Chapter Nine

Relaxing and chatting within the space of their VIP cell, Timi and Jane shared thoughts and memories

 "We should be freed by tomorrow at the latest if your dad fulfills his promise today," Timi said.

"Yes, and we will be back to our normal lives again. I pray he gives them the remaining half on time," Jane replied.

The two of them lay face up on the floor.

"Will you still be able to do what you came for?" Timi asked, playing with strands of her hair.

"No! I am going back immediately I regain freedom with a friend of mine. If only he would love to. All expenses paid," Jane replied, smiling.

"Wow! What a lucky guy. And who is he?" Timi asked. He thought it must be one of the guys on the photoshoot team.

"Who else, if not my caretaker, Timi the cab driver," Jane sarcastically replied, and they were both amused by it.

Timi was overwhelmed with joy and could not contain his feelings, for the indirect request was a total confirmation of her love for him.

The door opened at once as they talked, and Evans stood at the entrance. Timi and Jane looked at him as he stood and stared at them for some time.

"Hi, guys," Evans said.

He took some steps into the room.

"I am sorry I have a little bad news for you. Your dad was not able to pay the money as promised today. Therefore, you will still be here till he does. I hope he will be able to pay before the expiration of the new deadline we have given him. I wouldn't want to hurt you guys, much less kill you, because you have been very cooperative, and besides, I love bloodless deals. But I would be left with no other option but to go the brutal way, if your dad fails this time around," Evans dropped the news and walked out of the room. He locked the door as usual and walked away.

Timi and Jane were speechless for some seconds. Jane had sat up, and they glanced at each other once in a while within the silence. Jane's heart sank in disappointment, and she was almost in tears. She knew it was unlike her father not to keep his promise.

"What went wrong?" she asked herself.

"My dad is not like this. No!" she exclaimed quietly.

Timi watched her mood change, and he felt bad about it. He moved closer to her and held her.

"Maybe you need to call your dad to know what went wrong," he suggested.

"Now?" she asked in tears.

"Yes, now," he suggested. He briskly stood up and pulled her up. He went to the bedside, lifted the mattress, and picked the earphones.

"Take! Enter there, and make it snappy," he said, pointing at the wardrobe. He moved closer to her, hugged her, and wiped her tears with his hands.

"Go in quickly and make the call," he walked her to the wardrobe and opened it for her and closed it behind her.

As he walked back to the bed, the door opened, and Evans came in.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"In the bathroom," Timi replied and panicked.

Evans stood for a while, looking over to the bathroom door.

"I need some information from her," Evans said, still waiting.

Timi at this time had started to panic more. It could be dangerous if Jane emerged from inside the wardrobe or made an audible sound while Evans was still around in the room, as that would expose their antics. Timi prayed hard in his mind that Jane would not make any move that would jeopardize their pranks.

"Okay, I will check back in twenty minutes," Evans turned, taking a few steps to leave. And he was almost at the door when there was a sound from somewhere in the room. Jane had mistakenly stepped on an empty soda bottle. Evans stopped at once and looked at Timi.

"What was that?" he asked.

"From the ceiling, I think," Timi was jittery.

"Oh! Okay, sometimes rats run around in there," Evans said and walked out. And like a rat, Timi ran to the wardrobe.

"Come out now," he whispered and beckoned to Jane.

"Now!" he yelled quietly.

"Okay! Papa, I have got to go," Jane rounded up her conversation and jumped out immediately.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He came looking for you, and I said you were in the bathroom. Then, he was about to leave when there was a sound from the wardrobe. He nearly caught us. He will be back soon," Timi whispered.

"I stepped on a plastic bottle," Jane said.

"What did your dad say?" Timi ignored her last statement and changed the subject.

"He has paid them already today, but there was a betrayal by a fraction of them. So, these guys here are asking for another half a million dollars," she said.

"Half a million dollars again!" Timi nearly screamed.

He looked dazed and perplexed that he wished he had the power to take the kidnappers down. He could feel the bubbling anger within him.

"What nonsense!" he grinned.

"He has promised to pay them day after tomorrow again," Jane said sadly.

Timi felt less a man. He would have loved to save himself and Jane, but he could not deny the fact that he lacked the skills and boldness to do so. More so when their abductors were armed. Any attempt by him could be suicidal, and it could put Jane's life in more trouble. He bent his head and felt ashamed.

He was in this mood when the door opened again and Evans came in. He was holding his pistol as always.

"Yeah! Miss, I was here, and you were in the bathroom then," he said.

"Yes, I was told," Jane replied.

"That is okay, I wanted to know if your father has Black people who work for him," Evans shifted his gaze to Timi and back to Jane.

"Yes, many of them. He loves Black people," Jane replied.

"Oh! That's good to know, and that's what I heard, that made me to be kind to you. I don't treat my hostages as nice as I treat you. Any Nigerian among them?" he asked.

"Yes, some of them, his Personal Assistant called Felix, is one of them. I can't remember his other name," Jane said.

"Oh! Alright, that is good to know. He earns my respect," Evans remarked and looked over to Timi again.

Timi was staring at the floor with a stern face. He was terribly angry with Evans, and he could not hide it.

"Hi! Hope nothing is wrong?" Evans said to Timi.

"Nothing, I have a slight headache," Timi lied. Yet, he did not change the direction of his gaze, and the anger expression on his face remained intact.

"Then, take a drug, you are a nurse. Aren't you?" Evans replied, and Timi said, "Thanks, sir," with his gaze fixed on the same spot on the floor.

If only he could strangle the devil standing before him, he would do it as soon as possible. He looked pissed off.

"Okay, guys, if your dad fulfills his promise, we will release you by the day after tomorrow at the latest," Evans said and turned to leave.

"Take care of yourself, Mr. Nurse," he said humorously without looking back and walked out.

Timi raised up his head and hissed like a rattlesnake. His mind boiled with anger. Jane closed her eyes and regretted embarking on the trip to Nigeria, and warm salty water rolled down her cheek. Timi saw it and drew her to himself. He wiped her tears and consoled her.

"Everything will be alright, dear, since your dad has agreed to pay the increment," he said, having his arms wrapped around her.

"Two days more is like a year to me, I am sick of being here," she said in her frustration.

"Let's be hopeful," Timi cuddled Jane.

"Red Eagle! No mercy for the enemy! Red Eagle! No mercy for the enemy! Red Eagle! No mercy for the enemy!" Abdul chanted as he did push-ups. He was warming up for the battle ahead and getting his mind ready. Cowards die many times before their death, and he was not ready to die twice. A real man dies once.

Still on the floor working out, there was a tap on the door. And when the door opened, it was Monster-J. He had come to check on him, for he thought he was still feeling sick, but was surprised to see him sweating and working out.

Abdul continued with what he was doing and did not act as if he noticed the kidnapper standing at the door. He continued mumbling the chant. Monster-J could hear him mumble but could not hear what exactly he was saying. He stood at the door for a little while and left. Walking away, he could not understand what manner of a boy Abdul was. Minutes ago, he was sick and groaning, and now, he was working out, sweating like a wrestler in action.

Monster-J walked out of the house to the veranda, and he saw Evans relaxing under the tree. Beside him was a bottle of whiskey, and his pipe in his hand oozed out smoke stylishly.

Bolt was two meters away from him, enjoying a feast of chicken bones and grumbling once in a while. Luke-the-Dude and Roja were not with Evans, and they seemed not to be in the compound.

"How is the idiot feeling now?" Evans asked.

"Doing push-ups and sweating like a warrior in battle," Monster-J replied jokingly.

Evans heard him and let out a sudden laughter.

"I've always said it, there is something strange about the boy," Evans said amidst laughter.

"Well, there is good news for him. His friend's father called and promised to pay his ransom in two days," Evans added.

"That's good for him," Monster-J replied.

"Yeah! But no one should tell him yet," Evans instructed.

"All of them will be gone in three days, and we will need new hostages," Evans said, puffing on his pipe and polluting the air with the smoke. He took a gulp of the whiskey once in a while as he talked. He has earlier promised himself that Jane and Timi's abduction would be his last but had suddenly changed his mind to make it the second to the last.

"Where are my homies? Can't smell them around?" Monster-J asked.

"They have gone to town to gather information about our new targets. These new targets are stupendously rich oil and gas businessmen," Evans blew out the smoke with style from the tiny hole formed between his lips, he beckoned to Monster-J to come closer, and Monster-J walked up to him.

"I think since we will no longer kill the lady, everyone should have a taste of her. She's too hot to be released untouched," Evans said and chuckled.

"Yes, boss, I was attracted to her the very first time I saw her. Those pair of breasts are terrific and intimidating," Monster-J gave a little smile.

"So, you saw them too? You are a baaad guy," Evans let out a loud laughter. And Bolt, where she prostrated, barked back, probably disturbed by the laughter as she was doing justice to the bones of roasted chicken.

Jane and Timi could hear the laughter from the VIP room, and it was not new to them. The one they just heard was not even as loud as some of the ones they have heard in the past.

They both remained on the floor as usual, exchanging their life histories. The chit-chat had taken their minds away from their present woes and worries, at least for the time being.

Twenty minutes after Monster-J asked after Roja and Luke-the-Dude, the two arrived at the gate, blaring the car horn to notify Evans and Monster-J of their arrival. Monster-J instantly left what he was doing to open the gate for them and locked the gate after they had driven in, in the old Mercedes Benz. Their outing was a success because they were able to gather enough information to make the next abductions successful. They also brought in groceries and foodstuffs for the household.

"Boss, I got you your favorite this time around. Seaside Tobacco Packs. They were the last ones on their shelf," Roja said.

He was holding a white nylon bag, and he was smoking a cigarette too.

"What a good news for me! I've missed it like I missed sex too," Evans said jokingly, amusing his boys who could not but compliment his joke with laughter.

"But tomorrow the sex jinx will be broken," Monster-J replied, referring to what he and Evans had talked about Jane before the arrival of Roja and Luke-the-Dude.

The two guys did not understand what Monster-J was saying, and they never bothered to ask because they thought what he meant was that the next day was their outing day for sex and merriment.

Evans felt it was unwise to bring girls to the facility for sex, for it could lead to exposing his crime business and hideout to the police. Therefore, once in a while, he and his boys drove to town, to the brothels to ease their sex urge with the hookers. And sometimes also, they picked the girls up and lodged in the hotels with them till the following day.

Peter Elichi Cho sat in his office, thinking about his daughter who was now a hostage in Nigeria. His only child. He wanted her to study Business Management in the university, so that after graduation she could take up a position in his group of companies and later take up the CEO position from him when he would retire. He wanted her to use her university knowledge to rule over his business empire in his retirement. But, she opted to be a model, and it saddened his heart. Although his friend Terry had told him he himself did not study a business course before he became a billionaire. So, Jane would do well when the time comes to take over from him. And following his advice, he released her to do her wish and fulfill her dreams.

Really, Peter Cho never knew Jane would take after her late mother who was also a model. Rebecca had the most beautiful eyes in the world with curves that were perfectly in place and an eye-catching bosom which gracefully adorned her gorgeous body. Jane definitely got it all from her, and he knew this.

As he thought and twisted right and left on the chair, there was a tap on the door.

"Come in," he said.

Felix Iyanga came in with paper files in his hand. He stood in front of his boss like an obedient servant.

"Sir, the meeting has been canceled as you directed, and circulars have been sent out about the next meeting day," Felix said and dropped the files on his table.

"Good! Which file is this?" Peter Elichi responded.

"The crude oil deal with Kuwait, sir," Felix replied.

"Okay then, you are free to go," Peter Elichi Cho dragged the files closer to himself and was about to open it.

"Sir, what about Jane? Any news about her?" Felix asked.

"The kidnappers are asking for another amount of money before they would release her, and I am paying them tomorrow. She will be fine. Thanks," Peter Cho replied, and then shifted his attention back to the files before him, and Felix walked out of his office.

"What do you think the boy has in mind to have said those words? Don't you think he is planning to escape?" Jane asked.

She believed that if Abdul said all he said to Timi, he must be planning to escape.

"What do you think?" She felt pressed and sat up from her lying position, leaned over him, gave him a peck on the cheek, and stood up to go to the bathroom.

"If he does that, he might get himself killed. These guys are deadly; they behave like gentle guys because they are big-time kidnappers. They would kill him," Timi said.

"I am famished," Jane announced, digressing totally from the talk about Abdul. And with a chuckle, Timi said, "Likewise me too."

He was hungry, but the conversation with Jane did not allow him to realize it until she announced it. He watched her enter the bathroom.

After five minutes of Jane being there, Monster-J knocked and opened the door.

He dropped the plastic bag containing food by the door, and went back, locking the hostages up again.

"Prophetess Jane, your prophecy has been fulfilled. The food is here!" Timi announced with a hint of sarcasm. And when she heard him, she couldn't wait to munch whatever food was brought.

Since it was their abductors that decided which food they ate and what time they ate, they had no choice but to be contented with whatever was provided and the time it was provided.

She stood up from the closet and stood in front of the mirror to assess herself. She stared at her own image, twisting here and there, and she could not but admit that she still remained her pretty self despite all the stress she had gone through and was still going through. Although her hair looked rough and dry, yet it did not rob her of her natural beauty. Feeling hungry, she hurriedly washed her hands and dashed out of the bathroom.

Monster-J had left to give Abdul his lunch after dropping off the bag of lunch for the other hostages in the VIP room. And on getting to the door of the room where Abdul was being held hostage, he met Luke-the-Dude, and they stopped to have a brief chat.

Abdul stood up and placed his ear on the door to eavesdrop on their conversation. And luckily for the hostages in the VIP room, among the few things Abdul overheard, was Monster-J saying, "we are all fucking that girl tomorrow." Abdul knew it must be the girl Timi talked about, and he quickly went back to his sitting position. When MJ entered the room and dropped the food, he saw Abdul holding his tummy.

"Sir, I need the nurse again. I am beginning to feel the pain in my stomach," Abdul lied. Monster-J looked at him and smiled.

"You will be fine," Monster-J replied and left the room. He locked the door and walked away.

Abdul realized his trick seemed not working this time around. He knew this by the tone of Monster-J's reply and the smile of scorn at the corners of his mouth. Because of this, he started to think of other ways to get Timi notified of their abductors' intention to rape Jane.

He started to eat the moment Monster-J left, and as he was doing so, an idea came into his mind, and he decided to execute it when the time to strike comes.

After twelve hours by his calculation, it was night already, and everywhere was silent. By his guess, it should be between 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. He had made sure he slept in the afternoon after eating lunch to be able to stay awake till midnight. He was full of life for the task ahead of him.

He raised the edge of the carpet up behind the door. There, he had been keeping his improvised weapon. It was time to use it, so he took it and walked to the other side of the room where novels and magazines were on the floor. He picked one and opened it, flipped some pages, and got to the title page. Then, he tore it off. He needed to write a note to get Timi informed about the evil plan to rape the lady in his room, and because the title page was almost blank and contained only the letters of the title, he chose it for the mission. There was no pen to write, but as a member of the Red Eagle Confraternity, endurance of pain was part of his training. He was ready to endure pain for the nurse and his friend because he saw him as a good guy. He was helpful to him and his friend Tade, and he promised himself to help them escape too.

First of all, he cut the plain part of the paper, and with the metal device in his hand, he cut his left thumb and used the smooth, unsharpened end of the improvised weapon as a pen. Using his own blood as the ink, he wrote a brief note. "Danger! Rape loading. Run if you can." He fanned himself for a while with the paper for the blood to get dry on time.

He folded the paper and tucked it in his trousers pocket. He needed to reach the ceiling, and there was nothing in the room that could do the job for him. No stool, no window, and no wardrobe he could climb. He pondered for some seconds and remembered he could achieve his aim through the bathroom sink. He entered the bathroom and climbed the sink and stretched his hand. A little smile found its way to his face as he got the problem solved. He got close to the ceiling and gradually used the improvised weapon to cut the asbestos ceiling little by little. He must not make a heavy sound for any of the kidnappers to wake up. That would foil his attempt and put his life in danger.

The shooting of the abductee, whose billionaire father had disowned before he was abducted, shot by Evans, was still fresh in his memory.

In no time, he was able to make a hole big enough to allow him into the ceiling. He entered the ceiling through it and searched for the manhole that allowed technicians into the ceiling whenever something was needed to be corrected or fixed in the house. It was mostly created by builders at the corridor of houses in Nigeria. Crawling with care, so that he would not make a sound to alert anyone, he searched for the manhole and found it at the corridor area of the building, like he envisaged. He was lucky it was next to the door of his cell, which made it easy to locate. Like a thief, he lifted the lid gently and peeped through the manhole to see the corridor. The corridor was free, and no one was in sight. With his weapon in his mouth, gripped by his teeth, he quietly jumped down on his toes. His prayer actually was for him to be able to dispossess one of the kidnappers of his weapon, and every other thing would be sorted out from there. He quietly tiptoed in the empty corridor, and the first room by his right was the one facing the room he was held hostage. The door was slightly left open, and he could hear a snore come out from there. Now that he was sure that one of them must be there, he walked up to it and peeped. Who actually could it be? he pondered. The room was dark, but by the ray of light in the corridor illuminating a part of it through the slightly opened door, he could see the legs of a man on the bed, and by the look of the jeans, he believed it was Monster-J.

He needed to first attack him and dispossess him of his weapon, and he must do that without allowing him to alert others. The first attack had to be noiseless to have access to a rifle or pistol. After that, the war could start with any degree of noise. Therefore, gradually and quietly, he pushed the door to create enough space to allow him into the room, and when he eventually succeeded, he tiptoed to the bedside, and he saw Monster-J's pistol and a bunch of keys on a small stool beside the bed. Gently, he picked both up, and like in the movies, he tucked the pistol at his back, held tight to his body by his trousers band.

The bunch of keys, he gently put in his pocket, and took his improvised weapon from his mouth. Suddenly, with his left hand, he covered Monster-J's mouth and drove the metal down into his neck at the same time with his right hand. Monster-J surged up immediately and struggled hard in pain. He wanted to shout, but he could not. He could not breathe either, for the metal buried in his throat had done him such great harm that shouting for help and breathing was impossible. He tried to fight for his life, but he had become helpless.

With all his strength, Abdul pinned him down against the bed. One hand on his mouth and the other on his neck. Monster-J struggled to save his own life, but life had begun to leave him gradually. His strength diminished little by little till he gave up the ghost.

"One man down!" Abdul whispered to himself.

"Red Eagle, no mercy for the enemy," he said, and with a face as wild as that of a beast, he watched Monster-J lay lifeless on the bed. His eyes and mouth wide open, and blood oozing from the deep cut in his neck. The length of the spoon handle was completely buried in his neck. And without a bit of pity, Abdul proceeded in his mission. As he looked around, before he left the room, he picked an AK47 rifle he saw by the bedside, hung it by his side with the leather belt attached to it, and searched the pocket of the dead man for money that could transport him back home. He found nothing in the pockets, but as he bent to search under the stool by the bedside, luckily instead of a few bucks, he saw a plastic bag containing bundles of new 1,000 naira notes. By the volume of the cash, he was sure it must be running into millions of naira. And gladly, he grabbed it and walked out of the room. Tiptoeing in the corridor, he took out the bunch of keys from his pocket to pick the key to the VIP room, and with the pistol at his back and the rifle by his side, he felt confident and bold as he approached the door of the main entrance. As he searched through the bunch, he found the key labeled VIP and instantly, he detached it.

If any of the other kidnappers should wake up at this time, it would be a deadly battle. But still, he was cautious at the same time not to drop anything mistakenly. It would be better if he escaped without anyone knowing when he did. He searched again for a key labeled "main entrance" but could not find any key labeled as such. How would he get out of the compound? He was worried. He got to the VIP room opposite Evans' bedroom and not far from the door of the main entrance and stopped. He put the bag of money on the floor, and reached for the note in his pocket. He wrapped the detached key with the note, and then, he slid it under the door of the room.

The main entrance of the house was four meters to the VIP room, and looking at the door from where he was, he could see a key in the keyhole. With a heart full of thanks to his stars, he breathed a breath of relief. Having the guns and the money, the earlier he left the vicinity the better.

He would have knocked to notify Timi and the Japanese girl, but he felt it could expose him by alerting the kidnappers and thereby put his life on the line. Therefore, he decided to leave the occupants of the VIP room to their fate as he believed he had tried his best to help them.

He started to approach the main entrance of the house, and when he got there, he unlocked the door, stepped out, and removed the key out of the keyhole, and quietly locked the door from outside and left the key in the keyhole outside. He believed if there was a spare key for the door, it would be fruitless to open it from inside, as long as another key remained in the keyhole outside.

Two steps towards the metal gate, he could hear a dog grumble at him. He turned to the direction where the grumble was coming from and saw the pit-bull charge at him. Of course, he was aware there was a dog in the compound, but his mind had forgotten it. Notwithstanding the dog's charge at him, he proceeded to the gate to attain his freedom, holding the pistol.

It was 3:35 a.m. The moon was bright, so bright that it would take no stress to locate a coin on the ground. Bolt was beside the SUV and had followed Abdul. It barked as Abdul walked. She could see Abdul's figure under the bright moonlight. As it started to bark aggressively, the noise could be heard hundreds of meters away. Not minding the dog's aggressiveness, Abdul continued to walk to the gate. At his movement, Bolt charged at him, and he tried to scare off the dog.

He would have shot the dog dead, but for the gunshot that would alert his abductors. He ran to the gate to escape Bolt's attack, and before he could reach the metal gate, Bolt had got him with her teeth clamped on his right leg from behind. He felt his flesh tear by the grip, and he groaned heavily from pain. And with a vicious anger and extreme force, he hit Bolt's head with the butt of the rifle. So hard that the dog lost its grip on him and fainted.

Evans woke up and peeped through the window into the compound. He could see the figure of someone at the gate, trying to open the padlock. He could hear the faint groaning of his dog too, and he knew it had been wounded. So, he ran out of his room to the VIP room directly opposite his room and checked to see if the door was locked. He twisted the doorknob and found it locked. He afterwards doubled his steps to the other room where Abdul was kept and found the door locked too, but he could see the manhole in the ceiling beside the corridor left open.

"MJ! Luke! Roja!" Evans shouted.

Roja and Luke-the-Dude ran out from different rooms.

"What's the matter!" Roja asked. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Look!" Evans pointed at the opened ceiling.

"MJ!" Evans yelled.

"MJ!" He shouted again.

There was no answer from Monster-J's room, so Luke-the-Dude ran into his room and found the graphic body of Monster-J lying lifeless on the bed.

"Oh my gosh!" Luke-the-Dude exclaimed.

What he found was gory and pathetic. Monster-J's body on the bed was in his pool of blood. His eyes wide open and lifeless. Evans and Luke-the-Dude ran to join him to see what he had exclaimed about.

"Guys! MJ is dead, and that sick boy has escaped," Evans announced.

They all ran to the main door but found it locked, and the key that was always in the keyhole was missing.

"Bring the axe quickly!" Evan yelled. And Luke-the-Dude ran into Monster-J's room and came back with an axe.

Roja took the axe from him in a hurry and axed the wooden door down.

Abdul was still searching for the key to open the gate in the bunch when, like a jet passing by, a bullet missed his head by an inch and hit the metal gate. He suddenly bent down and ran to the right, using an iron barrel as a cover. He did not notice the barrel all the while when he was searching for the key to the gate; otherwise, he would have used it to climb the high brick fence.

He was no longer in sight and could not be seen by any of the men. He took the pistol and returned their shot with shots, and the three kidnappers who were ready to go to him ran for cover.

The mango tree was not far from him; it served as a cover too. He released two more shots at the spot where he noticed a movement, and the bullets almost hit Evans on the head. The bullets flew past him, and the glass window behind him was shattered.

The rifle at his back, held onto his shoulder by a leather belt, the bunch of keys in his pocket, the bag of money in his left hand, and the pistol in his right hand, Abdul was ready to die while saving his own life.

Evans moved a bit away from behind the balcony pillar he used as a cover; faintly, he could see the rifle on Abdul, and when he did, he felt terribly bad.

That was the only rifle available for his team. It was always in care of Monster-J. The other two were malfunctioning.

The shooting continued, and Abdul gradually dragged the drum at his front, beside the mango tree, backward towards the wall of the fence. He still remained behind it, using it as a shield as he dragged it.