NEW HIDEOUT

We got to Ajah around 8 P.M. that night. Dracula asked Bayo to stop a few meters from Ajah market. 

'Buy...buy...fri...fried yam and...and...akara,' Dracula said, handing a one-thousand-naira bill to the back. Joseph snatched it out of his hands. 'Buy...buy...for...for all!'

'Okay, boss,' Joseph said and got out of the jeep. He disappeared into the crowd and soon returned with a black polythene bag in his hand. The smell of bean cakes ran through the car the moment he came in. Bayo started the jeep and we moved on. 

Tolu missed the way to the building twice before he eventually found the road to the street. The building was the only house at the end of the street, but it was fenced and secured with a gate. Bayo stopped the jeep in front of the gate and Joseph the Brute jumped out, brandishing his pistol around as if another gang waited in the surrounding bush. Tolu came down and unlocked the gate and Bayo drove us through the gate. He parked in the middle of the compound.

The headlights illuminated the house. It was a bungalow and it sat in the middle of the compound. No electrical cables came from the pole to the house.

Tolu and Joseph closed the gate behind us, and Joseph went round the house, peeping through the open windows, and presently returned to the car.

'All clear,' he said.

We came out of the car, stepping on the long grasses. Bayo opened the boot and dragged Mr. Potter out; he stood by himself, stretching his limbs, and I knew he did not fall asleep. 

Joseph turned to Tolu. 'Give me the keys.' Tolu stretched out the bunch of keys and Joseph snatched them from him. 'Let's go,' he added and walked toward the house, plunging through the long grasses. Dracula turned his flashlight on, and Eric did the same with Tolu's phone.

'Bring... the... white man,' Dracula said and followed Joseph. 

'Move,' Bayo said, nudging Mr. Potter forward. I hung Mr. Potter's bag on my shoulder, and we blundered through the grass toward the house. Eric and Bayo covered out back.

'This... is a ghost hou..se...house,' Dracula said, waving the torchlight. 'Watch...out for…for…snakes.' 

'Yes, boss,' Joseph said, pushing a key into the front door. He muttered and brought out the key from the lock. 'Wrong key,' he added and inserted another.

This time the key unlocked the door and Joseph push it inward. He went in and Dracula followed him while we trailed after them. I heard Eric's and Bayo's steps right behind ours. 

The floor was tiled, and the electrical fittings were in place, although no electricity ran through them yet. I looked around. Empty paint buckets sat close to the position meant for dining and to an entrance by our left. 

Dracula waved the flashlight to the left, and the light picked up some planks packed one on top of the other.

'This is deso...late,' he said, 'no...no place to...to...sleep.'

He walked into the first room, looking around and we followed him. This room was empty, except for two empty Benson and Hedges packs left on the floor and the cobwebs on the ceiling. 

'Nothing...nothing…nothing here,' Dracula said, going out of the room. And for the umpteenth time I wished his stammering would be short and not so annoying. It sounded like an AK47 going off in a library after this long day. We trudged after him like cows following a herdsman, and the other rooms proved the same with the first we saw. We got to the kitchen at last and to my surprise we found two mattresses—mattresses probably left behind by the people who worked on the house. They were dirty, filled with bedbugs (we found out later that night) and smelled like tortoise's urine, but they were our saving grace from sleeping on the floor that night. 

Dracula turned to Joseph. 'Make...make...them...comfor...comfor...comfortable.' 

'Okay, boss,' Joseph said. He turned to Tolu and I. 'This is it. Use the paint buckets for seats and the mattresses when you are ready to sleep. Make yourselves at home.' He took two steps forward and stood in front of me, ignoring Mr. Potter and Tolu. 'Don't get ideas about escaping. The only way out of this place is through the grave!'

Mr. Potter chuckled. 'Can we sit? My legs are wobbly.'

'Sit,' Joseph said. 'But come and take your bean cake from the living room.'

He walked toward the door and Eric's phone became the source of light. Tolu and I picked the empty paint buckets and brought them to the middle of the room, turning them upside-down. 

Mr. Potter sat down with a sigh. 'I'm tired and famished.'

Eric looked on, saying nothing. Tolu got the bean cakes and friend yam and placed the bunch on one of the paints buckets we turned upside-down. Eric walked out of the room at this point, taking away the light and leaving us with the low light coming from my phone. We ate in the dimmed light and pushed the bean cake with water. Mr. Potter ate gingerly, looking closely and smelling every piece he picked before biting into it. He drank more of the water.

'Are they leaving us in the dark? Mr. Potter asked. 'I hate staying in the dark; you never know what's creeping around.' 

'I don't think they care if we sleep in a black hole,' Tolu said. 'Let's put everything we need in place before your phone goes out.'

Joseph entered the room at this moment and stood by the door looking at us. I cleaned my hand on the sheet of paper the bean cake came in.

'The boss wants to see you,' Joseph said, looking at me. 'Let's go.'

I stood up. 'What for?'

'Don't ask questions! Follow me.'

I followed him and we walked out of the door. We met Bayo at the door.

'Joseph,' Bayo said from behind Joseph. 'The boss said you should watch the other two and I should take Paul to him.'

Joseph nodded and stepped aside. I followed Bayo into the living room, and we entered the next room by the left, the one we saw planks in. Dracula and Eric stood in the middle of the room.

'We are wasting time,' Eric said as soon as I stood before them. 'He won't listen to you.'

Dracula flashed the flashlight on my face, and I raised my hand to block it. He moved the torch away from my face and I dropped my hand.

'Join us,' Dracula said, and I thanked God this time he said the words without stuttering. It was short lived though. 'Jo..in...join us and we will sha...share the money toge...toge...together.'

'I don't want any of it,' I said. 'Keep everything.'

Eric chuckled. 'I told you; this is a waste of time.'

Dracula turned to Bayo. 'Ba...ba…bayo, talk…talk…talk to him.'

Bayo walked from behind me and stood in front of me. 'Your friend said you have a conscience problem, but you shouldn't. None of us here is a bad person. All of us are graduates—well, except for Joseph, I think. He dropped out in his third year because he couldn't pay his way. We are graduates and we wouldn't be doing this if we had jobs, would we? But we don't have jobs and we have to survive.' 

I stared at him, and then looked between the three of them, wondering what they would say when I tell them my mind.

'What you are saying is right,' I said, when Bayo did not say more. 'We don't have jobs, but I still don't want to be part of it.'

Bayo sighed. 'Don't you want to settle down and have kids before you die?' 

'You are wasting your time,' Eric said. 'I know him; once he makes up his mind he is as hard as steel. You can't bend him.'

'Why don't you want a part of it?' Bayo asked again.

'Why?' I said. 'Because it's the wrong thing to do. Mr. Potter is sick; in case you haven't noticed. Why will you take advantage of a man with mental illness? How will you feel if you are in his shoes? Have you considered that? The man is not only mentally sick, but he also has emotional problems. He recently found out his wife was cheating on him, and his world is upside down; why will you want to take advantage of such a man?'

'What's wrong with you?' Eric shouted. 'This is the way the world works! Wake up from your slumber and face reality. Who doesn't have emotional problems? They took my mom to the hospital last night, but I cannot go to see her because I don't have a dime on me. She could die, Paul, and I won't be there to see her die. She is in a diabetic coma, and she could die any moment. Just because I couldn't send three thousand naira to buy her drugs. Don't talk to me about emotional problems because Mr. Potter is not the only one having it.'

'The reason we called you,' Bayo said, 'is to tell you we got another reply from Mr. Potter's wife. She is offering to come to Nigeria. She will be coming with the ransom.'

'Good for you,' I said. 

Bayo turned to Dracula as if asking for consent. Dracula nodded.

'She is coming with two hundred thousand pounds. Eric has forced her to agree to two hundred thousand pounds. That's the equivalent of sixty million naira. Sixty million naira!'

My heart sank. Nothing I tell them now will change their minds. The stakes are too high. Sixty million naira shared between the four of them would mean more than ten million naira per person. Most jobless youths I know would kill for much lesser figure. 

I raised my eyes and found Dracula staring at me. Bayo tried to wipe the smile off his face, but it was as futile as stopping young Africans with no job and no hope from migrating to Europe.

'The money is huge,' I said. 'But I still don't want a part of—'

'Paul, wake up,' Eric said. 'If I get the ransom today, my mother will live. If I don't, she will die. What do you want me to do? Living in this country is like living in a jungle—it's about the survival of the fittest. If you don't have connections, you won't get a job and you will die like a dog on the street.'

 'Eric,' I said, 'you are not this kind of person. You are a good person; don't let what is happening today get the best of you. Don't lose hope; things could change. Things could get bet—.'

'Hope for how long?' Eric shouted. 'Until I enter the grave? If you don't have anyone in the government, your hope is worthless. The people enjoying in this country are the people in government, their relatives and their friends. Nothing in this country is based on merit. If you are not found in this circle, you are a fool to have hope. A fool, Paul, just like you.' He turned to Dracula. 'I told you it's no use. This is all a waste of time. I am out of here.' And he walked out of the room. 

Dracula and I faced each other. He wanted to talk, I could see it in his posture, but I guess he knew the words won't come without jerking and hopping over each other.

He turned to Bayo.

'You are a fool,' Bayo said. 'This is a lifetime opportunity, and you are throwing it away. It's about survival; that's all it's about.'

'Sorry,' I said. 'But I don't have that necessity. I don't need to take advantage of a mentally sick person before I survive. I am not that kind of person.' 

Bayo nodded. 'I see you are stubborn but be careful. Don't try to interfere with what we are doing. Don't try to contact the police or try to save Mr. Potter. If you attempt any, we will hunt you down and scatter the pieces of your body on the hills of Jos. I have killed before; one more won't give me a sleepless night.'

He looked at me for another second and then he turned and looked at Dracula as if asking if he had spoken Dracula's mind. Dracula nodded and walked toward the door. 

Bayo stood behind me. 'Let's go,' he said. 

I followed Dracula, and Bayo followed me, and they led me back to the room he called me from. Mr. Potter lay on one of the mattresses we saw in the kitchen while Tolu stood by the window, looking into the surrounding darkness. Bayo pulled the door shut and locked it from the outside.

I walked to the mattress and lay beside Mr. Potter. Tolu remained by the window and when he finally joined me on the mattress, the bed bugs and the mosquitoes had started feasting on us.