"Abdul! Abdul!! Abdul!!!"
"Yes sir!, I'm coming sir".
Abdul ran into the vast room, his cap almost falling off as he was scared not to anger Sir Paul.
"Sir!", he said as he put his four fingers across his face with his thumb folded behind them as a form of salute.
"How many times do I have to call you before you respond?"
He knew better than to reply his boss so he kept mute. Sir Paul looked at him, his stern eyes scrutinizing him thoroughly before finally landing on the table.
"Get me the files containing the details of yesterday's delivery".
"Alright sir, please give me a minute".
He nodded briefly and Abdul took the hint and left quickly to get the files.
Sir Paul was the kingpin of a sole thriving mafia business, which was adequately financed and supported by some politicians and big men in town. He was well known and trusted for his stealth and transparency in business and there was no doubt he was ranked number one among his counterparts.
Abdul was his secretary/assistant but no other relationship existed between them asides work. The man was gruff and a lot to handle and had no time to frolic about with his employees.
Just then, Abdul walked in holding a large brown file in his hands. He handed it over to Sir Paul and stood by, bowing his head the whole time.
Sir Paul took the file from him and opened it, going through the contents carefully. He read silently for a while before gesturing to Abdul to sit.
Abdul gave a curt nod and pulled back the farthest chair to the left of Sir Paul and settled in it. The entire office was silent, as the only sound heard was the occasional flipping of pages by Sir Paul. After what seemed like a long while, he was finally through and he closed the file and looked up at Abdul.
"How was the delivery?", he asked in a tone that demanded details.
"It went well sir. It was led by Team 4 and they carried it out smoothly sir", he responded before clearing his throat a bit.
"They arrived the location at 10pm sharp and proceeded to the terminal immediately. The clients were already waiting so they made the exchange as soon as they got there"
"Is that how they're trained now? To keep the clients waiting?", Sir Paul snapped.
Abdul couldn't but keep his head low for fear of meeting his master's gaze.
"When I talk to you, you respond Abdul!", he roared angrily.
"Yes sir, I'm s—sorry sir".
"You had better be", he snorted.
"Sir, they had to avoid a checkpoint at Kubwa, that was why they were late. It won't happen again sir, I promise ".
"Checkpoint? Did you not inform the SP that we were going to pass his boundaries that night?".
He looked really pissed this time.
"Yes sir I did. I even gave him the usual. I was also surprised when the boys told me there was a checkpoint. They were even about to abort but I told them not to panic ", Abdul explained, slowly regaining his confidence.
"That bastard ", Sir Paul gritted through his teeth.
"That's my major issue with the police, they're too greedy and find it hard to keep their word. Danjuma doesn't realize it but he had it coming. Get me his head and internal organs tonight. There'll be a special delivery", he smirked evilly.
Abdul already understood the message. Usually, they didn't deal with human parts but on special occasions when someone annoyed his boss, they got their hands extra dirty.
"And for those boys that carried out the delivery, have you added the money to their paychecks?"
"Yes sir, I did that first thing this morning".
"Well, you will deduct thirty thousand naira each from their paychecks because I don't like to waste my clients' time. Time is very important and you know that. That is infact the first lesson for new recruits. What are they teaching them these days?"
"Yes sir, I'll do just that. Should I suspend them from taking deliveries for a while also?"
"Yes that's fine. Two weeks will do. And get me the details of their chief. Tell him to see me first thing tomorrow morning, he has a query to answer."
"Sure sir, anything else?", Abdul asked but it seemed his boss didn't hear him at all as he was already on the telephone.
"Tell Ada to come up here with my coffee I'm hand. Quick! because I don't like to wait ", he dropped the phone and sank back in his chair, leaning his head on the back rest.
"What do I have next on my schedule?", he asked lazily, gently massaging his temple with his fingers.
Abdul picked out a small diary from his pocket and flipped the pages quickly before answering.
"You have a meeting with the board by eleven. That's about an hour's time".
"Fine".
Abdul stood from his seat unsure whether or not to leave as he didn't know if his boss was done with him yet.
A knock came from the door and he looked at it expectantly. After what seemed like a whole minute, the door opened to reveal a tall, beautiful, sexy looking young lady standing just in front of it.
She wore a red bodycon dress which stopped just mid thigh. The dress also had a deep cut neckline which revealed a great amount of cleavage. Well, the lady didn't care apparently as she had a huge smile plastered on her face and a small tray with a cup of coffee in hand.
She walked graciously towards Sir Paul and bent to drop the tray on his table while giving him a generous view of her breasts. He swallowed deeply and she moved towards him slowly, swaying her hips seductively as she walked.
When she got to his side and sat on the table before him, he glanced upwards to look at her and his features formed into a frown as he saw Abdul standing a few metres away from the chair he sat on initially.
"Abdul!", he thundered. "Shut the door behind you".
Abdul bowed one last time as he walked towards the door and walked out, remembering to close it as he left.
* * *
Detective Apata was silent as he sat in the passenger seat of Chuks' car in the company of two uniformed officers as they drove to Golden Enterprises. They had booked an appointment to see the CEO and they decided to go together so as to save costs.
The investigation of Mr Gold's murder had proved futile even up until that very moment. There were a lot of people with one reason or the other to want him dead, but none of them seemed brave enough to have committed the act. His friends and immediate family had all been interrogated but none was found guilty. Even his company staff had been questioned but they all had nothing on them.
Everything narrowed down to the final suspect —his wife. She had seemed really affected by his demise at the press conference earlier on but anybody could've pulled up such a stunt. At this point in his career, he couldn't be fooled by foul play and tricks often played by criminals. Though Apata and his team had been absent from the conference, they had briefed themselves with clips of it and analyzed the whole thing critically. They had even tried to find out more about the deceased's widow but to no avail as she was a very private person. Really private to the point that no picture or information about her was aired publicly on social media which made it difficult for them to come to any predictions or conclusions about her before meeting her. Hopefully, meeting her would be able to shed more light on the case than it had already, they thought.
The case was gradually becoming an object of worry to Apata, as he normally didn't spend that long on his previous cases. Some were even more complex than the present one but the culprits had always left some loopholes. This particular case seemed to have been carefully planned and carried out, as there was no single eyewitness or footage. It was becoming a really tough nut to crack, but Apata was willing to bet his last kobo that he would crack it eventually, no matter how long it took.
"It better be soon", he prayed silently as he looked through the windscreen, annoyed that they hadn't reached their destination yet.
They had set out about twenty to thirty minutes ago and Apata knew it would have taken him barely fifteen minutes to get there if he was the one behind the wheels.
"Damn!", he muttered.
Chuks was always driving slowly, following all the traffic rules and regulations unlike Apata. He could always put up a police poster on his vehicle and drive as he wishes and if he's stopped he'll just flash his ID in their faces and they'd let him go. But Chuks had to drive so obediently much to Apata's annoyance. Between the slow drive and the fluffy furry car seats, Apata couldn't place which annoyed him the most.
Chuks had those annoying seat covers installed in his car about two months after he got it. Apata had told him to change it but he refused, insisting that the ladies he usually moved about with liked it a lot. He claimed they found it soothing and relaxing and always felt comfortable in his car.
To Apata, it was the complete definition of discomfort. He sighed inwardly as he laid back on the head rest just to jolt upwards and itch his neck from it's brief contact with the furry seats. He cursed silently and moved back to his train of thoughts, oblivious to the fact that they just pulled up in the driveway of Golden Enterprises, their destination.
He only became aware when Chuks tapped him harshly on the back, jolting him back to reality.
"Mr wonder boy, we're here already", Chuks said as he retrieved his keys from the ignition.
"Took you long enough", Apata replied and jumped out of the car.
The four of them stood by the car, as if glued to the spot, taking in the look of the whole place. The parking lot was more like a car lot as cars of different makes, kinds and colours were parked in an orderly manner with five hefty looking security personnel guarding the the place. Apata was suddenly grateful it was Chuks who drove else he'd have been embarrassed for violating parking orders.
Chuks' baby— his new Honda Accord — couldn't even stand beside majority of the cars parked there and once again, Apata was glad he didn't come with his old Corolla. Parked just a few metres away was a shiny black Mercedes Benz, the latest model with a customized number plate standing alone in a reserved spot.
They tore their gazes away from it and walked silently towards the entrance, taking in the magnificent view of the empire.
It was a great monument.
A seven storey building with all the walls and exterior painted white. The walls were straight and made with much architectural precision as even the patterned brown roofs were screed. It was decorated with bright yellow lights hanging on fancy lamp posts and cases mounted on the walls and it was indeed a beauty to behold even at daytime. The men barely stopped themselves from gawking at the thought of how beautiful it would look at night, with the lights dancing in the dark against the night sky.
Glass windows of different sizes and tinted glass walls and doors generously highlighted the walls and the uniformed men had to facepalm themselves to be sure they weren't dreaming. The cremé la crop of it all was an exquisite sunroom placed at the top of the seventh floor —make that eight storeys— that looked like it was made specially for the president.
Apata looked the most unfazed amongst them as he kept his stride without ogling over the building.
"You guys should get it together. It's just a building, no need to fawn over it like that", Apata chided nudging Chuks on the shoulder.
"Which kind just a building? I feel like I'm in Aso rock already", Chuks quipped in, all the same regaining his composure.
The other two officers did same and soon got along with Apata as they moved closer to the entrance.
* * *
A/N
Sup guys!!
Sorry for the delayed update 😪
Anyways I sure hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it😊
And it's sooo lonnggg😅 I even had to break it into two🤭
Soo who else is swept away by the office description??
You can't really tell I just described a new building two blocks away 🙈...with a sprinkling of my imagination.(I'll add the original photo of the house wen next I pass by😂)
Anyways I'll love to hear from u so u can do well to vote and leave a comment. Even if it's just an emoji 😘😘