1 PROLOGUE

Sweat trickled down his eyebrows and rested on his eye lids as he walked briskly. It was a chilly dark night, and the weather was calm. The weather was not responsible for his sweating. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand for a clear vision and focused on the road, looking out for an emergency taxi. Heavy down pour had menaced the whole place earlier that evening, and the streets were wet and abandoned.

It was 10.47 p.m., Jideofor had never been stressed the way he was that day; he had a lot of engagements that day. He had to work till late in the evening. He was the most enthusiastic journalist that worked with his Media House, and it earned him lots of accolades, and more work too. He had just finished working on a very important job that took him into the night, which got him stranded. His car was bad so he had no choice than to man up and walk since he couldn't get a taxi.

He walked for a while and was getting close to an area that he dreaded so much, because the streetlights there were bad. Just as he took a turn to enter the street, he heard a defeating voice of a woman screaming. The sound, apparently, was not far from where he was, so he stopped instantly. It was quite dark, the moon was hiding behind the clouds, so he could not see too far from his nose. The journalist attribute in him agitated his curiosity and he drew closer to see what he would find. He ran to the nearest dumpster and crouched behind it, being as quiet as possible; the distance between the dumpster and the place they were was close, so he strained his eyes further.

He peered, piercing into the dark and trying to identify every object in his view. Everything appeared to be like shadows, but he could identify four people standing beside a car. He saw a lady being held by a man, and two other men standing close by with guns. They, obviously, looked like thugs, and the woman needed help. He thought of what to do and was about to make a call when he noticed that his phone battery had drained.

"You think you can outsmart us right," the cold solid voice said, "Where is the footage?"

One of the men holding guns questioned the woman; his voice was loud enough for Jideofor to hear. The street was quiet, and the atmosphere amplified his voice. The thug questioning her wanted to see her face properly, so he opened the door of the car and light from the car illuminated the place slightly. That gave Jideofor a better vision and he narrowed his eyes to observe the lady's face, to see if she was someone he could recognize. The question that the thug asked her also fuelled his interest and he wanted to hear more. He kept observing her face and there was something striking about her, though the distance did not allow him to get a proper look. She looked like a lady that approached him some weeks ago, requesting for a huge amount of money to release a sensitive information to him. He had tried negotiating with her, but she was adamant, and left without disclosing her identity. Could it be her? He imagined. He had been looking for her to negotiate again, as that information became important to him.

The lady was working at a restaurant where one of the thugs came to eat, and mistakenly forgot his phone. She found it when she was about to clear the table, and it was not locked so she browsed through. She discovered a despicable footage in his phone, and she dotted him in it. She quickly forwarded it to her WhatsApp and deleted the chat from his phone before he came back for his phone. She had acted very normal, and he did not suspect her, and he left. She could not get any deal from some of the bloggers that she went to, so she fell back to him. She asked for some amount of money to delete the video. She was naïve, and he knew, and he took advantage of that and agreed to her terms. She stopped working at the restaurant that day, and she also moved out of her residence where she was living, knowing that the men were dangerous and could trace her. He then made a mouth watery deal with her which compelled her to lose her sense of reasoning. He pleaded with her to meet him at the front of a pharmacy not too far from the present place where they were holding her, and she agreed after some arguments. He promised not to hurt her and told her not to come with anyone, so she instinctively hid her phone. She hoped that he would pay her, and then she would take him to where she hid the phone and delete it. She had never done something like that before and was very stupid to have kept it to herself. She was avoiding sharing the money that she would get with anyone.

"I don't have the footage here; I didn't come with it because I smelt a rat...," she replied. Then sounding brave, she said, "You must be ashamed of yourselves for allowing a wicked politician to use you for his mischief…"

That statement provoked the men, and one of them gave her a resounding slap on her cheek, and that interrupted her from completing her statement. Jideofor felt the impact of the slap form where he was hiding and adjusted himself. He then tried to change his position to ease his numb legs, and suddenly he felt a vibration. He listened and tried to trace where it was coming from, then he raised a ruined bag pack beside the dumpster and found a phone. Apparently, it was a promotion message from the mobile network provider that the owner of the phone was using. He quickly picked it up and exited the message, and then glanced at the home screen wallpaper of the phone. He recognized the lady, she was the same lady that met him few weeks ago, and it dawned on him that she was the lady that was being held by the thugs. Different ideas rushed to his thoughts. She had possibly hidden the phone there for a reason. He pondered for a while, then he slid down the notification centre on the phone and tried to mute the phone but mistakenly he punched the flashlight icon, and the light came on, and he hurriedly turned it off. It occurred to him that it might have caught their attention; the thugs were discussing before it happened, but he suddenly stopped hearing them. He kept calm and tried not to make any noise but unfortunately one of the thugs' eyes had caught the reflection before he switched the light off. It was dark, so any little glimpse of light was observable.

"I think I saw a reflection of light there," one of the thugs whispered, pointing to the direction of the dumpster. It was obvious that he was not a good whisperer after all, and Jideofor heard a little of what he said.

Realising that they saw the light reflection, Jideofor decided to leave the place immediately. He thought in a flash and sneaked out of that place and rushed back to the street where he came in from. The lady suddenly remembered that she hid her phone there and became concerned about it.

"You came here with someone?" The man holding the lady said.

He questioned her with a deep cracked voice, sounding fierce and intimidating; obviously angry at her. He suspected that she had other plans that may affect them. She was supposed to meet with him and get the money she requested for and delete the footage permanently, though he had it in mind to double cross her.

"No, I promised not to, and I didn't. I don't know who that is," she replied.

She feared the gun pointed on her head. The other two men stepped slowly with their guns to the direction where they saw the reflection.

Jideofor had already whisked himself out of that place and was some distance away from where they were. He looked around and felt like running further but immediately dismissed the option, fearing that the thugs could chase after him with their car and get him. He looked out for a taxi or any vehicle he would flag down for help, but he did not find. The only car that he sighted passed him on a top speed, and all his efforts to flag it down proved abortive. He then glided past a signpost, coasting to a massive shopping complex. He saw some flowers at the fence of the shopping complex and hid himself in it. The flowers covered him properly and he felt safe and sighed in relief; at least he could buy some time, to find a helpful information from the woman's phone. He remembered hearing the thug asking her about a footage and conjectured that it could be the same footage that she wanted to sell to him. He then checked her gallery. He was lucky that her phone did not have security lock. His aggressive journalism spirit was in control of his emotion at the time, and all he wanted was to get whatever information that he could find and develop his story. He glanced through the phone as fast as he could and suddenly saw a shocking video. He noted the name of a notable politician, the same man that he had been building a story about. He was excited as that was going to add to what he already had. He then browsed through the phone briefly and suddenly became frantic, as he was waiting for something to boot, and shortly he nodded in affirmation.

"Yes," he said and dialled his colleague's number, he knew it without record. He was his only colleague that he trusted and had done a lot of things together with him, and so he had his number in his memory.

"Hey, Mike, it's me Jide; I'm at Ajayi street, I finally found an evidence that can bring Chief White down. But I need you to help me alert the police. The lady that I got the evidence from is in danger right now, I am calling with her phone," Jideofor said anxiously.

Just as he was talking, he heard footsteps and quickly switched off the phone, but the fragrance of his perfume directed one of the thugs to where he was hiding. He had perceived it when he got close to the dumpster where he had hidden initially but it became stronger as he approached the place that he was currently hiding.

"I know you're hiding there," the thug bellowed, "Come out now or I'll find you and kill you." Jideofor could feel his heartbeat pounding fast as the footsteps came closer. He was confused as to whether to come out and run as fast as his legs would take him or to engage himself in a fight with the thug and escape; both options seemed absurd to him. The thug was massive and was armed with a gun. Jideofor tensed up in confusion. He tried to think of a quick escape plan, but fear dominated his thoughts. The thug kept an anxious gaze at the flowers, and Jideofor knew that he had to be careful. He tried as much as he could to be motionless, knowing that any move he would make would shake the flowers and expose him.

"I will count to five, and if you don't come out, I will spray my bullets at these flowers," the thug said and started counting "One…, two…, three…."

Jideofor feared that the thug meant what he said, and if shot at the flowers, a bullet might locate him, and he came out before the thug counted to four.

"Oh! It's you, the famous journalist," the thug said, "So she planned with you to come and get more information from us, right?"

Jide was not surprised that the thug recognized him, he was popular. Just then the other thugs came with their car and the lady. She sighted Jideofor and her eyes popped in bewilderment; the thugs noticed it. It was obvious to them that she knew him. Jideofor felt more defeated as he saw the other thugs, knowing that his chances of escape were over, and he lamented sadly and silently.

"Why did you lie to us?" the thug queried, "You came here with this journalist, but you told us that you came alone."

One of thugs dragged her out of the car and thundered at her with utmost arrogance. The stale smell of alcohol oozed out of his mouth straight into her nostrils offensively and made her to feel nauseous.

"No, I didn't," she replied to him and reverted back at Jideofor and asked, "What are you doing here, sir?"

The first thug that found Jideofor pointed a gun at him and commanded, "Hands up."

Jideofor obeyed without ado, and the thug searched him and brought out the phones in his pocket. The lady saw her phone and her jaw dropped in astonishment, knowing that they would not believe her again. It then appeared like she truly came with the journalist, the phone standing as a concrete evidence. The thug tried to switch on the two phones but only one came on. He gazed at the phone home screen wallpaper and saw her picture and looked at her again.

"What do you have to say now," he asked her, obviously, a rhetoric question.

She was speechless. Then he searched for the footage, found it, and deleted it.

"Why is this phone not coming on, this must be yours?" He said to Jideofor, and added, "Do you also have the video here?" still twiddling with the phone.

"No, I don't. It is a coincidence that her phone is with me," Jideofor said. He tried to explain, but they cut him off and smashed his phone.

"Hey! Shut up," two of the thugs chorused, and then the other asked the lady, "Where else do you have this video?"

"This is the only place I had it, that was why I didn't come with it. I hid my phone somewhere and he accidentally found it," she said.

"Story for the gods," the head of the thugs taunted. "How do you want us to believe you?"

She was speechless at first, confused. Then she said, "I swear, I am not lying; I didn't store it elsewhere."

She tried to sound as convincing as she could, and meanwhile Jideofor prayed that they would believe her and stop browsing through her phone. After much threat and interrogation, they considered that she was speaking the truth, though they were very angry with her. They laughed mischievously and the one with her phone smashed it on the floor. Jideofor felt a slight relief about that. Perhaps there was something else that he did not want them to see in her phone.

"Well maybe…, let's just believe you, but you have sinned; and judgment have been passed. We were instructed to send you to hell," he said and cocked his gun.

"Please don't kill me," she yelled.

She was greatly scared to the marrows of her bones, already seeing death in a flash; and she was shaking like a dry leaf in the harmattan.

"Please, don't kill her, at least you have deleted the footage and even destroyed the phone," Jideofor pleaded, rubbing his hands in supplication on her behalf. "She didn't come with me; I was on my way from work when I heard a noise in this direction and came to find out what it was."

Jideofor begged, throwing threw apologetic looks at them and the thugs laughed mockingly, and their voices echoed in the atmosphere.

"Sorry, superhero, you can't save this one today," one of the thugs said.

Within splits of seconds, he pointed his gun at her chest and fired two times in succession. The booming sound of the gun in the atmosphere sent chills to Jideofor's body, and his eyes popped in shock, being scared that he also would be killed. The lady slumped, and just then the sound of police siren filled the air. The thugs were startled by the sudden arrival of the police; they never expected it. Jideofor sighed in relief. The police had shown up to rescue them but unfortunately the lady had died.

The thugs made to escape and one of them turned back and fired his gun at Jideofor, fearing that he could have some evidence against them; they did not want to take chances. The hot bullet pierced into Jideofor, and he felt the pain like a burning steel driving into him. The bullet pierced his back, and the look of disbelieve in his eyes was tear-jerking. He did not want to believe that he was shot, but he could not controvert the reality, which was terribly on him. He had already sighted his colleague, Mike who was running towards him with the police, and then he felt a warm liquid gushing from his back and dripping down to his lower back. The cold fingers of death caressed his body, and tears slipped out of his eyes.

The thugs quickly jumped into their car and sped off. Jideofor fell to the floor slowly, with excruciating pain in his eyes, as his hopes faded out quickly. He was bleeding profusely and was blanking out, and Mike rushed and grabbed him.

"Please, hang on," Mike cried, "Don't try me…," he yelled, shaking Jideofor's body as he felt it getting cold. Jideofor's clothes were soaked and dripping with his blood, and it robbed off on Mike clothes. Mike's hands were also stained with blood, Jideofor's.

"I must finish this…," Jideofor whispered softly under his breath and passed out.