CHAPTER SEVEN

"Welcome guys, we've been expecting you. Took you so long though. Now let's get to business, do you have it?, the coke and the cash. You've got a simple choice to make, choose, which way do you want it, the easy way or the hard way?. The easy way is if you go right into your room, of course we are going to escort you there and give us what we came here for and we turn our back and leave you to enjoy the rest of your vacation or you pick the hard way which of course you won't appreciate us turning this beautiful hotel upside down, ransacking your hotel room and putting a bullet down both of you throats. You won't appreciate that, would ya?" One of the henchmen spoke out. The three security guards in the security room lay on the floor unconscious, that was definitely the handiwork of Gideon and peace. So let's strike a compromise, you let us walk away from this like it never happened. You go your way, we go our way, no one needs to get hurt anymore", I offered.

"I'm sorry Anthony or whatever your name is", Gabriel took out a pistol and fixed a silencer on it, "I can't just let you do that!". He fired shots towards us but missed, we were on our knees already. We made for the door and ran out of the room and luckily, there was a key left hanging on the door so we locked it from outside and scurried off into the hotel through the back entrance, ( I chose the back entrance that led into the hotel kitchen because I didn't want to cause any form of unnecessary commotion in the hotel that could result into unwanted bloodshed). Gabriel and Gideon were out of the room already, they probably blasted the lock out of its place without anyone knowing, I almost forgot they had a 'silent killer' as firearm. The kitchen had bright white lights fixed everywhere and there was nowhere to hide, no dark regions or shadow regions and the unsuspecting chefs were busy preparing the next course of meal. The two brothers entered and scared all the occupants of the kitchen away, it was now the three of us against them.

"Come out guys, we know you are here, I can smell you. Just face us and let's wrap things up, I've been ignoring Boss's call, he wanna know if we've taken the shots already. Enough with the games boys, let's end this!". We could see them but they couldn't see us hiding behind the microwave. I cooked up a plan: the stew pot was still cooking...I would work with that. I grabbed a spatula from the utensil rack and poised ready for them. Nisi armed himself with a frying pan while Mary wielded a large wooden rolling pin. As soon as Gideon came close, I swung the spatula across his face and disarmed him. I grabbed the gun immediately and pointed it at both of them, swaying the firearm between the two of them.

"Drop it mate, you don't know how to use that", Gideon pleaded.

"Don't try me, five hours of intense Modern Warfare gameplay everyday ain't no joke. I definitely know how to handle this. Wanna find out?", I boasted.

"Drop your weapon Tony!, I won't say it twice!", Gabriel ordered, his gun pointed at Nisi's head. Not again!, I stood firmly and hesitated, my brain was working faster than I thought it could. Wait...where's Mary?.

"Alright, you win", I made to lower the gun but then my racing out-of-the-box mind ministered a crazy idea to me. Instead of dropping the gun, I threw it up, towwrds his direction, his eyes followed it...my turn....I grabbed a metal serving spoon lying on the chopping board right beside me and in a slick movement, I aimed for Gabriel's head. One second, he was up, the next, he was down. Nisi released himself from his grip and hid himself. Smart move.

"Forgot someone?,", Damn!, I completely forgot Gideon and now he had his gun again, "I'm not gonna make another mistake of hesistating. I should be done with you guys a long time ago...now say your last prayers boys and don't forget to say hello to....", a loud sickening sound erupted in the room. Mary slammed a large frying pan on his head and he passed out immediately. I sighed heavily, I thought that was it. Two of them taken out, I thought they were his best henchmen?, they couldn't even deal with three unarmed teenagers.

The police arrived a couple of minutes later, the scared chefs had informed them the hotel was under attack and it shocked the police when they found out how we managed the whole crisis without a bullet placed in our bodies!, it shocked the whole UFC the more. The rest of the story went smooth, we convinced the matrons Mary needed a home with the UFC and they willingly agreed. The flight back to Lagos was much better, I was proud of myself and Nisi, we had saved a life from the clutches of criminality. And that's how Mary joined the UFC, since then she has been very instrumental in every plan I crafted out and she played her role perfectly, though most times she worked with Nisi and as long as it did not affect the plan in anyway, I had no problem with it.

.....

"I'm working on a plan to bring him back, I know you are worried Mary but things are going to be fine. I would have to speak with Dorcas, where's she?" I asked. She left and Dorcas replaced her position by my side.

"You needed me boss, what for?", Dorcas asked with a funny touch of formality.

"I need to know what you discussed with Hobbs and Shaw, I have to approach them to help us, that's our only option for now"

"Wait...of all the options available, you choose to talk with the men guarding the house we planted our guy in!, that's unbelievable!"

"Alright Doccy, if you've got a better plan, I'm all ears but if we are going to get Nisi out of there, that's the only reasonable way. So you in or what?"

"Alright, I'm in but are you going to involve the prize in your conversation?"

"That, I'm not sure of!"

It was getting towards the evening and I walked out of the compound, after didiscussing briefly with my team, my heart pounding fast as I moved to where Hobbs and Shaw stood, teaser and baton in hand. They looked more fearful than when I saw them earlier. I strolled right opposite them and stopped.

"Holla guys, how are things going here?, I believe everything's alright", I started. They sounded more friendly.

"Hey little one, what's your name?", Shaw started, he really broke the ice with that statement.

I struggled with myself on the matter of revealing my true identity, well, there seemed to be nothing to lose so I spoke up.

"Anthony"

"Alright Tony, what are you looking for here?, I guess we haven't got any of your stuffs here with us", Hobbs reported.

"Okay guys, I'm not looking for anything neither do I lose any of my stuff. I just came to ask realistic surveys , questions like what would you do if you are given a bale of dollar note?, that should be around a hundred thousand dollars, what are you going to do with it?". I'm not sure if this was the best way to start but I had started anyways.

They looked at me in disbelief. They didn't know how to reply...I guess

"Tony, you couldn't possibly know what a thousand dollars could do to a man, to me precisely", Shaw spoke first

"Yeah Tony, I can't imagine what I would do with it though", Hobbs added casually.

Things were going as planned or so I think, at least they were giving me the replies I needed.

"Alright, that's a good start. So I've brought you a deal, you help me, I help you, everyone goes home happy, what do you think?

"What's this deal all about?, as long as it doesn't involve too much violence, I'm fine with it", Hobbs commented.

"Yeah, me too. As long as there isn't too much killing, I'm good. Now Tony, what are you bringing to the table? ", Shaw added.

I got them right where I wanted. Now to get things rolling.

"Okay, UFC has a guy in your boss's duplex", I blurted out.

They looked at themselves and laughed

"You can't possibly have a guy in there, how did he even get there?, when did he get there?, too many questions that needs answers", that was Shaw.

"Okay, the plan was simple and made to perfection, he was to sneak into the house to grab food for the ophranage. UFC are presently low on cash and supplies and if we don't get food today, we will be left with nothing to survive on, that was why we made the move"

They still looked confused and surprised.

"How did he get to enter?, he beat both of us, the electric fence and the gate, how did he survive those?", Hobbs queried.

"The plan was made in heaven so those hurdles were well taken care of, you guys inclusive, no offense though"

"Alright, so what you are saying is that we should help you rescue your friend from the place we were supposed to guard to prevent him from entering in the first place, is that what you are saying?", that was Hobbs again.

"Technically, yes. That's what I'm saying"

"Since you're the smart one, have you weighed the options, the risks involved, you could be arrested for breaking and entering, we could be sued for being an accomplice to this. We could lose our jobs, you could lose your home. You've thought of all that?", Shaw spoke now.

"I've considered all that. Besides your job isn't that hard, just help us with the gate and the power, I would deal with the rest of the situation. I would get our guy myself. If I get caught which I'm sure will never happen, I would take all the blame and no one will ever suspect you guys, you might only be blamed for negligence of duty and that isn't a crime here the last time I checked, that's it"

"If we were to help you, where exactly do you intend to get the bale of dollar note you talked about earlier?, I thought I heard you mention your ophranage is out of resources", Hobbs questioned.

This was the part I didn't want to reveal. If I told them their boss was into money laundering and that he kept millions of dollars in the duplex they were hired to protect without them being aware of what's inside and what they are guarding precisely, what could be the consequences?.

"You don't want to know about that, yours is just to help us get inside and you get your reward as soon as we step our foot outside", I quickly stated, I don't think it's worth it to reveal the whole thing to them, things could get awry.

"Hmmm, you are hiding something from us Tony", Shaw blurted out. Was he accusing me?

"Something like what?, I've told you guys the whole truth, nothing's left", I said in my defence, I hope they haven't found out about the money earlier

"Something about the dollar you are not telling us", Hobbs said.

Shaw came closer, brought out his phone and looked around before he talked.

"Let me show you something", he showed me something on his phone, it was like a plan of a house,

"What's this?", I asked, "and why are you showing me?"

It was Hobbs that started the explanation proper.

"This is the plan of Mr Collins' house, yeah, the house we are guarding now and here...", he pointed to a portion of the screen, "is the place you are hiding from us!"

I broke out in cold sweat, they already knew about the cash and the cash room.

Hobbs paused for a while probably to let me digest the truth of the situation before he continued.

"We were hired by Mr Collins from the X-FACTOR SECURITY GROUP, a security company that deals with the demand and supply of the best security men in this country and the reason why we were hired was clearly stated before we started: prevent intruders like you who would want to poke their noses and plant their guys into innocent people houses"

"You see that region on the screen", Shaw pointed to the phone screen and continued, "that's where your friend is stuck in. That's the bank vault of Mr Collins and yes, we do know about the bales of dollar notes. The room was built in such a way that it was placed in the centre of the duplex protected by the four walls of different other rooms, so it's practically absent and it's not accessible just by anyone except you input a pin from the vault door in Mr Collins's personal bedroom. You can't know whether a door is even there 'cos what you will see there is just walls, there's like a kind of secret entrance stuff there that's why no detective can find out where he keeps his cash even if they ransack the whole building"

Hobbs picked up from where Shaw stopped.

"So you see, we knew you knew about the cash right when you mentioned the dollar notes and we've been assigned to guard it. That's the main reason we are here. About your guy, I don't know what you are going to do about him but as for us, we are good here, we even get a cut from the money every month and from the look of things, we aren't greedy guys"

I looked down, dejected, I thought they would be excited if I offered them the cash in exchange for their help, things took a drastic twist. I guess life comes at you real fast.

"Alright guys, thanks for your time. Do me a little favour and don't report this to your boss, I would find another way to bring my guy back myself", I made to go when Shaw stopped me abruptly.

"Where are you off to?, we were never done with this discussion. We haven't said we are not helping you, we don't just appreciate the reward you are promising"

My face lightened up, it seemed like someone lifted an anvil from my shoulders.

"We could double the dollars, what do you want?, as long as you are going to help me, we are at your service", I pleaded.

"This isn't even about money,forget about the dollars, we are okay with what we are earning from this job. The thing is that seeing how you guys crafted such a crazy plan to get in and out of this place, it just occurred to us that we could make use of your skills and strategies. There's an op we would want you and your team to execute for us, nothing much, we would supply everything you need and what you need to know about the op and seeing how you executed your op, I'm pretty sure ours will be a walk over. We would have done it ourselves but it's more convenient and suitable for smart youngsters like you and the rest of your team besides our leave is still in a month's time and Mr Collins won't appreciate us leaving his house unguarded even for a day when it's not our leave period", Hobbs narrated.

They needed the UFC team?, I would have to work with them, at least for Nisi.

"Alright, what's this op about?, I'm sure it's something my team would be able to brood over and make it happen"

"Good boy, you and your team are going to help us rob a bank not far from this estate, fairly guarded place, little risk", that was Shaw.

"Rob a what?, how do you expect us to rob a bank?. It doesn't matter if it's far or close to this estate or whether it's fairly or heavily guarded, I don't think we can do that for you, sorry to disappoint, I will find another way to rescue my friend, thanks again"

"Come on, I was just kidding, how will I expect you to rob a bank?, I was just pulling your legs, there's no bank robbery going on here, listen, what we really want you to do is pretty simpler than robbing a fairly guarded bank. There's a package we want you and your team to help us deliver to someone on the Island but the thing is we don't have the package here with us, you'll have to recover the package from a location before you deliver it to the guy on the Island. Relax, he's our guy. The risk involved is that we don't know what's in the package and you need not to worry about what's in it too and the more important fact to know about this op is that the package is highly important to most people out there and they are going to be after your team that's if you get your hands on the package first so you are going to have some bogeys on your tail but they shouldn't pose much danger to you, besides you seem to know how to handle danger . Ermmm...that should be all about the op, any questions?", Hobbs asked.

"Alright, this looks too much for youngsters like us but I kinda like the adventure and action involved in it and besides, what choice do I have?, we have to work together, I help you so that you'll help me. I have a question, how are we going to locate this package if I agree to help you?"

It was Shaw that helped with answering my question.

"The thing is that we don't know where the package is right now but as soon as it's 'visible', we would be able to gather intel about it and tell you it's location, the time should be between now and the end of the week. Today's Tuesday right?, we should be able to pinpoint it's location before Friday after which you guys can proceed for pick up. The odds are fair enough, you should be able to work with it. You should be done in less than a day that's if you decide to finish it in a day 'cos you can initially stash it at your place when you recover it and if they manage to track it to you, they might not believe it's in an orphanage so you can get the chance to rest and regroup before you go for delivery. So have we got a deal?"

"Alright guys, we will go for your op. We have a deal", I shook hands with the both of them.

"Now let's save your friend!".