Bob.

"Here, put this on." Across the passenger's  seat, Gbenga's left hand outstretched while the other guided the steering, on the palm of the outstretched hand sat a black cloth. He could see the quizzical look on Lex's face. 

"We're approaching the headquarters, you can't know where it's situated." He explained.

Lex stared at him for a moment, and took the blindfold from him, he raised the cloth to his face, expertly tying it to a clumsy knot at the back of his head.

For a moment, Gbenga thought Lex might oppose to the rule and he glad Lex didn't. Protocol is protocol. As odd as it may seem, Gbenga doesn't trust this man totally. He might be a harmless bunny, but even harmless bunnies turn into wolves when pushed to the wall.  

I hope the Sons know exactly what they're doing.

Deep in thought, Lex was perplexed when Gbenga told him to put on the blindfold. Normally, he would question this man but he wasn't in the position to do so.

They abducted my wife. So they hold me by the neck. Before everything went dark, the last thing Lex saw was the Sheraton building by his side of the road. He tried to make a mental map of the turns gbenga made, seeing that it was futile, he gave up. 

Hang on, Funke. I'm coming.

------

you're reading Sons of Hades, Chapter Fourteen! :)

------

Back at the LSPD Building, inside the Criminal Intelligence Building, Agent Jide opened an email sent from an anonymous user. The message that popped up was confusing.

And now, the world shall know pain.

Is this some kind of joke? Attached to the message was an image file. Clicking the file, the image that covered his computer screen sent him falling back on his chair.

My God!

He immediately did the sign of the cross. Beads of sweat formed all over his forehead as he groped the office phone, dialing the detective's line.

The line began to ring. Someone picked on the third ring.

With trembling hands, Agent Jide tried to keep the phone over his ear as he began to speak.

"S- s- sir?" 

"YES?" Bob answered.

"what is the matter, Agent?"

What's the matter? The agent stole a look at the gory image on his screen.

"I just received a multimedia message from an unknown source."

"Yes.. What does it say?"

"Uhh, it's a picture of something," The Agent swallowed hard.

"I think you'd better see it for yourself."

There was a long pause.

"I'm coming over."

The line went dead.

Replacing the receiver, Agent Jide stared at the image before him. This has got to be some kind of joke! Something was definitely wrong here.

Pinned to the computer screen, was a an  amateur shot of a poorly lit room. Sitting on the chair backed by the wall was the Ayodele family... Naked... Blood smeared on the parts they were cut. Their  eyes were opened by the person who took the picture, their hands holding their genitals.

Feeling nausea, Agent Jide was hit with a sudden revelation.

This picture was taken after they were murdered. The eyes staring back at Jide on the computer were dead eyes.

The Agent threw up on himself.

* * * *

After many twists and turns, Lex felt the car come to a stop and Gbenga getting out of the car. A moment later the passenger's door opened, Gbenga's hand guiding Lex out of the car.

"Careful."  Gbenga cautioned. As Lex's shoes touched cement, the echo reverberated. Is this an empty room? No. Lex's nostrils twitched. Is this incense on the air?

"Where are we?" Lex asked Gbenga as he was led to an unknown area.

"I'm not supposed to say." Gbenga said with a serious tone as he was guiding  blindfolded Lex to a door.

After two minutes of walking, Gbenga abruptly stopped, Lex heard a click. A door. Gbenga guided him into the space, entering the strange room the door behind clicked shut. Gbenga left Lex, and shuffled the room.

The smell of rose hung strongly in the air around Lex. The air was cold. 

"You can open your blindfold now." Gbenga's voice boomed from somewhere far in the room. Dragging the folds lower, adjusting his vision to the space before him, he was in some kind of office?

Guiding his eyes to the figure swallowed by the darkness at the far end of the room, what he saw was uncomprehendable. A man with a dog's face?

Using his hands to massage his eyelids for adjustment, he focused on the figure again. Then, the figure walked towards Lex that stood directly under the only bulb illuminating the office space, stepping into the light, the figure toward over Lex, clad in black.

"Nice to finally meet you, Lex," The masked man declared.

Lex recoiled.

"I am god."

•••

Standing three feet from him, was a giant clad in black camouflage that was illuminated by the shaky bulb swaying above like the pendulum that reminded Lex of the one in his thoughts. I am god, the masked man with a wooden mask had said and produced a gloved hand for a handshake. Lex didn't move a muscle. His mind twirled to the time he was a kid, coming face-to-face with his neighbour's mighty dog. The fear that gripped him seized his breathing, making him grasp for air and later fainted out of helplessness.

.

That was years ago, as far as Lex could remember that was the only time he felt this unfathomable helplessness. But now, years later, standing before this man who claims to be a god, he felt a similar helplessness. This helplessness was greater than the one he had once felt. His hands trembled and he was weak at knee. Confusion, fear, the inability to control the situation.

.

Hidden in the darkness Gbenga watched as the master approached Lex. The same chill ran through his body giving him gooseflesh, Gbenga had always feared god. He knows all, and sees all. He was the eyes of the world. The one who kept balance in the universe. From where he stood hidden, he could see the shock in Lex's eyes, he felt sorry for the man. A mere homicide investigation gone out of control. The thought of Lex made him hot, he felt something growing under and used his knees to squeeze his hardness.  Calm down, tiger.

"I always thought gods wore white robes with golden crowns." Gbenga  followed the voice, it was Lex, he had finally spoken. 

God's hand was still outstretched, seeing that Lex made no attempt to shook it, he withdrew.

"You have a beautiful sense of humour. Even in this kind of situation you still make hearty jokes," He chuckled, "even when your lovely wife's life is on the line?"

.

Son of a bitch! Lex wanted to lunge at him so badly but he held himself. Control your emotions, Lex, control.

"coming from someone who says he's god. What were you expecting? Me to gravel at your feet?"

.

The masked man fell silent. Then, he let out a chuckle.

.

"You really expected me to worship you? You must be a lunatic."

"It depends on what your definition of lunatic is. I understand you, really." He paused to twirl his rose.

"people were always skeptic of me being god. I am all-seeing, all-knowing. I thought you would have believed when my friend showed you his flying horse."

Lex's memory reeled, remembering his encounter with the that man who still claimed to be god too, and now he's struck with that same statement again from a man who claims that he, too, was god. This was all so confusing. What has all this got to do with Hades? He bit his lip.

"Where's my wife?"

"She's safe and healthy."

"Can I see her?"

"I'm afraid you cannot." The man's voice was firm. Even through his one-eyed mask, he sounded god-like, Lex had to admit.

Lex's fear turned to anger in a second.

"What do you mean you cannot? How am I supposed to know you haven't killed her?" He was almost screaming. Calm down, Lex, calm down. 

Speaking through a chuckle, the man declared.

"Your wife is safe. She's nothing but a commodity I'm ready to trade with you."

You bitch!

"And what is that you want from me?"

"Well," The masked man looked at the darkness, "I want your silence. This case is out of your league. You have no idea what's going on in Nigeria. It's a change like never before in history."

"I don't get it," Lex ran a hand through his rough and thick hear. "what was the reason and the meaning behind that text?"

.

.

There was a silence.

.

.

Lex continued.

"I will not back out if you don't tell me that is really going on." 

Another' silence.

And then..

The masked man spoke.

"Very well then," He gestured to the darkness, "Have your seat."

Where? Lex looked at where this man's hand pointed at, nothing was there only darkness.

He looked at the man intently.

"I should sit in the darkness?"

The masked man let out a hearty laugh, his head fell backwards.

"Mortal men. Why don't ye have faith? Why don't ye believe?"

The masked motioned to the darkness, his gloved hand was swallowed into the darkness to his elbow. His hand reappeared. Attached to it was a wooden chair. He placed it before Lex under the light and motioned for him to sit.

"who really are you?" Lex stared at the darkness in disbelief.

.

.

.

"like I said, " the masked man paused for effect, " I am god. "

"With my power, I will change the world. I will purge the world of corruption, I will cleanse the world of the self-centered. I will create an utopia of perfection."

.

.

Lex stared at this man, beads of sweat running through his temple.

"And," he twirled the rose and moved closer to Lex, invading his personal space.

"I will rule it." 

•••

The man who sent the mail gave his name as, "The Light." had sent another mail telling the agent that he might call the following afternoon. At LSPD headquarters arrangements were made to receive the call.

Who was the Light? How did he lay his hands on such images? Was he behind the killings of the two noble families? Absolutely not - Bob thought. He knew enough to know that this person was not the killer they were looking for but this person had valuable information, one that could lead to the apprehension of the real culprits. 

The desks and telephones from Bob's office had been moved hours ago to a larger room with more advanced tracking systems, and the Nigerian Police's secret weapon: Big Brother stood tall and proud in the middle of the circular  room, ready to track the IP address of the caller.

This machine was the future of crime fighting. Only a selected few knew of its existence. Even the president has no idea that his every moves were being monitored at Aso Rock. Wireless cameras were linked to Big Brother, spying on the president and his friends, anticipating secrets, a slip. However the president knew enough to know that he's being monitored. If only he knew the manner and way, his jaw would drop.

The telecommunication specialist had arrived. Ready to track the man's IP address, black vans were parked outside and in some selected areas in Lagos waiting for orders. 

On the far side of the circular room stood a big clock; it showed five minutes to noon. Lieutenant Giles, Bob's friend stood arms crossed with Bob. Bob adopted a sidelines stance, hands in his pockets. His face was expressionless.

A technician seated seated close to where the two men stood drummed his fingers and let out a sigh indicating boredom. Bob frowned at him, telling him to stop. 

Bob's desk was cluttered with two next generation looking devices. They were tracking phones, one was an open line which they'd receive the call and the other was a hot line to the LSPD communications room, it also served as a detector; for detecting any nearby devices that might tap into their systems.

Bob took serious steps on this one. This is not a drill, let's make no mistake! 

"How much time do we have?" His friend asked.

"With the new babies, it's a lot faster than you think," Bob said. "Maybe a minute or less if it comes through all-electronic switching. More if he has a secured address."

"Let's hope he isn't that smart." The Lieutenant said under his breath.

Bob raised his voice to the room.

"Listen up people," Heads turned. "if he calls at all, it's going to be a brief call. So let's go with the script to keep him on the line longer for BB to get his exact location. You know the drill." 

everyone nodded in understanding.

The plan was simple: pick the call, delay the call, get his address, track him down. 

"Okay," Lieutenant said. "the phone rings, you don't pick immediately. Pick at the third ring, sound tired, tell him he's a prankster, do anything to keep him on the line for two minutes at least." He turned to the obese woman behind Bob's desk. "that goes for you, Martha." Martha gave a slight nod.

"Oh, and don't forget--"

The line came to life. 

Sweet Jesus! It rang three times before Martha picked up the receiver. It was on loud speaker.

"Hello, LSPD what is your complaint?" Martha began. Her voice was shaky. Her cheeks trembled.

Bob gave her two thumbs up. You're doing great!

"Let me speak to the man in charge." The voice was crisp.

"I'm sorry he's-"

Bob moved towards Martha in a light jog.

"Yes, I'm the one in charge, can I help you?"

Low chucke. "Actually, I am the one who can help you."

"Could you tell me who's on the line please?"

"It doesn't matter." pause. "did you see the image file I sent you?"

The gory images materialized in Bob's head, a wave of nausea hit him. 

"Yes, where did you get those images? And I hope you haven't sent them to the media?"

"The media is the least of your worries right now, Mr. Bob."

everyone gasped, heads turned to Bob and the receiver on the desk. Even Bob felt a sudden chill. He knows my name?

"How did you know my name?" Bob maintained. The time crawled slowly over one minute and Bob wanted the man to stay on the line a little bit longer. Hang in there!

"It's a futile effort, really."

"I'm sorry?" 

"You're tracing my call, aren't you?"

There was a silence.

"Well," The voice began. "It's not going to work."

"and why is that?" Bob could see the technicians telling him not to admit. He averted his eyes.

"because you cannot track the tracker, can you?"

"I don't understand." Bob paused. Two minutes. He smiled, and pressed on. Now I've got you!

"Track the tracker? What does that mean?"

a soft laughter, muffled voice.

"Because," He paused. "I am the creator of Big Brother. I gave Uncle Sam the blueprint, and I know how to stop it." 

Bob recoiled. He created BB?!

"My God!" someone exalted in the room.

In the far end of the room, someone had slumped on hearing what The Light had said.

Soft laughter. "Not only are you trying to trace the call, you still put the phone on loud speaker? My my, you've committed a sin."

Bob grunted. He knew what the man meant, and he was surprisingly right. In sensitive cases like these, you don't give someone who has valuable information any reason to distrust you. He/she might withdraw. Bob used his other hand to wipe the beads of sweat planted on his forehead.

"Very amateur of you, Mr. Bob. I'm highly disappointed." The voice was crisp again.

Then, suddenly, like manner from heaven, Big Brother came to life. On its screen was an address. Bob's lips produced a smirk. So much for being a smartass.

"Say," Bob began, "you created the Big Brother is that correct?"

"Affirmative." 

"Alright.." he made hand gestures, giving the sergeants orders. Go! Go!! Go!!!  The were on the move. "Do you think it's possible for your creation to destroy you?" Behind the desk, Martha could see the spark in bob's eyes, he was gloating. 

"Mr. Bob, I didn't call you to play games with you... But if it's hide and seek you want, hand and seek you shall get."

Those words hit Bob like a bullet to the skull. Was this a wild goose chase? To confirm his doubts, the voice spoke.

"The address given to you by Big Brother, it's somewhere at Ikoyi, right?"

Bob did a double take.

"H-how did you know that?" His eyes widened. Almost screaming. The technicians stared in disbelief, their ears intent on the voice that filled the room. Their best kept secret was no secret after all.

"Well," the voice began. "let's just say I just sent the tracer back to Big Brother's central unit with that false address. It's my creation after all." he chuckled.

Somewhere in the dark room illuminated by the lights coming from the computer screens, another technician slumped into the floor.

Beads of sweat travelled down Bob's temple. The sudden change of events left him practically paralyzed.  The shock was hard to take in. He wanted to speak but the words were not coming out, like a child with stage fright.

"I understand your shock, Bob." The voice consoled. "and don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I am on your side, you need me more than you think." he paused. "that image was curled from the Ayodele's family desktop. The killer tried to send it to the media, my systems intercepted the file. So you have a lot of thanking to do." He laughed.

Across the room, The lieutenant received a call from one of the sergeants and from the look on his face, Bob guessed the news wasn't good. Still holding the receiver, Bob gave his friend the what's-the-matter look, the Lieutenant shook his head roughly.

Shit, the man's right.

"Hello? Bob are you there? Can't you say anything?" 

"I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in.. Sorry, where are you calling from again?"

pause.

"I'm calling from the seventh gate of hell." 

Bob recoiled.

The voice laughed. 

"I'm kidding, man. I can almost hear your shock over the line."

Bob didn't find it funny. He never liked religious jokes. It goes against everything he stood for. Call it religion onesidedness.

"Mr. Light, I'd really like to work with you, hopefully with your knowledge, we can catch these heartless thugs." Bob managed to say.

"wait, you think they are thugs?" the man said in disbelief.

"Of course they are! Who kills people in such a gory manner?"

There was a long pause.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble," the man began. "but the person behind the killings is religious and..." he paused for effect. "probably a politician."

"what?!" Bob was clenching the phone harder now. Hurting himself. He cared less.

"You sound surprised. I understand completely. I have a lot of people in mind. Possible suspects and some are in the force."

"the force?!" this was too much to take in.. The circular room was silent. The only voice heard was the man on the phone. Everyone listened with great interest. Their faces painted with disbelief.

"Believe it or not, you're closer to one of them, Mr. Bob." everyone looked at the detective. "And I suggest you better be careful who you reveal your investigation progress with."

there is a mole in the force? Of course there were. But for petty things. Having a mole who'd kill relentlessly was most disturbing.

"Well, I will see you soon, Bob, ta-ta." 

the line went dead. And so did the power.

"someone go put on the power generator! Quick!"

Bob slumped into a nearby chair. His head developed an ache. People moved briskly shouting orders.

Lord help us all.