Securing The Bag (The Lagos Hustle)

Cold Blooded

I held my breath, hoping they would go away and my prayer was answered.

"Okay, pack every paper you can see, we'll send everything to Kenekelis"

"what about his girlfriend?"

"we'll wait and see if there's still no sign of the map or diary then we pick her up and hand her over to K"

(wicked laugh) "Oh the sick pervert will surely find out everything she knows"

"hey don't talk like that"

They must have been standing right outside the door because their voices were really loud. The 3 of us heard them clearly. I turned to look at the "girlfriend" in question. Her eyes were puffy from the crying and she looked so afraid and vulnerable that I almost made a promise no one was going to hurt her, I almost foolishly said it out loud, if not that one of them tried to open the toilet door and jiggled the handle.

"Why's this door locked?"

"Come on Jaga let's get out of here quick"

The handle turned once more then Jaga finally gave up and they spent about two more minutes moving things about the room and shuffling the many research documents Mr. D had clipped about. Finally, their footsteps receded and we heard them close the main door and the penthouse was silent for the next 5 minutes while we tried to return our pulse to normal. We were all shaken up in varying stages, Jess looked totally petrified, even the tough Kanaku shut his eyes and placed his bleeding hand on his chest trying to calm his pulse, as for me, I wasn't even ready to open the door yet.

It was still Kanaku who opened the door and slipped out for a quick search of the suite. "We have to get the hell out of here," he called out.

"It's okay Jess, take my hand..." I offered my hand and she wrapped her fingers around mine gratefully and together we left the toilet and I wondered what we'll find.

The room was now a bloody mess, there was not even a single sheet of paper lying about. But there was plenty of bloodstains on the walls and a huge puddle of red paste had trickled to the center of the room, giving the map on the floor a bloody and haunting look. Without fully knowing what I was doing, I brought out my phone and took a quick clear picture of the now bloodied drawing. This was the only evidence of the legend Mr. D had only begun to tell and I had a feeling I'll wake up on my couch with a headache and would need to check my gallery to confirm this had been real and not a drunken dream.

"Don't look in the corner" Kanaku instructed once we stepped into the room, but like inquisitive children, our eyes were immediately drawn to the corner he warned us not to look. It was a gruesome sight even from the short distance and I almost threw up in my mouth, I actually bit my tongue hard till I thought I would pass out from the pain but I kept my eyes and mouth shut tight, trying without luck to wash away the graphic image of Mr. D's massacred body from my mind. It was stuck; His naked mutilated copse with deep cuts crisscrossed in every inch of his body till there was no skin left unviolated.

Jess continued to stare, frozen in the same spot and unable to tear her eyes away despite the obvious trauma it was causing her. "Jess come on they could come back anytime." I gave her a tug but her body had gone stiff. "Jess..?"

"She's gone into shock, get her to the elevator quickly" Kanaku ordered. He picked up a pair of pant trousers that had been discarded in the corner and began to dig into the pockets.

I put Jess's arm over my shoulder and managed to half carry her to the door. "Are you serious? You'll rob the dead?" I couldn't believe him

"Please spare me, he won't be needing money wherever he's going. Plus money brought us here in case you have forgotten, so take her downstairs and I'll join you once I'm done here"

I shook my head but didn't say anything else. The whole suite smelled of death and I just wanted to get out.

Thankfully Jess regained some level of consciousness in the elevator. I held her throughout the 10-floor ride and she sobbed into my chest and I tried to comfort her, unsure of what to say so I kept quiet and when we got to the ground floor, she kept crying while I kept hitting the button, keeping the elevator stationary. Until Kanaku exited the next elevator and called out. "Hey lover boy, it's still raining heavily let's heard to the car fast"

He flashed a leather designer purse, "I believe this belongs to her, she left it upstairs"

I could tell from the way his eyes narrowed that he had also fingered the purse.

The huge glass clock in the hotel lobby showed the time was 10 minutes past 11. The receptionist lady was focused on a music video on the LCD screen but she smiled at us and for some reason, she seemed pleased to see Jessy crying.

"Bros una make ashewo cry?" she asked playfully

I wanted to tell her to go screw herself but I decided to save my breath. However, I noticed Jess managed to stop crying after that, other than the occasional sniffles and she even managed to stand upright without leaning on me while we waited for Kanaku to bring my car close to the entrance. Even in the mindless state of grief, her ego wouldn't allow her to roll over for a hater. I admired her for that.

"This rain is going to soak you, here hold on" I unbuttoned my Moncler cotton shirt and draped it over her shoulder. She looked at me for long and muttered, "thank you"