The tension in the room was too thick for a butter knife to cut through; Joshua thought a bigger knife might suffice. He glanced down at the knife in his left grip and regretted his decision to attend his mother’s birthday dinner. His mother might have sent hitmen after him, for the Phillips’ appearances would forever mean everything to him.

Two years after the murder of Remilekun Phillips, one might think that his family would fade into obscurity, it turned out the opposite, the press was still after them like sharks drawn to blood, waiting for one of them to slip up and give them a gory headline. The few times Joshua returned home for birthday dinners were strategic, the Phillips wanted to give off a united front. The truth was that they were shattered to the tinniest pieces and cutting themselves on glittering shards.

Without the patriarch to head them, his family was a messy lot. His sisters had adored their father’s image and the shine it gave them. Joshua’s father hadn’t been typically abusive, he’d never laid hands on them but he’d pushed them to extreme ends be the best. At all costs, Remilekun didn’t care about being fair.

Remilekun had paid for Eleanor – his eldest daughter – to write her JAMB examination in one of those centers that helped exam candidates cheat just so she could score high to study Law. He’d hired thugs to hurt Amina Khalid so she would be physically unable to take her final Orion exams because she was a threat to Joshua becoming Orion’s leader. He expected nothing but perfection from his family and when he couldn’t fix flaws, he cast out his blood. Joshua hadn’t seen his older brother in years because Remilekun disowned the boy for being autistic. He knew that Gbenga Phillips was doing alright away from his family; he also knew that he’d declined returning home.

His sisters didn’t care about that, they’d only cared that they couldn’t get away with the things they used to anymore. So they blamed him for killing their father. Joshua didn’t care much about what they thought but his mother did, she very much wanted them to be the happy family they had all pretended to be while Remilekun was alive.

Dinah painstakingly tried to draw Joshua into conversations with his sisters.

“The food is really good here, Lenny, remember when we had dinner here to celebrate your engagement? Korede brought you the most thoughtful gift.” She’d said an hour ago. Lenny hadn’t spared Joshua a look, she’d muttered a low yes to their mother and all efforts to draw her into conversation ended as swiftly as the attempt.

So Dinah had turned to Joshua, “Korede, your nieces are getting so big, you should come over and see them more often.” Joshua had rewarded her with a jerk of his head and if he had been some other tactless person then he might have screamed some variation of God forbid. He didn’t hate his nieces; in fact, he’d been a doting uncle to them up until their mother found out about what he did and rebuked him from seeing them again. A small loss, but it didn’t matter anymore.

A few minutes into dessert, she’d all but given up, the tension should have been smothered now that they’d eaten but Joshua noticed Eleanor asking for several refills of her wine glass each time the waiters stepped into the private dining room. She was close to wasted and now stabbed at the piece of chocolate lava cake with her dainty dessert fork. She was making a mess on the small white dish, the bright velvet cream in the middle of the cake looked a little like blood and Joshua imagined that she visualized stabbing him.

For the better part of the night, he’d managed to keep his cool; he answered his mother’s questions easily and ate the food even though it was the last thing on his mind. For the first time, he felt a flicker of irritation directed at Eleanor. He despised whiners.

He watched her now, pouring the sparse content of the wine bottle into her glass, the slosh of the liquid meeting the glass sounding like tiny darts hitting a surface.

Joshua knew what was coming before it did. Eleanor had always been hotheaded, more like their father while Joshua was much more like his mother. Despite the fact that Eleanor was twelve years older than Joshua, they’d always squabbled. Eleanor would be angry that their father was paying Joshua more attention and try to sabotage him at any chances she got. She hadn’t understood that Joshua was Remilekun’s second chance son – his only son as far as he was concerned – and that it didn’t matter how many mistakes Joshua made, as long as he was nothing like Gbenga.

She still didn’t understand now, that maybe, if Remilekun had survived getting shot by his son, he would still forgive Joshua. Eleanor would always be the second choice and she hated that Joshua who had been first had thrown it all away.

Joshua met his older sister’s eyes across the table; he held her gaze and gave a subtle shake of his head. Predictably, she pushed back her chair with a sudden vengeance and shot up from her seat, swaying and almost falling. The second born; Eniola caught her before she could kiss the floor.

Eleanor snatched herself from the arms of her concerned sister and shot Joshua a look so venomous that he felt it in his bones.

“I’m sick of you showing your face here!” She shouted. She pointed at Dinah, “Why do you choose to dishonor our father by having his murderer eat with us?”

Dinah said nothing; Joshua knew she wouldn’t say anything. Their mother liked to appease everybody, she was thinking of the perfect thing to say to pacify everybody. Eleanor mistook her silence for support for Joshua. She laughed coldly. “Of course, he’s always been your favorite too.”

“There are no favorites, Eleanor. Joshua is your brother,” Dinah finally spoke. Joshua wanted to laugh, he didn’t; he only stabbed a piece of his chocolate cake and ate a piece of it.

Eniola narrowed her eyes. “He killed our father. I speak for everybody at this table when I say that Joshua doesn’t deserve to be here.”

Joshua had four sisters including Eniola. He hadn’t been close to any of them growing up, they were older, the youngest of them; Jemimah was four years older than him. He wasn’t expecting any of them to speak on his behalf.

“Calm down, Eleanor.” Jemimah cut in. Joshua raised his head and arched a brow in her direction. Maybe he’d been wrong about them, they’d been supporters of Eleanor ever since they were children, maybe they did have her back but only because they didn’t want her feelings hurt. Jemimah was a lot like Joshua, if there was anything she couldn’t stand, it was unnecessary theatrics. She made a cutthroat criminal lawyer because of her ability to cut through the bullshit.

A look of betrayal took over Eleanor’s face, twisting her face. An image of his own father flashed through Joshua’s eyes. His grip on his dessert fork tightened, he remembered Remilekun’s surprise when Joshua turned his own men on him.

“You know the truth about our family, the real truth. Stop talking about our father like he was Santa Claus.” The roiling in his stomach settled in the slightest, that was the closest Jemimah would come to defending him. He was even more surprised when Eniola supported their sister’s statement with a quiet nod.

Eleanor shook her head. “He murdered our father and then he gathered us the next week and told us the fucking truth, no remorse, just an apologetic announcement.”

It was true, Joshua had told them himself. He could spin a lie, he could have told them nothing but he chose the truth. Despite everything, despite being so distant from his family that they might have been strangers, he still felt a strange loyalty. It was why he’d put up with father’s meddling in Orion for the longest time because he respected him.

That respect that slowly faded as the months passed and he realized that while he and Remilekun shared the same obsession with Orion, it was for different reasons. Joshua had put his whole life into the organization, forced in the beginning and later discovering that he was interested in the running of The Orion Project. He genuinely wanted the best for the organization. Remilekun had been in it for personal gain; he’d wormed Joshua into the post of leader to keep a grip on the organization.

Joshua didn’t think he was a good person, heck, if his father had stayed out of his business, he could have gone on with whatever corrupt thing he did while he was Vice President.  Joshua Phillips wasn’t a good person, but he was better than Remilekun Phillips. It was why he would never feel remorse about killing his father.

Then why do the nightmares plague you for almost two years now? His inner voice mocked.

He ignored it now, Eleanor was going on and on about justice, none of them at the table paid him any attention, if they had, they would have seen the visible struggle on his face. The room was suddenly too small, too dark, he was too tired.

“Enough!” His voice was a sharp whip cracking through Eleanor’s rant. He stood up, letting his fork clatter on his plate of cake. “Let me make this clear to you, all of you. I don’t care what you think. Eleanor, if you are waiting for an apology; it will never come and you will never get the chance to prove to dad that you’re the better child, stop being bitter about losing your chance.”

“Get used to not having everything.” He gave her a smile that was as cold as ice. “Get used to seeing my face. Get used to looking at what being first looks like.”

Their mother gasped.

That was the lowest blow and he knew it. If there was any sliver of his relationship with his sister that could have been saved, he’d shattered it to a thousand pieces. He should have felt pain but he didn’t, all he felt was relief. It wasn’t only Eleanor who had problems staring at him; he didn’t like looking at her either. It felt too much like staring at Remilekun.

He threw a look of apology at his mother, grabbed his jacket and strode out of the room. He caught the explosion of argument right as he closed the door behind him and stepped out into the quiet hallway. His mother didn’t know it, but this restaurant was tainted by reminders of Remilekun.

Joshua wasn’t sure why thoughts of the man still haunted him two years later. He’d had unlearnt the loyalty he felt for the man years ago. Yet, somehow, every breathing moment, he crosschecked every decision he made to make sure he wasn’t making the same mistakes his father had made.

He needed a shrink, or a drink. He smiled ruefully at his thoughts as he took the back exit door through the very busy restaurant kitchen to leave.

The fresh air was disorienting and he took deep, greedy gulps of it. He’d felt claustrophobic inside and the dark ambience in the dining room hadn’t had the intended effect of coziness and family warmth. He leaned his back against the brick wall of the restaurant and pulled out his phone from his pocket, he wasn’t quite ready to get back into his car yet, he liked how quiet it was where he stood, the crescent moon his only companion. For the first time in a long while, Joshua felt almost peaceful.

That was until he opened Amina’s email. Orion recruited students every new school year, for the first time however, he’d made the decision to keep the selection process under wraps because organizations on campus were in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. He’d shoved the killer under the spotlight instead so the University’s focus would be on something else for a while.

If it was up to Joshua, he mightn’t even recruit this year but the Council had insisted so he’d asked Amina to curate a list of ten students across the several faculties on campus, students with potential and skill to be useful to Orion even though they weren’t legacy. The first nine names on Amina’s list were ordinary sounding names, unfamiliar to him. The tenth caused him to narrow his eyes at the white light of his screen because it was the last name he’d expected to see; Ninah Adam – the strange girl he seemed to be running into frequently. Granted, he’d only run into her twice and some people might count it as a coincidence but not him.

Something else was going on and Joshua had a very good guess as to what. He dialed Amina’s number for confirmation.

*****

To Victoria’s credit, she didn’t comment on the printed picture when Tope handed it to her, Amina had made the decision to crop out most of the picture, leaving the face. Somehow, she felt uneasy looking at the picture. She refused to believe that Victor was the kind of boy who blackmailed girls with nudes but she wasn’t so sure anymore and in any case, she wanted to protect the dignity of this mysterious girl, because she too knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of revenge porn.

“I don’t suppose you know who she is,” Amina said dryly. Victoria’s eyes lingered a moment on the printed photo of the topless girl but there was no hint of recognition in her eyes.

“No.” She answered flatly. Amina watched as the other girl inhaled a deep breath. “You found this picture on my brother’s phone.”

Tope nodded. “I’m afraid we couldn’t show you the phone to see for yourself but there’s a process to this thing. We’ve sent the phone over to a company in China that specializes in tracing data to see if they could manage to retrieve Victor’s old data.”

Amina could tell how much it displeased Victoria that she wasn’t getting first rights to Victor’s phone but she wasn’t stupid. The other girl might be good at computers, coding and even hacking to an extent but she knew her limits.

“Okay.” Victoria said quietly, she averted her gaze when Amina tried to meet it but not swiftly enough that she didn’t see the glimmer of tears that shone in her eyes. Amina felt pity towards the girl. She didn’t have any siblings but she couldn’t imagine losing someone who was practically and scientifically her other half and having to run round confusing circles for justice.

Amina’s cold exterior softened a little, she placed a comforting hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “We are doing all we can to find his killer. Victor mattered to me and I swear, I will find whoever did this.”

Victoria jerked her head in a nod.

“All we need now is for you to make photocopies of this picture, spread them around the Dome and on Hunter. There has to be someone in Orion who knows her since our population consists mostly of students.”

Another jerk of her head. Amina sighed, dismissing Victoria with a wave of her hand, she didn’t speak until the doors slid close after the girl stepped out.

Tope sat on the edge of a sofa. It was technically Amina’s office but she was rarely ever in it. Her duty as Vice President meant she was running Joshua’s errands. Sometimes, she thought the job was basically being a glorified assistant. The office was state of the art though with an adjoining living area where they were now; sleek white sofas round a circular coffee table, the bar at the left side of the room. The roof was high and the wide rings of blue light illuminated the space. The design was beautiful in a futuristic way but cold and unfeeling because she was never in it, her office didn’t have the personal touches that each of Joshua’s three offices had (yes, he had several offices).

“You had the pictures cropped.” Tope commented, breaking the fragile silence between them. Ire was off writing his report on their night out, like every new Orion member were asked to do after every experience in field work.

“Yes, it was the decent thing to do.” Amina said coolly, trying to hide how awkward she felt standing instead of sitting like Tope. But she didn’t want to sit, she felt jittery and on edge.

She knew what Tope was going to say before she uttered the words.

“I didn’t think Amina Khalid was capable of decency.” Tope said lightly but there was a slight edge in her voice, she sounded accusing. Amina winced, she had history with Grace Ilori – now Kingston – who was Tope’s best friend.

She didn’t exactly regret anything she might have said or done but she knew that Grace hadn’t deserved it. It hadn’t mattered then, because she was under Joshua’s instructions, she would always do what he asked her to even though she disagreed. She would kill for Orion, hurt whoever needed to be hurt for Orion.

She didn’t like hurting people who didn’t deserve it, even though in the end she would do it.

“You’re not going to get an apology, neither will Kingston. Tell me, Rebecca, have you never done things for Artemis that you wish you hadn’t? things that would make your best friend see you in a different light if she knew?”

Tope was silent.

“Don’t ask me to be sorry because words are meaningless, I could tell you sorry and still stab you in the back tomorrow. I could love you and still have to stab you in the back if Joshua tells me to. I do everything I do for Orion and there is no space for regret.” Amina said tightly. “Joshua will tell you the same thing if you ask him.”

She inhaled a sharp breath. “I’ve been a victim of revenge porn before. Back then, this boy thought that he could blackmail me with doctored photos of me and him in compromised positions. He showed it to a few people and there was no use denying them because people think whatever the fuck they want to. I laughed in public when people mocked me with them, I took on this personality of the sexy, manipulative bitch.”

Amina brushed a stray braid behind her ear. “I let people think I wore hijabs on Mondays and fucked boys on Fridays. I’ve never even gone beyond kissing a guy.” She laughed coldly. “Those pictures of me spread, damage control wasn’t swift enough to control it. So when the opportunity came, I put a bullet in his head.”

There was a second of silence then realization. “Emmanuel, Kendrick’s best friend. He’s the one you’re talking about.”

Amina began to pace. “Yes, I kissed him one time and he thought he had me wrapped around his finger, the foolish boy. It was his grand plan to try to blackmail me to get him into Orion full time. I laughed in his face.”

“Kendrick didn’t know, did he?” Tope asked.

Amina wanted to laugh, this time genuinely. “Of course he didn’t, people like Kendrick thinks of things as black and white. I tried to warn him that his best friend was more manipulative than he knew but Kendrick already had a saint-like image in his head. I don’t blame him; I know how it is to want to preserve the perfect reputation of a dead man.”

“I’m not saying the picture of that girl was nonconsensual or consensual. I’m being careful that either way, I don’t ruin some poor girl’s life because she might have shared a nude photo. Too many damn people are already caught up in this.”

Tope made a humming sound. It might have been approval or forgiveness.

“Your phone’s been ringing.” She said instead, nodding at the buzzing phone on the coffee table. Amina blinked as if she was surprised. She had known it was ringing, had spied the screen when it lit up. She knew who was calling.

“It’s Joshua.” Tope added in the same careful tone one would use when delivering bad news.

Amina sighed. “I know.”

She walked briskly to the phone and picked it up.

“Phillips.” She greeted.

“Ninah Adam,” She heard him say in a tone that someone else would misinterpret as calm. It was the raging quiet before a storm.

“You want me to find a Nina Adam?” Amina asked distractedly.

“Her name is on the list. I know her,” He answered slowly, Amina heard faint honking over the line and wondered where he was.

“Oops, did I accidentally add one of you exes?” She said sarcastically. Besides her, Tope snorted.

“You know all my exes.” Joshua snapped. He sounded dead serious but Amina couldn’t resist one last jab.

“A one night stand then?” She mocked. There was silence on his side of the line and Amina imagined him closing his eyes and counting to three to keep a grip on his patience. The image made her crack a tiny smile.

“Okay, fine. Nina Adam. Let me check. I don’t recall all the names I picked.”

A few minutes later, she was at her computer, scrolling through the files of each selected candidate. The Nina was spelt with An H. Joshua’s concern suddenly made sense.

“I didn’t pick a Ninah Adam. Artemis did.”

Of course, Artemis had tampered with her list while she’d sent it to ICT to make sure that all the records were accurate. Technically, Artemis had the right to do so since they had a few members on the Council. She kept forgetting that Artemis could interfere if they chose to, even though for the past two years, they’d mostly stayed out of the organization’s running.

“Ahmed Giwa,” Joshua sighed. “He’s planting a spy on me.” It was Joshua’s duty to take care of new recruits before they were sorted into various departments in Orion. It was a seven week mentorship program that would cause Joshua to see the mentees often.

“It’s just one girl. Want me to run a more intensive background check on her?” Amina asked. She raised her head from her computer when she noticed Tope walk in from the living room area to the office area. She leaned against the arched entryway, watching Amina.

“Yes, the most intensive check. There’s something about her that sets me off.”

Amina refrained from telling Joshua that most people set him off.

“How did you two meet?” She asked curiously. Maybe he was simply repressing attraction for this Ninah.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. What did you find at the library?”

Amina glanced down at her nails and lied. “I didn’t find anything, I’ll fill you in on the boring details when you come back.”

“Okay, goodnight.” He hung up before she could get another word in.

Tope was grinning when Amina looked at her.

“Did you just lie to Joshua Phillips?” She asked.

“I do it every now and then, the danger keeps me fit.” Amina drawled. Tope’s face grew serious a second later.

“Joshua is more invested in finding this murderer than you think he is.” She said. Amina narrowed her eyes.

“I suppose. Since when are you his biggest fan?”

“I am not, I don’t like any of you but I am concerned about the murders. And Joshua asked me for a favor. I have been doing my investigations and I think we should work together. I can bring you the information that Artemis won’t share with Orion.” It was another reminder that Orion and Artemis were still two separate organizations with separate goals despite the merge.

Amina wasn’t even sure she could trust Tope, but then again, she didn’t need to trust her. She just needed to trick her.

“What information?”

Tope’s smile returned. “I guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.” She held out her hand to Amina. She considered the outstretched hand with suspicion, but she’d do anything for Orion, even make deals with the enemy. She took Tope’s hand and shook it.