Author: Simi Joel

Sewa hadn’t stopped wailing despite the repeated warnings by one of the men in the room, Sege as the other called him. The second man, Chike, held his neck, pinning him against the wall. Both men he recognized from the barbing Salon. Ugo’s men.

‘How long had they been here before he arrived?’ he wondered. ‘Had they hurt Sewa?’ His throat clenched in pain at the thought. ‘How did they find his house? How did they get here before him? He had no answers but it was clear that he was in a hot mess.

‘Oga abeg, no vex. Don’t be angry. I’m just a struggling unemployed graduate that was afraid. I thought your oga was testing me.’

‘Shhh, we didn’t come here to hear you speak English. Just tell us where Ugo’s bag is, with the money?

‘Which money?’ he choked. Chike squeezed his neck tighter and lifted him off the floor.

Sewa screamed again. ‘Please don’t hurt him. He doesn’t know anything. You have the wrong person!’

His stomach turned over at the leery way Chike stared at Sewa when he turned. He wanted to kill him right there, but Chike was the stronger man.

Chike turned back to Kolade and sneered at him.

‘Do you want your sister to watch you die?’ If you talk now, we’ll let both of you go. You can choose to play innocent, but I know boys like you. You delivered the bag, collected the money that you were to return to Ugo then pocketed it right? Where is the money?’ he spoke now through clenched teeth.

‘I swear, I didn’t collect any money. As for the bag you’re asking about, I don’t even know where it is.’

‘Liar!’

‘Chike,’ Sege called. ‘Let him go. He doesn’t have anything. Look at his face, he’s telling the truth.’

Chike’s face squeezed into an ugly angry expression, but he let Kolade go.

‘What are you talking about? Ugo sent us here, because this guy took something important from him. If nothing, there must be money involved.’

‘Chike,’ Sege called again firmly but now with a sinister undertone. ‘I followed you here because you told me Ugo sent us here. You’ve not answered any other question I’ve asked. We’ve checked and haven’t found anything; the boy also doesn’t have anything. So, call Ugo and tell him we didn’t find anything. He’ll tell us what next to do.

Kolade scooted over to his sister as the two men faced off.

Chike walked up to Sege until he was face to face with him.

‘I don’t like your tone, so watch it. If not that Ugo is yet to see how much more I’m worth to him than just for errands, I won’t even be here with you.’

Sege raised his shoulders and pushed his chest out, daring Chike. ‘Oga I say make you call Ugo, you dey yarn dust.’

Chike stared at him for a few moments but moved back eventually. He pulled his phone out of this pocket, and it rang almost immediately. He picked the call and spoke.

‘Hello Ugo,’ he paused to listen. ‘Okay boss, we’ll be right there.’

‘Ugo wants us at the office ASAP.’

Sege looked confused but before he voiced his thoughts, Chike stormed out of the room. Sege took one last confused look at the shaking duo huddled on the floor.

‘God saved you today, but don’t think you’ve escaped. You crossed Ugo, there’s nowhere for you to hide.’ He left.

Kolade pulled his crying sister into a tight hug.

Sewa I’m so sorry. Did they hurt you?

‘No they didn’t,’ she said, trembling. Wiping tears from her face, she looked at him. Bro Kola. What did you do?’

Before he could answer the front door swung open and Chike stepped in hurriedly, brandishing a gun. He rushed to Kolade, squatted, leaned forward, his neck craned slightly such that his nose almost touched Kolade’s. Then he placed the gun on his temple. Sewa screamed and terror shot through Kolade’s nerves, through his head, down to his arms.

‘Did you open the bag?’ Chike questioned, he looked back at the door as if to check that no one followed him.

‘Answer me! Did you open the bag?’

‘Ye…Yes,’ Kolade stuttered,’ but there was nothing inside.

‘What do you mean there was nothing inside? Where’s the money and where did Ugo send you to?’

Kolade felt raw terror, but Ugo’s warning to not tell anyone anything rang through his mind. He’d betrayed him once, at the least, he owed him silence. The cold metal pressed against his head and he squeezed his eyes shut.

 ‘I…I…Kolade stuttered,’ I tossed the paper that had the address. It was somewhere on Lagos Island, but I don’t remember.

‘What’s going on?’ a voice interrupted. ‘I thought you wanted to use the toilet.’

Chike straightened up immediately and turned to Sege who watched from the door, his own gun trained on Chike.

‘Nothing’s going on.’ Just thought to shake the boy up a bit so that he doesn’t get any funny ideas. I’m sure he’s clear now.’

Chike lowered his gun and Sege followed suit. They both left without another word.

After a few minutes, Sewa stopped crying, but the shakes didn’t stop. She looked up at him.

‘Bro Kola, please tell me what you did. Whose money did you steal?’ Kolade’s eyes were locked on the Sewa’s frightful ones. She wouldn’t believe his story if he told her, but she deserved to hear it.

‘It’s a little complicated than that,’ he started, then in 3 short minutes, he gave her the summarized version.

***

At almost 10pm, Kolade was at the hospital where his mother was admitted. He hadn’t been able to see her, because the doctors had kept him and Sewa waiting. They were yet to give him the full details of what was wrong. After sitting restlessly for some minutes, she’d gone for a walk.  So, he sat by himself in the waiting area, watching detachedly the bustle, his mind turning through the event of the past days, asking questions that no one could answer.

What was going on? How did his life fall apart in the space of three days? What conspiracy had the universe formed against him. What had he done wrong? And what could he do right? He breathed deeply, his exhaustion taking over his mind. He started to doze off but soon jolted awake with the thought of the note in his pocket. The one he’d picked from the apartment. He pulled the note out and stared at the scribbled number. If he were to guess, this was Ugo’s number. Maybe he could redeem himself with an apology. It was bad enough that he’d got himself into trouble, now he’d brought it to his family. He held his phone and the note tightly in each hand, his last connections to hope for Ugo’s mercy and his family’s safety

He dialed the number. It rang only once.

‘Hello…’ a voice responded. It was Ugo’s.

‘Hello Sir. It’s Kolade Sir.’

There was no response, but he continued.

‘Sir I just wanted to beg you to please spare my family. Everything that I’ve done is not their fault. My mother is sick, and my sister is just a young girl. I honestly didn’t know what was in the bag, so I mishandled it. It’s not like I wanted to dupe you sir. Please I beg. Spare me. See anything you want me to do I would do. I got your message from your boys, but please don’t hurt my family.

‘Which boys?’ Ugo finally spoke.

‘Your boys, Sege and Chike that you sent to my family’s house in Osogbo.’

‘Kolade,’ Ugo spat angrily, ‘you can stop the lies now. I’m not the monster in this scenario. I trusted you with my daughter’s life and you couldn’t fulfill one promise. Just watch your back, because when I come for you, you wouldn’t see it coming.’

‘But sir please, I know what you’re capable of. But if I knew where the bag was, I’d have told Chike. But I don’t sir. See anything you want me to do to redeem myself, I would do.’

The phone beeped. Ugo had ended the call.

‘Eh God,’ he cried out!

His phone rang again almost immediately. It was Amaka. He picked up.

‘Hello Amaka.’

‘Bro K!’ her cheery voice greeted over the phone.

‘How are you?’ Kolade asked with forced calm.

‘I’m fine o. You won’t believe it,’ she screamed, ‘Daddy brought the toy bag back from the airport. For some reason it didn’t go through security.’

‘What?’ Kolade shot up from the bench? ‘The bag is with you?’

‘Yes, it’s here.’

‘He jumped and let out a victorious yell! He quieted down when the people around him shot scathing looks at him.

‘Amaka, I always say you don’t disappoint, but you’ve outdone yourself this time. Please I beg you, keep that bag like your life depends on it, and don’t give anybody or mention it to anybody.’

‘Ha-ha, why so serious,’ she teased. It’s okay sha, I’ll keep it for you.’

‘Thanks, Amaka.’

A female doctor walked up to him as the call ended.

‘Kolade Ojo?’ she asked.

‘Yes Ma, that’s me.’

‘Your mother is awake now. You can come see her.

Kolade couldn’t hold his emotions in check anymore as he burst into quiet tears and followed the doctor to his mothers’ ward.

Kolade’s heart raced faster with each knock at the door. He stood up slowly, his heart in his mouth.

‘Who is it?’ he shouted, locked in his spot.

‘It’s me.’ A soft female voice responded, calming his racing heart. His shoulders lowered as he walked to open the door. Amaka, the landlord’s daughter who he’d met earlier was holding a covered food flask in her hand.

‘Amaka? He laughed awkwardly. You scared me.

‘Sorry,’ she waved, ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. I brought you lunch. You looked stressed earlier, so I assumed that you hadn’t eaten.’ she said, smiling sheepishly.

‘Amaka my angel. You never disappoint.’ He hurriedly stretched his hand to collect the flask from her hand. ‘What would I do without you?’.

She smiled at him again. Hurry up, pour it into a plate because I need to take the flask back and wash it before my mum gets back.

‘Okay.’ He hurried into the kitchen to pour the food into a dish and returned to give it her. With another word of thanks from him, she left.

He settled quickly, devouring the food ravenously, after which he returned to his cleaning.  About an hour later, he was done. He packed his bag, then sent a text to his friend. Just before he locked up, he questioned his plan to travel one more time, wondering what the consequence of his betrayal would be, and what would happen to him if he stayed. Uncertain as to when the return of those who broke into the house would be, Kolade knew he couldn’t wait any longer to get going.

His trip to Oshogbo was long, rough, noisy and dusty, but his heart felt hopeful. He felt shame that he was empty-handed, wishing he’d carried out the simple delivery, but he couldn’t change that now. At least, he was alive. That was better than being dead. He would see his mother and Sewa again.

The bus arrived the park at about 7pm, from where he took an Okada. Upon arriving at the front of their residence, he alighted and handed the rider the 100 Naira fare.

He walked into the cramped compound and greeted the elderly woman that sat in front of a massive flat. The house owner’s wife. Upon sighting him, the short plump woman jumped, ran to him and wrapped her arms around his slim frame.

‘Kolade? Is this you?’ she gushed. ‘Ha our Lagos big boy. Welcome my dear. How are you?’

‘I’m fine ma.’ He replied tiredly.

‘Ha that’s good to hear. So, how is Lagos?’

‘Lagos is fine ma.’

‘And em, so sorry about your mother o. We are all praying for her.’

‘Thank you, ma.’ He just wanted to get home.

‘You’re welcome my dear. I think Sewa is at home.’ She gestured towards the back of the flat. I heard someone opening the door while I was inside. Make sure you come and greet your big daddy when you’ve settled down o.’

‘Yes ma. I will.’

She let go of his hand, and Kolade turned to walk to the back of the house, to their own small flat which this seemingly nice woman and her husband had refused to maintain or refurbish for all the years they’d lived there.  He stepped up to the door and knocked once. The door flung open and a hand pulled him forcefully into the house. The door slammed shut behind him.

***

‘Nkem, I promise you that I’d gotten the medication, and sent someone to bring it to you. I thought it would be simple, but the guy turned out to be a fraud.’ Ugo’s voice was desperate. As it had been on call with his wife in the past few days. His strong exterior always caved with Family, in this case his wife and only daughter.

‘Nkem, I wouldn’t joke with Ada’s life. Why would I do that? You are all I have.’

He paused to listen to his wife’s spirited outburst.

‘You’ve been saying the same thing since yesterday, but I’m the one in the house with her, hearing her chesty coughs that have only gotten worse. I’m the one watching her helpless struggle to breathe. The doctor keeps coming with different things to test, but till now, they don’t know what is wrong. Obim, you call me paranoid when I say that the symptoms are similar to what we’ve been seeing on the news. Ugo,’ her voice broke, ‘I’m scared. At this rate, I don’t know how long she has left to live.’

‘Nkem, I promise you that we would not lose Ada. I’m not playing any games with our daughter’s life. I just couldn’t risk sending any of my guys to you for fear that the person feeding Obinna information would get wind of it too. After your sister’s death, I can’t risk it. Nkem, please I beg of you, hold on a little while.

I would find that boy. I have his family’s address and would send my boys there to find out what they can, but don’t lose hope Nkem. Give Ada a kiss for me.’

He dropped the call and paced the length of the room, running his hand through his hair. This Kolade boy chose to mess with the wrong man and with his daughter’s life. A life for a life was his principle, and all he’d given Kolade to do was a simple errand to save his daughters life. That was the debt he owed. Now Kolade owed him two lives. In his absence, his mother and sister would do.

Ugo fiddled with his phone as he watched the dark busy street from behind the railing of the second floor of the building where he stood. He debated if it was too early to call the woman to confirm if she’d received the package he sent. It’d been 3 hours since Kolade left him, so the delivery should’ve been done by now.

He would wait one more hour to make the call. Then he would know if Kolade was the honest man he’d thought he was, or merely a boy stupid enough to cross him. He hoped for his sake that it was the former.

He pulled a picture from his chest pocket and stared painfully at the wide smiling face of a girl. His daughter.

‘Don’t worry Ada,’ he said, ‘help is coming shortly.’

***

Kolade walked up to the gate of his house, tired from another day of job hunting. He was thankful at the very least that it’d been an uneventful day, unlike yesterday which had been a nightmare. His conscience still pointed guilty fingers at him for the delivery he’d failed to make, but he shook it off.

The news of his mother’s hospital admission had been the push he’d needed to accept Ugo’s deal yesterday. He’d left Ugo resolved to make the delivery, but after walking to the junction in severe pain, he decided that it was better to do it today, so he’d headed home instead. He’d been in too much pain to risk going to a random address on Lagos Island at night. Upon getting home, his curiosity had pushed him to open the bag. It was only reasonable that he knew what he was carrying right? He’d made the right call and if you’d seen the contents of the bag as well, you couldn’t blame him for not letting himself go on a wild goose chase.

So, this morning, the first thing he did was to head to the bank to send the 20,000 naira he’d received from Ugo to his sister to settle part of his mother’s hospital bill. He’d gone off thereafter to a few companies to drop off his CV, but called it a day by noon so he could go home to rest and give his wounds more time to heal.

​He made to unlock the gate, but it opened at his slight push. That was strange, as everyone in the compound knew that the Landlord hated his gates being unlocked.

‘It must’ve been an oversight by one of the neighbours,’ he thought. He locked it behind him when he stepped in. Then made his way to the one-bedroom apartment he was squatting in with his friend. He retrieved his spare key from his bag, and slid it into the lock, but the door gave way before he turned the key.

‘Strange,’ he thought again. His friend was out of the state and wouldn’t be back until next week.

‘Ahmed,’ he shouted as he stepped into the house.

He froze in his tracks at the sight, his eyes slowly registering the chaos in front of him. He stepped out of the house in a panic and slammed the door shut, panting heavily to slow his racing heart. The house had been ransacked. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open again and stepped in fully. Carefully stepping around the scattered books, furniture and shattered photo frame on the floor of the living room, he followed the trail of destruction into the room. It had also been ransacked.

‘What could have happened?’ he wondered. Nothing looked stolen. The electronics were intact, but it looked like someone or people had upturned every possible nook of the house in search of something.

‘Ha!’ His heart caught in his throat as realization dawned on him.

‘No, it couldn’t be!’ He ran frightfully back to the living room. That was when he spotted a note sitting on the reading table in the living room. He picked it up.

‘WHERE IS MY BAG?’ it read. He dropped the note suddenly like it scorched him. Heat spread quickly through his body. He looked at the note again and saw that there was a phone number written under the text. He picked his phone from his pocket and started to dial it. But he stopped just before pressing the call button, deciding instead to first check if the bag was still intact.

He hurried over to his Landlord’s house and knocked at the door maniacally. The Landlord’s youngest daughter opened the door. She was barely over 13 years but stood almost as tall as him.

‘Bro Kolade? Se ko si? Se wa okay?’ she asked.

‘Yes, yes, everything is okay.’ He tried to peep around her. ‘Ehm, I came to collect the bag that I gave your cousins yesterday.’

‘Oh, the toys abi. I thought you said you bought it for them as parting gift. They’ve travelled back to the US today. Or you’ve forgotten that they were travelling?’

‘Ha mo gbe!’ his knees gave way under him.

She rushed to him, her eyes wide with concern. ‘What’s wrong.’

‘Nothing’ he shouted. ‘Sorry, I meant nothing.’ He got up and dusted himself, walking back to his apartment shakily.

​He shouldn’t have opened the bag yesterday. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have found that it was just toys that were in it. He may have still delivered it even if it was just a test or prank like he’d thought it was. He wouldn’t have decided that it was a farce and Ugo was only toying with him. I mean who would pay 200,000 naira to anyone to deliver children toys? But as he walked back into the scattered apartment, he started to think that maybe there was something else in the bag that he hadn’t seen.

He picked up the note again when he got back to the house, and after some minutes of contemplation decided against calling the number. What was he going to say?

‘Hello Ugo, thanks for the 20,000 naira, but your bag has travelled to USA?’

After seeing the havoc wrought in the house, he hated to think of what could have happened to him if they’d met him in the house. He wouldn’t call the number, he might as well write his death sentence with his own hands. Instead, he rushed around, picked his travelling bag and started flinging his clothes and other essentials into them. He would go to Osogbo today. He was done with this Lagos life.

Once done packing, he looked around the house and thought it was only fair that he cleaned up for his friend. Afterall, this was his fault. So, he dropped the bag and started tidying up. Soon after, a knock sounded at the door. He looked up, and as the knock continued, his heart raced faster with each count.

​Next Episode drops on Wednesday 15th April

​

Finally, his feet moved, but it was too late. A hard slap landed on the back of his head, sending him stumbling forward.

‘I’m not a thief,’ he stuttered but nobody heard him. ‘I didn’t steal the phone, he shouted desperately.’ This wasn’t how he was supposed to die.  

In response he got another sharp slap to his head, a violent push and a fierce kick to his mid-section that forced him to his knees. No one was asking questions, nor was his voice heard above the shouts when he tried to speak again. He tried clawing his way out, but the loose sand gave way beneath his fingers when a strong foot stepped on his back, pinning him to the ground.

He struggled to breathe but the air he found was stale, dusty, and bitter. His sight started to blur, but he forced himself to look up, desperate to find a way out. In his search, his eyes met that of a man who stood some distance away from the crowd. He stood like the biblical Saul at whose feet the men who’d stoned Stephen dropped their robes.  The man watched Kolade keenly, unmoving, as if waiting for him to speak.

A hard object slammed forcefully against Kolade’s head, which fell to the ground helplessly. He tasted blood and his vision blackened, but in one last desperate cry for mercy, he stretched out to the man. Then everything went blank.

***

Kolade jerked awake to hands violently shaking him. He coughed and sucked in a deep breath, desperate for air. Two strong hands held him up and another tapped his cheeks in quick succession.

‘Wake up!’ Startled, he stared through a haze at nothing for a few more minutes until his sight cleared. He was sitting on cold tiled floor, dripping wet and wearing only his singlet and pair of boxers. Everything felt surreal, and for a split second he felt like he’d just come out of a bad dream. He looked to his side and saw the same man from his dream sitting opposite him.

Then it hit him.

‘I almost died!’ He blurted.

The man in front of him nodded at him, or so he thought until the two other men let him go and left the room.

Kolade now looked around the room. It was a medium sized barbers’ shop, complete with mirrors and revolving chairs. The man sat on one of the chairs, the back of his bald head reflecting on the mirror behind him.

‘Does your head hurt?’ he asked.

‘Yes Sir.’ Kolade replied with a wince.

‘It’ll get better, and please cut the Sir. Call me Ugo.’

‘Okay Sir..sorry Ugo.. you saved my life Sir!

‘You can say that.’

‘Ha thank you sir. Eh, I could have died. God will bless you and your family sir and preserve you. I owe you my life.

Up to his last statement, Ugo had listened patiently, but now he got up chuckling.

‘Here, here, don’t get ahead of yourself. I don’t take debts lightly.’

Kolade could see his frame better now. Ugo was tall, broad and fit. His brown skin competed with the smoothness of the wood finishing in the room. The line of his black short hair cleanly framed his forehead, defining his thick brows. The soft wrinkles under his eyelids put him in his forties, but he could easily pass for a man in his early 30s.

‘Lightly Sir! Kolade exclaimed when he finished his perusal. ‘This isn’t light at all. Kolade went flat on the floor in a prostrate, defying the searing pain in his limbs and head. ‘I owe you my life.’

Ugo chuckled again.

‘Kolade,’ he called.

‘Sir? You know me? How?’ He stuttered, sitting up.’

‘Yes, I do. Your name is Kolade, from Oshogbo, a first-class graduate of Economics. It looks like you’ve been in search of a job for a while, am I right?’ He chuckled again, then handed a brown envelope to Kolade.

‘This is yours.’

Kolade collected the file cautiously. It was his CV, and of course, it had all his details.

‘I have a job for you.’ Ugo announced.

‘Sir?! Kolade sat up straighter. ‘Ha God is smiling on me. They always said it would get bad before getting better, but I didn’t know it would be this fast. First you save my life, then you offer me a job. Sir, you will never know lack.’

‘You haven’t even heard the job offer.’ Ugo was starting to sound impatient, so Kolade reined in his excitement.

‘Of course Sir, I was just about to ask.’

‘Again, it’s Ugo. He walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a small black bag, the size of a child’s lunch pack.’ He dropped it on the floor by Kolade’s feet then spoke again.

‘The job is simple. You would deliver this bag to an address that I would give you. Upon completion, I would pay you 200,000 naira in cash.’

‘What?!’ Kolade lost his composure. ‘Two hundred Thousand Naira Sir! To deliver this bag! Please sir, what’s in the bag?’

‘I’m not done. Under no condition should you open the bag, or tell anyone about this discussion, not even my boys outside. You look like someone I can trust, so I would give you a forward payment of 20,000 naira, because you look like you need it. You’ll get the balance when you’re back here. Do we have a deal?’

Kolade stared in amazement at Ugo, whose expression relayed nothing but dead seriousness.

‘This guy dey craze’, Kolade thought. But the strength of his desire to jump on the offer surprised him. Thankfully, his voice of reason was stronger. This was Lagos, and he knew nothing about this strange man, or the bag. What if the payment for his debt was to have him used for money ritual? God forbid!  A normal human being would have just said amen to his prayers and let him go right? But this one wants him to make a delivery. Not in this life would he do such.

He opened his mouth to start talking, but a phone rang, stopping his speech.

Ugo picked it off the table beside him.

‘This is yours too. Your sister has been calling you non-stop, so you may want to receive that.’ Kolade collected the phone to receive the call and lifted his phone to his ear as a terrible feeling suddenly filled his chest.

‘Bro Kola,’ his sister was hysterical. It’s mummy o! We’re in the hospital, uncle Gbade helped me rush her here. But I don’t know what to do, nobody is telling us anything.

‘Sewa,’ he called her with forced calm. ‘Calm down and tell me what happened. Ki lo se mummy?’

‘Ha Bro Kola,’ she shouted, ‘Mummy is unconscious. She wanted to go to the toilet, and she just slumped right there in front of me.’

Kolade felt the blood drain from his face, his headache becoming blindingly fierce. This could not be happening.

‘Oh God’, he cried out, ‘please let this be only a bad dream that I would wake up from. Please!’