IN THE FACTORY

Eric turned to Dracula. 'We had a deal; you said we are now partners.'

Dracula said nothing. He dangled the pistol in his hand, tapping it against his short thigh, regarding Eric and the rest of us. Then he laughed and thank God his laughter did not come out in stammers.

'We...we...are partners. The...the...the white man is yours. He…is not…not…not well! Sleeps like…like a b…b…bat!' He took a step forward and pointed the gun at Eric's temple. 'Get...get the ran...ran...som in three...three days. No...ex...ex...excuses.'

'Okay,' Eric said. 

He stared at Eric for another moment and then he brought the gun down. He turned to Joseph. 'Ta..ta..take over,' he said. 

He walked to the jeep and sat inside. 

 Joseph raised his gun upward. 'Listen carefully. We are taking half of the ransom, and you will call us as soon as it's ready; and that would be in three days' time.' He spat. 'Like the boss said, no excuses.' He turned to Eric. 'Go to the same cocoa factory. You will find the white man in one of the factories. We locked him in one of the offices.'

'Okay, Eric said.

Joseph moved close to him. 'Don't try to play games. Don't try anything you will regret because we will hunt you down wherever you go, and we will make your secret a public matter; the police will hunt you down like a pack of African dogs after a gazelle.'

'I don't double cross a partner,' Eric said.

'Good,' Joseph said. 'You can double cross others if you want, but don't double cross us. It will be the last double crossing you will ever do. I hope you understand?'

'Yes,' Eric said.

'Good,' Joseph said. 'Good.' He dipped the huge hand into a hip pocket and brought out a phone.

 'Your phone,' he said and stretched his hand forward. Eric collected the phone and Joseph turned and trod through the grasses back to the jeep, his thick, long legs moving briskly in a soldier's match. The remaining gang followed Joseph and hopped into the jeep, slamming the doors home. 

'Watch out for the guard at the factory,' Joseph called out, as the jeep's engine cranked to life. 'He is an old man and comes only in the night.' He pointed his hand at us. 'We are expecting our money three days from now. Don't fail.'

We watched the jeep go as if hypnotized to do so, and it turned around a corner and disappeared. The sky rumbled and sparked, warning the sky would soon piss on us.

I checked my phone: the time was 10:45. 

'What next?' I asked.

'Let's get to the factory,' Eric said. 'Let's find out if they are telling the truth.'

I said: 'What about the security guard? Joseph said he comes in the night.'

'I have to get back to the house,' Tolu said. 'I have to be in the house before my uncle calls.'

Eric looked at us. 'Dracula said the guard is an old man. If he's old, he's probably deep asleep by now. Let's just see if Mr. Potter is there or not and then we can leave.' He turned to Tolu. 'Give us fifteen minutes and we head back to Lagos. The road will be traffic free by the time we are finished.'

'I can't,' Tolu protested. 'I have to be home before twelve. That's when my uncle gets to London. At least thirty minutes before twelve.'

'We will beat the time,' Eric said, his voice imploring. 'I just want us to see him and then we will be out of here. It's just to make sure he is there.'

'We are wasting time, arguing back and forth,' I said. 'The rain is coming; it will waste more time.'

That statement galvanized us, and we entered the car. The sky rumbled again, this time louder and angrier.

Tolu started the car. 'Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes and not a second more.'

Eric said: 'Fifteen minutes.'

Tolu plunged the jeep into the potholes, and we got to the old cocoa factory's gate about five minutes later. I saw wires on the dangling free from the main part of the gate. 

Tolu switched off the headlights and we remained in darkness for a couple of minutes. No light shone from the building, and except for the grumbling of the sky, everywhere was quiet.

'Who will get the gate?' Tolu said to no one in particular. 

'I will get it,' I said and opened the door. 

'Be careful,' Maria whispered.

I dropped from the car and tiptoed to the gate. I stretched my hands forward, walking through the long grasses toward the front of the gate. My hands touched the wires and I felt for the middle and touched the part that held the two sides of the gate together. I pulled it gently, praying no padlock bound and locked the two sides together. The chain clanked away freely from the middle of the gate until the other end fell at the bottom of the gate. I pushed the two sides gently inward, and they swung backward, creaking. I pushed the side to my right until I got to the end of its hinges. I groped forward, looking for the second side. 

'I will hold this side,' Eric said in the dark. 

'Alright,' I whispered. I walked back to the jeep. 'Tolu, drive in; we will close the gate.'

Tolu started the car and drove into the gate without the headlights. I pushed the gate back and met Eric in the middle and we aligned the two sides the way we had met it.

The sky sparked and cried again. Tolu parked in the middle of the compound and switched off the engine. He and Maria came down from the car.

'Where is he?' Maria asked.

'Come along,' Eric said and walked toward the building in front of us. We sprang after him, as if afraid to be left alone. We walked on gravels and stopped at the entrance to the building. 

Eric pressed the surface of his phone and we stared at a massive glass door, wide enough to allow a small truck passage. Cobwebs, wide as saucers, adorned the upper parts of the door and smaller ones covered the handles and the edges. It was chained and locked; the chain and the padlock looked rusted. 

'How did they get in?' Tolu asked.

'Let's check the back,' Eric whispered. 'There is bound to be a way in.'

'I brought a flashlight,' Tolu whispered back. 'Can I use it?'

'Not now,' Eric said. 'When we get inside.'

We crept to the back of the building and found six doors there, some narrow and some wide. Eric tried the first, the second and the third. Each was locked.

'Spread out and try the others,' he whispered. 'Do it quietly.'

We did that, checking the other three. 

'This way,' Tolu said, his voice above a whisper. 'This one is unlocked.'

We gathered around him. There were cobwebs here too, but none in the middle of the door. 

'Turn on the flashlight,' Eric whispered. 

Tolu walked through the door and turn on the flashlight. Eric and I followed him, while Maria hurried after me. We walked into a massive open hall with huge, long machines, machines used to process cocoa seeds once upon a long time.

We sneaked forward, the echoes of our steps chasing after us across the hall. Tolu shifted the flashlight toward the room, and I saw other machines with large conveyors and long metal rods stretching upward to the roof. Giant, black spiders covered the middle of the wide cobwebs. 

'God!' Maria cried. 'Look at how big and many they are! What do they eat in here?'

'Shhh,' Eric said. 'We don't want to wake the guard. Keep going.'

We found the store. It was locked, but the key was stuck in the keyhole. Eric turned the key and pushed the door inward. It swung open. The darkness in the room greeted us before Tolu's flashlight drove it out. We saw nothing at first, and then the light found a figure on the floor to the extreme left of the room.

The figure lay curled toward the wall, as if cold, and a gentle snore accompanied the rising and falling of its shoulder. A bag, unmistakably Mr. Potter's, served as a pillow under the white skinned body. We walked around him, Tolu's flashlight focused on him.

Eric squatted beside him and shook him. 'Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter. Can you hear me?'

Two grunts rose from the body, but that was all that came from him before his snores regained their rhythm. The shoulder rose and fell, unperturbed, as if no one had touched it. 

'This man is not well,' Tolu said. 'No one sleeps like this; it's not natural!'

I squatted beside Eric. 'Let's pull him up and see what's wrong with him.'

Eric shook him again vigorously. 'Mr. Potter, wake up.'

Mr. Potter grunted again and stirred, but his eyes remained closed.

'Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter. Can you hear me?'

Then silence. Snore. Silence. Snore...

Tolu hissed. 'You said we are just to make sure he is here, and he is here. We are running late.'

Eric shook him again. 'Mr. Potter.' Mr. Potter stirred and grunted again. 'Mr. Potter, wake up.'

'What is it?' he muttered and raised his arms to block the light. 'Who are you?'

Eric rose to his feet and Tolu pointed the flashlight away from Mr. Potter's face. Mr. Potter turned his face to the wall again.

'What do you want?' he muttered, sounding like a drunk awoken by a hangover headache. 'What do you—'

'Mr. Potter,' Eric said. 'We are your friends. We picked you from the airport, remember? It's not the armed...it's not the other guys. We picked you from the airport.'

Mr Potter's snores came back as the reply. 

Eric stood up. 'What's wrong with him?'

Tolu shook the flashlight and the rays danced on Mr. Potter's body. 'Can we go now?'

'Maybe he is just tired,' Maria remarked. 'I am sure those brutes manhandled him, and you know white people are not strong.'

'We need to go?' Tolu said. 'We have stayed more than twenty minutes.'

'What has he been eating?' Eric said, as if he didn't hear what Tolu said. 'The man must be hungry.' 

'They gave him bread,' Tolu said and pointed the flashlight to the floor behind Eric. Ants roamed about in haste, picking the crumbs and following a trail that headed toward the door. Tolu moved the light to the right of our position. 'And water,' he added. Two Swan Water bottles lie on their sides, both empty.

'Okay,' Eric said. 'Let's go. Tomorrow we will start the real business instead of this baby-sitting job.'

'This room has no toilet,' I said. 'How does he ease himself?'

'That's a point,' Maria observed. 'He needs access to a toilet.'

'A toilet will have a window,' Eric said. 'And that means he could escape or shout for someone to hear him. Let him remain here; if he wants to ease himself, the space is wide enough. We will change him into another room tomorrow.'

Tolu walked toward the door. 'Let's go, please.'

'Okay,' I said, and followed him. 

Maria and Eric walked behind me. I turned at the door and looked at Mr. Potter's body. His shoulder rose and fell again, the same way we met him when we entered the room.

I turned and walked out of the room and for some inexplicable reason, I felt pity for him.