Eight Days To Live

Six: He is well paid

Monday, 23rd March 2020

The chartered vehicle dropped them off in front of a compound in Victoria Island that was secured by an unlocked gate and no security guard. It was already past 7:00 p.m. and daylight was fast fading, but there wasn't any artificial light in range to provide support apart from the few light poles on the street metres away. So they entered the compound cautiously, alert to possible danger, for anything that might spring out of nowhere and attack them.

The compound was not well maintained, with little bushes here and there and the main house that sat largely in the centre. It looked deserted and partly-devastated, clearly in desperate need of salvaging. A broken-down car with four flat tires also added to the eerie atmosphere of the place. It was enough to chase anyone out, even frighten and deter hardened armed robbers.

Dele had initially thought that they were going into the property and almost changed his mind when Kachi led him to the back of the house following instructions that Ismail had given her. The backside of the compound was a different story entirely. It was clean and tidy and had a locked iron bar gate that one could see through. It housed a refurbished three-bedroom boys' quarters, where Ismail lived.

Dele watched quietly, as Kachi extracted a bunch of keys from her handbag and inserted the biggest one into the padlock on the gate. She then proceeded to the front door, looked through the set of keys, then inserted another into the keyhole and opened the door.

"Interesting. You not only have the key to his place, but you also know which goes where," Dele commented. The first thing he had really said since he first heard the name 'Ismail.'

"Dele, this is not the time to get jealous. He offered to help and gave me his keys while I was at the office." She showed him the keys, which had been labelled. "There's nothing else, please. I've never been here before, and when all this is over, I will never have to come here again."

"When all this is over? By that, you mean when I die from the virus, if I have it, right?"

"No, I mean when the work here is over, I won't need to come back anymore after we..." She paused and pointed back and forth between them. "You and me, have left here."

"Okay." Dele had no other option than to trust her if she was willing to do whatever it took to help him. "So what next?"

"He said we should go to his home office. It's the first door to the right once we enter."

They both entered and were amazed by the interior of the boys' quarters so much that they believe it could pass for an apartment. Whether they liked it or not, there was a big difference between an apartment, a flat, and a boys' quarters. The location also played a major role in the classification.

The apartment was painted pure white, and cream tiles adorned the floor making the place cool, even with no air conditioner or fan on. Plaques and photos of achievements decorated the wall, each tagged with 'Ismail Baba-Raji' and the name of whoever else was in the photo. The man had done a good job with his place.

Locating the home office didn't require any special skill, as there was only one door to the right. Kachi led Dele there, then she opened the door and they entered. The room was truly a home office. It was spacious and could have been the master bedroom converted to the office because it had an en-suite bathroom and toilet. There was a desk at one corner with a desktop on it, then another larger desk with an incubator-like device on it. The gadget had about three entry points for the hands, such that several analyses could be carried out at the same time.

A monitor was connected to the incubator-like device and a camera was implanted in it to record experiments. The whole set was not topmost quality per se, but still commendable. In front of the desk sat a high swivel chair, like the ones in bars, to facilitate the use of the device. And at the other corner of the room, a dressed single bed was kept, probably for subjects to use or for a researcher who needed to be close to their work. Kachi didn't know which, but she concluded that the room was a mini lab.

"Who is this man again?" Dele asked, as his eyes darted around.

"A junior staff union executive."

"Still. Look at this apartment. No one would ever know that a place like this exists in this compound," Dele said. He sniffled several times, then added, "I guess he is well paid."

"Very well paid, I can bet," Kachi added. "A workaholic bachelor who has nothing else to do with his salary decides to literally bring work home."

"Bring office home, you mean," Dele said, humouring Kachi, and she laughed. After a brief pause, he asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Get comfortable on the bed let me run the test first, then we will know what to do next."

"That's fine," Dele replied, as he climbed in, slipped off his shoes, and lay down laboriously.

Kachi changed both their protective gears and grabbed a cloth, which she expertly tied as a tourniquet above Dele's elbow. She asked him to stretch out his arm, and after rubbing the skin to reveal a vein, she slid a syringe in and drew blood. She then loosened the cloth before going to the analysis desk.

"So how long would it take before you know the result?" Dele asked.

Kachi sanitised the device, then had her face pressed into it, analysing the blood sample she had collected. "We received this new testing kit that will provide results within six hours."

"Six hours?"

"Yes. It took longer before, but many manufacturers are creating other testing kits to reduce the wait time," Kachi replied. "However, I said 'within six hours' so yours can come at any moment within the time frame."

Kachi's phone rang at that instant. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was from Ebere. She immediately answered.

"Ebere is everything okay?" Kachi asked.

"Yes. The kids are well-behaved, but they have gone to bed now."

"Okay, so no emergency?" Kachi asked, relieved.

"No, just that some men came banging on your door. I opened and told them that no one was around."

"Who were they?"

"I don't know, because they were completely covered up."

Ismail was right, Kachi thought. Her boss had certainly made plans to investigate her home right from the moment she asked for the testing kit. It was a good thing she had left. She took her focus back to the call, and asked, "What did they say?"

"They left without saying anything or leaving a message. I also don't know if they would return, but I will look out for them and let you know."

"Thank you so much," Kachi said. "You're a true friend."

"It's no problem at all."

Kachi hung up and turned to Dele. Without being asked, she vomited what Ebere had told her verbatim. That was where the conversation ended, as information, and nothing more. So they refocused on the test, and with many hours to wait for the results, they sat to talk and reminisce on the old times. Dele didn't cough much during the time, but his sniffling didn't stop.

Unaware of the time and how long they had been there, they got startled when they heard a noise in the apartment, which came towards them in the room-cum-lab. It took them a few seconds to remember that they were in someone else's apartment. The lab door opened and a middle-aged man wearing a mask, goggles, and gloves walked in. He moved the goggles over his head, and the mask under his jaw, revealing his face. He looked more like a model than a lab worker. Dele's antenna immediately stood.

"I'm Ismail Baba-Raji," the man said to Dele, smiling wildly. "You must be Mr. Oladele Adelabu."

"And you must be the man who likes my wife," Deleresponded. "You can call me Dele."