Chapter Four

Chapter Four

12th, January, 2009.

London, England.

John Summers woke up at a few minutes past six am, he yawned and rolled over to the other side of his bed and sat up. He said a quick prayer and got up to go take his shower, dress up and get ready for checkout which was at 8am he would be travelling to Lagos, immediately after checkout. 

He would be flying to Lagos on a commercial flight, the company’s jet had developed a mechanical fault, and it would take a week for it to get fixed. 

He showered, combed his thick black hair and for the upteenth time wished his kinky hair would adhere to the hair treatments he had been using on it. He shaved his beard and chose a black designer suit from his suitcase for the trip. He had his breakfast which was served while he was in the shower, by the time he was through with everything it was 7:45 am he went downstairs and cleared himself at the counter. 

”Thanks for lodging in our hotel Mr. Summers I do hope that you would want to lodge in our hotel the next time you visit London” she said.

”Thanks ma’am” he replied, and followed the bellboy who pulled his suitcase, his chauffeur opened the boot of the limousine and deposited the suitcase in. He opened the door for John, who got into the back and they drove off to Heathrow. 

An hour after leaving the hotel they arrived at the airport, John was glad the journey was over, as he hated the heavy early morning traffic in the city of London. He got out of the back, and the chauffeur helped him with his suitcase, he thanked the chauffeur and gave him a parting gift of two hundred and fifty pounds. 

“Thank you very much sir I hope you have a safe flight back home” the chauffeur said smiling. John walked into the airport and checked the departure board the flight from London to Lagos is due to take off in an hour and half, he walked up to the ticket office and bought a business class ticket to Lagos. He went to the longue where passengers waiting to board British airways flight to Lagos sat.

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New York City, USA.

Danny got a call at some minutes past 4am, he had slept late due to investigations on the case he was on. 

With sleepy eyes he reached for the phone.

“Hello” he said.

 “Hello good morning sir, I’m calling to let you know that Summers just checked out of the hotel he lodged in, and was driven to the airport in Heathrow, it seems like he’s boarding a commercial flight, because he didn’t go towards the private terminal, I’m not sure of the city he’s headed to” the agent on the other end of the line said. 

“He’s most likely heading for Lagos” Danny said.

“ I can’t say for sure sir” the agent said.

”Okay just make sure you don’t lose him, you might need to buy a plane ticket to wherever you find out he’s travelling, but if you find out that he’s heading for Lagos, don’t bother to travel with him, we would be waiting for him at the airport in Lagos. 

“Okay sir, I would do that” the agent said. The line went dead. 

Danny called his friend in Lagos.

“Paul I just got information that Summers is on his way to the airport he’s apparently about to leave London on his way to Lagos most likely” Danny said. 

“Alright we would be waiting for him at the airport no problem” Watson said. 

“Okay thank you” Danny said and hung up.

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New York City, USA.

Danny was at the gym when his phone rang again.

He brought the phone out of his pocket amd looked at the screen, the caller was it was the agent who called him earlier.

 “You were right sir he just bought a ticket for the British airways flight to Lagos, due to takeoff in an hour”. “That means he would be in Lagos, in another six hours”, I would call the guys in Lagos to warn them about this”. “Meanwhile continue your surveillance on Summers until he boards the plane and leave for Lagos”.

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London, England.

“This is the first call for passengers on British airways flight 1108, please proceed to gate 20 as boarding is about to commence” the high pitched voice of the flight announcer boomed through the speakers. 

Summers pulled his suitcase along, as he walked towards gate 20 to board the aircraft.  

Forty-five minutes later, he was airborne on his way to a continent he is visiting for only the second time. 

His first time in Africa, was when he visited Egypt on vacation. 

During his stay in Egypt, he visited several historic sites in Cairo, Alexandria, and several other Egyptian cities.

The fact that he was visiting sub Saharan Africa for the first time was the only exciting aspect of this particular journey he’s embarking upon.

 He was filled with trepidation, as he knew there was a possibility that the owner of the arts he was going to inspect has been murdered and the family of the victim would suspect him to be behind the killings. 

He tried to relax, by reclining the headrest of his seat, and turning it into a make-shift bed, thirty minutes later, he was fast asleep.

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Lagos, Nigeria. 

When he woke up, a hostess was telling the passengers to fasten their seatbelts as they were about to land, and telling them the local time in Lagos so they could alter their watches. 

Summers got off the plane and cleared customs, he looked around as he walked towards the arrival hall, and he was impressed by what he saw.

“Nigeria is not as bad as I thought” he said to himself. 

A man approached him as he walked out of the airport building, he looked at the man suspiciously. 

“Good afternoon sir, are you Mr. John Summers? “the man asked.

 “Yes I am,” Summers said, staring intently at the man’s face. 

“Who are you?” he asked.

 ”My name is Luke Obi, and I work for Europcars hire service I was assigned to be your chauffeur” the man said and took the suitcase from him. 

“I’m going to turn the car around” the driver said, and went off pulling the suitcase along. 

John looked around him, the airport environment was a bit beautiful but the atmosphere was full of dust. 

The dust had settled on the walls and windows, forming an extra coat of painting on the walls.

 He had heard about the harmattan season in West Africa but this was the first time he was experiencing it. His thoughts turned to his mission in Lagos, he had a feeling that the customer he’d come to meet in Lagos has been murdered too. 

The driver had brought the car round, the door was opened for him and he got in. 

On the drive from the airport to the hotel where Summers was going to lodge, he got a lot of information about the city of Lagos from the chauffeur, who acted like he was a guide showing someone round a tourist site. 

As they drove through Oshodi, he looked out of the window and was amazed at the huge number of black people he saw,he has never in his life seen a black population as huge as he was seeing.

 For a moment, he felt like relocating to Nigeria, to know how it feels to leave in a city where almost everyone is black. They got to the hotel two hours after leaving the airport, he was surprised at the beauty of the hotel, it could easily have been a hotel in a city of any of the first world countries. 

He checked into the hotel, had a shower and changed into a casual tee shirt and jeans, before going to the restaurant downstairs, to have lunch.

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New York City, USA. 

Danny was busy trying to find records of staff members of Edwin Loans, that he can use to blackmail them into helping the FBI,in their investigations. 

He was not able to find any criminal records, or any personal information of any member of staff of the bank, that can be used to blackmail them into co-operating with him. 

He shuddered at this development, ‘this is going to be a long and tough investigation’ he thought. 

His desk intercom rang, he picked up the receiver, he was quite sure that it was his secretary who was calling.

“Sir our embassy in Lagos is on line two” Betty said.

 “Alright put them through” he said. For him to receive a call from the embassy in Lagos, it means that Summers had already landed in Lagos. 

“Hello sir, I’m agent tyler, and I’m calling to inform you that Summers landed in Lagos about two hours ago, and he went straight to Eko Hotel and suites in Victoria Island, where he checked in” the voice at the other end of the phone line said.

 “He must have come to check out the arts that is in Ms. Johnson’s possession” Danny said.

 “Yes sir we think that’s what he’s in Lagos for, we have two agents lodged in the hotel room next to his, so he’s under maximum surveillance” Agent Tyler said.

 “Okay just make sure you and your men don’t lose him, and report back to me any developments” Danny said before hanging up. 

He hoped Summers would be able to give them leads, and clues enough for them to be able to demystify this case.

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Wall Street, New York City, USA.

Wolfgang was busy in the office, studying some loan applications that Mr. Whitefield had given him earlier. All he was looking out for actually, was the worth of the arts the prospective customers had in their collection. 

He was so engrossed in what he was looking at, that he did not notice when Cummins opened the door and came into his office. 

“What are you doing Sir?” Cummins asked.

“Well I’m studying some loan applications Carl gave me yesterday, we are about to catch some more fish Steve” Wolfgang said, with a broad smile on his face. 

“That’s very nice sir” Cummins said, taking his seat. “Well sir I came to tell you, that Summers and Whitefield have been having some telephone conversations for a couple of days”he added. 

“And how does that affect us?” Wolfgang asked.

 “Well what I do hear them talk about, is the death of people who take loans from us, and it seems to me like they are getting to realize that the deaths are not coincidences, which is making me get worried” Cummins said. 

Wolfgang rolled his eyes.

 “Steve I’ve always told you not to worry about whatever those two are talking about”.

 “I’m sure they would only continue to talk about it, they won’t do anything, and if they try to do anything stupid like calling the the cops, or ratting us out to some journalist, we would pull the plug on them” Wolfgang said.

“Okay sir I scheduled a meeting with the squad for 7 tonight” Cummins said.

“Okay, where would the meeting take place?” Wolfgang asked.

 “At the usual place in the Bronx, please don’t forget sir” Cummins said, rising to his feet.

 “Alright Steve I would keep that in mind” Wolfgang said.

“I’d talk to you later boss” Cummins said, and left the room.