Chapter 7: Sailing through a shitstorm

After the adrenaline and excitement of violence had died down, realization arrived. "What have we done,' I thought to myself as it suddenly dawned on me that we had released multiple shots while in a massive compound belonging to a very dangerous man. For all we knew, he had ten more thugs on his payroll, rushing towards the sound of gunshots, guns ready to neutralise us like nothing more than pests.

"Fuck," Uzo said. "What do we do now?"

I tried to focus on finding a solution but I couldn't. All I could think of was how bad things were and how it was all Uzo's fault.

'This is all your fault you know. All your fucking fault. If.."

"If what? If I had stuck to the plan we would have been at the mercy of your buddy frank."

"Frank is trustworthy."

"Is he? I killed his colleague. He was calling the cops on us."

"He was calling an ambulance."

"To say that what happened? That a flying object that wasn't a bullet, but looks like a bullet, pierced his colleague? Or do you think paramedics would answer a call to help a gunshot victim without informing the cops."

"That has nothing to do with us going back to my place as planned and giving the cash to frank…"

"The investigation would have started tonight. With someone murdered, do you really think Frank would be able to resist the interrogation techniques that the cops would employ."

"Frank is solid. He won't snitch."

"Someone was killed, he would be tortured and you know it"

"He is a banker, not a riffraff on the street. He won't be tortured. Besides, if I remember correctly, you pulled the trigger that got us into this bullshit."

"He attacked me and I already told you that."

"Did he? Did he really attack you?" I asked, daring him to lie to me once again. He looked away, preferring to look at the bodies.

"That's in the past. What do we do? if he has other men we would need to defend this place from their attacks?" Suddenly possessed by an idea, Uzo pointed his pistol at the alhaji who was still under my grip, serving as my human shield. "Who else is here?"

"Nobody," the Alhaji said, trembling slightly.

"I don't believe you," Uzo replied, pointing his pistol at the alhaji's feet and letting off a shot. I couldn't believe he actually did that and while I couldn't see the alhaji's face, I was certain that the man's jaw was on the floor as the repugnant smell of piss hit my nose.

I let go of the man, feeling sorry for him and disgusted as he slumped into the ground, sitting into a pool of his own piss.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked, looking at the man who was on the floor sobbing, his body shaking with the fever of fear. The bullet had missed his toe, perhaps by intention, perhaps by mistake, one could never tell when it came to Uzo.

However, while the shot did no bodily harm to the old man, the damage to his ego and mind was irrevocable. There was also the damage to our situation as anyone who had not heard or had managed to dismiss the first three shots, was sure to have heard the latest bang.

'Yes it was," Uzo said confidently. "Don't lie to me old man."

"I… Im… Im not lying," the alhaji said, trembling, all facades of pride and confidence absolutely stripped away from him. Without his thugs, facing a gun held by a mad man, the cunny and powerful alhaji was nothing more than a wimpy bitch.

"I believe him," I said.

"Of course you do."

"I also believe that shooting was not necessary. In fact it has put us in danger. There is a high possibility that someone has called the cops and they are on their way here."

"Don't sweat it Seth. I'm sure this isn't the first time Alhaji's neighbors have heard shots coming from his home. Besides, every cop in the area is probably on his payroll. They know that anything happening in Alhaji's house should not be investigated. Am I right, Alhaji? We save yeah?"

The alhaji nodded, a little too eager to convince. But once couldn't tell if he was scared or the last part of his mind that wasn't scared shitless was trying to lure us into a false sense of security.

"Fine. Let's tie him up and get out of here."

"Good idea," Uzo said. "We should also gag him or something."

"Yeah," I agreed. I just wanted us to get out of there. I didn't really care about anything else. There were bodies around us, huge humans, lying lifeless, their massive arms sprawled on the floor like huge slabs of meat.

The fact that I had killed a man threatened to present itself for consideration. But I kept it out of my mind. I couldn't afford to let myself sink into the dreadful thoughts of guilt and incompetence.

"But…" Uzo said, his eyes shining with the brightness of a man with yet another evil idea.

"What?" I asked.

"We have an opportunity here, Seth."

"Yes, an opportunity to get the hell out of here,"' I said, walking towards the bag and picking it up.

"This man is sure to have a safe up in that house."

The reason Uzo and I were such a good team was that we complimented each other in the pursuit of our goals as effectively as we contradicted each other in almost every detail.

Now, the smart thing to do would have been to pick up our loot and run. But opportunity was in the building and I just couldn't let go of it. Lady luck had graced us with her presence and we had to lay with her even if it was an unholy and dangerous threesome.

"Do you have a safe?" I asked the alhaji.

With trembling lips, he lied. "No."

In one smooth motion, that lacked rational hesitation, Uzo pointed his gun at the Alhaji's feet and fired. This time his aim was true, the bullet pierced the old man's feet and sunk into the floor as blood splashed on the bright white tiles.

Till this day, I have never heard anything like the scream that emanated from the mouth of that old man. He sounded like the scream of a dying dog, a primal sound flowing out of weak shrunken lungs, pure pain riding the airwaves in a piercing shriek. I almost couldn't bear it.

"Don't lie to us old man," Uzo said, raising his voice above the Alhaji's screams of agony. "And shut the fuck up," he added with a yell which the Alhaji ignored. "Shut the fuck up," he yelled again and was once more ignored. I could see frustration spreading across his face, anger, annoyance. His face grew red, his sneer depended and then suddenly without warning, he shoved his gun into the man's mouth.

I think he broke a tooth, I couldn't tell. A splat of blood stained the dark lips of the old man that now looked pathetic and repulsive. Danke's screams reduced to muffled moans of pain, tears rolled down his eyes and his body shook with pain and dread. At that moment, I felt like an armed robber. I know what you are thinking, "no shit Seth. You are just realizing that you are an armed robber."

But you must understand. Before that moment, it all felt like a movie. I felt like an armed robber in a cool heist film, following a plan, getting away with the loot and then vanishing into a fairy tale which would actually be an island resort.

However, as I stared at the crying Alhaji, the man's jalabiyah soaked in urine, the repugnant smell filling up the room in such a way that I suspected that shit had gotten into the mix, I began to realize that I wasn't like the cool robbers and con artists in movies. No, not at all, I was like the armed robbers they spoke about on the news.

You know, those uncultured brutes that unleash great wickedness, the ones that do useless and foolish things like kill the innocent and torture the rich. Those bastards that they show on the news in dirty underwear with ammunition spread on the floor.

I used to hate those guys, wondering why the hell they couldn't just walk in and be civil like Michael Scoffield in Prison break. I used to judge them harshly and now that I was on the stand, I couldn't help but judge myself harshly too. I found it all vile and disgusting and it was all Uzo's fault.

Well, technically, it was my fault too. Everything that happened that night happened because of me. I started the chain reaction, triggering Uzo, a docile mad man, into evil actions. If he hadn't met me, he might have never tried the things we did that night. I was the beginning of it all. However, I preferred to blame Uzo, a mere tool in my scheme.

Nevertheless, disgusting or not, Uzo's method was effective. The alhaji mumbled despite the gun in his mouth and when Uzo pulled out, pun intended, the old oaf gave us what we needed.

We tied him up, gagged him and carried our money as we walked out of the tiny apartment. First we took our bags to the car, put them in the trunk and shut it. With Aks hanging on our shoulders and pistols drawn, we slowly walked into the massive mansion.

The building looked even better on the inside. We walked through the doors and found ourselves in a massive foyer which had a huge chandelier hanging from its ceiling and a thick red rug covering the floor. The walls were white with golden accentuations that gave off an arabian style.

Two flights of stairs stretched up to the floor above, curved like a semi spire, leading up to the same landing. We made our way up the stairs, each of us taking a different flight to avoid getting ambushed. While we somewhat believed that the Alhaji was telling the truth, there was no need to throw caution to the wind.

We located the room that the Alhaji had told us about and pushed open the closet to reveal the safe. The safe was quite large, almost as tall as I was with a keypad and a finger sensor, state of the art shit, clearly designed to protect something precious. For the alhaji's sake, I hoped that he had given us the right codes. I would have been fine with leaving with nothing but Uzo was sure to kill that man if he didn't find what he was looking for.

The safe opened with a hiss and my heart beat at a wild speed as I anticipated uneasily what could be in the safe. I wonder if it was worth the time we had wasted even as I pulled the door open.

The safe was demarcated into two levels. A small top level that had some small bags that looked like purses while the large bottom level was stacked with cash. Different currencies filled the safe, the stock in trade of Danke's business. Uzo, ever the proactive looter, ran to the bed and unsheathed the pillows. He threw a pillow case at me and I caught it.

Uzo rushed to begin packing the cash but I was more interested in the small bags. I picked one and loosened the noose that secured its contents. Looking in I saw the best thing possible, diamonds, lots of them. The old man had apparently preferred to save his money in things that were light and precious.

"Oooooohhhh shit," Uzo said excitedly looking over my shoulder. He had seen the diamonds even before I could think of hiding it from him. I shoved the diamond bags into my pillow case and covered it up with cash. Within minutes, we were done and we began to rush downstairs, pillow cases slung over our shoulders, making us look like cartoon robbers.

We made it to the car, panting as I popped the trunk open and we threw the bags in.

"We need to get out of here," I said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah. The sun is rising and the fool might have visitors. or worse, one crazy cop might finally decide to check things out. I would open the gates," Uzo said as he jogged off.

I got into the cockpit and started the engine of our trusted getaway car. Uzo got the gate open and as I drove out, I wondered what it would cost me to zoom off and leave him there. I could have it all to myself. He would be too weak to fight me or even find me if I ran far enough and hid in a place he would never think to look.

It was a solid idea, my chance to cut him out of my life like a tumor. but I hesitated, I hesitated long enough for him to lock the gates and rejoin me in the car. I hesitated long enough for the appearance of patrol vehicle belonging to the special unit of bastards that didn't want to play ball. Apparently they had found a way to fix their car and were now responding to the multiple shots they had heard during the night.

Uzo had not shut his door before I slammed my feet on the pedal and zoomed off. The driver of the cruiser must have been the boss of the squad as the idiot gave chase, clearly taking his job way too seriously. He was tenacious in his pursuit, following us as we weaved and dodged through the tiny windy streets of the suburban district. .

Normal cops would have given up within a few minutes of pursuit but this bastard wasn't a normal cop. He was determined to catch up to us and in truth he should have. For while we had the better car, he was the better driver.

I had to slow down properly to make a turn, but he just rushed into corners, made sharp drifts without losing too much speed and doubled down on his thurtle to close the gap even further. He was close to cutting us off, as he pushed his cruiser to its limit.

I was barely staying ahead of me, and looking through my side mirror, I caught a glimpse of his wicked face. The idiot that had collected money from us was sitting on his right with a foolish smile on his face.

The odds were firmly against us. But, things changed once we were out of the residential area and on to the high way. Suddenly, it wasn't a test of skill but a test of machines. And while I was driving a fresh off the lot muscle car, he was pushing a vehicle issued by the Nigerian government and maintained by the police force. He was left in our wake within a matter of minutes, unable to keep up.

I pushed the vehicle to its limit, expanding the gap between us as much as possible. I needed him to be so far away from us that he would be unable to track the point I got off the express. I kept pushing until his vehicle was nothing more than a tiny light in the distance, almost obscured by the hazy darkness of the foggy night. And then without even bothering to warn Uzo, I switched off my headlamps and got my foot off the accelerator. I didn't hit the breaks, didn't want our pursuer to notice our brake lights and guess which point we slowed down at.

In the darkness, unaided by headlamps, I got off the express onto a road that stretched to the right like the branch of a 'Y'. It wasn't a sharp turn and I managed to make it even at forty miles per hour. Not an impressive maneuver, but given the fact that my heart was in my mouth and I had never driven at such speeds, I must say that I did a darn good job.

Uzo didn't say a word, even as we got off the tarred road and eased our vehicle into a dusty street. Our pursuers were sure to stay on the highway and even if they got off the express at the point we got off, there was no way for them to know which tiny street we had turned into. It wasn't a full proof plan but it beat running from the cops endlessly.

The sun was sure to begin its ascent in a little while, visibility would improve and people were going to start flowing out of their houses, making us easier to spot by the cops and harder for us to drive at full speed. We would lose all our advantage.

My plan's justification seemed obvious to Uzo as he didn't ask me why I stopped, he simply eased his chair back and tried to relax.

"So, he said. What do we do now?"

"I don't know man," I said, taking a deep breath and letting it out. My head was boiling with the pressure that just kept on building. We were fucked, our backs were against the wall and we were out of moves. I could imagine how things had played out after the bank. The paramedics would have arrived, probably with cops from another district to take the statement of everyone in the bank. A murder has occured so a full on, no holds barred investigation was sure to begin in due time, if it hadn't already.

Meanwhile, the mad bastard who was on our tail was sure to keep searching. When he finally realises that he had lost us he was simply going to double back to the Alhaji's house since that was where he saw us driving out from. There he would find the damage we had done there. He would witness the horror we have wreaked.

Three dead men and a tied up old man in his own piss, blood and urine. The Alhaji would describe us to the cop and with that, the overzealous officer would know the vehicle we are in, what we look like and how we are dressed. I could feel the noose getting tighter around us. It was only a matter of time before we got hung.

"We should have shot the old bastard in the head," Uzo said after a few minutes of silence. I didn't have anything to say in response. He had a point but we had bigger fishes to fry.

We couldn't afford to cry over un-spilt blood. We needed a way out, a solution, an escape route. Staying on the street was suicide. In time every cop in the city would be searching for a brand new Toyota MR2 and two gentlemen. They would be searching the trunks of every vehicle that fit the description and as long as we were in the muscle car, we were going to get picked up at one checkpoint or the other.

Our window of escape was closing and it was closing fast. We needed to get off the street and into the wind. But how? where? We were miles away from my apartment and Uzos, we were sure to get nabbed if we tried to go home. There was also no hope of leaving the city. Hotels were also a bad idea as the receptionist could always call the cops. We needed a safe haven, a place to lie low. But where?