FUOYO
Kanaku and I exchanged a worried glance, it was funny how things had changed since I woke up to his horrid scare just this morning and now we were somehow on the same team. In this room with this strangely intelligent older man and his beautiful but angry girlfriend, listening to him talk on and on about ancient treasures stolen by colonial masters and this so-called neck bag made from precious stones that had supernatural powers. It was a hell of a tale no doubt and I was intrigued even though I suspected it was nothing but crazy fables, it had to be crazy right?
After he dropped the receiver, I looked around the room as he demanded we tell him who we were. So if the real archeologists and historians or whatever he called them were coming here, for this....legend.....all these....papers and drawings....could that mean all of these was real? Or were these people just misguided and plain crazy? Kanaku was also silent, after all his activity forming earlier, now that it mattered the most he couldn't even say anything. The bastard. I knew it was up to me to take a gamble. Mr. D was looking at us with equal measures of worry and suspicion and anger.
"come on sir you know how Kenekelis is, he doesn't like to put his eggs in one basket, I'm sure he found a less expensive option and decided to send them to you to choose. He didn't even tell us much about the job" I offered lamely
He squinted his eyes at me and I couldn't believe he was actually considering it. Whoever this kenekelis was, I was grateful he was a predictable or unpredictable character. Kanaku found his voice finally, "exactly boss, after how many years in this game there's no way you can be so bad at judging characters. You must trust us deep in your guts, we know it and we know you know it too"
I didn't know I was holding my breath till he nodded slowly and I smiled
"Oh baby don't tell me you believe this rubbish. They only overhead your name when the receptionist was talking to me downstairs and they've been playing along ever since, I don't know their main intentions but it's obviously fake, come on babe look at them..." Jess pointed at me, "this one doesn't look like somebody that can even track gala in traffic, the other one is clearly a lout, he threatened to beat me when we were in the elevator just because I said the receptionist should-"
Sheeeesh! This girl could talk! She sounded like a spoilt child reporting the hired help to a rich uncle. Thankfully she was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door and Mr. D put his hands on his head and groaned. "arrrrrgh"
He looked like he hadn't slept in 5 days and we had only made things worse by thoroughly screwing with his brain.
He glanced at me and I relaxed my eye muscles, trying to look as plain eyed and honest as possible, "I don't understand what's going on, but it's either you guys are imposters or Kenekelis made a mistake..." he stared into space and stroked his jaw. "or.....K...." he looked up suddenly, ".....has betrayed me to the boss....."
The knock sounded again. The knob turned impatiently. Thankfully the door was bolted shut"shit, okay you guys go...go into the toilet and wait there, don't come out until I decide what the fuck is going on here"
The girlfriend he'd called Jess sent me a deadly look before placing her hands on her waist. "I'll stay with you boo"
"no no, go with them....if K is really working against me and they're here to get the locations, then it's important they think no one else knows these details, I know too much and that makes me invaluable to them but anyone else is just a loose end. Go..." He urged in a frustrated whisper
"But what if these guys are the real enemies huh?" Stubborn Jess asked still looking at me with contempt. I wondered if it was because of my cough earlier which had interrupted her sugar daddy's proposal.
The knock sounded again, impatiently this time and the frame vibrated from the violent hits. Mr. D practically pushed us into the last room. "I don't know who they really are but I trust these men. They may not be honest but my gut tells me they're not the enemy, and I follow my guts. Now you 3 stay quietly and don't come out till I discharge them and decide it's safe to call you okay?"
"Okay sure thing sir" I agreed immediately and Kanaku flipped the lock the moment he shut the door.
"I have a bad feeling about this?" Jess murmured
"shhh your highness, I'll like to hear what's been said out there okay?" I had the side of my head pressed hard against the door and my ear picked up low voices from the next room, I recognized Mr. D's voice and 2 strange voices.
"So kenekelis sent you huh? What exactly did he tell you" Mr. D's high pitch made it easier to recognize his voice and make out his words
"that you.......big job.......wanted us..... handle discreetly"
Mr D: "hmmmm....did he tell you what we're looking for and where we're looking"
"yes.....homework.....about the bag....diary.?" This particular voice was so low only a few words per sentence was audible
"We also know you made up the Sokoto clue to throw the boss off track while you went to the first location in Nassarawa, to get the price... isn't that right Brian?" The second voice was much louder, there was something cool in his voice that made the hairs behind my neck stand
Mr. D: "I don't know what you're talking about...wait how do you know my first name?"
I looked at Kanaku and Jess, both had their arms folded and looked eagerly at me. I didn't know how much they had heard but obviously enough, judging by Jess's horrified look
"I think he's in trouble" I whispered returning my ear to the wooden surface once more.
"You guys are not trackers, Kenekelis didn't send you, what are you here for? I don't have the diary-" Mr. D accused
"Don't worry yourself about who sent us. If you give us the diary and the map locations we're to make your death quick and painless"
"I swear I don't have the diary, I had it with me only for some hours and I could only memorize the important details, every other thing I know about the treasure is from all I've studied and learned for the last ten years...the last sighting of the bag was in Nassarawa in the year 1918 there's a popular picture of the Alhaji with the bag around his neck. I sat with the boss earlier today, he has a detailed report and knows everything I know"
"Obviously not everything.." the words were broken off at each syllable and there was a shuffling kind of noise, like the furniture was being tossed around, "you're supposed to be in Abuja right now, preparing for the glorious find in Nassarawa, yet here you are, making plans for your own separate excavation"
There was a cracking sound and Mr. D gave a short shout that was cut off abruptly before a loud thud sounded. I struggled to look through the peephole but they weren't in my range. I could only see the couch Mr. D has shoved aside earlier
"Oh my God what's happ-" Jessy cried out
Kanaku grabbed her immediately and covered her mouth with his palm, silencing her before she could raise her voice properly. "shhh stay quiet, your boyfriend has things under control..." The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Mr. D, began groaning in pain. There was the unmistakable sound of adhesive ripping and his voice was soon muffled and barely carried through the door, his mouth had been taped shut but I could hear the pain in every sound.
"Fuoyo what's happening?" Kanaku demanded in a furious whisper.
I pressed my ear closer to the door if possible till I could hear every single shuffle from the next room and every weak moan from Mr. D that followed an incisive swishing sound that made me think of a sharp dagger going through a bag of rice, ripping open yards of sack threads.
"you know the code, the boss is very practical, backstabbers get stabbed in the back,.... ha...ha..haha" the man with the low voice seemed to be the one doing the stabbing. There was a kind of joy in his voice which amplified his every word this time around. He sounded like he loved his job.
These men were no trackers, they were killers.
"what's going on?" Kanaku demanded again, I noticed Jess was seriously biting his hand but he maintained his tight grip.
"They're stabbing him...I think in the back" I whispered back
"mmmmh mmmmmh mhmmmhh" Jess's complaint only came out in a moan and Kanaku and I shushed her with desperate whispers; "Shhhhh, you're going to get us killed"
The attackers were still speaking and I struggled to catch most of the words.
"diary....map.....house....somewhere..........Kenekelis.....tomorrow.....Nassarawa.....secure......bag......search..........in case....somewhere...."
"Shit" I whispered the bad news to my fellow prisoners. "I'm not sure but I think they plan to search the whole suite"
"Then we have to fight" Kanaku whispered back. "Do they have guns?" He had loosened his grip on Jess. She had grown completely still and teardrops now rolled down her cheeks freely.
I have never felt the kind of paralyzing fear that gripped me as I listened to Mr. D's voice fade away like a sad song ending. Did someone just get murdered in the next room with 3 strangers locked in the toilet the only witnesses to the evil act? And would the killers shoot the door down and find us soon?Shit just got too real. This wasn't just some fairy tale or some mythical treasure anymore, people were ready and willing to kill for it.Luckily for us, the landline began to ring again. The receptionist was calling again, for whatever reason but it made the killers nervous and there was a short argument when the phone stopped ringing. Unknown killer A with the low voice who I now suspected was a cold-blooded murdering psychopath wanted to go ahead and search for the missing diary and map but unknown killer B with the hard voice was worried the receptionist was on her way up or maybe Mr. D had guests.
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"