CHAPTER THREE: THE CALVARY

After an hour of driving, they finally got to the city, the big city it was, big indeed.

How long had it been since Chad last entered it? It was past 10pm and people were still moving about like it was 9am.

The street lights were yellow and the buildings tall. The people were busy, as always, selling everything! with lamps and rechargeable touch lights. Hawkers running about with their goods in their hands, as agile as ever.

The city was alive, as always. It brought back memories too, memories of how the three of them used to trek long distances just to get to the 'aboki' man's kiosk where that 'abacha' and 'boleh' women always were.

They loved 'abacha!' - the African salad. And the way the woman used to bring them back every day with her magic 'abacha' was a mystery.

The spice was so traditional and hot, mixed with that tasty 'ogbe' and lots of veggies and pepper.

The roast fish was something else!

Anyone, anyone would come back for more!

Well, all that? Story for another day.

Anyway, there was no much difference in the city from seven years ago though.

Only that the city had become more mundane, lots of fancy stuff: street lights, structures and statuses, artificial running springs of water, street signs, bridges, just beautiful in it's complex way, Lagos.

"it's looking good" Chad let out in admiration, looking out the window.

"But, where are we going to now?"

"your ancestral home my guy, and when did you start asking a lot of dumb questions dude?"

"I don't know, since you developed breasts"

"they are not breasts, they're legit three years of hardwork in the gym, take a close look"

"Hmmm..." Chad took a short look with that "Albert Einstein" face

"still breasts bro."

"GAY!, you can Stop looking now. I decide to not be sexy." Uche cut in

"...ahn! But how did you get so muscular?"

"oh heavens! Your grandpa gave me 'achiere' (voodoo) to eat, but then I ate him too"

"Oh okay, good enough. Thanks for taking my burden away"

Uche turned to him "shooo...?"

"what? He was a burden anyway" he paused, "is he still alive?"

"sure, yes , after frying eating him. Genius"

"Hahahah, wait, seriously?"

"Hell no! How am I supposed to know if your grandpa is still alive?"

"well, the same way you knew I was coming home today"

There was silence.

"Dude, all is not well, it's really bad now."

"Then please fill me in. Please... Uche" Chad begged desperately.

"My man nothing much, never mind. Sorry I bothered you"

"Can you stop lying to me! " Chad thundered! Loosing his patience.

Uche looked at him, his countenance had changed and that look Uche had seen seven years ago at that conference was suddenly there.

It unnerved him, it was that look that saved them from the jaws of death.

That was the old Chad talking. That was the Chad he needed.

" those men were British weren't they? Mercenaries? Or secret agents? Tell me!

" I know you killed them, saved my life, whatever!

" who was in the second trailer?

"And how come Senator Chris is alive when the news reported him dead? Ronald himself saw him dead cold."

He paused...

"Uche, I am not a fool and you know that. What am I into?"

Uche looked into his eyes, he was dead serious.

"Alright... I'll tell you, but you have to know how funny your nose looks when you're serio..."

"Uche...!?

"Fine, fine, calm down habah. I said I'll tell ya, I'll tell ya okay?"

.. Looking into Chad's eyes - they were cold and emotionless, plain as paper.

It didn't matter, he knew the necessary had to be done as the inevitable was coming.

"what happened that night at the conference seven years ago wasn't by chance. I hope you remember..."

"Of course I remember. How can I forget?"

"...yes I know, but it was just a fragment of a bigger picture, a scary one. Worst of all we're already deep in the hole..." he paused.

"how?"

"Okay, Um... The Medusa, for over two decades has run this country. It is a secret society that boasts of possessing the most powerful men, weapons, and assassins in the continent.

"They are lethal and their kills are sure, always a head shot - it is their signature. They control the government anonymously, appointing leaders, changing policies to their favor and executing all who'd oppose them.

" With time, all ambitious rich men had joined them to foster their ambitions politically and otherwise and the Medusa had become a force to reckon with in this country.

" The situation was becoming unbearable and out of control as innocent men and women were being assassinated and getting no justice - the law courts were theirs for Christ sake! Nothing, absolutely nothing was working in this country without them!"

" ...But a man was fast rising to power, and soon, as the norm was, would be initiated into the Medusa.

" The United Nations kidnapped him two days before his initiation and there, a new secret mission was launched on his return - the 'pointus alpha'.

"The goal was to weaken Medusa, at least enough to enable the government act against it or recognize it as an existing body or tag it illegal which would permit international interventions on it.

"...and how did you know all these...?" Chad interrupted.

" ...just... listen..."

" okay."

"Senator Chris, Ronald's father, was successfully initiated into the Medusa and became the country's only hope for redemption again.

"He quickly rose to recognition, position, and power within the Medusa mostly because of his newly found vast wealth which was secretly fostered by the UN.

" Soon, he got access to files and databases containing a list of sponsors, properties, and registers of all the members of Medusa, as well as a regular record of their top priority meeting schedules and operations.

"this was the breakthrough the UN needed! And before long, the pointus alpha struck and actually hit the Medusa for the very first time.

" In that bombing of that 'factory' ? remember that? That day you nearly kissed..."

"Yeah yeah, I remember, continue..."

Uche chuckled.

"okay. So, That strike hit and killed many of Medusa's top army generals as they were in a meeting which was supposed to be top secret.

"It forced them to make radical changes as they suspected that they had been infiltrated.

"Soon, the medusa itself carried out an 'execution' - an actual assassination of their suspected members including late Dr. Mrs Bolu Chris, Ronald's mother..."

he paused as the look on Chad's face suddenly changed.

"what...? It can't be true. She died of Cancer"

"No! That's what they made us believe"

"That was what Ronald told us himself"

"That was what he was told"

" it's his mother! He must have seen her..."

"he didn't Chiadi!" Uche interrupted.

That was Chad's name in full - Chiadindu. But, everyone had generally preferred calling him Chad because it was easier to pronounce.

"Damn!" He cursed as he remembered.

That day, Ronald had been crying uncontrollably. He had said his kinsmen refused to bury his mom.

They, didn't even know why.

They didn't even try to find out the truth! They'd just been foolish, spoiled children that never knew anything about the real world.

"he didn't see her corpse, he never did" Chad concurred amidst realization of the truth.

"Yeah, because she was cremated to eliminate suspicion" Uche added.

"lawd! Without the senator's consent?" Chad burst out as the trailer gassed to a halt in front of a red traffic light.

"Hush! Hush! Please, this is a Police checkpoint" Uche warned as two police officers inspected the several cars before them, taking their time, one after the other –like they were looking for something in particular.

He knew he had shared vital information, government secret.

They needed to stay calm now and not draw attention to themselves.

Everywhere creeps with Medusa spies!

Chad recognized this too, but his temper had gotten the better of him.

"Does Ronald even know his mother was cremated?" Chad whispered to his friend.

"no, i don't think so." he replied, also in a whisper.

"...please continue"

"Okay, so, after the death of his innocent wife, Senator Chris was enraged I guess, and out of grief, planned a fatal revenge against Medusa.

"The minister of finance had eluded Medusa for many years and they needed him. They needed him to override some policies to get the Financial Crimes Agency off their heels.

"The minister was going to attend that conference and the Senator knew that Medusa would be waiting to welcome him with open arms but unfortunately, we were there also... " he paused and heaved sadly.

" what a night that was"

" Senator Chris knew that the only way to get the international community's involvement was to do something beyond dangerous.

"So, he planted that nuclear bomb, that one Chinny and Courtney diffused. My Lord! I thought I'll die that night!"

"hahaha..." Chad gave out a sad laughter.

He remembered how they whispered short prayers as Chinny and Courtney the genius, worked on the bomb.

They were just too young.

He still remembered clearly the sound of the timer – each tick reminding one of the afterlife.

Chinny and Courtney were God sent!

They somehow managed to diffuse the bomb!

It was like God had given them a second life, another chance to live.

But was it only to this moment?

"Truth is, he made that bomb so easy to diffuse and locate. Unfortunately, we located it before the authorities, and we did it! They would have been too late anyway."

"we?" Chad asked Uche with his eyebrows up.

"yeah, yeah I know" Uche smiled with teary eyes.

"We were the dumb ones, Courtney and Chinny were the smart ones. yay crap"

Chad chuckled.

"Well, it was too late for senator Chris though. The medusa had found the leak and the U.N also frowned at his idea of using a real nuclear weapon hence, both parties were after him.

"The inevitable happened - a cold and untraceable assassination of the poor man - a trained sniper.

"What we don't know is if it was Medusa or the government or the U.N that did it."

"True, because I remember he was supposed to run for presidency the next year" Chad added.

"oh Ronald, poor child."

Just then a police man approached their vehicle walking slowly with vague confidence and his right hand in his pocket.

"Mmm... there's still a lot you need to know, especially now that we've got Intel that the senator is actually alive. But I'll tell you more when we get home. Right now, it's time for us to abandon this crappy truck"

"Why?" Chad asked puzzled.

"Because they'd ask for the cause of the damages on the body of this trailer and proof of ownership. We cannot afford to have them probing into this. It would attract Medusan personnel. Remember, we just killed 'em"

"We?"

"Yes, we. You and I my guy. This is the police, they'd trace it to us my man." He smiled cheerfully especially on seeing the fear growing in Chad's eyes.

"You too dey fear oh" (you're easily frightened) he teased.

" ...and i don't have enough bribe to..."

He made for his wallet at the back pocket of his rough blue jean trousers.

" Dude..." he called to Chad.

"what?"

"its gone."

"what is gone?"

"my wallet!"

"Calm down man it's just a wallet, let's figure this out..."

"you don't understand. My I.D, my real Identity Card is in there." Uche sounded so tense that it unnerved Chad.

"...as it ought to...?"

"No , no , no , Fuck!! We gotta go NOW!" he said sternly and dragged Chad's hand like a child as they jumped down the mountain of a vehicle together through the only functional door.

"Excuse me sir! Hey!!" The Police man called out.

Too bad they were already on their heels, running as fast as their legs could carry them.

Two police men chased after them at a distance in a fierce foot pursuit!

"Stop there thieves! Criminals! Òlé búrúkú!! " They heard from somewhere behind.

"Don't look back!" Uche shouted to Chad in advice.

He wasn't bothered about the running part, Chad was an antelope.

It was a heated race as they diverted into narrower and lonelier streets and soon Chad had overtaken Uche whose weight was supposed to 'have enough muscles' to propel him with'.

They finally diverted into a dark street without street lights.

No one was on the road at this time. It was lonely and dark and they could clearly hear the sound of Chad's 'high heeled' shoes matching against the coal tar with each stride.

Uche was now behind and the Police men were clearly loosing energy and falling out of sight into plain darkness, but the sirens could still be heard.

This street was surprisingly long, with no curves. Just so straight! They would definitely get caught eventually if they kept running down this very straight street.

They were both loosing energy too but just couldn't stop running, the stakes were too high.

Then, suddenly a faint beam of light shown from a distance in front of them. At first it was  faint but the intensity increased.

Then the sound of running engines could be heard. It was a vehicle approaching in front of them!

Chad tried to muster all the energy he had left inside him to turn around and run in the reverse direction but he couldn't, his inner battery was totally flat.

He tried slowing down helplessly but then somehow, something mysterious tripped him and he fell roughly on the hard floor, rolling severally before he got to a stop.

His whole body feeling the impact!

His view became burry for a moment there,

had he just hit his head on the coal tar?

Uche approaching from behind swiftly after Chad, saw him fall and called out :

" Chad! Chad! " but before he could control his 'speed brakes' he tripped too, and fell on top of Chad.

"Ouch!" he heard himself grunt in pain, he thought he had a severe migraine at that moment but he heard nothing from his friend.

The Car was still fast approaching! As quick as a missile, with the lights blaring! He could not leave Chad behind!

"Chad!'' he called out again, tapping him roughly, no response.

Was he dead?

Then came the screeching tires of a white Mercedes Benz 4matic saloon.

It drifted and screeched as it double crossed Uche. The speed at which it did was deadly for street driving and the accuracy and expertise, unrivaled.

Uche watched as the driver's side door opened swiftly! And all he could see was a figure of a female wearing a brown leather jacket and a black face cap, worn backwards.

"Hop in you piece of shit!"

"Maggie!" Uche nearly screamed in recognition, relief and excitement!

"You can call me the Calvary, as always" he heard her say.

"Is that Chad?" she asked

"Yes, he fell, I think he's unconscious, or dead, or something"

"Alright, get him in the back seat quickly! There is trouble in paradise son." She ordered as she opened the back door with the press of a button and Uche hurriedly placed his friend on the backseat and hurried into the front seat as the doors shut and Maggie zoomed off!

The tires screeched till a colored smoke with a pungent smell could clearly be seen in the dark, emanating from the tires.