Segun looked out of the window, there was nothing, still. He had threatened the president of the country, it was not so smart but he really had no choice. His mother was clearly not going to call him, ‘I don’t want to put him in trouble’ she said. “When you are a President and you commit adultery,
you are already in trouble!” He had retorted,fuming. His call did not seem to have any effect on the
president though. It was almost twenty four hours and he had not heard anything from anyone. He considered telling his mother. The president she was trying to protect was going to let her die
without even trying to save her.
“Are you expecting somebody?” He
jumped at his mother’s voice. He did not
hear her walk up to him.
“No.” he said and walked away from the
window.
“I have seen you look out through that
window more than a few times, what’s
going on?” She asked, blocking his path.
He looked into her face and looked away.
He had never been able to lie to her, and
it was not for want of trying.
“I called Lange.” He said.
She opened her mouth and let out a
quiet cry. She covered her mouth with
her palm and walked away from him. He
hurried after her and held her hand, she
paused.
“If he cares about you as much as you
obviously care for him, he will find a way
to get us out of here.” He said.
She looked at him and said nothing.
“Mom, you came to Asaba because of
me, you should not die here, not now!”
“What have you done Segun?” She said,
her voice trembling. “I would have called
him if I thought it was a good idea. I
don’t want to die too.”
“If you don’t want to die, why didn’t just
call him then?”
She sniffled and walked away from him.
He watched her walk into the room. And
turned back to the window. He had
known his mom was seeing somebody
but he was shocked the day she told him
who it was. He had promised not to tell
anybody and he hadn’t, not even his
wife. But it hurt him. His mother
deserved better than an old cheating
politician who used her as one of his
whores.
A knock came from the door startled
him. Had the president finally come
through? He hurried to the door and
unlocked it. He swung it open. A tall
man stood in front of the door. The first
thing he noticed about the man apart
from his bushy beard was his eyes; they
seemed to be completely white.
“Can I help you?” Segun said trying to
avoid looking the man in the eyes for too
long.
“I am here for you and your mother.” The
man said and entered the house slightly
pushing him out of the way.
“Hey, who are you?” Segun asked, his
heart was starting to beat fast. Had he
made a mistake antagonizing the
president?
“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Kush.” Kush?
”And no, I wasn’t named after the group,
they were named after me.” The man
said and laughed.
The laugh eased his tension a little.
“Okay, I still don’t know what you want
from us.” Segun said studying the man.
“I am here to get you and your mom to a
safe place.” Kush said. “I was told you
would know who sent me. Do you?”
“I think I do.” It had to be Lange. He was
the only one who knew where they were.
“Wait here, I need to get my mom.”
“Yeah, do that. I hear she is pretty.” Kush
smiled sheepishly and rubbed his hand
against his crotch.
Segun looked at him and hesitated. Who
was this guy?
***
They were on their own now. Orunmila
had told them all he could but he was
not allowed to mess with the affairs of
men, he said. Eric did not feel going to
fight Sarkin Aljan with only Sango as
company was a good idea. Something in
him pulled him towards the fight though,
something he could not figure out. And
the closer they got, the more eager he
was to get into combat.
Orunmila had been kind enough to tell
them where to find the portal, he had
been able to deduce that much from his
side of heaven. Or wherever he went when
he was not in ‘realm of men’.
They entered the village by a bush path
not very far from the only road that led
into it. It was starting to get dark but
they could still notice there were a lot of
soldiers at what was supposed to be the
entrance of the village. If there were so
many soldiers, it had to be that the
government knew about Sarkin Aljan’s
hide-out too. The soldiers could not stop
him though, Orunmila had said their
bullets could not stop or affect the
portal.
“How do we find where the portal is if we
can’t go through the streets?” Sango
asked.
“I’ll find a way. First, we need to find the
house.” Eric said.
He closed his eyes and slowly he became
one with the atmosphere. It had only
taken days and he was fully able to
become invisible. It was the first time he
was going to do it under pressure though
and he was nervous.
He moved into the street and paused, the
soldiers walked past him minding their
own business. It looked like they were
doing a house to house search, it did not
matter, Sarkin Aljan was properly hidden.
He moved on and soon he was far from
the last house in the village. According
to Orunmila, the portal was well hidden
on a farm some distance away from the
village. Another reason the soldiers were
not likely to find Sarkin Aljan. The house
was close now – it was not a house; it
was a tent of sorts. Two men paced in
front of the tent. They were thickset and
burly and carried heavy guns. They were
probably the guards outside, Sarkin
would be inside. He should probably go
back now and get Sango, then they could
find a way past the guards. Or maybe he
should check out how many guards were
with Sarkin Aljan. He would be safe, they
could hear him but if he stepped gently,
they would not notice him.
He walked towards the tent. One of the
guards suddenly stopped and looked in
his direction. Eric paused and held his
breath. The guard shook his head and
walked on. Eric sighed and hurried
towards a corner of the tent that was
slightly open. He peeped in, there was
nobody. He slipped through the opening
and stopped in surprise. The portal stood
in the middle of the space and pointed to
the sky through an opening in tent. Were
there just two guards?
“Who are you?” A voice came from
behind him.
He spun around quickly. He gasped and
almost lost his footing.
There was a gun in his face.
***
Damola looked at his watch again; Esu
had been gone for more than two hours.
It was possible Sarkin Aljan could see
the invisible, they had not considered
that. Orunmila had not told them this;
although by the man’s admission he did
not know everything about Sarkin Aljan.
They had a simple plan, destroy the
portal. Orunmila had told them how, but
Damola had a feeling the old man was
not completely honest with them. He
would give it his best; it was the best
chance of defeating Sarkin Aljan and
rescuing Anne. But first, he had to find
Esu. He was either caught or he was lost,
either way Damola decided he could no
longer wait. He would just have to sneak
past the soldiers.
He walked from the bush where he was
hiding and into a street corner. The
soldiers were not facing him, he could
easily pass behind them. He walked
swiftly and soon he was almost at the
edge of the village.
“Hey! Stop there!” Damola heard a voice
behind. “Turn around slowly with your
hands up.”
It had to be the soldiers. He searched his
brain for a conver-up story but came up
empty. Lying was not his specialty; Esu
was the guru when it came to lies.
He turned around slowly with his hand
up. The man pointing a gun to him was
not wearing a uniform. He had a very
rough beard, the type you rarely found on
soldiers. Who was this man?
“I know who you are! I have your partner
and I’ll advise you not to do anything
rash or I will shoot you.” The man said.
It had to be one of Sarkin Aljan’s men.
They knew about him? Damn you Esu! He
thought of fighting the man but then
more men will come.
The man nudged him forward and he
moved. In ten minutes they were in front
of a tent. The man pushed in through an
opening in the tent and he fell in. He
rose slowly to his feet and he was
pushed into a corner. Esu was on the
floor, passed out.
“We have the two of them.” He heard a
voice say outside the tent.
“Okay, we will deal with them when the
darkness matures.” Another voice replied.
He felt a crushing pain on the right side
of his head and dropped to the ground
unconscious.
***
Pearl feared for her boss. Things were
not going well for him in court and he
had failed to show up for two days. The
judge was getting angry and it was only
a matter of time before she charged him
with contempt of court. A lot had been
said about him and his lawyer was not
sure which was true or false, it was
difficult to cross examine when you did
not know the facts of the case.
She did not believe half of what the girls
said about Eric. A lot of girls had thrown
themselves at him but he never hired any
girl because he had slept with them. If
the girl was not good enough she still
did not get the part. That had hurt a lot
of girls and finally he had had enough
sense to stop sleeping with actresses. It
was late though, there were already more
than enough girls who with a little
encouragement would testify against
him.
But now she worried about something
else. The journalist he was picking
interest in was also picking interest in
him and was asking questions about his
past. She soon discovered she was not
getting much except the cooked up story
Eric had told her to tell anybody who
asked. Toni Adedoyin was too smart for
that and it looked like she was beginning
to suspect something was wrong with the
story.
The phone on her table rang! It was the
phone connecting to Eric’s office. Usually
anyone who called this number wanted to
speak to Eric.
She answered the phone.
“Good morning, Eric Adesesan’s office.”
“Pearl, is that you?” The voice was not
clear, but it sounded familiar.
“Yes, who am I speaking to please?”
“Morayo… where is Eric? I’m sorry…so
sorry, I didn’t… I need to talk to Eric.” She
stuttered along.
“Morayo, are you alright?” Pearl said,
standing from her seat. “Eric is not here
right now. Are you okay?”
“Just tell him I’m sorry. I was broke and
they offered a lot of money. They are
dangerous people, I didn’t know…I’m
sorry.” She broke down and sobbed
loudly over the phone.
“They… who are they?”
“I’m sorry… …they will kill me if… I have
to go.”
“Wait Morayo, where are you? I can come
pick you up, Eric will like to talk to you.”
The phone went silent except for her
heavy breathing. The breathing started to
get faint.
“Morayo?!” No reply.
Another voice came over the phone, a
male voice. Then Morayo began to
scream. She heard the dial tone, the call
ended. Pearl redialed the phone number
immediately; it was switched off.
Someone was coercing her to testify? She
silently prayed Morayo was okay, she
was Eric’s ticket to freedom.
***
Damola felt something nudge him in the
side and slowly he opened his eyes.
“Stand up!” Esu whispered.
He struggled up and sat. His feet and his
hands were tied together in front of him.
It was dark but the portal in the tent
lighted up the room. Two of the men sat
in the room next to the portal. One of the
men was dozing, the other was
grumbling about something . He was yet
to see any sign of Sarkin Aljan, maybe he
was not with the portal. Maybe he was
still in the forest where Anne was being
held.
“Hey, if we are going to stop this, this is
our only chance.” Esu whispered again. “I
overheard the men saying the darkness
matures in the morning. There will be
nothing we can do then.”
“Why did you tell them about me? What
do you want me to do now? Notice that
my hands and legs are tied?”
“You’re angry? I don’t have the time to
argue right now. But in case you didn’t
notice, the ropes are rubber, you can
burn them off.”
Of course! He had not thought about it.
All he had to do was release fire from his
hand. Orunmila had made him learn
controlling the fire, he was glad he had
listened. He was not ready to fight with
it, Orunmila had insisted but he would
have to find out one way or the other.
The fires hissed out of his hand slowly
and the rubber rope melted off. He
touched his hand to the rope on his feet
and the melted off. He released Esu and
looked up at the guards. They had no
idea what just happened.
“Now, kill these men and let’s put a stop
to this madness.” Esu said.
“No, we are not going to kill them! I need
them to tell me where Anne is been
kept.”
“What makes you think they will talk?
These men are dangerous, don’t play
games with them.”
Damola shook his head and stood up.
One of the guards noticed him stand and
opened his mouth in surprise. Before he
could recover, Damola punched him in
the face and he fell down unconscious.
The sleeping guard was on his feet now.
He shot at Damola but the bullet whizzed
past him. He waved his hand and threw
a fireball at the guard’s face. He
screamed and fell on his back. There was
one more guard, if he was close he would
have heard the commotion and would be
in soon.
“We need to destroy the portal now!” Esu
said.
“Thanks for helping by the way.” Damola
said and walked towards the opening in
the tent. “There is a third guard, we need
to get him down.”
“If he was close by he would be here
already. We don’t have time, I just
checked the time on one of the guards,
and we have less than two hours before
dawn. We have no idea how long it
would take to destroy this thing.”
Damola knew what he said was sensible.
Orunmila had told them, only heat could
destroy the portal. But he had no idea
what level of heat, except it could not be
done by any fire humans could produce.
He moved close to the portal. This was
the moment that would determine if they
had a chance to stop Sarkin Aljan or if
they were truly lost. He put each palm on
either side of the portal and closed his
eyes. The heat came off his hand and hit
the portal, then the fire joined and soon
there were sparks coming off the portal.
If there was any effect on the portal,
Damola did not know it. Then suddenly
the he felt the heat begin to burn his
hand. The portal was deflecting the heat.
“Don’t remove your hand, the portal is
starting to lose its light.” Esu shouted.
He grinded his teeth and looked at the
portal, the light had grown dimmer but
the pain was growing. The light was
getting dim but very slowly. His hands
were red and the pain was starting to
spread through his body.
“Hang on, it’s almost out.” Esu said,
trying to comfort him. It was not helping.
Then the light went out! He removed his
hands and screamed. He dropped to his
knees and looked at the hand, they were
blistered and the red was turning to
black.
Suddenly he heard a gunshot. He looked
up to see a man; the third guard. He
knew him! He was one of the men that he
saw with Sarkin Aljan. He tried to fire up
his hand but his hand slumped with
pain. He heard another gunshot and the
man crashed to the ground. He looked
behind him and saw Esu with a pointed
gun.
He sighed and looked at the portal, the
light was back on!
“The light is back on!” Damola shouted in
frustration.
“Yeah, but it is very dim, so I’m
assuming it will take time for it to build
again. Surely we can do something about
it before then.”
“I can’t go through this again. What if
we…”
He was cut off by some rustling beside
the tent. Suddenly soldiers crashed into
the tent.
“Put your hands where I can see them!”
Damola put his hands up and looked to
his side; Esu was gone!
***
Everything was working well for him. He
had no idea where the small time film-
maker had run off to but it was only a
matter of time before he turned up. There
are two types of men; the people who
make things happen and the people
things happen to. He belonged to the
first group and Eric belonged to the
other. That was just the way the world
worked and Eric had no idea what was
coming.
There was a knock on the door and he
turned around. One of his men walked in.
“Is it done?” He asked.
“Yes sir!”
“Good, now she is out, you know what to
do. Let’s get this over with.”
“Consider it done sir!”
He watched the man walk out and he
smiled. Things were moving along, soon
it would all be over.
.
To be continued
