Fifteen minutes later, Clement was on his way home. All his life, he never envisaged he could or would ever drive in the manner which he was driving presently was a major concern to his sub-conscious mind. He matched the break for the first time as he swerved off the road into their estate road.
“Welcome oga.” Akpan said, but he was knocked away by his angry boss who marched on towards the house.
“What’s wrong with this man? Abi e don smoke ni?” Akpan asked himself as he returned to his house in pains. He yanked the door open and immediately started shouting.
“Rachel!!!….. Rachel!.. Rach..” He screamed at the top of his voice. The noice woke Rachel from her sleep as she quickly ran to the living room to know who the noise maker was.
“Sweetheart, it is you. Why are you shouting?” She asked the moment she saw him standing at the centre of the room. “What are you doing at home by this time of the day? Don’t tell me you have closed for the day.” She continued.
“Hey! Save it.” Clement cut her short. Surprise was an understatement, because what she felt that moment, she couldn’t explain. This was the first time she would be feeling such. Surprise coupled with embarrassment and the fear of the unknown was exaclty what she felt. She had known Clement for over half a decade now and she has been married to him for a year and a half now and had lived under the same roof with him for more than two years now. She had wronged him, he had wronged her, but no one had ever shouted at the other. They settle any problem even before it becomes a problem. One party was always quick to accept the blame for any problem and the other in turn forgives. But, Clement raising his voice this moment with such a furious look on his face was not a good omen, but he is her husband, she should be able to clam him down.
“Darling, what’s the matter? Who wronged you?” She asked as she moved closer to him. He kept mute and didn’t say a word or move an inch. His mind was preoccupied that moment, that all he could think about was the innocent look on his wife’s face. Could she have cheated on him? Certainly not. But pictures can’t lie. On the other hand, it could be photoshopped, but the pictures shown to him look real and alive. Moreso, Rapheal has nothing to gain in putting her(Rachel) into trouble.
“Sweetheart, talk to me.” She said, this time she was four steps away from him, but his next action surprised her the more. He raised his hand upward, a gestrue which meant she shouldn’t come any forward. She wanted to talk, and even though no words came out, he had already told her not to say anything.
“What’s between you and Rapheal?” He asked. Her heart flew away to only God knows where, and that moment, she could only think of one thing, who told him about her fling with Rapheal? She needed no soothsayer to know that it was either the handiwork of Dolapo or the nurses. But on a second thought, Dolapo is currently unstable and the nurses have no reason whatsoever to report her to Clement. These conclusions left her with only one thought which was yet to cross her mind, which is the possibility of Rapheal telling him. But who does that? Even a man who had lost his dignity a long time ago dare not confess his fling with another man’s wife to an outsider, not to talk of the lady in question’s husband.
“What are you talking about?” She asked, but her voice gave her away. She was not an expert liar. When they were much younger, Chidinma has always been there to save her a.ss anytime they did something wrong.
“Rachel, how dare you? How dare you cheat on me?…” He asked. Even though he wanted to continue, but his voice trailed off. Rachel at once went down on her knees in a bid to explain herself that she only kissed Rapheal and nothing much, but Clement’s next line of action took her by surprise.
The latest stunt he pulled was driving him crazy. Did he just hit his wife? Did he just beat a woman? He asked himself as he looked at the woman sprawled on the ground at his feet crying and begging for forgiveness. He wanted to kill himself that moment, but his anger was doing the reasoning for him.
“I want you out of my house with your useless baby before I return home today.” And with that he stormed out of the house. At the gate, Akpan ran up to him.
“Oga, some men asked me to give this to you.” he started the sentence on his feet, but by the time he completed it, he was on the floor. He walked outside the gate, entered his car and drove off.
——–
Two hundred metres away from Clement’s house, a black Infinity was parked. “This is the perfect timing. Lets go in.” Kelvin said to Hakym who eased the car forward towards Clement’s house.
*****
Ngozi just finished questioning Deoye and his gang as instructed by Clement. She was asked to lead a group of human right lawyers to their cells and they got enough informations off them, while their defence attorneys also did some questioning. She was now seated in her office, thinking about the events of the previous night, how her fiancee’s house was attacked by hoodlums, whom she suspected to be members of the Khal corp because their main reason for coming was to get a map which is connected to Khal corp off her. She was thankful to God for giving her a man like Tobiloba, because if a man could even at the point of death hide his woman, then he loved the woman with all his heart and life. And in their case, she was not just any woman, a woman who was fresh from sleeping with another man. If he could do that for her and still forgive her of her offence, then her future is very bright with him. She picked up her phone and searched for Tobiloba’s number.
“Hello sweety.” She said.
“Hello dear.” He replied with a grumpy bedroom voice.
“Are you sleeping?” She asked.
“Yeah.” He replied.
“Oh! Please, I am very sorry. I only called to check on you. Hope the body pains had subsided?”She asked.
“No problems, and yes, I feel a lot more stronger now.” He replied.
“Thank God. Okay, see you later.” She said.
“Twelve o’clock you said. I am expecting you.” He said.
She giggled on hearing his last sentence. She was sure they would make a very good couple, only if she resigned from her job, something she planned doing after her wedding, but the image of Kelvin didn’t want to clear off her mind. Even though she was not a promiscous type of girl, but from what she had read in magazines and her experiences with Tobiloba, she must confess, Kelvin really knew how to drive a woman crazy with his sensual touches and s.ex prowess. Even though, Tobiloba is not bad when it comes to s.ex, but Kelvin was in a class of his own. She knew she must be contented with whatever Tobiloba has to offer and forget about Kelvin.
The thought of Kelvin brought back the memories of the previous night in her mind. Who could have tipped Khal corp off that she was with the map or had an idea of where and how the map could be gotten. She remembered, it was only Kelvin she talked to about a map, even though everyone knew she discovered the underground, only a few insiders knew by what means she discovered the underground. It could be coincidental that the Khal corp knew about her having map and decided to come after her, but she remembered it was only Kelvin who knew she’ll be sleeping at Tobiloba’s apartment yesterday. But on a second thought, she concluded that she was followed right from the time she left work, but following her is impossible because she took public transport home from work. And considering the number of people in a Nigerian bus-stop, one could loose his trail. Everything all points at Kelvin’s direction, but being hasty could prove to be a problem in the end.
What if Kelvin turns out to be innocent, will she be able to look at him in the eye? Will she still remain in his good books? If one considers the way he questioned and advised her the previous day, one would think he was part of the system(Khal corp) but his excuse of knowing so much about terrorism as a weapon of insurgency as a result of the films he had watched proved to be a good excuse.
*****
Kelvin and his men walked into the living room after they had taken care of Akpan who was caught unawares and didn’t put up a bit resistance as he was stangled and stabbed to death.
“Peace be unto this house.” Kelvin said, typical of Nigerian pastors. Rachel quickly stood up and cleaned her face with the hem of her blouse, alas, it was an August visitor, the least expected person at the moment. Her brother-in-law.
“Kelv, whatsup?” She managed to ask with a smile. The smile which soon turned to a frown and a look of fright when she saw the men who walked in after Kelvin. Their appearances was the reason why she was afraid, she knew they can’t possibly be here to harm her, when her only brother-in-law was among them.
“Have your sits. What can I offer you?” She asked. Maybe she thought they were here to congratulate her on her safe delivery.
“What do you all want guys?” Kelvin asked. The guys numbering up to four, including Hakym voted and the majority voted for red wine which Rachel at once disappeared towards the bar or the kitchen. She returned two minutes later with a bottle of wine and five glass cups which she dropped on a stool before them.
“Do you mind if I open the drink for you guys?” She asked.
“Please do.” Hakym replied. She bent down and carefully opened the wine bottle.
“So Kelv, what brings you here?” She asked after taking a sit opposite theirs.
“We came on the orders of some great people you have wronged in this country.” Kelvin began.
“I didn’t wrong anybody?” She asked.
“Well, let me break it down. You made a copy of a confidential file and you kept it to yourself with the aim of showing it to the police. We from Khal corp has been sent to punish you for tampering with Chief Obi Patrick’s privacy.” Kelvin explained. Understanding where they were driving at. So Kelvin is a terrorist?
“Drop your phone here.” Hakym ordered pointing to the stool which had only a bottle of wine and five wine cups. She dropped her phone amidst the cups.
“We’ve been asked to kill you because you are an enemy and we’ll do just that.” Kelvin said.
“I trust my Father-in-law, he won’t do such to me.” She replied confidently, even though she still thought it was a joke. Until Kelvin pulled out his 9mm rovolver was when she knew they had a lot of strategies to get anybody they so wish.
Just last week, Sylvester’s wife was killed and this week, its her turn afterall. Kelvin inched closer towards her.
“Now, I can have my way with you before taking your miserable life.” He said as he began tearing off her cloth with over three guns pointed at her.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Clement brought his car to a halt at the entrance of the estate and thought about his actions in the last five minutes or more. Even if he was under the influence of a certain spell or the other it doesn’t warrant that he hit his wife, a resolution he had made right from the time he had reached puberty, which was why in his almost a decade of working as a professional police officer, he had never personally handled a female criminal case, because he knew there is no way you’d question a criminal without resorting to violence to make them confess. Now, he did not beat a criminal, but his own wife. And the last time he checked his Bio, he was from the East and not the North where ‘sharia’ permits a man to beat his wife if she offends him. He needed to make things right immediately. He concluded as he ignited the car and drove forward to turn.
What was Akpan talking about when he was leaving? Was another question on his mind. Well, he’ll find out in due time.
******
Chief Obi Patrick was seated in his living room watching the tv, something he hadn’t done in months. He picked up the remote and tuned to his favourite channel, ‘The Parliament 1.’ A channel where live broadcast of the proceedings in the National and the state assemblies are being shown.
The first thing he noticed got his heart pumping excess amount of blood, it was a combined sitting of the two assemblies at the National level, that is, the senate and the house of reps members, presided over by the Senate president and deputised by the speaker, house of representatives. What could have made them(the lawmakers) want to have a combined sitting? It only happens once in a blue moon, when an urgent decision, a matter of National security, development is about to be taken and they need the consent of the two chambers on the issue.
The sullen look on the lawmaker’s faces another thing he notice. Of the five hundred lawmakers sitting down in the house, the over three hundred lawmakers in both chambers from the ruling party wore the sullen look, including the senate president and the deputy senate president. Even though his greatest fear is about to be taken care of, he had ordered some men to go and eliminate Rachel before she mouth whatever secret she has to someone else. He also had a considerable amount of men searching around for Onome, the runaway maid. And thanks to Abdul Maleek who released his men, and he instructed them to check from one motor park to the other, and even though there had been no significant success, he was convinced that Onome was still in Lagos.
Then his eyes fell on the special adviser to the president of media and publicity standing before the distinguished and honourable house representing the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, as well as the secretary to the federal government. No doubt, the president’s impeachment notice was being responded to. He picked up his phone and dialled the president’s line.
“Hello, Mr President.” He said immediately the call was answered.
“The president is in the middle of something. He couldn’t recieve calls as we speak.” The president’s ever present handler of phones replied and hung up. Chief Patrick thought he should have introduced himself first before any other thing, but there is no point crying over spilt milk. He dialled another number and waited for it to get connected.
“Hello madam.” He said.
“Hello chief pat.” A feminine voice replied.
“I called the president now and I was told he couldn’t pick calls.” Chief Patrick said.
“Aren’t you watching? Everyone is in a bad mood presently, I even had to cancel my proposed trip to Bangkok for the annual communication summit, the minister for information would be representing me.” The lady explained.
“I am watching also, that was why I wanted to call the president. But madam, what are our chances?” Chief Patrick asked.
“Sincerly speaking I don’t know. He was charged with fifty seven impeachable offences, I don’t see him getting out of it, but the senate president gave us his word, things would work our way.” The woman explained.
“Alright. My regards to the president.” With this he hung up. If the first lady, a woman of pride, an egocentric woman who would stop at nothing to get whatever she wanted, she doesn’t get worn out, she has been the one instilling confidence in the president, if she could speak that way, then something is wrong.
From the look of things in the house, the senate president seemed to have withdrawn into an invisible shell as he allowed the speaker of the house of representative to take charge and preside over the house, even though they still regarded him in every points raised, but he responded to none. No doubt, the president would be impeached and everyone will be in trouble, because as soon as the president leaves office, he would be arrested and he would be forced to mention his accomplices, among which he was one. He needed to do something fast.
He picked his phone one again and dialled the vice president’s private residence line.
“Hello, are you watching proceedings from the house?” Chief Patrick asked. The response he got surprised him even to the marrow. The vice president bursted into laughter and some other people from his end joined.
“Do you take me for a fool? Patrick! You and your boy sent and assassin after me at the stadium a few months ago. Do you think I will just sit back and watch?”
“Maybe they thought you have no political tactics.” Another familiar voice said.
“Gulak?” Chief Patrick asked.
“Give me one reason why my candidates won’t be at the senate next year and you in jail.” He mocked. No doubt, Gulak and the vice president has been working together for a very long time. Truely, politics is a game where trust is not needed, conscience is a sin, just play the game and make sure you are unhurt. Anyone who gets hurt is not your business.
-tbc-
