyberCorp news that have made me very important.” “Very important huh? I’m sure the confession you made about being a woman helped a lot too. ‘Popular blogger reveals real gender.’ I was shocked when I saw the headline, that was a publicity stunt huh?” “It wasn’t o, I was getting calls from people who wanted to advertise on my blog, I knew it was only a matter of time before everybody knew the truth.” Telling the truth had done her more good than evil. Of course, she had been insulted and called names by some, but she believed the saying ‘No publicity is bad publicity’. “You know I don’t work well with food in my stomach, what do you want exactly?” “The plate of noodles is not for me?” She feigned a sad face. “Okay, I need you to trace where these emails I keep getting are coming from.” “Just that? That’s no biggie, lemme get on it, don’t want my noodles to get cold. I have this app that does that in five minutes.” He pulled his laptop from where it was sitting on another laptop. “So do you have any idea who has been giving you these tips?” “I’m not sure if I do. I’m not sure if it’s coming from inside CyberCorp itself or from somebody very close to the company.” Ten minutes later, Pete’s app had narrowed the search to a geographical location, the emails were coming from inside the CyberCorp tower. “Can you get which floor it’s coming from Pete?” “I think so, it will take longer. My noodles can’t wait though.” She could not wait either so she agreed to leave him to his work. Four hours late she got a text from him, the emails were sent from the thirty second floor. That narrowed it down to a few executives. By the time the next email was sent, she was sure she would have her source. ILORIN 2 PM 25, NOVEMBER 2015 Adam had woken up with a piece of paper in his pocket. It read; “No 20, Oke Aja Street Offa Garage. I’m sorry.- R.” He had gone back into the hospital but Rita was nowhere to be found. He had no idea where the address would lead him but he had made up his mind, he would not let any lead slip. He had to meet the bastard who had knocked him out, he hated cowards who hit people from the back. The address had led him to a well fenced building; high walls, big gates and a big sign warning him about big dogs. He knew there was no way he was entering the house and he could be wrong, it was possible the house belonged to an innocent but scared citizen. He thought of waiting as he sat on the motorcycle he had borrowed from a friend for the occasion. Waiting was not a good idea, his back still throbbed with pain from the serious beating it had taken, he had to get home or anywhere he could rest. He kick started the bike and was about leaving when he had the gate open, he looked back and saw an ambulance – the ambulance – come out of the gate. He had never been as happy to see an ambulance since the day he broke his leg in a bicycle accident. He put on his sun shades and helmet, more for disguising himself than for protection and looked away as the ambulance to move past him. He waited till there was a safe distance between him and the ambulance and then followed. Two minutes later they were on the highway, the ambulance had the advantage of a siren and they were took full advantage speeding past cars that had moved out of the way. Adam tried his best to stay close to the ambulance without attracting attention. He skipped past a couple of other road users, one of them cursed at him. He was tired and the pain in his back was not helping, he released one of the motorbike’s handle, reaching to adjust his helmet and he almost lost his balance as the ambulance veered suddenly to the right. He could not follow the ambulance immediately without drawing the attention of the men in it, so he moved past it, going straight. He was going to join the road at the next turning. He sped to the next turning, he was going to have to make two turns to join the route the ambulance had taken. He was about to make the second turning when he saw the ambulance heading towards him, he thought of making a sharp turn but he would need to be James Bond to make the turn without losing his balance or attracting a lot of attention. He decided to drive past the ambulance. He kept his eyes forward and tried to look as random as possible. The ambulance moved past him without attempting to knock him over. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw there were three men in front of the ambulance; probably another one of their goons. He stopped and looked back just in time to see the ambulance make a left turn; towards the CyberCorp tower. He turned and moved towards the tower. Kemi was probably still in the ambulance, if the men decided to make a stop he was going to check. The ambulance indeed was driving to CyberCorp. It pulled into the underground car park and stopped. Adam parked his bike a safe distance away from the underground car park and moved towards it. He stayed close to the wall as he moved, he was not about to be killed in a car park. Ducking behind another car, he looked at the ambulance, it was empty. The men had obviously gone out of it. It was his chance to get to Kemi. He looked around to be sure he was not been watched, satisfied that he was all alone, he crept towards the ambulance. The men were not there. He moved towards the back of the ambulance, his hope was that she was conscious, he knew it would be doubly difficult if she had to be carried. He pulled the door handle and opened the door. It was empty. . . . . . To be continued

Wow viz is fascinatinq......Ride on pleee

Kontinu

She's already been drop in the house they came from ....

May God help u @Adams

were u really expecting to see kemi in d van? Funny cop....guy use ur head

next next next ride on am at ur back

Nicholas God will c u thru out of diz predicament. I think ur fathers wife az a very gud offer dat cld bring d needed solution only dat her price lyk she hinted wld b something big

Eeyaa! Ran out of luck

Wow... Fascinating indeed... They re nearby watching u... So be careful

Chapter fifteen . . . . . . . . . . CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 4 PM 25, NOVEMBER 2015 Adam stared at the empty ambulance, his mouth open. He had been fast; he knew that, there was no way the three men could have disappeared with a sick girl. He moved round the ambulance just to be sure he had not missed anything. The doors were locked, everything looked normal. There was only one reason why the men would be at CyberCorp Tower, there was only one person they could have come to see; Faruk. He walked away from the ambulance, if the men had entered the tower with an unconscious girl, somebody would have noticed. He walked out of the car park towards the front desk. The receptionist was not the same person he had met on his first visit. He was grateful. She did not seem to care that he did not fit into the crowd. “Good afternoon sir, you are welcome to…” “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude but did you happen to see three men walk past here?” “Three men sir?” she looked around confused. He got the point there were a lot of men entering into the building, there was no way she could answer his question. “Yeah, they were carrying a young lady…?” “The three men were carrying a young lady?” she looked at him arching an eyebrow. “That would have caught my attention, I did not… sir are you alright?” “Yes I am. Okay, did any man come here asking to see Faruk, the President?” “Sir, I don’t know who you are looking for, but I don’t think they’re here. I would appreciate if you left the building sir.” She said, reaching for the phone on her table. “You don’t have to call security; I’ll find my way out.” He said turning away from the receptionist. He was not going to leave, not yet; there was a chance they would come back. He sat for fifteen minutes and nothing happened. The receptionist eyed him a couple of times before she motioned a guard towards him. “Sir, are you here to see somebody?” The guard asked, trying to be as polite as possible. “Yes, I am.” Adams shifted in his chair and rubbed his back, it still felt sore from the beating it had taken. He avoided the guard’s eyes staring at the elevator. “Who are you here to see sir; can I get them for you?” Adam was getting irritated and annoyed. “I’ll wait, just leave me alone.” The guard obviously did not like his tone. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave then.” The guard said tapping his shoulder. “Don’t touch me.” Adam said, a little too loud, a couple of people looked at him. “I can find my own way.” Overzealous security guards He stood up and turned towards the door, the guard standing behind him to make sure he was headed out. He turned to look at the elevator one more time when something caught his attention. Two of the men he saw earlier were standing in a corner, not far from the elevator. How did I not see them earlier? He had to get to them, they were the reason he was in the tower in the first place. He started to move towards them when he felt a hand on his chest. The guard.He had to get to the men before they took off again. “Look man, I know you are doing your job but you really have to let me go, right now!” “Well, that’s not gonna happen. Keep moving please.” He looked over the guard’s shoulder, the men looked like they were about to move. “You idiot, I’m a policeman… I promise you if these men leave, you’re in trouble.” The guard did not budge and was now pushing him towards the door. “Look here…what’s your name?” he looked at the guard’s name tag. “Chima, you’re interfering with something really important.” “Yeah, I’m sure it’s very important.” The guard replied with a smirk. “Important to who? Definitely not CyberCorp.” Adam snatched himself from the guard’s grip, stepped round him and took a step in the direction of the corner where he saw the men only to discover they were gone. He looked around; they were nowhere to be found. He stamped his right foot on the floor frustrated. That stupid guard.He felt two hands around his arms, he struggled but the hands tightened. In two seconds he was in the air, his feet kicking under him. The guard had called for help. The guard and his helper took him to the door, threw him out and warned him not to return. They did not have to, he had been disgraced enough for a day. His bike stood where he had parked it, he had nowhere to go. Failure was not a very nice feeling, it was a feeling he was getting too familiar with. He could wait, see if the men would come out through the front door, or he could check out their ambulance again. There was something fishy about how the whole thing had gone down. He was about to enter the car park when he heard voices, he could not make out what they said but there were at least two people talking. He crouched behind the closest car. He stood up and peeped over the hood of the car, it sounded like the voices were coming from the ambulance. He crept towards the voices avoiding anything that could make a sound. Suddenly a door opened two cars away from him, he dropped even lower, the voices stopped. He saw a woman come out of the car and walk towards the exit. The voices continued as soon as she was gone. He moved, the ambulance was not far away, he could now hear two distinct voices. One of them sounded like a woman. Kemi! He moved as fast and as quietly as he could until he was close behind the ambulance. He saw the two men he had seen earlier, they had stopped talking. They looked around. Crap, they heard me. One of them removed a knife and walked towards him. Adam watched him come, he knew he was hidden and the man could not see him yet. That would change immediately he turned the corner. Adam had never been in a knife fight, but he had been in enough fist fights to know that he could handle himself even in a knife fight. The man was getting closer, Adam could hear him breathe, and apparently stealth was not the guy’s strong point. He turned the corner with his back turned to Adam. Adam waited. As if sensing him, the man turned. He let out a yelp as Adam’s fist connected with his face. The knife dropped. Adam landed a punch on his ear; his scream came out soundless as his hand went instinctively to the ear. Adam moved closer to him and double-punched him in his stomach. He doubled up and fell on his knees. Adam moved back, the second man must have heard something. He waited but nobody came. This goon is both dumb and deaf. Adam steadied himself and ran round the car, ready for another knife. He was ready to punch, when he saw the face. He stopped short, the second man was Kemi. Her hair was shaved and she wore over-sized men’s clothes. She stared open eyed at him. She was the new addition to the group, and she had sat in front with the man, that was why he had not seen her. “Kemi, are you okay?” he said moving close to her. “Don’t touch me, who are you?” she replied moving away from him. “Leave me alone, please.” “Hey, hey, look at me. I am a police officer, a police officer from Arandun. You remember Nicholas?” She looked at him when she mentioned Nicholas. “Nicholas? Yes, how is he?” “He is fine. Look here, we need to get you out of here.” He said moving closer to her, she withdrew again. “Wait, you know Nicholas, right?” “Yes, I do.” “Is he still in Arandun, or is he running CyberCorp now?” “He is running… wait, how did you know about CyberCorp? We have both been looking for you for a while” “No, no, no… tell him not to look for me.” She was shaking her head vigorously. Adam was confused. “Why shouldn’t he? Kemi, we are wasting time, the other guy will be here anytime.” “No, leave me alone. Nicholas should leave CyberCorp… just leave me alone. Go away.” She looked over his shoulder. “Just go!” “I can’t leave you here. Come with…” he felt pain surge through his head. He fell down with a thud. Darkness was enveloping him. ‘What did you tell him?’ He had a voice say. He felt hands tighten around his feet and his back move across the floor. Oh my God! I am being dragged! The hand tightened around his back and lifted him, with a crash he landed on a metallic surface. He had done enough fighting; he welcomed the darkness and fell into a sea of nothing. CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 10 AM 27, NOVEMBER 2015 Nicholas looked at the men sitting round the table and wondered if there was anybody he could trust. The man who was supposed to be his right hand man, his link with lower management – so to speak – was a traitor, a devil, an enemy. He had run the company for a while without much incident before the incident at Dubai, but now he wondered just what was next. His vice presidents – led by the white-haired Chukwu had all learnt to do their jobs and CyberCorp had recovered from the slight dip it had suffered during the few months after the former C.E.O.’s death. It was the first meeting since they lost the Arabs. Nicholas had heard some rumors of senior management members being scared for the future of the company, he had called the meeting to calm them and reveal what the company was planning. The meeting with Mrs. Babatunde – the late C.E.O.’s widow – had gone very well… almost. She had asked for something he would never have considered if he had a choice. She was now going to be the Chairman of the board of Logged-In when the takeover was complete. He had objected, she had insisted and he had conceded. It was time to break the news to his subordinates. Faruk had loved the idea, much to Nicholas’ surprise, especially as he was sure the incident at Dubai was not a mistake. The meeting started and the talking began. Everybody had something to say, it was a relief. Talking meant they trusted him with information; information he would have needed to dig for in previous meetings. The meeting went on for long, ideas flew back and forth. For the first time, Nicholas felt proud to be the boss of the brilliant people who sat in front of him. Two hours later and it was time for the special announcement by the C.E.O. They all turned and looked at him. He had presided over many meetings but he still felt nervous when all eyes stared at him. “Gentlemen, I have an important announcement to make as stated in the agenda. You all know about the client we lost recently, it was a huge loss to CyberCorp and we cannot afford any other loss of such magnitude. Well, we have different ways to prevent that, ways you have all suggested here today.” He watched their expressions, they were all following him. He continued. “Part of what we have done is to study our competitors. The market is growing so the competition is becoming stronger and increasing in number. A few years ago, we could relax, we owned the industry, and we can’t rest on our oars anymore. One of the competitors we studied was Logged-In. Most of you know that they were the company that our Arab clients signed with… are you with me so far?” They grunted and stirred in their chairs, he looked at Faruk, who looked as interested as the others even though he knew exactly what he was going to say. “Long story short is this; we have a good opportunity to buy majority of the shares of the company, about thirty-five percent. This would make us the owners of one of our biggest rivals. I have discussed this with the president…” he pointed to Faruk who smiled and nodded. “We believe this is a good move for us at this point. Are there any questions?” They all relaxed in their chairs, a couple of them put their heads together to talk, the others just kept quiet and looked him. “I’d appreciate if you would all contribute to this decision. I want to hear your opinion, that’s why I have put this before you.” He looked round at them, they all kept quiet. “You’re not talking? I would assume your silence means consent then. Alright, we should probably…” he was cut off by Mr. Chukwu. “Wait, before we close this topic in hurry, I would like to ask some questions.” “Alright, go ahead.” “Do you have all the shares ready, you know as soon as you start, you must finish.” “Yes, we have the shares ready. Some owners are ready to sell to us. The widow of the former C.E.O. has…” “The widow of who?” Chuwku asked him, surprised. “The late C.E.O.; MrsBabatunde that is.” “Are you kidding me? You’re bringing her here?” One of the more timid Vice-President asked. “I am not bringing her here, but she is going to help with the takeover.” “She’s not going to do it for nothing.” Another vice-president said. “Why don’t we wait? We are yet to buy a single share, let’s wait and see.” It was Chukwu who was trying to calm his colleagues. Nicholas smiled, surprised. It was the first time they had been on the same side. “Thank you Mr. Chukwu, we should wait and see and of course we should keep this information to ourselves, we don’t want the stock market going crazy on us.” Fifteen minutes later, the meeting had ended and Nicholas was alone in his office. It had been the best meeting he had had since he became C.E.O. He opened his refrigerator and took a bottle of water, he picked a cup, on a second thought he returned it, he would drink from the bottle. He picked the TV remote and switched on the television. A recap of the news was going on. He moved towards his chair and sat. An announcement from the reporter made him jump. “This afternoon, the stock price of Technology Company; ‘Logged-In’ as increased by three percent every hour for the past three hours. Experts are still trying to figure out the cause of this increase.” Nicholas threw the bottle across the room splashing water on the rug. “Son of a …” He was cut off by his phone. This is not good, not good at all. TOLA’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 12:30 PM 27, NOVEMBER 2015 Tola sat on her sofa and stared at the television. She could not believe what she was looking at. Information she had gotten from her source had once again been true. But for the first time it had a consequence. A very fast one too. She could not believe how fast the stock price was rising, if CyberCorp was indeed interested in taking over Logged-In, this was not very good for them. Pete had traced the email and it was coming from the President of CyberCorp. She had suspected him but she could not figure out why he would reveal secrets about his own company. A lot of people were asking a lot of questions on her blog. Many wanted to know if she had inside information on other companies and possible takeovers. Others wanted to know her source before they invested their money. Others insulted her for hampering the progress of CyberCorp. It was the third group that got to her. She had started out wanting to be a journalist, she had been the lucky recipient of vital information over the past months and she had thrived on it. But for the first time, she considered if she was being used. If the President was leaking information, then the company was in trouble. It did not feel nice to be used. It was time to act as a real journalist would. She picked up her phone and pressed in some numbers, it was time she did some her own investigation. . . . . . To be continued

Dis serious issue

Mhen viz is serious.......Tola should help the company cos now itz deteororatinq every second........

Na so dem beat Adam ... They want to use Kemi to get Nicholas ...

This company will fall oo bcux al the worker are agaist nicholas

Mehnnnn! Diz serious oooooo

like seriously Adam u nid reinforcements.

Nicholas! Its high time you'd start keeping Farouk in the dark to some vital information. he's the enemy known enemy & he shld b treated as 1. Tonia its a good thing u now wanna do yr own investigations. Though it might turn out to yr disadvantage as he might stop feeding u with information but d good thing is dat u've made a name. Nich! only God & prayers wld save u

Wow!I Rili Love Dz Story

I dnt trust dat mr chukwu guy bt faruk u re deadly... Adam take heart sori 4 ur back

Chapter Sixteen . . . . . . . . . . CYBERCORP BOARDROOM ILORIN 9 AM 30th November 2015 Nicholas had never been so confused. He knew managing CyberCorp would involve taking some pretty tough decisions and he had taken many of them. Appointing Faruk, a man he knew had no good in store for him had not being the least of the tough decisions but he was about to make the toughest one yet. Each share at Logged-In had gone up by twenty two percent and it had been sparked by a journalist releasing the news about the possible takeover. He had no idea how she knew about the takeover. He had no idea what to do about it. “Look, we can sit here all day trying to know how this information got to the press but that will do little good now, we need to make a decision.” It was his father’s widow who seemed to be leading the men. She had insisted on being at the meeting, Faruk had agreed with her, she knew more about shares at Logged-In than they did. “We need to make a decision, true, but what good is it if our decision once again gets leaked to the press, huh?” The white-haired Chukwu was asking. He had a point too, whoever had leaked the information was highly placed. “What are we going to do then? Sit down and mourn our leaked secret? So Logged-In learnt of our planned takeover, knew they couldn’t stand us and are now offering us their shares at the market price, and what we’re discussing is something we have no control over?” She was pushing her point and Nicholas did not like it. The way she used ‘us’ made him even less convenient. “Don’t you even find it odd the way they gave up? It was too easy, don’t you think so?” Faruk asked, looking round the table. Of course it was too easy, but it was a smart move, Logged-In were never going to get a better deal. “Think about it, they started a business, six years later they’re big and a bigger company wants to buy their company…well, kind of, of course they want to give up. So the question is, are we doing this?” She used ‘we’ again, Nicholas was not enjoying the meeting, he was too quiet, he had to say something. “Gentlemen and lady, we will launch an investigation into the leakage to the press but right now, we need to take a decision about this offer, do we take it or do we forget about Logged-In totally?” They all looked at him and almost as if on cue all looked at Mrs. Babatunde. He knew they did not like her, they had shown it but she looked to be the leader on the deal, it did not seat well with Nicholas. “I’d say yes.” She started. “Owning Logged-In makes us even bigger players in the market, guys like Al Mubarak will respect us again. He’s signed a contract with Logged-In, so he becomes our client again and this time we’ll make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.” “No offense but you sound like you’re sold on this deal. Any particular reason?” Chukwu had just asked the question on the mind of his colleagues. “I’m not sold on the deal.” She sounded shaken, she obviously did not expect the response. “That’s why we are here to discuss it. I just think it’s a good one.” “I don’t think it is.” Faruk said, and they all looked at him. “It sounds fishy is all I’m saying. Apart from Al Mubarak, what other big client do they have?” He had a point. “Business is not all about the big clients, the small clients – clients CyberCorp have not paid attention to all this time is what they have built their company on.” She replied him. “Why don’t we just go after those clients instead of buying Logged-In?” Faruk asked again. “They already have a company they trust, why would they come to us?” It was getting pretty intense. “Are you saying that CyberCorp cannot get these clients? Are you saying Logged-In stands a better chance at getting clients?” “Okay, okay, I hear you both.” Nicholas cut in, they were already raising their voices. “This isn’t the National Assembly, we’re here to talk and discuss not fight. ”The atmosphere was tense, people were already picking sides, he had to do something. “We are going to take a fifteen minute break, when we come back we will decide on this, alright? Thank you.” Nicholas watched them walk out of the boardroom, he felt pride at being the boss of some of the nation’s top business minds. But he also felt confused, weak and vulnerable. He had tried his best to learn as much as he could about running a big business, he was even taking an online business management course but he still felt uncertain and inadequate to make a decision on the Logged-In matter. His phone rang, it was a strange number. “Hello, good afternoon.” “Good afternoon, my name is Tola, I own the blog that broke the story about your potential Logged-In takeover.” He sat up. “You are? I have a lot of questions for you but I’ll ask this first; what do you want?” “I know you probably don’t like me right now but I would like to speak with you in private.”This is a joke, she wants to meet? “You want to meet me? Well, I want to win a Grammy, it’s not going to happen. Why would I meet with you?” “You would because I have information you need. Don’t you want to know how I’ve been accurate in my reports about CyberCorp?” she had a point, he was curious, but he was not going to answer to her. “I want to know that but there’s no way I’m meeting with you.” “Okay, I’ll just tell you now.” . “You will? What do you want in return?” He was surprised she gave in so easily. “I don’t want anything, I’m just sorry I’ve caused so much harm to your company. Okay, here goes; Mr. Faruk Abdullahi is the snitch.” “What?!” Of course it was him, he should have known all along. “He has been giving these tips for a while, in fact, I owe him my success. I’ve been feeling used lately that is why I’ve decided to tell you, I’m sorry for all the harm I’ve caused you.” She dropped the call. Nicholas stood up and paced. It should not have come as a surprise, Faruk was an enemy he knew about, he should never have agreed with the lawyer. Appointing a known enemy as your right hand man made no sense, he knew that now. He pushed a button on the intercom, his secretary entered. “Tell them all to come back, the break is over.” Five minutes later, they were all seated. He entwined his fingers to hide their trembling. “I have made a decision, two actually. First, we are taking the Logged-In deal.” They all stirred in their chairs, Mrs. Babatunde tried to hide a smile, a couple of them put up their hands. “I’ll take questions later, the second announcement is more important.” He paused for effect. “Mr. Faruk Abdullahi is suspended from his position as President of CyberCorp while an investigation is carried out on his connection with information leakage. Mr. Chukwu would take up the position temporarily.” His announcement had caused more than a stir, Faruk looked at him mouth open.” That will be all, I will be in my office.” COOKES’ BANK CAFETERIA ILORIN 12 PM 30TH NOVEMBER 2015 Kate looked at the lady sitting in front of her, she had read her blog a lot of times; she was considered a celebrity by some. She still did not understand the motive of her visit, but she agreed to it anyway. She knew it was about Nicholas, the lady blogged a lot about CyberCorp and was the cause of Nicholas’ latest trouble. Her relationship with Nicholas was progressing slowly but steadily. He was almost always busy, Kate did not take it too hard, nobody likes a needy girl. “Tola, that’s your name, right?” She nodded. “Why do you want to talk to me? You were vague on the phone.” “Thank you for meeting me, if you’ve read my blog at all then you wouldn’t like me very much. I’m not here to make excuses, I just want to ask some questions about Nicholas. I want to undo some of the damages I have done.” “Why would I talk to you? Nicholas wouldn’t want me to, like you said, I don’t like you very much.” “I just talked to Nicholas, gave him my source. It’s not something any journalist would like to do, but I had to do it, it was the right thing to do.” “Wait, you revealed your source?” She sat up, she was curious. “Who is it?” “The President; Mr. Faruk.” Of course, she should have known. “You don’t look surprised.” “Of course I’m not surprised. He was involved in the kidnap of one of…” “Kidnap?” she was cut off by Tola. “Who was kidnapped?” She was not supposed to talk about the kidnap, she had slipped. The blogger was not to be trusted yet. “Have you researched Faruk at all? Do you know anything about him we don’t?” she tried to change the topic. “Yes, I know a few things about him. Born and bred in Lagos, finished top of his class, rose very fast in CyberCorp… I know little things like that.” “Does he have any political connections? Is he connected to any powerful person, he couldn’t have run the kidnap on his own.” She had mentioned the kidnap again. “He might, I don’t know yet. What is this kidnap thing you keep saying? Who was kidnapped? I didn’t read anything about kidnaps in the papers recently.” She was now curious, Kate could see. “How about you find out any political connections and I’ll tell you about the kidnap.” “Okay.” She stood up to leave. “You haven’t told me much, but I don’t think I deserved much.” “Well, thank you for trying to make things right.” Kate stood up too, they shook hands and Tola turned to leave. “Kate, I don’t think Nicholas has much of a chance if Faruk’s political link is involved in this…this thing.” “Why? Why would you say that?”Nicholas would stand a chance even against the Governor. “You know Senator Lawal, the former Governor? He’s Faruk’s man.” Okay, maybe Nicholas does not stand a chance. OFFA GARAGE ILORIN 10 AM 1ST DECEMBER, 2015 Adam chewed on theboliwith vengeance. It had been an annoying week, it had to be when you had been knocked out twice. His back still ached, his head throbbed, these were not happy days. He counted his blessings though, he could have been killed, he should have been killed. Apparently the men were not keen on cop-killing so they had dumped in a gutter. He had woken up with a terrible headache accompanied by a terrible smell but he had survived. He had made a promise to Nicholas not to give up on the case, he intended to keep the promise. He was seated in a van, close to the house where he had seen Kemi come out from. It was still too difficult to enter on his own, it was heavily guarded. He had asked his boss for help, he had refused, saying the house belonged to somebody who could not be touched. He had waited and watched for two days and he had already seen Kemi come out of the house, always guarded by at least two men. He had followed them but had not been able to get close enough. Theboliwas finished, he leaned back in his chair, boredom and pain did not go very well together. He had just closed his eyes when he was startled by the door of the van opening. It was Kemi! “Hey, what are you doing here? How did you get out? How did you know I was here?” He had so many questions. He looked around, trying to make sure she was not followed. “I’ve noticed you for a while, you’ve been following us around town.” She replied with a nervous smile. “Hey look at me talking, I should be moving.” He stabbed the key into the ignition and started the engine. Kemi grabbed his hand. “What are you doing?” she looked at him wide-eyed. “I’m taking you away of course, what does it look like I’m doing?” “Look here, I just wanted to give you some information for Nicholas. You would not get far before you’ll be stopped. These people are powerful connected people.” “Which people? Kemi, you have to talk to me if you expect me to rescue you.” “I don’t expect you to rescue me, James Bond.” Adam put the van into gear and moved, he had looked for this girl for so long, he was not going to pass on the chance to rescue her. Kemi held the dashboard as he surged into the road. “You don’t know what you’re doing. Anyway before we are stopped, I need you to tell Nicholas about a man called Faruk. He is a member of CyberCorp, I don’t know his position, he has to be careful with the man.” “Faruk?” Adam asked. “We have known about Faruk for a while, he was involved in your kidnap, we know.” “Good for you, you must stay clear of him, he’s very dangerous.” “Thank you for the advice.” Adam noticed two motorbikes coming behind him, they were hot on his heels. He floored the accelerator, the men were keeping up with him. All he had to do was get his car to the Police headquarters. He was trying his best but the men were gaining on him. “James Bond, stop this foolishness and stop the vehicle. You can’t escape them, even if you get to the police station. I’ll still end up with them.” “Why did you escape then?” Adam was confused. “I didn’t escape, I came to give you some info, that’s all.” She looked agitated. “CyberCorp is trying to close a deal right now…” the car in front of him turned suddenly, Adam cursed, slammed his brakes and skidded a few feet before regaining his balance. ”Ok. I was saying Nicholas is close to signing a deal right now…” “How do you even know that?” Adam asked, keeping his eyes on the men behind him. “I overheard. That’s not the point, tell Nicholas he mustn’t do the deal. It is a setup.” “Set up? What kind of setup? Who is setting him up?” “It doesn’t matter, just stop the car please.” Adam was confused, it looked like she did not want to be rescued. The bikes were so close now. He slammed his brakes as the car in front of him stopped. The traffic was heavy, he could not go anywhere fast. He turned the steering but he was too late, the bike were already in front of him. They both came down from their bikes and moved towards the car. One went for Kemi – who was already coming out of the van. The other man, came towards him. “Hey Bond, tell Nicholas he mustn’t sign the deal, it’s a trap.” Kemi said, came down from the van and shut the door. “Look here man…”one of the men spoke to him. ”Whoever you are, this is the last time we are leaving you alive. Next time we meet, you will not be leaving alive. We respect cops but even cops can be killed.” Adam sighed as they left, he had lost the girl again. He brought out his phone and dialed Nicholas’ number, if they girl knew what she was saying, he was in trouble. “Hey Nick.” “Adam, hey I’m a little busy right now. Can I call you back?” “I found Kemi and she has a message for you. She’s not here with me, I got her but she was taken back from me.” “Is she okay? Who took her back? What was the message?” He could tell he was eager to hear. “She said you shouldn’t sign the deal you are about to sign, said it is a setup.” .“A setup?” Nicholas’ tone made Adam’s heart skip a beat. “I just signed the deal.” . . . . . To be continued

my heart is beatin fast here,lord help nick

Oh! my God why is all these things happening i believe something can still be done about this. Come to think of it how am i sure Kemi was not under threats and was forced to meet Adam to tell him to convince Nicolas not to sign the deal knowing that Nicolas will believe her. lets watch how things will turn out shaa.

hahaha...o ta lenu o

Damn......leh me jex reserve mah comment and watch how events will unfold......Thumbs up @Donwalter

Dis is seriouz o.. See as i jump 4rm chair when i heard he has signed d deal..

Ooomah....see signal, this tin nvr show o... Abi it don show@Tenniebenson

am so afraid abt dis deal dat u sign ooo nxt plz dis suspense dy kill persn nd also thumb up@donwalter

Nawow! Nicholas the trouble is just too many. Suspending Faruk was a good decision you made there. At least he won't be privy of some secrets for the time being. You shld also try & make Tola ur friend. You cls use her to extract more information from Faruk which you could use against him and whomever his sponsor is. i totally agree with @DONPASCHAL. I think it was all a plan for Kemi to meet Adam & give him that info

Dunno wot to tink or say nw oibk jux thread wit care

hey.....u signed the wat?ooooh nooo smtin have to be done

Hmmm

more interesting,can't wait for de next episode

Tnx @Kenyan girl i'm blushing.... @Tofag e be like sey d netwrk dey hang o... Signal neva show

I think u guess right @donpaschalo. Well, i hope so

Chapter Seventeen . . . . . . . . . . LOGGED-IN HEADQUARTERS PORT-HARCOURT 9 AM 3, DECEMBER 2015 Nicholas hurried down the hall way, his fingers wrapped around the briefcase held tight. The briefcase held nothing important but his nervous fingers could not tell the difference. The building was not as big as CyberCorp’s office, in fact he could not believe such a big company ran from such a small building. He silently prayed that the size of the office building would be the only surprise. Adam had told him about Kemi’s warning, it was already too late, he had signed and closed the deal. Mrs. Babatunde, the more than eager widow who was glad to have a job took care of all the formalities. He had signed a few papers – after thoroughly reading them, he was not going to let a sly woman deceive him into signing over anything to her, but that was all he had done. The acting president –Mr. Chukwu had made a few trips to Port Harcourt, but he knew sooner or later he would have to make the journey himself. He reached the end of the hall way, the door was marked ‘Boardroom’, he knocked and entered. Everybody stood up as he entered, he forced a smile trying to hide his fear and anxiety. “Good morning everybody. I’m sorry I kept you waiting, please sit.” He dropped his briefcase on the table and sat. They all sat down. Mrs. Babatunde stood up to introduce him to the people seated in front of him. Apart from Chukwu and Babatunde, they were Logged-In management team – what was left of the old team. Nicholas noticed from Babatunde’s introduction that they were all relatively new. The original team, the people who had started Logged-In had all resigned after the takeover. “I’ll like to hear from you guys, I have read the reports – lots of them, but I want to hear from you.” Nicholas said. “I’ll start.” A young lady said. “Logged-In started six years ago, went public two years later and has been one of the biggest technology companies in Nigeria. We have clients all over the country and very recently as you all know signed our first Arab client…” “Al Mubarak just rescinded the contract .” A voice announced as the door opened. They all turned to look, it was Faruk. “Surprised to see me? Well, I thought I’d come tell my boss the news.” Nicholas looked around confused. Al Mubarak withdrew the contract? He knew Faruk was bad news but he did not expect him to crash the meeting. Suspending Faruk had been an impulse decision, his ego had been bruised and he had been angry. He had thought about it, and he was not sure it was the right decision. “Mr. Abdullahi, you are welcome to the meeting, we were not expecting you seeing as you are suspended…” Nicholas started. “I know you don’t want to see me, my question is which should you be more concerned about; the fact that the most important client of this company is actually not signing or the fact that I’m the bearer of the news?” He moved towards the chairs, pulled one and sat next to Nicholas at the end of the table. “Faruk, what are you talking about?” Babatunde asked. “Well, he said he didn’t want anything to do with a company that was being investigated by the FIRS. It was risky for business he said.” “What?!” Nicholas said. “Logged-In isn’t been investigated, right?” he looked hopefully at the Lady who had been interrupted by Faruk. “It happened two years ago sir, the case was dropped. A month ago, two agents from the tax office same here and asked to see the C.E.O., he wasn’t around so they promised to come back. They came back last week, I told them the company had been sold. They said they’d come back when you took over fully.” She said. “So, Logged-In is being investigated and the company’s biggest client is walking away. And nobody knew this? Mrs. Babatunde, you didn’t?” “Well.. I knew they were investigated two years ago like she said, but I was not aware the case wasn’t closed.” She replied. “Wow, just wow. How bad is it?” Nicholas asked “Well, it was pretty bad two years ago, we made a few mistakes but it all went away. I was surprised when they came back.” The Logged-In lady explained. Faruk chuckled, turned in the chair and looked at the woman. “You never bothered to check why the case was dropped right? Of course you didn’t. Anyway boss, maybe you should have taken my advice and stayed clear of this rubbish they call a company” Nicholas swallowed, it looked like Faruk was right but he could not understand why he would have advised him to stay clear of the deal if he truly meant him harm. Faruk sounded like he knew more than he was letting on. “Mr. Abdullah, do you know why the charges were dropped and why they have suddenly resurfaced?” “Well…” Faruk started with a smile, he was enjoying everything, it made Nicholas sick to his stomach. “I’ve heard things, but seeing as I am on suspension and I am not supposed to be here, I would share whatever I know when I am reinstated.” Nicholas shook his head, now he was sure Faruk disgusted him, he was going to exploit him. He had made a spur of the moment decision to suspend Faruk, he was not going to make another spur of the moment decision to reinstate him. “Thank you Mr. Abdullah for the information, I will take your reinstatement under advisement. In the mean time I would want you to leave the room so we can continue the meeting.” “Okay.” Faruk said standing. “I would leave. You have my number, call me.” Nicholas forced a smile as he watched him go out. Logged-In was in trouble, they were losing clients and Faruk was enjoying it all. Maybe being a C.E.O. was not a very good idea after all. TOLA’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 12 PM 5, DECEMBER 2015 Adam and Nicholas sat opposite her with their hands folded in front of them. Tola had done a lot of research, she discovered it was easy to get other journalists to talk to you when you were a respected one yourself. She had done her research and had called Nicholas and Adam. They had talked over the phone and had decided to meet, she was still trying to undo all the wrong she had done. “We are here Tola, what do you have that we don’t already know?” Adam started, he seemed to be in a bad mood, the investigation seemed to be taking its toll on him. “What do you know about the man who has Kemi?” It had been difficult to have them tell her all that was happening but they had. They did not know what to do; she was going to bring some freshness into the case. “I know he is heavily connected, heavily guarded and cannot be touched, just like any ex-governor would be.” Faruk replied. “The question I have is this; why kidnap Kemi? I have to assume that is because of me, right?” Nicholas asked, rubbing his head, times were not easy on the young C.E.O. “That is what I would assume too. So, the assumption is Faruk masterminded the kidnap, but with recent developments – I mean Kemi staying in the house of Senator Lawal, we have to assume he is involved in a way.” Tola replied. “Yeah, I think that is obvious. You can’t keep a kidnapped girl in a person’s house without their permission. The question is why? What is his link with CyberCorp?” “This is where it gets interesting. I spoke to people – people who have been in journalism for a while, they all say there is no link between the ex-governor and CyberCorp directly. But there is one connection between Senator Lawal and the late Babatunde. Babatunde sponsored him back in the day when he contested for the senatorial seat. “Okay, that is a good thing right? Why would he want to harm CyberCorp if the owner was his sponsor?” Nicholas asked. “That’s the question I asked too, this doesn’t give him a motive to harm you or CyberCorp.” Tola replied “Did he sponsor Lawal after that first election?” Adam asked. “No.” She replied, shaking her head. “That is strange, I would think that politicians always need sponsors. Why would you sponsor me now and not sponsor me ever again? There was nothing linking them ever again, not even a contract, nothing! I think the answer to the question ‘why?’ is the answer we are looking for.” “Faruk, what’s his story? How did he rise so fast?” Nicholas asked. “He probably got in when things were still good between Lawal and your father. The time of his employment suggests that. Lawal probably helped him with some of his promotions. You know the C.E.O. does not conduct middle management promotions, so Lawal could have influenced it.” “But there’s only a limit to which Lawal could have pushed him especially if CyberCorp was enemy territory.” Adam said. “Yes, you’re right. He got to the top all by himself. Remember this Al Mubarak you’re all talking about, well, Faruk closed that deal for CyberCorp.” “He did?” Nicholas asked, surprised.” Wow, I knew they had a sort of connection. Why didn’t Faruk just tell him behind my back about the lack of experience? Maybe he wanted it to blow up in my face or he just wanted it to look like an honest mistake.” “I guess that is how he got his big break. At the time it was CyberCorp’s biggest deal, so you can imagine how much your father must have been thrilled.” Tola said. “I’m sure he was.” Adam said, he looked bored with the meeting. “Does Lawal stay in that house? The one where Kemi is held?” he asked. “He does, sometimes. Why?” “Nothing.” He answered abruptly. Tola looked at him, he looked like he had other things on his mind. The ex-governor was a powerful man, he had attempted to run for presidency but he had been forcefully told to step down. People believed he would be back stronger for the next election. It scared her to think that Nicholas and Adam had to contend with the man. Faruk had been Lawal’s aide for a while, before moving to CyberCorp. It surprised everyone when he closed the Al Mubarak deal. She clapped her hands as a thought came to her. “I’ve wondered how Faruk closed the Al Mubarak deal, I should have known. Guess who brought Al Mubarak to Nigeria in the first place?” Tola asked with a smile. “Lawal.” Nicholas answered with a sigh. “Do you think Al Mubarak is being used by Lawal?” “Well, there’s only one way to find out, let us ask him.” Adam replied, standing up. “Is Lawal in town right now?” “Yes he is.” Tola replied. “It’s not like you can just walk into his house, and your boss isn’t going to help you.” “I can always knock on the door, right?” “Are you crazy Adam?” Nicholas asked as he stood also. “You’ll knock? Don’t do anything crazy please.” They both stood and approached the door, Tola called to Adam as they left. “Adam, don’t do anything crazy please.” OFFA GARAGE ILORIN 3 PM 5, DECEMBER 2015 Adam stood in front of Lawal’s gate in his full police uniform. Nicholas had told him not to do anything crazy but he saw no other option. There was a camera on top of the gate so he knew he had already been seen, he knocked anyway. He was not armed, there was no point; whatever he had was going to be taken as soon as he entered. He put his hands in his pockets and looked around trying to be as calm as he could. The gate opened and one of the men he had met earlier came out. “What do you want man? Are you not scared of dying?” he looked indignant. “Oh, I’m not scared of dying. I just want to take the girl?” Adam replied with a smile. “You are a fool, you know that right? I don’t know the girl you’re talking about, I suggest you leave.” “And if I don’t?” “Well, it’s your funeral then.” “You better buy the coffin because I’m not moving an inch.” Adam felt the adrenaline rush, he stilled his fingers in his pocket. “Okay, you want to die? Step right in, I’ll oblige you.” Adam smiled and entered. It was a large house, the kind only corrupt politicians could afford to build. From the gate he could see two buildings; the main house and what looked like a ‘boys-quarters’. He knew he had to get in the main house if he was to see Lawal, he doubted Kemi would be in the ‘boys quarters’ either. “Hey, can I have like a dying wish?” Adam asked the man leading him. He chuckled. “What do you want? An European prostitute? That would be nice. If you want she can even be the one to kill you.” “You have European hookers here?” Adam replied with a smile. “That would be nice but that’s not what I want, I want to see Senator Lawal.” “You want to see oga, you are a very funny guy. I didn’t know they still made fools like you.” The man said, bending over with laughter. Adam took the opportunity and slammed his elbow into his back, the man fell over with a groan. He punched him heavily on the side of his head, he fell down cold. Adam moved in quick steps towards the house, he had a few minutes before the man woke up. The front door was open, It led to a corridor, he slipped in and closed it quietly. He saw two men sitting in a room close to the door, he stopped, they looked at him and went back to what they were doing. A fully dressed policeman obviously was not a strange sight to them. A staircase stood at the end of the corridor, he hurried towards it. He climbed the stairs, three steps at a time. It led to another corridor, from where he saw the Senator sitting opposite a large television. He approached the room where he was seated and opened the curtain. He felt a hand smack him across his face, he tried to grip a chair as he fell. Strong hands grabbed him by his shoulders, he knew he was about to be thrown out. “Sir, I want to talk about the girl you kidnapped.” He shouted as he was lifted from his feet. The senator looked at him, and signaled to the guard. The guard dragged him towards Lawal and pulled him to his feet. “You want to talk about a girl I kidnapped?” Lawal asked laughing. “You are the cop who has been getting in the way of my people, right?” “Yes sir, I am. I just want to ask for your permission to take her away. If you won’t give me the permission you must at least tell me why she’s here.” “I must tell you? I don’t have to do anything. This is my house not a police station, remember? About your request, the answer is no. I can’t let her go. She already knows I’m involved in this, I don’t want Nicholas to know that yet, so the answer is no.” “I think you are too late, Nicholas already knows you are involved. How about you let us go, both of us, you know we can’t touch you.” “Very funny.” Lawal laughed, Adam joined awkwardly. “You are a dead man, the girl will survive though, there’s no use keeping her, if Nicholas knows already, then I have no reason to keep her.” He picked a cup half-filled with some kind of juice and sipped it. “Sir, I am a policeman, you wouldn’t want to hurt me, right sir?” Adam asked, his heartbeat running faster. “You are? I didn’t notice the uniform. That was sarcasm by the way. Which unit do you work under?” Adam told him and watched him bring out his phone and dial his boss. “Hello son, I have one of your boys here… Adam, do you know him…okay, he just got fired. alright? So prepare all the necessary papers. Thank you,” He ended the call and looked at him with a smile. “You were saying?” . . . . . To be continued

Gangan!

men that think they own the country.

Ha! Lobatan...

fired nke!

This story is sooo terrible

God pls help nicholas out o

Oh! My!!!!

Heeeeee! Adam, av a nice funeral in advance

Mehn Lawal qada oooo.........jex lyk dat?

see problems up, down ,left right, inside outside........ well when u are surrounded by vultures, Neva think of dying

WOW!! tnkz for dis masterpiece. It's not a surprise that Adam was fired, Naija a place where money controls all including the police. Nicholas sure has many enemies than friend. Imagine some people fighting over some else property like it's their father own. I pity the poor girl ooo suffering over what she knws nothing about. Am not sure Tola life is save sef........@Tennie, i hail oo

Nd datz what i call..... D power of money.... Jez a call...nd he was fired... If Adam survives dis...i'm sure he wont relent until he getz 2 d root of it all... @Tiffany1 i salute ooo *smiles*

Tennie,u r so xo cute.....lil'cutie

Chisos krist of owerri adam didnt you hear anything bouh not acting crazy...back on track continue don

Eyah d senator is wicked o

Wow.. Tnx @Lewis i'm blushing

@Tenniebenson can blush.....shuu, talking Angela no fit blush reach yhu.

Lol... Ta tun ni Angela? @Tofag

Talking Tom's *tht app on android fones* girlfwend......@Tenniebenson

Oh i see.. So na cartoon u dey use me compare nw bah? If i enter ur nose @Tofag

Chapter Eighteen . . . . . . . . . . NICHOLAS’ OFFICE ILORIN 10 AM 7, DECEMBER 2015 Nicholas rolled the pen in his left hand as he tapped the fore finger of his right hand on his table. He rocked his chair and stared into space. His tie was loose and his damp shirt stuck to his body despite the air conditioning in the office. He had not had two weeks of peace since the morning when he woke up next to a supposed dead girl, it was getting tiring. He had gotten some sort of respite when he got off the hook for murder or kidnap but CyberCorp was doing just as much damage to him as an arrest probably would. He had thought of quitting, he had seriously thought about it but had decided it was not the thing to do. It would be exactly what everyone expected and it would only show he was a coward. Pressing on was not easy, not after Faruk’s revelation. The tax officers had been back and it turned out the problem was bigger than he thought. Logged-In had been a model company but for three years they had committed a lot of tax evasion. It was not a big deal for a company to have tax issues but they generally did not end up being played up in the press or dumped on a new company just taking over. As he expected, Logged-In shares had very little value and they were losing clients every week. Anybody who knew anything knew that Logged-In was done. He heard a knock on his door and his secretary came in. “Mr. Abdullah is here to see you sir.” “He is?” He had thought about bringing Faruk back but it was a bad idea, he had been silly for letting him stay for so long. “Let him in.” “Hello boss, you look tired, it’s not easy to run a company, is it?” Faruk said as he drew a chair. “No it isn’t. You are still on suspension, right?” Nicholas asked with a smile. “Yes, I am except something has changed and I have not heard of it.” “Nothing has changed, not that I know of and I think I would know. You’ve come with more bad news I suppose.” “Very funny, what do you think I am, a bad news peddler?” “Okay, what do you want Mr. Abdullah?” If he was a good person, Nicholas knew he could really be friends with Faruk. “I actually bring potential bad news, the badness of the news will depend on the decision you are going to make on the current situation of CyberCorp.” “What is the news you have?” “I know I’m suspended and I have no business here but I think I have a solution to the problem that is the bad investment in Logged-In.” “Go on.” Nicholas did not trust anything that came out of Faruk’s mouth but it did not mean he could not hear it. “There is a simple solution to this all; declare bankruptcy.” He thought about it, it made sense. If the company declared bankruptcy, the company would not have to pay anything. “It’s a good idea, isn’t it?” Faruk asked, Nicholas kept quiet. “There is a catch though, well it’s not really a catch… you will hurt a lot of people if you do this. Every other investor will be screwed basically.” He had not thought of that, Faruk was right. A lot of poor people who had invested in the company would lose a lot. These people might not recover, CyberCorp will. “I believe we can still salvage Logged-In, all we have to do is revamp the company. Thanks for your advice but we won’t be filing for bankruptcy.” “I knew you would come to that conclusion, you’re a good man boss. The problem is business is not for good men. Here’s my bad news; SON, the standard organization people just withdrew the production license of Logged-In.” “What! Why?” Nicholas asked , surprised. It looked like everybody was out to ruin the takeover. “I don’t know, but I know it’s a lot of trouble running a company that cannot even produce.” “Wow, you are really a peddler of bad news, aren’t you? Not just for me now, but for everybody, especially the investors. Is that all Mr. Abdullah?” He hoped there was no more, it was already too much. “That will be all sir. So what are you going to do?” Faruk asked. “We’ll see.” Nicholas answered. Filing for bankruptcy was bad but it had to be done. ILORIN 2 PM 7, DECEMBER 2015 Tola could not believe the mess around her. She was not a perfectionist but there was a line between ‘carefreeness’ and dirtiness, the room definitely crossed the line. She tried to shut out her environment and concentrate on the person sitting across from her. Nicholas had mentioned in passing that Adam had spoken to a lady who used to work for Faruk and she was the reason Kemi had been found at all. Getting to meet her was not a huge problem. She like most ladies her age loved internet gossip, so when she got an email from one of her favourite gossip blogger to set up an interview with another blogger, she had agreed immediately. “I’m sorry about the room, I was going to take care of the place tomorrow.” Helen said with a weak smile. “Oh, it’s not a problem.” Tola said, her face betraying the lie. “I’m just glad you agreed to meet me.” “When Ese Tokunbo says you should meet somebody, you meet the person. She never told me what this was about though.” “You used to work in CyberCorp, right?” Tola asked. Helen relaxed in the chair and crossed her arms across her chest. “Yes, I did.” “And you used to work with Mr. Faruk Abdullah?” “Yes, I used to. What is this about?” “I don’t mean to trouble you but why were you fired? From what I gather, you did your work well and Mr. Faruk liked you.” “I don’t… you know what, no need for any more lies. Yes I was good and I wasn’t fired in a bad way. I was compensated.” “Okay, but why were you fired?” “Do you know Senator Lawal? Of course you know him, everybody knows him.” “Yes I know him, go on please.” “Wait, you know the C.E.O. of CyberCorp died recently, right?” “Yes I know that too.” It looked like Helen was rambling. “Okay, alright… despite what everybody thinks, he did not die of natural causes.” “He didn’t? How did he die?” Tola sat up, she was getting information she did not expect. “No he didn’t. He was poisoned.” “He was? How come it wasn’t detected? How was he poisoned? Who did it?” She had so many questions. “The poison is… I don’t know the name but it is supposed to be indetectable, it acted slowly… I don’t know all the details, it’s not like I was briefed.” “Okay, alright but who did it?” “I don’t know who did it. I mean I know who orchestrated it but I don’t know who poisoned him.” “Okay…” Tola was getting impatient.”Who orchestrated it? Wait, was it Senator Lawal?” “Yes, I said so before.” “No, you didn’t… doesn’t matter. Do you have any proof of this?” “Proof? Are you serious? How do you expect me to have proof?” She was right, she probably would not be alive if she had proof. “They just let you go despite all you know?” “Yes they did. Like you mentioned earlier, Faruk liked me plus I was paid, I have no reason to talk… except now I am talking. I have not been able to get it off my mind since… Remember I also have no proof of this.” “Wow, thanks a lot for this information. I wasn’t expecting to get this much when I asked to see you.” Tola stood up, she had gotten more than she expected. “Wait, there is something else. I have the card of the guy who supplied the poison. He was kind of hitting on me, right in front of my boss, jerk. Let me get it for you.” Tola waited as she went inside to get the card. She was killing two birds with a single stone; putting together a great story and helping solve a crime. The door opened and Helen came out with the card, she was about to hand Tola the card when there was a knock of the door. Helen moved towards the door to open, Tola waited she had to share this new information with Nicholas. Tola watched Helen open the door, she could see a man standing in front of the open door, a neighbour maybe. Tola was about looking away when she heard a bang, the man was gone and Helen turned towards her gripping the door. Blood was coming from her stomach, it could have been her chest, she had been shot. She stumbled and fell across the room. Tola stifled a cry, she grabbed her bag, the man could be back. Her legs shook as she jumped to her feet. She stepped over the body trying her best not to step on blood. She was about leaving the room when she saw the card sticking out of her hands, she grabbed it and hurried away. NICHOLAS’ OFFICE ILORIN 5 PM 7, DECEMBER 2015 Kate had not been in Nicholas’ office very much, it was off limits but it she did not always feel welcomed there. She knew it was not a very good time in CyberCorp so she was surprised when Nicholas asked her to come. Nicholas had moved two chairs to face the window, the view from his office was incredible. “If i had this kind of office i would not leave ever.” Kate said with a smile. “If you had all the trouble that goes with it, you’d probably leave as fast as you can.” “You have a point. Why did you want me here by the way anyway? It’s not like this office is very romantic.” “I don’t know, i guess i just wanted to see something good happen inside this office.” “Oh, nice to know that you see me as something good.” Kate said with a chuckle. “You can’t tell me nothing good has ever happened here. “No, i can’t tell you that, but i can’t remember them. The bad just outweighs the good.” “Hmm.” Kate said. They sat in silence and watched the city. Kate still wondered why Nicholas had called her that morning, she had asked but he did not have an answer. She was glad he did anyway. Their relationship had gone only upwards since their date at the Romanticismo. Like every relationships they had their challenges, CyberCorp was a major one. She did not know much about running a major coporation but she did not think Nicholas’ problems were normal. “You know who I met here last?” Nicholas asked closing his eyes. “Faruk. How worse can it get?” “It probably can’t worse actually. What was he doing here by the way?” “To deliver more bad news of course, what else?” “They have more bad news left? Can this really get worse?” Things were bad, that much she understood from what Nicholas had told her. Things getting worse meant trouble for him, for her, for them. “Oh, it can and it did. Long story short is I’ve had to take a decision that is going to hurt a lot of people.” “You have?” That was not something you heard from your boyfriend every day. “Yes, do you see how tough this job is, you have to take such delicate decisions.” He did not seem to realize what he had just told her. “You said you were gonna hurt people, what did you mean when you said that? What people?” “I didn’t say I was going to hurt them, I just said the decision I took will… well I guess I am hurting them.” “Nicholas, what are you talking about? Which people?” “The investors in Logged-In, all of them. We are declaring bankruptcy, they all lose their money. It’s sad isn’t it?” “Oh, why do you have to declare bankruptcy? Isn’t there another way?” “There is no other reasonable way. The only other way will be paying them for their shares but that is not reasonable. “It is not?” Kate could not believe what she was hearing. “We will be paying a lot of money despite the huge losses we have already suffered, you know all about that already.” “And you think hurting those poor people is a better option?” “They should learn to invest smartly next time.” Nicholas said with a chuckle, then he looked at Kate. “Hey, I was joking. Why are you looking at me like that?” “You actually think it is funny, don’t you?” Kate said standing up. “Now I know what it is like to be on the other side of the table.” “What is going on here? Why are you angry? It’s not like I have a choice here, do I?” “Nicholas, you always have a choice. You know this kind of stuff happened to my uncle, he invested a lot of his money in a company because everybody in his office was doing it. Some rich spoilt C.E.O. somewhere decided his company was more important than him…” “Is that how you see me? You think I’m a rich spoilt C.E.O.?” She did not reply him. “My uncle was poor till he died, most of his children are yet to recover from that single incident. But of course the company must not incur any more losses.” She picked her bag and moved towards the door, Nicholas did not make a move to stand. She opened the door and left the room. She walked briskly to the elevator, punched the keys and stepped in. She twiddled her thumbs as she watched the elevator tick at each floor. She wished the day had gone another way but she could not believe Nicholas was turning into the selfish C.E.O. she never thought he could become. The elevator doors opened and she stepped into the reception, it was almost empty, only the receptionist was in the room. She nodded at her and walked out of the building and towards the parking lot. She glanced at the gate and stopped. She saw a familiar figure walking towards the gate. Kemi! It had to be her. Kate looked at the parking lot then turned back, if it was Kemi she had to know for sure. She skipped as she walked, it was Kemi for sure. Kate stopped when she saw the car, it was driving too fast and it was coming towards Kemi. Kate dropped her bag and started running towards the gate, Kemi just kept coming. The car was getting closer and then Kemi heard it, she turned to look at the car as it hit her. She rose into the air and crashed against the sidewalks, the car screeched and sped away. Kate dropped to her knees, bowed her head and screamed. . . . . . To be continued

Mehn.....problems everywhere...... Nicholas are u sure u would even be able 2 escape from all these?? Cos itz jex 2 much 4 one person...

If nah my nose, yhu go be like catarrh...blowing away fins@Tenniebenson This is called 'most problem' or 'problemest'

oh tell me it's not happening. @Nick do not take decision dat will make people suffer

Na wa oh. Chaiiiiiiiiii Nicholas don suffer.

Wonda hw we cn cope dnt knw if we wil survive dix shit... Dunt undastnd kemi any more... Adam wia u de nah???

Well... D senator already said he dsnt need her anymore since Nicholas already knew he was behind it...nd he decided 2 kill her...too bad.. Aw re we sure dis is not anoda set up 4 Nicholas? I've alwyz knwn dat d late C.E.O didnt die a natural death...it was obvious.. A very tough situation..... @Tofag i'm #unblowable# o.. If i enter ur nose..ur nose don block finally be dat

Diz 3 much

Hmmmmm

Dis lyf sha

Too many trouble for just one man. Nicholas, u need to involve God to save you from this mess.

Na wah o, wots all dis?

No! kemi must nt die at a tym lyk dis nd i think Nicholas shouldn't take de advice of Faruk coz it can be another plot against him.

Uneasy lies d head dat wears d crown, its even worst wen surrounded by much more enemies dan friends. Hmmm, u need divine help Nicholas

Ahh,dz Story Z Getting More Complicated Mehn.

WOW!!! This just keep getting bloody. I guess the senator's men have been trailing tola. Innocent helen just lost her life. i wonder why tola is still alive thou, seems they kept her for a reason, atleast they could have killed her own her way

bad to worse, hope everything gets better

Wen wl I read episode wit goodnews? I feel sory 4 Nicholas

One day one trouble for Nicholas oooo.

I had butterfly in my tommy when reading dis.suspence filled story...nice job

Each day new trouble.....God help u 2 come of dx trobles.......

oh God!. This is going more complicated for Nicholas.

oh God!. This is going more complicated for Nicholas, Adam fired, Helen dead, kemi in a bad position, Tola been monitored, Faruk bringing more bad news... Nicholas beware o

nawa oh another setup

Chapter Nineteen . . . . . . . . . . CYBERCORP TOWER ILORIN 6 PM 7, DECEMBER 2015 Nicholas paced in his office. He had considered going after Kate but he decided against it, he was still in shock at her reaction. He knew what he had decided to do was not a very good thing but he did not have a choice, it had to be done. He walked to his refrigerator, he needed a cold drink. He was about to open it when he heard the sound, it was distant so he ignored it. He took out the bottle of water and moved to his seat. He was not proud but she had insulted him, he was not going to run after her. He heard footsteps pounding just outside the door, it looked like Kate had come back to apologise after all. The door burst open as Kate barged in, she was crying. “Hey Kate, it’s okay. All couples fight, we just had our first fight, there’s no reason to cry.” “What?” she mumbled “Your apology is accepted, okay?” she looked confused. “Apology? A car just hit Kemi!” She said and walked towards the door. Nicholas watched her go. He did not understand what she meant by ‘a car just hit Kemi’. Kemi was kidnapped, how would Kate know if a car hit her. “Wait!” He said and ran after her, she was already in the elevator, he entered the elevator just as the door was about to close. “A car hit Kemi… I don’t understand” “A car hit her just as I was leaving the building.” She was obviously disturbed. “You saw her? How did she get… she was kidnapped, where did you see her?” “She was approaching the gate.” Kate replied dabbing at her eyes with a white handkerchief. “How did she get here? Did she escape?” “How on earth am I supposed to know that Nicholas? I didn’t talk to her, I just saw her coming that’s all.” He knew he was rambling but he could not help himself. The elevator door opened and Kate stumbled into the receptionist, Nicholas held her as they walked out of the building. “Kate, is she dead?” His mind was trying to block out the possibility. “I don’t know… the car that hit her got away but another driver picked her up, they told me she was been taken to the University teaching hospital.” “That place is far, oh my God!” He had tried his best to keep Kemi off his mind and he had succeeded for a while. He was sure he had no feelings for her, not anymore but she was his friend – a very close friend. Her kidnap had disturbed him especially when it looked like it had a lot to do with him. He could not bear the thought that she would die on his doorstep. “Kate, I have to go to the hospital, I’m sorry I can’t drive you home right now.” He said and walked towards his car. His driver had closed, he had been planning on staying late with Kate. “Nicholas, are you serious?” Nicholas turned to see Kate coming behind him. “What kind of person do you think I am? I would just go home and sleep not sure if Kemi is dead or alive? I’m going with you” He was glad she had offered to come, he was not sure what he would meet at the hospital, it was better to have a friend around. They drove in silence. Nicholas looked at her a couple of times, she seemed to be lost in thought, he desperately hoped that he was not involved in whatever she was thinking about. “Kate, I’m sorry.” She looked at him and looked away. “I can’t remember the things I said but whatever they were, I didn’t mean to hurt you, okay?” “Yeah, okay. I don’t think we should be talking about us right now…” “Yes… did she look okay before the car hit her?” “I don’t know, I think so… there was something about her hair but she walked okay, I guess. I didn’t see her very clearly and I didn’t see her for too long… I don’t know.” “Okay.” Nicholas said a silent prayer for Kemi as they turned into the hospital. He pulled into the parking lot, turned off the engine and stepped out of the car. Crummy music blared from the car parked next to him, the dude oblivious to the environment it was getting dark and cold. Kate got out of the car and they walked towards the Accident and Emergency block. A nurse pointed them in the direction of where the newest accident victims were. Nicholas tried his best not to look at the patients as they walked into the ward. He heard Kate let out a sob as she held his arm, it was not a place one wanted to visit very often. “Hey Doctor…” He called out as quietly as he could. “… I’m looking for a lady, she was brought in this evening… car accident, have you seen her?” “I’m not sure, are you her family members?” the doctor asked. “Well… we are.” Nicholas replied. “I was there when she was hit.” Kate added. “Oh, I did not attend to any new patients today, but I saw a couple of them brought in. What was she wearing?” “A white shirt, it could have been yellow, I saw her from a distance.” Kate answered. “Okay, I saw that one, go that way.” He pointed them in the direction. Kate held him tighter, he himself needed someone to hold, he was terrified. They turned a corner and he saw her. Her hair was low and a part of her head was covered by blood but he could still recognize her. A doctor and three nurses stood beside her bed, a couple of policemen stood by also. “Hello Doctor… hi.” The doctor looked at him like he had stopped him as he was about to be kissed by his celebrity crush. “Yes, what do you want?” “I’m sorry but that lady is my friend and she was hit in front of my office.” “Oh, well…” “How is she? Is she going to make it?” Kate asked. “It’s difficult to say she’s going to make it right now, she was hit pretty bad and she’s broken a lot of bones and lost a lot of blood.” The doctor said. Kate leaned on his chest and cried, his knees shook, he tried his best to stay steady. “Is there anything we can do?” He said, trying to stop the tears from rolling dropping from his eyes. “She has lost a lot of blood so she’s going to need blood at a point but for now you need to get this.” The doctor handed him a list. “Mr. Akorede.” One of the policemen called him. He had completely forgotten about them, he did not understand what they were doing with Kemi… or how they knew his name. The one who spoke actually looked familiar. “Yes?” “I suggest you give the list to the lady beside you, you have to come with us.” “Come with you? Why? There’s no way I’m leaving Kemi like this.” He remembered his face now, he was Adam’s boss. Where on earth is Adam anyway? “Well, you have to come. You are under arrest for the kidnap and conspiracy to murder.” QKK LABOURATORY ILORIN 9 AM 8, DECEMBER 2015 Tola held tightly to her bag as she walked towards the office. She knew what she was doing was dangerous but she could not stop now. She had watched a girl die and it was a wonder she was still alive. The killer probably did not know she was in the room and she was glad he did not but if Helen was not going to die for nothing she was going to have to get to the bottom of the case. She stopped in front of the door that read ‘Dr. Osunleke’. He was a scientist in a privately owned and run labouratory. Tola always knew private science labs were dangerous, they were free to do whatever they wanted, nobody checked them. “Knock knock” she said as she knocked. “Come in.” She entered into a very neat office, she had expected to see bottles and test tubes and all types of glass containers. The man seating behind the table was even more impressive, he was young – late twenties she estimated. Like most scientists she had seen in movies he wore glasses, his was gold rimmed though. “What can I do for you young lady?” he asked with a charming smile. She smiled back, more for his ‘young lady’ remark than as response to his charm. “Can I sit?” she asked trying to match his charm with her own smile. “I don’t know, can you?” “Oh, may I sit?” she said still smiling, this time more genuinely. “Yes, you may.” He watched her as she sat. “What can I do you for?” She understood why Helen had called him a jerk, he was undressing her with his eyes, he did not bother to hide his lust. “I need to ask for a special favour, a tiny one.” If he was a horny little dog, she was going to have to use that. “Can you do that for me honey?” “It depends, does it involve breaking the law or crossing powerful people? Those are two things that I fear with the whole of my heart” “Why?” he looked genuine. “You see this?” he said, pointing to him face. “A week in prison or in the hands of a powerful man and it’s gone. I can’t afford to lose my awesomeness.” “Yes, you can’t afford to lose your awesomeness. I just need to know what you gave to Senator Lawal or whoever he sent to you.” “Whoa…” he said as he stood up. “Didn’t you hear me say I don’t cross powerful people? Lawal is powerful , isn’t he?” “He is, I know but nobody would know you told me a word.” “How did you even get here? Who told you I gave him anything?” He was pacing behind his chair, it made Tola uncomfortable. “Hey, come on, I’m a journalist…well, kind of, I’m a blogger, I know how to protect my sources.” “You’re a blogger? Wait, are you that… oh, great. Who knew I would have you in my office.” He said as he sat. He seemed to have forgotten his fear of powerful people. “Why do you want to know the poison I gave to Lawal?” “Lawal is into a few nefarious activities, probably more than a few, I just need information about this one.” “You know if you write about him, you’re dead, right?” “It’s possible but I don’t think he’ll have time for me when I’m done.” She of course was bluffing, she did not know what she would do with the information she was gathering. “I cannot tell you anything about the poison, i would be admitting to breaking the law and I would be crossing a powerful man.” Tola kept quiet for a while, then decided it was better to be forthright with information if she wanted to get any. So she told him about Kemi who was kidnapped and a little about Nicholas trying her best not to give him too much information. He looked quite taken with the story. “Wow, that’s bad. I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything about the poison but I can tell you something more important. This would get him in a lot of trouble, he would not have the time to chase after you. When I supplied him with the poison, he could not pay me with his normal bank account and I don’t take cash – I always need a traceable transaction so he paid with me a through a special account.” “Okay…” she did not know where he was going but she was glad he was talking. “Just in case you didn’t notice, I’m a genius, so I traced the transaction and did a little more than I was supposed to, but it paid off, I guess. I found something Lawal would not want found, two hundred and fifty billion naira.” “Wow, that’s a lot of money. You’re a scientist, what do you know about accounting?” “Accounting? We are talking programs and networks and you’re talking accounting.” He replied with a huge grin, he was more than a little pleased with himself. “I don’t understand though, did he steal all that money from this state? And where is the money now? Oh my God, did you steal it?” “No! I didn’t, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. The money doesn’t belong to the state. Remember when he wanted to run for Presidency and he was kicked out, well it was because a huge amount of money was lost and he was the prime suspect. They had no evidence, so of course they could not do anything about it.” “What are you telling me? You have proof that Lawal stole the party’s money? You know what that means?” Tola could not believe it, Lawal was going down if Mr. Horny Pants was not just bragging. “I know what it means, I get a date with you!” It did not matter, she would go on ten dates with him if she was able to bring down Lawal. SENATOR LAWAL’S HOUSE ILORIN 9 AM 8, DECEMBER 2015 Adam sat with his hands tied behind his back, his legs were tied to the legs of the chair. He found it strange that he was tied, he was not going anywhere. He could not get out, he had tried and failed, James Bond would not get out of the house. He had wondered if Nicholas noticed he was missing, he doubted it. He had been gone for a few days and it was not the first time. He had gathered from some of the men talking that Kemi had been released, he was not relived though, people like Lawal do not leave loose ends. “Adam, you know I cannot leave loose ends, right?” Lawal was asking flanked by two skinheads. “You and I must have like minds because I was just thinking the same thing.” “If we had like minds, you will not be just a policeman, you would be wealthy and powerful.” “I guess you have a point.” He knew it was probably time to die but it did not understand why he had kept him that long. “You are probably going to kill me now, but I have a question, why did you wait till now?” “That is an excellent question, I’m not one to gloat but your question would make me do just that. I’ll just round it up for you. Kemi is dead or almost dead…”What?!“…Nicholas was just arrested for the kidnap and murder of Kemi, CyberCorp is going under. Adam, I must tell you, life is great!” Adam felt weak all over, he had dedicated the past few months to catching this man, instead it was going to be the opposite. He had failed Kemi, failed Nicholas and most of all failed himself. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up, you never had a chance against me anyways.” Lawal said taunting him and he had a point, he never had a chance. “Momoh, finish this up, will you?” he said to one of the skinheads. Lawal winked at Adam and turned to leave. His hand was on the handle when his phone rang, Momoh and his brother from hell stopped. “Hello… what?… listen to me you little… do you know who… okay, just calm down, what do you want? Okay.” Adam looked up at him, he was sweating, he had never seen Lawal look terrified. “Any problem? You look like you’re the one about to die.” Adam asked. Lawal shouted and rammed his fist into Momoh. . . . . . To be continued

Lol.... So lawal too can fight...he's not even the owner of the money he's spending *owo egbe*... Nicholas,na only God fit save you from this people ...

Adam, You've signed your death warrant. well I like your courage sha.with d new development you may end up being a free man

d DON weldone and happy New Month...#kudos buzz.

secret and loope holes.

Eeehnn lwkmd so lawal sef sabi fear like this. I guess tola is the caller. Nicholas sef don enter wahala. naija police eehnnn, charged 4 murder bawo. Was he found at the scene of d murder???

Hehehehhehehehehehhe!! Hand don catch yhu

hmmmm.

Dats gud 4 lawal,dis is becoming more intresting,welldone@Donwalter

Lol adam u have not seen any thing yet

Nawow 4 dis tori. Depicting how luthless most of our politicians cld be. Nicholas! I pray you scale out of this mess

Wow, Nicolas arrested, Kemi almost dead, Lawal, you are next!!!! @TENNIE, I dor show for here like JAMES BOND,!

I tink kemi survived anyway ltx kip reading

what is greater than de mighty will soon invade de mighty's hole

may God safe u adam

haha! Lawal u're almost doomed, really love Adam & Tola's courage. Am sure nothing is going to happen to Adam. Nicholas jes b calm u get witness na

Happy new month pals. NICHOLAS continues tomorrow

if u dial number and e no go, na try again later b DAT, Adam e never reach time for u to die oya senator lawal call Adam death line again...... d number u call is not available. Adam u gonna survive

@Wiseman kabo... Lawal is sweating under a.c....isn't dat awesome? Oshey shey bere ni o (u jez start) i jez hope dis story wont av part2..cos i wana see d end ryt hia.... Diz police officers re jez too corrupt...d power of money..

Nah over awesome dey worry am @tennie Hope say you still remain small pop corn for me @tennie?

Chapter Twenty . . . . . . . . . . UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL ILORIN 7 AM 8, DECEMBER 2015 Kate opened her eyes slowly, she was not sure what had woken her up; the voices or the pain in her back. She had slept off around one in the morning beside Kemi’s bed. Nicholas had insisted she stay in the hospital, he was sure the arrest was a mistake or some new thing Lawal had cooked up to destroy him, either way, she was not going to be any good and Kemi needed her more. She could not help but worry, it had kept her awake. Kemi had not stirred, the doctors did not think she was going to make it. If Kemi died and Nicholas could not get out of jail, it was going to be the worse day of her life. Her phone rang, she dug inside her handbag to get it. It was Nicholas’ mom. It had not occurred to her to call Nicholas’ mother. If Lawal was indeed behind Nicholas’ arrest, she was sure he would not be allowed access to a phone. “Hello ma’am.” “Kate, how are you. Do you know where Nicholas is? He has not picked my calls since last night, he doesn’t do that.” She sounded anxious. “I’m sorry ma, I should have called you since yesterday.” “What are you talking about? What happened to him?” she sounded even more anxious. “He was arrested yesterday.” “Arrested? For what?” “Kidnap and attempted murder of Kemi, he was arrested right here in the hospital.” “Murder of who… what was he doing in the hospital in the first place” Of course she did not know about the accident. “I’m sorry, I should have told u this too. Kemi was hit by a car yesterday, it happened in front of CyberCorp building.” “But why? Nicholas didn’t… how’s Kemi, will she survive? Is she okay? Can I speak to her?” Nicholas’ mom rambled on, she was obviously distraught. “She’s unconscious, the doctors are not very hopeful.” Kate looked at Kemi, it looked like a part of her face moved. She looked closer, she was moving and then she started groaning. “Can I call you back ma’am?” She put of the phone without waiting for a reply, jumped off the chair. It looked like she was saying something.] “Adam…” Kemi mumbled. Why was she talking about Adam? “Shhhh, conserve your energy, don’t talk.” Kate looked around, there was no nurse or doctor in sight. “Adam…” she said again, her voice barely a whisper. “…Lawal… Adam is…kidnap…find him.” Kate looked around again, this time in confusion. Adam was investigating the kidnap, Nicholas had mentioned that he had not seen or heard from him in a few days. Why was Kemi telling her to find him? If that was what she was saying. “Nicholas…” “He’s not here, he is fine, he will be here soon, okay? Just relax.” “ Chelsea bag… false bottom…” She coughed, stopping her rambling. Kate could not understand, Chelsea bag? She could not recall Nicholas owing anything like that. “Nicholas…I’m sorry.” “Just keep quiet Kemi, Nicholas would be here soon.” She had no idea if Nicholas was coming any time soon but it seemed to make Kemi happy, she smiled and closed her eyes. Her phone rang again, she had not told Nicholas’ mother where Nicholas had been taken to. It was not her. “Hello.” Kate said “Hi, Kate right? I have called Nicholas but he is not picking his calls, this is very important, I need to meet him.” The voice sounded familiar. “Who is this please?” “Oh sorry, this is Tola, we met earlier.” It was the blogger. Why would she want to meet Nicholas? “Yeah, Nicholas is not here, he was arrested last night.” “He was? That’s interesting. Do you think Senator Lawal had anything to do with this?” She could not understand why the blogger sounded so excited. “It’s possible he did, why do you ask?” “If he did… you know what, how about you meet me at the police station? What police station was he taken to?” “I don’t know…” She heard a beep on her phone, she looked at it, Nicholas’ mom’s call was waiting. “I don’t know but I would think it would be the headquarters. I have to pick another call and I can’t come to the station now, I am in the hospital. Bye.” “Hello ma’am, sorry I had to drop that call so fast, Kemi was stirring, I had to get to her.” “How is she?” “I don’t know, it looks bad… I don’t know honestly.” “All is well. Which station is Nicholas held at?” “Oh sorry, I should have talked about that, I am not sure, but it would be the headquarters. That’s where I would check.” She pulled the chair closer to the bed and dropped into it. GOVERNMENT HOUSE ILORIN 9 AM 8, DECEMBER 2015 Tola had never been so excited in her life, one of the nation’s most corrupt leaders was about to be brought down and she was going to be a part of it. Putting Nicholas in jail was going to be his last act as a villain. She talked with the governor of the state, it was not easy to pull off but he was more than glad she had gotten to him. He was a political son of Lawal but like most political fathers, Lawal was overbearing and he wanted to know anything that would set him free. It had not been difficult getting the governor to believe she had anything relevant but she convinced him. She had not given him anything but the promise of information that would sink LawaL was good, it was enough to set up a meeting. She had one more thing to ask though. “Hello Your Excellency, this is Omotola Adekunle, we talked yesterday sir.” He answered on the third ring. “Yes… I thought our meeting was scheduled to hold in an hour’s time.” “Yes sir, we will meet in an hour, I just needed to ask for a favour sir.” “A favour?” He sounded hesitant. “Yes sir. It’s about a man named Nicholas Akorede…” “C.E.O. of CyberCorp? “ he asked. “Yes sir, he was arrested last night on the command of Senator Lawal, he is supposed to be a part of our meeting, can you please get him released? I would like for him to come with me.” “You realize, I can’t just… what was he arrested for?” “Sir, you are the governor, I’m sure whoever is holding him would listen to you. Just give the commissioner a call, I’m sure he would honour you above the ex-governor.” Tola knew he would make the call, he would do anything to be free from Lawal. Three minutes later, her phone rang and lady told her to pick Nicholas at the Police headquarters in ten minutes. She drummed on her steering wheel as she pulled into the Police Station, Nicholas was already standing outside, his suit folded across his arm. She got out of her car, motioned to him. He saw her and approached the car, he looked confused, she could not blame him. “Get in, I’m about to make your day.” He opened the door and entered. “Sorry, my car is a little messed up right now but you would not mind after I give you this good news.” “You look so excited.” He said. “How did you get me out? They wouldn’t even let me call anybody.” “Just listen to me.” She then told him all that had happened. She watched him closely, she knew she had given him the greatest news he had ever heard, but his reaction surprised her. He did not smile, instead his eyes seemed to water, he looked away from her. “Are you okay? I thought you’d be excited.” “I’m excited, sorry, thank you for everything. So this is over, huh? Lawal goes down and I get to have peace?” “Yeah, I guess.” “You know Kemi could die and it will all be my fault, if I had refused CyberCorp, all these would not have happened.” “Come on, you shouldn’t blame yourself. Remember Kemi was kidnapped before you took over CyberCorp?” “Yeah, let’s just see the governor, let’s see how this ends.” They rode in silence for the twenty-five minutes’ drive to the Government House. They were expected so it was not difficult to get into the state house. They were ushered into what looked like a boardroom by a petite middle aged woman. Nicholas looked distracted as they sat. “His excellency will be here in a few minutes.” She said before she left. Fifteen minutes later the governor was sitting in from of them. He had greeted Nicholas with some kind of respect, it surprised her, he just eyed her with suspicion. “Miss Adekunle, let’s hear what you have to say.” The governor started, trying to hide his anticipation. “Alright sir, the short version of what I want to say is this; I have proof that Senator Lawal stole the party’s money. That’s it.” “You have proof? How did you come across this proof?” He was failing badly at his attempt to hide his excitement. “You know I can’t tell you that sir. What I can tell you is this, the proof is legitimate.” “What do you plan to do about it? And why are you here?” She had thought about it, she could make a lot of noise with the evidence, she would cause a stir but it could all end with her. The governor on the other hand could pursue it with his own political prowess and he could easily see that Lawal was punished. “Sir, I am sure that you want to see justice served and this money was stolen from your own political party, we believe you are in the best position to pursue this sir.” “Okay, I hear you but I have a feeling there is more to this, why is Mr. Akorede here?” He asked looking at Nicholas who had been quiet. “I’m sure you’re aware that CyberCorp has been in the middle of a storm recently, I don’t want to bore you with the details but we have cause to believe that Senator Lawal is behind all of this.” Nicholas explained. The governor did not look surprised, he apparently knew Lawal was at war with CyberCorp. “Okay, what do you want?” The governor asked. “I want him to serve time in jail for all he has done; kidnapping me, kidnapping Kemi and if she dies, I want him to serve time for murder!” Nicholas got more emotional as he talked, Tola was scared he would burst into tears. “That’s a lot, how am I supposed to do all of these? The evidence here should put him in jail but you know how it is in Nigeria, he won’t be in jail for long.” “That’s not good enough.” Nicholas said, shaking his head. Nobody could blame him, he just spent the night in jail for a crime he did not commit. “There has to be another way… Faruk! If we can get Faruk to testify against him, that would help.” “I know Faruk well and I know he will not go against Lawal.” The governor said. “Not if Lawal is going down for the fraud charge.” Tola said. “He would know he does not have much to fear plus he gets a light sentence for his part in everything.” “Okay, I’ll bring him in, see what I can do.” The governor said. “You’re going to have to give me the evidence you say you have, I’ll have my people go over it, see if it is legit.” “Oh, it is legit.” She said as she handed a file to the governor. “Just in case you decide to go against us in anyway sir, this isn’t a threat but know that people know about this already and you won’t get away with it.” “Okay Miss Adekunle. I just need to add that you can’t write about this until the case becomes official, okay?” She could wait, but when she eventually wrote the story, the whole nation would know her name and justice would be served. ILORIN 12 PM 8, DECEMBER 2015 The call from Kate still worried Nicholas. Kemi was not getting better, she had spoken at a point but that was it, her death was only a matter of time. The meeting with the governor had put a new fire in him, if Faruk would testify against Lawal, then he would be convicted on many charges, charges he deserved to do time for. But Kate had mentioned something about Adam been kidnapped and needing to be found. He had called him and he was not reachable but it did not mean he was kidnapped. He had been upset the last time they had talked but he had to be okay, he was a policeman, he could take care of himself. He looked at Tola who was driving, her excitement was still bubbling, she was building a big story, it would make her career if she was the one who broke it. Nicholas could not begrudge her using him to get famous, he would still be in jail if it was not for her. “Where are we going?” Nicholas asked her. “Thought you’d never ask. We are going to see Senator Lawal.” She answered in a sing-song voice, it was all fun for her. “Why? I thought we were going to allow the governor do this.” Somehow he was afraid of facing Lawal. “Yeah, we are going for something else. I called him yesterday…” “Wait, you called him? How did you even get his number?” “I’ve got contacts, give me some credit. Anyway, I told him I have evidence he killed your father and I was going to go public…” “What did you just say? He killed my father?” “I’m sorry, I was going to tell you but with you being kidnapped and then finding evidence that can convict Lawal, I just forgot.” “You forgot? You know… how did you find that out by the way? You forgot?” Nicholas knew he was probably overreacting but he had been through a lot and he had mostly kept his cool, it was only a matter of time before he blew his top. “The same person that gave me the evidence of Lawal’s theft told me.” “And he knows this how?” “He was involved, Nicholas I know you are upset but we are putting an end to this, right?” She was right, he needed to calm down. “What do you hope to get from this meeting anyways? A confession?” “Exactly, a confession. I will record the meeting, if he confesses, bingo! That is all!” Nicholas looked at her, she looked downright eccentric but he liked her, if everything went to plan, his life was about to return to normal. Well, sort of. . . . . . To be continued

Wow congrats Nicholas, the lite at the end of the tunnel is now brighter......... Oh on December 8? My bday, wah a great day. Buh @Donwalter uploaded at 6:30? Shuu, mummy no vex?

Interesting. . . .nxt mbok

I must confess... I'm scared o... Will Lawal dance 2 Tola's tune jez like dat? With all doz guards around? Keeping my little ass glued 2 d chair... @Wiseman no be only popcorn... I get alomo..orijin..opa-eyin... I even get #benson#

Interezting

I hope they come out alive

Dis story get me tense every tym,just feel lyk read everytin @once

Still following...

may God b wit u tola becos am so afraid of ur plan if lawal confess dat he dd wot u accuse him of wil u tink u wil cum out of his house safely becos b4 u count 2 step he wil av attack u it beta u shud inform anoda persn abt it incase if thing turn upside down

@tennie, what is Orijin? But if it's Benson, I know about that Lawal a whole senator, I don't think he will make confession, I pray reverse shouldn't be the case for Tola

Tola u're makinq so much proqress and i thank God u decided 2 help Nick out........bt considerinq ya plan 2 mek the senator confess and record it...hmm am nt sure dat would work oooh bt i'll jex sit tiqht and watch how u'll do the maqic....am prayin he does'nt attack u sef....

I comment my reserve

I fear dat Lawal will get you killed or probably find out that u r recording the confession & dat wld be disastrous. Anyway, it's a good thing Nicholas is out & anoda big man is involved in tracking down Lawal but Nicholas, a little prayer wld gr8ly help you out in dis situation

Nice one, lawal visa to jail is been processed.

i dey fear oooo......hmmm,i pray u succed

Hope everything will get back to normal now, i dnt think it will be that easy for Tola. Well, lets wait and see.

Hmmmmm...

Cn't predict bt hp fins turn out wel, bt it seems Tola wil be brought dwn

whalai tola. U don go too far,am nt sure u live to write dx tori on ur blog.

I hope ur plan work @tola. @tenniebenson nah only u go drink all dat #easy ooo

Oh my!! A walk into the lion's den.

It's not easy 2 bring Senator Lawal down jex like dat

No o @Babe4biola na @wiseman i wan give ... @Donwalter whatz up na

i dey fear make d worst no hapen o

Chapter Twenty-One . . . . . . . . . . LAWAL’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 1 PM 8, DECEMBER, 2015 The excitement of seeing Lawal pay for his sins had given way to fear. He was about to face the man who had killed his father, and tormented him for months, it was all too much to take. He had entered the compound with Tola without any problem, the guards apparently did not know who he was or did not care. They had been led to a porch outside the main house and had been waiting for twenty minutes. It was a tactic, Lawal was trying to make them stew, and it was working, he was getting nervous. “There they are; my latest troublers.” Lawal said as he entered, his voice booming through the room. Nicholas jumped to his feet, Tola cast him a disapproving look and he sat down. “You don’t have to stand Mr. Akorede, I’m no longer the governor you know, in fact I have not been the governor for a long time.” Lawal said, pulling a chair and dumping his massive body on it. “Let’s go straight to business, we know you’re a busy man.” Tola said with a smirk. “You are right, I am a busy man but there is something I need you to do for me before we go on here. Momoh!” He called leaning towards the door, a huge man with abs like Bruce Lee walked in. “Search the lady and the gentleman here, I believe they are wearing wires. I’m sorry guys, I just don’t trust journalists.” Nicholas shook his head as Momoh began to frisk him, Tola’s plan of recording the conversation was going out of the window. Nicholas watched as Momoh’s large hands ran down Tola’s body, she just smiled and stared Lawal in the eye. A triumphant Momoh held up the device Tola had carefully hidden under her clothes. The visit now had no purpose. “I was right not to trust you, wasn’t I?” Lawal asked with a smile, then is face became cold. “What do you want?” “Well, I told you I had proof of you murdering Engineer Babatunde, unfortunately I don’t. But…“ “Of course you don’t, what do you think I am, a fool? I am only meeting you because I thought I’d have some fun with you clueless kids.” “Don’t get too excited sir, I have something else that is just as bad, maybe worse.” Tola said handing him a file. “What is this?” Lawal asked without opening the file. “Open it but just in case you can’t read, that is proof of your theft.” Lawal reached for the glasses in his breast pocket, put it on and opened the file. “Remember the money you stole from your party, well, that’s the proof and I’m sending that to the headquarters, you’re just a few weeks away from jail.” Nicholas looked at Lawal as he read the content of the file, his mouth was dry, he waited for Lawal to speak. “Well, this is a very interesting document unfortunately it won’t hold up in court.” Lawal said slapping the file close. “It won’t?” Tola asked. Nicholas was not surprised, of course Lawal would say that, he had to appear unshaken. “No my dear girl, it won’t. You are a little stupid, aren’t you? Most journalists are, but Nicholas, why did you follow her in here, your father would have been disappointed. He wasn’t a very smart man himself though so I guess the fruit doesn’t fall very far from the tree.” Lawal said with a laugh. “Tola, let’s go.” Nicholas said through clenched teeth, standing up. “You leave when I say you can leave, sit down.” Lawal said pointing to the chair. Nicholas knew he was not in a position to argue, he was already beginning to regret the meeting, they had achieved nothing. “He was a good business man, no doubt, you had to be to build a company the size of CyberCorp but he was as foolish as he was smart. When I saw you make the mistake at Logged-In, I thought ‘that’s something Babatunde would never do’ but then I then I saw you walk into my house and I knew you still have some common ground of foolishness.” Nicholas felt blood drain from his knuckles as he clenched them, his teeth vibrated in his mouth. “What is the problem Nicholas? Cat got your tongue?” Lawal asked, leaning towards Nicholas. “Shut up, you fat old dog.” Nicholas shouted. “You don’t know anything about me, you have no right to talk about my father either. What did I do to you that made you come after me? You did not have your hands full already? You were kicked off the ticket by your party, you have several people after you, a man like you probably has a disease or two and you leave all that to come after me? Who is the fool? Tola let’s go.” Nicholas tried to stand but his legs felt too weak, Tola was apparently too shocked to stand. “Who is the fool, you ask. You know I was quite close with your father when I ran for governor, in fact he was one of my main sponsors but all that changed, why? Because I made a simple mistake, who hasn’t made mistakes, but he was always a self-righteous bastard.” “And that’s why you killed him?” Tola asked. “Have you ever wondered how I knew about you, Nicholas? He never mentioned you to me or to anybody that I know of, so my guess is he did not talk about you a lot, still I found you.” Nicholas had thought about it, but it was not the time to talk. He stood up and Tola stood too, Lawal just sat with a demonic smile on his face. As soon as the governor came through, the smile would be gone. Men like Lawal did not do well in prison. Nicholas was close to the door when he remembered Adam. “Where’s Adam? I know you have him, you have caused enough harm, release him and let us take him.” Nicholas said. “Oh, I’m not letting Adam go and Miss Tola I would advise you to be careful what you do with the information you have, you don’t want Adam’s blood on you, do you?” LAWAL’S RESIDENCE ILORIN 5 AM 9 DECEMBER, 2015 Adam waited to hear the speakers come on, it was the best time, the only time his plan could work. When the speakers came on, it was followed by a call to prayer and in five minutes all the men would be inside the mosque. Well almost all of them, his door was never left unmanned. He felt flattered by the attention, he was just a local cop not the navy seal but that morning the guard was going to be help him escape. The day before, he had begged one of the guards for two stick of cigarettes, he did not smoke but the guard did not know that. He really was not interested in the cigarettes but in the lighter that the guard had foolishly agreed to give him. The guard on duty that morning was a big man, very strong but he was also dumb, so Adam knew he had to smart because he was going to lose if things became rough. The speakers came on and a voice called the men out for prayers. The men would not spend more than ten minutes in the mosque so he knew he had to move fast. He tiptoed across the room to the window, he brought out the lighter and lit the curtain. He had to hope the guard would smell the burning curtain on time, it was very important to his plan. He crossed the room to the door trying not to make any noise, he drew the curtain at the door to a side and wrapped the curtain around himself. Now he had to wait. “What’s that smell?” He did not have to wait for long. “What are you burning in there?” The guard opened the door and slowly stepped in, gun in hand. Adam had not anticipated the gun. He remained still as the guard moved further into the room his gun pointed forward. “What are you burning?” The room was already filled with smoke, the guard seemed to be more interested in the fire than in finding him, he probably did not notice he was not on the room. Slowly Adam unwrapped the curtain and eased towards the door handle, the guard still had his gun pointed forward but he looked like he was going to turn back. Adam leaped towards him before he made the turn and threw all his weight into the guard. The guard fell, hit his head on the window and lay still. “Well, that was easy.” Adam whispered, picked up the guard’s gun and stepped out of the room. He ran down the stairs three steps at a time, got to the ground floor and tiptoed through the corridor that led to the front door. His hands were wrapped around the handle when he heard a voice behind him. “Why are you not in the mosque?” It was Lawal. “I’m sorry Alhaji, I woke up late, that’s why I’m in a hurry.” Adam answered, trying his best to disguise his voice. “Useless boy. Tell Momoh to see me immediately after the prayers.” “Yes sir.” Adam calmly opened the door, he stepped out and shut the door behind him. “What’s that smell?” He heard Lawal say from behind the door. He ran as fast as he could towards the gate, it was locked. The gateman was a Christian he was the only one who was allowed to be asleep during the morning prayers. He did not have a plan on how to handle the gateman. “Julius…” he called banging on the door of the gateman’s room. “Julius, fire…Julius, wake up, fire, fire.” Julius stood up and walked groggily towards the door. “Who is that?” “Julius, Alhaji is calling you, fire is burning upstairs. “ The prayer had finished and the men would start coming out any minute, he had to go before they noticed he was gone. “Fire, where?” Julius was fully awake now, he grabbed a fire extinguisher from his room and ran out. Adam turned his face away as Julius came out. “Go and meet Alhaji, right now.” Julius ran towards the house. The other guards were already coming out of the mosque. Adam moved into the gateman’s room and looked around for the keys. There were no keys on the wall, the men outside were already running, the fire was spreading. Adam got on his knees and searched frantically, in a few minutes they would know the fire was coming from his room. He heard a jingling sound as he moved across the bed, it was the key; a bunch of keys. He grabbed it and stepped out of the room. From the shouting and extra commotion in the house, it looked like they had noticed he was gone. He fiddled with the keys, any one of them could open the gate. He inserted the first key, it did not turn, he tried inserting the second but his hand shook too much. “Hey, who is that at the gate?” He heard somebody shout. He inserted the key, it turned and the gate slid open. “Hey, stop!” He heard the voice say again. “Shoot him.” It was Lawal who spoke this time. He jumped out of the gate and slammed it shut. ILORIN 10AM 9, DECEMBER, 2015 Nicholas had not slept a wink, the meeting with Lawal kept running through his mind. He had blown his top and the meeting had produced nothing good. The only product of the meeting was the deep hatred he now felt for Lawal. The governor was his only hope of seeing Lawal go to jail, and nothing would satisfy him more than seeing him rot in prison. His phone rang, it was the governor. ‘Hello sir.” “Are you at the hotel?” The governor asked. “Yes sir.” “Okay, Faruk will meet you there in a few minutes. I spoke with him last night and I threatened him sufficiently, he is willing to testify against Lawal in exchange for a reduced sentence. I want you to speak to him, you’re closer to this case than any other person, so get all the information you can from him” “Okay sir.” Nicholas said as he ended the call. Fifteen minutes later ,Faruk was sitting by his side in the car. “This is really awkward for me.” Faruk said. “I bet it is, I’m glad you and your boss are finally going to pay for all you have done, unfortunately you won’t be paying full price.” “Don’t be vindictive.” “Very funny.” Nicholas started the car. “We’re going to Tola’s place, she’s going to ask some questions, I’m sure you know who that is, right?” “Yeah.” His phone rang again, this time it was Kate. “Babe, how are you? I’m sorry I didn’t call you last night, it was…” Nicholas started. “Nick, Kemi is dead!” “Oh my God! Are you sure?” “Of course…hey, I gotta go, I’m expecting you, okay?” Kate said and ended the call. “Did you hear that, huh? Kemi is dead! What did she do to you people? I kind of understand your interest in me, but Kemi, why?” Nicholas said, blinking away the tears. “This document that proves Lawal guilty of fraud, your Dad had it and it was our belief at the time that he gave it to you.” “Gave it to me? Why? We never spoke, why would he give it to me?” Nicholas asked, he was surprised, how did they even know about him? “We were led to believe that he did.” “Who led you to believe that he did? What has Kemi got to do with anything anyway?” “Well, we contacted the DPO at Arandun and he told us about Kemi so we approached her in school. She didn’t know what she was asked to do at first, we just told her we needed to find out something from you. She didn’t agree willingly but you have to know we have our ways.” “Okay, so at what point did you decide that kidnapping her was the best thing to do?” “We had reason to believe she found something, we could not prove it but when the boss says something, you have to believe it. Unfortunately during the kidnap some things went wrong and she landed in the hospital” “You know what? Just forget about it, can you prove all these? That’s what matters now.” “Yes, I can. Are you guys sure, you can get Lawal behind bars? Because if you fail to, I’m a dead man, totally dead!” “I don’t care if he kills you honestly, but I want him more than I want you, so you will survive this.” Ten minutes of silent driving later and Nicholas pulled into a petrol station. He parked away from where any of the attendants or customers of the station could see him. “Stay in the car, I just want to use their rest room, just two minutes okay?” Faruk nodded and Nicholas headed for the rest room. He had a bad feeling about leaving Faruk alone although he had no reason to run, he had come to him on his own and he was under orders from the governor. But he could not shake off the feeling as he entered the bathroom, it was empty. He suddenly lost all desire to use the bathroom, he had to get out as soon as he could. He half ran to the car, he opened the door and got in. “We need to leave this place.” Nicholas said. Faruk was looking out through the window but he sat a bit too relaxed in the chair. “Faruk!” No answer! Nicholas pushed his arm and his head fell on his chest, Nicholas stifled a cry, there was a hole in his head. Faruk was dead. . . . . . To be continued

Nicholas is it at dis tym u suppose 2 use restroom, c nw faruk don die. What next? @tenniebenson berra

This Mr lawal of a guy is a proper psycho.

Oh!! My!!!!

Chaiii! Lawal na dangerous crook ooo...

This guy na mumu ooooO

dis one na gobe ooo nichola u dnt av any common sense y do u stop when u knw d situation u are nw he is die wot wil u sy dat dy wil belive u

#hmmm#

Chai Dis Nicholas sef.......Faruk the only person dat would av saved ya quyz is dead...hmmm

Why do u always run out of luck Nicholas?

Wow... I bet Lawal has eyes evrywhere... I jez hope Nicholas wont be held responsible

Getting more complicated and interestinq nice and qreat job

nick na nw u wnt use d rest.. Faruk wey wnt confess don die... Pray u wont be responsible.

Next and last episode of NICHOLAS 45% loading

You mean this story is coming to an end soon?? to me, i think their are still lot of secrets....

Wow.....am curious to know the outcome of vhiz..... Oya!

I can't wait to read de end of diz interesting story

@ nicholas your carelessness has destroyed a very good opportunity to bring down Lawal..

Like seriouzly? Last episode? Well letz see aw it goes.... Pls some1 shld tag me immediately Donwalter post d episode...cos i might be too busy 2 check on tym...but when i'm been mentioned i will definitely check... @Donwalter u can also do d taggn... Tnk ya

hope u(Nick) are not in anoda trouble. @Adam smart guy.

45mins don pass ooooooooo @Donwalter

Where is it? Anxiety wan take over me oh

D suspense is killing, next pls

Grand Finale . . . . . . . . . . Nicholas looked at the body beside him and shuddered again. Fear had nearly torn him apart, it was a miracle he was still sane. Faruk was dead in his car! There was no running away from this, he was in big trouble. Finding a dead body in his car had shocked him greatly, he had stared at the body for what looked like ten hours after he noticed the bullet hole. He was afraid, confused and angry. Driving with a dead body was not easy, everybody on the road seemed to be looking at him, every policeman looked like they were going to stop him. He was fortunate though, despite his speed, he was not stopped at all. Now, he was parked by the side of the road, Faruk’s body seated next to him. The road was a rough branch off a secluded road, the chances of him being found were very slight. He ran his fingers through his hair, he needed to think fast, he could not sit beside a dead body for so long. The governor! He could help, he knew Faruk was coming to see him and why, he would understand. His hands shook as he brought out his phone, he scrolled through his contacts, found the governor’s number and placed the call. “Hello Mr. Akorede.” He heard a female voice answer. “Yes, I need to speak with the governor please, it’s urgent.” He could not hide the tremor from his voice. “I’m sorry, the governor cannot come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?” “What? No, I’m sorry I can’t leave a message. This is very important, please link me with him. If it wasn’t urgent, I wouldn’t have called.” “I’m sorry sir, but he is not available right now. Are you sure you don’t want to leave a message?” “No, I cannot! This is very urgent, are you sure he… never mind.” Nicholas said and ended the call. With no help from the governor, he was on his own. He punched the steering wheel in frustration, he winced as pain surged through his hands. He jumped as he phone rang, the governor was probably calling back. The number was strange. “Hello.” “Nicholas?” It sounded like Adam. “This is Adam.” “Adam, how did you… did Lawal let you go?” “Let me go? No, I escaped. I heard about Kemi, I’m really sorry.” He had forgotten about Kemi, he had been guilty of doing so a little too much during the months he had spent as C.E.O. of CyberCorp. “Yeah, I am sorry too. Kate told me, I’m yet to go to the hospital.” There is a dead body in your car, remember? “Hey Adam, there is a bigger problem.” He swallowed. “I have a dead body in my car.” “What!” Adam exclaimed, something crashed in the background. “A dead body? Who?” “Faruk.” The tremor was back in his voice. “You killed him? Nicholas!” “No! Why would I kill him? Oh my God, if you think I could have killed him, that’s what everybody would think. Oh my God!” It was time to freak out, he was in real trouble. “I’m sorry Nick, I just had to ask. Where exactly are you? I’ll come meet you there.” Twenty minutes later and Adam arrived with an ambulance. Nicholas had tucked out his shirt and rolled up his sleeves, twenty minutes was a long time to spend with a corpse. “Hey man, are you okay?” Adam said as he jumped down from the ambulance. “Good to see you Adam, it’s not every day you spend an hour with a corpse.” Nicholas tried to force a smile as he hugged Adam tightly. “My friend here will help with the body, we can’t keep it here. He will keep the murder secret for a while. I’ve spoken with Tola, she’s told me the governor is on this, so hopefully he will help.” He turned, looked around and shook his head. Nicholas walked away from the body, Adam followed him. “Adam, I’m very confused right now. You know Faruk was supposed to be our major witness against Lawal and now he’s dead.” He turned his face away to hide the tears gathering in his eyes. “That’s a real concern, we cannot lose now, not after all this trouble. Did I tell you I was fired?” Adam said, ignoring his teary eyes. “You were? What do we do now? Looks like the governor has to convince the party about the fraud charges.” Nicholas felt his pocket, his phone was vibrating. It was the governor calling. “It’s the governor” he said to Adam. “Don’t tell him about Faruk, hold on, we have it under wraps for now.” “Why? I thought… no problem.” He picked the call. “Hello sir.” “Mr. Akorede, I was told you called, you said it was urgent?” The governor said. “Well, yes sir, I did. I just wanted to know if the party believes our fraud charges against Lawal. Can we count on them sir?” he knew there was no way the governor had contacted the party leadership yet, but he had nothing else to say. “That was your urgent matter?” The governor did not sound too pleased. “I’m sorry sir, I guess your secretary got me wrong sir, I wanted to talk to you, but it wasn’t so urgent.” “Okay, no problem. The answer to your question is no. I’ve met with a few party leaders and they believe this is just a set up.” “What?!” Nicholas could not believe what he just heard. “What are you saying sir?” Adam looked at him as he exclaimed. “I’m sorry but there’s no case with this document. We still have Faruk, right? That is good enough.” Nicholas slid the phone from his ears and dropped the call. That was it, everything had ended. He was going to jail, Lawal was going to make sure he never got out. “Nick, the document is no good, right? I’m not surprised. The governor is a toad, no back bone, I knew he’d cave.” “What are we… what am I supposed to do now?” Nicholas stared out of the window as the car moved down the road. Adam who was driving had not said a word since the ambulance left with Faruk’s body, it was okay with Nicholas, he had nothing to say himself. It had been the toughest one year of his life and it could be the beginning of a tougher life. Lawal was key to whatever the future held for him; nabbing him meant peace, not doing so meant a lot of trouble. “Wait a minute Nick, did Kate tell you what Kemi said when she woke up momentarily in the hospital?” Adam asked, a smile on his face. “What… yes, she did. I can’t remember though, I had a lot on my mind.” “Well, thank God Kate’s mind was a little less occupied. Kemi mentioned a Chelsea bag in a closet, didn’t she? “Well, yeah, I think Kate mentioned that.” “I don’t believe she was rambling, there might be something there that can help us. We need to head to Arandun, right now.” “What! Just like that?” “Yes Nick, just like that!” It was an hour and twenty minutes later when they pulled into Kemi’s father’s compound. Nicholas hoped that news had not gotten to Arandun that Adam had been sacked. It was bad enough that they would be invading the privacy of a mourning family. They got out of the car and walked into the house, nobody seemed to notice them. News had just gotten to Kemi’s family that she was dead. Her mother was sitting on the floor surrounded by some women, her friends probably. Kemi’s father, the only man in the room, sat on a tall chair and stared out through the open window. “Hello sir.” Adam greeted him. He answered with a nod, not lifting up his eyes. “You remember me sir?” He looked up at them, Nicholas tried not to look him in the eye. “Yes, I think so. You’re a policeman, right?” He shifted his eyes to Nicholas. “Nicholas, thank you for coming, please have your seats.” “Thank you sir. I’m really, really sorry for your loss.” Nicholas answered, about to sit. “Actually sir, we are here because we believe your daughter might have left something that will help us catch her killer.” Adam said, shaking his head at Nicholas. “I don’t think she left anything worth finding.” He replied standing up. “Where do you want to start?” “Her room will be perfect sir.” He led them to her room. “We haven’t touched anything so the place is still as she left it. Take your time, I want this killer to be caught, he must die for what he has done to my daughter” “Thank you sir.” Nicholas said, closing the door behind them as they entered. “So what are we looking for exactly?” “A Chelsea bag; I’m assuming it’s a blue bag probably with Chelsea’s logo or maybe pictures of their players.” “Okay, I’ll take this closet.” Nicholas said, pointing to a wardrobe beside him. “You take the other one. I hope this bag isn’t a small one.” “I hope so too.” Fifty minutes of going through two closets, twice with a fine tooth comb and there was no Chelsea bag. Nicholas stared at the closets in despair, Kemi was probably hallucinating or something when she mentioned the bag. A Chelsea bag and a false bottom, that made no sense. A false bottom! “Adam” Nicholas exclaimed. “ Kemi mentioned a false bottom, that means there is a part of one of these closets we have not checked. A false bottom, why didn’t I remember that!” “We have to check for false bottoms I guess, that means we’ll open all these drawers again? Let’s get to it then.” Nicholas felt a new surge of energy as he opened the first drawer, maybe he had some hope after all. The drawer contained lipsticks, bottles of different colours, some oddly shaped plastic tubes – make up stuff. He slid his hand to the bottom of the box and tried to move it, it gave way. “Adam, I might have found our false bottom on my very first try, how lucky is that? Wait, there is a bag… a blue Chelsea bag.” He dug out the bag, it was slim, there couldn’t be much inside. “Lemme have it.” Adam said, collecting the bag from Nicholas. Nicholas looked at him as he removed a small piece of paper and a flash drive from the bag. His palm were getting wet, his eyes too. He could be at the end of his journey. “What’s on the paper, Adam?” “A note, handwritten… ‘Nick, your father was murdered by Senator Lawal with the support of your father’s wife. She told them about you, and I hope you will be alive to read this. I have audio and video evidence of this in the flash drive. The video isn’t clear, so it can’t stand in court, do what you can with it. There’s also evidence that Lawal stole from his party, I’m not sure it can stand in court either, but these should help you nail them. I’m sorry can’t do anything to prevent what might happen.’ That’s it.” “Wow, oh my God!” “Nick, let’s get out of here now. I still have a house here, remember? I have a laptop there, we can check what’s on the flash.” They were stepping out of the house when Kemi’s father called out to them. “Hey boys, did you find anything?” “Well, I’m sorry sir, we didn’t find anything important. I’m so sorry for your loss sir.” Adam replied. Kemi had not lied, the flash did contain evidence, and she had lost her life because of it. “What do we do with this, Adam? I’m confused, I don’t trust the police, I’m not so sure about the governor anymore either.” “Okay, question; apart from politicians, who do you think has the most influence on the way this country is run?” Adam asked with a cheeky smile. “The politicians’ wives?” “Very funny Nick, very funny but no, I’m talking about the press. We’ll give Tola all these info, she’ll call up all her powerful friends in journalism, and they start a media storm, one that cannot be ignored.” “That’s right, the government won’t have a choice but to investigate and prosecute. Lawal has enough enemies already and I’m sure they’ll make the charges stick. Well, this is awesome!” Nicholas said with a laugh. He picked his phone and dialed Tola. She was going to get her fifteen minutes of fame, although she’d have to share the spotlight, if the media storm was going to be as big as they hoped for. “Babe, I’ll send some documents into your email right now. Call up every influential journalist you know; radio, TV, print or web – everybody. Lawal is going down and you are leading the charge!” THREE DAYS LATER It was happening so swiftly, the media fire had been greater than he expected it to be. It looked like every politician was milking the story to build up their own careers, the governor was not left out. He had addressed the state, stating that they were not aware of all the offences the ex-governor had been accused of and he promised to investigate any fraud or embezzlement that might have taken place during Lawal’s tenure as governor. The Police and the Ministry of Justice were having a field day, taking every opportunity to be on television and showing off the work they had done in only a few days. It was a circus show. Even the president had not being left out. He had gone on air to disclaim rumours that he was going to get Lawal out of the mess. ‘We do not aid criminals’ were the words he used. A warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Babatunde had been issued but she committed suicide before the police could get to her. Her daughters – his sisters were under his care temporarily until a court decided if his enthusiastic Mom could legally adopt them. Lawal himself was yet to be arrested, the police looked to be taking their time, he was under twenty-four hour surveillance, he was not going anywhere. “Hey Nick, you know I’m in between jobs right now, how about a job at CyberCorp, huh?” Adam said, winking at Kate who was sitting next to Nicholas. “Are you kidding, you’re my Minister of defense already, don’t you know that?” He replied with a laugh. “I wasn’t asking, I was telling you. I’ve had enough of being a detective, wearing a suit and speaking into one of those techie earphones looks like the next step for me right now.” “I’m sure you’ll look great in a suit.” Kate said. “Not as much as my Nick though.” She said hugging Nicholas. When I get older – I will be stronger – They call me freedom just like a waving flag… his phone rang. “You’re still using that ring tone? Come on son.” Adam said, tossing him the phone. “Yeah, it reminds me of Kemi, I’m not going to change it, ever.” It was a foreign number. “Hello…” “As-salaam Alaikum. Am I speaking to the C.E.O. of CyberCorp?” “Yes, you are. Who is this please?” “This is Sheikh Al Mubarak, you remember me?” “Yes, of course I remember you.” Of course, it made sense for him to call, after all he needed a Nigerian company to handle his business. “How’s life treating you these days?” “Life’s great, really great!” It really was and it could only get better. THE END. I’ll like to say a thank you to everyone who read this story, I can’t mention you all, probably because I don’t know you all, thank you all the same.

Wow....wow wow.... Great story....glad for yhu Nicholas. @Donwalter more power to yhur elbow

chai see case

@tenniebenson. The last episode updated

Jeez! Really had a field day with dis story! Nyc work n thumbs up @donwalter

Wonderful end here.....All i can say is;No matter how lonq u hide the truth....the truth must always prevail at the end...Lawal tauqht he could hide under a cover forever.....Nick am happie 4 ya nd Cybercorp Thumbs Up @Donwalter Vhiz is very tremendous....i love it and keep the qood works qoinq.....

@Tenniebenson Last episode out .... @Donwalter great work Bros ... more wisdom

@Donwalter thanks so much , I really enjoyed the story. God bless you

wow so lovely thanks 2 heaven u dint end it like odas

Interetsing, thank God it ended well.

wow....... weldan

Wow nice ending. Thanks for this wonderful write-up. Thumbs-up!

Sweet like honey

Oh my goodness!! . . . . What more can I say than to write, weldone Mr Don Walter!!! . . . Congratulation at last, nicky, Kate, Tola, and Adams!!! . . . . Im Still your boy . . . JESUSBOY JNR . . . DE . . COOLVAL YOUNGEST!!

Shikenan nicholas done get hiz own freedom congrat....congrat 4 finishing it

Gud ending @Donwalter,more grease 2 ur elbow

That's a happy ending, nice work!

@donwalter.....nyc stori,thank God it ended perfect....everytin waz settle

Victory @ last!!!!! Congratulations nick. Great work Adams. Kate, thankz 4 bn wit nick. Kemi rip. Tola, kudos 4 a job well done Faruk, farewell. Lawal, rot in jail. Mrs babatunde, rot in hell. ..................Donwalter, tnkz 4 diz wonderful stowie!

wao c ending. Freedom @last. thumbs up boss @Donwalter

Wow...great story nice endinq lots of adventures

WOW!! Freedom for nick at last, even though twas at the expense of kemi's life

am happy for u nicholas,thnk u very much nd may God bless u bros@Don

Muaaah,,, more of it @donwalter thnk so much.@tenniebenson swithee i beg cme nd read d swittest final swagger

Nice story dear! Looking forward to read more from u n keep de nice work up.

Nice. Ends well

Wheew!!! Tnx 4 d calls.... @Donwalter u deserve a kiss... Tnx 4 posting dz story.... Well.... Like oliver twist...we want more 4rm u... Especially d part 2 of demons on church street...

Hmmm nick you try

Wow!!! A wonderful story,kudos to u walter and coolval,more ink to ur golden pen

Wow! Am so happy 4 nicholas

U've done a 9ce work brof. I really lyk ur stories bcos dey r sex free. Kp it up

Wow!Dz Story Z Very Interesting.I Rili Enjoyed Dz Story 4rm D Author Of Before The Darkness

@donwalter nice work... Nick.. Kemi save u

u welkam

**clapping** wow wow wow, nice 1 there 4rm start 2 finish..

nice story @Donwalter,i enjoy every bit of it.

I am very overwhelmed and very grateful for your replies. I am also very happy you all like the story. A new story is coming up very soon titled "My Undercover". Stay tuned and get prepared.

@Donwalter, you've done a great. well done

am now a menber of this great family

Congratulation at last, nicky, Kate, Tola, and Adams for u guys total freedom at last. To u de writer of de story @DONWALTER# Ur too much more inspirations to u bro. booking for seat reservation for ur next story am booking for de first seat. cant wait to start reading it.

Wow! Bravo

Gud Starting

Waoooooo Great story @Don Walter weldone i give u tumb. I really observe d@ must of ur story ar detective stuff nd also ur setting always take place in Ilorin. . . . . . .but dnt 4get we ar still waitin 4 d second part of Demon on Church street

Nicho u av 2 b xra careful o....u dnt av 2 trust anybdy o abeg

Woow..qreat story. I love crime storY

Nick, Tola, Kate and Adam, you guys are genius..... Kemi was the sacrificial lamb while Faruk's troubles was a stepping stone to Nicholas and CyberCorp in general....

Wow!! I just read the last episode of this wonderful write-up. Adams will do well as Nicholas's secret agent in Cybercorp, Nick will surely need it!!

this is superb!

Nice and well constructed piece.

@donwalter .. another superb piece from ur stable ..stayed up all night reading it .. more glory to your future #smiles

:mr green:

Nice write up... I enjoyed it

So much tension

Nice job, Adams

Kai de story make sence

beautiful beginning

Nice Ending.....Nicky can now hą√€ peace of mind

wow! this is great I so much love reading your stories @donwalter keep it up

Interesting and wonderful story.

cool story, don't forget to vote for @lizzy22 as miss Coolval 2016 today. thanks Vote beauty, vote intelligence!

Nice story

was a perfect story

Impressive

Wow

Interesting

Sharp

No qualms

I'm missing khola46

nice story

keep up the good work

vNice story Thumbs up

story was a bomb

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good one

nice ending

This is super thrilling...?

Nice beginning...!!

Cool