(EPISODE 5 ) MY WEDDING NIGHT

seriously i dont think things that happened when we were dating has anything to do with his death, believe me i said slowly.
The officer simply folded his hands and breathed deeply.
Nothing is hidden under the sun for long. Sooner or later i
still will find out, so i believe its in your best interest to tell me all I need to know he pushed with a smile.
I battled with myself one more time before making up my mind to open up.
Damian was stealing from the company. He was doing it with a colleague in the records department. I found out
about the whole deal three weeks into our relationship but couldnt do anything apart from confront
 him. He ended up convincing me to keep quiet, equally promising to marry and take me to his home country. His plan was to get me established over there. I was a woman in love with a whole lot to gain. Of course I kept quiet and helped him steal more. He kept
his word and married me, only to die before fulfilling the last part of his promise. Now what has that got with his death?? I poured out with tears.
And the colleague in question, do you think he has a hand in his death? he asked curiously.
Of course not, they had seperate accounts and divided proceeds evenly. No he is much more valuable alive than dead to the man I answered seriously.
well in a murder case we dont rule out any possibility until the crime is solved. I admire your honesty. You bravely confessed being an accomplice to another crime.
I appreciate and will keep my promise by watching your back. It should interest you to know that your husband might have been murdered in his garden, we saw some drops of blood down there, which now gives us two crime scenes he said while i gasped with shock.
yea Damian loved smoking and probably went to the garden to heat off while i slept, but how the hell did he get back to the bed, if he was killed in there? I asked with disbelief.
its time to go to your cell my dear. Ill permit you to keep your phone. Just pray something new never comes out to incriminate you further, as for now the latest  discovery works on your side he added with a cold smile, got up and led me to a quiet cell where I had the most terrifying night ever.
I kept seeing my dead husband all through that night. Oh it was one nasty experience.
Dear friends, I spent the second night after my wedding in a police cell. What can be more horrible than such.
Hmmm

TO BE CONTINUED....

(EPISODE 4) MY WEDDING NIGHT

As we got up to leave, i passionately pleaded to the detective to help me out. “seriously i have no hand in my husband’s death. You have to help me. You have to do something” I pleaded desperately. “as long as you are innocent, you have no problem with me. I’m a good cop. I promise to get to the bottom of this case” The middle aged officer promised while my brother smiled with relief. “now you are talking officer. Don’t let them intimidate or stop you from doing the right thing” he advised as they shook hands.
On our way out of the force headquarters, my brother held me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear. “you have to be strong my dear. Everything happens for a purpose. Please you have to be strong when facing our parents , they are very devastated” he begged quietly while more tears fell from my eyes. I really didn’t know how to face my old parents, especially mum who braved her sickness to witness mywedding ceremony.
Nevertheless, we first headed to Damian’s house after leaving the police headquarters in order to pick up my things, but on getting to the house, we were stopped by four policemen who told us that they had orders not to allow anyone pick up even a pin from the house. “madam this place is now a crime scene.
You can come back tomorrow to pick your things. As for now we have orders not to allow anybody pick up anything from the house” one of the officers said, leaving me speechless. “i think it’s a good development. A piece of evidence might still be lying around who knows. The police are really correct with this decision” My brother’s lawyer said in agreement. And so we had no choice than to turn back and head to my brother’s house where every member of my family was waiting for me. It really was such a painful scene as every one of them cried on sighting me, especially my poor mother who sobbed uncontrollably. “this marriage was just a huge mistake. oh no” she cried painfully.
However another big development occurred at exactly 5pm when detective Jeremiah showed up once again with a team of policemen and a white man who looked like a lawyer to arrest me. “i’m sorry, the order came from the I.G’s office. It has nothing to do with me” he said as a handcuff was thrown round my wrists, putting my entire family into another wave of shock. My brother as usual tried to defend me by creating a scene but had to shut up when the white lawyer threatened to arrest him as an accomplice in the murder charge I was facing. “don’t worry, I will protect you” the detective whispered to my ear as he led me away. This time, there wasn’t anything to save me from cooling off ina police cell.
To be continued..in episode 5

(EPISODE 3) MY WEDDING NIGHT

As soon as i got to the police station, I called my elder brother who couldn’t believe all i told him. “hold on tight my dear. I’ll be there shortly” he assured me. I was quickly led to an office where i was asked to write a statement, which i nervously did while Damian’s two cousins who came with me kept talking to each other.
After writing all i knew on the note book, a female officer showed up to question me. I tried my best to convince her. “just look at me. How possible do you think a Nigerian girl would murder a husband taking her out of the country to celebrate their marriage?. I didn’t do it. One of them did. You got to help me” i begged. She shrugged and shook her head. “of course i believe you. You have no reason to kill him but you see i’m just an ordinary officer taking orders from my superiors, anyway i believe my boss. S.P Jeremiah will know how to handle your case. He’s a good man and a crime expert” she assured me. My brother showed up minutes later with his Lawyer who quickly took over my case. I told them all i knew and the events that happened after i discovered the dead body. My brother was totally shocked. “don’t worry my dear. I know this is going to be a tough case. I smell the American Embassy getting involved but be rest assured that i will go any length to prove your innocence, even if it means getting experts from abroad. I have friends who can examine the case and get results” he
promised seriously. I breathed deeply and hugged him, thanking God for giving me a wealthy and intelligent brother.
Officer Jeremiah soon showed up at his office and requested for our presence. Damian’s cousins officially accused me before him, asking that i should be detained but my brother’s lawyer intervened quickly. “officer i hope you know everyone that passed the night in that house is a suspect?. They all had access to the bedroom, anyone of them could have committed the crime. If you guys are going to detain my client without proper evidence and reason. You equally should detain all the people present that night, else i will be the person to file a lawsuit against the police, after all none of them can come forward to testify seeing my client murder her husband” the lawyer threatened, putting the officer in a tight position. “fine i’m not going to detain her, but you will have to sign a document which places her in your custody. This is a murder case” the officer said strongly, while my brother’s lawyer nodded in acceptance, Damian’s cousins protested. The document was signed in no time and i was free to go. “we are also getting a court permit which will enable us get our own team of investigators and go through the case. We are not going to take any chances” my lawyer said to the officer who shrugged and smiled. “this is bullshit, we are heading to th embassy” Damian’s cousins threatened and left with anger. It was obvious i had. long case ahead of me. Luckily i had a brother who equally had the means to defend me and catch the culprit…. What next?!..... To be continued........ In episode 4

(Episode 2) MY WEDDING NIGHT

I really can’t write how hurt and empty i was that fateful morning. I can’t describe how devastated i was nor how my heart bled. I was totally broken and dead. I couldn’t even call my brother to tell him the bad situation i found myself. In fact my soul and my spirit ran away from me. I was just a shadow of myself. The devil just took time to urinate on my destiny. Damian’s mother never bothered nor cared about my feelings, instead pulled out the knife from her son’s body when my cries brought her to the room and almost stabbed me with fury, screaming some incoherent words, until other members of the family came in and held her. “i said it; nothing good ever comes out of Africa.
She stabbed him, she probably did it in her sleep, or maybe it’s witchcraft. God save my soul” the old woman screamed and cried. I simply sat beside the bed and cried out my heart. I was just like a cornered rat. I was simply in the midst of foreigners. In the midst of people who saw me as a second class animal or probably a gold digger. None of them spoke to me nor asked how it all happened. I barely had changed my night wear when an ambulance arrived with men from the force headquarters. Before i knew what was happening, i found myself at the back of a police SUV while the perpetrator of the crime walked freely, probably watching the unfolding events from a safe distance.
 Another problem i had was that i didn’t know who to suspect nor accuse. They all looked the same to me. They were all a bunch of conspirators. I felt like taking my life as the police took me away, because there wasn’t any need living again. I knew the justice system would easily convict and close the case than investigating. “Who am i among a bunch of whites all accusing me of murder??”. I had nothing to prove my innocence. I was the only person in the room with Damian. The murder weapon which might have saved me through finger print test was already compromised by Damian’s mother. My life was nothing but over. Kiri kiri prison awaited me with a dark smile.
How do i save myself?, how do i prove my innocence?.
To be continued...

(Episode 1) MY WEDDING NIGHT

write with Tears, I woke up after my wedding night to see a knife buried in my husband’s
chest, our bed sheet soaked with blood. I couldn’t believe my eyes, i couldn’t believe it was all real. I held
my dead husband and looked around. “no this can’t be happening” i breathed, trying hard to control myself. But itwas all real, Damian was cold and still. He was dead for real. “nooo” i sobbed
quietly, wondering what to do, wondering the next step to take. There was any doubt, i was about
experiencing a very terrible twist in my life. Damian was definitely murdered by someone who was so desperate to destroy my happiness. I sat down on the floor while my mind flashed back to how i met my husband. After NYSC, early the previous year. I came to Abuja to live with my elder brother who was a doctor in one of the city hospitals. He had no problem getting me a good job in a very popular construction company inside the city.
Seriously i counted myself as a very lucky girl because i was the first to get a job among all my classmates and friends. I started work in Damian’s office as a secretary and that was when my life took a dramatic turn. Damian who was my boss, a white and an American citizen quickly took interest in me. He was so sweet and caring but equally a womanizer.Everyone warned me to be careful. My colleagues advised me to be professional when dealing with him and never give in to his demands, which i obeyed. But surprisingly he continued disturbing me, even after turning him down so many times. The more i turned him away, the more bolder he got. This continued until i finally gave in to him. We had a very sweet relationship that soon became the talk of the town. As our relationship progressed, i started getting threats from his old girlfriends both in Nigeria and abroad, but it never stopped me from giving up on him. Three months into the relationship, he proposed to me and met my people, drawing another shock from everyone, especially the white community. Our marriage was quickly fixed and i insisted for it to be done in Nigeria because of my family and friends which he accepted without hesitation. Damian’s mother, family members and friends arrived the country two days to our wedding. I had a very long talk with his mum and cousins who all tried to be nice to me even though the resentment on their faces were noticeable. The church wedding and reception went very well. Damian really spared no cost in organising the whole show. We planned travelling to Dubai the next day for our honeymoon, which made us spend our first night as husband and wife in his big house where almost all his family members and friends slept. Anyone of them could have crept into the room as we slept and struck him, but there wasn’t any doubt i would be the major suspect…. “Oh no” i wailed with a loud voice, drawing the attention of everyone in the house. Within minutes, almost every member of the white community was in Damian’s house. It was as if they were all waiting for such news…. I couldn’t believe i was married only for one night…
TO BE CONTINUED... (EPISODE 2).

(Final Episode 14 ) JUMAI

Mark looked at Jumai then moved his attention from her, she wasn’t his focus now; he had men to deal with. He was not sure exactly how many of them he had to deal with or how armed they were. Did the drug prevent bullet penetration? Would he be able to dodge the bullets? He had too many questions. He would have to find answers to them behind the door.
He felt a surge of pain go through his body and he screamed.
“Mark, are you okay?” Jumai said, grabbing his arm.
He pushed her away and flexed his muscles. For a few seconds he waited as a wave of heat swept across his body; he could take on a thousand men if they stood in front of him right now. He looked at the girl on the ground at his feet, was she an enemy or a friend? She would be so easy to break in two. He laughed. That is Jumai, she is the reason you are doing this! He looked at the girl again, she looked so weak it made him angry. Pick her up and get out of here. He grunted in disgust and picked up the girl.
He stood in front of the door, hoisted the girl on his shoulder and punched the door with both hands. It flew off the hinges and into the room next to his. There were about… – he did a quick scan of the room, there were five soldiers in the room and now their attention was on him. He dropped the girl in a corner and faced the men. They stood slowly, curious about the door that had flown across the room. One of them recovered from his shock and grabbed his gun. Mark jumped across the room and with one blow knocked him unconscious. Mark looked up and laughed; this felt great.
The remaining four men had their guns pointed at him now but their eyes were on their fallen colleague.
“Shall we do this?” Mark said.
He wanted to feel their skull his hands while he broke their spines. Remember you are doing this to get her to safety. He looked at the girl crumpled in the corner, she was crying. He would get her to safety but first; these barbarians.
He ran towards the first one and the gunshots started, now was the moment to show how great he was. He was on top of the soldier before he could fire his first bullet. The other soldiers fired at the spot where he had been, haha; they missed. They soon found his new location and fired at him but he blocked the bullets with the body of their friend. He rushed towards the next one and knocked him over with the head of his colleague, he kicked the guy and he was out. Two to go.
“Wait.” He shouted.
For some stupid reason, the soldiers stopped, guns still pointed at him. He could imagine how afraid they were. He looked at the girl in the corner, he wished she had a camera to record his awesomeness.
“I am clearly outnumbered here, I think I should surrender.” He said.
He went on his knees and put his hands behind his head. The men looked at each other, they were confused. He jumped at one of the men and slammed his fist into his throat. He snatched his gun and fired at the other man and in less than ten seconds they were both down. This was fun. He was sure there were other men outside, he was going to kill them all. Every one of them.
Jumai, she needs to leave this place.
He looked at her and walked over to where she was lying, her face to the ground. She wasn’t impressed with his skill? He picked her up and she screamed.
“Hey shut up, I will get you out of here but not if you continue screaming like a tortured dog.”
“Mark.” She whispered through her tears.
You love her, get her to safety.
He looked through the window and just like he expected, there were men waiting outside. They must have heard the gunshots because they had guns ready. They were on the first floor of a storey building, most of the soldiers were on their floor, all he needed to do was get to the ground fast enough to avoid too much of a fight. Why would he want to avoid too much of a fight though? He grinned.
She would get hurt in a fight, get her to safety.
Damn the voice in his head! He needed to get this girl to safety on time so he could come back for a bigger fight. He held the girl in his left hand and readied himself. He took a deep breath and kicked the door off its hinges. The bullets started flying immediately. He took a step forward and threw the girl over the railings and she flew through the air towards the ground; head first. He jumped after her, grabbed her and landed on his back, the girl safe on his chest.
He stood and ran as fast as he could – which was very fast, away from the house and the soldiers who he so longed to fight. He ran and ran till he got to a forest. He looked behind, he could not even see the house anymore. Here was safe enough, he could drop the girl and go back for the fight.
“Mark.” The girl called him. What did she want now?
“Huh?” He grunted back at her.
“We need to get to the camp, you need to take the antidote.” She said.
“What antidote?”
“You can’t remain like this for too long, remember what happened to the others?”
What was she talking about? He looked back the way he had come by, he needed to go back and deal with the soldiers. He took a look at the girl and started back towards the house. Go back for her. She needs you as much as you need her. That was it! He was done listening to the stupid voice in his head. He knew what to do and he would do what he wanted now. He grinned and increased his pace; this was awesome.

***
Mark sat on the car and looked around, this wasn’t as awesome as he imagined. He had not taken as much time, effort or skill as he thought he would to deal with the soldiers. He looked at his right shoulder, blood trickled down from the wound. Deliberately getting himself shot to increase the challenge did not work either; men were too weak. What would he do now? Go into the city and look for more people to fight? He shook his head, what would be the point of fighting civilians? They would be too easy. Maybe he should look for a military barracks. He remembered one of the soldiers made a call before he killed him, maybe whoever he called would come with soldiers.
He felt a squeeze on his face and he rubbed it with his palm; his face felt dry. He jumped off the car and walked into the house, maybe he needed water. He looked around, there was no single water container standing aright; he had done a lot of damage to the house. He found a mirror in one of the rooms and he looked into it. His face looked strange; it was blacker and the part he touched earlier was wrinkled. What was happening?
Remember the other men? You are dying.
No way, he was not dying. He was super-strong and awesome. He punched the mirror and it shattered. He just needed more people to fight, that was it. He needed a fight. He walked out of the house, he would go into town, even if all he had were civilians.
He heard a sound behind him and turned around. His lips parted into a huge smile, there was a truck filled with soldiers slowing to a stop in front of the building. He rolled his fingers into a fist and started to bounce on his toes; Christmas came early. Thank you Santa.
The first soldier out of the truck saw him and cocked his gun. Mark ran towards him and grabbed him by the throat. Another soldier saw them and shot in his direction; he shifted the soldier swiftly and his body took the bullet; perfect human shield. But that was close; the bullet was headed for his stomach. Was he getting slower? Get out of here now! No way. He wanted this, he really wanted this. Most of the soldiers were still in the truck, maybe he could finish them off easily. He went to the front of the truck and pushed it; it moved. Great! He pushed it again and he applied more pressure and soon it was moving away from the house at a good speed. He looked and saw a slope, it was perfect. He pushed the truck to the slope and let it go, it ran down towards God knows what. Some of the soldiers jumped off the moving truck, they would come to him. He turned around and ran back to the house.
There was a different car in front of the house; a hummer. He looked inside the car; it was empty. He heard voices coming from inside the house. A sharp pain shot through his neck and he dropped to his knees. He held his neck and rubbed it; it felt like his face felt earlier. Did it mean his neck would be black and wrinkled too? For the first time, he feared; this was not good.
Get to the camp now!
The camp? The IDP camp! He looked at his palms, they were wrinkled too. Panic shot through him, he was not ready to die. He had to find the girl, he needed her. Jumai. He needed to find Jumai.
The men talking inside the building came out. They were two; a soldier and another man. He knew the man, he was a dangerous man. He killed Baban, you need to get out of here. Yes, he remembered now. The man was the one who brought the soldiers, he was the bad man.
Mark stayed low and crawled around the car. They were a few feet away from him now, he felt pain in every joint in his body but he had no time for self-pity, he needed to make a move now. He rose gently to his feet and jumped at the soldier and with a blow knocked him out. The bad man brought out a gun but he knocked it away before he could use it. The man raised both hands and looked around. Mark knew what the man was looking for but he was not going to find any.
He walked over to the man and grabbed his hand and knocked out a shoulder joint. The man screamed.
“Do you want to die?” Mark growled into the man’s ears.
The man grunted and shook his head.
“You’re going to drive me to the IDP camp. Now move it.”
“I don’t know where it is.” The man said.
Mark pushed the dislocated shoulder and the man screamed.
“Do you know the place now?” Mark asked.
He pushed the man into his car and he climbed in into the backseat. He put a hand around his neck and squeezed it gently.
“This squeeze can get a lot harder if you do any nonsense.” Mark said.
“Your hands looked all wrinkled up.” The man said. “I hope you know that means you are about to die. The kulunix kills you on its way out.”
“Just drive.” Mark said.
He knew the man was right, why didn’t he remember this before? And Jumai, where was she? Where did he leave her? He had to get to the camp fast.

***
His hands were barely tight and his eyes were already closing when they entered the camp. He was in trouble now, he was sure. Even if General Babatunde who he was sure was already sensing his weakness did not kill him, there was a good chance the kulunix would do it. He needed the antidote but the chance of him finding it before he became too weak to move was low now.
“We are here.” General Babatunde said.
“Thank you General.” Mark said.
“Thank you?” The general said. “The kulunix must have worn off. Would you please get your wrinkled hands off my neck?”
“Not yet. Get me to the office area then you can go.”
“Why on earth will I do that?”
“Because I still have my hand on your neck.” Mark said and squeezed the general’s neck.
Pain surged through his hand and through his body and he let go of the general’s neck. He shouldn’t have squeezed harder, using that extra energy was too dangerous, and it was going to kill him. He rolled in the back seat as his stomach turned and his head burned.
“Well, I guess I don’t have to take orders from you anymore.” The general said. “Now, we will take a trip to my house, I have a little place where I kill people like you.”
Mark looked through the window, the car had turned around. He could not let the general take him out of the camp. He reached for the car handle and opened the door. He jumped out of the car and fell on his face. He mustered all the energy he had and stumbled towards the offices, the antidote would be somewhere there.
Behind him, he heard the car stop and a door open. There was no point stopping to see what the General was doing, he needed to get to the office.
“Mark!” He heard a voice ahead of him.
He looked; Jumai! She was safe! She was here!
He caught a second wind and ran towards her, she ran to meet him too. He smiled, it felt like he was the star of an Indian movie. Except his beautiful Indian princess was a beautiful Nigerian one with a large syringe in her hand. The antidote! He dropped to his knees, he would survive.
A gunshot rang through the camp and for a second it looked like the whole world stood still.
Jumai came back to life first. She screamed, threw the syringe away and grabbed him. She held him and screamed in his ear. Behind her three men with cameras ran towards him – the pressmen he had invited earlier in the day. It felt so long ago.
Jumai held him at arm’s length and he saw blood on her shirt.
“Jumai, you are bleeding.” He said.
A trickle of blood slid down the side of his mouth. He looked down at his stomach, he was bleeding too. His hands felt weak and they dropped to his side.
“Jumai…” He mumbled.
“Shhh, don’t say anything.”
Pain hit his stomach and he crumbled and lay on his back. From the corner of his eyes he saw General Babatunde running back to his car with a gun in his hand. His eyes widened; he had been shot!
Oh no!
“Jumai,” He whispered. “I have been shot.”
“Stop talking Mark.” She was fidgeting with her phone. “One of the cameramen has gone for help.”
“You are doctor, you are the only help I need.”
“Conserve your energy Mark.” She said.
“Conserve it for what? You? I have you here already and that’s all I need.”
“The pressmen got that shooting on camera and I promise that man would not get away with it. My father will make sure of it.”
Mark smiled. He did not care about General Babatunde. Even if they arrested him, there would always be another bad man. With the doctor gone and Baban dead, no one would be producing kulunix anytime soon. He wasn’t dying for nothing. He closed his eyes, he had never felt more at peace.
“Mark, open your eyes.” Jumai said.
Her voice sounded like it came from across a large room, a beautiful large room; heaven maybe.
“Come on Mark, Joey Tribbiani wouldn’t die on me.” She said with a nervous chuckle.
Haha Joey. He laughed and coughed, blood spurting from his mouth. He opened his eyes and looked at her; he could not believe he met her less than a month ago. He reached for her hand and held it. If he could write his life’s story he would title it Jumai. He smiled at his own stupidity.
“Mark.” She said his name so beautifully he wished he could hear it one more time.
“Jumai.”
He whispered her name softly and it echoed in his mind as his eyes closed for the last time. It would continue to echo, maybe even for all eternity.
Beautiful wise.....

THE END.

Authors credit : josh stories.
brownstories#jumaifinalepisode#tosynbrownblog#

(Episode13) JUMAI

was falling into place now for Baban. The men on kulunix were doing exactly what he wanted; maybe a little more. Soldiers had been killed and a few of the men had been killed but it was getting attention from the government. But he knew it was just for the meantime, this needed to be the beginning of many more attacks. He had leaked a few pictures and videos to reporters and a few people were talking about the ongoing incident. He needed more than a few people, he needed the whole nation talking about these new terrorists. He needed men who would pay to have his drug and his sponsors needed the government to buy weapons. Everything was good except for one missing man; Doctor Coker.
Where the hell was he? He had alerted his sponsors and they had put a flag on his name so he could not leave the country.
Dongo had just returned from his house and from the look on his face he could tell he didn’t have great news.
“What did you find?” Baban asked Dongo.
“Nothing?” Dongo said.
“What do you mean you found nothing?”
“I didn’t find Coker or his family.”
“They are gone?”
“That’s the crazy thing, it doesn’t look they’ve gone anywhere. Their car is still in the driveway, their passports are all in place, ATM cards too.”
“I don’t understand.” Baban said.
He really didn’t. If Coker didn’t take anything there was no way he could escape. Except he had help.
“Sir,” Dongo said. “Do you know where he could be?”
“If I knew where he was would I be here worrying?”
He paused then said. “Maybe your friends do.”
Baban raised his eyebrows. “Friends?”
“Yes sir. The general and his friends. They know all about this project and seeing what is happening now they must see how profitable it is.”
“Yes of course they see how profitable it is, that’s why we’re in business.”
“What if they wanted to eliminate the middle man and want the drug for themselves?”
Baban stood and began to pace. “There’s no way they would do that; they won’t betray me like that. They get their profit from their gun sales and I handle the drugs; that was our deal.”
“And you think they won’t stab you in the back if they get the chance?”
Baban shook his head, there was no way they would do that to him. He was the one that brought them this business in the first place, why would they steal from him? Money! They would do anything for money and so would he.
If their plan was to hurt him, he would hurt them first.
“Can you find out for sure if they have Coker?” Baban asked.
“I’m already on it.”
He had to make plans now he had the chance. He knew General Babatunde was smart and wouldn’t waste time in putting a mark on him once they decided he wasn’t of use anymore. And there was Fauziat whom the General had already threatened already. All of a sudden things didn’t look so good anymore.
“Sir, there’s also the problem of the girl we have here and Mark who we haven’t found yet.” Dongo said.
Baban slammed his hand on the table. There was only so much his brain could attend to at once.
“I don’t need the girl anymore, I have more problems.” Baban said.
“And Mark?”
“He doesn’t know anything or he would have said something by now.”
Dongo turned to leave. “Do you want me to take care of the girl?”
“No, I will do it myself.”
He had started the day with hope but just one conversation was sending his day spiralling to hell. I am a warrior! He wasn’t where he was but crumbling under problems, he would solve it all one by one. Starting with killing the girl.

***
The car spluttered again and the engine went off. Mark knew the car wasn’t coming back to life this time around, there was no point pushing it. He beckoned to Mohammed and they exited the car. He stuffed his pocket with the kulunix the Indian Baban had forced him to take and Mohammed carried the flask containing the antidote the doctor had given him. He cast a final look at the car and they began to walk towards the camp.
He expected to meet soldiers on the way but they were not at their posts. He could see the camp ahead; everything looked the same but something was strange about what he was looking at. It did not matter now that he knew who was holding Jumai and who was behind what happened with Sule. He closed his eyes and shook off the thought of Professor Tanko’s smiling face as he made promises to help WAAP.
“Uncle look!” Mohammed shouted and pointed.
Mark looked at the direction Mohammed’s finger was pointed to, on the floor a few feet off the road a man lay prostrate on the floor. Mark ran up to the man and knelt beside him. He checked the man’s pulse, he was dead. He looked exactly like the man he and Jumai had found behind one the buildings. This was kulunix. Was there an outbreak on the camp?
“Let’s hurry Mohammed.” Mark said.
They ran as fast as they could to the camp. As soon as they entered the camp Mark knew something major was wrong. He looked around and saw similar sights like they had seen on the way; bodies laid prostrate on the floor. There was a chance some of them were not dead but he couldn’t do much on his own, he needed help.
He ran towards the office area. If there was an outbreak of kulunix, there was a good chance that the staff were dead. He swallowed at the thought.
He turned around a corner and stopped! It looked like a full battle had just finished here. There were dead bodies lying on the floor; soldiers and men from the camp. Mark’s blood boiled at the sight. What had Professor Tanko done? This wasn’t just about Jumai, the man had killed men just to test run a drug? There were still a few men running around the offices, it was obvious they were on Kulunix. It was possible there were people locked inside those buildings or maybe they had escaped. He had to do something about this.
He removed his phone and took a few pictures and uploaded them online; it was time to expose Professor Tanko.
He tagged the first picture; ‘This is what this man would do to test run a drug.’
He tagged a few online newspapers but he knew it wouldn’t catch on until he mentioned who the ‘man’ was. Professor Tanko had Jumai, it was not smart to give up all his leverage.
He uploaded more pictures telling the story but not mentioning the name. One of the newspapers sent him a message privately, they wanted to know who the man was. He shook his head, he still had to save Jumai.
He scrolled through his contacts and stopped on Professor Tanko’s number. He dialled the number.
“Mister Mark, where have you been? We have been worried.” Professor Tanko said as soon as he answered the call.
“Professor, you can drop the act, I know who you are and what you are doing, Baban.”
The professor stayed quiet for a few seconds then said, his voice very cold. “If you know who I am then you will know I have Jumai and I am very dangerous.”
“Is she okay?” Mark asked, fear getting the better of him.
“She is okay, for now. You do anything stupid and she is dead.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what I called about. I have started talking about you to the press but I haven’t mentioned your name but I can’t keep that secret very long.”
“I already told you, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Release Jumai and you have my word I won’t be giving the newspapers already calling me your name.”
“I can arrange that.”
“And on time because these newspapers are already mounting pressure.”
“I’m one hour away from the camp.” Professor Tanko said. “I will come with Jumai and you will hand over all you have on me. Do we have a deal?”
Mark nodded. “Yes we do.” He ended the call.
Mark looked at his watch, he had one hour to make a plan that will leave him alive. He knew Professor Tanko was lying, there was no way he would hand over Jumai and let him go with the knowledge that he had. In truth he didn’t have hard evidence against Professor Tanko, but he could get his evidence. If he could get news men secretly filming the exchange, he would have evidence that Professor Tanko kidnapped Jumai and that way he would survive. The Professor would not want to worsen his case by killing him on camera. Hopefully he wouldn’t.
He had a lot of calls to make. He hoped he could get the cameras here before one hour. More importantly he hoped he would still be alive in one hour.

***
“How far out are you?” Baban asked.
“Just ten minutes.” Dongo’s reply came over the phone.
“If you don’t pick him up please don’t come back here. I want him alive in case he has told someone else. But if taking him alive will allow him escape then by all means put a bullet in his head. I want him here in thirty minutes, dead or alive.”
He ended the call and smiled. The small fool threatened him? He was already dealing with threats before the boy was born. Once the boy was here, he could die next to his girlfriend. That was the second problem almost solved. Now he had to think of what to do with his back-stabbing partners.
The door opened and General Babatunde happened.
“Speak of the Devil.” Baban mumbled.
“What did you say?” General Babatunde asked.
Baban faked his best smile. “I wasn’t expecting you here today General.”
“Forget the niceties, we know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work.”
“What are you talking about?” Baban asked, he was truly confused.
“Your doctor, he suddenly fell off the radar now when his creation is finally working, coincidence?”
“What?”
“You cannot hide him for long. What would you tell us? He escaped? He’s dead?”
“What is this? Some sort of reverse thing? You have my scientist and now you accuse me of hiding him?”
General Babatunde laughed. “So that’s the angle you want to play? We have him? For what?”
“So you can have all the business. If you have the scientist, you don’t need me.”
“Hmm, that is actually very true. When we find the scientist, we will kill you and we will have all the business.”
“Are you saying…?”
Their phones rang at the same time, stopping Baban in the middle of his question. General Babatunde walked to a corner of the room and answered his call.
Baban answered his.
“Dongo, do you have him?”
“Yes sir, I do.”
Baban sighed, finally. “Is he alive?”
“Yes he is, a little unconscious though.”
“A little unconscious? What does that even…never mind. Get here fast!”
Baban ended his call and saw the general staring at him.
“Who is Mark Ademola?” General Babatunde.
“He’s nobody. He works for the charity people. Why do you ask?”
“Well, your ‘nobody’ is getting attention on social media telling people about a certain man testing drugs in IDP camps.”
“What?” The bastard. “Did he mention my name?”
“I’m not your press secretary. The important question is, did you know about him and did nothing about it? Or is this part of your plan to deceive us?”
“My guy is bringing the boy in now. He’s not a problem to you or to me.” Baban said. “And about the doctor, I don’t have him. I actually thought you did.”
The door opened and Dongo pushed Mark in, gagged, hands tied and blindfolded.
“That was so fast.” Baban said.
“This is the boy?” General Babatunde asked.
The general looked Mark over then removed his blindfold and gag.
“How did he find out about you?” General Babatunde asked.
“I don’t know.”
“He found Doctor Coker.” Dongo said.
“What?”
“He has a very low threshold for pain, he told me everything before I landed the second punch.” Dongo said.
“Where is Coker?” General Babatunde asked.
“He doesn’t know for sure but I can find him.” Dongo replied.
“Okay then. We have the boy, we will have Coker soon and the government is already interested in talking to us.” General Babatunde said then turned to Baban. “I think your work is done.”
“What?” Baban knew what that statement meant but there was no way General Babatunde would kill him in his own place, surrounded by his own men.
“Face it Tanko, you are of no use anymore. You are actually a liability right now.”
Baban laughed nervously. “You will kill me here? Among my men?”
General Babatunde smiled and turned around. “Soldier, handle this, will you?”
Soldier? Baban looked around and turned on time to see Dongo point the gun to his head. No way!
“Dongo, you? You are my right hand man, we made plans together.”
“I’m sorry, I have my orders.”
The door opened as the general walked out and Baban saw the number of men outside, there was no way out of this for him.
“Dongo, please I have…”
The gunshot rang through the room and Baban’s body fell at Mark’s feet.

***
Mark crashed into the room and for a few seconds he kept his face on the ground. He was dead for sure now. They had not hesitated to kill Professor Tanko who he assumed was the person to fight all along, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. He was stupid, so stupid. He shouldn’t have been caught. Now he was going to die, so would Jumai and the poor doctor and his family. He was so stupid.
He felt a touch on his back and he flinched.
“Mark?”
He raised his head. “Jumai?”
He hugged her tight and held her for what looked like an eternity but still it wasn’t enough. He was never going to let her go. The men who would kill her would have to pry her away from his dead cold hands.
“Mark?” Jumai gently released herself from his hug.
“Are you okay?” Mark asked, looking her over.
“Hmhmm.” She said, tears forming in her eyes.
He pulled her closer and rocked her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
They sat in silence for about five minutes. Mark wondered why this had happened to him of all people. His life was simple. He helped people for a living and now most of the people he had spent his time helping were dead or dying. Where are the women? He had not considered that, he could only hope they were okay. His boss, Jumai’s father, the whole team, they were all somewhere unaware that he and Jumai were about to die. Nobody would miss him but Jumai, she had people; parents, a fiancé. She shouldn’t die like this. She won’t die like this.
“What are you doing?” Jumai asked.
“What? Nothing, I haven’t even moved.”
“Something about you just changed and I have a bad feeling you are about to do something stupid.”
“Well, it’s true I want to do something stupid but I can’t even think of any stupid thing to do right now.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’ve made my peace with God and myself, I already know I’m going to die. I’m just glad to see you again before that happens.”
“You are not going to die. I will get you out of here even if it’s the last thing I do.”
“That sounds heroic and stuff but except you’re ‘the Hulk’ and you can transform into a power machine, I don’t see that happening.”
Mark laughed. “Don’t make me laugh Jumai, I need to think right now. Although if I could transform I would have because I am very angry right now.”
“Can we just sit and wait for them? At least I will have the comfort of knowing I died with someone who loved me.”
Mark looked at her. “Love? I never said I loved you.”
“Are you saying you don’t?”
Mark pulled her closer. “Remember Faruk? He’s the reason…”
“Who?”
“Faruk, your fiancé?”
“What?” Jumai laughed. “You actually believed that?”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t have a fiancé, I was just messing with you.”
Mark chuckled, this was great news. If only they were not about to die.
“You were messing with me…I am very angry right now.” Mark said. “Why can’t I just transform into the green monster already?”
“I think it is money they call the green monster actually.”
“Do you really want to argue that right now? The Hulk is the…” Mark stopped and dipped his hand inside his pocket and brought out a pill. “Oh my God, I can actually transform.”
“What are you talking about?” Jumai asked.
“This is the pill Sule took, it is called Kulunix.” Mark said. “I can actually transform.”
“Wait a minute, what are you talking about?”
“If I take the pill, I’ll get the super strength that can break walls and fight off the men outside.”
“No, no Mark. No, you won’t do something that stupid.”
“So this is the stupid thing I should have thought about since?” He took Jumai’s hand. “We can’t just wait here and die. I can’t just watch you die or watch you watch me die.”
“Sule died from this thing.”
Mark sighed, that was true. Doctor Coker told hime Sule died and so had many other men who used the drug. But he had to take the chance.
And there was an antidote!
“There’s an antidote. It is back at the camp but we can maybe get there before…”
“No Mark,” She walked away from him. “You won’t do this.”

continued in  the final episode.....

(Episode 12) JUMAI

He heard the click of the *trigger* (what is the name of the thing you pull before you pull the trigger?) and waited for the bullet to pierce through his skull.
“Major.” A voice called.
He waited a few more seconds and he felt the gun leave his head. He opened his eyes and saw Major putting his gun away.
“My friend, come.”
Mark looked in the direction of the voice and there he was; Baban. He was not white as Mohammed as suggested, he was Indian. Why would an Indian man be the drug lord in a Northern Nigerian village? It did not matter, the man just called him ‘friend’, that was a good sign. There was hope for him. There was hope for Jumai.
The girl gave him his shirt and he walked away from the disappointed crowd to Baban. The closer he came to Baban, the shorter he realized he was. Mention drug lord and Baban was not the picture that came to mind. How did he control his troop of lunatics, most of whom did not even speak English?
Mark stopped in front of his saviour and looked down at him, Baban frowned. Someone hit his leg from behind and he fell to his knees. Mark looked up at Baban, he was smiling now. The two obviously and heavily armed men behind him were smiling too.
“You are a long way from home my friend. What are you doing here?” Baban asked.
“My friend is missing and I have reason to believe that you have her.”
“Really?” Baban looked at the men beside him and they laughed. “Look around you, do you see her?”
Mark looked around. “No, I don’t see her.”
“So why would you believe I have her? Do we look like kidnappers to you?”
He wouldn’t put kidnapping past them but he couldn’t say that. “Not at all. I’m not accusing you of anything. But I beg you in the name of God, in the name of Allah, please just let me see her.”
Baban shook his head. “What is your name?”
“Mark Ademola.”
“You are Yoruba boy? You are really far away from home.”
The man was from India, how could he be telling him he was far away from home? He could hear and tolerate anything as long as he stayed in his good books.
“This your friend that is missing, what is her name?”
“Jumai, her name is Jumai.” Mark shifted on his knees, he couldn’t stay like this forever. “Can I stand please?”
One of the men stepped towards Mark, his hands raised but Baban stopped him.
“Mark Ademola from faraway, come and let us talk about your friend.” Baban said and walked away.
Someone grabbed him from behind and pushed him after Baban. They went through a dark corridor and a door he didn’t see until they were right in front of it. Everything changed after the door; it was almost magical. Everything after the door were worlds apart from what he had seen outside. The room they entered into was large and well lit. It could have been the living room of a Senator. The electronic gadgets in here were state of the art, Mark could not help but stare.
Baban turned around to face him. “Do you like what you see Mark?”
“Yes.” He said. It was no wonder why this man was living so far away from his country.
“Please take a seat.” Baban said.
Mark looked behind and none of the people who followed had entered the room with them. It was just Baban and the two goons who now looked more like his friends than his guards.
Mark settled into one of the sofas, sitting on the edge; he wasn’t to forget why he was here for a second. A girl – who thankfully had some clothes on came into the room with a bottle of wine. She placed it in front of Baban and walked away.
“Come closer my friend, join me.”
“Thank you but I will be driving later so…” Mark saw Baban’s face and stopped. “Maybe I’ll take a glass.”
Mark switched to a chair closer to him and Baban poured him a glass. He was not one to drink alcohol but now wasn’t the time to be virtuous, he took a sip of the wine. He was not sure he was qualified to judge what good wine was but this tasted like great wine.
“You like it?” Baban asked.
“Oh yeah, it is great.” Mark said.
“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, I want you to join me.”
“Thank you very much but can we please talk about my friend now?”
“Okay Mark. Why do you think I have your friend?”
Mark told him the story of Sule taking Jumai and the text Jumai sent to him.
“And you just came here thinking it was me?” Baban asked, a smile on his face.
“A boy – Sule’s brother told me about you.” He had completely forgotten about Sule. Was the boy even okay out there by himself?
“A boy? Mohammed?”
Mark sat forward in his chair. “You know him?”
“Suleiman and Mohammed, I knew them both. I always wondered what happened to them.”
“Are you saying Suleiman did not come here with Jumai?”
“I’m not the only called Baban in the world, you know right?”
Mark sank back into his chair, so he had wasted his time, fought an idiot and almost got killed for nothing? If Jumai wasn’t here, where was she? Who on earth was this other Baban?
“I’m interested in something you talked about, Suleiman having super strength. Can you tell me more about that? Did he take a drug or something?”
Of course Baban was interested in the drug. He could not afford to stay anymore though, if Jumai was somewhere else he needed to figure out where it was or at least return to the camp.
“Mark?” Baban broke into his thoughts.
“I’m sorry. We couldn’t tell for sure what happened or what kind of drugs he was on. Everything happened too fast and we more interested in finding Jumai than finding what drug Sule was on.”
“Hmm, okay.”
“Please I’ll like to take my leave.”
“There was a man who came here a few days ago.” Baban continued like he didn’t hear Mark. “He said he was a doctor, he needed fake international passports; his family needed to leave the country undetected. That’s right, I can get you passports if you need to change your identity or anything like that.”
“I will remember that next time I’m feeling the country.” Mark said, he just wanted the man to finish his story.
“Apart from passports, I arrange help across the border. Helicopter service, boat escapes, anything you want.”
“Thank you Baban. Please continue the story of the doctor.”
“Oh right. The doctor did not have money because he claimed all his accounts were being monitored so he could not withdraw. He offered me something in exchange, something that sounds a lot like what you just described.”
Mark’s mind snapped back into action. “The drugs gives super strength?”
“He said so, he claimed to be the one who made it. But you will end up dying in less than forty eight hours. But it has commercial value when it is sold and used in smaller doses. You won’t have super strength but you will sure have strength. Some of my men have tried it. I myself don’t take drugs. If you are interested though, you can have some.”
“No, thank you.” Marks said.
Mark’s mind was on total autopilot now. What Baban was saying was great news for him. If he could find the person who made this drug then he could lead him to the person who bought it. Somewhere in that link he believed he would find whoever held Jumai.
“He said the drug was called kulunix and he promised it would make me a millionaire. Not that I am not one already.”
“Sure. Can I meet his doctor?”
“That can be arranged.” Baban said.
Mark smiled, he was going to find Jumai after all. “I will be grateful, I can finally find my friend. I will owe you for this Baban.”
“Owe me? I don’t really like people being in my debt.”
“If you want to do this as a favour, I will be eternally grateful to you.”
“Favour? I already saved your life, that’s enough favour for one day. You will have to pay if you want to meet the doctor.”
“Pay? I don’t have money with me.”
“Oh my friend, that is not good.” Baban said.
This would be a good time to have an expensive watch on but he was not even wearing any.
“I have money, I just don’t have it here.” Mark said. “Baban, please you have to help me here, Jumai’s life depends on it.”
“Do you have something you can deposit then?”
The car! “I have a car here, it is not mine but I can deposit it.”
“That would do. You will see Doctor Coker first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow?” They would be worried sick at the camp, he needed to get back as soon as he could. “Can’t we meet him tonight?”
“Tomorrow morning.” Baban said and stood. “I won’t be able to eat dinner with you, I have to go and arrange the meeting. I hear there is a girl you like here, I will send her to stay with you overnight.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Mark protested.
“Is it a man you want?”
“Hell no. But please Mohammed has been outside for a long time, he needs food and a place to sleep too.”
“Oh right, I will have someone take care of him. And I will see you in the morning.”
“Thank you Baban.”
Baban nodded and left the room with his friends who Mark had totally forgotten about.
He was not sure he could sleep, he was not sure Jumai would be sleeping either. It was the second night was spending with whoever the other Baban was. He hoped they were just holding her for ransom. He stretched out on the chair; he was too tired to stay awake. He knew he was not going to wake up still tired because the fear and tiredness would only continue into his dreams.
***
Baban looked at his watch, it was almost nine pm and Mark was not back. Nobody knew where he went; that was not good. What if this guy found out who he was? He would be hunted by the government and arrested but that wasn’t even his biggest problem. The three men who had bankrolled this project were no nonsense people who would not hesitate to terminate him if they thought he could give them away. And of course they would assume he would give them away which meant he would have less than two hours to live.
He looked at his watch again, he didn’t want to show his panic but he could not help it.
“Professor Tanko, I didn’t know you were still around.”
 Baban looked outside his car, it was Doctor Aderoju. He put on his best smile.
“How can I go? First Jumai, now Mark? I’m not even sure what’s going on anymore.”
“One of the cars is missing, we believe Mark took it so we assume he is safe. Jumai is our priority right now.”
Of course she was. She was the daughter of the rich man, Mark was just an employee.
“I hope they are both fine.”
A loud noise erupted some distance from where they were.
“What was that?” Baban asked.
“I need to check it out.” Doctor Aderoju said and ran towards the noise.
Was it another Suleiman incident? He wanted to see what was going on but he needed to be able to escape in case someone bad was going down. He walked a few metres towards the noise and looked into the darkness. He was not sure if what he was seeing was right but he was seeing men being kicked into the air. Was this the super strength they were talking about? And this wasn’t just one person.
Someone came running from the direction of the melee; it was Doctor Aderoju.
“What’s going on there?” Baban asked.
“Professor Tanko, you may need to leave.”
“What is going on?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it except in movies.”
“Doctor, what are you saying?”
“Have you seen Hulk, the movie? They are not as big or as green but they are as strong.”
Baban didn’t know what this Hulk was but he had a pretty good idea of what the Doctor was talking about.
“What are you going to do now?”
“We have soldiers here with rubber bullets, hopefully that would help.”
Someone ran towards them from the direction of the fight; it was one of the volunteers. He saw Doctor Aderoju and stopped.
“Sir, the rubber bullets are not affecting them. They have killed one soldier already and they are now switching to live ammunition.”
“No, they can’t do that!” Doctor Aderoju shouted.
Baban walked away from them slowly towards his car. This was super; the kulunix was in full effect. This was when the money was to be made, he needed to call the general; it was time for him to call the NSA. He could forget Mark for now, they had to maximise the brouhaha that was about to hit the camp.

***
Mark paced in the room, he was tired of waiting. The doctor was supposed to be here now and Baban had made himself scarce since the previous night. He was tired and worried. He had spent his night doing more of worrying than sleeping, it wasn’t too different from what he expected. But he had patiently endured it believing that it would all be over this morning when he saw Doctor Coker.
The door opened and a man entered.
“Where the hell is Baban and the doctor I was supposed to meet this morning?” Mark shouted at the man.
“I am Doctor Coker.” The man said.
He sighed. “Finally. Please sit, I need to ask you some questions.”
The Doctor sat. “I was told your friend was kidnapped by a Baban.”
“Yes, she was. Do you know who this Baban is?” Mark asked and the doctor hesitated. “Please sir, my friend has been with him for two days now, anything could be happening right now.”
“I know who Baban is.” The doctor said. Mark could see the anger in his face.
“Who is he please? If you tell me I can have him arrested.”
“Arrested? You don’t arrest people like him because they will be out in a few seconds, you kill them.” The anger was boiling over now. “That bastard killed my son and threatened my family.”
“I’m sorry about your son. I can help you get justice for your son if you tell me who he is.”
“Okay.” The doctor said. “His name is Professor Tanko, he is…”
“Professor Tanko? I know him. He is the one holding Jumai?”
“If you want to do anything about him you have to move fast.”
Doctor Coker told him about the kulunix and what would happen if the men in the camp used it. They would kill a lot of people but all die in less than forty eight hours like Baban had told him.
“Those men will die through no fault of their own.” Mark said.
“Yes, after they have killed a lot of people.”
“You made the drug, isn’t there an antidote?”
The doctor paused for a while. “There is an antidote but it’s never been used. I haven’t even tested it but there’s a good chance it will work.”
“You have to come then, we can’t just let these people die.”
“Come?” Doctor Coker chuckled. “There’s no way. As soon as I get my passports from Baban, I’m leaving the country with my family.”
“But Doctor…”
“Look, the people who are behind Professor Tanko are very strong, I cannot risk staying here till they find me. And they will if I stay any longer.”
“So, what now?”
“I will give you the antidote, it is up to you what you do with it.”
“Do you know where I can find Professor Tanko? Where is his hideout?”
“I’ll write you an address for where I know but I cannot guarantee that that’s where your friend is being held.”
He heard footsteps at the door and Baban entered.
“My friend.” He said with a big smile. “I’m sorry I’ve been away but I see you two have met.”
“Yes we have.” Mark said.
“Okay then, as soon as you want to leave you let me know. We have sold your Hilux but...”
Mark shot to his feet. “What?”
“That was our agreement but because you are my friend, I have left a small car for you to travel with.”
“I didn’t say you should sell the car! I said I would deposit it.”
“Then how will you go home?” Baban asked, looking all self-righteous. “I did what was best for us. You have seen the doctor, I have my money and you will still get home – you will have to refill the radiator every thirty minutes, but it will get you home.”
Mark balled his fist and stilled himself. All he needed was to get back to camp with all the new information he had. If it meant being duped by a drug dealer and driving an almost dead car, then he would endure it all.
Hold on Jumai, I’m coming for you...TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT EPISODE.

(Episode11) JUMAI

Baban looked at the girl through the screen door, he was still undecided on what to do with her. He wanted to keep her alive, hostages could come in handy but she was also potential trouble. Her wealthy father would stop at nothing to have his daughter back. It also meant that her wealthy father would pay anything to have his daughter back. He wasn’t going to have her back but the money could not hurt.
Even if he was going to kill her, she could still be useful. She was the one with Sule during his strongest points and the moment when he died, he needed information she would have. He could threaten her to get the information but she was a spoilt rich kid, threats may not work. Torturing her could be counterproductive also. A girl like her would die as soon as the first tooth was pulled out.
There was another way.
“Dongo.” Dongo came. “I need some information from that girl.”
“Okay sir, what do you need? I’ll get them for you.”
“No, I’ll get them myself. I have a plan.”
Baban explained the plan to him. It was simple but it all rested on two assumptions; she remembered him as Professor Tanko and she had no idea he was Baban. The assumptions had a good chance of being correct. If they were not, he would have to go back to the threat or torture.
“Are you sure about this Baban?”
“Yeah.” Baban said. “There’s something else I need you to do. I need definite word on Coker; I still need him. And if I don’t, he should be dead not AWOL.”
“Okay Baban.” Dongo said.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
Baban removed his phone from his pocket, his watch from his wrist and handed them to Dongo. He stepped out of his shoes and kicked them to the side. He pulled his shirt at the collar and tore out a few buttons. There was only one thing left to do.
“Alright Dongo, time for the punch.”
“Baban, are you sure you want this punch? You can go inside like this.”
“Look Dongo, I know you have always wanted to punch me; this is your chance.” Baban said. “She mustn’t suspect anything, I’m not taking any chances. So do it.”
“Okay boss.”
“Wait,” Baban raised a hand. “Don’t break anything.”
Dongo nodded and Baban closed his eyes. He had not been punched in decades, he was sure if he was… Bam! The punch landed on his face. For a few seconds, he did not feel anything. Then pain surged through his cheeks and his nose and his eyes and his brain.
“Are you okay?” Dongo’s voice sounded like it was coming from two kilometres away.
“Do I look okay to you?” Dongo had put too much into the punch. Bastard took advantage. “Just get on with it.”
Dongo pulled open the door where Jumai was kept, pushed Baban inside and slammed the door behind him.
Baban crashed into the room and for a few seconds lay on the floor. The girl did not move, he hoped this plan was going to work. If it didn’t and he had taken the punch for nothing, he was going to kill Dongo. He struggled to his feet and lifted his eyes to look at Jumai. She saw his face and hurried towards him.
“Professor Tanko?” She said. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh Jumai,” Baban’s voice trembled. He didn’t even to pretend, the punch was doing all the work. “We have been looking for you. Are you okay?”
“I am fine.” Jumai said. “You are not, your face is swollen.”
“Don’t worry about me. I will be fine. We need to get you out of here.”
“Get me out? You are in this as much as I am.” She said. “How did they get you? You were not even at the camp when I was taken.”
“I came immediately I heard what happened. I was part of the search party to find you…”
“You joined the search party?” She was surprised, he could not blame her.
“We were short on men. The crazy thing is I didn’t even go very far but apparently they had men everywhere.”
“They did? I thought Sule was on his own. He looked like he was just having a drug problem.”
“It was a drug problem? What kind of drug?”
“I don’t know for sure but it’s not likely to be marijuana or other commonly found drugs. He was exhibiting strength that he should not have.”
“I heard he killed a few men.” Baban said and formed the saddest face he could.
“Yes he did. He also punched Mark. Please do you know if he’s okay? He hit him pretty hard.”
“Yes, he is. I saw him before I left the camp. I mean before we went on the search.”
She sighed. “Great. I sent him a…” She stopped and looked at the door.
She wanted to say something? “Don’t worry about them. I heard them saying they were going to eat. What did you send him?”
She brought out a phone, Baban gasped. His stupid men had not searched her for a phone? She could have called anybody in the time she had been awake.
“I sent him a text. Only one has delivered since; network here is terrible.” She said.
“What did you send him?”
“Just the name of their ringleader.”
Baban swallowed. “You know the name of their leader?”
“Yes, I heard them talking about him. They called him Baban.”
“Baban? And you sent this to Mark?” His head felt light.
“Yes, I did.” She said. “Are you okay? Your face suddenly went pale.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He would kill people for this. “Did he respond?”
“No, he hasn’t. Or maybe he has and I haven’t gotten it.”
“Did you send any other thing to him? Maybe something that would help him find us and rescue us from this place.”
“I wish I could. I don’t even know if we are still in Yobe state.”
Baban sighed. This damage could be controlled, first by collecting the phone from her. And making sure the messages she sent were not delivered. His little excursion was over, he had things to do now.
“Okay, before I go, one last question.” Baban said.
“Go? Go where?’
Oh crap! “I mean I’m feeling a little dizzy, I may pass out anytime.”
She kneeled and observed him. “I think you will fine.”
“So at what point did Sule die? How did that happen?”
“I’m not so sure myself because one moment he was running at a pace I could not believe, the next he was barely trudging along. Then he just fell down and he hit my head against a tree and I passed out.”
“I see.”
“Wait a minute, how did you know Sule died? Even I wasn’t sure.” Jumai asked and stepped back.
“I overheard the men talking about it.”
“No.” She said.
“What?”
“How did you…? No. Baban… your voice… the car on the road.”
“Are you okay Jumai? What are you talking about?” Baban moved close to her.
She jumped back. “You…you are Baban.” She started to cry. “You are Baban.”
Well, that was it. There was no point pretending anymore.
“I wish you didn’t just say that Jumai. You just sealed your own death warrant.”
Baban went to the door and knocked. Dongo opened it and entered.
“She has a phone on her, you idiot! Search her thoroughly, make sure she doesn’t have another one. I’ll deal with your men when I get back.”
He touched his face, the pain was terrible. But it was nothing compared to what this Mark fellow was going to feel when he caught up to him.
***

Mark looked at the text again; Baban meant nothing to him. He had tried to call Jumai back severally but the calls didn’t go through. He tried replying the text but none of his messages had been delivered yet. The text gave him hope though, it meant she was still alive. But he had to find the meaning of this ‘Baban’. Was it a name? A location? Maybe it was smart to ask one of the locals.
He saw one of the volunteers walking across a corridor and he ran to him.
“Phillip, good afternoon.”
“Oga Mark, any problem?”
“I just wanted to ask something. Baban; what does it mean? Is it a name?”
“Yes, it is a name.”
“Of a person or a location?”
“A person. But it is not a name like Mark or Phillip, it is something like Chief or Oga.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
That was not helpful at all. It could be anybody. Whoever this Baban was, finding him was key to finding Jumai. And this Baban was somehow connected to Sule. Maybe Sule’s super-strength was not a random thing, maybe it was planned. But there was no way they could know that he and Jumai would come. He had a lot of questions. He needed to find Baban.
Mohammed! Sule’s little brother would know if Sule ever talked about any Baban. He headed for the hostels. How great will it be if he could find Jumai before any harm came to her? The helicopter search had turned up nothing just like he expected since he got the text. Jumai’s father was hiring more men; men with trained dogs, they were going to search every inch of the grounds around the camp. Just like the helicopter search, he was sure they would find nothing. Maybe he should tell them about the text. He definitely should tell them. He would after talking to Mohammed.
He got to the room and knocked on the door. He opened the door, Mohammed was on the bed where he had seen him the last time.
“Mohammed, come down, I want to ask you something.”
The boy jumped off the bed. He looked sad, he was probably missing his brother. Sule was his only known family member in the camp. He made a mental note to hand him over to Phillip for special care.
“We will find your brother, okay? And you will fine.” Mark said.
The boy nodded.
“But I need your help. Will you help me?”
He nodded again.
“Did Sule ever mention anybody called Baban?”
“Baban?” Mohammed raised his eyebrow; he knew the name.
Mark smiled, he could not believe his luck. “Yes, you know him?”
“Yes.” Mohammed said.
 “Was he Sule’s friend?”
“Baban na oga.” Sule said. “Baban na oyibo.”
This Baban was white? What was he doing with the likes of Sule? In Yobe?
“This Baban, what is his profession? What does he do?”
“He dey sell ganja and white snuff.”
Drugs; that was understandable. He probably had supplied Sule with whatever gave him the strength to do what he did and Sule of course had run to him with Jumai. A drug dealer would be glad to have a girl of Jumai’s status and wealth as a hostage. He had to go see this Baban, surely there was something he wanted.
“You know his place?”
“Huh?”
“Do you know Baban’s house? Is it far from here?”
“You want go Baban house?” His alarmed face told Mark all he already knew; what he wanted to do was stupid.
“Yes Mohammed. Will you take me there?”
The boy thought about it for a while. “But I no go enter.”
“No problem, just take me to the place.”
“Okay sir.”
Mark felt a surge of hope rise through him. Now he could help Jumai. Should he tell someone? He should but they would all tell him not to go. They might even storm the place with cops without thinking of what that might do to Jumai. He would go on his own and hope for the best.
He said a little prayer, he needed a lot of help.

***
Mark parked the Hilux by the road side and he and Mohammed stepped into the dark streets. By now they would have noticed the missing car at the camp. He did not know where they were headed was this far. It would not matter though if he brought Jumai back. He looked up and down the street where they were parked, it did not look like the safest street to park a car. The car had lots of security locks but if it was made by men, men could break it.
“Mohammed, you will stay with car.”
The boy nodded. He was not sure the street was safe for a kid either, hopefully they would both be okay when he got back.
“That is the house?” He asked pointing to a small gate.
“Yes.” Mohammed said.
Mark looked at the gate; three men stood beside the gate, they had sticks of what he was sure was marijuana in their mouths. They were not stopping anyone from entering but he was not like anyone he had seen enter the place. Maybe this was a stupid idea. Of course it was but he had come too far to turn back.
He pushed his chest out and stuck his hands in his pockets, he was a man; he had to behave like one. He walked towards the gate, his heartbeat increasing with every step. If he was this scared, he wondered how Jumai felt. He needed to be a man for her. He got to the gate and stepped in. They didn’t stop him! He didn’t have time to celebrate though, the bizarre sight inside the compound stopped him.
There was only one source of light in the very large compound, it was very bright but it still left most of the compound in darkness. The air was filled with smoke; cigarettes, marijuana and a lot of other stuff he could not identify. He looked in a corner, a man and a lady were leaning against a wall; were they having sex? He looked away. What was this place? It did not matter, he was here to see Baban. A lady walked past him and he tapped her.
“Hello.”
She turned around and he jumped back; she only had panties on. He looked down at her breasts and up at her face; she was smiling. She said something to him in Hausa, he did not understand.
“Baban? I want to see Baban.” He said.
She hissed and walked away. He stood and looked around, he did not see anyone who looked approachable. A few minutes later he saw the naked lady coming back; she almost felt like family because at least her face – and a whole lot more were familiar. He walked up to her and stopped her.
“Please, I need to see Baban.”
She ranted something in Hausa, but he could tell she understood him.
“Please, my friend is missing, I really need to see Baban.”
“I don’t know...” She started to say.
A male voice called from behind him and she hurried off. Mark turned around to see who had scared her off. The guy was sitting with two girls; just as a naked as the other girl. When he saw him turn around, he stood and removed his shirt. He was short but very well built. Mark knew what removing your shirt meant but he didn’t move. He had not provoked the guy, why would he want to fight him? The guy approached him and it was clear, there was going to be a fight. He had a choice, get beaten or put up a fight. He didn’t want any of the two options. It looked like he was the only one who didn’t want the fight though, a crowd was already gathering and cheering.
“I’m not here to fight.” Mark shouted above the din of the crowd. “I just want to talk to Baban.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when a punch landed on his nose. He staggered back and fell on somebody; it was the girl he had talked to. She looked at him with pity. No way, no one was going to beat him in front of this girl. He removed his shirt and handed it to the girl, the crowd cheered.
He moved to the centre of the circle the crowd. Major, as the crowd now called him was waiting, a smug smile on his face. Mark waved him over and he obliged. He ran towards Mark and swung at his nose again, Mark stepped aside and the guy crashed on to the floor. The crowd jeered, they were not so pleased to see their man on the floor. Their man wasn’t either. He stood and approached Mark, this time a little slower. He threw a punch, Mark weaved it. He followed it with three in quick succession and one caught Mark on the cheek. The crowd cheered. Major was a crowd pleaser, he raised his fist and acknowledged the cheers. He needed to build on the punch so he approached Mark again. Mark watched him carefully, he knew fighters like Major; they put all they had into their punches, making them susceptible to a counter.
Major threw a punch and Mark dodged it. He followed the missed punch with three successive punches like he did earlier, this time Mark was prepared and he dodged them all. Major wasn’t too pleased with this and he adjusted his body positon and threw a heavy punch. Mark dodged the punch and as Major fell from his own movement, Mark struck his temple with a calculated jab. Major fell on the floor, cold.
Well, that was that. Now, what he came for.
He turned away from Major and talked to the crowd.
“Please I need to see Baban.” He turned to face the girl who held his shirt. “Please, it’s for my friend.”
She opened her eyes wide and gasped. Adam felt something on the back of his head. He turned around slowly and he came face to face with Major and a gun on his head.
He looked at the girl with his shirt.
“Please help me talk to Baban, my friend’s name is Jumai.”
The girl nodded.
Murdered by a gunshot, it wasn’t a bad way to go. He closed his eyes and filled his mind with Jumai’s smile; it was the perfect way to go... TO BE CONTINUED

(Episode 10) JUMAI

Mark opened his eyes and immediately shut it. The light hurt his eyes and worsened the banging in his head. Where was he? He opened his eyes slightly and looked around; he was in the infirmary. Why was he here? He leaned forward and his sight swayed. He paused for a few seconds then sat up on the bed. The infirmary was empty. Why was he…? Jumai! He jumped to his feet, his head reeled with pain and stumbled towards a wall. He held on to the wall and moved towards the door.
He pushed the door halfway open and heard voices, he paused and peeped. The corridor was empty. He opened the door and walked down the corridor. The voices were coming from the office at the end of the corridor, he stopped just before the window of the room and listened.
“There’s no way I’m waiting for the police; that is my daughter.”
That had to be Jumai’s father. She is missing? The drugged man took her? Mark leaned against the wall and for a while could not hear the words being said inside the room. What had happened in that hostel? Why did that man seem to have superpowers? What has he done to Jumai with his superpowers? His heart raced. Why was he here doing nothing?
He groped the wall, moved to the door, pushed it open and entered. The men in the room looked up at him.
“Mark?” It was his boss. “How are you?”
“Is this the man?” Jumai’s father asked.
“Yes sir.” Doctor Aderoju answered. “He was there when your daughter was taken.”
“What did you see? What happened?” One of the men Mark did not recognize asked.
Mark reached for a chair and sat.
“I need water.” He said but none of the men moved. They were not used to serving others.
“Mark, answer the gentleman.” Doctor Aderoju said. “What did you see?”
“I need water.” Mark said.
Doctor Aderoju walked to a refrigerator in the corner of the room and brought a bottle of water. He handed the water to Mark and he gulped down the contents of the bottle.
“So?” The man who asked the question earlier, said.
Mark cleared his throat weakly. “A man took Jumai. They called him Sule.”
“Sule Ahmed, he is the only one not accounted for in the camp.” Doctor Aderoju said.
“Did he kill the others all by himself?” Professor Tanko who he had not noticed before asked.
“Yes he did.”
“How is that even possible?”
“I don’t care!” Jumai’s father said. “I need to find my daughter now!”
“A helicopter…” Mark said.
“What?”
“If you get an helicopter you can cover more ground.”
“I can get a helicopter.” Professor Tanko said.
“What if they are under a roof or tree or something?” Doctor Aderoju said.
“We already have people conducting the search on the ground, don’t we?” Jumai’s father said.
“Yes.” Professor Tanko said. “Mr Dongo has led out the search party.”
“Get the helicopter please Professor.”
Professor Tanko nodded, pulled out his phone and walked out the room.
“What happened back there Mark? Why were you in the hostel area?”
Mark wish he knew the answer to the former question. It had been on his mind before he had been knocked out. Why was the man so strong? Did he truly knock the man through the wall?
“Mark?”
“Sorry, we heard loud noises from the hostel area and decided to check what was responsible.” Mark said.
“And you allowed my daughter go?”
Mark wished he had not allowed Jumai follow him. It did not matter what these men were doing, he was going to find her himself. Mark stood.
“Where are you going?” Doctor Aderoju asked.
“I have a terrible headache sir, I need to lie down.”
Did he have a headache? Yes. Was he going to lie down? No.

Baban dialled Dongo as soon as he left the room, he needed to find that girl before anybody found her. More importantly he needed to find the man who had her. The kulunix was causing a stir and he was happy but he did not like the fact this was an isolated incident. It was not getting the attention they needed from the government. One girl stolen by one man was nothing despite her influential father. An American team killed by hundreds of wild men on the other hand would get the attention of the world.
Dongo answered the call.
“Any signs of them yet?” Baban asked.
“Signs, yes but we have not sighted them yet.”
“How far away from you do you think they are?”
“I’m not sure sir. They were moving very fast but looks like he’s slowing down now.”
“Okay, remember what I said.” Baban looked around, there was nobody. “Kill the men that are not ours. Nobody must know we found the girl.”
“Copy sir.” Dongo said.
Baban ended the call. This kidnap was not part of the plan but it could help. The girl’s father was rich and influential; news would travel fast about the killings in the IDP camp once it started.
He got to his car and entered. The driver started the car and they headed out of the camp. There was something confusing him though, why was only one person reacting to the drug? Surely he wasn’t the only one who took it. He needed to talk to Doctor Coker again.
He dialled the number, it was switched off. That was strange; he had told Doctor Coker to keep his line open at all times. He dialled the office phone; no one answered. Something was wrong.
His phone rang, it was Dongo.
“You found them?”
“We found her sir.”
“And the man?”
“We are yet to find him.”
Baban sighed, he needed the man too. “Look for him but I need to pick up the girl now.”
“I will send our coordinates to your driver. I’ll be waiting at the road just ahead.”
“Alright. Is the girl okay?”
“She’s unconscious.”
“That’s great, I don’t want her seeing my face.”
Dongo paused. “Are you letting her go?”
“No.” Baban said. “But I don’t want to take any chances. Find the man and let’s wrap this up.”
“Okay sir.”
“Wait!”
“Sir?”
“Have you heard from Doctor Coker?”
“Coker? No. Why?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
Doctor Coker had played his part, he didn’t have much to offer but he was loose end. He hated loose ends. Coker knew too much and he could produce the kulunix for others, that was bad for business, he needed him dead once and for all. He would deal with that once he settled this girl’s business.
Twenty minutes later he was parked by the road waiting on Dongo and his men. They came, one of them carrying the girl over his shoulder and another carrying someone else on his shoulder. Baban came out of the car to meet them.
“Put the girl in the car with me.” Baban said. “Is this the man?”
They set the man on the floor. He didn’t look like the man he had heard about. He was thin, emaciated even. His face was squeezed, there was no way anyone could recognize him. His body was perfectly still. Was he dead?
“Is he dead?” Baban asked.
“No, he is almost dead though.”
Something major was wrong with the kulunix. The men were not supposed to die just a few hours after taking it. If they died this fast he could not sustain a war. He really needed to find Doctor Coker.
“Get him to Coker’s lab fast.” Baban said. “I want him alive.”
“What do we do about the search? They are still waiting at the camp.”
It was true and it was only a matter of time before they found the bodies of the men who joined the search.
“You have to go back and feign an attack. Tell them the man who carried Jumai attacked you, killed some and ran away with the girl. That should buy me time to set my plan in motion.
Baban returned to his car and looked at the girl. She was pretty, almost pretty enough to make him change his mind about killing her. She was stirring. He cupped her cheek in his palm as she opened. She would be the prettiest girl he had ever killed.

Mark moved through the hostel corridors. The atmosphere was still subdued, they had lost three of their children that day. A hurried burial had been done for the dead boys but the halls wouldn’t be quieter if the bodies were still lying in the sand. He was sure they would want to be left alone but he couldn’t. He needed to find Jumai. He had questions and he needed answers.
He knocked on the door of the room that had belonged to the late Aliyu and the missing Sule. There was no answer. He pushed the door and entered. On the lower bunk of one of the beds laid the man Sule had dropped to go after Jumai. He did not look up when Mark entered. Mark moved close to him and sat on his bed.
“Are you okay?” Mark asked.
The man’s eyes looked glazed and lost, Mark wasn’t even sure he could hear him.
The room was empty; the other occupants must have moved to other rooms; he couldn’t blame them. He already heard someone say among the crowd who watched what Sule did say that he was possessed by a powerful demon. If any such demon existed it would not be safe to stay in the room where it possessed their friend.
It was hopeless trying to get anything out of this man. He stood and headed for the door. He heard a movement on the top of the bunk where the man lay and turned to look. A small boy was lying on the bed, very close to the wall. He knew the boy, he was the one who spoke to him when the fight was on.
Mark beckoned to the boy and he climbed down from the bed.
“What is your name?” Mark asked.
“Mohammed.” The boy said.
“Is this your room?”
The boy nodded.
That was not right. Boys of Mohammed’s age were not supposed to be in the same room as Sule and Aliyu.
“You know Sule and Aliyu?”
“Sule na my brother.” Mohammed said.
“Where you come from?”
“From here, inside bush. I don come before, Sule come three days ago.”
Sule was part of the new batch admitted into the camp. Most of the men who came in newly were very malnourished and sickly. It was strange that Sule had shown so much strength if he came in weak and dying.
“Wetin do Sule?”
The boy dropped his eyes. “I no know oga. He dey sleep before, Aliyu dey wake am na so he angry beat am.”
“He was sleeping?” This wasn’t making sense. “Sule dey smoke?”
The boy did not answer; Sule probably did. It was against the rules to smoke in the room, smokers had to go far away from the hostels. The boy was trying to protect his brother. Smoking was the least of his concerns at the moment, he needed to know what gave Sule his super strength.
“Where Sule bed?” Mark asked.
The boy pointed to the bed he had climbed down from. Mark climbed up and sat on the bed. It was laid properly, he wasn’t sure if this was the work of Sule or Mohammed. On the bed was a brown paper bag, he opened it and emptied the contents on the bed. There was a bottle of *ROBB* and a tube of mosquito repelant. There was a pack of cigarettes and the antibiotics supplied by Professor Tanko. There were some small items also, nothing of note. He put everything back in the bag. If there was something to be found, it wasn’t in that bag.
He jumped down from the bed. He had not found his answer here, he had no idea where to go to next. He looked back at the paper bag, maybe there was more to what he had seen. Maybe he had dismissed it all too soon. He grabbed the bag.
“Mohammed, I go return the bag.” He said to the boy. “I want to check something.”
He dipped his hand in the bag and removed the antibiotics, he handed it to the boy; that did not need testing.
He exited the room. It was dark now. The later it got the less chance they had of finding Jumai. The men who went to search for her had returned – some of them had. If Sule had killed the men like they said, Jumai had no chance. He shook his head, he could not bear to think that way. Sule wasn’t in his right mind, surely that would change. He would get off his high and realise what he had done and return Jumai.
Or maybe Jumai was dead.
He shuddered at the thought. She was fine, she had to be. His phone vibrated, he had a text. He removed the phone from his pocket and checked.
It was Jumai. The text read;
“Baban.”

(Episode9) JUMAI

 Baban stormed into the lab, he was angry but much more he was afraid. Everything had been carefully planned up to this time, any hitch in that plan now would mean a lot of money wasted and worse; the end of him. The man who died at the WAAP office the day before had taken the kulunix and even though the relief people didn’t know it yet, it was too dangerous especially if the incidence repeated itself. It was a good thing he had not killed Doctor Coker yet.
“Where is he?” Baban asked.
“He’s waiting for you in his office.” Dongo answered.
Baban headed for the office. His sponsors were yet to hear about the death, neither had the press. But that was only a matter of time and he needed to have an answer when the questions started coming.
He opened the door and entered the office. Doctor Coker was on his feet, a very worried look on his face.
The doctor started talking immediately he entered. “Baban, please don’t kill me. I know you have the kulunix...”
“It is good that we both agree you deserved to be killed. The first day and a man is dead already.”
Doctor Coker looked shocked. “A man is dead?”
Baban wasn’t buying it. “You didn’t know? Isn’t this what you had planned all along?”
“No, I don’t understand….”
“A man who supposedly took the kulunix by mistake is now dead. Very mysteriously too.”
“That’s not right, the kulunix should not kill anyone.”
“It killed your son.”
Doctor Coker bowed his head and sighed. “That was before I modified it.”
Baban pulled a chair and sat. Maybe something else was wrong with the man who died, maybe his project was not dead yet.
“Okay Doctor, I believe you.” Baban said. “What could have happened to the man? Why did he die?”
“I have to see his body.”
“I can arrange that.”
“Who was he?”
“A homeless man who wanted to steal food. Why?”
“I just need to know if…”
He was cut off by Baban’s ringing phone. Baban looked at his phone, it was General Babatunde. They knew! Baban looked at Doctor Coker’s scared eyes, he was sure his eyes would not look less scared. He answered the call.
“General, how are you sir?”
“There’s no need for pleasantries, you know why I called so let’s go straight to the point.”
“Alright sir.”
“Why didn’t you call us immediately you heard about the man who died?”
“I was just about to call you. I’m actually with…”
“It happened yesterday Professor.”
Baban sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier sir but I assure you everything is fine.”
“You assure me?”
“Yes sir.”
“How sure are you?”
“General, have I ever failed you? Everything will be fine.”
“Okay Professor, you know I am a very practical man.”
“Yes sir…”
“If you are as sure as you say you are then you won’t mind us keeping her until this is all over, will you?”
Baban shot out of his chair. The general was about to touch him where no one could touch him and survive. His eyes were red already and he could feel his hand squeeze the phone tighter. He respected the general but he was about to cross boundaries.
“General, don’t threaten me.”
“Oh good, you realize I’m threatening you. If this fails, we kill Fauziat. That should give you enough motivation.”
“General, don’t touch Fauziat; she has children for God’s sake.”
“She does? Well, consider her children dead too if you fail.”
“General…”
The line went dead. Threatening people’s children was evil, he knew now that he was on the other side of the threat. He could not afford to bring his children into this. Not Fauziat. She was the child he had before he married the good for nothing woman who took his remaining children from him. He had just reconciled with her after leaving her and her mother those many years ago. He was not going to lose her, not to the general, not to anybody.
“Is everything okay?” Doctor Coker asked.
Baban looked at him; he had forgotten he was in the room with him. The man had lost a child to him. He wondered if he felt the same way he felt now. It did not matter. Someone had to pay if things failed, it would not be Fauziat.
“Doctor, how is John?”
The Doctor’s eyes grew dark. “You just told someone not to threaten you and you threaten me?”
“Oh yes Doctor Coker. That threat was a motivation, so consider my threat a motivation. If there’s something wrong, say the word now.”
“The kulunix is okay.”
Baban turned around and headed for the door.
“Alright Doctor, I’ll assume you’re telling the truth.” Baban stopped and turned around. “But if you’re not, then John is going to wish his daddy had been more honest.”
Baban got to the door and turned the handle.
“What is all the trouble for anyway?” Doctor Coker asked and Baban stopped.
“Why do you want to know?” Baban asked.
“You are too desperate, it can’t end well.”
Baban laughed. “You are wrong Doctor. It will end well. You want to know what it’s all about, I’ll explain. There is a war going on in this country, it’s been on for more than ten years.”
“It is coming to an end.” Doctor Coker said. “The government is winning, killing the terrorists every day.”
“Exactly. That is the problem.”
“How is that a problem?”
“I work with powerful and wealthy people who sell weapons to the army. With no war, the army don’t need weapons. With no need for weapons, my friends go out of business. So we need a war but to fight a war we need enemies. That’s where the kulunix comes in.”
“How does the kulunix help you create…?” Doctor Coker started to say then his eyes widened. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah, you see it now.”
“So you feed the kulunix to the terrorist and they stand a better chance against the army.”
“What?” Baban looked at him with disgust. “No, the terrorists are dwindling in numbers. Even with the kulunix it is only a matter of time before they are overrun.”
Baban walked over to Doctor Coker and stopped a few inches from his face.
“Doctor you need to see the bigger picture here. We need to resupply the terrorists with fighters and where is the place to get fighters now that our borders have been secured?”
Doctor Coker started him for a few seconds then he put both hands on his head. “The IDP camps?”
Baban tapped Doctor Coker on the cheek. “Now you get it. We recruit fighters right inside the country and the war gets back into full gear and my friends get back to making money.”
“So this is all for money? Just money?”
“Yes Doctor. Why did you take this job? Wasn’t it for money?”
Doctor Coker did not respond. Baban smiled, everybody was motivated by money. The amount of money just varied from person to person. He had his price, Doctor Babatunde did and so did the people working with the IDPs. Some of them had already named their price and it was only a matter of hours before the kulunix got into the first person’s bloodstream.
“I’m leaving,” Baban said. “I hope for your sake the kulunix works well. Or else, you know what happens Doctor.”

Mark entered the kitchen, walked to the water tap and washed his hand. The two previous days had been stressful, much like the three years he had spent at WAAP. The death of the homeless man two days before had jolted the team into massive action. They had cleaned the whole camp again and looked for any source of poison or contamination. They had found none. Professor Tanko had generously offered to take the dead body off their hands. He would find out the cause of death; that would help narrow down what could have killed the man.
He walked to the fridge and picked a bottle of water. He looked over at the sitting area and saw Jumai sitting. He would have gone out without talking to her but she was already waving him over. He unscrewed the bottle and downed half of it before he walked over to Jumai.
“Hey.” Mark said.
“You must be really thirsty.” She said nodding at the bottle in his hand.
“I am.” He looked at the plates scattered around the table in front of her. “You ate all of these? You must be really hungry.”
She laughed. “You know there’s no way I ate all of them. Are you going to sit?”
“Well, I’m not eating.”
“Just be a gentleman and sit with me.”
Mark pulled a chair and sat.  He had not talked with her since the day when they found the dead man. He was about telling her why he had been avoiding her when they heard the noise. He was kind of happy they had not finished that conversation now. Or maybe it would be better to have it and get it out of the way.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jumai asked.
She had caught him starring. “Can I ask you something?”
“I thought I just asked you something.”
“My question might answer yours.”
“Ohh, okay. Shoot Mr Tribbiani.”
“Really? I thought you’d forgotten about this Joey thing.”
She laughed. “Okay sorry. Ask your question.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Mark asked and held his breath.
“Boyfriend? No. I’ve never had one.”
Mark let out the breath and a smile spread across his face. He had been disturbing himself for nothing. Wow! Life was good again.
“That day in Lagos, you said ‘hello hun’...”
“At KFC, right? I was talking to Faruk.”
He paused. “Faruk?”
“Yeah, my fiancé. I’ve never had a boyfriend, I’ve got a fiancé.”
Mark felt a dark shadow fall on him. For a minute, she had actually given him hope but then she dashed it to smithereens.
Finally he managed to say, “Is he in Kaduna?”
“No, he is in the UK for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering.”
“Okay. How did you meet?”
“Well, we kind of grew up together. We were practically betrothed from birth.”
He was not interested in anything she was saying but she still had some distance to go with her food and he knew the silence would kill him.
“Betrothed from birth? People still do that?”
“I don’t understand.”
“I mean, in this age of enlightenment people usually choose their own spouses. Betrothed from birth?”
She set her fork down; he had said something wrong. He was not really conscious of anything he had just said, he was only trying to keep the conversation going. He wished he had stayed with the silence now. He could feel her eyes bore into him.
“So finally you show who you really are, huh?” She said.
That was not what he was expecting. “I don’t…”
“I already heard about the pride of Yoruba people and how they think they’re more educated and sophisticated than the rest of us.”
Mark opened his mouth. “What?”
“In this age of enlightenment? You’ve been to Kaduna, does it look like an uncivilised desert to you?”
Mark looked at her and smiled, one day he would use this conversation to make serious fun of her. He was rambling out of shock and she was talking about tribal discrimination. It was ridiculous.
“Jumai, you’ve got things all wrong here. I was just been jealous…”
“Jealous?”
A loud noise came from the east of the camp.
“What was that?” Jumai asked.
“That came from the men’s camp.” Mark said. God, please no.
He ran out of the kitchen and towards the men’s camp. He saw people running out of the hostels towards the field in front of the rooms. He was not sure what was happening but whatever it was, it was happening on that field.
“Are you sure it is safe to go there?”
Mark looked behind and saw Jumai. No, not this time.
“Jumai, please wait here this time. Please.”
“What if it someone dying and this time we can help?”
“I don’t think that is…” He stopped. His eyes caught something; one of the walls of the hostel had been broken. A large hole, big enough to fit a truck tire stood in the middle of the wall. “Please Jumai, I have a bad feeling about this one.”
“You should know I won’t stay Mark, someone might need a doctor.”
A loud crack sound came from behind the crowd. Was that a bone?  He ran to the crowd and squeezed through them. He got to the front and stopped. For a few seconds he could not figure out what was happening. There were four men on the floor. One of them was not moving. The other three were entwined on the floor, fighting to rise to their feet. Every time one person almost stood, he was punched and knocked down.
Mark looked at a frail man standing beside him.
“Wetin happen?”
The man shook his head and moved away. There was a young boy standing on his other side. He pulled the boy and bent to speak to his ear.
“Wetin happen?”
The boy looked up at him and pulled him lower so he could talk into his ear.
“Sule punch Aliyu, he enter wall land for field. Aliyu brothers come help am.”
Surely the boy didn’t know what he was talking about. There was no way this Aliyu had made the hole in that wall. Mark pointed at the motionless man on the floor. “Who be that?”
“Aliyu. He don die. Na Sule kill am.”
Mark looked at the men fighting, it was only a matter of time before someone else joined Aliyu.
“Is that man dead?”
Mark looked and Jumai was already kneeing by Aliyu’s side. He had to stop this fight. WAAP could not afford another death in the developing settlement. He could not afford another death on his watch.
He walked slowly towards the fighting men, it looked like one of them was not moving anymore. One of the remaining men picked the other one and lifted him up. The crowd started shouting ‘Sule’! He had to do something, he could not let this Sule go ahead with whatever he wanted to do.
“Hey Sule.” Mark shouted. “Sule!”
Sule looked at him and for a moment Mark feared for his own life more than the man in Sule’s hands. The look Sule had in his eyes were not natural. And it wasn’t just the coldness in them, there was something different. Something major was wrong.
“Sule, please put him down.” Mark said. “Sule please.”
A few metres away from where he stood, Jumai’s phone began to ring. Sule looked in the direction of Jumai and dropped the man he held on the floor. Mark looked at Sule and the direction his attention had been drawn to. Did he want the phone? Was he mad? Will the phone pacify him?
“Jumai, please throw the phone to him.” Mark shouted. He did not want the man getting close to Jumai at all.
Jumai threw her phone to Sule but he sidestepped the phone and continued towards Jumai. He wanted her? Mark rushed ahead of him and stood in between Sule and Jumai.
“Sule, please. See the phone over there.”
Sule growled and kept advancing. He had to do something. What could he do? There was no way he could take Sule on, not even when he was sober. Maybe he should…
He saw the hand coming too late, it landed on his left temple and he felt himself fly through the air. He landed with his face in the sand. He laboured to roll over but his body was not responding. He looked for Jumai and out of the corner of his eyes he saw her; she was on the floor moving back rapidly. A pair of legs – Sule’s, moved towards her.
“Juu…” He could not scream. “Juum…”
He wanted to cry, what was this? What was happening? His eyes shut and none of it mattered anymore

Mark entered the kitchen, walked to the water tap and washed his hand. The two previous days had been stressful, much like the three years he had spent at WAAP. The death of the homeless man two days before had jolted the team into massive action. They had cleaned the whole camp again and looked for any source of poison or contamination. They had found none. Professor Tanko had generously offered to take the dead body off their hands. He would find out the cause of death; that would help narrow down what could have killed the man.
He walked to the fridge and picked a bottle of water. He looked over at the sitting area and saw Jumai sitting. He would have gone out without talking to her but she was already waving him over. He unscrewed the bottle and downed half of it before he walked over to Jumai.
“Hey.” Mark said.
“You must be really thirsty.” She said nodding at the bottle in his hand.
“I am.” He looked at the plates scattered around the table in front of her. “You ate all of these? You must be really hungry.”
She laughed. “You know there’s no way I ate all of them. Are you going to sit?”
“Well, I’m not eating.”
“Just be a gentleman and sit with me.”
Mark pulled a chair and sat.  He had not talked with her since the day when they found the dead man. He was about telling her why he had been avoiding her when they heard the noise. He was kind of happy they had not finished that conversation now. Or maybe it would be better to have it and get it out of the way.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jumai asked.
She had caught him starring. “Can I ask you something?”
“I thought I just asked you something.”
“My question might answer yours.”
“Ohh, okay. Shoot Mr Tribbiani.”
“Really? I thought you’d forgotten about this Joey thing.”
She laughed. “Okay sorry. Ask your question.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Mark asked and held his breath.
“Boyfriend? No. I’ve never had one.”
Mark let out the breath and a smile spread across his face. He had been disturbing himself for nothing. Wow! Life was good again.
“That day in Lagos, you said ‘hello hun’...”
“At KFC, right? I was talking to Faruk.”
He paused. “Faruk?”
“Yeah, my fiancé. I’ve never had a boyfriend, I’ve got a fiancé.”
Mark felt a dark shadow fall on him. For a minute, she had actually given him hope but then she dashed it to smithereens.
Finally he managed to say, “Is he in Kaduna?”
“No, he is in the UK for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering.”
“Okay. How did you meet?”
“Well, we kind of grew up together. We were practically betrothed from birth.”
He was not interested in anything she was saying but she still had some distance to go with her food and he knew the silence would kill him.
“Betrothed from birth? People still do that?”
“I don’t understand.”
“I mean, in this age of enlightenment people usually choose their own spouses. Betrothed from birth?”
She set her fork down; he had said something wrong. He was not really conscious of anything he had just said, he was only trying to keep the conversation going. He wished he had stayed with the silence now. He could feel her eyes bore into him.
“So finally you show who you really are, huh?” She said.
That was not what he was expecting. “I don’t…”
“I already heard about the pride of Yoruba people and how they think they’re more educated and sophisticated than the rest of us.”
Mark opened his mouth. “What?”
“In this age of enlightenment? You’ve been to Kaduna, does it look like an uncivilised desert to you?”
Mark looked at her and smiled, one day he would use this conversation to make serious fun of her. He was rambling out of shock and she was talking about tribal discrimination. It was ridiculous.
“Jumai, you’ve got things all wrong here. I was just been jealous…”
“Jealous?”
A loud noise came from the east of the camp.
“What was that?” Jumai asked.
“That came from the men’s camp.” Mark said. God, please no.
He ran out of the kitchen and towards the men’s camp. He saw people running out of the hostels towards the field in front of the rooms. He was not sure what was happening but whatever it was, it was happening on that field.
“Are you sure it is safe to go there?”
Mark looked behind and saw Jumai. No, not this time.
“Jumai, please wait here this time. Please.”
“What if it someone dying and this time we can help?”
“I don’t think that is…” He stopped. His eyes caught something; one of the walls of the hostel had been broken. A large hole, big enough to fit a truck tire stood in the middle of the wall. “Please Jumai, I have a bad feeling about this one.”
“You should know I won’t stay Mark, someone might need a doctor.”
A loud crack sound came from behind the crowd. Was that a bone?  He ran to the crowd and squeezed through them. He got to the front and stopped. For a few seconds he could not figure out what was happening. There were four men on the floor. One of them was not moving. The other three were entwined on the floor, fighting to rise to their feet. Every time one person almost stood, he was punched and knocked down.
Mark looked at a frail man standing beside him.
“Wetin happen?”
The man shook his head and moved away. There was a young boy standing on his other side. He pulled the boy and bent to speak to his ear.
“Wetin happen?”
The boy looked up at him and pulled him lower so he could talk into his ear.
“Sule punch Aliyu, he enter wall land for field. Aliyu brothers come help am.”
Surely the boy didn’t know what he was talking about. There was no way this Aliyu had made the hole in that wall. Mark pointed at the motionless man on the floor. “Who be that?”
“Aliyu. He don die. Na Sule kill am.”
Mark looked at the men fighting, it was only a matter of time before someone else joined Aliyu.
“Is that man dead?”
Mark looked and Jumai was already kneeing by Aliyu’s side. He had to stop this fight. WAAP could not afford another death in the developing settlement. He could not afford another death on his watch.
He walked slowly towards the fighting men, it looked like one of them was not moving anymore. One of the remaining men picked the other one and lifted him up. The crowd started shouting ‘Sule’! He had to do something, he could not let this Sule go ahead with whatever he wanted to do.
“Hey Sule.” Mark shouted. “Sule!”
Sule looked at him and for a moment Mark feared for his own life more than the man in Sule’s hands. The look Sule had in his eyes were not natural. And it wasn’t just the coldness in them, there was something different. Something major was wrong.
“Sule, please put him down.” Mark said. “Sule please.”
A few metres away from where he stood, Jumai’s phone began to ring. Sule looked in the direction of Jumai and dropped the man he held on the floor. Mark looked at Sule and the direction his attention had been drawn to. Did he want the phone? Was he mad? Will the phone pacify him?
“Jumai, please throw the phone to him.” Mark shouted. He did not want the man getting close to Jumai at all.
Jumai threw her phone to Sule but he sidestepped the phone and continued towards Jumai. He wanted her? Mark rushed ahead of him and stood in between Sule and Jumai.
“Sule, please. See the phone over there.”
Sule growled and kept advancing. He had to do something. What could he do? There was no way he could take Sule on, not even when he was sober. Maybe he should…
He saw the hand coming too late, it landed on his left temple and he felt himself fly through the air. He landed with his face in the sand. He laboured to roll over but his body was not responding. He looked for Jumai and out of the corner of his eyes he saw her; she was on the floor moving back rapidly. A pair of legs – Sule’s, moved towards her.
“Juu…” He could not scream. “Juum…”
He wanted to cry, what was this? What was happening? His eyes shut and none of it mattered anymore
.....TO BE CONTINUED