ONE: HOW IT STARTED

The strong metallic stench of blood assaulted him the moment he stepped into the room. It was pitch black inside, and he had to take a moment to let his eyes adjust to the sharp contrast in brightness since he was coming from the scorching midday sun. Did Don have a fight with the client again? He asked himself as he sniffed the air and affirmed the unmistakable smell of blood. Don is an unruly, loud-mouthed and thickheaded street lord who believes everything can be handled with his fists. His transactions had always ended in a fight, as he thought the other party would try to cheat him if he didn't rough them up a bit. Nevertheless, Akin liked the man because he would never try to take more than his due cut after every deal like other street lords do when they believed he's not looking.

An ominous foreboding crept up Akin's stomach as he made his way deeper into the room after his eyes had adjusted enough. The place was too quiet, much too quiet, Don is a loudmouth so even if he is injured and nursing his wounds, he would be spewing curses against his aggressor. The ominous feeling in his guts grew stronger as he stepped around a sofa and pulled aside the curtain that separated Don's living room from the back room where he handled all negotiations. Akin stumbled into a broken chair as he stepped into the back room, taking in the room he saw an upturned table - Don's desk - with blood-stained papers fluttering around the room, blood smeared across the floor with bloody boot prints all around, and a body over to the side of one of the double seater sofas in the room - Don's body.

Akin rushed over to the body lying on its side and pulled it backwards to lay on its back, he gasped in shock when he saw a knife plunged into its chest right over the heart. Panicked, he pulled it out, spraying blood all over his face in the process and eliciting a gasp from Don, whose consciousness was fast fading.

'They took him; they don drag am go.' Don whispered before choking on the blood that now filled his throat.

'Don! Don!' Akin called out as he alternated between pressing against the wound on Don's chest that was still pumping out blood and slapping his cheeks to get his attention. Alas, Don is now unresponsive after the last words he managed to choke out. Upon realizing the man is well and truly dead, Akin screamed.

*****

'The blade no enter his heart like that, the thing just nick am small nah why he still fit hold on for that long before hin die.' Needle, one of Skull's right hands who had experience with bodies analysed.

'Shey you dey try to tell us say the kid arrived as he dey die?' A street lord inquired.

'The fuck Nigga! Who's to say no be him stab am, con standby make the guy bleed to death!' Another interjected.

'The mother-fucking-Nigga fit dey show him power nah, Don for no 'gree with him plan, make he come stab am since Don for done weak from fighting with the client and his peeps, everyone sabi Don's craze na.' Marcus, another street lord, quipped playing detective as he analysed what he claimed he had deduced from the crime scene.

'Me, I no fit confirm when Akin land for Don's area, but I know say he no fit do that kain thing.' Needle started but was interrupted fiercely.

'Why he no fit do am, why he no fit do am!' A street lord exclaimed in anger. 'Na saint? No, shey him Na saint? No be him dey authorize our deals? I no talk am say he too small for that Kain power? I no talk am!'

'That's enough!' Skull who has been quiet all these while finally interjected. Standing up from his throne-like chair, he pointed his walking stick that sheaths a sword to the street lords. 'Una wan dey question my authority for here? Abi una think say I don soft?'

'Bossman we no fit, we just dey reason say we street lords no go dey safe again if Akin fit dey do anyhow. We no go get free will negotiate better deals or do our business well if we dey fear say he go dey displeased con harass us.' A street lord came forward to appease Skull while ensuring there was no escape for Akin.

'He go better make we kill am now before hin go reach that level' another quipped in from the back of the hall.

Akin shook his head with a bitter smile from where he was kneeling at the front of the hall. He had always got the feeling that the street lords were displeased with him and the fact that he had so much control over the deals they made, the agreements reached, and the distribution of profits. Still, he had given them a lot of leeways, turned a blind eye when they take more than their due percentage, or when they arranged separate off-the-book deals and had only overseen the deals they closed and their details so he could write a report for Skull but even that wasn't enough for the fuckers who had grown too greedy for their own good and too proud to accept supervision.