CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

A black Toyota car slowed to a crawl as traffic backed up, close to a turn that would have led to a less busy road. The driver glanced at the three cars in front of him to understand what the cause of the traffic was. The time was about 12.00 pm. and it was strange to have traffic on that road at that time. Some men in police uniform were standing at the front, having blocked the road with tires and big sticks, and the owners of the cars in front yelling from their cars. The faces of the uniform men were hidden under sunglasses and nose masks and could not be seen.

Three passengers were in the car, a young man at the front passenger's seat and two dark beautiful ladies who were sisters – Cynthia and Tracy – at the back seat. They were casually dressed in jumpsuits and looked like twins. Tracy was the older, and was in relationship with Philip, the young man at the front seat. They were heading to a cinema to see the latest trending movie, and they had used an Uber which was a popular and convenient transport means for them. Philip yelled with a frown as he observed the traffic.

"What nonsense is this, why traffic congestion here now?" He said angrily.

"We'll soon be late for our movie," Cynthia shouted angrily. "I hope tickets are not sold out before we get there," she said in annoyance.

The driver did not appear to be disturbed about the traffic and Philip observed it. He assumed that the driver liked it because that would increase the bill of his passengers.

"Edey sweet you, abi? Philip teased the driver, in pidgin English. "You don't even seem bothered about the traffic because it's more money for you." "Why would you say a thing like that?" The driver was responding to him, and then they sighted one of the uniformed men dragging a woman out of her car roughly. "What is going on there?" He exclaimed, his first instinct was that the woman might have misused her mouth and had offended the uniformed man. But then he saw other uniformed men doing the same thing to the other people in their cars. The uniformed men were armed with guns and the passenger could do nothing than resign to their whims and caprices.

"Get your stupid asses down from this car," one of the uniformed men bellowed at the couple in the car in front of the Uber. The driver and passengers in the Uber became terrified. The driver wanted to reverse the car immediately to escape when he heard a gunshot and fizzing appearances from his front tyre. It was then they knew that they were not real policemen but bandits (unknown gunmen). The bandits went to the Uber, opened the door, and dragged out all of them. Very much scared, Cynthia attempted to run away, but one of the bandits fired his gun at her and she dropped like a baggage to floor. The gruesome incident heightened the anxiety of the others, and they quickly discarded every thought of escape. Other vehicles that were coming behind them saw what was going on and the drivers reversed speedily and escaped. All the victims were forced inside a van with tinted glass, and the van zoomed off.

One of the bandits dialled his phone, and the response to his call brought spontaneous smile to his face.

"Good day Chief, we just got new goods. Contact your business partners to know what they want," said the bandit.

"That's great, I will get back to you," came the response from the other end and the call ended, it was their boss.

The van had government plate number, so no one was going to stop them on the way. It moved very fast, and later that day they took the hostages to an isolated place and tied them up in room under lock and key. The first among the captives was the woman that was dragged out of her car at the traffic jam. Others were the former occupants of the Uber heading to a cinema, and then two couples. No child was among the captives. The captives did not know where they because they were blindfolded while they were moved in the Van to the strange hideout. The whole place stunk awfully with poultry dung, but the captives could not see the poultry when they passed because of the blind fold though they heard the clucks of the chickens, and cock crows.

Moments later two of the hostages were taken away from the room, one after the other, and at different times. The rest of captives did not know where the bandits took them to or what they were doing to them. Their mouths were tired so that they could make no utterance, begging or making any offer.

Two thugs were present, Akara and Red Eyes. Other thugs had gone out, briefly, to attend to an urgent call. Suddenly, one of the other thugs entered the room again. The captives begged for freedom, and some said that their families would pay ransom if their captors made demands, but the thugs ignored them. The thug that just entered went straight and dragged Philip up.

"It's your turn now," he told him.

"What do you want to do me? Please don't use me for ritual, I am the only child of my parents, please…." Philip said trembling and hid voice shaky.

"Shut the hell up," the thug thundered. He hit Philip at the back with his gun and took him out of the room. Tracy, Philip's girlfriend, cried out as he was taken away. The shock of the earlier killing of her sister, Cynthia, had kept her in stupendous trauma, and she was still suffering from the effect of her death.

"Please don't kill him," she screamed, but Philip was taken away and the door slammed behind them.

Philip was being taken to the Butcher Room. They met Akara at the door to the room and he scanned Philip with his eyes and asked.

"Akara, wetin we go do to this one? Oga don drop more orders?" The thug, who was called Red Eyes, spoke in pidgin English. Akara was so called because he loved eating akara. The name started like a joke, but he later adopted it.

"He hasn't given us instruction yet about the body part that his client wants. But he said it must be a male," Akara responded.

"You are lucky," Red Eye said. He nodded and reverted to Philip. "Just use this waiting time to repent, because you will soon kpeme."

Sweat came upon Philip suddenly and profusely. He had watched diverse terrors in movies, but he never believed that they could be real. A thousand thoughts rushed to his mind, many options, most of which were not reasonable. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He knew that this is a materialistic world where almost everything had a prize, and that the thugs would defiantly fall for something.

"What if I bail myself with one Bitcoin," Philip said, absent minded, "Will you allow me and my girlfriend to leave?" He said doubting if they would be interested. But surprisingly, they were. They both gazed at him in shock and smiled.

"How is it possible for someone like you to have one Bitcoin, are you joking with us?" The other thug asked boldly but curiously. Philip did not impress him as someone that was buoyant, he did not appear to him like a man that even owned a car. He was not wearing an expensive wristwatch. There was nothing found on him that could portray him as a man of ample means, as to be in possession of what he was offering them.

"No man!" Philip said, "I'm not joking."

The interest of the thugs mounted, and they started salivating.

"I'm a holder, I bought it some years back when it was still cheap, and I planned to sell it when it gets to my desired price," Philip said, hoping that they would agree to his deal.

The thugs looked at each other and smiled. They were perfectly on the same page with Philip. They thought of making a quick deal with Philip before their colleagues would return.

The thugs were conversant with the crypto market, and they knew the current price of BTC which was $30,000 at the time. That would give them much money if they agreed to his deal. The two thugs went aside closer to have a tête-à-tête, and plan on what to do.

"What do you think? Should we agree?" Akara said to the other one.

"It's a fair deal…" Red Eye responded, nodding enthusiastically. But what shall we tell our commander when he comes back?

"We'll make up something…, we'll have to make up something," said Akara. "But let's just get it." Akara turned to Philip and said, "Send the bitcoin to us and we would free you and your woman." He then untied Philip.

"Ok thank you," Philip said. "Give me my phone, and bring my girlfriend out," he requested.

Akara nodded and went back into the other room to bring her. Tracy kept on making nasal sound as he pulled her by the hair, and he dragged her out. Red Eyes had taken Philip to the slaughtering room, and Philip almost threw up at the gory sight that he beheld. Goosebumps rushed to his skin at the sight. Akara then took Tracy to the room.

Tracy's eyes caught some dark red doting of blood stain on the wall as she stood at the entrance, and she became more apprehensive. Then she entered fully. Her breath jammed in her throat as she tried not to retch at the gory sight before her. She saw the corpse of the woman that was captured with them, lying in a pool of her blood on a table. One of the thugs was standing close to the table with a knife. Some parts of the woman's body had been ripped off and the bloody sight made her feel sick. Akara then removed the plaster used to seal Tracy's mouth and untied the rope on her hands.

"Please don't kill me," Tracy cried out trembling and removed her face, trying not to behold the horrible sight. Then she saw Philip, her boyfriend, standing at a corner. He too was scared to his bone and had not recovered. The smell of blood dominated the room.

"Philip!" Tracy called.

"Shut up." Akara taunted, giving her a mischievous look.

Akara then walked up to Philip, gave him a trey, and said, "Which is your phone?" The phones of all the hostages were in the tray.

Philip picked up his phone from the tray, opened it and showed them the BTC in his wallet, and then they believed him. They were even impressed because BTC had pumped further and was at $38,000 when he showed them.

"It has even increased," Akara said, with a sheepish grin. His gold teeth sparked, and Tracy saw it and it made her angry, but she dared not let the expression of anger show on her face. She supressed it painfully.

"There was a projection that it would get to $100,000 this year," Red Eyes said.

Red Eyes turned to Philip, brought out his phone from his pocket and downloaded a wallet. "Can you send it quickly; we don't have time to waste now."

Philip began to think about it. He did not want them to double cross him, he did not trust them.

"I will, but you have to let her go first. When I'm sure that she is safe, then I will send it to your address, and you will also let me go too," he said, looking straight into their eyes and observing their countenances. Meanwhile Tracy did not buy the idea. She felt that they may not release him; she was sceptical.

"What are you saying Phil? I'm not going anywhere without you," she said holding his face close to hers.

Tracy's mind reeled back to when and how she lost her sister and did not want to lose her boyfriend.

"Hey young lady," Red Eyes hushed her, impatient with her drama, "You need to move now before my colleagues come back. They may not buy this idea," he said with a disdain look at her.

"Baby you need to go; I will be right behind you, I promise. We don't have time," Philip said to her and pulled her hands from his face.

They came outside and looking around, Tracy saw a big poultry cage which had the capacity of housing twelve thousand birds. There were chickens in the poultry, and she wondered who owned such a big poultry. Philip also observed how massive the compound was and they also spotted a small pig farm at the corner of the compound. They sighted six sizable fishponds which amazed them.

"Whoever owns this place must have an affiliation with these thugs," Tracy whispered to Philip, and they remained silent and watchful. Thy saw two other thugs at the gate, and they watched as Akara went and met them. He had a discussion with them, and then came back to meet Philip and Tracy.

"As soon as you get outside, you will see a road path by the left. Take that part and it will lead you to the road," Akara said to Tracy, but she was not fully paying attention to him. Her concern was Philip, her man. Akara noticed her absent mindedness, tapped her, and said to her, "My friend, move now."

"Baby please go, I will join you. Just get a taxi and wait for me," Philp said to her.

Deep down in his mind, he knew that he may not make it out; but his concern at that moment nothing else than to save her. Tracy nodded tearfully, as she went out through the gate. The men at the gate watched her as she passed but kept to the plan. They waited for some minutes then Akara tapped Philip, whose thoughts was on Tracy, hoping that she got out safely.

"I'm sure that she has got to the road already, and I'm sure that she is waiting for you," Akara said, and sent his address to Philip. "Send it quickly and join her."

Philip sighed listlessly. He looked at the desperate and wicked faces of the thugs, and they impressed him as betrayers. They literally looked like betrayers. However, he decided to try his luck. Philip walked with them to the gate. They assured him that they would keep to their part of the bargain as soon as he sent it. Philip then sent it and the thug smiled having he received it.

"Good boy, you are free to go. It was nice doing business with you," Akara thug said and shook hands with him forcefully.

Philp turned and left. He kept looking behind all the time till he got to the gate. As soon as he got to the gate he fled with terrific speed. The other thug instructed Akara to go after Philip and ensure that he killed both him and Tracy.

Tracy had been become tired, waiting inside a taxi that she had engaged. She had become very worried and nervous, fearing that Philip was not going to be released. She decided to find a way to alert the police if she waited for some time and Philip failed to appear. Suddenly she sighted Philip from afar running towards the taxi and her anxious face beamed with a warm smile. He ran as fast as he could, and all he wanted was to get out of that environment. Tracy sighted Akara running after Philip and that terrified him again.

"Philip Run! He's after you!" Tracy yelled and he turned back to see what she was talking about. Accidentally, Philip stumbled on a bag of sand in front of him and fell. Before he could put himself together to get up and continue running, Akara fired his gun at him. The bullet hit him at the back, and he fell. Tracy ran towards him to help him, as he battled for his life on the ground. The Taxi driver was scared and was calling on Tracy to come so they could go, but she insisted on helping Philip. His clothes were soaked in his blood, and her hands were stained with the blood. Akara was getting close, and Philip knew that he would not make it. The driver was at the same time threatening to leave.

"Tracy, please go, please baby go, he will also kill you if he meets you here…, go," Philip said and pulled Tracy's hand off him. Tracy got up and ran to the taxi. Just before she entered, Akara fired at her and she collapsed on the car seat with her body dangling outside, but the driver drove off not waiting to close the door or drag Tracy into to cab properly. He fled for life. The drive sped a distance away from the scene out of danger and stopped. He dragged Tracy inside properly and locked the door and then continued.

Akara went to Philip who was breathing heavily and struggling with his life.

"I am sorry, man, we don't allow people to leave this place alive. Your girlfriend will surely die, before the driver gets to the hospital." He pointed the gun at Philip and shot him again and he passed out.