Nafisat Khalid was a very strange woman. Most times Amina didn't think there was anything remotely human about the woman that raised her. Nobody that knew her could say she had one maternal bone in her body. At thirty seven, she retired from being The Orion Project's head assassin and turned down all offers from the organization to head the espionage department. Nafisat all but disappeared from the spotlight only to return a year later as a new mother to a toddler.

Nafisat had made it clear to Amina as early as she could understand that she would never be a mother that coddled or befriended their child. Everyone who knew Nafisat knew she'd adopted not out of the goodness of her mind but with the sole desire to raise a clone. At five years old— unlike other girls playing with Barbies and Legos — Amina had begun martial arts training, first in Judo and then Karate. At twelve, she had black belts in both martial arts and was beginning her training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her childhood had never been a matter of what she wanted, only what Nafisat had wanted her to be.

Their relationship had been mother and daughter in name and paper but in reality, it was a master-protege relationship. Nafisat had trained Amina herself, coming out of retirement to craft the perfect killing machine. She'd been set to become Orion's leader — something Nafisat had never been able to achieve because of Remilekun Phillips. But then the same man came and ruined her chances again. Just a few weeks before Amina's final Orion examination, she'd been attacked and left in brutal shape and Joshua had become leader instead.

Nobody had been gladder when Remilekun was killed by said son than Nafisat. It was then that Amina knew that she was nothing more than a pawn to Nafisat and it was far too late to do anything about it. Being a pawn was far easier than late soul searching to discover what she really wanted to be.

She knew better now. Knew more than anything that she wanted to be Orion's leader. It was just a coincidence that it happened to be Nafisat's dream too. Even if she was a bit skeptical about their odds.

"Let me get this straight, Habibti, you're planning to run for leadership after that Phillips boy fails evaluation." Nafisat asked. She sounded more amused that anything, as if she thought Amina was a silly child explaining how the world worked.

Amina lifted her chin, one day she looked forward to the day she could tell Nafisat Khalid to go fuck herself but today wasn't that day and she happened to need her help. "It's not as outrageous as you think, mother." It didn't matter that Amina had said the words a thousand times before, addressing Nafisat as her mother would always feel clumsy on her tongue. "The other competition worth noting is Ahmed Giwa and I'm sure there will be something in his past that'll turn Orion's favor from him."

For the first time that afternoon, Nafisat looked contemplative. Amina held her breath. "Giwa, he's always been Artemis, you can bet that he's been bidding his time since forever. He'll have been careful."

"You don't think there will be anything in his past to dig up?" Amina asked, drawling the words almost mockingly. It was a subtle taunt at her mother. Nafisat prided herself on being Orion's secrets vault, assassins always knew the most.

Nafisat threw her an amused look, she knew what kind of game her daughter was playing. "I'm not revealing anything to you, Habibti. Not until I'm sure I can bank on your chances. I came out of retirement for Remilekun and it was the wrong call, seeing as he died so foolishly in the end."

Amina tried to buy herself time, she took a long sip of her tea, looking out the gazebo they were seated in. The sunflowers were in bloom, she noted. It was odd, almost mundane that in her free time Nafisat liked to garden— there was no denying that the older woman was good at it. The spacious garden was a burst of colors; purple hibiscus, sunflowers, dandelions and peonies. Nafisat liked to have afternoon tea in the gazebo in the middle of the garden, no matter how busy she was, afternoon tea was a daily ritual. While Amina had been younger, afternoon tea was spent going over her training weaknesses. Even though Nafisat spent each afternoon berating her daughter, Amina only had good memories of being here. 

It had been years since she'd been here though, partly because of university and partly because the older she grew, the less time she liked to spend near her mother and not even the garden could lure her back to Kaduna.

"When was the last time you heard from the AbdulKarims?" Amina asked.

Nafisat narrowed her catlike eyes, perfectly lined with kohl. Amina blinked innocently.

"It's been a while since I heard from Kazeem," she continued chattily.

"He just graduated from York University summa cum laude." Nafisat answered slowly. She barked a low laugh. "Don't tell me you're actually considering the AbdulKarims' silly offer?"

Amina only smiled. Jibril AbdulKarim was the managing director of the most successful private bank in Nigeria and of recently, he moved up fifteen spots on the list of the richest men in Africa. He was also the uncle of Ahmad AbdulKarim — the first victim of the killer.

The AbdulKarims were close with the Khalids and two years ago, both families had considered taking their closeness to the next level by promising their children to each other. Nafisat had strongly opposed it; it was too early to commit Amina to marriage, not when she hadn't achieved set goals. Amina's father, a docile man who was usually out of the country for business trips had silently backed off the idea. Wise man.

"You're too young to consider foolish things like marriage." Nafisat spat.

Amina nearly flinched from the venom in her words. There was nothing Nafisat feared more than Amina getting married.

"I'm not considering anything. It's just nice to have options." Amina said offhandly. If looks could kill, she would have been a smoking pile of ashes.

The both of them knew too well that the older Amina grew, the looser the hold Nafisat had on her became. There was nothing she could do if Amina decided to grow rouge. Sure, she might kill her out of spite but it would be years wasted. Nafisat wouldn't do that, she could insult and taunt and belittle all she wanted but there was a limit or the leash would grow taut and snap.

Amina waited with baited breath as Nafisat drank from her cup.

"What do you want, Habibti?" She asked without an iota of warmth in the term of endearment.

She inhaled. "Ahmed Giwa."

Nafisat tapped the corner of her teapot, the mouth was shaped like a dragon's snout and Amina knew for a fact that they were custom made and that they were a gift from the late Tamika Afolabi Kingston. It was the only thing she'd ever known her mother to be sentimental with.

"I do not know much about Giwa. I'll look into him."

If there was anyone who was better at fishing out secrets, it was Nafisat and it didn't matter that she'd been retired for years. Nafisat stood up suddenly, a clear sign that their conversation was over.

After she was gone, Amina took out her phone. It had been Tope's idea to retrace their steps; from the very first murder. Contrary to what her mother thought, she'd already spoken to Kazeem. They'd always been friendly so reaching out after years wasn't so shocking. She'd steered the conversation from reminiscing to his cousin. Kazeem admitted that Ahmad had been seeing a girl and that he was almost a hundred percent sure that she'd been a law student. It was a twenty percent chance that their killer was a law student.

She texted Tope now, about Kazeem, about using him as a bargaining chip to find out information on Giwa. Tope sent a thumbs up emoji and a follow-up text about being in class.

Amina rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure why Tope bothered, the girl was collecting degrees like infinity stones; four bachelor's and two master's degree. She was going for the fifth. Showoff.

*****

The Orion Project Council consisted of eight anonymous members. They held the highest power in the organization; overseeing all affairs of the organization and making sure it ran fairly. It was why Toluwanimi Kingston sent details of Remilekun Phillips' abuse of power to the council, the council held the power to sanction Remilekun and remove Joshua who had abetted the abuse.

Due to their high ranking power, the members chose to maintain anonymity. That way, it was impossible to try and sway a member to your favor. Even Joshua, the president of Orion didn't know any member of the council. It was a popular rumor that members of the council had other positions in the organization, masquerading in plain sight. Members of the council changed every few years, ensuring tightknit secrecy surrounding their identities.

The whole anonymity made the usual bimonthly meetings very interesting. Once every two months, Joshua and every team manager in Orion held closed door meetings with the council. Ever since Orion merged with Artemis, the invitation to the meeting was extended to them too.

Joshua hated those meetings. Despite both organizations being merged, each one saw it as a chance to outdo the other with the bimonthly reports. The whole saga reminded Joshua of two children competing for their parents' approval. And in recent times, Artemis was clearly trying to sabotage Orion — all part of Ahmed Giwa's ploy, that was clear now.

Today's meeting would be the first time Joshua would meet the man and he was dreading it. Joshua wasn't afraid of many things and he definitely wasn't afraid of Ahmed Giwa. But the man had a history of being slimy. He was new money, swiftly climbing the ranks from common local government chairman to former governor of Kaduna State. He also happened to own almost fifty percent stake in shares in Kingston Conglomerate.

It was Tope who'd told Joshua how Giwa had put Grace Kingston into a tight spot when she'd needed Artemis' help against Remilekun. Now, Giwa was one of the richest men in the country too. Joshua hated social climbers because their ascent into wealth was bloody and dirty. Ahmed Giwa was exactly the kind of man to play dirty.

Too bad for him that Joshua was hell bent on destroying him. And the first step began today.

He adjusted his cufflinks, flexing his wrist so the glint of gold caught in the light. They were a birthday gift from his mother and they arrived this morning. He shrugged on his jacket and in a quick motion, he buttoned it.

Joshua prided himself on looking good. It was one of the few things Remilekun ingrained in him that stuck. Appearances were deceiving and looking the part of confident even though it was otherwise was the perfect deception. He'd learnt that people were fond of comparison; when they saw that you were better dressed than them, it knocked down their own confidence several notches. The trick worked nine times out of ten and it would work on someone like Ahmed Giwa who was determined to prove that he was better than everybody else.

The man had climbed from the grim parts of hell and would do anything to wash the stench sway. Joshua was here to remind him that he could smell the stink from a mile away.

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the sliding glass doors of his office and found Firepemi stepping out of the elevator. Joshua had a whole floor of the Dome to himself, only authorized people could get onto this floor. Amina had been one of them.

Joshua shook his head, as if he was trying to clear the thought of her. He hadn't seen Amina in days, worse, he hadn't spoken to her in days. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened. The two of them had been practically joined at the hip — forcefully at first but now...

It didn't matter, he told himself. Amina wasn't his concern.

"How are you here?" Joshua asked the other boy.

"Nice to see you too, asshole." Fire greeted cheerfully. He too was dressed like Joshua, in a tailored suit and pants but his tie was a patterned black and blue. He'd cut his hair, sporting a stylish fade. The sight was strange to Joshua, he could count the number of times he'd seen Fire in a suit on one hand. He was usually in football jerseys and jeans.

"You didn't take my biometrics off the authorization list." Fire added when Joshua continued to watch him.

Joshua frowned. Of course, Fire used to be on the authorization list. Joshua thought he'd taken his biometrics off the list after his betrayal.

"We could have seen each other at the meeting, there's no need to come find me here." Joshua said. The both of them walked down the hallway to the elevator. Immediately, the doors slid open, the sensors in it recognizing Joshua.

He pressed the button for the lowest floor.

"No wonder Amina finally ran away after all these years. She got sick of your curt attitude." Fire said, the words were a joke but his eyes were carefully watching Joshua, waiting for a reaction.

Joshua didn't give him one, he just tapped the screen on the elevator wall for the time. Although it didn't matter if he was late, the meeting wouldn't start until he was present he'd rather still be early. And he didn't want the council pissed at him.

When the silence grew, Fire was forced to break it. "I told you there was a reason I was at your birthday party."

"The same party a dead body was found?" It was a low blow but effective. Joshua knew Fire had nothing to do with the string of murders but he couldn't resist reminding the other boy that he didn't trust him one bit.

Firepemi Kingston was torn between two worlds; the fierce loyalty that all Kingstons had for each other and loyalty for The Orion Project. It was why he was too risky to be trusted. He knew it too and was touchy about the topic.

"Right, because I took on serial killing on my break from The Orion Project." Fire bit back sarcastically.

The elevator gave a slight wobble and Joshua flinched. The ride was almost over, Orion still hadn't managed the technology for causing a smooth ride from the Dome to the floors below the building.

"You started it." Joshua conceded lightly.

Fire shook his head. "God, you're as petty as ever. Just beg her to come back to you."

Joshua gave him a withering look just as the lights overhead flickered for a second and the doors slid open. He stepped out into a vast space. It was an underground parking lot, filled with cars of different makes, models. Some of them were older than The Orion Project itself, somewhere in the lot, there was a model of the very first car in the world. Others were cars that were miles advanced than current technology.

When Joshua had been younger, he hadn't been able to comprehend just what The Orion Project was about. His father had boasted of the organization that his only won would come to lead but five year old Joshua was confused so he'd asked his father what exactly The Orion Project did.

Everything — that was his father's answer. It was the truth too, Orion might mask itself as a political organization but it was so much more than that. The collection of hundreds of vehicles were a testament to that.

Joshua shared with Fire. They were both remembering the last time they'd been here together. It was where Fire had betrayed Orion, he'd led Kendrick Yong here and Joshua had found them.

Something passed through Fire's face, it wasn't remorse and it was gone before Joshua could figure out what it was.

He continued walking, past the rows and rows of cars. Fire followed behind him. After what seemed like forever, the space began to narrow until it was no bigger than a corridor. At the end of it was a single door, he placed a palm on the square sensor, it gave a slight rumble and creaked open sideway.

He entered the space which was in fact a small amphitheatre and in the midst of the five seating tiers, there was a raised stage that was empty — for now. The seats were filled up with Orion members though, anyone was free to sit in on a council meeting. However, the top tier was reserved for the most important Orion members — team managers.

Joshua and Fire took the stairway at the side to get to the fifth tier. He spotted Ahmed Giwa right away. The man was in the middle of other Artemis members who'd taken to one half of the tier. Artemis members were notably older men, a few women sprinkled in. Orion's crowd were younger, the organization had always prioritized the youth as the future of the nation and subsequently, the organization. It was the university undergraduates that led the organization up until their graduation and then a new undergrad would take the place. Nobody past twenty five had ever led Orion.

Artemis however believed in experience, not to say that they didn't younger members but they didn't usually hold high postiions.

"So that's how he looks like." Fire said beside Joshua. He sounded deeply amused like the very appearance of Joshua's nemesis was funny.

Joshua appraised the man. He wasn't old but he was a little past middle age — late forties perhaps.

"He's forty eight years old." A voice came from behind them. Joshua turned, surprised to find Tope. She was never at these meetings.

"Tope." Fire greeted, Joshua watched as he leaned in to hug Tope.

"Say my thanks to Nina, that Fenty concealer really works wonders for covering bruises." She said with a wink.

Fire shook his head but he was grinning. "I'm surprised they got a hit in."

"Sometimes you have to let them think they've got a fighting chance." Tope said, brushing invisible lint from her jacket. She was dressed casually, jeans ripped at the knees and a jacket that matched. She was the former director of Artemis' espionage department — since the merge, she co-director the department with Orion's head. If there was anyone as good as Amina at espionage, it was her. Joshua had always wondered why they weren't friends.

"You're never at these things." Joshua said, unable to hide his curiosity. He looked away from her briefly and saw that the Artemis crowd were staring at them, even Giwa who was staring intently. Joshua made eye contact with the man, expecting him to look away since he'd been caught. To the older man's credit, he didn't, he only tilted his head in a slight nod that Joshua refused to return.

"...asked me to check in." Tope was saying.

"I'm surprised she's not here herself. Amina rarely misses these things." Fire said with a small frown.

"She's in Kaduna." Tope answered. Joshua and Fire exchanged a look. Nafisat Khalid lived in Kaduna and something told Joshua that it wasn't a mere a check-in visit.

Joshua refrained from asking. What Amina did these days was none of his business.

Tope was looking at him though and he sighed.

"I can function without Amina Khalid, thank you." He deadpanned.

"I wouldn't dare say otherwise." Tope said with mock innocence.

"Why are they still staring?" Fire murmured low for only the three of them.

Ahmed Giwa and his entourage were still staring at them.

"I reckon it's because of me," said Tope. "I'm chitchatting with the enemy." She gave Joshua a pointed look.

Tope was Artemis' best, if she was choosing to ally herself with the unstated enemy, then it was detrimental to Ahmed Giwa. The Adebiyis were an influential family in Artemis, Tope had been part of Artemis as early as Joshua had been involved with Orion. Her family held sway over Artemis crowd and so did she.

Joshua supposed he should be grateful she was on his side. Tope wasn't fond of him and while it might be case of going for the lesser evil, Joshua didn't think it was. Helping him investigate the murders to win favor was different, standing by his side in a clear show of loyalty was something else entirely.

"Don't look at me like that. I promise, I'm not up to anything." Tope smiled thinly.

"You're not here for me, you're here for Amina and forgive me if I'm wrong but Amina isn't the type to tell you to look after me, she's done with me," He ignored the hurt he felt at the admission. "You're here for her and her alone. Why?"

Tope looked like she might have answered his question but there was a sudden commotion, people were scrambling to their seats. Joshua crossed the small distance to the banister overlooking the stage, he saw the middle of the stage open up and eight masked figures rise from it. The council was here.

They always appeared like this at every meeting, in black cloaks, black masks shaped like the face of a raven framing their features. One of them; the shortest amongst them seemed to trip on an invisible step. Their hood fell back for a second — revealing hair cropped to the scalp — before it was swiftly replaced.

Joshua always thought their appearance ridiculous, surely there were many more finesse ways to be mysterious. But not today, because he recognized one of them, black cloak, mask and all.