Sent,
1994, February,

Dear Mr Ado,

I hope this letter finds you well, by now you must have received news of my parents' death, it has been the toughest time of my life but slowly I am getting to the stage where I don't burst into tears when I think of them but then other times I miss them so much that it is all I can think off, on these dark days, Tolu Kingston (I'm sure you remember him, his father was briefly a client of yours) has been by my side.

I hope to get in touch with you soon as I have a few concerns to discuss with you. I wish to create a will of my own, the death of my parents have taught my that life is too short to not prepare for death because it will surely come. I assure you that I have given this sudden decision much thought and have been forced towards taking this step because of a few circumstances that are beyond me.

Also, I have also consulted a few lawyers that were also in the employ of my parents and they have informed me that this decision is in fact a wise one.

I only trust you because you were loyal to my family for so many years but make no mistake, if you refuse to help me with my will then I will definitely seek help from others and with a whole team that run the family company I am sure that I will not have to look very far.

I hope to hear you soon and hope your trip to Germany was a success.

Yours sincerely,
Tamika Aofiyebi Afolabi.

Received,
1994, March,

Dear Tamika Afolabi,

I received your concerning email which has caused me to write this letter in reply. First, I pay my condolences to you, your parents might have been my clients but they were also good friends of mine. The accident was a very unfortunate incident and I regret that I was unable to pay my respects at their funeral.

While as a lawyer, your decision is a practical one, but your sudden desire for a will is also alarming since your parents died just last month, I hope you are well both physical and mentally. If you insist, then I will surely adhere to your wishes, if you are not busy then I suggest we meet at my office on the fourth of next month, so you will have had the time to think this through. You are still young and have life ahead of you, there will be enough time to think such things through later in the future.

Please, send my regards to your friend, Tolu Kingston who I hear has been a solid rock for you in the past weeks, I indeed remember his father, (the oil mogul who ran into trouble with a rival company some years ago). He has a good head on his shoulders and I'm sure your parents would be smiling down on the both of you.

Yours sincerely,
Barrister Muhammed Ado.

***

"Since when does Miss Goody Shoes deal drugs?" Jamal snorted as he caught sight of them, although he had to shout above the music to be heard. He was quick to discard the girls around him because even though Kendrick was desperate for answers he could also tell that Jamal wanted something from them, something had to be in for him or else he wouldn't have offered his help.

Grace rewarded his words with a snarl that lacked courage and obvious when she shifted closer to Kendrick.

Jamal let out a wheezing laugh, throwing his head back as he did so and when he finally quieted down, he tilted his head to stare at Kendrick as if just noticing him for the first time and the ugly sneer that formed on his face would have made Kendrick laugh if the situation weren't a serious one.

He knew people like Jamal, had dealt with people like him. People like Jamal took one look at a person and tried to make them feel inferior with a single glare, they usually tried to assess how wealthy a person was and if it was lesser then they adopted that air of superiority, most likely by flashing their expensive phones or watches, they always wanted you to know that they were better than you.

Usually those people deflated once they found out the person was on their level or even higher, then they'd pretend to laugh and be friends even though they were intimidated. Because Kendrick wasn't a flashy person with his clothes or watches — at least not like Joshua Phillips — so Jamal automatically placed him beneath his shoes.

"Has Gracey got herself a boyfriend already?" Jamal taunted, the way he swayed slightly on his feet told Kendrick he was tipsy, but not very drunk, it made Kendrick wonder if Jamal would even be of any help.

"I am so hurt you've moved on so quick without me, no one can everrr fill the void you left in my heart." He placed a mocking hand over his chest and snorted again. So he was the type that got extra mean when drunk, Kendrick looked up at the disco lights and prayed for patience.

Grace on the other hand looked like she was about to cry, sometimes Kendrick didn't understand her, she could be aloof — vicious with her insults — and other times she reminded him of a wounded animal, scarred from trusting too much, like now.

"Somehow I thought you'd be smarter and less of a bore than Joshua Phillips, you're just a copy." Kendrick shouted, feigning nonchalance and dipping his hands into his pockets, watching as Jamal sobered and narrowed his eyes at the bait.

"Aren't you smart, Chinko?" He spat as if Kendrick hadn't heard that one before. Chinko, used by Nigerians to describe Chinese people and fake China products.

"You offered help, Jamal, not childish slurs." Grace seemed to have found her bravado again.

For a moment, Jamal's lips twisted in a petulant pout before he hissed and nodded, Kendrick half pitied the people who seemed to hang around him, he was not a pleasant person, neither was he a good one.

Jamal shouted something at the tall girl sitting at his right and she nodded, unable to hide her grimace when he knocked over a half full bottle of beer on the table before them.

He turned back to Kendrick and Grace.

"Follow me, what I'm about to tell the both of you cannot be told without the photographic evidence in hand."

Jamal led them — half stumbling to a door behind the balcony, it was a small office like space that was lit up brightly with two florescent bulbs on the white ceiling, the room had the thick heady smell of paint yet to dry and Grace was hesitant to lean against it when it was clear Jamal was not going to offer them a seat — he was seated on the only chair behind the desk after all.

For a few moments he roamed the contents of a drawer all while swearing under his breath. Kendrick sent her an impatient glance from where he stood hovering above Jamal and she smiled slightly at his eye roll, her lips stretching in a half smile that had his lifting unconsciously.

Kendrick knew she rarely ever smiled, but when she did, it was infectious, and most times when they were together and she smiled it was because she found something he did funny and then it made him feel all fuzzy inside. Most people never liked or understood his humour, but not Grace.

Jamal looked up and caught both of their smiles and laughed to himself.

"What's so funny?" Kendrick resisted the urge to hit the back of Jamal's head and maybe send him face first into the drawer before him.

Jamal shook his head, chuckling to himself.

"Guy, I was beginning to think this girl was gay, I mean she never showed an interest in me," he said, incredulity colouring his voice as if the idea that someone might not be attracted to him was impossible.

You're not very attractive, personality wise, Kendrick thought.

"I know, abi?" Kendrick said sarcastically, Jamal either didn't hear it or he chose to ignore it because he nodded along.

"You get sense, my guy," Jamal said. "And now look at her, totally looking like she wants to tear your shirt and make you fuck her."

Kendrick winced at his crude words and felt the intense urge to pummel Jamal, then he looked at Grace and found that her face was devoid of any smile but the shinning fury in her eyes told him different, and when he tried to reassure her with his nod, she avoided his eyes and cast her gaze downwards.

Almost as if she were embarrassed, as if Jamal had been speaking her mind.

Kendrick shook his head and forced himself to remember that Grace had never shown any interest in him at all, she didn't even like spending time with him. He hated to get ahead of himself.

"See, she no fit deny am." Jamal snorted.

"Thank you for the unsolicited advice on my sex life but one more word and I'll walk the fuck out of here," Grace snarled, swinging her purse at him fiercely.

Jamal seemed to sober up, shooting her a dirty look because no matter how cocky he might seem, he needed her, although Kendrick was not sure why, he knew that people like Jamal never offered help out of the goodness of their heart unless something was in for them. It made Kendrick wary because they had no idea what Jamal wanted from them.

He was about to comment on it when Jamal pulled out a photograph that halted the words on his lips.

"Remember him?" Jamal asked, leaning back smugly, handing Kendrick the photograph.

It was a photograph of Emmanuel, his dead best friend and in the picture, he had a hand draped over Amina's shoulder and both of them were grinning at the camera, cigarettes in hands.

Kendrick let the picture flutter back to the table and it didn't even register that Grace was gaping at the photograph, every bit as surprised as he was, but for the wrong reasons.

Emmanuel had been a student of the University of Abuja, like Kendrick had been, Amina had always been a student of LASU, it was impossible that the both of them had ever met each other. He knew that ORION had branches all over prestigious universities in the country with its head in Lagos but he could never had guessed that Emmanuel knew them physically.

So all those spontaneous trips Emmanuel took every few weeks, sometimes in the middle of semesters and missing tests had to do with visiting Lagos, visiting them, not visiting his sick mother.

Kendrick felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach, how much did he really know about Emmanuel?

Jamal, with satisfaction plastered on his face handed Kendrick another photograph, it was Emmanuel and Amina again, this time she was in a bra and her lips parted in ecstasy as Emmanuel lips traced the hollow of her throat and her fingers clutched tightly at his shirtless back, the sight made Kendrick sick, it was then he realized two things;

1, He had feelings for Amina and he had pushing thoughts of her away from his head.

2, Emmanuel was a chameleon, a fucking liar, a poser and Kendrick knew close to nothing about him, or rather, everything he knew was turning out to be lies.

Grace reached to snatch the photograph and snorted a bitter laugh at what she saw.

"Nice pictures, but I'm not sure what this has to do with us?"

Jamal smirked. "Ready for a long ass story?"

***

"I can't get through to them, network issues," Victor announced shakily to a seething Joshua. The party was long over, a few minutes ago, a furious Joshua had descended down and declared it over.

Amina had not gotten over it and kept shooting Joshua vicious looks, although in her defence, she was wasted, and kept swaying in Firepemi's arms.

Shit was about to go down and they'd soon be kissing the key to Project Eden goodbye. It was the most tense they had ever seen Joshua, he was visibly frustrated, biting down on his nails and tapping an unsteady beat on the countertop with his free hand.

"You are yet to tell us a word about what the hell is going on, Joshua." Fire reminded him hesitantly. "And what's with this sudden desire to track down Kendrick and Grace."

"I took your advice." Joshua began slowly, he stopped his tapping to look pointedly and almost accusingly at Firepemi, for the first time, Joshua Phillips was a petulant child looking to pass blame.

"What advice?" Fire asked, eyebrows furrowed and blinking hard. He had started to rock Amina back and forth as she lay on his lap on the sofa.

"I sent a mini bomb to Jamal Popola's new club," Joshua admitted.

"I told you I could handle it, by starting a fire, not sending a freaking bomb!" Fire snapped.

"Tonight's the opening night of his club, and from Jamal's Instagram story, it's packed with people." Nina supplied unhelpfully from she sat, laps crossed and half smirking, Joshua knew she had never really cared about ORION and what went on within the organization but she was particularly gleeful because he would suffer whatever problems that stemmed from a mistake.

All eyes whipped to Joshua at once, even Victor's surprise morphed into fury.

"You sent a bomb to a full house, do you want blood on our hands by the end of the night?" Victor snapped, he began to pace the floor, hands behind his back, every few seconds the light of the chandelier would catch the glint of the earring on his right ear. "This is not the way to get rid of Jamal Popola, if he dies tonight, do you know that his father is the commissioner of police and will never let his case go unsolved?"

Even Amina sobered up at that, raising her head to stare wide eyed at Joshua in betrayal, he had not informed her as his right hand about that decision.

"Then what has this got to do with Kendrick and Grace?" Fire asked.

"Because I sent surveillance to check up on them tonight, they both went out and Victor here," Joshua jerked his head towards the pacing boy. "Discovered that the both of them are at this party."

Joshua watched as realization sunk deep in all of them.

"They went there for answers, Jamal was at the party for the senator days ago and he danced with Grace. I think he told them something, that son of a bitch."  Amina swore.

"So they are in that forsaken building with Jamal with a bomb they have no idea of."

Nina finished the words they were all afraid of saying.

"And when that bomb goes off, they'll die in there with everybody."

***

Jamal spun on his office chair with a smile on his face, he knew that he had them trapped, they wouldn't dare to leave now.

"Emmanuel and Amina were lovers." He said, to Grace it was the truth that nobody could deny after seeing those photos. "I think she was completely in love with him, and Emmanuel did enjoy toying with her feelings,"

Kendrick looked pale under the white lights and looked like he might faint if he heard any more.

"The ORION Project's greatest mission is staying incognito in plain sight, of course because of this, every one has a different perception of what it really was, and they always fueled those rumours, the more people believed they were a cult of brats who dealt drugs, the more they fueled their beliefs, they began to recruit few students who dealt drugs for them as a sort of side business — not that they needed the money but it was fucking successful so they adopted the business full time"

Jamal looked pointedly at Grace when he said his next words.

"In case you were wondering, that's how your brother joined them and it's what he continues to do for them."

Grace ground her teeth, as if she needed a new reason to hate The ORION Project.

"And that was how Emmanuel began too, but he wanted more and was determined to get it, with a little digging he found out something he wasn't supposed to know."

"Project Eden." Grace said because everything appeared to lead back to it. She tried hard not to meet Kendrick's eyes, not only because of what Jamal had said about her, but also because he looked like the rug had been pulled under his feet and he was faced with the cold hard truth, that he was hell bent on avenging the best friend that wasn't even worth it.

Jamal nodded with approval.

"Right, and around time, he met me on one of his regular trips to Lagos," he looked at Kendrick who looked away. "I was looking for a spy and he was looking for money."

"Your best friend had a lot of charm, he had a way around people, even with people like Joshua Phillips and Amina Khalid." Jamal said wistfully. "I remember begging him to teach me."

Grace caught the constant ticking of the muscle in Kendrick's jaw and knew he hated how Jamal spoke of his best friend with such fondness, he was still in the denial stages, it seemed.

"Beautiful friendship." Kendrick bit out.

Jamal nodded, ever the ignorant fool. "It was, he had Joshua Phillips drinking from his palm and fucking Khalid behind closed doors, I hear Phillips even considered making Emmanuel an official member but Emmanuel got too cocky, too brave."

"He made the biggest mistake a human could ever make, he began to think he was invincible."

"He was my informant, but it was later that it was discovered that he had been playing all three teams; ORION, MEDUSA and ARTEMIS — the latter being a long ancient organization that was once one with The ORION Project."

This time, Kendrick met her wide gaze, they had both never heard of an 'ARTEMIS'

"As soon as Joshua got wind of it, he was furious because ARTEMIS have been long trying to take down ORION and Emmanuel had just exposed ORION'S most important weapon to their enemy. He ordered for Emmanuel's death."

Kendrick flinched visibly.

"Amina Khalid oversaw his execution, and I hear she did so with a grin on her face." Jamal shuddered visibly.

"I was there, I saw for myself." Kendrick said, the far away look in his eyes told Grace that he was probably reliving that night. "There had been a girl among them."

At this, Jamal looked up at Kendrick, surprise written on his face.

"Why are you telling us all this?" Grace asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Because Project Eden is the reason why ORION recruited you —" it seemed like he might have said something else but then a knock on the closed door startled them. A moment later, the tall girl that had been with Jamal poked her head through his head, she had a red bandana tied around her head and her baggy jeans and crop top reminded Grace of an avatar in a video game that Sanmi liked to play.

"There's a problem, Joshua Phillips is on the phone, and he's asking for you."

They all startled, each casting each other suspicious side glances.

"Shikemi, keep an eye on our guests." Jamal hissed to the tall girl, it was clear to both Grace and Kendrick that Jamal suspected that they had called Joshua while the both of them knew grimly that Joshua had found them, no lies would save them now.

Jamal took all of one stumbling step before the building shook violently beneath their feet.

— and then began the screams.