THE DEAL – EPISODE SEVEN

Ugo faced Sege, one of his two closest and trusted security aides. But their conversation had a bad taste to it.

‘Boss, I honestly thought you were the one who instructed us to go to Osogbo. I challenged Chike after, but he insisted that the instruction came from you. I had no idea that he was doing it all on his own.’

‘So, where is Chike now?’ Ugo asked.

‘I don’t know boss, I’ve tried his line multiple times, but it’s switched off, and no one has seen him around.’

Ugo sat on the nearest chair and rubbed his bald head in anger. He hadn’t yet sent anyone to Osogbo but Chike had on his own traced Kolade there. He’d been the one feeding his stepbrother information all this while?

‘Did the boy have the bag?’

‘No, he didn’t. He didn’t have the address either. Chike made sure to ask.’

Ugo sighed in relief. He needed to move his family ASAP, lest they get Kolade to actually give them the address and lead them to his wife and daughter.

‘Boss?’ Sege called. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, but what’s going on. If you had a job that needed utmost discretion, I was right here, so I could have done it. I’ve been here for years and never failed you.’

Ugo looked at Sege straight in the eye. He still didn’t know if he could trust any of them, but Sege was right.

The business he now owned first belonged to his father who’d grown from renting one shop in computer village to owning shopping complexes and other string of businesses including barbing salons, supermarket chains, and importation services. He’d built political and international ties while grooming both Ugo and Obinna. When it was time to choose a successor, he’d picked Ugo over his elder brother. It had been a clear choice because Obinna had never been serious with any of the businesses he’d been given to manage. Obinna had displayed outrage after his father made the announcement. To pacify him, their father gave Obinna full ownership of one of his businesses, but this did nothing to assuage his anger. Upon their father’s death, he’d launched one legal battle after another with Ugo. Although all the cases ruled in Ugo’s favour, this only fueled Obinna’s anger, and he’d sworn to get his revenge.

Two months after the last legal battle ended, two of Ugo’s supermarkets had caught fire. Another month passed and his sister-in-law was killed by a hit and run driver. He’d immediately moved his family away to another apartment under the guise that they were abroad. He visited them once a month under the guise of an international trip, so none of his people knew. Unfortunately, his daughter fell gravely and strangely ill about 2 weeks ago. He’d told one of his business partners who was a doctor in China. The man had helped him source a treatment that he promised would work. But it wasn’t time for his monthly trip and to avoid raising any suspicion, he’d decided to hire someone else to deliver the drug. This was where Kolade came in. Now, everything was messed up due to Kolade’s naivety and dishonesty.

***

Kolade went into another fit of panic when he felt the hand on his shoulder. He whimpered but didn’t struggle. There was no point. The street was dark, sparse, with nowhere to run to – not that he could outrun the bulk man in suit who stood above him as he turned.

‘I think you dropped this,’ the man growled, stretching an unfamiliar black wallet to Kolade.’

‘No Sir,’ Kolade shook his head in disagreement. ‘It’s not my own sir, it’s a mistake, I didn’t drop anything Sir.’

The man’s fingers dug painfully into Kolade’s shoulder blade as his eyes took on a sinister look.

‘Boy, you would take this wallet from me if you don’t want any trouble.’

He hadn’t lowered the hand holding his shoulder nor the one stretching the wallet. Kolade didn’t want any trouble but judging from the events of the past few days, taking that wallet could mean even more trouble. The man holding him didn’t leave him with much choice, so with trepidation, he collected the wallet.

‘Thank you,’ the man growled again, patting him twice on the shoulder before lowering his hand. Kolade looked at the wallet in his palm, debating whether it would be wise to open it now.

‘Sir, what am I to do with this?’ he asked, looking up, but the man was gone. Kolade looked hurriedly around, but there was no trace. He stood in the same spot for a few minutes, and as he stood, he felt his fear and anxiety seeping away. He’d made a decision to complete the end of his bargain with Ugo today and nothing would change that. He couldn’t go on living in fear. With resolve, he shoved the wallet into his trouser pocket without opening it, then hailed the next bus that stopped in front of him.

He hardly paid attention to any of the conductor’s theatrics nor the arguing passengers as they drove to Lekki. He instead went through his job notes, memorizing and rehearsing his answers to the interview questions he’d come to know like the back of his hand. He alighted at his bus stop and walked the remaining distance to the company’s office, while still role-playing the interview.

His entry into the building, to his being ushered into a medium sized conference room was a breeze. But he never let go of the nylon with him. Soon he was seated at a table with a bottle of water placed on it. The table had five chairs each on both sides. He was seated on the middle chair on one side. A few more minutes passed, then a woman and man in crisp suits walked into the meeting room. He stood and stretched his hand in greeting. After exchanging pleasantries, they sat opposite him.

‘How are you doing today, Mr Kolade?’ the stern-looking man in glasses perched on his nose reminded him of his father. It brought some comfort to him.

‘I’m very well, thank you, and you?’

‘I’m well too, thanks. Let’s go straight into it. We’ve looked at through your CV, and your qualifications match what we are looking for. However, the evaluation from your last interview didn’t quite match our expectation. So, the team and I decided to have another conversation with you before making a final decision.’

‘Thank you Sir.’

The woman spoke, her voice sharp.

‘Mr. Kolade, how would you rate your ability to work well under pressure? How would you display your ability to keep focus on business goals in the middle of a crisis if it arises?’

Kolade fought hard not to laugh as the images of the past few days flashed through his mind. He’d survived a mob beating, a house thrashing, a gun to his head and travelled twice in the space of two days. Yet he was in a suit and tie, like there was nothing wrong with his life. If that wasn’t surviving pressure, he didn’t know what else that was.

‘Mr. Kolade, is something funny?’

He shook his thoughts away and composed himself.

‘I’m sorry ma, I was only browsing through my plethora of experiences to select the one that would most fitting to answer your question.’ He then went on to pick a random answer from one of his volunteer experiences. The rest of the interview went on without incidence, and as Kolade shook their hands at the end he felt more confident and hopeful than he’d ever been.

FINAL EPISODE DROPS 10TH, MAY 2020