A HOAX

We jumped into the ash-colored Prado jeep Tolu brought and he raced the car toward highway. Eric sat in front with him, and Maria and I sat in the back. Tolu followed sped out of Alpha Beach and took the roundabout, headed to Ikoyi.

'I thought we are taking the Ekpe road?' Eric asked. 'That's faster; there is no traffic on the way.'

'I don't know the road well,' Tolu said, his eyes fixed on the road. I saw the speedometer shooting toward the hundred kilometer mark before he finished speaking. 'The traffic is light from here to Ikoyi. Once we cross the Third Mainland, the road will be free.'

Eric nodded. 'I hope you are right. I don't want them to change their minds.' 

'We will make it,' Tolu said.

We got to the Third Mainland Bridge within fifteen minutes. We followed the traffic on the bridge toward the mainland and in about half an hour we got out of Lagos and sped toward Ibadan. We reached the police check point and, without hesitation, they waved us through. Tolu stepped on the accelerator and car roared forward, shortening the distance by every minute. We got to the detour and Tolu turned into the road and parked the car. 

'What's the problem?' Eric asked. 'We are not meeting here; it's where they left us the last time.'

Tolu did not answer him but turned to the back, looking at me. 'What do you think, Paul? Is it safe to meet them? I don't want them to snatch this car and disappear into thin air.'

I sighed and glanced from him to Eric. 'I don't know,' I said. 'But I think we should be careful.'

'Maybe we should go back,' Maria said. 'I don't—'

'We are not going back,' Eric barked. 'Paul is saying we should watch out, that's all. He is not saying we should go back. No one is going back. We have come this far, we will see it through.'

'I don't think they will want to take the car,' I said. 'But they have guns and there is twenty five million naira at stake; let's not kid ourselves that we are going to take over the target without some form of assurance that they will have their money as soon as we get the ransom.'

'What if we take over the target and change location?' Maria asked. 'To a place they can't find us?'

'That will be the best thing to do,' I said. 'But it won't work for two reasons. One, they will inform the police and the police will come after us. Two; they will come after us themselves; with Eric's phone in their possession, they can always trace our numbers and find us. Twenty five million is enough motivation to achieve the impossible.' 

Silence kept us company for a while and then a truck's horn blasted from the expressway and shattered it.

'Let's go,' I said, after the quietness returned. 'But we should be prepared for surprises.'

'Okay,' Eric said.

Tolu started the car and nudged it forward, hitting the first pot hole. We drove in silence and in a couple of minutes we got to the spot Tolu had slammed into the tree. 

I checked my phone; it was 9:13P.M. 

Tolu parked and we came out of the jeep. I looked back and saw Maria had not left the car; she kept the car's door open but the way she sat, it was clear she wasn't coming down. I turned around, looking into the surrounding darkness. The tree stared at us like ghosts of giants.

'Where are they?' Tolu asked. 'They should have been here by this time.'

'They are in the bush,' Maria said from the car. 'I am sure they are checking to see if we came alone.'

'Let's wait a while,' Eric said. 'They will come.'

I smelt rain in the air at that moment and felt warm sweat crawled down my armpits. 

'It's a hoax,' Maria said. 'I told you it's a trick.'

'A trick for what?' I asked. 'What would they gain by tricking us to come here?'

'Let's wait a while,' Eric said. 'We will know if it's a trick or not. I am sure they are on the way.'

'What makes you so sure?' Maria demanded. 'They should have been waiting for us if it wasn't a hoax. They said nine, didn't they?'

Tolu sighed. 'We have to go back. My uncle will burst a vein if he finds out I haven't returned his car to the house.'

'Look!' Eric cried. 'There! A car is coming. I told you they will come.'

I swirled around and saw the two headlights dangling, flashing up and down, and cutting through the surrounding darkness. Maria got down from the car and stood by Eric. The car pressed closer, the engine roaring louder by the minute. We stood in front of the jeep and waited for the coming car.

'Hey, amateurs,' a coarse voice said from behind us. I gasped and jumped as if a bomb had exploded. Maria screamed. Tolu yelped and ran toward the approaching car. 

'Who is that?' Eric shouted.

The shadow came out from behind our jeep and began to laugh. 'Did I scare you, amateurs? Did you see a monster, little children?'

Maria clasped Eric's arm.

Joseph the brute—huge as Dwayne Johnson—stepped forward and pointed a gun in our direction. He laughed again, his voice rougher and rising above the sound of the coming car. The light from the approaching car picked him out and I could see his white teeth and the huge nose sitting in the middle of his round face. 

A second shadow emerged from the back of a tree and walked toward us, waving a gun at our stomachs.

The jeep slowed down and parked beside our car. Dracula's diminutive body jumped out and the driver followed him. They walked toward us.

'H...H...Hi guys,' Dracula said, coming in quick short strides. 'I....hope....hope... we...we...didn't keep you? We...we...took...took...caution to avoid...double...double...double crossing.'

Joseph and the other members of the gang formed a circle around us. The fourth member, the driver of the jeep, also pointed his gun at us.

'Now,' Dracula said. 'Let's...let'...s get down...down... to...to business.'

'We came unarmed,' Eric said. 'There is no need to point the guns at us.'

Joseph laughed again and pointed his gun at Eric's chest. Dracula pulled out a pistol from his back and leveled it at me. I felt the blood in my veins turned cold and my heart stroke my ribs with a new force and speed.

Maria was right, I thought. It's all a trick!