He went to the
living room where Uzor was, as he’d expected, sleeping. Apart from money and
food, there was only one thing the overweight bear-like man loved, and that was
sleep. Stealthily, he picked the flower vase that sat on a table nearby,
weighing it in his hand to ascertain that it was neither too heavy nor too
light for his purpose. It felt just right. Raising his hand up a bit he brought
the vase down on Uzor’s head.
The fat man jumped
out of his sleep with a shout before slumping back unto the sagging sofa. Ochuko
rushed to shake him, afraid that he had killed him. He’d only wanted to render
him unconscious to prevent him interrupting his escape plan. He checked his
pulse and was much relieved to find him breathing.
“Thank God,” he
sighed, and without wasting more time, rushed to Fechi’s room.
She sat up in her bed
when he let himself in, a frightened look on that soft face.
“Relax. I am here
to help you.”
She slowly nodded,
even though she still looked scared.
In a few minutes, they
were both out of the house and hurrying towards the nearest bus-stop. Fechi
could not move fast though, having been weakened by days of captivity. At the
bus-stop, Ochuko hailed two okadas
and gave them directions to the part of Ikeja Fechi resided at, the same environs
at which she had been abducted in the first place.
The breezy okada ride lasted 30 minutes, then they
were at the neck of the road that led into Fechi’s affluent neighborhood. Since
okadas were not allowed in there,
they had to disembark and walk the rest of way.
Suddenly a black
Nissan Landcruiser jeep swung into their path, blocking them off in an
antagonistic manner. Ochuko felt his heart jump into his throat, certain it was
his gang. Though they did not have a jeep in their possession, he felt sure
they could have easily snatched it; that was not the first time they were
snatching vehicles for their operations and dumping it when done. What puzzled
him, though, was how they had caught up with them so quickly.
“Run,” he yelled
at Fechi.
But she remained
still, whispering, “It’s my father’s car.”
The tension eased
out of Ochuko’s body at those words. “Really? Well, that’s good.”
The front and back
doors of the jeep opened and its two occupants disembarked – Chief Emezuruike
and a younger man whom Ochuko concluded was his driver.
“Fechi!” the Chief
yelled. He had a very shocked expression on his face. “What are you doing here?
Oh my God, is this really you?”
“Daddy!” she
yelled back and flew towards him.
“And who are you,
young man?” the Chief asked, after his daughter and he were done hugging.
“He helped me
escape,” Fechi responded. “I owe my life to him, Daddy.”
The Chief nodded.
“I want to know everything that happened. Let’s all go somewhere quiet and
talk.”
They all got into
the jeep and the Chief gave his driver directions. The ‘quiet place’ turned out
to be very quiet indeed; it was a wooded stretch of land a few miles down the
road. It looked like what used to be the estate park but had been left untended
and was now overrun with trees, shrubs and grasses. The jeep parked at its edge
and they all got out, then Ochuko narrated all that had happened to the Chief, without
leaving out a word or telling any untruth. He was not worried about getting
arrested. He had a pistol in his pocket and if the Chief tried to call the
police, he could easily use it to get away.
“Chief, did you
really pay the ransom money like you claimed on the news?” he queried.
“I did not pay the
money,” the Chief responded after a long pause.
Fechi gasped. “But
why, Daddy, why?”
Chief Emezuruike’s
eyes dropped to the ground. “I am sorry, my dear. The police asked me to do that,
they claimed they had a plan – Let me show you something…” He got into his car
and came back out waving something in the air. It was twilight already, but
Ochuko could still see that it was a gun. He gave a shout, which was re-echoed
by Fechi and the driver.
“All of you, stand
still,” Chief Emezuruike barked at them.
“Daddy, what is
this? What are you doing?”
“Shut up,” her
father snapped, then turned to Ochuko, “Couldn’t you leave well enough alone?
Breaking my daughter out like a hero in a cheap movie, ta! I refuse to let a nonentity like you ruin my plans.
“It was like a big
joke to me when Fechi was kidnapped and a ten million naira ransom demanded. I
might be a rich man, but am not a rich fool. I have five daughters for God’s sake,
why would I waste ten million bailing one? Am not as bloody rich as you all
think! So, there I was negotiating with your gang, trying to bring down the amount
when an idea suddenly occurred to me. Fechi is insured, every single member of
my family is. So if she happened to die in the hands of your gang, I would be
getting a tidy two hundred million naira instead of losing ten. The more I
thought of it, the more I liked the idea. I love my daughter, don’t get me
wrong, but business has not been going well recently and that is just the sort
of money I need to inject into it. So, I turned the game around. I lied to the
press today in order to prevent the insurance people thinking there was any
foul play on my part. I knew your gang would hear the news and kill her in
anger. When your leader called me some minutes ago, I told him to go to hell,
knowing it would only infuriate him further.
“So here I am on
my way back home, expecting news of Fechi’s death any time soon, only to see
both of you running towards my house like a couple of maniacs! You can imagine
how I felt, but I knew what I had to do. If you want something done, then you
have to do it yourself.”
Fechi was sobbing
loudly by now. “Daddy, I can’t believe you are saying this. You want me dead
because of money? Oh, my God.”
“I’m sorry, my dear
child. But sometimes, we just have to do what we have to do. I can’t lose that
two hundred million naira, not when I’ve already planned how to invest it. You
just have to die tonight like you are destined to. And you…” he waved the gun
at Ochuko. “…will follow her to the netherworld…” He paused and stared at his
driver. “Anayo, I no say I fit trust you, you no go talk anything about wetin you hear. No worry, I go settle
you with plenty money.”
The driver smiled,
baring misshapen teeth to signified
his allegiance.
While Chief Emezuruike
was talking, Ochuko’s hand had been inching slowly towards the gun in his
pocket, moving very stealthily to prevent detection. The moment the Chief began
to raise his own gun, his hand had closed around his and without bringing it
out of his pocket, he pointed it at the older man’s leg and pulled the trigger.
Chief Emezuruike
dropped to the ground like a felled baobab tree, screaming in agony as the gun
he held flew away from his grip. Before the driver could react, Ochuko shot him
in the leg too. Then he went over and picked up the Chief’s gun where it had
fallen and tossed it out of his reach.
“Come, Fechi, let
me take you home.”
Not a word they
exchanged during the lengthy trek to the house, a not too big but exquisitely
constructed mansion, that was her home. He stepped out of sight and watched as
the security man let her in, into the waiting arms of her mother and siblings who
were amazed and thrilled to see her once more, all being oblivious of the
Chief’s malevolent plans.
Assured of her
safety, Ochuko slipped away. He needed to get away fast, Obule and the others must
be out for his blood already. But he did not regret what he’d done. He had
saved a girl’s life and that was the most important thing.
Copyright, Sabigirl.com.
All Rights Reserved!
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